#yes he is a witch yes he is a badass

[beababoobies]

Hey there you said you needed a Hazbin Hotel request? I got just the thing. Is it okay you do a Alastor x witch reader? Like reader was a witch before she died and is basically pretty powerful especially in magic? I like to think she covers up her body because she’s covered in tattoos that look like magic ruins or ritual symbols. Idk i just thought it would be cute of Alastor falling in love with a classy yet a badass witch who can put him in his place.

Heya Anon! Yes, Absolutely! I love my witchy friends (shoutout to Tatianna because she follows my blog.) I wasn’t sure exactly on which type of Witch you were referring to, so I decided on a random mix of diff witch cultures! Please shoot me a request if that’s not what you had in mind and I can re-write this for you. Thanks a ton for the request!

From Experience

Alastor x Fem!Witch!Reader

words : 1k , no warnings!

You let out a sigh as you started the spell you had been planning for weeks now. You had to go to Lust to get aphrodisiac rose powder, cannibal town to get the dried blood (and have a coffee and chat with Rosie, of course.) you even attended to Blood Moon festival very shortly to get some black tree root straight from the source from your friend Sally Mae. The candles had been lit - your spirit guides told you it was ready. You closed your eyes softly as you started to read out the incantation in your head.

You sighed softly through your nose as you felt yourself slowly start to float, the bone-marrow candles you had bought starting to glow a blood red colour as you felt the power of the spell start to wash over you, the magical ruins carved into your body lighting up, making you glow softly, and it was all coming together nicely, perfectly one might say - 

“Hello, Darling!” 

You let out a small scream and opened your eyes, falling to the floor with a small thud, groaning as you open your eyes to the familiar face smiling back at you, chuckling softly as you rub your head gently, rolling your eyes. Not an evil spirit. Okay, an evil spirit. But a very familiar one. “Alastor, what a surprise.” You said as he walked over to you, offering you his hand and you took it, hoisting yourself up and letting out a soft sigh as you saw the spilt wax across the floor. 

“How rude of me to interrupt you! Allow me.” He hums softly, and you watch as the candles are returned back to their original state, turning back to him with a smile, brushing your now messed hair back into place, tilting your head. “Back again so soon?” You said with a chuckle, walking into your kitchen to get a cup of tea, him following quickly behind.

Now that you thought about it - he was back very, very soon. You had last seen him yesterday for lunch, and just two days before that for an evening stroll. After seven years of absence, you could’ve sworn you hadn’t even seen him this much before he disappeared. This meant he either needed something, or he was playing you in a big plan.

“Oh, well you just make the best steaming cup of chamomile, my dear.” He compliments, sitting at your small window-side table. You chuckled, taking a spoonful of the mix you had taken years to perfect, crushing the leaves, adding in just a bit of cinnamon. You had even figured out the best tea bags. Possibly your best spell ever. You dismissed your worries as your own overthinking, sighing as you poured the boiling water into the mugs.

“No sugar for you again?” You say, eyes not looking back at him as you pull the cane sugar out from your cabinet, spooning a couple helpings into your mug. “You know me too well, darling.” He says and you blush softly, putting the cane sugar back, bringing both the mugs to the table, placing one in front of him, and one in front of yourself.

“So, why are you back so quickly, hmm?” You said teasingly, leaning back in your chair, mixing the tea in your mug lazily, toying with the spoon as you watching him dip the boiling liquid - always uncanny, how he could do that - before looking back up at you. 

“One could say I’ve taken a bit of a liking to you, my love.” He says with a smile, and you feel your face get hot - from more than just the steam from your tea. He chuckles softly at your reaction, taking another sip from his mug, leaning back in his chair and watching you try to find the right words. Platonically? It’s hard to decipher a man who’s walked out of a couple decades before your time. 

“One might even say you… like me?” You say, testing the waters as you discard your cup back onto the table, crossing your arms over your chest, skepticism all over your expression causing Alastor to let out another chuckle. “One could say that. But I hate that way of saying it.” He responds flatly, putting his mug down as well, tilting his head at you. Trying to read a man who’s face was always carved into that sharp-toothed grin was hard.

“While we are speaking of taking a liking to things.” He says, holding out his hand, a small jar of black sand from the burning desert - one of a kind, unbelievably expensive, and your eyes widened. You swallowed thickly as you eyes the small vial, looking up at him with a small grin. 

“I’m not giving you my soul for this. Tempting, though.” You said with a playful smile, watching him place it delicately on the table. “Oh, no, darling, it is yours for the price of this cup of tea. A friend gave it to me in exchange for a… favor.” He says with a small chuckle, watching you pick up the vial cautiously and inspect it, turning it upside down and watching the pitch black sand move around in the glass. 

Oh, the things you could do with this. 

“And why should I take your murder sand?” You say with a smile, looking back up at him as you toyed with vial carefully, raising your eyebrows, watching his eyes trail down to the vial and then back up to you. 

“Well, I’ve heard it’s good for love spells.” He hums softly, taking another nonchalant sip of his tea, watching you nearly cough on your own spit over the statement, collecting yourself before piercing your lips together, eyes going from him to the vial over and over. 

“And how would you know this, hmm? You some sort of ritual expert now?” You said with a playful smile and tone, clutching the vial in your hand and leaning forward, chin resting on your palm. 

“Let’s just say I can speak from experience.” 

[thelostpretzel]

hello!! i just wanted to pop in and say that i really really love your ocs, their designs are all so fun and creative!!!!! esp the heroes of the city waow :00 also deeply interested in whatever lore they have so if you ever feel like dropping crumbs,,, *hands outstretched*

*cracks knuckles* thank you for asking dear stranger i would love to ramble about my children (the?) Heroes of the City (sorry, I still don't understand how article THE works) is a story in the genre of LitRPG (like literature + RPG or manhwas/novells about rankers) and it's about Players who are trying to save The Sentient (?) City from self-destruction (or help it destroy itself if a Player feels like hating the world) so the main cast is Eki (she/them) aka The Leviathan Slayer aka The Hero she smol she kind she could kill a god if this god is a threat to her found family but only if said god is a physical threat she is a beating pillow for every morally gray/black character in The City and will never win against charismatic-based villain (she's very naive and soft hearted and everybody uses it)

Black Silver (she/her) aka The Witch or The City's Shadow

the hottest and the deadliest villain of The City and i have nothing else to say

Rex (he/them) aka [data deleted]

he is one of The City creators and his main mission is to be a threat to his ex-soulmate - Black Silver who is actively destroying The City

they are the Most Toxic Couple of the project and i feel terror every time i think about them

Little Box (she/her) aka [???]

i don't know what she is and i'm lowkey scared to know so she's just vibin' here and there (i think she's dead)

Coffee Fox (he/him) aka The Keeper aka The Guardian

a barista of a tiny coffee shop and The Retired King of The City

he brings comfort and love to every Hero but can only watch The City fall because he's forever locked in his coffee shop

Magnolia (she\her) and Glitches (they\them) aka The Healer/The Parasite

ah yes a cool badass parasite with no morale compass and an absolutely miserable host with terrible anxiety disorder i love it (Glitches also often flirts with The Bitch i mean with the guy who is hated by the whole City and Magnolia lives in constant fear because of it)

Midas (he/him) aka The Bitch i mean The Cursed King

The Bitch of The City (and he's fucking rich and hot too i hate him so fucking much i don't even draw him consistently WHYYYYYYYYYYY)

anyway

Adam (the fuck/that) aka The Emptiness

the mute horror of the City (he likes Little Box and Magnolia though)

aaaaaand the last one

42 aka Zwai (man/failure)

he's just funny little guy with horrible medicine trauma and a cat

thats it thank you

[fictionaltrvlr]

Roman Empire this, Roman Empire that. I don’t really think I have a Roman Empire-

The Overwhelming Hatred of Rachel Zegler

This rising star of a 22 year old woman is being torn apart by men and women alike and I’m so tired of it.

I’m disgusted by the amount of hate she’s getting and you best believe I’m gonna lay it out. I’ve tried to organize this but I’m really tired so bear with me.

Main Controversy

Her saying that it’s no longer 1937 and Snow White doesn’t need to be saved by the prince is not her saying that women can’t want to have a husband or a family. Simply that they don’t need a man to give them value.

And to be clear, yes, okay? Yes. Women should be allowed to soft, they can want families, they don’t need to be badass to be happy. They can fit “traditional” roles. Women can want different things. Meg March, the icon that she is, “just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.” 100% yes. But Rachel wasn’t saying otherwise.

She said the prince was a bit of a stalker so they’re not doing that this time… and yes? The prince was weird. I thought we agreed on that. Snow White was 14 in the original and got kissed while she was unconscious by an adult man… but sure, ✨iconic✨.

And it’s fine if you don’t like the *apparent* girlbossification of Snow White, but people are acting like Rachel wrote the movie?? Did it ever occur to people that maybe Disney wants the “girlboss independent woman who doesn’t need a man” picture presented?

She’s doing press for the movie, is she maybe taking the direction Disney gave her?? Also… we. haven’t. seen. the. movie. The teaser only just came out!

Strike Comments

Her comments being popularized during the strike is already suspicious enough. Is it not in the studio’s interests to portray the strike and those taking part in it as unreasonable?

Her saying she deserves to be paid fairly for the hours she spends in a dress playing an iconic Disney character is completely valid. She wasn’t saying she’s the most amazing actress ever or that she plays the hardest roles or does the most complicated stunts. Just that she deserves fair pay… like every other striking actor and writer??

Childhood Relationship With The Character

Her saying that Snow White scared her as a child and she didn’t revisit it until she got cast. Why does that matter so much?? There were scary things in that movie! The witch, the poison apple, the forest coming to life and trying to grab her.

Tastes change as we grow and Rachel has shared her excitement about getting to play the character now.

She was a child. *screaming*

The Extremely Different Treatment Men Receive in The Same Situations

May I present, Robert Pattinson?? Mr I hate these books and felt like I shouldn’t be reading them?? Mr Edward is creepy?

He mocked and joked about the Twilight series every chance he got and people ate it up. They loved it and still do. He’s funny, he’s confident, he’s so real for that.

Harrison Ford wanted his character to die off and said it had run its course. He was praised for his humour and honesty.

Oh but Rachel is ungrateful. She’s rude, she’s cringe, she’s mean, she’s annoying. She’s irredeemable, she’s overbearing, she’s smug, off putting. There’s just something about her that we don’t like…

She’s pitted against other successful women, like Halle Bailey. She’s pitted against Kristen Stewart. Against Elle Fanning, Jenna Ortega. Ignoring, may I point out, how hated so many of these women have been at the different points in their careers?

This is how Brie Larson is being treated and now she wants to leave Marvel too.

Women can be sarcastic. They can joke and speak their minds. They don’t have to package every thought with a pretty little bow so it’s palatable to you.

Rachel’s statements are being misinterpreted and twisted. But on top of that, even if she was what people are saying, have we forgotten about Tom Cruise? Leonardo DeCaprio?

These men are insufferable and problematic and yet some of the biggest names in the industry and, again, confident. Boss. In charge. Charismatic. Not annoying, not petty, not “oh you should be grateful you have anything!!”

Let me pull out Taylor Swift for a hot second because she does a wonderful job of describing the different ways we talk about men and women.

A man does something and it’s strategic. A woman does the same thing and it’s calculated. A man is allowed to react, a woman can only overreact. […] A man shares his experience in writing and he’s brave. A woman does the same thing and she’s over sharing, she’s over emotional, watch out!

America Ferrera when she said that the only difference between being bossy and being a boss is that one is a woman.

People need to listen to “All American Bitch” again -

I know my place, I know my place, and this is it! I don't get angry when I'm pissed I'm the eternal optimist I scream inside to deal with it All the time I'm grateful all the time I'm sexy, and I'm kind I'm pretty when I cry Oh, all the time I'm grateful all the time

And not that women need to be grateful because they don’t, but just to be clear, she is grateful.

She has expressed how lucky she was to get Shazam and how much she enjoyed it and made amazing friends. She was excited to play her version of Snow White. She shared pictures of herself as a child dressed as Snow White. She’s thrown herself into it.

