#paging basils in my area

[jayke0]

You've Got Me Now

Pairing: Basil Stitt x fem reader

Summary: kinktober day 13, Being Recorded

Rating: 18+

Warnings/content: OnlyFans accounts (both Basil AND reader), male and female masturbation, LOTS of mention of Basil being big, Basil being a little pervy but nothing too bad, mention of anal (Basil), a bit of fluff, protected sex (condom), p in v, brief nipple play, lots of swearing, dirty talk, lmk if there's anything else i should add :).

Word count: 2,536 (i got carried away I'm sorry he's just my boyfriend.)

Credit: @automnepoet for proofreading ily.

…………………………………………….......................

Basil hadn't meant to stumble across your OnlyFans page. He hadn't meant to pull his cock out and fuck his fist while he watched you ride a dildo. He hadn't meant to ask for a custom video featuring a particularly embarrassing angle of you on your balcony touching yourself for the world to see, but here he is, typing those dirty words with his throbbing cock still in his hand and stupid sobs being drawn from his throat.

The video was even better than he could've imagined. If he had a dollar for everytime it made him shoot a load and then get hard again; he'd be fucking rich, and it's all because you did it for him, it was his request.

That was when he'd gotten the idea to make his own account, because then maybe you'd be able to see what you're missing, how much your neighbour is packing. He records himself in all the ways he can think of; some just fucking his hand, others fucking his mattress, even a few of him experimenting with a finger in his tight hole, all stuff that he hoped to god you'd like.

Usually, you don't pay attention to the messages in your inbox saying, "Love your account, check out mine", but when you get one from a regular, you decide that there's no harm in checking, and boy are you glad you did.

He has atleast 20 videos all uploaded in the span of 2 days, all of him fucking various objects or using his fingers on himself, and it makes your stomach twist with excitement. He's big too, fucking thick, you're pretty sure you haven't see a guy as girthy or that weeps as much as this one… ever, really.

For a second, your attention is drawn to the layout of his apartment in one of his videos; it's exactly the same as yours but just flipped around. Well, that's not totally unusual, you are on 'In My Area' afterall, but something else draws your attention, a painting on the wall. Where had you seen that painting? You could swear it looks familiar... the bright colours and swirls were something you complimented when you'd seen inside… Oh, God.

Your hand clasps over your mouth as you look at your door.

Basil fucking Stitt has a huge cock?

Basil Stitt, the one that had become introverted after his accident?

Basil Stitt, the man that had recently opened up to you and shown you his scarred face?

You feel a mix of emotions swirling in your stomach. On the one hand, you had a handsome guy with a big dick that you could just hop over and see right now; but on the other hand, that same guy had bought and commissioned multiple videos of you, knowing full well who it is. 

You hated to admit how much you still wanted to fuck him after knowing that.

As you stand at his door and rock on your toes, you contemplate if this is a good idea, after all, you are only doing this because you'd seen the sheer skill and size of the other.

Shuffling from the other side of the door grabs your attention and you wave at him through the peephole, since you know he likes to check first.

"Hey!" He cracks the door open just a little, so you can only see his 'good' side.

"Hey man. Look, I was uh… well— ugh, do you think I can come in?"

His brows furrow in confusion but he steps aside for you. " 'Course, is something wrong? Is it that fucking pipe in your sink again? 'Cause i swear to god I will keep complaining till they get up here and do something about i—"

"I saw your videos."

You keep your back to him, fiddling with your fingers.

"What? What videos?" He chuckles a little and closes the door.

"On OnlyFans."

You practically hear him tense up, his feet shuffle before he goes completely quiet, not even the sound of breathing is there to reassure you, so you turn to look at him.

"Oh, those videos..."

"Yeah, those videos." You say as you eye his frame, now noticing the shape of his body through the thin fabric of his stained shirt. You can see the way his back curves slightly and dips into a perfect ass, one you were practically salivating over just an hour ago, and his arms look thicker in person, not muscley, but still meaty enough to grab you and press you against a wall as he fucks you senseless.

"Look, I wasn't being creepy or anything! Wasn't looking for you, just found your stuff by accident and… you make good stuff... like really good stuff. It's all I've been able to fucking think about— I'm sorry, I really am-"

"Basil."

"—I get it, report me for being a pervert, I'll own up to it and show them everything, I'm a fucking freak… I'm so sorry…" you notice the tears starting to well in his eyes.

"Basil, can you shut the fuck up for a second?"

That works, he stares at you blankly as he brings his hand up to wipe his eyes.

"I would've much preferred if you'd just told me how you felt…" you walk closer to him, "but, I'm willing to give you a chance," your hands rest on his chest as you lean towards him till you can feel his wavering breath on your nose,

"give that fat cock a chance." 

Basil's knees almost buckle after you say that. He feels like his head is spinning in circles as he tries to focus his blurry eyes on the girl in front of him, his neighbour that he'd wanked off to so many times he couldn't keep track; guess the videos had worked after all.

It felt good, knowing that someone as gorgeous as you wants to fuck him, so good that it was impossible to believe, so his hands frantically reach out to grab your waist and check that you're real; yep, all skin and bone. He lets out a relieved sigh and nods. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…" he continues to babble as he presses his face to your neck.

"Stop worrying and just fuck me already, yeah?"

That seems to switch a flip in the man's brain and he pulls his face from the soft skin on your neck to instead close the gap between your lips; they're soft, so fucking soft, just as soft as he'd imagined they'd feel wrapped around his fat tip.

You kiss him back hungrily as you wrap your arms around his neck and run your tongue along his bottom lip to gain entrance to his mouth, to which he happily obliges.

The salty taste of tears and pizza is still on his lips, but you couldn't care less, you'd kissed way worse in uni, so this is like a walk in the park. You groan softly and press your body against him before patting his shoulder. "Catch me." You warn before jumping up and wrapping your legs around his waist.

He manages to catch you with ease and walks you to his bedroom to lay you down on the pillows, scrambling to pull his shirt off.

"You can talk, y'know. I've heard you talk to yourself in the videos... did you put a voice on for that by the way?" You raise a brow and scan his body; yep, just as pretty as in the videos.

The man's cheeks flush and he nods ashamedly. "I didn't want it to be too obvious, I wanted at least a little dignity."

That makes you giggle, which in turn makes Basil smile; he loves it when you laugh at his jokes.

An idea pops into his head at the mention of videos again, and he glances at his phone in his pocket, and then you. "We could record it?... y'know, for content."

Holy shit, that makes you clench.

"I'd fucking love that, Basil." You say before biting your lip.

You watch as a wide smile spreads across his face before he scrambles in his pocket for his phone to set up on the nightstand, all the while you're working on getting your shirt off.

When he looks back at you, his jaw drops in an almost cartoonish way, which makes you giggle again. His eyes rake over your body and focus on the hard buds that he can see surprisingly well through the fabric of your bra, his hands automatically sliding up to cup your chest and run his thumbs over your nipples.

That pulls a soft whine from your throat while your hands run down his chest to his pants, desperately wanting to see if the camera was just at a perfect angle to make him look bigger... but as you paw at his crotch and undo his fly you realise that you greatly underestimated the man; as even through his boxers you can see the size of him, and it makes your empty cunt throb for him.

You'd been so focused on your task that you hadn't noticed the man had removed you bra and is now sucking on one of your nipples while his hand plays with the other, rolling the hardness between his fingers in a way that has you rolling your hips up against him in tandem, which he seems to reciprocate by kicking off his jeans and grinding against your heat.

"I love your tits the most," he says, breaking the silence as he bites a mark near your nipple and starts pulling down your underwear; wearing a skirt was certainly the right idea. "I mean, I love watching your pussy take that dildo, but fuck, the way they bounce when you move… shit, it makes me so hard." 

You hate how much you're enjoying this, the thought of a lonely guy like Basil touching himself to videos of your wet cunt.

"I liked it when you fucked that make-shift fleshlight, that was— ah!— cute—" You squeak when he runs his thick fingers through your wet folds. 

"Love it when you finger yourself too. Shit, the amount of times I imagined it was me fingering you instead." 

You shake a little as your hips rock towards his fingers desperately, soft pants leaving your lips. "Fucking hell, Basil, stop rambling and shove that cock inside me, please. I wanna see what it feels like." You whimper.

A groan is drawn from the man at your words and he hurriedly (if a little clumsily) pulls his boxers off, making his cock spring from the fabric and press against your thigh before he searches for a condom in his nightstand. You practically salivate at the sight of him rolling the latex over his girth, your cunt clenching once again on nothing as your eyes trail back to the man's face.

You run your hand over the scars that he'd confided in you about a couple of weeks ago, and you feel him press against your palm like a puppy. 

"You think you can talk it all?"

That certainly breaks your soft little moment. 

"Of course I can. Don't flatter yourself, pretty boy." You act tough, put as he holds himself to your entrance and just slides the tip in, you can already feel yourself stretch. "Fuuuck." 

Basil smirks a little at that. 

He quite literally fucks you open, slow thrusts that get deeper each time he pushes in until he's fully seated inside you and groaning, messy curls sticking to his sweaty forehead.

You already feel fucked out from that, but as he starts fucking you properly you're pretty sure you see heaven for a second, his hips drawing all the way out before thrusting back into you with bruising force that makes you grip his shoulders tightly. 

"Yeah… is this the best cock you've ever had? Tell me it is, tell me you love my cock." Basil growls.

At first you can't get your words out, pathetic whines being the only things that can get past your lips, but eventually you're able to stutter out a yes.

"It is Basil, fuck, I love your cock so much. You're so good at that, want you to fuck me everyday—" you moan as your eyes wonder over to the phone, the image of him drilling you into the mattress is enough to make the orgasm build fast in your tummy. "Fuck, fuck, I'm gonna cum, imma cum on you baby!—"

Suddenly, you feel him pull out and your orgasm dissipates as fast as it had built up, making an annoyed whine come from your throat. You don't have time to complain though before the man is flipping you onto your front and pushing your shoulders down into the covers, tugging your hips so he's seated perfectly behind you.

"I know you love it like this, doggy style." He grins as he rubs the blunt tip between your sopping folds and over your clit. "Seen the amount of videos you've made like this, fucking yourself on that stupid dildo," you feel his hand hold the back of your head and suddenly you're looking at the image on screen again, "you don't need that thing anymore, you have me." 

His cock rams into you once more and hits something inside you that has you driving back on him, throbbing around him to bring him in impossibly deeper.

"All I need is you, Basil, all I want is your cock—" you repeat back as you feel your orgasm approaching again. 

Your hands claw at the sheets while lewd noises fill the room and your ears, basil's huffs and moans only driving you closer and closer until you feel his fingers slide underneath you and play with your clit, and that's all you need before you're crashing over the edge with cries and whimpers.

The man continues to mercilessly fuck your throbbing cunt till he eventually spills inside the condom with moans that almost sound like sobs, similar to the ones he makes in the videos. You watch the screen as Basil shakes with pleasure and his muscles tense, his legs almost giving out underneath him while he leans down to rest his head on the small of your back.

You both stay like that for a while, breathing heavily as you try and cool off from the escapade that'd just taken place. You're able to feebly reach across and stop the recording before you feel Basil's breath on your neck.

"D'you really mean that? You only want me?" He seems quieter now, maybe the type to cry after a good orgasm, and weirdly enough you're pretty sure you feel wetness on your shoulder.

"Mhm... I do." You tilt your head to look at him and smile reassuringly. "You're too harsh on yourself, you're still so handsome. You don't need to get my attention by making pervy videos of you jacking off."

He chuckles lightly as a blush covers his face. "Alright... I'll just ask you over next time."

"Good."

"But, you can't say you didn't like them though." 

You laugh softly and shove his face away from your shoulder. "Shut up, perv."

...........................................................................

