#Everyone thinks it's a post reveal (like the characters do)

[sexybritishllama]

okay i've finally sat with my feelings long enough after listening to the finale and now i come to you all with one message: PLEASE LISTEN TO THE SILT VERSES

'what even is that', you might ask, to which i will answer that it is

some of the best fiction i've consumed in recent memory with unbelievably well-written characters and worldbuilding

more specifically: it is a weird fiction and horror-fantasy podcast set in a world where gods are real, gods are everywhere, and they must feed, and they must be fed.

the story starts off following two acolytes of an outlawed god as they set out on a pilgrimage up river, and as the story unfolds you find out more about this world, what it means for a god to be unlawful, what other kind of gods there are out there, the systems that enable all of this, and, most importantly, how people go on living in a world dictated by the hunger of great and powerful things beyond our understanding

i could say more, but i really do think the way the world and plot gets revealed to you as you listen is part of the joy, so i really don't want to spoil much more just please please give it a go because it genuinely blew me away and now i need everyone else to understand

you can listen on their website here, but also on apple or spotify or any of those other places people listen to podcasts

have issues processing audio stuff or just don't like listening to narrative podcasts? good news, they have transcripts for all their episodes too, which have their own delightful appeal in the parentheticals and stage directions

other random points:

it is a FINISHED story, it has 3 seasons with 46 episodes (which is really digestible compared to other podcasts that i can appreciate have an overwhelming number of hours in them)

it honestly feels reductive to even bring it up but it's worth mentioning that cast is full of queer characters, but that's also like, the least interesting thing about any of them because they have SO much else going on

we've got found family (derogatory)

we've got shrimp gods

literally what else could you ask for why are you even still reading this post go listen to/read it NOW

[bloopitynoot]

Reading TGCF: Chapter Eleven

For those who don't know, I am reading TGCF for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag Bloopitynoot reads TGCF. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read BUT if you followed along with my SVSSS read, the rules and vibe are the same.

Surprise! It is not masala chai; today I have a regular black tea with milk and sugar.

In other news, in celebration of finishing book one I have purchased book 3! It should get here Friday, and I can't wait. Shout out to my manager for fueling my habits with the indigo gift card she gave me for Christmas.

Let's go chapter 11!!!!!!!!

They better stop! coming on immediately so strong with the most sincere and heartfelt title calling!! p355

"You were the groom?" he's saying these things like this man doesn't want to wife him right now. Xie Lian LOL watch what you're saying. p356

This chapter is too much. My heart! The flirting! "May I take these words as a compliment?" Can't you tell they're compliments? p357

Again mxtx and the worlds most complicated characters. Making me feel things, and second guess everyone's motivations. Re: Banyue telling xie lian and hua cheng that General Pei Jr isn't a bad person. p359

If Hua Cheng and Xie Lian both picked their fake names from the same poem, I hereby declare them soulmates. No take backs, it's done. p360

You know what, if all else fails, Xie Lian would make an excellent motivational speaker. "I want to save the common people" "Do what you think is right" "Nothing can block your way" The cutest little "hang in there" cat poster embodied. p361

THE CHEEK POKE! Followed by "Not bad" I am wheezing! This awkward man. p363

Oh no, my emotions. Hua Cheng about his true face, "I'll let you see it someday, if there's a chance" p364

"those were good words" poor baby flustered xie lian. He cannot handle a single sincere compliment from Hua Cheng. The pillow talk in this chapter is so dang cute! p367

Here I am reading these words and lowkey hoping that it was Hua Cheng who Xie Lian told to "live for him". My biggest question at this point in the series is why/when/how did Huan Cheng become so into Xie Lian. It feels like he's known this guy for a very long time. p368 (do not actually tell me this. it'll probably be revealed later, but with Xie Lian, unreliable narrator, I feel like it'll be right before the extras LOL).

BRO LEFT HIM. WITH A PROMISE THEY WOULD MEET SINCERELY AGAIN. AND LEFT HIM A RING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG this is so precious, TOO MUCH. p372

I totally thought the end of this chapter would ruin me

I was NOT wrong, but it was in a very unexpected way! I expected tragedy and I got the cutest fucking pillow talk, a PROMISE and a RING. WHAT.

[stupidrant]

Hey yall I dont wanna damper anyones day but @bellaaldamas brought to my attention that trolls potentially messed with Angrb*da’s searches on google to flood it with only mentioning the wh*tew*shing m0d that got deleted back when the PC version came out. This might very well be the case since prior to that, it wasnt ONLY mentioning the mods or mentioning something like that AT ALL. Not to mention the wh*tew*shing m0d picture is one of the main images you see if you search her up. What the actual fuck. Its bad enough theres troll activity or just negativity when you search her up regardless but this is next level deranged. What really confuses me so much is that most people literally dont know, care or even like this mod as much as these trolls are pushing so what exactly is the goal and did they think nobody was gonna notice either?

Maria found more info and apparently you cant even put the mod in the game. The only point of it was to be a model of anti-woke/sweet baby inc. similarly to that of the horrendous angrb*da facetune that predates it 😐 it serves no purpose outside of it being a model so it was literally a FAIL and come to find out, the creator of the mod doesnt even know or care about god of war. WTF.

[bloodyfries]

Sort of morbid au idea but what if system points were like health points. They already are pretty close since hitting zero means death. Though my thought process was more like sqq and sqh would take physical damage if they got point deductions. The amount of said physical damage depending on how many points they loss. I don't think that it would count actually health in the matter, like if either of them took non system damage it wouldn't effect their points (same way around for healing). Though to give them some slack I think they'd only be effected by loss of normal points, not b-points or protag satisfaction.