Conclusions

Hate trains fun, I get it. But let’s not pile on young women when they’ve not even done anything wrong. Question why all of a sudden everyone hates this person, what are the facts, what else is going on, what confirmation bias do we have?

There is something so much worse to me about seeing other women tear her down. Like yeah, men will be pigs, but what are you doing? It’s so sad.

And women like hunting witches too, doing your dirtiest work for you, it’s obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together… (Mad Woman, Taylor Swift)

Rachel seems like such a joyful person and people are out here bullying her like she kicks puppies on the weekends.

Claiming to be a feminist because you want a wide variety of princesses (ie, ones that get saved by their prince), and then sending death threats to another woman for possibly appearing as though she holds a different opinion about one princess - is not only a contradiction, it’s just baffling.

Anyway stan Rachel Zegler

That’s my speech, please do contribute collaboratively if you want :).

[beevean]

You know, the funniest thing about how the games treat Dracula compared to the show is that the former have no less than four foils for our villain! To really hammer in the point that dude chose to be a bastard when he could have not!

Alucard also lost Lisa - he watched her die, he listened to her last words, and by all account it was a slow, painful death. He could have been angry towards the mob who unfairly put his mother through such a terrible death. Instead, accepting Lisa's final message, he chose to protect humanity from his father's fury, and kill him over and over which causes him so much internal turmoil that he'd rather sleep his life away.

Soma discovered that his fate was to become the Dark Lord. He simply refused. In fact, he was scared to become the Dark Lord, to the point of making Julius promise that if he lost against Chaos, the vampire hunter would kill him. Soma wants to be a normal human with his friends, and he'll fight to stay so. (worthy of noting that he's the only foil here who can't resist the darkness' call when he sees his beloved die, in DoS: Mina's Talisman can only slow the process down for Arikado to intervene in time. It proves that he really has to struggle to remain as himself)

Hector also was forced to see her beloved be executed in a sham witch trial - deliberately! Isaac deliberately set this up to enrage him to the point of being easily manipulable, and Death deliberately fanned the flames of his anger so that he'd succumb to the Curse and become Dracula. Hector not only directed all of his anger to the only responsible for Rosaly's death, but by the end he pulled back, because he realized that anger was not real, and recognized Isaac as another victim before peacefully moving on.

And Leon also had his fiancée die (see a pattern here), in fact he had to strike the fatal blow, under her request. Mathias honestly believed that because of this, Leon would understand his grief, and also renounce to God. But Leon not only had no intention to forgive Mathias for his cruel plan, he insisted that he'd rather live as a human and honor Sara's final wish, than exist for all eternity all alone, the fate Mathias doomed himself to.

So yes, eventually it almost becomes funny how much the games keep insisting "look at how much of a pathetic loser Dracula is. what a weak bitch. really thinks he's all justified because Wife Died™. Look at all these badasses with Dead Wives™ and how they still do the right thing! lol, dracula. lmao, even."

the virgin "he did nothing wrong 🥺" vs the chad "he did everything wrong and he's a petty manbaby about it". we stan

(ofc there is the heavy implication that Dracula literally cannot move on nor become a better person because of Chaos' influence inside him, which is why his soul had to do a hard reboot in the form of Soma to be freed from the cycle of destruction he stuck himself in. But there is certainly a discussion to be had about how much this affects Dracula's agency and culpability)

[physalian]

Color in Fiction! (Once You See it, You Cannot Unsee it)

White versus black, red versus blue, Gatsby’s green light, Dorothy’s ruby red slippers, Belle’s blue dress.

Color is perhaps the most ubiquitous motif used across both fiction and reality to thread people or objects through a common theme, or to pit two ideologies against each other beyond their verbal spats. Color is also perhaps the simplest motif, but that doesn’t make it any lesser in its potency.

In fiction, color is an easy way for the audience to learn as fast as possible who’s on whose side, and who their opponents are, and today, we’re going to look at a few.

But first: Crash course into color theory:

Warmer colors evoke passion or uncertainty, movement and excitement, happiness and warmth, but also rage, aggression, love, and lust. The cooler colors evoke sadness and serenity, but also youth and spring and winter and death.

Most of the time when a creator wants to juxtapose color in a narrative or other work, they’re going to use inverses, just google one of the hundreds of teal and orange movie posters. Inverses are whatever colors lie at opposite sides of the wheel. Blue and Orange, Red and Green, Purple and Yellow. These pairs show up either in opposition, or as an ensemble of one character or a group or team.

Part 1: Black and White

Yes it has grounds in racism, but black and white are also accepted to mean chaos and order, good and evil, death and life.

In a show like Lost, themes of black and white are constant. The black and white backgammon pieces, the colors of the Dharma station logos, the show’s main title card, God stand-in Jacob (Lucifer from Supernatural), and his unnamed brother, the Man in Black.

Black and white show up *everywhere,* in some places subtler than others. In fiction with a male and female lead, if they are coded in black and white, the man is almost always the one in black. Black means strength and mystery and this deep, almost corrupted darkness. White is purity, femininity, youth, and nurturing, when a woman wears it, unless she's the villain.

Villains in white are very often surprise villains:

The White Witch (Chronicles of Narnia)

Saruman (Lord of the Rings)

President Coin (Hunger Games)

Hans (Frozen), Mayor Bellweather (Zootopia), Auto (Wall-E)

Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean is an interesting case. She begins the first movie wearing light colors and being trapped in the pure and lawful life of the governor’s daughter. She ends her arc in the third movie in solid black (through several costumes) a badass Pirate King and wife of the new Captain of the Flying Dutchman.

Men in black are chivalrous, dark knights, or morally grey vigilantes, silent badasses, or edgy badboys. Black is also of course reserved for villains a la Darth Vader, or Severus Snape and Voldemort and a million others. The "Black Knight" is his own trope, whether he's in a fantasy setting or not.

Women in black are temptresses, or seductive badasses. Black is the color of corruption, sin, and angst in western media 9 times out of 10 unless a narrative wants to subvert it.

I could do an entire essay on black and white in Lord of the Rings alone but here's a few other contrasts: The white Tower of Ecthelion, Minas Tirith, the "White City", the White Tree, Gandalf the White. The Black Riders, Black Speech, Black Land of Mordor, Orthanc (Saruman's Tower).

But you don’t have to make your character’s entire costumes black and white, no, you can just make their hair light and dark.

Part 2: Hair

**Possibly also because racism but we don’t have time to unpack all that right now**

When you have your male protagonist and his male foil, love interest, competition, companion, lancer, or villain, most of the time (in western media where blonds are in abundance) the more noble or “good” character of the two will be blond, the other brunet, especially in a love triangle. If two male characters have opposing ideologies on any level, they will often have opposing hair. A male and female lead duo will also tend to have opposing hair, but it’s most obvious what they’re doing when it’s two dudes and not just coincidence.

Here’s a nonexhaustive list, with the brunet first (ignoring if the adaptation was faithful):

Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamnee (LoTR)

Aragorn and Boromir (LoTR)

Aragorn and Theoden (LoTR)

Denethor and Faramir (LoTR)

Thorin and Bilbo (Hobbit)

Jack Shephard and James “Sawyer” Ford (Lost)

Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar (Brokeback Mountain) *Also have opposing hats*

Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent (The Dark Knight)

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers (Marvel)

Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers (Marvel)

Loki and Thor (Marvel)

Nico di Angelo and Will Solace (Percy Jackson)

Percy Jackson and Jason Grace (Percy Jackson)

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (the Cumberbatch one)

Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester (Supernatural)

Edmund Pevensie and Peter Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia)

Gale Hawthorne and Peeta Mellark (Hunger Games)

Damon Salvatore and Stefan Salvatore (Vampire Diaries)

Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby (2013 Gatsby)

Caledon Hockley and Jack Dawson (Titanic)

Notable nonexhaustive exceptions:

Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter)

Percy Jackson and Luke Castellan (Percy Jackson)

Jacob Black and Edward Cullen (Twilight)

Batman and Superman (DC Comics)

Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (Star Wars)

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) *wardrobe makes up for it*

*Feel free to tag the ones I missed

Not every brunet on the list is a “bad” guy, nor is every blond the “good” guy, but compared to each other, the brunet tends to be the more morally grey, the more corrupted, the one who’s ideologies end up getting them hurt or killed or proving them wrong. Or, the brunet faces more demons, has a darker personality, or tends to have a “shoot first ask questions later” philosophy.

This of course goes out the window if the media is set in a region or with a cast of characters who are meant to share similar features, like how there’s no blondes at all in Last Airbender (otherwise Aang would absolutely fit the pattern).

Whether that’s Frodo getting corrupted by the Ring and Sam being his rock, Jack Twist getting murdered while Ennis lives on, or the beloved Dark Knight and his bat-black demons while Harvey’s White legacy saves Gotham, next time you write a brunet and his blond competition, ask yourself just why you’re doing it.

*Side note, I’m pretty sure Harvey Dent, when he’s animated, is usually a brunet, but he’s also usually Two-Face by then and no longer a hero*

I don’t even have time for black and white in anime or the trope of the white-haired anime boy and since natural hair colors are kind of moot, I don’t think the same rules apply. But outside of the westernized “black knight vs white knight” I do want to dig deeper into color motifs in anime at some point.

Here's some notable dark and light dichotomies nonetheless in wardrobe and/or hair:

Kirito and Asuna (Sword Art Online)

Lelouch and Suzaku (Code Geass)

Midoriya and Bakugo (My Hero Academia)

L and Light (Death Note)

Medusa and Stein (Soul Eater)

Sasuke and Naruto (Naruto)

Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Eiji and Ash (Banana Fish)

Kyoya and Tamaki (OHSHC)

Yuri and Viktor (Yuri!!! On Ice)

Dracula and Alucard (Castlevania)

Part 3: Red v. Blue and everything in between

The megalith that is the color motif extends past the white/black dichotomy.

It’s also red and blue.

If red is pitted against blue in any story, red is always the team the audience is supposed to root against, unless this is sports. Red is the color of the Sith, the Fire Nation, red eyes are seen as evil, red is blood and rage and wrath and fire. Red is the color of evil empires. Blue is the color of heroes. It’s water and healing and camaraderie, serenity. Blue is the color of rebels and underdogs.

Red versus blue is in everything from the color of lightsabers in Star Wars to the color of cybertronian eyes in Transformers, to the color of the Water Tribes and Fire Nations (with some exceptions a la Azula’s blue fire) to the colors of the pills in the Matrix. Red is the ‘dangerous’ choice, blue is the ‘safe’ choice. Unless your character is patriotically sporting the red, white and blue of the UK, USA, or France.

Villains usually only wear blue if they're ice-coded, or belong to a faction wearing navy blue uniforms.

Red versus blue also shows up between leaders and their lancers. The first one I can think up off the top of my head is Robin and Raven from Teen Titans.

Purple is also usually lumped in with the bad guys and green with the good guys, but purple and green also show up a ton as contrasting colors of the same character like the Hulk or the Joker. But both can swing either way. The Decepticons in the early cartoons for Transformers had purple everywhere and reclaimed it in Transformers: Prime. Megatron, Soundwave, Shockwave, the Vehicons, Airachnid, and the Dark Star Saber, and some G1s]. Prime also has three sets of red-blue dichotomies within their factions: [Arcee/Cliffjumper, Optimus/Ratchet, and Knockout/Breakdown].

Green is the color of more Jedi, and the Green Lanterns, but green also represents sickness or disease or generic evil energy a la Loki, Dr. Facilier (Princess and the Frog) or the Hyenas and Scar in the Lion King.

Pink is really up in the air, as is orange and yellow, especially when it comes to female characters, especially female anime characters.

But enough about color dichotomy.

Part 4: Color Singularity

Color singularly is either meant to evoke a specific emotion, like using blue everywhere to represent sadness, or it’s meant to be a bold statement in an otherwise grayscale world.

I mentioned a few at the top of the post and I’ll elaborate on them here:

In Great Gatsby, green and yellow are very important colors. The “green light” is this real object at the end of the titular character’s love interest’s dock. This light and this color are motifs that represent Gatsby’s longing for Daisy and to return to a glorious past he can never have again (it’s also the color of American money). Yellow is also everywhere in this book. It’s the color of his chekov’s car and several dresses at his extravagant party. Yellow is the color of his current life of glitz and glam and riches (and is also the color of gold). If you listen to one of the accompanying songs to the 2013 film, Florence and the Machine’s “Over the Love” recognizes the importance of yellow in the narrative.