Prompts by: @/flightlessangelwings

Tagging people: @cowboymarcs @sad1st1c-wh0re @poopoobuttsy @boredzillenial @mllover260 @simpforbritgents @saevenswelt @partssoldseparately @keira-kaz2y5 @theincredibleinkspitter @l-lune @red-hydra @queerponcho @summonthesoups @motleyfolk @steven-grants-world @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction

#basil stitt #basil stitt smut #lightning face smut #lightning face #oscar isaac characters #kinktober

[hee-blee-art]

part 2 of the new postman! alfred is nervous :)

[ <- part 1 ] [ directory ] [ part 3 -> ]

[ID: Five comic pages of a colourful cartoony toyland.

Basil, a black and white cat marionette, is walking down a small road. He reaches a large castle-looking wall with tall golden gates and gatehouse towers on either side. Beyond the wall is a sprawling city. Basil stops to take it all in in the morning light.

BASIL: [whistles] Well I’ll be. Kinda fancy ‘round here. Got a wall with a big gate and everything…

Sir Alfred, a nutcracker doll dressed in a red uniform and black cap, is sitting in one of the towers, engrossed in reading a book titled “The Mystery of the Emerald Spectacles.” He spots Basil through the outward facing window of the gatehouse and quickly sets the book aside and goes to the window, a little flustered. 

ALFRED: Oh! Hello! Good morning! Ahem—what can I help you with, good sir?

B: Well, opening up the gate would be a good start.

A: Right! Yes. My apologies, it’s usually open by now, I was just busy with, ehm—here—just a moment.

Alfred cranks the gate open and then joins Basil on the inside of it, now breathless from working the gate crank. Basil marvels at the city.

A: Welcome—huff, huff—to Toyhouse Corners!

Alfred dashes over to Basil and holds out his hand. 

A: I’m Sir Alfred, the gatekeeper and the town guard. And who might you be?

Basil looks at Alfred’s hand but doesn’t shake it. 

B: …Basil. Uh, Postman Basil. 

A: Postman? Is Gertie out sick today? 

B: Nope. I’m the new postman for this area—so, mostly your fair city, it seems. 

A: Oh! Hm. I wasn’t informed there was to be a switch up. What happened to Gertie?

B: [shrugging] Dunno. Maybe she kicked the bucket?

A: Good heavens! Well, I… I mean, I suppose she was getting up in years… oh my, how very dreadful.

B: Hold on, you said you’re Sir Alfred, right?

A: Uhm, yes, I am.

Basil digs around in his delivery bag.

B: You’re my first delivery.

end ID.]

#art #comic #webcomic #toys #nostalgia #toycore #nostalgiacore #comics #original comic #ocs #basil #postman basil #digital art #toyhouse corners #toyhouse corners comic #I'm going to keep posting installments here and rbing them to @toyhousecorners for now #I may switch to posting them directly there at some point

[lilac-udon]

been thinking, yes, my mystical au is dead dove a lot of trigger warning (to me I didn't feel any so yeah

first, Sunny is a mass murderer Mari also is, protects Sunny a lot and shows him her persona of this kind-hearted caring sister(she is the most complex? ch in this story Aubrey also is but she is more doing it for revenge

Basil is crazy "in other people's eyes" semi suicidal clarification, it is his condition, he was miserable before, however, when he starts documenting plant, and at the time he met Sunny, he is mentally stable, basil acts weird because he sees life and death very differently from other people (there isn't consequence to him?

so, he is really fascinated by Sunny, bc long living creature etc

There are all elderly and that might be why their personality is shadier

currently

Mari : wise, level-headed, trickster, liar, gaslighting, sweet talker, bossy(?), ( god complex)

Hero: wise, level-headed, liar, dilemma, complicated, gray area

sunny: resourceful but too depressed to function, cries a lot, selectively mute (hides secrets?) photographic memory (poor him),head empty

basil : manic, he is happy, having the best time of his life (lived too long, and all his memories are a mess), actually aimless so he will do stuff repeatedly if no one stops him (like to stare at sunny), head empty, gaslighting

kel : secretly the most mature of the four, loyal, compassionate, confusion

aubrey: arrogant, ambivalent, Impatient, compassion

------

more ideas update!! :D I want to write Mari as the evilest in this au as possible, and hero is the one person that needs to use his brain to counter her!

I have some blueprint in the back of my mind but a bit scared it will go overboard and make her unredeemable(or just unpleasant to read? basically, she brainwashes sunny in his childhood, and other spoiler stuff

about chris and mincy, kim and aubrey side of the back story is developed but I'm not sure if I should add to the page The backstory part, the five main characters (exclude mari) is all "back story"

this AU is based on their backstory "past" and the "main event" is reviving mari and after reviving Mari, the consequence they face. Which I will label as "the current", where mincy, kim , hero 1980-1990 time period. So, if I make a character backstory explain, should I add what happens after reviving Mari, or keep the chaos out

...um like spoiler free just background info?

-------------------

update for myself sunny's backstory mari and sunny birth sunny knows Mari is lying before hero told him his discover aubery current story more marihero

the actual mari/ hero comfort her

#idk just some thoughts #au notes

[kashisun]

Marine’s guide to playing ooblets - How to get more exp per day edition!!!

Hello Hello my name is Marine and today i will be explaining how I play ooblets. I’m obsessed with the game and i want to make your life easier with these tips i guess?

I will be mentioning the names of several npcs here so on there names will be a link to their character page to make it easier for you!

1. You pretty much get exp for anything you do. Finding seeds, buying things, talking to people... You must make sure that you do that every. single. day. 

Okay now for what I do in a “day” in ooblets

First thing i do after checking the ooblets of the day list i immediately go to Meed’s seed store. I talk to her to get exp and then i buy every seed except the Lopauliflowers because you only need those for one recipe. I do this because mass farming is extremely important if you want to get rich.

Second thing i do is look at the plenny’s orders. Now the easiest ones to do are the low cost ones so for nurnies, planklets but if you want to make a lot of gummies you are going to have to go for the expensive ones like the Lurge lattys the blue goo pies, the gogo cupcakes and the most expensive of all the zinooka cake. Making 40 zinooka cakes gives you 19k gummies in one shot but it has like 5 ingredients which you need three of each and one of them is a plant that only spawns every 4 or 5 days. 

Then you go up the stairs and talk to taffy. Taffy is an npc that ears this clown suit. Then you turn to the left where the air balloon is and you talk to Gimble. After talking to Gimble before talking to Arah I go into the wildlands to check if any spicy spears have spawned. Now that is important because that ingredient is used to make your oobcoops have heating.

After checking that i go talk to Arah and then i go into the dance.

I go to the dance barn every day for 2 reasons

1. It is the fastest way to get wishies which in the beginning of the game you are going to need in order to unlock a bunch of things such as recipes, hairstyles, a bigger farm, more energy...

2. It gives you objects if you win all three matches and they give oobcoops as one of the prizes which is great because upgrading oobcoops is a hassle

After the dance barn I talk to Melda then before talking to Basil who is always in his own club in the morning Officer Zuffle appears so i talk to him. After talking to Bazil i go to the learnery and Talk to Rugnolia in her lab. 

Then you go down the stairs and there is Millew sitting on a bench so i talk to him first and then Videon is downstairs in his club and then i go back upstairs and go inside the coffee shop to talk to Dubble. After talking to dubble i go to the hair salon to talk to Padrig. Now there are three trees that produce quib. One is next to the wishy well, one is next to the hair salon and one is next to the furniture shop.

Get the Quib every time. You will thank me later.

Alright so after Padrig you’ll go to the beach and you will find Outgrid making a sand angel in the sand. You will then leave the beach area and enter the furniture shop to talk to Sprin. In that shop you can also buy oobcoops, space heaters, sprinklers etc.

Once you leave that store you ill enter the clothing store to talk to Churles. Once you have spoken to him Mayor Tinstle should finally be outside and once you have spoken to her that’s the max exp you can get from speaking to the befriendable npcs.

The next step would be to go to Mamoonia because you can get Balmybloom and  Sprockuts   there! Balmybloom is important because you can make a drink called Sootheysip and you need that in order to obtain the ooblet called Jama that only appears when it snows.

You could also go to Nullwhere to get gembers which you need if you want Gloopylonglegs!!!

Now once i have done that i will go back to badgetown and i will check on my garden.

And yeah then you’re done!

I’ll make a seperate post on how to mass farm efficiently!!!

#ooblets

[tentajack]

Ah, my brain is once again called by the siren song of a don't starve/omori crossover AU.

I think I rambled about the previous idea of just punting pre-knock Sunny into the constant and having bits of headspace and blackspace go nuts there, this will be a little different.

So the main diversion point is the summer before the recital, Sunny still nearly drowns at the lake and gets saved by Mari, but when he comes to, he finds the codex umbra under his shirt, and keeps it hidden for... reasons. He does eventually show Basil, but Basil can feel how wrong the codex feels to even be in the presence of goes 'yeah let's keep this a secret between the two of us!' rather than try to justify something bad about a book neither of them can read at that point.

Sunny begins to read books on how to read latin in his spare time, Mari seems intrigued by his new interest but prefers to spend time with him practicing his violin skills, and their parents seem to encourage it for academic reasons, even if he won't say what his actual motivation is. Eventually, after a long day of mostly recital practice, Sunny goes to bed a little early and flips through the codex, as has become a comforting habit [:))))], and finds a page he can mostly read: limb enhancement through subtle shadow manipulation. Naturally Sunny doesn't question this wondrous solution at all, and stays up all night studying the remaining words to translate under his covers with a flashlight, keeping the codex hidden when Mari turns in for the night. The next morning Mari wakes up to see Sunny already practicing, and doing so almost perfectly compared to the day before. Over the next few days Mari can't find a single issue with Sunny's performance, and so does not feel the need to go over the top for practice.

However, the hold the codex has on Sunny's mind becomes the new main problem. He brings it with him everywhere with a little clasped book jacket Basil helped him make to pass as a normal book, even to school. Time passes, and Sunny begins to stay at home, now not to practice, but to study the codex more, now fully entranced with the knowledge it could give him. He begins to master more tricks and such with the shadows, though Mari has since become suspicious about his obsession, though not too suspicious as he's still doing better than ever at school and amazingly with the violin, and even seemed surprised that Mari was starting to learn latin as well (he was having so much fun with it, she figures they could make it into a special twin code!). Sunny's short glimpses of poor mental health goes about the same as it did in canon.

The night before the recital, Mari manages to sneak the codex from Sunny's arms and translates enough of the book to know it's something really bad. Something in the book bites her, forcing it to drop onto the ground. By the time she gets a bandage and comes back, the codex is in Sunny's arms again without him having moved an inch. Mari remains too unnerved to confront Sunny until the next day.

The day of the recital, Sunny knows he should be getting ready, but the compulsion to stay in his bedroom and keep studying the codex is much too strong to be ignored. He struggles to get dressed and grab his violin, but the whispers in his mind and the distortion in his eyes make that difficult. He manages to get the violin in a case after not quite being in control of his limbs, but something about the codex wants to be open, leaving Sunny at the little balcony area struggling to keep the codex closed, when Mari comes out of the bathroom and sees Sunny fighting for his life against literal shadow creatures clawing their way out of the pages. She rushes over and helps him to close it and clasp it closed in Sunny's hands. Sunny is still freaking out over the situation, but Mari decides then and there is the best place to confront Sunny over the codex. The scolding becomes yelling as Sunny refuses to hand it over to Mari, he just wants to go somewhere and hide away, but Mari cuts him off at the top of the stairs and, well... That part doesn't change for the better. Sunny pushes her with his augmented strength, the codex once again bending to his will, sending her plummeting away far enough that gravity sends her into a sheer fall onto the first floor with a definitive crack. Basil is still there, having seen the shadows and everything after. Instead of dragging Mari's body up to the bedroom, they try to administer aid there on the floor as they come to the conclusion that Mari is dead. Basil, now not just worried about Sunny getting taken away- but also about the dangerous nature of the Codex Umbra- gets Sunny to let go of the codex and help get Mari's body to the back yard. While Basil prepares the jump rope and the toybox to bury the codex in, Sunny breaks out of his dissociative state long enough to grab the codex and find a spell to bring Mari back to life. It fails to do anything, and Basil lifts Mari onto the noose before shoving the codex into the box.

