#They somehow travel back in time & makes it everyone elses problem

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt in Memes 6

Let's make it some in-world memes this time :)

[iliketangerines]

Baraka. Baraka in severe heat. Baraka and the reader going at it like rabbits. Baraka biting. Biting. Baraka getting full nelson crazy.

That’s it. Just Baraka being an absolute monster in the sheets.

thirst for you

a/n: you ain't a monster fucker if you don't fw baraka

pairing: baraka x afab!reader

warnings: nsfw (MDNI), nipple play, overstimulation, full nelson, biting kink, slight blood

you’re an Earthrealmer that had stayed behind in Outworld after Shang Tsung had tried to take over the realms, intent on exploring Outworld and providing aid to those in need

specifically, as an Earthrealmer with healing prowess magically and medicinally, you offered your services to help those with Tarkat

Mileena had agreed almost immediately, needing a cure for her own Tarkat and to help the Tarkatan colonies even further

you’re quick and efficient, finding out that Earthrealmers could not be affected by Tarkat because the cellular processes differed, and so you did a lot of hands-on work with the Tarkatan colonies with finding a cure

more importantly, you always correspond with Baraka, act respectfully, and use much more gentle means than Shang Tsung

right now, you’ve traveled to the camp with a new medicine meant to alleviate the symptoms of Tarkat

it isn’t a cure, but it was better than having to deal with the excruciating pain of the affliction every part of the day

Baraka watches you as you administer the medicine to the camp, carefully prepping their skin for injection and then quickly giving them the shot

there’s a small kid that had somehow survived the first stages of Tarkat, and you pat their head and tell them that they did a wonderful job

you fish something out of your pocket, an Earthrealm candy, and hand it to the child, who beams up at you with a large smile before running off to go back to their home

soon enough, everyone in camp had taken the medicine, and you go up to Baraka with the rest of the medicine and ask if there are any doctors in the camp

he nods and leads to one of the few in camp, and you hand over the rest of the vials of medicine, instructing them on how long to wait for the next shot, when it expires, and etc.

finally, you finish and look up to Baraka, and he nods at you, eying the lowering sun in the distance

he’s not sure if he should ask you to stay for the night, if you would be comfortable, but the woods were much more dangerous when the sun had set

hesitantly, he says that you should stay, that you can travel back to Sun Do tomorrow during the day so that he can escort you when the woods were safer

you glance at the lowering sun, night time already starting fall on the camp, and you agree, asking him where you should sleep

Baraka isn’t sure what comes over him, but he blurts out that you can stay with him, his home in the camp was quite spacey being the leader and all

you look a bit surprised, but then you smile and ask him to lead the way

he nods and starts walking back to his place with you right next to him making small talk, asking how the colony was doing, how Mileena was treating them, and anything else you could possibly think of

Baraka answers, taking his time, and the walk back to him home is quick

it’s a simple house made with mud and brick with one big living space in the middle, and a private space for the restroom but still rather spacious

he enters and gestures for you to sit by the middle fireplace, where he draws his swords and sparks a small light to get the warmth going

you sigh in appreciation and thank him for inviting you into his home, and Baraka says that you’re welcome anything and that you’ve just done so much for the community

you wave him off and say that it was no problem, that this is what you were born for, this is what your magic was useful for and you would fully use that ability

he sighs and still bows to you in respect before heading over to the chests and taking out an extra bedroll for you

handing it over to him, you smile and thank him, unrolling it before you scream

Baraka whips around, swords unsheathing as he looks for a hidden threat, and you look sheepish as he looks at the moths that had flown out of the bedroll, holes littered all throughout the cloth

he clears his throat and resheathes the blades, and he walks over to you to observe the cloth

it’s much too ruined to sleep in now, but it was also his only extra bedroll in his abode

he tells you to sleep in his bedroll in the corner, and you frown at him, telling him that you’ll just sleep by the fire and that this is his home so he should sleep in his own bed

Baraka shakes his head and pushes you gently to his bedroll, and you resist, digging your heels into the dirt

the both of you are at a standstill when you finally ask in a meek voice if he’d like to share the bedroll with you

his face warms, and for once he’s grateful for the teeth as they hide the blush on his face from showing too much

if he shared a bedroll with you, he doesn’t know what might happen

you’re much softer than him, no odd bones or spikes poking out of your skin, and you’re much softer than what Baraka has gotten used to in the past century or so

he clears his throat and says that he shouldn’t, it would not be proper of him, and a small look of disappointment briefly crosses your face before a slight pout appears

you say that you don’t want him to anymore uncomfortable than he has to, especially in his home, and you turn around to look up at him with wide eyes

Baraka lets the gears grind in his head as he hesitates on declining your offer

by the gods, he wants to sleep next to you so badly, to feel your softness and warmth next to him, but at the same time, he doesn’t know if he can resist you if the both of you are in the same bedroll

you say please in a high-pitched whiny voice, and he looks away before sighing and finally relenting to your request

you beam up at him, grabbing onto his hand and dragging him over to the bedroll, and you lean down and pull back the covers

Baraka nearly chokes on his own saliva when you start undressing, taking off your top robes and your pants, leaving you in an undershirt and your underwear

he turns away, pressing his nails into his palm to get himself to calm down, and he waits for the familiar rustle of the blankets before he looks back

you’re buried in the blanket, the length of it engulfing you with its large size, and Baraka has to wave off the lewd thoughts of how he would engulf you as well

clearing his throat, he starts stripping off his robes as well until he’s left in only his pants and underwear, and you can’t keep your eyes off him

your eyes trace the curve of his muscle, the horns sticking out of his skin, and Baraka leans down to get into the bedroll, breaking you out of your trance

you scoot over to make some room for him, but still, the blanket isn’t meant to accommodate two people and so your body smashes right up against his to stay underneath the covers

Baraka tries to stay as still as possible as you squirm and move around to get comfortable, and eventually you settle in close to him, your thigh and arm practically on top of his leg and chest

he tries to keep his breathing shallow to seem as unaffected as possible, and you just snuggle in closer to him, hand moving to rest directly hold onto his shoulder

you’re warm, just as soft as he imagined, and he hopes that you don’t notice how he’s gotten warmer

however, he hears your soft snores soon enough, and he relaxes and tries to get comfortable, focusing his attention away from your fingers holding onto his arm and how your thigh rests atop of yours

staring up at the ceiling, he runs through numbers in his head, repeating small short stories to himself until he feels his eyes droop and his head loll to the side as he falls asleep

the night is dreamless mostly, floating in an empty space that he can rest in, but something pokes and prods at him in his rest

he slowly opens his eyes, blinking away the haziness and freezes as he releases that your head is tucked right underneath his chin

your back is pressed firmly against his chest, and your ass is grinding slowly onto his cock, causing him to just gape down at you as the blood rushes down

Baraka can still hear your snores, the soft sighs of sleep and dreamy breaths, and he can’t move, not with his one hand wrapped around your torso and your hand grabbing onto it like a lifeline

his other arm is underneath your head as well, acting as a secondary pillow for you: he’s fully trapped

you groan in your dream, ass pressing down on him, and he has to let out a slight hiss as his hips buck up instinctively to find more friction

he can feel his fingers twitching, the very base of his core instincts telling him to take you, to fuck you, claim you as his own

Tarkat had brought out the most base instincts in the people it affected, and right now, he was cursing himself for not growing a backbone and declining your offer to sleep in the same bedroll

Baraka tries to take in a deep breath, but unfortunately, now he can smell what you wash your hair with and his cock only grows harder at the scent

he tries to slowly move his arm, but then you whine, holding onto his hand tighter and letting out small pants as you rock your hips backward

you whimper, rubbing your thighs together, and then he hears it, the slight moan of his name

he freezes in his spot, unsure of what to think, but he doesn’t dare to move as you continue to grind down on him in your sleep

his hand twitches, claws digging into your hand, and you whine and whisper out a small what, moving your head to raise it up as you wake up

almost instantaneously, you freeze as you realize the position you’re in, your ass pressed against his cock and your hand grabbing onto his hand like a lifeline

you twitch, almost like you want to get out, but then Baraka holds onto you tighter, not wanting to let you go this time

he hesitates only for a brief moment, but then he asks if you want this, want him, if you’re sure

the gears in your head turn, processing that he held the same feelings for you as you did him, and you turn your head as best as you can to look at him

your lips are parted in surprise, but then you agree with a slight nod of your head

Baraka can’t help it as he moves his hands from under you to hold onto you as he turns onto his back and sits up

you yelp at the sudden movement, your back still pressed against his firm chest, and his hands move to squeeze your chest, pinching at your nipples through your thin undershirt

a small whine escapes from your lips, and you grind your hips down on him as you gasp and moan while he teases your chest

his teeth come down to nip at your skin, leaving the sharp imprint of them in your soft flesh, and he groans at the sight of them

by the gods, he wants to bite you, bite you and draw blood to show everyone that you were his and only his

you continue to whine as he squeezes your chest, and leaning your head back on his shoulder, you beg him to bite you, please, fuck, you need him to bite you

Baraka nearly goes feral at the your begging, and he wastes no time in completing your task for him, sinking his teeth into your flesh just enough to draw blood and show that he was there, that you were his

your body trembles in his arms as he leaves small bites all along you, and your whines are long and loud as you grind into him

one of his hands come down from your chest to move down your panties, and he shreds them with his claws, making you let out a gasp at the show of brute strength

his fingers slide through your folds, and he can feel how wet you are, how your pussy drools with want, and how badly you need him

he brings his fingers up to rub circles into your swollen clit, and you whine at the sensation, trying to grind your hips into his fingers

the sounds you’re making are driving him insane, and he’s slowly losing every bit on his sanity as he continues to rub your clit and listen to you whimper

it’s addicting, like the sweetest music he’s ever heard, and Baraka groans as your ass grinds back into his hard cock

he needs you to cum on his fingers first, to make sure you’re properly wet and relaxed for him, and his fingers speed up, pressing roughly into your clit

you gasp out his name, squirming in his grip and hips bucking forward into his hand to try and get closer and closer

your thighs twitch close as you whine, but he keeps moving his fingers against your sensitive clit, bringing you to your high

you keen loudly and mewl pathetically as you ride out your high on his fingers, head lolling to the side and baring your neck to him

he moves his hand from your chest to pull at the drawstrings of his pants, letting them come loose around his hips

then, he moves both of his hands to wrap underneath your thighs, and you whine and complaint at the loss of pleasure

Baraka ignores your whimpers, standing up in his position, and his pants fall around to his ankles, letting his cock slap against your pussy

you whimper and squirm in his arms, desperate to have him fuck you, and you plead with him in that sweet voice of yours, begging him to please please please fuck you

Baraka pants, nipping at your neck with those sharp teeth of his, and he slowly lines himself up, only thrusting in the tip

you let out a strangled sound, pussy clenching down on the tip of his thick cock, and you make a feeble attempt to squirm and sink down fully onto his length and find that you can’t move in Baraka’s ironclad hold

he moves you up and down, arms flexing with the effort as he sinks you lower and lower onto his cock, and you close your eyes and scrunch your face up in pleasure

with every move of you down on his cock, he hits places you didn’t even know existed and soon enough he’s bottomed out

you tremble in his arms, and Baraka is holding onto only a fraying thread of control as he tries to let you adjust, panting into your ear as he lets the pleasure envelop him

your pussy clenches around him, and you let out a weak please

the thread of his sanity breaks, and he starts fucking into you at a brutal pace, his tip hitting your sweet spot every time

you can only whimper and gasp as he uses you as a toy for his own pleasure, grunting into your ear and saying that you were doing so well for him

the sound of your wet pussy fills the air and drools onto the floor of his abode

but Baraka can’t care, not with your tight cunt wrapped around him so perfectly and sucking him in deeper and deeper

he groans that you’re doing so well for him, such a tight and wet pussy all for him, so soft and pliant underneath his fingertips

you can only moan in agreement, clenching down on him as you cum on his cock this time

Baraka moans out your name at the feeling, hips starting to grow unsteady in their pace as he feels himself reaching his own high

he needs you to come one more time, one more time on his cock, he needs to feel you cum as he cums in you

his grip on your thighs grows tighter as he spreads your legs even farther, and your head lolls back as you let out a small little mewls, too overwhelmed to even say anything

your thighs twitch in his grasp, and your back arches off him, and Baraka groans in your ear to cum for him, cum on his cock like a good pet

it’s all you need as you whine loudly, clenching on his cock and creating a mess on the floor as it drips down

Baraka groans at you squeezing around him, and he thrusts into you, cumming deep inside and rocking his hips into you to ride out both his and your highs

his breaths are unsteady and labored as well as yours, but the both of you eventually calm down

he slowly lets go of one of your thighs, letting you put one foot down and then the other

you moan a little, cock still buried firmly inside your pussy, and Baraka can feel himself twitch at the sound

your legs are shaky, and you can barely hold yourself up as Baraka holds onto your waist to keep you steady

you’re still so pliable, so sensitive right now, and he just needs a little more, just one more time

he brings you down to your knees softly, and you collapse, face buried in the bedroll as Baraka slowly thrusts his hips back and forth, cock hardening quickly inside of your heat

just one more, that’s what he tells himself as he presses a hand against the small of your back to force you into a deeper arch as he starts fucking into you again

[fellthemarvelous]

The Mystery of Chopper Base foreshadowed Ezra's exile.

