#Delicate and dangerous

[yeetus-feetus]

how come all the other ships get fae lord/prince x runaway human prince AUs!?

Where is the over 5k fic about Fae Ra's al Ghul and human prince Timmy???

Timmy who's kingdom has fallen apart, who has runaway to find a way to bring back the dead king and restore peace and order to his home. Timmy who determined to complete this quest in spite of all others doubts, who would rather die in unknown lands than give up and be proven wrong. He must do this; for his people, for his brothers, for himself.

Ra's, a powerful Fae lord who finds a young human that has stumbled into his domain. Centuries old, ethereal, mysterious, draped in the finest of fabrics. Ra's offers a deal, a typical Fae kind of bargain. The Fae play tricks, twists words, play games; but this human boy is smart. This human boy he finds himself holding great respect for.

Dealing with Fae, what trade do they agree upon, is it a delicious mistake?

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

[cookies-after-dark]

hear me out… shmilk and pure vanilla being VERY jealous over their darling 😋

(additional tags: yandere, unhealthy dynamics, obsessiveness, isolation)

(ships: yan!pure vanilla cookie x reader x yan!shadow milk cookie)

Do you mean, like, with each other? Or with other cookies?

I do love underwear sharing a darling because there needs to be some type of unbreakable trust there. Not even necessarily a love between them, just the knowledge that the worst person in the world that loves the same darling as you do won't fuck up, and neither will you.

There can be yandere!PV x Shmilk working together in a "You're the only person I trust and I feel safe to share my darling with you" way or working together in a "You're the only person I trust because you're just as ruthless as I am and I would have no hesitation in getting rid of you but I can't, your only saving grace is that you love MY darling almost as much as me, so let's work something out" way.

I think either way, yan!PV and yan!Shmilk would be very clingy and insecure in their own ways. Buuuuut now that I think about it, I think these two are in too different of yanderes that they would get along most of the time (PV ultimately cares about your feelings and comfort, Shadow Milk ultimately does not).

But with other cookies? Hell no to that! Shadow Milk Cookie would keep you so locked up in the Spire that you wouldn't even have the slightest chance of even looking at another cookie, and Pure Vanilla doesn't leave you alone long enough to miss whenever another cookie tries to get your attention. While in completely different spots of the morality spectrum, Pure Vanilla Cookie and Shadow Milk Cookie would react quite poorly to having your attention elsewhere. Pure Vanilla in an "anguished breakdown" way and Shadow Milk in a "true crime podcast subject" way.

[quadrantadvisor]

One of my favorite little moments in Slay the Princess is when you choose to examine her chains, because the Narrator blatantly, brazenly, successfully manipulates your reality, and if you aren't already in the know, you'd never notice.

Oh, really? I can't even imagine breaking these chains? Well, there's no reason for me not to believe that, so it must be true. You are a voice of authority, The Narrator, after all. How about a key?

Well, if it's that illogical for a key to be somewhere around here, I guess there's no point in even looking.

I haven't played the Pristine Cut routes, so I may be wrong, but I can't think of a single path where you ever question these assumptions. You can't break the chain, and there is no key, because somebody matter-of-factly put those ideas into your head the moment he could.

[michaelswaist]

Guys…

[slayerdurge]

post-ending banite dictators durgetash + “damn it, you two. not in front of the statue of bane.” [part 2/3]

[pastelsugar6w6]

Height difference with MaeMag and Maglor is the smallest of the brothers (not just height but also very slender since he doesn't do anything physically demanding like hunting or smithing). Short Mag with a waist tiny enough for Mae to wrap his hands around and lift him to reach books on the topshelf. Do you get what I'm saying?

