#Also I like what happens if you try talking to them and have the Mastery Over Insects skill.

[maddymoreau]

You ever see a design so ugly it’s cute? Anyway-

[pimpnchips]

Needed Me 2

Part 2

Natasha x Wife!Reader

Warnings: angst, slight smut, blow!job, slightly mean!

nat.

Summary: heated arguments with Natasha

Authors Note: I’m sorry it took me so fucking long to finish this, I'm okay! but I had major writers block and I wanted to make it good for you guys. I also wanted to put the daughter in here more.

Lena swung her head in your direction, "Mommy I want this one," she whined. The rack of stuffed animals sat on display as your daughter complained about how much she wanted the pink bunny.

"No baby, you remember what mama said."

Last night, Natasha talked to lena about behaving properly. Now that she's getting older you can't keep babying her and supplying all her wants after a tantrum or fit.

So Natasha decided on no extra things outside of the store list for a month so she can learn that you won't be able to get everything she asks for even if she decides on throwing a fit.

"Lena, no means no," scowls natasha. Carrying Mateo in his car seat with her left hand, "Pick her up detka — let's go."

You couldn't help but bite your lip at Natasha's authority

Seeing her do what she does best turned you on in so many ways you couldn't explain. You couldn't stay upset with her no matter how hard you 'tried'.

Heading to your shared bedroom last night, Natasha had a way with her words, instead of hate sex you made love.

You missed her warmth and her touch but there's nothing you miss more than how sexy she looked taking care of her family.

Yes, your wife is a lot of things but you know how deeply she cares for the three of you and if you didn't.. you wouldn't have taken her back.

-

You sighed in frustration, "I'm not trying to upset you baby"

"I never said you did," she muttered, gathering the clothes and putting them into the drawer across from you.

Which was a lie, you knew she was upset because you disagreed with her thoughts of not putting lena into school right now.

You brushed your fingers through her red hair trying your best to comfort her, "I understand there's a risk baby but I want her to have a normal child hood"

Natasha chuckles in disbelief,

"You understand nothing."

You scoff, "Natasha? She's my kid too so what don't I understand?" You started walking across the other side of the room away from her.

"Please, humor me." You sat down in the chair next to the open window, your hands slapping your knee as you sat down.

A blank stare on her face caused you to raise an eyebrow, bouncing your leg impatiently waiting for an answer.

It wasn't surprising that you and Natasha got into an argument today, it was always bound to happen. Sooner or later.

"You do shit like this all the time," she mumbles under her breath, trying to make it hard for you to hear.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Natasha?"

Your wife clutches the shirt in hand, more frustration clouding her eyes as she stares at you. She clearly didn't have an explanation, only acting on impulse.

"Am I the one who forged our divorce? If anybody does stupid shit it's you not me." You protest, rubbing your fingers on your temple.

But there's something about crawling under Natasha's skin that pumps you up. Toying with her is what got you here, having two of her kids and married to her for seven years.

She ignores your directed comment, "There's too many risks."

"She's not attending school and that's final," Natasha grumbled, her head was filled with your nagging comments.

"Nat -" you tried to reason with her.

"Don't" She growls, snapping her eyes up at you.

Your mouth clicks shut, "Sorry," you mumble. She knows how well you respond when she gets pissed off.

Sometimes you can't believe the effect Natasha has on you.

She knows your weaknesses and has no problem showing her mastery over you. Something you craved over the past few months, something a certain someone couldn't give you.

You haven't told Natasha, you figured if she ever found out a another woman came around the house, she'll probably kill the girl.

She's too possessive of you to share you with anyone else. It'll tear her ego down, make her seem like she doesn't have control anymore.

—

"What do you know about banana bread, bunny?" Natasha laughs, hearing your daughter talk about how much she loved the taste of the dessert at the dinner table.

Lena giggles with a wide smile, "Miss Maximoff always makes some for me and mommy" she grins, picking up her last nugget eating it innocently.

Fear was written across your faces as you avoided contact with your wife. Natasha furrows her eyebrows at you, mouthing something you couldn't quite pick up on.

You stood up, "Let's put you to bed baby."

Natasha stared daggers at you, continuing to watch you walk away but you tried your best to not turn around.

The anticipation of waiting for you to get back sent nat over the edge causing her to throw everything off her desk.

"Fuck!" she screamed.

You heard nat scream through the door as your hand hovered over the door nob. You took a short breath to get yourself together before entering.

The door shut behind you, Natasha turned around instantly averting all of her attention to you.

"Natasha"

Before you could finish your sentence, she already had her hand wrapped around your neck causing you to inhale shakily, "Please baby."

Your wife clenched her jaw, staring into your eyes making you feel small under her grasp.

"Did she fuck you?" For a moment you saw her eyes darken, her hands starting to grip tighter forcing you to answer her question with a quivering voice, "No"

She released her hand, slamming it on the wall beside you, "Don't fucking lie to me!"

Your eyes welled up with tears and your body shook at the sudden movement she made. You and Wanda didn't have anything special she was nice but she was too nice for you.

You needed something stronger, you wanted Natasha hence why you never went further than a kiss on the cheek. But in this moment something clicked in you.

You needed her.

You looked up at the red head, moving down onto your knees. You wanted Natasha to know that you were hers and no one else's.

"Get up," she gritted.

Ignoring her statement you unbuttoned her pants pulling it lower until her underwear came off. Her dick sprung free ready to be sucked by you.

After a long pause, she moved forward grabbing your head forcing her cock into your mouth. Your tongue sliding along her length as you bobbed your head up and down. She groaned, holding onto the wall, "She could never fill you up like this" she said between pants.

You locked eyes with your wife who was watching you with pure lust in her gaze. Natasha cleared her throat, cock twitching from her own thoughts.

"You don't deserve my cock, detka."

She smiles at the whimpers that escaped you. Her hips started to move and you moaned.

"You shouldn't be sucking dick like a slutty little whore"

Tearing your gaze away from the cock, which was dripping with pre cum, you stared straight into her piercing orbs.

"We didn't have sex, Natty." You whispered, voice mildly hoarse already.

Natasha's face was flushed, cock weeping precum still.

She hadn't realized how close she was to coming until you stopped. "I know.you wouldn't do that to me," was all she uttered as you moved to take her again.

Natasha groaned, every word dying on her lips as your mouth was back on her cock. "Oh...just like that detka... fuck your mouth takes me so well..." You glanced upwards, watching her throat bob as she tilted her head completely back. A low, husky moan left her lips as you swallowed.

The sound of your daughter's voice from down the hall made you pull back. Saliva and cum dripping down your face as Natasha groaned at the sight, painting your face with her milk-white cum.

She forced your mouth open with her hand, releasing the rest of her cum into your mouth. Seeing you drop to your knees for her and pleasing her needs without asking made her proud. It made her thirst for you more.

You quickly got off your knees in a hurry, rolling your eyes at your crazed wife for making a mess of your face while trying to get up.

"Put your dick in your pants before your daughter comes in here" you whispered by her ear, a demanding tone that surprised natasha.

Quickly walking to the bathroom to clean your face, the sound of your daughter's voice getting closer to the room startled Natasha as she buckled up her pants.

"Mama, where's mommy? I can't sleep" Her hair was all over her head, fingers rubbing her tired eyes.

You shouted from the bathroom, "Mommy's coming baby!"

You threw your face towel down, walking out of the bathroom being met with Natasha sitting on the bed with the little girl tracing her tattoos, her head on her mama's chest.

Lena looked up with a smile making your heartmelt at the sight. "Why was mama screaming earlier?" She questioned, tilting her head.

Natasha bursted into laughter, you quickly sent her a pointed look causing her to quiet down. You sighed at your daughters question, "Nothing love, I was helping her with something"

Lena was even more confused than before, it was written all over her face but she shrugged her shoulders letting it go.

Nat smiled at her confusions, leaning down to kiss the temple of her head.

You smiled at the interaction it made you realize no matter the fights or arguments you and Natasha will have she'll forever be here to love you and the kids.

And you'll always love Natasha.

Even if that meant you needed her more than she needed you.

Needed Me

Tags:

@starfire1008@viosblog112@dvrkhcld@ciao00000111 @ddreader04@twentyonetornmyheart @pancakefan7529@widowstingsposts @rosea-reginae @coxlong

[wangxianficrecs]

💙 Caught in 4k by KizuKatana

🔒💙 Caught in 4k

by KizuKatana (@kizukatana)

E, Series, WIP, 184k, Wangxian

Summary: A night-hunt goes wrong, and Wei Wuxian is scapegoated for the death of the Jiang Sect Leader and the destroyed core of the Jiang Sect Heir. As punishment, his core is taken and given to Jiang Cheng, and he is stripped of his cultivation credentials and expelled from the sect. What everyone forgot was that Wei Wuxian was wearing the standard issue body camera that each cultivator wore on training missions and high-risk night-hunts. Struggling to make ends meet, Wei Wuxian finds his way to Caiyi Town with the doctor who performed the surgery, a partial core still secretly in place. His application to work at Cloud Recesses is summarily rejected by the hard-edged Second Jade of Lan after an unfortunate initial encounter. But things change when someone hacks into the Jiang systems and releases the footage of what happened. Kay's comments: The series is still a WIP, but the main story is complete! I am so weak for Kizu's modern AUs with cultivation, they are great. Especially the world building and how the cultivation society might function in a modern AU shines in this story. Definitely not a story for fans of the Jiang family, but a story for everyone who wants to see some retribution for the things Wei Wuxian went through. Here, Jiang Fengmian dies during a night-hunt accident where Jiang Cheng's golden core gets destroyed and Madam Yu makes Wei Wuxian give his golden core to him, unfortunately for her, his body-cam is still filming everything. Wei Wuxian finds himself taken in by Wen Qing and her family and we get the sweetest found family and Dadxian vibes here and then meets Lan Wangji as well, who's highly judgemental at first but soon finds himself drawn to Wei Wuxian as well. This story really got it all, the drama, the horny, the softness, the restitution & humor. Excerpt: Still Wei Wuxian forced himself to at least try one last time. “You could also interview me. Have me talk to your best talisman experts,” Wei Wuxian said, forcing himself to keep the desperation out of his voice. “Interviews are scheduled based on receipt of proper credentials and references.” “I don’t have any, at least not right now. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be a great teacher.” “No references, no interview.” “Come on. Look, ask me anything about talismans. You’re an experienced cultivator, right? So you must know enough to at least interview me to see if I know what I’m talking about.” “Simply ‘knowing about something’ is not sufficient. Our lecturers are renown cultivators, and masters in their fields. No references, no interview.” Wei Wuxian felt frustration well up in him, especially at the reminder that Lan Wangji didn’t see him as a cultivator. No one would, in his current condition. Why would they? He didn’t have a functional core, which was the main scale against which all cultivation efforts were measured. He thought he had done a good job of not getting his hopes up about the teaching position, but the suffocating feeling constricting his chest was calling him out for being a liar. He should have known better. Why did he never learn? Some people had luck on their said, but Wei Wuxian had never been one of them. “Right. Of course. Because it would be impossible for someone who wasn’t born to the fucking clan nobility to ever actually be good at something, and the cost of taking the mastery test makes sure that other people can’t do it!” Lan Wangji’s lips parted slightly, like he might say something, but his expression was as opaque and emotionless as before. Wei Wuxian didn’t need to sit around and listen to him defend the clan system. “Good to know that the Lan are just the same as all the other sects,” Wei Wuxian continued, his lips twisting into a sarcastic smile. “Thanks for making that clear.”

pov alternating, modern setting, modern with magic, yu ziyuan being an asshole, dysfunctional jiang family, jiang family bashing, canon divergence, golden core reveal, burial mounds ensemble as family, golden core transfer, golden core transfer fix-it, top lan wangji/bottom wei wuxian, dual cultivation, strangers to lovers, misunderstandings, meet ugly, families of choice, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[fsfghgee]

If Sektor and Bi-Han really were a couple, what HCS do you have for them? Honestly, if they were a couple someday, I wouldn't mind. After all, it's a new universe and some things had to change ^^

....

