#Hoo! She went off on them XD

[muppeteyes1001]

You think Alexander cares for you? You're nothing but an emergency snack! Something for him to chow down on if he gets hungry and no one else is around. It's the only real value you have to an abomination like him.

Talk shit about someone my Muse knows.

Tonight was not a good night for the felinoid. She was sitting at a small outside table of a cafe that had already closed for the night. She knew that fully well and only came for some peace and quiet. However, it turned out to be very brief refuge when she suddenly heard someone start talking to her from behind .. And was doing so in a rather loud and rude manner.

As they spoke, Kitt didn't make a move save for a minor ear twitch and the tip of her tail curling at the sudden intrusion. Her eyes were shut and she held her face in a gloved hand .. Almost as if she were nursing a migraine. If they had simply been talking about her, she would have most likely stayed silent and ignored them. Hearing rumors about her behind her back was nothing new ... But instead, they spoke ill of someone else.

Hearing her mate's name spoken that way, the cat woman instantly removed her gloved hand from her face and slammed it onto the table top. As she made a fist, her small and dull claws began to tear through the tips of her gloves and make a few grooves onto the polished table. A soft growl escaped her throat. Turning towards the anon, her icy green eyes narrowed as they illuminated in the dark. She sharply got off from her chair and made a steady walk towards the insulting grey face. Her heeled boots making soft clicks along the pavement.

"You grey lot truly don't serve any purpose in life, do ya? ... You're all nothin' but parasites feedin' off the grief an' pain of others .. An' for what? .. For kicks? .. For laughs?"

Right then, the felinoid had reached the grey face. They were a tad taller than she was, but she didn't care .. She never did. Grabbing them roughly by the front of their shirt, the cat woman pulled them down to her eye level. Her teeth bared as she glared daggers at them.

"Don't think I didn't hear what one of your shite-headed mates did to him tonight ... An' I heard what happened to 'em right afterwards .. So guess he's havin' the last laugh then, aye?" Kitt's tone tonight sounded almost like her usual one .. But the venom that had seeped into it was noticeable .. And as she continued to speak, she would grab the anon's face with her other gloved hand. The one where her claws now poked out from.

"So pardon me if I don't .. Nor will I ever ... take any of you cretins seriously on anything ... Because from what I can plainly see ... It's you bunch of bottom feedin' ... scum suckin' .. blaggards .. who are the true abominations with the value of a soiled toe rag!!!"

Once she finished, she roughly let go of the anon's face, leaving some scratch marks .. Before delivering a sharp slap that knocked their dark glasses right off their grey face.

"An' if I ever hear you speak of Alexander that way again .. I promise you that you won't have a tongue ta speak with anymore afterwards ... Is that clear?" Kitt promptly spat out.

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

not sure if anyone's asked you this before/yet, but so you have any opinions or thoughts of the relationship between all of the pantheons? general relationship and possibly some more personal ones?

I've read many different headcanons and fanfiction where people have mentioned their thoughts on it, but nothing they've ever gone into detail about.

there's nothing really preventing them from interacting *👀 I keep remembering the smallest tiniest hint of freypollo we got* but that doesn't mean they go out of their way doing it, yk?

OKAY SO-

The pantheons I'll be mainly focusing on are the Greek, Roman, Norse, & Egyptian ones. I'll probably make little nods to other ones too tho :3

Don't be surprised if this mainly centers on Apollo XD He's my guy <3

GREEK & ROMAN

Let's kick it off with these two!

"But aren't they the same-?"

Nope! The Roman pantheon started off as their own sets of gods - the thing is, they had very little myths written down so we don't know much about how they were characterized :(

Howmever. We do know that when they were synchronized with Greece's gods, you can see the little differences between them - for instance, the Roman gods were more Forces Of Nature than gods who went out and Did Stuff, like Greece's.

Jupiter for example! He didn't have the "fucks around" rep Zeus does! Jupiter from the Roman's perspective didn't go out and do much. He rooted on Aeneus, yes, but the myths of his children weren't quite as popular in Rome as they were in Greece (probably because they were. ya know. Greek heroes, and not Roman)

And Apollo. Oh, Apollo...the only major god who didn't have a Latin equivalent.

Rome loved you so much they adopted you and went "no. no. he was always here. no we aren't lying. see? he's in the Dii Consentes!" XD

Fun Fact: Apollo is basically multiple gods in a trench coat. Paion (Mycenean), Smitheus (Mycenean), Aplu (Etruscan), Apaulinus (Hittie), Grannus (Celtic), ect were all Apollo-equivalents who historians have concluded to be past incarnations of Apollo!

which is INTERESTING because...do those gods still exist in the RRverse? Are they connected to Apollo in some way? Are they little voices in his head? DO THEY HAVE DRINKS TOGETHER?

I have questions and I need answers.

Greek & Egyptian

Saving the Norse for last because we all wanna save Freypollo for last <3 the best for last lmao

RIGHT OFF THE BAT I'M GONNA SAY THAT ZEUS DOESN'T LIKE THE OTHER PANTHEONS! I BET HE DOESN'T!

Which sucks for him because Apollo has friends in Egypt XD

I do think Apollo and Horus would be friends! Not only are they both associated with the sun in some way, but they were actually identified with each other when Greece met Egypt!

Greece: Oh so you have a super-powerful son of the king of the gods associated with light? So do we! :D

Egypt: Oh my gosh we do! :D

You know the myth of Typhon? Apollo transformed into a hawk to escape, and you know who has a hawk head?

Horus. :D

also Horus took over the thrown from Osiris - sure, not in an overthrow way but still. he overthrew Set and claimed the throne

sounds like something we all want hmm...

Also, I headcanon that Helios and Ra go WAAAAYYYY back and Apollo only met Ra like. once. before Isis did her blackmailing and Ra disappeared.

SO WHEN RA CAME BACK, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN DURING HOO BTW, APOLLO HAS NO IDEA! HE'S ON DELOS AT THAT POINT! THEN HIS TRIALS!

So when he rolls up to the next sun god meeting he sees Ra and is like "wait what who are you- OH WAIT!"

And Ra's like; "WHO LET THIS CHILD BE PUT IN CHARGE OF THE SUN???"

Apollo: I'm over 4,000 years old-

Ra, pointing: BABY

(Headcanon that Ra & Amaterasu are like. the defacto sun god 'leaders' who keep the meetings rolling. Amaterasu was very tired when Ra disappeared and she had to wrangle these fiery gods together XD)

(Also Helios thought Horus was a lil' upstart XD)

Finally, I also saw someone else mention that Apollo could have learned some Egyptian magic and used it to create the border of CHB!

Headcanon Hecate snuck along with him and it's their little secret :3

Greek & Norse

HERE. WE. ARE.

LEMME GET MY MAP OUT

SO.

Green highlight is where Greece is. Blue is where Hyperborea is (see this post for details)

In that post, I came to the conclusion that Apollo Totally Definitely Has Met Norse Gods BECAUSE OF HIS WINTER VACATIONS!

AND IF YOU LOOK ACROSS THE BALTIC SEA-

STOCKHOLM.

AND WHERE DID APOLLO MEET THAT HOT GOD WITH A TALKING SWORD???

A TAVERN. IN. STOCKHOLM!

FREYPOLLO LIVES (<-knows very well it's basically already canon XD)

Fun fact: the people of Hyperborea were most likely the mythological avatars of the Norse people! :D

SO I CONCLUDE-

Apollo takes a trip across the Baltic Sea and flirts in the Stockholm tavern and that's how Freypollo happens <3

Other Pantheon Thoughts

Hindu: This thought came while I was creating my @underrated-lovers-of-apollo-poll - Apollo & Indra!

They shared an elephant ride that one time! Wouldn't it be fun if they also kissed? :3

also Indra is a storm god with thunder and lightning think of the angst-

Shinto: Amaterasu taught Apollo Japanese when he discovered the haiku for the first time - sadly, only Athena ever bothered to learn it to experience the haiku in its fullest. pushing my sibling agenda again haha

Because haikus always sound better in their native language <3

Hittie: This connects to the 'Apollo trenchcoat' thing earlier - if Apollo is like. the current form of Apaulinus, would the Hittie pantheon like. drop in from time to time like 'heyyyy we miss you <3'

Apollo: *trojan war flashbacks*

Apaulinus was heavily associated with Wilusa, whom historians have confirmed was Troy, and Apollo's first temple doesn't show up under AFTER the bronze age collapse and the war happened BEFORE that happened meaning HE WAS APAULINUS WHEN THE WAR HAPPENED MY HEART-

i need to look into more pantheons. it's so much fun making these connections and coming up with headcanons for the RRverse :3

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "An Inside Man"

The beginning of my endless stressed paranoia about Thrawn, also obvious reveal is obvious.

I expect this recap to be pretty breezy, I've already liveblogged this episode once.

Hoo boy I cannot tell you the amount of tension there was before this episode. The TV adverts were packaging the footage from both this and "Visions And Voices" together in order to hype up the midseason closer, before the show went on break for the winter.

So you know, the hype was real.

Let's get into it.

[EDIT: Oh screw you, Tumblr, that was a whole forty minutes of work that you just ate, this is ridiculous.]

Right, so that's not subtle at all.

In addition to leaning heavily into the "Axis-occupied territory in WWII" aesthetic, the smog around Capital City is so much thicker, practically a new ozone layer, ammonia yellow in color. That is not sunset that is the city lights bouncing off the cloud of pollution wafting through their streets.

