#This is exactly why I hate immortal tropes

[littldoctor]

When he talks with Sarah for the first time in years.

Doctor who – S2E3 – School Reunion

He's so smiley during the whole thing and so delighted to have her in front of him again.

[nyoomerr]

Maybe some Omega Bingge for the drabble requests if you'd like? The ficlet you did of him making the nest lives rent free in my head

i'm glad you enjoyed it! i'd honestly love to do a longer omega!bingge thing some time, i love him so much... for now, here's something that's.. kind of the opposite of the one i wrote last time.

cw for omegaverse and Gender Stuff and mentions of female genitalia on a male character!

---

Proud Immortal Demon Way had many flaws, but top of the list had been that it had been an omegaverse - one of the few tropes in literature literally made for bad porn. It was a sellout’s last resort, and a reader’s most shameful pleasure, and -

“If you hate it so much, why are you still reading it?” Shen Yuan’s sister had asked him years ago, back when Shen Yuan had still bothered to complain to her about it.

Frustratingly, Shen Yuan hadn’t had much to say in response. He had reasons, but they were - not shameful, exactly, but the thought of speaking them aloud made Shen Yuan’s gut roil.

Luo Binghe was the picture perfect image of a stallion protagonist. Women fell to his feet with hardly a breath of effort, and his stamina in bed was unheard of, and he was naturally the best looking character Shen Yuan had ever laid eyes on. 

He was also, shockingly, an omega. 

An omega, someone born with instincts that would thematically tend towards feminine behavior, someone born with the bits meant for being bred, someone - someone altogether unfit to be a stallion protagonist, really. It was a massive subversion of the genres. 

Of course, Airplane never wrote it in such an interesting way. There were some interesting character arcs back in the disciple era chapters, but once Luo Binghe fell to the Abyss, they all fell apart. 

The very mention of secondary genders all but vanished. Sex scenes were as rampant as they were vague, enforcing the idea that Luo Binghe was a perfect stallion protagonist - always on top! - without giving any details about how the hell that worked. 

Useless! A waste of a perfectly fascinating subversion of genre and gender alike! Why bother even establishing an omegaverse world if you weren’t going to use the protagonist’s secondary gender at all?!

…Or so Shen Yuan had thought, until Luo Binghe himself had fallen straight into his bedroom out of a crack in reality. Because in person, Luo Binghe as an omega is - 

Shen Yuan swallows thickly, staring up at Luo Binghe with wide eyes. Luo Binghe meets his gaze evenly, his eyes half shut with a lazy sort of pride. His body is pressed close to Shen Yuan’s but not touching, and the mere inch between the lines of their bodies somehow feels more intimate than if Luo Binghe had outright plastered himself against Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan can’t back up; his back is already against a wall. He can’t escape from the sides, either, because Luo Binghe’s arms are bracketing Shen Yuan in an honest-to-fuck kabedon, and - 

“Yuan-er,” Luo Binghe croons, jolting Shen Yuan’s attention back to him. “This Lord found your… notes.”

Shen Yuan’s mouth goes dry. “Ah… my… college notes?” He tries.

“Your notes about me,” Luo Binghe purrs. 

“O-oh,” Shen Yuan says, helplessly. He wrote… a truly horrifying number of things about Luo Binghe, before he ever thought he might meet him.

“It seems,” Luo Binghe says, leaning in so that Shen Yuan can feel his breath against his lips, “like Yuan-er has some questions.”

“Um,” Shen Yuan says, very intelligently. “Questions, uh, yeah, sure, right, like - uh, like I was wondering how you escaped the Crystal Bloodmoon Cave in chapter 347, because it just faded to black and -”

“Yuan-er doesn’t want to know how I might use an omega’s clit to fuck someone else?” Luo Binghe asks, voice low and dangerous. 

Shen Yuan’s mouth falls slack. What - what do you even say in response to that, ah!! Shen Yuan doesn’t swing that way!!

…Or, if Luo Binghe is an omega, that’s - it’s a bit different from just being a man, right? So maybe -

“I’d show you,” Luo Binghe whispers into the shell of Shen Yuan’s ear. “Anything Yuan-er wants to know about me, I’ll show you.”

Luo Binghe pulls back slightly, just enough to meet Shen Yuan’s eyes again. His expression is dark and intense and hungry.

“I’ll show you,” he says again, licking his lips, “so don’t you dare look away from me.”

Shen Yuan shudders, an electric shock running up his spine. Luo Binghe shifts, one of his arms moving away from the wall to curl around Shen Yuan’s shoulders, the claws of  his hand scratching lightly against the nape of Shen Yuan’s neck.

The touch is enough to shock some sense back into Shen Yuan.

“I’m not - I don’t have a scent gland, there!” Shen Yuan yelps, jolting away.

He doesn’t get very far. Luo Binghe’s feather-light touch turns sharp, a forceful grip on the back of Shen Yuan’s neck that keeps him in place. Luo Binghe’s other hand comes up to take Shen Yuan’s chin between his fingers, tilting it up to force eye contact.

“You don’t,” Luo Binghe agrees, his eyes glinting red. “But as Yuan-er has… so thoroughly written about, I’m an omega. I shouldn’t be scruffing anyone to begin with, regardless of what sort of scent gland they have. What difference does it make, if there’s no scent gland at all?”

Shen Yuan’s pulse is loud in his ears. He knows Luo Binghe must feel it under his hands, jumping like a startled rabbit.

“I - um, I don’t mean to imply you shouldn’t do what you want!” Shen Yuan cries. “I mean, uh - My Lord! My Lord, I - of course this lowly one wouldn’t know anything about what my Lord should be doing, so -”

“Shh,” Luo Binghe coos. “Yuan-er is right. I shouldn’t be doing this, and yet I am anyway. I always am.”

“Right,” Shen Yuan says nervously. He can feel the way his shirt is sticking to his back, wet with sweat. 

“But Yuan-er has questions,” Luo Binghe continues, his grip loosening on Shen Yuan’s neck but curling so that his claws are once more pressed into the skin there. “And I have answers. Isn’t it good of me to offer to show you?”

“Right,” Shen Yuan says again, barely thinking. Then Luo Binghe’s mouth splits into a feral grin, and his words process with Shen Yuan, and - “Wait, wait -!”

“No take backs,” Luo Binghe says, vicious and pleased, and proceeds to show Shen Yuan quite thoroughly what it means to be a stallion protagonist omega.

---

Later, staring up at his ceiling and feeling unfairly winded, Shen Yuan figures he doesn’t really have much left to lose.

