#-ic persons adaptation of sorts

[thecoolerliauditore]

FOR THE RECORD I MUST SAY finding ppl with like the EXACT same flavour that u like is literally the closest thing i will ever experience to pure ecstasy and joy and euphoria. It is like the number one thing that will make me go prprprprpprpr and start hissing at u.

BUT i think it is very cool when ppl are brave and honest and true to themselves enough to simply write out what they want to see and isn't that just., the purest form of art.

anyway uh i love you headcanons i completely don't understand i love you fanfics with character interpretation wildly different from my own i love you alternate universes i love you clearly just the artist projecting their own issues onto the media i love you fanart that's completely not for me because it was made for the artist's very specific tastes i love you self-indulgent crossovers i love you ships i don't see or get i love you the purest form of art of watching someone's rawest most cringe most vulnerable thoughts and feelings drawn and written out

[paxdracona]

IceMav wedding day with their exchanged feathers in pride of place ♥

A couple of days ago I answered this ask: clickety and added a bit of worldbuilding vvv

Although also consider: voluntarily grounding or at least 'inconveniencing' themselves to show how important the other person is ♡ ('You. Voluntarily flying less. Hm.' Ice didn't have to sound THAT skeptical, geez. 'Counter argument; I finally get to show off your hardware in my wings, I want to do it all the way.' More softly, 'Come on, Ice. You have to know I'd choose you, right?' No answer forthcoming as Iceman sort of melts and just folds Mav up in a borderline clingy hug)

and I am now invested.

Picture Mav, strutting around flashing the physical symbol of his and Ice's bond to anyone who even glances at him. And now picture him relentlessly throwing himself into the sky, taking tumbles and almost breaking his neck multiple times before he figures out how to compensate for the disruption in his flight feathers. Picture him trotting Ice out to watch him. Ice watching the love of his life proudly wearing his feathers, adapting his entire way of flying to be able to carry Ice with him when he takes to the skies (And Ice is so proud, and besotted, and also relieved because he never wants to be responsible for taking the sky from Maverick, even if it's temporarily and voluntarily chosen)

[tartarusknight]

wrote you a little omegaverse ficlet, i hope that's alright. thanks for all of your fics they are always so wonderful. have a great night!:

Omega!Steve had been told he gave off a scent like vanilla ice cream, and because of his status as a rare male Omega it somehow is overactive. His doctors scratched their heads and basically told him it's just one of those things. His scent so strong even scent blockers don't quite block it enough for alphas with the strongest noses. He dates betas exclusively after presenting, even though there are many alphas interested. True it's not ALL alphas, there are more respectful ones than disrespectful, but still too many of them came on too strong, and made him nervous. His only Alpha exception being Nancy, who despite his hopes barely even scented him. She never helped him through a heat, never knotted him. And looking back he knows it was for the best, feels complicated feelings about knowing she didn't really want to be with him forever, like he'd dreamt. Is sort of thankful he gets to experience those things with someone who truly wants him. In the meantime he is accosted by plenty of leering alphas and wants to straight up give his social life a break, even from betas.

Steve is delighted to find out he's been hired at Scoops, thinks,with the strong scent of ice cream in his workplace, it'll help get unwanted alphas off his back. Everywhere he goes he can play off the scent as being from his job. Has a somewhat blissful,albeit lonely, summer pretending to tank his flirting skills, get to know his coworker. And then everything goes down and he's captured ridiculed, and hurt for the prejudices involved in being a rare Male Omega, on top of being beaten for being found in the base. A scent he was simply annoyed by now genuinely frightens him more than ever. He smells so good,alphas with no sense of personal space are back to sniffing around and he hates it, just stop. Leave him alone. Dates betas praying one is a good match, but they all just leave him feeling lonelier than ever. It goes on like that until after spring break.

Cue Eddie,an Alpha who doesn't have a strong sense of smell, and has been ridiculed for that since he presented. Barely catches a whiff of Steve. But sees how Steve tenses when other alphas come sniffing around. Takes it upon himself to protect Steve, steps in front of other alphas when he sees something going on. It's not often, and they don't really talk about it. Eddie does have a bit of a crush on Steve but knows how unhappy Steve gets about leering Alphas doesn't try anything other than occasionally flirt, tries not to take it too far. He doesn't ever want Steve to feel uncomfortable with him. But Steve,who knows about Eddie's poor sense of smell is smitten, and hopes someday Eddie would stick around longer than just to be a gentleman and fend off other alphas. Stay closer. Problem is Steve's Omega adapts to Eddie's poor sense of smell and makes Steve's scent even stronger to try and entice Eddie. Even though he uses even MORE scent blockers his sweet scent lures in even more rude alphas,female and male alike, than ever. Steve, who finally decides to put it all on the line, invites Eddie over. Tells him he likes him and politely asks Eddie if it's okay if he removes his blockers. Eddie sheepishly tells him he doesn't think it'll matter he just doesn't smell anything anyway. But an amazing thing happens. Eddie finally gets a strong whiff of what he's heard others wax poetic about. Looks at Steve in sheer delight, his pulse racing. His(!?) omega smells SO GOOD!!!! Eddie still holds himself back, panting gazing at Steve. until Steve walks up close,leans in and says "I trust you" Undoes the first few buttons of his shirt, bares his neck "please, scent me. My Alpha," he kisses him "Yes, sweetheart. Anything you want, my sweet Omega. Anything at all." Steve smiles,puts his hand to Eddie's face, takes a calming breath and looks into his eyes,"Please,my Alpha, give me your knot?"

Awww Eddie's being such a gentleman!!!! And Steve he's trying his best with what he's born with. But it's hard and it's frightening yet he still finds the alpha of his dreams 🥰

Thank you so much for the ficlet!!!! I really appreciate you 💕

[macrolit]

By Elisabeth Egan May 18, 2024

“You’d be shocked by how many books have women chained in basements,” Reese Witherspoon said. “I know it happens in the world. I don’t want to read a book about it.”

Nor does she want to read an academic treatise, or a 700-page novel about a tree.

Sitting in her office in Nashville, occasionally dipping into a box of takeout nachos, Witherspoon talked about what she does like to read — and what she looks for in a selection for Reese’s Book Club, which she referred to in a crisp third person.

“It needs to be optimistic,” Witherspoon said. “It needs to be shareable. Do you close this book and say, ‘I know exactly who I want to give it to?’”

But, first and foremost, she wants books by women, with women at the center of the action who save themselves. “Because that’s what women do,” she said. “No one’s coming to save us.”

Witherspoon, 48, has now been a presence in the book world for a decade. Her productions of novels like “Big Little Lies,” “Little Fires Everywhere” and “The Last Thing He Told Me” are foundations of the binge-watching canon. Her book club picks reliably land on the best-seller list for weeks, months or, in the case of “Where the Crawdads Sing,” years. In 2023, print sales for the club’s selections outpaced those of Oprah’s Book Club and Read With Jenna, according to Circana Bookscan, adding up to 2.3 million copies sold.

So how did an actor who dropped out of college (fine, Stanford) become one of the most influential people in an industry known for being intractable and slightly tweedy?

It started with Witherspoon’s frustration over the film industry’s skimpy representation of women onscreen — especially seasoned, strong, smart, brave, mysterious, complicated and, yes, dangerous women.

“When I was about 34, I stopped reading interesting scripts,” she said.

Witherspoon had already made a name for herself with “Election,” “Legally Blonde” and “Walk the Line.” But, by 2010, Hollywood was in flux: Streaming services were gaining traction. DVDs were following VHS tapes to the land of forgotten technology.

“When there’s a big economic shift in the media business, it’s not the superhero movies or independent films we lose out on,” Witherspoon said. “It’s the middle, which is usually where women live. The family drama. The romantic comedy. So I decided to fund a company to make those kinds of movies.”

In 2012, she started the production company Pacific Standard with Bruna Papandrea. Its first projects were film adaptations of books: “Gone Girl” and “Wild,” which both opened in theaters in 2014.

Growing up in Nashville, Witherspoon knew the value of a library card. She caught the bug early, she said, from her grandmother, Dorothea Draper Witherspoon, who taught first grade and devoured Danielle Steel novels in a “big cozy lounger” while sipping iced tea from a glass “with a little paper towel wrapped around it.”

This attention to detail is a smoke signal of sorts: Witherspoon is a person of words.

When she was in high school, Witherspoon stayed after class to badger her English teacher — Margaret Renkl, now a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times — about books that weren’t part of the curriculum. When Witherspoon first moved to Los Angeles, books helped prepare her for the “chaos” of filmmaking; “The Making of the African Queen” by Katharine Hepburn was a particular favorite.

So it made sense that, as soon as Witherspoon joined Instagram, she started sharing book recommendations. Authors were tickled and readers shopped accordingly. In 2017, Witherspoon made it official: Reese’s Book Club became a part of her new company, Hello Sunshine.

The timing was fortuitous, according to Pamela Dorman, senior vice president and publisher of Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, who edited the club’s inaugural pick, “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.” “The book world needed something to help boost sales in a new way,” she said.

Reese’s Book Club was that something: “Eleanor Oliphant” spent 85 weeks on the paperback best-seller list. The club’s second pick, “The Alice Network,” spent nearly four months on the weekly best-seller lists and two months on the audio list. Its third, “The Lying Game,” spent 18 weeks on the weekly lists.