When Sunny looks back, he can see Something as he did in canon, but a blink later he seeks Mari in the noose holding the codex, arms of shadow reaching for himself and Basil. They do not escape in time, and the shadow arms grab various things before imploding, leaving nothing but a half broken tree.

All three are reported as missing by the end of the day, leaving no trace of a struggle and nothing out of place save for the violin at the top of the stairs and the broken tree in the back yard.

Hero is distraught and anxious, Kel nearly gets himself killed looking for his missing friends, Aubrey is left to face the fallout of her fathers absence and mothers decent into drinking alone like in canon. (I'll work on these middle parts later, but nobody is declared dead)

4 years pass, and Sunny and Mari's parents aren't just cold to their children friends, they aren't even home most of the time. Kel will sometimes knock on the door and ramble to the door as if Sunny was on the other side. One day the door opens, and Kel follows Sunny's voice right to where the violin is, on top of the dusty piano in that room. He goes to grab the violin, and he can hear sunny asking him what he wants to most. Kel can only reply that he wants to see Sunny again, and so a portal to The Constant opens up under Kel and the piano, disappearing both from the world.

Kel wakes up in a field of wildflowers to see Omori.

(I'll work on more later if people want to see more)

#tentatext #omori au #dst au #this had nothing to do with what I was supposed to work on today but oh well

[ediblegardenspointloma]

In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

These are California bay leaves from a small container tree on my patio. For years, my husband’s grandmother, who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, kept me well supplied. Between visits, she’d mail me small envelopes of them from her large bay tree which provided ample front yard shade.

In our mild climate we can grow many herbs year round. A few like basil prefer the warm months, but I usually have thyme, rosemary and sage steps from the kitchen. Parsley, dill and oregano come and go with the seasons. Other shrubby favorites are lemon verbena and culinary lavender.

This is a day’s harvest of Emerite pole beans from the four foot row. I plant them thickly.

What we didn’t eat or share, I froze for the winter. Last year’s frozen green beans held well—almost like freshly cooked. With such abundance I’m always willing to try new recipes to use them.

We pick several zucchini every day and usually can find takers. Cucumbers are just coming in. Our son, Tim was in San Diego today for a short visit so we met up and handed over veggies, a few nectaplums, jam and frozen fruit.

We await the corn, tomatoes and bell peppers. Sunny days would help us out but unfortunately, overcast and humidity from tropical storms off Mexico slow these crops.

Today’s bouquet says summer for me—rudbeckia, alstroemeria, abutilon and yarrow. Greens are from a neighbor’s olive tree and westringia.

Check the What I’m Planting Now page as I begin soon to sow seeds for the cool season garden. Head today to Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog and see what garden bloggers around the world harvested last week.

To leave a comment, click on “Leave a comment/Show comments,” enter the comment, then insert your name. Finally, click on “Comment as Guest” to post comment.

#California bay tree #fresh herbs #Emerite pole beans #rudbekia #summer bouquets

[writingcold]

Tag Game To Better Know You!

I was tagged by the fabulously talented, ever so kind and lovely @lvnterninthenight Thank you sweets

I will tag @whitesuitjake, @gretavanbitches, @lightmylove-gvf and @gardensgatedaisy If you would like to play along, but no sweat if you don't loves.

What book are you currently reading?

I have to skim and read so much for my job (elementary library) so, I'm finally indulging in a bit for myself and got to Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

What do you usually wear?

Jeans girl here - and either sweaters, t's or t's and flannels

How tall are you?

5'6" (closer to "7)

What's your star sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or historical event?

Virgo - and I share a b-day with none other Gloria Gaynor and Chrissie Hynde (bad assed bitches)

Do you go by your name or a nickname?

Typically my name - Penny but short Pen is fine

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be as a child?

I've always wanted to be a published author --- so still working on it. Second best in that area is to work in libraries - which I do!

What is something you’re good as vs. something you’re bad at?

I'm good at research - love it. Math - do not trust me with numbers people - I will ruin it.

If you draw/write, or create in any way, what's your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year?

I have a few - the first is from Continuance:  “Being ‘the good’ for someone you love means something else entirely.  Realizing when you need to just be present and not try to fix their upset, or being a sympathetic ear and tether when you know they think they are falling apart.  It means calling them out when they are heading in the wrong direction, and just sharing a space even when you are not on the same page."

and the second is from what I'm also working on right now - Bootleggers and Wildflowers:

...It was nearly like the first days she knew him - that taut fabric stretched across him, holding in a storm that felt like it would break at any moment.  Instead of fearing it, however, she wanted to pacify it, face it, endure it with him.

Dogs or cats?

Both - I have a dog (Duffy) and two cats (Ivy Bean and Willow Wisp)

What's something you would like to create content for?

Hmmm... Can I say I want to create my own - my own world? I've been working on a story for years that I would like to finish eventually that is all mine - no major influence.

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

The 1920's Prohibition America. Story purposes, but back then was much more crazy insane than what is taught in school for sure.

What's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

The year's still new, so I'm trying to keep it positive.

What’s a hidden talent of yours?

... uh... I don't know about hidden, but I'm a pretty good cook/baker and love to try to make new things.

What's something you wish to have at this moment?

Damn, I loved Bobbie's answer of a margarita. OH - at this moment, how about a Vodka Basil Smash - obsessed with those. So much, I put it in a fic even. But just the fresh after all the icky weather around here would be fabulous.

#ask game

[tyrenis-northern-shaman]

The Basilic in French folklore: . In French folklore, Basilic was a dragon that haunted the area round the city of Vienne, taking cattle and people. it had a stare that petrified all it looked upon. This state of affairs continued until the brave knight Fretard overcame it, confining it to a well. However, Basilic was said to emerge every 10 years and could only be overcome if someone saw it before it could gaze upon the onlooker. it attempts to rise to the top of the well and if it should succeed in emerging, then things will continue as they were before. This seems to be a local legend related to the Basilisk. . Art: @johan_egerkrans_illustrator thank you! Check out his page! . _________________ 🔔 Turn on post notification 🔔 ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ - DON’T FORGET TO: 😊 - ❤️LIKE 💬COMMENT 🚩SAVE ➖ ☑️ Checkout the link ↙️ @nord_blod for my craft shop !! ☑️ And discover my Blog and my best books about the Nordic mythology and viking story. ↙️ Link in my bio: @tyrenis_northern_shaman Website ↙️ www.northern-shaman.org . . . . . #cryptozoology #vikings #cryptids #viking #norse #frenchhistory #folktale #folktales #pagan #cryptid #fafnir #medieval #firebreathingdragon #dragon #dragonart #dragons #europeanfolklore #mythology #magicalcreatures #mythicalcreature #mythologicalcreatures #mythsandlegends #heathen #folklorist #bestiary #firedrake #celticmythology #basilisk #anglosaxon _________________ https://www.instagram.com/p/CkD5APst_B7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#cryptozoology #vikings #cryptids #viking #norse #frenchhistory #folktale #folktales #pagan #cryptid #fafnir #medieval #firebreathingdragon #dragon #dragonart #dragons #europeanfolklore #mythology #magicalcreatures #mythicalcreature #mythologicalcreatures #mythsandlegends #heathen #folklorist #bestiary #firedrake #celticmythology #basilisk #anglosaxon

[thewideopenwitch]

30 Days of Witchcraft ~30-Day Challenge~Day 1

Merry meet, and welcome to my first 30-day challenge! I'm excited to talk "30 Days of Witchcraft" with you! To read more about why I'm doing my own 30-Day challenge, go to my "Write Your Craft" page. 

While Samhain starts the pagan "New Year, I'm started with Lughnasadh/Lammas because it was August 1, Monday and I wanted to get a little ahead of it so that we could all celebrate in our own ways. 

First things first, Lughnasadh (pronounced Loo-NAS-ah) has been spelled about 5 different ways in my research. Pick the spelling you can remember LOL! Lughnasadh is also the Celtic version of this Sabbat and can be used interchangeably with Lammas. 

Lughnasadh/Lammas occurs on August 1st, the midpoint between the summer solstice (Litha) and fall equinox (Mabon). As a midpoint, its date doesn't change yearly, whereas 4 of the sabbats do to match the solstices and equinoxes.

This holiday celebrates the fall harvest that fed our ancestors through the year. It was a celebration of the fruits of their labors.  If crops were harvested before Lughnasadh, it meant that the previous harvest ran out before the year was up. It meant that the previous year's crops were scant, and that could mean a vicious cycle of running out of food too early in the year. 

The Lammas Fest was savored with gratitude and village sharing of the crops. Some ancient pagan cultures held sacrifice: some a horse - to Freyr, some a bull or their king (sometimes in effigy - sometimes not), to their Sun God, some cornhusk dolls made in effigy of each member sacrificed into the fire for their Harvest God. Many broke bread together made with the first grains harvested that year. 

The Celts also honored Lugh (Irish), or Llew (Welsh), the God of skills and craftsmanship; the Many-skilled God, as he was self-proclaimed to be able to do it all!!! It is lost in lore as to the specific reason the Celts honored Lugh on this Sabbat. Some say it was a wedding fest he held for his new bride, some say it was a feast he held in honor of his stepmother who died of exhaustion after clearing a wooded area for crops.

Whatever the reason, it is  Lugh (Irish), or Llew (Welsh), the God of skills and craftsmanship; the Many-skilled God, as he was self-proclaimed to be able to do it all!!! It is lost in lore as to the specific reason the Celts honored Lugh on this Sabbat. Some say it was a wedding fest he held for his new bride, some say it was a feast he held in honor of his stepmother who died of exhaustion after clearing a wooded area for crops.

Whatever the reason, it is a time to celebrate the fruits of the season, as well as your skills as a person. Think hard about what skills you have. What are your talents? What do you excel at? Think of all the things you can do, all the things you want to do, and all the ways you want to grow in your skills. Forget your modesty for this one day, and proclaim your skills as Lugh did!

Correspondences for this sabbat:

Deities (across all pantheons)

Lugh

Tailtiu

The Green Man

The Grain Mothers

Gaia

Ceres

Demeter

Persephone

Luna

Selene

Colors

Bronze

Brown

Yellow

Gold

Orange

Stones

Botswana Agate

Jasper

Moonstone

Citrine

Carnelian

Moss Agate

Peridot

Aventurine

Herbs, Plants, & Spices

Wheat and other grains

Onion

Caraway

Basil

Rosemary

Yarrow

Vervain

Caraway

Wheat

Roses

Calendula

Sunflowers

Ash Tree

Apples

Pears

Blackberries

Honey

Food and Drink

Bread

Corn

Potatoes

Apples

Pears

Beer

Mead

Animals

Bees

Bats

Horses

Cattle

Bears

Ravens

Snakes

Deer

Salmon

Spells

Self-Reflection

Prosperity

Transformation

Ways to Celebrate this Sabbat

Decorate your altar with things related to your skill. 

Light a grain-colored candle for Lugh: brown, yellow gold, bronze

Harvest your own garden and share it with your "village"

Make bread of all kinds to share with your family and friends.

Host a canned food drive or donate canned goods to your local food pantry.

Make corn husk dolls (no sacrifice necessary!)

But you can!

Renew your home protection spells.

Have a Lammas ritual of self-reflection by meditating on the blessings in your life and the sacrifices you need to make to better your life.

Historically, I've ended this ritual by sipping a local fall wine and eating a slice of the bread my family made, alternating a bite and a drink until gone.

#witchesoftumblr #witchcraft #pagan #witchy #magick #witchyvibes #witches #witchythings #pagansoftumblr #witchlife #witchbr #30daychallenge #30daysofwitchcraft #wideopenwitchOC

[ffreviewsblog]

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[zakai-writes-too-i-promise]

uh ok so i actually already have something to post here

this is an age regression fic so if thats not something you like then dont read

Rune Factory 5 involving fem protag (canon name is Alice but I went with my character’s name, Trixie) and Martin. And a little bit of Fuuka.

