#(could be inferred)

[starofhisheart]

why did Jim react like that sksksks just Jim staring at Spock like he's planning their wedding pls

Spock: my mother thought she was a very fortunate earth woman to be married to my vulcan father

Jim: as am I

Spock: what

Bones: what

Jim: *heart eyes*

[mediapen]

↳ CS55 ++ 'a short poem about records' by max lavergne

[bopbop171]

[galedekarios]

Elminster's Letter / God of Ambition epilogue

Do you recall the day we first met, m'boy?

You could have been no more than eight summers' old, clutching your mother's apron, eyebrows singed off by the fireball you'd unleashed into your neighbour's rose bush. You were crying because the flowers were so beautiful, and you did mean to destroy them.

How kind, how eager, how brilliant you were. And yet so naive. You could not yet see that power so careless begets destruction, but so too might your good nature be the guiding light by which your bailities might shape our world for the better.

Where is that child now, I wonder? Did he remain at Blackstaff, nose buried in his books? Does he live within his mother's ageing heart, weeping for those roses? Or is he within you still, lost amongst the trappings of godhood you so casually adorn yourself with?

Whereever he is, I hope he can forgive me. To him I promise - I will not make the same mistakes again.

Elminster

[gutfaced]

when people stop using the excuse of “olive [skin] is a spectrum!” when referring to any character that hails from the seam, i can die peacefully.

for reference: the seam — dark hair (straight, with the exception of haymitch and his curly hair,) olive skin, gray eyes. (e.g, katniss, gale and the hawthornes, haymitch.)

merchants — blonde hair (curly,) pale skin, blue eyes. (peeta, delly cartwright, mrs. everdeen and primrose.)

yes, in the case of the seamfolk, it is definitely possible that they are simply tan white people. however, in the racial context of appalachia, there is a population of native americans (who often have olive skin and straight dark hair,) along with the melungeon population (which includes people of color.)

suzanne collins would've made the distinction, as she did for the merchants if they were white. this theory is unlikely though, considering that systematic oppression plays a role within their race. (the seam are worse off; they're the poorest part of the district with people casually dying of starvation in the streets, they're also workers in the mines and more likely to have lung problems/die from mine collapses if not explosions. they also run a black market for sake of trades and food. the merchants run shops and are better off than the seam.)

i'm not saying at all that white people can't be olive skinned, i do very much agree with that and it's something i acknowledge. but again, appalachia, where twelve is located, has a population of people of color in which fit the description (which could likely be native americans.) there's a stark difference in both sides of twelve's population and their races, and if suzanne had made the seamers with the intention of them being white in mind, katniss simply could've said it was a white-predominant population with the notion of seamfolk being darker.

with all of this in mind, no matter how you flip it, the seam-originating characters in the movies are whitewashed. and that takes away from the history of these people and takes from their oppression and representation of history in a book that already deals with racial issues and such things.

[red-moon-at-night]

The Heart wants what it wants.

[appri-dot]

I like to draw nutcracker yaoi for character reasons trust fencer(hurt fella) belongs to @ballcrusher74

[hecates-corner]

Even though there’s not a single myth on it, I’d like to think Aphrodite couldn’t give a shit about her sexuality.

She gets bored one day, and particularly curious, and heads down to earth. As she wanders around the markets in her mortal disguise, her attention is caught by a kind woman buying apples. Aphrodite wanders over, curious. She’s so beautiful, not so much that she challenges the goddess’ beauty, obviously, but she’s got these delicate features mixed with a sharp nose that stand out to Aphrodite. She likes how she looks.

The woman notices her, smiles politely, but seems captivated by Aphrodite’s beauty, even in her mortal state. She greets her, and Aphrodite likes that. Her voice.

She reaches for an apple, so Aphrodite picks it up and studies it, as if it’s at all interesting to her. She twirls it in the light, then looks up, and extends it to the woman, offering it.

As the woman takes it carefully, she twines her fingers in Aphrodite’s, for just a moment. It couldn’t have been an accident.

So Aphrodite, smiling softly, asks for her name.

