#I guess it acts as the how they’re going about this

[psychoticfemmm]

between two worlds

pairing: rafe cameron x pogue!reader

summary: Rafe steps out of his comfort zone to join the Pogues for a beach night.

The beach was alive with the usual chaos that defined the Pogues. JJ was digging through a cooler for beer, Kie was setting up a makeshift bonfire, and Pope was arguing with John B over whose turn it was to collect firewood. You sat on a blanket, watching the sunset over the ocean, your heart racing as Rafe Cameron’s figure loomed in the distance.

“I can���t believe you invited him,” JJ said, shooting you a pointed look as he cracked open a beer. “This is sacred Pogue territory, Y/N.”

“He’s my boyfriend,” you said simply, brushing sand off your legs.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” JJ muttered under his breath.

Sarah shot him a look. “Give him a chance, JJ. If Y/N can handle his crazy ass, we can for one night.”

You turned to see Rafe walking toward you, his shoulders slightly tense, his hands shoved in his pockets. The evening light softened his features, but you could tell he was uneasy. He wasn’t exactly a welcome presence among the Pogues, and he knew it.

“You didn’t tell me it’d be this many people,” he murmured when he reached you, leaning down to kiss your temple.

“Rafe, it’s literally just them,” you teased, gesturing toward the group. “You’ll survive.”

He rolled his eyes but sat down next to you, his hand instinctively resting on your knee. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed.

JJ snorted. “Look at him. Acting like he belongs here.”

“JJ,” you warned.

Rafe tensed but didn’t rise to the bait, his thumb rubbing slow circles against your skin. “Nice to see you too, Maybank.”

“Alright, everybody chill,” Sarah interjected, sitting cross-legged on the blanket. She gave Rafe a small smile. “Thanks for coming, Rafe. Even though I know you’re out of your element.”

Rafe raised an eyebrow. “You could say that.”

“Just don’t kill the vibe,” JJ added, plopping down on the other side of you.

The tension was thick at first. Rafe sat quietly, his usual cocky demeanor dimmed in the face of the Pogues’ scrutiny. You felt the weight of his discomfort, and it made you squeeze his hand reassuringly. He looked at you, his blue eyes softening as if to say, I’m doing this for you.

As the night wore on, the tension began to ease. JJ’s antics and John B’s storytelling had everyone laughing, even Rafe cracking a smile here and there.

“Alright, I have to ask,” Kie said, looking directly at Rafe. “How does a Kook prince like you end up with a Pogue queen?”

You groaned, burying your face in your hands. “Kie—”

“No, it’s fine,” Rafe said, surprising you. He leaned back on his hands, glancing at you with a small smirk. “I guess I just like a challenge.”

JJ scoffed, but Kie rolled her eyes. “Seriously, though.”

Rafe’s expression softened as he looked at you. “She’s different. She doesn’t care about any of the crap I used to think mattered. She calls me out when I’m being an idiot, but she also makes me want to be better.”

The Pogues fell silent, exchanging surprised looks. Even JJ looked slightly less annoyed.

“She’s good at that,” Sarah said, smiling at you.

You felt your cheeks heat up, but before you could respond, JJ pointed at Rafe with his beer bottle. “Alright, Cameron, you’re scoring some points. But don’t think I’m not watching you.”

“Duly noted,” Rafe replied dryly, earning a laugh from John B.

As the night wound down, you and Rafe wandered a little farther down the beach, away from the firelight and the laughter of your friends. The ocean waves crashed gently against the shore, and the cool breeze tugged at your hair.

“See? That wasn’t so bad,” you said, bumping his shoulder playfully.

He huffed a laugh, wrapping an arm around your waist. “They hate me.”

“They don’t hate you,” you assured him. “They’re just…protective.”

He stopped walking, turning to face you. “And you’re worth protecting.”

You rolled your eyes, but the sincerity in his gaze made your heart skip. He stepped closer, brushing a strand of hair from your face.

“I mean it,” he said softly. “I know I don’t always fit into your world, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure I do. For you.”

Your breath hitched as his thumb traced your cheek, his touch warm and familiar. “Rafe…”

“I love you,” he murmured, his voice barely audible over the waves.

Before you could respond, he leaned down, his lips capturing yours in a kiss that was slow and deliberate, as if he was trying to pour every unspoken word into it. His hands settled on your waist, pulling you closer, and you melted against him, the rest of the world fading away.

When you finally pulled back, his forehead rested against yours, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Alright,” you said, your voice teasing but soft. “You’re forgiven for being awkward.”

“Awkward?” he repeated, feigning offense. “I was charming.”

“You were stiff,” you corrected with a laugh.

He grinned, kissing you again, this time quicker but no less sweet. “You bring me around them enough, and I’ll charm them too.”

“Let’s not push it,” you teased, lacing your fingers with his as you started walking back toward the fire.

In the distance, you could hear JJ yelling, “Hey! No PDA where we can see it!”

Rafe groaned, but you just laughed, pulling him closer. He might not be a Pogue, but tonight, he’d proven he was yours—and that was more than enough.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

[na0koz]

hiii i was wondering if you could write about toxic vi from arcane? <3

cw: mention of sex, ghosting, alcohol, arguing, wall punching, gaslighting, vi is just mean

hell yeah

i don’t think vi would be toxic in the way that i write jinx, like she wouldn’t be completely psychotic and obsessed, like she just wouldn’t be the best girlfriend, y’know.

she’d be veryyyy possessive but still refuses to put a label on your relationship. i don’t think she likes committing like that. but if she catches wind of someone else flirting with you, or you flirting with someone else then she will be having words. beats up the other person and maybe yells at you too.

she is so so mean. uses personal stuff you’ve told her against you all the time, purposefully to hurt you. she knows how to get under your skin and make you cry and she uses that skill to her advantage.

if you argue then she’ll storm off and come back a couple days later, sweet talking you trying to get you back while you stare at her with your arms folded over your chest. “please princess, you’re the only person i wanna be with, i need you.” kinda shit.

she does ghost you a lot though. she’s not reallyyyy sure how to do relationships ‘properly’ so she thinks it’s fine to disappear for a days or weeks and come back like nothing happened just because she ‘wasn’t feeling like a relationship’.

really fucks with your head a lot. acts like she didn’t say stuff when she definitely did. called you a slut once for pretty much no reason and then when you brought it up in a later argument, where she said you were “being stupid, baby” and she’d never say that about you because she loves you.

like i said earlier, she’s different to jinx in how they’re toxic. i guess the way to describe it would be that vi is actively toxic, because she argues and ghosts you and all that bs, while jinx is like secretly obsessed and crazy about you.

she never tells you anything. you probably started seeing each other as a result of a one night stand, so there wasn’t any like talking stage beforehand. she picked you up from a club and thought she wouldn’t mind seeing you again after she’d fucked you. but you guys barely talk properly, if you do then it’s you talking and her half-listening. you don’t know anything about her family or anything like that, nothing about her past.

she’s not that physical when she’s angry, but she has been and will be if she gets worked up enough. punches walls for sure. her apartment is so messy from her punching shit and throwing stuff. in a particularly messy argument you said something that just really rubbed her the wrong way. she punched the wall by your head as a result and made you cry. cue the sickly sweet, yet empty, comforts and apologies.

once ran into someone she knew while you were on a ‘date’ (going to a bar, making out in an alleyway, then fucking at her apartment), and introduced you as her girlfriend. you asked her about it, a smile on your face as you thought she had finally decided she wanted to seal the deal with you. she then burst your bubble saying that she “kind of had to” call you her girlfriend because you’re definitely more than friends, but you are not her girlfriend. she makes that very clear.

she did try to do something for your birthday, (doesn’t give a fuck about anniversaries) not very well though. she missed it by a couple of days and probably only knew about it from hearing it from a friend of yours. showed up to your door with some kind of ugly wilted flowers and a bottle of whiskey. she may have already popped the cork of the bottle and had some on her way.

her answer to everything is just sex, unfortunately. her idea of making up after an argument is just fucking you to make to forget how horrible she is, rather than actually apologising and talking with you.

basically, she fucks with you so bad, your friends hate her, you hate her (sometimes), she acts like she hates you but truthfully she is just terrified but the feeling that you give her. she is evil.

