#Moon Knight is in this issue I swear

[age-of-moonknight]

“Systemic Approach (Conclusion),” Avengers Unlimited (Vol. 1/2022), Infinity Comic, #65.

Writer: Mat Groom; Penciler and Inker: Caio Majado; Colorist: Pete Pantazis; Letterer: Joe Sabino

[lionofstone]

thinking about diatrice alraune again (thanks, @xenonmoon for your mk blogging!) and how much her existence frustrates me. that run has a multitude of flaws but the one that always gets me grinding my teeth is how little of diatrice's existence makes sense. i can understand marlene hooking up with jake (even if i do think it's slightly ooc because marlene always seemed to like jake the least—i do like that jake likes and cares for her, and later runs do somewhat interesting things with it) but i HATE that they act as though jake isn't her father?? jake is the only one, at this point, who has any kind of relationship with marlene. he's the one who slept with her, he's the one who goes to visit her, and yet diatrice knows him as uncle jake?? literally WHY. why did they tell her that marc is her father??? why does marc immediately accept this???? i think it's such a disservice to all the characters involved. marc is made to feel like an absent father, jake isn't even allowed to refer to his daughter as such, marlene continues to be so incredibly blasé about the system and her treatment of them, and diatrice is given a really incomplete impression of her family dynamic. (also what about steven?? does steven even play in at all? i don't remember. but like, in the og comics, steven was the one who marlene liked best/was dating, even if they retconned that sometime in the 90s. shouldn't he also care about this child he knew nothing about???)

[idkimjusthereforfuns-blog]

I had to atleast do something with my collection of images

cmon I just find him gorgeous

[hello-kuni]

𝐵𝐸 𝑀𝑌 𝑂𝑁𝐶𝐸 𝐼𝑁 𝐴 𝐿𝐼𝐹𝐸𝑇𝐼𝑀𝐸 - diluc ragnvindr

body worship : masterlist

syn : after many set backs on your journey, you had no choice but to stay the night at a small inn. that cramped space did no favors for years of infatuation. how long can he last before he shows you his long kept secret?

length : 3.1k

warnings : 18+ minors do not interact, princess!reader, knight!diluc, some angst (i'm so sorry it wrote itself i swear), virgin reader (and virgin diluc but he won't tell you that until years later), body worship but it's kinda subtle? unintentionally, pussy eating, raw sex, breast play, one minor instance of power imbalance

notes : this turned out kinda soft instead of kinky, but that's okay but it'll get worse this month

as the moon rose higher and the sun sank lower, diluc made the decision to stop at the nearest inn. if it had just been him it wouldn’t have been an issue to press on the rest of the way. but with you in his care, he couldn’t bear to risk your safety. 

however, so far from the capital, the cities grew further and further apart. a suitable inn would be like finding an oasis in a desert. and he was right. the inn was tiny enough to barely qualify. it would have to make do. you didn’t much mind it, though. not when you were finally outside the stuffy palace walls. not when you got to be alone with diluc.

the two of you grew up together. always at each other's side. but lately, it felt like you saw less of him with each passing day. he was supposed to be your personal guard but there was always someone new each week. part of you felt that he was avoiding you. every time that thought crossed your mind it rose such hideous emotions you fought hard to keep at bay. when it was announced you were to pay a visit to a duke in the north on official business, you jumped at the opportunity to appoint him as the head of your detail. 

diluc did not oppose, but he also said nothing. 

outside the inn, diluc ordered the other guards to stay outside, where they would camp for the night. the innkeeper apologized profusely about the lack of space and made up for it with a hefty amount of food. despite your protests. it wasn’t his fault such a large party ended up there. 

with your one suitcase in hand, you headed into the small room with diluc in tow. he was grumbling about something you chose not to hear. 

“it’s cute,” you said of the room as you set the suitcase on the floor. 

“it’s small,” he remarked, though not with derision. 

“well, we can’t expect much so far between cities.” you turned around and sighed. he’d already disappeared into the bathroom. the sound of running water met your ears. when he emerged a few minutes later, you asked, “is something bothering you? you’ve been short with me all day.”

“it’s been a long day, your highness,” he sighed. he never addressed you like that. you knew not to press an issue when he got like that, so you let it go. “you should bathe now before the water goes cold.”

that final statement left you no room to argue. funny how a knight could make you feel so small. with a huff, you grabbed your clothes and went into the bathroom. it was the least relaxing bath you’d ever had. this trip up north was supposed to mend the broken bridge between the two of you. but he just kept widening the distance. 

you tried--and failed--to scrub away the frustration. for years something bloomed in your chest every time you looked at him. when you caught a glimpse of his smile, the concentrated look when he was on the training grounds, or the softness of his features as he napped in the garden when only you were around. he was stern and often cold to others, even when he acted in good faith. but he was vulnerable when it was just the two of you. as were you. how many nights had either of you spent consoling the other? how many traded tears did you keep bottled in your hearts? 

despite your title, you dared to dream of a life where you got to be with him. happily. forever. 

with a heavy heart, you dragged yourself out of the shallow tub. with the hem of the silk nightgown brushing your calves, you walked back into the room only to find diluc sitting against the wall opposite the bed. he cracked his eyes open only wide enough to peer at you before closing them again. 

nothing was said as you climbed into bed. you stared at the dark ceiling, unable to fall asleep. 

“you don’t really plan to sleep down there, do you?” you asked. “there’s plenty of room on the bed.” 

that wasn’t true. the bed would barely be able to fit him and you side by side. but you couldn’t bear the suffocating weight that hung in the air. 

“it would be inappropriate if i did, your highness.” 

there it was again: that formal title. you sat up. before you knew what you were doing, you crawled to the end of the bed. all the bottled up the emotions poured out. you bit your bottom lip to keep the welling tears from falling over. your voice sounded strained as you spoke. “what did i do to drive you away?”

diluc’s head snapped forward. even in the dark, his red hair still glowed like a beacon leading you home. feeling like this, lost and confused, all you wanted was his warm embrace. the same as all those other nights. the idea of never having that again filled you with such sorrow. 

“what are you talking about?”

a sob broke free. “you used to always be at my side, but now i’m always lonely. for you to put such a distance between us, i must have done something. tell me what it is. i’ll fix it.”

you had crawled off the bed and towards him. it took everything in you not to reach out to him. 

he took a slow, shaky breath. he took your hands in his, the grip loose but steady unlike his voice as he spoke. “i knew that if i didn’t distance myself from you, i wouldn’t be able to keep my feelings at bay.”

“your feelings?”

“i love you in a way i’m not allowed to.”

“diluc, i--”

“don’t,” he cut you off, turning his face away. “you don’t understand how i feel about you, or for how long. if i told you all the things i want to do to you, you would have me thrown in the dungeons. please, princess, just let me be.”

he let go of your hands, simultaneously pushing you away. 

you couldn’t let this be the end. not when he was so close. finally so close after so long. you leaned forward, planting your hands on either side of his face and forcing him to look at you. pain twisted his features. longing filled his eyes. and something much more intense lay beneath it all. there were no words you could find to perfectly express yourself, so you settled for gently pressing your lips against his own. 

diluc stiffened under your touch. but he didn’t pull away. he couldn’t bring himself to do so. the kiss he’d always dreamed of finally happened, and he could do nothing about it. only knowing that he wanted more. 

as the initial shock wore off, diluc’s body relaxed and he pulled you in for another kiss. this time laced with years worth of desire. he pushed you back, lip-locked, and you had barely the mind to put your hands back and catch yourself. 

when he finally pulled away, air rushed back into your lungs. he huffed as he searched your eyes for any hint of unsurety. you were more sure of this moment than you’d ever been of anything in your life before. 

he froze above you. something like regret or terror flashed in his eyes. once more, he pulled away, backing against the wall. 

“if i order you to, will that change anything?” you asked.

“you know well that i can’t go against your word, and i know well you would never use your power like that.”

he was right. you sat on your knees, tired of this hot-and-cold game. “anything,” you said. hoping against all odds that this would be a better approach. he needn’t hold back anymore. “you can do anything. i want it. more than you can possibly know.” 

he shook his head, wisps of red hair dancing over his cheeks. “i’ve already done more than i should. i’m satisfied.” 

“i’m not.” the words came out a half shout. “how could one kiss ever be enough? i want a lifetime.”

“and i want to give you a lifetime,” he bit out. his eyes were fiery as he met your gaze in the dark. “but we both know i can’t give you that.”

“then give it to me now, if only for one night.” one night would never be enough, but it would be better than regretting having had nothing. you could see in his eyes he thought the same. 

“there’s no undoing it,” he said. 

“i don’t want it to be undone. not with you. never with you.”

a thin stream of moonlight filtered into the room, highlighting the bob of his throat as he swallowed hard. he stood and pulled you up with him. his body firm against yours. the rapid beat of his heart a twin to yours. what was about to happen could not be undone. if anyone found out, you would be ruined. he would lose his position and his family’s favor of the royal family for laying such hands on the kingdom’s beloved princess. why did something so pure have to feel so selfish? if only you’d been born in a lower station or he in a higher station. then perhaps this love wouldn’t be so complicated. so hidden and buried. 

his fingertips ghosted down your jaw, lightly gripping your chin. he stared at your lips. you waited with bated breath. finally, he leaned down and caught your lips in a gentle kiss. if he was going to do this, he wouldn’t rush it. he’d take all night if he had to. and cherish every second while he could. 

one step and then another. he walked you back towards the bed all while keeping your lips connected. he guided you carefully onto the bed, taking a brief moment to catch your breath. light kisses trailed up your jaw and back down. kisses landed anywhere he could touch. he met your gaze, steady and alight with a mix of emotions. 

“i want to show you the depths of my love. i want you to feel every bit of how much i adore you.” 

his words met you squarely. this one and only chance and he wanted to make the most of it. just as you did. it would be a waste of a night to not. he trailed his lips down the contours of your body, over the silk nightgown hugging every curve. he stopped where the hem met your calves. warm breath taunted burning skin. never had you wanted anything more than to feel his lips on your leg, to feel them make their way higher and higher. 

his teeth dug into the plump flesh of your thigh. not hard enough to break skin, but enough to elicit a hiss of breath followed by a shaky moan. your heart raced the closer he got to your aching pussy. 

propped against the pillows and your nightgown bunched around your waist, you had a clear view of diluc as his lips met yours. the first lick of his tongue had your head pressing deeply into the pillow. it was a foreign feeling. one that possibly only he could elicit. the only one you wanted to make you feel this way. 

he brought his hands up under your ass, pulling you against his mouth. he moaned into you. the feeling, the taste, the reality. all of it melted together on his tongue. 

“so good, princess,” he murmured. “so good.”

the bed rocked subtly as he ground his hips against the mattress. any friction was good enough, just to sate him a while longer. 

your toes curled. thighs clenching tighter with each swipe and swirl of his tongue. but the worst—or best—part was each gentle suck of your clit. every earlier worry washed away, forgotten in the depths of your mind. the only thing you could focus on was his touch. each point you bodies connected, however lightly, set your skin aflame. blissfully so. 

he was unhurried. taking his time as he drew you ever nearer to the peak of pleasure. his nose pressing into you clit as his tongue prodding at your sopping hole. your back arched off the bed, hands fisting the sheets. you fought hard to keep the noises budding in your throat from spilling out, lest the other knights outside begin to make assumptions. but it was a futile effort. 

his name fell from your mouth amid a moan as your legs trembled with the sheer force of your orgasm. he never stopped, never slowed. he didn’t seem to care how tightly your legs closed around his head, or how harshly your hands pulled on his hair—where they had subconsciously found their way. 

none of that mattered to him. not now. not ever. 

it took a long moment for you to come back down. chest heaving and legs twitching. only then did he part from you. he looked up at you from his place between your legs. 

