#I intentionally worded this to remove the spoilers)

[belleandkurtbastian]

The insane combination of Ben and Sam asking questions with reckless abandon and the cards Adam’s pulling this episode.

[nyerus]

A Masterpost for the Revised Version of TGCF

Due to the amount and frequency of misinformation about the revised version of TGCF, I wanted to make a post to serve as a resource for those who are confused about it, while also helping to debunk some of the sensationalist rumors floating around.

This post will be edited to include new things as needed.

⚠️Spoiler Warning: if you have not finished reading the original novel, or want to experience the new scenes from the revised naturally/fresh, please proceed with caution! I've intentionally kept things as vague as possible, but some spoilers are unavoidable!⚠️

✨ PART ONE: Frequently Asked Questions ✨

🔹What is the "revised" version of TGCF?

MXTX had been working on a revised version of TGCF since completing the original, as mentioned this in her postscript/afterword, and in an online interview (Q.27) done years ago just as she competed TGCF. That's all that was known for several years.

In early 2023, TGCF was finally released in print format in mainland China — and this was revealed to be the revised version! Due to regulations, this was a censored edition. However, in early 2024, the uncensored edition was uploaded to JJWXC (the site where all of MXTX's webnovels were originally published)! It's currently fully available to read in Simplified Chinese.

If you want a more in-depth explanation about the revised, please see my post about that here.

🔹What does the revised change compared to the original?

Several scenes have been added, some removed, others expanded upon. Overall, MXTX reportedly wrote 100k characters (words) of new content. While the overarching plot of each arc and the novel as a whole remains the same, it's a more cohesive and polished story. Pacing in each part of the story has been adjusted to flow better, especially in arcs notorious for feeling slow or disjointed.

Some segments have had fairly significant changes — namely the Bloody Banquet/Fang Xin Guoshi arc. (Though it still plays out much the same way.) Most others have smaller changes.

A new extra was also added, called "the Ghost King Dressed Down," which has been translated by Scarabsi on twitter.

🔹How does the revised version effect characters?

Apart from certain minor characters — such as the child Lang Ying who was removed entirely — there haven't been many drastic changes. The biggest thing was side characters like Lang Qianqiu and Ling Wen being given notably more backstory to further flesh them out. Their characterization itself hasn't changed, however.

🔹Which version is canon, then?

Whichever you want, and you can mix-and-match! MXTX has given fans her blessings and encouragement!

🔹How do I read the revised version in English?

Currently, there are no official or unofficial English translations of the whole revised version. Nor are there any plans to do so for the near future.

However, there are English fan translations of a few notable chapters, which you can read here. There's also instructions on that site on how to read the rest of the updated webnovel in English, using a browser extension.

Additionally, the audio drama is adapting the uncensored revised version, and has been doing an amazing job! Check out how to listen to that with English subs here.

✨PART TWO: Debunking Rumors & Clearing up Misinformation✨

Note that all chapter numbers given will be referencing the webnovel's. The old chapters are also available towards the bottom of the page as "serialized versions."

(Translated screenshots provided are janky because it's just basic google MTL!)

🔸"Mentions of Mu Qing's mother was removed from the revised!"

Not at all! Both his parents are still mentioned, along with how Mu Qing is the primary breadwinner due to his mom's failing eyesight. (Ch. 57)

🔸"The earring scene isn't there anymore!"

The earring scene is still very much there! Not actually sure why this is a rumor at all, when the whole earring thing spans several chapters. Here's the conclusion of it (Ch. 59):

🔸"Characters have been butchered in general, with Mu Qing especially getting scenes cut!"

No character (who didn't straight-up get deleted) has been butchered. Nor has any character been singled out for having their scenes deleted/changed, because that's happened to every character — yes, including Xie Lian and Hua Cheng! — and they also have new scenes added!

E.g. the scene where Mu Qing picks the cherries is removed, because that whole section was changed. (However, it's still mentioned that others are prejudiced against him due to his background, and so on.) Meanwhile, there's a brand-new scene that shows Mu Qing's aptitude in treating wounds, as well as he and Feng Xin having new hijinks as "junior officials" with Xie Lian, and more.

Despite the rumors, characters haven't been flattened to make them more one-dimensional compared to Hualian. Perhaps the idea of certain scenes being cut sounds scary for characterization, but a lot of the original has been retained one way or another. In many cases, MXTX just condensed things, or moved them around. The revised is meant to be looked at as a whole, after all.

🔸"Mu Qing now leaves for no reason in Book/Arc 4, instead of for his mother!"

Mu Qing clearly states in the revised that he wants to leave in order to find a way to improve their situation, since they anyways cannot agree amongst themselves. Just like in the original, he was frustrated and felt there was no point in continuing along the same path. (Ch 152)

And yes, he does not bring up his mother in the revised scene. For context: there is a three year gap between the end of Book/Arc 2 and the start of 4. Which means in the original, Mu Qing didn't mention his mother for those three years. Given the events leading to his departure, and what follows, this causes several inconsistencies.

That is a whole topic unto itself, however. But it's not surprising the revised did it a bit differently.

🔸"Feng Xin isn't as funny anymore!"

Feng Xin is actually one of the least changed characters! This rumor likely stems from the scene where Xie Lian reveals his password, to Feng Xin, who no longer rolls on the floor while laughing. Or maybe it's a miscommunication based on the printed revised, which censored some of his (and Qi Rong's) cursing. But that was only for the printed!

🔸"Ling Wen's character isn't as interesting because of the changes!"

People will really say anything on the internet. She's been given more depth and complexity, if anything. There's new scenes that expand on her background and early days in heaven, and her relationship with Bai Jing has been given a lot of extra attention. Her motivations and actions remain the same, but if the subtext was missed in the original, it could have led to some readers thinking of Ling Wen as certain way. Like a ruthless girlboss.

The revised reiterating that this isn't the case doesn't change or detract from her, as that was one of the points of her story to begin with. Plus, the revised arc gives Bai Jing much-needed characterization.

🔸"Ling Wen's ascension is now due to Jing Wen/not on her own merit/etc!"

Frankly, this rumor might be due to people not properly understanding how ascension works in TGCF, and thinking the revised is adding something that they forgot was already in the original. The revised didn't change anything about the manner in which Ling Wen ascended.

You can actually check out the revised Brocade Immortal arc here for yourself, as it's been fan translated!

🔸"The dynamic between Hualian is different in the revised!"

Their dynamic is exactly the same as before, only reinforced if anything. If the new additions are enough to destroy someone’s image of Hualian or turn it on its head, that’s definitely not a fault with either novel version!

🔸"The scene where Hua Cheng is disguised as Lang Ying and accidentally catches Xie Lian bathing is removed!"

Unfortunately, yes, the bathing scene is gone. However, Hua Cheng in disguise is still there — he's a village kid instead.

🔸"MXTX made changes to side characters/ships because she felt threatened by their popularity compared to her main couple!"

This one just doesn't really make sense, because several side characters were given *more* content — including their relationships.

Lang Qianqiu finally feels like an actual character. Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu have new stuff about them. Shi Wudu has some clever little cameos. Pei Ming’s feelings about Yushi Huang are brought up. Pei Xiu’s backstory is even more heartbreaking. Qi Rong has new scenes that make him feel genuinely menacing. Xiao Ying’s been completely revamped. These are just to name a few, and excluding things already talked about above.

It seems unlikely that MXTX would go through the trouble of adding to her side characters if she didn’t care about them, felt they weren’t important, or thought they were getting undeserved attention. Besides, popular characters like Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan had no cuts to their arc!

Looking at the actual metrics… MXTX has no need to feel threatened by her side ships vs her main ships.

[meg-noel-art]

Arcane is a Masterclass in visual storytelling

I hate that a lot of the discourse post Arcane has been centered around it's focus on visual storytelling. Whether this be in regards to character interactions, or plot hints, etc, it seems that the genius of Fortiche and the writers is being criticized unnecessarily. This studio accomplishes what every artist DREAMS of excelling at. It's one of the things I appreciate most about the show. It uses its medium, animation, to its absolute fullest potential. It requires analysis and multiple rewatches and study to fully appreciate it. And I wanted to break down a specific moment that really does illustrate the control Fortiche has over every SECOND of this show (and one that's been controversial) Spoilers for Arcane S2 Episode 9

There is a set up in this final scene that lets us know what will happen to Jinx before it happens. And it lasts a single frame. Your eye and subconscious will register it before your brain ever does. As Jinx throws herself at Warwick/Vander and Vi pushes herself up to reach for her, a single frame focuses on the Hextech crystal in Vi's gauntlet.

Visually the scene could have cut from Vi's face, to her reaching for Jinx. But it shows us the Hextech purposefully - because it will be relevant to the scene. This is a visual cue for "remember this is here, remember what it does? It's about to have a payoff." And it's FAST, but on PURPOSE. And we see the payoff once Jinx uses it to depower the gauntlet moments later.

We knew as the audience, something would, because there was intentionality reminding us it was there. The way Jinx was going to fall was spelled out before it happened. Simultaneously, what they DON'T show in this scene is equally as relevant.

Jinx pulls out the bomb but we never see her deploy the pin. (She clearly DOES as there is an ensuing explosion). But this is different from the moment in season 1 on the bridge during her fight with Ekko, when we see the pin and bomb roll out of her hand before Ekko's reaction shot and the explosion. In that moment they gave us the visual indication of "there is no time" and indeed, they are both caught in the explosion.

But, in the S2 finale, the visual delay in her not removing the pin for us on screen, gives her canonically more time to escape its blast. It's a subtle visual nod to "Never found the body" trope. Hey never saw her pull the pin sooo ;) winkwinkwinknudgenudge. It's a hint to her survival due to nothing more than a single action of what we DON'T see. It needs to be subtle and tricky so that we DO have trouble believing it, but that we also still have a modicum of hope that we're right... That's awesome storytelling.

The next moment we are given a visual of the explosion we see a clear (incredibly fast) offshoot her shimmer abilities (as many have already pointed out.

Finally, in the final scene, Caitlyn nor Vi say a single word about the fallout of the battle. But we are given three visual cues to piece together what happened. Our minds are still purposefully meant to be processing the 'death' of Jinx, which as viewers, occurred 60 seconds ago.

The final battle occurred at the top of the Hexgate and Cait is looking at a blueprint of its construction.

2. The next cut is to the detonated head of the bomb we saw Jinx use while falling, meaning Cait is specifically thinking of the same moment we are. The single piece of bomb she's looking at also insinuates that's the only thing they "found" of her. Another nod to the "no body, no death" trope. But what is she thinking about it?

3. It shows us exactly what she sees and is thinking. A specific location within the Hexgates (which, notably, also includes the only TEXT we can visually make out. The line above it is pure scrawl.) 'air ducts'. An escape route in the same direction we saw Jinx's shimmer line go.

Jinx is likely alive and not a single line of dialogue was needed for that speculation to make sense or be followable.

Without a relevant line of dialogue (besides Cait's memorial-esque voiceover) since the battle, we can be relatively certain of three things:

1.) Jinx escaped the blast 2.) Jinx fled Piltover/Zaun 3.) Cait/Vi know this or suspect it (I believe Vi knows but that's a whole other meta of mine)

Whether or not that is your storytelling *preference*, this show needs to be appropriately commended for it's mastery of its art form. While I think it's fine and fair to say "I wish we had a bit of dialogue" regarding this or that, or a scene that laid x,y, or z out in a different way - it's not necessary. Not with the way the studio visually has told this entire story.

Anyway I don't even know how to end this, this is just a moment that stood out to me really hard, especially because people had such mixed feelings on the ending.

This studio is so god damn inspiring as someone who's dream is to work in storytelling and animation. Standing ovation.

[tutuntuntuinen]

Best Fics 2024 edition

I read 57 fics last year, transferred to a traditional book pages, it's over 10 000 pages. And yes, it's all ✨Ineffable Husbands✨. I have a catalogue and I mark and rate all fics I read. And here are my favourites from 2024!

(See all the tags and warnings from AO3 page, fic names are links to AO3.)

stalwart sun, wily moon by @dustandhalos (Heist AU) Rated M, Words 369 969 My comment: They are both working with art, Aziraphale fixes the antiques, Crowley steals it. I read this 2 times last year, it is my all time favourite. I will read it again this year. Yes, it's a long one, but it is so wholesome and it has everything (not smut though). It broke my heart and fixed it later and nurtured my soul. I'm a fan.