I haven't mentioned it before but Taylor Gray sometimes has this way of pronouncing the word "my" that gives Ezra just a little bit more of a "folksy" drawl, fitting for an Outer Rim farming planet. I do love how you can kind of "geolocate" where different characters come from by how they talk. High British or Imperial British accent? Core World. Southern American drawl? Outer Rim.

Now imagine Pryce with an accent like Ezra's and remember that every time she speaks she's totally faking her Core World accent. XD

Looks a bit like downtown LA, frankly. Minus the skyscrapers.

Yeah no, still love this shot Ezra pulls off while balancing precariously on the speeder engine. Such skill. Much badass.

The Kanan-Ezra tag team against the walker is great too.

Oh! Just noticed the non-fanfare titlecard has a bit of the dark male chorus from Thrawn's theme. Nice.

Something nice to note, the show does multiple chase sequences on this highway and none of them feel identical to each other. They're all uniquely staged.

I rewatched a couple times and the second speeder was actually taken out by debris from the first, bouncing forward and ricocheting off something.

Fitting right in with the WWII theme, internal saboteurs at the Imperial factories is very French Resistance. I honestly didn't expect to see the Sumars again so this was a pleasant surprise. Also a bit sad now, considering what happens.

*whispers* They paralleled Mr. Sumar's first conversation with Ezra.

This attack on Lothal's factories has been in the planning for a while now, since Season Two at least I think. Even though we were driven off Lothal, it's never been far from mind, and we've been constantly trying to get back there to liberate it. To Phoenix Cell and the Alliance it's a matter of strategy, of crippling or slowing down the Empire's war machine, but for the Spectres, for Ezra, it's personal, and it's been their focus from the very beginning. (Mostly. Ezra does get sidetracked with his obsession of personally destroying the Sith. More to meta ramble about that later when we get to "Twin Suns".)

Ha ha I remember when we all thought that the "new type of weapon" being referenced here was the Death Star. And personally, as I've said before, I still think Lothal was heavily involved in the Death Star's construction, that process was spread out across multiple Outer Rim worlds, resources and materials gathered from all over the place to keep it secret.

But once they introduced Thrawn they kind of had to give him a personal connection to Lothal, too. His rivalry with Hera wouldn't have cut it, that can play out anywhere, in any theater. (Hera's own stake in Lothal is also tenuous, generic, halfway between Ezra's personal drive and the Alliance's practical strategic considerations.) His being there at Pryce's bequest to help quell the Rebellion there offers no personal incentive outside of serving the Empire. But putting him in charge of the TIE Defender's development is perfect, in-character and easy to fit into what had already been established about Lothal, that it was a primary location where new TIEs were being produced.

Recall that Thrawn is not opposed to the Empire's tyrannical authoritarianism but he does think it's often ineffective. Advocating for the development of superior starfighters is right up his alley. If Thrawn had had his way or Palpatine had listened to him more, the resources, materials, and labor pooled into the showy but money-guzzling Death Star would have gone instead to bolstering the Empire's naval superiority, into better faster starfighters, more Inderdictors, and more capital ships like the Super Star Destroyers. Things to counteract the Alliance's flashbang hit and run tactics.

And the Rebellion probably would have lost.

So yeah, giving Thrawn a pet project specialized TIE fighter to be developed and constructed on Lothal was the perfect narrative decision.

...I went way off into the weeds there didn't l? Lol. Where was I?

Right, infiltrating the factory.

Love when Mr. Sumar asks Ezra if has any manufacturing experience and when he admits no, Ryder laughs and says he'll fit right in. Commie-style forced labor gang-pressing yaaaaaay!

Once again, the imagery is very deliberate and not at all subtle.

Ezra grew up on Lothal and he doesn't know who Pryce is on sight. This bitch been shirking her planetary governing duties for literal years, busy trying to be "hip and in with the cool kids" as it were, the perfect Imperial suck-up and sycophant.

A large part of Thrawn's effectiveness as a villain in Rebels is that you never quite know just how much he knows at any given time. Was his coming to the factories to inspect them just an unlucky coincidence or did he know Kanan and Ezra were going to be there? Is he just Dangerously Genre Savvy? How does he keep turning up in places right when the Rebels have made their move? It stressed me the crap out when I was originally watching, gave me hella Paranoia Fuel, and made his presence in every scene just that much more uncomfortable.

Like right here, with this scene where they linger just long enough on Thrawn observing the disguised Ezra to make you nervous, and the feeling lingers even though he steps away, because you almost think he picks Sumar out of the line-up because Ezra's there, targeting him for execution (basically) in order to flush Ezra out.

Also, btw, love the menacing cellos that accompany Thrawn's footsteps into frame.

The absolute slow dread and dramatic irony of this whole scene. D: It just builds and builds and then explodes (literally and figuratively), Thrawn's theme coming in full strength to emphasize the horror of the moment.

See, Thrawn's not above Make An Example Of Them when he thinks it's effective. (See also having Rukh behead that one officer in Legends canon.)

Lyste, you really should start questioning when Imperial astromech droids act crazy randomly around you lol.

It's a smidge distractingly fortuitous that there's always a convenient Scout Trooper around for Ezra to steal the armor off of.

This scene between Pryce, Kallus, and Thrawn is like some kind soothing British ASMR, everyone's voices are just so calm and smooth.

Ooof, Thrawn's rare displays of emotion are always a big deal, I flinched just from this tiny flash of anger.

Something else effective about Thrawn's presence is just how much more competent other Imperials start acting when he's around. Not officers like Lyste or Konstantine but the low-level grunts always seem more keen to cop on to things, just a bit smarter and more ruthless, when Thrawn's in an episode, like he brings them up to more rigorous standards of performance just by being there.

Probably why Pryce immediately falls apart and makes stupid impulsive decisions as soon as he's more than thirty feet away from her lol.

So there's Sabine's wall graffiti, already pulled off the building, I think that painting is from TCW, there's Ezra cadet picture, the mosaic from the Syndulla house, and a bunch of ancient Loth-cave scribblings.

I suspect Thrawn grabbed the retaining wall for the starbird (incidentally getting the Loth-cat drawing he'd later use to identify Sabine's work on Ezra's helmet in "Through Imperial Eyes"), and the cave paintings, obviously, because ancient Lothal culture.

Once again, Thrawn's deductions are razor sharp, but not OP. He's noticed the Phoenix cell has a particular attachment to Lothal, thus they will inevitably try to return to it.

Slowed down and replayed Kallus revealing himself a couple times just to look at this fight, Kanan starts by elbowing Kallus straight in the collar. Kallus reflexively throws a punch which gets pushed aside by Ezra. Kallus almost kitten bats the two of them before Kanan pins him to the wall.

Still LOVE how utterly flabbergasted Kanan and Ezra are at the reveal and how much grief they continue to give him after it lol.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Kallus gives his very slight double-take at Kanan when Kanan pulls off his helmet, like he's surprised to see the scarring across his eyes.

Living for how much Ezra just casually bullies Kallus here. <3

"Or perhaps... an expected one." Lol nope, I can safely assure you, Thrawn, they did NOT expect Kallus to be Fulcrum.

Case in point about Thrawn's mere presence making everyone else more competent, the AT-AT pilots immediately question the AT-DP's presence.

This was really clever, having Ezra drive the chicken walker behind the AT-AT and use it for cover. I may have mentioned but it bears repeating.

MONEY SHOT.

Back when the show was airing and people were speculating about eventual defeats for Thrawn I think I was one of the very small number of people rooting for Marida Sumar to get to shoot him in the face.

Still want that AU.

TIE Defenders be no joke, people. They are fast, agile, shielded, and they have hyperdrives. They would have shredded the best the Alliance had.

Still love Zeb's chagrined grimace in the background there.

Ngl, once again, the ambiguity of "Just how much does Thrawn know?" is scarily effective. Thrawn's addressing Kallus seems deliberately calculated, like he's making some kind of subtle threat.

And whew!

After the shaky quality of the last episode this return to form is quite a relief. The tension is tightly wound and palpable throughout, and there's a genuine sense of danger. Thrawn is placidly competent. We suffer an actual loss. Everything is pretty much excellent this episode, even without the benefit of seeing Kallus's turn we believe it.

Love rewatching this one. <3

[victorluvsalice]

-->And then it was back home around 10 PM! Where they were greeted by Shock, herself back from her off-lot adventures for the day. :p I had Alice give the kitty some pets while Smiler went to scavenge the trash piles she’d created from her earlier attempts to repair the turbines for parts and Victor Repairioed the remaining turbines and one busted water collector. Smiler then got put on recycling duty (recycling all the various bits of trash in everyone’s inventories, the eggs they forgot to put in the fridge, some of the muckleberries and morel mushrooms in the household inventory, and a fancy Crystal Creations square shelving unit that I apparently forgot to delete out of the household inventory earlier) while Alice serenaded Victor. This put him very much in the mood, so I sent them upstairs to have a little woo and hoo while Smiler got put back to work on making their new Servo buddy (they’re up to the torso!). I ended up ending the playsession with Victor taking a post-woohoo pee while Alice decided to mop up the puddles outside because, again, Erratic (though hilariously, it started raining again on their lot the moment she decided to do so) –

-->But, before I left the save file entirely, I took a moment to hit Manage Worlds and visit Newcrest – then popped into the Gallery and looked up Petey Plays It’s user ID. Because in-game, the gang was up to Fall Monday, aka Spookfest – and out-of-game, my next playsession fell on 7/7/2024 – aka the Valicer Anniversary! So I wanted the session to revolve around the gang having a group date – and because of the holiday, I wanted an appropriate place for them to go. So I swung by Petey’s to grab his Haunted Museum lot from the “better museums” video of his I watched a little while ago! :D I plopped it down in Newcrest and vowed to give it a bit of a spit-shine before their date (as parts of the museum felt a little empty to me) –

But that you will be seeing next update. ;) Or, well, if you want a teaser, you can always go back and look at this post. XD Either way, Spookfest Valicer Group Date next time! Hope you're looking forward to it!

