#“this feels... off” but he doesn't know why so he doesn't change anything about what he's doing and just keeps acting the same

[neiptune]

a simple complication

cw: 1.6k wc, female reader, miscommunication my beloved, you have no idea how to confess your feelings to the one miya twin who doesn't remember what happened at suna's party

You’ve never once felt uncomfortable in a Miya household but, as you stand frozen by the doorstep, you realize that just might be about to change.

As you take a deep breath, relentless inner monologue giving its best shot at calming you down, Osamu suddenly swings the door open and you find yourself taking a wobbly step back, surprised. One garbage bag in hand, he looks equally startled.

“Hey”, he smiles after a moment, “what are ya doing?”.

You can barely look him in the eye, which only confuses him more.

“Nothing. I mean, I wanted to see you. Was hoping we could talk?”.

“Uh, sure. Come in, I’ll be right back”.

You quickly do as you’re told, take your shoes off by the door and gingerly shuffle to the couch before your brain decides you may in fact be too much of a coward to initiate the conversation at all.

The apartment seems empty, which indicates that Atsumu is either sleeping or simply not home. You try to remember how many drinks he had the previous evening, at Suna’s halloween party, but the entire night is still such a blur. Except from one specific detail that still makes heat crawl from your throat up to the roots of your hair.

God, how could you be so stupid? It’d be easy to blame it all on the stupid drinks Rintaro kept bringing you, liquid courage, a dumb wink sent your way as he casually suggested it was time you stopped being a pussy. No, it wasn’t entirely his fault, although you should’ve guessed nothing good would come out of a halloween party thrown in the middle of January.

You were in a pretty low effort costume, clown makeup, black dress. You’re all adults now, which made you think no one would actually commit to the bit as much as they did back in high school or during college, but were soon enough proved wrong as soon as you saw Aran and Rintaro respectively in a Daphne and Velma costume. They looked ridiculous and spectacular at the same time.

The twins were the only ones proving your theory, they both arrived to the party in casual clothes and not one bit of makeup on. A shame, the opportunity to see them wear mascara or eyeliner is rare but when they do men and women are affected all the same. You clearly remember once catching Rintaro himself staring at Osamu for a little too long.

“What’s up? Are ya hungry? Brought back some leftovers from the shop, we can have lunch if ‘Tsumu didn’t gobble those down”, his voice makes you jump and your friend stops by the couch, brows suddenly furrowed. “Or not. Are you okay?”.

“Yes!”, you should be relieved, honestly, he’s acting normal. Which means that maybe you didn’t ruin anything. Are you about to? Perhaps coming was a mistake-

“What did you want to talk about?”, Osamu has always been way too good at sensing other people’s emotions, he quickly forgets the lunch proposal and sits next to you instead, close enough for your legs to be pressed against each other. You feel like you may be about to combust.

You’ve known him almost all your life, high school feels like a century ago. The Miyas came as a package deal back then, one couldn’t exist without the other, but as time passed and adulthood shaped their lives in different ways, most people thought each finally got to exist as his own person. Those people were wrong: at least to you, they always held their own individuality. It’s what made them special. It’s what made you fall in love with Samu when he was still a hotheaded teenager, parts of that immature youth still flashing through his grown up demeanor, especially when he’s put in a room with his brother.

“I just wanted to tell you I really value our friendship. You know that, right?”, it feels like you might be about to cry, the way your voice is wavering. He cocks his head.

“Why are ya being so formal?”, Osamu offers a warm chuckle.

“You know that, right?”, you insist.

“I do”, his features soften, “not sure what I’d do without you, honestly”.

You only realize you’re tormenting your fingers when he covers your nervous hands with his own, warm and solid and so much bigger. Once more, it reminds you of the previous night and suddenly you’re worried you might truly cry. The twins don’t do well with tears, every single time they’ve seen you cry throughout the years, they always comically panicked as they awkwardly tried to offer some comfort. It never worked. You wish Kita was here to save the day, just like he always did back then.

“Samu, I’m sorry”, you murmur.

“For what? Now you’re worrying me”, he squeezes your hands in his and you look up from your lap to meet his perturbed gaze.

Like a slap in the face, it hits you. He doesn’t remember. Now, this is a scenario you didn’t prepare yourself to face.

Osamu gently bumps his forehead against yours and you almost throw up on the spot.

“Hey? Care to let me in that pretty little head of yours?”.

“You don’t remember?”, you don’t mean for it to come out in such an accusing pitch but it’s inevitable.

“Don’t remember what?”.

Incredulous, you stare back at him. The front door opens once more and this time you both jump. You’re too shocked to pay attention to Atsumu entering the living room, back from a run and dripping with sweat. Samu’s hands on yours can only remind you of how it felt having them briefly take your face in them as he clumsily tried to kiss you back, or maybe push you away, who can tell? You were too drunk and clearly he was too. You basically jumped his bones in Suna’s hallway, thank god no one walked by to witness the way you ran away right after. You wish you were drunk enough to forget that too.

“Hi”, Atsumu says and you’re too absorbed by the vortex of your mortifying thoughts to notice how he awkwardly clears his throat.

“Hey, ‘Tsumu”, you say back distractedly, gaze kept on Samu’s coffee table.

“Go take a shower, you’re dripping on my counter”, Osamu barks as his brother casually opens the fridge to take out a protein shake.

“What’s for lunch?”, Atsumu ignores the order and flashes him a grin instead.

“My elbow in yer ribs if ya don’t go take a shower right now”.

“Jeez, fine. I’ll leave you both to it”.

Osamu furrows his brows as he watches Atsumu disappear upstairs with his shake and an amused grin he’s unable to interpret. It dawns on him that you barely talked to each other, which is usually not what happens. You’re disgustingly close, always have been walking the line between being siblings and something else he’s never really been able to pinpoint. He remembers once asking Atsumu if he liked you and he knows his brother well enough to be sure he was being sincere when he scrunched his face and shook his head no. Not like that.

Osamu would lie if he said he never wondered whether you could like him like that. But you’ve never been as… relaxed with him. It feels like Atsumu is the brother you’re most comfortable with and all these years he’s patiently waited for the news to drop, the relationship to start. Except it never did. He still wonders if ‘Tsumu had to friendly turn you down at some point. He still wonders if you could ever like the Miya you’re clearly less relaxed with, instead.

“What did I forget?”, Osamu gently grabs your chin to make sure you look up and meet his gaze once more. Your mouth feels dry.

“We…”, no, you can’t just say that. We kissed. Incorrect. More like you jumped him in a clearly drunken state and he was too much of a gentleman to fully push you away. It’s a faint memory, his hands on your face, and you can’t recall at all if his lips moved along with yours at some point. They most likely didn’t. And now, if you tell him, you’ll ruin everything. Maybe you should just keep quiet, be a coward and bury the whole thing in a place within your chest, inaccessible to anyone but your sense of guilt.

“We what?”, for a moment, Osamu’s exceptionally gentle tone, paired with his proximity, is inebriating enough to make you want to kiss him again. Then, something odd catches your attention and you blink a few times, surprised.

“What’s this?”, you reach to slightly pinch part of his dark hair between your thumb and pointer finger, to remove what looks like a gold grain. It’s dry and barely visible on your fingertip.

He follows your gaze and lets you go, slightly pulling back with a smile.

“Ah, that. I thought I washed it all off”, Osamu casually runs a hand through his hair a few times, “it’s temporary color spray”.

“You’re gonna dye your hair again?”.

“Nah. ‘Tsumu thought it’d be hilarious if we came to the party with a costume no one would notice. I think only Shinsuke guessed it by the end of the night and even he wasn’t so sure”, he offers a handsome grin but you feel petrified.

“What costume?”.

“We went as each other! Ya couldn’t tell us apart, could ya?”.

His amused smile slowly melts away as he takes in your horrified expression, eyes growing bigger by the second.

“Are you oka-”

“Oh my god”.

[itsnesss]

𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 | rafe cameron × fem!reader

summary | you confront your former friend, rafe, at a party about his arrogant behavior and how he’s lost the person he used to be. despite his resistance, you see a hint of vulnerability, and you offer him a chance to change

warnings | strong language, emotional confrontation, themes of arrogance and vulnerability, personal growth

word count | 1.8 k

author's note | it would help me a lot if you liked, commented and reposted so that more people read what I write and don't forget to follow me, thanks ᡣ𐭩

The party is in full swing. The lights flicker above the crowd, creating an atmosphere that feels more like a spectacle than a celebration. And you, though you try to enjoy yourself, can only think of one thing: Rafe. The guy who used to be your friend, the one you shared laughs, secrets, and endless afternoons talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

But today, he's a different person. Today, he's surrounded by his entourage, with that arrogant attitude that doesn't even surprise you, but definitely annoys you. You've been warned, of course. Rafe has changed. And not in a way that you like.