Mon Horrible Chéri by @mrghostrat Rated E, Words 39 954 My comment: They are teachers and they go to Paris with a whole class. They hate each other! Enemies to lovers and so delicious. My favourit part is this small scene from the theatre (minor spoilers): "The air swept out of Aziraphale’s lungs and he stared blankly at the stage. He couldn’t hear a thing for all the blood suddenly rushing to his ears, boiling from the heat that exuded from Crowley’s thigh. It didn’t move, didn’t bounce. Just sat there, flushed against his own, positioned knee to knee and thigh to thigh, securely and intentionally." Like... that's... someones knee touching yours but Ghostrat makes it the whole world! Also the illustrations are soo good!

Big Name Feelings by @mrghostrat (Fandom AU) Rated E, Words 103 997 My comment: Another one from Ghostrat. "Crowley is a BNF fic writer, and Aziraphale is a lurking artist who might be just a little parasocially in love with him." This, too, is so well written and also with lots of illustrations and custom emojis.

Anthony J. Crowley, Retired Demon and Airbnb Superhost by TheOldAquarian (@darkpurpledawn) Rated G, Words 3 027 My comment: This fic is basicly a review section of Crowleys Airbnb apartment, which is in Mayfair and has a lot of house plants and frequent angel like visitor. It is HILARIOUS! "Don’t post a close-up picture of that statue of the two angels, Instagram WILL remove it." Pray For Us, Icarus by Atalan (@brightwanderer) Rated G+T, Words 67 805 (Parts 1-7) My comment: This is a heart breaking story and it's so good and well written. "For three centuries, Crowley has been reincarnated over and over as a human with no memory of his past. Aziraphale has tried to find a way to restore him to his true self, but all he seems to do is hurt them both. This time, he only means to steal a brief moment when he walks into Crowley's flower shop. But Crowley can't let it go…"

What We Make of It (Shotgun Wedding) by @charlottemadison42 Rated E, Words 213 340 My comment: Crowley is Adam's guardian and Aziraphale is Adam's English teacher. Our heroes meet and you know what happens. But because their jobs, there are legal issues and they can't have a romantic relationship. So what to do? Panic, angst, be recless! Great story with all the kids and other characters.

Or Be Nice by @charlottemadison42 Rated E, Words 151 368 My comment: "A human AU in which Aziraphale is a bookseller, Crowley is a drummer, and they are both petty disasters in the worst/best way." Also they are neighbours. This is so FUN!! And also sweet. The pranks they make each other are delightful!

Slow Show by mia_ugly (@mia-ugly) / Podfixx (@podfixx) Rated E, Words 95 505 My comment: I have listened the podfic by Podfixx two times last year. Slow Show is a whole story with our favourite heroes who are co-stars of a popular television program. I love when the characters have a past and it shows and it affects everything they do. It makes the story go deep. I love this!

sanctuary by @moonyinpisces Rated T, Words 22 635 My comment: "Whatever’s happened, Aziraphale doesn’t like it. Change. Such a dreadful invention. (One of Crowley’s, undoubtedly)." This fic has so many things I can't even remember all the things I loved in it (I should read it again!). I think the biggest thing was that it triggered my religious trauma some how and the way Aziraphale had to deal with all the things made in the name of Christianity. And still he could love and be loved.

We Only Said Goodbye with Words, I Died A Hundred Times by ras_elased Rated E, Words 9 333 My comment: This is a hurricane of dialogue and emotions. It was (checks the catalogue) february, when I read this, so I can't remember too much (should re-read). But after reading this I was so impressed it made it's way in this list!

---

There were also other great fics! If you are interested in my lists, you can contact me. I'm very open to fic recommendation exhange! There are great fics from year 2023 which are not mentioned here, but are superfabulous!

[sanemisstalker]

As much as I sexualize and objectify him, I just know Sanemi would be so incredibly difficult to get into bed with. For good reason.

CW/ SEVERE Angst/ am.... am i depressed? Maybe, lol/ Discussion of CA / DV / Men's Mental Health / Sanemi is afraid of his dead dad / MANGA SPOILERS/ Panic Attack / ANXIETY / SH - Just general no good times as a result of Sanemi intentionally isolating.

This isn't headcanons or anything, I've just had my fair share of Sanemi run ins in my life, and I know He'd be afraid of you.

Afraid of himself and being just like his dad. He looks just like the bastard. If he didn't have the white hair, it'd be identical. He has those thousand yard stare eyes, and that big, imposing frame. After his mothers death, I just know he starred at that thing for days. Watching it fester and scar... it was easier before that one came in, to separate his face from his fathers- What an ugly gash.

And he was just like his dad, to Genya, at least. He wanted more than anything for Genya to just be happy, and he knew the stupid boy was doing it all for him. To earn his big brother's love that Sanemi had been intentionally depriving him of. And it sickened Sanemi.

He had to make it painfully clear to Genya every step of the way that nothing he did, no matter the triumph, no matter how proud Sanemi was- was ever going to make Sanemi snap and just say it.

Genya was too good to be good enough. Sanemi thanked his father, briefly, for that trait about himself. Sanemi turned everything off the day his mother died. Everything except for his dad.

Genya did not deserve a tie to the woeful underbelly of the world. Those silly things Genya said after Sanemi killed their mother were Sanemi's saving grace. He never would've been brave enough to start removing himself from Genya's life if Genya hadn't believed he opened the door.

It's why he tried to take his eyes when he found out Genya had been eating demons- Genya was a man he just couldn't protect anymore, because Sanemi kept tabs and he hadn't known that about Genya for a while, now.

It was all so... scary, Sanemi struggled to even think about it sometimes. Anytime he would a pit would grow in his stomach. Anytime he thought about snapping and reconciling with his brother, telling him how proud he was- that pit would be right back. It was like he was starving.

And God, when he meets someone he loves it stings. It stings because Sanemi was always the one walking the others out of the house when dad got bad. It stings because he knows exactly what that bastard did to his mom- he knew the movements intrinsically, and that's all he knew how to do to those fly away demons he'd been slaughtering for months as a teenager.

Back when he could still resceitate a smidge of his empathy for the things. He just started imagining them as his dad.

Because the pathetic piece of shit died before Sanemi could get penance. Kyogo should've been alive for Sanemi to kill, to get big and strong, and beat his father down into submission like Kyogo had been beating him, his mother, and his siblings down for years...

He should've been alive to do the bare minimum and protect his wife- to have fallen to slaughter in her stead. Because there should've been a bigger man in the house- To not only protect Shizu, but to protect Sanemi... but there just wasn't.

The love stings because every time he's reminded of how weak he is.

He loved Kumeno. With everything in his body, he knew he loved Kumeno. He wouldn't dare say a word. He had such a soft smile, Sanemi felt yet another drop of color fade from his vision as he watched Kumeno's smile fade away.

God, he loved Kanae more than he hated the world. He knew it radiated off of him when she entered a room- Because she treated him so softly. The news had shaken him for weeks. He doesn't even quite recall where he went or what he did.

He was greedy to want anything when he wore that uniform and wielded that blade. The first time in a long time he bothered to try and love, the world reminded Sanemi of his place.

And good for it, too, He'd figure. He would've beat Kanae, he bet. Would've reduced such a kind and caring woman to a sniveling dog beneath his fists.

It was better, that God took her away. She was safer from him dead.

His thoughts are never this formulated. They're thicker with self-bashing and the like. He can't bare to look at his face, only his torso- He crafted that himself, his dad was never this strong.

I know if he likes you, you'd just never know. It'd be like pulling teeth, but somehow worse. He doesn't sleep with anyone because that's disrespectful. No woman is an object to be used once, maybe seven times, and then cast off to deal with the brunt of it.

I'm sure beating up the Kakushi that made Mitsuri's uniform was more than cathartic for him.

I'm sure, if you manage to get through to him inspite all of this, he'd be afraid to touch you. He yanks his hand away, and never initiates kissing, even though it's all he wants to do.

He cries when he loses his virginity because fuck, god is going to yank you away. and he knows he can't do anything about it because he messed up and weak. He got so close to you, and god is going to smite you for it.

He's never the one that bares the runt of his sins.

He can't finish. He has a panic attack, it's visceral, and terrifying, he cant even manage to cry. It takes every bone in his body not to lash out screaming, breaking, and destroying while you cradle him against your chest, because God, fuck, he's a mess.

It would take him months to even consider it again. He begs you to leave him and find a man that can treat you better, because it just isn't him-

And it hurts because you see how strong he is to just be alive everyday. Sanemi has never been strong, though. And he doubts he will ever be strong enough to love you correctly-

It's not like him to quit, though.

God I might part 2 this, he's such a little fucker lmao.

[blog-moved-lol]

Jason Todd Canon Lore Stuff:

@jashjdh Ask and you shall receive! :D this is sort of part 2 to this post of mine, where I did the same thing for Dick Grayson. Here, since there are so many comics and so much conflicting lore, I read the fandom . com entry for the character and then type out the most important bits of what I learned, both to help myself remember it, and to teach others ^w^

!TW for Batman-like things, such as spoilers, mentions of injury and death, a brief mentions of drug use, a brief mention of sewerslide and r(😬)e, etc)!

•To begin with, a lot of people argue "Jason is the angry Robin!" Or, "Jason ISN'T the angry Robin!" I think for the most part, this misunderstanding happens because originally, Jason was a very calm kid. In his original appearances he had a similar backstory to Dick Grayson(Being an acrobat in the circus) and was much more chill, however in the post-crisis revamp, he became more violent and troubled. In the words of the wiki, "the post-Crisis Jason is impulsive, reckless, and full of rage."

•Jason lived a troubled childhood, with his father being a petty crook. His dad at one point served a jail sentence for his crimes, but even once he got out of jail, he never came back to the family. This left Jason alone, taking care of his drug-addicted mother. He would rip and remove the parts from cars around the city, selling them for cash to make sure they were fed and clothed. His mother eventually died from an overdose so he took to the streets, continuing to take apart cars for cash.

•One night he came upon the Batmobile parked in an alleyway. Batman had just replaced the tires, but had not yet put on his new custom hubcaps. Jason took this opportunity to snag the tires, and managed to get one and out of there before he came back for a second tire. This is when Batman caught him, hence the iconic interaction of him throwing his tire iron at Bruce and calling him a 'big boob' as he ran away.

•Batman tried putting Jason in a boarding school for troubled kids, however this didn't work out either because the owner of the school was actually running a program to train young criminals. When Batman busted the criminal operation, he decided that perhaps Jason's anger could be used for crime fighting, so he took him in because he was worried that if he didn't, Jason would become a criminal. While Jason wasn't an acrobat like Dick, he was strong, and had lots of skills from his time on the streets.

•On their first official mission together, though, it was revealed that Two-Face had killed Jason's father. Despite the fact that Jason's father had abandoned him, he was still enraged by this and he went on a rampage. However, he showed restraint when he allowed Two-Face to be arrested instead of killing him, which made Bruce very proud.

•As much as Jason was a good, enthusiastic student, he was also a very troubled one. His time on the streets had raised him with a tilted sense of morals, and with the tendency to lash out and get violent when threatened because of his street survival instincts. Because of this, Jason often had the opposite ideals and morals to his mentor. He tended to use excessive force when trying to stop criminals, such as how in one adventure he was asked to 'hold off' some villains, and he immediately shot at them despite Bruce's dislike of using guns.

•The most notable of these times was on the case of Felipe Garzonasa, a man who had r(😬)ed a woman, an event that led to her sewerslide. Jason tracked this guy down, and moments after Jason arrived, Felipe fell to his death off of his apartment balcony. While it was never confirmed nor denied, it's fairly possible that Jason pushed Garzonasa off, breaking Batman's no kill rule. (We love a man who respects women ✊)

•Bruce was so afraid that Jason was going to possibly kill someone, either intentionally or with his reckless actions, that he called Barbara Gordon and asked her to work a case with Jason, in an attempt to figure him out. They did work together, however Barbara could come up with no real way to help him, and simply warned Bruce that there was 'a darkness in Jason'.

•Jason eventually discovers that his mother was not actually his biological mother, so he runs away from home on a mission to find his real mom. He follows lots of leads, but eventually ends up in Ethiopia, finding his bio mother Sheila, working as an aid worker. He's incredibly happy to be reunited with his real mom, but he soon discovers that Sheila is being blackmailed by the Joker, being forced to supply him with medical treatment. Sheila herself has been embezzling funds from the agency, and to keep from getting caught, she directly hands Jason over to the Joker who brutally beats him with a crowbar and leaves him and Sheila in a warehouse with a bomb. Batman is unable to save them on time, and both of them perish in the explosion. Bruce is obviously devastated (and starts going crazy because of this a bit later on), and the bodies are both buried in Gotham City with the cause of death on Jason's death certificate being labeled 'smoke inhalation'.