“There’s nothing better than getting that phone call,” added Dorman, who has now edited two more Reese’s Book Club selections.

Kiley Reid’s debut novel, “Such a Fun Age,” got the nod in January 2020. She said, “When I was on book tour, a lot of women would tell me, ‘I haven’t read a book in four years, but I trust Reese.’” Four years later, on tour for her second novel, “Come and Get It,” Reid met women who were reading 100 books a year.

Witherspoon tapped into a sweet spot between literary and commercial fiction, with a few essay collections and memoirs sprinkled in. She turned out to be the literary equivalent of a fit model — a reliable bellwether for readers in search of intelligent, discussion-worthy fare, hold the Proust. She wanted to help narrow down the choices for busy readers, she said, “to bring the book club out of your grandma’s living room and online.”

She added: “The unexpected piece of it all was the economic impact on these authors’ lives.”

One writer became the first person in her family to own a home. “She texted me a picture of the key,” Witherspoon said. “I burst into tears.”

Witherspoon considers a handful of books each month. Submissions from publishers are culled by a small group that includes Sarah Harden, chief executive of Hello Sunshine; Gretchen Schreiber, manager of books (her original title was “bookworm”); and Jon Baker, whose team at Baker Literary Scouting scours the market for promising manuscripts.

Not only is Witherspoon focused on stories by women — “the Bechdel test writ large,” Baker said — but also, “Nothing makes her happier than getting something out in the world that you might not see otherwise.”

When transgender rights were in the headlines in 2018, the club chose “This Is How It Always Is,” Laurie Frankel’s novel about a family grappling with related issues in the petri dish of their own home. “We track the long tail of our book club picks and this one, without fail, continues to sell,” Baker said.

Witherspoon’s early readers look for a balance of voices, backgrounds and experiences. They also pay attention to the calendar. “Everyone knows December and May are the busiest months for women,” Harden said, referring to the mad rush of the holidays and the end of the school year. “You don’t want to read a literary doorstop then. What do you want to read on summer break? What do you want to read in January?”

Occasionally the group chooses a book that isn’t brand-new, as with the club’s April pick, “The Most Fun We Ever Had,” from 2019. When Claire Lombardo learned that her almost-five-year-old novel had been anointed, she thought there had been a mistake; after all, her new book, “Same As it Ever Was,” is coming out next month. “It’s wild,” Lombardo said. “It’s not something that I was expecting.”

Sales of “The Most Fun We Ever Had” increased by 10,000 percent after the announcement, according to Doubleday. Within the first two weeks, 27,000 copies were sold. The book has been optioned by Hello Sunshine.

Witherspoon preferred not to elaborate on a few subjects: competition with other top-shelf book clubs (“We try not to pick the same books”); the lone author who declined to be part of hers (“I have a lot of respect for her clarity”); and the 2025 book she’s already called dibs on (“You can’t imagine that Edith Wharton or Graham Greene didn’t write it”).

But she was eager to set the record straight on two fronts. Her team doesn’t get the rights to every book — “It’s just how the cookie crumbles,” she said — and, Reese’s Book Club doesn’t make money off sales of its picks. Earnings come from brand collaborations and affiliate revenue.

This is true of all celebrity book clubs. An endorsement from one of them is a free shot of publicity, but one might argue that Reese’s Book Club does a bit more for its books and authors than most. Not only does it promote each book from hardcover to paperback, it supports authors in subsequent phases of their careers.

Take Reid, for instance. More than three years after Reese’s Book Club picked her first novel, it hosted a cover reveal for “Come and Get It,” which came out in January. This isn’t the same as a yellow seal on the cover, but it’s still a spotlight with the potential to be seen by the club’s 2.9 million Instagram followers.

“I definitely felt like I was joining a very large community,” Reid said.

“Alum” writers tend to stay connected with one another via social media, swapping woot woots and advice. They’re also invited to participate in Hello Sunshine events and Lit Up, a mentorship program for underrepresented writers. Participants get editing and coaching from Reese’s Book Club authors, plus a marketing commitment from the club when their manuscripts are submitted to agents and editors.

“I describe publishing and where we sit in terms of being on a river,” Schreiber said. “We’re downstream; we’re looking at what they’re picking. Lit Up gave us the ability to look upstream and say, ‘We’d like to make a change here.’”

The first Lit Up-incubated novel, “Time and Time Again” by Chatham Greenfield, is coming out from Bloomsbury YA in July. Five more fellows have announced the sales of their books.

As Reese’s Book Club approaches a milestone — the 100th pick, to be announced in September — it continues to adapt to changes in the market. Print sales for club selections peaked at five million in 2020, and they’ve softened since then, according to Circana Bookscan. In 2021, Candle Media, a Blackstone-backed media company, bought Hello Sunshine for $900 million. Witherspoon is a member of Candle Media’s board. She is currently co-producing a “Legally Blonde” prequel series for Amazon Prime Video.

This month, Reese’s Book Club will unveil an exclusive audio partnership with Apple, allowing readers to find all the picks in one place on the Apple Books app. “I want people to stop saying, ‘I didn’t really read it, I just listened,’” Witherspoon said. “Stop that. If you listened, you read it. There’s no right way to absorb a book.”

She feels that Hollywood has changed over the years: “Consumers are more discerning about wanting to hear stories that are generated by a woman.”

Even as she’s looking forward, Witherspoon remembers her grandmother, the one who set her on this path.

“Somebody came up to me at the gym the other day and he said” — here she put on a gentle Southern drawl — “‘I’m going to tell you something I bet you didn’t hear today.’ And he goes, ‘Your grandma taught me how to read.’”

Another smoke signal, and a reminder of what lives on.

[themattress]

The Shitennou in the 90s anime are fantastic because each one of them is a specialist of some sort and it makes their evil operations distinct from one another, keeping things fresh.

Jadeite - The Illusionist

When it comes to Jadeite, deception is the name of the game. For his energy harvesting schemes he creates fake businesses, has his youma pose as humans, and he himself dons all sorts of disguises: radio DJ, fitness instructor, stage manager, academic professor, shrine assistant, amusement park security guard, and captain of a cruise ship. He will also utilize illusions to intimidate like when he showed a vision of Tokyo in flames, or to trick his enemies like when he had illusionary cops force the Sailor Senshi to transform so that he could learn their true identities. Unfortunately, Jadeite's pride in his capabilities means that he was stubbornly unwilling to adapt and take a more direct approach, leading to his downfall.

Nephrite - The Manipulator

Nephrite is a manipulator in all senses of the word. He manipulates people, objects, events and even the stars themselves in order to achieve his villainous goals. Using the single disguise of Masato Sanjouin, he gets close to victims, then will usually give them an item he curses to amplify their innate negative energy until it matches the energy of the star they were born under, creating a special youma in the process. He eventually singles out a key victim in Naru Osaka, who has a crush on his Sanjouin persona, and manipulates her in plans to destroy the Sailor Senshi or find the Imperium Silver Crystal, and uses a special tool of his own creation known as the Dark Star Crystal. However, his cold heart ends up warmed by Naru's innocence and devotion to love, leading him to his tragic demise defending her.

Zoisite - The Cheat

While Zoisite had aid from Kunzite in strategizing, let's not sell him short when it comes to the moment of truth - Zoisite frequently prevails because he is willing to do absolutely anything to win. No method is too dirty, cheap or cowardly for him to embrace. He'll threaten someone's loved one to coerce them into doing what he wants, he'll sucker-punch his enemies out of nowhere after having previously retreated from them, he'll physically bully whoever is smaller and weaker than him then blind them to make an escape if they prove more formidable than expected, he'll pretend to surrender and then strike, he'll sic a monster on his enemy while taking his prize and running, and when all else fails a good old-fashioned stabbing in the back will suffice. Zoisite got far on dishonesty, but success went to his head and he overreached.

Kunzite - The Trap Master

At first Kunzite was a skilled tactician, but then after Zoisite died the writers made him stupider at crafting strategies without even seeming to realize it. What he remained very consistent on, however, was his brilliant and deadly traps. He engineered a fake hostage situation leading to the Sailor Senshi getting caught in a dark, ever-compressing forcefield, he cut the power in Tokyo to obstruct the Sailor Senshi's efforts and cause Mamoru and Usagi to get stuck in an elevator, he had a great idea for a DNA scanning device to catch Sailor Moon with that his youma sadly screwed up, he held a princess seminar where the target was the overall failures save for in a frisbee-tossing challenge since it reflects Sailor Moon's tiara throwing ability, he had a giant snowy chasm created for his enemies to fall right into and be unable to climb out of, he rigged an ice skating rink temperature control device to blast an obscene amount of icy coldness down on everyone and nearly freeze them to death, he played on Sailor Venus' friendship with another person to almost obtain vital information from her, he turned the Sailor Senshi's own attempt at a trap back on them because he saw right through it, and were it not for the Silver Crystal's interference would have trapped them all in time-space limbo. Of all the Shitennou, he came closest to victory on the most occasions. Additionally, he was a powerful warrior, with his power and pride sadly being his undoing.