This one’s not too heavy in agere content but trust me that’s gonna change as I write more of these

so yeah

story under cut. its about 1,500 words.

Okay, my work for the day is done, Trixie thinks, slipping into the side entry of her room in the SEED base, her hands dirty from caring for her crops. She heads into the one fully secluded room of the upstairs area, opens her closet and changes into her pajamas. Already starting to slip, she settles down on the carpeted section of the floor to read her favorite books. She struggles to understand complex words when little, so the books she’s reading are those meant for smaller children, filled with whimsical renditions of the world around her.

A smile forms on her face. She's read these stories a million times, but every time they still amaze her. Today, however, her mind wanders as she skims the words scattered across the pages. She thinks about her childhood. What was it like? She can’t remember. She can’t remember anything before Rigbarth. Most of the time, it doesn’t bother her, but today her mind is racing.

She sighs and stands up. Maybe some milk will help me calm down. She has to push down those little thoughts as she heats up a pot and adds some milk, fresh from her Buffamoo named Basil. It’s dangerous for her to operate her cooking tables when little. She would likely hurt herself.

She pours the warm milk in a cup fitted with a spill-proof lid. Rather than return to the carpet, she chooses to return to the main room with her book and lay down in bed. She has no plans to go to bed—it’s only three in the afternoon—but she thinks the additional comfort of a cushy bed will help her relax more. She opens the book once more and keeps reading, sipping her milk before it cools. But, sooner than later, she feels her eyelids drooping. . .

The rest of the Silo was eerily quiet. Scarlett was off doing her patrols, and Captain Livia was out for the day due to a request from SEED HQ.

So when Martin walks in looking for a ranger, he is a little confused. His brother Cecil has sent him to convey a request relating to one of his detective investigations since he is busy helping Terry for the day. Martin, on the other hand, was forced into a day off after injuring his shoulder the day before. Normally Captain Livia or at least Scarlett are in at all times, so both being out was an unusual sight.

After checking both the main rooms, he sighs and pulls out a chair to wait. But before he can even sit down, he hears a loud crash from upstairs. He jumps up. Before he can even process what just happened, he unconsciously heads for the stairs. Halfway up, he pauses. Isn’t this Trixie’s room?

He keeps going, telling himself it’s just to make sure nobody is hurt. He cautiously pokes his head around the edge of the stairwell, to find Trixie fast asleep in her bed. Continuing to circle to the other side of the bed, he finds a large hardback book sprawled open on the floor, as well as a spilt cup of milk.

How did she not wake up from that? Martin wonders. He picks up the book and opens it to a random page. It is familiar to him; he remembers reading it when he was a kid. He closes it and quietly sets it on the side table on top of Trixie’s diary. Next, he walks over to the double doors that head to the other room. Pushing them open, he sees a round white carpet littered with stuffed animals and toys. The kitchen he is searching for is up against the back wall.

He sidesteps the carpet—he doesn't want to get it dirty—and locates a towel in a cabinet. He grabs it and returns to the puddle of milk on the floor. He tosses it on the puddle, picking up the cup as he does. Back to the kitchen he goes. He leaves it on a countertop since for some reason, Trixie doesn’t seem to have a sink. He ignores that for now and turns to head out.

Trixie rolls over, her eyes opening and letting in the evening sunlight. She squints and sits up. Her mind foggy, she doesn’t notice the book that was moved to her side table or the towel on the floor. She simply stood up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Once her eyes are clearer, she glances at the clock on her wall.

“Six-thirty? Jeez, how long was I out for?” she grumbled. She pulls off her pajamas and switches to her casual outfit, mostly because it was easier to get on than her SEED uniform. Her stomach rumbles. Knowing she doesn’t have the energy to cook, she makes a snap decision to head down to Lackadaisy to get dinner. She slips on her shoes and heads down the wooden stairs to the main floor.

To her surprise, she sees Martin sitting at one of the chairs near the exit, staring at Saint Eliza suspiciously.

“Hey Martin!”

He looks up, startled. “Hey, finally.”

She gives him a confused look.

“I’ve been here for a bit.”

“Why?”

“Cecil wanted me to pass along a request. He said it was too urgent to just put it on the request board,” he explains.

“Oh, okay. I was gonna head down to Lackadaisy for dinner; want to join me so we can discuss it?” She inquires.

“Why not?”

“Let’s go then.”

At Lackadaisy, it is the peak of the dinner rush. Fuuka is at the counter taking orders as people come in.

“Bengao! Gaola taraunom?”

“Hmm. . .” Trixie hesitated. “I’ll have some shrimp sashimi.”

Fuuka nods.

“Dumplings.”

Fuuka nods again before hurrying off to give their orders to Elsje.

The duo sit down and start their discussion. After they wrap up their official business, the topic shifts.

“How long were you waiting?” Trixie asks.

“A few hours,” Martin answers.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry for making you wait that long. This is why Captain Livia and Scarlett usually take care of that.” She laughs.

“I don’t mind. Not like I had anything else to do.”

“Yeah, didn’t Darroch make you take a break because of your shoulder? Cecil told me when I saw him earlier. Speaking of, why didn’t he just tell me then?”

“He’s interesting like that.”

The two of them are finishing up their meals when Martin mentions, “Also, I thought I heard something crash up in your room while I was waiting.”

“Huh. You’d think something like that would wake me up from my impromptu nap. Let’s go take a look at that real quick. The only other thing I have in my schedule is to go to the beach and go stargazing, so I can definitely spare some time, haha.”

The pair give their thanks to Fuuka and Elsje as they head out, the sun starting to lower under the horizon.

Back at the Silo, Trixie leads Martin up the side entrance to her room. He hesitates; this is the moment he realises he would have to reveal he was in her room while she was asleep.

He tries to bring it up before she enters, but his voice comes out a stutter.

“Hm?” She pauses.

“Uh. . . I came up to your room to see what happened,” he spits out, his face heating up.

“Okay,” she says. “What happened?”

“There was a book on the floor and a spilt drink. I cleaned it up.” His face is redder than a strawberry.

“Okay. Thanks for that.” She smiles. “Guess that means we don’t have to take a look if it’s all been dealt with.”

“I guess.” He hides his face.

“Wanna join me at the beach?”

“Not like I have anything else to do.”

The beach is unusually empty for this time of day. Off in the distance, two figures can be seen, but they are too far away to bother the duo.

Trixie sits down in the sand, only bothering to take off her shoes and dig her toes into the warm sand. Martin joins her, removing his headpiece and shaking his head to mess up his hair.

“Aren’t the stars pretty?” Trixie asks. Martin says nothing, listening to the methodical sounds of the waves splashing against the shore.

Trixie readjusts herself so she's leaning on one arm and uses the other one to draw a small doodle in the sand. Martin watches.

“What were you doing before you fell asleep?” He inquires, turning his gaze to the stars spattered against the dark sky.

“Okay, so this is going to sound weird,” she starts. “But basically, you know how I have amnesia? Well, for me that means I can’t remember my childhood. But through a book I found out about this thing where you put yourself into the headspace of a child for like. . . coping reasons. So I’ve been doing that to sort of relive my childhood. Apparently the milk put me to sleep though.” Now it is Trixie’s turn to turn red from embarrassment.

Martin pauses. “. . . Okay.”

“Is that all you’re going to say?”

“What else is there to say?”

“Fair. But, uh . . .” her voice wavers. “I’m kind of feeling like I’m slipping back into that headspace again; is that alright?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks. I feel safe near you.”

#fanfiction writer #writing #fic writing #fanfic #fandom agere #agerespace #safe agere #ageredips #agere fic #i don’t feel like adding more tags

[patheticprogrammingperson]

Well, hello again, here we go again.

The Broken Ear, Tintin book number six, and the first to feature prominently a revolution, a terrorist attack, proxy wars, etc.

It's good.

Plot-line

The plot centers around the theft of a fetish, a word that here refers to an object believed to have supernatural powers, in this case a wooden carving depicting a stylized human.

However, a second set of thieves murder the first thief, but in the process, put Tintin on their tail, leading them to South America, where Tintin properly gets sentenced to death, framed as a terrorist, but, when they are sent to be shot, there is a revolution, General Alcazar takes command of the country, but immediately after, there is another revolution, the last ruler's back: General Tapioca!

Now, however, Tintin is once more a terrorist, and must be shot, but every single rifle has been sabotaged, so Tintin's execution is once more delayed...

A few drinks later, a now thoroughly drunk Tintin is taken to be shot for a third time, but it's another revolution, Tintin is freed, and taken to meet General Alcazar, who appoints them colonel aide-de-camp, becoming colonel number 3479, and demotes colonel Diaz to corporal for arguing with him, corporal number 50 that is.

So, Diaz joins a rebel group, and while Tintin is playing chess (without obvious en passant) with Alcazar, throws a bomb through the window, which Tintin throws back out, shenanigans continue, until Diaz blows himself up attempting to set a bomb at the palace, but miss-setting his watch.

Then, guess what? That's right, here come the Americans, General American Oil, here for OIL, and they're willing to pay Tintin $100,000 in order to persuade Alcazar to go to war for said oil. (Checking off the "Tintin bribe attempt" on the bingo card)

Tintin refuses, of course, so, with the help of Basil Bazarov, of Korrupt Arms GMBH, frame Tintin as a spy, but Tintin is broken out of prison before they can be shot again.

While Tintin escapes into the south-American jungles, General American Oil (via San Theodoros) VS British South-American Petrol (utilising Nuevo-Rico), it's proxy war time!

Immediately setting the proxy war aside, Tintin discovers they're in the same area as where the group that originally made the fetish reside, and goes to find them, things go wrong, Tintin is stranded in the jungle without food or firearms.

Then, Tintin meets Ridgewell, an explorer who's abandoned civilization, and discovers that the fetish contains a diamond, which is why it was valuable in the first place, and leaves the jungle as quick as they entered it, retuning to civilization, learns the war was pointless, and gets back to Europe, where they spot the precious fetish in an antique shop's windows, on sale for £100.00, which I shan't translate, I've had my fill of historical currency just from TITLOTS, anyway, buying it, Tintin then promptly spots a pair of identical fetishes, in another shop window, £17.50 the pair.

Promptly interrogating the shop's owner, Tintin discovers the manufacturer of the fetishes, a Mr J Balthazar, which Tintin further integrates to discover that the mass-produced fetishes were modeled on one owned by his brother (who came up earlier, but I skipped over them for time), who's dead, and it's been sold to a wealthy catamaran, who Tintin promptly peruses by plane to a ship.

So, remember that second set of thieves from however-many pages ago? well, they're back (they never left, I skip over too much for time), and they're got the fetish, but Tintin's got a gun, and they drop the fetish, the diamond goes into the sea, along with them and Tintin, Tintin's saved, of course, and the other two establish the canonical existence of hell in the Tintin canon.

So, there we have it, the fetish is repaired and returned to the museum, San Theodoros remains stricken by war, and the two other thieves are in hell.

I really like this plot, it makes sense, there's next to no chance involved, things progress logically

(and yes, I left out a ton, go read it for yourself for the proper experience.)

Characters

Characters, first off, I have a major complaint, Thompson (with a p, as in receipt) and Thomson (without a p, as in Cambridge) get a full five panels between them, which is clearly unaccountable.

Other than that, we have a TON of one-note, one-time characters, take Colonel Barker, he gets 4 panels, where he discovers a parrot, or the unnamed professor, who gets a full 9 panels, in which they mistake the same parrot for a person sitting in a lamppost, or Rodriguez, who in only 2 panels successfully defrauds a full $5000 from his employer while setting up an assassination.

I love this because it makes the world feel far more alive, they're one-note, but in that one note you get a clear view of what they are as a character, and what job they serve to the story, and now I'm going to tangent about one-note characters and their importance to storytelling:

Tangent About One-Note Characters And Their Importance To Storytelling

Statistically, it is unlikely you've heard the trilogy of songs entitled "The Tale of Jenny & Screech", comprised of "Jenny's Tale", "Screech's Tale", and "Violet's Tale", written and preformed by Welsh artist Ren.

