#I’ll write a better one later

[goreinfested]

Hi, I’ll give you full creative range since you just got back to writing. I’m sure you’ll do an amazing job.

Just Headcanons of a relationship with the undertaker 💜

I hope you have a wonderful day and a fun time writing. Take as long as you need.

RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS W THE DEADMAN:

Undertaker is definitely a more private man when it comes to his personal life when it comes to the fans HOWEVER that doesn’t mean that he was going to hide you away from the rest of the world.

Especially if you’re another wrestler in the wwe. This man will sit backstage and watch every. Single. One. Of your matches without fail. Even if he had just came back from a match or if he had one up next. His love for the business is stronger then anyone there and the respect he has for you being right in the business with him is immense

Everytime you’d come through gorilla he’d be right there waiting to comfort you or celebrate with you “I’m so proud of you” “you did the best you could darlin’” and sweep you off your feet (literally).

at first when you two met it was safe to say you were intimated by the phenom. I mean it’s the UNDERTAKER. you thought he’d be exactly how you saw on tv but boy were you wrong. He was one of the most humble and nicest man you had encountered at wwe, always addressing you in such a kind manner and giving you advice whenever you needed.

HE definitely loves when you walk him over to gorilla before his matches, locked hand in hand together showing your love and encouragement. It made him want to put on the best performance for you AND the fans.

A lot of the time you had together was unfortunately at the workplace so he tries to make the most of it. Doing small stuff like working out with you and meeting up around the venue just to be close to you whenever possible. What can he say? Being around you is more than enough for him

Leaves black roses in your dressing room at every chance with a card that always says ‘ from taker <3’

And they say romance is dead

Definitely introduces you as his significant other to all his pro wrestling friends backstage and will speak endearingly about you if you’re ever brought up in the conversation

You saw sides of him which were hidden away from most of the world. Despite what the masses think they know, the deadman actually had a silly side

He is the number one offender of using cheesy pick up lines. He will walk up to you in the hallway and be like ‘ hey I haven’t seen ya around here, come here often?’ ‘Did I just die in the ring? Because I think I’m seeing an Angel in front of me’ and everytime you’ll roll your eyes laughing at the way he annunciates his obviously rehearsed lines.

He is NOT shy about kissing you when he’s not actively doing his job out in the ring. Taker is more reserved than most but he will never use his dedication to the ring to ignore giving you what you deserve. Affection is important in a relationship

At home or when alone he’s a lot more endearing, offering to help you cook while he stands behind you enveloping you with his warm arms and giving you cheek kisses

Wherever you are is his home so when you’re apart he will try and call you whenever possible even if it’s just for a few minutes just to tell you he’s thinking about ya and will affirm how much he loves you

( AN: I know this might not be EXACTLY what you were looking for but I tried </3 I’d love to get another request to build on this though :) thank you sm for requesting ! )

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

Wei Wuxian and Narrative Agency – Part One

For Xiantober Day One: Genius… albeit stretching the prompt so it refers to MXTX and MDZS itself, but at the end of the day it’s still about WWX – so no harm done!

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

The narrative is a very active player in MDZS’ story. How it presents information, what it chooses to show and omit, often reflects important facets of its themes and characters – Nie Huaisang, for instance, is so good at hiding behind his mask that not even the narrative can hold him accountable; the present day’s storyline as a murder mystery and the slow reveal of information about the past both prompt the reader to think critically about the truth of events, when the importance of thinking critically is an important theme; and the dangers not thinking critically (and instead basing conclusions on rumours without much evidence) are shown by tricking unquestioning readers into the very same trap the cultivation world falls into, as the information given by the title, summary and in-universe rumours – which contradicts how we see actually Wei Wuxian act – turns out to be false.

But nowhere do I love this trait more than in its treatment of Wei Wuxian – and, more specifically, in its way of emphasising his agency. We’re not just told how much his active choices define his character, and we’re not just shown this in-universe through his personality, worldview and the events he causes. I’d argue that this aspect goes a step further, and shapes the structure of the out-of-universe narrative as well.

There are two main ways this happens: one, in how the aspects of Wei Wuxian’s life that are shown and hidden directly tell us what’s important about his character (which is good writing but isn’t necessarily tied to this shaping of the narrative), which is what we’ll explore today; and two, how what’s shown and hidden reflects what Wei Wuxian himself prefers to dwell on, resulting in the narrative respecting his own thoughts and feelings on matters (which very much is tied to it). We’ll explore this at a later date.