This could either start from the very beginning or this could be implemented because the system thinks that sqq and sqh are too lenient with their point loss (or just their behavior in general). Either way I think it would be horrifying (more than the whole 'drop to zero points and you essentially die') and very angsty. It would also make it a lot harder to hide the transmigration.

[deus-ex-mona]

when the slowburn makes the ship extra cute~~~

[underforeversgrace]

after the water

DannyMay2023 Day 30: Post Reveal

title: after the water

words: 1770

Summary: Part 2 of under the river by popular demand

Part 2 of 2

Warnings: None!

AU: Trans Danny Fenton

Beta by: @probably-dead

~~~~~~

Silence stretched like a chasm between the two hunters and the ghost of their son, neither sure how to respond.

“Yeah,” Jack finally said. “It’s us, kiddo.”

Jack grimaced as Danny glanced to the weapons on his and Maddie’s belts before coming closer and accepting his father’s outstretched hand. Jack tried to give a comforting smile as he pulled the specter close to him in a gentle hug, the ache in his chest having nothing to do with the recent near-drowning experience he had suffered.

“We need to talk, don’t we?” Phantom mumbled, setting his feet on the ground but not releasing Jack’s hand, which was a small comfort.

“I think so, sweetie.” Maddie said, stepping closer and reaching for him as well. He flinched some but recovered quickly, giving her a tentative smile, which she took as permission, gently laying a hand on his shoulder.

Phantom glanced at the water behind him, where Jazz’s car now rested. Ah, they were going to have to buy her a new car, weren’t they? Well, it wasn’t Jack’s fault Jazz’s normal car hadn’t been able to handle that curve at a hundred twenty miles per hour! The GAV would’ve been able to! And Jazz was the one who insisted on having a normal car and not letting her parents build her one when they’d offered!

Oh, she was going to be so mad.

“I think I need to give us all a lift home, if… if you trust me?” Danny said with a wry grin. Maddie and Jack shot a quick glance at each other before simultaneously nodding. Ghost of their son or not, this was still their son. He still had done everything he could to save his father. Did this mean they had three children now? Jazz, Danny, and Danny’s ghost?

Did Phantom already live there? He had just called it home. Or was he just remembering his life?

“Uh, prepare for liftoff?” He said as he grabbed both his parents’ hands firmly. A chill sunk deep into Jack, spreading from his hand to his entire body as Phantom passed his abilities to them, lifting the two of them effortlessly. “Might feel weird, by the way. I’m going to make us all intangible. Apparently the wind is a little much for humans.”

Another, deeper cold settled into Jack and the sudden sensation of not being able to feel swept across him as they flew. The sun, the temperature, the wind, Danny’s hand in his own - Jack could feel none of it. And then - after several minutes of silence, none able to hear over the roar of the wind as the flew the many, many miles home - when Danny phased them in through the top of the building, Jack felt suffocated as his entire body went through solid concrete and steel, a sudden instinctual fear gripping his stomach as he wondered what would happen to him if Phantom decided to return them back to the tangible plane while they were encased like this.

But his fear was entirely unfounded as Phantom simply guided them to the kitchen and set them on the floor, releasing his grip on them immediately and floating back several feet away from them, keeping an eye on the ghost shield button across the kitchen from where he’d set them.

Realization - again - slapped Jack across the face. Danny had put them as far away from the button as possible so if either of them made for it, he could escape before the shield came down.

“So. Talking?” Danny asked, crossing his legs and floating in midair.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing out of Jack’s mouth. He had a million other questions but first he needed to know if his son was okay.

“Well, I haven’t been shot today!” Danny said with a grin before a face of embarrassment settled as both parents looked at him in horror. “Ah. Not a good joke. Sorry. Are you okay, Dad? You’re the one who nearly drowned.”

Jack waved the question away. “I’m fine, son. You saved me, after all.”

A green blush rose into his face. “No problem.” he mumbled.

“Can I ask what happened?” Maddie asked cautiously. “I understand if not!”

“Oh, uh, yeah I can talk about it. Any ghost can, actually, some just don’t want to. It is typically something traumatizing, y’know?” he answered with a shrug. Jack took a deep breath, bracing for whatever his son was about to say. Ghosts didn’t form from peaceful deaths and Jack only knew of one incident Danny had been in that could have hurt him that bad. “I may have lied about how bad the portal was?”

Jack ran a hand through his hair, gripping and pulling at some strands. “You died.” he whispered, a statement, not a question.

“I got better!” Danny quickly insisted, suddenly standing (floating?) back up, shaking his hands at them to calm down.

“And you’ve been hiding this from us?” Maddie spoke up.

Phantom’s eyes dropped to the floor. “Can you blame me?” he asked softly.

“You really thought we wouldn’t accept you?” Maddie asked, the hurt in her voice mirroring the pain in Jack’s heart. “We’ve always accepted you!”

Danny snorted. “Are you really trying to equate me transitioning to this situation?”

“We told you then - you will always be our child, our son. That’s still true. We will always accept you.” Jack said gently.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t see the similarities in buying me a binder and getting me scheduled with a doctor equated to becoming a ghost!” Danny snapped at them. He continued, quieter. “You don’t hate men. You don’t hate trans people. You loathe a ghost’s simple existence. Even before the portal opened, I knew what you wanted to do to a ghost. What do you want me to say?”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Jack began. “We do. Only us. You should have never had to doubt us. We were so happy when you came out to us, Danny, that you trusted us, that you knew we loved you and always would. We messed up somewhere to make you doubt that.”