Dorothy’s red slippers in the Wizard of Oz are hyperbolically bold, especially since the movie starts out in black and white. Color is a huge piece of this film- the Emerald City, the Yellow Brick Road, the horse of many colors. Red scientifically is the color humans tend to notice first, those shoes were made to be remembered. Color in Wizard of Oz is the symbol of the fantastical, which was really helped by the time the film was made and simply seeing so much color on screen dazzled audiences.

Red catches your eye faster than any other color, and red in a world of black and white sticks in your mind, just look at Schindler’s List.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast, along with a lot of fictional women wear blue. Blue is biblically Mary’s color, and at one time was the color marketed to women before the shift to “blue for boys”. In the original Beauty and the Beast, Belle was the only character who wore blue, because she was an outsider, and outlier, a free-thinker. Or at least, Belle is the only one who wears blue until she dances with the Beast. The live-action remake didn’t maintain this extra level of the narrative and that’s a shame.

I didn't mention eye color much above (also maybe because racism) but blue eyes, especially animated blue and green eyes, go to characters who are more hopeful, heroic, nurturing, morally just, honest, or brave than their brown-eyed counterparts, unless he's a blue-eyed Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Blue-eyed people tend to be blond, so the traits go hand in hand for the "good" character.

Weirdly enough, this also applies to blue-eyed animal characters -- your animated anthropomorphised villain is rarely going to be drawn with eyes that aren't brown, black, green, red, orange, or yellow.

Because color is also a subliminal or overt way of foreshadowing in both written and visual media as much as any other motif and recurring symbol. You can foreshadow death, or impending doom, or an eventual identity reveal, whatever you want.

You can also subvert the usual associations with specific colors. Black doesn’t have to mean evil in your world. Black can be life, too. White doesn’t have to be pure, white can be clinical and sterile and lifeless (but please no more lady villains in white pantsuits, that's its own cliche at this point). Shake it up a bit every once in a while.

So whether it’s dueling ideologies or the very forces of good and evil, a harbinger of doom or a secret tell, or community and camaraderie, or an enduring hope, you can represent it all with a careful dose of color.

[tyrantisterror]

My Personal History with My Good Friend, Satan

My first encounter with The Devil - that I can remember, at least - came when I was about three or so. My mom liked to borrow VHS tapes from libraries to show me and my siblings a lot, and one of the libraries she used was the one at our church. It was a small and obviously very religion-centric collection, but it left a notable mark on me - like, that's where I saw this weird, kinda shitty cartoon version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which might be responsible for irreconcilably fucking up my taste in women? I just have this distinct memory of watching the scene where Edmund is tempted by the White Witch and thinking, "Yeah, he's making the right call." If anything I was frustrated that he hesitated - three year old me was already simping for this woman. Just imagine a child channeling Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters and growling, "When a terrifying and beautiful woman offers you candy and a private sleigh ride, you say YES!" and that's basically me as a kid.

Where was I? Right, Satan. So, the other video from that library I remember was this cartoon retelling of Bible stories, and really I just remember the Adam and Eve part. The temptation scene had this huge, super gnarly-looking demonic red snake in it, and he was so cool and badass and I was already predisposed to like snakes anyway, so of course he was my instant favorite. But, like almost all media featuring reptiles that captured my little child heart, he turned out to be the bad guy - literally The Devil, in this case - and was punished at the end of the story. And that pissed me off.

Sometime shortly thereafter - or at least that's how I remember it, this was over thirty years ago so things might be smushed closer together than they really were by the fog of ages - some of the kids in my preschool chastised me for liking snakes. "Don't you know the devil is a snake? Snakes are evil!" I remembered the movie, and it made me angry.

Because snakes aren't evil, and as a kid I knew that because my parents taught me it. Snakes were just animals, they don't know right from wrong, and to call them evil it to judge them for what they are, not what they do. That experience taught me a very important lesson: The Devil is a tool to make people hate the innocent. And as I'd later learn, snakes were far from the only innocents people would vilify because of a demonic association.

The second time I met the devil came a few years later, when I was six or seven or so. My Grampa and Grams liked to take us up North to Mackinac City and the Upper Peninsula each summer, and I have a lot of fond memories of those trips, but there was one in particular that's relevant to this discussion. We saw a sign for a "laser light show" in the shopping district, and I got to stay up late to see it with my family. The show in question was basically a cartoon projected into the night sky adapting the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It was super primitive and hokey and cornball and terrible and I loved every second of it. I was enchanted, absolutely delighted with the spectacle and the silly song where the devil was less a force of evil and more a comically bumbling inept supervillain - one of my favorite archetypes, even back then. So that's the second lesson about the devil I learned: The Devil can be fun sometimes.

Now, Godzilla, one of the few reptile characters I encountered as a kid who didn't end up a villain (at least not in the first movie of his I saw, Godzilla vs. Megalon), had already set me on the path to loving monsters of all stripes and, by extension, horror fiction in general, so as I grew up I had many more encounters with the devil. But while I warmed up quickly to most monster archetypes, like vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc., I always felt dismissive of demons. It kind of coincided with me becoming disillusioned with Christianity as a whole, in fact. A story about fighting evil, Christian-style demons is ultimately an allegory for fighting evil as defined by Christianity, and Christianity's definition of what evil is, well, sucks. It's bad! They got some things right, but some things horribly wrong. The devil is the tool Christianity uses to make you hate the innocent, and I struggled to enjoy a lot of demon stories because of that. Still do with some, in fact.

There were exceptions, of course - I loved The Evil Dead series as soon as I saw it at too-early-of-an-age, but then, the demons in it aren't super Christian. They aren't repelled by holy water or crucifixes or prayer, and in fact God and Jesus barely get mentioned in the series and never come up as a potential solution. They're kind of secular as demons go, and maybe that made them easier to stomach. But overall, demons ranked pretty low in the hierarchy of monsters to me - they were too tainted by the religion that spawned them for me to enjoy.

Until college, anyway. I quietly renounced my faith during my Freshmen year, and then, as if seeking one last chance at redemption in my eyes, the devil came to me again the following year. That's when I had a class on Medieval literature, and was exposed to far older devil stories than I had ever seen before. And Medieval devils kick ass. They have so much more personality and variety than I had come to expect, and some are downright affable, even sympathetic to a degree. It was one of many moments in college when I realized there was much more to a topic I'd previously written off as boring and trite.

This is when I read Dante's The Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost and Marlowe's Faust and Ben Johnson's The Devil Is An Ass. It's when I read early Gothic Horror novels like Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk, and dived into The Twilight Zone, which has more than a few episodes that are updates of medieval-style devil folktales in a more modern (i.e. 1960's) setting. And so many of these works presented the Devil not as a stand-in for everything Christianity hates, but as a person - a deeply flawed person, yes, but a person with actual wants and feelings and thoughts of his own, a person who was interesting and compelling - and sometimes funny, and sometimes charming, and sometimes really sad. There was, dare I say... sympathy for the devil growing in my heart.

In the last year of my undergraduate studies, I attended my college's yearly Medieval Studies Congress, where people from all over the world came to Kalamazoo just to share their research papers on medieval history and literature. One girl's thesis paper was on the subject of "rueful devils," i.e. depictions of demons in literature where they wanted to repent their sins and redeem themselves, which uniformly ended with the devils' hopes being dashed as they could not fully repent. This idea... possessed me. The idea that the devil could repent, or at least try to - that there could be hope even in the most debauched sinner. It was such a good narrative trope in my eyes - why did it die out centuries ago?

Well, because the church didn't like it, you see. If the devil can repent - if the Absolute King of Evil can choose to become a good person - then he's not very useful as a tool to make people hate the innocent anymore. The devil MUST be "pure evil" to work as intended. A rueful devil, a repentant devil, a devil that can be redeemed, forces us to be more forgiving and kind. It forces us to be better. It prevents us from hating people because an old book says so. And some people just couldn't have that, and so the trope died.

...

After I got my bachelor's degree, I entered the job market and, after applying to fifty different places or so, was finally hired as a high school english teacher about two weeks before the school year started. Said school year was the worst year of my life. Like, I've had extreme self loathing issues and suicidal ideation since, like, sixth grade, but holy shit it was NEVER as bad as it was in that nine month stretch between 2012 and 2013. There was this bridge I had to cross on the way to work each morning, and about two months in the job was so stressful that part of my morning routine was thinking, "You know, if I just swerve to the right, this can all be over and I'll never have to worry again." About halfway in I began drastically losing weight despite not changing my diet or getting more exercise and it was so traumatic that to this day whenever my weight starts to drop my initial reaction is dread rather than excitement. I impulse bought the first two Kung-Fu Panda movies and, after watching each for the first time and crying hideously, proceeded to watch them on repeat for an entire weekend while sobbing myself hoarse for reasons I couldn't comprehend at the time.

I was in Hell. And the devil met me there.

I started writing a story during that year. I didn't get very far, just a couple chapters, but it was one of the few things that gave me a sense of accomplishment. Despite all the stress and sadness and misery, I made something. It was a story about demons, and Hell, and trying to make your life better even when the world around you seems deadset on making you suffer as much as possible.

When my bosses called me into their office at the end of that year and told me that I had to quit my job so the assistant principal could take my teaching position and survive the downsizing they'd get next year, and that if I didn't quit they'd give me the lowest teacher evaluation they could and make it supremely difficult for me to get hired elsewhere... I was relieved. I'd been let out of Hell. After a handful of months left to finish out the year, I was free.

And then I went home, with nothing. No job, no desire to pursue the career for which I'd spent five years and an ungodly amount of money getting a degree to pursue, no nest egg, nothing. Nothing except a few chapters of a book.

The years that followed were hard. I did a lot of temp work, it took me a very long time to find something that worked for me. I may have left the worst year of my life, but there was still a lot of misery waiting for me. And through it all, I felt the need to accomplish... something, ANYTHING. I had to make something to prove I had a reason to exist, even if it was something that only had value to me.

With three years of work, those chapters became my first novel, No Sympathies: A Tale of Those Who Trespass Against Us. It was about the devil, and Hell, and finding salvation even when things seem inescapably bleak. It was my first novel, and now, eight years later, it's the first of five.

The devil saved my life. He saw me at my lowest, lifted me up, whispered, "It'll be ok. You have to keep going. I'll be with you, but you have to keep going," and goddammit, he kept me from swerving right.

That's when I learned the greatest truth about the devil, at least to me. The devil is a tool to make people hate the innocent, yes, this is true, but because of that, the devil can be a savior for the broken, the beaten, and the damned. You can feel like you're worthless, wretched, and doomed. But if the devil can rise from Hell, if the devil can choose to change, if people are willing to pray for the one sinner who needs it most - then there's hope for you too, isn't there?

Demons are creatures of rebellion - against God, against nature, against the powers that be, against doom and damnation itself. They were made to be a tool to hurt the innocent, but that's not what they have to be. Devils can lift us up, because no matter how far you fall, no one can say whether it's the end for you except you.

...I would like to point out that I am being figurative here. The devil does not literally exist, at least not in my view of things. He's a fictional character, nothing more. But he's a prolific fictional character, and how we portray him can say so much about us. And, to me, he is a dear friend, despite being imaginary, because the devil was there for me when I was low, and it was on his wings that I rose from doom.

...again, figuratively, not literally.

[darlenicy]

Darcy and Riven – their story and why I ship them

In January 2023 I found my way back into the Winx fandom - more precisely, I created this Tumblr on January 28th, 2023 and since then I have been constantly passionate about this show from my childhood. Most of all, of course, for our three favorite witches. Accordingly, this year I have given a lot of thought and HCs to the Trix and their relationships. Today is the day that I'm going to write down all of these HCs and thoughts I have and tag them properly so that they're easier to find in my jumble of posts, reblogs and crazy fangirling. Well, have fun!

I got my first anon ask about Driven headcanons (hcs most of the time now) in march and therefore tried to order my thoughts on this topic as well. It actually became something of a definition of their relationship and how I see them in the show: This is how my bullet journal looks:

Riven is pretty badass. That's why Rivusa doesn't make much sense because ego-wise he would have gone after best-girl-Bloom. Or Princess Stella, but more Bloom, simply because Brandon (Sky) obviously found Bloom interesting.