Those three songs tell the story of a young girl named Violet, who escapes abusive parents only to end up getting murdered by her abusive partner, giving birth to twins just before her death, Jenny & James, 14 years later, James, now known as Screech, mugs and kills Jenny, attacks police when caught, and is shot in the chest four times by a police officer named Robert, killing him.

It is a tragic story, but here I want to talk about just one of the characters of the songs, Richard, the officer of the Metropolitan Police who kills Screech at the end of "Screech's Tale", and he is relevant here because of how little we are told about him, but how much he does to shape the story.

This is all we know about Robert, with lyric citations:

He is 6,3 `Richard was an officer, who stood at 6 foot 3`

He works night shifts in London `Working London on the night shift, what he didn't think he'd see`

He was disturbed by killing Screech `An officer shaken, by the boy that he claimed`

That is very little information, but let's see what we can extract from that.

First and foremost, the story takes place at night, in London, both of which we knew from earlier in the trilogy, so we can set that aside.

Robert is an authorized firearms officer, or AFO, because police (outside Northern Ireland) do not carry firearms in the UK, including AFOs.

From there we can deduce that Robert was looking for Screech, or more accurately, hunting the perpetrator of Jenny's murder, as according to the ACPO Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms, 3.2.1, 2.2: `Firearms are to be issued to AFOs (following authorisation by the appropriate authorising officer): a. Where the authorising officer has reason to suppose that they, in the course of their duty, may have to protect themselves or others from a person who: iii. is otherwise so dangerous that the officer’s use of a firearm may benecessary.`, and a recent murder could be considered to fall under this

Other than logical progression, we can also look at thematic information.

The first thing we're told about Robert is that he is 6,3, or converted into civilised, 190.5cm. According to NHS data, the average male height was 175.9cm, putting Robert 14.6cm above average, or in other words, he's tall, and being tall is often annotated with being intimidating, further reinforced with him being an AFO, which is an elite group, making up around 4.9 percent of police

Finally, pulling things together, when we first meet Robert, we see him as this strong, demanding AFO, but then, a few lines later, this is contrasted by his reaction from killing Screech, `shaken`, giving Robert a character arc, or more accurately, an arc of how the listener perceived him, in less than a minute of the song

So, why on earth am I going on about a trilogy of songs about domestic abuse and murder?

Well, it makes a good example of the value of one-note characters, right, back to the Tintin.

Things I like

The big new thing here is that it's funny, there are jokes, not from the thom(p)sons, that actually work, like the multiple revolutions in sequence, Tintin and Alcazar being revealed to be playing chess instead of working, the slapstick with Diaz, and so on,

Other than that, I really enjoy the plot, the insertion of Tintin getting caught up in an endless civil war feels natural, and there are few places where the plot feels propelled by chance (though there are a few that I will talk about in criticisms), holding it together well.

It all just fits together to create a well-working story.

Things I don't

So, this bit is hard to write, as this was my favorite of the Tintin books growing up, and I find it hard to criticize without grasping at straws and pedantically nitpicking it.

So, without further ado, grasping at straws and pedantically nitpicking it:

The ship the first thief is sailing on is delayed by a dockworker's strike, allowing the second set of thieves, and Tintin, to catch up

There are 2 Tintin look-a-likes on the boat, rather unlikely

Tintin teleports via lightning

The panels showing the second set of thieves escape is randomly shoved in with Tintin's conversation with Trickler

Pablo, who Tintin "saved" by not killing him, just happens to have the resources to stage an elaborate prison-break on short notice

The timing of a train perfectly lines up for Tintin to escape

Tintin is saved from drowning by random tree-trunk

Golf

Tintin survived piranhas

There we go, unintentionally CinimaSins parody, time for one of few actual critiques, the Racist Bit(s).

Troublesome bits

It is a theme, with early Tintin books, for there to be a healthy portion of racism served alongside the meal (or alternatively, the meal can just be racism with a plot garnish), but as we progress through, it becomes less the characters and plot itself, but their depictions, changing the racism from part of the meal, but the tableware that it's served with.

Now, there may have been some slight seasonings of racism in this meal, which I won't detail, but I thought we could get away with maybe just a racist tablecloth, or maybe some bigoted silverware, but no, just after devouring the espionage appraiser, biting into the nautical pallet-cleanser, our taste buds come into contact with unexpected spinach, the Very Bad bit of racism here, Tintin in blackface.

To give plot context here, we're on the ship from Belgium-San Theodoros, and have just gone through a sequence of the second thieves mistaking people for Tintin, and they have just brutally murdered the first thief, and have as such been unmasked, by Tintin, in blackface

Now, here, in order for this section to feel complete, I will roughly explain what blackface here is, `Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-black people to portray a caricature of a black person`, now, this is copied directly, word-for-word, from Wikipedia, this is because I'd just paraphrase it otherwise, and I'm writing this around 1 in the morning, and want to get to bed.

I should not have to explain why this is bad.

Silly bits

I must once again remind you that Tintin regularly carries a firearm

Beard lasso

That whole revolution thing

Drunk Tintin

Colonel overpopulation, clearly they are herbivores with no natural predators, eventually they will overgraze and kill their ecosystem.

I repeat, Tintin teleports via lightning

Tintin is apparently car-crash-proof

The canonical existence of hell

Conclusion

This is still one of my favorite Tintin books, it's the right balance of silly vs dramatic, and is hard to find fault with (other than the racist bit).

I do not really know why I've got a soft spot for it, it wasn't the first I read, and there's nothing really standout about it, compared to other ones

Sources

The Broken Ear

Fetishism

Jenny's Tale

Screech's Tale

Violet's Tale

Authorized Firearms Officer

ACPO Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms 3.2.1

Height data

Blackface

#include <stdio.h> #book review #tintin

[arckilop]

Dutch crunch bread l.a.

Having piled all my bread cookbooks onto a table, I selected one at random and was pleased to have grabbed the book “Traditional Bread Making” (Discover the art of creating classic and speciality breads) by Eve Parker. I was pleased as the book was a present for Christmas and I have not had time to make anything from it yet, even thought it’s a lovely little book. In the UK, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s markets the product under the name “giraffe bread”.īut back to my bread now and where I found the recipe. In the USA, it is generally sold as “Dutch crunch”, though recently, some stores have begun to sell it as “Dutch crust”. The name originated in the Netherlands, where it is known as tijgerbrood or tijgerbol (translation: tiger roll), and where it has been sold at least since the early 1970s. Typically, tiger bread is made as a white bread bloomer loaf or bread roll, but the technique can be applied to any shape of bread. It has a crusty exterior, but is soft inside. The rice paste crust also gives the bread a distinctive flavour. The paste dries and cracks during the baking process. The bread is generally made with sesame oil and with a pattern baked into the top made by painting rice paste onto the surface prior to baking. Within the United States, it is popular in the San Francisco Bay Area (as “Dutch crunch”), but it is not well-known elsewhere. Tiger bread (also sold as Dutch crunch in the USA, tijgerbrood or tijgerbol in Netherlands) is the commercial name for a loaf of bread which has a unique mottled crust. Sainsbury’s Giraffe Bread (Image Sainsbury’s) I hadn’t chosen to make tiger bread, it was what the “Baking Gods” chose for me when I randomly opened a page from a pile of bread cookbooks, as part of dashing Dom’s (Belleau Kitchen) Random Recipes challenge. It sliced like a dream and had a subtle sesame flavour, which gives a good tiger bread its growl. The texture and taste was exactly the same as the tiger bread I buy from my local supermarket bakery, but much better…….with a better crust I thought. IL TONNO ITALIANO (a.k.What’s in a Name? Tiger Bread, Giraffe Bread or Dutch Crunch – Tiger Bread Recipeįor the well initiated tiger bread fans amongst you, it will be apparent from my photos that my bread was neither stripy (as in tiger bread) or patchwork (as in giraffe bread), it was in fact very pale and mottled, and that is my fault completely, as with the absence of rice flour in the pantry and with it being Sunday (limited shop opening hours), I blithely said “rice flour, shmice flour – corn flour will do”!! However, what this bread lacked in stripes and patches was more than made up in flavour, it WAS indeed JUST like a “proper” loaf of tiger bread and was delicious. Prosciutto Di Parma, Sweet Coppa, Italian Herb Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Red Onions, Black Pepper, Garlic Aioli on Fresh Ciabatta Genoa Salami, Ham, Italian Mortadella, Fresh Mozzarella, Muffuletta Olive Mix on Fresh Focaccia LA MUFFULETTA DI LUCA (a.k.a LUCA'S MUFFULETTA) Prosciutto Di Parma, Fresh Basil, Fresh Mozzarella, Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Flaky Sea Salt, Balsamic Glaze on Fresh Focaccia IL CAPRESE CON PROSCIUTTO (a.k.a THE CAPRESE WITH PROSCIUTTO) Oven Roasted Turkey, Monterey Jack, Avocado, Tomato, Red Onion, Lettuce, Black Pepper, Garlic Aioli on Sliced Sourdough Spicy Calabrian Salami, Spicy Toscano Salami, Fresh Mozzeralla, Tomatoes, Red Onions, Mild Cherry Peppers, Black Pepper, Calabrian Pepper Aioli on Freshly Baked Italian Roll Top Round Roast Beef, Sharp Cheddar, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Pickles, Red Onions, Pepperoncinis, Black Pepper, Horseradish Aioli on Freshly Baked Dutch Crunch Genoa Salami, Ham, Italian Mortadella, Sweet Coppa, Fresh Mozzarella, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Red Onions, Pepperoncinis, Mayo, Bruno's Oil & Vinegar on a Freshly Baked Sourdough Roll

#Dutch crunch bread l.a.

[acrystalwitch]

Book review and recommendation:

🏙 City Witchery 🌃

by Lisa Marie Basile

(100% my personal thoughts and opinions, I was just very excited to share my feelings on this book I came across! )

• So far this book checks all the boxes for me, it’s inclusive of those with disabilities and gives alternatives for walking meditations. The author states in their personal bio that they are a chronic illness advocate and that is definitely reflected in the accessibility offered in this book.

• I loved seeing the lgbtqia community and black lives support mentioned on the very first page.

• The way the author writes also really reflects on how much of a poet they are and I found it a very easy and beautiful read packed with a lot of information.

• As someone who lives in a dense city area I loved seeing all of the alternatives listed out on how to connect with nature still, but also how to connect with the city itself and use the magic that sits everywhere around us.

• The author gives ways to work in small spaces or shared spaces and how to still do ritual work when it’s hard to find that alone time you need.

• Even if you don’t live in a big city, it’s perfect for if you’re ever traveling, staying in hotels or visiting places that make it harder to connect with pure nature and how to still find the magic and beauty in that world of busyness.

Overall it’s definitely a 10/10,

it doesn’t cover a lot of advanced topics, but I feel like even an advanced witch could find it interesting and helpful when looking to apply what they already do to a city-like setting.

#book review #witchcraft #beginner witch #witch tips #witch books #city witch #city witchery #inclusive witchcraft #book recs #my favs

[samwisethewitch]

A simple spell to release stress

When we hold on to excess stress, it creates a blockage in our personal energy system. Imagine that your is body filled with tiny, invisible wires that carry energy from one point to the next. When you hold on to stress in a certain area, you tie a knot in the wires that keeps energy from flowing smoothly to the rest of your body. This can manifest as fatigue, lack of motivation, overwhelm, or other mental and physical symptoms. This spell is designed to untie those knots and let the energy flow freely.

This spell is very loosely adapted from the book Light Magic for Dark Times by Lisa Marie Basile, which I highly recommend for anyone looking to bring witchcraft into their self care practice or vice versa.

What you will need:

A piece of white paper

A pen or pencil

A bowl or cup of clean, fresh water (water from the tap is fine!)