“Jack’s right. You never should have felt the need to hide this and that is our fault. Not yours.” Maddie agreed, heavily sitting into one of the kitchen chairs, dropping her head into her hands for a moment before looking back up, a sudden fierceness in her face. “Danny, look at me. I love you. You are my child first and foremost. I love you and your sister more than anything. There is nothing in this entire world I will ever hate more than I love you. Do you understand me?”

“I…” Phantom started, slowly floating back down to the ground until his feet rested on the floor, glancing at Jack.

“I will never feel anything for you other than love and acceptance.” Jack answered his unasked question.

“You guys are okay with this? You’re sure?”

“Are we okay with the fact our invention killed you? No. Are we okay we’ve shot you and made you afraid of us? Also no. Are we okay with everything else? Of course. It just may take some getting used to, having three kids.” Maddie answered.

“Three?!” Phantom exclaimed, his face immediately morphing from cautious hope to extreme shock. “Are you pregnant? And this is how you’re telling me?!”

“Do you and human Danny still count yourselves as one person?” Jack asked. That would be… confusing.

“Yes?” Phantom answered, more as a question than an answer.

“Okay, so still two kids, but one of them occupies two separate bodies. I can work with that. We can work that.” Maddie said, though Jack could practically see the gears turning in her head. “Do you want your own room? Or have you been living here and sharing with… other Danny? What’s the appropriate terminology?”

Bafflement settled onto Phantom’s tan face and then a bright flash of white light seemed to burn Jack’s retinas.

A half hour ago, Jack had determined that waking up feeling like he was drowning without water, Phantom clung to him and crying, was the strangest thing he’d ever experienced in his life, the biggest shock he would ever experience as he realized Phantom was the ghost of his youngest child.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” A very clearly human Danny Fenton answered and Jack suddenly had a new biggest shock of his life.

Maddie made a sound of vague confusion and Jack felt his brain trying to reboot.

“You’re… dead?” Maddie finally managed.

“We’ve already established I’m half ghost, mom,” Danny said, looking at his parents like they were the crazy ones.

“We have established no such thing, young man.” Maddie said, slipping into her mom voice.

“Maybe we should restart? Start from the beginning?” Jack offered up, though he finally slipped into a chair as well.

“What did you two think was going on?” Danny asked, apparently realizing there had been some sort of miscommunication somewhere.

“You went into the portal, got very hurt and… and died, long enough to form a ghost, before somehow recovering.” Maddie answered.

“Oh. Uh. You’re half right?” Danny responded, awkwardly shrugging. “But it isn’t a human Danny and a ghost Danny. One Danny with two forms. I’m half and half.”

“Half… ghost.” Jack managed. “How?”

“You two are the scientists. Our best guess is ‘ghost biology is weird.’”

“‘Our?’” Maddie asked.

“Uh, Sam and Tuck were there for my accident?”

The two adults remained silent, their minds trying to process the absolute upheaval of everything they had ever known. Danny began to fidget nervously. “Is this still okay?”

“Yes.” Maddie said immediately. “We just… you just negated decades of research, both that we’ve done and others in the field have done. We’re reevaluating our life choices, not you.”

“Well… now you can study better! You can meet some of the other ghosts! So, uh, noninvasive studies only.” Danny said, grinning. “Family field trip to the Ghost Zone! You can meet my doctor and my mentor and my ghost dad who controls time and this queen who I helped overthrow her brother and-“ He continued to excitedly babble about all the things they could do in Zone, all the various ghosts he knew.

Looking at Maddie though, at her messy hair and the hand still half buried in her hair, the look on her face so clearly ‘I am listening but my brain short circuited fifteen minutes ago,’ Jack had to bite down a giggle.

And then - “Wait, did you just say a ghost dad who controls time?”

[taraxacum-vulpes]

why is everyone pretending like cyberpunk edgerunners is good. the writing is so bad i hate it

[phuljari]

a think piece on how arnav singh raizada realised his feelings for khushi

of course, it would have been discussed numerous times before, we all know what happened and when it happened. i'm thinking more along the lines of why it happened this way. why did it take him so long to realise that these visceral reactions he has over her did not really stem from a place of hate, that hate was just a byproduct, a reaction, because he didn't realise what his emotions meant.

that it was altogether a new feeling, to be so consumed with thoughts of someone (whom you supposedly dislike). he tried so hard to run from those feelings, misdirecting them to hatred, disgust, apathy and what not. it was new— an unknown feeling that made him uncomfortable. i think in a way this echoes what i said earlier too, that arnav never really believed in love. which is why it took him ages to figure out why the hell he was so obsessed with someone who shouldn't even matter to him. i think what he hates the most about feeling attracted to khushi (aside from the fact that he never imagined himself with a girl like her? ie. see how he berates her: status, class, money, god-fearing etc) is the way she makes him feel— weak. and that's the feeling this man has rarely, if ever, felt for anyone outside his family.

also, elaborating on the statement that arnav didn't believe in love (even though no one asked for it lol), it is imperative to add that he has seen love exist, only barely, with nana-nani or whatever stories he heard about them and between mama and mamiji. but what else did he also see? that his dad cheated on his mom. that anjali's first wedding got broken off. and even though anjali was relatively happy with shyam— it wasn't a relationship he had experienced in his childhood, which is generally the time when your experiences shape you the most. so maybe he believed that love exists, to some degree, but not the whole unfiltered ~i would die for you~ love. remember how he convinced mamiji to accept payal? with the 'raizada' reputation? so he hadn't really experienced the best examples of love either.