But as for now – let’s explore my favourite aspect of MDZS.

(Here, narrative agency will be considered the ability of a character to meaningfully influence their events and the story they’re in.)

Tragedy, Circumstance, Choice

If we simply look at Wei Wuxian’s backstory in a vacuum, it seems almost typically tragic. His  parents died in circumstances beyond his control, he was left alone as a child with nobody to care for him, he was forced to grow up fending for himself on the streets, he was faced with abuse when he finally was taken in… as with all typical woobies, everything simply happened to him, and none of it was good. It’s just another example of the lack of agency being used for sympathy points, right?

…Except there’s one problem with that idea. We don’t actually see any of this.

It would’ve been easy to start the flashbacks during these times. We’re telling the story of Wei Wuxian in (largely) chronological order, and these are likely important experiences for him! But instead of starting in his street days, or evenat the moment Jiang Fengmian took him in*, we start at the lectures in the Cloud Recesses. That’s not even something mentioned in, and therefore something that’s able to disprove, the rumours at the start of the novel. So why is this the case? 

Well, there are multiple reasons – the main one being that MDZS is also Lan Wangji’s (and Wangxian’s) story, and having the flashbacks open with their first meeting is very satisfying. But I want to focus on something else.

This period doesn’t have to be shown, because what happens to Wei Wuxian, especially out of his control, isn’t what’s important about his character.

We’re not even at Lotus Pier here, where Wei Wuxian certainly has more agency than he would’ve had as a young child, but where the harm caused by Madame Yu is still completely out of his control. Here, he has agency! Though there are consequences, he is free to act, and what happens to him is a result of those actions and not of circumstance. Yes, he gets punished more than others who also take those same actions (due to classism); yes, it’s not his choice to be picked on by Lan Qiren in class (yet look how he responds, twisting the situation to his advantage and ending up tricking Lan Qiren into letting him leave, which is what he wanted to do. He is not at all helpless here!); yes, these choices have been influenced by his learned mindset from Madame Yu that punishment is arbitrary and will happen anyway, so you may as well do what you want regardless. But there is cause-and-effect here. It’s not circumstantial tragedy.

Therefore, instead of our first impression of past!Wei Wuxian being that of an unfortunate woobie, it’s of someone who has the freedom, ability and will to choose and act (and that’s after these initial tragic events have taken place). This is compounded by the fact that before we see any of his backstory, we get a similar impression of him in the present day.

If the purpose of his tragic past was to earn him sympathy points, to make us pity him due to how much he was influenced by events out of his control, this would’ve been a terrible way of going about it… and it’s this that betrays the true reason for its existence. Because now, the flashbacks instead show us how little these tragedies define who he is! From the very start, Wei Wuxian isn’t someone defined by circumstances out of his control, but rather by who he is as a person and by what choices he makes in the present day (which is both a mindset in-universe, and a nice little out-of-universe detail that lines up! Because out-of-universe, this means he’s not defined by sympathy points from a backstory, but rather by his great character writing… aka, by who he is as a person and what choices he makes). And this refusal to be defined by tragedy is a conscious choice on his part, too – but we’ll explore that more later. 

The important thing is that this idea of Wei Wuxian isn’t because of what exists in his past, it’s because of what parts of his past are shown to us (as well as what he chooses to do, with agency, in the present). 

Now, if this relationship between what’s displayed and what’s omitted was just a one-time thing, I might’ve considered it a cool detail or a nice way to establish a character, but not something the narrative is actively focusing on. But it’s a pattern that continues throughout the flashbacks. What, arguably, are the two other most important times in Wei Wuxian’s life where he doesn’t have enough agency to meaningfully influence his circumstances? His three months in the Burial Mounds (before escaping – he managed to assume some control of the circumstances but not enough to substantially reduce his suffering in his time there), and his loss and death during the First Siege. And we’re not shown either of them! We skip to when Wei Wuxian has emerged from the Burial Mounds and is torturing the Wens, or we skip to the present day – both times he has agency once more, because, again, what he’s like without it doesn’t matter enough to be shown. 

Furthermore, I’d argue this does actually contrast the other tragic events we see in Wei Wuxian’s later life. Things do go horribly wrong, but it’s either due to choices he knows the consequences of (see: rescuing the Wen Remnants in the first place), or instances where he still has some ability to act in the situation and influence it within the limitations. If he’d had no ability to influence circumstances at Qiongqi path, he would have died in the ambush; if he’d been unable to do that at Nightless City, he would’ve died then, too (of course Lan Wangji helped him escape as well). The attention drawn to him losing control of his actions in both instances is very interesting, but intentional or not, it’s still his actions influencing the plot. And that influence happens to be detrimental. The very ability to act and influence, at a base level,  is not taken away (though, of course, that doesn’t make these events any less tragic).