Then there is Darcy. Not only is she the complete opposite of the loud, glittering fairy gang, but she also forms a stark contrast to Riven. She is powerful, yes, but above all she is calm, goal-oriented and come on in 1x8 we see how cute she is. Of course, Riven likes her power-talk in 1x9 but he surely is keen on her because she is a totally different type of girl than Musa or Stella.

Oh, and an important thing that just came to my mind while supervising what I wrote and putting it into a post: DARCY DID NOT MIND-CONTROL HIM IN CANON!

Her glowing eyes meant that she formed the connection with Riven, so that he could contact her mentally later on in the show!

It's fkn 4kids who came up with the mind control because they tend to downplay everything for all American kids' sake. - Ok back to the post:

In terms of type, if comparted to the fairies, Darcy is mostly like Flora, but in contrast to the nature fairy, she has a much more self-confident demeanor. She is also the first to respond to Riven as a person and his needs (power, being recognized). Then of course there is the matter of rescue. Firstly: Thanks for saving my life and secondly: The woman can ride this flying motorcycle like a guy. Where can you find something like that? And unlike the Winx, who are constantly in trouble, Darcy (and her sisters) is beyond competent (in Season 1 after all, we know how the writing goes down, *sigh*). So, we have Darcy: a beautiful, competent badass BB who just saved his life and looks like an angel that fell from heaven - all in the specialist uniform too - sexyyy. So, it's an extremely attractive girl who also knows guy things and cares about him and really sees and perceives him as a person. She's not a self-centered good-time girl who makes him clean, so she doesn't have to endure her punishment alone (looking at you, Winx....)

But who exactly is Darcy? (she's my girl, my bb, my queen) Out of the Trix, she is probably the one who is least behind the world domination plans. Of course, she is still a member of the Trix - and of course not less power-hungry than her sisters. But she would be the one most likely to give up everything to live a quiet but fulfilling life with the person she loves. Isn't she? She is definitely the first to panic and to make mistakes as a result. We remember episode 1x5, where she immediately panicked when everything didn't work out as planned. She thought she would find Stella's ring in no time, that wasn't the case. Instead of keeping a cool head like Icy would have, she freaks out and starts attacking Bloom. Is it fear because she is running out of time and doesn't know what to do if her disguise is exposed? In any case, Darcy would have been expected to wear a more confident disguise. But in the end, she's the one most likely to panic and this episode shows that perfectly. Maybe that's also the reason why she has clever ideas, but often doesn't think them through. In episode 2x10 she tries to get Icy to put the feather in the scales, fearing that she might have made a mistake and get wiped just like Stormy, who had previously hit the scales with brute force. Icy states very correctly: You’re a backstabbing coward, Darcy. And I love you for that. And with that she the nail right on the head. Darcy is certainly the first of the Trix to get nervous. She certainly has a tendency to overthink, whereas Riven strikes first and thinks later (at best).

Mind control is her specialty. She knows how to get into the minds of her victims to confuse and weaken them. At the same time, she also knows how uncertain and dangerous feelings can be. When it comes to having deep feelings for someone else, she is more likely to be the one who is insecure and cautious. Precisely because feelings are so uncertain, she probably tries to make decisions with her head rather than with her guts.

Their love story is iconic and cute. Basically, we have good girl and bad boy, but the good girl is one of the bad guys and the bad boy is ultimately one of the good guys. They haven't really fought against each other yet. Riven only knows that Darcy is one of the most powerful witches in Cloud Tower and that she and her sisters hate the Winx. Since Riven is skeptical of the Winx himself and has no deeper connection to them, he has little to do with this antipathy from both sides and perhaps only hears about it in passing from Brandon or Sky. So in 1x7 he doesn't pay much attention to the Trix. The fact that he turns on the light and exposes the Trix is once again Riven being Riven. He wants to be the cool dude and doesn't really care about the situation. He simply has no interest in the Winx's affairs and is only pissed when he becomes personally involved with Musa being thrown into his arms by the minotaur. Maybe that’s where his inner hero speaks? But first and foremost, he wants to praise himself. The first time he really notices Darcy is in 1x8, where she represents to him the complete opposite of the fairies, one of which had just shown him up (Bloom).

Darcy, on the other hand, is already interested in Riven in 1x7 and hides the whole thing behind the talk about the Prince of Darkness (seriously, WHO is the Prince of Darkness? Why is that never clarified?). One episode later, she's extremely worried that something might happen to Riven with Icy's, admittedly delicate, plan. bb obviously already has a crush on him. And no one can claim that Icy doesn't know this and is actively using it for her plan. I think that Darcy's feelings didn't matter to her at all, thinking she'd get over it sooner or later. But the fact is, even Icy sees the spark fly between them.

So you could say it was love at first sight for both of them. It is also important for Riven that after all the disappointments and constant criticism he was exposed to at Red Fountain, someone finally recognizes him and his talents. While the Winx, especially Stella, just complained about him, Darcy supported what he was. Partly because she can take advantage of his ambitions, of course, and partly because she simply likes him. I think there are some things Darcy does simply for herself and not because it's part of the plan to rule the Magic Dimension.

From Riven's point of view, what probably also speaks for Darcy is her maturity. She's not a little fairy to save. The opposite is the case. She is probably more experienced in other things too - but that always depends on the respective HC. Darcy can be a bad bitch and cute bb - both are accurate. For me though, she gives more bb vibes than bitch vibes. However, she appears much more mature and confident than the fairies. Speaking of bb (she's one, look at her!) -

she's the type most likely to develop romantic feelings. Icy is too calculating and Stormy is just there for the passion (if you get what I mean). In 2x2 we have this scene "*sigh* To be young and in love...".

She's also the one of the Trix most likely to feel something resembling remorse, if only for her time with Riven. On the other hand, in season 2 we have Riven, who immediately sees through Darcy's attacks - because he knows them. Very well. There is probably still a connection between the two. There could have been more hints about their relationship besides “cute” and “not cute”. There could have been one or two longing looks. I FELL ROBBED.

That’s basically how I interpret their story and why I ship them. I’ll come up with some headcanons these days as well. Stay tuned :3

[eccentricallygothic]

i didn't understand the last two episodes of supernatural at all. was it a covid thing?? it felt like they were written by people who'd never watched the show who just got brought in to wrap it up quickly. why didn't they even try to rescue Castiel from the empty?? that's what I don't understand. I figured when Cass died the last two episodes of the show would be Sam and Dean rescuing him! but he just died and they never mentioned him again! it made zero sense. Dean dying in that stupid way in the finale was totally ridiculous too. a spike through the back?? that he just oops fell on?? it was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Dean has died like a million times already. in way worse ways than that. he always comes back. we know that. we were just supposed to watch that and be like "oh well I guess this time it's for real" like Jack didn't literally just become GOD the episode before?? like they're not friends with a super powerful witch who is the queen of Hell? like Castiel hadn't died and gone to the Empty before and come back?? like they don't know any magic?? it made no sense. they should do more episodes just to erase those last episodes. like start up a new season with Dean waking up from a nightmare in his bed in the bunker and going "wow I'm glad that didn't actually happen. ok! time to go save Cass!"

well, they said it was a covid thing 🤷🏻‍♀️ and i am like, a show that ran for almost 2 decades and had such a huge legacy, couldn't you wait instead of rushing it so bad that it ended up a disaster?

i agree with you 10,000%! even the john and mary come back arc? It felt so out of place if you ask me. they were literally doing anything towards the end.

also yes! cass did so much for them and they never mentioned him again??? they were all about protecting their own and crossing any boundary to do so but the excuse was that the empty doesnt answer to anyone bla bla bla. the entirety of spns runtime was about finding a way! team free will and all. i feel like Misha was forgotten as a whole towards the end

oooff don't even get me started on deans death. it was so fucking lame that it was unreal. a man who came back from hell? survived the mark of cain? fought archangels and endured possession by them? survived purgatory? literally fought god and killed god died just like that? it was extremely stupid and a not fair to his badass character at all

the last episode was a mess. after the shit storm that they boys went through during the shows runtime, it should have honestly been a happy episode because they had earned it and i am not hearing anyone out sorry! for my own mental peace i like to pretend the last episode doesnt exist thank you!

[alexendria-rose]

I loved Stephen's last one, I kept thinking, what would happen if Y/N was tougher and more powerful. She would be an experienced witch like Agatha, but she would be more bitter and sarcastic. She would be like the badass witch who helps Kamar-Taj and everyone is afraid of her, she and Stephen never really got along, but they are "friends". I agree with the previous request, we all love Wong. America was afraid of Y/N because she was a witch, she looks at Stephen and says "your wife scares me" , cuz they are married in every universe , so no Cristine, the love of his life would be the one he "hated" the most. Their song would be Endgame by Taylor, because Y/N is a woman of reputation lol.

I'm brazilian, so if that If it's not understandable, it's Google translate fault.

💖

A/n- OMFG LOVE THIS. No I completely understood! I hope you like what I have my love! 💜

I’m Your Endgame~

Stephen Strange X Reader

Warnings: cussing if you don't like that- honestly thats a warning for all of them lol. and also some witch stuff but- I mean if you watch marvel you fine lol

༺═────────────═༻

Y/n sat at the Sanctum library a book in her hand as she glared up at the other students/sorcerers keeping their distance from the witch. The girl who never uttered a word, the girl who was much more powerful than anyone else around- and that scared all of them. The fact they could easily be in her eye-line and could easily use her powers on them without an hesitation. One of the students walks up to her slightly shaking from her presence.

“U-Um miss-“

“Y/n.” She states looking up at the male student watching his hands shake, the sweat forming on his forehead.

“D-Doctor strange wants to see you in the office.” He stutters before scurrying away from the girl. She rolled her eyes using her red magic powers to put the book back into its place. The students watching it all at the way she didn’t even need to pay attention. She stands up pulling the black hood over her head before using her own magic to open up a portal to the sanctum; walking through the red portal spotting a certain sorcerer at his desk looking over some spells.

“What took you so long.” He grunted while looking up at the woman in front of him. She slowly pulled down her hood staring at him.

“Stupid students- maybe blame them Strange.” She mumbled making her way closer to the desk before sitting herself down on the edge of the desk looking at him with a monotone expression.

“You really do just make yourself at home, don’t you?” He grumbled organizing the papers and books in front of him so she didn’t dare crumble them.

“Have to- with this mess you call home.” She muttered a sharp glare towards his way. “Why did you need me anyhow.” Stephen sighed rubbing his face with his hands.

“After Wanda’s death. I did some research about Westview.” He walked his way around the front of the desk to face her his arms crossed. “Came across a woman named Agatha Harkness, found out she was in a witches coven. Was wondering if you knew of her.” Y/n scrunched her eyebrows looking at the man.

“So you assume I know any witches because I am one?” She scoffed jumping off the desk. Stephen groaned rubbing his face with his hands. “But yes I do know Agatha.” Stephen huffs at her attitude rolling his eyes as well.

“You could’ve just started with that.” He groaned at the witch in front of him. She just smirked leaning against the desk as she looked at him. “Apparently though- Wanda put a curse over here. She can’t use her powers and she is appearing as someone other than Agatha. We’re keeping an eye on her.”

“Oh what shit show did she get into with Wanda to have her powers strip from her.” Y/n laughed softy using her hands to play with her magic. “She probably deserved it knowing her; she was always jealous of my powers.” Stephen quirks an eyebrow at the woman.

“How did you know her anyhow?” He mutters watching the way she played with magic so flawlessly.

“She taught me how to control my powers; found out she mostly just wanted me to strengthen it so she could take it for herself.” She groaned lightly her eyes focusing on the magic. “Guess you could say at one point we were friends.” Stephen watches the woman in front of him, taking in her dark expression, she was always so closed off. It irritated him more than anything; he couldn’t read the witch in front of him. She knew that everyone was scared of her in Kamar-Taj knowing if they ever made her bad side she would absolutely destroy them with one click of her fingers. Maybe that’s why he didn’t exactly like her.