unlike popular belief that arnav never felt deserving of love, i think that he never completely believed in it. especially not for a man like him who has to be careful around every turn because everyone around him is expecting to benefit from him. remember, this man is hella confident, and believes completely in himself (almost to the point of narcissism, esp in the early ipk days) and his ego is justified, afterall he did do a lot by himself and he's not bluffing about any of it. this man doesn't doubt himself, he could have anything he wanted. even love— that lavanya was willing to give him. but he doesn't believe in his ability to love, not after what he had seen with his parents.

which is exactly why this new confusing feeling, these obsessive thoughts about khushi, the way he felt weak and defeated in front of her was so absurd for him that he couldn't even realise that he was attracted to her. (with her, he has realised his ability to love, to want someone so desperately.) but instead he kept challenging her in order to make her feel weak and defeated. projecting much, sir?

and to be fair, arnav has mostly been a man of his words— truthful. if he said he didn't believe in love before he experienced it with khushi, it means he genuinely didn't. anyway, that's my take.

i have so much more to talk about this man!! for example how his diabetes is literally a metaphor because he can't have 'sweet' things in life?? 'sweet' here literally meaning happiness! happiness translation: khushi. and having diabetes compliments his character so well too? like he was cruel, cold-hearted and bitter (esp about his past, that he never could overcome) and so it aligned pretty well with khushi's 'meetha khaiye meetha boliye' kyuki arnav ko toh meetha bolna hi nahi aata! usse toh meetha mana hai na!

if you're still reading, thanks for sticking around lol

[fictional-men-enthusiast]

Sometimes I think about if the CH reboot took the late 2010s cartoon route of doing episodic shit for the first few seasons and then slowly introducing serialized elements instead of pretending it was still a parody when they clearly took their characters and storylines seriously too much for it to actually be one.

[abearthatwrites]

A Brief Rundown of the IRL Ithaca Saga (to the best of my memory, in probably not chronological order)

jorge (creator, odysseus) decided it'll be cool to celebrate the ithaca saga with the epic cast via a trip to ithaca, greece

surely nothing can go wrong

mico (telemachus) seemingly found out about the trip with the rest of the fandom. he proceeded to plot a trip to ithaca

the epic cast dealt with multiple broken vans and missed a ferry by one minute. they had to cancel a stream because they were too exhausted

mico made it onto a plane

ithaca got hit by a typhoon, forcing them to move another stream indoors

mico got banned from tiktok. it was reversed

mason (tireseas) asked luke (zeus) to stop the rain. luke refused

the crew hiked up to odysseus' palace. they ran into a roadblock. mason looked into the future and did not see a way around it. (they found a way around it)

the crew found a well and sang their epic songs into it. except jp (crew) who just sang happy birthday

janani (aphrodite) also sang "royal we" into the well

anna (penelope) made it onto the plane to fly out to ithaca

hermes (troy) decided to take a plane to ithaca like a normal human instead of teleporting. he got side-eyed by a woman at the airport as he slept sprawled out in a chair. this quickly became a meme

hermes arrived in ithaca to the delight of everyone except jorge. mico also appeared in his videos. mico still had not updated anything after getting on the plane

anna's connecting flight got cancelled, leaving her stranded in a fancy hotel. she struggled to find the toilet in her hotel room

mico finally updated, claiming he was stuck in munich. mason appears in the video and gives him a water bottle, proving he is lying

the fandom believes mico anyway

mico is forced to post another video revealing he had been gaslighting us basically the entire time and was just delayed in getting to ithaca, that was all

troy and talya (circe), in character, talk about tea. troy says the tea tastes like her father's approval. earle (ares) then asks for 1000 cups and breaks down crying as luke cuts the camera

jorge posts a video apologizing for mico's absence, encouraging him to fly to ithaca, new york. mico appears in the background of this video

mico posts a video saying that he's finally in ithaca, but the crew is in ithaca, new york. jorge appears in the background of this video

jp films a behind the scenes video, calling out "some random guy" who just showed up asking if anyone knows jorge. it's mico

janani sings "royal we" again, but after she says "troy was breached" troy comes out screaming in pain. mico appears in the background of this, filming the video from two points above

it's time for the ithaca saga livestream... except it gets cancelled because the connection is bad and jorge's devices are dying

TL;DR: the gods saw the epic crew in ithaca and went "do you guys think it'll be really funny if we just. recreated the odyssey"

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

edit : i'm sorry but this post is messy i don't like how this is the ramble that got the most attention shhffs please check out the addendum in the reblogs if you want a more clearer analysis

-

FIRST OF ALL the thing about the paint huffing - Other than that it's funny - is that we were getting ragatha at her most honest . she's more reflective and reveals her mind more which is a Lot considering that she has shown herself to be a people pleaser trying to avoid conflict . this is Literally The Last thing she wants

and honestly it would be fun to see the fallout of this in episode 5 when she would inevitably sober up and be Mortified about that fact considering she said This to gangle here

like . interesting ragatha . is that why you Do Not Stop Jax when he goes to bully gangle . other than not wanting him to hate you you also prefer it if gangle is in her tragedy state . is that it . Is That It -

also you guys don't know how much i fucking screamed at these scenes okay . there's nothing i love more than nice characters that show their less than desirable traits . my favorite thing about ragatha is not that she's a sweetheart but that she's Dishonest . even to the point that gangle mentions it in her talk with pomni