(Optional) a few drops of lavender essential oil

Performing the spell:

Set aside some time when you can be alone and won’t be disturbed. If you like, set the mood by lighting candles, burning incense, or playing music. If you chose to include lavender oil, add it to the water now.

On the paper, write a detailed description of the situation that is causing you stress, and of how it makes you feel. Be as specific as possible. What emotions do you feel? Are there physical sensations associated with these emotions? Where in your body do you feel them? (If you are more comfortable drawing than writing, draw a picture that represents your situation and how it makes you feel.)

Keep writing/drawing until you run out of things to say. Get a second piece of paper if you need to. Don’t worry about making it pretty or even legible. What matters is that you get the emotions out and onto the page.

Fold the paper in half, folding it away from yourself; rotate it to the left and fold it again; rotate to the left again and fold one more time for a total of three folds. With each fold, repeat out loud or in your head, “I acknowledge these feelings and I let them go. I release.”

Submerge the folded paper in the bowl of water. Make sure it is completely covered. Watch it soak through, and watch the ink bleed from the paper.

Say, “Spirits of water, keepers of emotion and the subconscious, spirits of healing, help me to cleanse and release. Help me restore my energy.”

Allow the envelope to soak in the water for at least an hour before disposing of it.

#this spell brought to you by 2020 election stress lmao #book of shadows #my spells #spell #spellwork #self care #stress #witch #witchy #witchcraft #witchblr #healing #energy work #magic #magick #pagan #wicca #wiccan #paganism

[angelinasway]

Regaining Hope

Chapter Eight

Pairing: Clark Kent/Buffy Summers Warnings/Triggers:Torture, Violence, Mention's of Major Character Death, Bad Language, Sexual Tension, Eventual Smut, Mentions of Sexual Assault Summary: Takes place during Man of Steel. When Buffy discovers the U.S Military trying to keep quiet about an object buried in a twenty thousand year old glacier, she immediately thinks the worst. However, when a surprise visit to the Canadian Arctic puts her in the path of a mysterious stranger her whole world is changed forever. Authors Notes: Thank you all so much for being so very supportive. You guys have been absolutely wonderful. Seriously I couldn't ask for a better group of readers. I need to warn you all that this chapter has quite the graphic and gruesome scene in it, so if that's not your thing I highly recommend skipping the part where Clark starts to watch the video. Some major questions answered here. Hope you all enjoy, and keep the reviews coming. Special thanks to my ever amazing beta Hipkarma. She always helps and inspires me. Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Previous Chapters: [Chapter One] [Chapter Two] [Chapter Three] [Chapter Four] [Chapter Five] [Chapter Six] [Chapter Seven]

[TTH] [AO3] [FFN]

Chapter Eight

 Dawn smirked as she saw the caller ID flash. So, Buffy had talked to Wes. That was good. She really didn’t want to have to break into the Watchers Council just because she was nosy and worried for her sister. Buffy hadn’t told her much when they talked yesterday, just that there was some sort of prophecy about her and this Clark guy, which just raised all sorts of red flags for her. Dawn had insisted on seeing a copy of the prophecy and her hackles raised even more when she found out how quiet Wes and Willow were trying to keep this. Looks like big sis came through however, and now it was time to give the man on the other line hell for keeping something this important from her.

 “Xand, honey, can you take Abby? Wes is on the phone and it’s time for her nap anyway.” Dawn said, reaching for the phone.

 “No!” Her one and a half your old screeched at the top of her lungs, making Dawn cringe. When they coined the phrase, ‘children are your parents secret revenge,’ they weren’t lying. Abigail was just like her too, even in looks.

 Xander came out of their shared office, a crooked and amused smile on his lips. “You should know by now not to say that word in front of her,” He said, kissing Dawn on the forehead before reaching out and swooping up their toddler. “Come on Abby,” he said as Dawn answered her call. “Daddy will read you your favorite story.”

 “Try to get Joyce down too,” She added, before saying into the phone, “Hello Wes, so good of you to finally call me.”

 She heard the groan on the other end of the line and smiled. “How much do you know?”

 “That there’s a prophecy about my sister and some uber-powerful guy she’s been spending time with, on your instruction I might add.” Dawn said in a mockingly sweet voice.

 She heard him sigh. “Yes, that is all true. Look Dawn, I’m going to send you a copy of the prophecy through your secure fax now. We’ve been able to translate some of it, but there are certain areas where…I don’t think the language is of this world. It’s nothing like we’ve ever seen in any human or demon writings before.”

 Dawn got up and walked into the office, a frown on her face. “You mean like interdimensional, there’s gotta be a reference somewhere Wes.”

 There was silence over the line and for a second and she thought Wes had hung up. She’d just opened her mouth to see if he was still there, when he finally said, “No Dawn, that’s not what I meant at all.”

 Her frown deepened as the first page spat out of the machine. She slid it off the rack and looked at the prophecy. There were several different languages written on the copy, Etruscan, Ancient Sumerian, Ancient Greek, and Latin. At the top were strange symbols unlike anything she’d ever seen before, almost flowing together like cursive. The next page that came out was Wesley and Willow’s translation of that page. She bit her lip, walking over to her desk and went to work making sure what they had translated so far was correct.

 “So,” she began casually, “what I’m getting from the first page is that this guy is much farther from home than just another dimension.” She paused, huffing in annoyance as she snootily added,” It was Sun God by the way, not Star God.” She sighed. “Who are you using anyway, Basile?”

 “Vonten,” He answered and Dawn rolled her eyes. Of course, he was using that moron’s guide.

 “Vonten is an arrogant prick Wes, that book confuses people more than it helps. Burn it, it’s better as kindling. Bachman is the best at Etruscan and Ancient Sumerian, and you already know Ancient Greek and Latin enough not to need a reference.” She said, before frowning as she came to the part about the soulbond. “Wes, what the hell is a soulbond, and why is this referencing my sister and Mr. E.T. having one?”

 As Wesley began to explain what they knew so far, Dawn's face began to pale. Oh, this was not of the good. Buffy was gonna wig to the nth degree when she found out.

 "Does she know any of this?" Dawn asked, turning around and grabbing more of the pages that were still spitting out of her printer.

 "She knows about the bond. I told her this morning." He answered.

 "And what, you’re waiting until she gets pregnant before you tell her the rest?" Dawn asked angrily. "You know this is gonna freak her out..."

 "Which is why I decided not to tell her." Wes interrupted.

 "If you'd let me finish," Dawn snapped, slamming her hand on the desk. "I was going to say this is gonna freak her out, but it would be better if you tell her now." She huffed in frustration. "This just proves how little you guys know my sister. She absolutely will freak and she'll probably fight it at first. Just the idea of her own children having to live the life she has, is not gonna be a happy, joyous moment for her. She's already worried that Joyce or Abby, or maybe even both will be called one day.” Dawn said, before emphasizing her next words, "However, my sister is not stupid, and when push comes to shove, she'll make the right decision like she always does. I get that you’re worried about the Slayer line Wes, we all are, but keeping this from her is not the right way to go about it.”

 She heard Wes’s sigh, “I realize that Dawn, but with the bond itself needing to be fulfilled, I thought that was more than enough for both of them to handle at this time.”

 Dawn looked at the pages covered in the strange flowing script, similar to the symbols on the first page. Wes was right, it was a language. "We need to find a way to translate this. Do you think this is Clark's language from his home world?"

The line was silent for a moment, before he said in annoyance, “Yes, that’s what I meant when I said I don’t think the language is of this world.”

 “Do you think Clark knows how to read it?” Dawn asked.

 A sigh came over the line, “I honestly don’t know. I believe he just discovered where he came from, so I don’t see how he could.” He paused in thought and then murmured to himself, “But even if he can’t, perhaps the ship has a historical archive or maybe there is some form of AI technology that could translate it for us.”

 Dawn frowned, “What ship?”

 As Wesley explained how Buffy and Clark met and the danger Buffy had recklessly put herself in, Dawn found her ire sparking at Buffy’s stupidity. “I’m gonna kill her!” Dawn growled. “She hasn’t done something that reckless since Joyce was born. God fucking dammit, she promised me!”

 Wesley sighed. “In her defense, it could have very well been her fate that made her act so rashly.” He paused before saying, “In any case, Clark was there and according to Buffy, he saved her and watched over her after she went into a healing sleep.”

 Dawn was quiet as she processed that information. So, she didn’t die, which meant Buffy actively tried to stop it from happening. That was good, she was still getting smacked when Dawn saw her, but at least she hadn’t completely broken her promise from three and a half years ago. It was also good to see that this godlike Champion the prophecy spoke of wasn’t just a creature with a penchant for destruction playing at being a white hat because of a curse. That was a nice change.

 “What else do you know about him?” Dawn asked. “I’m assuming you started trying to find him as soon as you started translating this.”

 “Well,” Wesley began, “We first caught wind of a possible candidate about a year ago. We’d been monitoring airwave chatter for possible beings with superhuman strength when we caught a lead. A distress call came in about an oil rig off the coast of Canada in flames and about to explode. In that communication there was talk of a man rescuing the crew members aboard the rig and preventing the tower from collapsing on the rescue helicopter with his bare hands.” He paused for a moment, before saying. “We managed to find a few other incidents of him saving people, one that happened when he was thirteen. According to the incident report, his school bus went off a bridge and into the river. Three witnesses stated that a young Clark Kent managed to push the bus out of the water and rescue his classmate.”

 Dawn whistled, “So this guy really is the real deal white knight, huh?”

 “It would appear so.” He sighed.

 “Wes we’re gonna need to access that ship.” Dawn said, looking over a small section of Sumerian that talked about a trial of choice. The rest of the page was in the alien script however, so any clue as to what that meant was beyond her.

 “I know,” Wesley agreed.

 “Which means, we’re gonna have to tell Buffy and Clark everything.” Dawn reiterated.

 She heard Wesley groan, but he conceded nonetheless. “Alright fine, Willow needs to bring them some pendants to stave off the worst of the compulsion the bond is creating. I’ll have her stop by and get you on her way, unless you want me to tell Buffy myself, that is.”

 Dawn shook her head, “No, no. I think it will be safer for everyone if I’m the one to do it.” Then she bit her lip in thought, “And don’t bother with Willow, just call me when she gets back. I think I need to do this one on my own.”

 “Very well,” Wes agreed. “Willow should be finished within the next few hours. I’ll call you as soon as I know she’s returned.”

 “Alright, in the meantime I’m gonna go over this and make sure all the parts I can read are translated correctly.” Dawn said, adding, "Talk in a few," before hanging up.

 She sighed, rubbing her fingers along her forehead. "Well fuck," she muttered to herself.

 "Everything alright?" Xander asked, coming into the office. 

 "No, not really," she answered handing him the translated first page of the prophecy.

 She watched his eye scan the words before he blew out a breath. "So, this guys an alien?"

 "Looks like." She answered.

 Xander snorted, "Man the Buffster really knows how to pick 'em, doesn't she?"

 Dawn mock glared, before she couldn't contain her amusement at the absurdity of the situation. "Well, you know Buffy. She doesn't do anything by halves."

 ****<S>**<S>****

 As Clark followed Buffy down the hallway, his thoughts were a jumbled mess. He knew she had been trying to reassure him, but her words only had the opposite effect. Were they only feeling any of what they were because of the prophecy and furthermore, given the choice, would she even choose him? She had basically confessed to falling in love with her best friend. The history they had both shared, as disturbing as it was, was an important one to her. She had cared very deeply for this man. How could he ever live up to the memory of a man who had essentially changed a piece of himself for her? Part of him wanted to erase Spike’s memory from her mind, to do whatever he could to drive this man, this demon from her past and another part of him just felt wholly lost. He didn’t want to be anyone’s second best and he certainly didn’t want her to want him only because some guy thousands of years ago decided they were destined. God, he wished his dad was still alive. This would definitely be the type of thing his dad could help him through.

 She stopped at a large set of double doors and turned, catching his expression before he had time to school it into a much more neutral one. She blinked in surprise, "Clark...what’s wrong?"