“Do you want to be an alpha?” He asks the ceiling. “Er - did you? This whole time?”

Luo Binghe’s attention on Shen Yuan is as heavy and intense as if it were a physical touch; Shen Yuan knows without looking that Luo Binghe has not taken his eyes off Shen Yuan once since - 

Ahem. Since… finishing. What they had been doing.

Now, Luo Binghe reaches out to twirl a finger in Shen Yuan’s hair, round and round and round the short locks, tugging at it hard enough it’s nearly painful. 

“Being an omega was a very dangerous thing, in all three realms,” Luo Binghe hums. “It wouldn’t have been an advantage to me to act like one.”

Shen Yuan sits upright, quite suddenly feeling a bit panicked. “I - you didn’t have to - if you didn’t want to, just now -!”

Luo Binghe grabs more of Shen Yuan’s hair and pulls, tugging Shen Yuan back down into a prone position. 

“So earnest, little Yuan-er,” Luo Binghe croons, and Shen Yuan feels his face go blotchy and red. “You have no need to worry; if it’s Yuan-er, I’ll do whatever you’d like.”

“But if you want something different -”

“Then I’ll demand it,” Luo Binghe says quite simply. “I’ll do whatever you’d like, and you’ll do whatever I’d like; that’s what I deserve.”

Shen Yuan splutters a bit but ultimately fails to protest this in any meaningful way. Luo Binghe plays with Shen Yuan’s hair for another long moment.

Finally, he says: “If it’s you, I wouldn’t mind trying it the way it’s supposed to be, I think.”

Shen Yuan turns to bury his face in his pillow. What a terrible thing to say to him! What is he supposed to say in response! It’s too much, too much - Shen Yuan really can’t possibly be expected to know what the right reply is!!

“...Don’t force yourself,” he mumbles into the pillow. “It’s - like I said, I don’t have scent glands, or a secondary gender at all. There is no ‘way it’s supposed to be,’ if it’s with me.”

Luo Binghe hums. He leans onto Shen Yuan, digging his chin into Shen Yuan���s shoulder painfully. Shen Yuan doesn’t bother to push him off. 

“Good,” Luo Binghe says. “Then: whatever I want, and whatever Yuan-er wants, and nothing more.”

[critterbitter]

What do you know- I'm trying out the askbox *eyes*

anyway I just wanted to say that high-key I think I'd follow any content you make at this point bc your art brings me so much joy. That doesn't tend to happen super often since i am,,,, very much so a hyperfixation-focused person HAHA

regardless I'm not exactly quiet about it but I adore your art and I look forward to each new time you post :D

I WISH i had the capability of pumping out art like you do bc man while I love to draw and have so many ideas all the time picking up the pencil is Hard Dude.

Also! In a recent post you mentioned the whole Twin Dragons AU and HC that people love to have- I'd be super curious as to your opinion on it!

-( ╹▽╹ )

I SEE YOUR TAGS AND IM.

I’ll have to slow down at some point on that Submas Grind, but the hyperfixation throes are REAL. Thank you for inhabiting the tunnels with me! People that tag and cheer artists on are the real mvps of the art economy.

As for twin dragon aus!

I’ve always seen Emmet as more zekrom esque, and Ingo more reshiram esque. Is it cause the typing matches their starters? Maybe, hehe.

Ultimately though, the guys are too multifaceted for me to easily split them into truth and ideals.

I also see the legendaries as Eldritch Abominations Beyond Understanding, so having the dragons in my iteration become the twins would, uh, have consequences. The funny goofy story would dip into horror territory instead. (Reshiram demands only truths, and anything not Absolute will burn. And zekrom’s ideals are beyond human understanding, and trying to understand the mad tangle of thunder would drive somebody insane.)

(I’m a huge tma fan. Can you see it? Man.)

((Also N’s a scary mofo for summoning reshiram. I’m digging directly into the whole “twin heroes have a civil war and it destroyed unova” backstory that pokemon set up, and the more I think about it the stronger my dread mounts at the idea of Zekrom OR Reshiram casually flying overhead.

But this is also just how I see the legendaries of the pokemon world! Lugia sinks islands. Groudon covers towns. Arceus loves the mortal world, and mourns because its immortality only brings grief. Giritina hates, because it’s the ghostly remains of every one of Arceus’s mistakes given drive, banished into the distortion realm. Normal stuff!)

You sly dog, you got me monologing! But here’s the tldr: Not sure i’ll ever make my own serious Dragon AU that follows my internal world building for pokemon. I’m too attached to my favorite trope: “the smallest people can still initiate the biggest of changes”, and I’m too attached to my other favorite trope: “legendaries are actually gods and you Should Be Frightened.”

So that’s why, in this essay, if the trio gets turned into pokemon, I’d make them route 1 run of the mill rats. Because rats can do whatever they want.

(Plus, patrats and pachirisu aren’t banned from the subway battles last I checked.)

If i had to make a goofy crack dragon au though, I think this would be the result:

The whole story would just be the trio and historians trying to figure out what the hell the twins got turned into, and concerns of other people becoming pokemon as well. So far, people are convinced they’re a paradox version of an archen. (I mean…)

(Alternate take of THAT, where elesa gets turned into a victini.)

[starz222]

6reeze / 5wirl : as popular tropes

scara - enemies to lovers | venti - friends to lovers xiao - miscommunication | kazu - mutual piningheizou - academic rivals cw not proof read might be ooc notes sorry no aether :( idk how to write him . also i hate kazuha's part

scara – enemies to lovers

goddamn raiden scaramouche. he just always had to be right, didn’t he? god, you just wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. he was so damn blunt all the time, but it was more annoying how he was right. he’s short and he’s especially mean when he opens his mouth. what’s there to even like!? one of the things you hate about him was how he found out about one of your most embarrassing secrets and told everyone.

“i hate him! i can’t stand to be in the same room as him.” you complain to your friend, childe. he raises his eyebrows at you, “looks like someone’s got a crush.” you scoff and roll your eyes at him, “c’mon, i hate the guy’s guts!” you furrow your eyebrows. childe looks at you with a smug expression, “uh huh, that’s why you’ve been talking about him for the last 48 hours?” you didn’t even reply. you just stormed off. you hear childe in the distance, “looks like i was right!”

he turns to his phone, “did you hear all of that?” 