“Didn’t know you had friends.” He replies moving his way back towards the desk his cloak trying to move him back for some irritating reason- he mutters a quick stop it to the cloak.

“I don’t do friends that’s why.” She pulls her hood up covering her face once again. “Just like I don’t have anyone close to me. I have one mission only to protect kamar-taj for Wong, I owe him.” She muttered before disappearing into her portal back to the library. Stephen watched as she disappeared suddenly missing her presence but quickly pushing that thought back down. She was mysterious and powerful, she never bothered to do small talk- she would simply just walk away, she was right she was only here to protect Kamar-Taj not to make friends- so why did it hurt when she said she didn’t have friends.

༺═────────────═༻

Y/n walked through Kamar-Taj keeping her hood slightly up as she watched the young students learning to be a sorcerer. She noticed a girl barely being able to make a spark and Stephen next to her instructing her. Ah- that was the girl who could travel through multiverses. Y/n walks up to the pair pulling her hood down.

“You have to be calm and stop overthinking.” She stated to the teenager, the girl snapping her head quickly. Stephen rolls his eyes.

“America this is-“

“Y/n.” America mutters moving her hands down slowly as she stared at the powerful woman. Y/n chuckles lightly smacking her lips together.

“So America isn’t it? How do you know me?” Y/n said in low tone crossing her arms as she stared at her-Americas face filled with surprise, before looking at Stephen.

“Your wife scares me…” America hummed lowly, Stephen’s eyes widen at her comment.

“Wife what are you talking about!” Stephen grunted crossing his arms as well as he glared daggers towards America but also showing a hint of disgust but also sort of flutter hit his chest at the idea. Y/n face scrunched up at her words shaking her head before laughing.

“Oh god, wife?” Y/n snorted. “Have fun with her Stephen. I’ll keep an eye on you America.” She muttered turning away from the pair. Stephen continues to look at America his arms crossed like he was a pissed off dad. America bites her lip looking up at Stephen.

“You’re telling me- you aren’t married yet?” America giggled lightly looking at the blush that raised to Stephen’s cheeks.

“What do you mean “married yet?”” Stephen uttered trying to contain the fluttering in his stupid chest but it didn’t help that his cloak was basically rubbing his cheeks to make fun of it-Stephen smacks his cloak away muttering another stop it.

“You and her are together in every universe I’ve met a Stephen strange. I mean it makes sense- she has always scared me though.” America laughs trying not to snort at his expression that turned to be full on flushed. “Christine was never the one for you- every universe you guys don’t end up working but that witch was always the one to fascinate you.” Stephen brushed his go-tee with his hand as he thought about what she said- but also he thought about when he went into the multiverse with America and how the conversation with his other self made much more sense.

༺═────────────═༻

“Are you happy Stephen?" Sinister Strange snarled. "That's what Christine told us." Stephen hitched a breath looking at Sinister Strange looking out the window catching a glimpse of other Christine. Sinister Strange laughed wickedly. " I said of course I'm happy- I lost the love of my life what I thought anyhow." Stephen tilts his head towards him.

"I just need the Darkhold please." Stephen hesitated bringing his hand out indicating him to give him the book.

"You don't realize what you have do you?" Sinister Strange taunted walking towards Stephen slowly as he crossed his arms. "Still obsessed with Christine not realizing what you have right in front of you? The one thing we thought irritated us the most- might say a witch?" He smirks, Stephen scrunched his eyebrows in a confused manner. "Oh god you still don't realize huh? Well how about this- you and I swap universe so I can have the one person I lost."

"Yeah how about no." Stephen grunted-

༺═────────────═༻

Y/n sat on the bench late at night looking up at the stars as she idly played with the magic in her hands- she often wondered if what she had was a curse on her; or it if was the help the common good. She didn't like that people were afraid of her but it easier then keeping people close- after killing her parents at such a young age, she promised herself to not let people see the real her. To keep herself guarded from that fact, so she rather then be feared then let herself open up so easily. The only person she even considered to open up was with Stephen- even though he irritated her and got under her skin she often wondered why; she never let anyone get under her skin- mostly she was still deep in thought about what America had said; it rattled her core for some unknown reason.

"What are you doing out here this late?" She heard a deep voice say in calm tone. She put her hood down letting her hair flow down and her deep e/c eyes look towards the voice- none other then the devil himself, Stephen Strange. Y/n sighs softly moving her eyes back to the stars that littered the sky wondering if anyone would ever find out how many stars are actually up in the sky. "Deep in thought I presume?" He sits himself down on the bench next to her his blue robe swishing around as he does. She looks at him a small smirk on her face.

"I guess you could say that." She muttered softly her eyes landing back on his- her stomach fluttering just a bit; realizing this she looks away from those stupid cheekbones.

"This is a perfect spot for that." He smirk his eyes wandering towards her.

"It's just so beautiful- the only thing that will ever make sense to me." She whispered under her breath. Stephen continue to look at her through his lashes- his breath hitching at the sight of her; it was like ever since America said what she did his eyes opened up and he cursed himself for not noticing it until now. She was so strong, so independent, the wind blew her hair like it was meant for her, the way her eyes gleamed at the sight of stars and the small smile that placed on her face- like shes never felt so much peace until now.

"I agree." He muttered as he continue to stare at her his heart racing thinking of her being the only thing to make sense to him- her beauty couldn't even be compared to the stars because right now all he could look at was her. She glanced at him seeing him stare at her made her body shiver at his intense stare.

"What?" She asked in a soft tone, her facial features contorted in confusion as he continue to stare at her, but a small smile still placed on her face.

"You know I don't think I've even seen you smile." He whispered softly his hand slightly grazing against hers subconsciously, her breath hitching at the contact but trying not show it.

"That's because people are scared of me and never talk to me." She mumbled keeping her eyes locked onto his. "Why do you anyhow?" She added tilting her head to the side as she continued to stare at those piercing blue eyes.

"That's because you have something beautiful inside of you. It's hard for some people to tell, but it is there- because I see it." He muttered his face moving closer to hers, her heart thumped against her chest her eyes flicking towards his lips back to his eyes, before finally his soft lips were against hers and she swore she felt something she never had before. He moved his lips against hers in sync, her hand instantly moving to his cheek, this was her fist kiss, this was the first time this has ever happened to her. He pulls back from the kiss a small smirk on his face, she blushed a deep red her eyes piercing into his.

"What was that?" She mumbled, he chuckled deeply watching the way her face was flustered but blank making sure not to show how affected she was.

"A kiss." He joked around, she groaned punching his arm lightly.

"I know! Do it again." She grumbled, he chuckled before cupping her cheeks smashing his lips against hers- making sure he was never going to let this beautiful powerful witch slip through his fingers.

༺═────────────═༻

A/n- Here is my Masterlist! Come check it out and please please if there anything you want me to do, private message me or press that request button!

(Masterlist)

[chara7478]

Okay so people liked my manipulation rant- well HERE YA GO MORE :D

Okay the whole Brendok incident. So much to unpack, so I'll take it bit by bit. First; Indara is a badass queen, hell yeah. She singlehandedly forced like 20 witches out of the Wookie guy's head, and was WISE, unlike someone *cough cough Sol*

Sol there honestly, he made a LOT of mistakes. He was prioritising Osha, and trying to follow what he thought the Force was guiding him to but he also was juggling what he wanted; a Padawan. Now, Osha did want to go, yes. But Sol's desire for a Padawan indirectly killed the coven, and him not telling her made it worse because now he has to carry that weight around. Mae ACCIDENTLY caused the fire- she was scared, she didn't mean it. She wanted her sister to stay. She had to wake up, alone, drag herself out of that out, and walk past all of those dead bodies. ALSO SOL KILLED MOTHER ANISEYA?? BRO CHILL WITH THR LESBIAN GAY SPACE WITCHES-

And bro, the Padawan there- the one who got manipulated, idk his name. Wasn't his fault. Nuh uh. Mother ANISEYA forcefully intruded on his mind. He wanted to get off the planet, who could blame him. Remember, desire is a path to the Dark side FOR A REASON. desire, desperation, fear, anger. All of those, Sol would have been feeling and honestly, that would have clouded his judgement A LOT. but man, chill.

[2urban2fantasy]

I think Godwyn has a more profound role to fulfill in the setting than just being yet another entry in FromSoft's lineup of Big Dudes in Armor.

Yes, yes, Prince of Death, hero of a downtrodden people, somehow got his main ho pregnant despite being a fish (?) but listen.

They set up an absolutely badass concept of someone who was, at the time, the firstborn of Marika’s line, a paragon of the Golden Order, someone who was so incredible that he both fought and befriended the leader of the dragons and halted a war. He also satisfies the conditions of a “wrong” death that would send his soul to the Shadow Realm, which if he remembers I’m sure he has Feelings about being used so Ranni can have her rebel goth witch phase.

But also I just want to fight the lightning dragon pretty boy okay? I can already imagine him being a lightning user but in his second phase he fights like a dragon communion user. That plus the bloodflame aspect he gets from Mohg would be epic. Imagine the powers you could get from his remembrance

[deconstructthesoup]

Y'know what, screw the "voice designs get unlocked when you unlock the voices," I love all these ladies and I'm gonna talk about them.

So!

Apprentice is basically dressed like a cute wizard girl you'd see in an anime or video game---big hat, comfy cloak, frilly skirt, thigh-high boots, and an equally frilly button-up. It's her first day at wizard school, she's starry-eyed and ready to learn, but she's still incredibly naive. She's also got a wand, because how else are you going to learn how to cast spells?

By contrast, Curious is more of a "cozy librarian" type girl---big comfy sweater, big comfy skirt, glasses on a chain. She doesn't have multiple heads or arms or anything like the Stranger does, even though she's a Stranger equivalent, but her features are... floating is the best term I can use to describe it. She's confused, she wants to know more, she's gained through moments where questioning things leads to mixed results---our girl's a bit scattered, and that's okay.

Charming is styled more like your typical Halloween witch---big black hat, black dress, belt stocked with potions, and a badass magic staff. She's still got catlike features, because she wouldn't be herself without them, and... yeah, no, Charming's design is pretty standard, all things considered. She's a devious little magical catgirl.

Warrior is a full-on lady knight. She's fully dressed like your typical paladin---gorgeously designed armor, a billowing cape, and an enormous fuck-you sword. And while she definitely has a bit of an ego, this woman is very much your classic knight devoted to a cause. All of the Voices secretly have a thing for her. Especially Researcher.

Restless is styled in a Victorian fashion---fancy updo, corset, heavy skirts, puffy sleeves---and she looks every bit as ghostly as her canon counterpart. She's someone who can't handle stagnation, and just wants the freedom to be impulsive and crazy... hence, why she looks like the tortured heroine of a gothic novel.

Doll also has a Victorian aesthetic, but it's more akin to, well, a spooky doll---frilly black dress, pigtails, the whole nine yards. I also imagine her, weirdly enough, holding a doll, just so she can have something to squeeze when things get really freaky. She's got Jane Doe vibes.

Humbled is bound in chains like Prisoner is in canon, but she's dressed in rags instead of a princess dress. Her whole thing is that she's been beaten down and made to believe that she's lesser, and her design kind of reflects what it feels like to be at rock bottom and being kicked when you're down---even though she is much smarter than she believes herself to be. (And yes, I am drawing from insecurities based on having been a neurodivergent kid with strict and exacting teachers, what of it?)

Hateful is still a large devil girl, but she's visibly unwell (bags under her eyes, sunken features, regularly coughs up blood), she's dressed in a hospital gown, and there's still IVs in her arms that aren't attached to anything but are nigh-on impossible to remove. I've considered renaming her Voice of the Patient, except she's... well, the opposite of patient. She's essentially meant to be someone who is sick and is getting worse by the minute, but keeps on fighting anyway because she doesn't know how to do anything else.

Prepared still has a lot of animalistic features in her design, though she looks less like a prowling beast and more like someone who's well on their way to becoming one---basically, werewolf vibes. She's kind of meant to be a contrast to the Inventor's more industrial style, representing a natural force that's apprehensive towards all the metal and gears and is hell-bent on proving that he doesn't have an advantage. She has the instincts of an animal, and she can guide us through... hopefully.