•Jason is dead for at least a decade, his memory constantly haunting Bruce as his 'greatest failure', keeping Jason's Robin suit on display in the Batcave. Bruce begins to spiral over the thoughts that he himself had failed to train Jason properly, and that he had also failed to save Jason from the Joker. (Personal opinion, I don't know if I actually blame Bruce for 'Not saving Jason in time'? Because the way the wiki framed it, it made it seem like Jason ran away and didn't tell anyone that he was going to do this, plus I don't know how Bruce would've known that the Joker was blackmailing Sheila to begin with? Idk, maybe I'm missing some context here)

•Many years later, while Bruce is fighting with Hush, Tim gets kidnapped. When he confront the kidnapped it ends up being 'Jason', but it turns out that this version of Jason isn't Jason at all, and is just Clayface pretending to be Jason.

•Superboy-Prime, trapped in the Paradise Dimension, alters reality. This shift results in Jason's revival, as he's once again given life. He breaks his way out of his own coffin with his bare hands, and drags himself 12 miles before eventually collapsing (since he still has many lasting injuries from the Joker's beating). He's found at some point and hospitalized, where he stays in a coma for a full year, and even when he awakens he has amnesia. At some point he's recognized by a petty criminal, who informs Talia. Talia brings him to the Lazarus Pit, where she immerses him in the water where her father Ra's is also bathing. This restores Jason's memories and his physical health, however it's implied that the Pit's energy + Ah-Gul's energy messed with his mind and personality (Though it's always possible that these changes really just came from his trauma)

•Jason Todd takes up the mantle of Red Hood, and returns to Gotham City.

•Jason goes to find the Joker (who had been run out of town by Hush), and gives him a beating with a crowbar just as the Joker did to him, though he keeps the Joker alive to use him against Batman later on. He also assumes the control of several gangs, and starts a mini war against the Black Mask criminal empire. His general plan is to clean up the cities violence and drug dealings(probably because he doesn't want anyone to end up like his non-bio mother), as well as kill the Joker for revenge. Because of his intense and violent methods, he has many brushes with Batman. It's around this time that Bruce finds a Robin mask in the Batmobile, one that never belonged to Dick or Tim, but looked like a mask in the style of Jason's old Robin costume. He also realized at this time that Jason's coffin is empty, and that's when he starts to believe that Jason may have genuinely come back from the dead.

•Jason, hearing that Tim had replaced him and was supposedly a 'better Robin' then him, he got angry and broke into the Titan tower to confront him. Wearing a newer version of his own Robin costume, Jason makes quick work of immobilizing the other Titans. He was absolutely furious that there was no memorial for him in the Hall of Fallen Titans (Despite the fact that he was only a Titan for a very short time), Jason demands Tim tell him if he was really as good of a Robin as Jason himself was, and Tim stubbornly says 'Yes' before he passes out. As Jason is leaving the tower, he rips the 'R' logo from Tim's costume. However, it's revealed in the epilogue of that comic that Jason actually holds some respect for Tim now, begrudgingly saying an "I'll admit. He's good." As he ponders how he could've been a better Robin had he acted more like Tim.

•At some point Jason kidnaps the Joker and uses him to lure Bruce to Crime Alley, where they had first met all those years ago. Jason is of course angry that Bruce never 'properly avenged' him by killing the Joker, since Jason believed that Bruce would because the Joker had "Taken me away from you". Bruce explains that it would've been easy for him to kill the Joker, that he continuously fantasized about taking the Joker away, torturing him and eventually killing him, but that he wasn't willing to cross that line (Partially because he wasn't willing to stain the memories he had of Jason [that he clung so tightly to while losing his sanity] with blood). Jason decides on a deal. Either Bruce kills him, or he will kill the Joker. So he holds one gun to the Joker's head and gives the other to Bruce, counting to three. However Bruce, obviously not wanting to kill Jason but also not wanting Jason to commit this crime, uses a Batarang to cut down an object that ends up slicing Jason's throat. The Joker uses this time to detonate some explosives and plunge both of them into the waters. (I don't even know what to say about this part, I have a lot of opinions here. I will say though, I think that if Tim hadn't become Robin, Bruce might've legitimately killed the Joker.)

•Jason shows up again after about a year, now as an evil version of Nightwing. Jason uses this costume to taunt Dick, suggesting the two become a crime fighting team, but Dick refuses because he doesn't want to be associated with Jason's violent methods. Not long after, Jason is kidnapped by unknown mobsters. Dick, albeit hesitantly, saves him, and they team up to defeat the Pierce brothers. After the fight Jason leaves New York and drops the Nightwing mantle, leaving Dick a telegraph that says he has returned to normal, and that he still considers Dick family.

•Jason's kidnaps a girl named Mia, wanting to convert her to his side since they both had somewhat similar pasts and he feels they're kindred spirits. She refuses, so he blows up her high school. (WTF JASON???? 😭)

•I dunno how to explain this one too much, but basically he went on a mission with a Monitor that he called Bob? And he met an alternate reality version of Batman, who had started killing after Jason's death.. And then the Darkseid thing happens and Batman 'dies', which makes Jason absolutely furious (Because he cares about Bruce despite not agreeing with the way that he handled things back when he died).

•Jason, back as Red Hood, tries to take control of some gang wars to calm things down, but it actually makes things worse. Since Batman is supposed to be dead, and Nightwing is unavailable, Tim is the one who has to help clean up the mess. Jason asks to team up, but Tim refuses because of Jason's questionable methods. Due to a combination of some things, Jason gets shot in the leg and arrested. When the gang war is resolved, Tim stops by the prison Jason was in, using a disguise and a fake name to deliver Jason the code that will let him out of his cell because he believes Jason deserves a chance at redemption.

•After his escape Jason is summoned to the Batcave, where he is brought in to hear his part of Bruce's Last Will and Testament for him(Y'know, since Bruce is supposedly dead lmao). He listens to Bruce's final piece as he talks about out of all his failures, Jason was his biggest, and how he regretted not getting Jason actual help or showing much empathy over him hardships, instead dressing him up and having him fight. Unfortunately this heartfelt message is what makes Jason fully snap.

•Jason began dressing up in a Batman-like outfit, leaving slips of paper saying 'I AM BATMAN' where he worked, however he used much more aggressive and lethal forms of punishment on the criminals he fought. Due to the violent nature of his vigilantism, Nightwing and Damian are after the fake Batman. Dick figures put pretty quickly that the imposter Batman is Jason, and after an argument, Jason shoots Damian. Tim is also searching for the fake Batman at this time, dressing up as Batman as well to demonstrate how Bruce would've really acted. Tim finds Jason's fake Batcave, but has to be saved from a boobytrap by Catwoman. Jason returns to his 'cave' and finds them there, impaling Tim with a Batarang. Dick and Jason fight, with Jason thinking and claiming that Tim is dead, while Damian and the Squire are actually busy saving Tim. Dick kicks Jason off a moving train, but when he tries to pull Jason back up to safety(Because he still considers him family, just as Jason does him), Jason refuses his help and falls to his 'death', while claiming they'll meet again soon. This is when Dick becomes Batman.

•When Jason returned, having survived the fall, he decided to become direct competition to Batman and Robin, making it his mission to get to all of the criminals before them and become the new Gotham Hero. He even got his own sidekick, a girl named Scarlet. Jason was very public about this, posting things on social media, talking about how killing the villains was the best way to do it, and a lot of people actually agreed. At one point Jason kidnapped Dick and Damian, locked them up and stripped them both naked(😰), claiming online that if the post got enough attention, he'd reveal Batman and Robin's secret identities. However his plan was interrupted by an assassin names Flamingo, that he and Scarlet weren't strong enough to beat. Dick and Damian escaped and saved them from death, though Damian got pretty seriously injured.. Jason just ran Flamingo over with a truck- Jason was taken into police custody and as they took him away, he claimed that if the Lazarus Pit could revive him, why couldn't it revive Bruce too?

•After Bruce's revival, Jason files an appeal to Arkham Asylum, wanting to be released because the tests show that he's perfectly sane, just willing to kill. He ends up being transferred to a Gotham prison, where as soon as he arrives, the sewerslide rates spike and there are several homicides(Though these mainly occurred in self defense from Red Hood killing people in the prison who attempt to kill him first). On top of this, Jason poisons the food and kills 82 inmates, making 100 more sick. He's immediately taken back to Arkham Asylum, but is quickly broken out by some mercenaries. Jason breaks free from the mercenaries and fights them off as Batman and Robin arrive. At the end of this mission, Red Hood and Scarlet escape in a helicopter, warning Bruce and Damian not to chase them because he planted bombs all over the city months ago, and he's willing to detonate them. Dick doesn't do anything about, deciding that Jason was lying about the bombs, and that even if Jason decides to do better he'll only rejoin the family when he's ready to.

•Jason, trying to reform, forms his own hero team called the Outlaws. He changes the red symbol on his chest to a bat, a sign of his somewhat awkward but slowly-beginning-to get-back-on even-ground relationship with the Batfamily. The costume he now wears also used to belong to Dick. His relationship with Tim is now at least neutral, if not a little friendly, as the two can be seen eating together and making some jokes. However his relationship with Bruce is still strained, and a bit hostile. While he keeps his aggressive and lethal style of fighting, he now only uses it when he believes necessary, and doesn't always shoot the second he sees a problem.

•At some point his team disappears, and he goes back to being a solo hero.

Extra Fun Fact! Because of the Lazarus Pit, Jason no longer ages and he heals much much faster then a normal human!

TAADAA! I might do more if I get the motivation ^w^

[rickktish]

Occasionally the contrast between the woobification of Jason Todd and the demonization of Damian Wayne makes me want to commit acts of untold violence.

Like, two of bruce’s kids have “tried to kill” tim. One spent a decent amount of his life being taught to care for and value others and to serve them, went through an incredibly traumatic experience, came back and decided to go full scorched earth on those he believed wronged him while he was gone. The other was raised in an extremely abusive environment and taught that his only value came from things outside his control and that if he wasn’t superior to everyone then he was inherently inferior. He came to his father’s house at a time of severe upheaval, with little to no experience with any kind of unmixed kindness, and felt the need to secure his position (i.e. make himself safe) by removing a competitor for that security, and later learned that person had a contingency plan to deal with him and retaliated out of fear. One of these guys was in his late teens when he caused grievous bodily injury to a younger opponent who had only enacted symbolic harm of which he (tim) was unaware of having caused. The other was prepubescent when he attacked someone more than half again his age out of a combination of fear and a belief that that was the correct and appropriate way to deal with a competitor for your personal position of security and safety because he was literally taught to kill before losing most of his baby teeth.

Guess who gets justified by the fandom and has dozens or more fics where the entire plot is specifically about tim forgiving him? Spoiler alert: it’s not the literal child from the death cult who’s been abused and manipulated by every single adult in his life until his arrival in Gotham.

Guess who gets portrayed as being somehow inherently evil, even biologically so, and utterly irredeemable no matter what he does? Spoiler alert: it’s not the grown ass man who had a whole villain arc before his public popularity elevated him to anti-hero status.

Edit: added quotation marks around “tried to kill” because somebody said Jason never tried to kill tim and I think what they meant was that he wasn’t approaching the situation with intent to actually murder him, only cause him grievous bodily harm, which i’m too tired after work rn to try to chase down atm. But also because regardless of whether or not Jason attacked tim with homicidal intent, this post is discussing fan interpretation used specifically and prolifically in fanfiction, which does tend to view Jason’s actions as falling under the umbrella of “trying to kill” tim. So. I don’t just want to wholesale remove those words. Perhaps I could simply alter them to say that “two of Bruce’s kids have enacted greivous bodily harm upon Tim intentionally, willfully, and with malice aforethought” but again. Most people just kind of call it “trying to kill tim.” So. Idk

[taksynator]

So something really caught me about the recent Paranatural Update. Not any of the text (Mind it was all great and went to depths about it) But One of the images. (Spoilers below for anyone who cares)

Cody is a half vampire. Now it's cannon in this world that Vampires do not have a reflection, so I find it *Extremely interesting* that we don't see a 1 to 1 reflection of cody here. In fact, I think this mirror is being literal in vampire rules here and is reflecting HALF of cody (Also as evidenced as we see the reflection of the Hijacks to be 1 to 1, so I assume the reflection is literally what it's showing. But the most interesting part is, the reflection we're seeing Isn't his human half, but *His vampire half.* It's not showing the half of cody that is bright, shining and smiling, outwardly friendly and aloof, but rather, Dark, sinister, All business, with Fangs and Claws showing. The half that shows never on his face but in his choice of words, and his actions. Spiritually, Mirrors reflect two things, The truth and the Soul. So this makes me think Cody's truth, who he *is*, what his soul *is* Isn't human. Or even half human. No, he just looks like it, and has the body. Whenever he says "I'm a monster." He means it, he acts it, and he believes it. That's his Whole truth. He's not cody the school kid, Cody the Friend, or Cody the Charitable goofball. He's Cody, the Vampire. Cody the Student Council President. He's cold and manipulative, and *dangerous* And I think both literally and metaphorically, it's because his father separated him from his heart, as Shown here.