When Bi-Han first saw Sektor, he was enchanted by her fighting skills and beauty. She had the skills and swing of an experienced warrior, but the delicate face and gaze of an apprentice hungry for knowledge.

Always around his older brother, Kuai Liang noticed when Bi-Han acquired the habit of not only watching the training of warriors with their father, but also for keep looking for a specific female warrior.

Bi-Han spent months just watching Sektor from afar and not even knowing her name, he began to dream about her and wish more and more to be able to talk to her. Bi-Han wasn't a coward, but he felt like one whenever he tried to get close to her.

As a future Grandmaster, most people treated him like a prince, unintentionally isolating him from most people in the clan (especially the lower ranking ones), and his demanding training schedule in diverse areas made Bi-Han had little time to even try to get close to her.

On the day the Grandmaster was too busy to choose the weapon that Tomas would use in his fighting practices, but wishing to congratulate him on his newly acquired mastery of typhomancy, he assigned Bi-Han and Kuai Liang to go to the nearest master armorer to buy a blade. That day Bi-Han exchanged words with Sektor for the first time and as he left the place he longed to hear her voice again.

In the days that followed, Bi-Han would sneak out of training to visit Sektor's family workshop. Making excuses about acquiring more knowledge about weapons and buying more weapons that he wouldn't even use because he made his own weapons with cryomancy, he got to know Sektor better and the connection he felt with her, a connection that grew every single day mixed with the desire to have her close at any time, made him question if he was suffering from the same weakness as his younger brother.

On a night, when Kuai Liang and Bi-Han returned early from a visit to Liu Kang, their father had stayed behind to continue dealing with more serious matters with the god, Kuai Liang talked non-stop about Harumi to Bi-Han and how he wanted to visit her again when he was surprised that his older brother showed interest in the subject instead of just listening in silence with a bored look. Bi-Han asked how it was… How he knew she was the one�� Kuai Liang explained how he thought about Harumi constantly, how he missed her when he was away from her, how the time seemed to fly by when they were together, how she always understood him and how he felt at home just being in her presence.

Sektor enjoyed Bi-Han's company and he attracted her like no other ever could. Her father advised her about her entanglement with the heir and how she should be more cautious. After all, he was still the heir to the clan's leadership position. The responsibilities that weighed on Bi-Han's shoulders were beyond her knowledge.

When they kissed for the first time, it had been Bi-Han's first kiss to Sek's surprise. She took his lip virginity and he blushed in a way she never imagined a cryomancer could do.

A few days after Bi-Han had confessed his feelings for her, Sektor began to hear talk about how something must have happened to the Ice Prince because he no longer accompanied his father on visits to the warriors' training sessions and that everything indicated that he had been sent to a distant sub-clan for training. She cried for three days because he had left without saying goodbye and could barely eat without her father's encouragement.

When his relationship with the daughter of a master armorer reached his father's ears, along with his constant absences and delays for his daily lessons, he punished him. Sending him away and only allowing him to return after he swore by his mother's spirit that he would never see the armorer's daughter again. Constantly reminding him of how unworthy he still was of his position and that if he disobeyed his orders again he would punish Sektor's family, Bi-Han complied with his father's orders without a second thought.

Sektor got to know Bi-Han's cold side when she managed to get close to him one day, eager to talk to him and find out how he was doing after not seeing him for so long. He broke her heart that day and he wept over it in a way he had only did the night he learned of his mother's death.

Not expecting his father to ever approve of Sektor, especially since the marriage talks before he took over as grandmaster continued in discussions without any real interest in his opinion, Bi-Han knew the moment his father had that accident that he would have to let him die if he wanted to be happy one day. His father was too strong and stubborn to ever change his mind or die naturally.

After all the honors were done, warnings sent, matters to be finalized finally concluded, Bi-Han took over as Grandmaster and looked for her. After so many years of avoiding her, it was expected that Sektor would reject him and Bi-Han would accept, but after explaining why he did what he did, she accepted him back. As if they had never been apart, she loved him even more. Recognizing all the sacrifices he had made so that they could be together.

Bi-Han named Sektor second in command of the Lin Kuei and reminded her of the dreams and plans they had made together before he was forced to leave her, she agreed to help him in his efforts to make them all come true immediately.

Sektor was not pleased to learn that Bi-Han had known her apprentice for a long time, since the Zaki clan, one of the many Lin Kuei sub-clans scattered in Earthrealm, was where Bi-Han was sent when he was punished.

Sektor used to be very jealous of Bi-Han's relationship with Frost to the point that she couldn't hide her annoyance when Bi-Han talked about his apprentice, but over time, after hearing from Bi-Han many times that she was like a little sister to him and that his intentions towards her were the same as hers towards her apprentice, Cyrax, she began to treat Frost in a less unfriendly manner.

Sektor used to feel jealous of Bi-Han with Cyrax when she watched them doing anything together due to the friendship they cultivated, but her trust in her apprentice and Bi-Han made her hold her tongue. Although she still can't help but feel jealous of seeing him near Cyrax, even if it's just to lecture her.

In any argument, even when it comes to the future of the clan, the one who has the last word is Sektor.

What Bi-Han loves most about Sektor is her quick thinking, her understanding, her confidence, her loyalty, her genius, her ingenuity, her affection and her combat skills.

What Sektor loves most about Bi-Han is his confidence, his determination, his open-mindedness, his generosity towards the clan, his concern, his strength, his puns and his combat skills.

Though they are cold and ruthless to their enemies, they value those who are loyal to them above all else. Sektor knows he would kill and die for her, and Bi-Han knows she would do the same for him.

When they first met, Sektor withheld her birth name and gave him her codename; Bi-Han calls her Sektor more than by her real name to this day.

Sektor never calls him Sub-Zero or Grandmaster. But she demands that Cyrax and Frost call him Grandmaster always.

.....

[dingodad]

you can link to it if youve already answered it, but how do you think lord english “runs” his empire? by the way you talk about alternia, it sounds to me like you imagine he did play a role as some kind of shadow political leader that made active decisions in the structuring of alternia. is that the case? i think thats really interesting, i always wondered what his rulership over the condesce actually looked like. iirc lord english has only ever shown been screaming and destroying things so i’ve always struggled to imagine if he would even be lucid enough to make decisions or do anything other than mass murder. does doc scratch have some way to implicitly understand his desires and then deliver orders to the condesce on his behalf? or was the caliborn that the “kids” fight at some nebulous time in the “future,” the one who’s soul dirk rips out, not teen caliborn but an actually fully realized adult cherub caliborn who had already been fucking with alternia? idk if that makes sense, the part of the comic where the beta kids are described by caliborn to have been sucked into the juju has always been a little weird for me to wrap my head around. i always imagined the battle happened between them all as kids still but now that im trying to imagine a lucid lord english im realizing they could very well all be adults because we still havent “seen” it actually happen aside from caliborn’s claymation right? anyways. very interested in what your thoughts on caliborn’s active influence on alternia looked like

lots of really great questions! i'll try to get my thoughts in order here.

to start at the beginning of lord english's story: yes, it is an important point that we have no idea "when" caliborn's masterpiece actually takes place; how old caliborn is, where the kids who beat him up even came from... and I think this is because the details in that story don't necessarily matter. while i certainly believe there is a point in caliborn's timeline where a gaggle of teenagers show up and stuff him into a puppet, what we see play out on his claymation stage is a mythologised account of something that happens to him over and over again in many many different ways over the course of his time loop.

so while i wouldn't call that caliborn "fully realised", necessarily, i think we are supposed to see him as "caliborn-as-lord-english"; he has the peg leg, he has mastery over the felt, he's finally obtained the rainbow magic eyes, and while he certainly hasn't encountered the trolls yet, no, he has had loads of practice at being the puppetmaster of his own world as he hones his homosuck craft and uses the terminals left to him by his session to influence homestuck itself! (i don't think whether caliborn is ultimately "teen" or an "adult" is hugely relevant, because caliborn's specific circumstances mean that he doesn't really "grow" or "mature" by aging the same way a human does; he gradually acquires power in different ways.)

related to this, i tend to use the names 'caliborn' and 'lord english' interchangeably. which i know not everyone will agree with, but i think it aligns with the hussie's philosophy that act 6 is about the kid versions of the comic's grownup characters; while, yes, the lord english contained within lil cal also contains sprinklings of equius, dirk and gamzee, these characters are ultimately caliborn's servitors, and i would argue that subsuming weaker personalities into his own is kind of part of caliborn's Bag as a dominant cherub.

anyway, all that is just to say that it's important to be aware that lord english DOES act like caliborn, and isn't just a mindless, speechless force of destruction - at least not all of the time. when damara tries to escape his captivity, he speaks to her in caliborn's voice, and perhaps more importantly, tells us the one thing you must never forget about lord english: he is ALREADY HERE. never be fooled into thinking lord english only showed up at alternia's death and then fucked off into the furthest ring to hunt his sister - his first act was to travel back to the beginning of alternian history and become its architect. notice how as soon as lord english speaks, two things happen: first, the cursor changes into english's reptilian hand; second, we see the puppet hole in doc scratch's back - he was the literal puppetmaster behind scratch's actions the whole time!

so yes, lord english was an active participant in the shaping of the alternian empire, though i think "political leader" is probably the wrong description; he certainly never had any face-to-face conversations or gave any direct orders to any trolls, at least within modern troll history. but that's not what he's about: as the cuestick, and with scratch as his cueball, english's manipulations are more about lining up the perfect shot, executing a precision strike, and then letting events play out exactly as planned.

probably the most influential of these precision strikes was establishing the subjugglator cult, who worship him and his puppet as twin mirthful messiahs; while we don't know exactly how he did this, it's not hard to imagine it had something to do with appearing to them as an all-powerful angel at the very dawn of their society. compare this to how the condesce makes cordial visits to every planet she passes on her journey through the stars, then fucks off to let her army of trolls decimate the place. after all, scratch operates in exactly the same way: he doesn't waste his time constantly relaying orders to his proteges, but rather grooms them when they're still young, turning them into his unwitting soldiers so that when he finally does intervene he's only telling them to do things that "deep down, they already know they want to do." (commentary from Homestuck: Book 4, p. 216)

while the condesce formally becomes english's puppet when she kills the handmaid - inheriting both the rustblood's curse and essentially taking up scratch's role on earth - it's not like she was ever particularly hands-on when it came to helming the metaphorical ship herself. in porrim's words, she was "the Lo+rd's slave all alo+ng [...] thro+ugh manipulatio+n by his cunning emplo+yee", but what the condesce enjoys doing most is delegating! on alternia she gave most of her authority to the subjugglators, and then did the exact same shit again on earth. remember meenah never wanted the responsibilities of heiress, and ran to beforus' pink moon to escape them; the way i see it, the condesce rushing off into space to explore the galaxy instead of overseeing the planet she's responsible for is just a repeat of the same behaviour, and doing so left a power vacuum for english to essentially insert his own guys into. (possibly thematically relevant, since lord english's role is fundamentally to shoot balls into unfilled dark pockets.)

in short, english is cleverer - or at least, more competent - than we give him credit for. it's just that rather than a chess master who moves each piece to its proper place individually, he's playing pool; if you line up just the right shot, you only need to make one move, and the balls will play the rest of the moves off of each other. looked at another way, as the Lord of Time and master of the alpha timeline, english makes his moves by controlling inevitability itself. he engineers things so that events can only play out in the exact way he wants them to, and all other options are doomed. and to do that, he only needs to be present at key moments in alternia's history - most importantly its very beginning and its very end.