So, so far, the narrative seems to be telling us that the ability to act and choose is key to Wei Wuxian’s character. And it’s doing it through omitting his moments without agency in favour of instead showing us his moments with it. 

Let’s see if this is echoed in the text itself before we go further – because even with this pattern, nothing would end up mattering if Wei Wuxian’s agency wasn’t actually that important to the story itself. But thankfully it is, and that first impression we get of Wei Wuxian in the Cloud Recesses turns out to very much be accurate! Though there are defining circumstances out of his control that occur, such as the massacre of Lotus Pier, the majority of the important events of his life are due to his own choices. He didn’t happen to be forced to cease traditional cultivation and solely use guidao, didn’t happen to lose his Golden Core in a fight with Wen Zhuliu or due to some force in the Burial Mounds, it was his own choice to give it and his spiritual powers away. He didn’t tragically happen to get targeted by the cultivation world, it was a result of him acting on his morals and protecting the Wen remnants (a choice which he was fully aware of the implications of). He isn’t a protagonist to whom things simply occur, and that activeness and agency is my favourite thing about him. 

That’s not to say that the times Wei Wuxian doesn’t have agency, or feels like he doesn’t have any, don’t exist at all, either – but they are rare enough to have attention directly drawn to them in his internal narration:

Or else what could he do? He could do nothing. He was powerless. Lotus Pier had been destroyed, both Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu were gone, and Jiang Cheng had disappeared as well. He was the only one left, alone, with not even a sword in his hands. He didn’t know anything, he couldn’t do anything! For the first time, he discovered how little his power was. In front of something as large as the QishanWen Sect, it was the same as a mantis trying to stop a chariot. - Chapter 59, EXR translation

(And even in this circumstance, note that he still does force himself to act – to carry on searching for Jiang Cheng, to place his faith in Wen Ning – and does accomplish his goal (albeit with the help of others)! So even in dire situations, he isn’t simply passive. This is actually also the case with his time in the Burial Mounds, almost certainly the First Siege, and even his days on the streets as well (Chapter 20: he did actively fight with dogs to get food despite their danger and his growing fear of them, rather than just waiting and hoping to somehow receive some more). He can’t influence or immediately influence his circumstances, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.)

Overall, although they do influence him, Wei Wuxian is very much who he is in spite of his circumstances, not because of them. We’re shown the importance of his agency both in-universe by the major impacts his choices have on himself and the plot, as well as by narrative presentation – important periods where he lacks the ability to meaningfully influence anything are often mentioned but not directly shown, which suggests that such moments and circumstances aren’t as important to understanding Wei Wuxian’s character as moments where he does have this agency are. And I’d argue this works very well. Depending on the version of the story you consume, you may end up having different interpretations as to how much circumstances were at play nearer the end of his life – but nobody comes out of MDZS thinking about Wei Wuxian, the poor bearer of yet another generically tragic backstory.

(Part Two | Part Three | Full version on AO3)

—

*We are shown this moment in more detail in Chapter 23… but even then, it’s through the framing of Wei Wuxian remembering Jiang Yanli’s narration, not through a flashback proper or even him remembering the experience itself!

[chaoswarfare]

do x dc prompt #31

danny’s had a lot of time to himself since he moved away from amity park when the portal closed. learning new hobbies and taking up part time jobs occasionally helps hold off the boredom without anyone he knows around. it’s really not his fault that nobody else wanted to move to gotham. there seems to be some interesting people everywhere he goes though, so hopefully he won’t be bored for long.

danny moves to gotham and manages to jump into a hobby of literally every vigilante in the city, and starts trying to put together their identities. nothing’s worse than boredom after all.

except maybe a swarm of agitated bats.

[14th-century-verona-queer]

SOME BACKGROUND INFO:

Heacannon that one day, somehow (don’t ask me how okay its late im running on no brain cells) a speaker in the apartment starts BLARING music

And nobody knows where it came from or how it started but what they DO know is that the speaker is blasting “While You Were Sleeping” by Laufey at full volume. On loop. For 10 or more minutes. But its so loud that you can’t really make out the lyrics that well (so it’s basically just the instrumental and the melody that laufey’s singing without any distinct words ig)

ON TO THE STORY:

“What the FUCK is that noise?? It’s been playing for the past 10 minutes, which one of you idiots put it on?”, Al says irritably.