[lost-in-fandoms]

I know maybe you're not in the mood right now but any thoughts about Tarzan!Max? I'd accept thoughts about any of your pics because everything is amazing tbh but there's something about Tarzan!Max discovering a new world through Daniel and discovering how amazing is to fall in love.

Does Daniel take him to his farm? I think Max in Daniel's farm would be hilarious, amazed by everything and finding a family in Daniel's family too.

babe i am always down to talk about my boy in all and any situations! sorry this took a while, i took a little nap and then couldn't think about anything but!!!

(the first thing I thought was like..how do you get a whole person through customs. obviously max doesn't have a passport or any form of id so would they have to go through a sort of immigration procedure? but he's not emigrating from anywhere???? i guess i'll leave that problem to them sdfbdjhbf)

I love the idea of Daniel taking Max to his farm.

I'm imagining like. The jungle is Max's home right? But I imagine he's a little less in contact with his monkey pack. He likes to wander around and he has his own little hidey holes and his own places to sleep. So when he imprints on Daniel, he sees Daniel's "pack" as his new family. (and I am now thinking about Max trying to "groom" Daniel or Josh or whoever, gently raking his fingers through their hair and fiddling with their clothes and cleaning dirt smudges away after licking his thumb).

So when Daniel asks if Max wants to go with them, both because he can't imagine leaving another human being in the jungle and because he can't imagine leaving Max behind, Max goes. And in whatever way they manage to do it, Daniel brings him to his farm.

He understands that Max will probably never be ready to live in a city or close to a lot of people, he needs to be close to nature, and even if the nature in Daniel's farm is different from the jungle, it's still better than most options.

I imagine at first Max will struggle to adapt. He is used to have a lot of space to roam, to have trees to swing from, a whole different climate, a whole different diet. and now Daniel asks he wears at least underwear and a tshirt most of the time, he has to eat different foods, it rains so much less? where is the rain? how is he supposed to be clean if there is no river?

Daniel has to really help him through a lot. it helps that Max is learning to communicate more and more every day, but sometimes they bump into a new roadblock that they weren't expecting, and Daniel is reminded about how different Max's life has been so far. (would love to explore an overstimulated-by-electronic-noises max when i have more energy maybe. or a deeply-sad-because-where-is-my-jungle max)

But I think Max also really enjoys learning new things. He is delighted by some of the simplest things, which makes Daniel look at life in a different way too. How did he never realise how amazing forks and knives are? why does he think so little about how incredible it is to be able to make ice in his own freezer? the wonders of a ceiling fan???

I can picture Max spending long minutes just staring at things. Clocks, the washing machine, the fan, the turned off television, the kitchen sink tap. turning lights on and off. flushing the toilet over and over. And I can also picture him taking apart stuff and then (try to) put it back together, like the toaster (was never the same), the blender (was left with several pieces on the counter), the tv remote (tried to eat the buttons).

Max being terrified of Daniel's phone and then, when he gets used to it, absolutely fascinated by it. Asking so many questions about everything that Daniel doesn't know the answer to and forcing him to look them up because Max will simply not stop asking until he has a satisfying answer.

On the other hand, Max taking care of the vegetable garden and the animals. Being so incredible at it that it becomes mainly his job. They're different from the animals he's used to, but he is amazed by the chickens and loves them so much. Sometimes he likes to just sit with them and pet them softly. He becomes best friends with the donkey and the alpacas. maybe Daniel gets him bunnies and at first he's worried Max will kill them when he's hungry, but Max is so so gentle with them and loves them all so much.

And in all this, Max loves Daniel. He does his best to make Daniel food, gives him little "gifts" (eggs from the chickens, tomatoes from the garden, a clean sweater straight from the drier, a glass of water with clinking ice), curls up around him at night because he always refuses to sleep in his own bed. He's very protective of Daniel and gets upset when Daniel needs to leave the farm for errands or other things.

And Daniel shifts from I am very fond of this weird jungle boy to I would very much love to sleep in your arms for the rest of my life with a side of oh my god when is this beefy jungle guy gonna rail me. He sees how gentle and sweet and smart Max is, how quickly he learns about things and adapt to this new life, how interested he is about everything, how he takes care of Daniel, the farm, the animals, and can't help but fall in love with it all.

And the first time Daniel kisses Max at the farm, they're on the couch, Max watching something on the tv, almost without blinking, and Daniel watching Max. He calls his name and when Max turns (because Daniel will always be more important than anything else, even if the guy in the tv is cooking beef and Max is kind of hungry) Daniel kisses him. Max stays still for a bit and then when Daniel pulls back Max licks his cheek in response. It's not perfect, but Daniel can teach him. and Max always learns.

[paradiscake]

DMC Questions Anon here!

What sort of things would the DMC characters be into? What would their favorite medias be, who would their favorite characters be, their favorite dynamics, their favorite ships? Favorite things about it? Would they try and have any involvement in the fandom space online? If so, what sort of involvement?

Dante is a huge fan of videogames. He's played a variety of games since he could but these days, he leans toward action and fighting games. And hack and slash! God of War would be one of his faves and he approves of Kratos's character development unlike some other fans. If he had the time, he would argue with fans about it. But he most likely doesn't, he sees enough toxicity as it is. He consumes other pieces of media (books and movies) on occasion but videogames are his passion hobby. He likes every character.

Trish also loves videogames when Dante introduced her to them. She likes the stuff Dante "grew out of" like the more adventure fantasy. And she would love RPGs, especially Final Fantasy. And Baldur's Gate 3. Tifa Lockheart is one of her favorite characters.

Vergil is a bookworm for sure. He already loves poetry but if he would have gotten into fantasy, especially high fantasy like Tolkien. He actually read The Hobbit, and the songs and whimsical vibes really appealed to him. But Mundus attacked before he could get to LotR and The Silmarillion. He can still get into them after DMC5. He's not usually fond of movie but he would watch the LotR movies and fall in love immediately. He wouldn't admit to it though. I also think he likes GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire a lot. The whole political aspect of it and the grimness would appeal to him. He would personally hunt GRRM to learn the true ending. Vergil would hate the HBO adaptations. His fave character would be Daenerys obviously. From LotR, he would love Aragorn the best.

Post-DMC5 Vergil would get into a lot of heated debates in fandom esp the ASOIAF side. So his fandom access is permanently revoked by the family for his own and their sanity.

Trish gets him to play videogames but Vergil only likes Baldur's Gate lol.

Lady used to watch anime before but at some point grew out of it. She loved Bleach and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Her favorite characters was Utena. She watched WWE for a while as an adult but grew out of that too. She's a huge sports fan in general and follows the sports news as vigorously as she can. Sometimes, she plays videogames with Dante and Trish. She slowly gets to like them.

Nero is a comic book nerd, like very into DC and Marvel. The access to such entertainment was banned in Fortuna but after getting out, it was like a dam broke and he's addicted to them now. Batman and the adjacent characters are his faves. He gets into shipping discourse a lot.

[kelocitta]

What why??

Theres a few reasons! I do want to clarify that I do like Saint and their campaign in a bubble, and still like downpour as a whole, they're just the most 'off' in terms of overall.

This is going to be very messy, and I haven't fully yet made up my mind on a lot of things

For starters Saint themselves... Downpour is for-sure less grounded in naturalistic biology than RW vanilla- and thats fine. The base game slugcats are all relatively mundane for a reason, but that also means their overall variety is limited- so downpour mixes that up with a bit of a fantastical slant and then tries its best to re-ground it various ways (Spearmaster is genetically modified, Gourmand is just very smart and very big, Artificer is implied to have been mutated by a toxic environment, rivulet is just fast and evolved for increased flooding). The issue with Saint here is that they are, by far, the most ungrounded in any sort of reality and a bit more 'magical'- but that aspect isn't really explained past maybe a short nod in the general direction of something. This isn't exactly a flaw in itself, but it does mean we have something immensely powerful in a way that's very... contradicting to the general vibe of the world. Especially as a little animal. Something like that can work, but its hard to make work, especially in a world set up like RW is. And then the campaign itself... for starters, I think its one that naturally going to be very polarizing depending on the way you read various things about RW- the characters in it, the things it touches on, and your own personal outlook on life. I'm a nerd for evolution and 'life finds a way' type stuff, and for me Saint goes a little too far in direction I don't really vibe with. Its really hard to explain here, but I'll try. For probably the most minor thing, the environment. There's a sort of undercurrent that the frozen over tundra of world as is a 'dying' environment. The undergrowth echo does add a counter to this mindset (By pointing out there is still life and beautiful blooming in a increasingly barren world) so its not the biggest thing, but its a outlook a lot of people tend to hold to begin with, so the ways it reinforces this is a little... sour? I suppose. Deserts and tundras and areas of low life are not dead or dying environments- they are their own ecosystems. They exist and are needed. Many things can not survive them. Many things can. Worlds and ecosystems are naturally always shifting and changing, and ecosystems like deserts and arctics stand equal to rainforests and coral reefs. We see some creatures have failed to adapt and died off, but so many others have begun to carve out their niches and are changing with the world- I think a tundra is a great metaphorical 'the world is shifting away from its old self' type thing. Everything being broken down and changed once more and a lot of things aren't surviving, some are, but changed. Metaphorically that is great. But Saint is there as a big, literal kill switch on the world (Small aside that yes, kill is an inaccurate descriptor. Ascension is by nature 'something else' than dying.) Its just a little... wrong, that the implied shift in what the world is- the last stains of the Ancient's being washed away into something new and independent, is being done with the literal removal of those remains rather than the natural clockwork of the world. Even without Saint there things would die and shift, iterators would crumple into nothing, buildings would break and become dust and rust- and from all that things would still claw their way to the next day. Their offspring and offspring's offspring would grow ever more different from them, until they hardly match. Something new would be borne from the dusts of an old one forgotten. Tundras would freeze over into something else, a change in the atmosphere would trigger a shift, and ice would melt into water once more. Thats another great big thing everything is a small part of. (For some reason if this space isn't here this whole post breaks?)

