#I initially pictured Ed here

[netocanessa]

Been doing my yearly rewatch of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. So I was inspired to do a piece—well two— it was meant to be one but decided to end up doing both! Here are the initial thumbnails!

After the thumbs, I was undecided on which I liked best. I really liked both sketches but I couldn’t make up my mind!!

I decided to be lazy 🤪😝 and initially chose to do the simpler one with Ed holding out for the philosopher stone!

Also, originally, I was going to do this piece digitally but one of my goals this year is to be better with my traditional tools and fill out sketchbook and actually use all my brush pens and markers instead of letting continue to collect dust! So… I picked up my sketchbook and there I went!

I didn’t do a great job of recording or taking pictures of the various stages of completion for this piece (sorry) but this one was pretty straightforward and simple to do. I used colored pencils for this one! Not bad!

But then…

I decided I wasn’t done! I really wanted to see the other sketch fully realized, I felt like I had a good idea and colors in my mind and I didn’t want to let it go! So there I went! Luckily there was space left on the same page so this sketchbook page would be fully dedicated to FMA, yay!

Time to add colors:

This time I’m using my Arrtx acrylic brush markers, which is a little more nerve wracking than colored pencils 😖😖.

But I was definitely up for the challenge!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Almost there! That metal arm was giving me nightmares!

And here it is! Final, I’m mostly happy with how it came out especially with having used acrylic markers! And the full spread:

Hope y’all like! Thanks for reading!!

[vallettamango]

Camp Half-Blood Headcanons

Things that probably would happen at camp. (Also ik that its set in the 2000s but just ignore I wanted to include some newer pop culture)

They have a annual memory/yearbook for the summer 

Chiron will pick a few kids from different cabins and give them old film cameras to capture moments from camp

Chiron takes the “yearbook” committee  group into nyc for a weekend they develop the pictures and make a single yearbook which Chiron keeps a stack of in the big hall where any campers can look back at past ones in their free time

A few years back at the request of some summer only campers he has started scanning the books digitally and emailing it to campers/parents so everyone can have a copy

They take one big camp group photo on the last day of summer

 There’s a section at the end called “camps most likely to” and/or voted most ____

Here’s a few of them: 

Connor Stoll is most likely to win a pie eating contest

Will Solace was voted most helpful camper

Austin Lake was voted to have the best smile 

Cecil Markowitz was voted to have the best laugh

Alice Miyazawa was voted most likely to stay calm in a stressful situation

Drew Tanaka was voted best dressed (Piper and Leo still think that’s not true camp opinion and that the voting was tampered with)

Nyssa Barrera is most likely to shave her head

the stolls obviously sell contraband to other campers (snacks, weed, makeup etc) 

Apollo cabin has 1 of 2 CD players in camp. When their older siblings would go home for the summer they would burn CDs with requests from everyone in the cabin and bring them back the next summer 

The other one used to be in the big hall and used communally 

It got broken during an intense food fight, everyone blames Ares cabin because their the ones that flipped their table over 

The secluded area at the top of the strawberry field is known as the date spot for older campers 

Aphrodite cabin made an initiative to have the camp supply campers with sex Ed and started a bowl of condoms in the infirm for anyone to take 

Will Solace (and the other counsellors before him) will have dance partys to cheer up their younger siblings. like they'll just turn on music and jam n dance, they even have a specific CD for it. (Lee Fletcher started tradition)

Katie Gardner from demeter and Rachel Dare started baking as a new camp activity during free periods. They also teach about growing your own ingredients and nutritional value 

Hermes cabin (Travis probably) once tried to make slap ass Friday a thing, it didn’t end well.

Definitely at some point some older campers in Demeter were growing weed in the greenhouse and selling it to other campers (in partnership w the stolls who distributed it)

they were stopped after about a month or two by Chiron who was not happy at all 

Once Sherman yang became head counselor of Ares they all got matching pjs (I’m sorry I just love that idea)

Valentina and Mitchell’s from Aphrodite like to braid the mains of the Pegasus 

Athena cabin loves to compete amongst each other of who can do sudoku the fastest, do a crossword first or win scrabble

Clarisse used to take ares cabin on morning jogs everyday 

Once Hephaestus cabin built a giant nerf gun that shot meatballs 

Aphrodite cabin covers their walls in posters of fashion and pop culture icons like: vivienne Westwood, the devil wears prada, Marilyn Monroe, 10 things I hate about you, destiny child etc 

they’re currently obsessed with Sabrina carpenter. Lacy brought the CD of short n sweet and they’ve been listening to it non stop (Apollo cabin has been nice enough to lend them the CD player when their not using it)

A bunch of the younger ish campers were obsessed with the magic tree house book series (iykyk) because the camp had a box set in Ancient Greek (somehow?)

They thought it was cool how the magic treehouse was kind of like the human vs demigod world so relatable in a way

Kids from all the cabins would share them so they got pretty beat up but they were very well loved until the day the binding literally fell apart

For year round campers their end of school year Summative for social sciences (geography, history, Ancient Greek/english) they each research an event in American history then explain how it’s related to a specific god and the impact they had on the event 

They all present them and they can present the project in any form they want (an art piece, a speech,  a retelling of the event etc)

When campers go for their last summer they sign their bunks

After the battle of manhattan or a demigod dies before they get to turn 18 their sibling will sometimes write their names on the bunks for them

Once Aphrodite cabin snuck into other cabins during the day and hid a photo of Channing tatum's abs under the bed slats of all the head counselors

Everyone was just confused when they found this random photo months later  

 If you walk by the communal showers on Apollo cabins shower day and you’ll definitely hear all them harmonizing to baby by Justin beiber

[seoktized]

hi everyone!! you might know junhanner/xinyanyan/neogreencurry here on tumblr, but i wanted to let you all know she is a catfish..! i wanna show everyone proof so she doesn’t try and make me seem like i’m in the wrong.

wednesday, i confronted her about the whole thing (with proof) and she kept up this lie which i didn’t believe for a second.

i asked her about a picture she said was her, where if you reverse image searched on pinterest you could find it, but there was an emoji on the girls face. so i zoomed in on the girls face and you could tell it’s been drawn over.

when confronted about it, this is what she said:

but yesterday, she sent these ppl on pinterest who uploaded the pictures she sent me of her face and said they stole her pics from xiaohongshu (a chinese pinterest basically)

so, i downloaded the app and did the little reverse image search and i found the original girl and it literally has nothing to do with “xinyan” on the account.

i had a feeling she’s from romania cause i have a clock in romania on my clock app and she’d send screenshots (most of the time she’d cover the times and say that her clock is broken) when she forgot, the times aligned with the times in romania. she’d say that her phone would reset and change to romanian time because she bought the phone in romania.

and today i asked her to send me a video of her face, she danced around the subject and only replied to smth small then blocked me.

she then texted me on instagram and was like “i just have a very traumatic experience from this and something is holding me back from sending it” which confirmed it for me.

she was banned from the discord server we were in but proceeded to message every person she was “friends” with to try and see what i was saying & threatening to “expose” me by showing things that was said about a mutual friend. most of these conversations were initiated by her and i simply agreed.

i will own up to it, i was a asshole to a friend and i have since apologized to that friend. i’m very irritable person, so, i get annoyed easily and i said things i shouldn’t. i know i’m wrong and i’m not afraid to say that.

she also made a statement “defending herself”, which was just her yelling at me and trying to make me seem like a bad person.

the ootd pictures she’d send were also from xhs. i found her actual account and she follows the girl mentioned above and the girl who posts the dress pictures.

today she’s been nonstop dming me on tumblr saying she cannot send a video because she has trauma from such things. she compared it to an someone with an ed having to eat their fear food which seems a bit of a stretch and wrong to say.

i simply asked for a video to prove she’s real, but she’s stalled the whole time saying “idk what to do in the video” or bringing up the trauma. she called me insane though i have proof that she’s using someone else’s pictures and she won’t even send a video to prove that she’s who she says she is.

i’m just putting this out there for anyone who is friends with her and to tell my side of the story incase she tries to switch it up. thank u for ur time :3

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hey sex witch, you’ve talked a lot about porn addiction on here but I have some other questions if that’s ok.