Wade, being the himbo that he is, (hey! I am not a himbo, thank you very much!) yes you are Wade, the whole fandom agrees, now SHUSH IM TELLING A STORY (my bad) YES YOUR BAD NOW SHH

says, “How do we know YOU didn’t put it on, hmm Al?

Al shuffles over and whacks him upside the head, “I’M BLIND, MOTHERFUCKER. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT? I DON’T EVEN OWN A GOD DAMN PHONE.”

While..all that..is going on, Logan (who had just woken up from an alcohol-induced nap) stalks into the kitchen wearing a pair of Wade’s hot pink Hello Kitty pajamas, with his eyes reduced to slits (cause yk, hangover and stuff ig?) is like

“what the hell are you guys screaming about and what the fuck is that noi-“

And then he cuts off because Wade and Al just very slowly, very carefully, turn in his direction and stare at him (al kinda just turns in his general direction)

“What the fuck are you guys looking-?”

“I can’t see, honey”

“sorry Althea, facing my general direction, for?”

“..is that my phone, peanut?”

“….yes…what about it, bub” and Logan, bless his oblivious soul, crosses his arms and scrunches his nose up, confused.

“Is that my phone, open to SPOTIFY, CURRENTLY PLAYING THE SONG THAT HAS BEEN BLARING ON LOOP FOR THE PAST 10 FUCKING MINUTES? I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU GOT THE PASSWORD TO MY PHONE, BUT THAT IS A QUESTION FOR ANOTHER DAY CAN YOU PLEASE TURN THAT FUCKING THING OFF ITS GIVING ME TINNITUS.”

and Logan, now mostly awake, slowly pauses the song, and just stares at Wade, waiting for a reaction

“Uh…yes. This is your phone. And what about it?”

”Honey badger..did you put that song on..? See I could be wrong, (even though I never am *logan snorts* HEY!) and I couldn’t hear much, but it sounded a bit too classical and was a bit too jazz pop for the big bad Wolverine to listen to. But now I’m curious sooooo can I see? Pleeeease?”

And Logan, being down bad obviously reluctantly gives it to him cause who is he to not please Wade when he’s begging?? He can’t just NOT when Wade looks so pretty and earnest and is genuinely curious and he knows he won’t make fun of Logan no matter what and he’s pretty and HE’S JUST REALLY PRETTY WE GET IT SHUT UP NOW INNER MONOLOGUE.

Wade gently takes the phone from him and knits his, what would be eyebrows, together

“While you were sleeping?? Kitten (Logan almost chokes at that btw) are you stalking someone? Why didn’t you tell me I could’ve helped!” Wade jokes “Okay but actually, who’s Laufey?”

Logan’s eyes widen and his entire face turns red, not from a blush but from anger. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW WHO LAUFEY IS SHE’S AN AMAZING ARTIST AND ACTUALLY TALENTED HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW HER?? I’ve been alive for 200 years, bub, but she’s one of the best artists I’ve ever listened to in my god damn life! How DARE you insult her by not even knowing who she is.”

Wade, who was not paying attention, (Yes i was!) don’t lie to yourself Wade you literally weren’t.

I JUST wrote that you weren’t paying attention, now FOLLOW THE SCRIPT OMG (okay okay but keep going youre making the readers wait too damn long) SHUT YOUR YAP I KNOW ALREADY OH MY FUCKING GOD.

Anyways, Wade was looking at the lyrics instead of paying attention to Logan’s passionate rant (ooh I wish he was passionate with me) Wade actually shut up (okay sorry) you SHOULD BE.

“I'm dancing down streets, smiling to strangers Idiotic things?? I trace it all back, three-thirty AM, that night, something turned in my heart While you were sleeping, I fell in love??” He says confusedly

“Who’d you fall in love with, hmm Peanut?”

To be continued..

Thank you so much for reading!

This is pretty much the first little story that I’ve ever written, so apologies for anything that doesn’t make sense

Yea I’m splitting this into multiple parts because I’m actually kind of considering making this a small little story?

Not quite sure yet! (You better!! I wanna get to the good stuff! Like where Logan ***** while he *** and *****) Wade there will be NO smut in this story PLEASE do not get ahead of yourself. (Oh c’mon!) Sorry dude I’m ace I (personally) do not know how to write any kind of convincing smut, nor do I want to.