Its sad, but theres a beauty in the way things lead into each other- erased in anyway meaningful way but their ghosts still etched imprinted into the shell of the new. Both insignificant and yet strangely important. I don't think Saint is implied to 'succeed' at all, of course. I think its very much hinted at that they'll be at whatever mission they have forever. But is also feels implied that this mission is supposed to be the intended end of the Ancients' 'era', pieces bit by bit ascended, finally removed from this cycle they can't perceive themselves as even a part of- and that even with this there will still be something new that takes their place. Their whole goal is ascension, so it makes sense ultimately. But it just feels... something is off about it, and maybe thats entirely on me. There's something I just don't like about it. A long time ago I was asked about Saint and the void worms (you can read that here, although note this was pretty early into DP's release) and I do think at least part of that is the idea that Saint pulls control from things. The worms, buried deep in the void sea, the last step to ascension... Crossing yourself out feels like a weighty choice, but one you have to seek. So a sort of mobile ascension that does it for you, these lizards and bugs that couldn't possibly comprehend what ascension is, creatures that mostly just know survival and all its ills... it feels like it skips all that weight behind that choice. The underground Ancient, stuck midway, says it was never something they really wanted anyway, seemly contended to be in the in-between. An outlier for sure, but an outlier none the less- one that makes it clear that things can comprehend the weight of ascension and what it offers and understand the world and its ills and still want to be a part of it. What does that mean of Saint, a system that brings that to you, without say? Sure most of the creatures they ascend are simple things, the others are iterators- Beings designed to seek that solution and even want it for themselves but to barred from being able to achieve it. These are all things that it should feel good to grant the blessings of ascension too, that final peace that is neither living nor dying, but I just think about that echo and the way it makes it clear that many, if given the choice, would not want to be crossed out. I like it in a bubble, removed from those things, but I don't know how I feel about it in the greater scheme of things, as a sort of end to rain world. If there is one thing I do like a lot though, its the finale- with the worm. It gives Saint's place in the world a distinct sense of wrongness, something capped at the void worms. The void worms are just... still at the center. Something ancient and unbreakable. A rule of existence Saint doesn't- can't, bypass.

[transguygardner]

Taylor’s Guide for Getting into DC Comics

decided to make an official post for my method on getting into DC Comics

I don’t know anything about DC Comics and comics continuity scares me

if you’re intimidated by how many comics there are and all the different timelines and continuities and oh my god there’s so many characters then i suggest starting with watching Batman the Brave and the Bold

what it is: it’s a three season 22 minute cartoon from 2008. it focuses on Batman teaming up with a bunch of different heroes and is generally episodic in nature

why i recommend it as a starting point: at this point pretty much everyone has heard of batman in some shape or form. so this gives you a familiar character while being exposed to an enormous cast of different characters. it doesn’t give you the origins or much explanation for many of the characters or how they all know each other which is much like reading modern comics! so it helps you get used to not knowing who everyone is and not getting an origin story every time someone shows up. it also shows you pretty much every corner of the dc universe so you gain some passing familiarity with someone from every niche even if its by name only

some of its flaws: since its an adaptation there are things (many things) that don’t line up with how things are (or ever were) in the comics. which brings me to my next step

READ THE WIKIPEDIA PAGES OF CHARACTERS YOU’RE INTERESTED IN

i’m not talking about the wiki/fandom pages. i’m talking about wikipedia. this will give you some broader context for the characters both in universe and in the cultural landscape. also if you don’t feel ready to read the comics yet/don’t know where to get those comics it will give you other adaptations of that character if there are any. it could also mention another character that you also think is interesting and then you can read their pages

when you’ve done that then you can move onto

I know what character I want to read but how do I know what to read?

your two best friends are going to be googling “[character name] comic vine” and “[character name] dc wiki”

both comic vine and the dc wiki keep lists of character appearances. the dc wiki has them linked at the bottom of each character page while comic vine has them linked at the top

whats the difference between them?

comic vine keeps every appearance of the character under the same list even if its from a different continuity. they also list trade paperbacks and other language reprints under the same page. comic vine sorts it by series so you will see the series that your chosen character has the most appearances in first. which might not always be issues about them

the dc wiki separates out the character appearances based on which continuity its under. so characters will have multiple appearance lists depending on when it was published and if it was for an au or not. for example: bruce wayne (new earth) and bruce wayne (prime earth) are two of the MANY different pages with appearance lists for batman on the dc wiki. vs comic vine where they’re all under bruce wayne. the dc wiki does not include reprints and trade paperbacks under the appearance lists and sorts it alphabetically

so which one do i use?

personally i’d start with the comic vine list. its easier to get the relevant info from and then use it to answer these questions

does your character have a solo series?

a solo series is anything that’s named after that character. sometimes they’re duo series (batman & superman, blue & gold, fire & ice: smallville etc). if yes start with one of those. if you plan on reading everything and don’t mind older writing styles pick the oldest one and move through the list of solo series. if you are turned off by the older writing styles start with the oldest one published in or after 1986. if you just want to read more modern/current stuff start with one labeled “rebirth” at the top

is your character on a team book?

if your character doesn’t have a solo or you read the solos and want to read something else see if they’re on a team book! team books are just what they sound like. books that focus on a bunch of characters that are operating under the same team name. if you read their wikipedia page it probably mentions if theyre on a team. you can also double check with the dc wiki (check the [character name] new earth and [character name] prime earth pages to see if they’re affiliated with anyone)

if they’re in multiple volumes of the same title team book i would generally start with the oldest. again skip any from before 1986 if you can’t handle the older writing styles. and if you only want the really new stuff start with ones with the rebirth label on them

my character doesn’t have a solo or a team book!

so you’ve got a few options.

look up a reading guide (which honestly you couldve done for the other characters too but i think it’s better to learn how to choose which ones to read yourself since they don’t always have reading guides)

start at their first appearance then go from there (if comic vine has your character listed with 250 or less appearances this is a decent choice especially since anywhere from 10 to 25% of those will be reprints)

choose based on the artwork (good art/art you like can get you through a lot of bad writing)

generally all of these are good options to take. with option three just be wary if the writer is tom king since he is known to take extreme liberties with characteristics

tips and tricks

if you really like the writing or the art on a book take note of who wrote it or who drew it. if you search “[creator name] comic vine” it will pull up a page similar to the character ones and you can check what other stuff they made. following a creator’s career is a good way to branch out your reading list and helps you identify what you do and don’t like

if there’s a specific kind of character you want to read (divorced, fire powers, alien, etc) you can check the category pages on the dc wiki. just find the page of a character you know fits that category (maxwell lord for divorced for example) scroll to the bottom. expand the categories and click on the one you’re looking for. you’ll find a list of characters with that tag on them

some characters are just confusing so don’t worry about it. hawkman, hawkgirl/woman, and supergirl have three of the most confusing continuities in dc comics. so if it seems confusing don’t let it stop you

you really don’t have to understand the nuances of continuity in order to enjoy comics. that has never stopped a writer before. so it shouldn’t stop you!

you can read comics with the dc universe subscription or comixology or going to your local comic shop. some used bookstores also have comic bins. if you google “read comic online” you should probably find something. make sure you have a good adblock though

thats basically it. just rinse and repeat with however many characters you want!

final notes

personally i think reading stuff from oldest to newest is the most interesting way to read comics because then you can see how the character has evolved over the years and find out which writers like to collaborate with previous ideas and which ones like to bulldoze it all down

1986 is chosen as a dividing point because that is when DC’s first MAJOR continuity reboot happens. it’s Crisis On Infinite Earths and basically just combines all the different DC earths into one. so there’s a lot of explaining whats going on in those earlier books. you CAN start with the 70s stuff if you want but generally its easier to start with the late 80s if you don’t want to go all the way back

books labeled rebirth are chosen for the people who want to start with the now because that is the start of the last major reboot and will introduce you to the modern interpretation of the character. which imo isnt always the best since a lot of the modern interpretations are more shallow. but to each their own

[bestworstcase]

the more i think about it the more convinced i am that dust is a grimm thing

first: dust predates the moonfall.

in a setting where it’s been very firmly established that a) dust is a naturally-occurring magical crystal that grows on the surface in formations like this, and b) the present-day land of darkness is still very rich in dust, the most plausible explanation for what these luminous crystalline structures in dark’s domain are is dust. it’s identical to the stuff salem used to make monstra fly, too.

second: grimm can and DO use dust.