And last but not least, Rebel is the most modern out of everyone else---baggy pants, combat boots, chain wallets, leather jacket, the whole shebang. If the Substitute is the teacher who has no idea what he's doing, then Rebel is the student who's slacking off, cutting class, and has no other motivation other than to be a thorn in authority's side. In my opinion, the Razor is the only one who really breaks away from all the fantasy vibes of all the other vessels, and I think that should carry over into her voice equivalent.

[bellaxgiornata]

Falling For the Devil [Part twenty-four: "The Devil and the Baker"]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Summary: You, Karen, and Marci go Halloween costume shopping. Days later, the three of you meet Matt and Foggy at the bar for Halloween.

Or

Matt uses his hands to figure out what your costume is–-or an excuse to feel you up. Then you both spend a very sexually tense evening at the bar in a dangerous game of secret public foreplay.

[Series of one-shots about Reader meeting, falling for, and dating Matt Murdock.]

Warnings: 18+ for this series; contains humor, fluff, romance, angst, smut (like...a lot of it later in the series), language, some violence

Word Count: 4.7k

a/n: This installment actually has a naughty part two smupdate called "The Leather Couch" to look forward to afterwards. But there's lots of Spicy Matty in this one! You can find all of the installments for this series on tumblr here.

“What did you say you and Foggy were going as?” Karen asked Marci.

Your eyes scanned the rows of women’s Halloween costumes the three of you were standing before, spotting everything from witches and clowns to sexy maids and cats. You still weren’t entirely sure what you were going to dress up as and Matt had been adamant about not sharing his costume with you. The plethora of choices surrounding you wasn’t helping, either.

"Sexy cop and criminal," Marci answered, standing in front of the handful of various sexy cop costume variations. "I entirely plan to handcuff him to our bed in that little orange jumpsuit and have my way with him later."

"Wouldn't expect anything less from you," you muttered, eyes still scanning the rows of costumes. "What're you thinking of dressing as, Karen? I'm entirely lost here."

Karen sighed beside you, her shoulders sagging with the exhale. "I don't know," she replied. "I was already a skeleton last year. I just don't really feel like putting much thought into a costume when I'm only going to get drunk at a bar, you know?" Her hand reached out, grabbing onto one of the packages before the pair of you. "I don't know, maybe a pirate?" 

“Yeah, you need something a little fiery,” Marci said, apparently finally deciding on one of the many cop costumes before her and pulling it off the rack. 

You paused in front of a costume, a large smile stretching across your face. Grabbing it, you turned and held it out to Karen. “Sexy viking,” you told her. “Totally you.”

Marci’s face lit up as she stepped over, throwing an arm on Karen’s shoulder excitedly. “Yes! It’s badass and totally hot.”

A small grin was on Karen’s face as she accepted the package from your hand, scanning the image on the front of it. “You two sure I can pull this off?” she asked hesitantly.

“With your legs in that little skirt?” Marci asked her. “Uh, yeah. Most definitely.”

Karen shot you a questioning look, one brow raised. You nodded instantly at her.

“That faux suede bralette thing is screaming your name,” you told her.

“Alright, alright, you’ve both convinced me,” she relented. “I’ll be a sexy viking this year.”

Marci’s mischievous gaze landed on you next, a devious smile on her mouth. “We need to find you something sexy for a certain Mr. Murdock,” she purred.

“Oh,” you said hesitantly, “I don’t know if I was going to necessarily go for sexy…”

“Oh come on, live a little!” Marci cried out. “I’m sure Matt would love touching all of that exposed skin all night.”

Karen held up the package with the viking costume, flashing you the image of the skimpily clad woman on it. “If I’m being something sexy, so are you,” she pressed.

With a sigh you gave in. “Fine,” you conceded, quickly holding up a finger and adding, “but nothing too revealing, okay?” 

Marci grinned, turning and grabbing a costume off of the rack and showing it to you. Your eyes went wide before you immediately shook your head.

“Absolutely not!” you declined as Karen giggled.

“What? You don’t want to see just how much of a good Catholic boy he is?” Marci teased, waving the sexy nun costume at you.

“Uh, his mom’s a nun? Kinda weird right there,” you told her, entirely vetoing the idea.

“Ohh, how about a sexy nurse?” Karen suggested, grabbing the costume and showing it to you, waggling her eyebrows meaningfully. “Maybe he needs you to patch him up later?”

You blushed, the idea sounding a little tempting. He would find it amusing and you were sure he’d make some sexual comment to you later–that alone made the idea even more tempting.

“Maybe,” you whispered. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Oh!” Marci exclaimed, grabbing a costume off the rack and holding it out to you. “Sexy judge! You could do some real fun roleplaying with that later, if you know what I mean,” she said, shooting you a sly wink.

And like hell if that also didn’t sound like fun.

“ No ,” Karen breathed out, her hand flying up and grabbing a package from further down the rack, whirling around to you with a knowing smile on her face. “This one.”

You bit your lip, fighting back the smile that was growing on your face as you eyed it. Marci gasped, throwing an arm around your shoulder.

“Now that is one way to find out just how good of a Catholic boy he is,” Marci teased. "And you'd look hot as hell in it."

You grabbed the sexy devil costume from Karen; it was certainly not something you’d have normally picked for yourself. It was a short red pleather corset-style dress where the bottom flared out and wasn’t so form fitting that you'd feel too self-conscious all night. Though it looked like it would just barely cover your ass. There was a devil’s tail attached to the back of the dress and a headband with some devil horns. But the sexiest part of it was probably the thigh-high red fishnet garter socks. And like hell if you weren’t getting some ideas about Halloween night with Matt after the bar just looking at this costume.

And on top of that, it felt a little like openly claiming The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen as yours. He was always your Devil, but for Halloween night you could be his devil. And you were sure he’d appreciate that sentiment.

“Yeah,” you said, glancing up at Karen with a grin. “This is definitely my costume.”

_________

Sliding out of the backseat of the taxi behind Karen, you tried hard to not flash anything underneath your costume. The pleather skirt truly did only just cover your ass, which would be dangerous if you had any reason to bend over tonight. Or if you fell in the three inch heels Marci and Karen had somehow convinced you to wear despite the fact that you'd be drinking tonight. 

"You said they were already here waiting for us?" Karen asked over her shoulder.

You adjusted your dress and the devil horn headband on your head as Marci slid out of the taxi after you.

"Yeah," she answered. "Fog said they were waiting for us outside. Just look for the bright orange jumpsuit."

You and Karen scanned the groups of costume-clad individuals along the sidewalk outside of the bar. Marci was beside you, openly readjusting her tits in the skin tight jumpsuit she had unzipped quite low. Karen started laughing beside you and you glanced at her with a questioning brow.

"They're over there," Karen choked out between laughs, shaking her head as she pointed. "I'm sorry but Matt looks ridiculous."

Your gaze followed where Karen’s finger was pointing. The orange jumpsuit Foggy was wearing caught your eye first until your attention slid to Matt beside him. A hand flew up to your mouth as you laughed. Even from this distance you saw Matt grin beside Foggy, apparently hearing your reaction. 

The three of you made your way over to the pair of them, weaving past the groups of people on the sidewalk. You lost it all over again as you finally reached them. Karen was right, he did look ridiculous, but in an incredibly sexy way.

There was a little white chef's hat on his head and what looked like a few smears of flour on his face underneath his dark glasses. The costume he had on was a pair of tight fitting dress pants and a white and brown pinstriped shirt, the sleeves of which landed just before his forearms and left them exposed to your great delight. There was a brown vest over the top of the shirt, and topping all of that off was a dark apron complete with more flour smears. But what was really killing you was what was written on the apron. It read 'Making them buns' and you snorted loudly upon reading it, completely losing it all over again. 

"What are you supposed to be, a chef?" Marci asked him.

"I'm clearly a baker," Matt told her, gesturing at his apron. "Obviously, if I'm making them buns."

"My idea," Foggy cut in. "With how often I've had to hear him tell me about all the cake jokes about his ass recently."

You were biting your lip, fighting back another round of laughs. That's when Foggy realized what you were wearing and he shook his head, grinning.

"Should have figured you'd dress up as a–"

"Shh!" Marci swatted at her husband, cutting Foggy off. "Matt can use his hands to figure out her costume."

You saw the mischievous smirk immediately draw over Matt's mouth and the way one of his brows rose in extreme interest at Marci’s words. The sight caused your pulse to race a little. The three of you had discussed this in the taxi as you rode over and it had sounded like a good idea at the time, but now you were getting nervous at the prospect of Matt openly roving his hands all over your body. 

"Oh?" Matt curiously asked you. "You mean I have an excuse to feel you up right here and now?" 

Yeah, you were definitely rethinking this idea now with that coy look on his face. This man was purposely going to give you a heart attack.

“Uh, I suppose so,” you answered nervously, feeling shy with your friends standing nearby.

When you didn’t move, Karen nudged you forward into Matt, shooting you a pointed look. You turned to her, about to protest, but she was already focused on Marci and Foggy.

“Hey, why don’t we jump in line and give them a minute,” Karen suggested.

“Yeah, good idea,” Marci agreed, grabbing Foggy’s hand. She shot you a sly look as she added, “But I’m pretty sure Matt is going to need more than a minute.”

The three of them wandered off to join the queue for the bar and your attention returned to Matt before you. That coy smirk was still spread over his lips, his gaze never having left you.

“So now that we’re alone,” he said after a moment, his tone provocative and full of meaning as he paused and licked his lips. “Can I try to guess your costume?”

Your eyes were focused on his mouth, those plump, pink lips now glistening slightly from where his tongue had just wet them. Heart rate spiking a little more, you nodded slowly. 

“Here,” he said, hands rising to your waist, but the moment his hands made contact with the plastic-y pleather of your dress he abruptly stopped, a wicked expression forming on his face. “Oh? Was not expecting that,” he mused, both of his thumbs lightly rubbing along the material of the dress.

A smile spread across his face as he turned, trading places with you so that you were standing against the brick wall of the bar and Matt was standing in front of you. To block everyone else’s view, you quickly realized. Your heart thudded a little harder in your chest at that knowledge.

“You’re awfully quiet, are you alright with this?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you breathed out.

Upon your consent, his hands slowly slid their way up your hips, climbing higher as the smirk grew on his face. Gradually they snaked their way up over your rib cage until both of his large palms paused at your breasts. The contrast between the heat of his hands with the cold of your skin in the late October evening had goosebumps dappling every inch of your bare skin. Matt squeezed your breasts roughly over the material of your dress and you gasped out, thighs tightening together.

“I have no idea what you are,” he whispered, tone low and sultry, “but I am quite enjoying finding out.”

“You uh, might have more luck with feeling the back of it,” you told him, voice wavering a little.

A playful noise vibrated in his throat before he gave your breasts one last squeeze, and then his hands were quickly sliding down your body, making their way to the back of the dress. Eventually he found the little devil’s tail and you saw his brows furrow as his hands felt along the length of it.

“Well, clearly a tail,” he thought aloud. “Are you a cat? Even though–” his head tilted to the side as his eyes narrowed behind his lenses, hands still touching the tail, “–this doesn’t quite feel like a cat’s tail.”

You shook your head along the brick wall you were pressed up against, smiling a little. “No, not a cat,” you told him.

“Hmm,” he hummed out, his smile returning. "What color is the dress?"

"Red," you answered quickly.

His hands dropped lower, gliding down over the curve of your ass. Feeling his fingers splay wide over each cheek beneath the fabric, he abruptly gave your ass a firm squeeze next. You bit your lip, fighting the growing heat between your thighs. You both were, after all, still in public.

“Well isn’t this short?” he murmured when the tips of his fingers grazed your actual ass under the dress, the fabric having ridden up while he’d been roughly kneading your ass. “Oh, sweetheart,” he almost purred, both hands having fully slipped under the back of the dress to grab at your bare ass. “Are you not wearing anything under this?” he whispered into your ear, the tip of his nose nuzzling into your cheek.

“Just–just a thong,” you answered, brain feeling like it was turning to mush in your skull with the way his calloused hands were openly playing with your ass. “Wasn’t feeling quite that daring tonight.”

Matt stepped closer to you and you could feel the slight bulge forming in his pants and pressing into your leg. His forehead dropped down to your shoulder, resting there as his nails lightly dug into the flesh beneath his hands. You fought back a moan, trapping it in your throat.