Ezra's anxieties about Malachor brought him to Zeb. He was headed to a Sith temple with Kanan and Ahsoka, and it was with Zeb that Ezra was able to show his more vulnerable side.

He said it. "I don't know when we'll be back. Or if we'll be back."

And the thing is...the Ezra who came back from Malachor is not the same Ezra.

The new Ezra that came back was traumatized, angry, defeated, grieving, and he blamed himself for just how sideways their mission to Malachor went. This new Ezra started wielding a green lightsaber and came very close to falling to the dark side if Kanan had not been there to pull him back from the edge.

This Ezra came back jaded and vengeful and guilt-ridden after Maul blinded Kanan, and he and Kanan had been forced to leave Ahsoka behind with Vader while the Sith temple collapsed around them.

This Ezra came back with a Maul shaped shadow doing everything possible to make Ezra his new apprentice.

This Ezra survived against Darth Vader for a second time (because someone else was there to save him).

Ezra was already grieving the death of his parents when Malachor happened. Malachor hurt everyone in his family. He brought Kanan back to Hera physically injured and forever changed, and he wasn't able to bring Ahsoka back to Rex at all.

But despite the grief that everyone was experiencing, they persevered. Hera continued on with the mission and Rex spent just as much time pulling Ezra back towards the light as Kanan and Sabine did.

Hera and Kanan's final conversation before Malachor ended up becoming a reality. Kanan regained his vision and was able to look at Hera in his final seconds of life.

Ahsoka and Rex's final conversation was the very first scene in the Twilight of the Apprentice, and it was over Space Facetime. Rex was so nervous about Ahsoka going without him and she had to remind him that she was not alone. Rex is used to mourning his brothers. He's done it thousands of time. He's used to seeing his own face die over and over again. Losing Ahsoka would be different though. She wasn't a clone trooper, but she was still a soldier just like him. She was his best friend, his closest ally, someone he trusted with his life more times than he could care to count. They were each other's sword and shield.

Ezra understands these bonds. It's what his bond with Sabine was becoming.

And all of them (with the exception of Kanan because my boy sacrificed his life to save the people he loved, and Ahsoka because we don't even know when she is, let alone where she is at this point) followed Ezra into battle to take Lothal back from the Empire. They freed Lothal from the grip of Darth Sidious, but Ezra didn't get to see it happen. He was somehow surviving a long ass trip through hyperspace with space whales and a very pissed off Grand Admiral Thrawn.

He spends ten years in exile, alone, on another planet in a distant galaxy with a ship full of stranded Imperials nearby and always ready to kill him, but he still manages to find a new family, traveling with them and protecting them, grieving his loss and becoming more attuned to the Force.

The Ezra that Sabine finds is so much like the Ezra that she first met on Lothal. He doesn't seem to be carrying a heavy burden, but he knows he needs to get back home because Thrawn is a Big Problem, and he's had ten years learning how to outsmart the Imperials and the Nightmothers.

He's returning home with a lightsaber that matches Kanan's and he's about to meet Kanan's son Jacen for the first time.

The empire is toppled now but he and Zeb will have plenty of war stories to trade when they see each other again, especially as the threat of the Empire's return is rising again.

[mynameisjag]

Quick Prompt: Wanting What Someone Else Has.

Scott finds out about the new Logan, Wade doesn't care about Scott's problems. Logan isn't even aware.

Wade stared at Scott.

Scott stared at Wade.

At least the mercenary assumed he was, kind of hard to tell, you know…with the glasses…

He’d give him a point for managing to get the drop on him though, showed up late enough not to be any help, early enough were they hadn’t left the mark's disgustingly beige mansion.

It looked better with the splashes of red everywhere.

Even the boring ass, uncomfortable lounges that they were sitting on, looked better with the splatter.

Cyclops was sitting on the less messy one, so maybe he didn’t agree or he just choose that one because then they could just sit and stare at each other face to face.

“Where’s Logan?”

“Better question, how are you alive? This better not be some multiverse MCU bullshit.”

Logan was probably eating his fill in the kitchen, the owners pervert party was catered and why leave and get underwhelming fast food when there was free rich fucks food that was going to go to waste anyway.

Lo had talked about his…hunting trips…sometimes, always on the move, always going from target to target, that at one point it was just sensible to eat what was there, rest, take what was need and move on. Considering how most of the fucks he went after were people of high importance, government jobs or just rich assholes, their was always alcohol, fancy foods, and wallets that no one noticed was gone till it was too late.

So this current hit was just another day for the feral.

Scott’s Logan was more man then his, could easily be mistaken for just another human without powers.

Wade’s though, his had lost himself to the calling of his inner animal and became it as he hunted those that had hurt his family. Body changing to its new needs, becoming the human predator he needed to be.

Logan hated it, hated what his body became, his behavior, his instincts, everything that changed, he hated it all. He spent so long trying to fit the profile others had tried to shove him into that losing himself to what was himself was a failure in his eyes. A shameful failure.

It wasn’t true of course and they were working on that, both supporting each other because they both were so fucked up but at least they were fucked up together.

Wade talked to the air and the millions of eyes that watched them, Logan would snarl and make more animal sounds then use his voice at times.

The merc highly doubted the X-men, at least this version, were going to be able to handle his Wolverine.

“There’s no dog for you to collar here, laser pointer, so why don’t you make your way back to whoever else has found the well of life in that mansion and fuck off.”

Seemed like he might have hit a nerve as that frown somehow got deeper, “I’m here for my friend.”

“You’re a good couple of states away from your Wolverine’s grave, can get you an Uber there if your that directionally challenged.”

“We know he is here, with you-“

“-Nope! Again, you have eye issues not hearing, your-hear that strain on that-your Logan is dead.” Deadpool reached forward to grab a drink he had set on the end table earlier before getting interrupted, “speaking of dead, you still haven’t answered how you’re still kicking around.”

“Your life isn’t the only one that involves time travels.”

“Oh, good, just the normal X-men bullshit then, should we be expecting the other Logan then?”

“No…he is still…gone��his body, or what we can find of it, is now resting back at the mansion…not all of us are back.”

“Oooh, I probably should have put that puzzle back together before jumping…everyone is still on the fence on whether or not old Wolves would have gotten a kick out of me playing Ninja Warrior with his tibias?”

“And what does that mean?”

“Ignore it and my little chats with the “gremlins” as Honey Bunny puts it, now, I’m going to guess you thought if you couldn’t have one, you figured you could take mine? Did Daddy Professor not drill in manners in all of that training, it’s rude to take other people’s stuff.”

“He isn’t your ‘stuff’, you don’t know how to handle him.”

At that precise moment, Logan ran past in the background, on all fours and a chunk of meat in his mouth, the merc was glad that Cyclops couldn’t follow his line of sight because of the mask. Cause all the red head had to do was slightly turn his head and he would see the man he was searching for bounding upstairs like an overly excited puppy with a new toy.

Either the man found fresh grade A steak or he had decided that some one smelled delicious and took a chuck. 50 50 chance on either option really and at least the blood was everywhere here instead of back in the apartment.

Al was less likely to complain when she didn’t slip and slide through puddles of blood.

“Handle him? Scottie too Hottie!”, at this point he lifts his mask enough to sip at the drink in his hand, grimacing at the flavor, how did they make fruit soda taste bad, “ugh, high society tastes are awful,” he wiggles the can at the other man, “want it?”

“No.”

“Don’t blame you, I can how ever blame you for thinking that for some shit reason that Lobunny, wait fuck that’s a Pokémon, Lo Bun Bun, is unable to think for himself and that I somehow can stop him from going wherever he wants to go.”

“He hasn’t came home, yet, if he was able to go-“

“That place isn’t his home, you are not his X-men, he is not a replacement, well, he is an anchor being replacement but not a ‘pick up where the last Logan left off’ replacement. So what ever regrets or amends you wanted to have, they should be aimed at the grave and not the man you wished was the one you lost,” Deadpool threw the can over the others head, before flipping over the couch he was on, landing on his feet and giving double finger guns at the X-man before the can could hit the wall, “well, good chat, but we gotta go!”

Scott was standing up now, face serious and ready to counter argue when flashing lights from outside reflected in the windows, sirens coming closer, “is that the police?”

“Yeah!,” now the mercenary was opening a window, hanging halfway out of it as he made grabby hands at something above him, “hope you got a ride,” blue colored gloves grabbed his red ones and he was yanked out and upward, “tootles!”

Scott took a deep breath, calming himself down before turning and heading toward his own escape.

He’ll try another day.

[madcatlad]

Aaron Needs Friends

Having him be aloof and mysterious was cool for the first few adventures, but for the amount of time that Aaron was traveling with Aph he should have been making SOME sort of relationship with her squad. This man was present since BEFORE Garroth was lost to the Irene Dimension. Yet all anyone had to say about him was "I didn't know much about him" "he was a good man". The group didn't even need to know him all that well, or be super close. He didn't need to expose all his secrets or be particularly socialable. But you're telling me that during the span of time that Aaron was around the same people, all the time, risking their lives...and he didn't interact with them on a more personal level? He ONLY interacts with Aphmau. That just isn't human nature.

I vaguely remember multiple characters getting shamed or dismissed for being concerned about his intentions. But looking back that is completely valid! From Aph's perspective, Aaron is a good guy who had proved himself, and doesn't need to explain himself ever. From everyone else's perspective, he is a complete stranger, with vague intentions and questionable goals, who they have know for at least a year in close proximity but goes out of his way (quite literally every single time) to interact with NO ONE but Aphmau.

Suspicious Behavior. That or he seems rude. But their distrust of that kind of put out is not unbased. Especially when his past comes to light, yet he is still no more than a stranger, and shown to be purposefully secretive. Suspicious Behavior. But the cast is supposed to ignore all that because...? "He's a good guy" how would anyone else know that?

I mean he doesn't have to open up to them in great lengths and cry about his tragic life, but by time he died he should have had a surface level relationship with the main gang. More than never knowing jack about him as a person. Training/mentoring with Laurence, amicable acknowledgement with Garroth, maybe teasing flusterable Katelyn. A joke or two outside of Aphmau. Just any amount of relationship outside of Aphmau. Please.

Otherwise his mysteriousness becomes an archetype instead of characterization. And it became more of a hindrance to the story, especially later on.

Having Aaron never build relationships with anyone BUT Aphmau sets him aside in a way that is very odd. Aaron is essentially NOT a character, but a plot point. He only exists to advance the plot, add suspense, or subvert the plot. But he himself had no character- other than grief.