(Sorry to any readers who were hoping for that kind of content!)

I have no idea how it went from me just yapping to like actual story jargon, but I am quite aware that it’s weird and will be updating later! (If anyone wants a part 2 ofc)

If you all want a part 2 I’ll make it more “story-like” and won’t have it start off however the fuck it started off this time.

Thank you so much for all your love and support! It means the world

Sorry for the cliffhanger btw loves (not rlly hehe)

-Cori

[blaithnne]

Can we as a fandom collectively move on from writing Scrooge’s accent out in dialogue? Like the “ye” thing? Please. Please. Please. Please Please Please PLEASE—

[beigetiger]

Kind of a continuation of this post, but I want to talk about fascism in Skulduggery Pleasant and how it’s handled, especially since it’s so relevant to our world at the moment (escapism through books? Never!) and because my interest has been captured by the way that this series clearly lays out impacting factors, where everything comes from, how it gets worse, and so on. Lot of stuff to handle, and I’m actually going to try and organize this beforehand instead of just vomiting words into my phone. I’ll also give you all the text cut of mercy.

I might have mentioned this before, but phase 2 (and by the looks of it, phase 3) depict and focus on fascism within their societies. There are several examples of this in phase 2 alone.

For example, Mevolent is introduced back in Kingdom of the Wicked, but the reality of living in a society ruled by him is most properly shown in Seasons of War. His society seems almost perfect for the sorcerers that live within it, but that’s only because those who didn’t fit the mold perfectly were killed. He has thought police and is personally able to track what his subjects are thinking about. And, of course, the Leibniz sorcerers dehumanize, oppress, and enslave their mortals because it’s all they’ve ever been taught to do. This particular flavour of society is probably least reflected in our current society of all the examples that I’m going to talk about, so I’m not too stressed about this one.

There’s also Martin Flanery, the very unsubtle stand-in for Trump. I’m mid about him as a character, but I think the series did a good job showcasing the difference between Creed, who’s calm and calculated and takes advantage of his follower’s rage, and Flanery, who feels and acts upon his rage just as much as any of his followers, while also showing that Flanery is still a threat. His lack of calculation doesn’t make him an easier opponent to defeat, it just makes him more of a wild card. And his soldiers are very much a reflection of this as well. Flanery’s soldiers use Splashes to become stronger but often have roid rage as a result, and they constantly get into fights and kill each other, causing incredible collateral damage in the process. The cops who worked under Creed, on the other hand, tended to be a lot colder, sneakier, and all-around more strategic, reflecting the climate that they’re thriving in. This isn’t just limited to Flanery, but this series also does a really good job at depicting the sheer idolization that these literal fascists are regarded with by their subjects and how it effects others.

But enough of that, I’m now going to talk about the whole reason I decided to write this stupid thing: Roarhaven and sorcerer culture as a whole.

Roarhaven post LSoDM has a whole bunch of factors impacting it and it’s social development, but one of the more major ones is sorcerers finally being given a place to be themselves and develop their own culture as opposed to just adopting whatever the mortals are currently doing. Sorcerers didn’t really have much of an individual culture for hundreds and hundreds of years because they intentionally repressed themselves so that mortals wouldn’t find out about them and possibly try to fight them. There was some slight amount of culture in places like when Roarhaven was a tiny village or those streets that are entirely owned by sorcerers, but those places were often bitter and in poverty in order to make themselves go under the radar, and so would only have offered comfort to certain kinds of sorcerers who just want others that they feel understand them.

But although the Sanctuaries may agree that silence and repression of diversity is the correct way to go about their lives, it’s extremely clear that there are many sorcerers who disagree with that (see Mevolent and his followers) and it’s clear that the Sanctuaries never bothered to stamp these disagreers out entirely as Mevolent did to his, only punishing them if they tried to reveal themselves to the mortals. This left these people alive to spread their ideologies to others.

And as I said earlier, the war that covered nearly the entire planet and was somehow kept from mortals for hundreds of years is also a huge factor for sorcerers. Between that and the inter-Sanctuary war, nearly the entire sorcerer population is a war veteran who was stood witness to or even committed absolutely sickening acts that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. They have nearly nothing resembling actual functional therapy and PTSD is probably incredibly common among the population. The Corrival kids, the ones too young to have been in war, have had to grow up in these environments and being raised by these people, and we see so clearly in phase 2 just how much generational trauma impacts people and ruins uncountable numbers of lives. Sorcerers also pretty much never die of old age. A select few of them live to be old, yes, but even they always die violently. There is no peaceful or happy ending for sorcerers, their lives are dark from the beginning through to the end, even to the point where the knowledge that they’re going to die acts as a comfort instead of a curse.