[didiwaffles]

im going to be honest, i know nothing about the oc world that you have. so i have no idea who and what you were talking about. but id be interested to hear if youre willing to tell more! from the post it sounded very interesting

Well you gotta tell me where to start

Cause I can start from the very beginning and go on and on but then idk how about you but I will be here for two years and then some and I already fell into that trap once I'm not doing that again

But I can lay out some basic stuff

This is my main OC, Devi.

She's the main victim of my unhinged thoughts. Been through a lot of shit over the millions years she existed. If I start listing... We'll be here for a while XD

Eva is her eldest daughter. Aside from the most recent picture of her I drew, I have this one to show off.

Eva's been through some shit too, some of which Devi's been blaming herself for for a very long time. I could get into it...

Aside from Eva, Devi also has twins Paul and Pete. While they were indistinguishable as kids, they grew up to be the most different people. Pete went on to be an incredibly popular singer, while Paul decided to stay by his sister's side.

That is not to list several more biological, non-biological, adopted, or otherwise people who consider Devi as their mother for one reason or another.

That aside, Devi also has a husband, and hoo boy do they have a rich history of terrible stuff between them. I don't have a picture of him, sadly, cause I've never been satisfied with how I draw him. That being said those two's relationship is the least straight thing that can exist.

That's about it if I lay out the essence of it in a few words. Of course there's like 10 different topics already that i can get into from here. From Devi's backstory, to her and Riam's relationship, to various trauma I inflicted on her, to Eva, to everyone else I vaguely mentioned, or just in general the worldbuilding...

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Gotta love the dichotomy of "everything changed" and "nothing changed at all."

Because the overall themes of my self-insert fic? Still the same! The nitty gritty details? UP IN THE AIR, WOO-HOO!!! 🥳

*sigh* How am I gonna get Bobbi's bitch-ass isekai'd if there's no reason for another Susurrus-like being to be on Earth? Before I had Knell and Flick breaking off from the Rheddig and trying to recruit Sus to help them overthrow the Rheddig leaders. They went after Sus in NY because that piece of him was technically Tanta-less and they figured that portion of him would be the easiest to obtain. It just took them ~15 years to figure out how to replicate a Torana with Rheddig magic, and then when they got there they learned it's surprisingly difficult to find a sentient piece of jewelry in New York. Who knew?

Now, though? Not a fukkin' clue! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I refuse to go truck-kun. I want the angst of desperately trying to get home and ultimately choosing to stay, and I can't have that if she ded. She's too genre-savvy. If I get hit by a car and wake up in another world I know damn good and well what that means! Darn it, me!!!! XD

Susurrus being created by a supposedly immortal "greater being" throws a wrench in so many of my plans, too. Especially since I made Knell and Flick beings like him. Keen hasn't changed much; he's the villain and sees himself as superior to Sus. Knell and Flick? ... I might have to track down my notes for when I thought Sus came from a society outside of Rheddah. Those might be the easiest to convert.

I'm sure I can finagle everything to work, it's just gonna take a whole lot of time and effort. ...and a lot of on-the-clock daydreaming >w>

[clotpolesonly]

Jump With Me Out Of This Nightmare

for the Stiles Shipping Central discord’s monthly ficlet exchange!! @twistedamusement‘s prompt of pretty much exactly what happens XD

| Stackson | 2k | gen | Only One Bed | Nightmares | Post-Kanima | H/C |

(also on AO3)

—

“No,” Jackson declared. “No way!”

“Look, I know it isn’t ideal,” Scott sighed, wincing as he hefted his pack higher on his shoulder; the wound there wasn’t entirely healed yet. “But we don’t know if the creatures are still out there, or if they have our scent or something. The buddy system is the safest thing until we know for sure the threat is gone.”

Jackson gritted his teeth. “And that means that I have to share a shitty motel room with Stiles because…?”

“Because they only have three rooms,” Lydia interjected, two keys already in her hand, lanyards jingling.

Allison held up the third. “In total.”

Her tone wasn’t thrilled either, but she seemed to have resigned herself to her fate. After all, they’d been prepared for camping out in the actual wilderness, and even the shittiest motel room was a step up from a sleeping bag on the ground.

Under normal circumstances, Jackson would’ve thought so too. He hadn’t even wanted to come on this stupid trip, but Scott had made such a big deal about pack unity and the importance of strong bonds and shit like that. Allison had insisted it would be good for morale after everything that went down with the Alphas. His parents were so glad that he was in a better place now and had more friends than just Danny that they’d practically shoved him out the door.

They had all managed to convince Jackson, just for a minute, that it wouldn’t be a miserable shitshow. So, of course, things went to hell in a handbasket before they’d even set up their fucking tents. And now here they were, battered and bloody, at the only motel within a hundred miles, forced to share beds with each other like medieval peasants or something.

Well, okay, the rest of them weren’t being forced. Allison and Lydia were only too happy to share, as were Scott and Isaac. And by process of elimination, that left… 

“Dude, chill out,” Stiles groaned. “We can survive one night in close proximity, can’t we?”

His t-shirt was ripped open across the front, thin scratches tracing their way down his stomach. There was a trickle of blood at his hairline. The look he gave Jackson was borderline pleading, and it made his stomach flip over in a maneuver that was part guilt, part anxiety, and part…something else Jackson couldn’t think too much about right now. He had more important concerns.

“I can’t share a room.”

Isaac sneered at him, made particularly short-tempered by his slowly-healing broken arm. “Oh, poor little rich boy used to his big, fancy house. Boo-hoo.”

“It’s not about that!” Jackson growled.

With a pained look in Stiles’ direction, Scott said, “Is there someone else you’d rather share with?”

Jackson’s face flushed. Allison was watching him closely, confused and a little suspicious, and Lydia’s patience was clearly wearing thin. Isaac’s eyes were on Jackson’s chest, no doubt tuning in to how his heart was racing, long past when the adrenaline from the fight should’ve faded. Stiles had his head down.

Without another word, Jackson snatched a key out of Lydia’s hand and stalked off toward the corresponding room.

—

It was tiny. The queen-sized bed took up the majority of the space, a nightstand, a floor lamp, and a chest of drawers stuffed in around it. There was no television, but the nightstand held an ancient-looking radio. Jackson made a beeline for the door he correctly assumed led to an equally small bathroom.

At least the shower worked. The water pressure wasn’t great, but it served its purpose in rinsing the dirt and grime off of him. There was blood too, stuck under his fingernails and crusted into the lines of his palms. It wasn’t his. Jackson curled his shaking hands into fists and breathed until the water went cold.

He emerged, a clean shirt sticking to his damp skin, to find Stiles standing by the bed, his own torn shirt in his hands instead of on his body. Stiles looked up sharply, cheeks coloring, and scrambled for his backpack. Jackson looked away from the broad expanse of his bare back and contemplated how likely he was to die if he just took his sleeping bag back out into the woods alone. They were pretty sure the monsters had all been taken care of.

“It’s just one night,” Stiles grumbled as he rummaged for his change of clothes. “Am I really that repulsive? Do I smell bad? I’m gonna bathe, dude. I’ll even let you sniff me after, to make sure I’m up to your standard of cleanliness.”

"I don't wanna sniff you!"

Stiles threw his hands in the air, snatched up his whole pack, and disappeared into the bathroom. Before the door closed, Jackson heard him mutter, "I thought we were past this."

Jackson sank down onto the bed, the full force of his exhaustion hitting him at once. His hands hung between his knees, limp and trembling. He rubbed them roughly over his face instead. It didn't stop them, and it didn't make him feel any better about the tang of Stiles' hurt feelings in the air either. It had been weeks since he'd last been the cause of that scent. He hadn’t missed it.

The shower shut off. Jackson flung himself back onto the bed, pulled the covers up over him, and faced the wall so that he wouldn't have to look Stiles in the eyes when he came out of the bathroom. Stiles didn't comment, though he did hesitate at the side of the bed before sliding under the covers.

"I'll try not to disturb your beauty sleep." 

He almost sounded sincere, but it didn't matter. Jackson had no intention of sleeping.

— 

Everything was a blur of motion. It shimmered like a mirage. Someone was screaming, the sound distant and muffled until it wasn’t, and then there was red. Red on concrete, red on skin gone patchy with scales, red on porcelain tile dripping wetly down the drain, red on shaking hands that hung between bare knees, red—

Jackson’s breath rattled and caught in his lungs, caught on a scream. The air felt thin and even the paltry weight of a blanket was too heavy to fight against. He flung it off and found himself on the floor, palms scraped raw on scratchy carpet.