And it especially took away from the significance of his DEATH! When he died the only person really grieving HIM was Aphmau. Everyone was sad for HER. It made so Aph could be sad but - "oh nobody else understands my grief". While Aph was grieving nobody could really grieve with her. It isolated her in a way so jarring and disconnected from the story it felt more like a plot diversion than a plot point. And everyone just continued with their respective plots, yet the STORY had to come to a screeching HALT after Aaron's death because aph was mouring and she is quite literally OUR EYES.

There in lies the problem. NOBODY could mourn for Aaron, because he was a stranger. But HE DIED! He died without ever getting to grow or build new relationships as his story was clearly building up to do. HE DIED with no mourners! What kind of depressing precedent is that?!? "You don't need to grow past your grief, and build new relationships after great lost! You just need to be HOT and (somehow impregnate) the main character! Plot 😃".

What a Lackluster death for a character!! A main character!!! To be mourned by no one. It should have been Aaron's death that brought the story to a halt, the fact that they had lost HIM. Not that Aphmau had lost him.

Aaron's death should have affected the entire cast, or at least the main one who had traveled with him so long! Yet everyone else is allow to move on as they would because essentially they lost nothing.

Yeah, we were all sad when Aaron died as kids. Because Aphmau was sad (that scream was something else). And, yes, Aaron's death was sad. But imagine how devastating it would be if EVERYBODY knew him- to some capacity- if everyone mourned his passing. Imagine how much more significance it would bring to his SACRIFICE.

Aaron was a man with nothing to lose from DAY ONE. BUT HE STAYED THAT WAY! He never grew! What kind of sacrifice is it for a man with nothing to live for, no mortal ties, to sacrifice his life.

It dumbs down his death to in essence, achieve his ONLY goal in life: revenge, and make his girlfriend-not-girlfriend happy.

He A STRANGER. Not because HE necessarily wanted Garroth back, but because Aphmau wanted Garroth back. It doesn't work well. Aaron should have sacrificed himself for Garroth because HE wanted to, because HE cared for Garroth.

It objectified him in a sense. His decisions- his world revolves around Aphmau, and only her? (And Zane strangely enough). He has free will but his choices like agency, desire, depth. He's a means to and end, hardly a character. He experienced no growth, no change, no discomfort.

He only experienced pain and Aphmau. Tragic.

[alphajocklover]

Hey! Sorry to bother you but I have a problem. You see, I was walking alone in the street when someone ran into me. I didn't see him and he seemed really annoyed i bumped into him. He started screaming at me and saying things like, you dumb boy. You think you can walk around like you owned the streets. You are nothing. You don't deserve free will... And a lot of other things as he ketp running away. Only thing is, he didn't grabbed back his phone and as I grabbed it to give it to him, he was nowhere to be found. NOw i'm home with his phone and i don't know what to do. I feel weird and my legs are getting sore. What is happening to me? You have any idea how I could give him back his phone?

So this random guy you don’t even know, who got super aggressive with you over a tiny accident and basically called you worthless and less than human, dropped his phone before storming off… and despite everything he said, you want to find him and bring back his phone? You are a very kind person… or maybe a really naive one.

Him walking into you wasn’t really an accident. He did it on purpose, just like how he dropped his phone on purpose. He's been planning this for quite some time, and he decided that today was the day to strike. Today he’s going to turn you into a horny jock. It’s not too late though. You can avoid your fate… if you can figure out how he’s doing it.

Because I’ll be honest, I have no fucking clue how he’s going to transform you.

I know it has something to do with that phone, so obviously my first thought was that InstaJock was involved somehow. But… why wouldn’t he have just sent you an invite then? Why use his own phone? With how the app works I don’t even think you can get transformed using another persons phone. Maybe he put some hypnosis tracks on the phone and he’s banking on you listening to them? Or maybe he got a nerd to make it so his phone spews jockifying gas if you open it? Neither of those seem right either though…

Maybe the phone was a red herring? Something to distract you from the actual transformation method until it was too late? Could it have been the jock himself? He did touch you after all, and the entire ‘taking your free will thing’ kind of suggest he’s an Alpha. But… Alphas aren’t usually that aggressive with potential betas. They have no reason to be. They know they’re better than everyone else, they don’t have to pick fights to prove it to anyone. And Alphas usually don’t resort to cheap tricks like decoy phones. Sometimes they like to mix up how they transform betas but usually they just let their sheer dominance do its job. So he’s probably not an Alpha. Maybe it has nothing to do with the jock? Maybe running into him was a coincidence and the real reason you’re changing is… you.

When you saw that guy, so huge, buff, aggressive and manly, maybe a part of you realized how deeply you want to be like that. How sick you are of being weak, of being small, of being so nice. Maybe it woke something up inside you, and now some sort of inner force is changing you into who you really wanna be: an absolute stud. A fucking man. I could be wrong. It’s rare for someone to spontaneously turn into a jock, without a specific transformation method or catalyst. But… it does happen. Very rarely, a regular geek will just… transform. It’s always possible there’s a reason for it that we haven’t discovered yet, but until we do we just have to accept that some guys are going to randomly change. And it looks like you’re one of the lucky few.

Don’t fight it. There’s no way to prevent or reverse the transformation anyways. Can’t reverse it if we don’t know what caused it after all. So, if you’re going to change anyways, why not enjoy it? Enjoy the feeling of your muscles slowly growing, starting with your legs and traveling up your body, through your abs, across your chest and down your arms. Enjoy as your mind starts to dim and you brain is filled with thoughts of working out, playing sports, having sex and gaming with your bros. It’s not like you’ll be entirely gone. You’re still you, just slightly different. You’ll still be a very kind, very naive person. Possibly even more so. Jocks like you aren’t exactly known for being smart, and everyone loves a kind, beefy himbo.

Considering what I've seen so far, I bet that’s exactly how you’ll end up. A cool, buff, manly guy that could belong at a football game or a pizza party. You’ll be popular with everyone, even the nerds and especially the babes. So go and enjoy the life of a himbo jock. I know I would!

**hey everyone! Just wanted to say hi and thank Axeeglitter for his prompt. I hope it’s what he wanted. I feel a little weird using an actor as a picture in one of my stories (Cody Christian is the hot guy at the bottom) but Axeeglitter and I dmed a little and he mentioned Cody Christian is a favorite of his. Hope you guys enjoy, and if you ever have something specific in mind for a story you can’t communicate through an ask, don’t hesitate to dm me!**

[shanastoryteller]

Happy happy birthday 🎂🎉🥳 Are you still doing the “cursed identity porn” au where LWJ can’t really see the Yiling Patriarch (because the mask?), but still tries to settle into being married to him? (Or JC traveling back in time?) Thanks!

a continuation of 1

“Where do you want the talisman?”

Lan Wangji looks up from checking over his pack one last time to see his husband in his doorway. He lifts an eyebrow.

“I’m going to be wearing the mask but there’s no reason for the enchantment to affect you,” Wei Wuxian says. “You already know what I look like. I have to paint it somewhere on your body – preferably someplace there’s no chance of anyone else seeing.”

Ah. That explains why Wen Qing have never seemed to have the same problems looking at Wei Wuxian that everyone else did during the war.

Lan Wangji considers several locations before untying his belt and shrugging off several layers of robes, letting them pool at his elbows and leaving his chest bare. “Wherever you think is best.”

Wei Wuxian hasn’t so much as given him a covetous glance since their marriage. Lan Wangji can endure it, if he must, endure the lack of his husband’s affection and even endure the way he seems so willing to share it with others. He does not have the soft, delicate features and willowy body of Wen Ning, Meng Yao, or Jiang Yanli. But if nothing else, his place as the number two most eligible male cultivator means that he’s not without his charms.

If he is completely outside of his husband’s tastes, it’s best that he knows that now.

He braces himself for indifference, keeping his expression bland to ensure that Wei Wuxian can’t see how surely it’ll crush him.

“Oh! Uh, um, sure, great,” Wei Wuxian says, voice at least two pitches higher than it is normally as his eyes dart up then down several times, blood rushing to his cheeks and painting them scarlet.

Lan Wangji stares. He has seen Wei Wuxian walk across a battlefield and stare down sect leaders and be harassed by a dozen uncles at once and surrounded by three screaming children and never has he seemed as out of sorts as he does right now.

He lifts up the brush and hesitates. “Is it okay – do you mind if I, is this okay?”

“Yes. You can touch me anywhere,” he says.

Wei Wuxian freezes, blinking rapidly before he swallows. “Oh. Kay.”

This is the best day of Lan Wangji’s life.

His husband steps closer, curling one hand around his bare shoulder to keep him steady and using the other to make small, sure brush strokes against the skin of his left side of his chest, right above his heart. He likes the symbolism. He also likes how Wei Wuxian’s blush doesn’t fade at all.

“There,” he says a few moments later. “Just give it time to dry and it should be fine for a week or so, then I’ll have to reapply. “

“Thank you,” he says, quirking his lips up at the corners when Wei Wuxian finally manages to look him in the eye

His returning grin is blinding. His eyes fall lower twice more before he leaves and Lan Wangji feels the low hum of satisfaction down his spine that he normally only gets from a particularly difficult spar.

His husband is capable of finding him attractive.

He just has to somehow encourage this behavior.

Twenty minutes later Meng Yao sticks his head into his room and demands, “What did you do to him?”

Lan Wangji pauses. Is he upset that he’s gotten Wei Wuxian’s attention? He never seems to mind Wen Ning, but perhaps that arrangement has already been settled between them and he sees Lan Wangji as an intrusion, regardless of his status.

“This is hilarious. Whatever it was, do it again,” he orders before continuing his way down the hall.

With pleasure.

[descendantsramblings]

I have a little idea for Male!Reader x james Hook and morgie

-

Male reader (son of Rapunzel maybe?) Went back in time with Red and Chloe, Hook and Morgie took a certain interest in him cause the boy is a stubborn little thing with a big mouth.

The Reader is mostly annoyed/amused with Hooks flirting and finds Morgies teasing Interesting. Reader is interested in morgie (sorry hook) but the Reader knows he cant put a move on morgie even if he wants to cause that could cause problems with the timeline and the future

Its all just a mess for the reader but he may or may not become weak at one point cause lets be honest- who can resist a Dork that acts like a golden retriever.

Having the Morgie boys be some of the main people in my inbox is literally my favorite thing. I love him so much, this is wonderful.

In Another Life

Morgie le Fay x Time traveling!Reader/James Hook x Time Traveling!Reader

Pronouns Used: He/Him/His

Summary: When Rapunzel’s son is dragged back in time by his childhood best friend he finds himself the object of two villains’ affections.

Warnings: suggestive comments, crying technically, minor swearing, a few words in German, bad ending, mentions of death, the reader is kinda mean to Chloe in the first paragraph

Word Count: 2.9K

Translations (I don't speak German so I hope this is correct)

hau rein - "see ya", mein sonnenschein - "My sunshine"

    “How was I supposed to know that I’d get us sent to the past when I grabbed you? You have to forgive me at some point!” The blue-haired girl looks nearly animated in her movements as the argues with him. Chloe had managed to get him thrown into every single negative situation she’d gone through the entire time they’d known each other. But this? This takes the cake. “I can’t believe you! How dare you act like this is just a little spill, we’re stuck here Chloe. Stuck, no going home until some Wonderland kid we just met decides we can. This is not something I’ll just ‘forgive you eventually’ for! I should be at home with my family, not here in a point of time where our country doesn’t even exist yet!” His arms move wildly in the air around him as he yells. The last day with his parents until family day and now he had to spend it with someone else? And he was supposed to, what? Trust a kid who just convicted his best friend’s mother of treason? This was ridiculous. Everyone should know not to trust the person who got your mother sentenced to death to help save their mother. “What about my family? If we didn’t come back then my mom would for sure die.” “No Chloe, not we. If you and Red didn’t. This doesn’t involve me. I don’t want to be here!” “And you think I do?” 