You watch him from the corner of the room. He’s in his element, chatting with everyone, bragging about his conquests, his exaggerated stories. His friends worship him, follow him, laugh at his jokes. But you’re not fooled. You know that underneath all of that, there’s a guy who used to be different. The Rafe you knew was impulsive, sure, but also loyal and genuine. Now he seems to be covered by a layer of arrogance that he can’t even hide.

A moment later, your eyes meet his. The connection is brief, as it always was. But this time it’s different. There’s something in the way he looks at you, something that tells you he’s not the same guy anymore. Rafe’s look is no longer that of a friend. It’s that of a stranger.

It’s hard to let it go, but you force yourself to. You don’t want to confront him, not here, not now. However, as you make your way to the bar, he appears beside you, as if he were looking for you. He smiles, but that smile doesn't have the warmth it used to have. It’s arrogant, the same one he wears when he feels in control. And you know that what’s coming next won’t be just a simple hello.

“Hey, princess,” his voice is dripping with sarcasm. He doesn’t even bother to hide it.

You look at him, but you can’t help but feel that there’s something else in his words. Something that makes you uncomfortable. “Don’t call me that,” you respond, letting the tone of your voice be firm. “What are you looking for, Rafe? Why do you act like you're the center of the universe?”

He laughs, but it’s an empty laugh, as if he's trying to convince himself of something. “Come on, seriously? Don’t you see what’s going on here? I’m the guy everyone wants to know. You can’t deny it.”

“I’m not denying it,” you reply, raising an eyebrow. “But that doesn’t make you the king of anything. It just makes you an idiot. You’re surrounded by people who worship you, but you have no idea who you really are. You’re not the person you were a year ago.”

Rafe doesn’t seem to expect those words. He stops for a second, looking at you. But no, he’s not surprised. He’s pissed off. As always, he responds to criticism with a shield of indifference. “What do you know about me?” he asks, raising an eyebrow, the typical challenging look he used to give when something bothered him.

And in that moment, you remember that Rafe you knew, the one who didn’t need to show his power to be respected. The guy who used to share secrets with you, who used to listen to your stories and share his without needing to impress anyone. But that guy seems to be gone. And all that's left now is a grown-up kid with too much pride and too much fear of being vulnerable.

“I know you because I knew you,” you reply, looking him straight in the eye. “I know what you were before all this. What you were when you didn’t have to act like you were better than everyone else. Do you really think all of this makes you more interesting? More happy?”

Rafe steps toward you, and the air between you thickens instantly. The noise of the party seems to fade as you realize the words you’ve just spoken have hit a sensitive spot. For a moment, he stops being the arrogant guy. He’s just staring at you, as if he's remembering something he’s tried to bury.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” he says, his tone lower, but filled with a subtle venom. “You don’t know what I’ve had to do to get here. You don’t know anything about what’s happened. So don’t start giving me lectures on who I am, understood?”

And that’s when you understand. It’s no longer just arrogance. It’s not just pride. It’s fear. The fear you have when you realize you’re no longer who you used to be, and you don’t know how to go back.

“I’m not giving you lectures, Rafe,” you say, not looking away. “I’m just telling you the truth. We don’t need you like this. We don’t need a guy who hides behind his ego, or someone who needs to be the center of everything to feel good about themselves. We need the Rafe from before. The one who was real, not the one who’s trying to be someone else.”

Rafe seems to freeze for a second, as if those words have reached him deep down. His anger in his eyes subsides, but it doesn’t go away. “I’m not that guy,” he mutters, his words a broken whisper that surprises you.

“You are, Rafe,” you reply, but your voice is softer now. “You just don’t want to admit it. You’re afraid to be him. You’re afraid no one will accept you for who you really are. But you don’t have to keep up this act. You just need to stop pretending and be yourself.”

A long silence follows. He looks at you, his eyes devoid of the rage he had shown before. You’re about to say something else, but Rafe steps back and sighs.

“Maybe you’re right,” he says, in a voice quieter and less certain than you’ve ever heard. “Maybe it’s just that... I’ve lost my way. I don’t know how to find my way back.”

At that moment, you know that, although he won’t admit it, something has changed in him. Maybe not everything, but at least a small part of his pride, that layer he used to cover himself with. And although his facade is still there, you can see a crack. The spark of the person he used to be.

“You don’t have to do it alone,” you say, sincerely. “You just need to want to change. And I... I’m still here, if you need me. But I can’t stay if you keep being this version of yourself.”

Rafe doesn’t respond immediately, just staring at you, as if trying to process everything you just said. Finally, his face softens a little, though the shadow of his arrogance is still present.

“Maybe one day I’ll get it,” he murmurs, before turning to walk toward the crowd. “But today’s not that day.”

And even though you wish it were, you understand that change doesn’t happen overnight. Rafe is lost, but maybe, just maybe, this conversation was the first step to finding his way back. And for now, that’s enough.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

revisited your new tier-list and had to ask about your dislike for skully. the rest i either saw you talk about or can deduce, but what did the dead boy do?

[Referencing my personal tier list!]

***Please note: these are just my OWN thoughts and opinions! In sharing them, I do not mean to disparage or to invalidate those who think differently than me; please feel however you wish about Skully!***

Listen, Skully's one of those characters I want to like 😅 but I just can't bring myself to...

I found him charming at first, I really did. I thought his whimsical demeanor and politeness were endearing and a nice way of translating Jack Skellington's character into a twisted version of him. I also thought he was very cute when he fanboyed over meeting his idol. Unfortunately, my opinion of Skully quickly went downhill as soon as we started planning for Halloween with the residents of Halloween Town. That's when he starts to exposit his... own beliefs on how Halloween should be celebrated. His ideas by themselves are fine (I actually prefer his version of Halloween, if I'm being completely honest). However, it's how Skully expresses those ideas that completely turned me off. He's so insistent that he get his way and becomes dismissive or defensive with those who don't see his perspective. I cringed every single time he talked down to others for not agreeing with him or for simply pitching different ideas--and while you could argue that the NRC boys were also turning down Skully's ideas, none of them were as rude about it as he was. Some of the boys (like Vil and Jamil) even entertained his ideas for a little while or went out of their way to attempt to console him. But what did Skully do? Continue to sulk and whine. Whenever he asks Yuu for their opinion too, he tries to MANSPLAIN to them to change their opinion if you ever pick the dialogue option where you disagree with him. I often hear people gushing about how it's so sweet and considerate that Skully involves Yuu by asking for their thoughts on X or Y. But when you gauge his reaction to a dissenting dialogue option, he doesn't actually want to hear your honest opinion, he only wants someone to validate his own views. Again, it's okay if Skully wants to observe his own traditions and what he has grown up with, but he shouldn't be going around forcing others to follow him. It's gatekeepy, it's elitist, it's not cute.

You know what else isn't cute? All the tantrums he threw in the event. Like... to a certain extent, I get being emotional and I understand being upset. But to act in the way Skully does????? To shout and cry like a toddler?????? Multiple times??? Over being "betrayed" by your idol? By someone you projected onto and had no idea what they were actually like? Someone you don't even KNOW??? That reads as really parasocial and emotionally obsessive 💦💦 (and if you know anything about me, I'm deeply disturbed by extreme parasocial behaviors). That, paired with his general emotional immaturity, left such a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, the other NRC students and especially the OB boys act have emotional outbursts too, but those occur far less frequently (unless you’re talking about an outlier, like Riddle, who is also low on my tier list). I don’t know, maybe it’s because I don’t “get” worshipping someone to that extent??? It just seems so… unserious and unhealthy. Skully’s motivation just feels so much weaker than I’d expect of a Halloweenie. It would have helped to know just how bad the bullying he suffeted was (which would justify his intense emotions) or more about why Skully + his hometown adore Jack so much (so we’d better understand why he feels so betrayed or why he wants to emulate Jack so badly).

A lot of what Skully does completely disregards others' autonomy and boundaries. Even the hand-kissing lost its charm after a while because he continued to do it in excess, even when the NRC boys largely expressed disgust + discomfort and TOLD HIM MULTIPLE TIMES to not do it again. Grim even actively dodges an attempted kiss from Skully. Does Skully listen? Absolutely not. Yeah, you could argue this was done for comedy. The thing is, I don't find it funny. I find it invasive and see it as harassment. He wears the title of "gentleman" but cannot be bothered to actually study up on what it means to be one... yet he gets so irritated whenever other characters question his being a "gentleman" 💀

I also didn't find Skully to be that threatening of an antagonist. He just... poisons Jack, pumpkins Grim (without even getting confirmation if Grim even saw anything suspicious in the first place), kidnaps him and Yuu, and... then what? He didn't plan anything out after that and had no solid way of "taking over" Halloween. He's a first-year student who hardly has mastery of his UM and has basic. How was he going to get the residents of Halloween Town to obey him? How was he planning on beating the remaining NRC students? Maybe the point of this event wasn't to have Skully be a major threat--but it's still a massive letdown after the likes of Rollo or even Fellow and the mysterious boss backing him.

