#Never Fall Never Rise

[myheartismadeofstars]

Never Fall, Never Rise

An AU where XL didn't ascend...but that doesn't mean everything is okay

Cults spring up convinced he's a god even though he isn't, leaving the awkward situation where his father can either anger the Heavens or the rapidly growing population of people who worship his son...(spoiler: he chooses the people)

XL ends up being constantly in danger of people trying to "prove" his divinity.

Things this story includes:

Characters all living at the same time for the fun of it (also I wanted SQX and the Xianle Trio interactions) and worldbuilding to fit

HC growing up and not dying (also finding a way to circumvent his fate and becoming immortal adjacent) (obviously he joins the baby cults for a bit before leaving)

Examinations of characters' families whether mentioned or not (including HX and FX and to a degree HC's as well)

Rivals to lovers Fengqing

XL & QYZ friendship (and salty AF QR)

HC getting what he deserves~ (he gotta work for it though)

Hualian together (like around each other, not romantically) pretty much since the Land of the Tender incident

HC living a double life since he's about 16 lol (one as Wu Ming, the loyal bodyguard and brat and the other as Lord Hua, the self made city master who everyone is afraid of)

HC using magic as a human (mostly glamours for himself and E-ming but occasionally making magical items like his dice as well)

JL is FX's legal concubine (for her own protection, he didn't want to take one) and Cuocuo gets to live and grow

No one dying unnecessarily (that doesn't mean no one suffers...)

And much more!!

However: I should warn you that this is an Omegaverse au (it wasn't supposed to be but it ended up making the most sense for ONE THING and the worldbuilding got away from me.)

[quietwingsinthesky]

im just saying that if i had been in charge of s6 of doctor who, i would have fully leaned into the horror of amy's pregnancy, the loss of her own agency in it, the way she was used as a vessel to create a child she would never hold again, amy pond who never indicated once that she even wanted a child and was made to have one anyway against her will, and once they were done using her, they even took away any choice she might make about it in the future.

and i would have had this be a factor in amy and river's relationship going forward. how do you interact with a child you never knew, never got to decide if you wanted to have, and she's also already your friend, you love her as this miraculous, insane woman who has saved your life more than once. she's always known more about you than you could about her, but now you know exactly how much she was keeping from you. it's not like she could have told you, could have stopped it, but all this time, she was your friend and she was your daughter, and how do you learn to live with her?

[zu-is-here]

Selfish request of Dreammare pls ?

Pygmalion

idea by @clownyclowns

Dream & Nightmare by jokublog

+ the perfect finger sketch :'D

[strawberryswirlix]

[citrusai]

taash said "they were doing it" and people ran with the interpretation of an npc that doesn't know solas or the history of the elvhenan even when bellara interjected and said, no, that's not right. that's not how it was for the elvhenan. they formed bonds before they had physical bodies. and people ran to doompost or create weird anti-solavellan shit even though mythal & solas refer to each other as old friends and when she releases him there is no tenderness or love in it. it is the act of unchaining a dog from his post, the stepping down of a general. but to each their own ig.

[nordidia]

what? they were eepy! what is he gonna do, sue them? (he would take it to court actually nvm)

[turtleblogatlast]

[ cw: death mention / strangulation mention / stabbing mention / blood mention / self-sacrifice / codependency mention in tags / ]

I think a lot about how common it is for Raph to be the one to have direct focus put on him when Leo gets into all his near death experiences.

Like, when Leo is thrown off a building, it’s Raph who’s right there jumping after him, not even thinking about the consequences to himself when he does. When Leo almost gets skewered by the Krang, Raph’s right there to take the blow and send Leo to safety without a second thought. When Leo’s being strangled to near death, it’s a Krangified Raph doing the job, doing exactly what Raph would never, ever want to do. When Leo is telling Casey Jr to close the portal, it’s Raph who tries desperately to convince Leo otherwise.

Likewise, Leo is consistently very single minded when Raph gets forcibly separated from them. Both when in the sewers and by the Krang, Leo is dead set on finding Raph first and foremost.