like my ongoing theory right now for the ' evil ragatha ' comment gooseworx made for episode 5 is that ragatha's going to say or do the Most Morally Ambiguous thing possible that will send the entire fandom on fire . like we're talking Arguments on whether she's in the right or wrong Even though this is a show that invites nuance instead of black and white views , and it'll be so fucking marvelous to witness

NOW . i really don't think she's faking being nice ! i believe with all my heart that ragatha's inherently Good and i will throw hands at anyone who thinks otherwise . it's just that she's just Repressing What She Thinks About The Others because , again , Avoiding Conflict ! which is shown by how annoyed she got with pomni talking to gummigoo ( gayass ) , what she said to gangle , and what she said to zooble

yes i screamed about the toybox interaction i knew that ragatha was going to not like zooble's grouchiness But I Digress .

all of this is interesting because . again , ragatha's a people pleaser trying to avoid conflict . i think her reasons for being nice and helpful are both selfless and selfish . selfless - she doesn't want anyone to go through the stress and pain of feeling alone , and selfish - she doesn't want anyone to hate her . they're like a smoothie , she's not one or the other . it's just that the latter reason ... has a lot more influences on her thought processes than she'd like to admit .

and that's showcased if you look at episode 2 with her conversation with kinger . she was worried about pomni going through something traumatizing , yes , but she added that she thinks pomni doesn't like her that much . which . it's a small piece of dialogue but it really shows how much ragatha's Gripping That Fucking Fawn Response . yes , her concern is everyone's wellbeing , but she also Would Not Like It If Anyone Hates Her , to the point that it'll stick to her . and she'll try So Hard to compensate for it .

like . she is really a nice person but she's dishonest because she doesn't want to be hated which is very much a selfish reason . she's falling into that pitfall of ' a friend to all is a friend to none ' . argh . why is she so complicated god i'm going to put her in that deepfryer again

[yearoftheotpevent]

hello fan creators!

Year of the OTP is officially back for 2025 with a new set of prompts!

we've switched some of the prompt categories around in an effort to make the event more inclusive of all kinds of fanworks. we've also included song prompts this year! the playlist is on spotify here.

we want to give a huge thank you to everyone who participated in the last event - it grew so much larger than we ever expected and it's truly amazing how you all took our last set of prompts and made so many wonderful things. keep it up!

a couple housekeeping notes: we will not be reblogging every entry this year. mods will keep an eye on the blog if you have any questions, but the reblogs were too much last time. thank you for your understanding!

we will be closing the 2023 collection on December 31. thank you for your continued participation, but it's time to look forward!

the link for the new collection will be posted here January 1.

we're looking forward to seeing what you create this year!

alt text below the cut.

Year of the OTP 2025

The Rules: the Ao3 collection accepts any /-ship works inspired by a prompt from this sheet The Challenge: make 12 works for one ship in one year, using prompts from each month

*you do not need to do the challenge to post to the AO3 collection, as long as you follow the rules*

January first kiss ♦ “may I have this dance” ♦ sharing clothes ♦ BDSM AU ♦ stockholm syndrome ♦ Strong – One Direction

February Valentine’s Day ♦ “it made me think of you” ♦ bed sharing ♦ multiple penetration ♦ mind control/mind break ♦ Like Real People Do – Hozier

March fresh starts ♦ “what are you doing with that”♦ florist/tattoo artist ♦ phone sex ♦ major character death ♦ Take Care – Drake

April pranks ♦ “right in front of my salad” ♦ running away together ♦ dom bottom/sub top ♦ raised to be a killer ♦ Drops of Jupiter – Train

May hanahaki ♦ “we’re dating? since when?” ♦ body swap ♦ magical sex toys ♦ stalking ♦ Paper Rings – Taylor Swift

June pride ♦ “I can’t get you out of my mind” ♦ relationship reveal ♦ unconventional sex positions ♦ paying a debt with your body ♦ Good Looking – Dixon Dallas

July vacation together ♦ “I like my _ how I like my coffee” ♦ kidfic ♦ mutual masturbation ♦ dehumanization ♦ You May Be Right – Billy Joel

August Sports AU ♦ “you’re thinking too much”♦ cooking together ♦ object insertion/ penetration ♦ becoming a monster ♦ You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

September high school/college sweethearts ♦ “come here” ♦ date night gone wrong ♦ semi-public sex ♦ abduction ♦ Thinking Bout You – Frank Ocean

October costumes ♦ “boo” ♦ online dating ♦ shibari ♦ mutual non-con ♦ Mr. Brightside – The Killers

November camping ♦ “are you sure” ♦ touch-starved ♦ cockwarming ♦ abusive relationship ♦ A Thousand Years – Christina Perri

December holiday traditions ♦ “where are you taking me” ♦ bathing together ♦ food play ♦ tortured for information ♦ Everything Is Alright – Laura Shigihara

[allpiesforourown]

Superstar Luo Binghe au. All the directors beg him to be in their movies because his fame will immediately assure success for anything they make. He’s handsome, charming, dedicated, and most of all, extremely talented. He even does his own stunts!! Women love him, and men who say they hate him will still watch his movies so they can figure out how to be more like him. 

The only weird thing about Binghe as an actor is that he refuses to star in romantic films. He won’t kiss anyone, won’t pretend to date someone on screen, won’t even let another actor take over his role for the scenes he doesn’t want to do. His reason? He’s completely loyal to his husband.

Everyone thinks it’s stupid, obviously. You aren’t “cheating” by pretending to love someone else, it’s literally your job! Luo Binghe still refuses and says even he’s not good enough an actor to make anyone believe he could ever love someone other than Yuan-ge.

His fans hate this mysterious Yuan-ge. Because of his (probably insecure and jealous) spouse, all of Binghe’s fangirls cant see him sweep some y/n character off their feet. It’s even worse because they don’t know anything about this guy. Whenever someone asks to see or learn about Binghe’s husband, the star says he’ll never reveal Yuan-ge to the public, because he’s too beautiful and he doesn’t want everyone falling in love with him. 