“i wish you could see how beautiful you look right now,” he said, lips glistening with the evidence of your orgasm.

the thought was far too embarrassing. being so exposed in front of someone was already an ordeal of its own, to think about how you looked to him was unfathomable. 

he tore you from your thoughts as he littered kisses across your belly, working his way up to your breasts, still hidden beneath silk. his lips lingered just below your collarbone as he tugged your nightgown down, enough to free your breasts. 

his lips wrapped around a nipple, sucking gently. one hand came up to play with other, carefully rolling and pinching it between his thumb and forefinger. he’d be lying if he said in the years of late he hadn’t thought about this. quietly undressing you in his mind, imagining the way your breasts would look in his hands. it still seemed so unreal to him. that he was here. with you under him. time your greatest enemy. and your dear friend. 

you told him he could do anything he wanted and you meant it. but he was the epitome of chivalry. never would he treat you in a way unbecoming of a princess. his touch was delicate. carefully unwrapping you with the utmost care. you could tell he was holding back, however, no amount of reassurance would make him act his deepest desires. 

perhaps what that was what attracted you to him. 

his devotion to his code as a knight. beyond ensuring your safety from those who may wish to do you harm. 

despite loving the feeling of his mouth on your nipple, you pulled him away. you wanted his lips on yours. you didn’t want to wait any longer, not with the night slipping away. you wanted to feel him. all of him. 

he seemed to understand through the touch of your lips alone. his forehead dropped against your own. “are you ready?” he whispered, breath tickling your nose. 

propped on his elbows above you, his hair created a red curtain around you. encapsulating you in a world only you two belonged. where this night would never end and loving each other wouldn’t have to be a shameful secret. 

you wanted to stay there forever.

“yes,” you said with what may have been too enthusiastic of a nod. your hands rested on the nape of his neck, threading through the hair there. his eyes searched yours for any hint of doubt. but your gaze was steady, unwavering. 

diluc reached between your bodies to align the tip of his cock with your awaiting entrance. he sank into you slowly with a single push until his hips were flush with yours. 

you winced at the stretch, nails digging into the backs of his shoulders. the pain didn’t faze him. you could draw blood and he wouldn’t bat an eye. 

he kissed your cheek. “if it’s too much, we can stop.”

“no, no.” you took a deep breath and pushed your hips up. “keep going.” 

he hesitated, not wanting to put your through something uncomfortable. he’d spent his whole life ensuring you were never hurt, and now he was the one causing you pain. but he trusted you. so he continued. 

the first roll of his hips was short. no more than a test. the next one was longer, slower. the knot between your brows loosened with each tender thrust. your legs wrapped around his waist, nails dragging down his back. 

his head fell into the crook of your neck, lips attaching to your skin. you’d heard about this feeling in conversation with other court ladies, some disagreeing with other, but you never knew how wonderful it would feel. or if it ever would again. 

each long drag of his cock against your sensitive walls plucked a moan from you. the initial pain gave way to pleasure you had only ever felt in dreams that had you blushing for a whole day. you’d blush every day for months after this. 

your nails decorated his back. 

he spoke your name into your shoulder. not “princess” as he had always called you, but your name. you held him tighter, your pussy tightening around him with that one word. 

“i’m gonna—” you were cut off by a sudden moan at the feeling of his tip hitting a spot you didn’t know could elicit such a feeling. 

“just a little longer,” he said. his thrusts had grown erratic, nearing then end you were already at. little moans spilled from your lips as you came around him, back arching and breasts pressing against his chest. 

he bit down on your shoulder to keep himself quiet as he came inside you. he gave a few slow, shallow rolls of his hips. your chest heaved with the effort to catch your breath. 

diluc rolled over with you in his arms, not yet pulling out. if only to relish in the feeling of being in you. he stared at the ceiling and traced light shapes on your back. your head lay on his chest, his rapid heartbeat echoing in your ear. 

“tell me it doesn’t have to end,” he said. 

you propped yourself up on his chest, looking at him intently. “i’m not giving up on you, diluc. whatever doubts or reservations you may have for the future, i won’t give up.”

after tonight, how could you ever fathom spending your life with another man? he was the only one you dreamed of a lifetime with. and you would have that. 

[rosellacwrites]

oh, my dreams

(part 1: it’s never quite as it seems)

summary: Your name’s put you in some strange situations before, but this one might win the prize.

pairings: Steven Grant x fem-presenting!Reader**

rating: general audiences

warnings: strangers to…?, administrative fuckups, descriptions of anxiety/anxiety attacks. **I wrote this with a masculine-named AFAB reader in mind, for reasons I’ll explain below, but it could also be read as a transfem reader being deadnamed, so please read with caution if that’s a sensitive issue for you.

word count: 2650

author’s note: Written for the Moon Knight Spring Bingo @moonknight-events — this is entry #5 for “One Bed.” And thanks to @silvernight-m for the encouragement to finish this. 😘

Happy reading! ❤️

dividers by @firefly-graphics

You tap your keycard against the lock, half your mind on the lecture you’d just attended and the other half laser-focused on turning your brain off and some trash TV on. It’s the best way you’ve found to decompress, after a day of the sheer chaotic overwhelm that is more usually known as the academic conference.

Opening the door, you vaguely register someone else’s presence; it’s always irritating, the university’s insistence on saving money by forcing the grad students to share hotel rooms, but there’s nothing to be done for it. Dues must be paid, and someday, you’ll have tenure and you’ll never have to share a room again. But when you emerge from that pleasant daydream, you realize that something’s gone very wrong.

There’s a man in your room, lounging on the bed, tilting his head at you. “Hello,” he says, rather tentatively. “I — I think you might have got the wrong room.”

“Oh God — “ You fumble for the tiny envelope your keycard had come in, and can’t find it. “I’m so sorry — you must be right, let me just… but I swear it said 303, it’s got to be here somewhere…” After what feels like a year, you manage to unearth it, and it’s right there in black and white. You glance back to the still-open door, and those numbers haven’t changed either. Belatedly, it dawns on you: it’s happened again.

“Oh, shit,” you wail, dropping your bag on the floor. “Shit shit shit.”

“Are you all right?” He gets up and pads over to you, peering curiously at your stricken face. He’s British, clearly, from the accent; tousle-haired and dark-eyed and cute in the gentle, nerdy sort of way you like. Far too cute to be tainted by the swirling vortex of bullshit that always seems to follow you around.

“Fuck.” You scrub at your forehead, trying to ease the sudden headache that’s developed, and laugh bitterly. “It’s not personal, I promise — I don’t even know you…”

“Well, I’m Steven. With a V. Steven Grant.” He smiles at you, radiating a careful sort of friendliness, as though you’re a stray dog of uncertain temperament. “So now you know me a little bit, yeah? D’you want to come in and see if we can sort this out?”

You’re too flustered to object, and you step into the room and flop down into the desk chair, because your legs don’t seem to want to hold you up anymore. “Okay. It’s okay,” you repeat softly, trying to calm yourself. “He seems nice. He’s probably not a serial killer...”

“I’m definitely not a serial killer, if that helps.” His eyes are kind, concerned, and you feel oddly safe with him, despite your embarrassment at realizing you’d just said that out loud. “I’m just Steven, perpetually exhausted student. So what’s happened here? Is it something I can help with?”

“It’s my stupid name,” you growl. It happens all the time, no matter what you do to prevent it, and every time it does, it feels like sandpaper on your skin. You’ve put your pronouns in your email signature, you’ve written Ms. before your name, and none of it ever matters because people don’t fucking read. “They see it on the registration forms and just assume I’m a guy, and then something like this always goes wrong.”

“They did tell me I’d have a roommate,” he thinks out loud. “I saw your name on the list and I thought you were this bloke I know from my college, so I didn’t think anything of it…” He takes a seat on the edge of the bed, facing you, and that’s when it hits you.

The bed.

The single, solitary, admittedly large and very comfortable looking, but still only, bed.

“There’s only one bed,” you sigh. “Of fucking course there’s only one bed.” Tipping your head back, you study the ceiling as though it has an answer for you.

“Well, that’s it then,” Steven says. “We’ll have to talk to the organizers — I’m absolutely sure it wouldn’t be a problem for them to move one of us to another room. I’ll go with you and talk with them, if you like.”

“I can’t,” you interrupt. You feel it rising, that itchy, frantic, skin-too-tight feeling, the certain knowledge that when one more thing goes wrong you won’t be able to hold the screaming in. You’re frantically trying to gather up the cracking pieces of your carefully constructed shell, and the tigers in the tall grass will be upon you before you know it. “I can’t, because then I have to admit they’ve put me in the wrong room, and they’ll have to shuffle everyone around and it’ll make a big fuss and I’ll have Pain In The Ass stamped on my forehead when I go to network and I’ll never find a PhD advisor and — “

I don’t need you anymore, you’ve tried to tell it so many times. There aren’t any tigers here — you don’t need to protect me like this. But it doesn’t work that way, and you know it. It’s a bit like a wild animal itself, the anxiety, the way you’ve tried your best to tame it with meds and therapy and other, less doctor-sanctioned remedies, and sometimes it feels like you’re finally learning how to be friends.

And then it turns on you again, vicious claws and teeth sinking deep, and you remember you haven’t learned anything at all.

“I just can’t,” you whisper.

Steven’s hand lands on your shoulder, and you flinch; you hadn’t noticed him getting up to approach you again. “Breathe, love,” he says gently. “Just — take a minute, yeah?” You try, but your brain and heart and lungs don’t want to get with the program, and he sees the panic in every line of you. He half-sits down on the table, never taking his hand off your shoulder, and the other hand finds yours and curls around it comfortingly. “The only good thing about having anxiety attacks,” he says quietly, “is that you know what to do when someone else is having one.”

He breathes, deep and slow, leading by example, and gradually your heart settles into a slower rhythm as though his own is pacing it. His hands are big, and warm, and they ground you, bringing you back to yourself. Tigers in the area, the anxiety whispers, fading, but not here, not right now.

“The way I see it, we’ve got two options,” he says softly, letting go of you and ticking them off on his fingers. “Option one, we go and talk to the organizers and let them sort things out.” You shake your head quickly; he must see the panic rising again, because he switches tracks immediately. “Option two, we, er — don’t do that, and just leave things as they are.”

Your eyes fly wide. You’d been half-ready to just leave, throw your opportunities away and run back to the airport with your tail between your legs, but... “You mean…”

“This isn’t some kind of a — a come-on, or anything!” he assures you quickly, brows furrowed. “I don’t want to be the conference creeper, you know? But it is rather late, and if you’re really sure you don’t want to talk to anyone about it, I don’t mind at all if you stay.”

“Even though there’s only one bed? Doesn’t that bother you?”

He shrugs. “It’s only two nights — I think we can manage to be grown-ups about it for that long, yeah?”

The faceless Many, the Here Be Dragons on the map, versus the gentle sweet-faced One, familiar only by a technicality: it’s an easy choice, after all. It’s probably not your smartest, and even as you make it, your rational brain is pressing you to reconsider. But the anxiety, for once, is silent.

“Okay,” you murmur. “Yeah. I’ll stay.”

*

You stay, and it’s — well, it’s nice. He’s nice.

He’s nothing but cheerful all evening, going out of his way to help you feel more comfortable with him and with this whole clusterfuck of a situation. And he’s funny, with a sassy wit that offers a glimpse of the brain below the messy curls. (You have a momentary thought of gratitude for the opportunity to see Steven Grant with bedhead tomorrow morning. It’s going to be epic.)

“I’m at Cambridge,” he tells you at one point. “About halfway through my PhD in Egyptology. On the linguistics end, mainly, not digging up tombs and things. But I have been on a dig or two.”

“Wow, Ancient Egypt. That’s like — the gateway drug. The thing that makes kids want to be archaeologists in the first place, and here you are doing it.” You smile at him, and he flushes.

“I suppose you’re right — always had a thing about it, as long as I can remember. Probably watched too many old movies as a kid.” He grins back at you, and it’s endearing as hell, warm and a little shy but somehow cheeky, too. “How about you? What’s your field?”

“I’m on the tech side. Mapping, satellite photography, ground-penetrating radar, all the fancy-ass things that tell you folks where to dig.”

“Oh, that’s fascinating!” he exclaims. “I could never — I’m hopeless with technology. Utter disaster.”

“Most of you are,” you retort before you can think better of it. “That’s why you have us.”

He laughs for the first time, and you immediately want to make him do it again. “That’s why we have you,” he acknowledges with a tilt of his head.

You’ve always been prone to crushes. They tend to creep up on you, more subtle than the anxiety, but no less consuming. The first tendrils always wind delicately around your ankles, and by the time you’ve registered their presence you’re already bound up to the knees. No no no no no, you tell yourself, you cannot do this right now. This is Not Allowed. This whole thing is more than weird enough already, without bringing his kindness and his intelligence and his big brown eyes into it.

