#Primary Universe

[butchvaderkin]

thinking about anakin's line we don't have to run away anymore as a motivation for anakin's actions. yes, he was mostly focused on "saving" padme from death, but there's less discussion of what he envisioned for their lives together after. rule the galaxy together, sure, but i think we don't have to run away anymore is a deeper and more tragic cut.

there's little exploration in ROTS of how anakin conceptualized their lives post-baby, mostly that he was avoiding confronting the issue. we know padme wanted to run away by the end, but anakin would understandably have found this an impossible prospect. he's the chosen one, maybe the most important jedi to ever live, he's functioned since childhood as a political tool, this isn't just his duty but his destiny. palpatine offers anakin a possibility for saving padme's life, yes, but through suggestion, also offers anakin the only attainable possibility for remaining both the chosen one and padme's husband. the father to her child.

i spend a lot of time thinking about how anakin was never allowed to use his love for his family to empower himself and his contributions to the galaxy (until ROTJ obv). its not just anakin's romantic love that palpatine weaponizes but his familial love. the promise of it. i think this is also why i find effective thematic continuity between the prequel trilogy and andor, as andor deals with many of the same questions. do you fight for the benefit of your family? or must you relinquish your family for the good of the fight?

what might that choice do to a person?

[nando161mando]

This is happening in Louisiana.

[bugwolfsstuff]

Hey do you think it was weird for the Kronides (excluding Zeus obvi) not being constantly touching/up against each other after being thrown up by Kronos because they were in a tight enclosed space that probably didn't grant them enough room to not be touching since infanthood.

Do you think it was awkward those first few days? Do you think they slept in the same bed, unable to fall asleep apart? Or were they immediately putting distance from each other when they got out and gained space? Do you think they had to learn how to use their legs?

Baby deer learning to walk ass gods, their motor skills were probably shit😭 Zeus was probably teasing them like:

Zeus: Stand up for yourselves! *snort* Oh wait you can't—FUCK

Hades: *grabs his ankles and pulls him down*

@meepmoopmaap @unubinary Am having thoughts about the Kronides again😭 I cannot hate them if I tried.

[calypsolemon]

my little headcanon is that despite all the possible negative associations he could have with it, Steven still goes out of his way to wear the color pink because it reminds him of the overwhelming self-love he felt when embracing his seperated self. He might have originally worn the color in a passive attempt to emulate his mother at first, but now it's a reminder of how much he isn't her, and how desperately he wanted to be himself when he fell apart. A comforting thought when he is otherwise feeling self-doubt.

[agentlove]

side note i love those pretentious ass posts that are like "autistic people name one special interest of yours that's not 🙅‍♂️🙅‍♂️MEDIA🙅‍♂️🙅‍♂️" because they have complexes about being on the fandom website. because how do you define media. am i still a cringe fandom blogger for being autistic about commercials. those are media. am i an uncool brainrotted autistic who needs to stop watching steven universe and watch real grownup shows like house md because mark gill is my wholesome 100 blorbo babygirl

[captainjonnitkessler]

Off-topic but i know you posts about this before: Can I ask why you blame left for Trump? The democrats kept moving right with every successful election so it makes sense to withhold left votes cause they're just going to keep moving further right until they're also far-right and then you might as well have Trump anyway

I primarily blame Trump voters for Trump, but I'm angry at non-voters for three reasons:

The Trump administration is openly fascist. They are openly running concentration camps. Thousands of people are currently suffering through unjust deportations, false imprisonment and legal persecution, and literally being sent to concentration camps, and tens of thousands more will suffer in the future until we can root out this administration. These people are not acceptable losses in order to "teach the Democrats a lesson", and you're goddamn right I'm furious that now we have to dig out an entrenched fascist government because of 'well actually both parties are the same" bullshit.

Refusing to vote doesn't show the Democrats that they need to move left in order to win elections, it shows them that the left doesn't vote so they may as well focus their attention on the centrists who DO vote in every election but who are potentially able to be persuaded to vote differently. That's also not a good strategy imo, but I have to admit I see logic!

We already have a mechanism in place to force the Democrats to the left. That's what the primary system is for! Progressives are already out there running for office in the Democratic party! But unfortunately progressive policies are not as popular as people on tumblr and bluesky think they are, and most people are not tuned in enough to politics to know or care about voting in primaries. THAT'S what we need to change if we really want to see progressive politics on a national scale.

Ultimately I don't think leftists not voting is what let Trump win. I think it was general political apathy. Lots of people just vote based on name recognition or political identity without knowing or caring about the candidates. And incumbents lost across the world after covid because when inflation rises and supply chains break down, people will vote against whoever was in charge at the time no matter how little control they had over it. Biden did an incredible job of soft-landing the pandemic without causing a recession, and Democrats got punished for it because people just saw grocery prices go up and figured "damn, Democrats suck, next time I'll give the other guys a shot". Now Trump is causing prices to rise and people are already saying "damn, Republicans suck, next time I'll give the other guys a shot".