[tealfling]

Rolan would be such a good uncle, is perpready to give Lia and wyll time to rest by taking the baby.

It's important to him that the baby knows they have family that cares

Absolutely.

Rolan's already there constantly visiting (he calls it 'checking up on them' but we know better). The Ravenguards are in a position to want for nothing, but Rolan still brings them magical quality of life improvements.

And he showers that baby in gifts. Every visit he brings something.

Rolan and Cal are secretly in an unspoken "Favorite Uncle" competition. Points are tallied every time the baby gives one of them "uppie" hands. Rolan is ahead by two somehow and Cal is fighting for his life trying to be the goofy fun uncle to catch up.

Rolan's 'little light show' is a family favorite that gets more fantastic for the family littles. There are nights when Uncle Rolan watches the baby and leaves the dancing light over the crib while she sleeps.

He loves his siblings deeply and by extension their children. At one point all they had was each other and that bond is unbreakable. They know they can call on other for support.

The second Lia calls for him, he's ready. It doesn't matter for what, or why or when, the man is THERE. He's even reaching out to Cal: did you talk to her? Do you know what's going on? Are you going? The tiefling siblings always roll together.

Wyll & Lia could have called on the best clerics in the Gate, but they call for her brother first. There's probably a manor full of staff, the baby probably has her own nurse, but Lia & Wyll have strong family bonds and are very hands on parents. So it's family they look to for advice first.

Rolan knows exactly how frustrated she is when feeling helpless. Whatever's going on, they'll figure it out together.

A Rolan in a relationship with Tav also brings his partner along, and Wyll is always over the moon to see his friend.

This is the dream team of "We've got you covered."

If they sense at all Lia and Wyll are tired, they promptly send mom & dad off to rest. Even still, they make sure Wyll & Lia are making sure their own needs are met.

For fussy baby problems, they can all trouble shoot together and figure it out. We saved the world, everything else is easy. If all else fails, they know three great healers they can call on.

(Wyll or Tav can make a joke about calling on Jaheira for some of her great motherly advice. Which is only really a joke if the baby isn't too ill. If that baby is in pain or has a fever they can't deal with Tav would personally knock on Jaheira's door.)

A druid or cleric Tav would be able to handle it too. But I imagine an arcane wielder (like Coren) could be very creative with spell use.

[ "Oh, what troubles you so my little Squishy? Do your wittle nubbies hurt?" The sorceress runs her icy palm over the child's forehead. "Does that feel better?" She asks, massaging the swollen node with her finger, sending the faintest electric hum to numb the pain.]

As the children grow, there is a fantastic sense of family amongst them. Every occasion is a large family gathering.

Dad, former Blade or Frontiers, Hero of Baulder's Gate is still a renowned story teller. Now his daughter has taken to telling tall tales of her own.

Imagine everyone seated in a warm sitting room where an adorable little tiefling girl with a wooden sword acts out a familiar adventure. It doesn't happen quite like those in the room that lived it recall, but it's a charming story and Uncle Rolan makes the best visual effects with his mastery of magic.

[mythicalartistx]

I hate Master Odin from DR and my opinions of the other Masters

Mickey

Mickey is constantly hated in KH but there is someone who deserves it so much more. First of all he only knew Aqua was in the realm of darkness for a year.

Then Yen Sid commanded him not to go, plus he was busy with dealing with Organization XIII, then the Journal, and the exams Sora and Riku took. And the last two only probably took a month or so each.

Then he tried to find her with Riku's help because it's probably better to go with another person....

I don't get it especially when Odin— the worse master to ever happened exists.

And Mickey did so much for Riku and helps him when he needs someone.

I hate Odin with so much passion and one of the main reasons is that he isn't shown as doing anything wrong. They treat it like he didn't make any mistakes.

Ansem

He makes Ansem look so good in comparison —who I have mixed feelings on and I think Ansem's change of heart isn't genuine and seems way too fast.

Like the dude is talking trash about nobodies and how they don't deserve to exist and they have no feelings. Then suddenly at the end you regret that and is like I'm sorry Roxas?? Like why? How did you get to this reason?

It doesn't seem genuine and then he sacrifices himself like oh now we're supposed to feel bad because he did this one good thing?

And Riku did not need to deal with this guy, he's awful.

But back to him.

Odin

This guy is the reason why Xehanort is the way he is. He set him on the path. Odin can't understand mental health. This student of his was going through some things because his sister was missing and presumably dead. He was not in a good head space and depressed so Odin decides to isolate him??

Yeah.....

Not a good thing.

It makes him worse and then darkness influences him🤦

And then there are these missing students so he decides the best thing to find the students are to send his INEXPERIENCED UNDERCLASSMEN?

It makes no sense.

It's stupid.

They could also get hurt.

Why doesn't he A MASTER TRY TO LOOK FOR THEM or send I don't know another master???

But he send Xehanort Eraqus and several others.

And basically them going to worlds make it where they question how things are which lead Xehanort down his path of destruction. It makes him curious about darkness and curious if it's right or wrong to dwell in world's affairs even if it's a world with people doing bad things.

Then the student who was not in a good place... Yeah Baldr gets influenced by darkness badly and wants to hurt and decides to kill everyone

IT'S NOT GOOD

And then Xehanort and Eraqus are the only ones left. So Odin decides to tell Xehanort to kill him.

And Xehanort has been having thoughts about darkness and light and what everything means. And he didn't exactly disagree with some of the things Baldr said.

WHY WOULD HE PLACE THE BURDEN ON XEHANORT?

And by doing that he cause him to eventually go down dark path.

Then Odin retires.

I'M SO GLAD.

He deserves to retire after failing and being an awful person and master.

Like dude is so bad.

But that's not until he sends the two survivors into taking the mark of mastery exam which is a stupid exam which always have bad things happen.

And Xehanort meets The Master of Master who honestly seems chaotic and just does things because he is bored. That's my gist of this guy. An he's not good for him.

He causes him to go farther in and become worse.

Yeahhhhhhh

He gets so interested learning about darkness and light. He probably heard about things relating to kingdom hearts from M.O.M.

Then Xehanort leaves Eraqus and when he comes back he's different. Eraqus can tell and realizes he has been obsessed with darkness. They even get in fights. It doesn't go well.

And Odin isn't heard from again thank goodness.

If Sora dealt with this guy man it would be so bad.

Master Yen Sid

Now he isn't that great.

For one he believes all nobodies are bad?

Like why? They just want hearts to live. They aren't bad people. But he makes Sora think really bad of them.

Also he doesn't really do much. He seems to be really strong as shown in kh3 but he just sits back and lets all the kids do everything.

During the exam in DDD, it was rigged because of Xehanort. And Sora doesn't pass because Riku dived in a second time. BUT SORA WOULD DEFINITELY DO IT FOR RIKU.

It's the stupidest reason why Sora didn't pass. I'm fine with the idea of Sora not becoming a master yet BUT MAYBE DO A BETTER REASON OR SOMETHING

Yen Sid is dumb.

Also not allowing anyone to go back to search for Aqua until kh3

And taking the exam in the first place is dumb. They just realized that something bad is in the midst from the recoded events and then he summons Sora and Riku to take this exam.

They don't think someone might try to mess with it AT ALL??

Also as Sora said, they proved themselves several times. Only because of Riku insecurities they end up taking it. Riku's still doesn't believe in himself and fears his darkness a bit...

So Sora takes because Riku does. He just wanted to take it with him and be with him by doing so.

Yeah that doesn't work out.

Also Yen Sid training Kairi with Axel is kinda bad??? Like they should have helping them instead of endlessly training. It doesn't seem that great since they both easily gets knocked away.

But yeah, it's not too good but it's not necessary bad.

Eraqus

He's a pretty decent Master. And when I say decent I mean he tried. What he does that no one else does is he APOLOGIZES. He acknowledges what he does is wrong in kh3. He hugs all of them and apologizes. It seems genuine.

And after dark road his actions make sense he does what he does because he's afraid of them dying from darkness like Baldr or being corrupted and dangerous.

Though I HAVE NO IDEA why he brought Xehanort around?

Did he not remember??

He sees all three of his apprentices as his own.

He has Aqua look out for Terra because he was worried. But he realizes how much pressure he put on her.

As for Ven he thinks destroying him is the best way to stop the χ blade from being forged and doing what Xehanort wants.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER HE REGRETS IT.

He is like how could I raise my hand against you, talking to Terra and referring to Ventus.

And Terra protects Ventus because he cares for him and he uses darkness for a good reason.

And I'm not going into Aqua because she doesn't really do that much with others besides watch Terra which Eraqus told her to do, it's not from her own decisions and things. She doesn't really have time to act that much. And afterwards she is by herself in the realm of darkness.

Riku, I'm not going into either because he doesn't do much yet involving his title.

[vampvalerian]

Most wonderful afternoon, Labelas! 6 (perhaps pertaining to Mystryl, or any other God you happen to remember?), 9 and 14 for the ask game!

Afternoon to you as well!! This was insanely fun to write

6 - Memory with [Mystryl]

While my knowledge of my doings before the spellplague is limited, I remember Mystryl. For a specific memory, when we created the Time Conduit spell together. She was sick of time travelers, I was sick of time travelers, we got together and with my mastery (or, at that time, more like loose grasp) of the continuum and her mastery of the weave we created a spell to prevent mortals from screwing with my domain. Unfortunately this did not pertain to gods, as I would shortly find out. Fuck you Moonbow.

I remember that the time of our collaboration was one of the first that I had been respected as my own deity instead of an extension of Corellon and for that I am immensely grateful to her. As the goddess of the entire weave and then some, her opinion of me carried heavy weight that thankfully carried past that of her passing. I never got close to Mystra, unfortunately, as by the time she had rose to power I had become a bit more bitter than I would like to admit.

9 - If you could change anything you did in canon / go back and do something you didn’t do, what would it be?