I go to Christian highschool and we often have discussions about porn addiction.

my teacher says that most addicted people start consuming porn at around 9. And that even seeing one naked person or one porn or whatever on the internet can put you at higher risk of developing an addiction to porn.

does absolutely any of this have a base in science? Or is this all fear mongering and what not?

hi anon,

first of all, I just want to say that I think it rules that you're seeking information outside of what's being taught at your school. learning how to question what you're told and seek out answers from other sources is a really important skill that can be VERY hard to even begin if you aren't given the resources to easily go looking for information, and I think it's great that you're taking the initiative of seeking out other perspectives :)

now, let's break this down: the concept of "porn addiction" is one largely discredited by psychologists. while people can certainly develop maladaptive coping mechanisms around sexuality, porn, and/or masturbation, this isn't strictly the same as addiction, and several studies have found that the people who are most likely to identify themselves as porn addicts are people who harbor religious or cultural shame about sexuality and porn use, rather than people who use porn more than the average person. it is, largely, a matter of perception.

while access to smartphones means that many people first encounter pornography at a young age - the current average age is somewhere between 9 and 13, depending on the study - and that can be confusing to a child who isn't given the proper framework to understand what they're seeing, it's also not a new phenomenon. in my role as a sex educator I also get to talk with a lot of parents about their early sexual experiences, and many of them recall encountering printed pornography as children when they find it in gutters, the woods, the bedroom of parents or friends' parents, or even stowed in farm equipment. these adults tend to remember being intrigued and excited along with a little confused or alarmed by this first brush with sexuality, but crucially it did not define them as people. as evidence by the fact that they've grown up to send their children to queer-friendly, sex positive, nonjudgmental sex ed classes, early exposure to porn did not stop them from growing into curious, thoughtful, and supportive parents who want to encourage healthy attitudes toward sexuality for their children. porn alone does not have the power to determine the direction of someone's life.

just seeing a naked person or pornography on the internet also cannot immediately make you an "addict." as you've already guessed, this is what we call fear mongering, using information in a way that's exaggerated to make people nervous to even engage with a topic. fear mongering about sex is common among adults and education systems that don't want to young people to be curious about their bodies; another common one is "teaching" young people about sexually transmitted infections by only showing them pictures of untreated cases that have become drastic and painful while insisting that no STI can ever be treated, which is definitely not the case. but the facts don't matter; the priority is trying to make sure teenagers are too scared to have sex until they're adults and the school system is no longer responsible for them.

(and it doesn't even work; states with higher rates of abstinence only education are CONSISTENTLY among those with the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.)

when presented with absolutist statements like this, it's worth poking holes in the logic. for instance, if seeing any naked figure is bad, what about classical art? do nude marble statues put you at risk of being a porn addict? what about other artistic depictions of nudity? or anatomical illustrations? what about real people just changing clothes in a locker room, or young siblings bathing together? does it not count for people who are nearly or partially nude, like someone wearing a bathing suit or athletic clothes? people changing in a locker room together? what about young children being bathed together? and what about all of those depictions about Jesus on the cross wearing nothing but a loincloth? what's the line between "good" and "bad" nudity, and who's deciding where that line is? can such a line even really exist at all?

the truth is that people are undressed or partially undressed in all kinds of situations, and none of them are a corrosive influence on your brain. just looking at something is not enough to completely rewire your brain and permanently change your behavior. ultimately, you are responsible for your own actions.

I hope this has been a helpful answer, and that you stay curious about what you're being taught.

[patricia-taxxon]

So, I watched that response stream that DeadwingDork made about my furry boinking video, here it is if you're curious.

By some accounts, this gentleman seems like he means well, with regards to pronouns he pulls the "when in doubt, they/them" gambit, which is partway there. If he finds this, I'll politely let him know I don't use they, just she & it. Thanks!

I have good reason to believe he began this journey in good faith, but over the course of the video he slowly gives up being charitable, and it's very frustrating to watch. There's a few key moments of miscommunication I noticed that I'd like to clear up.

DeadwingDork and I got off on the wrong foot very early on, and part of that's my fault. I start the video openly lusting after Garth Alphandomega, and this put him on edge. This might be an ideological difference we can't get past, he says that Garth is "Just a wolf" when I personally think he's quite different from a wolf. After that, I do the joke where I say "If the opportunity presented itself I would fuck my-" and cut to The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe, but he didn't have the context to understand what I'm saying by cutting to that album in particular, so he thought I was jokingly saying I would fuck my dog. He spends the rest of the stream with that initial impression of me lusting after what he perceives as literal animals, it's kinda the initial rock that starts the avalanche and closes him off from understanding basically anything that I'm saying, until the end, where he's convinced I've just spent 43 minutes coming out as a zoophile.

This might just be a difference in artistic philosophy, like he interprets Alpha & Omega to be about wolves whereas I interpret it as being about people through the aesthetic lens of wolves. Metaphor isn't just for abstract art movies, after all. Garth walks on 4 legs, but he has enough obvious persistent human-like traits both visually and behaviorally for me to understand him as a person delivered via wolf. For the same reason, he is disturbed by my lusting for Shoukichi Pompoko, because he interprets that movie as literally being about tanuki. I think this the main reason the concept of a character being "simultaneously human and inhuman" completely whiffed on him. He skimmed over my segment on how Leo can be both a wolf and hispanic & didn't understand the relevance, because I don't think that contradiction can be resolved in his head.

The most frustrating part of this stream is the way he clearly picks up on a lot of the overarching subtext that I'm putting down, but by that point in the video he doesn't have enough faith in me to interpret it as being put there intentionally. He treats the connection between my special-ed dog training and my current animal identity as an unintentional self-report, when it isn't. There's this *maddening* segment where I talk about Pom Poko for the first time, and he... honestly quite accurately picks apart the picture I'm illustrating about alienation, but he handwaves it away in favor of his horrible mangling of the exact literal sentence I am saying at that moment.

He says:

"There's clearly a story here, but it's being buried. There's a lot of stuff that's leading towards... 'oh, you watched this movie and this movie and your parents did this and your fuckin' teachers did this, and that's why this is happening.' That's like the fuckin' undertones of this video, [but] the main takeaway is supposed to be that this movie... I dunno, makes you f.. is supposed to feel like how fuckin' animal people feel like they're... whatever, I don't, I don't... whatever."

He grabs at the subtext, the story I'm obviously telling with the surface level anecdote of my experience seeing Pom Poko when I was young. I say obviously, because he and his chat both understood it. But then he discards that, assumes it was unintended, and importantly, he doesn't have a good answer for what I'm actually saying divorced from that. Because... what's even left after you remove the subtextual story I'm telling with this anecdote? The anecdote itself? Of course he's empty handed.

Other notes:

He can't decide whether I'm an over zealous recruiter trying to call everything furry, or that I'm a gatekeeper trying to force robust definitions of 'furry' into the general lexicon. This isn't very important, it's just kind of funny.

He is dismissive of me saying I won't report news if my only source is Kiwifarms, but he doesn't really give a good reason for it. I am having trouble summarizing his argument for why I should have referenced a website whose users doxxed me. He hilariously suggests that I should negotiate with them to have my address taken down, as long as I'm not a "lolcow" about it. I'll be charitable and say that I don't think he's thought this through very much.

He hates that I "compare autistic people to animals," when that really just doesn't mean anything on its own. A comparison is a comparison, a follower of mine pointed out to me they could say that trans people are like cockroaches & it could either mean they are doggedly resilient in the face of harsh circumstances or that they are pests that need to be exterminated. I meant something specific by using an animal metaphor to describe my autistic identity, and it transcends the literal reading of "calling autistic people animals."

He derisively calls Echo a "gay furry sex game" when it simply is not. I'll forgive him for this because he hasn't played it, but Echo isn't porn, it's a horror game. There's sex in it, and it has the framework of a dating game, but it is far from the main appeal. I'm not saying this to elevate Echo above the degrading label of "porn," because Adastra is definitely porn and it's almost as good, just not as easily recommendable to outsiders.