His own gasps loud in his ears, he didn’t hear the rustle of approach until a hand came down on his shoulder. Jackson flinched away, elbow ramming into the nightstand, and the hand retreated. When Jackson finally managed to raise his gaze, it was to see Stiles kneeling on the bed, staring down at him with wide eyes, both hands raised before him in surrender. Jackson remembered those eyes—terrified, pleading, looking at the monster (at him) in horror as gears whirred and the mechanic screamed and screamed—and it was all he could do not to throw up.

But there was no fear in those eyes now. Even in the dark, he could make out the warmth of them. Stiles’ mouth was a soft moue of concern, and his hands twitched like he wanted to reach out again.

Tentatively, Stiles said, “Bad dream, huh?”

A laugh forced its way out of Jackson’s throat, raw and painful-sounding. He slumped against the side of the bed and tried to pretend there weren’t tears on his cheeks.

A moment later, Stiles had slunk off the bed to settle on the floor beside him. “This is why you didn’t want to share a room,” he said. “Isn’t it? You knew this was gonna happen.”

The laughter stuttered into silence. The scrapes on his palms were already healed, but he rubbed at them anyway, seeing blood that was no longer there. He didn’t answer.

“How long has this been going on?”

Jackson let his head fall back and his eyes close. “A few weeks.”

“Are you…” Stiles’ hand waved vaguely through the air. It fell back to rest on Stiles’ knee, an inch away from Jackson’s. “…remembering?”

Such a small word for something that felt so violent. Jackson had thought not knowing what he had done, having those long stretches of nothingness where he’d simply ceased to exist, was the worst thing. He’d been wrong. Knowing—living it, trapped inside himself, helpless to stop it, then or now—was so much worse.

“They don’t happen every night,” he said hoarsely. “They’ve been slowing down. I thought I could make it through a stupid camping trip without any. But then…”

“Yeah, I can see why a fight like that would drag it all back up.” Stiles’ fingers curled into the fabric of his sweats, then released. He darted a sidelong look at Jackson, like he was trying not to look too concerned in case Jackson didn’t want him to be. “You okay?”

Jackson looked back at him, waiting for a denial to come to him. Waiting for the anger and defensiveness and wounded pride that Stiles was obviously waiting for too. But all he could think of was that Stiles’ hand was just an inch away from his.

“I didn’t want to share with anyone else,” he heard himself say instead. “I mean, I— Obviously, I didn’t want anyone to— But—”

Stiles’ hand found Jackson’s, twining their fingers together in the scant space between them. His touch was warm, his palm rough with calluses. Probably from that stupid baseball bat he called a weapon. He had a scar on his thumb.

Stiles said, “I get it. I wouldn’t want anybody seeing me at my lowest either.”

Jackson swallowed down the ridiculous flutter in his stomach and said, “We are.” 

“Are what?”

“Past it.”

Jackson looked up from their joined hands to find Stiles smiling at him, the look soft and fond and new. Two months ago, he couldn’t have imagined that look on Stiles’ face. Not directed at him, at least.

Now, Stiles squeezed his hand. “Wanna go back to bed?” he asked. “Take it from the top, maybe try something a little different this time?”

“Like what?”

Stiles pushed himself off the floor and dragged Jackson up with him. He used their momentum to bring them together, his free hand landing on Jackson’s waist and sliding around to the small of his back. The touch sent a shiver through Jackson; he hadn’t noticed how cold it was until he had Stiles’ body heat to chase the chill away.

Their cheeks brushed together as Stiles leaned in to murmur into Jackson’s ear. “I’ve heard that physical contact can do a lot to chase off bad dreams. In case you’re interested in that little bit of very accurate and entirely unbiased science.”

Jackson snorted. “If it’ll get me my beauty sleep, I’ll try anything.”

“As if you need it.”

Stiles pulled back to wink at him like the corny loser he was. Jackson wanted so badly to judge him for it, but the day—and the night—he’d had was catching up to him again. In theory, werewolves shouldn’t be able to get sore, and yet his whole body felt wrung out and achy. Maybe it was psychosomatic.

Either way, he put up no resistance as Stiles bundled them both back into bed. There was no keeping their distance this time, no gulf between them alive with the tension of trying not to touch. Instead, Stiles promptly wrapped himself around Jackson from behind and tucked his cold nose into the crook of Jackson’s neck.

“Go to sleep,” he murmured. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. You’ll be okay.”

Stiles’ accurate and unbiased science had something going for it. The shaky, unsettled feeling that had been stuck like a knife in Jackson’s gut ever since the fighting broke out that afternoon leached away, bit by bit, with every beat of Stiles’ heart against his back. He let himself relax into the arms around him and the promise of sleep didn’t feel like a threat anymore.

[spacegoatart]

i haven’t officially posted my own treasure planet headcanons, so that's what this is! some of this might be ooc but i don't really care because they are fun to think about, so yeah, enjoy!

this is gonna be long so i’m gonna put it under a keep reading

it makes me so sad that they supposedly don’t keep in touch at the end of the movie, so that's where headcanons come in. Jim and Silver went thru WAY too much to not keep in touch, Silver couldn’t leave Morph without being able to see him again either (Silver literally refers to himself as Morphs ‘dad’ in one scene!!) they at least send letters or have some sort of burner phone, with Silver being a wanted criminal and all. for a while they probably just sent letters, Jim talking about the academy and Silver sending little gifts from his escapades such as a lava rock or an especially interesting coin. Jim keeps all the gifts in a box, along with the letters but if he feels especially attached to a gift, he’ll set it on his window sill of on the rim of his mirror. as much as I like the idea of Jim getting Silver a jitterbug/ladybug, realistically Silver would be the one to set the idea into motion. Jim gets a larger gift and its a little phone, made of parts that Silver could scrap together (or on he found in a shop on a traders planet), he immediately sets it up and texts Silver. it was really nice for them to talk in real time and were probably already discussing the idea, even though Silver could get caught, so Jim was really excited about it. Jim now keeps Silver updated on life events and Silver calls every now and then to tell Jim about his travels. Silver hasn’t quite figured out how to send photos but once he does, he starts sending some everyday (including some hilarious selfies, akin to what a dad would post on Facebook).

Silver absolutely visits, for a while it was very, very scarce because he was still wanted but was sneaky enough to come and see Jim every few months. he comes and hangs out at the inn for a few days while his crew is out at bars or stocking up on items for their next adventure, as well as they know better than to fight their captain on his decisions. during these visits, Silver tells Jim (and anyone brave enough to sit near them) stories about what he had seen, creatures he had encountered and wonders they had discovered. Jim tells Silver about his time at the academy, new friends he’s made and what he’s learning, including some complicated stuff. sometimes Jim even get so into it, he brings out a textbook to express his point. while Silver is pretty smart, he has no idea what Jim is talking about (because its usually math and obscure facts) and usually just smiles and nods as Jim rambles. (lol this may be me projecting my ADHD onto Jim but i have the feeling he info dumps to people hes comfortable with)

speaking of the academy, i think despite all the combat training and captaining that Jim is learning, i think Jim would be really interested in math. like a surprising amount. it would probably be difficult to start off but once he did, hoo boy he could not stop. there were some hurdles he had to face but eventually he landed in a pretty advanced math course (not the highest but still pretty up there, maybe like calculus or applied mathematics). knowing some math was important as a captain, having to deal with probability on a ship in the Etherium, but Jim was fascinated by numbers and the way they made up the world. i think he would be really interested in physics or theoretical stuff, which is difficult but i think he could do it. he probably uses his previous experiences in space to help him visualize the math, which helps a lot.

the first time Silver came to the inn, Jim practically tackled him. which was no big deal since he’s almost double Jim’s size, Silver was more worried about Sarah and what she thought of him being a pirate and all. Jim assured him that everything was ok and he asked her but Silver still felt a bit nervous. he felt like he was intruding on her territory. but while Jim had run upstairs for something and Silver stood sheepishly in the doorway, Sarah came over with a smile on her face and shook his hand. he wasn’t expecting that at all, he was more ready for a glare from the kitchen or even a talk about ground rules. Sarah talked to him about how excited Jim was (she was also kind of excited, she had met plenty of pirates and was almost as fascinated as Jim was) and how she was grateful for Silver staying in her sons life. Silver felt much more comfortable after that and they started talking too, (not sure if it would be romantic or not, it would be cute but i love them just being friends as well) they became pretty good friends. Jim loved it, even if they weren’t married or Silver wasn’t biologically related to him, he felt like he had a full family again. when Jim was busy or sleeping, Sarah and Silver would chat over coffee or in the kitchen while Sarah cooked, Silver helping. Sarah would probably rope Silver into helping her at the inn once she learns he can cook and he kind of falls into a routine. come see Jim, hang out, when Jim is busy/out, go put on an apron.