[miss-tc-nova]

With Reckless Choices - Leona Kingscholar x Reader Pt 10

Happy Starlight everyone! My gift to you! We're gonna switch POVs for this one. I just wanted to show a bit of how Leona's handling things.

Premise: Leona after the break up

Words: 729

Music Inspirations: Monsters - All Time Low Feat. Demi Lovato & blackbear

~~~Vices~~~

               Leona glares at the ceiling, his empty chest keeping the lion from escaping the waking world. Cold morning light rains through the window onto his lonely bed. A savanna breeze whispers through, bringing with it hints of the world he never wants to see again.

               Nothing has been the same since the event that led to the biggest blowup of his life. He finds no light anymore and barely finds the motivation to even breathe. Even the naps he used to escape the world bring him no solace. Instead, the world just passes by as he confines himself to his room waiting for the moment all this pain will finally end. Having tasted life, he finds no reason to go on without.

               A jingle pricks at his ear. Lazily, his head lolls to look at the device he’s surprised still has any battery left. Reaching out, his hand acts without his head’s permission.

               That’s Ruggie. Heaven knows how he’s still on the team with how much practice he’s missed.

               Still…

               How dare his heart still hope.

               It’s been nearly a full year since he last saw his love—on the day of the Briar Prince’s wedding. He made the mistake of thinking he found someone that genuinely cared about him. He thought that, for once, he would be the first pick. Leona Kingscholar had fallen so deeply in love that it blinded him to the real world and now he’s paying the price. Reality firmly put him back in his place and snubbed him for even daring to think he could be happy.

               But no, he never had a chance. Instead he was insulted, screamed at, and told to stay away. Right in his face, his heart was torn to pieces and stamped into the ground even though he wore a snarl the entire time. Leona was never meant to win. Especially against that damn dragon. 

               Despite all the pain it caused him, Leona kept his mouth shut about what happened. He could’ve spilled the truth and thrown the illustrious Draconias under the bus for all the heartache caused. Yet every time he so much as considered revenge, his heart quashed the idea. He couldn’t bring himself to destroy their reputation, all because of his stupid feelings. No matter how he cursed himself, there was no changing his decision.

               To make matters worse, his family insists on trying to help him through a problem they’re grasping at straws to understand. He wants none of it and acknowledges no effort—hell, he barely even acknowledges their existence anymore. Leaving his room is a rare occurrence, so they often sit with him. Sometimes they have their own conversations or talk to him without answers, sometimes they simply sit in silence as they go about their own tasks, but the worst of all is when they turn on the television. Oftentimes, it’s his nephew watching some silly show. However, Falena and his wife like to watch the news. The news is always filled with ridiculous stories that are easy to ignore. It’s the ones that mention the Draconias that always stab at his chest. Where they were seen dining, where their honeymoon had been, the event they attended, what they were wearing. Of course he can’t help peeking at the screen when that happens, but even just hearing about them brings fresh lashings against his wavering stability.

               Those are the nights the sand grates against his skin. He doesn’t know any other way to drown out the grief.

               “Unca Leo! Unca Leo!”

               His door bursts open without even a knock. The mattress shifts beneath the excited jumping of the cub despite the lack of response from the elder prince.

               “Guess what?!”

               The family chamberlain is quick to follow.

               “Prince Cheka! Don’t bother your uncle!”

               That does nothing to deter the young lion from shaking his family by the shoulder.

               “Papa says we’re going to a birthday in Briar Valley!”

               Leona’s body tenses.

               No.

               “Cheka!”

               Faster than he has in a long time, the elder lion reaches for his phone. Scrolling through messages he shamefully re-reads, he feels the vice in his chest. His grip creaks around the device as his hand shakes.

               No.

               He knows better. He knows he shouldn’t. But he’s so pathetically helpless.

               “When are we leaving?”

               Fuck.

~~~~~

Part 11 (Coming Soon)

Nova’s Twisted Wonderland Masterlist

[the-meme-monarch]

Hello, very big fan of the work you do and the art you make. Given the release of the recent dandy's world animatic, I'm curious! What are your HC's for the handlers? All of their designs are unique and well thought out enough I figure they must have some information behind them. -Despairing because I wish I had the confidence to make an animatic that good, from StarSailor.

hm ! I don’t think I really have many, i kinda just saw their in-game models and thought ‘1 those uniforms are atrocious, 2 lets get you some ears” i did change austin(astro’s handler)’s hair to be A Little More Cool I Guess. it’s kind of a side shave :] other than that just kinda giving them a little more varied body types

but as for Actual Headcanons I’ve got:

shanon(shelly’s handler) is shelly’s hypeman honestly. would tell the kids on tours how cool and smart shelly is and Don’t You Want Her Autograph Or To See Her Themed Room? There’s Bones In There ! bc "everyone forgets about shelly" hurts my heart. not her handler Please

veronica(vee's handler) seems a bit nervous about getting attention, going off of her portrait, so inversely i like to think vee is Her hypeman :]

devan(dandy & pebble’s handler) does weightlifting :] he’s fat and also jacked. i think itd be funny he was allergic to dogs. good thing pebble is a toon rock that just Acts like a dog. wait actually would it be funnier if pebble Still set off his allergies

sam(sprout’s handler) acted about like how sprout acts Now. sprout is coping with the situation by acting like them, just kind of distant/aloof and maybe a little irritable. also this Isnt a headcanon but sam canonically uses they/them that makes me happy and i just wanted to mention

its a little funny i dint think i have anything for austin but from the sounds of it he's the creator's favorite Of the handlers. hopeful to learn more abt him and the rest of them !

their portraits in the animatic are Of Course redraws of their in-game ones, but they’re technically redraws of the redraws i did of them originally ⬇️! i thought it felt off that 3/5 of the handlers didn’t look happy to have their picture taken, and with them all being in the same place like it was Planned and Set Up and everything didn’t seem right. like this is your job these are gonna be big ass pictures put on the wall lighten up a little HDHDHDH so the redraws i made it more as "this was kinda just jumped on them" like someone came up with a camera while they were on duty and said "smile!" and they generally didnt have time to react properly. little did they realize these were going to be made into big ass pictures and put on the wall

as for Other Handlers that we Dont know about yet Assuming There Are More, my sibling and i are thinking that Not Every Toon Has A Designated Handler. like it’s more than just the five as seen here but (from here idk their thoughts and dont speak for them) but so like i figure the mains get their own but the rest there's maybe 1 handler for every 3-4 toons, and they dont look after anyone specifically. just Someone has to be watching them it doesn't matter who. but like with cosmo and sprout always hanging out together its probably Just Sam supervising. they always have to remind the two to turn off the oven

[affogato-analysis]

Art as resistance in Arcane

Disclaimer! I’m not an artist, I don’t study art, I will have the most obvious takes on art and will avoid discussing any technicalities of art! I wholeheartedly beg for someone to come and tell more stuff about art in the comments/reblogs, either because you agree or think I said a lot of sht throughout this post :D

What I am, however, is a student in political science working towards my master’s degree! Which clearly doesn't mean you have to just eat what I’m saying without critical thinking but I do have some idea of what I’m saying and I will be quoting my sources.