He thinks its commendable that Sean Booth bought my album, which is nice.

Overall, I don't think DeadwingDork is outwardly hateful, but he is quite gullible. He accepts hate speech at face value and buys into narratives useful for hate movements. There's echos of trans groomer panic, that old "you're the reason people are transphobic" chestnut, and of course, using Kiwifarms as a news source. He said he came into the video knowing nothing about me and had no reason to be approaching me in bad faith, but he clearly doesn't trust me enough to think the main rhetorical thrust of the video was intentional.

bad stream lol

[pumpkinpaix]

Spotlight 1:

"Introduction: The Single-log Bridge"

(interview questions answered by Alberto)

What drew you to this topic?

When we realized this would be the first scholarly book on The Untamed, we wanted to prioritize writers with lived experience and cultural backgrounds most pertinent to an initial discussion of it!

Was there anything you were surprised to discover while researching?

For me personally, I was surprised to see all the records that The Untamed kept setting as we wrote, revised, and submitted the collection! Some of the sources cited here were added quite literally the week before our deadline.

Did researching/writing your chapter change how you saw the text, the fandom, or the media? How so?

We had to pull together conversations on a lot of different topics for this introduction, and it was very neat to see the big picture coming together.

If there’s one thing you hope the fandom takes away from your article, what would it be?

I hope that English-speaking fandom in particular comes away with a better sense of how complex production was and how much nuance there is to the show. I've seen a lot of discussions that try to read CQL in the way they would a show made in the US or EU, and that just misses so much of what this show is doing!

What is your MDZS/CQL origin story? (i.e. how did you come to this text?)

I (Maria) started watching CQL after seeing it all over my dash and getting rave recommendations from friends in a wide variety of other fandoms! From there, I branched out into the novel and other danmei texts, both webnovels and dramas.

Favorite adaptation, if any?

The live-action drama will always hold a special place in my heart because this is how I first encountered these characters!

If you were isekai-ed into MDZS/CQL, what sect affiliation would you choose and why?

This is such a tough question XD I think I'd have to say Qinghe Nie because I admire their leadership and I'm most drawn to their style of cultivation!

What’s your favorite fictional trope in MDZS/CQL?

Soulmate tropes will always get me! Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen are my very favorite characters and that relationship is so compelling to me: I also love how Xiao Xingchen forms a little found family in Yi City for a time, later on :,)

Chaotic one-sentence pitch to get your friends into MDZS/CQL?

Picture this: disaster gays reunite after dramatic death and reincarnation, then have the slowest slowburn while dealing with post-conflict politics!

If you could ask anyone who worked any adaptation of MDZS/CQL one thing, who would it be and what would you ask?

To any cast member, I would be so curious whether they anticipated how big and visible the show became!

If you could ask MXTX one question, what would it be?

What do you think of how popular your work has become?!

What is one (1) book/media you would recommend to a MDZS/CQL fan? Tell us about it.

Word of Honor, in case there's anyone hasn't seen it yet (heart eyes)

Anything to say to potential readers of the collection?

On behalf of myself and co-editor Yue, we truly hope you enjoy it!

You can find Maria on Twitter/X @MariaKAlberto.

(FAQ) (all posts on Catching Chen Qing Ling)

[hoshinasblade]

Professor!Hoshina thoughts.

Like I instinctually think he’d be an English teacher who does higher level courses specializing in Japanese literature and poetry. The kind where the class size is like 20 people or less.

On the other hand, I can also see him teaching gen ed literature for entering freshmen and just being a super chill guy. He’d be all “I get that the majority of you don’t want to be here, but you gotta so let’s get through this together.”

Regardless of type of course, I think Hoshina would know exactly how to motivate (oo la la~ lol) his students. He understands people have lives outside of his classroom. He’s attentive during one-on-one conferences, and has great office hours. General student consensus is that he’s strict, but fair.

Also glasses. Like reading glasses. He doesn’t wear them while teaching, but he does in his office for grading and doing computer work. Idk if this is what you’re looking for l, but yeah

if i could make out with this ask, i would have 🥹 this is a bit long so buckle up.

quick trivia that i am an english major; that's why i mentioned in my post before that i am biased on making vice-captain hoshina an english professor if i am going to write a fic where he is a teacher. it just fits his character, i would agree. it's also canon that he reads poetry so there's that too. personally i agree that he would be someone who teaches something esoteric as this parallels his role in the manga/anime. might be slightly off-tangent but this assumption of mine relates to how hoshina is portrayed as someone who is stubborn and proud. it was clear in the beginning that his own father thought that use of blades is already obsolete, but what did hoshina do? he persevered, earning a spot beside the highest ranking official in the third division. i would say something similar would happen when hoshina decided to go down his own path of being a professor - he comes from a well-off clan, i suppose he can choose any other profession if he wants to, but he stands by his decision to be a part of the academe anyway.

now off to the good stuff. NSFW AFTER THE CUT, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

hoshina is strict within the four corners of the classroom because he values his principles and his reputation. he can be friends with a few of his students outside school but during class hours, he carries himself as serious and businesslike. which is why i arrived at two scenarios if we are going to discuss anything nsfw involving professor!hoshina:

professor!hoshina x student!reader has a very slim chance of happening but you will be able to make it happen because hoshina sees himself at you. of course you being hot and attractive also helps out your case, but what takes the cake is that you aren't scared to speak your thoughts and fight for them. i can imagine a classroom setup, a heated argument about a required reading, and you find yourself on the opposite side of the discussion from hoshina. usually a student would be afraid to disagree with a professor's opinion, but not you and that gets his attention. having learned that you are in his class not because you ran out of elective program to enrol to but because you actually like the specialised course, i see hoshina getting impressed at how much you respect his field of expertise. the thing is i don't believe he would proactively initiate a sexual relationship with one of his students, but one after-class consultation leads to another, and the farthest he is willing to go with you is... sexting. he is already gambling with his life here, but he thinks this is the safest the both of you can go where losses will not be much. you don't send him nudes right away because you know him better than that - the pictures you send him are just enough to provoke something inside him: a shot of you wearing a black lace bra that barely covered your nipples, or a skimpy skirt that showcases your ass. his response would be him telling you in explicit detail what he would like to do to you once you are not his student anymore. when you got your clearance to graduate, he celebrated by asking you to sit on his desk, commanding you to show him your pussy and finger yourself for him as he jerks off his cock in front of you, watching. he will most definitely fuck you on top of the desk after, and to hell with the papers and documents atop his table, he won't stop his thrusts until he gets to cum inside you for the first time.

professor!hoshina x colleague!reader where hoshina is rightfully hesitant on starting anything at all because he thinks workplace affairs are tacky and impractical. but you make him laugh, and you are not bad at your job too (he's interested at the fact your students are fond of you despite the fact that your program has such a high rate of failing students). he commiserates with you on the struggle of being an effective class facilitator and he is surprised at how you and him have so much in common - you are both into poetry but hates superficial verbiage, you and him believe that a professor's role is not only to teach, but to make sure that students are learning - sometimes those two can be different things - and that although you prefer less sugar, you and hoshina are into coffee. when the literature department spent a friday night drinking at the local bar, you were stuck in the streets during the late hour, and hoshina being a gentleman, offered to take you home. which he did - take you home, just with the worst intentions. maybe it's the alcohol that made him cockier than usual, or maybe it was him catching a glimpse of you undressing so you can change into a more comfortable blouse, but he took the leap of kissing you first, shoving his tongue in your throat, his palm roaming on your chest. let's just say that you were lucky it was the weekend the morning after, because it would have been embarrassing to be walking funny in campus.