The sorcerers have also watched mortals commit countless genocides and acts of horrific discrimination and destruction and have been unable to do anything about it due to this idea enforced by their governments that they cannot interfere with the affairs of mortals, and that the mortals must simply learn to be better on their own. Hell, a lot of sorcerers have probably been directly impacted by these genocides, and their friends were probably tormented by the fact that they could do nothing about it. And due to their lack of culture and overall opportunity to do these things over the years because of the war, many of the sorcerers (especially the students who weren’t soldiers) start to feel just a little too good about themselves and their people, pointing out that they’ve never done things like that while failing to realize that the reason they’ve never really done that is because they’ve never been given an opportunity to do so.

And of course in modern times, there are issues like climate change, impending war, and increasing discrimination that sorcerers still aren’t allowed to do anything about despite living in the same world and still being impacted by, leading to a sort of “I wonder if things would be better if we were in charge”, as discussed often by Corrival kids and sometimes the Sanctuary workers. They’ve all heard of Dimension X of course, but those who don’t straight up agree with what Mevolent was doing either justify the thought by claiming that they’ve seen his mistakes and could do it better (introspection, anyone?) or, in the case of people like Valkyrie, just shake off the thought and tell themselves that it would never work out in practice.

And how sorcerers view mortals, even the supposedly good sorcerers, is also an important thing to consider here. There are, of course, sorcerers like Nefarian who have a cartoon villain view on mortals and think of them as little more than cattle, but there are more nuanced ways of thinking about mortals that are still not actually that great. In HBL, Ghastly talks about how he’s worse than mortals because he’s been given this gift that elevates him to some status above them, and yet also chooses to compete in wars for seemingly no end. And that’s the thing, this way that he subtly thinks of mortals as simple creatures who don’t understand the glory of the world as he does, who’s actions are understandable because how could they ever know better?

I also think that Valkyrie’s perception of mortals is fascinating because of how we get to see it evolves over time. When Val is fourteen or so, she actively rejects the term “mortal” because she sees it as dehumanizing and elevating of the sorcerers to a higher status. But as she grows older and becomes more attached to sorcerer society as opposed to mortal society, she stops complaining about the term and begins to adopt that mindset that so many other sorcerers have of almost being a shepherd. Instead of protecting mortals for the sake of keeping other people safe, it sometimes feels more like a duty to keeping the livestock alive more than anything else, and she actively refers to mortals as bumbling fools who get themselves killed unnecessarily in HBL.

Now, this is where Roarhaven as a city actually starts to come into play. After all, it lends sorcerers an entire city away from the prying eyes of mortals, and there’s nothing that actually makes them go back to interact with them. They can just live in the city forever and have all the resources they need. But spending so long away from and never interacting with the mortals they’re supposed to protect leads to disconnection with them from the sorcerers. The sorcerers see their city as cleaner, nicer, more organized, and overall better than anything the mortals could possibly create. Sorcerers live longer lives, are more open-minded, are stronger and capable of doing more, and so they must be better than those foolish mortals who become more close-minded as they get older.

And of course the Sanctuary is supposed to disagree with this sentiment (emphasis on supposed), but it doesn’t really matter because the Faceless Ones worshipers who have been saying this for hundreds of years and haven’t been stamped out by the government get to spread this idea around to their fellow citizens, who refuse to go back and actually reconnect with the mortals. It’s like how fast transphobia spreads among those who don’t actually know any trans people; the lack of ability to disprove the information and ideas you are being given causes them to become real to you.

And now for the children, who have less life experience and even less memories of mortals than the adults do. The students are easy to leave imprints on, and we’ve already seen how even the best intentioned kids express some anti-mortal sentiments. They know that their world is dying and it’s the mortals faults. They’ve grown up in this world being told over and over that they are better and wiser than mortals, and have been taught by their parents and by each other to view mortals as mayflies. Nothing more than insects. Even people like Omen wondered if maybe things would be better if they simply took over. Quietly took the world off the mortal government’s hands and into their own, where their everlasting wisdom can lead them to a better future. Because the kids don’t remember what the war was like, and it leads them to be disconnected from their parents. And that leads them to find affirmation among each other instead, at a boarding school where they almost never see their families and where even the teachers will indulge in anti-mortal sentiments. It’s such an easy rabbit hole for them to fall into, especially since Roarhaven hasn’t developed any sort of system to keep the kids up to date with the world and politics outside of Roarhaven, and so they just learn from each other.