The only things that save Skully from being at the very bottom of my tier list are his strong first impression and the fact that he does repent and learn to change his ways later in life. It seems like his attitude improved and he became more open-minded too; I only wish I could have seen that more mature version of Skully… Maybe I would have liked him more then.

[bonefall]

Update + Reply Bundle

Heyo all, it's been a while with some radio static and I've got a bundle of bits to reply to here!

If you're wondering where I've been, it's actually that things got MEGA busy on my end. Between the new year, a small promotion at work, getting a license to operate an X-ray machine for extremities (i have no idea how this happened man i have an applied science degree in dead people), learning some Java, and making travel plans to visit my partner overseas, it's been hectic but good.

But I ain't gonna pay it no mind, because every 6 months in queensland a man is torn apart by a crocodile the Warrior Cats never stops. I have also been passively ruminating on the Family Tree and keeping up with checking the inbox. Before I get to ShadowClan and the Glitch Warriors, I'll tackle all the other things.

SO reply time;

Changing Skies Reactions (On Moonpaw's sister being stillborn, the ShellFern cheating situation, etc)

The Flipclaw/Myrtlebloom Family Tree Fix plumthrift is soooo back

Other Fun Stuff (Which character should be allowed to say fuck. Names I'd like to use in other Clans.)

(NOTE; not addressing anything submitted about BB!ASC just yet, I want to put all my plans together first)

CHANGING SKIES REACTIONS

My honest feeling is that they don't know what a chimera is, BUT, I'm actually glad about that.

I would 100% rather they go with having her be possessed by a dead stillborn rather than them making her rare, ultimately harmless genetic quirk "the reason" why she's haunted. The stillborn haunting is the sort of concept I've come to accept in the setting (though I do have my critiques and reservations about another Evil Voice plotline, especially given the shitshow that was Splashstar in the last book of ASC), but there are DEEP layers to how messed up the implication of "zygote souls" would be.

Others have been joining into the convo in the meanwhile, tho. In essence, I agree with @mothdapple's thoughts on the subject. I hope the voice isn't wholly evil, and I hope that the haunting doesn't stem from her chimerism.

I'm betting that she gets a weird shipping moment with one of her cousins tbh. Especially if she survives this arc and doesn't become a medcat. You just know they'll open up the next arc with her and Sunkit being mates with 400 babies if you ship her with a girl too hard lmaooo

@dawn-sunlight

MANNNNN. You CANNOT convince me that I'm not correct about this at this point. The first 4 times it might have been coincidence, but they seem to have pinpoint accuracy for sinking popular LGBT headcanons and hetconning straight romance into old material.

That's Riverstar, Blossomfall, Ivypool, Leopardstar, Onestar (they replaced a firestar scene man), and now Thriftear and Flipclaw in one fell swoop?

Not to mention how everyone was joking around about "Old Woman Yuri" with Tawnypelt and Leafstar and then BAM, Sudden Crowfeather.

Like idk. Watch Barley get a super edition called Barley's Boo where it's revealed he once fell in love with a beautiful BloodClan she-cat who he had to leave behind, until it's revealed she's in WarriorClan now, so he leaves the barn to get her pregnant before dying. And also she's his first cousin.

That's a joke but if Apollo hits me with the dodgeball I hope he kills me in 1 hit

THE FLIPCLAW/MYRTLEBLOOM FAMILY TREE FIX

thank god. This is actually an extremely easy fix for me, now. All the pre-emptive cleaning I've done for the BB!ThunderClan family tree has paid off.

I Don't Rewrite Arcs Until They're Done, BUT, I have discussed the previous options at length before and how I intend to fix it. If you're reading along but need to catch up on the convo and context, follow these links in order,

Summary and Intro: BB!ThunderClan and the Propositions (ShellFern, StormCherry, FlipBay, or PlumThrift)

Anon ShellFern argument

Anon StormCherry argument

Hypokit Moonpaw Designs for All Four Options

Phantom of the Opera FlipBay Moonpaw

StormCherry Voter who changed their mind for FlipBay or PlumThrift

All caught up? Nice.

PlumThrift is sooooo back. It's basically what they've shown in the first book of CS. Soccer moms and their weird ass kid who they're desperately pushing to be an overachiever LET'S GOO. The most likely thing that will happen is that Moonpaw is a PlumThrift kitten-- unless something big changes.

(Though I am a little bit saddened that I can't do the cool Phantom of the Opera mask thing which came from Bayshine... unless Moon was honor sired, of course. Or maybe adopted. Hmm...)

For Oakkit, Sunkit, and Hazelkit though, I'm leaning towards what anon mentioned. Their canon parents are Myrtlebloom/Flipclaw, so it would be very easy for me to change to FlipBay because of my pre-emptive fixes. It'll match canon, and I have also grown fond of the idea of the two silly dads.

(plus then it's extra easy to have Moonpaw come from the first surrogated litter which was for PlumThrift to raise, and the second litter is for FlipBay. Biologically full siblings, socially cousins.)

That said, there's still a small chance they get shuffled over to ShellFern. Or, more radically, I might end up sending them over to StormCherry. If that doesn't happen though, don't worry, I'm still keeping Honeyfur and Leafshade in my back pocket in case there's no other opportunities to give them kids.

I will say this for certain though-- PlumThrift BB!Moonpaw would never have full siblings. She will be the only child they ever raise. If the canon parents ever have another litter, they would immediately get shuffled to FlipBay or someone else.

Sunbeam's kittens are, of course, Finchlight's. im punting that other thing into RiverClan. GIT.

OTHER FUN STUFF

I do actually want more mushroom names broadly, because sapient cats would actually be REALLY interested in fungi. I'd even say they'd be more interested in them than flowers. A lot of edible fungi have a chemical compound that makes them smell and taste like meat, so imo, they should be kind of like natural snacks or treats you can find while out and about.

Kinda like how humans have fruit, a culture of cats would have mushrooms. I plan on researching and writing a VERY elaborate mushroom guide at some point explaining this all in-depth (which I will be going thru my little "rolladex" of artists to illustrate it, when it's time), so I don't want to dive into the details just yet.

But in terms of names...

Something I wish I'd been able to do more of is weird, hard-to-translate prefixes. Scents that humans overlook, more time-related names about seasons or crepuscular events, categories of birds and invertebrates, etc.

Petricorfur, Prey-scent-tail, Arionbelly (a particularly large slug for eating), Rascalheart (a particularly feisty bit of prey that gives you a good chase), Thermalhawk (a thermal is a rising wind that allows birds of prey to soar more easily) etc.

If I was going back and scrounging up Glitch Warriors for other Clans, or just generally shaking up the prefixes, I would add names with these "themes" into each Clan;

Thunder: Sweet things and more wood-related terms Nectar, Drupe, Sap, Pith, Grain, bark textures like Fissure, Scale, Tessel.

River: More aquatic animal terms, poetic imagery, and "beautiful" things Caddis, Cray, Salmon, Roe, Mussel, Pearl, Dazzle, Twirl, Dance, Sway, Mirror (for the state of water when it's absolutely calm).

Wind: Sounds, events around the time of birth Bellow, Hiss, Roar, Crackle, Swale (if born around the time of a muirburn), Journey (if born out of camp), Drowsy (for a long birth)

Shadow: Mushrooms, wetland terms, fermentation effects, names that might otherwise sound like insults to other Clans Cake, Candle, Jelly, Parasol, Elf, Sphagnum, Gas, Drake (male duck), Muck, Peat, Bog, Fizzle, Bubble, Rot, Blight, Gnat, etc.

Sky: Cars and Suburban Terms Truck, Bike, Cycle, Wheel, Asphalt, Lawn, Fence, Board, Shingle, etc.

I also really want to put Vetch in someplace. It's a pretty normal and common kind of flower, I just think the name is neat.

@angelinelitalady

Firestar's Quest Chapter 5: "ARE YOU TELLING ME SKYCLAN HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE THERE WEREN'T ENOUGH FUCKING TREES????"

Canon? I will never not answer Bumble, you're going to have to give me two guns to ask this kind of question because there isn't a version of me in any nearby timelines that would say anyone except Bumble. It should be a rocket launcher, actually. We need to give her the nuclear codes. In BB I'd give it to Spotty. It would be REALLY funny. 25% of the story is preventing the rise of TigerClan and the other 75% of the story is taking the gun away from her.