“....yeah.” scaramouche finds himself dumbfounded. the next day, you find yourself avoiding him entirely. you saw a glimpse of him in the hallway? run to the nearest room. you saw his backpack behind a locker? run the opposite way. you see childe talking to someone shorter than him? it might not be scaramouche, considering childe is incredibly tall, but still, you choose to run away.

after seeing a silhouette that looks exactly like him in the halls, you run into the nearest room– the library. there, you hide behind a couple of bookshelves, trying to catch your breath. you turn to the right to take a peek at the entrance– what if he went inside? you sigh in relief when you see no one there, and you turn back to the bookshelf in front of you.  and oh– there’s someone towering over you. the person you’ve been avoiding all this while. he’s got you pinned to the bookshelves, and you look down at the ground feeling your cheeks become hot. his right hand is over your head and his left blocking your way out. 

“why are you avoiding me?” he says, not letting his eyes off of you, “it’s– it’s nothing!” you look further away. “the floor must be really interesting.” he grabs your jaw and makes you look at him, eye-to-eye. “tell me, why are you avoiding me?” you feel your body tense and your ears turn bright red. “because…” 

“because what?” “i…like you..” you say in a soft voice, so quiet only a mouse couuld hear. 

“i can’t hear you.” 

“i like you!” it’s quiet. scaramouche isn’t saying anything. he takes his hands off the bookshelf and looks at you. “i thought you hated me.” he says, “i don’t know! i don’t know anymore, i—” 

he cuts you off by placing a soft kiss on your lips.

“i… like you too.”

xiao – miscommunication

he was so confused about his feelings for you. he didn’t know what was going on with him. whenever you were around, his face would heat up and he’d become more tense. to others, he’d stay quiet, barely saying a word. but when it comes to you— oh, he doesn’t know what to do. he talks more, so much more. it’s something about you that just makes him lose it. 

when he thinks his feelings will only hurt you, he’ll distance himself from you. you’ll stop seeing him around liyue, and you’ll stop hearing his voice, asking you how you’ve been. when you call out his name, he won’t appear. but that feeling you get that someone’s watching your every move, that doesn’t go away at all.

he thinks you hate him now, now that he’s gone out of touch with you. he thinks that as a human, you won’t realize how important it is to live life to the fullest, and that you should not spend your moments with someone like him. an immortal being with so much karmic debt on his shoulders haunting him every single second of the day. but, that all went away with you. you brought so much happiness and joy to his life, and you’ve made him experience so many things he never thought he’d got to feel. 

but he was scared. scared of you getting hurt because of him, what if he’s the reason you don’t get to be happy? those thoughts stopped him from getting close to you— to be able to communicate with you. 

one day, you catch him stumbling on his feet, walking unbalanced. suddenly, he collapses. you run over to him and let him rest on your lap, he slowly opens his eyes and breathes in deeply. “[name]?” his voice is husky, his eyebrows are furrowed, “am i… imagining things?” he blinks slowly again, “there’s… there’s no way you’d actually do this.” his breaths are heavy and when you put your hand over his forehead, it’s burning hot. “xiao, you’re heating up, what happened? are you okay?” you ignore his words. “i’m.. i’m fine. just stay here with me. it doesn’t matter if you’re my imagination.” xiao looks at you through his lashes, “i missed you, xiao. you have no idea how much i liked you– and how much i still do.” 

xiao simply shakes his head. “no..no, i hurt you. you can’t do that, you can’t say–” he coughs, “you can’t say that.” he sniffs his nose, “just get some rest, xiao. let’s talk when you’re okay.” you say softly. “i’m so sorry, [name]. i didn’t want you to get hurt–” 

“please get some rest, xiao. you’re not okay.” 

heizou – academic rivals

heizou was one of the top students.you always ranked 2nd after him, and it infuriated you. not only that, but he was difficult to talk to, and he always seemed to be one step ahead of you. you always compared your scores with him the minute you got them, but he would always end up scoring one point higher than you.

this semester, you were set on defeating him. you studied all day and night, drank gallons of coffee, and barely slept. you thought about getting a score higher than his, how much you hate his intuition and him always being so spot on. 

“wake up, [name]!” venti shakes you awake, “‘m not sleeping! i’m..i’m not sleeping-” you jot up in surprise. “you should get some sleep,” he sighs. “no, i can’t. i absolutely have to beat him this time around.” you say. “so, i can’t afford some shutter-eye right now.” 

little did you know that “him” was just right around the corner, and he heard everything you said. “looks like your rival’s out to get you.” kazuha teased. “they should really get some sleep once in a while…” heizou mutters to himself. 

the day of the exams, you were overprepared, you were determined, you were confident you were going to ace this test and finally beat him. you just downed a cup of coffee, and you’re ready to take the exam. a few days afterwards, you get the results for the examination. you run to see a certain maroon-haired fellow. 

“heizou!” you run towards him, holding a paper in your hands. “what was your score… hah.. on the- the exam..” you pant and rest your arms on your knees. “woah there, excited much?” he takes your paper, “just- just tell me.” you take a while to catch your breath. he scans your paper, “79/80. wow, you’ve defeated the mighty shikanoin heizou.” he tells you. 

“i did?”

“you did. only because i let you.”

“oh my god–” you ignore his words. “i did!” you blink. “i don’t think the entire campus can hear you yet–” you blink again. “[name]!” you collapse into his arms, he’s swift, and caught you in time. “you did great, seriously. just get some sleep now.” he mutters, he’s noticed in the past weeks that you were slouching all the time, and your eyebags got worse. your voice got croaky, and he always caught you drinking coffee, honestly, was there ever a moment when you weren’t holding a coffee?

“my my, the prince charming gets his happy ending alas.” kazuha walks from behind. "by the way, congrats on getting perfect scores." 

“thanks.”

venti – friends to lovers

to be honest, you’ve gotten confused whether or not hanging out with him were just plain friendship stuff– or dates. knowing his secret, that he’s actually barbatos, the anemo archon, he uses his powers freely around you, making it easier to access beautiful city views. he invited you to watch the stars with him on the anemo god’s statue in the center of mondstadt, late at night. he uses his powers and holds your hand as you fly up to the statue’s hands, and there you lay down with him.

up there, the wind tickles your cheek, and venti is weirdly silent. it’s not like him at all to be quiet. so, you ask him, “what’s wrong?” he turns to you and says, “do you think they’ll like me back?” your heart drops. you tell yourself, you should be happy for your friend, finding his own happiness. but why not with you? “i mean, of course. what’s there not to like about you?” venti laughs. “there’s… so much i need to tell you.” 