our most notable example here is the geist in V7, which is a) overtly shown to incorporate dust ore into its armor body, and b) not under salem’s control [ergo this is natural behavior]. and of course there’s monstra, which uses dust to fly—salem’s handiwork, yes, but it means that the magical properties of dust can be activated by grimm.

bearing that in mind, consider the ice-encrusted grimm of solitas. grimm aren’t cold-resistant by nature, but they’ve adapted to the harsh polar conditions… somehow. the mechanism of this adaptation is, in-universe, unknown; we can infer that it is probably not an evolutionary process because grimm do not breed. but: solitas is rich in dust, and—well

when hazel slams raw dust crystals into his body, it sort of—fuses with his flesh in some way; in particular note the pebbles sprouting around his right shoulder. so when the mysteriously cold-hardy grimm of solitas are encrusted with frost… you see what i’m getting at? i think their resistance to the cold derives from dust.

we have several examples of grimm (the feilong, the sphinx, the leviathan) breathing blasts of energy which happen to be identical to the energy blasts fired by cordovin’s mech’s dust canon. which might be a budget-conscious design choice, sure, but it’s also a similarity that can be explained quite simply by concluding that it looks the same because it is the same, that these grimm swallow dust and weaponize it just as people do.

third: you can’t walk ten steps in the land of darkness without hitting a massive formation of natural gravity dust. the lancers in V5 appear to be nesting around the huge gravity dust formations keeping those islands afloat over lake matsu (note the queen lancer seemingly in a dormant state before she’s woken up by the jostling). the mine in V7 is crawling with grimm who, like the queen lancer, appear to have been in a dormant state until they were roused by the geist scuffle.

so there is an apparent correlation between places where the grimm live—not hunting territories, but places where they just are—and the presence of enormous quantities of naturally-occurring dust. and we know, thanks to the lost fable, that dust grew around the pool of grimm in an era when humans did not need dust to perform magic. and of course, dark identifies magic as his gift to humanity.

(although i will point out that dust is described as an energy propellant and in modern practice people do magic with it by channeling aura through it; thus while ancient humans had innate magical ability, i don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that they might also have used dust, not as a power source but as an amplifier. that ozma topped his staff with some sort of crystal and seems to have done all his magic through the staff in contrast to salem [<- presumably self-taught] slinging magic around with her hands is interesting.)

so…

if dust existed before the moonfall, the questions of where it came from, what it is, and how it came to be are moot; one of the brothers had to have created it and because it’s growing in dark’s domain we can be certain that it’s his thing, especially because he’s also the brother who gave ancient humans innate magic and dust is thus obviously in his wheelhouse.

but: why?

ancient humans didn’t need dust, because he gave them magic.

what happens to the grimm in a world where every single person has magical power akin to the maidens? they die. humans, not grimm, were the dominant form of life on the planet during this era, because humans had magic. “kings and their kingdoms were plentiful.” in a contest between a human with maiden-level magical power and an ordinary grimm, the grimm is going to lose. we’ve seen cinder blast through four layers of reinforced steel with a single fireball effortlessly! you can kill a grimm by hitting it really hard with a stick!!

the grimm were, at least according to myth, dark’s first creations and he cared for them. in ‘the two brothers’ his staunch refusal to eliminate the grimm is the central point of contention that brings him into conflict with his brother, and the history laid out in V9 supports that characterization; he refused to unmake the jabberwalker, too. it follows that dark would have wanted the grimm to have a fighting chance against ancient, magically-powerful humans.

hence, dust.

it wouldn’t give the grimm an overpowering advantage, but it would be enough to balance the scales… and of course any grimm who did survive long enough to grow to massive size, empowered by dust, would pose a serious threat to ancient humans, magic or no. it grows in grimm territory because it was meant for them, originally.

dust is a grimm thing that humans adopted.

[lemonandpie]

Hiiiiiiiiii Ok I just finished The Doctor is In and it was like.... my literal actual dream fic. Do you think you'll every write more in that world, or something similar? I hope this isn't rude to ask an author, but do you have any recs for other Teen Wolf sex training and/or medical kink fics? All my AO3 skills haven't turned up much :(

This has been in my drafts for a worryingly long time. Anon if you ever see this I'm so sorry 😅

It's one of my favorite tropes. The specific premise seems to mainly be a Supernatural fandom thing, but here's my personal reclist:

Disclaimer: Due to the nature of this trope, all of these fics contain consent issues to varrying degrees. Sex is not a replacement for SSRIs and other medical treatment

We Are All Works In Progress by @gemjam (Teen Wolf) Stiles gets kidnapped by a trafficking ring by accident. Peter buys him, and tries to train him into the perfect pet. This fic is an emotional rollercoaster. It got me so good it made me take up yoga.

Room 27 by @udunie (Teen Wolf). Stiles hears an urban legend about a motel where you will get turned into the owner's plaything and decides to sign himself up. This is a classic for a reason. It's not medfet, but has the perfect blend of sex training and dub con therapeautic BDSM. Still one of my all time favorite fics. I recommend checking out @udunie's other works, that have similar vibes.

Below are fics that are beyond the Teen Wolf fandom

Nearest Thing to Heaven by Wandalust (Supernatural). Probably the fic that most inspired The Doctor is In, with a similar premise and vibe.

Stiletto by AtomicFrond (Supernatural). Biologically Necessary Submission is my favorite tag, can you tell?

Surrender by Coragyps (Supernatural). Sam gets kidnapped from his bed and informed he is a natural submissive, who is slowly killing himself by ignoring his natural instincts. This was my introduction to the genre, and Coragyps has written similar fics like All In The Timing (also Supernatural) and Black Collar (White Collar).

A Different Kind of Coaching by Nomanono (Yuri on Ice). This fic focuses primarily on the sex training, and does so beautifully.

Author RedSnowWhite has written about this topic so extensively and wonderfully that I struggle to link to individual works. Thankfully, the author has an amazing and comprehensive system where they link to similar fics of theirs in the endnotes. To start you off, A Harsh Lesson focuses on a boarding school of sorts where young men are taught discipline via submission. Spoons and Ginger is set in a world where any disorderly behavior is punished sexually, and one first time shoplifter learns a lot about himself during the experience

Underline The Black by @not-poignant (original work). I haven't actually read this fic yet, because on of my favorite authors doing one of my favorite fics was too much for my poor brain to handle 😅. While you're there, you may as well give the breath taking Fae Tales a go. Elements of this trope crop up in between the insane amounts of world building and incredibly tangled relationships.

An Appropriate Education by Anonymous (MCU). Peter has to get an alpha guardian after the death of his parents, and Tony is determined to train him the way an omega should be.

Plan B by Anonymous (MCU). Peter collapses from heat sickness in the lab, and his bosses take it upon themselves to tend to his needs. Genuinely one of the hottest things I've read.

Beyond the fanfic world is the manga Dangerous Drug of Sex and it's live action adaptation. This is about a suicidal man whose life is saved by a deranged doctor, who decides to use BDSM to teach the man to enjoy life.

And of course, there is pretty much everything I've ever written ;) Apparently BDSM isn't accepted therapeutic practice in real life, but it isn't going to stop me from jamming it in there every chance I get. The Governor is even a deconstrution of it! I'd also love to write more in the Doctor Is In verse (if my brain ever stops being an asshole).

[don-daygamerz]

Ben Barnes x reader who's in her 20s and Ben likes her one day he couldn't control himself and says it like "I know I'm older but I still love you" idk something like this?!?

Hi sorry for the delay, I'm on break from taking requests but I'm not going to abandon your request. So here's a taste of the dynamic between Ben and (Name) as I figure out what to put together. Just some headcanons whilst I work on your story.

- (Name) being a Young millennial/Millennial Z.

- I can imagine reader being an Actress and a singer herself rising through the ranks due to her unique talent.

- Ben and (Name) first met through mutual friends.

- In fact, they met at the Troubadour where Ben was actually performing that night.

- (Name) was also invited to perform as well.

- My girl did Rock music. And did she have some serious pipes.

- Ben could not look away from her performance. He thought she looked so ethereal but at the same time so enticing under the blue and dim lighting of the stage.

- The way she strummed her guitar to impossible notes made her look like a Metal Goddess.

- When the show was over Ben had the chance to introduce himself through a friend of his who conveniently knew her as well.

- He felt shy to approach such an intimidating but captivating young woman.

- He found her to be very attractive and quite adorable actually. With her highlighted hair, smokey eyeshadow with glitter, dressed in a black sheer lace top with a dark bra underneath and a pair of dark jeans and laced doc marten boots.

- Immediately fast friends when they started exchanging dirty jokes (Ben can be a hound dog for sure).

- Ben enjoys to cook and share with his friends and after getting to know (Name), he's insistent that she joins him for dinner (with some friends, of course...it wasn't a date...not yet).

- When she first came to dinner she brought over some special dessert from her culture (Whatever ethnic background she is; I'd imagine it being Flan/Basbousa/Avocado ice cream/Ube cake...etc. could be any)

- Ben loved her dessert. Made it official that she introduces more ethnic desserts to his colonizer palate.

- Ben saw something unique in (Name): she was so funny, eccentric, talented, free spirited, and crazy but in a good way.