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR ALSO! IT'S SNAKE TIME BABEYYYY

@magewolf-the-artist

Do it! Go ahead! I can put it over in the Fan-Fanart post if you'd like. I should really make a section there for written art, too.

Everything about BB and everything WC-related I put on this blog is open source, from Clanmew, to plot threads, to Clan Culture, etc. PLEASE reference what you'd like if you're inspired by anything you see here!

The only thing I ask is that you keep that spirit of mutual collaboration alive. If you add onto Clanmew, allow others to reference it too. Talk about your thought processes. Encourage people to be inspired by what you did and make versions of their own. That's the beauty of fandom.

My end-game goal is for BB to result in a "skeleton" of chapter-by-chapter notes, the sort of thing you would hand to a ghost writer, so that it's essentially bones that anyone could take and write out themselves. This will take a looooong time because it's more about me having fun along the way, so if you want to write something, go ahead!

Never, never worry about "getting something wrong." You can change things, you can grow as a writer with time, wisdom, and practice. The worst piece of art is a piece that is never made.

[medstudentinfandom]

Autistic Alastor thoughts! AKA this man is one of the most autistic men to ever autism, and my sources are like half projection. But! I also have many thoughts/justifications/headcanons that I wanna share. So here they are.

Alastor learned to mask from an incredibly young age. He was a mixed child growing up in the south in the early 1900s, I think he would have recognized VERY early on that he ought to not do anything that would draw more intention than necessary

Went into radio because that was the most socially acceptable way for him to have a career that fully centered around him talking uninterrupted about his special interests.

Had a bit of trouble while alive in finding the line of when dark humor went a bit too far. His jokes about the stock market crash were well received and seen as a lovely little reprieve from the terrifying reality. Making offhand comments about who the "New Orleans Butcher" should target next didn't land quite as well.

His refusal to adapt to modern times relates a lot to his autism. He's already learned everything he can about radio, went through the trouble of learning the powers he was granted in Hell, why would he waste his time learning about all this newfangled technology? All of his old tech works perfectly fine, thank you.

Personally I've pretty much settled in the fact that he is physically incapable of dropping his smile. BUT something something hypermasking to the point the desire to appear "normal" by neurotypical standards loops back around to being creepy and off putting to all nt's in the room.

I think he experienced that somewhat while alive (overcompensating for his lack of eye contact by staring at people HARD, etc.) and tried to adjust that. But in Hell? Full uncanny valley, he does not care, he will be strange and off putting and he will ENJOY IT

Going back to Alastor's refusal to adapt, his hatred for change also means he DESPISES how much Vox has changed. He liked Vox, he was comfortable with Vox, there was literally nothing wrong with the way Vox was. And then he went and changed his body and demeanor and he was supposed to want to stick around him (he does keep his old head to comfort himself)

Not really a big stimmer. Except that he bites. He bites so so much in the least sexy way imaginable. In any given moment if you pull off his gloves, he's got puncture wounds in various stages of rapid healing because the moment he needs to self regulate, he is chomping down.

I also feel the need to mention that I think it would be funny if, while they were close, Alastor consistently used Vox's arm as his own personal chew toy. Something about the silicone faux skin he uses just feels great to bite into, what can he say? This has unfortunately also resulted in Vox having a Pavlovian response of just holding his arm up anytime someone close to him gets clearly agitated.

Sensory issues, a plethora of sensory issues! Absolutely despises the feeling of wet fur, whether it's getting wet while it's still on him or he's cleaning it out of the drain. He has genuinely considered tearing all his fur out from the root to avoid it. Also, I despise his fuckass bob, but I like to tell myself the reason he cuts it Like That in the back is to avoid hair brushing against the back of his neck. That would make him Violent.

Noise is a tricky one. For the most part, he loves a loud, music filled and bustling club and doesn't mind it at all. But I think if he is already feeling overstimulated, someone talking a little too loud is enough to set him off.

Very touch averse, with specific exceptions. If he's the one initiating the contact, and especially if he's already tipsy? All good, that's fine. But if someone else is approaching HIM, especially when he isn't expecting it? Like 80% of the time he will not tolerate at all, and even when he will it is for a very limited amount of time.

And of course, should anyone ever approach and ask him if he's autistic? Well, he doesn't really know at all what you're talking about! His behaviors? Goodness, what's so strange about his behaviors, YOU'RE probably the weird one actually.

Perhaps I will add on to this if more thoughts come to me. Till then thanks for reading lol

[dontopenfairies]

"Am I getting put in that?" He sat up on his elbows.

"Lay back down, baby." She gently pushed his shoulders down again.

"Why do I need to get put in a diaper? Why do I need to get changed lying down..." She put a finger to his lips.

"You know why, honeypie. Do you just want me to remind you again? You went poop in your pull-up. Come on, get your bottom up for me. There we go." She gently pulled his hips back down onto the soft diaper.

He felt his body squirm on the changing mat He was trying so hard not too, but he couldn't help it.

"There we go." She taped him up securely. "Let me get you new pants. You're going to feel all clean and nice."

"Okay." His thumb slipped into his mouth again.

"Aww, see? I know you like this better. Help me get your pants on. I know you can do that. See, soft pajamas over a soft, clean diaper. Doesn't that feel nice?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh."

"There we go. Come on up." She pulled him up by his forearms and he whined a little bit. "What? Do you want to lay down on the changing table a little longer? Come on, baby, I want you to do some dishes for me." She lifted him off the table and set him on his feet.

"My feet are cold..."

"Go get socks on and meet me in the kitchen, okay?" She left the room.

She sat down at the kitchen table and picked up the magazine she'd been reading just before he needed to be changed. A few minutes later she heard soft footsteps coming down the hallway. He appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Hi, baby. Go ahead and start on the dishes."

He walked over to the sink. The diaper was so soft and secure under his clothes and it was making him feel so warm. He could feel her eyes looking at him.

"Are you okay? You didn't wet yourself so soon, did you?"

"No." He set the plate he had been rinsing in the dish rack. "Why?"

"You look a little bit wiggly, that's all. Oh, I know. I bet you feel really comfortable with your diaper on under your clothes, huh?"

She watched a red flush rise in the back of his neck. She set the magazine aside and pushed out her chair, standing up. Gently and slowly, she looped her arms under his arms and around him from behind. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"You know what it means, right?" she asked, taking her head off his shoulder.

"What...what what means?"

"Feeling your diaper on under your clothes. It means...it means I really care about you and I want you to feel safe and clean." She rested her head on his shoulder again. "Do you know that?"

He didn't say anything right away, but she could feel how warm he was getting, and she could feel his hips and legs wiggling a little.

"I know," he said.

"I'm glad you know," she said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "Let me know when you need a change again, okay, honey?"

She pulled away from him and went back to the table, picking up her magazine.

"I don't need to be changed like a baby..." She put her hands under his arms and hoisted him up onto the changing table. "I can get changed standing up."

"Uh-huh...but you like being changed lying down like a baby, don't you?"

He didn't say anything but he smiled at her from behind his hand.

"And besides," she continued, "you went number 2. This is just going to be way easier." She pushed his shoulders down onto the mat.

She eased down his pajama pants. "Oh wow. You're so messy. At least you didn't leak." She pulled his pants all the way off and ripped open the sides of his pull-up.

"You know you aren't meant to do that in pull-ups," she told him as she cleaned him up. "And look at you with your thumb in your mouth. Tell me again who isn't a baby?"

"I'm not a baby," he mumbled.

[malakaie]

in all seriousness (i'm still thinking about the death riders close up with renee stuff) i think part of any wrestling storyline/promo feeling a bit meandering sometimes is that it's like 70% improv, right. sometimes more than that when irl circumstances change suddenly and whatever was 30% planned needs to be tossed out

the result is that we've pivoted from a mox who was harsh on everyone being too egotistical to really hold and represent the title and understand/value what it means - a mox who claimed to want to push younger talent and stop giving all the flowers to aew veterans - to a mox who is now doing some of the exact things he's been so angry about (claiming that he IS the world title so no one can take it from him; getting involved in older guys' retirement tours and simply throwing young guys down the stairs when they inconvenience him)

and at first it threw me off a lot because like, what the hell is this, even? but the more i think about it ... I might be totally wrong about this, because it IS heavily improv so they may yet take a secret third direction that i didn't even consider yet. but i think the hypocrisy is the point. i think the cruelty is the point. i think he's being an exaggerated parody of a set-in-his-ways aggressive type who might not actually believe in much of anything other than himself ... but who was initially savvy enough to know you can't just say that or you'll get laughed out of the building

but now it's crumbling around him, or starting to. he's tossed out and dismissed the people who were so close to proving him wrong, and now he doesn't know what it's for. he doesn't actually feel like he's won or accomplished anything so he keeps moving the goalposts and inventing new fights and new guys to be mad at

guy who unceremoniously dumped people who were against him in the trash: why is no one trying to fight me?