Also, heads up, spoilers ahead for the entire show.

So! Art and resistance and Arcane.

One of my favorite things in Arcane is the worldbuilding, because it’s exceptionally well done. I do not know if 100% of it was 100% intentional or if some things just happened to be there but I can not say anything about the way the show writes the inequalities between Piltover and Zaun and introduces the two parts of the city. It doesn’t mean we’re not allowed our grievances with the show of course, but i’d defend that this element of it is almost flawless.

And thus, let us talk about art as domination, art as resistance.

So! How is art resistance in Arcane? Well in multiple ways of course!

It's very obvious in Paint the Town Blue, where art very much is the weapon of rebellion (that and molotovs i guess).

Blue is the symbol, the rallying force, Jinx's blue is the answer to the enforcers’ blue and Zaunites riots are the answer to Piltovian oppression.

Jinx's monkeys are known in Piltover, it's the sign of her bombs and it's a threat. Since the assault on the council, she's proven herself to be a terrible, terrible threat.

The spray paint also is the weapon, both because it creates art and because it fights the representation of the situation.

Representations are how we are shown a situation, and therefore influence greatly the way we picture it and that immensely influences how we decide to act upon an event. So this!

is reframing Jinx as Vander's legacy, and it's fake because revolts are not Vander's heritage and Jinx is not walking in Vander's footsteps until Isha comes along, but it's efficient. Vander was a respected man in the Undercity while Silco was violent and brutal with Zaunites.

And it works really well, else the Jinxters would simply not be, let alone that many.

And this!

is also a fight for representation, but it's against Piltovian propaganda. It's still very much Jinx Blue versus Piltover Blue, it's fighting the idea of a consensual intervention based on cooperation between Zaun and Piltover; fighting the idea of kind, violence-i-dont-know-her enforcers by demonizing their picture; showing Caitlyn as blind but not untouchable and refusing to let Piltover expose their propaganda in their city. This is powerful, art and its materials are used as a weapon against Piltover's domination.

And in an even more obvious way, these

are paints and they’re here to say ‘you’re safe nowhere, expect us’, both in season 1 and season 2. Season 1 especially is Jinx mocking Piltover’s core values as the city of progress.

In a slightly less obvious way, this mural:

is resistance too, because it’s fighting how Piltover and the chembarons would describe them: punks, terrorists, hooligans, you get it. It also is because it’s motivational for the resistant forces (the Firelights).

Contestation and resistance are not always all out wars and permanent riots, and silence does not mean total submission. Resistance is to be found in everyday life, through puns and rumors, sabotages and hidden acts of refusal. (James C. Scott, The Arts of Resistance)

There also exist other ways, more subtle, to use art as resistance.

I’m gonna start with my sources here: Pierre Bourdieu. And I’m going to have to put another disclaimer right there: I did not read his work. I was taught it by my university teachers though, and that’s what I’m going to be using as my actual source material.

Well I did read some but I did not pick up the book we’ll be referring to today: La Distinction (The Distinction). Bourdieu said a lot of things but the only one we’re going to focus on in this post is the idea of the distinction (strap in, I have no idea if I can summarize that correctly).

Basically and very summed up, social groups and classes are ranked in hierarchies and all try to not be associated with the lower groups. To avoid this, groups adopt habits that mark them socially, like people who can afford to wear expensive brands will do so because it’s a social marker. It’s also seen in hobbies: not everyone is used to going to museums, not everyone enjoys going to the opera. I learned to go to a museum and enjoy it because my parents are teachers and artists and thus they wanted me to know. It’s a marker of my family’s place in society and social ladder, basically we are automatically branded as cultured people — not saying we are more than anyone else but our culture was in adequation with the ‘good culture’. Because, yes, of course ways to act, consume and be are ranked too, based on who does what. That’s cultural domination. Each group’s cultural practices are ranked in society and are more or less valued, and it very much follows the social ladder placement. Basically, the more a group is valued, the more its practices are seen as good and legitimate in society.

(I’m so sorry this took forever but there is no summarizing Bourdieu in 4 lines)

With that knowledge! It will hopefully make sense when I say that maintaining your autonomy against the pressure of cultural domination is resistance. Basically, if you refuse to see opera as a superior form of entertainment and instead think guy rapping some verses he came up with on the street is better and socially more valuable, that’s resistance. Doesn't mean it's gonna change the world but hey, resistance still.

So pieces of art in the Undercity are refusal of that cultural domination. These refuse to let Piltover be the place of glory, of beauty, refuse to abide by Piltover’s standards of beauty too, because Piltovian art looks like this!

It’s all golden and smooth and uniform, elegant and beautiful. This one statue:

is of Margot, one of the chem barons (same hair, same piercings) and it’s part of the vent system. For one, It means that something Piltover set in place was reclaimed by Zaunites — although not any Zaunite but a chem-baron, multi layered power dynamics at play out there! — but also, look at it. It’s rough around the edges, made of multiple fragments pieced together (you can see it on the chin and across her forehead), it’s sharp and angular and it certainly doesn’t abide by Piltover’s norms for artworks. Statues are associated with powerful people. Margot’s is different from Piltover’s, because she’s not a Piltie and she doesn’t crush Zaun like Piltover does, but this statue still means that art is in Zaun. Not quite the same, but no less pretty and valuable and a statue is still a signifier of power, just like in Piltover.

Same goes for Vander’s statue, all surrounded by pipes and jagged and in the dark too, both of them, contrasting with Piltover’s light and gold!

(this is also domination though. Margot has this statue because she is a chem baron, and she is weaponizing art to increase her own power if only thanks to popularity. She associates herself with clean air for a reason!) (yeah because Cait’s reaction to seeing it makes me think Margot didn’t get permission from the Kiramman before getting that statue done.)

(Also, Bourdieu argued that groups try to reach for the culture of the higher groups in society, to distance themselves from the lower groups. Power in Zaun is also shown through statues, because Piltovian standards of what is great art meant to symbolize great people still seeps through society and trickles down to Zaun.)

(admittedly a severe part of this post is over expanding over what the show actually tells us but the worldbuilding is so coherent that it’s very easy to just push the boundaries of the world we see.)

Also, these are art!

They’re graffiti, street arts made on walls and with spray paint. If you compare it to, let’s say, Mel Medarda’s own painting, not quite the same ambience!

Mel’s art is clean and refined, with paint and a palette and a knife and paintbrushes that are all very expensive, and careful and on a canvas and representing a concrete display of power from Noxus. This is a display of wealth, and it sets the tone for what is “great” art in Piltover (one’s position often determines the value of what they do in life, and Mel is the most powerful person of Piltover, therefore her art is the most valued art there can be) and standards of greatness trickling down through society, this is going to impact Zaun’s standards of beauty too, you get the drill.

So the murals in Zaun are resistance! And these are classic takes on street art: get the art away from the spaces monopolized by the upper classes; bring it to the public, to the street, to the lower classes; challenge the beauty standards; art as expression of a self no matter if it’s with a canvas; accessible art to everybody. This art is not a hyper realistic display of power, but it’s beautiful and it’s art nonetheless.

This also follows the same logic.

I’ll add extra kudos for that image because the song Rebel Heart has a very cathartic “destruction is art!” line and i very much think it’s real. Sometimes, doing great, beautiful and meaningful things means destruction!

And finally, to go back to Mel and art being the most obvious weapon of resistance ever, about maintaining your autonomy against authority and what it tells you is ‘greatness’, I’ll give you these two pictures and rest my case.