    He turns on his heel, storming off towards the woods behind him. “(Y/n) Fitzherbert! You don’t even know where you’re going!” The boy huffs, waving a hand at her as if to brush her off “Well, guess I’ll just have to get lost!” Normally he wouldn’t be so huffy. But normally normal things were happening to him. Being the first person to experience time travel was not part of his bucket list, he could promise you that. He just needed to clear his head, regroup. That would fix him, surely it would.  The woods felt no different to the ones in his own part of the timeline, though then again, how could they be? They were just woods, just trees and grass and morning dew. It smelt fresher though, as if the air was cleaner somehow. Perhaps it was, the past couple decades had the time to affect the air, would they not? (Y/n) would never tell his friends about where exactly he went when he was alone in the woods, they all assumed he spent his time at the enchanted lake, and he  assumed it was better that way. Some things should get to be secrets, if not he’d never be alone again. He deserved to have his secrets. Everyone did, didn’t they? 

      And there it was, the old shell of a hideout that looked newer now, nicer. Not that it looked nice per say but it wasn’t what he was used to back home. The boy slowly makes his way to the side of the lagoon, jumping from rock to rock as he approached his slice of solitude. It felt like he was where he was supposed to be for the first time in the four hours he’d been stuck in the past. Listening to the familiar thump of his converse on the large flat pieces of stone put him at peace. Maybe for only a few minutes he could be at home, that’s all he wanted. Home, god Red better be able to get them back there. He just needed his taste of it, then he’d go put on a pretty face for Chloe and Red and apologize to his best friend for yelling at her. Of course he would, he always did.

   At home, he was pretty much the only person who even knew about the black lagoon, no one else was ever there. So why would he expect someone now? The two boys sitting in the hideout were a shock to him. How had he never thought about who would have used the place before him? He was smarter than that, surely he was. Had the boys been facing away from him, he would’ve just left. Actually gone to the Enchanted Lake or maybe just turned back to Chloe. That wasn’t his luck though, instead they stared at him nearly challenging him.  Silently but visibly questioning what made him think he was allowed to be in their space.

      “What have we here?” The boy with the darker hair steps towards him, hook swinging towards him in a manner that almost felt playful. “We don’t get many Princes around here. What a surprise,” he slides the dull end of the golden hook down the boy’s cheek, smirking at him, “Come here looking for something, did you?” The seductive tone of the pirate was so thick you’d have to be a fool to miss it. Something similar to how he’d spoken to Chloe earlier when she was more than ready to fight him. No doubt the pirate was just like that. His eyes go over the boy, giving him the up and down twice before scoffing, “Not for you.” Hook drops his arm, stepping back slightly with a brow quirked. “Oh really?” The other boy comes up behind him now, hands resting on Hook’s shoulders as he peers over him at the Prince. “So you’re here for me then?” His lip slots between his teeth as he looks at the boy. Something about the teasing tone Morgie used had his stomach flipping. The smirk on his face was softer, an almost hopeful twinkle in his eyes.  “Come on, Darling, we both saw how you were looking at us back in the courtyard. Who’d you come to see?” Hook crosses his arms as he speaks, shamelessly checking out the Prince. 

    “Actually,” (Y/n) steps away, heading over to that old seashell chair he  adored and falling in it, “I was hoping the place was empty. Shouldn’t you two be in class?” Morgie’s brows furrow, that was his seat, why would he take his seat? “Shouldn’t you be in class, Darling?” Eyes roll back in their sockets as he runs his hand down the fabric of the chair. It was so much nicer right now, going back to the way it was in the future was going to suck now that he knew its potential. “You don’t need to worry about where I should be.”  “Oh no,” Morgie waltzes to his side, perching on the chair beside him, so close their thighs brush as he sits, “Well, you’re in our space and my seat. So I think we do get to worry about where you’re supposed to be.” Morgie's seat, huh? He hums, a smirk on his lips, “If you say so.” “I do,” Morgie lets his eyes shamelessly linger on his mouth, taking in the smirk that seemed to tease him back. This was the closest he’d ever been to a royal without actively harassing them. He thought the stranger would pull away, maybe move from his chair all together, but he didn’t. He simply adjusted in the seat, their legs getting closer as he did, now pressed to each other, solidifying his stance on moving. “Listen boys, you can pretend I’m not here, I don’t really care. I just need a piece of home and this is as close as I can get.”  

     Hook and Morgie share a look, seeming to communicate through their eyes. This exchange student didn’t fear them in the slightest. It was new, almost a rush for the both of them. And in that moment they seemed to silently agree on something. This was going to be their new little game it seemed. Who could get the new boy’s affections first? May the odds be ever in your favor. 

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      Pretending he didn’t know exactly where they were going while walking with Red and Chloe to the Black Lagoon was harder than he thought. Surely if he was too obvious they’d get suspicious. And he couldn’t imagine how they’d react if they knew he’d spent a whole class period with two boys who would help lead to the mess they’d been facing back home. Not that he’d meant to spend time with them, of course not. Why would he? They were villains, or at least they were supposed to be. He wasn’t so sure he could call them that though, not after the way he saw them. How would those two boys, the ones who were teases as best, go on to end up on the Isle of the Lost? How would Morgie end up there at all? Surely it would have to be similar to how the VKs from his part of the timeline did, wouldn’t it? Just a victim to his family line, nothing more. Not that he knew him. Of course one afternoon wasn’t enough to know a person, but the way he spoke, the innocence in his eyes when (Y/n) had confused him a few times, that seemed a little hard to fake. 

     He lags behind the girls as they walk away from the Lagoon, lost in his own mind. Not that they’d notice, too wrapped up in talking about the prank that was meant to be pulled in two days. Chloe being a touch too distracted by the red lipstick painting the other princess�� lips. He took a mental note to tease her for that later, some point where they could all laugh about all this. He could feel eyes on him from behind, pausing to put more space between the girls before him and himself. Whoever was trailing them didn’t need to bother the princesses, he could handle them alone for sure. Left hand reaching for the sword on his hip as two bodies collide with his back. Chests to his shoulders. “Are you following us now, Darling?” “Miss us that much already?” (Y/n) turns to look over his left shoulder first, smiling at Morgie and sending him a teasing wink before turning the other way to look at Hook. Hand falling away from his sword, he wouldn't need it against them. “It seems to me you’re following me, Captain. Considering you ran into my back when I stopped walking and all.” “Touché,” he smirks, putting his hook under the boy’s chin with a smile, “Can you blame me? Watching you walk away is quite the view.” 

   He laughs, stepping away from the pirate and slightly running into Morgie. “You pirates are all so shameless. Ego’s bigger than your ship isn’t it?” “Oh wouldn’t you like to know? You should come ride it some time.” He winks at the Prince, words obviously holding a double meaning that should've brought a blush to his cheeks. (Y/n) laughs, taking notice of the gentle hand that had found its way onto his shoulder from behind. “Oh, I’ve seen the Jolly Roger, she’s not that impressive.” Hook raises a brow, “Oh you have? How haven’t I seen you before, then?” Shit, he hadn’t seen the Jolly Roger while Hook was the Captain. He shouldn’t have let that slip. “I’ve visited Neverland a time or two, guess you just aren’t that observant.” Hopefully it was convincing enough, he turns to the sorcerer behind him, the boy looking down at him. “You would’ve noticed me, wouldn’t you?” He hoped it would help make his earlier words more convincing or at least serve as a good distraction from them. If it hadn’t been so dark, the boy would’ve seen the pink hue drawn to Morgie’s cheeks and ears. The villain silently thanking Uliana for wanting to wait until dark to discuss their plans for revenge, had they done this earlier he would’ve been caught for sure. “Of course I would. Look at you.” It wasn’t as smooth as he’d hoped for, nothing like the line delivery he’d had in the daylight but he could still see a smile play across the Prince’s face, teeth and eyes sparkling in the pale moonlight. 

    “I’d hope so, I like the attention.” He knew better than to play with him like that. Who knew how they’d be changing the future just from a small interaction. Though it seemed that Chloe and Red hadn’t, (Y/n) did learn a thing or two about the Butterfly Effect. He could only hope to all things good that he wouldn’t ruin his own future by just being between the two boys. If he was stronger, maybe he'd move. It was hard not to linger there though, with that sweet look on Morgie’s face and the burning feeling of the pirate’s eyes on him. Boys back home never looked at him like this .Never stared at his lips the way Morgie did, it felt good. And if he wasn’t so scared of changing things, he might have just given in to those half lidded eyes that were locked on his lips and leaned up. Were they as soft as they looked? It was like the other boy could read his thoughts, Hook turning him to face away from Morgie with a teasing smirk playing on his lips,  “If it’s attention you’re looking for, I know a great source.” (Y/n) laughs, shaking his head as he pulls away from both of them. “You don’t know when to quit, do you, Captain? Well, hau rein boys, have a good night.” 

     Morgie hates to admit to how hard he was staring as he watched the prince walk away from him. Eyes locked on the royal strut, he knew Hook’s would be too. It was nearly impossible to look away from him. “What language was that?” He spares Hook a look when the darkness swallows the boy’s receding form, brows raised in confusion. “I,” Hook stops, turning to look at his friend with an equally confused face, “I’m not sure.” 

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    Two days in the past shouldn’t have this effect on him. It’s embarrassing, how did he let a boy he just met get him so wrapped up like this. A boy he couldn’t even have, and yet he was begging for an extra thirty minutes in the past to just say goodbye. Running through the halls of Merlin academy just hoping to see a flash of black and green. He had to say goodbye, he just, he had something he had to do. For himself. Where would a sorcerer whose friends all just got frozen by a magic cookbook be hiding? Where would he be if Chloe had just been frozen? 

    Looking for whoever did it to her. Without a second thought he’d be looking for whoever hurt her. And if Morgie was anything like him, that's what he'd be doing too. So that means, he needed to retrace his steps from the office to Red’s dorm. Running back towards the dorm and straight past it he ends up slamming into a solid chest. Two strong hands grabbing his arms and stabilizing him as the impact almost sends him falling backwards. He looks up to see a pair of hazel eyes that had plagued him for the past two days. He assumes they’ll be haunting him for the rest of his life now. The boy being forever unattainable.  The thought was nauseating.

    “Hey! Careful there, you almost wiped out,” Morgie’s hands slide down his arms, ghosting over the bewildered look on his face, “You okay, (Y/n)?” He didn’t know the boy well, Morgie couldn’t deny that. But he could feel in his heart of hearts that the way the boy laughed at his question was out of character. “I was looking for you actually, lucky me that you were,” he looks at those pretty eyes again, letting out a shaky breath, “Right here.” A pale pink lip slides between his teeth, disrupting the smile that was trying to spread across his face, “Lucky I was, someone had to catch you.” (Y/n) shakes his head, breaking eye contact, “People don’t tend to catch me very often.”It makes Morgie place a single knuckle under his chin, tilting his face back up so he has to look him in the eyes again. “I’d catch you every time. I actually was looking for you too. I needed to ask you something.” 

     The sorcerer had that hopeful look back in his eyes, the one he'd had back in the hide out. It made (Y/n)’s chest hurt. “You did?” He nods, smile stretched across his face as he pulls his hands back to himself, fiddling with his fingers as he speaks. “Listen, I know that it’s super late, considering it’s tomorrow and all, but I was wondering if you’d go to Castlecoming with me? I know we just met and all but there’s no better time to get to know each other right?” He knew from the way the Prince’s face fell that there was no way he’d get the answer he wanted. If he was smarter, maybe he would've run away. 