“well you didn’t even tell me about your special someone” you turn away, throwing up in the air the apples you got for venti. “hey– i couldn’t!” he becomes defensive, “it’s just… they’re amazing. all my years roaming teyvat, i’ve never met anyone so… just so amazing.” he smiles, “see? i can’t even put my feelings into words— and i’m a poet!” he pulls his knees to his chest, “i don’t know what to do…”

“you should choose me instead.” you think out loud, venti looks at you in shock. “wh-what? what’d you say?” his pupils diate and his ears become hot. “don’t make me say it again, it’s embarrassing.”

“no, no! not at all, [name], i’d gladly choose you. you’re the one i like” he gets up and holds both of your hands.

“so… does this mean we’re–” 

“yep.”

kazuha – mutual pining

the crux has been through a lot, and god do they drink. it’s interesting to see kazuha not in his calm composure, instead slurring his words and his sentences full of hiccups. tonight, he drank a lot. the rest of the crew were passed out somewhere or simply sleeping. you were worried of leaving kazuha alone in this state– only archons know what’d happen to him.

“mmm–” he coos as he tilts his head at you. he giggles as he grabs a small photograph kept in his front pocket, he scooches over to you and shows you the picture. it’s a picture of you smiling. you ask him, “what’s this?”and he smiles, “the person i love oh so dearly…” he holds the picture as if it was fragile, like the slightest movement would ruin it. “don’t tell anyone, but..” he whispers into your ear, “i’m gonna marry them one day…” he giggles. he shoves the picture into your face, “look, *hic* aren’t they so cute?” you laugh, “you’re adorable, kazuha.” he looks at you, as if he’s offended. “well– *hic* i appreciate the compliment, but… you’re not [name], i’d like it if you didn’t say that, especially if they’re around.” he pouts. “y’know, i have someone i like too.” you smile at him, “really?” he entertains your sudden statement.

“yeah, he’s the nicest person i know. it’s like i can’t live without him.” the heavy weight you feel now being lifted off your chest. “you must really like him.” kazuha says, “what’s his name?” “his name’s kazuha. does that sound familiar?” you take your shot, it’s most likely he won't be able to remember this when he wakes up anyway, so why not?  “it does– oh.” he’s taken aback, in fact slightly sober now. he rubs his eyes multiple times and blinks profusely. 

“[name]—” 

“can i call you cute now?” 

tags @aimynx ( taglist for all of my works ! currently open )

[annakenziesworld]

TSAMS/TSBS AU infodump questionnaire!

Decided to make just a silly bunch of questions for people to answer to let out information about their AU's! Also because I love hearing about AU's. So because of that I wanna note how to answer these. Along with light rules about this post. Questions may be added to this later on!

Please if you use this exact list reblog this post with your answers! I wanna hear about your AU's

Either copy the list and put your responses under the questions OR just number your answers so its easy to tell what answer its to!

Basically all AU's that follow tumblr TOS are aloud, no reblogging anyone's au's with hate, this means all.

List aloud to be taken and used for other fandoms just please credit who made the original list.

If you don't know how to answer just say you don't know, or that its not relevant for the AU, not all questions are required!

If your AU could have triggering content put a warning of the content it'll hold and tag properly

Remember you can give as much detail as you want, or as little as you want

Now that's out of the way all questions can be found below! There is a total of 27 questions on the list

1 - What's the name of your AU if there is one? If no official name what would you call it?

2 - What is the most prominent differing factor between your AU and the original source Material?

3 - What is your favorite character in the source material and who's your favorite character within your AU?

4 - Are any of the characters in a relationship (QPR, Romantic, Emotional, ect.)? If so what are the most defined ones you've built so far, and within the universe how did their bond come along?

5 - What 'fanfic tropes/fanfic tags' does your AU use?

6 - Do any characters within your AU have any disabilities (mental or physical)?

7 - Do any characters have familial bond amongst eachother? If so how strong are their bonds, and how did they come about?

8 - What are the ages of the characters in your au? Or are the ageless/immortal?

9 - what's the general world like? Is it futuristic, modern, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, does it take place mainly in a coffee shop or something of the sort?

10 - are you working on any fanworks (fanfic, askblogs, rp blogs, animation, comics, ect.) about this au? If so link them!

11 - What is the worst thing(s) that happened to a character(s)? Did they have a tough life, a loss, or anything of the sort? If so what? How did it affect them?

12 - what's the best thing(s) that happened to a character(s)? How did it affect them?

13 - Did you take any unique design choices for any of the characters? If so describe or show them off!

14 - What character(s) in the AU have been worked on and built up the most and what are they like?

15 - What is your least favorite character in the source material, and what's your least favorite character in your au?

16 - Is there any major personality changes you made to the characters?

17 - What is the most 'out of character' thing in your AU?

18 - How long have you been working on this AU?

19 - Is there any OC's or self-inserts? If so what are they like and how do they affect the story?

20 - What inspired this AU?

21 - Has your AU steered off of your original plan for it at all? If so do you like how its changed? If it stayed the same what's the base idea for it exactly?

22 - Do you have any variations of this specific AU? If you do how do they differ amongst eachother?

23 - Does this AU bring you comfort/was it made for comfort?

24 - Is this your only TSBS AU or do you have any other ones? If other ones is this one your favorite?

25 - What parts of the AU are you proudest of?

26 - Do you keep this AU mostly private to yourself? If so why?

27 - would you consider this AU to be dark, light, fluffy, or what would it fall under and why? No wrong answers!

[mislamicpearl]

Thoughts and favorite moments from LMK season 5, eps 8-10 (finale):

Spoilers galore below:

"Control yourself" OMGOOODDD JUST HOW COLD AND CALMLY NEZHA SAID THAT WAS SO COOL!!

Somehow Nezha calling MK a child is so cute X3

Glad his dad isn't a full on bad guy, though I think he turned around a little fast. Granted we don't want to waste too much time on this.

The Pigsy huggg!😭😭😭

And the mastermind is... a Serpentine! Seriously, my sisters and I made up whole (unserious) theories on the spot there about this guy either coming from or pre-dating Ninjago. My favorite is that the cave he was talking about was the one the Anacondrai were trapped in - he managed to escape to the Ninjago realm before Pythor cannibalized the whole tribe.😆

"Wow, I'm very used to all of our enemies just being like, recycled your old enemies?" "Or like your ex-best friend." Hahaha

Hmm so this guy knew Wukong before, interesting...I just find it kind of funny that this guy (sorry I just couldn't catch his name) that his whole evil motivation is that he wants to just.. eff off.😆

Macaque trying so hard to stop MK sacrificing himself, again I can't believe how far their relationship has come since his first appearance. 😭

"That power. Who gave that to you? Who'd you make a deal with?" "A deal..?" I'M FROTHING AT THE MOUTH, ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO GET MORE ABOUT MACAQUE'S POWERS IN THE FUTURE??