[ashyjingles]

Jason Grace and Cicero Parallels

(And Octavian and Catiline Parallels)

Okay so this is the start of me. Blogging my research experience I guess? I’m looking into Roman history starting with SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard. It’s for my fic of Jason’s life at Camp Jupiter pre-swap (from the Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan) but also for fun. And depending on how much I talk about Jason this may or may not be comprehensible even without any knowledge of that.

I figured going chapter by chapter would help me organize my thoughts the best so I dont forget everything I wrote down by the end of the book. I mean like I have an abysmal amount of sticky notes in the book itself already but doing it this way will also keep my motivated I think

I’ll try my best to make this comprehensible in case anyone wants to follow along, but I think most of this is going to be for myself lol so I don’t have to reread the entire book for a single piece of information (hopefully)

The prologue was just a mention on how the book will be centered on the history of the city of Rome and Roman Italy because getting into the history of Roman everywhere is a bit too big of a project for one book (page 18). and I agree because SPQR is already over 500 pages already lmao

The other thing the prologue mentioned that I noted down was that SPQR is the acronym for “Senatus PopulusQue Romanus,” which means “The Senate and People of Rome.” (page 16)

Chapter 1 is titled Cicero’s Finest Hour and takes place in 63 BCE (Before Common Era). Despite Rome being founded seven centuries earlier, the Romans didn’t start recording their own history until the events of this year. As Beard put it, “Roman history, as we know it, started here,” (page 23) and is the reason she chose to start her book with the events of this year.

To summarize, Catiline (Sometimes Catilina) was a bankrupt aristocrat who tried running for one of two consuls which were the highest political positions in the city (This was before any emperors came along). He came from a distinguished old family who had a successful earlier career but was close to bankruptcy in 43 BCE and was dealing with a failing reputation. He advocated for debt relief which was “one of the most despicable forms of radicalism in the eyes of the Roman landed classes” (page 28). 

Cicero came from a wealthy family as well, but it was outside Rome and thus he was considered a ‘new man’ without any political experience in the city which was looked down on. His climb to power rested on the shoulders of only his own skills — specifically his skill at speaking to a crowd. It won him the election of 63 BCE.

Some time after the election, Cicero got wind of a plot of Catiline’s to burn down Rome. Catiline was also building an army outside of the city. Cicero called a meeting in front of the senate and gave a famous speech that he later wrote down and spread copies of. Catiline then left town after the defeat in front of the Senate. Cicero continued to try and expose everyone left in the operation and succeeded because the conspirators had tried working with a group of Ghauls “who had come to Rome to complain about their exploitation at the hands of Roman provincial governors” (page 34) and provided names of everyone involved.

Cicero rounded up everyone that had evidence against them and without giving them a trial, executed them all. “Triumphantly, he announced their deaths to the cheering crowd in a famous one-word euphemism: vixere, ‘they have lived’ — that is, ‘they’re dead’.” (page 35) Eventually Catiline’s forces were defeated with Catiline on the front line. Cicero had many supporters after this defeat of terrorism, but soon his previous act of executing citizens without trial got him run out of town. He spent some time in North Greece before he came back to Rome, and his career never fully recovered.

Okay. Now I’m here to talk about Jason and how I think he and Octavian (and Reyna) parallel Cicero and Catiline because it was literally ALL I could think about while reading this chapter.

Like Catiline, Octavian comes from a long lineage of reputable people, whether politicians or soldiers or prophets, with him being a distant ancestor to Apollo. While he isn’t at risk of going bankrupt, he does have a certain want for power that leads to him vying for the position of praetor so much that in Heroes of Olympus he repeatedly seems hostile toward Reyna. (And Percy, but given his sudden appearance, greek vibe, and Percy’s own distrust of Octavian, I wouldn't say it’s unwarranted. Plus, at this point, Octavian had already been preparing to aim for the position of praetor now that Jason was gone.) Because we never really saw him interact with Jason, I can’t say anything about his canon relationship with him. So far, Octavian parallels Catiline in his aim for power.

Catiline attempts to stage Cicero’s assassination, but it’s unsuccessful. While it’s not entirely confirmed, what Frank points out leads the audience to believe that it was Octavian that tried killing Gwen. 

Then he noticed the marks engraved into the wooden shaft of the pilum: CHT I LEGIO XII F. The weapon belonged to the First Cohort, and the point was sticking through the front of her armour. Gwen had been speared from behind — possibly after the game had ended.  Frank scanned the crowd for Octavian. The centurion was watching with more interest than concern, as if he were examining one of his stupid gutted teddy bears. He didn’t have a pilum. – Page 142, The Son of Neptune

Of course, with the doors of death being opened she lived, but both instances were an attack on a Roman from a Roman. Catiline also turns to an outside source like the Ghauls, while Octavian turns to outside sources like monsters. The monsters don’t act as a double agent toward a character playing Cicero, but they are double agents and end up being on Gaea’s side. Granted, Octavian’s enemy at that point were the Greeks, not his fellow Romans.

While this is a much looser parallel, Catiline was run out of town and killed on the front lines of the army he amassed. Octavian died in the catapults in the battle on Camp Half-Blood after being ridiculed by the protagonists. Is this a strong enough parallel for me to heavily consider it? No, but it crossed my mind and given his previous parallels to Catiline I thought it was at least mentionable.

Jason, to me, parallels Cicero. His dad is Jupiter, so while similarly to Cicero he has the background for the positions he fills, he doesn’t quite have as much experience as other candidates. Of course, he was brought to Camp Jupiter incredibly young and started building skills just as early as Octavian, but for the sake of the parallels, just go with me here. 

While Cicero relies solely on his speech skills, Jason is clearly a formidable fighter. We don’t have many instances of him using his verbal prowess, but I think that to be as good of a praetor he seems to be described as, it wouldn’t be nonexistent. Plus, while facing off against large threats such as that one giant in The Lost Hero, he has an entire speech ready on the tip of his tongue without him even having to do much to remember it. 

“I'm the son of Jupiter, I'm a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion. I slew the Trojan sea monster, I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed Titan Krios with my own hand. And now I'm going to destroy you Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."  – Page 510 of The Lost Hero

While this isn’t a political speech, the rest of his lines throughout the series give his words a bit of a sophisticated feel, especially in comparison to Leo’s comedic feel. Considering he grew up in Camp Jupiter from an early age and was probably taught Cicero’s works just like many people in later years (until even now) used his works in various classes from learning Latin to studying the rhetorics of speech. Jason would have most likely seen his works growing up in various settings, so I wouldn’t think it too far-fetched to say that he probably modelled his own speeches around Cicero’s. (This is something I would like to incorporate in my fic, so if anyone has any good recommendations for specific pieces/books/sources of his speeches to read I’m open!)

While this is a sillier and much looser parallel, they both turn to either Greece or Greek culture. Cicero flees to North Greece after he’s shunned for executing citizens without trial, and while it is nowhere near the same magnitude of villainy, Jason leans toward Greek culture after his amnesia-drenched months spent at Camp Half-Blood and is shunned for becoming ‘too Greek’ along with the Argo II bombing New Rome and him going to the old lands. He does return to Camp Jupiter though as Pontifex Maximus after giving up his title as praetor to Frank when the zombies spawned by Diocletian's Scepter deem him too ‘Un-Roman’ to command them. Cicero does the same and returns to Rome a year after his exile, but while Jason flourishes (for however short of a while) his career never quite recovers.

Now, I mentioned Reyna as another Cicero parallel, did I not? Her family was long established with and favoured by Bellona, though she and her sister were her first children to be born into her line. Unlike Cicero, she had the experience and background.