Oh, no.

It’s already too late, isn’t it? the anxiety taunts.

Sure fuckin’ is, the crush responds.

You shove it down, ruthlessly, burying it as deep as you can. You keep it light, trading fieldwork tales, always the preferred currency at these things but more important than ever now. I’m for real, they say, trustworthy and honest and normal about things. I’m safe to talk to.

Steven ventures out for snacks to give you a chance to get ready for bed in privacy (god, how is he so nice), and when he comes back he nibbles on dark chocolate while he regales you with stories of Egypt. “Most people don’t know this,” he says, “but Cairo’s literally right up next to the pyramids. There’s a bloody Pizza Hut across the street.”

You stare, skeptical. “No. No way. That can’t be true.”

“Have a look at your maps,” he insists, pointing at you with the chocolate bar. “It’s absolutely true. Fastest way to spot the Egyptologist in the room is to show ‘em a movie where someone visits the pyramids and gets ‘lost in the desert.’”

You trade a few more stories, and then you can’t put it off any longer; your commitments tomorrow make a reasonable bedtime imperative. When there’s a lull in the conversation, you stand up and stretch. “I’m just gonna — “ you say awkwardly, gesturing toward the bathroom, and disappear to brush your teeth again (since he’d given you half the chocolate).

When you come out again, he’s rummaging for his own toothbrush, which means you have at least two minutes alone to decide how you want to navigate the inherent absurdity of getting into bed with a stranger. Don’t make it weird, the anxiety cautions. “By the way, do you have any, uh — bad habits I should know about?”

He looks up, startled. “Pardon?”

“I mean, like — do you hog the covers? Or snore?” You shrug as though it’s a perfectly normal question to ask someone you met a couple hours ago, and try to ignore the heat rising in your face.

“My, er, brothers — Marc and Jake — they say I talk in my sleep, sometimes. So I’m sorry in advance if I say anything bonkers.” Steven laughs and rubs the back of his neck. “Still don’t know if I really do, or if they’re just having me on.”

“If I hear anything, I’ll let you know,” I promise. “And if — if I can’t sleep, I’ll try not to keep you up.”

He smiles at that. “Likewise.”

And once he’s brushed his teeth, there’s really no putting it off any longer, and it doesn’t end up being as weird as you’d thought. Just two people climbing into opposite sides of a bed and settling down for the night, nothing weird about that at all. It feels rude to turn your back, somehow, so you curl on your side, facing him, and he clicks off the light and does the same.

You’ve tried to talk yourself out of it, but the apology spills out anyway. “I’m sorry — this is probably the last thing you needed tonight…” Your voice is small in the quiet room. “But — but thank you. For helping me.”

“No, no, it’s no trouble at all! This is good!” Steven protests. “I mean, not that you’ve got anxiety, but this — whole thing.” He waves his hand in a vague circle around the room. “It’s a good distraction. Means I’m not getting in my own head about my lecture tomorrow.”

Okay. That makes a certain amount of sense, and you begin to feel slightly better. “Do these conferences bother you too?”

He pauses for a moment. “Maybe… not quite in the same way as you? I don’t mind talking to people one-on-one and that, but presenting to a crowd always gives me a few fits, beforehand.”

“Do you — “ You swallow hard before continuing; it’s going to sound silly, maybe, but he’s looking at you so gently and like he understands, and you blurt it out. “Do you want to know a trick I have? It might help, if you want it…”

“Yeah?” He’s waiting as calmly as if you’re having this discussion over coffee, in broad daylight, not inches from each other in bed in a darkened hotel room, and it emboldens you.

“If I’m nervous about meeting someone, or — or giving a talk, or whatever, sometimes it helps me to, um — get there first.”

“Get there first,” he repeats, considering.

“Yeah. Get there first. Then it’s like — they’re coming into your territory, and you’re in charge.”

“That’s quite clever, actually.” He begins to smile, a broad grin creeping up like sunrise, and nods happily. “‘Get there first.’ I’ll remember that.”

A tiny glow of satisfaction burns in your chest, and you lie in silence together for a time. It’s a comfortable one, strangely intimate; you could talk, if you wanted, but for once you don’t feel like you need to. It’s enough just to be here, next to him, somehow knowing it’s enough for him, too.

It’s just — nice.

And then he stretches and turns, and for half a second your brain shorts out. “G’night,” he says, his voice already blurred with sleep. “Sweet dreams.” And he’s out like a light before you can even return the wish.

Even as your eyelids grow heavy, you’re convinced you’ll never sleep; how could you, when you’re literally in bed with a complete stranger, kind as he is? But the soft rise and fall of his breath is better than your white-noise machine, and the last thing you remember seeing before drifting off is his strong profile, silhouetted by the moonlight seeping through the space where the curtains don’t quite meet.

If you dream, you don’t remember it.

But it’s the first time you’ve ever been to one of these things and slept through the night.

part 2 coming soon…

@juneknight @spacecowboyhotch

author’s note, again: I got the idea for this fic from something that did, actually, happen to me as a teenager. Only in my case it was a summer music camp, not a conference, and my mother threw an unholy fit and made them change my room immediately.

(Sorry, Andrew. I guess we’ll never know what could have been.)

If your own name doesn’t match your gender presentation, for whatever reason, please know that I am fist-bumping you in solidarity and I love you.

[katyspersonal]

nobody:

Kood: Oh, so, you "like" Messmer? Say the exact amount of strength applied which it took him to impale every single Dancing Lion that he hunted. Name the day he finished reforging his spear for it to become throwable and how many times did he have to throw it. Say the exact timing, down to tens of second, which it took him to cu-

Queelign: I am literally lurking in the cemetery waiting for those graceless Hornsents to visit the graves of their killed ones to ambush and kill them too, Queen Marika would be so proud of me! :D

Wego: Man I wish I had friends, too bad I literally have no one, I am so lonely I'll have to resort to resurrecting dead people :( *spoken literally nearby fellow Knights, including his literal pupil*

Salza: Hey just because I take #1 place amongst everyone else in the Crusade in terms of how many villages and houses I've obliterated doesn't mean I am no longer an intellectual elite. I am the most civilised, cultured and intelligent person here.

Hilde: These idiots do not understand that even the Erdtree itself stand on cultural appropriation! How can we fight in the name of Marika and uh... I think that guy literally named Whore at some point, with that big lion...? if we ignore how much was stolen from the Storm Lord and Godskin Apostles? I swear I am the only one who truly gets it smh. Can't wait to get rid of all Hornsent already so we can use their knowledge to build our OWN Divine Spiral, it will be sick af 👀

Messmer: Hahah no one loves my mother as much as I do, I understand what is better for her Order more than she does herself *mood swing* I hate that bitch, why she never loved me?! *crashes a head off a statue of her* *mood swing* Oh god I am the worst being I am more of a curse upon her than any of these graceless barbarians were ever, disowning me was not enough, she should have killed me... *mood swing* I should have burnt her and her Erdtree instead while I had the chance to do so, only in death we could stand equal *mood swing* I love her so much I can at least find comfort in destroying everyone who doesn't fit her world, it is the least I can do to atone for being born graceless myself *mood swing*

Rellana: Pledge to the Golden Order was a weird era but now we are so back, Stars/Moon and Fire have always been together, since the times of Fire Giants and Astrologers! But to think of it, does the 'Fire' that swears to exterminate everything spurned of the grace of the Erdtree count, if it was Erdtree's enemy? Strange, how the very thing that existed as its enemy got tamed to serve it instead? Dammit, my flawless brilliant logic got a crack in it all because of Messmer's mommy issues!!! (still love him and will die for him tho 🥺💙)

Andreas: I can excuse fascism and genocide, but I draw the line at being a SNAKE!

Huw: <prev so real, had I known my bestie was a snake I'd definitely not go and have sooooo much fun hunting Divine Beasts. I am so deceived.

Edredd: To think of it, more soldiers got executed here for no longer wanting to do genocide than fell from the blades of Hornsents, but idk a job is a job 🤷‍♂️

Garrew: *has the most fucking questionable Crucible aspect ever seen except no one wants to actually question it*

[ataraxiaspainting]

Fly Me to the Moon.

Yan Jingliu x F Reader.

Synopsis: “You looked at me like I was made of stardust, and told me that even the moon above us could not compare to the brightness in my eyes.”

Warnings: Yandere themes, violence, and unhealthy relationships.

Word Count: 1k.

i’m so sorry if i’m wrong about xianzhou landscapes lol…

*~*~*~*

The Xianzhou Luofu’s eclipses are as rare as someone who can walk on water.

Moons come and go across the Flagships’ skies as they make their way throughout the galaxy, and so do the suns. They all change from pink to red to gray, and none of them stay for long. Unlike what the Abundance teaches its creations, life has its way of teaching that nothing lasts forever. Permanence is but a fantasy and only those who are blind fools seek out such a blasphemous dream.

But if it is a blind fool you must be to see her whole for the first time, you will gladly be one.

You met just a fragment of her oh so long ago, under the very covered sun that was oh so rare. You dared not to look away from her as she moved towards you like clockwork, her sword dragging across flowered ground. The moon was white, and so were the blossoms. So was her hair, which looked like a bundle of shooting stars. She didn’t smile, but she didn’t frown either. An expression as neutral as water.

She had a black blindfold over her eyes that had the sign of a crescent moon.

To you, she was brighter than the eclipse above.

You two moved together in a circle, a cautious waltz, but also an enticed one. Curiosity.

“You are a Cloud Knight, aren’t you?” She asked. The grip on her blade’s handle loosened just slightly. “I can tell by the spear you hold.”

You nodded, and a chuckle quieter than the gentlest wind escaped her lips.

You took a step backward as she took one forward. It was not out of fear but at the very least well-meant care—a dance crafted from years of training under daylight and starlight.

…

Now, hundreds of moons later, you take a step backward as she now takes three forward. Fear controls you like a puppet as you point your spear, which has by this point been remodeled and repaired from many battles with the Abominations of the Abundance. Daylight and starlight become one with the same snow-white eclipse in the sky.

She is smiling. Her sword no longer glides along sprouted soil, but a stone path painted with the blood of your fellow soldiers. Her blindfold is off, her eyes the very image of a hollow, depraved husk. Mara.

She does not chuckle when your hands shake, but rather she loudly laughs.

It is the farthest thing from gentle.

…

Jingliu has many presences, but none of them last for very long. Some stay for a week at most without issue, but those are rare and so far distanced from one another. She lets you leave, most days, to go buy tea from the market or to go sit down and feed the birds or to let you practice aiming your weapon at the training dummy she placed outside your living quarters. 

When she first brought you here, she told you that you are free to duel her whenever you wish. Win, she said, and you can leave whenever you wish too.

The only thing is you can never manage to even touch her.

The uncharted areas around the cottage she acquired for both of you are dark, and the only places where there is light are the ones that have straight and narrow paths, paths to the few places Jingliu allows you to go unsupervised. Or is the definition of unsupervised in Jingliu’s world is to have you watched from a few kilometers back?

You cannot tell. Nor do you want to know the answer, because you know the truth will stomp on your hope like it was a lowly insect.

You also don’t walk alone at night for reasons like those. You cannot see anything, only hear and think.

You cannot see Jingliu if she is watching you from behind.

Even though she swears on her honor that she does not follow you closely.

You can hear Jingliu’s breathing though, how desperate she can sound, or how calm she can sound. It all depends on what moon shines through the brightest.

…

Meals with Jingliu are always the same.

No matter what her mood is at that particular moment, she always stares at you from across the table.

Sometimes her hair is well-kept, on days when she is happier and more active in her self-care. Sometimes she bats her eyes at you. Sometimes she seems to stare past you, to the unlit fireplace or the vase of flowers near the entrance door. Her stares can turn into glares in an instant, or her glares can turn into loving gazes. You wish most days that she wouldn’t be so distant, but you don’t want her to be suffocating with her affection either.

You just want the best of both worlds. An eclipse.

“How is it?”

Your attention is abruptly captured. Her gaze appears slightly less serene yet intensifies, while yours remains filled with doubt. Your hand ceases the motion of guiding the fork towards your mouth, descending listlessly onto the table.