... i feel like i yapped too much, so im gonna stop now lol. if you have more thoughts, my inbox is always open. :)

EDIT: just an addition because i think i missed the last part of your ask - YES, GLASSES ON PROFESSOR!HOSHINA. i already came up with a scene where you took his eyeglasses off because you already wanna eat his face and he's like "you know i can't see you that well without my glasses right", and your response will be "that's fine, i can take the lead". my brain is melting with all the ideas, someone help me 😩😩😩

[fatuismooches]

At first I wasn't wild about Arlecchino's ponytail, but then I opened my third eye and considered... Arlecchino and her lover are in bed and her lover just stares at her hair and before Arlecchino could even ask why they're staring, they pull Arlecchino close, remove her hair tie and run their hands through her hair to enjoy how soft it is.

The bed was warm, but never warm enough. No one ever became truly warm in Snezhnayan weather. But Arlecchino was always warm. You were initially surprised but it was comforting, especially when she held you in her arms.

Arlecchino was also always awake before you. No matter how much you tried to wake up before her, she was always conscious. Some days she was already gone, her side of the bed cold. Some days she was still there, such as today, basking in the quietness as she waited for you to wake up.

Sometimes you wondered if she ever got bored of simply lying in silence with you on her sparse days off. Arlecchino was such a busy woman - she could probably be doing much more productive things instead of wasting her time here with you. You remember offhandedly mentioning it to her, but she quickly narrowed her eyes and told you not to be foolish, which was reassuring.

So, on rare days like this, where the first thing you saw when you woke up was her face instead of the empty space, it was very precious to you. Already awake, as per usual, she immediately noticed the slow opening of your eyes, considering her hand was now stroking your cheek.

“Good morning, [Name],” her voice echoed throughout the completely still room, save for the snow beating against the window. It took a few seconds for you to process that your lover was still here with you, the warmth from her body seeping into you, her voice repeating in your head. You looked at her blinking, taking in her smooth face, X-ed eyes, and pink lips all directed toward you. At first, she didn’t question your staring, as you were usually bleary and still adjusting to the light in the mornings. You sleepily wondered what she thought about as she studied you. 

In no time you realized that she was actually here with you, especially when she placed a soft kiss on your cheek, quickly waking you up embarrassingly enough.

“Arlie… good morning. It’s nice to see you,” you murmured as you snuggled into her chest, enjoying the attention you were getting.

“You as well,” she responded, and silence reigned once more. One did not need to speak during these moments. Sometimes more is shared in the quiet than with words.

You peered back up at her, and that’s when you noticed that Arlecchino had exchanged her usual fancy hair clip for a regular hair tie so that it was more comfortable in bed. Though right now, her hair wasn’t the neat, orderly ponytail it usually was. Some wisps of hair bordered her face like a picture, while other locks were thrown over her body.

Arlecchino’s hair always fascinated you. It was beautiful, to put it simply, but simple wasn’t enough to describe it. Pure white that rivaled the snow of Snezhnaya, black locks trickling down that challenged the darkness of the night. And finally, it flowed into red curls that clashed against the white and matched her eyes.

Your internal marveling at your lover’s hair gave you the sudden urge to run your fingers through it. You had done it a few times before, and you enjoyed it immensely. Arlecchino seemed to not mind it either. So you decided to indulge yourself, and it was now that she noticed your endless staring. She was just about to question you when you suddenly pulled her closer (although it wasn’t much of a pull when your bodies were already touching each other) and tugged off the hair tie, allowing her hair to spill out and onto your waiting fingers.

The first touch of the softness against your fingers was heavenly. It was always astonishing how nicely her tresses rubbed and tickled against your hand. Hair both pretty to the eye and touch, something many people would be jealous of, including yourself. But you had Arlecchino all to yourself at least.

Arlecchino had not uttered a word during this. She had raised her eyebrows the tiniest bit at your sudden boldness, but soon returned to her poker face, allowing you to do as you pleased. Secretly, she had always found this activity to be quite relaxing and endearing, as well as finding the expression on your face cute. She wondered if you enjoyed this more than her sometimes, considering the funny things you did with her hair.

You twirled a whole lock of her hair around your finger, and let it go to see it bounce and then fall flat. You let strands flow between each of your fingers, and let it fall and brush against your arm in the process. You even combed out some tiny knots. It was always the mundane things that were oddly the most delightful, you thought, lost in the way her hair danced in your hand.

You weren’t sure how much time had past, but it was then you realized on every occasion where you played with her hair, you always asked explicit permission. Sometimes, there were days when she didn’t want to be touched, which was completely understandable, so you always made sure to ask. So now you were anxious about if you were internally irritating her.

The more you thought about it, you were worried that she would get annoyed at your continued stroking, so before you could get too lost in the motion, you began to pull away. But she hastily caught your wrist, only speaking a few words from there.

“You may continue.” You were surprised at her request but also happy and relieved, obeying her as your fingers returned to their rightful place, entangled with her locks of hair. It was then that she amazed you even more. Arlecchino’s eyelids began to droop, slowly but surely, until her multicolored eyes could be seen no longer. You knew she wasn’t asleep - she only fell asleep after you did - but this was simply incredible for you.

Your heart pounded fiercely at the sight, as though you’d just run a marathon. Even as Arlecchino’s lover, you rarely ever saw her as vulnerable as she was right now. She was surely a sight to behold. Ruthless and cruel to soft and comforted.

You didn’t utter a single word, not wanting to ruin this perfect and tender moment. And so the two of you continued to lay there in peace, her locks of hair gliding through your fingers effortlessly, and a very tiny, content smile on the Harbinger’s face.

[cbrownjc]

Some spoiler thoughts for episode 2x05

I haven't done a rewatch yet, so these are just some initial thoughts on the episode (spoilers):

Daniel was so not let go after those 3 days. Bank on it.

Daniel already said it -- the drug den thing was a fabrication of his memories being rewritten. But, more to it, Louis' memories of that time were also rewritten. Between that as well as his extensive burn? Who knows what Louis even remembers of the 1970s either.

Neither Louis nor Daniel remember a damn thing of what happened during what would be the Devil's Minion period! (Particually because who knows how long it took Louis to even heal. With those types of burns, I'm going to say a few years at least.)

The show left things extremely open-ended for both Daniel and Louis' characters at the end of the flashbacks which can be filled with whatever the show writers might have ideas about that time period over how many whatever seasons. They haven't locked themselves into one single thing going forward leaving it open-ended that way.

Yeah, even if they want Louis and Daniel to have had sex sometime later. Because again, they both don't remember anything. 😏

But Armand -- Armand does. He remembers all of it. And oh you dear, f-ed up gremlin, I really did think you might not have been responsible for Daniel's memories, but now I'm starting to wonder . . . .

Louis, in 1973, doing what he does in Merrick. Because it was remembering Claudia -- how she manipulated him -- that sent him running into the sun. And even though he tried -- and failed -- to do it in 1973, he's going to fully remember it in the present day too IMO and, this time, he'll succeed at doing it.

Because yes, in Merrick, Louis actually succeeds in killing himself. It's only because of how vampire blood works, and a lot of it being poured over Louis' body, that he is revived. And I really think we are headed toward a "rule of three" wrt this. I think Armand clocked Louis was close to killing himself sometime directly after Paris because of maybe almost really trying so, and that is why Armand put a veil up over Louis' mind.

Because even back in 1973 it's clear that Louis actually didn't remember the bit about Claudia until he drank Daniel's drugged-up blood! Between that and Arman directly saying "She didn't love you!" (which yes, was a line taken directly from toward the end of the IWTV book that Armand says to Louis about Claudia), whatever cloud Louis was actually under in 1973 lifted for a bit . . . enough for him to run out into that sun and almost succeeded -- which I feel we'll learn/see was actually his second attempt.

His third (and final) attempt will be in the finale. And that time will be the one that succeeds. (And then he'll be resurrected/reborn).

"Am I going to be on suicide watch for the next 1000 years?" Yeah, Armand, it looks very well that you are -- will be.

I loved Luke as young Daniel! And I feel very sure we're going to see more of him. He and Jacob had such a bouncy chemistry.

And oh, the scenes between him and Assad as Armand -- so creepy and sinister! Just what it should be at this point in time between Daniel and Armand, at the beginning of things. They even had Daniel held prisoner in the house for three days, the same length of time he was held in the cage in the books. But everything Armand did to Daniel here was so much more unnerving, particularly the chair thing.