However, Octavian rivals with her much throughout the series. It’s her orders he defies, it's her he tries to overthrow, and they don’t have a very friendly relationship overall no matter how professional they manage to act with each other. Her quotes speak to her eloquence (pun intended) and her ‘step too far’ as Cicero was travelling to old land against rules and counsel. Granted, I think her parallels are not as strong as Jason’s, but I think combined, she and Jason make a good Cicero parallel to rival Octavian’s Catiline.

Between all of these, I wonder if these parallels are intentional on Riordan’s part. We know that he’s used parallels before, given all of the original quests in the PJO series that Percy goes on and Silena and Clarisse’s explicit parallels to Achilles and Patroclus. It is also entirely possible I’m just reading into it too much.

Of course, there could be plenty of other parallels to myths that could fit better. I just haven’t gotten there yet. But this is the one I’m noticing now, and it’s strong enough that regardless of whether it seems to be intentional in the books, it’s one I think I’m going to be including in my fic. Foreshadowing Octavian’s plans in HoO by paralleling him and Jason/Reyna to Catiline and Cicero is something I’m really interested in doing tbh. 

If anyone’s still with me, thoughts? I’m choosing to post this to share my ideas and possibly receive some discussion on them, so feel free to support or debate any of them lol, whether it’s a small detail or the topic itself entirely. I still need to reread HoO for this project, and I’ve also never really shown this much of an interest in history so this is a little new to me lol.

For future posts regarding my thoughts on this book I'll be using the '#SPQR' tag. Anything for the fic but not specific to the book will use '#SPQR fic' just for some sense of separation. I'll also link posts for future chapters on this post so their easier to find.

[littlxpxtal]

Homemade Dynamite

TYRANTS || STORY MASTERLIST

PAIRING: rafe cameron x fem!reader

WARNINGS: MDNI 18+ Content, swearing, sexual content, drug and alcohol use, violence

WORD COUNT: 2.7k

I'll give you my best side, tell you all my best lines

Seeing me rolling, showing someone else love

Dancing with our shoes off

Know I think you're awesome, right?

March

”Here, take this” Sabrina hands me a purple gummie.

”How much are they?” I take it out of her palm and inspect, giving it a quick whiff.

”Like 10mg. You can take two if you want.”

”What if we both take one and a half?’ I ask, reaching for the bag she pulled it out of.

”God I love your brain.” She smiles widely and pops her pink gummie into her mouth. I take a bite it of a green one and pass her the other half.

“How are you feeling about tonight?” She asks, brushing her hair infront of the mirror.

”Well, I need to get out of the house. So I’m feeling pretty good. I just hope Noah isn’t there.” I murmur the last part and she glances over her shoulder at me with a sympathetic look.

”And if he is, we don’t have to stay. Or we can get topper to kick him out.”

I sigh and finish zipping my boots up.

“I’ll be fine. As long as he leaves me alone, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

”And what are you going to do if Rafe is there?” I freeze in place and try to act as nonchalant as possible.

“I don’t know. Say hello I guess” I let out a fake chuckle and start to walk around the room looking for my purse.

“You’re not going to escape to a bathroom with him?”she jokes. I roll my eyes and walk over to the mirror with her, pulling out my lip liner.

“You’re hilarious you know that right?” She smiles brightly back at me and places the brush down.

“Alright, I think im ready.” She declares. I finish applying my lipgloss and turn to her.

”Let’s rage.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“These boots are NOT made for walking in the sand.” I complain to Sab as we walk through the sand to reach the party.

”I swear I thought it was going to be more in the house, since it still kind of chilly, Sorry girl”

As we approach the bonfire and makeshift bar, we run into many familiar faces, including Noah.

I ignore his group of friends, leaving Sab to chat with some girls from our grade to get a drink.

”Is it possible for a gal to get a sugar free vodka red bull” I say, leaning over the bar. Topper, who was bartending for the time being, smiled at me when he heard my voice.

“Y/N!” He yells. “I feel like I haven’t seen you out in a while. “ he reaches over the bar and gives me a makeshift hug. I giggle into his shoulder as he pats my back.

”One sugar free red bull coming up.” He says with a big smile.

“Looks like the pogues have officially set up camp.” I hear Kelce’s voice grumble behind me. I turn and give him a glare. His face goes from annoyed to shocked.

”YN, didn’t know you would be making an appearance.” He gives me a side hug and goes behind the bar with Topper.

“If pogues are here, Y/N is here.” I hear Noah’s voice grovel beside me. I ignore him as Topper hands me my drink. He flashes a look between us, and gives me a look of worry. I shake my head and turn on my heels, walking away without even looking at him.

I walk out to see where the pogues are, and see a small fire a few yards away, closer to the water.

“Hey” I call out. I watch their heads snap around in defense mode, everyone’s stiff until they realize its just me. JJ is the first one to run over.

“No fucking way, the kook princess makes an appearance.” I scoff and accept his embrace.

“Hey loser” I mumble into his shoulder. The rest of the boys join our group hug as the girls giggle from behind.

”WHAT?” Pope shouts out. “We lost the coolest member of our group. Sue us for being excited”

I chuckle at this declaration and give the girls individual hugs.

“I’m still not over being called a kook princess.” I say as I release Sarah.

“At least they’re calling you that and not me. I’m sick of that nickname” She says, placing a soft kiss on my cheek.

“I missed you guys” I say to the group, and they all lift their cups to the sky.

”To Y/N” John B says.

”TO Y/N” they all shout.I giggle into my cup and take a sip.

“So what trouble are we getting into tonight?” I ask, sitting down on a log next to Kie and Cleo.

”Remember when I said we had a plan for those losers that were at the scene of the crime?” Cleo asks me. I shake my head yes and they all snicker around me.

”Well we may or may not have messed with one of their kegs… you see its a simple prank really, but I brought backup use in case.” JJ says, flashing a gun in his waistband. My face holds still and I can hear the fire crackle.

“JJ, you wouldn’t actually use that would you?” I whisper, barely enough that the group can hear me.

“Just for backup, like I said.” He says, with an unreadable face. I shift uncomfortably and look back to Cleo.

”The prank on the keg is funny. I'm excited to see how that goes.” She gives me a smile and clinks her red solo cup against mine.

”Me too girl”

After catching up with the boys, I notice my drink is empty, and the edible is hitting. Hard.

“I need to find Sab and get another drink” I mumble to the group before using Kie’s shoulder as a crutch to stand.

“JJ would you ..” I hear Kie say to JJ. He shoots up and walks over to grab my arm.

”Let’s get you some water little lady.

”’m not little Jay” I grumble. Feeling the weight of the sand i'm standing on, the vibrations through my fingertips and the disgusting taste in my mouth. We make it up to the bar, and a new group of guys, probably sophomores at Kook academy working the bar this time.

“Can we get some water? And a few beers?” He asks. The boys glare at him, but they seem to recognize me enough to still get the water, neither of them addressing JJ, and passing the cup directly to me. He leaves the rest of the beers on the bar, and JJ reaches over dramatically to grab them.

“Thanks” I mumble turning to face JJ.

“Let’s go back to the water eh?” He starts to grab my arm and turn me before I halt and push against his chest.

”Said I wanted to find Sab.” I state, looking him hard in the eyes.

”Alright lets find Sabrina. Where would she be?” He asks, still holding onto my arm.

��With Top” I grumble, trying to take a step and falling into JJ.

