#Minerva actually means the world to me

[wilderflowergirlie]

Lily Evans is endorsed by McGonagall to be the Quidditch commentator because they "need someone unbiased but who is still a gryffindor" and who "has the capability to actually learn more about the game." So Lily starts the microphone up, ready to do her best and impress her teacher, yet somehow turns bright red whenever James Potter in his uniform and sweating passes by and winks at her (something he does more and more when he notices she likes it).

Eventually, McGonagall has to choose a new gryffindor, because too many audience members complained that the commentator A. repeatedly got distracted and would trail off and B. could be heard flirting with the star player during the game multiple times.

McGonagall, of course, knew this would happen all along.

[vigilskeep]

colour symbolism breakthrough

[mask131]

The truth about Medusa and her rape... Mythology breakdown time!

With the recent release of the Percy Jackson television series, Tumblr is bursting with mythological posts, and the apparition of Medusa the Gorgon has been the object of numerous talks throughout this website… Including more and more spreading of misinformation, and more debates about what is the “true” version of Medusa’s backstory.

Already let us make that clear: the idea that Medusa was actually “blessed” or “gifted” by Athena her petrifying gaze/snake-hair curse is to my knowledge not at all part of the Antique world. I still do not know exactly where this comes from, but I am aware of no Greek or Roman texts that talked about this – so it seems definitively a modern invention. After all, the figure of Medusa and her entire myth has been taken part, reinterpreted and modified by numerous modern women, feminist activist, feminist movements or artists engaged in the topic of women’s life and social conditions – most notably Medusa becoming the “symbol of raped women’ wrath and fury”. It is an interesting reading and a fascinating update of the ancient texts, and it is a worthy take on its own time and context – but today we are not talking about the posterity, reinvention and continuity of Medusa as a myth and a symbol. I want to clarify some points about the ACTUAL myth or legend of Medusa – the original tale, as told by the Greeks and then by the Romans.

Most specifically the question: Was Medusa raped?

Step 1: Yes, but no.

The backstory of Medusa you will find very often today, ranging from mythology manuals (vulgarization manuals of course) to Youtube videos, goes as such: Medusa was a priestess of Athena who got raped by Poseidon while in Athena’s temple, and as a result of this, Athena punished Medusa by turning her into the monstrous Gorgon.

Some will go even further claiming Athena’s “curse” wasn’t a punishment but a “gift” or blessing – and again, I don’t know where this comes from and nobody seems to be able to give me any reliable source for that, so… Let’s put this out of there.

Now this backstory – famous and popular enough to get into Riodan’s book series for example – is partially true. There are some elements here very wrong – and by wrong I do mean wrong.

The story of Medusa being raped and turned into a monster due to being raped does indeed exist, and it is the most famous and widespread of all the Medusa stories, the one people remembered for the longest time and wrote and illustrated the most about. Hence why Medusa became in the 20th century this very important cultural symbol tied to rape and the abuse of women and victim-blaming. HOWEVER – the origin of this story is Ovid’s Metamorphoses, from the first century CE or so. Ovid? A Roman poet writing for Roman people. “Metamorphoses”? One of the two fundamental works of Roman literature and one of the two main texts of Roman mythology, alongside Virgil’s Aeneid. This is a purely Roman story belonging to the Roman culture – and not the Greek one. The story of Medusa’s rape does not have Greek precedents to my knowledge, Ovid introduced the element of rape – which is no surprise given Ovid turned half of the romances of Greek mythology into rapes. Note that, on top of all this, Ovid wasn’t even writing for religious purposes, nor was his text an actual mythological effort – he wrote it with pure literary intentions at heart. It is just a piece of poetry and literature taking inspiration from the legends of the Greek world, not some sort of sacred text.

Second big point: The legend I summarized above? It isn’t even the story Ovid wrote, since there are a lot of elements that do not come from Ovid’s retelling of the story (book fourth of the Metamorphoses). For example Ovid never said Medusa was a priestess of Athena – all he said was that she was raped in the temple of Athena. I shouldn’t even be writing Athena since again, this is a Roman text: we are speaking of Minerva here, and of Neptune, not of Athena or Poseidon. Similarly, Minerva’s curse did not involve the petrifying gaze – rather all Ovid wrote about was that Minerva turned Medusa’s hair into snakes, to “punish” her because her hair were very beautiful, and it was what made her have many suitors (none of which she wanted to marry apparently), and it is also implied it is what made Neptune fall in love (or rather fall in lust) with her. I guess it is from this detail that the reading of “Athena’s curse was a gift” comes from – even though this story also clearly does victim-blaming of rape here.

But what is very fascinating is that… we are not definitively sure Neptune raped Medusa in Ovid’s retelling. For sure, the terms used by Ovid in his fourth book of Metamorphoses are clear: this was an action of violating, sexually assaulting, of soiling and corrupting, we are talking about rape. But Ovid refers several other times to Medusa in his other books, sometimes adding details the fourth-book stories does not have (the sixth book for examples evokes how Neptune turned into a bird to seduce Medusa, which is completely absent from the fourth book’s retelling of Medusa’ curse). And in all those other mentions, the terms to designate the relationship between Medusa and Neptune are more ambiguous, evoking seduction and romance rather than physical or sexual assault. (It does not help that Ovid has an habit of constantly confusing consensual and non-consensual sex in his poems, meaning that a rape in one book can turn into a romance in another, or reversal)

But the latter fact makes more sense when you recall that the rape element was invented and added by Ovid. Before, yes Poseidon and Medusa loved each other, but it was a pure romance, or at least a consensual one-night. Heck, if we go back to the oldest records of the love between Poseidon and Medusa, back in Hesiod’s Theogony, we have descriptions of the two of them laying together in a beautiful, flowery meadow – a stereotypical scene of pastoral romances – with no mention of any brutality or violence of any sort. As a result, it makes sense the original “romantic” story would still “leak” or cast a shadow over Ovid’s reinvented and slightly-confused tale.

Step 2: So… no rape?

Well, if we go by Greek texts, no, apparently Medusa was not raped in Greek mythology, and only became a rape victim through Ovid.

The Ancient Greek texts all record Poseidon and Medusa sleeping with each other and having children, but no mention of rape. And the whole “curse of Athena” thing is not present in the oldest records – no temple of Athena soiling, no angry Athena cursing a poor girl… “No curse?” you say “But then how did Medusa got turned into a Gorgon”? Answer: she did not. She was born like that.

As I said before, the oldest record of Medusa’s romance but also of her family comes from Hesiod’s Theogony (Hesiod being one of the two “founding authors” of Greek mythology, alongside Homer – Homer did wrote several times about Medusa, but only as a disembodied head and as a monster already dead, so we don’t have any information about her life). And what do we learn? That Medusa is part of a set of three sisters known as the Gorgons – because oh yes, Ovid did not mention Medusa’s sister now did he? How did Medusa’s sisters ALSO got snake-hair or petrifying-gaze if only Medusa was cursed for sleeping with Neptune? Ovid does not give us any answer because again, it is an “adaptational plot hole”, and the people that try to adapt Ovid’s story have to deal with the slight problem of Stheno and Euryale needing to share their sister’s curse despite seemingly not being involved in the whole Neptune business. Anyway, back to the Greek text.

So, you have those three Gorgon sisters, and Medusa is said to be mortal while her sisters are not. Why is it such a big deal? Because Medusa wasn’t originally some random human or priestess. Oh no! Who were the Gorgons’ parents? Phorcys and Keto/Ceto, aka two sea-gods. Not just two sea-gods – two sea-gods of the ancient, primordial generation of sea-gods, the one that predated Poseidon, and that were cousins to the Titans, the sea-gods born of Gaia mating with Pontos.

So the Gorgons were “divine” of nature – and this is why Medusa being a mortal was considered to be a MASSIVE problem and handicap for her, an abnormal thing for the daughter of two deities. But let’s dig a bit further… Who were Phorcys and Ceto? Long story short: in Greek mythology, they were considered to be sea-equivalents of Typhon and Gaia. They were the parents of many monsters and many sea-horrors: Keto/Ceto herself had her name attributed and equated with any very large creature (like whales) or any terrifying monster (like dragons) from the sea. The Gorgons themselves was a trio of monsters, but their sisters, that directly act as their double in the myth of Perseus? The Graiai – the monstrous trio of old women sharing one eye and one tooth. Hesiod also drops the fact that Ladon (the dragon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperids), and Echidna (the snake-woman that mated with Typhon and became known as the “mother of monsters”) were also children of Phorcys and Ceto, while other authors will add other monster-related characters such as Scylla (of Charybdis and Scylla fame), the sirens, or Thoosa (the mother of Polyphemus the cyclop). Medusa herself is technically a “mother of monsters” since she birthed both Pegasus the flying horse and Chrysaor, a giant. So here is something very important to get: Medusa, and the Gorgons, were part of a family of monsters. Couple that with the absence of any mention of curses in these ancient texts, and everything is clear.

Originally Medusa was not a woman cursed to become a monster: she was born a monster, part of a group of monster siblings, birthed by monster-creating deities, and she belonged to the world of the “primordial abominations from the sea”, and the pre-Olympian threats, the remnants of the primordial chaos. It is no surprise that the Gorgons were said to live at the edge of the very known world, in the last patch of land before the end of the universe – in the most inhuman, primitive and liminal area possible. They were full-on monsters!