However, Trump and the MAGA movement didn't spring out of nowhere. They're the result of decades of the far-right organizing and voting en masse in local elections, showing up and being loud at their city council and school board meetings, coalescing around strategic candidates, and ever so slowly pulling the Overton Window in their direction. Until and unless leftists start committing to doing the same then yes, I think they care more about cosplaying as cool rebels who are above the system than they do about effecting actual change.

[gilearstimboards]

---

Regressor!Robin (LEGO Batman 2 Game) Stimboard

Made for: anon

With a sneaky little reference to my friend who loves DC. :)

Credits: x x x | x x x | x x x

[jelliebugs]

My favorite drink at Universal it’s the best drink!

[crowttore]

Modern AU prof!Dottore x postdoc!Celeste - short first meeting under cut but it got too long for me to leave on dash without cut so hdgjkasdhg

"Twenty minutes early for the morning lecture," the man by the lectern shook his head, unusually crimson eyes barely sparing Celeste a glance, "take a seat and be quiet. And don't expect any goodwill from kissing ass."

Celeste crossed her arms, taking a deep breath to not snap at the man who had to be her new boss first thing in the morning. Keeping her expression carefully neutral, she ventured into the auditorium, relishing the evident frustration from the older man when she turned to him and not the seats.

"What a pleasure to meet you physically at last," she reached out a gloved hand, undeterred by his indifference, "we spoke on call, remember? I couldn't get my webcam to work for the interview?"

She almost wanted to grin as recognition flashed through the man's, Zandik's, eyes.

"You are Dr. Beauregard?" The question was laced with not quite condescension, but close enough that Celeste retracted her hand before he continued, "You barely look old enough to be starting a PhD and yet you're claiming to be the new postdoc? Very funny, now stop interrupting my preparations and take a damned seat miss."

This time, there was no amount of deep breaths that could have prevented Celeste from hissing, reaching forward and slamming his computer shut. "Listen here and listen well, you have exactly one minute to apologise or I swear I will have every student of yours filing complaints about this course by the end of the semester."

His wry chuckle caught her off-guard, "Dr. Dottore, and the pleasure is all mine." Celeste glared as his demeanor changed in an instant, his lips quirking up in a dangerous smile, "I believe we will make an excellent team."

[primaris-1]

Zemris Aammos! Also known as 'Her Ladyship', or Rusakis' Ancestor! Shes outlived several empires, so nobody is quite sure exactly how old she is, but it's generally several something-millions. Old old woman.

[wisteria-lodge]

Hey there! I was wondering if you could help me with a writing quandary I'm coming up against currently? Do you know how to write a badger primary protagonist so that they're not.... kind of boring??

For a bit of background, I have a character in a story I'm writing who I've decided is a badger primary, but when I try to write about his moral reasoning, it all just comes out as flat stock phrases. I've never really known a healthy and kind badger primary (though I did grow up around a lot of authoritarian badgers who I was absolutely on the receiving end of dehumanization from - part of the reason I'm writing him as a badger is to challenge my own experiences there), so I'm falling back on the whole "Overly Ideal Hero" thing and it's just not working. When I try to add more complexity to this character's actions, he either ends up being a bird primary (like me) who has a very badger looking system or if I try to lean more heavily loyalist, he ends up being a snake primary (like my younger sister who's also my best friend) who has a broad definition of his people.

Basically, how do you write a badger primary who's not crying over puppies and kittens and doing the whole "why can't we just get along like in middle school?" speech from Mean Girls constantly, while also not having them veer into being a bird or snake? Thanks!

There can be a kind of fascinating sadness to a Badger primary. They draw their personal strength from their chosen community, even when they know their community is flawed - the same way a Snake sticks with their Person even when they're wrong and failable. Badgers are romantics, and Badgers are patriots. They are loyal to this almost spiritual core idea of what their county ought to be - and can sometimes bring the ideal and the reality closer together, through sheer willpower.

I had a fantastic time writing Elim Garak, a incredibly morally gray interrogator/spy from a sort of sci-fi West Berlin. The tragedy of him is that he believes the propaganda, so when he sees his country stray too far he defects, in order to save it from itself. But he never stops being a patriot, and a lot of his conflicts revolve around whether he is able to adopt a second community and/or forgive himself for potentially betraying his first.