”Alright, and where would Topper be?” He asks, holding me upright and looking around nervously. I felt bad. This situation probably looked bad. I was a mess, at the height of the edible, al I wanted was to find my best friend and giggle, but im no fucking help as to where she would be.

“Wait, what if I call her?” I say, pulling out my phone from my jeans.

“Good idea, lets go over here”

he pulls me to a corner of the party that isn’t heavily populated, the phone rings a few times before she finally answers.

”Sab where are you?” I ask frantically.

“Inside…. but we’re with rafe.” She whispers the last part and I grit my teeth.

”Where?” She tells me the room and how to get there, and I drag J by his arm through the crowd of people to reach the room.

“Give me that” I say, ripping one of the cups of beer out of his hands, chugging it as fast as I possibly could before tossing the cup. He stands there, shocked, and in his time of weakness I grab the other, chugging it fast as well. I continue to drag him up the stairs. We were a few feet away from the door before a hiccup escapes my lips and I turn to face JJ. He stops dead in his tracks so he doesn’t run into me.

“Sab is in there, but we gotta be careful, I’m not sure what we’re walking into” that was my best way of telling him rafe was behind the door and was going to absolutely hate seeing us together.

“Is it okay if im going in here with you?” He asks, scratching the back of his head.

”You really give a fuck? You brought a gun anyways” he shrugs his shoulders and follows behind me closely.

”Before we go in, can you promise me you wont use that, unless its extremely necessary. Like life or death?” I beg, holding onto his arm.

”Life or death only.” He promises. I look him dead in the eyes for a moment before turning the doorknob.

When we enter the room,it's filled with smoke, and a bunch of random people that probably knew the owner of this house better than me. What was his name again?

I look around, trying to find Sabrina in the cloud of smoke. I spot her across the room, on Topper’s lap, right next to him is Rafe, leaning over the glass table, snorting a line.

”Right right” Jj says, sighing and giving me a look before I drag him over to the other side of the room.

“Y/N!” Sabrina shrieks before jumping off of Toppers lap to give me a hug.

”Hi mama I was missing you” I exclaim, hugging her back tightly.

“Hi JJ” she says, and he responds back with a head nod.

My eyes trail off to the left of Sabrina to see tha rafe is completely avoiding eye contact with me, rubbing the tip of his nose and lifting his hips up to pull out his phone. I roll my eyes and look back at Sab, leaning into her ear

”It’s hitting.” I say,smiling big and giggling

”Dude me too im fucking fried” she says back into my ear, giggling back

“Why don’t we go play in the water” i say, grabbing onto her wrist. Her eyes widen.

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all fucking night” she shouts, turning to topper.

”We’re going down to the beach. You comin?” She holds out her other hand to him, he exchanges a look with rafe, then topper looks at me, JJ, then back at sabrina

”Yea I’ll come.” He softly states. He taps rafes shoulder and nudges his head at us. I don’t look long enough to see Rafes reaction, I just turn to JJ, as he leads the way back to where we were outside with the pogues.

Once we reach them, I finally turn around to see Sabrina and Topper following right behind, with a fucked up out rafe trailing behind. I could always tell when he was coked out, not because of his pupils, but he stood a certain way. His legs when he walked were a lot more straight, like he was focusing on each step he made. He ran his hands through his hair a lot, which is exactly what he was doing right now.

I was disgusted with both myself and him for knowing what he was like when he was doing coke. I always wondered if he was embarrassed too.

we reach back to the edge of the sand, and I lean over to take my boots off.

”Wait you were serious?” Sab asks, Lookin to topper, her head leaning against his bicep.

”Dead serious” I state. Pulling off my socks before running towards the water.

The cold water against my toes runs a chill up my leg and I squeal out.

“FUCK ITS COLD” I shout back at the group watching me, all the pogues, plus Topper and Rafe.

“Could’ve told you that!” Sarah exclaims, leaning down to touch the water with her hands. I walk further down into the water, getting my jeans wet. I couldn’t help myself from venturing down enough to my calves. I needed the feeling to wake me up. Before, I could feel myself getting hazy, but this was waking me up.

“Alright y/n, I think that’s enough” Kie calls out,walking into the water. I could tell she was shocked by the cold at the way her body tensed.

”You guys are so boring” I mumble before turning back to the open water one last time. I took in a deep breath, and turned back, walking back into the sand.

“Let’s go back to the fire” Sarah says, holding onto my shoulder. We get back to the fire and I noticed that topper and rafe still stayed with us,

I look across and see rafe, his face hard and cold.

I furrow my brows and take my phone out to see that I had a missed text from him

The fuck are you dragging JJ around like that for?

and now you’re about to drown in that fuck ass ice cold water.

I roll my eyes and text him back

not like you would’ve saved me anyways

I look back up to see him, his face still the same. Before I could read the rest of his demeanor, I hear topper raise his voice. Rafe and I break eye contact to look over to see Topper smack the red solo cup out of JJ’s hand.

“Oh no” Cleo hissed, backing up.

“Fuck did you say to me you dirty fucking Pogue?” Topper seethed. JJ had a sly smirk on his face, and I watched his hands raise. Fuck.

He shoves Topper, and all hell breaks loose. Multiple punches are thrown between the two, JJ trying to knock Topper off his feet. Rafe starts running towards them and I scream out

”DON’T” he whips his head back and looks at me with a pleading face.

“Don’t” I whispered. My pleas were ignored when John B started punching Topper, which made the fight unfair. It was only right that Rafe joined. I knew the rules of the jungle far too well. It would be all downhill from here. The boys keep shouting profanities at each other, as we stand in a circle watching and pleading them to stop. The closer we get, the deeper into the water they go. Before I know it, John b slips and falls, his head dunking under water. I scream out and run to the edge. My head felt light and my vision blurred. I couldn’t tell what was happening, it was so dark, the waves were crashing, and I was fucked up.

Before he could keep his head above water for more than a few breaths, a figure dunked his head under again, holding it down with force.

”WHAT THE FUCK STOP IT HE CANT BREATHE” I screamed, a pair of arms holding me back. I didnt know who it was, but they dragged me back for enough that my feet were no longer touching the water, just wet sand.

“STOP IT. STOP IT.” I heard Sarah screaming. I think at this point I was on the verge of blacking out. The rest of the next few events came in a blur.

“Somebody do something” I half whispered and half screamed.

I watch another male figure stand behind the man with a dark object in his hands. There’s a click, and he points it at the man who was still holding John B underwater. It had to be JJ. I feel tears streaming down my face and I can barely breathe.

“Yo HES GOT A GUN”someone from the crowd hollers out. a cry escapes my lips as I lunge forward, still being held back by a stranger.

“JJ! Kiara screams out. I recognize her voice, but don’t see where it came from. My legs wobble and I struggle to keep myself up. I was terrified John B was going to die and someone was going to get shot.

“Yeah YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS” I hear JJ shout.

“JJ PLEASE” I cry out, my voice hoarse.

“What’s that princess?” He calls back. I’m taken aback and try to run after him again, slightly getting out of the strong grip against me, before I see Sarah running over to them.

”SARAH NO” Kie and I shout in unison.

I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen. Every breath felt like an eternity. I couldn’t imagine how John B felt, his arms were still flailing. God I hope that’s not rafe.

The person that JJ was holding a gun to raised his arms in defeat, and John B lifted his head up gasping for air. The pair of arms finally let me go as we all ran after to make sure he was okay. Before we could reach him though, JJ turns around and raises the gun in the air.

“OKAY EVERYONE LISTEN UP. GET THE HELL. OFF MY SIDE OF THE ISLAND.”