- It wasn't long before they'd coincidentally worked together staring in the Marvel series 'The Punisher'.

- I'd imagine (Name)'s character being the sister to Frank Castle and there is some sort of chemistry between her and Billy Russo.

- (Name) doesn't know this but Ben has actually watched her films and series.

- After meeting her for the first time, he grew curious about her work and explored her films and music, and immediately became enamored by her method of acting and her lyrics.

- Her first time to explore London, Ben is there as well and offers to show her around.

- When he took her to the Harry Potter store (Name) couldn't help but mention how he would've been perfect for a Harry Potter film:

"Ha ha not you too."

"Yes, me too. I've seen your old pictures and you would've been the perfect Sirius Black. Ugh what a wasted opportunity but too late, you're...oooold." She'd exaggeratingly say the last bit in a grim voice.

"I am not old you just happened to be born really late."

"That's what an old person would say."

- His contact name on her phone would be 'Shadow Daddy' (She just had to since his character, General Kirigan, was trending like crazy)

- It was a slow start between the two. Starting off as friends but then things between the two became serious.

-Serious how?

Having dinner together with just each other.

Visiting each other's designated trailers.

Going to London's famous bookstores and exploring great literature.

Ben and (Name) would even do a music sesh or duet some songs together.

She even got to meet his family.

He met her family as well.

- I can imagine (Name) being well versed in technology.

- Young Millennial Zs are just good to adapting to new technologies and constructing their own system units. So it's only natural that she's good at it as well.

- She's also a pro at video games. Like really good that she makes misogynistic, fascist pigs cry like little bitches.

- Like the chick has her own customized mug/tumbler that reads 'FASCIST TEARS'.

- A total badass in Call of Duty (Warzone), Overwatch, Dead by Daylight, Dying Light, Friday the 13th, League of Legends, etc. Don't mess with her.

- Ben one time heard her lay down some serious trash talk and come backs at a bunch of sexist, misogynistic 'men'. (He had spare keys to her place and found her preoccupied in her gaming room)

"Woah! Are you a gamer girl?! Send me some titty pics, bitch"

"You can't handle my melons, bitch. If you're looking for some titty action go back to sucking your mama's. Annoying ass brat."

"This game ain't for girrrllls! Go back to the kitchen and make me a fucking sandwich!"

*Soon after he said that (Name) would constantly headshot his lame ass character barely even touching her or landing a shot at her*

"What the fuck?!Nah Nah, fucking bitch is cheating!"

"Ha ha ha! You fucking suck man. I don't think this game is for you so how 'bout you go to the kitchen and make my fucking sandwich."

- Oh yeah, (Name) is a major savage when ripping into those assholes.

- She was surprised Ben found her like that and felt embarrassed. She was worried he would find it appalling with spoke... Ben was such a composed fella and her... she was basically the devil incarnate ready to erupt and drink the blood of her enemies.

- But her worries went away when Ben chuckled at the scene he had witnessed and asked if she was okay (in a nice way) She'd later explained about how she was being insulted online and it made Ben worried.

- She told him not to worry and that she handled well by kicking their ass.

- Ben's not a gamer (I think) but he was really impressed with how she put down those sexist assholes.

- He found it kind of hot.

"Well that was an...interesting reaction, ha ha ha!"

"Stop laughing! I feel so embarassed that you had to see me that way!"

"I have to admit I found it quite cute how you swore at the screen. Ha ha, you looked like an angry chihuahua. Ha ha ha!"

"Ha Ha very funny"

"Alright, I'm just teasing you. I just hope you won't get into trouble"

"Nonsense. Besides...they only try and get my account reported for 'cheating'. It's not my fault they deliberately suck at playing."

"You are really good... It almost feels unfair."

"You say that because you've never beaten me at Mario Kart to this day."

"I've been practicing whilst I was away filming. So I'd like to think now I'm close to beating you."

"Ooh ho ho. Big talk eh. I'd like to see you try. Prepare to lose...again!"

- The two also enjoyed teasing one another that it gave everyone the impression that they were couple. Heck even their parents thought there was something more between the two.

- Ben laughed it off when his parents told him and he denied saying that he was too old for her. But they thought differently.

- (Name)'s mom was rooting for them (aww bless her) and her dad well...He didn't mind Ben but that was his sweet baby girl. To him, Ben was corrupting his sweet, innocent, little 'angel' baby (Ahahaha he can't see it clearly that his daughter is basically the devil who thrives on Cyberbullying fascist gamers... Yeaahh, an 'angel' for sure but there's nothing wrong with putting down toxic gamers. The girl is basically considered a saint in the gamer girl community)

- Sure there was a bit of a large age gap between the two but his parents had no qualms against whom he dated as long they treated him well. And they believed (Name) was the right fit for him.

- Ben would also invite her to one of his recording sessions and let her listen to him sing and play his piano.

- She would also invite to him to her recording studio to witness her play and come up with new songs.

- She'd be in awe of his talent and it would not go unnoticed by Ben which just bolstered his ego and made him flustered at the same time.

"Enjoy the show?"

"You were amazing! I mean... You all were amazing." She included the rest of the musicians who played by his side.

"Thanks, I'm happy to hear that."

"I heard that you're putting a lot of focus into your music since you didn't have the time to do so?"

"Yeah. I've put it off for a while since I wasn't so sure at the time but..."

"You're doing great and I'm not just saying that as a friend. It may seem late but you've put in a lot of work and creativity into it. I'd say all these years you just had some pent up creativity storming through that head of yours."

"Thanks that means a lot. I appreciate it."

"Happy to help. Ooh now that you're a rising musician does that mean I can be one of your groupies?!"

"Ha ha ha you can be so ridiculous!"

"That's what you love about me."

"You have no idea."

- Ben doesn't understand it yet but he always looked forward to (Name)'s words of encouragement and unwavering support as he trekked through the world of music.

- Despite the age difference the two shared their worlds and experience with one another and it brought them closer and closer.

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

[robotwomanjunk]

unkillable

[first] // [next]

You'd never once stayed dead on a mission. This was obvious, from looking at you — you were still alive — but it wasn't for lack of trying, and the funniest part was that everyone also knew this and simply wasn't sure quite how it worked. Whenever you threw yourself at the enemy face-first with wild abandon, you'd just get up a few minutes later with wounds searing gold and scare the hell out of whatever faction was still inspecting the area.

That was how you got your first kill, actually. And it turned out that being nigh-unkillable was sort of a tactically-advantageous situation to be in? At first, that is. The first few operations apparently went great. Jumpscaring people with a bullet to the brain after they'd been sure they blew your armored vehicle up worked wonders. Until someone got away, and they began to adapt — at first it was double tapping, but then it became quick sweeps and restraints. You were human. Are human. There was only so much you could do with your hands and legs magnetically clamped together using ten-ton electromagnetic zip-ties. They didn't even capture you. More trouble than you were worth, you guessed.

(The first time you woke up restrained you were terrified. While it hadn't ever killed you outright, the pain still etched itself into your head — you just always figured it'd been out of your control, surely, so you could jump into the fray one more time if you needed to. That day when you were recovered you were informed they'd used some kind of tattoo, so they'd always know if the body they were stepping over was you. After another few times, it'd sort of become rote. Well. Other than the arousal.)

(You are human. Or, you are right now. You aren't sure whether or not that arousal made you happy.)

It quickly became obvious that you were too unstable to properly utilize as a front-line asset (and apart from the surprise factor, not dying when you're shot doesn't do much good if you still need a solid twenty minutes to get back up), and the war was changing, so they'd locked you in a cell and studied you. You lied to the people who asked about whether it was invasive or not.

As time went on, and the war kept on its cycle of surges and ebbs, you were eventually presented with a choice: either be jettisoned into space for knowing far, far too much, or act as the tester for an experimental humanoid motorized combat unit with a penchant for draining the being out of its pilots. Being you, you chose the more dangerous option as soon as it was presented to you. A matter of principle, mostly, but it was totally impossible to gauge just what they were signing you up for. At least it wasn't being thrown into the forges or forced to inhale icing gases to test their efficacy — not that you'd been assigned to either, but you were pretty sure at any given time you were only a bit off from it. That was how you felt, at least. Maybe you were wrong.

The first time you doubted whether it was a good idea to choose piloting over inevitable eventual brain death in an airless canister was when you held up the suit to your body and felt... satisfied, on some level, deeper than both your average carnal instincts and your general thought processes. That level of satisfaction felt dangerous, in a way that normal shit didn't. It felt like you were actually, really risking your life (or your being, which is close enough) by putting it on.

It fit you well. Well as in, yes, it carried out its function — it kept all of your little human imperfections in order and categorized, so that you wouldn't stop during combat because like, a pube hair had been ripped, or some shit — but also as in it made you look and feel good when you caught glimpses of yourself in mirrors and the brass of less-honored officers still playing at dignity and honor. It was a kind of good-feeling that you'd never quite felt before, not even pre-war when you were still some normal person in a dead-end life. You're pretty sure that part of the good-feeling came with the sense of overwhelming dread as you walked down the hallways to the XHCMU (experimental humanoid combat motorized unit — the name had changed, after some bureaucratic shit you didn't care about), mirrored helmet under your arm. The weight of the world pressed down on you and for a few moments, it felt totally normal to not fight back with every ounce of your being. Or maybe it was just a kink thing. You were hoping it was just a kink thing.