“Is something the matter, [First]?” Genuine confusion on both of your parts.

“...N-No.” As you lower your gaze and gently shut your eyelids, your whole body quivers uncontrollably, leaving you powerless over its movements. “It’s good.”

“Are you sure?” Your gaze evades her as if being controlled by a small prey animal’s instinct. Your heart races, as if on the verge of a sudden collapse. “You can tell me if something is wrong with the food.”

Your fingers interlock with such force that you fear they might leave imprints on your skin.

“No, no… it’s good, really.”

She tilts her head. “You aren’t eating, though.” You hear the sound of a chair being dragged, a sure sign that she is standing up. “You can be truthful with me, dearest. I won’t be upset.”

Gazing out the window, you offer no response. The sound of her sigh reaches your ears, yet your focus lies elsewhere. A single leaf gracefully twirls upon the surface of the nearby pond, without a care in the world. You hope it will not drown.

[cheolsfae]

hello can you do jake as a bf please?

Sure! Celtic cross for this one! Sorry for the swearing.

*Disclaimer: Solely for shits and giggles! Please do not take this seriously. For entertainment purposes only.*

Signs: Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio, Pisces, and Taurus

Current situation: knight of swords

It could start out very passionately. Just very fire-y. Full of new curiosity. That feeling of when you meet someone new and it's just all butterflies and rainbows. Just that whole excitement of meeting someone new. So much fun and just being in each other's company feels just amazing! That honey moon phase.

Challenge: wheel of fortune

He could just take things how they come in terms of progressing a relationship. He follows the lead the other person takes I feel. If they want to move quickly, he moves quickly too. They are a slow mover, he'll move at a snails pace too. Just kind of depends how the other person chooses to progress things.

Need to focus: 4 of swords (reversed)

I think by doing this and following his partner's pace tuckers him out. He isn't doin what he needs to. He isn't going the pace he wants to nor does the relationship go the way he wants it to. It's like once that initial honey moon phase wears off, he's bored of it and wants something new. It's no longer exciting and he needs to change how he handles this. Sometimes a relationship gets boring, do something to spice it up!

Leaving/ The past: the hanged man (reversed)

He wants to change this part of himself. He doesn't want to abandon a perfectly good relationship when it gets boring. I think he could be focusing on himself to try and fix this piece of himself. He really doesn't want to be that kind of person anymore. He could have been a bit of a player and now, he's just kind of done with it. It isn't helping him any.

Strengths: knight of cups

He's good about expressing how he feels in regards to his romantic feelings for another person. He's good at opening up enough to let them in a bit. He's smooth with his words when confessing to someone he's interested in. He may be very confident and have no issue just saying how he feels towards someone which is great, love to see it!

Near future: 3 of pentacles

He might be entertaining the idea of getting into some type of relationship. I don't think it would be anything serious, just kind of a see where it goes. I'm bored, you're bored, let's fuck around and find out. That thing. Just for the hell of it. At least, that's how it could start out, it could develop into something more serious than that later down the road.

Advice: 4 of cups (reversed)

He needs to drop this pessimistic attitude towards his love life. He could be holding on to a whole lot of regret. Just beating himself up for what he's done wrong in his relationships, he needs to let it go. What happened happened. Nothing he can do about it now, it's in the past. He can, however, change now. Change how he chooses to move forward in relationships. How he views them.

Environment: 8 of pentacles

Getting past this regret, could prove to be a bit difficult. He's very busy with work so that's taking up a majority of his time. He might even be working on himself a whole hell of a lot through work. Maybe even self medicating with it. Does that make sense? A workaholic type of thing.

Hopes and Fears: 7 of cups (reversed)

He doesn't want to be swept up in delusional thinking about the next person coming into his life romantically. He could just want something very direct. He doesn't want to keep living with rose colored glasses on at every person he meets. He needs to take them off and face the reality of this person not just the fun parts.

Potential outcome: 9 of pentacles

Again, just mainly focusing on himself and building himself in his career. He isn't really looking for anything at the moment. Just wants to fix his own issues and become as successful as he can be. Just worry about himself for the time being and I think he's right for doing so. You go Glenn Coco!

[trolagygirl2022]

Heyy

Can you di a reading on what each riize members think of the whole situation with the thousands of scandal about seunghan?

Do you think anyone wants him to leave?

Anton: The World rev, Knight of Pentacles rev, 8 of Wands rev, 10 of Swords, 4 of Wands, 5 of Wands, The Hierophant.

I really like reading him, he's very precise with his words and gives me a clear answer. So yeah he doesn't think positively of it at all. He thinks that his antics are gonna put everyone's hard work into waste as he's ruining the stability and harmony of the group. "It's going to bite him but by the time he finds out it will be too late". He thinks he is slowing down the group's success. He thinks Seunghan is very reckless and stupid and he worries if the group could recover from this. He may have tried putting some sense into him too. He thinks Seunghan should try being more traditional or be smart on how he goes about things.

Eunseok: The fool, 6 of Swords, 5 of Pentacles, 3 of Swords, 6 of Pentacles, 9 of Cups, King of Cups.

He thinks Seunghan is too adventurous for this industry. "Acting like these westerners" is what came to mind. He's trying to focus on himself and his career but he can't help but feel sad about this and is concerned about himself. He probably had issues with Seunghan in the dorms.

Sungchan: 6 of Wands, 5 of Wands, The Magician, Death, 10 of Wands, Page of Cups, Ace of Pentacles, 7 of Cups, 8 of Swords.

He thinks Seunghan is a delusional little bitch that doesn't care about his reputation (sorry but he went OFF ahah). I'm picturing him swearing ahah. He thinks it's going to impact the group and him too and he's tired of having to face the consequences of his actions. He's quite trapped and tired. He too is trying to focus on his career but it causes a lot of issues in their dynamic.

Shotaro: King of Wands, Queen of Wands, 10 of Wands rev, The Emperor, The Hanged Man, Queen of Swords, The Moon, 3 of Pentacles, The devil.

This one is like the "dad" of the group. He tries to keep things under control but he thinks it's too much for him to bear. Shotaro thinks Seunghan is too reckless and fake as well. He thinks it's affecting the teamwork and causing unnecessary controversy. He feels tied up and just done.

Sohee: The Wheel of Fortune, The High Priestess, 2 of Swords, King of Wands, Knight of Swords rev, The World rev, Knight of Pentacles rev, 8 of Wands rev.

Does Sohee have tea on him?? It seems like there is something he knows that he's being quiet about. Anyways, Sohee thinks this is his karma and he deserves all what's coming to him though he thinks he may not move on from this as it's affecting him too. Sohee thinks Seunghan is too reckless, impulsive and doesn't think before doing things. "Your taking us all down with you".

Wonbin: 3 of Wands rev, 9 of Swords, The World, 8 of Wands, Knight of Pentacles rev, Death, Knight of Wands.

This guy is really worried. He wants to move on but it keeps piling up and up. It's just keeps happening and he's so puzzled and anxious. He thinks Seunghan is reckless and he's feeling quite unsure at the moment.

[vitaminseetarot]

PAC: 11/11 Self-Care Messages 🍊🌚🦂

Hey y'all. I'm here to take a brief break from NaNoWriMo (I've been making big progress, I swear!). I've heard from some astrologers that this new moon is going to be rather strong, similar to the energy of the full moon.

After some scouring through the web to find horoscopes that weren't all doom and gloom, I figured now would be a good time to draw some cards for a few wellness messages. This was done to check current mood and energy and suggest healing or wellness methods mainly for stress relief.

I emphasize that if you have a real medical issue, best to take it to a doctor, even if you're thinking it's possibly a psychic thing.

Please choose your pile based on palette color below:

Pile 1 - Tropics Pile 2 - Pinkadelic Pile 3 - Mysterious Night Pile 4 - Solar Energy

Take care~☼

Pile 1: Tropics

The World, Peace, Surrender, Salt Bath, Receive, King of Cups, Knight of Swords, Seven of Coins

So you've done it, or it's been done. You've checked the items off your list. You've asked others if there was more to do only to be met with shaking heads saying "no, but thanks." So what to do now? It's easy to get used to this position of needing to be the big helper all the time. A king of cups taking on the world wants to solve every problem and won't rest until everyone is satisfied. But what would all of that take? Is it worth draining your cup, especially when others are learning to rely on it so much?

Your cards are suggesting a much needed rest time. If it's not a salt bath, then try just resting in bed, a brief sunbath, or a massage therapy session. It's not just resting your body, but your mind. You got two color cards which fell out. Surrender the mind for peace within the body. They're linked in this case. Knight of Swords says whatever happens to one will quickly affect the other. Recovery may take some time so please give yourself space to breathe.

This could be a specific message for some out there. I felt a brief pang in my chest that went away as soon as your reading was finished. I don't usually interpret this Salt Bath card in such a literal way, but… please watch your salt intake, more or less, make sure you're getting iodized salt. Some of you may be worried about doctor's visits? Just make sure you're drinking enough water in between salty meals. Keep your stress levels down, above all.

Take care of your heart health and try not to run yourself ragged with too many assignments and crisis alerts going off (what the heck there's a random phone alarm going off in my house now JUST as I'm typing this! And then it stopped as soon as I got up! Crazy). The message is to not respond to every single call and alarm that goes off okay! You definitely need time to rest, and boundaries for said rest. I mean deeply rest and clear your mind, let yourself suspend from the schedule with some suds. You can't get away to paradise forever, but you can create for yourself a moment in time.

Pile 2: Pinkadelic

Five of Coins, Trust, Bodega Cat, Acceptance, VI The Lovers, XVII Star, Ace of Cups

Tick tock, you've been waiting a while for this to come around in your life. I feel this is strongly a love related reading but let's see. If it's not a romantic partner you're attracting, it's a fresh start at life or spiritual awakening, the feeling of falling in love again with life. You've likely been waiting for a while, stuck in a limbo state, learning how to remain comfortable or at least steady in the unknown. Yet you're eager for that "more" or "other" kind of experience. The type of manifestation that makes life feel magical and new.

You need a quick pep talk. I might get a little cheesy with the message, but here goes: For anyone who has yet to meet you, you are that magic spark in their life. You're radiating the energy of wish making and affection and that has an effect on others around you. You're already on the way to attracting the one who will properly recognize that for you. I'm picking up on a lot of artists in this pile. Your magic seeps through to your art, your aura or energy rubs off onto what you make, and somebody special will see the talent in your work. You have way more talent in the arts than you think.

With that said, the Bodega Cat is a lucky cat here to remind you of your independence. You ultimately don't need anyone to come along and remind you of how amazing your work is. Once you see it for yourself, they will come. Once you see it as done, they will show. Perhaps more than it may seem right now. Just like the cat can be itself and people will show up to pet it and take pictures, whatever you bring forth will carry that same unique charm naturally.

You may be in the mood to go on a shopping spree. Treat yourself to something small and nice, like candy or a new t-shirt, it doesn't have to be extravagant. I recommend affirmations specifically on self-love for you, pile 2. Take a mirror marker and write nice things on your mirror. Pet a lucky cat when one stops by, as well! Sweeten your water with some fresh fruit for a sensual touch. Trust and believe. All of this beautiful magical energy is bursting outwards from you! Accept the wish that's there out in front of you.

Pile 3: Mysterious Night

Three of Swords, Growth, Dandelion, Perspective, XII Hanged Man, King of Swords, X Wheel of Fortune

I can tell that whatever has happened in the last few months, you've taken on a hurdle of challenges to get to where you are now. You've had to learn some harsh lessons, some of which may have felt like they were coming out of nowhere. The word 'Disappointment' was clear and capitalized. It seemed like you took many chances or opportunities on, only to be spun around and left in the dark to figure things out on your own. This last cycle was a particular struggle to build resilience while maintaining the motivation to keep moving toward your goals.

But look, you got both the Growth and Dandelion card in your reading! This is truly signifying how much you've really fought back and continued to nurture yourself in spite of the circumstances thrown in your face over and over. There's a spirit of not giving up even when you let yourself have the chance to process the feeling otherwise. Determination isn't about pretending to be happy in spite of comebacks. Disappointments happen; it's a chance to cry it out before smiling again, it's an umbrella and rain coat to let the day rain from time to time instead of expecting the skies to always stay clear.