Oh! I quite literally just talked about that. What a fortunate transition. One of the things I would do is try harder to reject Corellon's influence. As the father of elvenkind he had a harsh grip on all of the Seldarine and wanted to mold most of us to his image. Now - I make him out to be much more malicious than he truely was. I was naive and vulnerable and he simply rubbed off on me too much. His influence, by none of his will, turned me from a stoic yet gentle god to a bitter and somewhat harsh one.

If I had never undergone that transition, I would have probably been more acquainted with Mystra, but Corellon convinced me that I was above the doings of mortals and so for a goddess so devoted to ensuring her domain was secure to the point of collaborating with mortals - well, I wasn't a fan. Wow that was a long sentence. This sentiment goes for many gods, actually.

Even though the two are directly related and I had to go back and only change ONE action, I would never have abandoned Ollie how I did. I had originally created him as my own vessel but his resemblance to a drow made me see him as unfit. I can't blame Corellon for that one - it was my own hatefulness. I could have used him as my vessel, or I could have, at the very least, raised him to be his own god, however that would have worked. He was destined for so much greatness and the moment I sent him off to mortal parents I threw it away.

14 - What was something you loved in your canon?

Reading. I loved reading. I was an archivist, so naturally I documented the doings of both mortals and the gods. Because I was so against meddling with mortals, my only exposure to the mortal world was books written by them. I mostly read those written by elves, but I did read some academic papers from all over Toril. I quite enjoyed reading about Drizzt a few years after that ordeal had started - the idea of a 'good drow' was very novel to me. It was also one of my only pastimes. When I wasn't having an aggressive staring contest with the continuum or dealing with some mortal who time-fucked a bit too close to the sun I was reading. When I reconnected with Ollie, I swooped him into my domain for hours-long tea parties where I shared all of my favorite books with him.

Labelas, go one post without mentioning Corellon challenge. Level: Impossible.

[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week: Bet (day 2)

It's @blupjeansweek day 2. This follows on from yesterday's prompt. You can also read on Ao3

-

"It's going to be fine."

"Easy for you to say, you just casually revolutionised thermodynamics, you're gonna walk your viva." Barry could hear Lup rolling her eyes at that one, though he stayed resolutely focused on the raggedy copy of his thesis which was, at this point, 70% sticky notes. Could he read what any of them said because of how much they overlapped? Shut up.

"Natch, evocation is never going to be the same thanks to cha'girl's research, but that doesn't meant you're going to fail, Barold."

"No, they're just going to MPhil me out."

Lup sighed heavily. "Oh no, you worked hard and gained mastery in a subject, how terrible, what an embarrassment."

Barry did look up then, didn't she get it? He’d thought she’d get it. It was an embarrassment! She’d watched him put so much into this, the stupid well thumbed, badly bound paper stack represented four years of late nights, early mornings, cancelled plans, 3am anxiety… he thought she understood. She’d lived it with him, they were working for the key to the next level, if they gave him the wrong one what was even the point? "You think…?"

"I'm being flippant because that's not going to happen. Once again, I've read your work my guy, it's good, in fact, it’s great. In fact, right now, you’re arguing with established fact.” Barry grimaced as Lup spoke, but she ploughed on. “... you've already published three chapters of this thing in peer reviewed journals. 6/6 esteemed peer reviewers agree!"

"But they publish bad science all the tim…"

Lup cut him off. "Barry stop. You know you’ve done good science because a) I would have told you if you hadn’t, and b) peer reviewers might be lazy but you’re not. You know your submissions were solid, just look at the citations.”

“But…” She was right. But Barry still struggled, sure she hadn’t said anything incorrect, he knew he’d done solid work, but he also just knew that he’d fucked this up.

“...But what? But maybe they're idiots who can't recognise genius? They're gonna recognise it, Barry. It's impossible not to recognise how brilliant you are. That thesis is just you yelling “I’m Barry Bluejeans and I know what the fuck I’m talking about, pay me money about it.” Plus, publish a few more chapters and you can do PhD by publication without those losers to worry about anyway."

Barry didn’t even register the second part because Lup thought he was brilliant! Lup thought he was brilliant and she was telling him and he kept shutting her down instead of just being grateful about it. Maybe if he tried to accept the compliment. "Than…"

Lup started speaking at the same time. "In fact…" She paused to let him speak, but he shook his head and gestured to her, he could try being gracious another day. "... Okay, if you're sure." He nodded. "I think, Baraldo, that we should make a bet, you and I. I may as well profit from all this self doubt, so I bet you're gonna pass with no corrections."

Barry laughed bitterly. Whatever she was betting she'd be losing. "Lup, I'm going to fail."

Lup shoved his shoulder gently. "You're not and you know it. Be serious."

"Oh, like yours was serious?"

Lup's ears flicked back defensively. "Serious? Barry, c'mon. Obviously we all know cha’girl’s out here shaping the future of evocation, but you're doing magic within magic on all your spooktacular stuff. The chapter on spell wheels? I'd never considered it, and even if I had, I definitely would have taken at least 10 minutes longer than you to come up with something so elegant. You know what you're doing, I know what I'm doing, it's why we're such a great team."

They did make a great team. They’d met the first day of undergrad at orientation. Barry the lone mature student in a sea of babies, then Lup and Taako had appeared, and sure there was The Nerd Incident, but they cleared that pretty fast. They coincided in most classes, worked together in labs, and powered their way through a ridiculous amount of higher education together. There hadn’t been any question about it when the option of choosing housing came up, they lived together off campus and were joined by a rotating cast which had pretty much always featured Taako (well, until this year), but LupAndBarry, BarryAndLup? They were a constant, they worked. “We do work well together.” 

“You can say that again.” Lup glared at him as he opened his mouth to repeat it. “...And you know exactly how smart I am, right?” Lup asked. Barry could taste the trap-ness of this question, she was an angler fish and the question was a beautiful little light, he was going to answer it honestly and wholly and she was going to chomp him down with her big clever teeth.

“You’re incredible Lup, your research is amazing and you’re passionate and eloquent and so smart…” 

Lup’s teeth closed. “Then you know I know my shit well enough to know your shit’s good, so, what’s your bet?”

“I pass with major corrections?”

Lup raised an eyebrow. “Question, or an answer?”

“I pass with majors.”

“Fine. If you want to lose whatever you’re betting then be my guest, Bluejeans.”

“I don’t think I have anything you want.” Barry said, and he wasn’t sure, it was a ridiculous thought, but he could have sworn that Lup’s ears reddened at the tips. She coughed loudly, then almost shouted “Jeans.”

“What?”

Lup coughed again and spoke in a softer tone. “I get rights to your wardrobe. I know your jeans are comfier than mine.”

Barry hesitated. He’d already lost a good chunk of his shirts and sweaters to Lup. Not that he minded most of the time, he usually managed to steal his favourites back briefly on laundry day, but his jeans? He only had three pairs and they all served specific purposes in his life, he couldn't afford to sacrifice them, no matter how cute Lup would look in them. But, <;i>but</i>, there was no way he was actually going to pass without corrections, everyone at least got minors and Barry's supervisor definitely didn't think he'd even manage that. According to the available evidence, this seemed like a safe bet. "Deal!"

Lup grinned big and wide and dangerous . "GuyWhoJustLostHisJeansSaysWhat."

"What?" Barry asked.

Lup snickered. "Just asking what you wanted from me if your externals are somehow struck incapable of recognising brilliance?"

Oh... yeah, Barry had forgotten this part. Lup's brash overconfidence in his abilities had essentially signed her up to do whatever he wanted. He could stick her with dish duty for the next hundred years; make her actually use the dregs of her body wash before she moved onto the next one so the edge of the shower wasn't a terrifying pile of upside down barely balanced bottles; he could ask her to tell him whether there was an expiration date on their whole thing, whether the end of study meant different directions and fond memories, phone calls which dwindled as she remembered less and less… "You have to come home with me." He blurted out the thought before he could properly consider what he was asking. Was that too much? Oh it was probably too much. A trip home meant a road trip, motels, meeting his Mum. There was no way Marlena wouldn't pick up on exactly how he felt about Lup, not that she hadn’t already, but it was easier to lie on the phone. Plus, there was no way his Mum wouldn't love Lup too. How could anyone not? Then he’d only disappoint her when Lup moved on with her life and left him behind. Maybe he could back track, do the dishes thing instead…

"You have yourself a deal, Mr Bluejeans, may as well use that title one last time. Now, I have some outfits to plan, go eat the sandwich I made you, then I'll help with the last minute prep." Lup disappeared in the direction of Barry's room. 

Barry resigned himself to losing another few shirts while Lup investigated his wardrobe and obediently shuffled his way to the kitchen. It was definitely time to eat, he wasn't entirely sure when he last did… probably the last time Lup shoved food at him. He definitely had to thank her when this was over. 

-

"...And why did you decide on Necrostics?" Lup looked expectantly at Barry. 

"It was the most logical methodological approach as it incorporates acknowledgement of the agency held by constructs and the undead while also acknowledging the influence of social and summoning factors. I modified the approach to ensure it was appropriately controlling for the new spells I developed."

Lup clapped her hands delightedly. 

"It was that good an answer?" Barry asked.

"It's that good a wardrobe. I cannot wait to get my hands on it, Barold, you're gonna be living in your pants… although…" Lup narrowed her eyes. 

"Absolutely not, no!"

Lup shrugged. "You can't watch your stuff all the time, Barry. Cha'girl needs some new sleep shorts."

Barry felt his face flame at the thought of Lup sleeping in his clothes, Lup wanting to. "I'd better go now!" He said, too fast and too loud. "Gotta go get it over with."

Lup jumped up. "Cool, I'll grab my book and and few other bits and come with. There's some comfy chairs in the corridor with my name on them."

Oh. Lup was going to come with him. Lup was going to wait for him. "You don't have t…"

"I want to."

–

"Good luck Barold, you've got this." Lup hugged him firmly, he squeezed back. If he didn't let go he didn't have to go into the scary room. Can't defend your thesis if you’re in the middle of a hug, that’s just science. Lup pulled back slightly, then dipped her head to kiss him on the cheek.

Barry didn't have time to react before Lup pulled away and planted herself across the corridor chairs, head buried in her book.

"Are you ready, Mr Bluejeans?" A voice asked from the door behind him. All Barry could do was touch a hand to his cheek, turn, and nod. 

– 

"Congratulations again, Dr Bluejeans, this may be the most enjoyable viva I have ever taken part in." Said Dr Combish, opening the door for him. 

Barry was going to pass out. The adrenaline finally drained out of him, weeks, months of panic, gone. It was over. An outright pass? It was so rare, so ridiculously unlikely. He should be raring to celebrate, but mostly he just wanted to go home and sit very still in the dark. He stepped into the corridor, remembered to thank Dr Combish, and stared numbly at the door as it closed. What did he even do now? It was over. A whole chunk of his life was just… done. He had the keys to the next stage, had the fancy title, had everything he'd worked for and… and? 

"Hey Bear?" Lup nudged his arm gently. "How'd it go?" 

"I… I passed?" Said Barry. "Yeah. They. Well. I passed!" His voice broke momentarily, to say it was so surreal. "Lup! I passed!!!" He grabbed her into a hug. "I did it! We did it! Thank you, thank you thank you thank you!"