And the reason that Roarhaven’s government isn’t able to do much about the children turning towards fascism is because the government kind of sucks. They have this idea that they don’t need things like lawyers because they have mind-readers and lawyers are a measly mortal invention while failing to consider the fact that lawyers exist to make sure that rights are being followed. Except that I’m not actually sure that the sorcerers have anything like rights outside of loosely following what mortals have, since police brutality seems incredibly common and the cops seem allowed to just do whatever they please. They also have nothing like a democratic system and their top governors can be easily put under influence by someone with money (e.g. China and Damocles).

There’s definitely more I could say to point this out, but I think it’s already clear enough (hell, it’s even discussed in the series itself) that the Sanctuary’s current government system is corrupt, outdated, and leaves room for dictators and fascists to take over and for the people to continue harming each other with no end in sight and needs to be replaced with something that would allow sorcerers as a whole to grow from the trauma that has brought them ruin for hundreds of years and maybe even finally help to create a better world for everyone.

[aajjks]

mommy issues!JK

just as you’re beginning to feel much better, you’re once again smacked with the reality of your situation:

from xxx-xxx-5342

you motherfucker!!

you got that bitch pregnant?!!!! how could you!!

fuck you jungkook!

i fucking hate you

how could you do this to me

to us

I LOVE YOU!!

i carved your name in me for christ sake!

i’m sorry baby. i’ll treat you better

i love you

text me back

is it true?

is she really pregnant?

we’ll talk next week

“My-My mother saw you right?” asks jungkook with teary eyes. as promised, you tell your fiancé everything that happened between you and his mother. just mentioning the woman and her blatant disrespect towards you sours your whole mood and jungkook is even more embarrassed.

his mother called you a maid, a babysitter, and a, quote, “good for nothing housewife.”

you know you aren’t the perfect woman for jungkook and you’re familiar with his very rich background but you would never disrespect his mother the way she disrespected you. you welcomed her into jungkook’s apartment with open arms and remained friendly with when she called you names in front of seol who was too excited to see his grandmother after so long.

“she did see that i was pregnant but i don’t think she believes that we’re actually together. i mean, i think that envelope was an invitation to something. she didn’t want me to look at it. do you need me to cuss that bitch out because you know i will”

~🫧

He is so stressed out first your parents, and then your ex-boyfriend and then his ex-girlfriend and now his mother.

“Ahhhh sometimes I just want to kill myself. This bitch found out that you’re pregnant now she’s having a meltdown.” Jungkook rolls his eyes before showing you the flurry of texts he received

Was his beating not enough? 

“and what does she mean by we will talk next week?” he’s so fuming right now because his mother blatantly just disrespected you despite seeing that you’re in his house pregnant with his child.

You should’ve told him before, but he can’t blame you. You didn’t want him to think any less of his mother and he loves her a lot but how could she step into his home and insult you?

“Yn my baby I think I need to keep you safe and we really need to immediately move from here..” he sighs, she found out that means that everyone is going to find out, including that psychotic ex-boyfriend of yours,

He’s 100% sure that psycho is looking for you and the fact that he’s probably in contact with Nara. “you know what we have a whole fuckin day ahead of us let’s go and look at some houses.”

Jungkook doesn’t really wait for your response, but he gets up from the couch and brings the both of you your coats, “come on, put it on… we will take Seol too because I can’t leave him here right now.”

Step one: move to a new place.

Step two: go to his parents house and confront them, actually warn them to stay the fuck away from you and him forever.

last step: confront Nara right infront of her parents.

“you can read the fucking letter I don’t care I haven’t read it.” He picks up his keys from the counter and soon calls out for Seol to come to the living room.

What is in that letter anyways.

“Come on yn! I’ll call the estate agent now.”

You take seol’s hand and he locks the door as soon as you’re all out the house.

“Come on let’s catch the elevator.”

••••

It has been two hours since you have all been looking through houses and frankly Seol has grown bored Of this.. you and Jungkook looked through multiple houses together, and he hopes that you like one of them.

A lot of them were big like you have been planning, absolutely perfect for your growing family.

You’re still gonna be residing in Busan though.

Jungkook likes the house number six from your list. “Yn what do you think?” The estate agent is looking at you, and Jungkook as you hold seol’s hand.

“Mommy i wanna go home.”