“I don’t even care about the bar at this point,” he said slowly, head still buried along your bare shoulder. “I just want to fuck you.”

A wave of pure want and arousal washed its way down your body and your eyes briefly closed, trying hard to control yourself. “We should–should probably stay for just a bit, at least,” you stammered out. Though your own desire to have his cock buried in you was making you want to grab a taxi and leave, too.

He sighed against your skin, his hands loosening their grasp on your ass and sliding down the back of your legs, but then he abruptly stiffened against the front of you. One of his fingers tugged at the fishnet thigh-high stockings you had on and you couldn’t resist the smile. Both of his hands began feeling around your thighs as a little whine came from his throat.

“Sweetie, are you wearing fishnet stockings and a garter?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you whispered.

He inhaled sharply, a faint groan coming from him next. “Fuck,” he throatily ground out. “You want to torture me tonight, don’t you, sweetheart?”

“I wasn’t exactly expecting this reaction,” you admitted.

Matt lifted his head, gently nipping at your shoulder. A shudder ran down your spine when he lightly kissed the spot afterwards.

“So what are you?” he asked curiously.

Tentatively you reached down, grabbing one of his hands from your thigh. He allowed you to raise his hand, drawing it all the way up to the headband on your head. You watched as his head canted to the side a bit, eyes narrowing behind his dark lenses as his fingers felt up the headband.

“Ears?” he asked.

You shook your head. “Horns,” you whispered.

A slow, sinful smile snuck its way along his lips. His hips bucked forward into you, pinning you further into the wall behind you. Both of his hands came to land on either side of your neck, thumbs lightly brushing along your throat. You were sure he could feel your pulse jumping under your skin right now.

“You’re a devil?” he guessed.

“Mhmm,” you hummed, nodding your head. “ Your devil tonight.”

His bottom lip rolled between his teeth, a soft hiss emitting from him as his head turned to the side. You could see his eyes clamp shut behind his glasses before he swallowed hard a few times.

“Do you have any idea,” he said after a moment, voice low, “how hot that is?”

Reaching out, your hands finally landed on Matt, resting them on his hips. Gently you pulled him closer to yourself, grinning up at him.

“I was hoping you’d like it,” you told him, fingers toying with the strap of his apron. 

His gaze finally landed back on you, his jaw clenching so hard you could see the muscles in his cheeks twitching. Your hands tightened along his hips at the sight.

“I’ve got a few ideas of what I want to do to you in this tonight,” he murmured. “So I hope you’re prepared for it.”

“Well,” you teased lightly, feeling a little bold with how turned on Matt already was, “we have a couple of hours here first. I’m pretty sure we can both find ways to…prepare for it.”

His tongue darted out along his lips again, your eyes following its movement. He smirked a moment later, one of his hands leaving your throat, dragging the backs of his fingers over your body as he gradually lowered it between your breasts, down your ribcage, past your stomach, and then finally up under your dress. Without hesitation his index finger slipped past your thong and swiped along your clit ever so faintly. Your body jolted, a strangled moan falling from your lips before you could stop it. Your eyes widened as a thrill shot through you, your mouth clamping shut.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “Pretty sure I can get you nice and prepared , sweetheart.”

_________

Your arms were wrapped around Matt’s neck, the front of you flush to the front of him as your bodies’ grinded against each other slowly and sensually to the pop music playing in the bar Marci had picked out. You’d had just enough to drink tonight that the part of your brain programmed to overthink was muted, allowing the pair of you to join the plethora of other costumed bar patrons grinding against each other.

Matt’s hands were low on your back, pressing his palms hard into you to keep you close to his body. Gazing up at him, you smiled at the smears of flour along his cheeks and chin. He’d told you the flour was Foggy’s idea along with the costume–all thanks to Katy and her constant ass comments that Matt had apparently divulged to Foggy.

As if he sensed you looking at him, he glanced down at you, a little smile drawing over his lips under the dark red lenses. Warmth filled your chest, the feeling having nothing to do with the alcohol in your system or the amount of people packed in the bar.

“What’s on your mind, sweetheart?” Matt asked. 

You shook your head lightly, a grin on your own lips as you slid one of your hands out from behind his neck. Reaching up, your fingers traced the line of his stubbled jaw, his head leaning into the touch as he always did. 

“Nothing,” you answered, just loud enough that you knew he could hear you. And without your mind overthinking, you blurted, “I love you.”

His smile somehow grew, the corners of his eyes crinkling just at the edges of his glasses. “I love you, too, sweetheart,” he said.

Closing the distance between your mouths, his nose lightly bumping against yours as he did, Matt kissed you. Your eyes closed instantly, head tilting up further towards him as your hand held his cheek. He tasted faintly of the beer he’d drank as his soft, plush lips greedily kissed your own. The hand you had still behind his neck snuck its way up, just far enough for you to gently tug on his hair. The responding shudder from him had you unconsciously grind your hips into his a little too sensually.

Matt’s mouth broke away, his forehead coming to rest against yours. He groaned low and you felt one of his hands snake its way down over your ass and up underneath your dress. Your hips jerked into his, fighting down a wave of arousal as his palm felt around the curve of your ass for a moment. Before you even blinked, his fingers slipped over your covered mound, rubbing teasingly along your clit.

“Matt,” you chided quickly, though his name came out half moan, half reprimand.

His hand slid back to your ass, a sly smirk on his mouth as he gazed back down at you. “What?” he asked innocently. “I’m just checking out this delicious cake I’ve got here. I mean I am a baker after all.”

Rolling your eyes, you laughed lightly and stepped a bit back from Matt. “I think I need a drink if you’re going to keep being this handsy,” you informed him.

He continued to flash that sly smirk at you as he said, “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

A few minutes later you were leaning against the bar counter, drinking back your mixed drink and taking a short breather from dancing with Matt. You’d lost Foggy and Marci a little while ago and Karen had found a cute guy shortly after you’d all done a round of shots when you’d first gotten into the bar. After that, the entire night had been nothing but secret foreplay between you and Matt and right now you'd needed a few minutes to catch your breath. 

Matt was now firmly pressed to the back of you, his partially hard dick wedged between your ass. Bending forward, you wrapped your lips around the straw in your glass and took a drink, intentionally shifting your hips against Matt behind you. His right hand on your hip tightened and you grinned around the straw. 

"Careful sweetheart," he whispered, mouth suddenly beside your ear.

Slightly inebriated, you dropped the straw from between your lips, pushing your ass more firmly into him. He grunted, the sound loud with him so close to your ear, and you felt more dampness beginning to pool between your thighs.

"Keep it up," he growled low in your ear, "and I'll be fucking you with my fingers right here until you're cumming on them and calling me baby over this very bar counter." 

He lightly kissed your cheek and your body trembled at the mental image his words elicited. The hand on your hip slid downward and just underneath your short dress, one finger just barely ghosting your damp mound. You flinched at the delicious touch. 

"Don't think I won't," he warned.

Hands fidgeting with the glass in front of you, your cunt throbbed almost painfully at this point as he removed his hand from under your dress. You were beyond sexually frustrated with whatever this game was the two of you had been playing for the past hour and a half. It was torture and you were almost tempted to see if you pushed him enough if he would actually follow through with his threat just so you could get some relief.

Gritting your teeth, you tried to focus on anything besides the feel of him pressed up behind you. As you were trying to take a calm, relaxing deep breath in, you felt Matt tense behind you, an angry growl rumbling in your ear. You frowned, turning over your shoulder to ask him what was wrong, but you quickly caught sight of a brunette barely dressed at all and wearing bunny ears. Your eyes narrowed instantly. 

"You clearly make some nice buns," she slurred out to Matt, biting her lip coyly. 

Eyes darting down, you saw she had her hand on Matt's ass. As he turned around, her hand fell back to her side and a burning rage began coursing through you.

"Excuse me?" Matt shot out, an edge to his voice as his brows furrowed behind his lenses.

"Oh come on," she said, waving a dismissive hand at Matt, entirely disregarding how upset he was. "You can't have an ass in pants that tight, walking around wearing an apron advertising how great of an ass you do have and expect no one to touch it."

Matt opened his mouth to respond, but the anger rippling through you cut him off before he even began.

"Are you really trying to say he was asking for it?" you hissed at her, pushing off the bar and coming to stand in front of Matt. "Because of how he was dressed ?"

"Well, I mean–"

"You don’t just grab at people," you continued, venom in your voice and alcohol dulling your nerves. "You like it when strange men grab at you? Tell you that you were asking for it when they do? That if you didn't want that kind of attention you shouldn't dress a certain way?"

"Well, no–"

"Apologize to my boyfriend," you ordered, eyes narrowed at the young woman.

Startled, she blinked a few times before pink tinged her cheeks. "I uh, I'm sorry," she muttered to Matt. 

"Just because he's a man doesn't mean he doesn't deserve the same respect as women deserve," you told her. "Remember that."

She nodded quickly before ducking her head and disappearing. You stared after her, teeth grinding against each other. Matt slowly slipped a hand around your waist, drawing you gradually into his side. 

"Not that I couldn't have handled that," he said, burying his face into your hair, "but thank you.” His lips gently kissed your temple which was a stark contrast to how he was quickly tightening his hold on you. “That was also incredibly sexy of you,” he said, “defending my honor and all.”

You unclenched your jaw and focused back on Matt, trying to release the anger that had abruptly overtaken you at the young woman brazenly grabbing Matt’s ass. He was grinning down at you, though there was definitely something more behind that grin. Exhaling a sharp breath, you ran a hand across your forehead.

“Sorry,” you grumbled. “Double standards like that piss me off. And besides–” you began, glancing back up at Matt as a grin formed on your own lips; feeling emboldened by the alcohol in your system, your hand darted out behind Matt and firmly grabbed his ass, “–that’s my ass.”

His hand drew you firmly into him before his mouth descended onto yours. Pulling your hand from his ass, both of yours wound their way around his neck, holding him flush against yourself yet again. Matt’s mouth kissed yours with a growing intensity, but you could certainly feel the restraint he was practicing. You, on the other hand, were already nibbling on that soft, perfect bottom lip of his and needily whimpering against his mouth. Matt was the one who had to break the kiss in an attempt to keep you from tearing his costume off in the middle of the bar when one of your hands began tugging at the collar of his shirt.

“I just want you to know,” he told you, breathing hard as he lowered his face so that his lips were brushing your ear as he spoke, “that I’m going to take you back to my place when you finish that drink and I’m going to fuck you absolutely senseless in that devil costume.”

You swallowed hard as he straightened up beside you, a hungry look on his face as he sightlessly gazed down at you. With a shiver running down your body, you returned to your drink at the bar, quickly wrapping your lips around the straw and drinking the alcohol down. Matt returned to his place behind you, pushing you into the counter with his hips as one of his hands slid beneath your dress, his fingers lightly gliding along your cunt through your underwear. For the briefest of moments your eyelids closed, your eyes rolling back as the straw dropped out of your mouth, fighting back a throaty groan.

[ofstarsandvibranium]

My You-niverse: Laurent LeClaire

Fandom: Oscar Isaac

Pairing: Laurent LeClaire x F!Reader

Summary: You and America get stuck portal jumping until you reach your universe again. In the meantime, you meet various versions of your husband.

Series Masterlist

The man, face similar to your husband's, thick, brown wavy locks, looks at you with concerned brown eyes.

You look down to see yourself now downing some...really old looking clothing. 19th century, perhaps? Since when did America's powers now come with a wardrobe change?

"Mademoiselle, are you alright?" he lends out a hand towards you.

You reach for his hand and wince. You look down to see a dark red stain on your sleeve.

America rushed to your side, also wearing a 19th century dress. She presses a hand to your arm and you wince. She then looks up at your husband's doppleganger, "She needs help!"

The man immediately rushes to help you stand, an arm wrapping around you to hold you up, "We must move, quickly."

You nod, trying to keep up with his hurried pace, "What are your names?"

"America," your young friend answers, "and this is Y/N."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

You can't help but scoff, "Are you this charming to every woman?"

"Only the ones that come falling out of nowhere from a strange light," he peers at you with a smirk.