"Knew you could." Lup said thickly, hugging him back. They didn’t say anything for a while, just held on tight. “We… we should do something.” Said Lup, eventually. “Celebrate, you know.”

“We’ll celebrate together when you pass next week.” Barry didn’t even have to think about it. Whatever he could do, Lup could do better, there was no way she’d be correcting anything.

“Fine, but we’re getting pizza, from the good place.” Lup grabbed her backpack from the chairs.

Barry stared for a second. “You… you’re wearing my garden jeans. Lup!”

“And they look great on me. Told you I believed in you. Fair’s fair.” Lup winked, wiggled her butt, and grabbed his hand. “Now, let’s get you home, Baraldo. We need to ring Marlena and tell her, she’ll be having kittens.”

Barry couldn’t do anything but nod.

[fourth-dimensional-thinker]

hello! i just finished reading "time is a flat circle" and oh my god it was soooo good. i read the whole thing in what was basically one sitting i just had to keep going. i've never enjoyed suddenly realizing how terribly fucked a character was by the narrative as much as i did reading that last chapter holy shit. amazed at your skill of weaving in all that sweet foreshadowing while the wholesome stuff was playing out. i will be thinking about this fic maybe forever

in an earlier post of yours you mentioned plans for a sequel! absolutely no pressure at all but i was wondering if that was still in the works? the entire situation from the end intrigues me. i gotta know of the horrors that await him

Oh, wow, hi! This ask made my whole day. I think I’ll print this out and frame it.

I’m very happy you enjoyed my fic so much. Writing Doc and Marty’s new dynamic and planning out all those little bits of foreshadowing were the highlights of creating the story for me. I’m a big fan of relationships that have genuine love between the characters, yet also have this twisted, underlying danger to them. There was no BTTF fic with that concept, so I had to make it for myself—and was excited to learn other people were into it, too!

I did say that I might write a sequel, and the status on that is…complicated. When I was writing TIAFC, I wasn’t planning to write a second part for it. That’s why the fic stops where it does, with the final chapter pulling the rug out from under Marty and ending on a sort-of cliffhanger. At the time, I didn’t know where else to go from there, so it just ended where it did. But after I got so many positive comments on the ending, I got motivated to try to do some work on a sequel. 

Even though I knew I was going to leave it open-ended, I still had a few ideas about Marty’s fate before I wrote the final chapter. I did a lot of brain-storming with a friend and wrote a few short sequel fics, one from Doc’s POV and another from The Pinheads' POV a few days after the ending wondering where Marty is (though, I don’t think I’ll publish those anytime soon). I liked parts of them, but I didn’t feel confident in continuing them. It felt too “dark” for it to be BTTF fic without also feeling out of character. 

Eventually, instead of trying to write a sequel, I turned towards writing original fiction. I still wanted to write a twisted-wholesome relationship, but this time with new characters. I’m currently working on a story that has evolved from this fic, and has grown into its own enough that you can’t distinguish any part of it that originates from BTTF—other than the 80s setting. That story is also not ready for the world either. 

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I haven’t stopped thinking about the core of TIAFC, but haven’t actually published anything for it in a long time. I don’t want to say that a sequel is definitely not going to happen or still could possibly happen. My motivation and available time for projects fluctuates wildly, so I’m not going to make any promises or guarantees. I’m very happy to talk about it, but I’m a bit iffy about writing for it at the moment. 

Now, if you would like to know more about Marty’s fate, I can share some things that have been consistent throughout all the various drafts and I thoughts I had:

Since this follows directly after the ending of TIAFC, Marty still has strong fear of Doc’s flux capacitors. Despite Doc’s mastery of his time travel skills, Marty is very nervous about the “disintegration” power he has, and is scared of physical contact from him.

Related to the point above, even though he wouldn’t hurt him, Doc wears gloves around Marty to help him feel safer during physical contact (which Doc likes to make a lot of). Doc wearing gloves also serves as an important cue for whether or not there’s going to be any time traveling or “energy-eating” about to happen. 

Marty isn’t going to outlive Doc. Interpret that how you will. I can’t imagine Doc dedicating his life towards his friendship with Marty, only to not be around for the rest of Marty’s life. 

Marty’s not actually being imprisoned in Doc’s estate. He is ~technically~ allowed to leave, but if anything goes wrong, Doc is not going to be happy that something bad happened to his best friend. 

Most ideas for this are about exploring the internal conflict Marty has. If he leaves and gets into something as little as a minor argument with someone, that person is going to suffer and Marty feel feel immensely guilty about it. There’s always potential danger to Hill Valley anytime he goes out. But on the other hand, if he remains inside, he’s going to be with Doc all the time. And Marty is so conflicted, because he’s terrified of Doc, but also knows he used to be friends with him in the past. 

There’s a lot that focuses on Marty’s mental state as time goes on. I haven’t been able to pick a direction on where to take it, but it’s not a fun time for him. 

Thanks for the ask! It was nice to re-visit my notes for this fic. 

[donnerpartyofone]

As a casual bystander, I see a lot of dialog about the economic aspects of AI art, and comparatively little about its actual artistic value--that is, what happens when the viewer consumes it. AI imagery can have a fun, surprising impact that I would compare superficially with broken english; someone who doesn't have mastery over the conventions of a language may come up with excitingly unusual expressions that would never occur to a native speaker. When I see AI art it seems like a lot of the action comes from looking at the prompt and looking at the image and kind of measuring the distance between them, trying to imagine the program's "thought process" if I can call it that. Sometimes these things have an interesting aesthetic too, but it's hard for me to tell where that comes from or how controllable it is (and I mean the real visual effect of the thing, not like "Oh I see, the prompt included 'comic book style'" or something). But the key difference between AI art and human art seems to be the physical presence of the person. I'm not even trying to be sentimental or something, I just mean when I look at most sculptures/paintings/drawings/installations/textiles/etc, I sense the person who made them. I get an idea about the physical energy and discipline and difficulty that went into the creation of the object, and I also get a feeling about what the artist meant by what they did. As a result of who they are and what they have experienced, they developed something that they wanted to say so badly that they were willing to undergo a major trial to say it in a highly specific way.

To be fair intentionality is really slippery and hard to prove unless the individual artist has been very explicit (and even then you can't always trust them, or you can decide their intention isn't as important as your interpretation), but to some degree the viewer is always helplessly projecting something about themselves onto the art and/or their personal construction of who the artist is. You look at art and you estimate what kind of experience that artist seems to have had, and your emotional and interpretive responses to the art naturally draw on your own feelings and memories. That whole part seems to be missing from AI art; of course there's the human composing the prompts, so there's a trace of psychology in that, but the actual creation of the work (as far as I can tell) is done by a program that is not reflecting on its own history, or the personal sacrifices that it made to build its skillset, or its feelings about its own social/political/historical context. Basically there is nothing the program is wrestling with, that the viewer might relate or react to.

Of course art is always a rorschach test on some level, and there is no law that says you have to view works of art as records of biographical fact. Actually there's a whole aspect of art history writing that totally rejects personal and psychological suppositions about art. One of my college advisors loved me when he saw my writing potential, and then completely turned on me when he realized that I was only interested in (or only capable of) a psychoanalytic style of interpretation (my thesis was on a selection of Crumb comics where the artist or his stand-in rides on or inside of powerful female bodies, driving them like tanks or jets, which I thought suggested fear, awe, and jealousy, not just garden variety misogyny). He was a pure historian; you were only allowed to do purely material investigations of the art object, and you could only talk about its larger historical context. He had done some big project on a famous painting cycle with an exclusive focus on the state of industrial paint production at the time of the work. In one of my first classes with him we all went to a museum where everyone was assigned a short essay on one piece there, and the rule was you could ONLY do a formal description, there could be NO interpretation. I wish I could think of the name of it, but my piece was just a clear plastic tube that was stuffed full of rubbish. Coming up with a compelling description of this thing was borderline impossible, I basically just had to list as many pieces of garbage as I could identify--which sounds sort of poetic and funny now, but I'm sure it wasn't when I wrote it. I don't know how much I learned from doing that, but I thought about this professor when I saw the Warhol Diaries docuseries recently. There's a late episode where they talk about Warhol's famous statements about wanting to be a machine and insisting that his art has no personal meaning, and a bunch of experts argue convincingly that his work is actually loaded with personal material, anxiety, longing, shame, etc--it's encoded with the things that Warhol was too afraid to say out loud in a literal way. One particular collector finds all of this totally repulsive and unnecessary, as if it's just a stain on the formal quality of Warhol's output. His way of seeing things is totally valid and not uncommon, but it's curious that he gets so angry when people see Warhol himself in the work. Now I wonder if and how this lens could apply to looking at AI art. Is it possible to do that same kind of purely formal analysis if you don't have an intimate understanding of the AI's mechanics? If it's not possible, and it's still IMpossible to view AI art the same sympathetic way we view human-produced art, what is left?

My question is not rhetorical, and I'm not saying that AI art can't be art because of the absence of human psychology; I don't know if I'm ready to make that conclusion. I think I'm saying that if AI art IS art, then consuming and appreciating it requires a really different philosophy than what most of us are used to using. It might even require a different definition of what makes something art. Maybe AI can produce art, but not art as we have known it. Are we sort of looking at AI art the way we look at shapes formed by clouds? That one looks like a heart. That one looks like a bunny. That one looks like a guy, but he's got too many fingers. My analogy is not perfect because there IS someone whose input inspires the shapes, but there is a similar entropic quality to what shapes are actually produced and why. If there is a God up there molding clouds into familiar shapes, then His thought process is probably beyond our comprehension. Our perception of familiar shapes may be pure projection.

[rosie-kairi]

Other possibility of the Lauriam and Ven travel together AU so like a different branch if you will.

I personally love the theory that Kairi's grandma is master ava (I also make Lea Kairi's older brother and a keyblade wielder already I love tragic siblings what can I say) so when Lauriam gets blasted off he ends up in Radiant Garden and meets up with his old master.

Ava has tried to live a peaceful quiet life and so when she has a daughter she purposely didn't make her a keyblade wielder, teach her about light and darkness or the keyblade war. She wanted her daughter and by extension grandson to live in peace. However things go wrong when she's pregnant with Kairi and goes into labor. Her pure light attracts all sorts or heartless and darkness trying to snuff Kairi's light before she's born. Ava has no choice but to fend off the attack leaving a 12 year old Lea to be midwife and deliver his sister. Unfortunately the strain of the attack and darkness trying to extinguish light means his moms light get taken instead. Her heart passes moments later. Ava blames herself, had she not let fear take hold in her heart perhaps her daughter would have been able to fend off the darkness and not leave her children orphaned. After checking over kairi Ava realizes she's one of the 7 pure lights and realizes in despair she'll be hunted down by darkness. With little choice she tells Lea about her past and begins training him do he can protect his sister.

Lauriam shows up not long after. He fills Ava in on what's happened and the two start piecing things together. Ava realizes MoM orchestrated all this and she was too blind to see the red flags. She promises to help find Ven and properly train Lauriam.

Lauriam becomes a master in those 4 years and looks high and low for Strelitzia and Ven as well as any of the fore tellers and Xehanort but they all seem to be hidden well. He starts hearing rumors of 3 keyblade wielders traveling the worlds and tries to track them down but he's just one step behind.