Now you might ask why Poseidon would sleep with a horrible monster, especially when you recall that the Greeks loved to depict the Gorgons as truly bizarre and grotesque. It wasn’t just snake-hair and petrifying gaze: they had boar tusks, and metallic claws, and bloated eyes, and a long tongue that constantly hanged down their bearded chin, and very large heads – some very old depictions even show her with a female centaur body! In fact, the ancient texts imply that it wasn’t so much the Gorgon’s gaze or eyes that had the power to turn people into stone – but that rather the Gorgon was just so hideous and so terrifying to look at people froze in terror – and then literally turned into stone out of fear and disgust. We are talking Lovecraftian level of eldritch horror here. So why would Poseidon, an Olympian god, sleep with one of these horrors? Well… If you know your Poseidon it wouldn’t surprise you too much because Poseidon had a thing for monsters. As a sort of “dark double” of Zeus, whereas Zeus fell in love with beautiful princesses and noble queens and birthed great gods and brave heroes, Poseidon was more about getting freaky with all sorts of unusual and bizarre goddesses, and giving birth to bandits and monsters. A good chunk of the villains of Greek mythology were born out of Poseidon’s loins: Polyphemus, Antaios, Orion, Charybdis, the Aloads… And even his most benevolent offspring has freaky stuff about it – Proteus the shapeshifter or Triton half-man half-fish… So yes, Poseidon sleeping with an abominable Gorgon is not so much out of character.

Step 3: The missing link

Now that we established what Medusa started out as, and what she ended up as… We need to evoke the evolution from point Hesiod to point Ovid, because while people summarized the Medusa debate as “Sea-born monster VS raped and punished woman”, there is a third element needed to understand this whole situation…

Yes Ovid did invent the rape. But he did not invent the idea that Medusa had been cursed by Athena.

The “gorgoneion” – the visual and artistic motif of the Gorgon’s head – was, as I said, a grotesque and monstrous face used to invoke fright into the enemies or to repel any vile influence or wicked spirit by the principle of “What’s the best way to repel bad stuff? Badder stuff”. Your Gorgon was your gargoyle, with all the hideous traits I described before – represented in front (unlike all the other side-portraits of gods and heroes), with the face being very large and flat, a big tongue out of a tusked-mouth, snake-hair, bulging crazy eyes, sometimes a beard or scales… Pure monster. But then… from the fifth century BCE to the second century BCE we see a slow evolution of the “gorgoneion” in art. Slowly the grotesque elements disappear, and the Gorgon’s face becomes… a regular, human face. Even more: it even becomes a pretty woman’s face! But with snakes instead of hair. As such, the idea that Medusa was a gorgeous woman who just had snakes and cursed-eyes DOES come from Ancient Greece – and existed well before Ovid wrote his rape story.

But what was the reason behind this change?

Well, we have to look at the Roman era again. Ovid’s tale of Medusa being cursed for her rape at the hands of Neptune had to rival with another record collected by a Greek author Apollodorus, or Pseudo-Apollodorus, in his Bibliotheca. In this collection of Greek myths, Apollodorus writes that indeed, Medusa was cursed by Athena to have her beautiful hair that seduced everybody be turned into snakes… But it wasn’t because of any rape or forbidden romance, no. It was just because Medusa was a very vain woman who liked to brag about her beauty and hair – and had the foolish idea of saying her hair looked better than Athena’s. (If you recall tales such as Arachne’s or the Judgement of Paris, you will know that despite Athena being wise and clever, one of her main flaws is her vanity).

“Wait a minute,” you are going to tell me, “The Bibliotheca was created in the second century CE! Well after Greece became part of the Roman Empire, and after Ovid’s Metamorphoses became a huge success! It isn’t a true Greek myth, it is just Ovid’s tale being projected here…” And people did agree for a time… Until it was discovered, in the scholias placed around the texts of Apollonios of Rhodes, that an author of the fifth century BCE named Pherecyde HAD recorded in his time a version of Medusa’s legend where she had been cursed into becoming an ugly monster as punishment for her vanity. We apparently do not have the original text of Pherecyde, but the many scholias referring to this lost piece are very clear about this. This means that the story that Apollodorus recorded isn’t a “novelty”, but rather the latest record of an older tradition going back to the fifth century BCE… THE SAME CENTURY THAT THE GORGONEION STARTED LOSING THEIR GROTESQUE, and that the face of Medusa started becoming more human in art.

[EDIT: I also forgot to add that this evolution of Medusa is also proved by strange literary elements, such as Pindar's mention in a poem of his (around 490 BCE) of "fair-cheeked Medusa". A description which seems strange given how Medusa used to be depicted as the epitome of ugliness... But that makes sense if the "cursed beauty" version of the myth had been going around at the time!]

And thus it is all connected and explained. Ovid did invent the rape yes – but he did not invent the idea of Athena cursing Medusa. It pre-existed as the most “recent” and dominating legend in Ancient Greece, having overshadowed by Ovid’s time the oldest Hesiodic records of Medusa being born a monster. So what Ovid did wasn’t completely create a new story out of nowhere, but twist the Greek traditions of Athena cursing Medusa and Medusa having a relationship with Poseidon, so that the two legends would form one and same story. And this explains in retrospect why Ovid focuses so much on describing Medusa’s beautiful hair, and why Ovid’s Minerva would think turning her hair into snake would be a “punishment fit for the crime”: these are leftovers of the Greek tale where Medusa was punished for her boasting and her vanity.

CONCLUSION

Here is the simplified chronology of how Medusa’s evolution went.

A) Primitive Greek myths, Hesiodic tradition: Born a monster out of a family of sea-monsters and monstrous immortals. Is a grotesque, gargoylesque, eldritch abomination. Athena has only an indirect conflict with her, due to being Perseus’ “fairy godmother”. Has a lovely romance with Poseidon.

B) Slow evolution throughout Classical Greece and further: Medusa becomes a beautiful, human-looking girl that was cursed to have snake for hair and petrifying eyes, instead of being a Lovecraftian horror people could not gaze upon. Her conflict with Athena becomes direct, as it is Athena that cursed her due to being offended by her vain boasting. Her punishment is for her vanity and arrogant comparison to the goddess.

C) Ovid comes in: Medusa’s romance with Poseidon becomes a rape, and she is now punished for having been raped inside Athena’s temple.

[As a final note, I want to insist upon the fact that the story of Medusa being raped is not less "worthy" than any other version of the myth. Due to its enormous popularity, how it shaped the figure of Medusa throughout the centuries, and how it still survives today and echoes current-day problems, to try to deny the valid place of this story in the world of myths and legends would be foolish. HOWEVER it is important to place back things in their context, to recognize that it is not the ONLY tale of Medusa, that it was NOT part of Greek mythology, but rather of Roman legends - and let us all always remember this time Poseidon slept with a Lovecraftian horror because my guy is kinky.]

EDIT:

For illustration, I will place here visuals showing how the Ancient art evolved alongside Medusa's story.

Before the 5th century BCE: Medusa is a full-on monster

From the 5th century to the 2nd century BCE: A slow evolution as Medusa goes from a full-on monster to a human turned into a monster. As a result the two depictions of the grotesque and beautiful gorgoneion coexist.

Post 2nd century BCE: Medusa is now a human with snake hair, and just that

[eastwindmlk]

A @jilymicrofics for the prompt Retire, Jan 14th

Word count: 838

It was strange, after more than half a century, to be cleaning up her office for the final time. To carefully wrap her trusty tea set in yesterday’s Prophet, sift through the boxes of paperwork in search of what to archive, what to keep and what to finally bin. 

As she sorted through an assortment of old assignments and Christmas cards from a bygone age, Minerva finds herself reminiscing. Once familiar faces and voices curled from the depths of her mind, a fond smile on her face. 

The corners of her lips trembled like her aged hands when her fingers brushed along a script that gave her pause. Because even after all these years, all these hundreds of students, she could still tell whose penmanship this was. 

The large letters crammed onto the parchment, like he knew he was going to run out of space for his sweeping t’s and large loops. The words slanting upwards as if wanting to escape from the paper. 

She did not doubt that, at the time, that was precisely what he’d had on his mind, while stuck doing a detention assignment for her. It was supposed to be an essay, but in true James Potter fashion, he’d ignored the explicit instruction and instead composed a letter. 

Dearest Minerva, 

As we sit across from each other in your office, a pot of lapsang souchong between us, I am aware you are pretending to be cross with me. For the sake of posterity, I will pretend with you. Though we both know that they deserved every miserable second. 

In the future, however, I will strive for a more creative solution. Even if I think turning their belts into snakes was quite a nifty piece of transfiguration. I will let you be the judge of that. Being the expert and all that. 

Speaking of the future, I am supposed to write an essay about where I see myself next year. Which I could have answered effortlessly a fortnight ago. But things changed. Every paper is full of it now. And I refuse to sit idle just because I happened to have been born into a family that fits into their narrow view of our world. 

One year from now, I will be as restless as ever. Using the privilege that comes with my name to help those who cannot help themselves. However, unlike before, I will not humour myself with the delusion that this can be achieved by mere words. 

I will gladly put my wand with my conviction and face whatever is in store beyond the safety of these walls. Together with my friends, we will make a difference. 