Clark Kent is absolutely a puppies-and-kittens Badger primary, but what's wonderful about him is he still feels loyal to his original community (Krypton) - which he cannot be a part of because it no longer exists. He loves his adopted community (Earth) with all his heart, but because he is a Badger, he is so conscious of the fact that he is an outsider - and specifically an outsider with the potential to be a gigantic threat. So he is hyper, hyper aware of the power dynamics surrounding him at all times. It gives everything he does this weight, because he is just. so. careful. Spock is another torn-between-two-incompatible-communities Badger, which is always a good premise, and his sparring partner Dr. McCoy is a Badger... constantly running into situations where he can't save everyone. But he just keeps getting back up. (complaining the whole time, or course.) I'd put Mad-Eye Moody in that same category - just wrote a fun thing with him.

Draco Malfoy actually has a very loud Badger primary, in contrast to his Snake primary parents. He actually believes all that stuff about the continuity and importance of the Malfoy name, and it's not okay for Voldemort to undermine it even if Draco himself would personally benefit and get a lot of power out of the exchange. I do have a big huge fic about post-war Draco coming, and one thing I really enjoyed was the way Draco needs to adapt the tradition and family history that gives him so much power and stability - into something that can still exist in a post-Voldemort world.

Universal Badgers are great when they're interacting with something the majority of their world doesn't consider a person. I loved writing Eddie Brock because... of course the homeless lady is a person, and so is the security guard, and the cashier at the convenience store, and yep the black goo monster symbiote, he's a person too. So when Venom gloms onto his head, and learns how to relate to humanity through Eddie, that's the lesson he learns, and Eddie becomes Venom's equal partner.

Contrast him with the villain of the first Venom movie, the very Elon-Musk coded Carlton Drake. Drake's issue is that he fundamentally sees people as expendable, so when he gets his own symbiote... of course Riot learns that people are expendable. So Drake becomes merely a body that Riot controls. Which, in the end, is why they lose.

[dayntee]

[Fic Preview] A Veiled Heart

So, I missed Bellara week because I was SUPER busy adjusting to the life changes that come with a new job. My intention was to have finished the first chapter of what I've called my "bodice ripper" fanfiction in the past by the time we reached Day 7 for the Free For All.

That didn't happen. It's close, but not finished. Still, Bellara deserves to be celebrated, so I thought I'd drop the summary, fore word, and stage setting as a teaser and maybe to generate interest. As we know, all authors are fueled on positive reinforcement, so... uhh, lemme know if you like what you see!

Summary: Bellara Lutare wasn't ready for her adventure to be over. Lingering in the lonely halls of the Lighthouse after the final battle in Minrathous, she decides to use all the resources she has available to do what she does best:

Write smutty fanfiction.

A retelling of a Solavellan playthrough from Inquisition through Veilguard through the eyes of Bellara, and featuring snippets from the sources she's gathered for her mostly historically accurate account.

Rating: Explicit (eventually)

Length: Novel/Novella; multi-chapter longfic

Pairings: (primarily) Solas x Female Rogue Lavellan; (light) DavRook

Preview under the break.

*****

Never in my life did I think I’d have the honor of digging into as renown a Dalish hero’s history than that of Inquisitor Lavellan. Though we crossed paths only a few times and quite briefly, her journey was remarkable and brings modern prestige to our People among so many more unflattering tales.

My time as a member of the Veilguard allowed me privileged access to many of Lavellan’s former cohorts, advisers, and friends. While some knew her better or more intimately than others, there were always going to be gaps to fill. Having personally been present for her reunion with Solas (or Fen’Harel as the People know him), I may have taken a few creative liberties… but in the face of the passion and irrefutable love that passed between them in those few intense moments, who could blame me?

Before you accuse me of embellishing for sensationalism’s sake, may I remind the reader that I am not the first to expound upon this couple’s romantic entanglements. It is rumored that the Inquisitor herself provided the personal accounts used to write and illustrate the Randy Dowager Annual: Inquisition Exposed. I can’t presume to know the truth of those claims. What I have done in lieu of verified resources is compared details between their publication and the personal accounts I’ve received and carried over any corroborated content as a result.

That said, if you enjoyed that particular issue, you’re bound to enjoy this (slightly) more historically accurate read.

As one last word, on behalf of the Veilguard, an organization of heroes who’d never have come to know each other without him, I’d like to dedicate this work to the memory of Varric Tethras. While we never personally met, you were an inspiration in this work and my other literary pursuits. You’ve inspired so many as an author, a hero, a viscount, a leader, a mentor, and most importantly—a friend. The foundation of the Veilguard not only gave me purpose, but an even greater gift of a second family.

You are missed and will be forever remembered.

Bellara Lutare

*****

Bellara dropped her quill into its ink pot and stretched back, cracking her knuckles over her head. In the weeks following the events in Minrathous, the rest of the Veilguard had scattered to their own devices. Bellara, however, hadn’t yet felt ready to depart the Lighthouse. It had come to feel too much like home, and the weight of other choices awaiting her with the Veil Jumpers, especially regarding the archival of the Nadas Dirthalan, were too much to bear just yet.