So . . . Armand really didn't know the Talamasca was watching then? Hmm, okay show but I'm side-eyeing that one. Because really, he should have IMO.

Though I did notice that Daniel strategically didn't show Louis the pictures of him and Armand taking Daniel out of the house. Which I still don't think makes any freakin' sense, them doing it the way they did, even with Louis being hurt like that. I supposed Louis wanted to make sure Armand didn't hurt Daniel still, but . . . .

And oh, Armand. I can see any and all attempts to defend you wrt what is coming have really slipped away much after this. I know why you are doing all of this, I get it I do, but . . . *sigh*

You should have told Louis that Lestat was saying, "I love you." But you are still so scared of being alone . . . this is all going to bite you back next season Armand. So, so much.

Would I say it's my most favorite episode of the show ever so far? Not yet. But I known it's the one of Season 2 that I'm going to rewatch over and over the most so far. Yes, I love it for the beginning of Devil's Minion that it gave us, of course. But I love that it also really started to show the friendship and trust that Rolin Jones kept saying last season was between Louis and Daniel. Louis and Daniel just being friends is something I never expected going into the show and has become such a favorite dynamic of mine too.

So yeah, it was a wonderful episode. I do think it was hyped up a bit too much in the "most disturbing thing I've ever seen" department because I actually did not find it to be all that disturbing in the horror department. But as far as character development and dynamic building goes it was stellar and revealed some great things, so I can ignore my little nitpicks.

[sgiandubh]

Context, always the context

After we had gagging fun - and some, a small and unjustified heartbreak, too - with the newest 🎪 pic, let's put it a bit in context. I confess I am more and more immune to these: they are aimed at this fandom, of course - just to fuel further web wars and talks: never forget Xmas is round the corner, too. But they are also aimed at the Casuals, who still can't place McIdiot on her map and do not really care, to be honest.

So, what exactly do we have, here?

This:

After more than ten years in showbiz, our C still needs a pointer to tell ignoramuses like me where exactly she is, on that picture?

How odd. How unfair. But let's imagine I am from Mars. I have no idea who these people are, including to each other. The legend tells me nothing: just C and T and zero details. They could very well be co-workers, acquaintances, friends...? Oh, she's married to him. Oh. Ok. For sure, they ooze bliss and happiness. For sure. I've seen broomsticks act more convincingly than this.

Also, the photographer. As a very trusted friend pointed out (thank you, forever indebted to you), this Bennett guy was all over the place, yesterday. According to Getty Images (https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/photographer?photographer=Dave%20Benett&assettype=image&sort=best&license=rf%2Crm), he attended at least seven other high profile London events yesterday and was paid to cover them, too.

Their list immediately places this minor happening in its right context and at its right place:

"Leave The World Behind" - UK Special Screening and afterparty. The one she attended with McIdiot.

Hackett London x David Gandy Wellwear Launch Party - Savile Row tailors, established in 1983. Huge success story from a humble Portobello Road clothes stall to a 160 shops global network and a part of LVMH group (remember? LOL). The one she did not attend with McIdiot.

"Femme" - Gala Screening - After Party - UK thriller, premiered at the Berlinale last spring. Will be released tomorrow in the UK and IE. 95% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. The one she did not attend with McIdiot.

Skye McAlpine Celebrates The Opening Of Tavola's Christmas Pop-Up Shop, in Knightsbridge (along with Fitzrovia, my favorite London spot). Tavola is a high end tableware collection, carefully curated by Skye McAlpine - celebrated British cookbook author and an expert in Italian cuisine and fine dining. You should think two gin entrepreneurs would be thrilled to meet her, at another event she did not attend with McIdiot.

A Reception By The All Party Parliamentary Group Honouring Elton John For His Dedication To The Global Fight Against HIV AIDS. No further comments needed for this very, very posh event she did not attend with McIdiot. I doubt she has this type of connections.

The Anti Slavery Collective Inaugural Winter Gala at the Battersea Arts Center in London. Attended by royalty (yeah, ok: Fergie - but also, her two Princess daughters!), aristocrats (Count Nikolai von Bismarck comes to mind), showbiz people (Ed Sheeran - hello?) and of course, the press. But this is another very high profile event she did not attend with McIdiot.

Longines Dolce Vita Exhibition and after party - aimed at the high end luxury crowd. Another event she did not attend with McIdiot.

Smirnoff Celebrates New 'We Do Us' Initiative In Partnership With Tilting The Lens And Sink The Pink. Smirnoff, that legendary vodka which story started in Tsarist Moscow and now continues as part of the behemoth Diageo spirits group. Mhm. Now with an event tailored for the well-heeled LGBT+ and Generation Z crowds, organized in partnership with Tilting the Lens,  Sinéad Burke's consultancy firm with an absolutely spectacular client portfolio, featuring Gucci, Starbucks and -hey, nice to see you! - Soho House. LOL. You would think they could have grabbed a black cab and do anything to at least drop in and say hi. You would think they would be interested to meet with the other, less obvious, partner of this event, Stonegate, a major player on UK's hospitality scene. What a pity this was another event she did not attend with McIdiot!

Make no mistake. London is a real global metropolis. Une ville-monde (a World City), a notion coined by one of my masters, the wonderful French historian Fernand Braudel. As such, it currently stands at the epicenter of all that is trendy, new, exciting and expensive and it offers an endless array of opportunities for the brave and the bold. That was but a very incomplete sample of a Wednesday night on the London scene, busier than usually with all those end of year events. Out of the other seven of this sample, she had a profitable and realistic choice between at least two or three other events. She could have even coupled that after party with at least another one of those, if she had the right network to attract an invitation.

It is also plain to see, by now, TMcG is by no conceivable means the successful, multimillionaire businessman and entrepreneur. He is nowhere to be placed on this very rich, very diverse event scene. He does not attend any events by himself, whereas she carefully attends events all alone and does it very well - wouldn't that be because she has a name in her own right, too? He apparently does nothing, he apparently is Nobody. You should think a successful, multimillionaire, ambitious businessman would be proud to be seen just about everywhere with his up-and-coming actress wife, isn't it?

The sad truth is this clown only makes it to a cursory mention in a Daily Fail picture gallery when dragged along by C. At an event she most probably managed to get an invitation via Rami Malek, her co-star in The Amateur:

That, my friends, is not C playing her Greta Garbo. That is C squandering every shred of sympathy capital she ever managed to acquire, with absurd determination.

But sure, keep on screeching, Stans. Keep on screeching. All of the above are cold, hard FACTS your queens carefully keep out of your reach. God forbid you come to the realization.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #539

I woke up to more terrible news this morning. Apparently, the Marines are being deployed to suppress the protests in Los Angeles, California. As far as I know, they're the strongest branch of the armed forces that my country can bring to bear. It seems absolutely ridiculous and cartoonishly evil to deploy those against mostly unarmed people who just... don't want innocent people from immigrant communities to be rounded up and sent to the torture prison in El Salvador. But... that's what's happening.

And... there's not a whole lot I can do about it, so... yeah. Today was very much not off to a great start. So J suggested we take a walk. I'm sad to report to you that I was in such a foul state that it didn't even occur to me to get pictures for you. I'm really sorry about that. When we got back, I had some more of the leftover burgers from our adventures when Atr visited our house. That was pretty good, I guess. But it still doesn't quell the horrifying sense of dread I feel in the pit of my stomach.

I must have slept better than usual last night, or hydrated better than usual, or... maybe even a bit of both, though. Because, for a little bit, I felt motivated to break out the supplies to weave a wire tree. This one will be silver on amethyst. For the friend who sent me that lovely letter:

...I only wove together 3 of the 27 strands I needed, though, before my right wrist started to hurt. I think I messed it up trying to type on my laptop while the keyboard was inclined forward towards me. So I figured I should probably avoid pushing it and stop. Still, I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out:

...I'll try to weave more tomorrow. We'll see how I feel. EDS is hard because like... everything doesn't work quite right. My tendons and cartilage and stuff are a little fragile. And it's gonna get worse as I get older. Lame.