     “Oh, Morgie, in another life I’d be able to answer that the way I want to.” He frowns, brows furrowing, “Well, why can’t you?” He lets his palm rest on Morgie’s cheek, and despite the fact that the boy’s heart was visibly breaking, he nuzzles against his hand. “You could never understand how us being together would effect where I’m from,” it’s shaky, a slow breath following his words. His voice was weaker than he wanted it to be. “Is it,” he takes a shaky breath, eyes growing a little blurry as he looks at the prince. He thought he was different, that maybe his family wouldn’t matter to him, how silly he was to believe that. “Is it because I’m a villain?” (Y/n) knew better when he leaned forward, he knew better than placing his lips on those pretty pale pink ones. It was a kiss he’d compare to every one that followed. Soft, sweet and sad, a poetic moment that would only ever get to be a memory. He knew he’d regret it when he went home and nothing felt like the lips of the second generation sorcerer. Forehead resting on the other boy’s as he lets out a sigh, eyes still closed because he knew he couldn't look at the boy and get his words out. The way he caught feelings for the first person to show him attention was embarrassing. “Mein sonnenschein, I didn’t get to know you well, but I know you are no villain. In another life I’d be your happily ever after.” Morgie frowns, pulling away from him, “I wish it could be this one.” Eyes opening at the loss of contact, (Y/n) looks up at the boy, his words were doing more harm than good. He knew he should turn away, he needed to get back to Red - to his home-, but tearing his eyes away from the boy would hurt. “Yeah,” he wipes a tear he didn’t mean to let slip, “Yeah, I do too.”

Yeah, there was no way he'd just "forgive Chloe at some point" over this one. No one is supposed to break their own heart.

Find Part 2 Here

[mysteriouslyjovialcolor]

Germany 2019

-Oh the last German GP?

-Lewis and Max first row! Pierre in Red Bull. Lando and Sebastian last row?!

-Look at that, they’re racing in the rain. Albeit, starting under safety car

-“Safety car needs to come in already. Come on let’s go” Lewis’ beef against the safety car will never not be funny

-They’ve done like three formation laps or as they’re calling it: “exploration laps”

-“How are conditions Max?” “Yeah, perfect to go, I don’t understand why we are not racing”

Lewis 🤝 Max: wanting to go race

-Haha all of the cars glitched for a second before the start

-And now Max has somehow dropped five places, wth

-Kimi p3 🙌

-Sebastian too, making up many places! P20 to p14!

-Oh Max back to p3!

-Kevin and Checo squabbling…Checo’s in the wall

-This is giving Brazil 2016 with the multiple safety cars

(Try not to compare every wet race to Brazil 2016 challenge failed)

-Sebastian and Alex falling back to p18 and p19 after stopping for tires :/

-Almost every driver pitting now

-Mercedes double stack!

-Holy shit Kevin is p2 (That’s a rare sight to see)

-All of those pit stops shuffled up the lineup so much. Lance is p5, Nico p7, George p9!

-I don’t think the Williams pit because they’re somehow both in the points

-Yeah, George pit now

-Sebastian finally in the points

-Oh shit Danny p17?

-Aah Charles, Kevin, and Nico fighting for p4

-Pierre running wide! he’s fallen to p19 :((

-Kimi’s still as formidable as ever in that Alpha Romeo

-“Raikkonen turned a threat into an opportunity” yesss Kimi!

-“The three at the front are traveling much faster than anyone else”

-Aw I forgot this was Nico’s home race too

-Engine problem for Daniel :/

-Another safety car? Virtual safety car?

-More pit stop games

-“Just be patient Max” GP has got to be the calmest man ever

-“So you are the fastest car on track” Let’s go Charles!

-Carlos slipping off the track??

-“Sorry guys, that was unfortunate” Yeah, top ten to p14

-“Leclerc is now 7 laps off leading this race” Oh?? Are we about to get Max vs Charles??

-Ferrari trying a gamble with Sebastian’s tires

-“They’re in the clouds of the gods now” Sometimes these commentators go unnecessarily hard

-Red Bull playing a gamble too

-“Lando Norris power slide out of the pit” That looked very cool actually

-Max doing an involuntary donut. I’m not sure if that gamble played off

-Oh shit Lando’s lost power. VSC once again

-Charles p2! At least one driver’s strategies are somewhat working

-Ohmygodd he’s out!! I actually gasped out loud! That was so unexpected!!!

-Aaah that sucks so bad

-The actual safety car is back

-I’m still in shock

-Ohmygod this is all so chaotic!

-Lewis almost went into the wall and damaged his front wing!

-The pit crew weren’t ready for him!! They’re scrambling! He’s lost so many places!!

-Nico’s p3 now ohmygod

-This is still lap 30 of 64. We’re not even halfway through

-Valterri pitting as well, Max leading now

-Everyone’s on inters

-Nico p2 at his home race😭 (I’m going to cry when he loses that) (What do I have to do for him to just stay there???)

-I can’t believe Lewis got a 5s time penalty for going on the “wrong side of the bollard at the pit entry”

-How does that even make sense? It’s not like it affected any other car but his

-Alex though! In p4, holding Lewis back in that Toro Rosso

-??? Lewis under investigation again???

-Valterriiiii stay away from Hulkenburggggg

-Noooooo Valterri whyyyy

-Can’t even hope for p3 now because it’s Lewis who’s behind him

-At this point let him just finish the race please

-“Rare to see Kimi Raikkonen making a mistake” Yes, it was devastating (at least he recovered still in the points)

-Someone kill me, Nico’s out

-“That’s so terrible for him! I was just about to say what a phenomenal run he’s having. He would so have deserved to finally maybe have a chance even for a podium because we still don’t know what penalties Lewis is gonna have. Ohmygod, that’s heartbreaking. Poor guy” Me and Nico Roseberg commiserating together

-“I’m still looking forward to Lewis coming up to Bottas now though. That’s going to really really cause internal team battle there; coming up” And Nico R is now hoping for inter-team drama. He moved on pretty fast. I’m still here (crying over Hulkenburg and his dream slipping away right through his fingers)

-“Right call, right tire, right time” Max: the only one carrying me through this race now

-“Nico Hulkenburg never retired from his home race at the German Grand Prix before” Why must they keep rubbing it in??

-“Verstappen’s pitted 4 times in this race so far” This race is actually insane

-I’m actually still sad about Nico. He was so close! God, why does he have such bad luck!

-None of these commentators talking about how Alex casually made up 12 places and has stayed in p4?? In a Toro Rosso?!

-Ohmygod I should just shut up, why’d he loose a place…two places…and he’s gone wide and dropped down to p8; someone kill me.

-Max pitting again????

-Where did Sebastian randomly gain speed from? Ohmygodd Kimi too? They’re p3 and p2?! What is going on???

-Somehow Lance is in p5 all the way from p15. I did not see that coming. He was the only car who pit for slick tires with the safety car earlier and now with everyone pitting again, this has worked out great for him

-Holy shit Lance is leading the race

-Lewis, Kimi, and Sebastian all pit and now Lance is leading and Max is back up to p2 and somehow Daniil Kvyat is p3 and just set the fastest lap

-Wet races always bring so many surprises. This is all so insane. I feel like I’ve just hallucinated half of this

-Max leading again

-I forgot about Lewis’ penalty 😭 The grid positions changed so drastically, it almost feels like it got reversed

-“How has it got this bad?” Honestly Lewis I actually don’t know

-Aww kinda wanted Lance to stay p2, he missed out on it so narrowly last time he was on the podium

-Haha Valterri about to take p3 from him now, he’s the one who took p2 from his last time I think, if I remember correctly

-Checo looking on from the pit box>>

-Oh shit Valterri is out! God, Mercedes are not having a good race are they? Lewis in p14 (last) pitting again (his sixth time) and Valterri out

-This safety car probably not going to help Lance keep podium position, what with Carlos and Sebastian right behind him at the restart

-“Good for the smaller teams. This is their kinda day” Don’t I know it (maybe it’s something about pink teams?)

-Aah Sebastian right behind Lance now! If he makes podium now he’d have gone from p20 to p3!

-And he’s done it!!

-Oh bloody hell, Pierre’s gone off. He’s not having a fun day either

-Ohmygod Sebastian p2!!! Imagine if he wins?!!

-“And you’re either wearing orange this weekend or red” yesss, the orange army going wild!!

-It is so insane to me that seven cars are out

-Honestly, Lance p4 is cool too, his race did not start out well (and Carlos p5 🙌)

-I wish Sebastian was still racing 😢

-Genuinely didn’t ever expect to see a Daniil Kyvyat podium; when I was watching the races from the past few seasons he barely finished a race

-This podium is kind of a Red Bull family reunion if you think about it

-‘Tis very cute

(Would be better if Nico had finished the race but I’ll take my wins where I can get them)

(Also! I just looked up the race results again cause I forgot if Kimi placed 6th or 7th and he hasn’t placed either??! Apparently he got a post race penalty for some infringement!? That’s so annoying)

(Oh however, that means Lewis did end up in the points after all)

(The more you know)

(Ohmygod, I just noticed that Fernando is not here?!?? How did I miss that when I watched Brazil 2019?!)

(I’m crashing out. I need sleep)

[dangermousie]

I saw your post on Love Game in Eastern Fantasy’s ending, do you mind elaborate on why you don’t like the ending? I personally find the screenwriter did a good job at translating the source material to live action given censorship constraints. I love the series positive message of self-love before you can fully love someone else in a healthy way.

Is the ending too open-ended for your liking?

I don't mind at all but I just wanted to say so much about fiction and endings (or the narrative) is so very personal and subjective. I can explain why something works for me or doesn't but it's really trying to post hoc justify an inchoate, emotional reaction.

And sometimes it doesn't gel with what everyone else may feel but it doesn't really do anything to change it. For example, I am one of like three people who thinks the ending of Princess Agents cdrama is perfect and it's one of the most universally fandom hated endings. I can explain why until I am blue in the face and I am sure people who hated it won't like it any better or they can explain why they hate it (and have) but I still love it so...

Now that I've put that lengthy disclaimer, here is the write up proper and it comes to two things - the minor part is the very very "back in modern day" ending and the bigger one is what happens before. I am gonna do the ending first.

Because of censorship, it's hard to end transmigration stories in satisfactory fashion (though it must be noted that even after transmigration ban, dramas manage now and then.)

The normal default is "and then they wake up." This is different from the other set up where it's an author creating a narrative as a framing device and they themselves are never in it (see Kunning Palace or Joy of Life as great examples) - there the characters stay in narrative forever. Or mini dramas like Lovesickness and Ancient Love Song (and somehow full length Lost Track of Time and Lost Love In Time) getting away with genuine travel that normally has been banned post The Myth/Jade Palace Lock Heart/BBJX era.

I could complain about her waking back up in modern world even within the constraints because something like Love Better Than Immortality had exactly the same set up and ended the way this should have and the way the novel for Love Game actually did (FL wakes up in simulation; she knows that is what it is. At the end she stays in game and lives happily ever after with her former bad guy lover.) LBTI got around the censorship question by setting the framing story that took two seconds in some future world where people do that and then are told if they enter simulation they never leave. I do not know why the makers of this did not go for something like this.

But I have accepted this is for whatever reason not the way a lot of these go and "waking up" is a default. That's fine. Yet, there is waking up and waking up.

The way these narratives often deal with this is the dreamer HAS been affected/changed by their time in story. If we take Dreamer in Qing Dynasty - FL is irrevocably changed by her time in Qing Dynasty. At the end she gets with ML who is reborn but it's colored by her past time and love (in a love of ways, that drama is a much kinder version of Bu Bu Jing Xin set up.) Or you can take My Dear Brothers, A Different Princess or The Romance of Tiger and Rose. In all of them, the FL wakes up in the modern day but she remembers her time in the dream/story/whatever, she's affected. That is why her finding her shared dreamer or reincarnation or avatar of her pairing from the story gives her a happy ending and completes her.

But here? The narrative ultimately does not matter. ML was never in the dream/narrative/whatever. FL herself doesn't really remember it or seem genuinely, long term affected by it. What was the point of it? Just make a cute drama about an author with issues and his fangirl. None of it had a point to me.