People kind of run with the idea that obviously this guy must be a total weirdo who Binghe is embarrassed to be seen with. That has to be the explanation, because no matter how perfect someone is, how can they have such a chokehold on THE LUO BINGHE??

Then, one day, years after Luo Binghe’s initial rise to fame…. He goes on a talkshow. With his husband Shen Yuan. 

Obviously EVERYONE tunes in. No one uses TVs anymore bc of the internet, but just for this show, viewer ratings are the highest theyve ever been. Everyone wants to know what the fuss is all about with this guy to have Luo Binghe so down horrible. 

And Shen Yuan isn’t a weirdo. He’s also not some pretty yesman. He makes jokes that make the audience burst into laughter. He’s opinionated, which is really refreshing when every other celebrity stays neutral on every topic to avoid losing fans. He’s polite, but he’s not a pushover. He’s likeable, but he’s not a try-hard about it. Referencing memes makes him an instant hit with the younger generations, and the calm gentle way he talks makes him a hit with the older ones. All of a sudden everyone is going, okay we see why Luo Binghe is obsessed with him. 

Except… while shen yuan was making jokes and charming everyone, Luo Binghe was at his side, pathetically pawing at his husband for attention. The actor keeps whining every two minutes to be reassured yuan-ge still likes him. Whenever Shen Yuan compliments the host, Binghe looks like he’s about to cry. Whenever Luo Binghe jealously wraps his arms around shen Yuan everyone watching just rolls their eyes. Seeing them together people realize… shen yuan is the one that’s out of Luo Binghe’s league.

In just one hour public opinion goes from ‘no one can be worth binghe acting like that for’ to ‘luo binghe is so annoying, let shen yuan talk!!’ 

The next day someone finds shen yuan’s twitter and it blows up. He has his own fan pages now. There’s no pictures of him online other than the footage from the talkshow, so the fan accounts just post that over and over again. Shen yuan retweets a post about him with the caption “i never realized she was holding a plate of corn in this scene” and everyone loses their mind. Everything he says immediately goes viral bc that’s luo binghe’s attic wife.

People start nagging Binghe to post about Shen Yuan bc theyre so attached after his one and only publicized appearance. Binghe is super possessive, but yuan-ge tells him not to worry, so he relents and posts pictures of him and shen yuan on vacation. They’re together, holding hands… but shen yuan’s face and body are blurred out. It’s HORRIFYING. He looks like an eldritch monster bc luo binghe refuses to let anyone look at his yuan-ge in a swim suit, go away you perverts!! His instragram is now just full of pics of shen yuan where his eyes are blacked out so noone else can see how pretty they are. It’s nightmare fuel

Shen Yuan is unfortunately too unbothered to post pictures of himself. Everyone’s tired of Luo Binghe for “hogging shen yuan all to himself” when Shen Yuan is practically an internet celebrity now. 

People go to watch movies and their theatre conversations sound like this:

“Oh, Luo Binghe’s in this one!”

“Who?”

“You know Shen Yuan’s annoying husband?”

“OH THAT GUY..”

[inbarfink]

So one of the cool and interesting ways ‘Steven Universe’ used to try and balance being both a series of 11-minutes episodes that each have their own satisfying emotional resolution and being an overarching story with complicated character arcs that take multiple seasons to resolve is the… I’m going to call it the ‘Not Quite Right Lesson’ episodes. Episodes where a character kinda learns a Very Important Lesson… but a more careful and retrospective look at the situation shows that what they learned is not Quite the Right Thing for them. They internalized something in that adventure which just ended up causing more Emotional Troubles for themselves farther down the line.

‘The Test’ is the most classic example. 

As a standalone thing, it’s just a sweet episode about Steven learning to accept that his caretakers are also flawed and confused and figuring this shit up as they’re going along just like he is, and then doing a nice thing for their sake.

But looking back at this episode, it is quite obviously the nadir of Steven appointing himself as the Family Therapist and repressing all of his problems so he could better help the Gems’ with theirs. Like, there have been some early warning signs for this Complex, but this episode is the one that really cemented that idea in his mind and probably the reason it took him like the Entire Rest of the Show Including a Post-Finale Season to really untangle it.

But… also, I’ve been thinking a lot about the episode right after that, ‘Future Vision’. I think it’s also a very important ‘Not Quite Right Lesson Episode’ for the character of Garnet, and to some extent, the Crystal Gems as a whole. In many ways, it is to the CGs' character arcs' what 'the Test' is to Steven's.

So in this episode, Garnet reveals to Steven the fact that she has Future Vision. She hoped that telling Steven a little bit more about herself and being honest with him will lead to a greater understanding and a greater bond between them… but it backfired. It just led Steven to become a total paranoid, terrified wreck stuck in a total existential crisis.

And it seems like the lesson Garnet learned is that… she should’ve never taken that risk at all. That it would’ve been better for everyone if she just kept Steven ignorant of the truth forever.

Extremely reinforced with the ending of the episode, where Garnet chooses to once again hide an uncomfortable truth (that he just came very close to dying again) from Steven, for the sake of his own ‘peace of mind’.

So, like, the Gems were already hiding uncomfortable truths from Steven since day one. “If you could only know what we really are” and all of that. But I think… With the actual truth of Homeworld encroaching on them more and more at this point of the story arc, this would’ve been a great time for the Gems to reconsider their attitude and actually Explain to Steven What the Hell is Going On. 