You've weathered so much and gained an abundance of wisdom this past season, it's like at this point you're gearing up to be ready for whatever comes next. I don't know if you are necessarily expecting good things to come your way, however. Those might be the very things to sweep you off your feet. Or you may still be too on guard to notice the good luck. It's like the dandelion has gotten acclimated to the cracks, but is it ready for the wheel to turn and for the water to flow in between?

I feel like this whole reading is about being ready for a level up. If you need 999 XP to do so, then right now you're at 900. You're getting to the finish line. But instead of getting too worked up about the end result, however, you've mastered the art of hanging back and waiting for when the time is right. Your new perspective allows you to lay back and take a breather between these strong growth spurts. Remember to stay grounded to your toughened roots, pile 3. Try out grounding exercises and meditations. Spend time out in nature when considering the next moves you're going to make in life. No need to rush this kind of growth.

Pile 4: Solar Energy

Two of Swords, Fear, What You Seek is Seeking You, Change, XV The Devil, Ten of Swords, Seven of Pentacles, Six of Pentacles

I always forget how terrifying the devil card is in this deck lol! In fact I'm seeing and sensing a LOT of fear and anxiety in this pile which is why I went and added an extra tarot card. Six is pentacles on top of the deck is good as it shows help is on the way soon. Remember to stay centered and calm at this time, your chance to heal is coming for you, but you may need to yield some of the resistance behind allowing the change necessary to make way for that healing to occur.

It seems as though your pile conjures images of wanting to see daylight at the end of the tunnel. You feel that change is coming very soon and you're not sure if you're able to handle the next cycle after the one that you've been through. Quite the wringer you've been in for some time… I think a lot of y'all have done some shadow work recently, and it has not been the easiest. It's not always about meditating and journaling. Sometimes it's about seeing how simple, basic fears that are universal to humankind can get distorted and become something much more twisted. When you work past the scary parts, you can see the fear for what it really is. 10 of Swords is Sun in Gemini, learning that sometimes overthinking isn't going to solve the problem, especially when the worst is already past you.

A lot of good things seem to be underway for you even if they're not present at the moment. You've done a fair share of rummaging in the attic and going through all the old, little things. You're going through an extensive clearing out phase. Give yourself the opportunity to put the swords of caution down and accept a gentle wave of positive changes to restructure your life piece by piece.

I'm also getting that this pile may be particularly affected by seasonal affective disorder. Make sure to go out and get some sunlight outside, through windows, or UV lamps. I don't know for sure how Vitamin D supplements would help and you'll want to be careful with St John's Wort if you're on medication, but John's Wort is a good supplement I use for my tea to combat the winter blues. If you sense that your mental state may be getting triggered by lack of sunlight, please look into it.

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2023, @VitaminseeTarot ™

[age-of-moonknight]

“Darkness at the Edge of Town (Part Three),” Avengers Unlimited (Vol. 1/2022), Infinity Comic, #35.

Writer: Alex Segura; Artist: Jim Towe; Colorist: Andres Mossa; Letterer: Joe Sabino

[randomnameless]

I recently saw some nice Cyril discussion/posts on the dash and I remember why, despite liking his Ashe support, it still rubbed me in a wrong way -

Sure it's a nice support where he ultimately finds a friend, but...

Ashe of all people?

Ashe's who's all "I want to be a model knight like Lord Lonato", the very same Lonato who tried to kill the person Cyril loves the most and came to see as a surrogate mother?

In the same vein, Cyril is the ward/son of the woman who gave the order to kill Lonato, and killed Christophe, Lonato's son and Ashe's beloved brother.

Considering Ashe might not be the kind of person who would blame Cyril for what Rhea did (even if CF!Ashe... well), would Cyril accept to be helped and ultimately become friends with him without having to tackle this issue?

Cyril "her enemies are my enemies" would be mature enough to engage in a conversation and friendship with the son of someone who wanted to kill Rhea?

Also, thinking about Ashe... Lonato became chummy with the Western Church after Christophe's death, and we know the Western Church hates the Central Church because they're not xenophobic enough.

So, Ashe's dad joins a xenophobic group, but the guy still strikes conversation with an Almyran (and a Duscurian)? Or he admires Lonato but dismisses his association with the xeno group as, idk, "ramblings" or not being something serious and doesn't follow/listens to him when he goes on Western Church rants about how Almyrans and Duscurians shouldn't be in Fodlan (or at least in Garreg Mach?) but then what is he admiring in the man?

Like, can we imagine Ashe writing a letter to his dad and gushing about Dedue and mentionning how he made an Almyran friend... or Ashe would know better than to write those things to Lonato since Lonato turned xenophobic after associating with the Western Church?

Likewise, if Cyril told Rhea he became friends with Ashe, would she be worried about it, because as Lonato's kid, he might want to target her through Cyril to get revenge for his brother and father?

I don't remember the "nickel meme" that well rn because it's late lol, but it's still weird how 2 of Cyril's support completely elude what I'd call "character essential writing" to give instead a generic support - Hilda learns how to not be racist anymore without adressing her House's issue with "captured Almyran children who are fed once in a blue moon but still have to work themselves to the bone to be able to eat", and Cyril learns what friendship is, without adressing the small issue of "the man you admire tried to kill the person I care about the most and is part of a group who hates people like me because I'm a foreigner".

Masterful character writing everyone.

i swear it's not like I have this scene in some AU plotbunny where cyril and ashe disagree about lonato in the lonato mission, and cyril believes that he has to be "there" for ashe because of this friendship thing and he wants to help/apologise after calling Lonato trash since he's somehow like "Ashe's Lady Rhea" so he joins the group during the Lonato mission

but like, in this AU Rhea herself went to confront Lonato because this nonsense has been going on for too long and it must stop before too many people die, of course Cyril is caught by Lonato's forces who try to pull the "a son for a son" nonsense (+ calling cyril with a racist slur), Rhea having none of his bullshit (tfw people pulled the same shit using Willy back in the days!) and ultimately crushing him to rescue Cyril because you.never.ever.threaten.her.family. (especially not her children! She couldn't save Lycaon so this time she'll protect (lel) everyone). More Rhea BaD shenanigans, Cyril and Ashe's friendship deteriorates (Ashe'd feel xtra guilty since he told Lonato in his latest letter that the CoS doesn't preach the same things as the Western Church does since his Almyran friend is close to the Archbishop herself!) even more, Dimi's ideal that peaceful/bloodless resolution of conflicts is in shambles but maybe a convo with Rhea that this ideal is something that should always be sought, and yet rulers should use force/authority when needed and it's up to him to learn when force is necessary.

[fr33ze-y0ur-br4in]

Hey so I saw that your requests were open and you’d be open to do Khonshu stuff. I’m so excited because he’s like my go to but there’s not a ton of content to keep me fed so I’ll just as a simple fluff head canon stuff from you. I understand if you’re busy or whatnot so no rush, have a beautiful day!

.:*・°☆. Murder Bird My Beloved.:*・°☆.

My link list is here

Pairing: Khonshu x GN!Deity!Reader

Summary: general fluffy headcanons for Big Bird Khonshu dearest (includes backstory for “meeting” I suppose, maybe how you got together? (A/n: they kinda merged together), and then just general fluff stuff)

Warnings: it’s so much omg, Reader is god/goddess/deity of Promises and has a counterpart that’s the deity of Karma, GN!Reader, 2nd POV (“you” is used in reference to reader), Y/N not used, possible spoilers for Moon Knight, canon-divergent in most aspects, as usual probably cringey, also as usual should be POC friendly but if any descriptions of skin color are detailed please let me know so I can fix it, Reader’s godly form is said to have “eyes […] so golden they seem to reflect […] stars […]” but they have an unspoken human form that doesn’t have such specifics

Word Count: 1,134

Genre: headcanons, fluff

Beta/Proofread?: yep!

Notes: I told my friend to hear me out on Khonshu and she just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose🧍listen I can eXPLAI- It started out so well but went down in quality in the second part ;-; Would anyone like to hear about what my OC that Reader is based of looks like cus I love how she’s designed

How you met + Getting together:

Technically speaking, you had always known of each other’s existence, just rarely having spoken

Given that you are not part of the Ennead, you and your counterpart were not held to as high of a pedestal as them.

You, being the deity of promises, and your counterpart, being the deity of karma from broken promises, often kept to yourselves, only going to the other deities when necessary so as to not be reeled into fights and rivalries

Honestly it worked

No one really had an issue with either of you and you had few issues with the other deities

The only reason that you would have a negative encounter with another god would be if they broke a promise, swear, or deal they made with anyone else or if their Avatar did so

That being said, you and your counterpart always knew when and if someone would break a promise. Much like Ammit, you judged someone’s (or something’s) character before anything bad happened, looking into whether they would keep their end of a bargain when they made it. Similar to Khonshu and to the disappointment of your counterpart, you didn’t give punishment until after the deal was broken, giving them a chance to change their decisions.

This is why Khonshu held a certain level of respect for you whether he’d admit it or not

He knew that even though someone was almost guaranteed to continue down the same path or fate they begun, there was always that slim chance that they’d be able to change their path, either giving them salvation and rightful rewards from you two or appropriate punishments for their wrongdoings

He saw that you were all similar in style and execution of your duties, though he held a certain level of fondness for you that he didn’t hold for your counterpart

Perhaps it’s the way your eyes are so golden when in your true form that they seem to reflect the very stars Khonshu tends to manipulate

Perhaps it’s the way you’re the reason people gain a second chance, your counterpart wishing to be more like Ammit in that they believed you should punish the bad before they can affect the world

Perhaps it’s the way you have your own set of rules that you are determined to stick to:

Minor broken promises that have little effect on the world and anyone in it are not to be punished with anything more severe than a lingering feeling of regret for a bit of time

Promises broken having something to do with love are to be punished over time, rarely having an instant punishment to quickly get over, and shall have a lasting effect on the person or people in the wrong

Mortals are to have only three chances to break a major promise before their punishments are to be fitting for their level of importance to the course of the world

Gods, sometimes understandably having to go back on their word for the sake of the greater good, have five chances at most to break positive world-changing promises

You and your counterpart are to never break a major promise more than one time, two times being the point of worthy imprisonment

Never in your several thousand years of existence have you felt it necessary to break any or your rules, always sticking to them no matter what

Your counterpart, unknown to you being slowly corrupted by Ammit, disagreed with the rules and thought that humans shouldn’t break a promise more than once to be worthy of punishment, deities should have no restrictions on their deals, and you two of all people shouldn’t have to be punished for your wrongdoings

After Ammit and your counterpart nearly succeeded in taking all bad in the world and turned it in their favor, you helped the Ennead to imprison the two of them burying them deep in tombs so as to never be released.

Khonshu saw how even you, the counterpart and friend of the Karmic deity, were unwilling to bend your principles even if it meant taking on the entirety of the world’s promises and karma on your own

He decided you would be a good person to have on his side, beginning to call upon you in any situation he deemed fit, even daring to call upon your own judgment within the Ennead’s circle of decisions whether the other gods saw it appropriate or not

This is how over the course of a few thousand years, it became known to any who heard legends of the two of you that you belonged to each other, finding a mutual love for each other over the time you share

General Headcanons (after establishing relationship):

If you weren’t already a god/goddess/deity, you’d better believe he’d make you one. Although since you already are one, he holds you to the highest degree of devotion possible, not having any regard for whether or not it offends the others

Even though you didn’t, he’d treat you as though you helped to hang the stars above

Boy you have him wrapped around your godly finger 💀 (

Probably the typical “I hate everyone and refuse to listen to anyone except my perfect wonderful amazing lovely wife” type of god, yk?

Genuinely thinks you can do no wrong, it’s probably not even healthy but he loves you so it’s fine

(okay I know this is probably so unlike him but I am so obsessed with the idea that anyone resembling a crow in any way loves to bring random shiny things to people they like so I can just see him bringing you random bits of precious metals and gems to the point that all that he collects is able to be made into a whole ahh shrine or smt for you)

Not a headcanon but I’m now realizing i should’ve done human!reader cus that’d be easier for general headcanons but I’ll make that later

After he gets banished, you become more enraged than you ever had been, choosing to follow him instead of staying with the others

Hopelessly devoted to youuuuu~🎶

Falls even harder if that was possible

He makes sure that any Avatars he picks are worthy in your eyes

After a particularly difficult mission Marc took on, before the events of the show, Khonshu considered dropping him altogether

You easily convinced him to do otherwise, telling him how crucial he’d be to the world in the future

The only reason Khonshu held onto Marc and Steven for so long even if he’d threaten to drop them was because of your words always echoing in his mind even with the slight doubt that came with seeing Steven’s performance

After the events of Ammit, he never doubted a word you said again, always taking your words as the highest level of truth to be said

A/n: I’m sorry the last half sucks, I tried to make it as well as possible but I think my tiredness is getting the better of me seeing as it’s now 11:30 at night for me rn- I hope you like it either way <3

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: BENDIS. PART 3. 