The woman gives it.

Days later, Aphrodite is lounging on Olympus, twirling a strand of her hair and thinking about that woman she’d met. She was like no other, beautiful and prim and yet so powerfully attractive. Aphrodite bids her lover farewell on Olympus, Ares is gone to fight another war. A small one, but a war nonetheless.

She is bored. And roused. She wishes to go and have some sort of good time, but does not know what precisely to do. With Ares gone, and the others truly uninteresting, she huffs in annoyance. Then a thought occurs, perhaps she should simply go and find that woman again. Or attend some festival, who knows?

So Aphrodite takes the form of a dove, and soars through the air, searching. Her eyes land on a stream, sensing there is someone there she wishes to meet.

When she lands, she transforms into the same maiden she had been days ago. She tousles her skirts, and slinks out from behind the tree she used as coverage, and spies a woman with her back turned.

The woman is tying back her hair, perhaps readying herself to wash her face, or take a swim. It is awfully balmy that day, so either is plausible. She turns, and is surprised by the sight of Aphrodite, in disguise.

She blinks, but smiles a moment later. “I knew I had not seen the last of you.”

Aphrodite raises a brow. “You were so sure?”

“I would believe so, goddess. For you must know I was not finished seeking your company.”

Aphrodite is surprised. No one speaks to her in such a way, or calls her on her bluff so quickly.

“You are hasty to supplicate me, dear.” She says, just so.

“No, I am not hasty.” The woman replies. “I am bold.”

Aphrodite smiles.

“If I were a goddess, perhaps,” she begins. “Would you have me?”

The woman chuckles. “I think I am much too consumed by my thoughts of you to care whether or not you are a goddess.” She glances Aphrodite up, and down. “I would have you only if you sought me.”

And the line of the stream between them is much too large, suddenly. Aphrodite reaches for the pins of her dress.

“Come.” She says, a light smile playing at her lips. “Let us swim. It is much too hot to be standing here exchanging polite words.”

When all is said and done, and Aphrodite lays back against the bank of the river, her sweat and exertion mixing with the cleansing drops of water slipping from her locks of hair, she holds the woman close to her. Skin upon skin, tender and simple, for a moment. Pleasant. Just to be here, just to be. Just.

She cards her fingers through the woman’s hair. “I am sure you wonder which goddess I am.”

The woman hums, her throat making a sweet buzz against Aphrodite’s breast. “Perhaps. Only so I may call your name again.” She runs a finger down the goddess’ arm, from shoulder to wrist, then lingering there. “But I have my wits about me.”

Aphrodite smiles. “Oh? And who might you seek me as?”

The woman takes Aphrodite’s hand, now. “I shall love you no matter who you may be, Aphrodite.”

It is not the last time they meet, nor the last time they lay together. They dabble in fields, laugh over wine, and speak to one another late in the night. As it would occur, the woman is a poet, a good one at that, and writes hymns for Aphrodite in her lustrous love for the goddess.

The woman holds such court in Aphrodite’s heart for so many years, that Aphrodite soon fears, actually fears, her death. She laments the fact that the woman is mortal, and will die. The woman does not.

“I have lived a lifetime dappled with you. I do not weep for it, such a blessing.”

But Aphrodite still feels the knowledge gnaw at her. She knows she cannot make a god of the woman, but she may be able to place her judgement in the realm of the dead.

Decades pass, still enjoying one another. The woman ages, and she does not. But they still find each other in the darkness, in the light.

One day, decades and decades later, the woman dies. A peaceful death, a life prolonged by the proximity and life of a goddess. It would have surprised her to know she did not die of a tragedy, like all other lovers of gods. Perhaps that is why she is left out in history.

Aphrodite weeps for her, as she did Adonis, and select other lovers that were as golden to her as her own divinity. She carves a tomb, in memorial, that over time crumbles and breaks. She carves her name into it, but in centuries, it will be lost.

Her battle is not over. She composed herself, and urges her way to a field, near a crack to Erebos.

It is springtime. She may call for her.

“Persephone.”

At the invocation of her name, Persephone comes to the call.