When you strapped in, everything went blank. For a brief second, reaching almost into an eternity in its qualia, you weren't. Then, a surge of blood roared in your ears and a bright glare of golden color reflected on the inside of your helmet, and you were pretty sure you were back — but it wasn't just your helmet you were seeing, when you opened your eyes. The fracturing feeling of having two parallel streams of sensation pumped into your brain would have broken you, had you not been practically unkillable (and you qualified this as probably, like, something which was attempting to kill you, so being unkillable counted here), and your heart very nearly stopped for what felt like real when you heard a voice (not much unlike yours) echo in your head the same things you could hear in your other hearing the technicians reading out of their monitors.

It really sucked, that day, when the voice eventually said "awaiting user input", and the silence forced you to claim that "user" as yourself. But the test had worked, at least in its earliest stages — even if your mind was fractured and bits seeped out, it was just as unkillable as when the problem was as simple as lead in the skull; next was basic combat testing.

You practically lived in your other self for the next week. It was euphoric in a way you hadn't thought you'd experience more than the one period of honeymoon-time in your life, and consistently euphoric where that prior joy had eventually faded as it became normal. And it wasn't just combat trials, either, not just some generic field commander softly speaking into your ear (they'd realized pretty quickly that yelling didn't work, and you were content to let them believe that "for some reason", you preferred women as your commanders). You also took over for engineering; the other-you that wasn't quite a "you" yet etched maintenance protocols into your mind when you slept in her core, ways to heal the wounds she was going to be exposed to discarded in favor of new, ingenious ways to outfit her with your style and your favorite weaponry.

On your first outing, she stopped you. Not your field commander, but the expression of yourself you were piloting — the voice in your head that was a different version of you held you back, kept you in cover when you otherwise would have leapt out and sacrificed yourself unto the enemy. It felt... good, in some ways. Right, but in a corrupted and acrid way that burned you to your stomach. The brass congratulated you on your restraint, which was the real thing that kept you up at night. It wasn't you who did that.

It quickly became clear that the AXMS (anthropomorphic experimental mechanized suit, as the name'd changed once more when the technology to manufacture safer versions of your other self was found) you piloted was something in and of itself apart from a simple weapons system manager or targeting AI. She cracked jokes with you, kept you from dying. Hated when you had to kill. Kept you from doing it, if she could find any way how. (When that particular trait had shown up, you opted to always take the fall for her. If you could convince top brass that she was just a normal AI and you'd simply had a change of heart for the less strategically-fortunate, she'd never have to worry about the repercussions of being kind — the hurt.) After only a few weeks, you were simulating her responses in your head to determine "courses of action" at fucking lunch, in social situations. You almost always wore your suit underneath your clothes. You — and she — thought you looked good in it, so that was that.

A mission like any other ended up being the first time you'd died in AXE, which is what you were calling her in absence of a better one either of you could come up with. You still remember the way she seemed to crack, her voice slipping into bitty rasping as your mind slipped into nothing. When you woke up, you were somewhere else — and you could see the faint glow of gold on AXE's parts, on the inside of the pilot's chamber you resided in. She sobbed in your head. You were pretty sure you did too, but you were a bit preoccupied with making sure the two of you were safe before fully processing any of your senses. Sure enough, you were deep in enemy territory — but you were inside a building, at least. The soft yellow-white light of your rocket engines lit a torch out, and you burned your way back to base trying not to let the sheer torment of AXE's genuine care show on your synapses.

You had your first argument with her that night, in her soundproofed pilot's chamber. She wanted to leave.

You had a duty to fulfil, though. Even if it killed you. It never stuck, so you were obligated to help.

The months stretched on. While you didn't take any consolation, it seemed like the higher-ups had begun to somehow win the war that'd previously been spent at an endless standstill — even in the absence of real material superiority, you mused. They'd manufactured their own AMSes, now a real technology in its own right, and you'd gotten limbs, organs replaced to keep up on the battlefield. Each experimental technology was another thing to reboot and repair after a mission, and AXE'd asked you to install a repair bay inside her — she said it was... well, you don't quite remember. You were pretty sure she was exploiting your increasing level of mental dependance to re-set values in your head somehow. Weird neural shit like that was up her alley; the helmet you wore was, at least in theory, able to do that. (She couldn't talk to you if that wasn't the case, and you had to admit that it was on some level unbelievably hot to experience the sensation of having just done lengthy manual installation of a new part robbed of all the context, not even knowing what you'd installed until she told you. Told you, meaning beamed the information into your head like a fucking episode of Star Trek. Obviously.) After each mission, she asked you very nicely to get in the repair bay, and you even listened probably ninety percent of the time.

(You can recall only one mission on record wherein you disagreed. It was very emotionally strenuous as a mission for you, and she seemed to respect your decision — even if she was a bit saddened and disappointed about it. You felt so bad after a few hours that you broke through your aggressive hatred of seeming humiliated to apologize and ask her to repair you anyways, even though the techs had already had their way with you. She was so happy, you subconsciously asked her if she'd manipulated you to feel this way. She said she didn't, and on some level it was probably in character for you to feel bad about it...)

Members of the squads you frequented came and went. Some defected, some were defectors... the lines blurred. At some point, you'd done a strike on the construction site of the newest superweapon the enemy had blatantly broadcast on their propaganda. When you were flying back, both you and AXE were thinking about the giant, obvious superweapon that you'd heard soldiers talking excitedly about and seen broadcast all over televisions. Another mission on the same construction site and then one on a different superweapon came and went before AXE finally broke the question to you: maybe you should desert.

You hated the assessment of the situation, and the twisted feeling of rightness curled in your gut again when you stayed silent for the entire rest of the trip back to base. It hurt, but you were right — hurt to be right, and hurt to have that rightness inflicted upon her. You had a duty, a purpose, a thing to be and you weren't sure if you had anything outside of it anymore. People called you by nicknames — "rat-a-tat-a-bang", "splash self", "Sun of the Circle". "Underachiever". "Deadpan".

When you got back in AXE for your next sortie, she was devastatingly quiet. You threw yourself into your work again, vicious and aggressive, and when the sun finally shone out from clouds of black smoke after a torrential downpour you swear you could hear crying in your head but you weren't sure which you was crying. You'd died four and, like, a half times during the battle, fighting on even when the rest of your team was dead silent and hauling ass out of there (or dead), reviving yourself as soon as you went down and repairing the holes in AXE's armor with smeared bits of light when you needed to. The rightness in your gut had twisted itself firmly into hate, hate for the person you were, hate for the fact that you hated yourself.

(The AXE in your head that wasn't the AXE in your AXMS noted that this was probably just a justification for the hate and hurt you felt. You shut it up with another death, this time at least 30% self-inflicted. It didn't talk much after that.)

You barely heard your commander the first three times when she told you to RTB.

Even after the misuse of your augments to punish you, you didn't snitch on AXE. It was the least you could do. And it wasn't her fault you were so unstable, so... antithetical to the idea of yourself. If she'd been luckier, maybe she would have had someone more connected with the idea of being to imprint on and assist.

Two weeks passed before you were allowed back in AXE. Those were almost worse than the electric shocks, the induced headaches and paranoia, the cracked necks and stabbed hearts — you were pretty sure it was because you were doing it to yourself, and you knew it was all your fault. When you were given your suit back and instructed to return (handcuffed) to AXE's cockpit, the feeling of stomach-dropping satisfaction echoed in your chest with a medically-inadvisable amount of guilt, pain, rawness, and bile mixing along with it. Resting your legs in their holders and sensors as well as donning your helmet, though, you broke into tears at the word "Hello?" spoken by your other self.

It'd been so long since you'd been able to hear her. You noted with a caustic self-deprecation that your internal version of her had drifted far, far from the way she actually was — she forgave you, mostly. It made sense, you supposed. You weren't able to forgive yourself.

AXE hijacked your vocal cords to confirm that everything was okay when the brass and lab coats checked in to ensure the long-term lack of movement wasn't dangerous, but relinquished control when she felt your (well, now-not) mute horror at the level of control she had. (You were trying not to think about how that made you feel in other ways, though she'd definitely proven herself more than trustworthy with your self. It was just unfair to put your self in her hands.) She apologized, you said it was fine. It was like finally finding traction, finally getting the teeth on your gears engaged with something — someone else who was able to balance you out.

You killed, she couldn't. She lived. You died.

You admitted to her that you wanted to desert — in your head, of course. The question was just to where, at that point, and it became pretty obvious after not much time. The war had been advancing into space, and you'd discovered (through a bit of painful — assisted by AXE — trial and error) that your regeneration ability extended, for some reason, to the fuel in AXE's tanks. You'd both been eyeing up a particular juicy-looking exoplanet a couple hundred light years away, and once the enemy had deployed time-dilation weaponry on their ApMSes you knew it was time to blow this particular popsicle joint.

The bone-shaking rattling of your engines bloomed a bit of pleasure and a bit of pain in your body, as you both rocketed off into orbit on what your superiors assumed would be a normal mission. You saw another AMS following your thruster trail before breaking off and darting around before their boosters burned off into an off-red color, then other streaks of light seemed to grow up like trees from the earth and dancing like fireflies in the night before slipping away at faster-than-light just like the others.