guy who's doing the exact shit he started out complaining about: well, can't let them realise my morals and values were actually hollow and meaningless, i gotta replace them with something else

the hypocrisy is the point, i think. the cruelty has to be the point - because people who act like mox irl are only ever forced out by acts of love

from the improv perspective, he is, i think, trying to become so hateful as to be unrecognisable - so that the people who love mox for what he used to represent, the people who love aew and the title for what it used to represent, will love it hard and brave and loud enough (and TOGETHER enough) to drown out the guy yelling into the microphone

and when they do, whenever that happens, he's going to be blindsided because it'll almost certainly be people he thinks he already destroyed. because the cruelty is the point and it's making him exactly as self-obsessed and paranoid as everyone he claims to hate

[ifitmeanslosingyouthenno]

more of the aftg greys au bc i love it

neil runs, but he cant bring himself to really leave

cant bring himself to leave the program and his coworkers (no longer friends really, at least not all of them)

cant bring himself to leave behind his mom

cant imagine not ever seeing andrew and kevin again

so he runs, he runs, but most importantly he hides

he needs time and hes panicking and his stuck inside his head and he cant escape his mind so he hides

its not like he's shown anyone but jean the pitiful place he calls his apartment

so he hides, inside his bathroom, door locked, a small ball inside his shower, with nothing but words of hatred running rampant inside his head

at some point he hyperventilates so bad he passes out

and he has no one there for him

its not until the next day, when he doesn't show up for work, and jean is the first to take notice

bc neil was too anxious, too afraid, too wrapped up in his head, to realize that no, not everyone hated him

in fact his first year intern friends where all backing him up, they knew better than anyone how hard he worked everyday, how good he was on his own

(and jean knew first hand how down to earth he was, how he didn't delight himself in riches and gold or whatever, how scared he was of failing)

and today his residents are if anything, madder bc he didn't show up, madder bc they think he's slacking just bc of his name

jeans makes up some bullshit about him being sick, how he was going to call the chief later, just so the other doctors dont shit on neil anymore, even if he isn’t there to listen to him

(and btw before you ask why all the doctors are mad, its bc most doctors are really fucking competitive ajdjdk jealousy is literally weaponized in there, its insane to witness that irl as a med student)

despite robin and katelyn's advice, jean approaches kevin (ehh lets say they knew each other as kids not sure what role the moriyamas will play in this, if any), and asks him if he knows where neil is, bc he knows they were together

and well, kevin shuts down his feelings, still feeling hurt, still feeling like its their fault neil didn't trust them, and just tells jean to never approach him to ask personal matters anymore, lowkey kinda threatens him about not telling anyone they were with neil bc its over now

and jean

well jean is pissed

and he gives kevin crap, nevermind that kevin is several years his superior, and tells him that he understands them being pissed but that shunning neil out when literally almost everyone at the hospital seems like they are against neil at the moment, gives him shit about how they were supposed to stand by neil not toss him aside like garbage

jean leaves him mostly mortified also kinda defeated and just still pissed but... ashamed too, as he turns jeans words around his head and well, he can't help but feel guilty, even if andrew never believes in guilt

but of course when he tries to call neil, it goes straight to voicemail, most likely turned off or dead or maybe neil just blocked him, he probably feels like he deserves that

and andrew is also lowkey pissed at first, when kevin confronts him, bc he's hurt and he thinks trust and honesty are very very important in order for their thing to work, so he kinda lowkey refuses to call neil, for which kevin gets mad at him and storms off, leaving andrew alone just enough for him to actually go through what kevin (what jean) said, just enough for something that he refuses to call guilt to eat at his resolve

just enough for him to actually try calling neil

not that it matters, as he gets sent to voicemail

so he goes to the interns' locker room, where everyone but jean and smalls are getting changed to leave for the night

which, shouldn't be it bc he knows for sure that moreau is on shift tonight, he's memorized their schedule to see when neil was available

not that that matters either, not anymore

it's unfortunately katelyn that notices him first, and yeah he's used to the wariness in her gaze everytime he has to interact with her (it's mutual, there's a whole hospital and she has to want to be with his brother?), but this time there's outright scorn

"where's moreau?"

"he left early today"

"he's on shift tonight," he says even though that's not why he cares where he is

"he switched with janie"

he doesn't even reply back, not that she was of any fucking use, and goddam how the fuck is he supposed to call and locate moreau, or more importantly neil , it's not like either he or kevin know where he lives, or actually know much about him as evidently proved to them the day before

they don't know if he has comfort places, don't know if he has a favorite coffee shop, don't know if he has a favorite park

all he can do, painfully, is wait

because no one knows where neil is

and the only person who could know is gone

meanwhile, jean gets to neil's place, and thank fuck that neil gave him the keys to the apartment, because he's not answering the fucking door

and when he gets in, he can't help but wonder if maybe his friend left, if maybe he ran for good, if maybe he was so beat down that in a fit of panic he just fled

because the place is empty, just as it was the only time he'd been here before, and there's no proof anyone has been here, but... but his phone is on the carton box he calls a bedside table and oh

that one chain he always keeps on, with a key firmly pressed into his chest is on the bare mattress he calls a bed

there's the chain and no key

he moves to the only other door on the small room, closed, with the light shut off, quiet, but maybe...

"neil? are you in there?"

it takes the better part of an hour to get neil to open the door, and a little over another to actually coax neil out of the bathroom, still dazed, in the middle of what is obviously a very bad dissociative episode, but with his heart rate skyrocketting in the 120s bpm (it should not be above 100 <3), hands shaking so bad jean has to hold the glass of water in order for neil to drink out of it

he doesn't speak at all the first few hours

he doesn't let go of the key clenched in his hand either, even if there's a bloody imprint of it on his palm

jean makes sure to charge his phone, makes sure he gets at least some food in him, and when his phone finally turns on, he makes sure to let neil know he's got the missing calls from kevin and andrew, wraps him in his hoodie and at neil's nod, presses him close to his side

when neil speaks, it's well into the night, early in the morning, both and neither

"why aren't you mad at me?"

"why would i be mad at you?"

"everyone else seems to be"

jean only sighs, pressing neil closer to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders

"everyone else is just jealous of you, actually scratch that, it's not everyone, if you'd wait before fleeing you'd have noticed us first years stuck by you"

"all i am is a lie"

"you aren't a lie, you're neil josten, who cares who your parents are or where you grew up, you're neil josten," he sighs softly, "you're a pain in the ass, but you're still you, you're my partner, neil"

and neil feels so much, he can't help but shiver, something akin to a sob escaping from his throat, something shameful and painful all the same

neil was raised to always only think of himself, his mother's paranoia after what she had to go through with his father only telling him that people were out to get him, that if he got comfortable, people would find a way to use him and hurt him and leave him out to dry

for so many years he chose being alone because of mary's words

for so many years he chose to believe that was true, so he isolated from his classmates, his colleages, his peers

for so many years he believed her

now he believed jean

after a few seconds of silence, in which he sank deeper into jean's side, genuinely finding comfort in his warmth, he says

"andrew and kevin hate me now"

jean just clicks his tongue, "if they hate you because of this, if they can't bring themselves to understand why you kept this from us, they don't deserve you, and you're much better off without them"

neil just ponders for a few moments, but jean isn't done speaking

"they've both been calling you for hours tho, so i think that might be worth something"

neil just sighs, shaking his head, and leaning impossibly closer to jean

"not today, i just- not right now"

"that's okay neil, just rest now, we can deal with that tomorrow, well, in a couple hours really because its already tomorrow"

neil huffs softly, a little sadly and closes his eyes

"thank you for everything jean"

jeans huff is far less devastating, "thats what partners are for"

neil just smiles as he moves to throw a blanket over them

yeah, that's what partners are for

[worthington-iii]

Obligatory "I'm biased as shit so take anything I say with a grain of salt" before I yap but. Warren. Yes.

I think one of my favorite pieces for him is Angel: Revelations. It holds a strange space narratively speaking, since the other four original X-Men all got a cohesive oneshot backstory in the same comic line, but Warren got a five issue backstory with a more intense maturity rating, published at a later date. If you haven't read it yet, I think it's some of my favorite character work for him and can stand alone even without X-Men or Marvel context.

One of the biggest takeaways from that series, though, is that Warren always felt drawn to do something more, but lived in such an isolated social bubble that he didn't know what to do with it. Even when he's able to save lives, though, he doesn't feel entitled to be proud of it because he recognizes he can continue to be the golden boy, or he can be the hero. Being a mutant won't allow him to do both.

Interestingly, Warren is the only one of the O5 to pursue solo hero work before joining the X-Men. Again, he has that sense of justice and a calling to help while still feeling a degree of shame and embarrassment for his mutation.