Lea is getting ready to take his own mark of mastery, he and Lauriam have formed a close friendship, he remind him of Ven and watching Lea take care of Kairi reminds him of being his own sisters caretaker.

By the time Lauriam makes it to the keyblade graveyard the battle is over. Frustration builds he doesn't understand why all his loved ones are out of his reach.

Over the next year he hears Lea and Isa talk about a girl and hope flares that maybe it's skuld. But before he can properly investigate xehanort plunges the world into darkness. Ava teller Lauriam to take the kids and run while she holds off the heartless but even he knows she'll be overwhelmed. He tells Lea and Isa to take Kairi (sadly their 3 fates are sealed) and run but he ends up running into Luxu, same thing happens as before Luxu has been keeping an eye on Lauriam waiting for the right moment and now here it is. He doesn't beat him in a fight Lauriam is much stronger here but he leads Lauriam to think Ven is tied up in the basement. He desperately goes to find him but it's a trap and gets attacked by terranort. As he's becoming a nobody all he can think about is how no matter how strong he gets it's never enough.

Marluxia has only one name in his head that he can remember, Ventus. He doesn't know why being around Roxas is familiar and painful. Being at CO however ironically stirs up his forgotten memories and while he can't find Ven hidden in the chamber he just knows he's there and suddenly understands why Xemnas sent half of them here. So Marluxia purposely plays the villain he doesn't trust himself to protect Ven this time and thinks being killed will be the better option. Sleeping away Ven's heart inside Sora responds to Marluxia making Sora very confused because he hates Marluxia but he also has a deep longing to be with the lord of the castle. Marluxia's final moments are praying Ven and the others are safe and silently apologizes for all his failures.

He has zero memories at the keyblade graveyard it's not until his second death does he remember and thanks sora for "protecting him when he could not" once again confusing sora.

MoM is watching all this and is like hmmmm that Ven and Lauriam maaaaaay be of use to the next phase of my plans. (He's such an asshole).

Basically what if Lauriam went to RG met up with Ava and even though he gets stronger it's still not enough and he's still chasing ghosts and being a step behind just a minute too late to make a difference.

Anon, if you're going to hurt me like this, I'd much prefer you come to my house and shoot me directly rather than torture me psychologically over tumblr asks.

(That is to say, this is great keep it coming)

[bothzangetsus]

oohh, tagged by @mondengel2 (rip to the old blog :') )

How I feel about this character

All the people I ship romantically with this character

My non-romantic OTP for this character

My unpopular opinion about this character

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

for Zangetsu, Isshin and Inoue!

Zangetsu

How I feel about this character: I love him! But I'm forever baffled by the amount of people who love him as a separate character -- to me, he is an extension of Ichigo and little else. I love when he appears because it means we're about to get a great character moment and insight to Ichigo's emotional state, since he as a character isn't prone to externalising much, but not... because I want to see Zangetsu as Zangetsu, if that makes sense. He has no motivations that don't serve Ichigo. (All this assumes we're talking about the proper Zangetsu -- for Yhwach Zangetsu, I do still love him, but in a less "pure" way. He is cruel and borderline sadistic with few redeeming qualities.) All the people I ship romantically with this character: Well. Ichigo. I love selfcest! My non-romantic OTP for this character: You will never guess. (It's Ichigo.) My unpopular opinion about this character: The fact that I do not see him as a separate character is the one, I suppose. I'm trying to come up with things but they all circle back to Ichigo, which feels like it's defeating the point of this game. I also love the fact that Bleach chose to go down the path it did with him -- the "inner demon" trope is well-trodden, and deciding that, in the end, the "demon" is the true nature (and doesn't remove the character's moral standing) was the "correct" choice WRT finally giving something fun, unique, and beyond the scope of commercial media as owing to be didactic in some way, shape, or form. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: MORE SCENES. We deserved to see training sequences after the true nature was revealed. I'm fine with the manga leaving off when true mastery of Zangetsu is still quite far away (especially if we count BOTH Zangetsus -- hehe -- there was just SO MUCH MORE left to explore. SO. MUCH.)

Isshin

How I feel about this character: I LOVE MEDIOCRE PARENTS. Like I am not joking I LOVEEEEE mediocre parents. I especially love stories where the end goal isn't the parent apologising and repenting forever, but the child understanding what pushed the parent to act as they did. Which is not what most people are there for, and I get why! There are too few avenues in real life for children to escape bad homes, even fewer to stand on their feet after doing so, even if the bad home wasn't the worst in every way. I get why he's disliked. I fully understand. However, to me, he is great, and a great blend of good parenting qualities and incredibly bad ones: his prime coping mechanism is avoidance. This leads to few, if any, honest conversations, because even when he COULD help, Isshin is just... not mentally equipped to figure out how to turn avoidance into (gentle!) confrontation. At the same time he is fiercely protective, he just uses the backdoor to express all that. He was not adequate support for three children who had just lost their mother. TL;DR: Love him. He is mid as a parental figure. All the people I ship romantically with this character: I suppose I'll have to bend this question a bit. Bending the 'ship' part: I do love his relationship with Masaki. I found their meeting very cute, and I think both their openness reflects the core themes of Bleach beautifully, and they deserved to be "the" couple that haunts us (there's a reason internal equilibrium is finally reached for Ichigo, thus sealing the longest-running subplot, by us seeing the story of them)! I also appreciate Kubo's freudian id-touching seemingly being 'dude gives up the very core of his life for a woman' (sometimes with disastrous results for both) which is just a fun thing to see in general. However, I don't "ship" them in the sense that I would never seek out fanworks of, idk, them going on dates or whatever. Bending the 'romantically' part: Ichigo. Like omfg he let Ichigo get his anger out on Grand Fisher but didn't let him burden himself with the weight of revenge... he used his reiatsu for three whole months... he was trying to restore ichigo's reiatsu for seventeen whole months... yeah like all of those actions ended up backfiring emotionally but who cares! That's what makes it top tier material. Shoving them in clear 'dad' and 'son' roles is too, IDK, pedestrian to me. Also I'm forever into explorations of incest as both a refuge from trauma and a perpetuation of it. The viewing of your child less as your child and more as your reincarnation, with the added substance into this mix that's the zanpakutou spirit & techniques. The home exists just to crumble babey! Beyond that, I can be easily persuaded to ship him with Ryuuken and Aizen. And Tessai, just because I think it'd be funny. My non-romantic OTP for this character: I loved the little bit of the Urahara-Yoruichi-Isshin dynamic we saw! I think this would be a fun trio. Ryuuken, because awful dad 2 awful dad connection. I would've liked to see more of his relationship with Rangiku, just because they're both the lazy-but-hypercompetent archetype. My unpopular opinion about this character: That he's mid is the one, I guess. Most opinions I see tend to swing hard one way or the other -- either he's irredeemable or he's the One Good Parent we have in shonen -- and my belief boils down to: he tries, and trying isn't good enough, but he doesn't deserve to be condemned for the failed efforts. One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Give him something to do during TYBW. Let him talk to people he knows and has left for several decades.

Inoue

How I feel about this character: I've made many posts on her already, but I love her and hate her and love her. After Hueco Mundo she becomes a large ball of NOTHING for the most part and that breaks my heart.

I'm a hater of both the haters and the Orihime lovers who love her for ummmmmm being sweet and kind or whatever. I am fundamentally disinterested in both people who pretend flaws is all a character is (especially as Bleach is not a direct powerscaling manga, there are no 'levels', the core aspect of it seems to be that the more you understand yourself and others around you the more powerful you are), AND the people who create some flawless princess in their heads.

At her core, I love her: she is broken and traumatised to the point she believes that lying to herself will be the only way to move forward. She was never loved, not properly (Sora loved her but probably did not have enough time to spend with her, Tatsuki loves her but struggles with externalising emotions and also she's also 15 and wasn't always her bestie), and she ends up forming an idea of love as control. She HAS to be needed. She moves in a perpetual cycle of ego-flattery, except the flattery to her own ego is unconscious (whereas she flatters others' egos in her mind all the time.) She needs nothing more than to be indispensable, and in her journey to become that she causes more harm than good. Continuously. She is the only limit her power could possibly have and she cannot get over herself and her need for love enough to realise her potential.

(And, ironically, she cannot get over her need for love enough to find love. People who love her for her! Because the main object of her affection... does not.)

All the people I ship romantically with this character: RIRUKA. My top OTP for her, actually! Riruka is THE tsundere archetype, and the exact type of person who overly directly benefits from Orihime's approach of "pouring loveability outwards will certainly make people warm up to me", because, yes, Riruka does need to see that the option of indiscriminate love is there, on the table, and she can touch it if she wants to. Similarly, Riruka is self-sacrificial & weak (powers-wise) enough that Orihime's more protective instincts will finally have a target that CAN make her feel fulfilled.

I also love her with Rukia -- Rukia is just such a closed character, and Orihime did manage to break through that! She looked so HAPPY when training together! Orihime showed more life banging at the walls when Rukia was hurt than any other time she was in a scene with a friend in HM. I think she's definitely in the top five characters Rukia cares about (if we're counting only alive ones, top three, behind Byakuya and Ichigo).

My last "core" ship with her is her and Nel. Nel is the idealised form of Orihime, free of her self-imposed preoccupations, and she could learn so much from her. Let's move past the jealousy :( And I think Nel herself uses her higher faculties enough to recognise Orihime as a potential warrior, and she deserves someone in her life that's not... you know... [gestures at all non-arrancar hollows in HM]

My non-romantic OTP for this character: anyone! I'm easy! Perhaps Uryuu and Tatsuki can take the top spot here, because they care for her a lot! But I also love what we've seen of her relationship with her brother.

My unpopular opinion about this character: She is a character who is, deeply, cut off from the unfoldment of reality. That makes her fascinating, but it also means that I can't stand most conversations around her.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Assuming I want to see her improve: let someone who is not Ulquiorra confront her for her fuck-ups. Just as she places others upon a pedestal several people in bleachverse do so to her, which keeps her in a constant state of stasis, character development-wise. She is an one step forward two steps back character, and I'd love to see her realise that! I don't care HOW that happens or what unfolds afterwards -- she can get actual godlike powers and be an overpowered BAMF, she can reject fighting altogether, she can go back in time and reject the Hogyoku, whatever. ANYTHING. I want to see her mental progression, no matter how that would have happened when it comes to plot events.

I'd also love a corruption arc, on the opposite side. If she can believe what she's doing is helping, she WILL do it.

[sleekervae]

Yoü & I [2.4]

Masterlist

A/N: Happy Nov 1st everyone! Spooky season is over, my cold is gone and I have a renewed energy to push out some more overdue content while on my reading break. Hope you all enjoy and don't forget to like, comment and reblog ;)

Warnings: mentions of depression, abandonment, attachment issues, family drama

"You see all the world to believe

That there's a lot inside of me But it's time that I'll come clean I'm not what I seem, no Some would say I'm possessed, yeah But I'll confess, I've just been obsessed With life and death and emptiness, I guess Can't you see all of the change in me?You took these starving limbs, try to see Try to see what they could be I thought it would be something I thought you'd complete me That you'd erase all the pain that I felt in my brain If you fill my heart with love Then you'd fill my voids above

And now you see I didn't change a thing"

Maria listened to the recording word-for-word, her heart breaking with every sorrowful note Charlotte sang. She knew Charlotte was a little fragile, but hearing this made her fret beyond words. 