My friends and I are talking about getting a place together, somewhere nice and lively. We were hoping to travel, see some of the world. Those plans are on hold, at least for now. Though none of us will say it aloud, we hope that the four of us will be around for it.

So, we spend evenings talking about this trip, imagining places to go and things to do in the hopes that the four of us will get to go.

Hopefully, I will be dating Lily Evans. (Please don’t tell her I said that.) I think she is finally coming round to me. She no longer glares in my direction, though I can still feel her eyes on me sometimes.

Maybe I am crazy, but I can tell it is her just from the way it feels. Her watching me is special somehow. Often I itch to turn to her, to catch her looking. To catch a glimpse of her smile or her fluster. Just the fraction of a moment where I can believe she might actually feel the same way. 

Or maybe not the same way. I would not wish this complete and utter agony on her. If she does come to fall for me, I hope she falls softer. I hope that I am not too blind to see and catch her before the rough landing. 

That is only if I will ever be lucky enough to be enough for her. To have grown into a person, she can depend on rather than the childish prick (I am so sorry, did not mean to curse.) I used to be. 

I am afraid I am running out of space. I could fill several more rolls of parchment (Which is not me asking for more) with hopes and wishes for the year ahead. Some more achievable (Pass my N.E.W.T. s) and some more hopeful (Snog Lily Evans. Again, please don’t tell her I wrote any of this.)

Your favourite student, 

James Potter 

Her fingers crumpled the paper where she gripped it tight, a lump rising in her throat. Her eyes scanned the content of the letter once more before pressing it briefly to her heart before placing it atop her pile of keepsakes. 

Minerva pushed herself to her feet, in dire need of a break and craving a cup of lapsang souchong. 

[teecupangel]

IDEA: Desmond gets turned into a creature of your choosing, just has to be able to “write”. And yknow how we always go with the ‘his writing becomes illegible’ thing? What if all of his writing is unreadable except the word “Desmond”. Drop him in with Ezio and watch the chaos unfold.

I was thinking what creature we should go for and my brain just went ‘screw it, go with Slime Desmond so we don’t have to think if the creature can actually use a quill or if he’s using his hands to write’.

Then my next thought was “Wouldn’t it be funny if Desmond could write ‘Desmond’ but he can only write it in a specific language that Ezio doesn’t know? Like… the Isu script?” but you know what would be funnier?

Desmond had always been an intelligent creature.

He used his strange body structure to make creative shapes that Ezio would be able to decipher and understand. He was the best scout and planning partner to have.

His uncle believes Desmond was a descendant of the slime ‘companion’ the legendary Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad supposed had.

If he was, Ezio could see why everyone believed Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad was the best mentor the Brotherhood ever had.

Desmond made everything so easy that Ezio knew he needed to not depend on him too much. He needed to be able to stay on his own feet. To show that he was a formidable Assassin in his own rights.

That was why he asked Desmond to stay in Monteriggioni while he went to the Vatican to finally confront Rodrigo Borgia.

He focused on the safety of his family, knowing it was Desmond’s soft spot.

And it worked.

Desmond stayed and Ezio went to Rome alone.

And then he heard Minerva’s message.

‘Desmond’.

She specifically said Desmond’s name.

Desmond wasn’t a usual name and…

It was the only ‘word’ Desmond could write.

So when he returned to Monteriggioni, he briskly walked towards Desmond and crouched in front of him. Desmond’s entire body seemed to be vibrating slightly and Ezio pointed at him as he asked in an almost panicky tone, “Desmond?”

Desmond created too slimey appendages and pointed at himself, waving the tentacle-like appendages furiously.

“Desmond!” Ezio repeated and Desmond began to vibrate more noticeably.

“Desmond!” Ezio said cheerfully and Desmond started bouncing in front of him in pure joy.

“Why is my brother repeating Desmond’s name?” Claudia whispered from behind them, looking both confused and tired already.

“I’m not entirely sure…” Mario answered as he rubbed his chin.

“Ah, of course!” Ezio grabbed Desmond midbounce and held him in his arms before turning to face his family and allies. He recounted Minerva’s message and what he had seen, making his allies wear different expressions on their faces.

When he got to the part where Minerva specifically said Desmond’s name, Mario’s eyes widened as he asked, “Nipote, are you saying…”

“Yes.” Ezio raised Desmond to his eye-level as he proclaimed…

“Desmond is a messenger like Minerva! He keeps writing the name Desmond because he is looking for him!”

Desmond’s happy vibrations immediately stopped and then…

WHACK.

A tentacle appendage suddenly appeared from Desmond’s body and smacked Ezio behind the head, making the Assassin yelp in surprise and let go of Desmond.

Desmond quickly hopped away from them and went straight for the secret door that would lead to the Sanctuary below.

“What? What did I do? Was it supposed to be a secret, Desmond?!” Ezio followed the slime, already knowing it would be sulking behind the statue of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

… leaving his family and allies back in the office who stared at the secret entrance.

“…………. well… who’s going to tell him that Desmond is angry because the obvious answer was he’s the Desmond in the message?”

“I will respectfully decline. For one, I don’t want to argue with Ezio about how that idea is foolish as this Desmond is meant to be alive centuries from now to save the world.”

“O dio mio, does that mean our Desmond used to be Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad’s Desmond?! Is Desmond immortal???”

“I’m going to bed. Wake me up once my brother stops being stupid.”

[castkorb]

I made this post a few days ago and was asked for more input on Sting's character in regards to future Rogue so here's some more thoughts:

enjoy <3

Future Rogue explicitly says he killed Sting and took his power but I have my doubts about that:

f!Rogue said to Natsu that in one year from the games Frosch would be killed by Gray and thus his pillar would be gone and he would succumb to the shadow, meaning during Avatar Gray and Rogue would fight.

But Tartaros happened before Avatar, and during this arc we witness Sting and Rogue's first shown improvement after swearing change in the name of Sabertooth, which culminates in both of them killing Jienma and erasing Sabertooth's ugly past for good. also using a unique unison raid that only they can do <3

Which solidifies the fact that Rogue is no longer intimidated by his shadow because, as he said himself, Sting would be able to kill it. He no longer lives haunted by the thoughts of his shadow taking over him because he knows Sting will always be there to protect him.

But this obviously all happened in the good future where the world didn't end and now THIS is where the fun begins.

What happened in the bad future where f!Rogue is from?

If my memory serves correct f!Rogue later revealed that his plan was to open the gate of Eclipse to let dragons from the past in and rule them to overcome Acnologia, who would soon descend and raise the world into chaos.

Now I don't think he gave an exact date as to when would this be but, Acnologia did indeed appear later during Tartaros so we're going to assume that's when the apocalypse started in the bad timeline.

And let's rewind for a sec to what happened in the good timeline's Tartaros: Sting and Rogue helped Fairy Tail, saved Minerva and killed Jienma, which is a direct consequence of what f!Rogue did during Eclipse.

I explain:

What would have happened after the games ended in this bad timeline? Would Sting have accepted to become Sabertooth's new master? His resolution begins when he gives up before Erza and the rest during the final battle but I don't think he really makes up his mind about it until the dragons are attacking the city and he fights to protect his guild, both he and Rogue do.

It's not until both of them are fighting at the end of the world that they realise what made Fairy Tail the strongest guild, and even after having tecnically lost, this battle gave them something f!Rogue probably didn't expect.

It gave them hope.

So can we really assume they would've followed the same path had they not fought the dragons? I find it absolutely marvelous and poetic how f!Rogue, having lost all sense of compassion, hope and having nothing left but rage, wanting to cast his revenge in this new timeline indirectly saved him and his beloved from the horrors he had to endure.

Which brings me back to my first statement. In the bad timeline Sting was left with nothing after the games ended, sure Jienma was gone, he got Lector back and he had Rogue but what was he supossed to do from there on? Without the cataclysm of the Eclipse gate I assume he'd want nothing to do with Sabertooth again, or maybe he did, but then as Tartaros arrived maybe the guild had not yet gone through the experience of truly fighting along your peers to protect them, none of the guilds had. except, yknow, fairy tail but they're literally the mcs here

We can't forget that they were fighting literal demons here, plus Acnologia himself. -Again taking in mind the experience of fighting dragons had also not happened here-

You could also argue that the FACE project the Tartaros gates had planned might've actually worked in this timeline, which would result in over half of the population or more being left without magic to fight, it's understandable the world fell into chaos pretty quickly and a huge number of people died, as we saw in f!Lucy's timeline.

And Sting and Rogue were probably neither mentally nor physically prepared to fight all of this right after the magic games, they didn't have time to bond with their guildmates after Jienma died the same way they did in the good timeline, hell I'd even argue Sting was probably in a worse state because he got his emotional and physical strenght tested back then and there's no way he'd recover from that in such a short time with only Rogue's help.

Throughout the manga we see how Sting is the uplifting half of this duo, he's the one who constantly reassures Rogue and the rest of the guild, he's taken his admiration for Natsu and learned from it in that sense, but is bad future Sting like this? Is he able to smile and shine a path to the people he loves, is he able to fight for them?