Same page, describing his backstory. Note how his father, to the left, is shown in deep red and his human mother in soft blue. When Cody's father removed his heart to place on his own, (As his spirit weapon's power cuts things in pieces) the spiritual wound is in this case, the Human blue. He didn't just cut out cody's human heart. He cut out cody's human *Half*. And keeps it under his own lock and key, In his own chest. Cody's Humanity resides within Davey. And as such, Cody is what the Mirror Reflects. A Vampire with a human's body, but not the human heart, not the soul. A poignant metaphor on how kids tend to reflect the parent that raised them, but also how, intentionally or otherwise, Parents directly affect who their kids are on the inside, but also, aptly describes how cody will certainly be a dangerous threat to our main characters later on.

[adsmpgemau]

George Cinnabar Rambling

a basic summary of his character from me in discord:

that's also your warning for drug usage implications.

Summary: George spends 99% of his time at Dreams side, as both a companion and a calming aid. As Dream has never had good control over his emotions (Primarily angry outburst that are not befitting of a diamond.) George rarely is seen not at Dreams side, and when he IS, he manages to spook every single other gem (on accident/not on purpose) due to his gangly size and form, and Due to being very quite in both movement and voice, never calling out to greet other gems when alone.

Post wars, when Diamond Dream gets put in the prison (Spoilers for the au LOL.) and George has actual unopposed alone time, where he's not just waiting for Dream to return, poor guy doesn't know what to do with himself! George spent all the thousands of years of his existence attending Dream, only focusing on Dreams wants and needs and simply not thinking of himself that he is just clueless on what do to with himself. Sapnap guides him through some of self realization and wants, but Sapnap also pushes the point of "I cant tell you what you want to do or need, George" George eventually finds himself primarily enjoying a comfortable spot in the woods where he can lay for days and just watch the sky. Somewhere far from where they'd been building, alone and undisturbed, except from the occasional beast that would wander up to George to sniff him or inspect him, then George would watch the beast until it wandered off. Sometimes beasts that became familiar and comfortable with his presence would rest beside him in the sun, curled up against his side. The fungus his spores grow is edible to beasts, and it has grown around his resting spot. It doesn't cause the same intoxication effect as it has on the gems, but does cause a calming effect. Meaning animals that eat a few of these fungus are far more confident and calm around George, and when they curl up in his comfortable spot he's made beside him, they rarely react to him touching (petting) them besides the initial gentle startle and glance from his touch.

Georges Powers Description: He fungal boy. He can create spores for shrooms, that he can either grow intentionally once they've landed, allow to grow naturally, or when they are inhaled by other gems, cause an intoxicated effect that usually causes a calmness about them. George is immune to this effect of his spores.

George Physical Description: George is very tall and lean, and i think is currently going to be the tallest gem on the colony. He's not terrible at physical combat, but doesn't have much training and often is to sit out with Fundy when Dreams court combat trains. George is a big gangly, arms and legs very long, smaller torso. When he walks with Dream, he keeps his hands clasped together on his chest chest just below his diamond shaped collar. When alone, he walks with them at his side, he looks like (Endermen) the similarly lengthy black scaled beasts that roam this planet in dim light. Also i think im removing his nose from his design. i am retconning his nose if you see old art with him having a nose, no you dont.

George's job Description: George was specifically created by pink diamond to be given to Dream very early on in Gem society. George is the third oldest gem on the colony, with Dream as the oldest and Techno being a close second. He is meant Comfort and Calm Dream, either with words or his Spores. Also to entertain and counsel Dream, mostly in a way of having Dream voice his thoughts to George and work himself into his own decisions. Doodles of George below the cut

some of these are from last year when i started the au. the above mention of the nose retcon is still true you do not see it

Pencil drawings are from 3/13/24 (when this post is written lol) the blue pend page and the digital doodle are from last year

[hyylia]

COOKING LESSONS ──

post-botw, pre-totk | rated G characters: princess zelda, link, purah, other minor totk characters summary: for their anniversary, zelda faces the forbidden head-on - a loose backstory for the “gourmets go missing” totk sidequest word count: 3397 warnings: minor totk spoilers!

a/n: for zelink week 2023 - @zelinkcommunity​ big thanks to @aurathian​ for betareading this fic! one of her comments was “local princess learns not to cook monster parts” and i think that about sums it up.

read it below the cut or on ao3 → here

The end of the Calamity had removed the ghostly shackles from Zelda’s wrists. Her fate had been met, her mind and body tested, and after over a hundred years, the kingdom could finally rest. There were no prayers to be had or religious studies to attend to in the hopes that she could harness her power. She already had. The Princess was free to do anything she pleased–explore Hyrule without the harrowing duty looming over her shoulders, assist Purah and Robbie with their advanced research, lounge about with Link. She could do anything–except for one tiny, minor thing. 

Cooking was strictly forbidden.

Link had never outwardly said anything and, honestly, she should have expected as much. Even before Calamity Ganon had shaken Hyrule, Link was notorious for eating even the most dubious of substances. Hand him an entire Goron rock roast, and he would swallow it whole without a word. Some mysterious meat–probably bokoblin or moblin in origin–and he would lick the plate clean. So, it should have been no surprise to her that he would swallow her experimental desserts down without a single complaint.

Instead, Purah had been the first to comment on her poor cooking abilities. The Princess had invited her to their house–a business meeting of sorts, to discuss what to do with the various guardian parts strewn across Hyrule–and out of the kindness of her golden heart, she’d decided to cook dinner for them. Purah had been deep in conversation with Link while Zelda had her way with the meal: keese wings, simmered in leafy greens and delectable Hylian mushrooms. It was admittedly not her best work, and it had turned a mysterious shade of green as soon as she’d added the twitching monster parts to the pot. She’d tried her best to make it look appetizing for Purah when she’d plated it, sprinkling freshly chopped Hylian herb on top. It hadn’t exactly worked.

“Princess,” Purah had said instead, staring blankly at the dubious food sitting before her on the table. “What. Is. That.”

“...Dinner?” She’d feigned a casual smile, as if it might lessen the situation and alleviate the concern plastered on the other girl’s face. Inside, she knew she had messed up.

“No,” Purah had pressed, poking a charred, brittle wing with her fork. “What is that?”

“Keese.”

“Keese?” She hadn’t missed the way Purah’s face morphed from concern to utter disgust, letting go of her fork with a loud clink as it’d clattered against the plate below.

“A keese wing, yes. Link has so many from his adventures–I thought I would cook a few for us.”

At that, Purah’s eyes had shifted pointedly to Link, who’d merely smiled in return. He’d sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a hand, intentionally moving his gaze away from Purah and to the floor. Zelda’s mouth had dropped open. 

“Princess… How often does Link let you cook?”

Zelda had never really thought about that before. He’d always jumped at the opportunity to cook for her–whether it was breakfast or lunch or dinner–and she’d only ever assumed it was because he enjoyed it. When he was in the kitchen, humming a tune over the cooking pot, he’d only ever looked happy. It had never appeared to be a chore–or a means to keep her out of the kitchen. His insistence on cooking meals was why she’d had to resort to surprising him with dessert, a course he’d only ever looked grateful for.

“You hate it,” she’d said in defeat, her shoulders sagging. 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Princess, but Link should never let you cook again. This meal is downright criminal.”

Her own eyes had turned to Link, her cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment. He’d only shaken Purah’s words off with a smile, hands signing, It’s not that bad.

That was code for: it was very, very bad. Zelda had sighed miserably, sinking down into her chair, Purah’s laughter echoing through the house. 

She hadn’t cooked again. No burnt (yet, mysteriously soggy) apples, coated in browned butter. No half-baked fruitcake, falling apart and topped with the fruit she’d somehow mutilated. No cooking–whatsoever. 

That is, until recently. With the one-year anniversary of their relationship approaching, Zelda wanted to do something special for Link. She’d thought about it for some time, mulling over the options in her head before she’d finally decided on what she would do. 

She would cook. 

For nearly a year, Link had been cooking for her, and it was only fair that she would, at some point, try to return the favor. Not to mention, she’d atone for her past crimes and give him a gift he’d undoubtedly enjoy: food. Good food. There was nothing more fitting for her swordsman.

Within a few days of her decision, she’d sent a formal request to Gotter, the renowned chef from Riverside Stable, requesting his assistance for secret, individual cooking lessons. Link had engaged in conversation with the chef a number of times on their travels, so she’d trusted his expertise on the art of cooking more than anyone else. She’d been filled with glee at his near-immediate response a few days later: a letter with a time, date, and location at the outskirts of Hateno Village.

He’d agreed. She had been thankful for that, her eyes skimming over the rest of the letter he’d written; something about being optimistic and grateful for the opportunity to teach the Princess of Hyrule. He’d appeared that way until midway through her very first lesson, when he’d realized just how bad she was.

“No, no, no!” He’d been yelling almost immediately, his face red and jaw slack with disbelief–something about her poor knife skills, the way she’d mangled (rather than neatly trimmed) the slab of venison he’d kindly handed her, nearly cutting herself a dozen times in the process. “Princess, must we go over the basics?!”

She’d only smiled weakly and nodded her head, and she’d watched all of the hope and excitement leave his eyes. That had been the gist of their early lessons: how to use a knife correctly, how to measure ingredients and perfectly season a cooking pot. All things that were easy enough to do, because they didn’t actually require cooking. It was the cooking where she’d struggled, where his patience had seemingly been tested the most.

“Princess,” Gotter had interjected during one lesson, rousing her from her thoughts. “You’re supposed to be searing the fish, not burning it.”

“Princess,” he’d weakly asked during another, staring down at his plate in disbelief, “why is the crab still moving?”

“Princess.” He’d utterly given up at one point, lounging in his tent and reading the book in his hands. “I can smell the charcoal you’re cooking from here.”

During one of their last lessons, he’d jumped to put out the giant grease fire she’d accidentally created, chastising her all the while on the importance of not using water to do so. After that, he’d kindly requested reinforcements from the other notable chefs around Hyrule. He’d told her that, maybe together, they would be able to teach her something.

Now, she stood hovering over the cooking pot, three of Hyrule’s finest chefs surrounding her. All of them wore the same expression on their face: disapproval, lips worn thin and eyes hollow with dissatisfaction at what she’d somehow conjured up in her pot. 

“Gotter,” one of them, Agus, said to the man. “You only gave her apples and butter, correct?”

The head chef nodded solemnly.

“So… where did she find the monster parts?” Moza quipped, her gaze moving between the other two chefs and the quivering pile of bokoblin guts in the pot.

“I haven’t the slightest idea.”

Zelda wasn’t exactly sure either. All eyes turned to her, awaiting an explanation that she could simply not provide. She merely shrugged, the chefs all collectively shaking their heads.

“We need a moment alone, Your Highness,” Gotter muttered beneath his breath, looking as though his very soul had been ripped from his body. They left her, walking several paces away and whispering to each other all the while. Zelda knew it was over from the way they all glanced at her from the corner of their eyes, their whispers intensifying with every look. 

She would never learn. Instead, Link would be doomed to cook for her for all of his life, and she’d be forced to find another gift to surprise him with. Only, that wouldn’t do, because their anniversary was today. It was too late to commission anything for him, or to even make something for him herself. She’d been too caught up in her lessons to consider a back-up plan, and at this point, she had no choice but to make dinner and pray to Hylia that it was edible. Certainly it was the thought that would count…?

“Princess,” Gotter said, returning a few moments later. “We’ve been at this for weeks, and there’s been little progress. Perhaps we should reconvene and continue lessons in a few months.”

Zelda had expected as much. She bit her lip, nodding soberly. “Of course. Thank you all for your help.”

She watched them pack up and leave in a hurry, as if they were worried that she might try to argue. She wouldn’t. If Zelda had learned anything, it was that cooking wasn’t her forte–no matter the number of lessons Gotter had freely given her. She sighed, disappointed, and wiped her hands clean on her pants before waving them goodbye.