I also think it’s interesting that during each of Leo’s near death experiences, the lightheartedness of his words during them goes directly hand in hand with both how close Raph is to him physically and how much danger Raph is also in in that moment. From a literal “I told you so” as Leo’s falling away from Raph to a soft joke about how “hero moves” are Raph’s style - both of these are on the more morbidly carefree side and both of these notably take Leo farther away from Raph and, in turn, have Raph not in immediate danger.

On the other side of things is the apology from Leo, heedless of the danger he himself is in as he seriously and genuinely speaks to a Krangified Raph face to face. Then there’s Leo’s freezing and desperation as Raph takes a hit meant for him and sends just Leo to safety, leaving Raph himself behind. Both of these involve much closer proximity and Raph being directly harmed - these together make Leo much more vulnerable in his words and actions, something not even the threat of death can make him.

These two care about each other so much, and they’re way too much alike for their own good.

[cherubchoirs]

introductions

[writerbuddha]

Revenge of the Sith ends with the setting twin suns and the baby twins, sending the message of hope: just like one can't stop the suns from setting, one can't stop them from rising either.

[jays-supersonic-dynamo]

amnesia was her name. she had beautiful eyes.

[crypticmessengergoblin]

[wonder-worker]

I've been thinking about the tragedy of Elizabeth Woodville living to see the end of her family name.

I don't mean her family with her husband, which lived on through her daughter and grandson. I mean her own.

Her sisters died, one by one, many of them after 1485. When Elizabeth died, only Katherine was left, and she would die before the turn of the century as well.

All her brothers died, too. Lewis died in childhood. John was executed. Anthony was murdered. Lionel died suddenly in the peak of Richard's reign, unable to see his niece become queen. Edward perished at war. Richard died in grieving peace. For all the violence and judgement the family endured, it was "an accident of biology" that ended their line: none of the brothers left heirs, and the Woodville name was extinguished. We know the family was aware of this. We know they mourned it, too:

“Buy a bell to be a tenor at Grafton to the bells now there, for a remembrance of the last of my blood.”

Elizabeth lived through the deposition and death of her young sons, and lived to see the end of her own family name. It must have been such a haunting loss, on both sides.

[cursedcatchild]

So, here is a little art since it's spooky season.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

It's such a cruel thing to be afraid of yourself.

Even though Ed is realistically one of the least violent characters in a show about violent pirates, and we're beaten over the head with that over and over again, he's horrified by his capacity for violence at the same time as he often feels he's defined by it. He's getting so much better by the end of season 2, but he's internalized a view of himself as a hyper-violent monster to the point where that's just not going to be going away overnight.

I imagine Ed measuring their strides as he and Stede walk down to the market, trying to reassure himself that Stede could outrun him if he needed to. He tells Stede that he's hiding their old stock of weapons under the bed just in case of an emergency and puts them all under Stede's side so Stede would reach them first. Having those bad moods that all people have and worrying that he should hide himself away or try to restrain himself somehow, because obviously he'd never ever want to hurt Stede, but he's been told over and over again that he's insane and erratic, so he can't trust how he feels. Keeps his meals light because it'll be safer for everyone if he's weak.

And I imagine all those fears and that self-hatred slowly getting chipped away. Stede asks him to give him a tattoo, when Ed waffles about how it might hurt a bit Stede laughs and says "you'd never hurt me." Bringing home a tiny scrap of a kitten he found shivering out in the rain, looking at that tiny thing in his hands and realizing it's not afraid of him and it has no reason to be. Having a stupid domestic spat and realizing that neither of them even really raised their voices at each other, just got a bit bitchy for twenty minutes and then apologized.

Just...getting to see that he's a gentle man and not a monster.

[tequiilasunriise]

“Oh! My cheeks must be malfunctioning! They’re so hot!”

BABY’S FIRST CRUUUSSSHHHHHH 🏳️‍🌈‼️🏳️‍🌈✨‼️🏳️‍🌈✨‼️‼️🏳️‍🌈‼️‼️