I think I pull a lot of my character interpretation from what's not necessarily written on the page, but from reading between the lines. Warren takes time to get comfortable with his mutation in daily life while picking up that big hero persona to show off. When he's the Angel, he flaunts his wings and is loud and proud. When he's just Warren, he covers up even in front of other mutants for pretty much the entirety of the silver age X-Men comics. His parents never find out he's a mutant, and he blames, in part, his own inaction for their deaths later on. I really wish this was expanded on more in canon.

It's also clear he did continue to struggle with personal turmoil about his mutation being so physically noticeable, and how hiding it came with pain and consequences. A bit of a jab from him to hank in Amazing Adventures during Beast's issues over there:

Another missed opportunity to me is Warren coming out publicly as a mutant. It's a throwaway line in Champions (1975). But to me, this reads as a consistent arc for him growing confident in himself and finally acknowledging the power that could come with his status combined with his mutant identity. He's able to use that status to rocket new teams to brief popularity and financial security, like the Champions or his iteration of the Defenders.

Basically in all of the random appearances following his departure from being a full time X-Man, we watch Warren's confidence grow and his self awareness change. I'd propose that this is a big influence of having Candy in his life - some form of stability and care for him that he couldn't find within the X-Men. Part of his reason for leaving (at least seemingly as he agreed with Jean) was wanting to seek out meaning away from the X-Men, potentially with love and a family in the future. I'd say this is probably the peak of his mental health. We see him getting a little obnoxious and overly flirtatious at times here, but he does seem pretty self aware of those traits and just doesn't view it as a problem.

Then, we hit X-Factor. The beginning of X-Factor sees Warren feeling a big win with Jean's return. He thinks he's at the top of his game and unbeatable. That's why the narrative takes a plunge with Archangel and the betrayal of Cameron Hodge. When you're at your peak, the only place to go is down. I think this is a very interesting turn for him, watching him struggle to recover from that brainwashing and mind control from Apocalypse. He begins to fall back into those old habits of seeing himself as a freak and as monstrous. He spends a lot of time there wallowing in self pity and fighting against the urges Apocalypse instilled in him, debating whether they're really from Apocalypse or something that had been deep inside him all along.

I really think healing begins again for him when he meets Betsy. She's a telepath who can help him untangle those things in his mind and allow him to move past the guilt and fear of the Archangel persona. Especially as Betsy faces her own similar struggles, the two bond and share fears over their changing powers and bodies. Crimson Dawn, while its reallyyyyy not my favorite, does some interesting early character work for both of them.

Continuing, he begins to feel more in control of Archangel again and slides back to the X-Men team in the 2000s era from time to time. While he isn't there, he's shown doing nonprofit and charity work with his fortune alongside just running his company. He actually is a big part of the efforts with mutant outreach on a global scale, working diplomatically when he isn't fighting evil. And not just work for mutants, either. He does end up running a charity cause for disabled children. To me, a lot of this reads like him trying to repent for the damages he'd done as Archangel. It's clear he carries a lot of guilt from that which never really went away, especially as Archangel style powers emerge from time to time in battle.

While Warren continues this public work alongside work with the main X-Men team, he provides his home in Colorado as a safehouse for the X-Force team. It feels like he's initially hesitant and doesn't even want to know what they're doing because he continues to fear the implications of Archangel coming forth. But he's dragged into it as Wolfsbane is essentially brainwashed to attack him, making the issue personal. I think this marks another tonal shift for Warren as he begins to get more in-tune with Archangel instead of repressing it. Logan and Betsy are both wary of this, training the X-Force team to kill Warren if they need to, which he clearly is uncomfortable with. (Uncanny X-Force is also one of my top Warren arcs, and my number one Warren/Betsy narrative.)

In short, Apocalypse is eventually able to regain control of Warren's mind and Betsy does need to kill him. I wouldn't necessarily consider any of this to be a direct reflection of Warren himself and his own personality, though. I see it more as another thing knocking him down a peg when he's been doing too well. Same goes for his memory-wiped era after this - that man really isn't Warren in any palpable sense aside from appearances. What is interesting, though, is the younger time-displaced Warren's reaction to this.

The younger Warren here is the same insecure teenager that I talked about earlier. He doesn't feel comfortable truly being himself around the other X-Men, and seeing all the awful things that happened to his older self was a breaking point. His mask slips here, and we see the person who's been underneath a lot of those silver age stories. He's deeply uncomfortable with himself and immediately recoils when he can't maintain his preferred status quo. He goes so far as to accept a cosmic curse in the hopes of permanently changing himself, so that he may never become the older version that he sees in front of him.

It's never explicitly explained how the older Warren regains his memories, but from a few tidbits in random stories like one of Iceman's solo runs, it's implied that older Warren was able to get along with younger Warren much better once he was. Yknow. There to speak for himself. Around this same era, a revived Charles Xavier gives Warren a mental barrier that allows him to more freely switch between Angel and Archangel, which he's immediately grateful for.

Not much else happens character-wise until X-Corp for him, which sees him paralleled with another character that faces very visceral and sometimes violent transformations - Penance.

While Warren continues to try and use his business skills to help mutantkind by spearheading Krakoa's economic front, he clashes with his business partner. Monet/Penance is very comfortable with her transformations in a way Warren never was. It's clear here that "acceptance" for Warren is something very different than acceptance for Monet. Monet's powers stem from something internal, allowing her to understand it as a core part of her being. Warren, though, sees Archangel as an external insertion into his life. While he is comfortable using those powers now and has accepted what happened to him, it's stirred a lot of anger within Warren's mind. A lot of those questions like "WHY did this happen" etc. The potential safety of Krakoa is finally allowing him to move beyond the denial stage of grieving his past self.

While he doesn't get a lot of on-page time in the Krakoa era aside from X-Corp, we do get to see him again in Heir of Apocalypse, finally able to stand up to Apocalypse. While before he'd been afraid of him and worried about the mind control returning, he straight up refuses to help Apocalypse now and fights him outright. This is a big shift in Warren's character and in his personal confidence, and I think it's safe to assume that his experiences with Penance and the rest of the Krakoa era changed him as a person, finally allowing him to truly accept his trauma and vow to make a difference in his behavior. It's a short read, but really badass!

Then we tag back up with him in the current X-Factor run, where he's completely lost Archangel's powers. With Apocalypse finding a new heir, Warren is freed from his nightmare, but has been battling it so long that he doesn't know what's left for him anymore. He doesn't know where to find meaning outside of reconciling with Archangel and beating Apocalypse. That's where we've left him now, trying to find meaning in a post-Krakoa post-Archangel life.

tl;dr Warren's biggest theming is a journey of self acceptance and figuring out what comes next once you think you've got it all figured out. While his story is full of missed opportunities and inconsistent characterization, I think reading between the lines of the good, bad, and ugly writing can reveal a really interesting character that's worth picking apart!

SOMEBODY GIVE ME YOUR CHARACTER BREAK DOWNS

I NEED TO LEARNNNN

SOMEONE GIVE ME THEIR ANALYSIS ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WARREN PLEASE

I WANNA LEARN HOW DEEP CHARACTERS GO

If you’ve been desperate to tell someone about a character you’ve dug into

TELL ME

as long as it’s a Marvel Character I’ll listen

And I’ll even take select DC characters but don’t push it.

[nyxypoo]

accidental orgasm control/denial with takiishi bc he just doesn't bother once he's done, doesn't even realize how close you are before he stops, he's already moving away and cleaning himself up

[lem-argentum]

it took me until dt to change rudy's hairstyle, but i ACTUALLY think he would've cut it back in post-stb when he became a reaper. the trope of "character cuts hair to feel more in control of their life" is cliché but REAL. and also the visual of him cutting it with his scythe is fun

[scatteredshowersposts]

A post-canon, pre-reunion No. 6 playlist for Shion. This playlist follows Shion from the end of Volume 9, through Beyond, until just before he reunites with Rat. It concludes right before the events of my story, Summer Rain.

In the Country - La Luz There isn't one thing that I wouldn't do for you Why leave?

Good Grief - Dessa But I’m willing to work for this Just show me where to dig And I’m ready to hurt for this

I Don't Trust U Anymore - Left at London As a kid, I was idolizing millionaires and all the presidents But I don't trust them anymore No way, no way, no, not again And I may never trust at all No way, no way, I'm over them

Working for the Knife - Mitski I always thought the choice was mine And I was right, but I just chose wrong I start the day lying and end with the truth That I'm dying for the knife

Glass House - Screaming Females Whose house is this? A gift was promised Future structures till we all vanish

The Center Won't Hold - Sleater-Kinney I need a real affliction Gives me a reason to stay I need a new reflection Don't wanna see my face

Fear the Future - St. Vincent When the Earth split in two I was I, you were you I run for you Run for me, too

Kokomo, IN - Japanese Breakfast God, I wish we could go back there Left alone in my room I know they deserve you too And maybe I'm not that worthy

[monsterfactoryfanfic]

if I've learned anything from grad school it's to check your sources, and this has proven invaluable in the dozens of instances when I've had an MBA-type try to tell me something about finances or leadership. Case in point:

Firefox serves me clickbaity articles through Pocket, which is fine because I like Firefox. But sometimes an article makes me curious. I'm pretty anal about my finances, and I wondered if this article was, as I suspected, total horseshit, or could potentially benefit me and help me get my spending under control. So let's check the article in question.