It was only a few minutes later that she approached the entrance to Hateno Village, her head down and shoulders slouched. How was it that she could do anything, yet she couldn’t cook even the simplest of meals? She could piece together intricate guardian parts, fuse them together with one of Robbie’s tools, and yet melting butter was where she drew the line? She sighed miserably. Her knight approached her side only moments later, face lined with worry.

Where have you been? His hands were a flurry of movement. I thought you said you were helping Cece, but I didn’t see you with her.

“I was helping Cece,” she lied.

From the woods? She nodded. He gave her a skeptical look. What would Cece need in the woods?

“Mushrooms. She told me she plans to reference them in her next design.”

Link’s eyebrows raised curiously, glancing at her obviously mushroom-less arms, yet he said nothing more about it. It was believable enough–that Cece would do something as outrageous as use mushrooms in one of her gaudy fashion designs. Instead, he quietly took her hand, leading her in the direction of their house.

I missed you today, he signed with one hand. I’ve been worried. 

She squeezed his hand. “I’m all right.”

I have a surprise for you at home.

Her face lit up. In all of her scheming and secret lessons, she’d forgotten that he might have gotten her something special as well. She wondered, as she crossed the bridge to their home, what kind of surprise it might be. A painting, maybe, or a new quill and ink set for her journal. 

Instead, as Link pushed the door open, she was met with a new writing desk, larger and sturdier than the one she kept upstairs. She turned to Link in surprise, utterly delighted. His lips spread into a soft smile.

I built it myself, he signed. For you.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, walking inside to touch the dark-stained wood. “How did you build it?”

I’ve picked up a few things over the years. She smiled at that. Now you can work downstairs if you’d like. And it’s larger, so it can hold more Zonai materials on top.

Zelda took it in. He’d already neatly arranged a stack of books on top–a stack she’d been keeping on the floor after running out of space. A small flower vase sat on top, too, with a Silent Princess he must have picked for her at some point sticking out of it. She felt her cheeks warm. “Thank you, Link.”

Of course. I hope you like it.

It was her turn to reveal her gift to him now, a thought that made her stomach suddenly churn with anxiety. She sobered, hesitating before spitting out, “ I… I have something for you as well.”

He tilted his head curiously. You didn’t have to do anything for me.

“I know, but I wanted to.”

You didn’t have to.

She shook her head. “Admittedly,” she said, “you may not like it. Though I do hope that you will. It’ll take some time, though, and you’ll have to stay here. Close your eyes until I tell you to open them.”

His curiosity was piqued. She could tell because he straightened up, suddenly alert. OK.

“I’ll tell you when.”

With that, he closed his eyes obediently, and Zelda was left to gather whatever she could fit inside the basket they used for transporting ingredients. Thankfully, she’d kept the kitchen stocked up all week, though she wasn’t sure how much help it would be. She’d hoped that, by this point, Gotter would have helped her pick a delicious recipe, practiced to perfection from her numerous lessons. Instead, as she looked over the various utensils and ingredients, she felt utterly clueless.

One step at a time, she quietly reminded herself. That had been Agus’s wise advice to her. Don’t rush cooking. Find appreciation for the art, he’d said.

Link had brought in a delicious-looking hunk of beef at some point during the day. She figured that she could probably use that for something–tossing it into the basket–but what else? Her gaze glanced over the array of options before settling on the small bag of Hylian rice she’d bought from Pruce two days ago. Rice was a simple and easy meal, right? She’d watched Gotter cook rice to fluffy perfection several times, though it had only ever turned hard and crispy whenever she’d tried. She’d give it one last attempt.

Keep it simple, she reminded herself. Rice and meat couldn’t go wrong together. It may not have been gourmet, but if she focused hard enough and took her time, maybe it would be edible enough for Link to be amazed at what little improvement she’d made for him. Zelda grabbed a chunk of rock salt for seasoning, cooking oil for the beef, a jar of broth for the rice, and two bowls. With that, she dashed out of the house with the basket and to their cooking pot outside.

She could do this. She knew how to light the fire beneath the pot, how to heat up just a little bit of the oil for the perfect sear, and she did it with little thought. Those had been the easy lessons. With the pot thoroughly heated, Zelda took a deep breath and laid the meat inside. It sizzled furiously–a sign that maybe she’d waited too long for the pot to heat–and her heart leapt in her throat. No, she told herself. For Link, she would try her best. After only a few minutes, she flipped the meat. Her mouth dropped open.

A perfect sear. She almost couldn’t believe her eyes. How had she done that after weeks of failure? She fought down the urge to stand up and cheer, instead staring intently at the meat in the pot. She flipped it again. 

A perfect sear on that side, too. She begged her beating heart to calm as she turned the meat to sear the sides. If the rice failed miserably, maybe she would at least have perfectly cooked beef to present to him. Men liked eating meat, didn’t they? Thank Hylia for that.

She removed the beef from the pot to rest and scraped what little burnt bits remained in the pot with her utensil, fighting the urge to smile wide. Next would be the rice–a feat she was sure would ruin any of the excitement she was feeling at the moment. She added the broth to the pot, boiling in only a few minutes, then the rice. For good measure, she stirred nonstop, fearing that the moment she did, it’d become a burnt mess, clinging to the bottom of the pot.

Only, she saw it soak up the moisture gradually, thickening beneath her utensil. Was she dreaming? Had she entered the afterlife unknowingly–maybe the result of that grease fire? Zelda stared in awe, eyes wide with disbelief. She hurried to prepare their bowls, scooping some of the rice into both of them before slicing the beef. She laid it on top, added just a sprinkle of the rock salt, and...

It looked… appetizing. That had never happened before. She wasn’t sure how she had managed to make something like that, wondering if maybe Hylia had decided to give her good fortune today. She only prayed that it tasted as good as it looked.

After putting the fire out and tossing her dirty utensils into the basket, she rushed back inside, holding both of the bowls in her hands. She saw Link visibly perk up when she entered, like a dog drooling at the scent of the food wafting after her. Link–standing in the same spot, his eyes still pressed firmly shut, because she’d forgotten to tell him to open them before she’d left. She sat the bowls down at their table, cheeks flushed, before she murmured, “Open your eyes.”

He opened them, glancing at her for only a second before he stared down at the bowls she beckoned him towards.

Did you make this? he asked incredulously. She tried not to be offended. It looks delicious.

“Try it,” she urged. He took a seat in his chair and grabbed his spoon, gaze never breaking from the meat and rice bowl before him. He took a bite, and for a moment, he was frozen.

Zelda, he signed, completely deadpanned. He paused and took another bite. I think this is the best thing I’ve eaten in a while.

“Really?” She asked excitedly, leaning forward. He nodded and her face visibly brightened. “I thought about it for a while… What I wanted to get you, I mean. There are only a few things I’ve ever seen you really get excited about, and the biggest thing has been food.”

He nodded again, shoveling another spoonful into his mouth. His love for food was why he spent so much time gathering fresh ingredients on their travels; why they had met Gotter in the first place. 

“I’ve been taking lessons for the past month. I know you don’t mind to cook, and you’ve never complained, but I see how tired you are sometimes. I want to help. When I’ve wandered off to help Cece or Prima or Dantz, I’ve actually been hiding in the woods with Gotter. He offered to teach me, though… Well, admittedly, I haven’t shown much progress until now.” Her cheeks warmed. “I wasn’t sure that this would work. I’m glad you like it, Link.”

He sat his spoon down, half of the bowl already devoured, and met her gaze. 

Zelda, he signed. He reached for one of her hands, tracing her name on her skin with one of his fingers, Zelda. He smiled warmly, squeezing her hand before letting go. Thank you. Not only have you given me something good to eat, but a new recipe too. We’ll have to write it down on a card so we can remember.

A recipe card. Zelda beamed like the sun, clutching her hands together with excitement. Link had written dozens of recipes down over the years, kept safe in their recipe box. Now she would have her own sitting in there. 

Link watched her for a moment, eyes soft, before he signed, Eat before it gets cold. It’s too good to waste.

Zelda nodded and took a seat across from him. Silently they ate their dinner, looking at each other from across the table with smiles hidden behind their bowls. Maybe, Zelda thought, cooking wasn’t some forbidden practice. Maybe it was just a skill that didn’t come naturally to her–one that required a lot of practice. Well… In that case, she decided that she would keep working at it, if only it meant sharing more moments like these with Link.

[tasmanianstripes]

Re that post about content warnings...

I suspect I'm the person you saw reblog this--and I think that some of the OPs original point/intention might have been lost. It is mostly to emphasize that there's some degree of responsibility on the reader -- by this I mean, you can't get mad at an author for hiding behind tags like "creator chose not to use content warnings." It's kind of a two way street. Because if you put "cw: (triggering thing)" it protects the people who are avoiding it--- but it also may spoil the story for the people who arent. This can be problematic if that major content is actually a huge plot element and having it spoiled kind of removes the shock reaction that comes.

I'm of the opinion personally that people can and should use creator chose not to use warnings and then just a vague "this is going to deal with problematic content that could trigger you; be in a good headspace to consume" type note at the start of its something specific. I reblogged because I really wish more authors would lean into that tag function; it exists to protect both reader and writer, lets us keep our spoilers and surprises while alerting the reader that There May Be Dragons here.

Anyway, I know you don't want discourse and I'm hoping this ask just clarifies why I reblogged it rather than sounding disrespectful in any way. If you wanna reply feel free, but you don't gotta. I just felt bad when I read your post, thought you might have misunderstood my intent behind the reblog, and really wanted to explain myself.

Oh no it wasn't from you, and I totally agree with you!

This is why I mentioned that option of AO3 too because I think it's a good compromise, it doesn't spoil the story but also makes it so people know there might be some potentially triggering things if you read it. When you click on that you kind of accept that risk.

I was more so talking about when there's no warning at all, not even "Hey this has some triggering stuff in it but I can't say what because that's a spoiler, read at your own risk", and my absolute frustration with it. If that is not what OP meant then my bad, but that post came off as also defending that, mainly thanks to the inclusion of the line (paraphrasing) "the author only has the obligation to add the trigger warnings the website they're posting to requires them to" which in cases for websites like Tumblr is none (or was none for a very, very long time (untagged graphic SA fics in the Moomins tags my beloathed)) and is generally a problem where websites don't really have filters like AO3. If it's only about AO3's option to not include warnings and an AO3 post that broke containment then I agree (and my bad also), because it's clear when there are triggering subjects and the author simply chose not to include them vs if there are no triggering subjects.

I still take issues with the wording even then though, though this feels like a nitpick and I generally don't like nitpicking people over wording they use. I'm just generally frustrated because it feels like the discussion of trigger warnings is about courtesy and comfort when treating it like it is is massively underselling it and feels like intentionally picking the words to trivialise the issue and making the people who need them out to be needy and nuisances. Trigger warnings are an accessibility feature, and I'm tired of people boiling it down to simply comfort of the reader, it feels like accessibility is always an afterthought and even a nuisance to some people to deal with. It's genuinely frustrating, and maybe my personal experiences affected my reading of that post.

Sorry if my post upset you also! I admit I was pretty frustrated when writing it so I wasn't the most polite. I totally agree with you here though.

[sapphire-wine]

Heavy on your Tongue

Like Icarus flying too close to the sun - Here it is. The second person POV nrmt cock warming fic. Spoilers: not a lot of cock warming. Not read! 850 words give or take. Post aa4 and all that.

You'd been working for a while now, looking through readings to study for the bar once more.

It'd taken some convincing to get you to start, you'd thought that part of your life was far behind you. The many reasons to go through with the decision had been listed over multiple dinners and late nights. And you were happy with it, truly.

That didn't mean it wasn't exhausting though. And tedious.

Luckily, some things made it much better.

You'd just finished one of the many unit tests laying on your desk, given to you courtesy of one Chief Prosecutor.

You set your pencil down on the desk, looking down and smiling fondly.

"Miles?" You croon, brushing his hair back from where it fell over his face.

He doesn't seem to notice, eyes half-lidded.

"Miles." You repeat, sliding your hand down until it cups his cheek. He nuzzles into your hand, a hum coming from his mouth.

It reverberates straight on your cock, still tucked between his lips.

"I'm finished."

He hums once more in acknowledgement, but makes no other movements. He looks up at you through his eyelashes and it seems like this is the only place he wants to be.

It's sweet, really. You're the only one who's seen him like this, he's told you himself. There was a certain vulnerability he said he despised, like it was something to be extracted lest it be paraded around.