“Aphrodite.” She greets, a mix of warmth and ice.

Aphrodite pauses, the request tingling on her lips. “You may not care, but we have had our moments, dear Persephone.”

They could not be called friends, no. But they could not be denied of the ways of the flesh they had once- twice, perhaps, shared.

She continues at the silence. “I come to request a placement for a soul.”

Persephone raises a brow. “I see.”

“She is virtuous, and a good woman, besides. I believe you should place her in Elysium.”

Persephone narrows her eyes. “Give me her name. I may see what I can do.”

Aphrodite gives it. Persephone returns a blank look. Then it shifts to an amusement.

“She has found her eternal rest, I confess.”

Aphrodite frowns. “I know. That is the reason for my request.”

“You misunderstand.” Persephone laughs. “She had drank from the river Lethe twice over. She has lived three virtuous lives, with this one her third.”

Aphrodite’s eyes widen.

“She resides on the Isle of the Blessed?”

Persephone nods, smiling still. Aphrodite does not know why.

But her heart leaps. There is that, she thinks. She has lived three virtuous lives.

Then a thought crosses her mind. “What made her virtuous, in this one?”

Persephone smiles. “She will write a history, in years to come. Perhaps all because of one lover she had in particular.”

[toxicanonymity]

Hi!! I was wondering, how would evolved raider react if he ever accidentally hurt sweet pea while having sex? Maybe he was being too rough with her or he accidentally overstimulated her to the point where she’s actually pulling away from his touch?

-Lummie

raider!Joel x f!reader, cw angst

���️ remember this is a dark character, not a bdsm practitioner in a healthy relationship.

Let's say he's soothing himself in a pussy eating trance that cannot be broken. You've had enough and squirm? He holds you down. Or, say he's fucking something out on you. If you struggle a bit, he might manhandle you. If you went ragdoll limp he could see your face and snap out of it. He'd stop, take a deep breath, wipe his hand down his face, search your eyes for what the damage is. "You okay?" Leans his forehead against yours. He could learn.

Let's say you go unconscious. First he would feel outside of himself. This can't be happening. This can't be real. It would feel like a nightmare. He'd feel horror above panic. Physically, he's frozen. What did I do? Muttering "no," over and over. Your name gets stuck in his throat out of fear that you won't respond, maybe ever again. But he gets it out, he repeats it. "please," he's begging you, then he's begging a God he doesn't believe in. (When you wake up he thanks you, holds you, says he never wants to hurt you)

[jessiescock]

Love how the world of the scu (shrek cinematic universe) is made up of fictional countries like far far away and duloc, vaguely european-looking fairy tale landscapes, and the country of Spain

[sallymew4]

kids when they hear that their dad is back in town VS. kids when theyre hanging out with a conman that accidentally stole their wallet once

im not even joking btw

bonus heres me being crazy about them in dms ^^^

[rochenn]

Guys was it ever stated outright anywhere in canon that Maul knew Sidious' true identity? Like 100%? I'm going insane over here

[anobjectshowguy]

I could spout for hours and hours about how great II 16 was and how much it subverted my expectations but for now, I want to focus on MePhone X in particular.

I made a post here in January (before anyone knew anything about MePhone X) about how the MePhones’ continued to become more robotic and lost their autonomy as they went up in generation. I also talked about how I hoped that MePhone X could be saved from Meeple by his old brothers. Even after seeing episode 16 I still kinda hope for his redemption. I also believe that there is (obviously) way more evidence of Cobs’s cruelty that he directs at his creations (even if we don’t see anything on screen happen with his latest models).

From what we can see from the little presentation of MePhone X is that he has some advanced technology abilities, like being able to turn invisible or suck the lifeforce that MePhone 4 gave the contestants out of their bodies, returning them to their normal state. He’s going to be a big threat for sure. Cobs gave him the ability to turn invisible so he somewhat trusts MePhone X to not turn on him or run away, which is interesting and kinda breaks my previous theory.