But that would just affect the very ending and to me is a smaller problem. I have liked many a drama which was amazing until the ending went wtf and I still loved it (this year's Tender Light or last year's My Journey to You come to mind and I overall adore both.)

My bigger problem is that by the time that ending rolled around, I didn't even care. The narrative fell apart for me shortly after they got to the capital - the moment she forgot the modern day, a lot of narrative appeal left for me. She got sidelined in her own narrative. And there was not really any emotional stakes for me or tension. It felt like a picaresque travelogue which is not bad per se but not truly my thing.

But then - the couple of last eps is where it really exploded. The thing with the author made no sense. Why did she need to fix some sort of adult avatar of him who didn't even know he was one and the kid version was there too? Why did a book written by teen drag in adult version of her and teen him and adult fictional version of him get to argue? Why did the ending start looping instead of just going once. The worldbuilding, the set up, the goals made NO sense in light of this new information. Now one might say the set up of a reader being dragged into a game based on the book they are reading is nonsense in the first place and that's true. But the problem for me is I can accept whatever insane set up the story throws at me, but it's a matter of initial set up. Once it's set up, it has to stay within those constraints and be internally logically consistent and to me it wasn't. All that randomness felt so random. Perhaps if they weaved the stuff earlier more, sure. But as it is, it felt so weird and random and nonsensical. And once the narrative stopped treating them as real people but as symbols or lessons or whatever, I stopped treating them as real people too.

I confess I never care about a story's message because, to quote a famous Hollywood quip on the topic: "“If you have a message, call Western Union.” I want the story to move me emotionally, to get me invested (if it makes my brain happy, it's a bonus.) And so yeah sure it's great to overcome adversity, find strength in others etc etc blah blah but if the execution of said message is lacking (which to me it was), it negates it all. For example I love Novoland Eagle Flag and its theme is "it's not the winning but the fight that matters, the world is hell but what matters is keeping your humanity and being true to yourself" - it resonates with me immensely. But the reason it does is because I love the execution. If the execution didn't work for me, the fact that I agree with the message would not matter. And to me (and once again, I emphasize it's very personal and I fully get that it worked for others) Love Game's execution did not come though.

[sinelanguage]

14. roleswap

Usopp is fifteen when the Rumbar Pirates beg and plead to recruit him to their ranks, on their hands and knees and everything. And while Usopp’s a way better and more accomplished pirate captain than any of them, he’s moved by their pleas. He agrees to join their crew, if only to make sure a bunch of rookie pirates don’t get lost at sea. It’s his duty as a great warrior of the sea to protect the weak; he can’t say no to a pirate crew in need.

Well, no. That’s not exactly right. 

Usopp is fifteen when he sneaks onto a pirate ship docked at the Syrup Village shipyard, falls asleep in the supply room, and wakes up half a world away with no way to get back home. When the Rumbar Pirates find him cowering beneath the deck, Usopp begs and pleads on his hands and knees to not be thrown overboard. 

And for some reason, Captain Yorki accepts, welcoming him to the crew with open arms. 

Usopp’s been their chore boy ever since, and while he can’t say he minds, it does leave him feeling wanting. He wanted to be a Great Warrior of the Sea, not mopping the decks every evening and hiding under them at any sniff of danger. He wanted more out of an adventure than that, but– well. For now, all he has are his own lies.

If anyone asks about why Usopp’s traveling with them, Usopp tells them a new lie each and every time. Every time he tells his story at port, one of his crewmates will call his bluff with a guffaw and a laugh, but he doesn’t mind. Somehow that’s easier to handle than admitting he accidentally joined a pirate crew, and they pitied him enough to keep him on as their chore boy. 

He’s not a bad chore boy, the Rumbar Pirates seem satisfied enough with his duties, and they even invite him to every music night and egg him on into telling stories. And they’re stories of his own grand adventures that he’s never had, and they all listen, but it’s not exactly what Usopp wants. 

Usopp wants an adventure he can be proud to wax on about, but it’s always just out of reach because of his own weak knees and weaker heart. He’s a very sane, rational person; he wants an adventure, but he also doesn’t want to die. Those two activities just overlap a lot more than he expected, that’s all.

So when he hears a rumor about a mysterious devil fruit that could keep a man alive forever, well. It sounds like the perfect remedy to each and every one of Usopp’s problems. 

It takes him a while to track down the rumor. Everyone he asks has a slightly different idea of who has the devil fruit and where they’ve hid it; an old pirate buried it on the island long ago, a witch high in the mountains hoards it for herself one day but is too afraid to eat it, a lone Marine ate the fruit by accident and now haunts the tunnels under the village. Usopp’s sure to throw his own theories into the mix, just to act as a red herring for anyone else looking for the fruit, but none of them pan out to be right. 

After digging useless holes around the entire island, trekking up an entire mountain side, and nearly scaring himself to death in the tunnels under the village, Usopp finds himself at his wit’s end. Every single rumor turned out to be false, every single lead useless. 

By twilight, Usopp’s sure he’s never going to find the Revive-Revive fruit. Grumbling to himself, he sits on the beach and throws stones into the water, enjoying the angry plopping noise they make. 

“Stupid Revive-Revive fruit,” he mutters, bringing his knees to his chest. “What was I thinking? If no one else found it, why’d I be the first?”

He throws one more stone into the ocean; now that his mission is a complete failure, he needs to find his way back to the Rumbar Pirates before they leave him here. 

Examining the coastline, Usopp’s really gone way too far from town. He’s on the other side of the mountain, the steep cliffs impossible to climb over. He’ll need to go the long way around unless he finds another option here, and he really doesn’t want to go through the tunnels again. 

Just under the cliffside, if Usopp watches closely, he thinks he sees a cave. The tide ebbs and flows around it, and by the way the water moves Usopp is sure that there’s something there. If that cave goes straight through the mountain, he’ll be back to the Rumbar Pirates in no time. 

Usopp wouldn’t normally enter a mysterious cave on the cliffside, but he’s desperate. He needs to get back before the sun sets, and he’s pretty sure this stupid cave is the only way to do it. 

The swim over is easy enough, even if the water is starting to cool. He has to battle against the tides to make it into the cave without being tossed into the coast line, but when he does enter he’s met with a small, cool cave, with a large pocket of air and a large alcove above water. 

Scrambling onto the land in the cave, Usopp realizes with disappointment that the cave goes nowhere. This isn’t the secret tunnel to the other side of the island, this is a complete dead end. All he can see are harsh, gray cave walls, barely dried and slippery, and a sandy shore. 

There’s a bright red X drawn in the center of the room, which is odd, but…

…but considering the rumors had a witch in the mountains, a man in the tunnels, and a buried pirate treasure, treasure buried in a cave under the mountain side seems awfully suspicious. 

Is this it?! Did Usopp accidentally find it?! He almost can’t believe it; after his entire failed trek around the island, did he actually find the Revive-Revive fruit?!

With his bare hands, Usopp digs and digs until, sure enough, his fingernails hit metal. The chest he finds is old and worn, and it takes a couple of tugs for Usopp to unbury it properly. 

When he opens it, his heart beating loudly in his ears, he sees it: the Revive-Revive fruit. The answer to all his problems.

Without even second guessing himself, Usopp surges forward and shoves the thing in his mouth. It tastes awful, but he’s sure to eat every last bite of the fruit. He doesn’t feel any different, he mostly just feels sick to his stomach. 

He’s done it. He’s conquered death itself, he’s conquered fear, he’s going to be a proper Rumbar Pirate and he’s going to be a proper Warrior of the Sea. No one can stop him now, not even Death himself. Death quakes before his power, even if he doesn’t feel any different than normal. Cackling to himself, Usopp preens at his newfound power. Then, he looks out to the exit to the cave, the exit that’s completely under sea water. 

Oh.

Oh.

His heart sinks; Devil Fruit users can’t swim, can they? Is he trapped here? Is he trapped here until he dies? 

He’d thought eating a Devil Fruit that brought him back from the dead would mean he’d have no reason to be afraid of anything anymore. Yet here he is, alone in a cave, paralyzed at the sound of the crashing waves just outside. What good is the Revive-Revive Fruit if he could still drown?

He wanted– well, he wanted to be more than what he is, an accidental chore boy on an accidental adventure, but now he’s just an accidental chore boy, trapped in a cave for all eternity because he didn’t think long enough to eat the Devil Fruit after swimming through the ocean. 

“No, no, no,” Usopp mutters, pacing alone in a cave. This one random cave, his eternal resting place. “I’m going to die. Wait– no, I can’t die. I’m never going to die. I’m going to not-die here forever.”

Panic claws at him relentlessly. It’s a familiar feeling, but what’s unfamiliar is his total and utter helplessness. There’s nothing he can do. The cave walls are impenetrable, the sand beneath his feet leads nowhere, and the water is out of the question. Oh, why didn’t he just wait?

Tears streaming down his face, Usopp does the only remaining thing he can do. 

“HELP ME,” he yells, with all the air in his lungs. “CAPTAIN YORKI! HELP ME!”

It feels like hours of yelling, pleading, until there’s a sudden splash in the water. Jolting up, Usopp holds the chest he found high up over his head to prepare and strike. 

“You don’t want to eat me! I can’t die!” Usopp proclaims, then throws the chest into the water, missing the mark entirely. 

It’s a good thing he does, because when Usopp’s gaze finally focuses, he sees Captain Yorki staring up at him. 

“C-Captain?!” Usopp says, falling to his knees. “I– I– what are you doing here?!”

Captain Yorki pulls himself out of the water, onto the sand shores. He frowns at Usopp, looking remarkably serious for how light-hearted he typically is, then shakes the water out of his hair. 

“You woke up the whole island with your yelling, kid,” Captain Yorki says. “And any of us could recognize your sorry yell from leagues away.”

Usopp’s so relieved he doesn’t even feel admonished. The Captain’s here, the Captain’s going to save him–

“--what the hell are you doing in a cave, Usopp? Normally you’re the only bastard I can trust to not get into trouble.”

–the Captain doesn’t know he ate a Devil Fruit. 

“Um, I–” Usopp starts. His voice sounds weak and raspy from all the yelling. “W-well, I saw a hapless creature in need, of course, a–” he tries to imagine why he’d end up in a cave. “--a whale! A baby whale, lost from its herd, and I, uh–”

“Usopp,” Captain Yorki says. 

“There’s no whale,” Usopp says. “I…”

He got into all this trouble for a Devil Fruit, and he doesn’t even want to admit it. He’s put the Rumbar Pirates through an awful lot of trouble, hasn’t he?

Captain Yorki sits down next to him, his own feet still in the water. 

“Let me tell you a story for once,” he say. “About how the Rumbar Pirates lost their chore boy on a terrifying island, and had to go on a wild goose chase to find him. All the townspeople kept telling us about how he’d been asking around about a treasure on the island. Something about a devil fruit, and a witch in a cave, and a skeletal musician.”

Usopp huffs; the skeletal musician was one of his red herrings. 

“The story that worried them the most was the one about their chore boy looking for a Devil Fruit rumored to be on the island. Especially when he never showed up, not even after sunset.”

“I’d never eat a devil fruit,” Usopp tries. By the Captain’s critical look, he doesn’t quite believe him.

“And then the yelling started,” he continues, ignoring Usopp. “Everywhere on the island we could hear our chore boy’s pathetic cries, and we couldn’t sail off without him, so–”

There’s no way that’s true. There’s no– he’s not even really a Rumbar Pirate.

“You wouldn’t set sail without me?” Usopp interrupts. “You’d have stayed until I showed up?”

Another long look, then Captain Yorki ruffles Usopp’s hair. “Of course we would’ve,” he confirms. “Can’t leave behind a kid who’d risk his life for a baby whale, lost from its herd, eh?”

Usopp sniffs. “You know that’s not real, right?” He scrubs at his eyes with the base of his palm, but he doesn’t seem to be able to wipe away his tears. “I made it up.”