(this one is 100% projecting lol) this is a pretty loose hc, especially since it started as a joke but now i really like it. i think Jim, as well as Silver, is transgender. Jim wasn’t really expecting Silver to be trans, as are most (he passes super well lmao). i mean, many pirates were gay, why can’t space faring ones be trans? hell, Silvers crew probably has a slew of queer folk among them, if not all of them being some sort of LGBT. body modification looks like a regular thing in their world, so i think Silver has already had top surgery, whether he was planning to or not. by that i mean that i think Silver could have been injured, woke up and found that something was missing. worried he may have become more cyborg, he checked, winced and found that bandages had been bound around his chest. ‘well that's out of the way’. despite not wanting to be vulnerable around his crew, most of them if not all of them know he’s trans since most of them didn’t see it as some sort of weakness, it was just who you were. (if ya’ll are interested, i have some crew hcs like gender and sexuality but this post is mainly about Jim, Silver and Sarah)

(continuation of the trans hc) when Jim came out to Silver, there’s a moment of silence between them. in Jim’s head it was awkward, but in Silver’s, things started clicking. Jim was worried Silver didn’t understand and quickly explain but Silver comforted him, and explained that he understood. Jim was the confused one now and Silver quickly cleared that up, explaining that he too was trans. Jim was relieved, confused and surprised. he hadn’t expected that outcome but that wasn’t bad, if anything he thought it was cool. he had more in common with his adoptee-dad than he had thought. Silver now makes sure to emphasis his compliments when Jim is working, hoping to boost Jim’s ego and make him feel better. it works and Jim feels even more comfortable in his own skin. (i have another part about Silver taking Jim to get top surgery but they would need Sarah’s permission first, not that she’d say no but Silver doesn’t want to encounter her wrath xD)

i’d like to think that Silver takes Jim up on his ship, not for plundering but just to sail around. the new crew had already seen Silver in action and decided nobody wanted to question him about Jim, especially since he was causing any trouble. eventually Jim couldn’t really visit Silvers ship anymore, being a Navy officer and all but that was ok, Silver still came to the inn and Jim had his own ship/s.

Silver knows all the drama around town, mostly because Sarah hears it fro customers and then gossips to Silver about it. Silver will come in, say hello and she’ll start, he’ll probably respond with something like ‘no way, they did that?’ and then he’d listen as she worked.

when talking to Jim, Silver refers to Sarah as ‘ma’ and Sarah starts referring to Silver as ‘dad’ since they have become Jim’s collective parents, and it doesn’t bother either of them.

after Jim lets Silver get away at the end of the movie, Silver stays on his own for a while, though no one knew that. he got a larger boat, just big enough for him and he wandered planets, drifted through space, just thinking. he wasn’t sure what to do next, he was a wanted man but he also had no crew. the thought of settling down passed in his mind but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, he was comfortable in the Etherium, he would get cabin fever after a week. so he continued being a pirate, it was rough work but he loved being among the stars, exploring the galaxy. Jim knew this and didn’t want to push Silver to stay at the inn for a long amount of time but they still made it work.

Silver has little experience with children, having none of his own until Jim (i’ve seen people give Silver children as his backstory but he doesn’t strike me as that kind of guy, not that he wouldn’t want kids but he’d have to choose between family life or pirates life. that's too much for him.) the most experience Silver had was with helping people at port and with his crew, anyone young enough to need guidance and smart enough to listen.

Silver loves music but really only know sea shanties, drinking songs and some old folk music, but he can still be found singing with his crew and humming while he’s working. Jim on the other hand listens to a lot of music, especially after treasure planet. (this is assuming they have all the music we have xD) he listened to brooding teenage music before, like Teenage Dirtbag or bands likes Greenday, but now he has a few shanties on his list as well, plus some classical music for when he’s studying or relaxing. he also listens to ABBA, either because he just likes them or because his mom plays them in the inn.

Jim, Sarah and Silver have way more pictures of each other now. the inn now has multiple family photos with Silver included, Jim has a framed image of the three of them and Silver has a little scrapbook. it’s the only thing he’s ok with having on his ship, still worried about being seen as ‘soft’ (even if he is a big softie and everyone knows it).

Silver usually wears a pretty simple working outfit with his nice coat and hat but when he does want to look nice, holy shit does he do it well. sometimes when he’s dressed up he wonders why he doesn’t do it more often just for fun but then he thinks of the countless times he’s had to throw out shirts stained with blood. he would never let that happen to his nice clothes.

i really like the idea that if things had been different, Sarah Hawkins would have been a pirate, and a damn good one at that. maybe she wasn’t in this life but that doesn’t stop the occasional daydream and questions to Silver about his lifestyle. he offers to take her on his boat when he takes Jim and she hesitates but says yes in the end. Jim definitely didn’t get his wanderlust spirit from Leland. (this is a little ooc for Silver but not for Sarah, i 100% believe she would be a pirate) maybe after Jim joins the Navy, he buys a small boat, big enough for him and his mom and they go on trips where they just enjoy the Etherium.

you cannot tell me that the second Silver was out of earshot on the long boat that he didn’t cry his eyes out. motherfucker may know how to hide his feelings but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them, he’s a sucker and he knows it. when he gets more comfortable around Jim and Sarah, he finds himself getting way more tearful from touchy feely stuff. Morph being cute? sobbing. Jim called him dad? waterworks. literally anything that tugs on his heartstrings? has to go to his cabin to cry his eyes out. the first time Jim and Silver met up again, they both just started sobbing.

Silver, Jim too probably, has PTSD (sorry if i get anything wrong, i’m not sure what else to call it) to an extent. it isn’t intense to the point that he gets overwhelmed with emotions and has flashbacks (unless it has to do with his missing limbs) but he does have some nightmares and prepares for the worst in most scenarios. Jim has to remind him that the bang at the door wasn’t pirates, it was just a unruly customer and that the silhouette he saw outside was just a passing ship, not canon fire. Silver apologizes every time, despite not doing anything but switch to his sword and brace but he can’t help but feel bad for worrying them. i can’t imagine the kind of terrors he has about loosing his limbs.

Silver, when he detaches his arm, will forget he only has one hand. sort of like that video with the astronaut back on Earth, but instead of gravity, he keeps handing stuff to his cyborg hand, dropping the item and they being confused when he can’t find whatever he had. he’s just so used to it by now, he’ll even gesture with his missing hand and not realize he can’t convey what he’s doing. Jim has been asked to hand his stuff, Silver will try to grab it without look and ask Jim why he didn’t hand it to him. Jim has to remind him that he doesn’t have his cyborg arm, leaving Silver apologizing. its always lighthearted between them and they joke about it but Jim knows Silver is still bothered by it a little.

[summers-pratt]

Okay, ignore if you don't wanna get into it & or don't have time for rambling lol xD That is a very interesting reading regarding season 6 & the parallels between Buffy/Spike Willow/Amy & Anya/D'hoffryn & as many times as I've thought about these parallels & what the writers might have meant & what we can read out of it...I've just never considered that showing the dynamics in themselves as bad & destined to go bad was the problem per se. Sure, it could've been handled better (particularly Willow & magic which occasionally became a rather too muddled metaphor) but also - it is, after all, a drama & the story is at a rather dark part of the arc. As a huge Buffy/Spike fan & someone who hates 'Seeing Red' with a firey passion - I still think it makes perfect sense that Buffy/Spike went bad & that there had to be a turning point for Spike though I wish it were a different one. Same with Willow & magic - her darker need for power was a long time coming arc & season 6 built it up so well starting with her resurrection of Buffy. Anya was handled awkwardly by the writers a lot by trying to make her the comedy relief but she was actually an evil demon who killed people for a long time & turning back to that (to me) seems clearly destined for bad. I read these parallels as ultimately an allegory for bad choices & unhealthy coping mechanisms which fit perfectly with season 6's themes of young adulthood & depression & addiction & self-harm through behaviors. For as many ways as I think BTVS went wrong with how it handled treating female characters' choices, I'm not sure that I think those situations you mentioned should've been treated as like - good & okay choices? It wouldn't have really fit with what the season was doing in my mind. So I'm curious if you have more thoughts on that, I'd love to hear them. & btw I'm not like, trying to argue or be annoying I'm genuinely so curious there's nothing I love more than overanalyzing buffy lol it's so fascinating & fun to me

(Ok after accidentally posting this when I just had some general ideas laid out now I have fleshed out an actual answer lol anyway)

First off, I always have time for rambling and overanalyzing, so jot that down. Now, onto your lovely rambly ask and an equally rambly overanalyzing reply:

Narratively, of course I get the complexities that come from these relationships and dynamics, they themselves weren't inherently bad, but the effects of them were, where they take the characters and the plot is dark, and I love that, it makes sense at this point in the story (though yeah I 100% agree that some of it really did not need to happen the way it did yes i am talking about seeing red fuck that shit and yeah Anya is way more complex than they let her be and the magic-addiction allegory really loses its potency really quickly and yeah a staff of mostly male writers for female characters definitely makes itself evident at times ANYWAY). Yeah, fundamentally, this is a show, so it needs a plot, and it's a good show, so it needs a complex plot that creates conflict and develops the characters and establishes sets of metaphors to enhance the story and characters, and these dynamics do that and set off a good amount of future conflict, which is great! That's how writing is supposed to work! Woo-hoo for cause and effect! I just meant, broadly speaking, zooming way out, we have characters going to people they know who also happen to reside in the supernatural part of their world, and bad stuff happens as a result, and that is an interesting pattern that we can look at through other lenses other than narrative and metaphorical purpose, if we so choose (and I often do bc it's fun lol).