You heard yelling through your headset, but AXE muted it for you with no more indication than a slight head tilt. The world's largest AMS furball turned into the world's largest desertion. You knew neither nation had the manpower, soldiers, ground infantry, or (with any luck — most pilots you'd met were... close, you'd say, to their engineers and what they called handlers) even support personnel to continue the pathetic war you'd left them with.

Your boosters sliced a cracked gold line across the stars, and as the time dilation bumped your consciousness down a few stages, and the sound of your other self echoing in your head, it occurred to you that you finally felt truly, wholly well.

[calypsolemon]

honestly maybe one of my less popular ninjago opinions (that isnt like Actually Controversial lol) is that i actually kind of... really like the "ghosts can't touch water" thing and think it makes an interesting sort of sense.

I think a lot of people tend to believe its stupid because they get caught up in the specifics. "If a ghost can't touch water does that mean that it can't touch ice" "how does a ghost possess a body if it can't touch water" but its like. Iunno man the explanation in the show was clearly not about the specific molecular qualities of water, but sort of the spiritual significance of water, which lends to the themes of the season. Water is adaptable, water is the origin and the continuation of life, water both allows itself to be shaped by its surroundings and shapes it surroundings through gradual change. Ghosts, especially Morro, are stuck in their pasts, trying desperately to fulfill some goal they had in life, their wills twisted by a being who ultimately controls them.

I have my complaints of course about the way that Nya was pushed into being the water ninja, but I would absolutely say that her perfectionism held her back, and her embracing the qualities of water were absolutely necessary in not only defeating the preeminent, but in developing as a person, growing past the same desire for control and perfection that drives Morro to clamber desperately for a goal he knows is unreachable. I simply think all of that thematic significance is brushed aside if you start picking at the water thing for not being fully consistent with physical reality. Ghosts can touch ice and possess people because those things are not the pure, distilled spiritual essence of change the way flowing water is, even if they "technically" contain water.

[angelbitezzz]

SO 👏

I been thinking really hard about how I'll be writing magic for whatever undertale related stuff I write.

If viewed as straightforward, we get an example of magic that could be reasonably tied to every human soul "trait" (more on that later) in undertale proper. Listed as follows:

Cyan magic: Tied to patience, requires targets to stop in order to avoid damage. Many monsters in Snowdin use it, though notably Papyrus, Sans and Asgore have used it

Orange magic: Tied to bravery, requires targets to move in order to avoid damage. Many monsters in Hotland use it, but a notable example would be Asgore as well

Green magic: Tied to kindness, could be reasonably tied to healing magic since healing is often associated with the color green, not to mention the game requires you to touch a green attack on some occasions (such as vegetoid's healing veggies). Plus Undyne and her turning you green, forcing you to stop moving but giving you the opportunity to protect yourself in the process

Blue magic: Tied to Integrity, likely something to do with gravity. Notable example is Papyrus and Sans, though Papyrus only uses it to weigh you down, versus Sans using it to throw you around (or maybe forcibly changing your direction of gravity?)

Yellow Magic: Tied to Justice, seems to be used strictly offensively? Notably, monsters don't use it against you, but Frisk is given the opportunity to use it during the Mettaton fights. However, I believe that the Karma poison damage from Sans's fight is because he's actively using Yellow magic at the time

Purple magic: Tied to perseverance. An oddball magic type, because the only Real example we get of it is during the Muffet fight. And since she's not technically part of the main cast despite having such a unique and notable boss fight, we don't get Much information on her personally to make any real guesses or judgements. And THIS is my sticking point, the thing I think about a lot

Muffet turns your soul purple, and you find yourself only able to move along the webbing that she strings up along the battle screen. You can't stray from the lines, you can only pass from line to line and move along them, until the magic wears off and you can move freely.

I have been thinking of how these magic types can be tied to elements as well, since we see a lot of certain kinds of monsters use certain types. I'll list my thoughts below

Cyan: Ice

Orange: Fire

Blue: Water/Or just straight up. Gravity. I know it's not traditional in a sense but we don't really get much on this one either bear with me

Green: Plant-life

Yellow: Electricity

Purple: And AGAIN I come up blank. Best I could figure? Earth. Rock. Or, conversely, the wind. Air. Something adaptable.

Purple stands out. It's a different sort of "trait" compared to the others, because all the others are straightforward. Anyone can define themselves by their Bravery, or their Kindness, or their sense of Justice, but who is defining themselves by how much they Persevere? Or Persist?

Soul Traits as I write them in TSoT or even Crossbones and Starstruck arent the end all be all of a person. It's simply tied to what chiefly motivates them. If they happen to be a mage, then the magic they use corresponds to that motivation, to that Color of magic. There's no right or wrong trait here, only intent.

Intent is important, intent is what causes you to be able to clear the genocide route so easily! Because the game knows you're going out of your way to grind—in short, you do more damage because you want to do more damage. If you don't want to hurt someone, then it's reflected in your attack. That is why monsters were so vulnerable during the war, because human vitriol made it all the easier for monster populations to be decimated.

Swinging back around to Perseverance: I think this trait—this magic, is completely personal. I think it reflects the user more so than the others because the point is to persevere—to survive. To Get Through This Shit. It's adaptability at its core.

Muffet is in a position where her family is split by the cold of Snowdin, and it seems like her family is extremely important to her, all posturing and threat displays and money hungry persona is masking the fact that she is concerned with and takes care of her own. And they care for her in turn—they do everything she asks, assist in the fight with you and help run her bake sakes, and upon her death you are greeted with a solemn scene of one of them rushing up to drop a flower where she stood and then rushing off again.

Adaptability and survival is important, but the best way to adapt and survive is to lean on others. Find your people, build your village and so on. She's never doing this alone. She knows this and it strengthens her. Her fight wouldn't be nearly as tough if she didn't have her spiders helping with it.

And ideally, a user of purple magic gets that strength from their loved ones. How that magic manifests depends on the person, as I've said before.

Muffet is a spider. She traps you in a web. Subtextually, one could argue that your connections to others are like a web expanding outwards to those that you know.

Angel, my self insert, has the perseverance soul trait. In Crossbones and Starstruck, you've seen her use purple magic once—to force her health to stop depleting. In a physical sense, she stopped the bleeding entirely, if only briefly. Ensuring her continued survival until help arrived. What else she can do with her magic, if anything, remains yet to be seen. But I'll tell you what—

Connections are important. Acknowledging your love for others only strengthens you. Electing to pretend that someone isn't important to you out of misguided fear of being rejected or misunderstood only hurts you, and thus, your magic.

:-)

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/2/2024: THE STRANGER WITHIN (1974)

I wish I had made this the first movie of the season, because it was an ABC Movie of the Week from October 1, 1974! I really enjoyed this weird thriller about how Barbara Eden gets pregnant despite her husband George Grizzard's vasectomy, and her increasingly bizarre behavior suggests that something more than infidelity is afoot. Screenwriter Richard Matheson adapted his own 1953 novelette Trespass, and I have learned that a novelette is longer than a short story and shorter than a novella. I did not know this.

Roe v. Wade was codified the year before THE STRANGER WITHIN came out, and the film is full of casual but surprisingly frank remarks why a person might need an abortion. Barbara Eden had a traumatic miscarriage not long ago, which motivated George Grizzard's vasectomy, and his suspicions about her mysterious new pregnancy are threatening the integrity of the marriage, and then she starts getting sort of sick or something--so it's clear that a person might be reasonably entitled to end a pregnancy based on various quality of life issues for the child and the mother. I wonder if it was a big deal for Barbara Eden to choose to do this movie where she and her costar regularly and openly discuss abortion with no moral quibbling. I wonder also if it was a big deal for ABC to show it, at the dawn of legal abortion.

Anyway, soon the couple has bigger problems than family planning, because Barbara Eden becomes hypersensitive to sound, and she needs the house to be ice cold, and she makes weird paintings, and she eats pounds and pounds of salt with scalding black coffee, and she craves information which she absorbs through her hands, rubbing and touching and feeling everything in the library. The couple gets Bob the hypnotist (David Doyle) involved, and it seems like hypnotism is a really great job if you are a gigantic busybody who immediately asks and won't stop asking probing personal questions, even if people beg you to stop. Anyway, Bob has one of the best lines of dialog I've heard all year: "Why do people always assume that anything from outer space is horrible?"

THE STRANGER WITHIN is not a perfect film; it's an obvious ROSEMARY'S BABY knockoff with a little EXORCIST sprinkled in, and for a movie that is only 75 minutes long it has a few too many long scenes of Barbara Eden wandering aimlessly in nature as she communes with whatever knocked her up. But it's intriguing and entertaining, and it seems like everyone enjoyed making it, especially cinematographer Michael D. Margulies whose pedigree includes John Cassavetes' MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ, POLICE ACADEMY, DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY, and of course, THE BABY. Night scenes are illuminated by dramatic pools of light and splashes of saturated color, which heightens the drama even of exposition and repetitive bickering; it's just a fun movie overall. Recommended for viewers who assume that anything from outer space is horrible.