Charlotte meanwhile sat on Maria's bed, clutching her velvet body pillow as she patiently awaited Maria's critiques. Maria pulled the headset off and pushed away from her desk, staring at Charlotte with overwhelming concern.

"That's really fucking deep," she gasped, "When did you write this?"

"Last night," Charlotte admitted, "I got a little drunk and... then I got creative," 

It was evident she was changing, using her complex emotions to weave lyrical mastery. Maria was beyond impressed, she was also scared for her. 

Maria got up from the desk chair and came to sit with her friend on the bed, holding her tightly. She was spooked, Charlotte had a side to her that was much darker and heavier than any of the girls had witnessed during their first EP and album. Maria wanted desperately to take all complexities away, yearning for the days when they'd tease Charlotte about her and Luke's friendship and when Charlotte would tell them all to buzz off. She remembered Charlotte being happier, lighter a year and a half ago.

But she also wasn't happy then, either.

God knew how many mountains it would take before Charlotte would finally find the happiness and peace she wanted. And it was clear that what was once a cute and platonic friendship had stemmed into something that was twisting Maria's best friend inside out and back again. 

"Charlotte," she spoke quietly, "What happened yesterday?" 

Charlotte wiped her nose on her sweater sleeve, she was ironically chilled since it was the dead of summer now. 

"Luke was supposed to come by. We're working on the song I showed you last week, thinking maybe we'd perform it at a couple shows," she huffed quietly, "He stood me up. He called me hours later to apologize but -- I don't know. Maybe I'm just making mountains out of mole hills?"

"What is it?" Maria asked, "Talk to me babe, I don't like seeing you like this," 

Charlotte shrugged, "I just got this idea that he was afraid to be talking to me. He was almost whispering, like he'd be in trouble if..."

"... If Melody knew he was talking to you?" Maria asked. Charlotte scoffed.

"I mean -- you're whispering into the phone while your girlfriend is in the next room? I'm not your damn mistress! I'm your friend! I've been there for him longer than Melody ever has!" 

Maria grabbed her by the shoulders, smoothing out the ripples in her cardigan, "I know Lottie, I know," she nodded, "Do you think maybe that's the problem, though? Melody maybe feels threatened by you?" 

Guilt wormed its way back into Charlotte's gut, her chest tightening. She was selfish, jealous, and yeah, she was definitely needy. 

"I want what's best for Luke, and she thinks she also knows what's best for him but -- I mean, every time they have a fight I'm the one he comes to. I'm the one he escapes with. I --"

"He uses you," Maria stated calmly, "And it's not fair to you. Not with the way you're feeling,"

Charlotte was taken aback, but a little relieved, seeing that someone else could see it to, "Maria..."

Maria shook her head, "You used him just as much as he uses you. It's not his fault, or yours. You're not bad people. But Luke is naive; and so were you for a little while. Melody still has her hooks in Luke and winds him tighter than a bobbin, so the poor kid doesn't know what do to,"

Charlotte sighed heavily, "I mean -- she must be phenomenal in bed or something. I just -- I can't figure it out. Why does he stay with her?"

"For the same reason you stay with Luke," Maria replied. Charlotte found it odd how she spoke in present tense.

"Stay?"

Maria listed off her fingers, "You recognize you're in a complicated situation. You have complicated feelings. You think Luke will give you everything you want. But you won't point out the trouble -- stir the pot, so the speak -- because you're afraid he's going to leave you. Just like Ben did," 

"I'm in a cycle," Charlotte finally admitted, "And I don't know how to stop it," 

"You need to find a way to break it," Maria nodded, looking down despondently, "And maybe that means taking some time off from Luke," 

Charlotte's eyes went wide, "Dude, we're back on the road in days," 

"I know," Maria nodded, "But you don't need to spend so much time with him. Not if it's going to cause you all this grief,"

"I don't have grief when I'm with him --"

"You have grief when he lets you down," Maria acknowledged, "Believe me, you're not the only girl in the world to be fucked over by men -- and their sadistic girlfriends,"

Maria loved Luke like a brother, but even she had to admit that he could be a little asshole at times. What, with the way that he used Charlotte: hiding at her place, confiding in her over and over and still letting her down. He was a good guy, yeah, but he wasn't her priority. Maria would step onto a third rail for Charlotte before Luke any day. 

And as for Melody, Maria would gladly clock her over the head with a Yellow Pages. Who the hell did she think she was? Dictating who Luke could and couldn't speak to? Making Charlotte feel so unwelcome when she was here first! She was the one who kept Luke's head together -- and maybe that was how the cycle could break? 

Charlotte needed to stop being so available.

"Men are a plague on all logical reason and thought," Charlotte huffed, lying back onto the duvet. Maria laid back with her.

"And no matter what, we're cursed to want to love them," she said, grasping Charlotte's cold hand, "... But we also need to protect ourselves from them,"

♛♛♛

This time around, Charlotte dreaded having to go back on tour. She believed Maria was right in that she needed some time apart from Luke. And yet, they'd be stuck together for three straight months, confined in tiny buses and green rooms. 

At least they were starting close to home -- New York State. On their way to Uncasville, Charlotte stopped back in Brooklyn for a couple days; knowing Troy wouldn't care so much but Penelope would give her the classic 'Greek Guilt' for not visiting. 

The Antonakis family sat at the dinner table, silently albeit. Troy was picking at his peas and carrots while Charlotte craved a cold beer as opposed to the glass of water her mom stuck to her. Penelope was noisily and obnoxiously cutting into her chicken breast, annoyed that her kids were being so quiet. 

"So, Charlotte," she finally said, "How was Europe?"

Charlotte glanced at Penelope, perplexed that she only asked after three dragging hours, "Beautiful," she answered truthfully, "We went to Vienna, Berlin, Rome..." 

"Did you see Hitler's bunker?" Troy asked, now more engaged than before.

"Yeah," Charlotte nodded, "It's a parking lot. No memorials or nothing. Just a dirty, greasy lot," 

"How fitting," Penelope nodded, "And the girls are okay?"

"They're great," she replied, "We're working on some new music,"

"You know what you're doing now?" Troy asked smugly.

Charlotte glowered at him, "Yes, Mr. Smartass," 

"And those boys you're traveling with?" Penelope finally asked, "Where are they from, England?"

"Australia," both Charlotte and Troy replied.

"Oh, that's right," Penelope grinned, "A bunch of koala huggers,"

Troy glanced listlessly at his mom, "I want to hold a koala someday,"

"They all carry diseases, darling. That's the last thing you want," Penelope warned.

"You can hang out with koalas at the zoo," Troy pointed out.

"That's the Central Park Zoo. They've all been sterilized," she replied promptly. 

Charlotte shook her head, "I feel like I'm in a zoo, sometimes," she muttered quietly. 

"And you excited for school, Troy?" Penelope asked, "Still floundering away in... what am I paying for, again?"

"Communications," Troy glared at his mom, "And I'm footing half the bill now," 

"Oh of course, that's right," Penelope turned to Charlotte, less than impressed, "Our baby boy has a job now," 

"Really?" Charlotte was surprised, if not a little relieved. He had to start paying back his student loans somehow and it was about time he pulled up his socks, "Where?"

"The pizza shop down the road. You make great tips," Troy grinned.

"He's the delivery boy," Penelope said, "Finally has an excuse to get that rusty old bike out of the yard," 

"That's great, Troy," Charlotte smiled.

"Thank you,"

"Now if only we could change his taste in loose women, then I'd be happy," Penelope said. 

Troy dropped his fork, the utensil clattered loudly against the porcelain, "I told you, I stopped seeing her," he sang sarcastically.

"And you still don't tell me where you go at night," Penelope mocked back. 

Charlotte glared between the both of them, "You just told me he's a delivery boy for a pizza shop," she said.

Penelope scoffed, "Oh, no. He has the day shifts. At night he's out at all hours and comes back early in the morning. Doesn't say where he's been but I always smell sex on him," she glowered at her son.

Troy rolled his eyes and turned to his sister, "Can I please come on tour with you?" Charlotte shook her head. 

"I'll stop getting after you when you tell me where you go at night," Penelope said.

"Why don't you stop trying to insert yourself into my life? You're like a stalker, mom!" Troy bit back, "You're a creep!" 

"Troy!" Charlotte scolded.

"I told you, if you weren't going to be truthful with me, then I'll find out for myself," Penelope told him. 

"That's bullshit!"

"Oh my God, you guys!"

"No swearing in my house!" Penelope scolded, "If you don't like my rules, then you can go live somewhere else,"

Troy, now red in the face, pushed himself away from the table and stood, "Fine, I will. Psycho!" he then stormed out. Two seconds later he stormed back in and grabbed his dinner plate, then stormed out again. 

Charlotte put her face in her hands; her crackhead family was the last thing she needed to deal with right now. Penelope shook her head and kept on eating.

"He'll be back," she sighed, "He left his phone on the chair," she also had a rule about having no phones at the table.

Charlotte shook her head, "I don't get why you're so hard on him," she said, "He's nineteen for God sakes,"

Penelope scoffed back, "And he's a boy. And I trust the opposite sex about as far as I can throw them," 

"Mom, that's ridiculous," she sighed, "Men are -- dumb, yeah -- but they're not all out to hurt you,"

"Oh no? How do you explain your father?" she glowered, "Up and left when you were seven years old! Totting off with a little Russian floozy at the Meat Packing District --"

"I know, mom! I know what happened, and we haven't seen Dad in years," Charlotte nodded, now getting irritated. It was the same story over and over whenever one her kids acted out; she'd guilt them into remembering how their father left and how they had to swear never to turn out to be deadbeats like him. 

Penelope snorted, "Old fool. Didn't even come crawling back when his baby scratched the skies of success -- and making us some actual money," 

Charlotte was unsure where her mom was veering off now, "... Is this some misguided attempt to get me to pay for Troy's tuition?"

"No," Penelope shook her head, "I have they money to pay for all of it. Let him think he's being a man, though. That boy has no idea what the world's gonna' do to him," 

Charlotte pressed her lips together, "Well, maybe he would if you would... I don't know... loosen the leash a little," 

Penelope glared at her with shock, "Loosen the leash? You give 'em an inch, they take a mile. You can't trust men, Charlotte,"

"Well, Troy's not going to trust you if you don't let him breath a little," Charlotte argued, "What is it with you? You sound like you don't like men at all!" 

"Charlotte, I love your brother!" she hissed back, her posture softening a little, "He's my baby. He's all I got left of your father -- and you. You're gone a lot, especially this year. And the more successful you get, the longer you'll be gone. Is it so bad for me to not want to be alone as I get older?"

Charlotte swallowed the lump in her throat. In her mom she could recognize the very issues she was dealing with: abandonment. Maybe this was where all her issues stemmed from, but like Penelope she wanted to keep the people she cherished so much as close to her as possible, even if they didn't reciprocate her feelings. She didn't smother Troy because she was a control freak, but because she didn't want to be alone. Her husband had disappeared off the grid and her daughter was touring from continent to continent, of course she would be a little lonely. 