I agree they're all three unhealthy coping mechanisms and it fits really well in the season, and I'm not saying Willow going to get hits of magic was a great call, or Anya going back to killing as a job is a good career move (even tho we love a girlboss), or Buffy pushing everything down and using Spike to work through her depression was an ideal form of therapy. I was just musing on the fact that all of their coping mechanisms were supernatural in some way, and the show tends to be kind of black and white about demons unless they want comic relief out of them or if they're a main character (and then only sometimes do they get the greyscale treatment, and even less often with the appropriate complexity (hello Anya my beloved)). Of course, this absolutism way of dealing with morality fades as the show goes on, but I do think the writers tended to stick to the "demon bad, human good" concept more often than not, and the fact that these three instances have the coping mechanisms be supernatural beings is interesting. As we went over, yes, narratively it makes sense for these relationships to lead to badness, but pulling back, I also see it as a way the writers are saying "See? You turn to a witch or a demon or a vampire, you're gonna go bad too, they'll just corrupt you." It might be a bit of a radical interpretation of the text, but the idea of a human going to a supernatural being and it having a damaging impact is a common thread throughout the show, and while it tends to make narrative sense, it also says something about how we are meant to perceive the supernatural, and I think it's a little close-minded (again, looking way far into this but it is fun); Buffy tries to be with Angel, a vampire, but he fucks up Buffy's perception of romantic love and relationships, Giles' ex lover friend Ethan Rayne, a warlock, is only ever there to cause trouble, Ford goes to Spike to get turned and a bunch of people almost get killed and he dies, Faith throws in with the Mayor and turns bad and kills people, Maggie Walsh studies and frankensteins demons and dies at the hands (skewer?) of her creation that then kills more people and becomes a big bad, Riley gets his blood sucked a la vampire prostitution and ruins (well, speeds up the inevitable ruination of) his and Buffy's relationship. And the of course we have the fuckedupedness that is seeing red, though that is widely because j*ss wh*d*n hated that people liked Spike and wanted to change that. But even in that case, he was saying "oh you like this demon character? Fuck you, he's evil and you better not fucking forget it." And I guess that's what I'm kind of getting at, we're not supposed to like supernatural characters because they are Bad, we see again and again that demons and magic practitioners are Bad and no good comes from associating with them. But like, why? Not all of them are bad, some are downright kittenish (looking at you Clem, my beloved), and generalizing like that leads to the kind of massive confusion and shame Buffy feels about her attraction to Spike, as well as a kind of boring view on massive groups of people (yes I am calling demons people, that's my point).

So, I'm not really saying these dynamics should've been seen as perfect and good, I'm just saying they're part of a larger pattern that delineates supernatural beings as a largely Bad group, I don't think that's fair or fun.

There is also a whole other layer to this where the supernatural is a metaphor for queerness, and saying supernatural beings are Bad and Wrong and their Badness and Wrongness will rub off on you if you hang out with them is akin to parents not wanting their kids to have gay teachers or friends, or people not wanting to introduce their friends to their partner bc fear of rejection.

Ps- anon you did not come across as arguey or annoying at all! I love that my little dot connecting made you want to talk more about the idea! Absolutely no worries, overanalyzing Buffy is endlessly fun and fascinating to me too :D

[catrasredemption-moved]

Prompt: Catra and Glimmer having a nice day

Catra and Glimmer don’t see each other all day. It’s great. The end. ****************** Okay, okay XD

(this is like... 5 years in the future) ******************

“That’s it! I’m done!”

Catra looked up, bleary eyed, from her paperwork, and watched Glimmer teleport away.

“Great,” she said to no one in particular, signing off on another form. Glimmer reappeared with two glasses and a bottle. Catra raised an eyebrow. “Day off?”

“I’m so tired of paperwork.” Glimmer collapsed back into her seat, pouring a glass for herself, and a glass for Catra. “I feel like all we’ve done since the war ended is paperwork.”

“I think we’ve been to space once or twice too.” Catra took the glass, downing half of it in one sip.

“I'm going to be defeated by paperwork.” Glimmer flexed her fingers, sipping her drink. “My fingers are going to fall off.”

“Did I tell you about the time Shadow Weaver broke all five of the fingers on my right hand?”

“It sounds familiar.” Glimmer frowned, tilting her head. “Were we drinking?”

“Probably.” Catra told most of her terrible childhood stories when she was drunk. “Anyway, if I can get through signing a million things, so can you.”

“Do you ever think about if you could time travel? Would you go back in time and punch her?”

“Absolutely,” Catra said without hesitation. “Her, and then myself around twenty years old.”

“What happened when you were - wait. Right.” Glimmer took another sip. “That feels like a million years ago.”

“That’s how long we’ve been signing things, right?”

Glimmer giggled. “Pretty much, yeah. Okay, okay, no more past and no more paperwork."

“What else do we have to talk about?”

“We’ve been friends for a million years!” Glimmer threw her arms up. “We have other things to talk about!”

“No, the war was a million years ago. We’ve been friends for like six months.”

“Okay, that’s definitely not right. You’re screwing with me.”

“Maybe.” Catra hid her smirk behind her glass. “You’ll never know.”

They sit in a comfortable silence for a bit, enjoying their drinks and a chance to look at anything but words on paper. “Adora and I are talking about kids,” Catra said suddenly, at exactly the wrong moment. Glimmer was mid-sip; she inhaled and choked, coughing for a minute when the drink went down the wrong way.

“Really?” she managed to wheeze after a moment, hitting her chest a few times.

“Yeah.” Catra wasn’t at all worried about her friend’s plight. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

Glimmer coughed a couple more times to clear her throat, finally saying, “Why?”

“I mean, you know me.”

Glimmer expected more, but probably shouldn’t have been surprised when she didn’t any. “Yeeeeeah,” she said slowly. “I’ve known you for awhile now.”

“So you know I’d probably be like, the worst mom ever. I can’t even function without stupid potions fixing my brain.” She threw back the rest of her drink and poured another. “I’d probably fuck the kid up.”

How strong was this stuff? Glimmer was already starting to feel a little bleary. Nope, didn’t matter. She stood, walking around to her adviser’s desk and wrapping Catra in a tight hug.

“Oof! Come on, Sparkles-”

“You wouldn’t be terrible. You know how I know that?”

“How?”

“Because terrible people don’t wonder if they’re terrible.” Glimmer pulled back to meet her gaze, smiling. “All you worry about is being good enough for people, and even when you are good enough, you still try harder.” She paused, then added, “Besides, you and Adora would totally compete to see who the best mom would be.”

Catra held her gaze for a moment before she started laughing. “I am so not drunk enough for this conversation.”

“Same! Let’s fix that.”

They clinked their glasses together and drank. “Hey, Sparkles?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. And don’t tell Adora I told you.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.” ----------------------------

“Hey, Adora!”

The woman looked over her shoulder to see Bow jogging down the hall. “Have you seen Glimmer? She’s late for dinner.”

Adora groaned, resting her face in her hand. “No. And I haven’t seen Catra, either.”

“Hoo boy.” Bow rubbed the back of his head. They walked to Glimmer’s office together; laughter echoed through the closed door.

“So we’re like up, sixty feet up,” Catra was saying when Bow and Adora peeked in. “And Adora just freezes while I’m sitting up there waiting for her-”

Glimmer was squealing. “Poor baby Adora!”

Adora rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. “Let them drink.”

[owlinabasket]

I realized that either March or April was my one year anniversary on Tumblr and it made me feel a little emotional... so I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for being a part of my life. I am incredibly thankful for the wonderful people I have met through this website and the amazing community and friendships I've found on Discord.

Coming back to fandom has been such a positive impact on my life, and I am eternally grateful to each and everyone one of you for your kind words and support in the past year.

Longer story under the cut but if you want a TL;DR: Owl was in a very rough place and this silly little website was the best thing to happen to me in the dumpster fire that was 2020. (CW back injuries, depression/anxiety)

In March 2020 I hurt my back shoveling snow in our driveway and was in physiotherapy for over half a year trying to fix it. But I couldn't see a physiotherapist until three weeks after the initial injury because of the pandemic. When I was finally admitted to see her in-person (after several unsuccessful treatment over the phone) I received an official diagnosis: mechanical back pain and a disc bulge in my lumbar. Well, fuck.

I couldn't sit, bend over, lift anything over 5 pounds, or lean forward to wash dishes/my hands/face/etc... I quickly discovered the sinks in our house are very low. And boy do you not realize just how much you have to lean to do things until you are unable to do them!! Even after a year, I still can't sit comfortably for too many hours without re-aggravating the injury. The pain could linger for a few more years at least, and I know I'm going to probably have issues with it again when I'm much older.

While I was treating my injury I passed the time comfort watching shows (either standing up in the living room or sprawled out on my bed), which included a re-watch of Strange Magic. When it was time to stretch out and do my physio exercises, I'd pass the time reading fanfic while the heating pad did its thing.

I originally joined Tumblr for the Undertale community. And I met some lovely people! But my god is it a huge fandom. I found it was really hard to keep up sometimes. (And the sheer volume of AUs is honestly overwhelming...) Still, I was excited to follow some of my favourite authors and meet new artists. Eventually it occurred to me that I can do the same for Strange Magic. So off I went!

...say, these authors sure mention Megamind in a lot of their posts. </foreshadowing>

2020 sucked for everyone. Last year I felt helpless, frustrated, and worthless, with my anxiety skyrocketing every day. I couldn't sit long enough to draw, and I didn't have a reliable setup for my ancient tablet. Thank god I was able to borrow the standing desk from work for a while; I don't know what I would have done otherwise. (I ended up having to buy a sit/stand attachment for my desk anyway because sitting down to draw put my dumb ass back in physio again in December!! Goddammit!)