The last thing I remember are gun shots going off.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Tags: @ltristessedureratoujours @davinashifts333 @tomholland792

[imaginesbymonika]

From the dining table |Almost-Finale

Pairing: Damon Albarn × Gallagher! Reader

Plot: Everyone's favorite topic during the '90s and 'OOs; Y/N Gallagher. The mysterious and beautiful younger sister of the two loud brothers rarely spoke during interviews but played the guitar like no one else. And even though she never said a word about her dating-life, the list of her rumored boyfriends kept growing longer with each passing year. Yet, there was one name in particular that just kept on popping up...

Previous part | Masterlist

(2024)

“To be fair my first reaction, when I heard that you agreed to come on here was “there is no way”. Because I personally think it’s a very bold move to have you as the new Oasis’ spokesperson- you know, considering how little you used to talk during interviews.”, Seth Meyers explains, which makes both Y/N and the audience chuckle.

“Yeah, can’t blame ya’.”, the woman in front of him says:” But well, the spotlight has always been on my brothers and their relationship… especially because of their falling out. Which, by the way, was very real. Just wanted to put that out there. Because I have seen those interviews where people assume that behind the scenes everything was sorta alright.” “It wasn’t?”

Y/N shakes her head:” Not at all. They both truly didn’t speak to one another for over a decade. Not a single word. They understand very well, that the second they’re getting interviewed it’s going to the brought up: those nasty comments, the fights… they finally just started to get along again, why risk any of that. It’s so fragile.”

Seth scans her features for a moment before leaning back in his chair:” I guess you’re right. But, you know… you’re fascinating on your own. So I am more than happy to have just you on this show. How come you never spoke during interviews-?” He raises his hand and begins counting his fingers:” Or concerts, award shows, red carpets…”

“One thing about my brothers, in case you haven’t noticed yet-.”, she shortly faces the audience before once again looking at Seth:” They love to talk. A lot. I didn’t. So I figured, that I might as well just don’t. And to be fair, neither one of them cared much about it, did they?”

“The whole thing turned you into quite the enigma.”

“Loved it.”, Y/N exclaims while taking a sip of her water: “And in the beginning I sorta just wanted to see how people would react to this whole “me being silent”- act. But they were obsessed with it.”

“You never spoke and threw some of the best Hollywood parties of the ’90s and 2000s.” The statement makes Y/N merely roll her eyes:” Please. Those celebrities just came around because there was always cocaine at my place.” At that audience members gasp which only makes her laugh in return:” Whoops, I’m sorry. God. I thought that was general knowledge.”

Y/N faces Seth again:” My two brothers did it. I did it; plus everyone’s favorite celebrity did it.” She takes a sip of her water while Seth clears his throat, which makes a few people laugh:” Speaking of your beloved brothers- one in particular. Liam. He really loves being on the internet, doesn’t he?”

”He’s a man of the people.”

Seth once again giggles before reaching under his wooden table:“ And a couple of days ago, he posted something on X that kind of made everyone go crazy. But then he suddenly deleted it again. Only to tweet this a few moments later...“ He flips one of the cards around showing a tweet that goes “Brothers n sisters y/n made me delete me tweet cmon i am a grown man with me own thoughts and im getting supervised like a little boy HER ATTITUDE STINKS”.

The audience laughs while the woman only shrugs: “To be fair I do have his notifications on in case things like that happen.”

“Well.”, Seth says in between giggles and flips a second card around:” This is the tweet he deleted: “Liam’s karma is that Gene looks like a young Damon Albarn”.” Underneath that tweet are two pictures attached: one showing Liam’s son Gene next to a young Damon Albarn. Y/N looks at them both and laughs:” Jesus.”

“And Liam’s reply was…”, he flips yet another card around:” “No me karma is that he’s now sitting with us at the dinner table”. Y/N reaches for her drink while a small smile makes its way on her face.

“Is Liam talking about his own son or is he talking about Damon from Blur?” “Well, guess.”, she answers, now fully grinning at the host. A couple of audience members audibly gasp at her response, to which she simply laughs.

Seth leans forward:” Are you telling me right now that you are dating Damon Albarn?” The woman in front of him stares at him for a few moments before nodding her head. You could hear a needle drop. “Jesus.”, Y/N mutters:” It’s not like we haven’t dated before.”

“I beg your pardon?”, Seth’s eyes widen and his jaw drops. “Yeah, back in the ‘90s.” “During the time your band had this huge feud with Blur?”

“I do admit the timing was unbelievably shite.”

Seth leans back in his chair again and crosses his arms in front of his chest:” I cannot believe this. Truly.” She laughs at his reaction:” Well, it’s true. I don’t know what else to tell you.“

“And your brothers didn’t know about it?”, Seth asks tilting his head slightly:” They had no clue at all? I find that hard to believe.” A soft sigh leaves his guests lips:” I think maybe they had their suspicions, I’m their sister after all. But there just wasn’t enough evidence. I remember that one night-.”

(1996)

“I know for a fact you’re seeing someone.”, Liam unexpectedly says, making Y/N flinch. “What the fuck, Liam.”, she hisses, while looking down at her once white shirt, that’s now covered in red wine stains:” That was fucking expensive.”

Her brother merely rolls his eyes. Noel who’s sitting with his back turned to his two siblings puts his cigarette out. “Who is it?”, Liam asks. “What are you even on about? God, you’re so annoying!”, Y/N stands up and makes her way towards the small bathroom of their tour bus. “I know you’re seeing someone. It’s written all over ya stupid face, I-.”

“Hey!”, Noel cuts him off and turns around, he raises his finger:” Don’t talk to her like that. Be nice, for fucks sake.” Y/N who’s trying her absolute best to remove the big stains softly smiles to herself. “Whatever. I know you’re seeing someone, and I’ll find out who it is.”

“What if it’s Albarn?”, Bonehead asks, while mindlessly flipping through a Playboy magazine. Y/N swallows thickly. “Now don’t be ridiculous. Our sister has too much backbone for that, right?”, Noel says, sounding more than offended.

“Yeah.”, Y/N exclaims while keeping her head low:” Oh absolutely. You’ve never seen anyone with that much backbone…”

(2024)

“They would’ve thrown you out of the band.”

Y/N makes a face:” Liam might still throw me out.” It’s followed by a laughter:”He truly isn’t happy about it. But I’m his baby sister, so he’ll be alright. He has never been able to stay mad at me for long.”

“Y/N from Oasis is dating Damon from Blue.”, Seth mutters and shakes his head before turning to the audience:” If you haven’t been around in the ‘90’s you won’t understand how big of a deal that is.” He turns to face Y/N again:” How serious is it?”

“Oh very.”, she replies:” I’ve met his daughter, a week after we started seeing one another again. She’s lovely. I re-introduced him to my brothers a week after that. We-.“

“How did they react?”

“Guess.”

[fistfuloflightning]

Ohhhh I have lots, @alita-blue! But where to start??

This whole idea came from the mental image of a 4yo Yanli holding bby Wangji and declaring him ‘the prettiest doll she’s ever had’—she babies him a little differently from how she does jc, bc lwj is more of a delicate child in more ways than one and she hovers a bit more. But they grow up incredibly close and once wwx is adopted they’re one of the closest sibling groups in the jianghu.