"Mom, you're not alone," Charlotte finally said, "You'll always have Troy and I -- even if we are half-way across the world. But -- smothering your kids is just bound to drive them away, and then you'll definitely be alone. We love you, but you make it really hard for us to like you. And when you get all crazy on us, we don't want to be around you, so of course you're going to feel alone,"

Penelope stared despondently at her chicken and veggies, letting her daughter's words slowly sink in, "I've been driving you all away?" she said quietly.

"I wouldn't necessarily say 'driving us away', but you need to calm down. Let Troy be a nineteen-year-old kid. Men are naive, yeah, but they're not all out to hurt us. We are all trying to navigate the world for ourselves so we do what we think is right for us. And in Troy's mind, the further he get away from you, the happier he'll be," Charlotte said, "Give him some to breathe, and he'll come back," 

Penelope nodded slowly, "Maybe you're right, honey," she sighed, then she reached over and grabbed Troy's phone from the empty chair, "Besides, he has to come back anyway. That boy's life revolves on this thing,"

♛♛♛

Charlotte sat on the rooftop, smoking a joint and looking out over Brooklyn by night. The bridge was illuminated in bright blue lamps that casted diamond-esque reflections over the rippling water. Cars buzzed through the dark like fire flies, and someone had their wood-burning stove running, the comforting scent of a camp fire was floating through the air. It was cooler now than it had been earlier, summers in New York were exceptionally hot and the night was the only refuge you could get if you didn't have an AC. 

Penelope had been quiet most of the night, when Charlotte went up she was still sitting on the couch and watching Jeopardy, waiting for Troy to come home and apologize. On the one hand, Charlotte was relieved she could talk some sense into her overzealous mother, on the other hand, she couldn't wait to get back on the road and away from her family. There was too much drama she just didn't want to cope with at the time. 

Speaking of drama, she jumped when her phone rang beside her. Her heart sank when she saw Luke was calling her -- again. He had been trying to get in contact with her since they landed in New York, but Charlotte was taking Maria's advice and staving off her friend. Maybe he'd think she was mean, maybe that she was a bitch for ignoring him? Fine. 

She was upset, and she had every right to be. Her brain was doing somersaults, trying to weed out ways in which she could just turn her emotions for him off. She wanted to go back to way things were before, when Luke was nothing more to her than a goofball who liked penguins and sending ridiculous snapchats her way. When her stomach didn't sink every time he was near her. 

Charlotte ignored the call and continued to smoke, but the joint didn't seem to want to do its job tonight. If anything, it only made her think about Luke more. What was she going to say to him when they finally would have to meet up? Sorry, your girlfriend is a cunt and she's not going to dictate whether or not we can friends. By the way, I also happen to be in love with you and could treat you way better than she ever could. 

No, Charlotte shook her head, it's safer for you if you just keep your mouth shut. 

Inexplicably, her phone rang again. Luke was relentless this time, and Charlotte's patience was running thin. She reluctantly picked up the call.

"Hi," she greeted quietly.

She heard exhale on the other side, "You are mad with me, aren't you?" it hurt to hear because his voice was smooth velvet, and you could hear the disappointment in his voice. 

"... I'm not happy," Charlotte admitted. 

"I should've called you earlier, I know," he said, "I didn't mean to stand you up, Char, honestly,"

"I know," Charlotte nodded, "Luke, it's not just that, though,"

"What is it, then?" he seemed a little impatient now, "Charlotte, you've been ignoring me for days,"

"I know," 

"Did I do something?" that was a rhetorical question. So many things, and yet nothing at all. She just wanted to scream that it wasn't him that was the problem. 

"Luke... I got some shit I'm just trying to deal with," she kept it as vague as possible, "My family is stressing me out, I'm scrambling to get a song produced by November, I have to live out of a suitcase for the next three months, I just --" she trailed off quietly, unsure of what it was she wanted to say.

"Talk to me," Luke begged, "What's going on, Charlotte? You can always talk to me," 

Oh, how I wish that were true, now.

"I need to figure some things out, is all. So, maybe for the next little while... you wouldn't mind giving me some space?" Charlotte whimpered out meekly. 

The line was quiet, but she could still hear him breathing. She figured his mind was racing, trying to piece together what Charlotte was trying to say but she doubted he would know.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked again, "'Cause I never want to hurt you," 

"This isn't about you, Luke," Charlotte lied again, "It has more to do with me," 

"Okay," he finally relented, "If I did anything, then I'm really sorry, Charlotte,"

How is it always about him?

"I know, Luke," she swallowed nervously, "I'll see on Friday?"

"See you Friday, I --" she hung up before he could finish, knowing that the next three words to leave his lips would have her agonizing the rest of the week. 

Little did Charlotte know however, across the street from her townhouse, Luke was hiding behind a corner at the end of the block. He was going crazy in his hotel room in Manhattan, trying and failing to reach her, so he flagged down a cab and went straight for Brooklyn.

He could see Charlotte's silhouette on the roof, the wisps of smoke floating from her joint. There was a cloud of gloom around her, he could see it from a mile away. He wanted to stop her pain, relieve her but he didn't know why she was upset. Not that she wouldn't dare tell him. 

He was trapped in a cycle with her, trying to get her to confide in him just as he did when she was with Ben. Eventually she would open up about what was happening, the key was to let her wait it out until she was ready to talk, she would come to him when she wanted. And no matter what, no matter what was happening, Luke would swear to drop it all and listen. He hadn't been a good friend to Charlotte, and he was determined to make it up to her now.

[zoroara]

OCtober challenge Day 30 - Worm

The longer the wait more the anticipation from both parties grew. Tyr had made sure to keep an eye on the brat as he trained. After all, just because he was hoping this kid would be able to beat him. Didn't mean he was going to lie down and let him take this win.

No, he was going to make him go through a living hell that he had to barely worm his way to victory if he could. Teach him the hell that exists even if you're skilled that you'll nearly die against some opponents, and hopefully, that even if you're a seemingly invincible monster. That the opponent being somewhat inexperienced doesn't mean you can't be taken down by them.

When the battle finally happened, Tyr was more than ready. He was surprised how well Squalo kept up with him, occasionally mimicking moves that Tyr had used and then trying to throw him off with it. It was exciting, he had never fought himself, his own sword style, so having that mixed in as well as the brat learning quickly as they fought made this battle exhilarating.

Blow for blow, swords crossed, blocked, parried, a dangerous dance that went on almost endlessly neither could even think for a second about the fact it had been two days and a whole night since they started. They didn't have time, they needed to ignore the hunger and thirst they had as they continued to clash, bleeding out more and more. It was no longer a battle of pure skill but endurance, and Tyr being a bigger target, meant it was easier for Squalo to eek in more damages.

But Tyr was always inhuman with his limitations, charging the kid he goes to stab him but blocked again, though Tyr could tell he was weakening much faster. He could see an intense fear flash in Squalo's eyes, that he was forcing to become excitement and enjoyment of this battle so that he wouldn't falter. But that only made what happened next make sense. Squalo when Tyr had been pulling his sword back from the block ran at him wildly swinging his sword in what was clearly unthinking desperation. A move only someone who was still new would even attempt.

These were the final blows needed, tearing apart Tyr's chest and leaving him with lethal wounds. He laughed, falling to the ground. He weakly says to Squalo.

"Heeeeey... Welcome ta the Varia brat... You know, the victim's supposed ta choose how they die... So can ya take my head off fer me with my sword? I think that'd be fittin'."

He was glad that Squalo didn't hesitate. Whatever was the reason it was that he listened seeing his own heavy blade lifted over his head, the last sight that many of his own victims had seen, made him elated. Shame he couldn't experience the full drop as his life was removed as it slammed into his neck, decapitating him.

And one chapter closes, that doesn't mean I won't write about him other times for before this time. But it felt a fitting end in the terms of this month.

It should be noted that yes, Tyr's signature way of killing people is kicking them over and decapitating them. Which is why he thought it'd be fitting that his life was ended that way too. But this fight gives Squalo plenty of reasons that he never fucking talks about this to the point that the only person who even mentions this battle is Dino.

Also yes, that was Scontro di Squalo, as it was said this was the final move that Squalo created and what was that killed Tyr. Which I had been thinking about a lot. We probably only see a more refined version of it, and interestingly a move we only see succeed against other sword masters as every battle that it's used, even Yamamoto's version of it fails against non-swordmasters or people who aren't playing by normal sword play rules like genkishi.

It is a move that would only theoretically work against someone expecting mastery, and is extremely hard to deflect or counter just due to the sheer amount of sword swings coming your way. But if they don't do that and go around it, then you're kind of fucked.

[gascon-en-exil]

@deathbirby said

I'm trying to 100% Hopes and trust me it is a living hell. Good on you for saying no to that!

Oh, I did finish Hopes 100% about a year ago, at least by filling out the support log and event gallery and doing all the achievements. I was thinking about doing what I'd done with Houses and mastering all classes with all characters (all skills too, but those are auto-leveled in Hopes so they're not really relevant), but I eventually lost interest.

Unnecessarily analytical breakdown of gameplay in a way that only I would ever possibly care about below.

Hopes being less restrictive makes it less feasible to pursue 100% completion. This isn't that weird when talking about games as a whole - even within FE, Engage is more open-ended still while offering basically zero incentive to completionists - but it's the specific ways in which Hopes is less restrictive that let it down.

Houses limiting you to one dancer per playthrough forces a hard minimum of 29 runs to master all classes with all characters. That restriction doesn't exist in Hopes, leaving the only realistic one to be the number of runs needed to fill the event gallery. That's just six: two of each route, one where you recruit Byleth and one where you don't. Skill ranks may not be an issue and there are slightly fewer classes overall than in Houses, but there's still no way that you can have everyone master everything in just six runs. Byleth on their own is a nightmare since they have some of the worst availability, they can't be recruited in half of the mandatory runs, and like Shez their gender variability gives them more class options than other characters. There's also the Renown characters if you want to include them, where Sothis and Rhea can literally never be used outside the Record Keeper (which I'd consider grinding and therefore off-limits if you want to be efficient) and Arval is only available in a single paralogue that you won't want to access more than once since it's mutually incompatible with Byleth's recruitment. You could try building those characters up in base training alone...but I have no idea how many runs that would take.

Oh, and then there are combat arts and spells! Those aren't relevant to Houses 100%, but in Hopes they can be trained and maxed out...and there's a ton of them. Characters learn something like 50-60 arts/spells, there's around a dozen more from relics, and the incredibly obscure peer training mechanic technically allows units to learn almost all of 100 or so regularly-available arts/spells. Some of the white magic spells will also require you to do some obnoxious grindy stuff on maps to max them out, especially Restore. There is no way any of that is happening in a timely fashion, and it won't be remotely enjoyable even for someone like me.

Hopes being more clever about availability than Houses and suggesting an overall less daunting number of runs for class mastery - the 10-12 I'd estimate is still less than half that of Houses's 29 - is appealing, but I don't think that'd ever be enough for me to consider seriously giving it a go.