Laughing loudly, Yorki smiles wide, looking way too amused. “Of course you made it up! We all know you make everything up. There’s nothing better for a crew of musicians than an excellent storyteller.”

“You didn’t have to eat a Devil Fruit for that,” he says. “We’d have looked around for you, anyway. Can’t leave our own liar behind.”

Usopp swallows thickly; he didn’t know they actually, really didn’t mind having him along. He just thought– well, he didn’t know what he thought. Maybe that they’d leave him behind for the next chore boy they found. 

“You’ve got yourself in an awful pickle here, though,” Captain Yorki says, looking out to the exit of the cave, frowning. “You’ll need to hold your breath. It won’t be pleasant. Is that going to be a problem?”

Of course it’ll be a problem. Usopp’s knees feel weak under him; what were the effects of sea water on Devil Fruit users? Something horrible he’s sure. Something painful and terrible and sickening and sure to kill him before he’s left. 

Captain Yorki waits patiently, feet kicking in the water. 

Usopp sucks in one breath, steadying himself. “Of course it’s not a problem!” he proclaims, tears in his eyes. “I’ve held my breath for longer than that! I’ve held my breath for years! I’ve…”

He hasn’t done any of that. He hasn’t done anything of much value yet, really. But if he sticks around with the Rumbar Pirates for a little longer, maybe he will.

[phoenixcatch7]

Unrelated to the last post but MAN I wish I could make a list of characters view the canon fics that do it so well across fandoms but I really don't want to risk opening them up to deletion. It's only recently that these sorts of stories have been allowed to stay up, as only a few years ago they were considered 'too close to canon' and could - would - get forcibly taken down from just about every site.

I've lost too many amazing cvtc fics to staff deciding they were bending the rules too much to just post a list of links but... I wish they were more popular because there's some absolute gems.

Here, I'll talk about a few things they did:

Killed the protagonist and everyone had to rewatch his memories to bring him back. This was very controversial in universe and it made it work so well.

The protagonist was oblivious to the reading, not part of it. This meant everyone could theorise and debate between themselves and actually REALLY solved the pacing and dramatisation issues common to these fics.

The protagonist actually replaced a villain in canon; the reading was done pre canon and the villain believed he had gone insane was the one acting like that. It was mortifying but seeing his body make friends and get a happy ending when he believed he was beyond hope and vicious about it was heart wrenching.

The young protagonist accidentally wished to be understood and a villain took advantage of it. It switched between the reading and reactions and the protag desperately trying to defeat the villain and make plans to run away to prevent his revealed secret getting him killed by the government.

The very large cast was split into groups, but could contact each other via texting. This enabled each group to have wildly varying reactions and theories without having to constantly argue and fight. It made it more fast paced, and added tension as the villains plotted unsupervised.

A very small cast were on a road trip and found the protags audio diaries of his adventures in the glove compartment. This was a Percy Jackson one, and it built off the books' first person format brilliantly.

The protags purposely wrote down their adventures in books and sold them on the market to fix their reputation and earn some money doing so. It involved people frantically trying to verify the books and evolved into a pr nightmare.

The orphan protag somehow time travelled back to when his family was in hiding with his books. His parents and uncles read the books and got to know their currently infant kid in the process. (This was a Harry Potter one, and both the series and author got permanently banned from ffn years ago and it had gotten all the way to deathly hallows 😭. It had been in progress for over a decade and was immaculately written, I miss it so much. Author if you're out there ily.)

Midway through canon a group of the protags friends combined all of their memories in a crystal ball and shipped it to a conference where just about every important figure was in attendance. They did not tell each other of the memories they included. They did not tell the exiled protag what they'd done. Many unexpected revelations and betrayals happened during the viewing. It also made it so the only scenes that appeared were ones where other people were there, which was so creative and well done.

The protag was a powerful psychic brought in for questioning and made it everyone else's problem. It was hilarious.

For a video game canon a handful of trusted allies (and villains before they went insane) were secretly delivered the games by THE TIME TRAVELLING GHOST OF THE PROTAGONIST IN DISGUISE and played them. The main focus was the main villain finding out a) how to even play video games (there was an ongoing joke about ridiculous video game logic) and b) the reasons he went insane, in excruciating detail, c) his victim's perspective including his own history that future him died not knowing about. One of his friends got a spinoff video game about how all his other friends died tragically. Many people saw their own traumatic deaths on screen with about twenty pixels.

A group of next gen kids accidentally fell into their parent's memories (of a war they'd been lied to about).

The protag was the 'child' of an omnipotent being who got sick of them being a self fulfilling prophecy (which ended horribly in canon) and locked them all in a fourth dimensional cave. In the same fic, the protag was using illusions to maintain the appearance of on-screen canon while fleshing out canon scenes and implications. Really well written and the character relationships were 👌.

The characters parents got the books, and had to reverse engineer the events that led up to canon and also which character was whose unborn kid.

A villain made a wish to publicly expose the main group's 'lies', accidentally exposed them as telling the truth and themselves as the corrupt liars. Whoops!

Traumatised side character time travelled back to pre canon from an apocalypse (that wasn't in canon), demanding the canon be viewed to understand and prevent the events that led to the apocalypse.

Characters broke after the events of canon publish their stories as fantasy books to the unknowing civilian public. The fantasy people accidentally get hold of it and everything goes to pot. I swear this is a totally different fandom to the other one.

Dead villain ghost secretly witnesses a viewing, time travels back to adopt the protagonist and change history to his image.

Crossover where one character was revealed to be a character from the other fandom in hiding with a fake identity.

Protag lost his memories and everyone uses a magical device/ritual to restore it, becoming witnesses themselves in the process.

Characters were forced to watch amvs of each other and had to try and extrapolate the order of events and the symbolism of the song. No one walked away with the full picture, but they got the main problems sorted.

Someone made an uncannily accurate play and the characters had to track the creator down to sue them (and figure out how they'd done it) without revealing that the portrayal was accurate.

A travelling seer took severe umbrage to the body stealing protag and exposed him with receipts. He spent basically the entire fic curled in a ball of mortification.

The protag on trial for many crimes got the magic viewing device used on him in front of everyone in the courtroom.

One fic was pretty normal but every time someone on screen got hurt or sick, so did their 'irl' counterpart. It sped up the fic a lot as no one wanted to linger on the worst bits. Also the author used canon implications, that the protag was oblivious to, to low key scare everyone who noticed them.

Crossover where the adults of one fandom fought over adoption rights of the other fandom's teen protag.

The author only used cherry picked moments of canon to massively streamline the fic, which worked! All the high moments you want a fic to cover - epic fights, dramatic reveals, important conversations, silly moments, developing relationships. And absolutely NOTHING else, there was very little context. Made for some excellent moments of people frantically trying to explain themselves lol.

Character stared too long into the void, broke the fourth wall to watch their own media. They spent most of the fic about to cry.

Protags patron deities hosted a viewing to try and get him a gf/bf from their other avatars. He wasn't looking for romance but did eventually end up in a poly relationship.

Prophet reluctantly revealed his own version of events with the help of his sentient house. This was about a movie so it was pretty fitting thematically lmao.

There is so much potential!! There's so many ways to do it, branch out, give these sorts of fics a try! Don't get stuck in the rut of the same methods as everyone else, even in this genre there's all sorts you can do with it! Use some of these examples if you want! Get creative and don't forget you're writing a story!!

Of course, if you recognise or are reminded of these please don't link or name them*, but you're more than welcome to guess which fandom each belongs to XD!

*Except that Harry Potter one, please I need closure, it's been a decade-

[moostelid]

Prompt:

Tseng is in hell.

Not only is his mentor much younger than he’s supposed to be, but he somehow managed to drag his presumed dead (emphasis on dead; this man should dead) partner back with him.

Shoved into a director’s position until the matter is solved, Tseng has to deal with his boss wreaking havoc.

He had thought reigning in Rude and Reno was troublesome, but these two are just pure nightmare fuel.

It also doesn’t help that Valentine seems to have come back wrong. (Surely Veld would have mentioned if his partner had always been a shape-shifting vampire thing—right?)

OR:

Vincent is a time traveler and Veld has been de-aged by at least 20 years. It’s Hojo’s fault, and they’ve decided to make it everyone else’s problem.

[pheonixdrop]

I wish we knew for sure whether or not Garroth was actually mind controlled because it’s so annoying to try and argue any point. Like you could read it three different ways and it’s entirely based on your opinion and specifically your opinion of garroth. Was garroth 100% brainwashed or mindcontrolled? Was Garroth manipulated into it? Was Garroth just being a little bitch? Who knows!!

And even then, mind control and brainwashing are different things! Brainwashing is a kind of mind control but not all mind control is brain washing! If he was brainwashed, then that means he was most likely manipulated to the point of fully believing whatever Zane/Lillian wanted to, but if he was mind controlled, then he probably didn’t have much autonomy over his actions because he was literally being controlled.

Like I’m a little garroth hater most of the time and even I can’t really argue that mind control didn’t happen! my only points are that the plot in general is kind of shit considering all the implications that aren’t actually acknowledged and that total mind control isn’t really the best option considering Garroth didn’t have that whole fighting on the inside thing going on, so he was essentially just being puppeted until Laurence went “stop it this isn’t you 🥺” and it somehow immediately worked

I’m very passionate about how much i don’t like the betrayal plot if you can’t tell

L + ratio + it’s my favorite arc + I think it’s fun and complex.

I don’t think he’s “mind controlled” if that means like. Magic or fantasy hypnosis, but he’s very clearly being emotionally manipulated by Lilian and Zane. He’s in a lot of distress after seeing Laurence kiss Aphmau, NOT because he is jealous, but because they had a heart-to-heart where Laurence directly promised him that he would let Garroth make the first move, to accommodate for Garroth’s hesitance. He’s upset because Laurence (seemingly) broke his promise.

But that’s not the point where he betrays them! No, INSTEAD Garroth removes himself from the group to try and regulate his feelings, because he KNOWS he won’t be acting rationally if he’s around them. Is this mature and healthy? Absolutely not! But it makes SENSE. Garroth is a very private person. He struggles to express himself, and already has good reason not to trust people (he’s been on the run for 5 years at this point, and the last person he fully trusted proceeded to be a shadow knight that tried to kill him. Twice).

But Garroth is doing what he THINKS is best: not making his feelings everyone else’s problem. He’s trying to deal with it on his own by pretending to be sick.

Of course, they’re worried about him, so when a traveling doctor (Lilian) comes by, they send her his way. And she presents herself as a medical professional, someone he could trust, that could give him an objective view of the situation. And she used that to manipulate him.

She breaks down his trust in them, bit by bit. She convinces him that they’re using him. That they don’t care about him. He’s nothing but a tool to his loved ones. He’s already isolated himself, so it’s not hard to keep him isolated. She makes him feel like an idiot for trusting them. When he’s isolated, he can’t interact with his loved ones, can’t disprove what she’s saying. And so it makes sense. It all starts to make sense.

Laurence going “this isn’t like you” doesn’t work because “UwU 🥺 magic of fwiendship” or whatever the fuck you seem to think it is, it works because it very rapidly snaps Garroth back to reality that Laurence has no fucking clue what Garroth is talking about. It becomes clear that he loves Garroth, that he knows and respects him. And Garroth realizes he’s been tricked, because the version ofLaurence that Lilian convinced him existed isn’t the Laurence he’s fighting.

TL;DR: He’s brainwashed in the same way that Will Grahm is brainwashed. Yes, his actions are his own. He chose to do what he did. But he would have never done it if he hadn’t been manipulated by a trusted medical professional.

[baenyth]

Bethany's Bizarre Miraculous Reviews: The London Special

Okay, I wasn't expecting this to drop so soon! Let's go! Maker-breaker! This is post-season 5 finale! I'm practicing all my negative reactions just in case!

Oh. That's Lila. Or "Lila."