Hope Limit doesn’t mind me quoting them because this stuff is gold:

And Lan Zhan, Jiang Zhan? Ah, he would make his parents sooo happy, but that family dynamic would probably make him so sad, parents that constantly clash and all that, it's getting to his inherent melancholic core. He'd be so fun with his two new siblings though, yanli loves little brothers, wwx enjoys a good match for training, and just imagine how nice the whole wandering cultivator flair of Yunmeng Jiang would be if lwj grew up embracing that, he does that so well already, I feel, wandering off and hunting evil. I always think he would be a happier person at Lotus Pier, together with jc though, so I do wonder how he'd be there all by himself, growing up in a lively atmosphere with the emotional struggle of his parents tearing each other apart for him and his siblings to hear and witness. he might be a bit more feared among the other disciples, textbook example student that he is, sticking to rules, not joining them when they run around half naked in summer, eating watermelons, bc he has to study and train and make his parents proud. I wonder if wwx would still enjoy to tease him? or is it something he grows tired of after a few years.

I feel like wwx and lwj’s relationship as siblings would be similar to wwx and wen ning’s. Wwx acts as shy lwj’s mouthpiece throughout childhood since he doesn’t really say much, which infuriates Madam Yu on multiple levels. Instead of ‘incompetent’ jc, she bestows her dubious attention on ‘cowardly’ lwj, as she sees it, unable to speak for himself. And sometimes wwx dives in to save from social situations he’s in due to his position as the Jiang heir. But he’s stubborn as well and doesn’t bend for injustices, especially when he sees how his mother treats his brother. This also probably gets him in trouble when at Cloud Recesses for the lectures—the Wall of Discipline is all well and good, but there’s some rules on there that he simply does not agree with because it obstructs true justice. LQR likes him well enough, but not his soft rebelliousness which is why he’s more than a little concern when Jiang Zhan begins hanging out with Lan Cheng.

And Lan Cheng… something about him going through Cloud Recesses’ version of anger management just speaks to me lol. Both their personalities remain the same, but Limit and I agreed jc’s anger would remain but be wonderfully repressed and due to the pressure of the Lan discipline, it would find a way to leak out every so often. He’d be the scary Lan. His parents’ conflict would wear similar but not identical paths in his psyche and I feel he would be incredibly protective of his mother, or at least be more vocal about the injustice of her imprisonment. His father… I think he would do everything in his power to have Qingheng-Jun look at him with favor, not understand why the man ignores him, then continue to throw himself at his own cultivation and training thinking he’s not doing enough. QHJ and JFM are similar enough in this aspect that I don’t see JC’s relationship with his father changing from one au to another.

More of my rambles from that convo:

I guess a large part of JC’s change of character comes from him not having to compete against an interloper, so to speak, for his place in the family (since wwx was treated as his replacement). As Lan Cheng, born knowing lxc is the heir and future leader and not him, and I think that might be less stress on him mentally (but that’s not including his parents issues…) He’s pretty independent and outspoken in canon so I see lxc not hovering or thinking he needs to protect his younger brother to the extent he did lwj. In fact, knowing from birth he is not the heir might be less stress in that aspect, less emphasis on trying to reach impossible expectations and striving to be perfect. But his need for positive parental support might push him more than other motivators. And yes!!! I love the idea that he’s closest to LQR! Their personalities seem very similar/kindred spirits. He’d still have his anger, but he’ll have to channel that into his training I suppose. He’s definitely the type of Lan to radiate an aura of pure rage with an obvious (thin) mask of serenity which terrifies most anyone.

He’s not nearly as much a protege as lwj was ao that might make him struggle a bit and frustrate him endlessly, esp when he has to see lxc do that same task effortlessly. He probably bonds with LQR over being the less impressive second born son and over the years his uncle tries teaching him ways of getting around that.

lqr’s biggest hang up might be lwj’s soft rebelliousness, though how much of that is just sheer stubbornness 🤷🏻‍♀️ he might not be vocal but you KNOW there are some rules he doesn’t agree with/think are arbitrary to the true righteous path and isn’t afraid of pointing them out. Maybe LQR doesn’t like him giving Lan Cheng dangerous ideas and questioning Cloud Recesses’ way of life? Like the rule about no pets (wwx probably still gave Jiang Zhan a pet rabbit when they were kids lol) and I honestly would love to see jc with a dog again, which is yet another reason for wwx to try (and fail) to keep his brother away from the scary anger-repressed Lan 😂

On that note, have some little fluff Limit added about Lan Cheng’s little note cloud puppy:

I’m sure I have more stewing in my brain, but this is what I currently have unless @limitbreaker23 has more to add?

Lan Wanyin, from a Zhancheng role swap cooked up with @limitbreaker23 💕

[poetryqueer]

maybe framing the diss. through being a discourse of elite men will save it. perhaps.

[alexandriaellisart]

So now i have migraines apparently 😭

[beanmaster-pika]

A sizeable chunk of the fanbase (especially those who read the webtoon) seeing Collei in 3.0: aw thank goodness she’s doing well and even has two dads who are in love :)

Hoyoverse half a year later, writing Cyno and Tighnari into an event that in-game half of Mondstadt considers a lovers’ festival: shit shit shit shit shit we have to no-homo this

[whirlinglikeaballet]

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[iwaasfairy]

rambly rant in the aftermath of this whole situation. I wasn’t gonna say anything because I didn’t have anything new or smart to say

but now I really wanna implore my followers to think critically in light of tumblr “drama”. because it’s dangerous. inflammatory posts are so easy.

imagine being called some of the worst words for one second, could you as easily defend yourself? even if you knew you had done nothing, how easy does it seem to convince an angry mob that they’ve got it wrong? definitely not as easy as making the fucking post at least.

I don’t want to talk whatever allegations. its not about the post of the week. its about the culture around drama, and free-for-all that surrounds it.

the lack of critical thought and understanding that smart, grown humans are able to give these situations is sad. past blind gut reaction anger and disbelief, do yall do anything with those thoughts afterward? parroting some talking head without thought isn’t insight. the people who make these posts on anon and think that gives them free reign to do the most despicable shit,

if you wish real harm, if you doxx, if you threaten someone’s life or innocent people who aren’t even involved - you’re straight up a bad person. the person you’re calling out may be a bad person too, but there’s no way you’re the “good guy” there.

can you actually think about what you believe in regards to the thing?

some of you seem to think everyone acts in service of you and your beliefs, instead of their own reasons and beliefs.

I know angry people are gonna start shit bc you have the critical reading skills of a goldfish so again, this isn’t a judgement about the situations that have cropped up in dc spheres last few days. I can’t say anything that hasn’t been said before. It’s about how y’all react to it. Drama isn’t an excuse to become a horrible person for a few days. And if you take any chance to publicly act like a shitty person, maybe you just are a shitty person.

It shows that most of you have no fucking clue of what you’re talking about. Publicly airing your problem w someone isn’t public service.

we all understand that a subjective bad interaction isn’t proof. it doesn’t criminalise someone to be shit person to talk to, but that’s 90% of the rbs.

If you have a gripe with someone, you talk about it in private, or to friends, or block them. And if you’re gonna call someone out, make sure you can line up the facts. Not assumptions.

The vagueness is so distasteful. If you don’t have enough fact to label them with that word publicly, maybe mind your business and dislike the person in quiet. no one said you’re not allowed to dislike someone.

have some fucking class. unless you’ve made sure that what you’re saying in the Whole truth, it probably isn’t. it’s your belief, and your belief isn’t any more important or right than anyone else’s. so many of you are seriously, seriously embarrassing. good job doing absolutely nothing for the betterment of anyone.

[crossbackpoke-check]

V random but I’m in my Brockpetey feels could I listen to your 46 60 playlist!!

of course!! the first playlist i mentioned in the tags is actually not mine—it belongs to ash @notthequiettype and is a soundtrack to their wonderful fic Lake Rules (go read it if you haven’t already!!! highly recommend!!!)

annnd this one is my personal brockpetey vibes playlist

happy listening!!!

[rosesradio]

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