It mostly seems like common sense. "...track expenses and income for at least a month before setting a budget...How much money do I have or earn? How much do I want to save?" Basic shit like that. But then I get to this section:

This sounds fucking made up to me. And thankfully, they've provided a source to their claim that "research has repeatedly shown" that writing things down changes behavior. First mistake. What research is this?

Forbes, naturally, my #1 source for absolute dogshit fart-sniffing financial schlock. Forbes is the type of website that guy from high school who constantly posts on linkedin trawls daily for little articles like this that make him feel better about refusing to pay for a decent package for his employees' healthcare (I'm from the United States, a barbaric, conflict-ridden country in the throes of civil unrest, so obsessed with violence that its warlords prioritize weapons over universal medical coverage. I digress). Forbes constantly posts shit like this, and I constantly spend my time at leadership seminars debunking poor consultants who get paid to read these claims credulously. Look at this highlighted text. Does it make sense to you that simply writing your financial goals down would result in a 10x increase in your income? Because if it does, let me make you an offer on this sick ass bridge.

Thankfully, Forbes also makes the mistake of citing their sources. Let's check to see where this hyperlink goes:

SidSavara. I've never heard of this site, but the About section tells me that Sid is "a technology leader who empowers teams to grow into their best selves. He is a life-long learner enjoys developing software, leading teams in delivering mission critical projects, playing guitar and watching football and basketball."

That doesn't mean anything. What are his LinkedIn credentials? With the caveat that anyone can lie on Linkedin, Mr. Savara appears to be a Software Engineer. Which is fine! I'm glad software engineers exist! But Sid's got nothing in his professional history which suggests he knows shit about finance. So I'm already pretty skeptical of his website, which is increasingly looking like a personal fart-huffing blog.

The article itself repeats the credulous claim made in the Forbes story earlier, but this time, provides no link for the 3% story. Mr. Savara is smarter than his colleages at Forbes, it's much wiser to just make shit up.

HOWEVER. I am not the first person to have followed this rabbit hole. Because at the very top of this article, there is a disclaimer.

Uh oh!

Sid's been called out before, and in the follow up to this article, he reveals the truth.

You can guess where this is going.

So to go back to the VERY beginning of this post, both Pocket/Good Housekeeping and Forbes failed to do even the most basic of research, taking the wild claim that writing down your budget may increase your income by 10x on good faith and the word of a(n admittedly honest about his shortcomings) software engineer.

Why did I spend 30 minutes to make a tumblr post about this? Mostly to show off how smart I am, but also to remind folks of just how flimsy any claim on the internet can be. Click those links, follow those sources, and when the sources stop linking, ask why.

[keeps-ache]

okay you know what actually. time is an opinion

[kaijutegu]

Alligator Body Language and You, or: How To Know When An Alligator On Social Media is Being Stressed for Views

Alligators are wild animals. Despite the idiotic claims of animal abusers like Jay Brewer, they cannot be domesticated, which means they are always going to react on the same natural instincts they've had for millions of years. Habituated, yes. Tamed, yes. Trained, definitely. Crocodilians can form bonds with people- they're social and quite intelligent. They can solve problems, use tools, and they're actually quite playful. Alligators are also really good at communicating how they're feeling, but to somebody who doesn't spend much time around them, their body language can be a bit mystifying. And it doesn't help when social media influencers are saying shit like this:

That is not what a happy gator looks like.

That's a terrified, furious gator who isn't attacking because the ogre handling her has her in a chokehold. She's doing everything she can to express her displeasure, and he's lying about it because he knows his audience doesn't even know how to think critically about what he's doing. He knows that because his audience doesn't know anything about these animals, he can get away with it. This I think is why I hate him so much- he deliberately miseducates his audience. He knows what he's doing is factually inaccurate, he just doesn't care because attention means more to him than anything else in the world.

Let's change that! Here are two really important lessons for understanding alligator body language on social media.

Lesson 1: Alligators Don't Smile (in fact, most animals don't)

So what's going on in this video? Jay Brewer is aggressively choking his white alligator Coconut while scrubbing algae off of her with a toothbrush. And make no mistake, he is digging into the creature's throat while she is visibly distressed. He claims she's happy- but she's not. He is willfully misrepresenting what this animal is feeling. That's a problem, because people... well, we actually kind of suck at reading other species' body language. The reason for this is that we tend to overlay our own responses on their physical cues, and that's a problem. For example, let's look at an animal with a really similar face to ours, the chimpanzee. Check out Ama's toothy grin!

Wait, no. That's not a happy smile. That's a threat display. When a chimpanzee "smiles," it's either terrified and doing a fear grimace, or it's showing you its teeth because it intends on using them in your face.

How about a dog? Look at my smiling, happy puppy!

Oh wait no, this is a picture of Ryder when he was super overwhelmed by noise and people during a holiday party. He'd hopped up in my sister's lap to get away from stuff that was happening on the floor and was panting quite heavily. See the tension in the corners of his mouth and his eyes? A lot of the time when a dog "smiles," the smile isn't happy. It's stress! Why Animals Do The Thing has a nice writeup about that, but the point is, our body language is not the same as other species. And for reptiles, body language is wildly different.

For instance, look at these two alligators. Pretty cute, right? Look at 'em, they're posing for a Christmas card or something! How do you think they're feeling?

Well, I'll tell you how the normal one is feeling. He's annoyed! Why is he annoyed? Because the albino just rolled up, pushed another gator off the platform, and is trying to push this guy, too. I know this because I actually saw it happen. It was pretty funny, not gonna lie. He's not gaping all the way, but he was hissing- you can actually see him getting annoyed in the sequence I took right before this shot. Look at him in this first shot here- he's just relaxing, and you can see he isn't gaping even a little bit.

By the end, he's expressing displeasure, but not enough to actually do anything about it. He's annoyed, but he's comfy and that's where one of the best basking areas is, so he'll put up with it.

Reptiles open their mouths wide for a lot of reasons, but never because they are actively enjoying a sensation. Unless they're eating. No reptile smiles- they can't. They don't even have moveable lips. If a reptile is gaping, it's doing so because:

It is doing a threat display.

It is making certain vocalizations, all of which are threats. Alligators are one of the rare reptiles that do regularly vocalize, but most of their calls aren't made with a wide open mouth.

It is about to bite something delicious or somebody stupid. Check out this video- virtually all of the gaping here is anticipatory because these trained gators know darn well that the bowl is full of delicious snacks. (I have some issues with Florida's Wildest, but the man knows how to train a gator AND he is honest about explaining what they're doing and why, and all of his animals are healthy and well-cared for, and he doesn't put the public or his staff at risk- just himself.)

It's too hot and it has opened its mouth to vent some of that heat and thermoregulate. This is the main reason why alligators will often have their mouths part of the way open, but sometimes they'll open all the way for thermoregulation. This is what a thermoregulatory gape looks like- usually it's not all the way open, kinda more like < rather than V, but you can't say that 100% of the time. Additionally, a thermoregulatory gape... typically happens when it's hot out. If they're inside, maybe they've been under their basking light for too long. Heat's the dominant factor, is what I'm getting at.

There is another reason that a captive crocodilian might be gaping, and that's because it's doing so on command. Some places have their gators trained to gape on cue, like St. Augustine Alligator Farm and other good zoos. They have the animals do this in presentations that are genuinely educational. They ask the animals to open their mouths so that they can show off their teeth and demonstrate how their tongues seal off the back of their mouth. They'll also do it as part of routine healthcare, because looking at their teeth is important.

In this case, the animals aren't gaping because they're stressed, they're gaping because they know they're gonna get a piece of chicken or fish if they do it. And what's more, they're doing it on cue. They have a specific command or signal that tells them to open wide. It's not an instinctive response to a situation. It's trained. If the animal provides the behavior after a cue, the situation is much less likely to be negatively impactful.

It's also important to remember that there's a difference between a partially open mouth and a gape! As discussed above, alligators will often have their mouths a little bit open just to maintain temperature homeostasis. It helps them stay comfy, temperature-wise. These guys are all doing thermoregulatory open-mouthed behavior- that slight open and relaxed body posture is a dead giveaway. (That and it's the hottest spot in the enclosure.)