In my head f!Rogue didn’t kill Sting because Sting likely gave up fighting or chose to sacrifice himself. that being to give Rogue another chance to live or because he knew one of them would die and he knew he wouldn't be able to live without Rogue is up to interpretation :)

And this proves to me that neither can live without the other, when Sting died f!Rogue either lost his mind and gave into grief not fully, he would after Frosch's death and took his powers in order to survive or to preserve a small part of Sting with him, which makes this shit sadder when his shadow fully takes over him and he's no longer concious of this, using his partner's power, the only power able to guide him and subdue him to kill without remorse.

f!Rogue said that Frosch was his pillar but I refuse to believe Sting is not a pillar for him as well, he may have fully lost against his shadow after losing Frosch but his relationship with Sting having ended simply with a "I killed him amd took his powers" I will not accept, Rogue lost half his heart when Sting died/was killed and Frosh was the last bit of sanity that remained of him after that, which was ultimately but not the only reason he wasn't strong enough to fight his shadow.

As you can see I have a lot to say about this arc and I would've given anything for it to be explored more but alas I've spent the last 6+ years rewritting the entirety of this manga in my head and I love to dive into the possibilities, like what could have happened if Sting had lost Rogue in that future? what happened to the rest of the Sabertooth's members? I can be here all day.

But anyways I feel I'm not good enough at expressing my thoughts in written form but I hope it's understandable enough? I'm growing more confident though so hopefully I can puke more nonsense about this two <33

[flowersandbigteeth]

Your villainous voidbeast husband has some explaining to do

General Plot: Valerian explains to you why you shouldn't hate him

Word Count: 1k

masterpost

W: sfw monster fluff

Your feet flew under you as you ran through the castle. You didn’t really know where you were going, your eyes blurred with tears. He’d lied to you! He told you that you were the only one for him! How could he?!

You hated that he was so big and strong, you just wanted to slap his stupid, handsome face. You hoped Minerva was tearing him to pieces right now! Finally finding a little balcony that seemed out of the way, you slipped out onto it only to collapse into tears. 

He’d brought you all the way here alone when he already had another woman all along and lied to you! He was horrible! 

Curling your knees up to your chest you sobbed in a ball in the cool air. Oddly you didn’t hear Valerian’s footsteps before he appeared. He looked down at you, but you didn’t acknowledge him, just shivering and sobbing. 

There was a loud sigh and a thunk and Valerian sat on the opposite side of the balcony as you looking contrite.

“I fucked up,” he admitted. 

You sniffled and looked up at him. 

“You think?” you asked, your voice shaking with anger and sadness, “you lied to me. You brought me here and promised you would never leave me alone and you lied to me. You acted like you didn’t know her!” 

He squeezed his two top eyes closed and rubbed them. 

“I…I don’t have a good excuse,” he said, “I was so desperate to steal you, I enlisted Minerva’s help. Time travel magic is not something I’m good at, but she is. I can go back and forth, but I couldn’t bring you with me without magic. I don’t love her. I don’t have any affection for her at all. She’s completely correct. I used her. 

I spent all my time with her. I made her feel special and then the minute she showed me how to get you I disappeared on her and never came back. I wouldn’t really care, but it’s hurting you…and that…breaks me.” 

He paused for a moment. 

“If you wanted to go back now…I would send you, but I’m afraid I’d mess it up without Minerva’s help,” he said. 

You looked up at him and frowned. 

“You would give me up? Have her send me back?” you pouted fresh tears pouring down your cheeks. 

He grimaced and shook his head. 

“No, maybe…I-I don’t know,” he grumbled, “seeing you unhappy with me…it makes me feel some kind of way, like I want to do anything to see you smile and I don’t deserve you, but at the same time…I don’t actually know that I can let you go. I would probably just end up stalking you like I did before. I love you, (Y/N) and I can’t live without you. I’m not sure what to do.” 

You sniffled. 

“Stop tricking innocent women,” you snapped. 

“I promise you I didn’t trick you, (Y/N). I left some information out, but I didn’t do anything uncouth with her. I gave her a lot of attention, yes, but I never touched her or promised her anything. I was very upfront that I was looking for you when I asked for her help. This idea that I love her is all something she built up in her head. She doesn’t take you seriously because you are human.” 

You wiped your nose on the back of your hand and he slid across the balcony taking it.

“Everything I said to you is exactly how I feel,” he assured you, “you are my star and I never lied about any of that. You are my whole universe. There are other void entities out there, but I don’t want them. I want forever with you.”

He held your hand against his cheek, folding himself down to chase your warmth. 

“When I said I my world didn’t start before you. It was true. I was a brainless monster before you appeared. I consumed solar systems without thinking of the inhabitants. I destroyed stars because it amused me. I was a god on a number of planets where I squashed people like bugs for no reason at all.”

“Then all that changed when I felt your soul. It was this beautiful melody that pulled me across the universe. Suddenly space and time had meaning and presence. There was this precious, beautiful thing in it that needed to be loved and protected where there had been just trash before.” 

You looked up to see sparkling tears streaking down his face. 

“I meant what I said,” he said, “I’ll do anything, just tell me what to do. I’ll give you whatever you want, kill whoever you want, take you wherever you want to go. Please, just…don’t leave me alone…” 

He let out a deep sob. You frowned at him and drew your brow, but your tears had slowed. 

“You are a very bad voidbeast,” you announced, “and you will have to be punished.” 

His eyebrows went up and he sat straight, a little confused. You were very small to be divvying out punishments. 

“You’re going to have to tell me you love me at least 15 times a day from now on and…shower in socks for a month, no…a year…no, that’s too long…three months! AND we’re going to figure out a way to clear this up with Minerva so she stops sending people after me. I’m tired of being kidnapped.” 

He growled and clenched his fist. 

“I’m going to kill her,” he hissed, his eyes red with his thirst for vengeance.

“No, you are not,” you snapped, “you probably owe her an apology…unless she keeps this up, then you can only do so much…” 

You had to concede that point, she was a frightening monster and you didn’t want to die because of her jealousy. 

He pulled you into his lap and squeezed you tight, breathing in the scent of your hair. 

“I promise I’ll tell you everything from now on,” he said into your forehead, “I never want you to feel blindsided again. You gave me away. That was horrible.” 

You huffed in his lap, playing with a few pieces of his glowing hair and wiping what remained of the tears on your face away. 

“You can start with your punishment right now,” you snipped. 

“I love you, (Y/N),” he said into your hair, “I love you. I love you. I love you-”

You laughed. 

“Ok, that’s enough for now,” you said, “you can do some more later.”

You tipped his head down to you and brushed his cheek, frowning.

"You're bleeding," you said.

"It doesn't matter."

You pulled out of his lap, taking his hand.

"Come on, let's go inside."

[saintsenara]

I am living for the rare pair asks and answers!!! Break it down for me (any or all, your choice)!: Viktor Krum and Ron, Snape and McGonagall, Trelawney and Umbridge!

thank you so much for the ask, @nanneramma - three absolutely top-tier choices here.

viktor krum/ron weasley

listen... unrequited kron is quite literally canon. ron wanted krum to sleep in his bed [come on, king, have some chill], kept a little model of him on his bedside table [and then snapped it when krum had the temerity to fancy someone else], and just generally had such little idea about what to do with his hitherto untapped bisexuality that his embarrassing behaviour made everyone within a ten-mile radius profoundly uncomfortable.

do i think krum would be into it...? yes.

as he says to harry at bill and fleur's wedding, one of the perks of being an international quidditch star is the opportunity to nail your fans. finding a fan who's as enthusiastic as ron would undoubtedly be about this scenario is like hitting the jackpot.

minerva mcgonagall/severus snape

a genuine obsession - sustained by every single fic @kellychambliss has ever written about the two.

firstly because i’m an equal-opportunity age-gap fan, and there is far too little older woman/younger man in the fandom, but also because i’m a huge fan of the fanon that snape and mcgonagall are friends prior to dumbledore’s death - i’m not sure it’s canonically plausible, but who gives a fuck - and i like the idea of that blossoming into something more, especially in fics where snape survives the second war. after all, he is a man who definitely needs to be treated quite strictly [and i don’t just mean in the staff room], there's a shared loneliness and grief to them both, they’re intellectual equals despite the age gap, and bickering about quidditch is absolutely fine as a method of foreplay.

plus, you can’t tell me dumbledore’s portrait doesn’t ship it.

sybill trelawney/dolores umbridge

well, they've obviously got the "enemies" part of "enemies-to-lovers" nailed [behave].

but, actually, i'm not sure i back it. the thing that's really interesting about trelawney is that she's clearly very aware that the face she presents to the world is a work of fiction - she knows, absolutely, that she's not really a good seer, that her colleagues think she's weird and off-putting, and so on - and i think that the insecurity she feels about this and the affect it must have on her relationships is a really fascinating thing to work through in both platonic and romantic ships which feature her.

umbridge, on other hand, also lives - essentially - in character at all times, but believes she's entirely right to do so. she's never letting go of her righteousness enough to give a crap about poor sybill, I fear.

[my fave trelawney rare pair? her with rita skeeter, who does have the 'being well aware you're a fraud' vibe. my fave with umbridge? her with prison.]

[something-in-the-seas]

Why I think Sol Invictus might actually be the overarching villain of the next saga (I blame Valhalla for this)

⭐️ Valhalla's release date being two weeks before Christmas and being described by so many as an "early Christmas present." Listen, we have never had anything in God of War released around Christmas before. Ever. And the release dates of these games always tie into mythology in some way: the Greek games releasing in March ties back to Mars, Ragnarok's release date of Wednesday ties back to Wednesday being Odin's day, even Valhalla coming out on a Tuesday is a reference to Tyr.