[aidoneira]

The Sixth String: A Symphony - 3 new chapters!

The story is progressing, slowly but surely! One new Interlude and two new Movements are now on AO3. Thanks for your patience! There’s still a lot more story to tell but these two chapters include some hugely important lore to the overall story…

[finderseeker]

Guys one day I’ll learn to stop sending anonymous asks full of gushing, well-meaning-but-inherently-odd-because-of who-I-am-as-a-person words, because one day I will actually remember that I cannot account for every potential misunderstanding or fact

[gothsuguru]

getting an iced pumpkin chai in the morning and then my personal goal is to spend the whole day writing and i hope i can come back to this post tomorrow and rb w how much progress i’ve made!!!

[void-tiger]

You said I’m not a “real musician” because I don’t have an operatic voice. Well fuck you. A different director with more degrees including a doctorate he’ll throw around as clout insists that I am, and a different retired opera singer is pretty disgusted by that attitude of “ONLY Operatic Voices Are Worthy To Study Music” of yours.

[unfinishedslurs]

Umbrella Academy Losers

Bill takes a deep breath, twists the cap off the urn, and dumps the ashes out. They fall into an inelegant heap. It would have hated that.

“M-might have been b-b-better with some wind,” he mutters. Everyone stays silent.

Finally, Richie breaks the silence. “Did anyone else ever expect him to turn into some weird alien…clown…spider…thing?”

No one replies, until Bill toes the ashes. “Yeah.”

“Well,” Richie says, lighting a cigarette, “good to know I’m not completely crazy.”

“I don't think that Bill being on your side points to your favor,” Eddie replies.

Bill frowns down at the small pile by his feet. “I used t-t-to th-think he was i-i-immortal. I g-guess I s-st-still thought th-that.”

“He was always good at making us think he was the biggest threat we’d ever face,” Mike says.

“He was wrong,” Bev replies, and glances at the ashes one last time before light flashes and she’s gone.

Richie’s sitting upside down on the couch, much to Eddie’s chagrin. Sucks for him, but there’s plenty of couches to choose from. He didn’t have to sit next to him. He pulls a joint out of his pocket and lights it. Hopefully having lungs upwards for a change doesn’t make him choke.

Bill sighs. “Richie.”

“Sorry, Big Bill, but if you think I’m going to be sober enough to chance seeing It’s ghost, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”

They all wince in sympathy.

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie says, “but can you at least not smoke with the asthmatic in the room?”

Richie squints, trying to make sense of Eddie’s upside-down face. “Do you have asthma? I don’t remember you having asthma.”

“Were you there for most of our childhood?”

“Physically or mentally?” He asks, but gets up and moves to the bar. Close enough to hear, far enough to not aggravate Eddie’s lungs. Bev and Ben follow him.

“Got a smoke?” Bev asks, leaning against the bar, and Ben falters, accidentally turning his two fingers of whiskey into three.

“You—you’re thirteen,” he says, at the same time Richie asks, “Aren’t you an infant now?”

“I’m forty years old,” she says, fixing them with the second most deadpan stare he’s ever seen. “I’m in the body of my thirteen year old self, which is enough torture. Besides, these lungs are already ruined. Give me a damn cigarette.”

Can’t argue with that. He gives her a damn cigarette.

Ben sighs and adds another finger.

“Richie,” Bill calls, because he has some kind of Big Brother instinct that Richie secretly thinks of as his second power, “you better not be giving drugs to the baby.”

“Fuck you, Bill,” Bev snorts, and Richie follows up with, “Yeah, fuck you! The ‘baby’ gave me cigarettes first.”

“Why’d you stay, Mikey?” Bill asks. “You hated it here more than any of us.”

“Actually I think that was Richie.”

“Hell yeah it was!” Richie calls.

[flockrest]

this will only make sense to me but there was probably a period in kido’s life where hearing apologies made him feel worse than anything. something something it was so often said to him by adults who wanted to make things better for him but couldn’t really do anything to “make up for” the absence of his dad and he got so sick of having to assure them that it was fine. it was alright. it’s okay. instead of exploding about it that he developed a Bit of an aversion to hearing sorry from any adult

[samuelroukin]

most unsatisfying end to a scene ever but that’s the point. that’s the point *through gritted teeth and maybe also crying*

[catastrxblues]

good morning it is now 4 am and i have just finished watching atonement good night

[kirk-says-wah]

One of my current WIPs just hit 18k and I think I’m halfway? Maybe 3/4? Idk but it’s taking it’s fucking time