READING THINGS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! 

Part 1 HERE. 

Part 2 HERE. 

This is the final bit! The last three! You ready? I can’t stress how much you aren’t ready for this. 

Issue #10

This cover is kinda meh. They could have done better. Maleev really likes drawing those steel beams though. He went “Man, you know what’s fun and cool? BEAMS.” I can respect that. 

Alright. Reading the title page to make sure nothing else changed when I wasn't looking... 

Looks the same. Just an added line. 

"In the ensuing battle through the streets of Los Angeles, Echo dies at the hand of Nefaria and Moon Knight falls into an uncontrollable berserker rage." 

Makes it sound cooler than it actually IS. 

So we get the same picture we left off with in the last issue only this time they've edited in a dead Echo at the forefront. I don't need to show you that. Seems like they could have given us something different and just used one of the alternate images for dramatic effect. 

We get a collage of action. We see bloody claws, glowing Count eyes attacking, blood across Marc's chest, red explosions, Marc screaming, more blood, and a dead Echo. 

It's dramatic and has a certain flow to it. It does encapsulate Marc's current state of mind pretty well. 

And then... 

We cut to a street and see a TAXI CAB. And a man in a flat cap!!!!! 

….I swear my heart just skipped a beat and I got SOOOOOO fucking excited and then I remembered what was actually happening and now I'm just MAD again. Because… Even after ALL THAT. After everything that happened in the last issues… If somehow…SOMEHOW…Jake suddenly actually stepped in and then we saw Steven… It would have saved this. That Marc didn’t need Fake Cap and Wolverine and Spider-Man. That what he needed all this time was right there… Sure, it still would have been messy, but it could have been explained as Marc breaking down and Fictives coming in or Persecutors or SOMETHING. And I’m sitting here crying because THAT could have been good. And instead we get…THIS. 

Because...This isn't the TV show. This is real. 

"What have you been doing all night, Marlene?" 

He asks Marlene. 

"Waiting for you, Steven." 

ALRIGHT. Let's break this down page by page. 

So Bendis is FINALLY acknowledging that Jake, Marc, and Steven all exist. 

We see Jake coming home in his cab to Marlene. 

It's very reminiscent of Moench. Jake takes them home. Jake always takes them home. There's something to that. 

And once he walks into the house with Marlene, he's no longer Jake. Jake very rarely liked interacting with Marlene, much less hanging out in any of their posh homes. 

And just like in Moench's run, she addresses him as Steven. She always waited for Steven. 

She asks who they destroyed this time. 

He says that isn't fair. 

And it isn't fair. But Marlene started to get bitter towards them in the end. She suffered her own losses and she started to blame him for them. She always hated Marc and loved Steven. And Marc destroyed so much of their life. 

We see Moon Knight asking to go in, but we see the Avenger's masks in the background. 

Notice how Wolverine is on top. 

Marc assumes that Frenchie is the one in the costume. He knows Frenchie left him a long time ago. His oldest and closest friend. The only one that knew Marc Spector as Marc Spector. 

The insistence that "SOMEONE" has to go out because they don't know what's happening implies that someone else is in control and they are all locked out. 

The costume is empty. He doesn't know who'se wearing it. He doesn't know who is inside it. Maybe no one. 

He's confused because he's lost control of his own situation and lost control of everything. 

Because it doesn't matter who he tries to be, who he loves, or what he does... Marc Spector still "Ruins everything he touches." 

He wakes up in a hospital bed, RESTRAINED to the bed with a security guard outside. 

The implication is pretty obvious. And honestly, this is something Marc has dealt with before. And probably something that brings back a lot of bad memories for him. 

He's waking up somewhere he doesn't know where he is, he can't remember how he got there, he doesn't know what happened, he doesn't know who has been out, and he's locked up. 

He's able to make a phone call. 

Detective Hall shows up! 

"Where is he?" 

"He's down the hall." 

"Has he said anything?" 

"He's in pretty bad shape." 

"When do his prints come back from the lab?" 

"Prints?" 

"You didn't fingerprint him? A costumed hero lies dead and bloody in the street and you don't print him?" 

"He's in bad shape. We thought--No one said--" 

"You have Moon Knight in custody. And you didn't think to PRINT him." 

Remember, Hall is from NY. He's familiar with who Moon Knight is. What he can do. What he's known to do. 

"We--We secured the hallway. We have all of the other patients moved to other floors. I mean, it's not like we were--" 

Hall turns the corner to find at least five guards and staff knocked out in the hall, and Moon Knight's room and bed empty. 

Slowly the other officers start to get dizzy and also fall over. The hall has been gassed! 

Hey it’s Buck! 

I appreciate Buck. 

Buck: "Let's move along now..." 

Marc: "I'm beginning to love you, Buck." 

Buck: "Well, that takes the sting off the fact that I know I'm going to hell for this. I just sleep-gassed a hospital." 

Marc: "Seriously...Thank you." 

Buck: "The girl didn't make it." 

Marc: "I told her--I told her to run." 

Buck: "I ain't blamin' you. She's a big girl. I'm just saying." 

Marc: "This is going to...haunt me for a while." 

Buck: "Imagine how she feels." 

Marc: "What happened to...@$@@ing Count Nefaria?" 

We head to some place where we find the Count in pretty bad shape and having a tantrum. 

The...I don't know what this guy is.. Butler? We're going to go with butler. The butler tells the Count's visitor that "He's going to need a minute. It's been a very rough night." 

LOL I bet he had a rough night. Moon Knight tends to do that to people. Moon Knight beaten up and bleeding? Imagine what the other guy looks like. 

"From what I understand, this Moon Knight character got in what can only be called a lucky shot. He stabbed Lucino just as he was preparing a fatal blow. The blow backfired. The police arrived to find Lucino struggling to regain his...Composure. You see, he is not a young man. Containing this kind of power is a true effort in the best circumstances. That's why he needs you." 

We get the identity of the visitor and...Ugh. Okay. THIS Villainess I know. 

Madame Masque. 

If I know her, why don't I know the Count? These are the questions I ask myself. 

She's apparently his DAUGHTER. 

Some of you more well read comic fans may recognize her or her name. ALRIGHT. She was created by Stan Lee and co. back in 1967. Originally named Giulietta Nefaria, but later changed to Whitney Frost. 

She's the daughter of Count Nefaria...And she's historically been the occasional love interest of Tony Stark, Iron Man. 

(Yeah... Tony gets around ALMOST as much as Matt Murdock. ....almost.) 

Originally she wore a golden mask to cover her disfigured face. Her face has since healed, but she still wears the mask. 

Apparently her mother died giving birth to her and the Count wanted her to live a respectable life so he adopted her out to Byron Frost, who worked for Nefaria. 

She's had some back and forth with being a villainess and showing compassion to the heroes (mostly Tony. She’s got a love hate going on with Tony). 

All that aside, we head back to Marc's mansion. 

Marc is listening to his voice mails. 

His assistant is calling to check up to see if he's still alive since she hasn't heard from him in a while. 

He's still healing and in pain. It was a pretty hard fight, after all. Not to mention Echo... 

Wolverine shows up and tells Marc to get up. 

"I can't. You're the reason I'm here!" 

"You're the reason you're here, Bub. You better get up because I guarantee you, Nefaria is up and looking for YOU." 

"And what would you hae me do?!" 

"Finish what you started." 

"I hate you." 

"I don't care. Finish what you started. He's got an Ultron. You're an Avenger. Echo was an Avenger. Avenge her. Save this city." 

Honestly, Marc needs time. He never gives himself time. And for once, Marc is in bed TRYING to give himself time. Trying to feel things and heal and he isn't getting to. I feel for him. 

We head over to the morgue where an autopsy is being done on Echo. I don't need to show you these pictures. 

The doctors discuss who has authority over her body. FBI or the LAPD who brought her in. 

Just as they are about to start, Madame Masque busts in and shoots everyone. 

She recognizes Echo's body, but can't place who she is. 

She finds the weapon staff that Buck outfitted with Vibranium. 

It's a lead and she calls her people to check the black market for rescent buys. She's going to trace it back to Marc. 

We head to the police HQ to find the Detective Hall interviewing Snapdragon again. 

He has a still image of Madame Masque in the morgue. He asks her to identify her. 

Snapdragon does so. Noting that "Her and her dad have what you'd call a strained relationship." 

Snapdragon urges Detective Hall to either bust the Count quickly or get her out of there because she's terrified of Madame Masque and she's a sitting duck there. 

Detective says he's doing his best, but there are stops in place above him. 

We head back to Marc's place. We see Buck parking outside and about to open the garage when he notices red dots, indicating he's in someone's sights. 

"Son of a--" He reaches for his gun. 

"Rrr! N'me!" 

"What?" 

"Don't worry about me! She got the Ultron head! She has Ultron! It's out in the open!" 

Poor Buck. 

Poor Marc. It’s about to get a lot worse for him. 

END ISSUE. Two more to go. 

The hospital scene gets to me. They find Moon Knight near death in the street next to a badly injured Count and a dead Echo and they cuff him to the bed. And then Bendis BLATANTLY showing us Jake. Letting us know that he’s aware of Steven and Jake and that they DO in fact exist in this story, but he’s not going to give them to us? That they just aren’t there? Also, Did you see how wonderful that cap looked? HOW WONDERFUL THAT JAKE LOOKED?! I will forever be angry that we are denied Maleev drawing us Jake or Steven. …And giving Marc a Goatee when Jake isn’t there to enjoy it. >:(

ISSUE #11! 

There the guys are staring again. 

But I DO like this cover. Black and white and the single pillar in the middle. It's a cover of mourning. 

And the folds in that cape? LOOK AT THAT CAPE. 

Marc's in for a bad time. It's about to get REALLY bad for him. 

Alright title page... Oh look, they're changing it just enough to make his deal with Echo even more potent. 

"He has teamed up with (and fallen in love with) another former Avenger, Echo.

Echo dies at the hand of Nefaria, driving Moon Knight off the deep end and setting him on a course for bloody vengeance. Before he can do that, however, Nefaria's daughter, the assassin Madame Masque, breaks into Spector's house and steals the head of Ultron..." 

Not to mention shooting Buck. I hope Buck survives. I like Buck. 

We open on SHIELD Helicarrier 1000 Feet over the Pacific Ocean. 

Hey, it's commander Hill! Nick Fury's right hand man and replacement after he died/ranoff/did his thing (dude does all of the above SO MANY TIMES all the time). 

Moon Knight is trying to call SHIELD. 

"They're using one of Captain America's secure lines." 

"Moon Knight." 

"It's coming from the Los Angeles Area. He's using old codes. From a discharged agent by the name of Buck Lime." 

"Okay, well, put him through. This should be annoying." 

I hate how much no one respects him and thinks of him as just that crazy guy that causes problems.

First of all, RUDE. She knows exactly who Moon Knight is and what his problems are. He had a psych eval when he joined the Avengers the FIRST time. You know she’s read the file. 

Second of all, Captain America should have informed SHIELD of the Count’s actions and locations just in case things DID get out of control. He seems like the sort of villain that they’d want to know the location of at all times, even if he wasn’t being active! 

She berates him for losing the Head, even though the plan was approved by Captain America. 

Buck tells htem that he put a tracker in the head, but when she blew up the garage, the responder was also blown up. He needs them to pick up the signal and send it to them. 

"No. You give ME the signal and I'll send a battalion of Hulkbuster Agents down there to--" 

"All due respect, but I think a lighter touch is needed." Marc makes excellent decisions. 

"Oh, you do? Says the man who 'lost' an Ultron." 

Back with Madame Masque, we see her with the Ultron head. She calls her father to tell him she has it. 