So, why is Christmas so important than? Well, December 25th, is the date of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the Birth of the Unconquerable Sun. It's a commonly held theory that the Early Church appropriated the date to make it easier to integrate Roman converts.

⭐️ Getting back to Christianity... we know it's confirmed in the God of War universe, we know the original ending of the Greek saga was going to be Kratos becoming one of the Three Wisemen. No way in hell are they touching Christianity with a ten foot pole, but that doesn't mean monotheism isn't going to be addressed. Jesus was drawn as Sol Invictus in Ancient Roman art, the depiction of Jesus having a halo came from Helios, Psalm 104:3 describes God as having a chariot...

"Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind." -Psalm 104: 3

Kratos isn't suplexing Jesus, but Sol Invictus could be a villain that is the closest we get to a Fallen Christ figure. All the Jesus parallels are right there:

Jesus refers to himself as "the light of the world" and goes on to say "whoever walks with me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). Not quite exactly the same thing as Kratos using Helios' head as a flashlight, but Kratos did use him to light his way through the darkness to ultimately beat Zeus. His light also lit up the entire Underworld. Greece cannot survive without him.

In some translations of the Bible, Jesus is described as being raised up from the realm of Hades. Chains of Olympus is heavily, heavily referenced in Valhalla and what is the plot? Raising the sun- Helios- up from the Underworld.

Jesus, particularly his resurrection, was associated with the Phoenix (we'll get into that later).

Later on in the medieval era, Jesus would be described as descending into Hell before rising from the dead, which if the theory that the Roman gods are revived Olympians... where does Kratos take the head of Helios? Tartarus, the equivalent to Hell. In popular culture, Hell is usually always depicted as fire and brimstone, going off of Dante's Inferno and this passage of Revelation describing damned souls being thrown into a lake of fire. What seemingly has rivers of fire? Tartarus in God of War 3.

⭐️ We don't know what Athena's plan is, in fact, we don't know what the hell is going on with Athena at all. All we know is that she changed from wanting to save Olympus to being ready to sacrifice her entire family for the chance to rule on her own in a second. Monotheism. It could be just greed, but that's also so not Athena? I think her being a villain can work: I can believe ascending to a higher plan has changed her and that her priority is her new Ascended Council, but what do they want exactly? They definitely were involved with Odin's mask and the rift, they want Kratos to 'fulfill his destiny,' and then what?

⭐️ We know Rome exists in the God of War universe: the Norns speak Latin. While Athena/Minerva was still an important deity to the Romans (even if Ovid seemed to despise her), a lot of her significance as a god of war/strategy went to Ares/Mars and Bellona. Minerva was primarily a goddess of wisdom and crafts and only became a war goddess later on.

Minerva has an interesting history when it comes to Rome's push towards sun worship. Before Aurelian revived the cult of Sol Invictus, Emperor Elagabalus stripped Jupiter of his position as King of the Gods in order to give the title to the Syrian sun god, Elagabalus (Heliogabalus) instead. The Romans were already pissed, but the cherry on top was Elagabalus moving a statue of Athena/Minerva from the Temple of Vesta to be by Elagabalus' stone in a symbolic marriage that fell through after backlash.

There are theories that Sol Invictus is a combination of Elagabalus and Sol Indiges (the traditional Roman god of the sun), or that Sol Invictus was always Sol Indiges. It's hard to find information because most ancient writers were very, very bias and so much was lost over thousands of years. Anyway, a storyline of Sol Invictus over throwing Jupiter and having a connection to Minerva/Athena has precedence.

⭐️ Finally, there's the most damning piece of evidence... this line right here: "You think I'm afraid of a little fire? Don't threaten me with a good time, Kratos. Maybe I'll be infused with power and achieve my final form."

You know what mythological animal is infused with power and revived by fire? The phoenix. It's canonly seen in God of War 2 and after Kratos stabs himself with the Blade of Olympus in 3, the post credit scene has his blood seeping into a large engraving of a phoenix.

You know what the phoenix is also heavily associated with? The sun. Or, the God of the Sun. In Egyptian mythology, where the Phoenix originates, it's name is the Benu and instead of being an eagle or peacock, it's appearance is that of a heron. It's believed to be the ba (part of the soul) of Ra, but it's also associated with Atum and Osiris. There was significant reverence for the Benu at the Temple of Ra in the Egyptian city of Iunu, its Greek name being Heliopolis, "the City of the Sun." The Greeks took the concept of the Benu and associated their phoenix with Helios such as Herodotus when he first introduced the concept of the phoenix to the Greeks:

"There is another sacred bird, too, whose name is Phoinix (Phoenix). I myself have never seen it, only pictures of it; for the bird seldom comes into Aigyptos (Egypt) : once in five hundred years, as the people of Heliopolis say. It is said that the Phoinix comes when his father dies. If the picture truly shows his size and appearance, his plumage is partly golden and partly red. He is most like an eagle in shape and size. What they say this bird manages to do is incredible to me. Flying from Arabia to the temple of the Helios (the Sun), they say, he conveys his father encased in myrrh and buries him at the temple of Helios [i.e. in the temple of the Egyptian god Ra]. This is how he conveys him: he first molds an egg of myrrh as heavy as he can carry, then tries lifting it, and when he has tried it, he then hollows out the egg and puts his father into it, and plasters over with more myrrh the hollow of the egg into which he has put his father, which is the same in weight with his father lying in it, and he conveys him encased to the temple of the Sun in Aigyptos (Egypt). This is what they say this bird does." - Herodotus, Histories 2. 73 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.)

Rome also associated itself as being like a Phoenix and had images of them on their coins. The phoenix is immortal, much like how the Romans envisioned their empire, constantly going through a cycle of death and rebirth. Maybe I'm just becoming Charlie Kelly but... idk... I feel like SSM is onto something.

[magicaleggplant]

extremely belated montreal worlds impressions, part 1

i've been meaning to write this for weeks now, but never found the time for it. finally putting some thoughts down in words before i forget everything.

this post covers the pairs and women's events. part 2 will be ice dance and men (if i ever get around to writing it...) warning for extremely unfocused writing; i have been so stupidly busy lately.

ETA: here is part 2

-----------------------------------

PAIRS:

pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed pairs at worlds! the short program was remarkably clean, and while the free was messy, there were still a few bright moments. the level of pairs did decrease after the last olympics, but i think many teams have been gradually building up their technical content and skills, and it's good to see teams coming from many small feds. i have to admit that i did not watch many pairs events this season (it's the first discipline i cut when i don't have time to watch everything), but pairs live is much more fun than pairs on screen. i can appreciate their elements much better. in general, my favorite thing about watching live skating is the sense of speed and scale.

miura/kihara: i was nervous as hell for them but they pulled through! i really didn't know what to expect after all of their injury struggles this season. it wouldn't have surprised me if they didn't make the podium, so i'm thrilled for their silver medal. this was my second time seeing them live and it was clear that they weren't at the top of their game - there were a bunch of little mistakes scattered throughout their programs. the free went much better than i hoped. i'm glad they went back to an old program, but i really wish they had started the season with better programs to begin with... (hear me out: have you considered lori nichol for choreo?) but i think at their best, m/k are still the class of the field. their speed and skating skills really, really stand out when you see them live. i cannot stress enough how fast they are; no other team comes close to their speed. their lifts are also very steady (when ryuichi isn't injured, anyway). i was happy that the audience cheered loudly for them even though they were clearly rooting for deanna and max to win. it was a tough season for them but they are such strong skaters, and i really hope the next season goes better. i'm also really glad they were able to get a medal ceremony do-over after the men's ceremony. they looked happy there.

stellato-dudek/deschamps: the crowd was HYPED for them, i couldn't believe how many people came to watch pairs for them, considering it always gets scheduled in the middle of the week! i'm happy for their win, though there was a little bit of home cooking to help out lol. they have great programs this season. it's a bit of the opposite situation with m/k where i really liked sd/d's programs, but their actual skating, not as much. their lack of speed is really obvious compared to m/k. many of their elements feel like a fight instead of effortless. but i was really impressed with how they held up under the pressure of a home worlds. deanna's determination is amazing.

hase/volodin: ok, count me impressed by this new team. they still have a ways to go in connecting with each other, but their elements are really solid and their skating skills aren't bad, either. technically speaking, i'd put them behind m/k but above sd/d in quality. i enjoyed their short program a lot; the free was a bit of a snooze, imo. minerva is a wonderful pairs skater. i'm looking forward to seeing them improve. that one lift entry they do is SO cool.

other notes:

really enjoyed both of hocke/kunkel's programs. they're fun, i'm a fan now.

also enjoyed golubeva/giotopoulos-moore quite a bit

still can't believe cats won euros

peng/wang's throws were too big for this rink. i was very sad at their placement, but cheng is such a wonderful skater and their choreo was excellent, i especially love their free.