[illcitaffrs]

delicate is so chenry trying to find their pace as a couple after being best friends for their whole entire lives

[bathenaswopez]

My ot3 <3

[the-blossica-fan]

Feeling #blessed in this Walmart tonight (saw the 2.2 and 2.5 announcements) so have some fun things:

To promote better suitcase harmony (Vertin asking them to get along), certain Arcanists engage in group bonding exercises based on their shared abilities. (Similar kits)

The Fire Quartet (Ulu, J, Isolde, and Spathodea) all do metal work and blacksmithing together. They stick their hands in the fire made by Ulu to make sure it's hot enough (and to scare people)

The Poison Party (Tuesday, Sotheby, Jessica, and later Willow) all drink tea together that may or may not even be tea, but a strange amalgamation that is drinkable to them (but extremely dangerous to others)

The Academic Assembly (6, 37, Windsong, and Getian) have some of the longest discussions ranging from mathematics, literature, philosophy, and interestingly landscaping. (Marcus has read several books, 6 and 37 use math, Windsong leylines, and Getian uses instinct honed by his culture)

Team work baby 💪💪

I don't think Isolde would be too useful during the blacksmithing progress considering her health, but during this progress she brings them drinks and watches the progress from a safe distance.

Ulu as the fire, J as the teacher, Spathodea and Lopera (She's burn too right?) are his students. They all come out sweaty, dirty and with funny looking swords and weapons, they're proud of their work.

And their wobbly sword made through team work.

Poison team would be the creepiest to encounter because they'll sit around a pot and place whatever the hell is poisonous to create the most concerning beverage on earth.

Kanjira and Jessica wouldn't be placing anything on the pot since Kanjira's poison comes from Punji and Jessica's poison comes from the experimentations they did on her (I think)

But Tuesday, Sotheby and Willow would be placing plants with names that sound as unique as they look. They all take a sip and if one of them starts to feel sick then it means they found a new low.

And if they see someone walking by their witch's pot, expect to see them in a hospital bed with Sotheby explaining the symptoms.

The academic assembly is the most peaceful of the bunch, only 37 would ramble about mathematics for hours on end while the others do their work and say some important theories about said topic.

Especially Getian, whose knowledge is ancient, so conversations get an interesting twist when he points out the differences between this and the past.

Unless you're Regulus, their commentaries and theories are very interesting and informative.

[0bsequi0us]

tfw everyone characterizes your blorbo wrong and you can't tell if this is just a case of fandom being dumb or you're actually the problem and you've been the one interpreting the character wrong all along

[isame-allen]

Guys new sibling au info dropped

This time is on the Jacksons, since I’ve hc them to be Chinese here’s their Chinese names :D

• Victoria - 江之华 Jiang Zhihua (beautiful as flower)

• Cross - 姜震烨 Jiang Zhenye (brilliant, have a great future)

• Slash - 蔣嫵坤 Jiang Wukun (charming and feminine)

• Chris - 姜惠和 Jiang Huihe (benevolence and harmony, a smart and kind person

Jiang is their surnames so all of their full names would be

Victoria ‘Crow’ Zhihua Jackson

Cross Zhenye Jackson

Slash Wukun Jackson

And Christopher Huihe Jackson

[qualityrain]

holding your hand very gently and telling you you do not want a roleswap/genderbent hny. you would not like a narrative of a man trying to find the meaning of life and existence beyond romance and family expectations while the woman is dependent on the man. you just want badass assassin satoko and thats ok. you can just say that.

[acauvii]

Ah...yes, it's been a few years but I remember why I was so obsessed with them now...

ZZS is what happens when a bottom has top energy so powerful it creates a paradox and WKX is what happens when a top loses one argument and never emotionally recovers.

Absolutely feral.

WKX needs to be taught some manners.

[abombihoney]

What's the deal with Leif in the Venom AU? Is he a modern bug or did he get time travelled some other way?

(also what color is he)

He's a modern bug! He was raised by his grandparents which is why he talks like he's a hundred million years old.

He's married to muse and is a researcher! He studies languages and knows quite a few! He actually knows quite a bit of roach, while not fluent, he is the foremost expert in bugaria.

When Kabbu and Vi go to snakemouth den, instead of getting trapped, they get chased out by the spider. Kabbu knows Leif, and that he's interested in roach stuff and mentioned what they discovered. Leif of course, like any sane person with a special interest, immediately demands that he come on their next incredibly dangerous excursion.

Which of course, is how he gets venomed lol. And yeah, he's red btw. If i made him blue then I'd have to make all of team snakemouth blue.

[bathenaswopez]

#when ur an okok gf with a lala bf

Danger Force (TV 2020-2024) || That 90s Show (TV 2023-2024)