And yet, here he is. And here you are. Together at last. Where there were no false rumors or oaths of secrecy to keep you apart.

You slip from his mouth. Laugh at the confused noise he makes. He looks for all the world like a puppy who's gotten his toy taken away.

"I said I'm done." You wonder if he'll take the hint. It was his idea, after all.

You run your hand through his hair once more.

His head rests against your thigh, motionlessly content.

You swipe up the drool across his chin with your hand, rubbing it across your sweatpants in a manner that if Miles were any more lucid, he'd be horrified with.

You both stay like that for a few moments, running a hand through his hair as he kneels before you. And as much as you hate to ruin the moment between you, you open your mouth.

"Wanna grade it?" You ask, trying once more to hold up your end of the bargain. Though, it seems your companion didn't remember that much at all.

He blinks. "Hmm? Oh, sure."

He removes himself from your leg slowly, stretches languidly. The softest groan leaves his mouth and you wish you could still feel it in your core.

You push out the desk chair to allow him enough room to stand. He does so and turns, taking the paper in his hand.

Your hands wrap around his middle and pulls him back to you. He lets you do this without complaint, settling into your lap.

"Let's see here..." He says, trying to sound nonchalant about the way you fiddle with his belt. He goes through your papers in relative silence, offering no praise or complaint besides the occasional "that rusty on evidence law, Wright?" and "that was an intentionally obtuse question, good job."

By that point you've removed his cock from his pants, even gotten him to stand slightly to slide his boxers down his thighs.

"You starred this question." Miles says, somewhat breathless despite not moving for several minutes.

You can't blame him exactly, with your fingers running featherlight touches over his length.

"Yeah. I wasn't sure about it."

"You got it wrong." He says, most unhelpfully.

"Well, can you tell me why? Last I heard that's the standard." You lean forward, head on his shoulder.

"It's be-cause...It's because two years ago another case overrode the precedent set in- ngh." He trails off, evidently distracted by the teeth running over his earlobe.

"Interesting." You say, and continue.

"Wright."

You hum in acknowledgement.

"Wright." He hisses.

"What?"

"You should pay attention."

"This is how I best pay attention. Plus, I already did my part, yeah? The test is filled out, you're the one who hasn't finished it."

"Perhaps because I have someone distracting me."

"Are you calling me distracting?" You grin.

"Extremely." He says dryly. You back off slightly, giving one last squeeze to his member just to hear him inhale sharply. Then you lean back and let him work, red pen that he brought from home flying through the questions.

It's a bit difficult though, having a lapful of prosecutor and nowhere to put that energy. Your hands seem to have a mind of their own, meandering over his sides and landing at his hips.

You've just begun running a finger down his spine, starting to dip lower, when he slams the paper onto the table. He stands with a speed you weren't anticipating, sending the chair backwards a few inches.

He turns to face you, eyes blazing. "You passed." He says, before he drops down to his knees and takes you whole.

"Oh, fuck."

Some things just made the hours of studying worth it.

[moreteethplease]

Devlog: Close The Window, My Love

Close The Window, My Love is a game about nursing things that should no longer remain. It was made for the 73rd bitsy jam, with the theme "close the window" - pretty on the nose, I know lmao. Click here to play it!

C/W for the game: allusions to death and physical illness.

Told myself I'd write devlogs/post-mortems whenever I make something, even if it's a very tiny something, so here goes! This devlog contains spoilers for the game.

Writing

When I started making this game, I didn't really know where it was going. The game jam's theme didn't spark any inspiration, which is ironic because I voted for it. So I just whipped out a word document and started writing, and the first thing I wrote was this: "Close the window, my love," she says, voice softer than a whisper."

But why is this person asking me to close a window?, I asked myself. Maybe they don't really want me to close the window. Maybe they're only doing it because they feel they have to?

I often find that I don't set out to create things that relate to me, but if I let myself write and work, the things I'm processing begin to leap out, begging for a spot in whatever I'm working on. That's what happened here. This is an ode to a past version of me, one so vastly different to who I am now that we have little in common, one I've spent the longest time desperately clawing my way back to, trying to embody them again. I love them very dearly, and I'm sure they love me, but it was time to let them go. I'm never going to be them again, and it's time to accept that and move on, growing into someone new.

It took me a whopping three days to finalize the script. I started out writing prose, but when some lines ended up rhyming, the non-rhyming lines felt out of place. I flip-flopped between intentionally rhyming them and trying to remove all rhymes for two days before committing to writing a rhyming poem. The poem is divided into four "parts" or "portions", each with three verses.

Making The Game

Because I'd spent so long on writing the script and was pretty busy the week of this jam, I didn't have a lot of time to spend on art. I opted for a very simple room - just a little square with slight top-down perspective, bare walls aside from the window, and a bed for The Relic (yes, that's what I call the person in the bed). When that seemed too empty, I added a doormat and a lil bedside table. Don't ask where The Relic uses the bathroom; I don't know either. It's an impractical living space, to say the least.

I made sure to leave plenty of space for four lines of dialog on top of the screen that wouldn't obscure the room. This is important because the window sprite doesn't appear until after the first two verses of each part of the poem, and I wanted players to see the window change colour, indicating it is now interactable.

My favourite portion of this game is the bit where the window slides down over four lines. I really love doing stuff like this in bitsy, where you shift rooms to create an effect akin to very simple animation. I've only used it a couple of times - the last time with It Piles Up - but it's so much fun. I didn't have a sketch for this, I sort of just made it right away at the 128x128 size used in bitsy and tested it, found it satisfactory, and added it to the game. I did this with the "Dot" brush in Ibis Paint, which is how I make most of my bitsy sketches and tests.

I also wanted each part of the poem to have a different mood, despite the fact that the poem itself mostly has the same vibe throughout. To do this, I used a different colour palette and ambient sound for each portion.

Of course, I needed the four parts of the poem to be divided smoothly. Just having the player avatar pop back up in the exact same room would be jarring. So I created a small area where the player avatar walks up to a house, and the environment slowly loses its verdancy with each new part of the poem - until the post-poem portion, where it is green and lively again.

Okay, I don't really know how to write these things. This might have gotten rambly. Please give the game a play if you like! You can play it here:

[hyperfashionist]

A Spoiltastic Journey

through the Entire Space: 1999 Canon

up to “Odysseus Wept”

Story 1: Eternity Unleashed

Chapter 7 of 12

It's time for some spoily commentary on Chapter 7 of Eternity Unleashed!

Spoilers under the cut. You have been warned.

Back to Chapter 6 of this story

Forth to Chapter 8 of this story

Back to original post on this story

Return to Series Preface

Forth to Story 2: The Touch of Venus

Chapter Seven of Eternity Unleashed: A Spoiler-Filled Commentary

Previously it was mentioned that all societal institutions had fallen unnoticed into attrition. In Chapter 7 we learn that basic yet not-strictly-essential infrastructure such as street cleaning is a thing of the past, and the only currency is stories.

---

Observation: Stories are, of course, simulations, with all risk removed; narratives of a time when something was at stake. Notably, what stories are explicitly mentioned seem to be historical re-enactments rather than intentionally fictional narratives.

Essentially, Progrons are a society of WoW addicts. It's rather difficult to argue that they shouldn't be, since no physical harm can come to them, and they have no apparent spirituality or aspiration to anything higher than the immediate experience of embodiment.

This seems pitiable to us, but why should we assume that Progrons have what we might loosely describe as souls, just because they're intelligent bipeds? Or perhaps there was a time when they thought they did, and that was what Xmonolor's principles were trying to stamp out. Or not, but Progron society threw the baby out with the bathwater.

---

There are teams of state agents being sent out into the provinces to impose immortality treatment on noncompliant citizens, and it turns out that the pushback on this enforcement has brought some provincial towns to a state of "near civil war".

---

Observation: We weren’t hearing about this dissent until now, but it makes sense that, if the desert is where counterculture is located (after all, that's why Bexan raised his invalid daughter in the desert), all the resistance would also come from the desert. 

Observation: News is apparently being communicated by word of mouth (we have seen messages delivered in person, never over any kind of network channel); the knowledge state of every character throughout the story so far supports the idea that Progron doesn’t have the communications systems you’d expect. One wonders how they have the informational infrastructure to carry out research if that's the case.

---

Talian doesn’t know what Balor’s plan is, he just follows him around, not getting it. Balor explains that everyone’s got to Learn and they are gonna Learn good and hard tonight.

The latest hit show is basically a torture porn in which the actor always reconstitutes at the end, because immortality/invulnerability.

---

Observation: Again, you’d think the popularity of shows like these would contradict Balor’s conclusions, otherwise what actor from this allegedly hedonistic and pain-averse society would have the endurance to go through that process for eight shows a week? 

---

Anyway, there follows a farcical scene in which the audience of this show get sliced up by “telves” - bladed weapons - wielded by “black-garbed followers of Balor”, of whom there seems to be no shortage.

Pause for Reflection

The world of Progron has adequately suspended my disbelief until now, but it’s started to lose me here.

To be fair, the slice'n'dice scene is not any sillier - maybe less silly - than a lot of scenes of its ilk, which are very difficult to write well. 

However, this is also the point at which I started actively disliking, rather than just tolerating, the experience of reading this story. I'm simply not finding anything to engage me. The narrative is written with a cold detachment which probably represents Balor's haughty worldview, so it makes sense on paper, but is not actually interesting. I'm not rooting for Balor; Talian is nothing more than a gormless henchman; the people of Progron must be well past their natural lifespan by now so I don’t care what happens to them. I *guess* the worst that could happen is an eternity of being continuously attacked by Balor's followers and regenerating only to experience it again. But that's the Progrons' problem, not mine.

Don't misunderstand me: I’m only about halfway through this story, so I’m not giving it a thumbs down or anything before I even finish it. I’m just reporting my emotional response at what is supposed to be the/a climax of the story. 

But Anyway

But anyway, Balor’s mega violence That’ll Teach You program gets rolled out throughout the capital city and outwards through the wider inhabited areas. He starts with the capital, Mente, and is following that with thirty more cities.

In the next scene, a group of friends are LARPing in the desert (so I infer the rollout in the cities is completed and the program is reaching the more remote areas). These LARPers marvel in admiration of the approaching army, which they mistake for a group of performers. This provides one of perhaps two brief expressions of positive emotion in the story so far (the previous one being Milsa's glowing response to Balor's conversation). We actually read some dialogue spoken by them, rather than just having their reactions reported to us. The effect is to make it mildly regrettable when the LARPers get sliced and diced too. 

Apparently the trick, with an invulnerable population, is to keep doing it repeatedly and often enough that people don’t have time to recover. The actor in the show where the first attack took place would end in a “nearly liquid” state and recover before the audience’s eyes as part of the performance, so recovery is very quick.

---

Observation: If people are being attacked with hand-held bladed weapons, Balor must have a hell of a lot of followers with almost tireless strength to keep attacking quickly and repeatedly enough to overpower this many victims. 

Observation: A number of things that seemed contradictory are starting to make sense now. It makes sense that Balor's followers would be recruited from the performers: they have the discipline to endure pain eight shows a week, and are probably very physically fit. They also probably have built up considerable resentment against the audiences that objectify and exploit them in this way. Since there are no consumer or luxury goods being produced, these actors’ fame isn’t going to be rewarded with money, as there's nothing special to buy with it. They’re considered more sexually desirable, but that’s just more objectification. The performers probably lack any theoretical framework, or even much self-awareness, about their own resentment; but they are clearly mad as hell and unwilling to take it any more.

---

Back on the state immortality rollout: a mob of townsfolk, led by the "town leader" plus deputy, show up in the desert and corner a couple who are snuggling in the evening after a hard day’s work.

This couple's snuggling provides the third brief expression of positive emotion in the story so far; and with it, a moment of mild suspense.

The couple have refused the immortality treatment, the mob wants to impose it. The woman pleads to be allowed to wait til after her baby is born. The response is “we don’t need no stinkin’ babies” and the agents kill the guy and forcibly administer the treatment, which has the effect of expelling the fetus.

The rationale for imposing the immortality treatment - which imposition Balor wouldn't, apparently, personally have endorsed - is that if there are any mortals, nobody can tell who’s immortal.

---

Observation: I assume they’re just being totalitarian: by definition, they don’t care if the mortals come to harm given that they're killing them for noncompliance, and there presumably is no healthcare or education sector left for the state to care about. Yeah, Progron seems to be institutionally cool with mindless violence.

---

Anyway, the woman awakens to find her husband dismembered and her fetus placed on top of his remains, still in its birth sac. She starts a huge fire and immolates herself, but she can’t die. 