Mei trying to straight up bite the snake guy XD

Macaque looking back at Wukong for a moment and seeing how desperate he is to save the kid before breaking them out of their bonds again😫

What did he do to Serpentine guy though??? Seriously give us the Macaque lore already!!!

So usually I HATE the trope of the hero insisting that there's no other way to save the day except to sacrifice themselves and pushing away their friends' efforts to save them... but here I'm kind of on MK's side with this one. They didn't exactly have a lot of time to figure out another way to stop the world from literally breaking apart.

That whole MK and Wukong fight put me in mind of Clint and Natasha from Avengers End Game trying to stop each other from killing themselves, which unfortunately means it was a little comical on top of being emotional.

But let's talk about how Wukong loves MK so much that even though he's so scared of death, to the point of making himself immortal, he still decided to take his place instead.😭

OMG WHAAAT MK ACTIVATED THE PAIN CIRCLET!?

Man... Wukong's guttural screams... cartoons rarely let characters show this much raw primal emotion, probably so as not to upset kids too much, so whenever you do see it you know things have gotten serious.

The fact that Macaque said Wukong's name instead of MK's tells me that he KNEW he would sacrifice himself in MK's place😭

Speaking of raw emotion, man... MK choking up with relief that his friends would be okay was just heart breaking.

So, not that I would've WANTED the "cycle" to renew itself or whatever, but... and this is most definitely just the religious side of me speaking here, I don't know that anyone else will agree with me... but I'm getting a little tired of shows letting the main characters decide the fate of the world based on what THEY want. Like, messages about standing up for your freedom, that's all well and good when it's in terms of rebelling against corruption and oppression, things that humans do to each other. But defying the very way your world is made, messing with the natural order of things because you personally don't like it... that's just arrogant and selfish. People in reality already think they can push the boundary of life and nature however they like; if some things weren't literally impossible, like coming back from the dead, humans would definitely do everything and anything they wanted and excuse themselves on the basis of wanting absolute freedom. That's why there ARE limits, and personally, I'm not a fan of seeing them being challenged as a good thing so often in almost every modern story ever. Wanting things your own way no matter what rules you break is a villain mindset (pretty much what the Serpentine guy's motivation was). I can kind of excuse MK here for the fact that the cycle wasn't supposed to start this early and what he's doing is just putting things back on the right track... whatever, guess I just wanted to get that off my chest, rant over.

Back to fluffy wholesome moments - Wukong crying and saying "I got you" to MK after catching him!!😭😭😭

And more group hugs🥹 This is probably like the third or fourth of this season??

Toy Story 3 moment of everyone holding hands and accepting their fate...

AND WE FINALLY GET THE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER...WUKONG AND MACAQUE ABOUT TO FORGIVE EACH OTHER UGGHH! FART YOU SERPENTINE DUDE FOR INTERRUPTING THEM!!

Yes I DID pay attention to which stone lights went to which characters... and that Mei's went to Red Son, and Pigsy's went to Chang'e, AND WUKONG'S WENT TO MACAQUE!!

Oh yeah nope, we just CAN'T end the season without giving MK something to worry and feel guilty about for next time!

Wukong tearing up saying "I don't want to lose you" MY HEART😭

YO WHAT IS GOING ON WITH MACAQUE'S SHADOW POWER??? AND IT'S ON MK'S STAFF!!! MACAQUE SPECIAL MACAQUE SPECIAL MACAQUE SPECIAL OH PLEEEEASE!!!

Bro, this show... every season has been peak so far.

[marley-manson]

Xena Episode Guide

Xena is an episodic show with a few ongoing arcs, both plot and character, so some episodes are very standalone, others are part of ongoing continuity. This guide will have four categories, denoted by symbol: * must-watch for plot or character development reasons + not essential but very good and/or gay, I recommend these ^ average non-essential episode, not notably amazing or awful, watch if you want more xena, skip if you want to get to the good parts faster # episodes I actively recommend skipping, not too many of these because I'm easy for this show lol.

I'm also going to link this site which has a lot of info and resources, including very thorough episode synopses under "episode guide," if you want more info before deciding whether or not to watch an episode.

It's also worth noting that it's a spinoff of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a show I've seen exactly one episode of. You don't need to watch it to watch Xena, but occasionally it can add some context, and it's worth knowing that some plot elements are developed in Hercules rather than Xena, particularly parts of the Dahak arc in season 3. They'll have the characters explain the plot relevant stuff briefly, eg why Callisto is immortal now, but yeah if you feel like you're missing things, that's why, and it's not a big deal.

So without further ado, here we go, starting with Xena's introductory episodes in Hercules.

Hercules: 1x09 The Warrior Princess, 1x12 The Gauntlet, 1x13 Unchained Heart# I haven't seen these, it's not necessary, and afaik some of the characterization and general vibes are incompatible with the Xena we know and love in her own show. But feel free to watch them if you want to see her introduction as a character.

1x01 Sins of the Past* 1x02 Chariots of War^ One minor highlight of this episode is that Xena and Gabrielle's respective flirtations with a man of the week each mirror their new relationship with each other - Xena and some peaceful village dude, Gabrielle and a wannabe warlord. Otherwise basic and uninteresting. 1x03 Dreamworker* 1x04 Cradle of Hope^ 1x05 The Path Not Taken* 1x06 The Reckoning* 1x07 The Titans^ 1x08 Prometheus^ Hercules and Iolaus appear if you skipped Xena's Hercules intro and want to meet them, but there's not much to recommend it 1x09 Death In Chains^ 1x10 Hooves and Harlots* 1x11 The Black Wolf+ I don't remember it too well but I remember enjoying it, and there's some cute baby les Gab stuff 1x12 Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts+ Idk if it's quite essential, but a character in this ep recurs later and this episode is referenced. It's a pretty great episode though iirc, I'd rec it. 1x13 Athens City Academy of Performing Bards^ It's a clipshow so not much of substance, but this episode is referenced in a lot of fic as a path not taken for Gabrielle 1x14 A Fistful of Dinars^ Apparently Xena's former fiance is in it but frankly I had no memory of that so I don't think it's important enough to be considered essential 1x15 Warrior... Princess^ It introduces a recurring character (and trope) so worth watching for continuity purposes but p inconsequential otherwise iirc. 1x16 Mortal Beloved+ Controversial categorization because it's het, but what can I say, I like it 1x17 The Royal Couple of Thieves^ Pretty fun and introduces another recurring character, but otherwise not especially important 1x18 The Prodigal+ Solid episode for Gabrielle's character development, not essential but worth watching. 1x19 Altared States+ Gets a plus sign for blatantly gay Gabrielle <3 1x20 Ties that Bind# I personally hate this ep, but it does have somewhat significant character exploration, and I wouldn't necessarily say it's bad so much as not to my taste. Up to you whether you watch. 1x21 The Greater Good* Most of the ep isn't essential but it leads directly into the next one which is, plus it's pretty good. 1x22 Callisto* 1x23 Death Mask^ Gets into Xena's past and surviving brother, but not in a way that really has much of an impact? Might be worth watching for that, but I don't think skipping it will affect much 1x24 Is There a Doctor in the House+ Gay, good, and establishes one detail that recurs later on but not a particularly important detail.