 He shook his head, “It’s nothing Buffy.”

 Her frown deepened, “Oh no, you definitely have something face. Talk to me. I promise whatever it is, I’ll try to understand.”

 Clark shifted uncomfortably, before finally admitting, “I’m just feeling a little unsure about all this.”

 Her eyes widened slightly, “Because of Spike?”

 Clark sighed, “Well I mean think about it Buffy. You basically told me that you fell in love with your best friend and were willing to marry him for eternity, but the only reason you didn’t is because you were too scared. Would you even look twice at me if he was here now? Are the feelings I’m having for you even real, or is this just destiny trying to force us together?”

 Realization flooded her expression, and she quickly shook her head. “I can’t speak for what-ifs, because I would be lying if I answered that either way…” She swallowed, “As for how you’re feeling, I’ve been under love spells before and granted you usually don’t know you’re under one when you are, but if the feeling’s part was being fabricated, we…we wouldn’t be able to fight this like we are. We would have probably already slept together.” She blushed, looking down. “Fabricated feelings they’re false obviously, but they’re very strong…strong enough to make people dangerous. If what we were feeling was a manifestation, you wouldn’t have these doubts Clark, you wouldn’t even realize there was doubts to be had.” She met his eyes then, her expression serious and stoic. “And as for the fear part, I didn’t want to get into it because…” She sighed again. “You remember how I told you that Angelus showed up right when I was starting to get my life back together?”

 Clark nodded, “I remember.”

 “Well, what I didn’t say is that I was planning on retiring.” She rolled her eyes, “I had this grand plan of going back to school and getting a degree in Art History and moving to Hawaii to open a gallery.” She shook her head, “It was stupid, I know.”

 He immediately shook his head, “That doesn’t sound stupid at all.”  

 Buffy blushed. “I just mean it was stupid that I ever thought it could happen.” She shook her head, “Anyway, I started training a girl named Rayanne when we were first getting the new Watchers Council on its feet. She was bright, witty, resourceful and she already had the makings of someone who could be an excellent leader.” She looked at her feet, her hands clenching. “Me and Giles had agreed, in three-years-time, when Ray was eighteen, she would step in and fill my shoes. Faith didn’t want the position and the only other possible candidate that actually did, I flat out refused due to her inability to get along with just about anyone but Willow. I mentored Ray for over a year and she became…well, like a little sister to me. After the whole General Voll fiasco, I was ready to promote her to Senior Slayer status. She had been on it more than any other girl at the compound, helpful and demanding when need be. She’d fought through a horde of zombies and we came out of it with zero losses. The attack was completely unexpected and if she hadn’t been there, I don’t know what I would have done.” She met his eyes, “I was so proud of her.” Buffy sighed, “A few months later is when the first girl, Alicia went missing, and by the time Ray disappeared, there were already six that seemed to have just dropped off the planet.” She swallowed, “Angelus revealed himself and killed Giles a few weeks later, and almost three weeks after is when we found Alicia. She was the first and youngest to go missing and she was the first he dropped on our doorstep.” Buffy shook her head squeezing her eyes shut, “I knew what he was doing to Rayanne then, and that she would probably get the worst of it because of her association with me. Alicia was just a taste of what Angelus was capable of.” She opened her eyes, meeting his. “I wanted to have Spike claim me so we would be strong enough to save her and the rest of them, and I was scared because I knew I’d be asking for the wrong reasons. I was afraid Spike would know it too and I would only hurt him by asking. Does that make sense?”

 It was Clark’s turn to avert his eyes. “Yes,” he said quietly.

 She pulled out her phone and began to scroll through it, “Well just in case you have any doubts…” She swallowed, “I don’t even know why I kept this. Angelus loved tormenting me and we didn’t know it at the time but there were several Watchers from the old regime who were very unhappy with the way we were running things. Some of them made deals with Angelus, gave out my email and phone number and my location.” She looked at him, her lips pursed in anger. “One of them would even take video or pictures, documenting my pain for him when he couldn’t be there hiding in the shadows to see it.” She handed him her phone, “I’ve never watched this one, it’s the morning I found Rayanne, he saved her for last. I don’t need to see it, I lived it.” She nodded at her phone, “When he sent it, I didn’t even open it. I just dropped it in an archive and it’s been there ever since.” She shook her head, “I highly recommend only opening the third video file, the one that says, ‘Are you broken yet?’ She met his eyes then, “The first two will be what he did to her. So, unless you feel like throwing up, I would skip those.” She gestured with her chin at the double doors. “I’ll be in there beating on a bag, meet me when you’re done.”

 She turned without another word and went through the double doors not looking back. Clark looked down at the phone swallowing heavily, before opening the file. The video began with the image of the front of a house, not unlike the one they were in now, except there was a large tree in front and something very obviously dangling from it. It looked to be sometime in the middle of the night or perhaps early morning, but he couldn't tell either way due to the lights on the house illuminating everything.

 The person carrying the camera ran towards the house and a refined British voice in distress yelled, "Ms. Summers, come quickly. I think it may be Miss Stevenson."

 The front door flew open and there she was, except she looked nothing like she did now, her eyes were wild, feral even, and she was so pale and sucked up. She looked hollow, worn-down, nothing like the girl he’d spent the last couple of days getting to know. The scream that tore from her lips and the look on her face when she saw what was hanging from the tree, tore through him like a tidal wave of emotion. Clark felt himself growing angry at the Watcher, who was obviously playing both sides. Another man with bleached hair and nothing on but a pair of black jeans came flying through the door next, his eyes wild and worried. 

 The camera panned and followed Buffy as she ran out to the tree, falling to her knees and screaming again. Clark saw what was in the tree then and his stomach almost rebelled right then and there. It was a young girl, no older than sixteen and the only skin left on her body was on her beautiful face and near her pelvic region. The girl’s expression was frozen in a horrified scream that no one who cared ever had the chance to hear. A large white sheet wrapped itself tightly around the girl’s wrists and tied over the lowest branch, the excess linen draping behind the dead girl as some sort of sick backdrop silhouette for the body hanging lifelessly from the tree. There was hardly any blood to speak of, just a pinkish residue from where the body had touched the clean white linen, which told Clark she had been dead for more than a few hours. It wouldn’t be visible to a human through the recording, but because of his enhanced vision Clark could even see puncture wounds in places and deep gashes from where the girl had been restrained.

 The blond man came into the picture then and the Watcher came towards them, circling around so he could see Buffy’s expression, or at least that’s what he assumed the person with the camera was doing. Buffy's mouth was open in silent gulping sobs, giant tears dripping down her cheeks.

 “Love,” The blond man whispered in an apparent British accent not nearly as refined as the Watchers Clark had heard so far. The man fell to his knees behind her looking up at the tree. He shuddered as tears sprang to his electric blue eyes. “Don’t look Buffy…please kitten, please go back in the house.”

 The man placed his hand on her shoulder, and Buffy turned at the gesture and Clark could no longer see her face as she flung herself into the man’s arms and began to sob harder. “It’s Ray,” she howled. “Oh god, it’s Ray.”

 “Shh,” The blond man hushed, rubbing hands along her back in a comforting gesture. “I know,” He choked. “I know, love.”

 “We…we can’t leave her like that.” She sobbed. “I-I have to get her down.”

 Clark watched the blond man close his eyes and shake his head, “I’ll do it. Go back in the house, please Slayer.”

 “No,” Buffy shook her head as Clark caught the silhouette of another man flying from the house and over to them. The sound of retching could be heard, and it took Clark a second to realize the sound came from whomever had just come from the house and seen the body. “It has to be me. Don’t you see, don’t you get it? I knew,” she sobbed. “I knew what he was doing to her and I didn’t do anything.”

 “Oh, sweet girl, you’ve been trying to find her. We all have. This isn’t your fault.” The man choked.

 “It’s not good enough,” She screamed, shoving away from him and falling on her rear, “And it is my fault, all of it! They were called because of me, because I was too chicken shit to just except the power that was offered to me!”

 A sob broke from her lips, and she turned looking directly at the cameraman a sudden realization dawning in her hollow eyes. “You!” She snarled, her eyes flashing. “It’s you, isn’t it?” She started marching towards the cameraman.

 “Ms.…Ms. Summers,” Whomever was holding the camera stuttered and then she was there, a well-aimed kick flying towards the camera before Clark saw sky for a few seconds.

 “I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!” She screamed suddenly hovering over the man, the wild fury in her eyes telling Clark that she had every intention of killing this man, and part of Clark couldn’t agree more. “No one else but an Angelus minion would have called me out here for Rayanne! Everyone else would know better!”

 Clark watched as she threw a punch, the sickening sound of cartilage breaking ringing through the speaker as the guy howled in pain. The way her arms were angled next and the gurgling sound through the phone told him she was choking the man before three sets of arms suddenly grabbed her, pulling her off. Clark could hear the man wheeze as he tried to catch his breath while Buffy screamed and fought the three people who had pulled her away. Faith was one of them, and then the blond man, which Clark was pretty sure by now was Spike, and another man, tall, brunet, with an eyepatch. He saw Willow in the distance coming towards them and when she reached them, she touched Buffy’s shoulder before she could react and muttered a few words that sounded like Latin. Buffy suddenly collapsed and Clark realized Willow had put her to sleep. All eyes then turned towards the cameraman.

 “Get her in the house, Xander.” Spike growled.

 “Uh, Spike–” Xander started to say when Spike turned on him.

 “Get her in the bloody fucking house, now!” He snarled, a sound like grinding bone emanating from the man as his voice altered to something more sinister. “I’m not going to kill him.” He said turning back towards the camera as two glowing amber eyes stared at Clark.

 “Speak for yourself,” Faith said marching towards the man. “I’ve been getting those fucking emails too.”

 “So have I,” Willow said, her eyes black as she stared the camera down.

 “We won’t have to kill him,” Spike clarified as he fell in step with Faith. “Angelus will do that for us.”

 “How you figure?” Faith asked, her eyes just as enraged as Buffy’s had been.

 Spike suddenly sprung forward, his arm reaching out and a ripping sound emanated as the man screamed. His hand came back with what looked like a wad of hair. “This enough Red?”

 “Plenty,” Willow said, sudden realization dawning in her black eyes.

 “Now,” Spike said, a sinister grin stretching his fanged mouth, to the whimpering man. “The way I figure it, you got three options. The first being, you can go back to Angelus and give him this tape, at which point he finds out we now have a way to track you, and oh trust me Marcus, he will most definitely kill you for that.” Clark heard the man begin to sob, and part of him wanted to turn off the video at that point but couldn’t look away at the furious amber eyes that stared back at the camera. “Option number two, you can destroy the tape and run, which if we’re being honest would be the preferable of the three, but I’m sure you are well aware of the kind of wrath he would bring down on you if he didn’t get to see his almost masterpiece complete, so I’m sure you won’t.” Spike’s hand suddenly flew forward and the man screamed in pain, “Or option three,” He growled, “Where you run like a coward and keep the tape for leverage, hoping that your usefulness hasn’t run its course.”

 He suddenly had the camera in his hands, staring directly into the screen his eyes burning into the lens. “Looks like your mole got ousted. This is your last one, Angelus. We’re coming for you and when we’re done there won’t be anything left.” The screen suddenly went black as the video cut off.

 Clark let out a trembling breath looking around him and realizing he had slid to the floor at some point, his heart pounding in his chest. God, he didn’t know, he didn’t understand until that moment. That poor girl, no wonder Buffy was desperate. How many girls did she find like that before this one was left for her? How many videos did she force herself to endure before this one was sent, even Faith and Willow had said this wasn’t the first one? Clark squeezed his eyes shut, she had told him, so had Gunn but to see it. She was driven half-crazy by what that vampire had done and he could not blame her for that. What would he do if it was his mother in that position? God, he could only imagine.