She needed the distraction.

The decision to document this particular story was one she took more seriously than anyone might assume looking at the project at surface level. It was also largely an excuse to stay in the Lighthouse until she was done. In a way, it was her method of grieving the end of her own epic adventure. Events had unfolded so quickly in the past few months until they suddenly were over. Minrathous was being rebuilt, other members of the team had departed the Lighthouse for one reason or another, and Bellara… Bellara was left to her own devices with no particularly clear path forward.

She frowned. She hated not having a goal to work towards and was keenly aware that her writing was taking that role now. It was, perhaps, the wrong way to deal with her feelings. Really, it was a form of avoidance. But it was keeping her focused and busy and away from the emptiness in her chest at a sudden loss of purpose and drive.

“It’s… probably a good time for some tea,” she smiled apologetically to no one in particular; she was, after all, alone. Even Rook had left the Lighthouse about a week ago, wrapping up loose ends with the various groups and factions with which they’d forged alliances. The only company she found these days were the roaming wisps that still clung around Neve’s former office, the occasional Curiosity spirit checking in on the suddenly empty spaces, an awkward exchange with the Curator, and the Nadas Dirthalen itself… which was hardly welcome company and more often a source of frustration.

She grabbed the first annotated stack of parchment she’d acquired and made her way to the kitchen. Thankfully, Lucanis had made a point to stock the pantry well before his departure to Treviso, promising to return on occasion to ensure Bellara didn’t “fail to feed herself properly.” A smile tugged at her lips; his concern wasn’t unfounded, and even now, her stomach rumbled in protest as she realized breakfast was long past and she’d forgotten to prepare herself a lunch. Between the nebulousness of the Fade and her tendency to fixate, she was prone to losing track of time.

After putting together a plate of dried fruits and a few hearty slices of Feraldan cheese (why did the Lighthouse have so many wheels of cheese?), she kicked out one of the chairs in front of the hearth and began to rifle through her paperwork.

“Guess I should start where it all began,” she mumbled around a bite of dried pear, her eyes flitting over the official Inquisitorial Report of one Cassandra Pentaghast.

[hekate-brimo2]

forgive me, I’ve just rewatched Steven Universe

but I think I have an idea. I think Pink Diamond is an Off-Color, probably the first. In the season/series finale “Change Your Mind,” White Diamond speaks about the diamonds as though they are a color-scheme. Yellow’s impurities don’t allow her to absorb blue light, and Blue lacks warmth because of hers. Yellow, Blue, White and Pink aren’t a recognized color-scheme though, at least not as far as I’m aware of, you know what is though? Yellow, Blue, and Red, the primary colors, the ones all other colors come from? Pink should’ve been Red, she was the first Off-Color, the first Gem of all Gem-Kind to come out “Wrong.” No wonder she was so small compared to the other diamonds, no wonder she couldn’t do anything right for them, they knew she was wrong from the moment she was made.

[elavoria]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @sylvienerevarine, @sheirukitriesfandom, @theoneandonlysemla, @dirty-bosmer, and @madam-whim, thank you all! I tag you all back for next time as well as @nostalgic-breton-girl, @vervayyn, and @illumiera~

Having Unselm gently tease Isanna is one of the easiest things in the world for me to do, so have a little of that while she’s standing guard over him while her teammates clear the way for him:

“If anything happens,” she said, watching him carefully, “I need you to get behind me.” His mouth twitched into a smile as he looked back at her, and he said, “I have my bombs, you know.” His smile faltered as she continued to stare, and he heaved a sigh and added, “They won’t help me if I have a seizure. You’re right.” “I won’t risk your life, Unselm,” she said, her voice soft and serious. “I promised Lady Heidmarch to see you back safely. If that means shielding you with my own body, then so be it.” He regarded her for a moment, then smiled again. “It would seem you chose the right profession,” he remarked. “You’d be the most intense cleric I’ve ever met, otherwise.” It was her mouth’s turn to twitch upward into a wry smile, though she couldn’t fault him for the assessment. “I asked my first mentors far too many questions about when it’s appropriate to smite people to be a cleric,” she admitted. “That in addition to what you’ve already experienced of my… interpersonal manner. I’m too analytical to help people in a more traditional way, but I can still protect them from evil.” “With a little adventuring on the side,” he said, gesturing at the broken doors leading into the Crow. “Who knows what evil might be lurking in these ancient places,” she returned gravely. “We already know the shards are cursed.” “Exactly as I said,” he said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. “Very intense.”

[severussnapemylove]

World building question: Where do wizarding children go to primary school? Muggle children go to standard school like Harry and Hermione, but what about kids like Ron and Draco? Is it homeschool and tutors? Is there any standardisation? Everyone appears to read and write at a similar level when they start Hogwarts.

[kinneys]

jason and marie: touch