2x01 Orphan of War* 2x02 Remember Nothing+ Arguably essential viewing for character stuff, but I don't think skipping it would hurt your understanding of anything. Solid episode though. 2x03 The Giant Killer^ Referenced in a later episode so worth watching for thoroughness, not bad but not stand-out. 2x04 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun+ Gay 2x05 Return of Callisto* 2x06 Warrior... Princess... Tramp^ Introduces another occasionally recurring character, fun, not essential otherwise 2x07 Intimate Stranger+ 2x08 Ten Little Warlords+ These are direct sequel episodes and I really enjoy both, but they're not immediately relevant. The latter is arguably somewhat essential for Ares character stuff, but ymmv on how important that is to you. 2x09 A Solstice Carol# 2x10 The Xena Scrolls+ Clipshow, not essential, but please watch it bc it's an absolute delight. Basically a canon role reversal AU, and it's one of the episodes that spawned a thousand lesbian romance novels in the form of published Xena AU fic. 2x11 Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis^ 2x12 Destiny* 2x13 The Quest* 2x14 A Necessary Evil* 2x15 A Day In The Life+ Not technically essential but widely considered one of the best episodes of the show, wildly gay, don't skip it. 2x16 For Him The Bell Tolls^ Joxer heavy, Xena light. Most would probably categorize it as # but I'm easy for the comedy episodes 2x17 The Execution^ 2x18 Blind Faith+ 2x19 Ulysses^ Warning for dumb het, skip if your tolerance is low. After this though it's pretty clear sailing in terms of male love interests of the week, thankfully. 2x20 The Price* Amazing episode overall, imo essential for character exploration, but warning for v prominent racist tribal stereotypes 2x21 Lost Mariner+ 2x22 Comedy of Eros* It's not really essential for the most part, but it establishes a certain character beat that lasts for the next 3 seasons, and imo it's fun. Skippable if you're not in the mood for a mostly het comedy ep tho.

3x01 The Furies* Explores some of Xena's family history and introduces us to how the Furies work, since they show up in a few other episodes, but not huuugely important? Waffled between * and ^ for the record. 3x02 Been There, Done That+ One of my personal faves, not stand-out gay, but incredibly fun imo 3x03 The Dirty Half Dozen^ Basically the show's lone aware statement on feminism and it sucks lmao. Aside from that it can be fun, so I didn't mark it as a recommended skip, but it's on the cusp. 3x04 The Deliverer* 3x05 Gabrielle's Hope* 3x06/7 The Debt* 3x08 The King of Assassins# Very dude-centric and forgettable imo, but has Gina Torres as Cleopatra and introduces Joxer's siblings as a thing, so ymmv 3x09 Warrior... Priestess... Tramp^ 3x10 The Quill Is Mightier^ Fun episode for Ares and/or Aphrodite fans, not important and not notably good or gay tho (though at this point we have a relative base level of gay established so yk, p much every episode is gonna have some vibes) 3x11 Maternal Instincts* 3x12 The Bitter Suite* 3x13 One Against an Army+ 3x14 Forgiven# I skipped it my first watch and didn't regret that after watching it this time around, but fyi it does implicitly touch on the emotional fall-out of the last few episodes a little bit 3x15 King Con# 3x16 When In Rome...* 3x17 Forget Me Not* It's a clipshow, but the framing device establishes some surprisingly significant character and plot stuff 3x18 Fins, Femmes, and Gems+ A fan favourite for a lot of people, it's silly and fun with some great gay moments. 3x19 Tsunami^ 3x20 Vanishing Act^ 3x21/22 The Sacrifice*

BONUS: Hercules 4x13/14 Armageddon Now This is the sole episode of Hercules I watched, because Part 2 features the inspiration for an entire subgenre of Xena fic that I love - Conqueror fic. An AU where Hercules was never born, featuring a subplot in which Xena never turned good and went on to conquer Greece. You don't need to watch it to understand the conceit, and most fics don't follow the strict events of the episode but rather the general premise of Xena ruling a nation, but it is fun, and it has some bonus Callisto character stuff too. I've put it here because it aired alongside Xena season 3 and broadly fits into it continuity-wise.

4x01/2 Adventures in the Sin Trade* 4x03 A Family Affair* 4x04 In Sickness and In Hell^ A divisive episode, some find it funny, some find it obnoxious. I came down in the middle. 4x05 A Good Day* 4x06 A Tale of Two Muses^ 4x07 Locked Up and Tied Down^ Has some character backstory and thematically relevant stuff, but nothing super significant. 4x08 Crusader+ Features the ongoing arc of Xena's future vision and good character stuff, so somewhat relevant, but not quite enough to be essential imo. But it's extremely gay and one of my faves. 4x09 Past Imperfect^ Flashback episode to Solan's birth and Borias' death, but we don't learn anything particularly essential afaik, and it's not a super strong or gay episode. Worth watching if you enjoy learning about Xena's past though. 4x10 Key to the Kingdom^ Meg, Joxer, and Autolycus heavy comedy, great for Meg's character 4x11 Daughter of Pomira^ Sort of a sequel to The Price, same racist depictions of a native american coded people, tries to be progressive and manages to be, like, a step above The Searchers lol. 4x12 If the Shoe Fits^ 4x13 Paradise Found* Essential for character stuff but also fantastic in general. 4x14 Devi* We're in the India episodes, so expect stereotypes and cavalier treatment of Hinduism that caused enough controversy back in the day to necessitate a disclaimer. But they're important episodes plot and character-wise. 4x15 Between The Lines* The other episode that launched a thousand lesbian romance novels. 4x16 The Way* 4x17 The Play's The Thing^ 4x18 The Convert^ Najara's return, a big downgrade from Crusader though imo. Introduces another character who returns later, and Joxer gets some drama, but I still wouldn't say it's necessary. 4x19 Takes One to Know One^ 4x20 Endgame* 4x21 The Ides of March* 4x22 Deja Vu All Over Again+ Canonizes Xena/Gab in a censored, network-friendly way that may have you cheering or booing depending on your perspective, but it's worth noting that it was the best the crew could get away with. The characters return in a s6 episode but one I haven't seen lol so I can't say it's essential, but I like it.