-----------------------------------

WOMEN:

a very up and down worlds after a very inconsistent season. so, more or less as expected.

kaori: her fs was a MOMENT. i think the first time i saw kaori live was...2017 skate america? it was her first senior season, and i remember being so impressed by the lightness of her jumps then. the same is true this time, but her growth has been astounding. kaori was not one of my favorite skaters when she was younger; she absolutely is now. while her free skate this season is not my favorite of hers, i love how her range of expression has expanded. her skating is lush, luxurious, she's learned to take her time with the music. and god, her speed. she makes everything look so easy. i'm so happy i got to see this confident, mature kaori win her third world title. the crowd was losing their shit for her, as they should. also love how she was the team mom at the medal ceremony with the two younger medalists. she's such a great role model.

isabeau: i feel like every time someone talks about her, they have to add the caveat that they hate her jump technique. which, yes, i do agree with that. but from now on i'm just going to talk about the positive aspects of her skating, because i think she deserves more of that. it was my first time seeing her live and i liked her! she's musical, her arm movements are beautiful, and she's not slow at all, except on jump entries. her spins are great when she hits them. i appreciate her a lot more after seeing her live. her reaction after her fs was really cute.

chaeyeon: unexpected medalist but i'm happy for her! she is not my favorite among the top korean women but i'm impressed with her improvement this season. her sp is one of my favorites. that kind of quirky program suits her really well. the fs is a bit muted, but i think she does a good job with it as well. her musicality is the less obvious kind, but it's there. she's gradually growing into her own style.

loena: her sp was a lot of fun, the audience really got into it. she can sell a program, alright. loads of charisma and she skates BIG. the fs...well, to be fair, even without the jump mistakes, i never liked it. i appreciate what loena brings to the women's field, but i hope her programs are better next season. maybe a change in choreographer would be interesting?

haein: sirens is a masterpiece. i'm so glad she could skate it cleanly like that at least once. she has my favorite step sequences in the women's field by far. we'll just ignore everything else in the fs except for the step sequence. i love her so much and i want her to win another world medal someday.

mone: her skating skills are a dream, her overall quality is chef's kiss. but when she's nervous, you can really feel it. she skated like she was terrified in the sp and it showed. it detracted from the performance. i'm glad her fs went better. i hope her confidence improves and that this worlds was a good learning experience for her. i randomly ran into her on the concourse and she signed my japanese flag! she’s so tiny and adorable.

hana: on the other hand, hana does not skate scared. she just goes out and does her thing! but to me her skating still feels a bit "small" at the moment. her lutz-toe technique is terrifying... she can also work on her dance skills a bit more, her overall polish. but i love her programs. i still can't believe she made koo koo fun work. i love that she never does conventional "pretty" programs.

other notes:

amber: love her, but it is what it is. her 3a was excellent.

katia kurakova's fs reaction was a great moment. i like that she's trying different styles of music now, but i think she went a bit too far in the "serious" direction. her natural spark feels too muted.

young you: my darling. we all wanted so badly for her to do well... her sp was wonderful, though.

olga mikutina is becoming a new fave of mine. her skating is powerful and she's a good performer!

also love niina petrokina's powerful skating

[lizthewriter]

💖 for MCU please

Name: Violet

Sexuality: lesbian

Hobbies: reading (fics mostly) and crafts - I absolutely love making beaded jewellery. Oh and I collect stickers; I have a sticker wall in my bedroom.

Introvert

In a friendship, I’m the mom friend, I always take care of my bestie. I love cute little pet names (I’m quite fond of bubble and pumpkin.) I push my friends to take care of themselves and I like to think they can always count on me. My love language is basically sending my friends tiktoks and memes I think they’ll like.

My favourite marvel characters are Loki and the Winter soldier - I enjoy morally grey characters. I’m obsessed with Florence Pugh and Gillian Anderson!! My style is very feminine and eclectic. I like wearing flower patterns. I’m allergic to dogs but I have a hypoallergenic dog called Minnie (short for minerva - I’m a Harry Potter fan as well as marvel) and I love her more than the whole world. My favourite food is pumpkin pasta, I love anything pumpkin and I’m a great cook.

at first i had a hard time figuring out who you would pair well with, violet, but then it hit my like a train - the answer was so clear in my head - nebula!

if there's any case of opposites attract in exsistence, it would be the two of you. as we know, nebula is gruff, definitely morally gray, not paticularly chatty, but most of all traumatized. she doesn't like to let people into her life and when people try to pry into her psyche and try to help, she usually lashes back at them. but with you, it's different.

nebula is used to ignoring her personal health and wellness to either help others or complete their own personal goals (thanos, ronan, quill). having someone who was helping her, not because they were annoyed by her behavior or just wanted her to be less of herself, would mean a lot to her. after years of not looking out for herself, it would be a nice change to have someone who really cares about her like you would. i think you would also be able to introduce her to a different perspective. you seem like someone who knows who they are, and she would greatly appreciate that seeing as she's never gotten a chance to understand herself. you would think that she would hate your stickers and jewelry and crafts, but secretly, she adores them (would probably steal a bracelet of yours, here and there, when she can). she would also probably not accept food from others, but perhaps at the smell of your cooking, she'd walk over and grab a bite.

i see you as a member of the guardians - how you joined, i've no clue, you can leave that up to yourself. you're probably close with mantis and drax, and while you enjoy spending time with your friends, you also like to spend time alone. nebula likes to watch you while you craft and when you cook - she probably has the biggest crush on you and for a while, i don't think she'd even realize it. but once she does, she becomes very overprotective, almost toxically territorial. one time you find her sitting in the hanger by herself, so you sit down with her. it's "night" (although there's not really night in space) and everyone else is asleep. you expected her to sit there with you in peaceful silence but she actually opens up to you. about her past, about how she thinks of herself - she asks you how you find happiness? she'd be inspired by whatever answer you'd give - and after that night, slowly, she would gain the confidence to join you in your hobbies. she would wear any bracelets you give to her and taste test new recipes you would try (warning: she's brutally honest, however, she tries her best to be softer with you). she smiles with you, she laughs with you. one night, you're sitting in the hangar yet again when she asks you, "have you ever felt love? real love?" because she's not sure she's ever felt it. and it's as she's watching you answer she realizes that you were the one that made her feel true love and she would cut you off with a kiss.

around you, she is truly herself - almost unrecognizable. teasing, smiley, playful, soft. i think the two of you would bring out the best in each other <333

hope you enjoyed pookie 😚

[hpsaffics]

Authors are revealed for the HP Saffics Summer Exchange 2023! Check out the 33 fabulous double drabbles on AO3 or below 🏖. Treat giving starts tomorrow and will continue all week (Jul 21-Jul 28)!

1. wrenches, redheads, and romance, oh my! by @leftsidedown [G, Millicent/Ginny]

Ginny's apartment is in need of a little extra love.

2. Deal with the Devil by @storyof-eden [T, Hermione/Bellatrix, Hermione/Narcissa]

Hermione makes a deal in order to save the one she loves.

3. On Display by @sugareey-makes-stuff [E, Katie/Alicia]

Katie tries to be good and lets Alicia watch her.

4. What Would It Take by @herochicklyrrie007 [G, Cho/Luna]

Luna's tired of no one believing she and Cho are more than friends, maybe it's time to do something to show the world how they feel about each other?

5. House Points by @bee-prescott [T, Hermione/Minerva]

A vignette of Minerva and Hermione's life together

6. Chocolate-Stained Fingertips by @slythercrux [G, Hermione/Luna]

After the war, Hermione slowly learns to find beauty in the slow rhythm of her everyday life. (And Luna finds her voice again without needing to utter a single word.)

7. Harpy by @hermioneclone [M, Narcissa/Ginny]

The new owner of the Holyhead Harpies is getting under Ginny's skin.

8. Spare you the pain by @an-organism [G, Millicent/Astoria]

Three days into a stay at St. Mungo's, Astoria wakes to an all-too-familiar face. Millicent wishes the both of them could be anywhere else.

9. the lady of the lake by @nanneramma [M, Giant Squid/Lily]

During a swim, Lily comes into her own.

10. She would’ve made such a lovely bride (what a shame she’s a lesbian) by @caitiewantstobeavadakedavrad [M, Narcissa/Marlene]

Nice dress, princess. Those three simple words destroy Narcissa’s wedding

11. Wrapped in Love by @mugsdontlie [M, Minerva/Pomona]

It’s a cosy late afternoon and Minerva helps Pomona take care of their plants in the greenhouse.

12. toss me, turn me by nocturn [T, Millicent/Pansy]

Waking is always the worst.

13. Never Again by @fiestylilmetalbendingqueen [M, Narcissa/Lily]

Narcissa's holding out hope for a hopeless situation.

14. Trophy by @byrainchance [M, Katie/Angelina]

Katie and Angelina share a post-game celebration.

15. Divination by @leftsidedown [G, Bellatrix/Sybil]

Bellatrix is pregnant, and that means cravings. Good thing her wife's psychic?

16. Interchange by @padaminpadam [T, Fleur/Angelina]

Fleur’s dress was the colour of a ghost, like a hunter wearing the skin of her prey.

17. Work can wait, my love by @cottagewhore [G, Hermione/Narcissa]

Hermione gets sick, luckily Narcissa is there to take care of her

18. Sweat it Out by strawhouses [M, Pansy/Ginny]

Pansy’s a hell of a Keeper, actually; it’s just that Ginny is in a constant state of wanting to mess her up.

19. Words Are All We'll Have by @rhiaflamesong [M, Lavender/Millicent]

Her boldness to act on her feelings was too little, came too late.

20. Beyond The Veil by @miss-grimwood [T, Bellatrix/Lily]

Bellatrix never meant for them to hurt Lily, she just wanted her all for herself.