However, in the episode, MePhone 3GS says that Cobs will only accept things that are perfect, and Cobs talks about how his new creations are less and less popular and that people are less likely to buy them. Cobs is failing to sell anything recent and MePhone X is recent tech meaning that MePhone X is already partly a failure, even if he hadn’t done anything yet. And that’s not even talking about Cobs’s constantinfantilization of MePhone 4 in the episode, which who knows if he does that to anyone else.

I don’t know if AE is planning to do another MePhone 5 situation where the two phones confront each other and have a big fight and the “evil” one dies. However, from what I personally gathered from the end of season three was that MePhone 4 seemed like he was going to try and do something new when it came to the Meeple products he encounters.

I mean, He gave Walkie-talkie a second chance, even after knowing that she was a Meeple product sent there to kill him. Maybe it was because she never really went after the contestants, but there was also the conversation on the volcano where MePhone 4 acknowledged that Cobs was always going to try to replace things and make new things even though they weren’t needed and try to control his creation to get an outcome he wanted.

I know this is such a long rambling post that seems to be about nothing but I still don’t know if I could stomach X being killed or being seen as evil. Especially based on the information given about being one of Cobs’s creations and how he controls them. But again, if that’s what AE wants to do, I am not gonna sit here and complain. It’s definitely interesting. Here’s to my stupid ass happy ending heart hoping that X can be redeemed or something like that lol.

[ghostlychaosfoil]

man he did it

[obamousse]

Suna's pre-timeskip volleyball skill analysis

First off, Suna is acknowledged by Ukai as one of the main point-getters of Inarizaki. Then, the old man on the bench analyzed how Suna could manipulate other opponents/middle blockers using his torso and wide range of spikes. Apart from his blocking abilities, this is his most noticeable skill - so I could infer he became one of Inarizaki's main point-getters for this reason.

The reason why his special spike scores effectively was because of its wide range. If middle blockers could block the direction where Suna spikes, they forget the position - Suna then spikes to the side of their arms or above it. Middle blockers have to read through and eliminate all possibilities of his spikes, which, given the range and unpredictability of Suna's spiking positions, proves impossible. Middle blockers mostly block straight, so stopping Suna's spikes on the side requires high level of technique.

The key to his successfully spike is normal blocking from the opponent's middle blockers. Since his spikes are different from normal spikes, they require different blocking strategies, and using normal blocking strategies won't work. Suna is an average middle blocker who thinks and strategizes normally, so he could understand, predict, and manipulate what other middle blockers would do, who the middle blockers will be. He would lure them into a vulnerable blocking position that ensures his special spikes get through. For example: In Tsukki and Kageyama's blocks, Kageyama blocks on the left. Any normal spikers would spike on the right where space is most ample. However, Suna chose beforehand to spike above Kageyama's arms (as seen in him waiting for Kageyama to jump), which was completely unexpected. If he spikes on the right, good blockers would trace his moves and stop him there. He knows Kageyama would jump because Tsukki's blocks has too many open areas, and no matter where Kageyama jumps, left or right of him, Suna will spike above his arms.

It is due to practicing his knowledge to manipulate blocks that Suna becomes a good middle blocker. The knowledge is ingrained in his instincts, and he instinctively knew what the opponent spiker is going to do. As Ukai said, he has something akin to the sixth sense. This is why his blocking time is fast and he knows where and who to block: Tanaka. Tanaka is one of the main aces of Karasuno, and Inarizaki's job is to shut. him. down. Tanaka uses force, but with unvaried techniques, so middle blockers could shut him down easily if they mitigate the forces of his spikes. Middle blockers know how daunting being blocked could be, and Tanaka is easy to block, so Inarizaki's job is to shut him down every single time. No one-touches. Make sure the ball goes down to ensure the biggest blows on his mental capacity.

However, Suna's spikes only works well with read blockers.