 He shakily got to his feet, listening as he heard the sound of a fist hitting leather, he walked to the doors and threw them open, not stopping when she paused to look at him. He had to reassure himself that she was okay, that she wasn’t that angry creature that he saw in the video. He went straight to her, his arms coming around her in a crushing embrace before his lips met hers. God, she was so strong, he didn’t realize how much until that moment. Buffy immediately melted into him, her lips parting for him as he slid his tongue into her mouth. She was such a small woman, everything about her was deceptively tiny, except her strength and fortitude both physically and emotionally. To go through what she had and still be able to function on a normal level was just short of a miracle.

 He pulled away and looked down into her green eyes, haunted by her past but not dead and hateful like in the video. He bent down and laid his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “I…” He started, “I didn’t…I’m so sorry Buffy.” He whispered, and he could still feel himself trembling. “I didn’t… You hear words like torture, rape, and murder but–”

 “They’re not real until you see it for yourself.” She finished in understanding.

 Clark sighed, hugging her closely, her head resting against his chest. “I get it now, not…but I understand how desperate you must have been to try and save the girls from that.”

 He heard her sniffle, “I didn’t know what else to do. I watched all the others you know, even…even what he did to them. It was my fault, you see; those girls lost their lives because they had a connection to me.” She shook her head, “If they hadn’t been called, they would still be alive today.”

 Clark pulled away and used his hand to raise her chin so he could see her eyes, “You blame yourself for every one of them that dies no matter how it happens, don’t you?”

 She closed her eyes a shuddering breath hissing through her lips, before she opened them, meeting his gaze head on. “How can I not?”

 He sighed, hugging her close again and shook his head. He had no response to that; he didn’t think she should. He didn’t think it was healthy, but he didn’t want to get in an argument about it with her right now either.

 They stayed like that for a little while before she whispered, “You’re shaking.”

 Clark nodded. “I know, the video…I’m still upset.”

 She pulled away, meeting his eyes again. “Do you want me to show you how to throw a punch properly? The heavy bags have been warded well, we can start there.” She looked down, “It will…it will help relieve some of what you’re feeling at least.”

 “Yeah,” He nodded in agreement. “Yeah, okay.”

 ****<S>**<S>****

 To say Clark was a fast learner when it came to training would have been the understatement of the year. He was an absolute natural. He moved with precision and grace, sometimes striking so fast she almost didn't see him move. 

 As of now she was simply holding the bag for him as he got comfortable with the rhythm of landing punches and even with the wards on the bag, she could feel the impact of his strikes. At this rate she would need her suit within a few days to let him get the feel of fighting a moving target. At some point she might even bring him back to Cleveland to put him up against multiple fighters and see how he did.

 "Remember to move your feet,” She reminded. "A moving target is harder to hit."

 He nodded, bounced on the balls of his feet and struck, the impact of the punch making her bones rattle. "Whoa, nice one Clark." She laughed, "Felt that one in my toes."

 He grinned, striking the bag again harder. "You were right," he said casually in between punches. "This does help."

 She grinned, "Nothing like getting your aggression out with a bit of violence." And then she blushed, smirking, "Well almost nothing." 

 He chuckled as he threw a few more punches in quick succession, his own smirk forming on his lips. He had a mischievous look in his eyes and had just opened his mouth to comment when Buffy’s phone rang.

 Buffy sighed, releasing the bag. "That will either be Wes or Willow."

 It was now around three in the afternoon; Clark had told her he had to pick his mom up at six and it was an hour drive to Smallville from where they were. So, she was grateful that they were going to be able to get this taken care of before meeting his mom.

 Buffy walked over to her phone and answered. "Hey Wes," she said in greeting. "What's the haps?"

 He was silent for a moment and she could almost hear him roll his eyes at her butchering of the English language. "Willow," He began, "should be there shortly. Dawn would also like to see you. I told her I would call her once Willow was done securing the pendants."

 Buffy frowned, “What? Why?”

 “Dawn and I have come to the conclusion that one of the languages in the prophecy that I have been unable to identify, is most likely written in the script of Clark’s home world.” He paused, “We are going to need access to the ship, unless of course Clark can read it.”

 Buffy looked at Clark and raised an eyebrow, but he quickly shook his head. “Only a few words,” He confirmed. “I think the computer on the ship might be able to translate it though.”

 “That’s a negative, Wes,” Buffy answered, beginning to pace. “But he agrees that the computer on the ship should be able to do the job.”

 “Very well, I’ll inform Dawn to dress accordingly. The ship is still in the same location I presume?” He asked.

 “Whoa,” Buffy said halting her steps, realizing what he was suggesting. “You want us to go tonight? Clark has to pick up his mom from work, Wes.”

 “I think it would be for the best. The sooner we get this prophecy translated, the better.” He paused. “Lorne told me I needed to send out more Slayers to India, Kansas, and Metropolis within the next two weeks and I would very much like to know if I should be sending two or a few hundred. If this prophecy gives any indication of what’s to come, I would very much like to know what it is.”

 Buffy and Clark exchanged worried looks. “He only told me something was coming for Clark, and we’re gonna need all hands-on deck when it does.”

 Buffy watched Clark swallow nervously. “He told me my time for hiding was almost up, but he said it was in the coming month.” His eyes widened in realization. “We need to translate that prophecy.”

 Buffy nodded in agreement, “And I need to train you harder than just beating on a bag, which means it’s gonna be eight-hour days from here on out.” Clark opened his mouth to argue and she held up her hand, “We’ll get as much as we need to do in the mornings done, but if for whatever reason we can’t, I would loan you the money before I would let you lose your home.”

 Clark frowned, “Buffy–”

 “Take it from someone who knows what those kinda money troubles feel like,” She interrupted again. “I think in the scheme of things saving the world is a little more important than pride, don’t you?”

 His frown deepened. “You think it’s going to be that big?”

 “Lorne said all hands-on deck and it’s you. Someone coming after you has got to be as powerful, if not more.” She watched his face fall and reached out her hand out running it down his arm, “You’ll be ready, and now that we have a general idea of where this stuff might take place, we’ll all be even more prepared.”

 “Wes,” she said, addressing the Watcher once more. “Were gonna need Willow to keep close, and I would call Illyria back from Cairo.”

 “I agree,” Wesley said, just as a portal opened up and Willow walked through. Her smile melting away at the look on both Buffy and Clark’s faces.

 “Uh-oh,” Willow said nervously. “I know that face.”

 “Is that Willow?” Wesley asked over the line.

 “Yeah,” Buffy said.

 “Let me speak with her, please.”

 Buffy held out the phone to Willow, who frowned but took it anyway. “Hey Wes,” Willow said in greeting as Buffy walked over to where Clark was standing looking more than a little worried.

 “Hey,” she said quietly.

 He attempted to smile but he couldn’t pull it off. “Hey, yourself.”

 She bit her lip watching him, seeing the turmoil play across his face of having an unknown enemy out there that could be responsible for hurting others when they decided to rear their ugly heads. She didn’t blame him, if she needed to pull out her big guns as Lorne hinted then it could definitely get bad. She was optimistic however, because of what she’d had to face in her past. Clark didn’t have that same luxury.

 “I-I know you’re not exactly used to going up against big bads, or having to fight gods,” she started. “But I promise you Clark, no matter what it is we’ll deal with it together. Tonight, I’ll have my sister meet us at your place and we’ll go to the ship and find out what this prophecy says. Whatever’s coming, we’ll deal. I promise you; we won’t lose.”

 “How do you know?” He asked, a bit of hope showing in his eyes.

 She stared at him seriously, “Because I don’t lose when it’s the world.”

 His lips quirked slightly, and he opened his mouth to say something when Willow walked up to them. “Wes wants me to fit you for a suit,” She said to Clark, handing Buffy her phone before saying, “And, he wants to talk to you.”

 As Buffy reached for the phone Clark said, “I already have a suit and it’s Kryptonian.”

 Both Buffy and Willow blinked in surprise at his words, their voices ringing out in unison. “You do?”

 He nodded, “Yeah, it’s on the ship still, but I have one.”

 Willow smiled, “Well then, that’s gonna make this quicker. Can you bring it to me? I can enhance it with magic, add some safety features and protect you against the mystical.”

 “Will that still work, even if the material isn’t of Earth?” He asked.

 “Yeah Wes,” Buffy finally said into her phone, pulling herself away from the conversation. So, Clark already had a suit, she wondered what it looked like.

 “So, for the time being I’m going to send fifty Slayers to each location, but keep the others on standby incase things go pear-shaped.” He said, already planning ahead. “I’ll also be moving quite a few closer to all three locations, that way all the girls have backup nearby. I think Willow should stay there at the safehouse that way she’s not far from either of you.”

 “And Dawn, Xander, and the kids? They live in Metropolis after all.” Buffy asked.

 “Perhaps you should explain the situation to her when she gets there. Staying there at the safe house with Willow might also be a wise move for them.” Wes said, adding, “As well as a few Slayers. I know Faith’s been itching to get out of Cleveland for a mission, maybe she and a few of the other girls should accompany her.”

 “Just as long as it’s not Tanya, that girl’s a liability and she doesn’t listen to anyone.” Buffy said.

 “I concur,” Wesley agreed. “Only the girls who are focused and dedicated will be allowed to participate in this mission. I would like as little casualties as possible.”

 “I agree,” Buffy nodded, “What about the mystics, how many of those can we tap?”

 “I have sixty-eight on file, I’ll start making phone calls now.”  He sighed. “I’m just glad we have this much to go on.”

 “Me too,” Buffy agreed. “I’ll call Dawn when Willow gets done here and tell her where to meet us and to put on her suit and a warm hat.”

 “Very well,” he said. “Call me when you know more and I’ll begin the preparations.”

 Buffy hung up, walking back over to Willow and Clark as they spoke to each other a bit awkwardly. “So, let’s get this over with Wills.”

 Willow quickly nodded opening a small bag she brought with her. “So,” she said quickly. “These were a bit difficult to make since from what we’ve read the compulsion itself seems to be based purely on hormones as well as a need to unite your souls.” She looked at them both, “It took me a little while to find what I needed and even longer to put the spell together.” She sighed, “The pendants themselves will be made out of several crystals used to block compulsion, amethyst, ametrine, chrysocolla, and ruby.”

 Willow pulled out two small corked vials filled with multicolored stones and handed them to both Buffy and Clark. “Now, hold out your hands and link your free ones together.”

 Buffy and Clark did as she asked, holding their hands out palm up. Willow placed a vial in each of their hands and then covered them with her own hands, closing her eyes and beginning to chant. Buffy immediately began to feel her hand heat up and for a second it almost became unbearable and Buffy even watched Clark wince from the heat. It was gone just as quickly however and in its place were two hard looking marble like multicolored stones with a dark metallic chain that would hang from each of their necks. Buffy heard Willow mutter one more spell that she recognized to be a ward against breaking.

 “Well go on.” Willow said smiling happily at her work. “Try them on, see if it worked.”

 Buffy quickly slipped the necklace over her head and a sigh of relief left her lips. The sexual tension that had never fully abated her all day finally easing enough to where she wasn’t thinking about sex every few seconds.

 Clark had a similar reaction, his face seeming to ease slightly, but Buffy was surprised when he turned to Willow and asked, “You said the compulsion is only based on hormones, does that mean any feeling we have that aren’t sexual are real?”

 Willow nodded, “Of course, real love is something that can only be based off of free will. Its why love spells don’t ever work. You can’t force someone to love you.”

 Buffy watched amused as Clark seemed to sigh in relief, and then quickly blushed when he noticed her watching him. “Come on stud,” she said hooking her arm through his and dragging him towards the door of the training room. “Let me go grab my stuff before we go get your mom,” a grin creeping over her face as she turned and wished Willow a good night and a promise to catch up tomorrow. “And for the record”, she added quietly as they walked out of the training room. “I still want to jump you, that hasn’t changed even with the necklace on.”

 He quickly reached out to grab her arm, but she easily dodged him and took off down the hallway, a blush and a giggle leaving her lips.

 Clark was suddenly there in front of her, a crooked and devilish smile on his lips. “Is that so?” And then his lips were on hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth as she squealed in surprise.

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