America hurries her pace, "Yeah, we'd appreciate it if you actually don't tell anyone about that?"

"Are you witches of some sort? Devil worshippers?" he gives a scrutinizing gaze to America.

You grunt an answer, "No. We don't know what happened. One moment, some men were chasing us, the next we're here. We're just as confused as you are." you give a look to America, letting her know that that's the story you two are going with.

She nods, "That's right."

The man appears a bit unconvinced, but says, "Alright."

"You know our names, what's yours?" you ask and the man leads you to a village.

"Laurent. Laurent LeClaire."

"And what do you do Laurent?"

"I'm a painter." You can't help but scoff at his answer and he cocks a brow at you, "Something amusing?"

You shake your head, "You just remind me of someone."

"Your husband?" Laurent asks. You open your mouth to question him but he gestures to your hand, "Your wedding ring."

You don't say anything else. The three of you remain in silence until you're led into a small hospital. They allow America to go with you, but Laurent stays behind.

"Thank you for your help, Laurent."

He gives a silent nod to you and then America before you're ushered back to get your arm looked at.

______________

After a nurse cleans and wraps up your arm, you're left alone with America.

She's awkwardly rocking in the bed beside yours, "Soooo...do you think we're just going to keep running into Marc's dopplegangers?"

You snort, "I'm not the one with portal powers. Also, since when did your powers come with wardrobe changes?"

The young Avenger held up her hands, "Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are. That's never happened before." then she gasped, "Do you think I'll eventually be able do those badass costume like Thor?!"

You snort, "Guess you'll have to keep training and see."

The doctor, an old man, approached you two, "Alright, mademoiselle," he says looking at you, "as long as you keep your wound clean and change the bandages every few hours, you should be well on your way to complete health."

"Thank you, doctor," you say to the old man, standing and giving him a grateful smile. You then nod to America to follow you and you two are exiting the building.

"Y/N!" you hear a call of your name and see Laurent walking towards you.

You look at him with surprise, "Laurent! You're still here?"

He softly smiles and you see the look your husband would give you when it was just the two of you, "Yes, I just wanted to make sure everything went well."

"She'll recover," America intrudes, "She's strong so.."

"That's good to hear." he responds. The two of you continue to look at each other, leaving your young companion feeling a bit awkward.

"Sooooo I think we should go now, Y/N."

You take a step back from Laurent, "Of course. We need to find our way back home." You go to turn, but a hand catches your arm.

"It's getting dark," Laurent says, pointing to the sky, "Two ladies such as yourselves shouldn't be wandering. Who knows, you might run into the men who attacked you again. You need rest."

You shake your head, "We don't-"

"You can stay the night at my home." Laurent offers a solution with a smile, "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you two. The inns are dodgy and can be unsafe."

"I suppose we can rest for the night...?" you reply with also a questioning gaze to America. She gives you a look as if what you're saying is the most ridiculous thing in the world. The look you give back to her silently asks, 'What choice do we have?'. She sighs and then you look back to Laurent with a smile, "We'll take you up on that offer, Laurent, thank you."

"Wonderful," he holds out his arms to you and America, "Shall we?"

He leads you to his small home a short distance away from the main streets of the village.

At his home, Laurent treats you and America to a small meal. Nothing fancy, but just something to fill your bellies enough to be satisfied. He then led you and America to his bedroom where you two will be sharing a bed.

You look at him with concern, "Where will you sleep?"

"Don't worry about me. I will make do."

"Laurent-"

"Sssshhh," he presses a finger to your lips and your breathing stills. He's close. His skin touching yours. Your body suddenly feels on fire. You see your husband, your Marc. You see his eyes, the intensity and playfulness, the mischief, the...slimmer of darkness.

With a gulp, he steps back and nods to America and then you, "Goodnight, ladies." He promptly leaves the room and you don't take a breath until the door shuts.

America plops onto the mattress, "Not gonna lie, that was a little uncomfortable to watch."

You roll your eyes, "Let's just go to bed."

Eventually, you and America are laying beside each other. America is out like a light, but you...you're still awake. Your thoughts mull over the recent events. Marc, the whole Blue Jones thing, and now Laurent. You knew, from what America's told you, that various universes exist. This means there are different versions of you, America, and Marc.

As you and America try to get back home, would you be encountering a different version of Marc every time?

These thoughts plague you, the endless possibilities, the desire to see your husband, hoping to get back home soon.

You've become restless. You're tossing and turning in the bed that smells like Marc's doppleganger. His face, the way he looked at you, plagues your mind.

Eventually, you're out of bed and stepping out of the room with a sheet wrapped around you.

You make your way to the living room where you see Laurent is still up. He's standing by the fire, painting on an easel.

He looks up and sees you, "You're still awake."

"So are you," you point out, holding the sheet tight against you for warmth.

"What ails you?" he asks as he continues to paint.

"It's been a very eventful day and I can't seem to ease my mind."

"We share the same ailments I see." he's concentrated on his task at hand. So much so that his brows are furrowed and you're reminded of Marc again. You sigh and begin to fiddle with your ring.

"Tell me about him," Laurent speaks again. When you look up, he clarifies, "Your husband. Tell me about him."

You set yourself on a cushion beside the fireplace. You stare at the dancing orange and yellow hues, "His name is Marc. He's...stubborn, a little selfish, but also brave and caring. He's brash, but also gentle. He's funny and annoying. When he upsets me, he always goes out and comes home with my favorite flowers and sweets. He's the love of my life." You then turn to look up at Laurent, "Do you have someone?"

He shakes his head, "No. Many say I'm married to my paintbrush though. I spend so much time with it."

You smile up at him, "I'm sure you'll find that person you're meant to be with."

He hums in response and you don't necessarily know if it's in agreement or not.

You move off the cushion you were sitting on, now using it to rest your head on as you lay on your side. You continue watching the fireplace until your eyes flutter close.

...

"Wake up, sweetheart."

You groan and your eyes open. Your vision still blurry but you see a figure standing over you.

"Wake up, honey, come on."

"Marc?" you rasp out and rub the sleep away from your eyes.

As your vision clears, you see another version of Marc standing there. However, he's bald and is donning glasses and a thick beard.

He cocks a brow at you, "Who the fuck is Marc?"

You sit up and realize you're sitting at a desk. A paper sticks to your cheek and you pull it away. You skim through it and see "Nathan Bateman" and "Blue Book".

"Nathan-"

"Listen, sweetheart, I don't pay you to sleep all day. You were supposed to transcribe these for me and because you fell asleep, it's setting me back by a day. Wake the fuck up."

You watch as Nathan waltzes out of the room and you're left shocked and jaw to the floor. This universe's version of your husband is a fucking dick!

[kakesuki]

Some Regulus thoughts because that boy lives rent free in my head.

I honestly dislike when he is characterized as a poor abandoned puppy that was just lost in life and crying at the smallest inconvenience because that's just not my Regulus.

For me, that boy was actually an amazing brain. I view him as a morally grey person to the core; my head canon is that actually, unlike the opinions that he genuinely felt bad for the muggles, he just didn't care. For me Regulus would just view himself superior to most and couldn't care less about who's dying. He wouldn't actually want to go out of his way to kill them, but he wouldn't feel bad for it either. I feel like he would be the kind of person that wouldn't give a shit until things actually touch him.

He canonically cared for his house elf and since they are technically at the very bottom, like even muggle born witches and wizards disrespects them, in my mind the whole blood purity thing wouldn't matter to him. Considering the headcanon that he's friend with Dorcas, Pandora, Barty and Evan for me Regulus would actually judge based on the power abilities. And that's what I think he was seeking by following Voldemort.

For me, he wanted power. I don't think of him as a Voldemort fanboy because once again I just view Regulus as someone who is too proud for that. Boy was a black; the idea of him following someone, even the dark lord himself, with heart shaped eyes gives me the irk. He admired him; admired his power, followers and the fact that people were scared of him, for sure, but not to the point where he was loyal or anything of the kind.

Regulus wasn't forced to follow Voldemort, he choosed to because yes that man is a monster but he's still a great wizard. And honestly? Fair.

And because of all of those reasons when Voldenort touched something that was his, one of his properties, someone he actually cared about, Regulus betrayed him. Because in the end the boy is a black, not some small little doll you can play with and toss around afterwards. That was a direct insult to him and to his name, and I don't see him letting that slide.

He was obviously intelligent, and I prefer thinking that he figured the whole horcruxes thing himself. And his letter just...go with that idea I have of Regulus so much.

I love when he's written like a martyr, don't get me wrong, but dark Regulus just hit different. Regulus who IS the prince and Slytherin and embraces that position. The 'baby black' surname is really really cute of course, but I can't imagine him letting that slide from anyone who isn't one of his direct friends. And, for some reason, I also feel like he wouldn't like Snape. Not for the same reasons as Sirius (Even if I do think that the fact Sirius hates him would also affect his opinion, because even with all that in my mind he'd still genuinely live his brother. At least in secret), but just...still not like him. Probably recognizing his talent, and who knows even sharing the same circles when Snape was with Lucius, but just keeping his distance from him because there is no world where they would be friends.

In conclusion, for me Reg is a badass that actually only does what HE wants when HE wants.

[jedimandalorian]

According to the latest Star Wars Chronology, the years 9 ABY to 19 ABY are called the “Peace of the New Republic.”

It is likely that the Ahsoka series and its sequels and crossovers all take place in this time period, which means

1. Lucasfilm will have to retcon this chronology because Thrawn starts another galactic war.

or

2. Thrawn finds out that the Emperor he once served is dead and the Empire has fallen, so he goes home to the Chiss Ascendancy in the Unknown Regions.

and/or

3. The Nightmothers were just using Thrawn to get to Dathomir, just as Thrawn was using them to get back home to the main SW galaxy. Now that the witches have achieved their goal, they will betray Thrawn and/or he will betray them.

and/or

4. There will be an effort by the heroes of The Mandalorian, the Ahsoka show, and other members of the Ghost Crew to stop a war. There will be an armed conflict with little or no help from the New Republic, and the brave unsung heroes save the galaxy from a bigger war that could have happened but didn’t.

Likely character deaths or transformations: Thrawn. Ahsoka.

Possible romance arcs completed: DinBo, Sabezra.

Cultures reborn/transformed: Nightsisters, Mandalorians, Jedi.

New Master and Apprentice pairings: Sabine and Grogu, Ezra and Jacen.

These are the “Jedi Mandalorians.” (Yes, I have been thinking about this for a very long time. Look at my username.)

Mando by birth: Sabine Wren, who restores her Clan.

Mando by adoption: Grogu.

Mando by marriage: Ezra Bridger. 😏

What do you think? What are the other possibilities?

Am I crazy? Here’s my Ahsoka Season 1 Bingo card:

Tolkien references (too many to list here)

Jacen is Force sensitive.

Sabine misses Ezra. 😢

Thrawn does the unexpected.

Kanan reference (more than expected). 😢

Chopper is a menace (not as much as he could have been).

Hera misses Kanan (his photo is on her dashboard). 😢

“Snips” 🙌

Anakin flashback. 🙌

Rex lives. (They didn’t kill him off yet and we did get a cameo so that’s a win.)

Quotable Huyang (Don’t get me started.)

Ezra is still a dork (and we love him for it). 😂

Ezra is a badass. 🙌

Sabezra tease. (Just go look at the rest of my Tumblr.) 😍

Mutual pining idiots. (See above.) 😍

Clan Wren. (We got a mention. R. I. P. 😢)

Sabine painting. (We saw the mural, the loth cat doodles and the graffiti in Ezra’s tower and on Ahsoka’s ship.)

No Fenn Rau. (I still want to see him in live action, maybe in Mando s4.)

Clone Wars Flashback. (More than one!)

No Rebels flashback. (We did get many callbacks though. I’d love to see any of them cameo in Andor s2.)

Loth rat. (Not the animal, but Ezra being his usual chaotic streetwise self, such as impersonating a stormtrooper and stealing his helmet and armor.)

Loth cat. (Sabine’s adorable pet. 😻)

Loth wolf. (They are on the end credits star map and the Lothal Rebels mural. Howlers are also wolf-like.)

Run. (Our heroes did a lot of that.)

*******

So am I good, or what?

The Prophet of the Church of Ezrabine has spoken.