Surreal-looking intro sequence. Cool!

Triangular prism chess

Old Lady Alix

Get noclipped

Exposition

Wait, she's into them kissing now? Or is she just done with their bullshit?

Gabriel making the wish is supposed to happen? That causes the apocalypse! That's probably why reality ended!

So the Miraculous big bang undid the nightmare phenomenon? Noted.

So the wish didn't cause the apocalypse? Goddamnit show, be consistent with the lore!

Kagami yes!

Kagami no!

Wait, is Marinette impacted by the wish? Is that why she won't tell Adrien? Is she mind-controlled?

Actually, looking at her, Bug Noire does look more like she's a puppet,

She won't come clean.

"No. I'll just use a key card instead."

Yes! Tell him!

I think she's being forced by the wish. Phew.

Honestly, this might be as bad as telling the truth to him. Probably worse, since he can tell something's up.

Yes! Kill! Wait no! She's covering Shitmoth's tracks!

Oh god. She's telling everyone this.

Also where is Felix in all of this? Where's that genocidal bastard?

Shitmoth won.

Well, at least the Kwamis are safe.

Lying to Alya

No, no you didn't.

So you can adjust the wish to cause the apocalypse? Why didn't they just say that?

Construction Marinette

Meta humor

Jaundicebug. Couldn't Ladybug just keep on the bright vest?

Not really, considering that apparently Miraculous canon exists in the same world as Ghost Force. Dummy.

Noclip

Just summon your lucky charm already, dummy. You already know their powers.

Maaybe get her for that if she's doing it of her own volition?

And what would those bigger problems be? That the plot is harder to comprehend?

Wait, is this just recycled scenes from the season finale?

So no one's dead and cloned. Phew.

No, Gabriel was never Adrien's father.

Alternatively, you could've just not detransformed, confiscated the rest of his rings, and arrested his ass.

One of the few London references

So akumatizing yourself gets rid of your memories? Or do people always forget when akumatized?

And yet they still got hit by the nightmare gas when Tomoe somehow didn't. What the fuck.

And you can't tell everyone else either. Like, why are you doing this? You could just not do this. Unleash the truth. Unleash justice.

Thinking with portals

Just open the portal a bit larger.

He'll have the Gorilla.

Nathalie's cooking here.

No it won't.

And the other half is a lie.

You think no one will ever know? Someone will know. Someone will find out, and they'll tell Adrien at his lowest. And that'll be a thousand times worse than just telling him the truth upfront.

Braid tail

Getting some Freddy Five Nights vibes here

Teleporter battle!

Stuck in the void

Wait, I'm pretty sure Alix was back during that happy days illusion pool sequence thing. Was that fake?

Admittedly, "both have their ups and downs" was one of the better answers to that.

New animation style

Well that didn't have much to do with London aside from the time travel crap being an allusion to Doctor Who and the Sherlock reference. Is it because British people suck? Either way, this was less of a special and more of stuff that should've been added to the season 5 finale. Their explanation of lying wasn't too bad, though. They explained that Marinette did this of her own will and had her stick to it, ultimately. I'm just glad they explained that no, everyone didn't die. I hope the side heroes get to kick Felix's ass for what he did in the new season. Bitch has it coming. And yeah, Lilamoth's going to spill the beans to Adrien one way or another.

[paradoxcase]

Close kinship structures within a system of universal polygamy

Here's a piece of worldbuilding that I technically drew up for a story that I'm writing, but like, it has nothing at all to do with the story or the characters and is just some background stuff that gets mentioned briefly for approximately two seconds as a segue into something completely different, but I wound up putting a pretty decent amount of effort into it and even drew up a kind of scruffy diagram in gimp using icons from the Sims, so I am kind of brain-dumping it here, in case anyone is interested.

So, the nation of T'arse has a system of universal polygamy, where everyone of any gender is expected to have multiple spouses. This is kind of a sketch of how that traditionally works, what it does to kinship systems, and why it is that way in the first place. The story is about time travel, but somehow, talking about T'arsi kinship systems in English is more confusing than talking about self-fulfilling time travel loops in English, so I'll be using T'arsi words so I don't wind up saying stuff like "your official father's other wives' other husbands' children" and immediately losing literally everyone.

A quick note about spelling and pronunciation here is that the apostrophe up there modifies the T and indicates that it is a retroflex consonant - these are pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled back on the roof of your mouth. In the story, I just use the apostrophe because there are very few T'arsi words in the text, but once you start to have words with like, multiple retroflex consonants in row it starts to get a bit much, so I've just used the IPA characters for the retroflexes here. So basically, if you see a funky-looking character, it's just a retroflex consonant, that's all it means.

So first of all, while people are expected to have multiple spouses, they don't generally have huge numbers of multiple spouses. Usually, you have three. The first one you traditionally get before you turn 20 - your parents traditionally arrange this one for you. Then you are supposed to get a second spouse in your 20s, who ideally should be another person in their 20s who is also looking for a second spouse, and then you get a third one in your 30s, likewise. Most people stop there, but you can keep going if you want. However, it's generally considered kind of weird if you have a big age difference with one of your spouses, or if one of your spouses has a different number of other spouses than you do, so if you, say, don't get married a second time during your 20s, you can wind up permanently stuck in the "weird" category, since it will be hard to find someone in their 30s who only has one other spouse, and only having one spouse also makes you kind of weird. Plenty of marriages happen just for the sake of social appearance - it's not required, or even expected, that you are equally romantic or sexual with all of your spouses, so it's not actually seen as a problem unless people think that a) you might be gay, and are actually just dating your spouse's other spouses and similarly letting your spouses date each other, or b) you're from a recently-conquered territory and a bunch of you all fake-married each other in order to be "taken" and are actually just living your monogamous lives out with your original spouse. In those cases, it's considered "antisocial".

Obviously, everyone can't live with everyone else. Traditionally, the way cohabitation worked was that men were not allowed to own property, and each woman had their own home, and was generally guaranteed one by the government. Men would then live with their wives, traveling between the houses of different wives when they had multiple, staying for anywhere from a few days to multiple years with the same one at a time. The gay people who are all dating their spouse's other spouses would make arrangements like, you guys can have my place while I stay at my girlfriend's house for a few months. In later time periods, it does become possible for men to own property, first through legal loopholes and then more easily, and eventually you even get gay marriage, and the distinction between "people who own homes" and "people who travel between multiple homes" gets a lot greyer, but that's how it works traditionally. The children stay in their mother's house until around age 12 or so, at which point they join their father and travel between his wife's houses, during which time he is supposed to teach them his trade. It's 100% up to the woman who the father of her children is - it doesn't matter if the kid very obviously looks much more like one possible father than another one, whoever the woman declares to be their father is their father.

This habitation pattern leads to different, overlapping sets of close family. Here is where the diagram comes in:

So, the basic terms:

khraizdi means "mother"

zautɽe means "father"

sɖueveʂ means "brother"

maimueʂ means "sister"

ʂɭuiɳ means "true". It's used for your official parents, and your full siblings who you share both parents with.

ghliʈeo means "nursery". It's used for the siblings who share your mother with you, but not your father, because these are siblings that you grow up with as a young child but probably do not see often during your adolescence. The fathers are also called zautɽe ghliʈeo because you would meet them when they visited your mother, and depending on how long they stayed, they might even be a significant part of your childhood, but would see them less often during adolescence.

ʂbiʐɭe means something like "vocation", or "career". It's used for the siblings who share your father with you, but not your mother, because these are siblings that you mostly never meet until your adolescence, but with whom you will learn your trade. Their mothers are also khraizdi ʂbiʐɭe because you will first meet them during this stage of your life as well.

ɖemgh usually means the non-ghliʈeo children of your zautɽe ghliʈeo and the non-ʂbiʐɭe children of your khraizdi ʂbiʐɭe and their other parents, but technically it can be used to refer to anyone who you can connect to you via a longer chain of marriages. It's kind of like how your first cousin and your third cousin can both be referred to as "cousins", but usually if someone talks about their "cousin" they mean their first cousin. And, when people want to be specific, they will also say things like "first ɖemgh" and "second ɖemgh", etc.

Your ghliʈeo and ʂbiʐɭe siblings are still very much your siblings and marrying them is incest. But ɖemgh family is only kind of like quasi-family and it's totally fine to marry them. Traditionally, the first spouse that is arranged for by your parents is a first ɖemgh "sibling", as shown in the diagram, although in later times (or if the ages and genders didn't work out for whatever reason) people would go to second or third ɖemgh. Arranged marriage sticks around for quite a while, and is even sometimes being practiced after gay marriage is normalized and thus there were arranged gay marriages, because many people felt that it was important to get married early, and also felt that teenagers would not make good decisions about who to marry. There is not a lot of visibility into how many marriages fail in T'arse, because divorce is rare and most people who have an issue with one or two of their spouses also have at least one spouse they are good with and just stop seeing the problematic spouses. The owner of a house has the legal right to ban anyone except underage children from their house, including their own spouses, and this has always been enforced by law enforcement, and having a falling-out with one spouse is usually seen as just a regular drama of life. It only becomes a visible problem when a man is banned from all of his wives' houses and doesn't have anywhere to stay. People hold this up as a reason why arranged marriage is a good thing - because it means you always have one spouse that's guaranteed to be a good match, since your parents put their lifetime of experience into picking them for you, right?

So love, and sex, and even children and cohabitation are actually not required components of marriage, mostly because you have other spouses with which you can also have those things. So what is the point? Why is it important to be married at all? Why is it important to be married so young?

The answer is actually nationalism.

You see, "T'arse" (or if we're writing it in IPA, ʈars) is not actually the name of the country. It is the properly the name of a god. And secondarily, it is the name of the country that is that god. The country cannot be referred to as "the Kingdom of T'arse" or "the Empire of T'arse" or "the Republic of T'arse" or whatever, because T'arse is just its proper name, by itself, because T'arse is fundamentally, a god. The ruler is not a queen or an emperor, although outsiders might refer to her as such - like every T'arsi, she is a tiny piece of god, specifically god's will. So, her proper title is the Will of T'arse. Others will frequently be referred to in similar ways - the eye of T'arse, the finger of T'arse, the hair of T'arse, the knee of T'arse, etc.

Because the country is god, it wouldn't do for individuals to remain separated from the rest. Everyone has to be linked together in a vast network of marriages in order to truly form a composite being. That's why being insufficiently connected is "antisocial" - you're not being a proper piece of god, you are trying to be apart from god. Even the Will has to be part of the network, so one of her many husbands (she gets way more than three) is always a regular common T'arsi man. (The rest are generally all princes of patriarchal kingdoms, and she gets to play political games of deciding which one gets to be her children's father. Sometimes she does the ultimate troll move of declaring the common T'arsi man to be a strategically important child's father and a lot of people get very Unhappy.)

This also fuels T'arse's expansionism. Originally, the theology was that everyone on the continent was god. The original proselytism was, let's all be god together and create a perfect society worthy of god. Some people thought their existing societies were good enough already and kept killing the missionaries. Eventually, one Will of T'arse declared the outsiders to only be Schrodinger's god - maybe they're god, maybe they aren't, we don't know until after we conquer and absorb them. Everyone we kill in the process wasn't actually god, it turns out, so that's fine.

Because of this, they actually have a pretty good social safety net. We can't let god starve or live on the streets or die of treatable diseases, that would be sacrilege. There are still massive wealth gaps, of course - the Will of god is naturally far more important than the fingernail of god, and obviously gets far more support, but it's actually fairly good at making sure that the poorest citizens all have some sort of food, housing, and access to medical care. The people who live in the surrounding countries know this... they know that they could leave behind all of the hardships they may face in their home, immigrate to T'arse, be accepted unconditionally as god, be given food, housing, healthcare, and a spouse or three, and never have to live in a country defending from an invasion ever again. But it means they will never speak their native language again, or participate in their native culture, or practice the religion they grew up with, because "god" just doesn't do those things.