But instead, I think Garnet saw the events of ‘Future Vision’ as a reinforcement of the idea that there’s just some things Steven is Better Off Not Knowing. Actually being frank with him about Homeworld and the Diamonds and the War right there and then, that would have just overwhelmed Steven with fears and worries and would’ve ended up doing nothing but hurting him. And Garnet can’t accept that possibility, not again.

And so, Garnet, alongside Amethyst and Pearl, keep all these truths from Steven as long as possible. Only revealing bits of information when they have to. For Amethyst it’s about her emotionally-evasive attitude (also, she legit doesn’t know all of that stuff herself). For Pearl it’s about how she learned to romanticize Rose’s own fucked-up obsession with secrets. For Garnet, with her usually very direct attitude and preference for the most straightforward solutions, I think it’s very much the events of ‘Future Vision’ that were still playing in her head every time she had the choice to actually Explain something to Steven and decided not to. 

But that, indeed, was Not Quite the Right Lesson. While being bluntly and directly told by Garnet all about the Many Ways He Could Die caused Steven to go into an anxiety spiral and an existential crisis for an episode - the way the Gems have been consistently secretive and evasive with Steven ended up causing him so much more emotional grief to him in the long run. As all of these secrets ended up revealed to him in the most surprising, dramatic and traumatizing way possible.

And the secretive attitudes ended up driving a wedge between Steven and the Gems. 

Even after they promised to be more honest with him. Because the sight of Steven crying on the roof that day is one that Garnet can easily move away from. Because Garnet’s Not Quite Right Lesson was almost as difficult for her to unlearn as Steven’s own. 

But after the big confrontation at the start of the Zoo Arc, Garnet ended up being the most upfront about the Crystal Gems’ history. Almost overeager to share what she knows about the past.

I mean also, again, Amethyst just has less to tell and Pearl is hiding secrets for reasons beyond her control - but I think it’s also important to consider from the perspective of Garnet’s arc.

Because the fallout of the Pink Diamond Reveal is very much centered around Garnet (or, well, Ruby and Sapphire). That was the Truth that was hidden from her 'for her own good'. And at the end of the day, despite all the grief that unveiling that truth has caused

It has also brought them, all of them, a lot closer.

There's a reason why 'the Truth' is Garnet's Final Missing Piece in the movie. It is as central to her character arc in the series as Lesbian AngstTM grief over lost love is to Pearl.

And still, some remnants of the Trauma of 'Future Vision' remained...

After all, even the very last episode of 'Future' was centered around the Gems once again trying to hide things from Steven (at that case, their turmoil about him leaving) for his own sake

Even though it once again just caused Steven a whole lot of grief.

It's maybe notable that at the end of this episode, Garnet, once again, tells Steven what's waiting for him in his Future...

[moongothic]

@texas-gothic (Was gonna reply in the comments but it got too long and honestly too interesting so here we are)

Unironically was thinking about this again today because I think I realized the answer to my original question.

But yeah, you're absolutely right. Crocodile, as we know him, is completely incapable of doing what Luffy or even Buggy can do. He does not have it in him to inspire anyone to follow him with any kind of loyalty (Daz aside).

And it's quite simple, really. Like aside from just treating others with basic human decency, Crocodile can't inspire others because he refuses to have any emotional vunerability (from his mystery trauma, as showing trust etc is a sign of weakness to him) and his goals as far as we understand them are hollow and soulless (Like he wants military power, enough to "oppose the Government", but what for? Considdering he lost interest in Alabasta, and has as far as we know kept low for the past two whole years without doing much anything until the Reverie Incident recently, he doesn't seem to care about actually ruling anything, a country or otherwise. And he even says it himself when introducing himself to the BW Agents, that he doesn't care about fame or money. Just combat power. Like it just seems to me there might be something else he actually wants, and everything else is just means to an end, a way to achieve that true goal.)

Another thing is that Crocodile is very much a secretive bastard if not downright a lying one. (But also weirdly honest at times, especially if it's about his trust issues.) It would not surprise me if his lies and half-truths had layers to them, if there was something else behind what he lets on.

Regardless, for Crocodile to actually be able to inspire loyalty, he really would need to just. Be vunerable, share his true goals and be honest for once. Something Luffy and Buggy can do.

But the Crocodile we know can't. He can't do any of that.

He can't stand being humiliated or not be taken seriously (explains the violence). Being weak, or being seen as weak is something he can not stand. And being honest, trusting others, is weakness to him. So he can't.

So really, the question is, is there anything in the whole world that could break Crocodile and the protective walls he's built around himself to a point where he'd tell the whole truth for once

Or is he just too far gone

Crocodile's inability to truly get people to follow him is so interesting though, because in that way he's like the polar opposite of Luffy, who has the ability to draw people in and get them to follow him instead

And like it's not surprising Crocodile can't get anyone to be truly loyal to him (Daz Bones aside), since his primary method to get people to do as they're told is through (threats of) violence and money (if he has any). Like yes, that will get people to do as they're told, but you can't buy loyalty, you can't beat people into trusting you. And so, when shit hits the fan, who the fuck would stay for you, when you're like that

Of course, Crocodile is like that due to his trust issues, and god only knows what caused those trust issues. It's possible he was always like that, or past trauma caused him to become like that-- if it's the latter though, even if he was like more trusting of others once in the past, people still didn't stick with him in the end. The trust was one-sided