Quelle surprise, big reveal, amazement shock horror: the woman is Milsa. 

I saw that one coming (am I a genius or what); but I do slightly care what happens to Milsa, at least compared to any of the other characters. So, though I wouldn't exactly say things are looking up, I will at least live to read another day.

Questions

Q: So Milsa’s moved in with a bunch of hippies while she was off in Nepal finding herself; and Talian doesn’t (I assume) know about it. No communication *at all*. For how long? People have been immortal for yonks by now, yet Milsa can't be one of them, because she was able to conceive. Whereas Balor says the people of Progron have been immortal for too long to give them the benefit of the doubt that the obsession with hedonism is just a phase - Milsa is still in her childbearing years. So it can't have been that long after all.

Q: If force *is* still psychologically threatening, as we’re shown in Balor’s decisive initial experiment, how is Balor the first person to discover this and act on it? Wouldn’t the state be way ahead of him, considering how controlling they are?

Q: How, furthermore, is the state able to motivate a bunch of agents to get up in the morning and police the population, if, before this point, nobody has thought to ask whether force still has meaningful effects on either the agents or the population? As far as anybody knew until then, force didn't do anything. So policing must be entirely by consent. The town leaders who attack Milsa’s family seem to be craven rule-followers, so maybe it just doesn't occur to them to do anything else. 

Gender Balance

Not Specified

The "most popular entertainers", whom Balor "disappeared" without anybody noticing

Balor's scouts, out checking on the state of the planet

Cast of Gash, the stage show attacked by Balor's followers

Mengas, the town leader who attacks Milsa and Calad

Mob of 40 townspeople in the attack led by Mengas and Jeffa

Milsa and Calad's child-to-be

NB running total = 20

Female

Gelta, a stripper, one of Balor's followers, who enables an attack on her audience

F running total = 13

Male

Premer of Gruyorg, a historical martyr

Benemat, who plays Premer on stage

Audience member whose arm is severed by one of Balor's gang

Yetcha, Lumat, and an unnamed third LARPer in the desert

Balor's black-garbed followers who carry out his attacks, referred to as "men" by Lumat

Calad, mortal husband of Milsa

Jeffa, the assistant town leader

M running total = 26

Back to Chapter 6 of this story

Forth to Chapter 8 of this story

Back to original post on this story

Return to Series Preface

Forth to Story 2: The Touch of Venus

[mayravilloso]

saltburn

this movie makes no sense. I don't get the hype other than jacob elordi's looks, which i don't get either, but whatever.

emerald fenell gave us 'promising young woman' which, for me, was a great film with a structre and a catchy storytelling. something I couldn't find in this one. let's just state the obvious: it's senseless.

we are introduced to oliver, whom is supposed to be like this college underdog and we are supposed to feel pity for him. but all of sudden this changes when he meets felix and gets to spend the summer with him.

I'm sorry for barry because I think he gave a truly good performance but I think the character was just bad written. i couldn't believe him, It didn't feel real. all the planning and the murders and the ending was just... not good at all.

all those 'distubing' scenes were meaningless and it seemed like the director just wanted to give the audience something to talk about other than the fact that we all saw a very similar plot in 'the talented mr ripley'.

also, and beware cuz this is a spoiler so feel free to skip this pararaph, all the murders were just improbable. how come no one got to even suspect from oliver? and by no one I mean THE FUCKING POLICE. mostly the last one, I bet someone noticed the fact that the tubes were fucking removed. so, so, so surreal to even be considered intentionally surrealist. for me the word is DUMB as hell.

the only positive thing about 'saltburn' is that the cinematography and photography.... chef kiss.

this movie was a no for me, i didn't like it at all. for those who found it entertaining I must say... what the fuck.

[eviesaurusrex]

"Face your fears, Doctor Strange." || S. Strange

[GIF is not mine!]

pairing: Stephen Strange x Stark!Reader

word count: 4.6k (ooooops?)

summary: After saving the universe and becoming the Infinity Witch, Tony's younger sister felt nothing like her former self. Stephen screwed up badly, but Earth-838 Christine helped him see that he could truly become happy only through facing his fears (I'm terrible at summaries, so please ignore this accident, thank youuu.)

warnings: MoM spoiler (not really, but i just put it in), sad boy Stephen, a bit of swearing, my grammar (yes, that's a warning because I wrote this in the middle of the night and I don't trust my own beta-reading skills lol), a bit of angst, fluff at the end, that should be all, if not tell me!

author's note: Well, Well, Well. Welcome to my first ever uploaded story. Please be kind to lil' old me because that's the first one, and my anxiety is at an all-time high. But my utter adoration for this man has to come out, so… enjoy, I guess?

Lovely comments and reblogs would be much appreciated! Loads of love for reading, people! <3

“Face your fears, Doctor Strange.”

The words of Christine Palmer echoed through his head as he stood on the verge of the conjured portal, his shoe tips already gracing the ground of the coniferous forest. Blue eyes overlooked the grant lake at which shore a lovely wooden cabin sat, the sun rising over the cloudless sky and the birds singing their songs, unbothered by the unusual sound of the golden sparking portal. He knew he had to do it, knew how bad he screwed the only good thing in his life up, and how bad he treated the woman he loved the most.

Stephen Strange rarely felt fear creeping up in his body, but now, on the edge of facing his biggest mistakes, he felt it – cold and icy within his veins, while the blue of his eyes searched the shore for the distinctive hair his lover called her own. Emptiness was the only thing that greeted the Sorcerer at that moment, and Stephen sighed deeply.

“Stop being a headless chicken, Strange,” he scolded himself in a hushed voice and stepped over the portal barrier and onto the soft ground of the woods surrounding him now. “Finally!” Wong’s voice reached him, and Stephen turned around to see the Sorcerer Supreme standing behind him in the grand foyer of the Sanctum, a bowl of cereals in hand. “Go get your girl back, Strange. It’s about time.” And with that, Wong raised a hand and closed the portal with the spoon still between his fingers.

The doctor sighed again, even deeper now that Wong knew of his whereabouts because he would never hear the end of it if he came home empty-handed. He had to get this right, had to undo the unspeakable things he had said to her on that fateful day, and he had to bring her back, bring her home. Even though he had fought aliens, monstrous creatures, and broken witches and saved the universe probably multiple times (with the occasional help of others), he never feared something more than this moment.

Facing your fears and mistakes was something entirely different.

Stephen Strange had to travel through the multiverse to understand this essential part of being human. He wondered how he had survived this long.

A closing car door brought the Sorcerer back into reality, and after turning his head in the direction of the sound, Stephen stared into a familiar pair of eyes. It always astounded him how similar the Stark siblings were but so different at the same time. The man was considered exceptionally intelligent, but this… he couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

“Strange.” Stephen suspected that his appearance wouldn’t be welcomed by the older Stark – and he was dead-on right. “What are you doing here of all places? Got something muddled up with your magical, glittering GPS? I hope so because if you landed here intentionally, I’m forced to remove you off this property.” Yep, still not a fan.

The man held both his hands up in defeat. “Listen, Stark. I only came here to talk to her. Nothing more, nothing less. She deserves an apology, an explanation, anything, really. I’m not here to stir a fight because I’m not here for you, but for her.” Stephen really tried to be polite because even though Iron Man retired right after their victorious fight over Thanos, the suits were still somewhere around. He never would destroy them if his sister was here, not with the screaming red target on her back, now that she probably was the mightiest creature in the entire multiverse.

Well, she would be faster in eliminating an enemy than any of his machines.

Tony Stark scoffed and scooped up the little copy of his as soon as she ran to her father. “Your very existence is stirring up a fight, Strange. She came to this place for a reason, and the reason is called Stephen A-hole Strange.” The man was interrupted by Morgan. “What is an A-Hole, Daddy?” Tony couldn’t hide the slight grin forming on his face before shaking his head and kissing her temple. “Later, munchkin. ‘Promise.” Then, it was Stephen’s turn all over again. “She doesn’t wanna see or hear from you. She doesn’t wanna even acknowledge your existence on this planet, in this universe, and she certainly isn’t interested in anything you could let that mouth of yours escape. You hear me?”

The Sorcerer had to look elsewhere, to not crumble under the older Stark’s glare. This was a terribly bad idea, and now Stephen had to endure it in order to maybe get the love of his life back. He should’ve prepared a damn speech in advance.

“Tony.” He never called him that. “Please.” He never begged for something. “I just need five minutes with her. If she’s still that furious like she left me, you will never have to see me again because she probably kills me with her own hands. If I hurt her all over again, you can strangle the life out of me. See? A win-win situation.”

Tony had already lost after the Sorcerer’s pleading, especially after one look at his darling wife, standing outside on the patio, arms crossed and a soft expression on her face. At that moment, Tony knew he had to give in to do the right thing – and to be a role model for the tiny person on his arm.

Stephen felt a change in the air before the Stark gave him one firm nod. “You’ll get five minutes. If she starts screaming, I’ll end you. If she starts crying, I’ll end you. If she demands that you’ll leave, I’ll probably end you anyway because she went through enough to take your bullshit on top of that, wizard. Have I made myself clear?” The doctor swallowed the retort lying on his tongue – damn, that was hard - and nodded. “Perfectly clear,” he agreed and walked closer to the house.

He offered Pepper Stark a small smile. “Thank you.” It was only a whisper, barely above his breath, but he knew he would’ve never made it through Tony without her help. The redhead smiled softly and gestured around the cabin. “She is in the back, her usual spot. Tell her how you feel, and everything will be alright, Stephen. She is just as lost without you as you are without her.” She always liked him more than Tony Stark probably would ever master in his life.

But sometimes, a single person on one’s side was enough.

With measured steps, Stephen rounded the cabin’s patio to make his way down to the landing stage where the younger Stark sibling loved to sit, offside the sometimes hectic environment inside the house or to escape the buzzing city. Even now, it seems that she preferred the quiet- and calmness of the lake over the town she escaped weeks ago.

His heart pounded in his chest, trying to escape the confinements of his ribcage to either vanish and hide or to run to the woman it loved the most, to finally feel whole again. Stephen wasn’t sure which option it would be while knowing the truth deep to his core. It was strange, that thing called Love, and it still scared the living hell out of him, but as Christine in one of the multiverses had said: He must face his fears to be finally and completely happy. And maybe even a man like him deserved happiness in his life.

And then the moment was there he dreaded such a long time because it could either mean the inevitable end of everything or lead to more heartache and longing – from his side, of course. Stephen wasn’t even sure how she felt about the entire ordeal, nor what she thought about him after he had said these awful things no lover should ever yell to one another. The memory alone caused the Sorcerer to flinch violently while taking the last corner and immediately stopping dead in his tracks.

The sun rays kissed her long locks, floating in the warm spring breeze, the dark but always softly and mischievously shimmering eyes closed, while a concentrated frown graced the soft features Stephen could admire for endless hours. There was no doubt that the Sorcerer would ever get tired of her face – of her altogether. And now, after the long absence of her presence in his life, Stephen couldn’t stop staring at her in utter awe; he felt like a lovestruck teenager. Too madly in love to do anything else but stare while the tongue in his mouth got twisted, and if he dared to speak, he would never get one syllable over his lips. It was a curse, really, and it always struck the doctor within her reach, now more than ever – because now, the hero knew what rested underneath the surface of this beautiful woman.

What have I done? What on earth had pushed me to say these words that ended everything and led us here? What happened to us?

Only the stars knew the answer to these essential questions, and Stephen felt salty tears prickling in the corner of his eyes. He watched as her right hand rose from the wood of the already slowly withering landing stage, and he witnessed with wide eyes how she used the powers the Infinity Stones had gifted her. Nothing more than a flick of her hand was necessary to let the dead flowers beside her grow again, to spread their beauty along the entire edge of the lake. Except for the spot he stood on. And if that wasn’t clue enough, her voice exposed his presence.

“What do you want, Stephen?”

It sounded emotion- even lifeless and that was the ultimate trigger for his persistence to take its first breath of life in a very long time. Stephen needed her as much as she does, and he would not return to the Sanctum before she listened to him – really listened.

“I forgot that sneaking up on you isn’t an option anymore,” he smiled softly before taking one step forward. Then another one. And after that, he became bold and took the third one, just to run into an invisible wall and rubbed his nose. “Ouch.”