Well. I'm not “older” yet. So... let's keep trying to hang in there for now, okay?

I decided the thing to do was breathe life into a couple more wishes for you. So that's what I did:

And then after that, it was time for me to run today's errands. I had to go get my new Invisalign sets, and I had to go get my medicine from the pharmacy. I have one that stops my blood pressure from causing problems. And another that stops my stomach from digesting itself like a very confused weirdo. The real issue is that my esophageal sphincter is made of – you guessed it – connective tissue! So... like everything else, it's all loosey-goosey and... it doesn't quite do the job of keeping my stomach acid where it belongs, so without the medicine, it'll creep up into my esophagus instead.

...Laaaaaaaame.

Well. It is what it is. So we make the best of what we have, and try to solve problems as they arise. What else can we do?

M was having a hard time at work, so at the pharmacy, I picked him up a couple small packets of peanut butter M&Ms. He seemed to really appreciate that. I got J a Twix and a Snickers; he requested one or the other, but... I got him both. Because why the fuck not.

When I got home, I decided to take pictures of the new set of Invisaligns, compared to my initial set. Here's the upper jaw:

...And the lower jaw:

This set is not moving my teeth. But it fits a lot better than the previous set. I don't have weird gaps between the aligners and my teeth anymore, so that's pretty rad. They still want me to wear it for 10 days. And they want me to wear rubber bands only at night from now on. Weird. But I won't complain about it; I don't really like discarding the used rubber bands.

It rained shortly after I got home. It rained a LOT. And it was warm. And once again... I could not resist going outside and running around. I guess J went outside sometime after I started, in order to grab up video of me; I didn't notice at first because I can't see very well when my glasses are off. But. Well. Here:

...You'll have to excuse the blacked-out bits at the beginning; I have to protect things like addresses and license plate numbers because the internet is a weird and dangerous place. But... aside from that... I hope you had fun, imagining what it might be like for you to play in the rain, too.

...I hope you'll join me someday. Won't you...?

I took a shower after I got in. I had a nice time, but... I didn't wanna keep being covered in dirty water and bits of plants. And so now I'm in my pajamas. I got hungry afterwards, so I decided to get sushi. Wanna share...?

I spent the time between then and now fixing up the video that J got, and... writing today's letter to you.

The funk seems to be banished, at least for the time being. Maybe I also just... needed to move a little more briskly than what a walk can offer. I dunno.

J and I will watch M play Deltarune pretty soon. So I guess I'll end today's letter here to go do that. It's going on 9pm here anyways, and I've got more errands tomorrow, too; I wanna go to bed on time and make sure I'm alert for them.

...I wish you could have played in the rain with me today...

…

I love you. Do you know it? Is it enough to prompt you to make choices that will keep yourself safe? Is it enough to prompt you to return back home to the people who love you? Is it enough to move you to love yourself, even if only just a little...?

Try really hard out there to make good choices, okay, Sephiroth...?

I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[fizzypinkblooded]

Do you have anymore ivti interpretation similar to the one about Ivan having internalized homophobia in a modern-like setting? Like interpretations that delve into the mind even if the subject matter/ their thoughts are uncomfortable to think about? Thought that the one from before was really interesting.

first of all this made me very happy and giddy thank you :D i love dark twisted uncomfortable shit it's like candy to me.

overall this is pretty broad and i could come up with all sorts of fucked shit for you.

i'm gonna ramble about various things and put it under the cut, so for anyone else, don't read if you're uncomfortable with discussion of topics like rape, csa, tiny bit of ed talk, and uh .. yeah idk, toxic shit. this isnt super ivti heavy its all very vague

keeping to the modern setting first off and because i alluded to it in the internalized homophobia post; the way i often adapt till's sexual abuse is that it was from his dad [ whether his dad is a human version of urak or not ].

it keeps both the abuse itself and the closest possible power dynamic equivalence of guardian on pet -> parent on child. and that's why till's often with single mother Io. this trauma is something very foundational to me with his character, it's a big explanation in my mind for his feral cat behaviour so it's important to me for it to be kept in and adapted when possible.

of course, since in canon his abuse is on-going, keeping urak/father in the picture is also something do be done. this could have a lot of different directions for how io is written here. especially since we don't know a ton about her. generally i'd like to think in this situation that she's unaware of what's happening, because she'd always prioritize till above anyone else. i think she knows urak is, generally, abusive and he probably treats her terribly too, but it's normalized to her.

but of course, going off what we do see in canon, you could argue it's possible urak isn't even the one actually sexually abusing till, just that he enables it. you could go the very dark route of him using till to create csem. double it all up, even.

regardless of specifics behind the scenes, till doesn't talk about it. ivan might end up being the only friend that even knows. till thought he was being considerate telling ivan, especially if it was around the time they start dating, only for ivan to go to hellzone forever about it. its not uncommon for abuse victims to end up with more abusers in the future, and ivan is convinced he's till's next abuser. it's better because they're actually close in age, but he also feels like trash about it. <- his ass unreliable as always

it all, obviously, makes things incredibly difficult for till in .. many ways. navigating sexuality, feelings, your own body, when these things have happened can become difficult.

till simultaneously feels nothing about his body and resents it all the same. i think upon him first figuring out that ivan is physically attracted to him, it's an ugly swirl of repulsion and confusion. which, of course, ivan takes in the worst way possible and any way till tries to articulate himself after the initial "oh god, ew" is ignored or further misinterpreted. it's not that till hates the idea of sex with ivan, far from it, but he has to unpack a lot around his own sexuality and how it's not a bad thing.

neither of these boys can communicate, this is fundamentally important to their dynamic in pretty much any au haha.

anyway, one of the biggest things that complicates till's sexuality with all of this is the part of him that's terrified he doesn't like men and that he's just 'trained' to after being abused by them for so much of his life. till is also incapable of actually speaking or articulating how he feels in any good or meaningful way, often leading to him instead bottling things up or wording things terribly.

art is probably the only outlet he has, whether it's music or drawing/painting. i would love to see the kind of shit he makes in a modern au, within the context of it being vent art to express things he can't say normally.

ANOTHER TOPIC ANOTHER TOPIC UHMMMM

till. sexually abused AND alternative AND a queer boy ? yeahhgh the likelihood of him having an eating disorder is up there babeeyy. uhmm given you're on anon i have no idea how much you know abt me or things i've posted on my blog, so if you're unaware i struggle w/ disordered eating and just Talking about it is. very difficult. so i like to express it through fiction. i don't have the . ability to articulate much about this right now, but i will in the future because i have a lot of thoughts about till having an ed and how it effects ivti !! o7

i will say i could see him either having anorexia or bulimia, and given the context of modern au, i could see him falling into the pipeline of ed spaces to pro-s/h spaces on equivalent social media to tmblr or twt

ANOTHER THING !!!!

i wouldn't say this one is As uncomfortable as the other stuff, it bugs me overall that people don't seem to take hyuna's alcoholism into account for much stuff. maybe it's my life experience bias making me grumpy over it.

i'm very fond of the idea of modern au, till ending up befriending hyuna in one way or another, and her being a very important older friend in his life [ an adult that Gets Him because she's alt, hyuna punk girl 5ever, and she's also someone generally removed from his social circle and family that he can confide in with his struggles over his bisexuality ] however she's also a . very bad terrible no good influence on him

overall, given most people in this fandom not having personal experiences with alcoholism, i can't be too grumpy about them not really doing much with it i guess. what i can do is inject my own experiences into it or whatever lmao.

hyuna's fine with getting till alcohol and sees no harm in offering it to him or buying him some if he asks. i can also see her getting him cigarettes and weed.

she's noooot responsible, she's in the gutter with her mental health and doesn't exactly think clearly or see an issue with it. till's her friend, so she's just letting him have fun too, yeah ? ivan would, to a degree, resent her for her carelessness.

while ivan isn't jealous, he is Incredibly possessive, and it pisses him off Especially given hyuna's age. that sick part of him wants to be the only bad influence on till, and he's just upset more by hyuna being yet another irresponsible adult in till's life.

whether or not till ends up falling into alcoholism himself again could depend a lot. there's a lot of things to play around with, and that's kind of what i'm trying to do here i guess ? just lay out some vague uncomfortable ideas for people to play around with if they'd like.

on that note if anyone reading this writes a fic or makes an au or draws some art based on any of this stuff i would LOVE to see it pls pls pls tag me or dm me or whatever

i'm going to leave this there because it's like. three things but still pretty long lmao. if you'd like me to go into any specific au more in depth or something feel free to send another ask about it !!