21. Daffodils Swaying With Pansies by @hadesvampire [T, Narcissa/Pansy]

Narcissa has watched Pansy matured, always spending some time during summer breaks at Malfoy Manor. But she was never caught watching Pansy until this moment.

22. A Most Suitable Suitor by mouldy_voldy [G, Astoria/Pansy]

Astoria has brought home a prospective suitor from a respectable family. Mrs Greengrass has thoughts.

23. Going Beyond by @bleepbloopbotz [T, Hermione/Bellatrix]

Using a time-turner, Bellatrix arrives in the future of Hogwarts and meets a remarkable witch.

24. desperately mine by @fantasyborn [M, Astoria/Daphne]

Her sister may be set to marry Draco Malfoy but Astoria will always belong to Daphne.

25. Whispered Secrets by @digthewriter [T, Tonks/Ginny]

Whispered secrets turn to forbidden love. She holds your hand and you don't want to let go.

26. Flawless by @schmem14 [T, Hermione/Marietta]

Hermione has to work with an old enemy. It doesn't help that she's attracted to the one person who could ruin her career forever.

27. skin so soft by @mrsprobie [G, Hermione/Pansy]

Hermione is on a work trip with Pansy and they have to share a hotel room. The problem? There's only one bed.

28. She Got There First by @sliebman10 [T, Alice/Narcissa]

When Narcissa finds out Voldemort's plans for Alice and Frank, she has to protect her former girlfriend from that fate.

29. comfort in the absence of light by @picklesonjupiter [M, Marlene/Dorcas, Narcissa/Lily]

An attempt at normalcy after the war.

30. the air and lingers (resilience) by @blue--dreaming [T, Astoria/Ginny]

Ginny is curious, and Astoria finds her confidence.

31. I Will Stay If You Dare by @hawksquill [M, Hermione/Tonks]

Sometimes Hermione's friends with benefits arrangement with Tonks feels like the only simple thing in her life. But that's about to change.

32. leaning over the edge by @iamsiriuslyriddikulus [E, Pansy/Ginny]

Back at Hogwarts months after the war, Ginny is haunted by memories and nightmares. Only Pansy can offer relief.

33. dinner on saturday by @silv3reyedstranger [T, Pansy/Ginny]

they've certainly come a long way from being enemies, and things are different now. maybe, just maybe, they're ready for the next step.

Read all double drabbles in the collection on AO3!

[teecupangel]

Ok hear me out: Desmond as one of Ezio’s bastard children. He gets captured or something by whoever and gets forced to use the apple (since Ezio could open the vault because dna or some shit I wasn’t paying attention and by extension Desmond would also be able to)- which leads to the Apple basically sending Desmond into 2012 where he grows up for a while?

So forget Desmond going to the past- let’s send him into the future and warp his entire perspective of time so he just comes back and has NO idea what year it is and doesn’t believe anybody when they tell him when it actually is

I mean, if you really wish to hammer in the angst, you can make Desmond’s time in the future at the start being hopeful, with people helping him because he looked lost. Getting him on his feet and helping him move forward in this strange new world. Desmond was pushed into the future young enough that he has no problem acclimating with everything that was happening with the stubbornness and curiosity of a child but old enough to remember the Borgias and how Cesare taunted him about his father who didn’t even know he existed and would never think to look for him.

Let’s say Desmond is around… 10 or 11 years old when he’s transported in the future. That would make him be born in 1490, during the time a 31st year old Ezio was looking for any clues that would lead him to the Apple. It is during this time that he shared a night with a woman who looked a lot like Cristina.

Too much like Cristina, some may say, to be a coincidence.

Ezio would say that he had too much to drink back then and he had, as shameful at it was, not remembering the night correctly.

We’ll keep it a mystery if her similarity to Cristina was simply a coincidence or if this was the Calculations at play… with something more. (To muddle the waters, you can have other people say that she didn’t look like Cristina at all, if anything, she looked like Sofia… maaaayybbe)

Anyway, the main point is that Desmond returns to the past (or his actual present) on 1503 when Ezio took the Apple from the Borgias.

And this is where the timey-wimey aspect of this entire thing changes…

So we can have:

Desmond’s time is accelerated and he’s been in the future for the past 10+ years. He was living and found small pockets of happiness in the future that he considered returning to the past as… a punishment.

Desmond’s time in the future advances the same time as the past so, to him, 3ish years have passed as well. This would make Desmond around 13~14 years old roughly.

Regardless, Ezio knows Desmond is his son because Leonardo remembers seeing him and hearing Cesare talk about him (this is also the main reason why Ezio was looking for Desmond the entire time he was in Rome as well).

And here’s the kicker:

Desmond isn’t the name given to him by his mother. Desmond Miles is the name he took when he was taken to the future.

And now we have the subplot of Ezio wondering if his son is meant to be the Desmond that Minerva spoke of in the vault. And if he is… did that mean Ezio had to help Desmond return to the future so he can save the world?

[vigilskeep]

Keir rescuing/meeting Nathaniel quest, how did that go? Also, Nathaniel participating in the final battle against Meredith gives me brainworms.

Nathaniel getting back to Vigils Keep all like: "Commander..!" and letting her know Anders is alive is sending me.

it went well! the quest felt like a breath of fresh air because it was just such a relief for keir to see anders happy in act 3, he didn’t care why. i mean, he cared a LITTLE why. keir isn’t characteristically jealous but at some point it’s like hello i’m right here you could just tell me to my face that this guy is your ex. (whether or not you actually ship nathaniel/anders is hilariously completely irrelevant to this situation, keir is thinking it either way)

the fact that nathaniel and zev can apparently both be at the final battle makes me lose my mind. i didn’t see them there—i THINK zev was there, i skimmed through a recording i took of some of the last straw and there’s definitely a dual wielding rogue stuck outside the gate who isn’t isabela but i never got close enough to really see—but like. that’s insane. so you’re just telling me straight up that minerva’s man and right hand man were there. CANONICALLY? i can’t even comprehend that. like, this is essentially tantamount to minerva being complicit. the two people the rebel-leaning mage collective supporter blood mage hero of ferelden trusts most in the world, and they just HAPPENED to be there at the gallows after the chantry explosion. okay cassandra you may have a point about that grey warden conspiracy like what on earth else am even i the player supposed to believe

[denydefeat]

LONG WISHLIST POST UNDER THE CUT. DM me if you're interested in starting any of these:

ALL POTC Characters: All curses at sea are broken with the destruction of Poseidon’s Trident, but there must always be someone to ferry the souls of those lost at sea to the afterlife, and with Will Turner escaping his fate on the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones is recalled from the dead, a new curse reclaiming him in order to fulfill this purpose. After escaping it with his death, peace in the afterlife, he’s more livid than he was before. At Will Turner, at Jack Sparrow, at Calypso, the world.

Azriel - finding his mate please & thank (i have no stake in the ship wars like I’m down for either of the popular theories or also someone new thanks) Stannis - taking King’s Landing at the battle of the Blackwater. :)! Daisy - meeting with other former members of the band (sans Billy obviously) after the break up of the band because she was friendly with them Karen - running into other members of the band (especially Graham) years later Baron - Escaping prison and going after the Strongholds for revenge and finding out his own son is friends with Will Frank - Exploring other relationships within members of the Victory Project, besides his one with Alice (which I love) or Shelley (ditto) Loki - Tricking Thanos and not actually dying at the beginning of Infinity War and surviving the Snap (or dying in the Snap and coming back for the final battle but I prefer the former because Thor needs a goddamn break) Carolyn - surviving on the dark planet, somehow, healing after the stab and eating the creatures, repairing a ship and getting the hell out of there, running into other characters from the initial mission, or Riddick himself Madge - ending up in 13, having spent more time with Katniss’ family and Gale during the QQ, though her parents did not make it out 12. Being there for Katniss when she can be during her time in 13. Clemensia - Post the snake bite and into University, while still healing and reeling from the side effects of the snakes’ venom

Morrigan / Eris - Honestly, their marriage going through. I’m curious what would have happened. I’m also very interested to explore theories of what we THINK happened because context clues give us enough to know that Eris isn’t the guilty party. Tywin - Knowing or realizing that Arya was not who she claimed and taking her back with him to King’s Landing, but keeping her out of sight until after the wedding. Lily - More in any au where she apparates away with Harry to a safe house (Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore, Minerva, Molly, anyone in the Order). Harry Osborn - ANYTHING IN ANY VERSE HE’S MY BOY (he’s been neglected on my solo muse) Loki - His trick with Thanos being another feint: he’s duplicated himself once more, and reveals himself to Thor just after Thanos disappears and the ship explodes, both are saved by the Guardians. ETC. Ben / Adrian - Am I the only person who genuinely thought they were the best ship? That they absolutely loved each other in the end, until Mercy passed? Anyways, Mercy lives. And so thus do Ben and Adrian. Together. I can also see them moving past it if the show was so focused on having Ben be a pick me for Amy. Matt the Radar Tech - Running into SW people for laughs, them thinking he’s Ben. He’s not. They just look alike. A lot. Lily Page - Meeting her father (I still HC that as being Zorro) or repairing her friendship/relationship with Emma. Katniss - Instead of her tracker being cut out, it’s Peeta’s that is, and he is saved by 13, and she is taken to the Capitol to be tortured for information and to try and turn the tides against the Rebels. Bonnie - Someone love her please and don’t DIE IN THE MEANTIME. I’m a big fan of well done Bamon, Bonkai, Benzo, Bonora….But also could be convinced of anything. Rosalie - An idea being what if she was already married to Royce when he and his friends did what they did? The revenge plot takes an entirely different meaning when it’s a husband, particularly if she’s already been hoping for a child, which is further dashed by her survival and change into a vampire.