Guess blockers, such as Tendou, focuses on Suna's behavior to determine what he is most likely to do. He does not focus on eliminating where Suna cannot spike, he focuses on how Suna will spike. Since the objective evidences about the ball and player's position will leave out too much possibilities, he chooses to analyze a player's movement, past actions, and body language to form a concrete conclusion. However, since signals aren't clear and body language are not universal, whether he is right or not relies entirely up to chance. but he has practiced his instincts and game sense to make sure he could interpret the player's strategies and chance will favor him as much as possible. So he could get a few correct blocks out of Suna's spikes and the longer Suna uses them, the better Tendou can figure him out.

How Suna is unpredictable to blockers is how Tendou is unpredictable to spiders. How Suna perceives blockers is how Tendou perceives spikers. Manipulating Tendou is notoriously difficult for Suna, and interpreting Suna is downright tricky for Tendou. No one knows what the other does next, unpredictability above unpredictability. Suna is daunted by Tendou and Tendou is daunted by Suna. They dislike each other, because they are such a pain in the ass standing in the way of each other's jobs. Tension's high. And any of Tendou's successful spikes only worsens it. Since Tendou could not exactly figure out where Suna will spike, he decides to one-touch it, to make sure what trajectory of the ball Suna has in his mind will be undone. Had Tendou caught up to Suna? Has Tendou figured him out? How to figure Tendou out faster? Suna has to change blocking strategies and positions of blocking, preserve the crucial unpredictability to score. Because apart from his special spike and excellent blocker skills, he has few else in his arsenal.

"A block that isn't scary is not called a block." And Tendou's blocks, though they cannot shut Suna's ball down, had Suna tiptoeing round the edges. One-touches can be as daunting to spikers.

Suna has one weakness - he doesn't use a wide range of tactics either. His arsenal focuses around his special spikes, and that meant if those tactics are successful, he will continuously use them. Maybe position changes, maybe where to spike. But the principle of using his torso to expand his spiking range is the same. Suna has good tactics, but there is a reason why the stats only say his game sense is 3/5. He has in-the-moment tricks up his sleeves, but he is not a long term strategist who analyzes the overall nature of the game like setters. He knows what middle blockers think, but he doesn't think differently from them, and think far, like Tsukki or Tendou.

Tsukki has figured this out.

The reason why Suna's spikes work well on "good middle blockers" is because he is a good middle blocker too, so he uses his knowledge to get past them and manipulate them. Good blockers will block where he wants to block. Good middle blockers will try to block.

Tsukki does not try to block.

He had figured out, although Suna's spikes are difficult to the middle blocker, receivers can adjust to it given they utilize the time it takes for the ball to travel to their spot. On first try, Daichi successfully received it despite never being used to these spikes before (not that good of a receive but he successfully kept the ball up). On second and third try, Tsukki discovered a pattern - if Tsukki kept on unsuccessfully blocking Suna's spikes, Suna will repeat such spikes again, in the same positions, in the same directions. It's laughably simple, but offers an important insight to blocking him. Daichi could adjust to Suna's spikes, and Tsukki's job became "making sure Suna spikes in a trajectory easy for Daichi to receive". Tsukki has to manipulate his blocks a little to make sure the ball's direction is not too difficult to receive, but Suna will keep on blocking in the same positions, in the same directions, and any unpredictability is eliminated, and Suna no longer becomes a threat. Tsukki doesn't have to care about how Suna will spike - he will just be a red herring and receivers will figure out the rest.

And Suna, not thinking or strategizing far enough, fell for it. He's a simple man - he has tricks relying on his instincts which work for the moment, but not too far down the road. He has instincts which only works for the moment, which only understands how to get past blocks. He's never been a good receiver.

Tsukki refused to be interpreted. He refused to act, and to reveal critical information about his behavior to Suna. His strategy is the most effective - it offers no direct information about who Tsukki is like himself, and it is incredibly hard to spot, since that strategy's key is Tsukki's inaction, masked as the guise of "a bad blocker".

That leads to the iconic battle of cockiness between Suna and Tsukki:

"Thank you for helping me make such clean hits." - Suna

"Thank you for spiking exactly how I wanted you to every time." - Tsukki

Tsukki outsmarted him. Without figuring Suna out, Suna is figured out.

[sysig]

Hey, hey! RnR not requested! (Patreon)