[doktorblitz]

Creature commandos AU: reincarnated lovers ala Dracula

also on ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62724025

What if after the team settles into some sense of normality, with Bride as the leader, and back at ARGUS, someone unexpected comes into the Bride's radar. Basically I took the idea of Bram Stoker's Dracula with Oldman and thought, what if Victor or someone oddly similar, just gender flipped.

So this is the first AU I ever dreamed up for the fandom after seeing the second episode, The Tourmaline necklace, and it's the least developed as a result.

The idea struck me because Bride would likely fall for someone as similar to her old flame as possible, and what if a random scientist dude working for Argus just happens to be quite similar.

Mostly chronological, I don't have the energy to write a full actual fic for now, but the main ideas and head canons for it are here.

- One day sometime after Nina's death and Bride getting that new prison wing, Waller comes in about an opportunity for her. Says a particular scientist was curious about studying her and her status as kinda undead. Of course initially B is like, why would I do that.

- While I could just have Waller send the Bride in person directly, I could see Amanda getting an advantage by watching the Bride's reaction to showing her the dude's file, because lo and behold, he looks so much like Vic. Amanda wouldn't even say it outright, she'd just keep an eye on B to see how much that affects her.

- Turns out the dude is very similar to Victor, from the very pretty grey eyes to the always shaved face to the brown-red ish slightly foppish hair and lean tall build. In other words he's a twinky snack, but more to the point he may as well be a carbon copy in some ways, which gives the Bride some invariably mixed feelings.

- B doesn't show all of those emotions outright, makes some kinda semi sarcastic comment "may as well see what he wants", but it's clear she's at least somewhat intrigued.

- For convenience let's call him Edward. Ed is very interested in her for 2 reasons. He wants to figure out how reanimation works, and he is interested in researching the mental states of consciousness between life and death (wink wink), such as comas, reanimation, coming back from being clinically dead several minutes etc, and what that does to the brain.

- She goes to see him and when she enters he's not facing her, cue her entering with a semi sarcastic "let's get this over with" comment, and him turning around and being instantly struck by the sheer presence of muscle mommy Bride in full jaded asshole mode. He definitely approves of her tall strong intimidating person, but tries to play it cool and professional. None the less I'd imagine he has an initial "huh damn" moment of adjusting his glasses reaction. 

- Turns out introducing them was a good idea, because he's as gentle as Victor ever was, as clear on always telling her what he's gonna do and giving her the space to say if anything bothers her. And he does research on her endurance, her brain functions, various other things of the sort, all the while marveling at how damn durable she is.

- For her part she finds him oddly comforting and might even end up talking to him outside of his little tests. I'd imagine initially he has to go through Waller to get her into his lab for every meeting, but then he starts being so pedantically techno-babble on why he's summoning her, that Waller's like "whatever fine go get her when you need her".

- Of course there is the elephant in the room, Bride falls for him hard, first physically and then emotionally, because he looks so much like her old lover, and he is not even aware at the time of this. And even once he does become involved with her, she never says it outright.

- In fact he might find out from checking her file and following the historical connections to the ol' Victor Frankenstein, where upon seeing a picture of the fella he's struck by the fact that they look so much alike. He puts 2 and 2 together eventually, that her initial crush is because he looks like Vic, but it never truly stops him from pursuing the relationship (hence my complicated relationships tag).

- There is of course a big physical attraction part of it at first, and it helps that he's not the usual typical cold blooded scientist in how he behaves and thinks, he's more of a renegade in some ways as she ruefully described Victor in the original show.

- Waller is of course aware at some point they were getting intimate, just as she was aware Flagg slept with the Princess, but just like in that situation she never actually says anything about it until it becomes either a problem or a weapon she can use.

- I would guess there might be some changes from how she was with Vic back in the 1800's, namely at the time he was the more experienced and more in charge, and now by contrast with Ed she is more in charge he's more the sub, if anything. He has no objections to that and if anything is quite fascinated by the tall muscle mommy that could crush him with a single hand. And she just finds that absolute blind trust fascinating.

- The rest probably notice she's a little less annoyed and angry at everything and Phosphorus might even be the one to needle her about it, "what's got you so satisfied all of a sudden", which she does not appreciate. Then again they are rather vitriolic best buds, so she'll probably give him some kinda asshole reply.

That's about as far as that AU went in my head, basically Bride finds herself for all intents and purposes another Victor, and how that would work out (probably poorly once Waller considers it a weapon).

Same as the other Bride/Vic ideas, don't hate and don't go all moralistic crusade on me, I've seen worse more weird power dynamics in tv shows/movies.

Feel free to use the idea if anyone likes it, just notify me.

This is only a small AU I thought of after I watched the series, I have some minor ideas for it but not nearly as developed as another couple bigger AU's that I'm cooking up. But I figure Bride deserves some love, and if it happens to be someone quite similar to her first, why not.

[erinelliotc]

I watched the Eene movie and teared up at the end. I'm totally normal and fine

I wasn't ready for Eddy to be humilated in front of everyone, even after he had been such a little rat for so long

The movie was so goodddd

Yeees! I looove Big Picture Show and every time I make edits of it I want to watch it all over again. This movie literally gives me goosebumps in pretty much every scene (I get goosebumps just rewatching the scenes while making my edits). It was the most perfect way to end the show and I'm so glad we got it because it was originally going to end in season 4 with "Take This Ed and Shove It" and I think it would've been kinda lame and even scary.

Personally, I find the inevitable aging and loss of youth to be a rather heavy topic, so I thought it was bold to bring it up in a kid's cartoon, especially the way they did it. I think the way the episode approached the subject wasn't the best because it didn't end well, Eddy woke up and he was still old and depressed about it (I appreciate that at least they removed the part that shows that they would be married to the Kankers). I think it was supposed to be a tragicomic ending and not necessarily real (to me it was definitely Eddy having a hallucination caused by his anxiety and fear of getting old, even though the ending suggests that it was actually real, but to me that was exclusively for comedic purposes), but I honestly wouldn't have been happy with that, and I think it's kinda hard for a kid to process what happened (maybe I'm exaggerating here, maybe I'm just too sensitive). I don't get a good feeling from this episode and I think making it the finale would've been too creepy. I also think about all the moments we got after this, and thank goodness we got them! The specials, season 5, season 6, Big Picture Show, Raven Molisee working on the show... Imagine if we hadn't got all these things? I even get a little nervous thinking we almost didn't get them!

I think they nailed it by giving the show a more serious and mature tone. As time went by, Eddy's backstory became more apparent, and this seemingly confident and unwavering character began to reveal more of his secret insecurities, low self-esteem and poor self-image. Giving him a redemption arc and character development was the cherry on top of the show's cake. I think the movie is the most serious and mature moment of the entire show, and that's perfect since it's the end. It's when our beloved characters get more development, when they talk and open up about things that have been bottled up and hidden for a long time. Even if it wasn't their initial intention, adding the whole context of Eddy's brother and the abuse Eddy suffered fit perfectly as if it had been planned, and everything Eddy said about his brother in the first seasons made perfect sense in the ending. I'm quite fascinated by the themes of family issues and abuse, so this movie adds a lot to me and I love analyzing it. Big Picture Show is without a doubt the part that completes and ends the story.

I think it's great that we have a comedy cartoon here that also addresses serious issues, which, although they're not the focus, end up being important topics that convey some messages and lessons, and don't make it just another show just to have a few laughs.

Ed, Edd n Eddy is very remarkable in many different aspects.