Lesson 2: A Happy Gator Is A Chill Gator

So if alligators don't smile or have facial expressions other than the :V that typically signifies distress, how else can you tell how they're feeling? One way is stillness. See, alligators subscribe to the philosophy of if it sucks... hit da bricks.

Basically, if they hate it, they'll leave. Unless, y'know, somebody has their meaty claws digging into their throat or is otherwise restraining them. (Restraint isn't always bad, btw. Sometimes the animal is going through a medical thing or needs to be restrained for their safety- which a responsible educator will explain.)

Let's look at a very similar scenario, in which a captive alligator is getting his back scrubbed.

As you can see, it's quite different. First, he's not being restrained at all. Second, look at how relaxed he is! He's just chilling there vibing! He could simply get up and leave if he wanted to, because he's not being held. Towards the end of the video, as he lifts his head, you can see that his respiratory rate is very even as his throat flutters a bit. I'm not sure what this facility is, so I can't comment on care/general ethics, but like. In this specific case, this is an alligator enjoying being scrubbed! And you can tell because he's not doing anything. A happy gator is content to be doing what they're doing.

Why Should I Listen To You?

Now, you should ask yourself, why should you listen to me? Why should you trust me, who does not own an alligator, versus Jay Brewer, who owns several?

Well, first off, there's no profit for me in telling you that what you're seeing on social media is in fact not what you're being told you're seeing. I'm not getting paid to do this. That's the thing with people who make social media content. The big names aren't doing it just for fun. They're doing it for money. Whether that's profit through partnerships or sponsorships, or getting more people to visit their facilities, or ad revenue, you can't ignore the factor of money. And this is NOT a bad thing, because it allows educators to do what they're passionate about! People deserve to be paid for the work that they do!

But the problem starts when you chase the algorithm instead of actually educating. A "smiling" alligator gets the views, and if people don't know enough to know better, it keeps getting the views. People love unconventional animal stories and they want those animals to be happy- but the inability to even know where to start with critically evaluating these posts really hinders the ability to spread real information. Like, this post will probably get a couple hundred notes, but that video of Coconut being scrubbed had almost 400,000 likes when I took that screenshot. Think about how many eyeballs that's reached by now. What I'm saying here is that it's just... really important to think critically about who you're getting your information from. What do dissenters say in the comments? What do other professionals say? You won't find a single herpetologist that has anything good to say about Prehistoric Pets, I can tell you that right now.

Another reason you can trust me is that my sources are not "just trust me bro," or "years of experience pretending my pet shop where animals come to die is a real zoo." Instead, here are my primary sources for my information on alligator behavior:

Dragon Songs: Love and Adventure among Crocodiles, Alligators, and Other Dinosaur Relations- Vladimir Dinets

The Secret Social Lives of Reptiles- J. Sean Doody, Vladimir Dinets, Gordon M. Burghardt

Social Behavior Deficiencies in Captive American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)- Z Walsh, H Olson, M Clendening, A Rycyk

Social Displays of the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)- Kent Vliet

Social Signals and Behaviors of Adult Alligators and Crocodiles- Leslie Garrick, Jeffery Lang

Never smile at a crocodile: Gaping behaviour in the Nile crocodile at Ndumo Game Reserve, South Africa- Cormac Price, Mohamed Ezat, Céline Hanzen, Colleen Downs (this one's Nile crocs, not American alligators, but it's really useful for modeling an understanding of gape behaviors and proximity)

Thermoregulatory Behavior of Captive American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)- Cheryl S. Asa, Gary D. London, Ronald R. Goellner, Norman Haskell, Glenn Roberts, Crispen Wilson

Unprovoked Mouth Gaping Behavior in Extant Crocodylia- Noah J. Carl, Heather A. Stewart, Jenny S. Paul

Thank you for reading! Here's a very happy wild alligator from Sanibel for your trouble.

[nochepsicodelica]

Suggestive

"Why do I have to sit out here while you try things on? I've seen you naked a fuck ton of times, but I can't be in the bathroom with you while-"

The door opens, revealing you in a new, red lingerie set that had just gotten delivered. "This one?" You ask, hands on your hips as you do a slow little three-sixty for Toji.

"Oh," he utters, a low chuckle following. He can't contain the smirk on his face as he eyes you up and down, taking in the entirety of the gorgeous sight you offer. "Come here, pretty mama," he says, beckoning for you to come closer to where he is on the bed. "Let me touch. See if you're comfortable in this."

You laugh and make your way over to him. "You're gonna tell me if i'm comfortable?"

"If it's rough on my hands, then I know it doesn't feel too good on your soft skin. Now, come here." His hands reach out, pulling you by your hips to stand between his legs. He hums, satisfied, as one hand rests on your ass, squeezing, while the other occupies itself with the front of your lacy underwear, just feeling up the material. "This is pretty soft. I could tear it off easily, too," he says, teasing you by tugging on the garment.

"Aaand that's enough from you." You pull his hands off of you and head back to the bathroom. You almost laugh at the way you can feel him watching you as you walk away.

You change out of that set and into the next nightly article— a silk, black slip dress. The door opens and this time you do giggle when Toji's attention is already on you.

"How's this?" You do another little spin to display your outfit change and nudge at one of the thin shoulder straps, teasing Toji by pushing it the slightest bit down. You see his hands reach out for you, signaling for you to come and let him grope you, again. "Mm-mm," you hum. "You know silk is soft."

"But I need to check your panties," he argues. Anything to have you in his hands, again. "What if the texture is too harsh on you?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I wouldn't be wearing panties under this. Not wearing any now..." you say, a sultry hint in your tone, as you lift the hem of the short dress the slightest bit. Toji's eyes are devouring the slow reveal of your pretty skin, following the end of the smooth dress as it goes higher and higher. He's only able to blink with disillusion, when you let the material slide back down before he gets to see what you were teasing. "...and I won't be wearing any for its official debut."

"Fuck... you look so good, ma. Wanna touch you."

"Nope. There's one more." You pull the strap of your slip up and smirk, as if taunting him for not getting to touch you. He sighs when you turn around and scurry off to the bathroom again. The crotch area of his sweats is getting uncomfortably tighter and you walking away just makes him miserable.

The last getup took a little longer to put on than the other two, due to the sheer stockings and the garter belt, but it was all worth it in the end, because even you couldn't deny how good you looked.

You open the bathroom door and peek your head out to see if Toji's waiting, though his impatience doesn't leave you wondering for long.

"Don't tell me you're shy," he teases, in hopes of baiting you into revealing yourself quicker. "What, are you completely naked?"

You take a step out, instantly feeling a rush of nerves when you're in Toji's view.

"Oh, shut the fuck up..." He mutters to himself, absorbing the hellish sight of the little number you changed into.

You take a few more steps away from the bathroom, feeling your cheeks grow warm as Toji gawks at you, unable to pick his jaw up from the floor. You decide to tease him by pointing at yourself, then at the bathroom, insinuating whether you should go back in and change.

"No, no. Bring your fine ass over here." Even his posture straightens during his attempt to bring you closer. If you had gone back inside, he would've started sweating.

"Yeah, come here, sweetheart," Toji purrs, once you're in arms reach. "Do that little spin for me." You comply and spin slowly like you did the last few times, giving him a view of everything. "Fuck, you want me to die, huh?" He murmurs, smirking at the sound of the giggles he lures out of you. He pulls you in close, his hands resting on the backs of your thighs, his face pressed into your tummy. You tangle your hands in his hair, smiling down at him as he kisses your soft, warm skin, over and over. When he looks up at you with those precious green eyes, he has the most endearing, lovestruck look on his face.

"Gonna eat you out 'til you fucking cry."

"Yeah?" You ask, cupping his cheeks as he stares on. You click your tongue and laugh bashfully when he hums affirmatively.

"Let's test run this one today, hm?" Toji suggests, pressing more kisses onto your stomach, trailing them lower until his lips meet the waistband of your garter belt.

"Now?"

"Right now. Unless you have somewhere else to be," he says, fiddling with the thin, satin strap that rests on your thigh.

"You know I don't," you say, coursing your fingers through his hair.

"So, you're gonna let me at you, then?" He asks, standing up from the bed, towering over you in a single second.

"I'm all yours," you respond. That devilish little grin on your face was the final shove needed for Toji to push you onto the bed and pounce on you. "Ah-ah-- If you rip this off, you're banned from all of this..." you drag your fingertips over your lips, the gesture transitioning to your hand gliding down your neck, your chest, your abdomen, finishing off by splaying over your panties, "...for a week."

"You wouldn't," Toji says, challenging your threat, but when you simply hum and shrug in response, as if to say 'try me', he ends up doing as you say, and carefully stripping you.