But... "I won't be meeting you. No. Not until you tell me the plan. What do you plan on doing with a homicidal artificlal intelligence you can't possibly control?" 

He tells her the plan (We don't get to hear it) and she suddenly changes her mind. 

"I didn't know that. No. Oh. Okay. Yes sir. I'll see you soon." 

Just as she's about to pack up and head out, a shadow catches her eye. 

Moon Knight pounces from above. 

He attacks with the shield, the webbing, and the claws. 

Wolverine yells to cut her and finish it. 

Marc forces her to get up close and personal and they both take some hard hits. 

Just when it looks like she has the upper hand, she looks back and suddenly realizes the Ultron head is gone! 

Buck has snatched it and is running away. 

Moon Knight manages to distract her until Buck makes it to the car and starts to drive away, her running after him. 

Moon Knight is still recovering from his earlier injuries so he's slower to get up and give chase. 

"Agh! Okay. That really hurt-" 

Wolverine: "Shut up and get up!" 

Madame Masque manages to shoot out his tires and stall his car. When he doesn't get out of the car, she starts trying to shoot his gas tank. 

Gas is now dripping heavily from his car and there are sparks all over. 

A silver Crescent shape appears above her and she shoots it up. 

It's just a cape! 

Spiderwebbing wraps up her guns and Moon Knight attacks. 

Just as he strikes, the car explodes, sending them both flying. 

Ah yes, the seeing the dead girlfriend telling you not to let her death be in vain and to make it mean something trope. 

Marc wakes up and forces himself to move just as Madame Masque is about to stab him. 

I'd again like to remind you that Marc Spector is specially trained in hand to hand combat. Everyone goes on about "Oh yeah this villain is a skilled fighter!" but they still don't have the training Marc has. Marc didn't just wake up one day and put on the mask with a little boxing degree under his belt. 

Boxing, street fighting, Army/Marines, Special ops, SHIELD, underground fight rings and cage fighting...And THEN his years of Mercenary training and how to get out of shit situations because he puts himself in BAD situations constantly and has to dig himself out. 

Not just that, he's a stubborn asshole who would 'rather take the punch than learn to duck' as Taskmaster once said. (My favorite depiction of Marc.) 

So a scary lady like Madame Masque means nothing to him. 

And I appreciate that Bendis and Maleev recognize this. Another point in their corner. (Unlike with Bendis and Burrow who showed him getting his ass handed to him by some no one over and over again.)

“And that’s why you don’t steal from the craziest Avenger on the West-” 

Marc, don't encourage this. 

Marc takes off her mask and finds a beautiful perfect face. 

"She doesn't even need the mask. She's crazier than you are." Wolverine snerks. 

What's this? Echo has joined the commentary. Is she a 'voice/personality' now too? 

"Well done, Spector. Don't forget Buck. ANd the Ultron Head." But why does she speak like Captain America? 

"Oh No...Buck." 

Marc finds Buck laying next to the exploded car. 

"Oh no. Not you too, Buck. Not you too. I'm so..." 

Buck turns around with his gun at the ready. "NGYAA!" 

"HO!" 

"AGH!" 

"It's okay. It's me." 

"Whee is--Did you--?"

"I got her." 

"That--!" 

The police arrive via Helicopter and Marc tells them it's time to go. 

He helps Buck get up and they make a run for it. 

And I must say… The writing between Buck and Marc is top notch. I appreciate the humor they have. The banter. Even Marc poking fun at himself. He’s relaxing around Buck and you don’t see him do that often with people. He’s told Buck that he has problems and Buck still accepts him (even though he hasn’t really said the full extent of his problems). I’m going to give Bendis another point for giving us Buck. 

Thank you Buck. 

Back with the Count! He's watching the breaking news on TV about the latest thing with Moon Knight. 

The Local police arrive at his place. They have a warrant and subpoena. 

"There's quite a few of them. They said it had something to do with Moon Knight." 

"Moon Knight..." Yeah... Count is learning what it means to get Moon Knight under your skin. 

Do you have any idea HOW MANY major marvel hitters have come up across Moon Knight and gone, "Please. Let me face ANYONE...ANYONE...but Moon Knight again." They'd rather fight the Hulk than end up in Moon Knight's sights again. 

Even if they 'won' or kicked his ass... At what cost? This man knows how to be a PROBLEM. It's what he's best at. Marc Spector: professional problem. 

Anyways, END ISSUE. ONE TO GO. 

ANd this is the problem. I liked that issue. It was fun, it was quirky, it had Buck, it had Moon Knight doing what he does best. But then you add in the Wolverine aspect and also the discrimination and then the potential that Echo is ALSO now joined his voices/personalities in his head? 

LAST ISSUE

Issue #12! 

I really love his use of grays and whites. And he draws a fantastic moon. The framing of this image is just spot on. 

Alright. Let's get this bread. 

On the title page! 

We got the usual false info on the start of Moon Knight (I can't believe they changed the story and how wrong they made it.) 

The usual bit about his TV show, Count Nefaria, his hidden new split personality disorder (LOL no). His love with Echo and her death... 

And lastly we have him "ruthlessly" dispatching Madame Masque to get the Ultron head back. 

Then the police catching up with Count Nefaria and making him even more pissed at Moon Knight. 

HERE WE GO! 

We open with the police serving the warrant and trying to get into the house to find the Count. 

Just then, the COunt takes off, flying away and destroying a Police copter in the process. Which was totally unnecessary cause they were just there for light and had no weapons. 

Back at police HQ, Snapdragon hears about the Count getting away and tells the police they had a deal to get her out of there. 

The captain goes to get her. It's time to transport her to protective custody. 

And then the Count shows up. 

"Captain Quaid. You and I had a deal. Payments were made." 

Yeah, that's what I thought. 

The Captain tells the officers to stand down. 

There's an argument and the Count laser eye blasts the Captain to death. The police open fire and Snapdragon takes cover. 

He's pretty pissed at Snapdragon, telling her that he hadn't plan to leave her there to rot after all. That he was going to get her out later and she betrayed him. 

As he's ranting, someone comes up behind him. "Hey, Nefaria..." 

The art here. The action pose. The detail in the rubble… The SASS. The absolute frustration that someone as small time as Moon Knight is this much of a problem. 

This gives me joy. 

Also, in the last Issue, Marc's outfit was pretty torn up. And the issue before that his outfit was pretty torn up. 

He must keep on hand SO MANY outfits. Not to mention capes. 

So here we are again... Marc going up against an over powered villain up close and personal. 

You know what his only advantage is? 

(Look at him. Sitting there on all that rubble like a trouble maker. )

The fact that he is such a problem. 

"Marc Spector: Profession Problem" really should be on his business cards. 

While the Count is distracted by Moon Knight, Snapdragon takes up hier own offense. She shoots at the Count then opens fire on Moon Knight too. 

"Nice. Real nice." He blocks her blows with his shield. 

Then we see Wolverine and the newest member to the innacurate Headmate group: Echo. 

Echo has taken up the voice of reason, since Wolverine killed off Captain America and Spider-man in a previous issue, I guess? 

"Tell him it's time to make a deal." 

Marc tries to make a deal with Nefaria. "Kill me and you'll never get the head of Ultron. And I mean NEVER." 

He then tells him that he's going to lose his empire, his daughter, and his west coast bragging rights. 

Yeah... Count isn't listening. He's pretty enraged. 

It’s kinda funny really. Like he can’t even believe he’s never considered that Moon Knight could ever be his problem.

(Dude’s starting to sound like talking to me must sound like.) 

Moon Knight keeps his paces, but this dude is fast and strong. 

He snaps the claws apart then throws Moon Knight around a bit. 

"Here's what's going to happen according to me. You're going to give me my Ultron head. You're going to give it to me and then you are going to pay off the sizable debt you've racked up. Not with money...but with service. Do I need to explain myself again?" 

He trashes Marc around a bit, ripping up that nice new outfit. 

"And maybe I won't kill you like I killed your little Girlfriend. You have no idea what's at stake here, boy. You have no idea how important that head is." 

Marc tells him that the head is outside. in the parking lot. "No more killing...No more..." 

So the Count drags Marc out of the station to the lot. 

"Yeah, he called the Avengers." 

Oh look! The Avengers! Who we got on the team today? Let's see... Thor, Wolverine, Spiderwoman, Captain Marvel, Beast, Iron Man and...Someone I don't recognize. And they've also apprehended Snapdragon too. 

And Marc, bless his Sass... 

Beaten to a pulp he looks up at the Count: "You see them too, right?" 

Now, according to the things I looked up so I could figure out just WHO the Count is.. He's fought Thor more than a few times and it was mostly an even match, but Thor usually got an upper hand. 

The Count goes on the attack and Thor lays him out with a good ol' Thor hammer. 

Marc takes the opprotunity to crawl over to him. "That's for Echo, you son of a bitch." 

And he punches out the Count. 

And that would be great if that was it. But it isn't. 

We head back to Marc's partially blown up house. 

Tony Stark wants to see the head. 

Marc hands it over. "Ta-Dah!" 

"It's the real damn deal." 

"Thanks for coming to take it off our hands, Stark." 

"Hey, thanks for keeping it out of that nut job's hands. Thanks for calling us when you did. Sorry we didn't get there five minutes faster." 

"What did Nefaria want with it?" 

And Tony tells him. 

Ultron is a highly advanced artificial intelligence that is far smarter than any of them and keeps getting smarter. It wants to wipe out all of humanity. 

It's also out there. They destroyed all the avatar bodies, but the program is out there hiding and waiting and planning. 

Tony speculates that Nefaria either knows 'something we don't--like where Ultron is or what the Ultron plan is...Or he's trying to get ahead start. Trying to get in on the ground floor or when the big bad robot comes to kill us. Maybe he wanted something to Bargain with." 

"I really don't want that in my house anymore." 

Does he think that you can’t have mental health issues and still have a normal conversation or do a normal job? 

The second mental health is breeched no one trusts them to do anything. Or they look the other way then if anything goes out of the normal they go “Oh yeah I always knew he was trouble. He’s crazy, you know.” 

Pisses me off. 

I love Buck. He gets it. He notices when Marc is having a moment and he also knows that exhaustion isn’t great for things. Despite it all, Buck is there for him and he’s willing to help him along the way. 

(And you are never going to see Buck again. He’s quickly erased thanks to the 3 year gap after Moon Knight is canceled. Moved on or like he never happened. This upsets me.) 

You know what else upsets me? 

There's a new headmate now. He just had a frank discussion with Tony Stark. Captain America and Spider-man headmates were killed off. So now he has...

Wolverine, Echo, and Ironman. Three personalities that are NOT going to get along and have VERY different instructions and opinions. Back to square one. 

wtf

THREE MONTHS LATER. 

Studio Back Lot, Marc arrives and is told by his assistant that the show is canceled. 

Not making enough money or something or other. 

(The joke here is that he’s crazy so they expect him to do crazy things.) 

Marc. Let her go. Remember how we talked about you making BAD DECISIONS? 

Marc… MARC. 

Okay. Hold on a second. I need to look something up. 

So, as I noted in part 1... This was one of Bendis' less successful revivals. He re-wrote Moon Knight's past, gave him a new location, and then completely redid his character and D.I.D as well as getting rid of without explaining Steven and Jake. In fact, it's implied that he never HAD Steven and Jake and that they were only used as "Cover personas" and that his "Multiple Personality" issue is new and hidden as he 'imagines' the Avengers working along side him. 

It's used as a ploy to keep the crazy in Moon Knight while also trying to make him interesting when he was ALREADY interesting and Bendis just stripped what was interesting about him away without explanation or cause. 

You don't take the stripes off the Zebra and call it a fancy horse and still expect people to be interested in it like they were before. 

According to one review write up: "It never really caught fire with new fans, and longtime devotees didn't love the concept of tying him into some of Marvel's biggest heroes." 

It was a huge flop. 

During this run, Moon Knight also had a major team appearance (first in over 20 years) in "Secret Avengers". In fact, he was popping up all over the place in this time frame in small side projects and background things. 

And then.... NOTHING. But what about the promise of "He will return in Age of Ultron"? 

WELL....