I think this also reflects in a really interesting way in Cross Guild actually, 'cause like. Despite being scared shitless, not even Buggy is willing to keep on taking Crocodile's shit. Even that clown has his limits before he starts a mutiny against Crocodile

And while Buggy hasn't really done anything to "earn" his current position in the world (like he hasn't Proven Himself in Combat, he's just Faked It Until He Made It), because he has treaten his underlings with basic kindness and respect, even if he's been lying through his teeth the whole time, that has been enough for Buggy to gain his followers' trust. And that's why Buggy's able to rile up people to follow him. While Crocodile can't.

Unironically makes me wonder what Daz sees in Crocodile that makes him want to follow Croc to literal hell and back

And I wonder what it really would take for Croc to be able to inspire people to follow him and be loyal to him, if it's even possible

[roorreer]

Something something. Making Solas a liar in Veilguard actively brings back a problem they fixed working on Inquisition.

On December 20 2019 VGS posted an interview with Trick Weekes about their work on Solas. This whole sentence is a link so its large enough for mobile but also disclaimer this is before they changed their name so deadname warning.

Here's a transcription I found here which is where i took the screenshots above. Since I know not everyone has 40 minutes to listen to an online radio interview.

I however highlighted the main point since most of you are not reading the screenshots anyway but skimming through. Rant under Read-more. Also bc i try to not be too negative on people's dashs but also i wanna ramble some more.

"But he lied a lot more. And it really weakened his character."

You can tell this happened during the game. Solas lies only once within Inquisition. He says something he can't be vague about and you push him so he lies, badly. He usually tells the truth vaguely. Typically Solas lies no more than Blackwall.

I fully believe that if in Inquisition your inquisitor figured out that Solas was Fen’harel and asked him bluntly to his face he'd confess. He might even be impressed. But why would you ever start to think that. No one assumes that their coworker is actually Poseidon regardless of how much they love the beach and ocean.

He hides in your expectations.

You can't ask him about being an ancient elf or being Fen'harel of myth because those aren't very probable. They're astronomically low to be truth within that universe. And outside, no one finished DA2 and went i wonder if one of our next companions is the Dread Wolf. Sera said, impossible things can't be surprises. He doesn't have to lie so when the truth comes out it's becomes obvious on a second playthrough.

They then actively bring back a problem they fixed in Inquisitions development. That they were open about fixing. That having a character that outright lies to you makes you have no intention of even hearing out the character. It retroactively undercuts Inquisition bc i see people trying to find Solas' lies in it when they aren't going to find any beyond the court intrigue.

It undercuts any lore we do get from Solas bc people dismiss it outright as being a lie from Mr "I abhor blood magic". I feel like shaking people's shoulders like no, dont do it.

They retconned him guys i have proof from 2019.

And its like if you hate Solas is this even satisfying? Like that's not Solas. His motivations are gone (that's a whole other post) and so is his core personality trait. It's like they went here's the Dreadwolf but during the ten years they replaced the smug asshole who was insufferably right with a 20 yo senior chihuahua that doesnt have any teeth.

My favorite villains are those that tell the truth. Because nothing hurts more than the truth. Can you imagine if he told you the truth. If he told you horrible things that you dismissed as lies to only be true. Wouldn't Varric’s death have more weight if he told you Varric was dead only for you - for everyone - to see him in the Lighthouse. If it was a spirit who took his shape to help you or even because it saw something worth reflecting in your memories.

So you dismiss him until it's revealed near the end oh he was telling the truth and you have an oh shit maybe he was right about other things but its too late to try and stop any of the truths he told you which could be from allies/companions betraying to stuff about Ghilan'nain and Elgarnan.

Like the only way to redeem Solas was to listen to him and by going out of your way to address problems he sees and you can find the alternative to tearing down the Veil by a series a little puzzle pieces throughout the game.

Have it be he will only listen to you if you listen to him. That he'll reject your other solution bc why the hell would he trust you if you couldnt extend the same.

Like Solas couldve been a great villian and he should've been great for both the haters and those that liked him. Not only the romance but for those who became his friend. Like i keep coming back to if i hated Solas would i be satisfied with Veilguard.

And the answer is no because that isnt Solas.

Tricking him has no weight bc he's an idiot in Veilguard like not even in the ending bc doesn't notice you switch the dagger around like right in front of him but none of his actions make sense. Ppl have mentioned the regret prison makes no sense for Elgarnan and Ghilan'nain bc they don't have regrets.

Attacking Solas has no weight because he literally needs the shit kicked out of him by a dragon for it to even begin to work. They literally need him to be at deaths door before its realistic that Rook could take him in a fight.

Redeem has no weight bc of the massive retcons to his motivations. They had to retcon the post credits scene bc even if Flemythal went hey i don't want you to do this Dai Solas wouldve went okay but that doesnt solve my other problems with the veil including the corruption of spirits and the fact its in literal shambles so i guess is still coming down.

I'm just disappointed. By the end of Trespasser they had a great villian and they just tossed it to the side and reverted him and people are arguing about a character who's sole defining trait in Veilguard is a problem they solved before Inquisition launched.

Basically we can sum it up with a screenshot.