She only sat there, motionless, staring straight onto the glistening lake. “I don’t need these abnormal powers to hear you, Stephen. You’re louder than a grizzly as soon as you leave the city behind.” The Stark fell silent before scoffing quietly. “You’re, by the way, very welcome. I wasn’t sure if I only should let you run into a wall or if I should just shock you right away so you’ll leave me the fuck alone.” Her arms entwined around her shins to pull both legs closer to her chest. “Just leave me alone, Stephen. You damaged enough, and I’m not interested in one of your outbursts. I already have enough on my plate. I don’t need you on top of everything else. Look for someone interested in your company and the bullshit that comes out your mouth because I am certainly not available.” Yep, another Stark who dislikes me, great.

Stephen swallowed thickly, but instead of retreating, he pressed both of his scarred hands onto the invisible barrier which kept him and her apart. This barrier stood for so much more than just a physical separation, and the Sorcerer’s heart ached at the thought alone. The tears came back, and with them, Christine’s words: “Face your fears, Doctor Strange.”

Blue eyes raised to gaze over the side profile of the younger Stark, and Stephen softly called her name. Of course, she didn’t react, so he used the one thing he desperately hoped still worked because if, there would still be hope. And hope was the only thing that kept the doctor going and breathing. “My love.” Pain flooded the delicate features, and the Strange exhaled the held breath. He whispered the words again, leaning his forehead against the atmospheric barrier, but kept his gaze fully on the woman in front of him. Her hands grabbed the fabric of her flannel with a deathly grip. Soon after, she buried her face between the knees to hide the welling tears in the ocean that were her eyes.

Hope was still there.

She knew he was there as soon as the first sparks of the portal emerged in the air. She felt it within her body in which these awful powers were locked and secured and connected the woman with the vastness that was this universe. It scared the living shit out of her and constantly reminded the Stark that now she was just another abomination within the fight between Good and Evil. Perhaps it only was a matter of time until the enemies tried to get their hands on her and the powers she never asked for. But now, she had to protect them at all costs because they belonged to her, and without them, she would never be whole again; she would never be herself again, even though the thought alone of being a powerful being made her sick to the core. She never wanted to play a part in the game that was the fight in the never-ending and dangerous multiverse.

With Stephen at her back to protect each other, life seemed to work out, even though she felt like a child who had just learned to use their magic properly. But then, one fateful day appeared on the path that was her life, and the happiness vanished like the dust after Thanos erased half of the universe.

Silence settled over the Sanctum, but her mind screamed at the top of its lungs. The pain never subsided; the connection to the entire universe sucked up all the energy she could master to gather over the day and left her behind as an empty shell. The ray of sunshine that once was the younger Stark sibling died between her snap while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet and her absorption of every single atom of every single Infinity Stone.

Slow steps moved her to raise her head and look over one shoulder to see Stephen Strange approaching. She had settled down in the library, waiting for him to come home after the mission, and had been there ever since she woke up after sunrise. A tired smile forced her lips apart, and without a second thought, she took the outstretched hand to get back on her feet. Even though the armchair was the comfiest of all the interiors within the library, she just couldn’t sit any longer. The woman steadied herself with both hands on his lower arms before wiping away the tears on her cheeks, but Stephen had already noticed them.

“Is everything alright, my love?” He asked gently, cradling her delicate face in his scarred hands and wiping the remnants of tears away. The Sorcerer bowed his head to softly kiss her forehead as soon as a sob recked through the more petite body of the woman he loved. It pained him to see her like that, so much was obvious, but the Stark suspected something boiled within the man she loved. Something seemed off ever since he came back from the mission before the last one, where he had found her sitting motionless on the grand staircase leading from the foyer up to the rooms. She just hadn’t had the strength to get up and move – to live, actually. Since that night, Stephen held something back, and that seemingly wanted to escape today.

She sniffled, and with harsh movements, she erased every sign of weakness off her cheeks. “I just can’t take it anymore, Stephen. I’m this shell of my former self, I don’t recognize myself in mirrors anymore, and I just can’t. I can’t hold myself together any longer.” He had to understand. A long time ago, Stephen Strange was desperate for an answer, of an escape route to get back to his former extraordinary self, so he must see her point now. The Stark woman hoped desperately because she lived for hope and the light at the horizon, but one glance up at his handsome face, and she knew that there wasn’t any hope.

He doesn’t understand. Why doesn’t he understand?!

His hands fell from her face, landed on her slender shoulders, and squeezed tightly. “Listen carefully now. You cannot throw everything out of the window just because this one time, it gets hard. You must stay strong and push through it, no matter the cost or afford it takes. You cannot just give up without even trying.” She flinched as if Stephen had struck her with full force.

He couldn’t have said that. Never. Not Stephen, who was always worried about her, who would do anything for her, and who helped her through every dark episode of her life – until now. Out of his grasp, the Stark stepped away and eyed him with boiling anger.

“That’s rich coming from you.” She seethed the words, almost whispering them through gritted teeth. The Sorcerer cocked one eyebrow. “Excuse me?” The woman raised both hands and pushed forcefully against his chest as he dared to step closer again. “I said: That’s rich coming from someone like you.” Stephen scoffed and shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean. You talk nonsense. Really, I don’t understand anything coming from you anymore. Your words, your actions – nothing makes sense anymore. Where is the strong, sassy, intelligent, and hard-fighting woman I fell in love with all those years ago? Where did she vanish? Did she get dusted, and you were the only thing left behind? An empty shell of the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with?! You... This… this shell is just pathetic.”

She flinched again, and tears full of anger rose to the surface. But she fought them back bravely because, at this moment, she swore that this man would never see a single tear of hers ever again. “Now I am the pathetic one? Do I have to remind you of your past, Stephen Strange?! Did you lose your memory while being dusted for five entire years? Did you forget what happened all those years ago in this fucking car?! Do I have to remind you again that you thought your life was over for months on end because of your fucking hands?! Because you weren’t longer the brilliant neurosurgeon Stephen fucking Strange who would have got everything he ever wanted except for the girl?! Do I have to remind you of that?! If so, we can talk about who was pathetic and who was not because I tried. I tried so fucking hard without thinking that my life was over because of something I couldn’t control. I was ready to die that day in order to save everyone – to save you! But I didn’t die. Instead, I became this thing I can’t explain nor control, and I tried to be this… this being who can feel everything within this universe and who must endure it so it can survive and live with the people it loved, but gosh.” The Stark shook her head and didn’t even know what to say now. “You know what? Whatever. I don’t care a single second longer because clearly you don’t care either.”

She swallowed dryly, pushed past him, and snatched her hand out of Stephen’s attempted grasp. “Don’t you dare. Just… leave me the fuck alone, Strange. I don’t care anymore what you are trying to say or not. This,” she gestured between the both of them, “This destroyed everything. Whatever the hell is wrong with you, get it together before nobody wants to be in your company any longer and before you end entirely alone in this universe. It’s your biggest fear, after all, isn’t it?”

And with that, the Stark just… vanished in front of his eyes. She escaped to the comfort of the seemingly only people who loved her unconditionally.

The faintest memory of this day was enough to break the woman all over again. One moment longer, and she would’ve been this close to banning him from the planet. She certainly was capable of such a thing, wasn’t she? Her powers had to be of any use because if not, what was the point in trying?

“I know I failed you.”

Admitting that Stephen Strange was wrong was something entirely new – and unexpected. Never would’ve she thought that this man could be capable of such things as self-reflection. And that was why she perked up at that, barely visible, but she listened intently to what he had to say.

The sound of a heavy sigh drifted over to where she sat on the aged wood of the landing stage, and she closed the dark eyes she had in common with her brother (who most definitely stood behind one of the lake-facing windows to observe the scene unfold).

“I failed you in the worst way possible, and I… I am sorry. I’m… I… You…” He stammered tremendously before stopping himself from taking a shaky breath. “I’m not whole when you’re not there. I’m incomplete without you by my side, not capable of doing my duties or even breathing without feeling like I have to choke on the oxygen surrounding me and filling my lungs. I… I can’t bear a life without you in it, and I feel more guilty than I could ever put into words because I never was good with those. You always found the right things to say, the right things to do, and to save me from me – and my sometimes overbearing ego.” The woman closed her eyes at those confessions, pressing the tips of her fingers against her lips to suppress the sob that tried to escape her body.

A long time had passed since she felt so much at once. So many emotions that actually were hers and not the feelings she had to endure while being awake and connected to the universe. This was human. This was how it was supposed to be. How evolution intended the humans to be.

A feeling, breathing mess.

She felt the Sorcerer’s hands moving over her conjured barrier, and with a soft exhale, she allowed him to move closer – only one step, with the border still intact. But it appeared to her that Stephen noticed the slight movement closer to her, and the woman almost felt the feeling of hope growing inside him once more.

“I am sorry for every word I said that day, for every dagger I rammed inside your heart and probably turned it in their wounds. I am sorry I destroyed your hope, and that I did not think about the possibility that you had needed a hand reaching out to you. I am so sorry, my love. If I could, I would use the Time Stone to undo the day I lost my best friend, my hold in this world, the love of my life. Fuck.”

Now she felt the teardrops rolling over the barrier as if they fell onto her cheeks and graced her skin. But then, the Stark realized that her own salty tears escaped her eyes and rolled silently down her skin. Everything hurt so much more if one was facing the past instead of running away and trying to never look back. But she was stupid to believe for only a second that she could leave Stephen back in the past because, shit, she loved this man more than her own life. She loved him so much that she would have willingly sacrificed herself if it meant that he could live after losing five entire years.

The woman prepared herself to get up, turn around, and face the man she loved and lost on the path life had foreseen for her, but the sound of steps, produced by tiny feet skipping over the wood’s ground, let her pause before even tighten a muscle. Morgan appeared beside Stephen, and the tall man looked down on the tiny human in utter surprise. Instead of running against a wall like he did only moments ago, she jumped from one side of the landing stage to the other before stopping next to her aunt.

“Daddy said I have to rescue you,” her small voice announced proudly because she had accomplished the task successfully. The Stark woman smiled up to her niece and pushed a strand of hair out of the small face. How she adored the little girl in front of her… Morgan clinged herself onto the woman, and with her little monkey securely tucked at her side, she rose onto both feet. “You rescued me. Thanks, monkey,” the witch whispered lovingly while kissing her niece’s cheeks and turning around to face Stephen Strange in all his glory.

He looked exhausted like she did as if he barely slept like she did. A good night’s sleep was nothing more than a pleasant memory, and judging by the dark circles under his shining blue eyes, he must’ve lost the ability to sleep in every position and on every surface there was. Sympathy swept through her aching body, even though there still lived rage and anger inside her, but the Stark knew that she would forgive him.

She always did.

Without even the slightest flick of her hand, the thickened atmosphere surrounding her vanished as if it had never been there in the first place. Stephen almost lost his balance entirely before finding it again and taking a small, uncertain step in the direction of the woman of his dreams. Morgan watched the scene intently – just in case her dad wanted to know anything about it. The witch knew how much the girl in her arms loved to play spy. In rare moments like these, she reminded her of Natasha. But she didn’t mind the tiny intruder because her brother would have gotten the information either through his sister directly or through his wife.

“You will never speak to me in that manner again.”

The doctor nodded violently.

“You will never hurt me that way you did back then.”

Again, tears burned in both their eyes while looking at each other, not missing a single expression.

“Never,” Stephen promised, barely above a whisper.

She took a deep, shaky breath and nodded. “Okay.”

He furrowed his brows, unsure of what to do with it. “Okay?” Never had he felt this uncertain about something in his life, but the Stark nodded again and dissipated the worries written all over his face.

“I still will be angry for quite some time because this was unacceptable and cruel and nothing I would ever wish upon another human. You have to deal with it. We have to fix this. But we will because so far, we always found a way to get through obstacles similar to this.” And with that, she adjusted Morgan on her arm and stepped in front of Stephen, holding one hand slowly out for him to reach and take it. He looked dumbfounded, his eyes switching between her eyes and the peace offering that was her hand, but instead of taking it, he stepped even closer. A hand cupped her neck, and his thumb caressed her jaw in slow, soft strokes while leaning down to press a gentle kiss on her temple.

Morgan giggled happily while the Stark closed her eyes and enjoyed his close proximity after such a long time. She took another deep breath to inhale his signature scent she missed more than she could ever express.

“I will make it right, I promise, sweetheart. I will make everything right. Well, I’ll try at least.” It was unusual to hear him correct himself in an instance, and she smiled softly at that. “You’re trying, and that’s all I want or need,” was all she whispered before taking his hand in hers and entangling their fingers together. “Bring me home, Stephen, okay?”

At that moment, Stephen was entirely sure that he had never heard something more beautiful in his life, except for every I love you out of her mouth, maybe. And so, the former Sorcerer Supreme brought his Infinity Witch back to the place they called their home.

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