A note on season 5: widely considered the worst season, esp for Xena/Gab shippers, but if you're a fan of Xena/Ares at all you might enjoy it more. There was some behind the scenes upheaval with the writing team I believe, and a plotline originally intended for Hercules got shunted here, where it's not a great fit. So it can feel a little "off." (Season 6 is generally considered a return to form, ftr.)

Focuses a lot on the unrequited het with Xena and Gabrielle's relationship somewhat sidelined in terms of dramatic focus. But it's very arc-heavy so many episodes are relevant, and tbf Xena and Gab still have a v strong married couple vibe. My advice is to either power through, or skip freely while reading a synopsis.

5x01 Fallen Angel* Silly but v important plot-wise, also pretty gay. 5x02 Chakram* Categorized as essential for some character-statement and thematic stuff, and some minor continuity re chakram, buuuut you could probably get away with skipping it. 5x03 Succession^ 5x04 Animal Attraction* 5x05 Them Bones, Them Bones^ It's arguably essential for a secondary character's storyline, so watch if you care about Amarice, but otherwise not missing much here. 5x06/7 Purity/Back in the Bottle^ I don't thiiiink there's anything super important here, and it's not super amazing, but it's a bit of a sequel to The Debt if that interests you. 5x08 Little Problems^ 5x09 Seeds of Faith* 5x10 Lyre Lyre Hearts on Fire# I found this painful to sit through. Others enjoy it so ymmv, but it adds nothing but bad vibes imo. 5x11 Punch Lines^ Good if you're a fan of Gabrielle/Aphrodite, but otherwise pretty mediocre. 5x12 God Fearing Child* 5x13 Eternal Bonds* 5x14 Amphipolis Under Siege* 5x15 Married with Fishsticks# Widely considered the worst episode, with good reason. 5x16 Lifeblood^ Basically just a way to recycle some portal fantasy pilot that didn't get picked up, mostly a waste of time but inoffensive 5x17 Kindred Spirits^ Not really that great, often annoying, but Xena and Gabrielle are emphatically married so it gets some gay points 5x18 Antony and Cleopatra^ I don't thiiiink there's anything super necessary here, skip to avoid het in the form of plot-induced manipulative seduction 5x19 Looking Death in the Eye* 5x20 Livia* 5x21 Eve* 5x22 Motherhood*

6x01 Coming Home* 6x02 The Haunting of Amphipolis* 6x03 Heart of Darkness* Only necessary in that it concludes the cliffhanger of the last episode. 6x04 Who's Gurkhan?* 6x05 Legacy* So, season 6 is more character heavy than arc heavy. All the above episodes are important for the characters dealing with the time skip and character development in general, but there's no arc they're contributing to, so feel free to make your own judgement calls. 6x06 The Abyss+ Racist stereotype cannibals unforch, but v gay. 6x07/8/9 The Rheingold/The Ring/Return of the Valkyrie+ Gay romance straight up. 6x10 Old Ares Had a Farm^ Great if you love mortal Ares episodes 6x11 Dangerous Prey^ I believe this is the sole mortal dude who poses a challenge to Xena, and they really aped the Callisto format for it lol. 6x12 The God You Know* Only mildly essential in that it explains why Aphrodite is mortal now, but while I think it's somewhat divisive, it's an episode I enjoy personally so I'd recommend it. 6x13 You Are There* 6x14 Path of Vengeance* 6x15 To Helicon and Back* 6x16 Send in the Clones^ Imo probably the worst clipshow, but it's still pretty fun. 6x17 The Last of the Centaurs^ 6x18 When Fates Collide+ Not essential but unskippable, iconic gay romance. 6x19 Many Happy Returns+ GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY 6x20 Soul Possession^ Almost a # but it does have canon reincarnated Xena/Gabrielle. 6x21/22 A Friend in Need* Very controversial finale, many hate it, but it is the finale so it's essential. Many recommend watching When Fates Collide after this and pretending it's the real finale lol.

[incandescentia]

SHIPPING INFO.

answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

What’s your OTP for your Muse(s)?

Most of my muses are OCs so whatever ship is there, it is my OTP. However, I do have a select few exceptions like Megohime, as she will be defaulted to ship with her historical spouse, Date Masamune. As for my canon muses, I am only on board with the idea of Oichi being shipped with Azai Nagamasa (her canon husband both in this interpretation and in the history), while others are still a fair game as long as chemistry and prior discussion are involved. I do like Kenshin and Kasuga together, but honestly I don't see Kenshin returning her (a good emphasis on romantic and sexual) affection because I see him/them as celibate, so...

What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

I'm so heavily inspired by shoujo/josei manga as well as Korean dramas when it comes to shippy ideas/dynamics so it might not be too off from tropes that are present in those medias. However, I do have several turnoffs (apart from the usual squick/no-nos like incest, pedophilia, etc) like the typical cliche trope of a (usually male) bully crushing on their (usually female) victim (which was popularized by H.ana Y.ori D.ango back in the days haha), extreme Stockholm syndrome, persistent third wheelers (god I actually really hate this trope fjfhdkdj) questionable age gaps and with minor muses. Toxic, obsessive or unhinged are fine, but we gotta discuss it further to make it actually work as it would have to depend on which muse that are going to be involved in it and not cross boundaries that we might have for comfort.

How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

Between mortal characters, anything between minors and adults are a big no, but at the very maximum... maybe 20-30 years? Idk. Immortals are completely different story, of course, and as long as they are both at the same level of mental maturity, it's a fair game.

Are you selective when shipping?

To be fair, very much so. I love ships but they don't exactly define my writing or is the main purpose of why I write on the first place as it has been more of a lore and personal character development focused purpose (though ships may facilitate the latter). Some characters are rather reserved about who they want to pursue a romance with (e.g: Killian). Even some characters are not available for shipping yet as I write them to be pretty much aroace, like Jinluo. Mun's personal taste also factors in as well occasionally... Mutual interests between both parties must be present and a good, healthy amount of communication as well.