[stripedtabbycat]

peaks finale! what a time it's been!

i appreciate how they tried to wrap up almost everybody's stories in the time they had, even if i'm not sure they were aware while writing this that this would be the show's last season (at least for a while). ranging from characters who get to end things happily (andy and lucy, bobby and shelly, the briggs parents since it turns out garland did not die and in fact seems to have made a full recovery), characters who didn't so much (ed, norma, and nadine, who won't get a second chance at a happier ending until the return; the haywards, left in the wake of some last-minute contrived family drama, and the hornes who got pulled into it), and characters whose fates are left completely ambiguous for the time being (audrey and everybody else in the bank when the bomb went off, ronette pulaski and sarah palmer who are both last seen having some kind of disturbing vision again, and poor annie, who we hear is in the hospital but things aren't looking or sounding good), and whatever happened to cooper after all that.

i notice the finale takes the opportunity to bring back a number of characters the show seemed to have forgotten about in the intervening episodes - ronette, laura's forgotten fellow victim; sarah, laura's forgotten grieving mother who we hadn't heard from since leland died; sylvia horne, audrey's mom who we know basically nothing about (what is her perspective on all the drama that's gone down in her family? we'll never get a chance to know); and laura herself, appearing in black lodge doppelganger form, and in some other form if the clouded blue eyes of the doppelgangers mark them out as separate entities than their "normal" selves who appear in dreams. it seems wrong to say the show forgot about laura, since her picture still appears in the end credits of nearly every episode, but there's a long stretch of this show where she's hardly mentioned. norma bringing up how the miss twin peaks event is going to be a needed relief for the town this year because of her death felt like a reminder to the audience; this is who it's always been about. also in the lodge we see maddie and leland and caroline and various other people who have died over the course of this show and even before. (i bet if teresa banks had been cast at this point, she would have been there too. you know who's not there, though? josie packard, the last victim of BOB that we saw before this. perhaps they were implying she's not quite dead yet, but she's not in the return, so maybe i should be less optimistic.)

the whole plot with eckhardt and the packards really does come to nothing in the end, doesn't it. i don't think we ever learn why or how andrew packard faked his death, and it feels deliberate, with him dismissing anyone else's reaction to finding out he's alive in a "we'll discuss that later" way, while there probably wasn't any plan to explain further. he's most likely dead for real now anyway. adds to what i was saying earlier - none of this really means anything. (audrey's ambiguous fate here might be part of them trying to do the same thing they did with the s1 finale, leaving a bunch of cliffhangers unresolved so they'd pretty much have to renew it, but sadly it didn't come to anything. i'm sure everyone was hoping for things to be wrapped up properly with fire walk with me, but we got a prequel all about laura instead, and i wonder if that's why the film had such a negative initial reception. even though it was always about laura, like i said)

watching this for the first time age 17 i was mostly going "yes! yes! show me more weird shit!" all throughout the final black lodge sequence and while i try to look at things with a more analytical eye now, i mostly think it's also not worth trying to figure out what everything Means or Represents in the "weird" parts. we do basically know what's going on anyway, from explanations earlier in the series - cooper is facing his doppelganger on the threshold, and he flees, showing imperfect courage, and it gets him. there's not really a distinction yet between him being possessed and his doppelganger replacing him, but it's a devastating final image nonetheless to see BOB's reflection with coop on the other side of the mirror.

WHAT did the casual television viewing audience make of all this at the time. like everyone knew the show was "weird" before but they really went for broke in the finale and it was probably even more inexplicable to anyone who wasn't invested in the lore. (i mean, i'm over here reading all the tie-in books and enhancing my understanding of cooper's character and all the extra meaning some of these events have for him, but most people watching the show aren't doing all that.) and for it to end without "explaining" anything, introducing a bunch more weird black lodge business in the process? doubles and a mysterious forest portal and magically congealing coffee? i'm sure lots of people were pissed. i love it

[softavielovesithard]

PINNED POST. READ IT. BITCH. [In process of updating!!!!]

[Minors. Ageless blogs, blank blogs, and anyone discovered to be doing predator shit will be blocked (and reported, in a few of those cases]

Don't worry, I'm not gonna do that early tumblr thing where I type in all caps and call you a motherfucker every other sentence.

Hello, all! I'm Avie, a 31 year old nonbinary, switch, polyamorous, futchy dyke with raging AuDHD and Problematic Kinks ™️. This is a hard kink blog. Some of the contents *will* make you uncomfortable. And that's okay! If it's too much you can block me, I'm not worried about it. That being said, what you're not going to do is send me asks telling me that I'm a danger to "real lesbians' and you hope I get raped for real. Yeah, it's happened, and if you're someone who thinks that's okay to do, you need to take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself what the fuck is wrong with you. Kink is kink. Kinks between enthusiastically consenting adults are fine. If you can't handle that, don't call yourself kink positive, and don't enter kinky spaces because you're clearly not mature enough to be there.

Now that I've said that, let's jump into some of the kinks you'll find on this blog. Some of these I'd like to explore in a kink setting some day, others are strictly fantasy. Which is my business, don't assume:

Orientation play - Could be anything from being gay and trans to being ace. Not into misgendering/detransition kinks.

CNC - soft and hard

Rape play

Ageplay

Age gaps (I like older people. Reminder that I'm *31* so like, 40+ is very hot to me)

Incest play (older brother, father, uncle, grandpa? Maybe?)

Forced to cheat (this is new and I'm still figuring it out)

Being made to enjoy forced stuff

Piss!!!

Breeding and creampies

Gentle, affectionate degradation/pet names

Public sex, especially on public transit and in nature

Intox play

Monsterfucking - werewolves, tentacles, and ghosts being the big ones, but not the only ones.

Size different/size queen shit

Fucked while on the phone

Fucked by customers (long-suffering retail worker), doctors, older friends/bosses, anyone who has some authority over me.

Autism-friendly play (see * on Hard No list)

As you can see, some decently hard shit. Again, if you don't like, just block me. Despite these kinks, I'm a pretty soft person. I like it when forcing me to feel pleasure and enjoyment in things I shouldn't is at the root of these kinks, not hate or degradation. So here is my list of shit I'm *not* into:

Harsh/mean degradation

Being called worthless, stupid, etc. Lovingly saying I'm going dumb from pleasure is okay.

Misogyny, patriarchy, white supremacy.

Cutting, bruising, face slapping, beating, choking, suffocation via head until water, burning/branding, knives or guns, genital mutilation...you get the picture. The only pain I'm into is the pain of an initial, too-big stretch, but even that needs to end in pleasure. I live with chronic pain, I don't want to deal with pain in kink, too.

Scat, vomit, spit, swallowing semen

Total loss of autonomy

* anything like being forced to look you in the eyes, sensory overstimulation, taking advantage of me during meltdowns, removing comfort items, making me eat/taste things I'm averse to.

Weight/food/ED stuff

Pregnancy! Pregnancy risk is hot, breeding is hot, but actual pregnancy kink toward me is a Hard No

Bloggers beware: pro-ana/pro-ed/fatphobic blogs will be blocked immediately

Basically, I like hard kinks coming from soft places. Is that a contradiction? I don't really think so.

I welcome and LOVE talking to others! I like being a slut! That being said:

I prefer asks over dms. I repeat, I PREFER ASKS OVER DMS.

Asks can be about anything! Scenarios, fantasies, questions, anything. Again, I like openly being a slut lol

If you dm me "hey," if we're talking and I'm doing all the work to maintain the convo, if you ask me for pics (I'll give them out if I feel like it, not on request), if you're younger than 25, if you violate my boundaries - depending on the situation I'll ignore/delete it or possibly block you.

You're allowed to send pics and vids at any point, no need to ask! Also in looove with piss gifs/videos, but if you're going to send me one (yes please) I'm begging you to drink water first. Hydrate, babes!

...okay, I think that's everything. Sorry for the long as fuck post! Once more, if it's clear you haven't read my pinned I'm gonna block you. You need to learn how to respect boundaries if you're going to do, well, anything in life, but especially being in kinky communities. If you can't even read one post, you don't belong here.

Have fun, send me naughty shit!!

~ Avie