Nesta - accepting eris’ offer :)! Robb - making it to king’s landing and winning the war, liberating the North, and getting Sansa back to safety, then having to head out and find Arya. Violet - anything in her marvel or ouat verses tbh I spent a lot of time on those Shelley - taking over the Victory Project after killing Frank. Max - coming back after that summer for the start of college, much to everyone’s surprise and keeping his escapades close to the chest (idk the timeline of that show it was a fucking mess lmao) Mark, Lawrence - I want to write more about their dynamics with each other as apprentices to John. We only briefly get Mark and Amanda interacting - gimme more. Bruce - let’s throw out the entire mcu because it’s fucking trash for him thanks. Brunnhilde - More of her relationship with Carol :( Kamala - Building of the young avengers lets GOOO Loki - anything :( Sid - I am fuLLY CONVINCED SID IS THE FATHER AND JESSE IS A RED HERRING (I already have this going I just wish more people cared about HIMYF) Brian - Going to NY and seeing Justin again. :)! Snow White - anything :( Charming - I have about 90420934902 aus for him honestly. I have so many ideas for this stupid idiot. Neal - surviVING AND COPARENTING WITH EMMA AND REGINA SHIPS DON’T FUCKING MEAN YOU HAVE TO KILL A GOOD CHARACTER WHO LITERALLY WAS THE REASON RUMPLESTILTSKIN MANIPULATED REGINA INTO CASTING THE FUCKING CURSE MY GOD THIS SHOW PISSES ME OFF anyways Davy Jones - returning after the ‘curse’ is lifted from Will Turner, because someone must always be there to ferry the souls to the other side Ben Solo - ANYTHING :( Jyn - her and Cassian getting evacuated just before the explosion and surviving, assisting the Rebellion. Finn - training as a jedi (either trilogy re-write or post trilogy) Jar Jar - i s2g if someone doesn’t write with Sith Jar Jar… Anakin and Padme - either an au where she convinces him to run away with her and leave everything behind and raise their children on Naboo before Obi Wan shows up and he believes her when she says she didn’t know he was there and they enlist his help in staging their deaths OR an au where he convinces her to join him on his path to the dark side. (i write both so I’ll write either) Carolyn - escaping the dark planet after surviving the stabbing, living off of the creatures that would be her demise, fixing a ship in the darkness, built by lights she manages to fix throughout the rubble, and fires made along the way. finding other riddick characters / riddick himself Coriolanus Snow - Exploring more of his additions to the games and how he helped to curate them to be the spectacle they became. Annie - Not having anyone to volunteer for her so having to go through the Quarter Quell with Finnick (Hi I love PAIN). Not escaping the Arena and being taken back to the Capitol. Madge - Watching the Games with Katniss’ family and thus being there when the blackouts happen and escaping District 12 with Gale and everyone else to District 13. Kili - surviving PLS Renesmee Carlie - more of her dynamic growing up in a town that’s definitely got an attraction for the supernatural. Bella - not taking Edward back immediately, actually being pissed that he lied like what a dick Sam - imprinting on LEAH jfC WHAT A WASTE (or better yet, Leah being the first wolf to change and imprinting on HIM thanks) Garrett - torn between natural instincts, love for Kate, and never letting himself be tested by a challenge, learning how to survive and satiate on animal blood vs. human blood

Wishlist based solely on songs from TTPD. Please do not steal. Message me if interested. These are VAGUE IDEAS based on the song lyrics, not based on the history behind the songs or their literal meanings. Muses listed are just ideas, but they’re all open to all muses. Mentions of drug use, alcohol abuse, mental illness, abuse, etc. are involved in many so if those trigger you, I would not read more. This is part 1. I will put more at a later date:

Fortnight: A manic episode turned into full psychosis, muse A ends up in a psych ward. Muse B (either another patient or the treating doctor) and Muse A fall for each other, creating a scenario either in the minds or in the midst of Muse A being released. I love you, it’s ruining my life.

The Tortured Poets Department: Muse A and Muse B are in a situationship, but Muse A wants more, while Muse B is happy with their situation, considering the benefit of their freedom to explore other options, while both muses are using the relationship to advance their own perspective lives (either in writing, music, etc.). Muse A is desperate to keep Muse B, but Muse B is not committed. Who’s gonna hold you like me? Nobody. Nofuckingbody.

My boy only breaks his favorite toys: Muse A falls in love with Muse B, and is madly in love, until time has wasted away their relationship, and Muse A realizes they are not in love, but they also don’t want to be the one to end things. Endlessly breaking them down, emotionally, until Muse B ends it themselves. There was a litany of reasons why we could’ve played for keeps this time. — cause you should’ve seen him when he first saw me.

Down Bad: Falling for someone quickly and suddenly only to have them ghost, disappear, almost like they weren’t really there in the first place.

So Long, London: Muse A uproots their entire life to be with Muse B, moving far away from their home, friends, family, and essentially pours everything into the relationship. It’s great, for a while, and Muse A even falls in love with the place they live, but the messy breakup does cause it to be hard to leave. Eventually, Muse A does leave when the relationship shows no future, but moving on is harder than expected. And I’m just getting color back into my face. And I’m just mad as hell ‘cause I loved this place.

But Daddy I love Him: Muse A and Muse B are in a controversial relationship. Muse A is constantly warned by family and friends that Muse B is bad news. Everyone is constantly trying to get Muse A to leave Muse B, but they are far too deep into it now. I’ll tell you something right now, I’d rather burn my whole life down, then listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning. I’ll tell you something about my good name, it’s mine alone to disgrace.

Fresh out the Slammer: Muse A has been in a long time relationship, but it’s ending quickly, and tumultuously, and as soon it’s over, they call Muse B, their ex (either relationship or situationship or hookup), because they want someone familiar, who they know they can love and who loves them in return. Fresh out the slammer I know who my first call will be to.

Florida!!!!: Muse A has had a messy breakup, and wants to escape. Muse B lives in a far off place, and invites Muse A to escape there, where they can be fun, and messy, and forget the past. Bury their ex’s in the swamp (figuratively) and move on. So I did my best to lay to rest all of the bodies that have ever been on my body.

Guilty as Sin?: Muse A and Muse B are dancing around each other, for several reasons. Fantasies aside, what is stopping them from taking the next step? What if he’s written 'Mine’ on my upper thigh only in my mind?

Guilty as sin Elriel plots when? OR Feysand? Fresh out the Slammer Neris plots when? Who’s afraid of little old me Nesta embracing Lady Death plots when? So long london Feyre about the Spring Court plots when? The Albatross being Nesta plots when? I hate it here Nesta plots when? The Prophecy Lucien plots when?

[charmfamily]

(SEMI) CHARMED KIND OF LIFE: EPISODE 2, PART XXIV. “THE HARDEST PART IS SAYING SORRY (WITH YOUR DIGNITY INTACT)”

Transcript Below.

KYLE: There’s no hard feelings about all the shit talking by the way, we just do this to blow off steam and besides, I can respect the fact that you may be a fuckin’ moron, but at least you’re not a pussy. It was fun, with some training you might actually be really good, I’ll talk to Marcus about it at some point if you want. 

DAMIEN: [He groans a little and shakes his head, the idea of mixing alcohol with an already splitting headache not appealing in the slightest.] Even if the bar was an option, I’d have to rain check on the afterparty but I appreciate the gesture, man. I’ve got a second half of this stupid plan to implement, and it probably needs to happen before I pass out again –

AKIRA: About that– [frowning as he reaches the top of the stairs, he purses his lips uncomfortably.] I got Em on the phone finally, but uh, turns out I was way off base because there wasn’t much sympathy to be had – all she said was “take him to the Healers in the Vale.” She’s packing for some kind of trip, and no, I didn’t get, like, the specifics of what’s going on there  but…yeah, long story short, you’re on your own and SOL. Sorry, dude… I mean, we can still go over there if you want, but I don’t think it’s gonna do much.

DAMIEN: YOU’RE GONNA STAND THERE AND TELL ME THAT I GOT MY ASS KICKED FOR NOTHING?! MOTHERFU– [Attempting to stand up and haul himself to his feet a little too quickly, Damien sways unsteadily, the world tilting and spinning again as he clamors to hang onto the rope for balance, Kyle reaching out to grab his ankle and Johnny standing up to steady him a little bit easier.] [Lou bursts into a nerve-splitting hyena-like cackle.] I can’t go to The Vale, my mom works there and the second she hears “Damien got knocked the fuck out in a boxing ring, he has a concussion” – Nah, that’s the only thing that would make this shit worse and these guys are alright, there’s no way I’m unleashing Hurricane Minerva on ‘em. JOHNNY: You can’t Transportalate anyway even if you wanted to, that’d really fuck you up – have Kibo go stealth mode and grab whatever shit you need out of The Porph and you guys can crash at ours while you wait for it to work. We just live right over there, across the street– you can make it that far. I think.