---

I have struggled with my mental health for a good portion of my life, but that is a saga for another time. In January last year I started seeing a really great psychologist (hey it only took ten years to find a therapist that actually helped) and she is a huge part of why I'm able to function creatively again. She helped me identify some major mental blocks in my own creative process, the worst of which is my incredibly harsh inner-critic. If I talked to anyone else the way I talked to myself... hoo boy. Someone would probably punch me in the face! XD

I forget what the lead-up was to her question (probably about working through my intrusive thoughts) but one day Therapist asked "What's the worst that could happen if you shared something with the world?"

And the realization I eventually came to was: The worst thing is not doing anything.

Huh.

That was a total shift in my mindset.

---

Back to the saga of Owl's fucked up back, I could finally sit somewhat comfortably in a chair again by the Fall- but only for a while. So one weekend in early September, I sat down in my chair and booted up Netflix.

That same movie with the blue-headed dude was on the front page, so I finally said "sure, I'll give it a go. It seems like it has a lot of the same tropes as Strange Magic, I might like it."

And suddenly everything changed.

My creative inspiration skyrocketed. I wrote (and shared!!) my first fanfic in almost 15 years, and I found a group of wonderful, incredibly supportive people from all over the world and I can't ever begin to thank you all enough. Seriously. You have no idea just how much I appreciate you folks.

2021 has been kind of shitty too, but at least I'm not alone. I finally started taking SSRIs and it feels like I almost have my life back. The voice that has controlled my life for the past ten years is mostly silent, and everyone in my life has commented on the positive changes they've seen.

If you've made it this far, thank you. Seriously.

<3

[rhinozilla]

🖊 How did you come up with the personalities of the canon 07 characters?

Hoo boy! This got long XD

I was mostly inspired by the squad on Brooklyn Nine Nine and the vibe of these distinct personalities all gelling together into a cohesive team.

Most directly, I drew a lot of inspiration for Person from Rosa Diaz. I also wanted Connor to have a buddy dynamic with one of the human officers that wasn’t Hank or Gavin, and my fic “Protect and Serve” was an exercise in figuring out who that would be. And Person won XD She was the first one that I really latched onto and developed into a realized character. I also really wanted her to have an eldritch energy about her, just to take her a tiny step beyond the suspension of disbelief. So she is freakishly strong and has a tendency of appearing and disappearing at will in certain situations.

For Tina, I started with the general vibe that the fandom had landed on for her character, and I built from there. She’s the chaotic one, to match Gavin’s gremlin personality. So there’s some Gina Linetti energy there.

Ben is a mix of some Terry Jeffords and Charles Boyle. He’s the Team Uncle, and I wanted him, as a senior officer, to be softer and more emotionally healthy as a foil to Hank’s more sweary, angry, depressed vibe. Mostly I wanted him to be the one that everybody just gets along with and likes to be around. He’s a safe guy who isn’t put off by any of the weirdness that the others bring to the table. He’s also a giant nerd.

Wilson was a lot of fun to develop. He has some Terry energy as well, being a family man who feels protective over his teammates. I knew I wanted him to be married to a very successful woman, and she would be the ‘breadwinner.’ I also knew that I wanted him to be the most attuned to androids’ immediate needs, like shelter, clothing, money, stability, and a feeling of security. While others had loftier and noble goals like androids being allowed to open bank accounts and own property and get married, he is aiming more for in-the-moment needs. Like, “how can I make sure that these androids are going to be alive and healthy and mentally stable by the time they get those rights?” That kind of came hand in hand with Polly being very close to the whole Wilson family. I wanted Wilson to be just a good man, one of those unsung hero types that restore your faith in humanity.

Chris had something of a characterization in canon, so I didn’t really embellish much beyond that. He’s a family man, loves his wife and his son, and is always willing to help out wherever he’s needed. He’s arguably one of the only ones on the squad who is just cool. He doesn’t make a lot of waves, and he is amused by the shenanigans that his coworkers get up to. He also finds Connor and the staff androids’ occasional awkwardness very charming.

It was kinda hard to find Gavin’s voice in Detroit 07, because I had both his canon character and the variety of fanon characterizations that are very prevalent in the fandom. I didn’t want to just copy/paste his personality, so I took where he was left in canon and tried to find my own voice for him beyond the two-dimensional asshole. I went with that attitude being rooted in insecurity and fear that androids would eventually take his job. If an android replaces human janitors, housekeepers, construction workers, etc, then that was no real skin off his nose, but now there was an android detective? He harbored resentment toward Connor for not “earning” his rank and basically coming out of the factory with the training and education simply downloaded into his brain without him having to do the work of learning any of it. Sometimes Gavin still feels that way, but now, some years after the revolution and after working with and around more deviants, he has learned that it isn’t that black and white. Androids didn’t come out of the factory with any experience or referential framework for dealing with their own new emotions. They were never given the tools or the means to develop the tools to handle that, and seeing Connor and others struggle with that softened Gavin toward them considerably.

I also wanted to avoid the tropes around Gavin’s fanon characterization that he has a lot of damage and baggage and trauma that makes him the way that he is, or that he’s this disaster human. I felt like if I did that, I’d just be replicating what others have already done, and I wanted to go in a different direction. That’s where Hannah came in, because I wanted Gavin to have a healthy relationship with someone that wasn’t in the squad, to keep him a little more grounded.

Fowler also had some characterization in canon, and I rolled that up with some Captain Holt. Fowler is more abrasive and quick to anger than Holt, but I wanted to soften him just a little and make him more approachable. He’s a good captain who cares fiercely for his squad, but that doesn’t mean that he necessarily wants to be friends with any of them.

With all of them, it was mostly drawing inspiration from B99, then planting more seeds of individuality and seeing which ones took root. Like Ben being a Star Trek nerd and Fowler being a stress baker, etc. I really like developing characters and worldbuilding, so it has been fun to create Detroit 07 in my own little sandbox XD

[braincoins]

Shallura, Ryoumelle, and the Twinganes (well, my versions)

Shiro is definitely the brattier one (between him and Ryou). It’s good for him, helps him release some steam and just goof off somewhere he doesn’t have to still maintain team discipline (or keep Keith from running off and doing something that will get him in trouble). 

Romelle is a lot brattier than Allura... at first blush. Princess Allura is still very caught up in The War, in freeing planets from the Galra Empire’s oppression, and it takes her a while to metaphorically let her hair down. But once she does... hoo boy.

So, basically, Ryou gets teased a lot by both his “brother” and his girlfriend. And then also by his brother’s girlfriend. He likes Romelle’s best because she smiles and laughs, hugs him and kisses him to make up for it. 

Shiro sees this one time and, the next time he teases Ryou, offers to plant one on him to make up for it. This results in Ryou trying to push him away... and Allura and Romelle teaming up to try to push them together. xD GUESS WHO WINS. The boys actually end up in a tangle on the floor, with no smoochings actually happening, but there is a lot of laughter.

Ryou’s revenge is simple: he has all of Takashi’s memories, after all. Embarrassing stories about Shiro tripping and landing flat on his face the first time he wanted to tell someone he had a crush on him. The inner panic he has every time he goes on a first date with someone he really, really likes. All the scheming he went through to try to come out to his mom as bi when it turned out she already knew. The time he nearly burned down the school during home ec.

Allura loves Ryou’s revenge for all the little insights she gets into parts of Shiro that he probably wouldn’t volunteer himself.

Both the boys live for quiet moments alone with their sweethearts. Ryou gets many more of them than Shiro does because he’s not out on the front lines. Doesn’t mean he treasures those moments any less.

Ryou and Romelle talk a lot during their “quiet” moments though. They talk about anything, everything, nothing. They curl up together and just talk. Ryou feels like he could talk to Romelle about anything ever, and he loves getting lost in conversation with her.

Shiro and Allura’s quiet moments are literally quiet. Hidden away somewhere on the Castle where they won’t be disturbed, holding each other, and soaking in the comfortable silence. Nothing needs to be said right now. They listen to each other breathe, feel each other’s heartbeats, and feel relieved knowing they’re each still alive, that they still have each other.

Not that Shiro and Allura don’t talk, or that Ryou and Romelle don’t have actually quiet moments together. But most of the time, that’s how it goes.

Shiro and Allura work together as co-leaders, fight together in battle. They’ve learned how the other moves, how the other operates, the sort of angles each of them looks for and works best at. The way they sync with each other, flow and dance around one another, is obvious, clear as a bell to everyone.

Ryou and Romelle seem opposites: he’s working with machinery, she’s working with flowers and plants. She’s one of the leaders of the colony, he’s basically an orphan they took in. She and her family have a long history here, and he’s brand new. They don’t spend a lot of time around each other during the day.

But she will mention a problem the Council’s having, and they’ll work together to solve it. She doesn’t know machinery as well, but she knows some basics, and Altean tech is semi-organic anyway (what with the crystals and the Sacred energy). Sometimes just explaining the problem to her and answering her questions about it helps him see the solution, or sometimes she can come up with something that leads him to a breakthrough. 

Allura and Ryou both love watching the Altean children play, but they’re both uneasy about interacting with them. Romelle and Shiro just dive right in, ask the kids what they’re playing, tell jokes, etc. For Ryou, it’s because the children remind him that he was a created thing. For Allura, it takes her back to Altea before its destruction. Both of them want kids, some day: Ryou isn’t sure if he’s able to have children, and Allura thinks having children in the middle of a war is a bad idea.