Age of Ultron, 2012. He appears prominently in Issues #2, 4, 5, 10, and Avengers Assemble Age of Ultron #14. But it is not considered a canon timeline for him and has no affect on the main story. He’s just kinda there. You KNOW how I feel about Marvel events that just take all the characters and mash them together with writers that don’t know how to handle these characters. They just kinda go off of cliff notes on the most recent run that’s been published. 

Let's take a peek at how Moon Knight was handled after the failed Bendis run...  

Avengers Assemble: Age of Ultron

Written by Al Ewing

Art by Butch Guice

Editor by Lauren Sankovitch 

…..THANKS BENDIS. I HATE IT.

Dialogue here because I had to squint:

"Marc Spector. Moon Knight. I've worked with him. Unstable, but useful. So long as he can keep himself together. Right now, he's not doing well. He's breaking. It's in his voice. He needs something certain. Something he can rely on. He needs the Black Widow. The one in his head."

So this is what happens when someone mismanages a character like Moon Knight. The stigma…and it is stigma…sticks. It’s harder to make the good things stick than it is to make the mad things last. Just look at BEMIS. 

Up to this point, there had been a LOT of misrepresentation for Moon Knight. He just kept getting crazier and crazier. More and more violent. Some writers took it to the extreme and others tried to mellow it out but gave him less of Steven and Jake and more of rageful Marc. 

When Bendis redefined Marc’s mental disorder, there was only one way to go with it and it was right into crazy town. The Avengers treated him with kiddie gloves and ‘played’ to his delusions. 

This is how bad depictions of disabilities can snowball. And snowball it did. 

THREE YEARS. No one knew what to do with him. Did they take him back to where he was, cutting faces off of people? Or into the wild and angry phase? Or did they try to carry on what Bendis did here? 

It’s any wonder that it took three years for someone to step up and say “Let me try.” and is it any wonder that their arch was so PASSIVE? 

So here I am with a question: Was this a good run? 

Pros: The art was good and consistent. The dialogue was good and believable. The action was balanced. The stillness was balanced. We had very good fighting scenes with good combat. I FELT for Marc. We got to see Marc in vulnerable situations trying to deal with his failing mental health and his grief. He broke my heart. We also got Buck! It made me legit laugh a few times. 

Cons: VERY POORLY DONE REPRESENTATION OF D.I.D AND MENTAL HEALTH IN GENERAL THAT GOT IT CANCELED FOR THREE YEARS AND SPIRALLED US INTO SUCH POOR DEPICTiONS AND STIGMA. 

The hardest part is that when it was good, it was AMAZING. But when it was bad…. 

So do I forgive Bendis? Do I forgive him for taking on a project he should NOT have taken on? Is it enough for me to enjoy the run and recommend it? Is it enough for me to say “It’s great if you overlook the piss poor representation of D.I.D and Ableism.”? 

I can see why after reading this run, I set it aside and marked it as ‘the worst’ and refused to touch it again. Was it bad enough to warrant that reaction? At the time… Yes. But looking back on it… Perhaps I was a little harsh? Holding it up against Aaron, BEMIS, and even Pepose… It’s top of the line. But how sad is that? 

How sad that we have to hold up something so wrong and say “Hey, it wasn’t the worst so I give it a two thumbs up”? 

We should expect better. Because this comic deserves better. This run should have been up there with Lemire. Instead, it’s down here with “Skip this one”. And that makes me sad. 

What do you guys think? Do the pros outweigh the cons? Is this run still a skip, or is it a read ‘but don’t pay attention to these things’?

[dumbassalex]

The more Deadpool comics i read, the less i feel like Ryan Reynolds fits him and that makes me feel....odd, like kinda left out from all the love this casting is getting. He was really good as Wade Wilson in X-men Origins, his Weapon 11 is terrible and an insult to the character of Deadpool tho.

But when he got his own movie he was just Ryan Reynolds, and i know, i know "ofc he is, he's played by Ryan" sure but....that just feels off for me, and i wanted to know why, and i think i got it.

Firstly it's the way he talks, Ryan has this tone of voice that doesn't fit the way Wade usualy talks in the comics, his kinda high smooth sarcastic tone feels off to me. Partly because Wade doesn't sound like that at all, Wade has a very rough voice, sounding like Demi Moore, his voice sounds like wet gravel, according to Cable and Blind Al. Ellie, his daughter, said his voice sounds weird, whitch Wade said it's because of the scar tissue.

Also the way he talks, his jokes and the tone of his voice doesn't fit the DP energy. Fabian Nicieza, Deadpools co-creator and writer of most of his 90s appereances before Kelly wrote the first run, said he imaged Wade to sound like Denis Leary, whitch for the ones not aware, is a very unhinged and agressive sounding man, and it fits perfectly the way he talks.

Also Fox!Wade's humor isn't really the same as comics!Wade, movie Wade uses references, complicated swears and names with alot of sarcasm. Comics Wade meanwhile?

Not so much, he also doesn't even break the 4th wall as often usualy, some of those aren't even too obvious 4th wall breaks.

One thing i feel like the movies got right is Wades softness, he's a very emotional man, especialy when it comes to relationships and other people.

One thing the moves didn't quite get right is Wade and his violence problems, in his first comics he was fighting with his violence, his past, he was trying to be better after years of being a villian, and that change is often brought by his nee crush or love interest or idol, because he wants to be better for them, even if he usualy doesn't feel worthy of their love, yet he tries and tries.

There was a deleted scene in one of the movies where he and Vanessa were in Mexico and Wade lost it and killed the scamming doctor and it perfectly showed Wades issues.

His relationships were also all made simpler, Weasel is his fuctional friend, Ness is his girlfriend, Al is his funny roommate and friend. Back then Wade and his relationships weren't simple, he was like Moon Knight, he experimented, he wasn't very known, he was allowed to be odd and weird and out there. And i blame the game tbh, because now the movie was heavily influenced by what the internet thinks Deadpool is and the character is suffering for it now. Maybe i am just a jaded edgy 18yo but that's how i feel.

Now you're propably thinking what would my solution be, well i got a solution in mind, but you most likely won't wanna hear it...but i will still tell you in the next post.

[zahri-melitor]

All the discussion of the guts of the video

This has been floating around my head for months now, particularly a few of the sequences. I had the shape of the pacing of the verses, particularly the Barbara introduction very early on, as well as knowing what issues I was going to rely heavily on for material.

I really wanted to use Something Just Like This as it's both an excellent song to set a ship to, but it also of course allowed a bunch of massive ironic moments for various lyrics.

I wanted it to be set in a pre-Flashpoint universe, so that Barbara was still Oracle. Which made finding enough DickBabs panels for the opening verse somewhat of a challenge, as I was only allowing myself pre-1988 material, legitimate flashbacks, and dream sequences. Batgirl Year One, you will always be famous (and have a very useful kiss). But I succeeded and I didn't even give in to the impulse when I was one panel short to use a Barbara and Jason panel from Gotham Knights #43, even though I was really really tempted. Instead I went through Batman Family from the 1970s and found something I could shoehorn in that sounded shippy.

I did use Lil Gotham, even though it's technically a n52 comic AND an alternate universe. But it has a bunch of very cute DickBabs moments with her wheelchair in them, putting it firmly into the storyline I was trying to convey. That's why all of the Lil Gotham scenes (apart from the one flashback) went into the post-proposal section.

We'll just say in terms of the story told in the video, Dick and Babs actually got back together following the proposal instead of what actually happened, and then they had many cute moments together as a couple.

Stuff I really want to point you at and go 'did you see did you see' because I had too much fun with it:-

'Achilles and his gold' - Bruce is of course Achilles here, and his Achilles heel has always been Dick, the boy wearing a gold cape.

'Spider-Man's control and Batman with his fists' - this was another really really early scene I knew. I wanted the World's Finest circus scene with Dick on the trapeze and Bruce catching him. To have Batman's 'fists' in this scene not be punching, but be catching, with all of the imagery that surrounds Dick and his issues about catching people? Yeeeeessss.

'And clearly I don't see myself upon that list. But she said, where'd you wanna go?' - this came together when I was picking panels. I wanted a lovely ironic moment for Dick about how he doesn't see himself as Batman, so the costume transition panel looked SO GOOD for that. And then...I remembered Dick and Babs' first meeting in Robin Year One actually contains the line 'Dad! Are you ready to go yet?!'. And the panels line up so it looks like Dick is sprinting away from Bruce to Barbara, particularly given where the blank white space is.

And then we launch into Batgirl Year One, the main anchor of good DickBabs content prior to both of their costume changes. It's very important to me that I put the giggling panel AFTER the kiss as 'I want something just like this' - what they want is not just the romance but the comfort and trust around each other.

Despite using Batgirl Year One, I still wanted librarian!Barbara with her multiple degrees, so we got two panels of that.

I am SO PROUD to have got oath scenes for both Dick and Babs into this, and I find it amusing I put them on different lines for each of Dick and Barbara. Dick got "the legends and the myths" because his candle oath is such an important part of the mythology of Batman. But Barbara's is on "the testaments they told", because for her the important part of the legends and the myths was choosing to wear an urban legend's costume to the party, while swearing fit best with the testaments.

'The moon and its eclipse' - this was the anchor the entire video revolved around. I had to acknowledge TKJ to get to Oracle, and that line was absolutely perfect. I also went through a BUNCH of panels to decide which one I wanted for the scene, but ultimately picked Gail Simone's n52 retelling, because that one doesn't include imagery of Barbara being shot; it just has the threat.

'And Superman unrolls a suit before he lifts' - this gave me SO MUCH ANGST let me tell you. I actually wanted to use the scenes of Clark flying Barbara for medical treatment in BOP #71 and #85, because I've always loved that moment - Dinah calls Clark in and Clark officially doesn't even know who Babs is at that point, but she's got deadly Brainiac Virus so they're going to do everything they can. And it worked for storytelling as it would be 'Superman transports Barbara Gordon after being shot'. But the associated panels were far less clear than in my memory. So instead I gave 'Superman' to Jim Gordon, and then launched into Oracle Year One and Bruce being a creeper (as opposed to the time he's a creeper during Brainiac. He likes sneaking through the window to stare at Barbara when she's ill).

'But I'm not the kind of person that it fits' this was just perfect for Barbara, because from here on out she doesn't wear a costume. She's Oracle. But teaming it with Oracle Year One and the fact that Babs still learnt new self defense afterwards makes the point that she hasn't stopped fighting.

And then we launch into the extremely Oracle Green scenes, showing off her competency. Including the fun of the 'cover the eyes' moment after an eyes focused panel. I was really happy to find something that worked for Barbara as Oracle and also for 'some fairytale bliss', because a LOT of backlit green computer scenes have grumpy or annoyed Barbara.

'Somebody I can miss' had to be the reunion during Cataclysm. Dick fought his way into Gotham to check on Barbara. They'd both been working so hard not to worry about the other as they did their jobs. And, of course, it made the perfect platform to launch into the most sick!fic of all DickBabs issues - the pair during NML after he gets out of Blackgate.

Which then leads into Joker Last Laugh and the NICE bit of their celebratory roadtrip right before Barbara gets the call from Dinah that that plot started. I adore I managed to line it up so the view on the drive appears just as the music calms, relaxing you. So we can have a lovely dinner followed by the 'Dick and Babs totally had sex' sleepover issues.

Third verse actually was ALWAYS going to be Our Worlds at War, because I think the Nightwing issue of it is underrated in terms of how blatantly shippy it is. Also the narrative of the issue actually fits the verse lyrics pretty well. It's one of Barbara's more badass workout gear looks that she tends to have during the issues when she's got to do things in person.

And of course I wanted to end the third verse with the proposal. Because proposal! I didn't want it too early, because I wanted everything after it to look like DickBabs in a stable, loving, long term relationship. Which is why we get the two shippy flying scenes (with catching! gotta have Dick catching imagery, combined with Barbara letting go of control), then I use 'Happy Birthday' to draw them over to Lil Gotham and Dick about to hand Barbara a present.

Having Lil Gotham here was really fun actually, as it's a continuity that has both Oracle AND DickBabs as a stable background fact, and just a bunch of cute moments between the two.

Then finally... a massive compilation storyline where I pull scenes from all over. After running reasonably canonically through a bunch of earlier storylines, putting together one that's just about the comfort Babs finds in having Dick around was really fun for me (also my Barbara stan nature confirmed)