Ryou and Takashi telling each other about their respective girlfriends, each claiming theirs is the best and eventually devolving into wrestling and/or tickle-fighting about it. Allura and Romelle not fighting about it all, both knowing that their respective guy is perfect for them, even if not perfect in general... but they do place bets on who’ll win when the boys start getting physical.

When they’re alone, the boys speak Japanese or English (or Japanese with smatterings of English). Romelle is helping Allura with Modern Altean while Allura helps her with “Ancient” Altean (though she dislikes the name). Both women pick up Japanese pretty quickly, and Ryou seems to be getting a handle on (Modern) Altean. Ultimately, all four of them are grateful for universal translators.

[lesserideafountain]

For the ask meme - 14, 31, and 44 for Kuris; 29 and 43 for Millie!

interesting questions! :3c

14: Do they look up to anyone?

Hoo... they used to look up to the King, the one person they swore an oath to follow and protect, but that kinda went out the window when Lord Greasefingers doomed the world... They kinda look up to the Ki-rin Wei-Shi Shi-Ran (since they swore an oath and everything), but even though they try to follow his commandments of pacifism, they applying a much healthier dose of skepticism to it. And of course, being a paladin, they’re familiar with the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut, and the knightly ideals of leadership and justice he embodies.

31: Does the character worry about their place in society?

They used to have a pretty solid place in their society, being squad leader of the crownsguard, and they had their work cut out for them in the catastrophe that followed. But since they were betrayed and forsook their oath for another, they don’t really have anywhere to... go? Right now, they have wealth and magic to stay alive, and a quest to follow, but they seriously don’t know what comes after. With great power comes great responsibility, and they don’t have a plan on how to handle this power the best.

44: Do they know first aid?

You could say that xD they have restorative powers to heal wounds and illnesses, but they’re not familiar with the principles those powers operate on, other than that they return an injured body to an uninjured state. But technically, they don’t really know first aid.

29: What kind of state is the world that they live in?

It’s a big world, and she’s been to many places, so it’s hard to say a definite state the world is in. Change is in the air, on the national, continental, planar, and interplanar levels. On her home continent of Malvar, things seem stable. Established nations are mostly at peace with one another, and technological advancements are starting to take off in the cities. On Ubora, which she recently visited, a rebel princess (and the rightful ruler of the empire) is fighting her father and brother for the throne. Yet, unseen from most mortals, the Worms of the World begin their feast on the veils that keep the planes separate, spurred on by those who desire the end of existence as we know it.

43: Have they ever been seriously injured?

Several times, most recently when a Worm of Kyuss burrowed through her plating inside her and one of her friends killed it by pouring acid down the hole it left. Some safety mechanism of her body was triggered and restricted her movement to heal itself, which was pretty cool and nobody knew about. Thankfully, her body is capable of self-repair while she lives, so it didn’t leave any permanent marks, other than emotional scarring xD

[labyrinth-runner]

Omg I meant 17 and 18 for the writer questions but WOW that blurb was fantastic omg 😂😳🤩

AH SHIZNIT IM A DUMBASS OMG XD IM SO SORRY. It was in that moment that all of Abby’s followers realized... she has a tendency to not keep track of what she reblogs.

What fic are you most proud of?

Okay. So. Come What May. I know I probably talk about this a lot and people are probably sick of hearing about it, but honestly, this is one of those stories that started out as a joke in a message with @heyitsrae after I made a post about wanting to write an Obidala fic. And then I actually started it. This isn’t near and dear to me just because it’s Obidala, but because it’s my way of working through some of my own losses and issues through Obi-Wan. I think I’ve cried while writing three of the chapters by now. It always amazes me when I get messages or mail on here about how people didn��t ship Obidala until reading Come What May, and it makes me incredibly proud of myself that I can be persuasive enough for people to like a ship that isn’t even canon.

What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Hoo boy. I had to slip to ao3 for this one. 

Alright. So. The entire chapter 13 is just a whole bunch of using Padmé as a mouthpiece for what I wished people had said to me when my dad died. I was proud of that chapter because I hope it can help others the way it helped me to write it. 

But... Chapter 14...

I wrote some of the prettiest imagery. I just pulled a snip for the purpose of this:

“Padmé nodded, gently getting up to fetch her cardigan and her shoes. She waited for him by the door while he went through to shut off all the lights. He stood in the hallway looking into the living room for a heavy moment. The house was so quiet and dark without his father, a thought that unnerved him. He had revolved around his dad like a moon circling it's planet for so long that he wondered how he might get through it all without the constant gravitational pull. He felt like he would go spinning out into the cosmos. He felt a hand on his arm, giving him a reassuring squeeze. Obi-Wan looked down at Padmé and realized that, even though he didn't have a planet anymore, he would always have the sun, and that maybe...just maybe... being within her orbit would be enough.”

I love the idea of using astronomical metaphors in this because its a modern AU, so I don’t get to play around with space that much in this. But, I also love the idea of Padmé being the sun in the relationship, because she has always been more open and honest and blatantly there with her feelings, and she is a very warm person. Obi-Wan would very much be the moon in the relationship, because he has a tendency to hide parts of himself, kind of like the moon sometimes can’t be seen. He can be very mysterious, and keeps his feelings to himself.

There’s a whole lot that I love about the relationship that I’m building for them, but I think just finding creative ways to describe it makes me happy. 

[queen-scribbles]

Not sure if i already sent some but here goes: 7, 18, 22, 25 for the detective asks

Rolling on with all four girls ;D

7. Who is their Love Interest and why?

Haha hoo boy. That why’s gonna be fun. :D

AJ’s is Nate, because he’s sweet and charming and cares about people and his smile gives her butterflies like nobody’s business, and he loves books even more than she does and he’s so dang romantic it makes her knees weak. Also, Taller’s grand.(ngl, it’s at least 40% bc she’s the closest to me personality wise and Nate is so My Type it’s ridiculous xD)

Mallory’s is Adam because... Hell if She Knows. xD She spends the second half of book 1 through the first half of book 2 thoroughly annoyed at herself for being attracted to him and wondering if she tries hard enough, she can make the feelings go away. The answer is a resounding No.(I was planning to make her fight it a little longer, but after that Trapper fight... yeah., she’s stubborn, not stupid :P) I’ve mentioned before these two aren’t so much going to fall in love as be dragged kicking and screaming and digging in their heels. The angst and pining of watching that play out is delicious and I love it. :3

Janine’s is Felix because she loves how enthusiastic and open and fun he is. The two of them are partners in crime shenanigans and make each other forget how to talk and leap before they look and he’s so sweet and excited about them being an Us it makes her giddy(bc she feels the same) and his smile makes her forget how to breathe and he’s just so casual about complimenting her and they can have fun and be silly together as well as having each other’s backs. She’s normally more of a people person/diplomat, but when it comes to him she’s ferociously protective.

Kasey’s is Mason because he’s hot and she takes all his book 1 flirting as a challenge she’s all too happy to accept and as of book 2 she can confirm the sex is amazing *cough* I meeeaannnnn she’s also sarcastic and blunt and he’s very Her Type. Also. The Cherry Discussion at the bar. LORDY She almost didn’t let him walk away. Neither of them have realized their relationship is more than Just Sex. Kasey’s still in either denial or blissful ignorance there are actual Feelings involved. (I’m about 99% sure Mason’s caught feelings at this point and just doesn’t realize it yet. >:D) She’s gonna have one of those “Oh. Oh. OHSHIT.” moments when it finally hits her. It’ll be great.

18. What do they think of Douglas?

AJ’s kinda worried about him; between the way he doesn’t really care about anything and her glimpses at what his father’s like. She wishes she could find a way to help him that wouldn’t be.... weird or feel like it’s crossing lines coming from a superior.

Mallory’s going the “tough love” superior route; she’s more by the book/follow the rules in general, and she’s trying to enforce that with him in a way that’s not overbearing bc she thinks he could actually be a decent police officer if he just applied himself.

Janine’s like AJ, only she went to the bar and thus saved Douglas from the thralls, so she does get a chance to help bc she gets to interact with him more. She’s not really comfortable with the crush he develops, but she feels bad for his home situation, so she’s trying to balance helping him with not encouraging said crush.

Kasey... Kasey didn’t really notice or care about Douglas more than any other station employee(let him goof off on his phone etc) as long as he wasn’t making her job harder until after the thrall attack. She’s the closest to him, age-wise, so his fixation or crush or whatever is something she wants to nip in the bud ASAP. She’s dated guys only a year or two older than him(briefly, and none got serious but the precedent is there). 

22. Do they go to the bar or stay at the station?

I’ve actually played all of them multiple times, so they’ve all done both, but what I’d consider canon for them is AJ and Mallory staying in the office and Janine and Kasey going to the bar.

25. What do they usually wear? Has that changed?

AJ usually wears button-down shirt, nice jeans, and a waistcoat with her Doc Martens boots, Mallory’s t-shirt/cargo trousers/leather jacket with combat boots, Janine’s sundresses(+cardigan when it’s chilly) with flats, and Kasey’s hoodie, t-shirt, jeans with sneakers. Kasey’s the only one who sometimes changes when I run her through books 2; she ditches the hoodies on occasion for just t-shirt and jeans.   

Detective Asks