How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

It honestly really depends on the muse and the ship itself...? Some of my muses are inexperienced or simply asexual, some of them are simply repressed, some of them are experienced yet still reserved about sexual encounters, and some are straight out shameless. Most of the time I keep NSFW content to a minimum because not all muses would want to cooperate with that, but certain muses have no problem to be on board with it (namely Tsuyuko) and wouldn't even mind to do one night stands.

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

Points @ my mutuals. You, you, you you!! You know who you are!

Does one have to ask to ship with you?

Yes, but I honestly don't bite. I would do the same favor to others and see where it goes there. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

How often do you like to ship?

Again, I really enjoy shipping when it's done right and I love writing up unique possible relationship dynamics that happen between the involved characters (like old married couple Masamune/Megohime or any master/servant or lord/warrior dynamics), but also: I'm selective and shipping itself is not the main focus of my writing, though it may sometimes facilitate the said focus.

Are you multiship?

Most of the time yes, but even then it's kept to a manageable amount. Some characters are singleship due to personal plot limitations though, and it's unnegotiable.

Are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

I'm generally the latter but if I have a specific ship/dynamic I really like, you can tell when I'm obsessed as I actively throw you my ideas/memes/etc.

What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

Points at the first point's answer above

Finally, how does one ship with you?

I might be a little reserved myself when it comes to shipping but honestly the best way to ship with me is to rp with me to test the waters and communicate to me about it, then we'll see where it's going from there. As we know, first meetings are usually not the thing I'm going for as well since it's often cliche - so you are more than welcome to offer me ideas for a possible existing dynamics!

Tl;dr shipping is not my main writing focus and it usually takes time for me to fully go on board with the idea but with the right amount of chemistry and investment, we can try to make it work together. <3

[someidiotwithalaptop]

Alright: What the FUCK happened to Summer???

Because something sure did, and every new thing we hear about her gets more disturbing, and it haunts me.

So, I'll start with stuff that's fairly certain and like, small leaps of logic before I go full tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist. We have very little actual info about Summer, nearly all of it from different characters talking about her.

From Yang we get the basic facts from her family's perspective: Summer was a Huntress who went out on a mission and never came back. We also get the characterization of, "Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters."

From Qrow, we learn that 1. She was a brat, which like, honestly STRQ was probably just "oops! all brats" 2. He thinks she would have pressed on if she knew the truth, which, uh, she almost definitely did. "We don't have to kill you to stop you," is not the sort of thing you say to Salem if you don't know she's immortal, that's all I'm saying. 3. Whatever her final mission was, she didn't tell him or Tai or Ozpin. I'm inclined to believe Ozpin when he says he genuinely doesn't know what happened to Summer, since his biggest secret is already out—plus he's been genuinely repentent about the mess his lying caused in Volume 6 and is taking steps to do better in the future. It would feel really weird thematically if he knew and was keeping yet another giant bomb of a secret. So Summer went on her final mission alone, or at the very least, she didn't tell any of Ozpin's inner circle where she was going.

We'll get to speculating about why not later, but I think this point is probably going to be important in Ruby's character arc—whatever Summer's ultimate fate, she got there because she tried to save the world alone, and we've seen Ruby do something similar. Like she's not running off after Salem by herself, but she's definitely trying to shoulder the burden of leading and inspiring everyone to keep going all on her own, without asking for help as that responsibility has been slowly yet systematically destroying her mental health. I mean ffs she's been literally carrying her team on her shoulders for two episodes now.

HOWEVER: Oz, Tai, and Qrow don't know anything about what happened to Summer, but it's possible that Raven might. When Ruby tries to reach out to her and convince her to work together, because they'll have a better chance than if they try to do it alone, Raven says, "You sound just like your mother," in truly the most bitter, disdainful-ass tone I have ever heard. And then she opens a portal for Cinder to throw a fireball at her. Whether this is about a more generalized friction that maybe contributed to Raven leaving, or a specific moment when Summer tried to get her on board with whatever she was doing on that final mission, is kind of uncertain. Or it could be both!

(And it might also be she married my ex bitterness but, admitting my biases here, I hate that fucking trope with a fiery passion and I think it's more interesting if her anger at Summer is actually about Summer.)

Regardless, if Summer did ask her for help, then based on how Raven reacted to Ruby I don't think she got it lmao

And then. Oh, and then. We get Salem!

"Your mother said those words to me. She was wrong too."

"Her again?"

So like. Salem definitely met her. Had a whole-ass conversation with her, even.

And that fucking smile??? Salem did some shit to Summer. It's just a question of what, exactly?

Right. Okay. So after they kill the Hound and realize WHOOPS that was a person and he looks an awful lot like Ruby! and everyone reunites, Ruby says this:

"When I saw its eyes, I knew. Salem used to kill people with Silver Eyes, like Maria. But she’s always wanted me alive. Why would that change unless, when she met Mom, she learned she could do something new?"

Timeline-wise, this seems accurate! But I'd like to also insert TR into the equation. It's a little hard to tell given the uhh, body horror of it all, but he definitely looks younger than Qrow (which is maybe not saying a lot given that Raven looks at least ten years younger than Qrow and she's his twin lmao) and, more to the point, like he's probably younger than Summer.

Like, yeah, hard to tell, but I don't think this man is past forty. And even if he is, it doesn't seem like Salem's had him for very long, seeing as she never sent him after Ruby or the relics in previous volumes. So he's probably an example of what Salem's been doing to SEWs after Summer.

Also, Salem calls him an experiment, and says that so far she's pleased with the results. Meaning Summer isn't exactly a Hound, though I wouldn't say that puts grimmification off the table. Just that it's not in the exact same way he is. And it's worth pointing out that the way TR has been grimmified, it's left him completely without agency and unable to disobey Salem. Even after Ruby blasts the Grimm off his head, he's still left repeating "Take The Girl" over and over without any sign of whoever he used to be coming back to the surface. It's possible that is what Salem is referring to when she calls him a successful experiment.

So the way Salem has dealt with people with silver eyes has gone:

Maria (kill her) > Summer (?!?!) > TR (an... experiment) > Ruby (bring her to me alive)

Adding TR into the mix, it seems unlikely that the "something new" Salem learned she could do from Summer Rose would actually have been, y'know, a Hound. Plus from a narrative perspective, I don't think we're going to have Ruby literally saying exactly what happened to Summer into the camera only for her to turn up, Hound-ified just as expected, a couple volumes later. So, some possibilities:

Ruby is actually exactly correct about what happened to Summer, but she's not going to show up later so there's no reason not to just tell us. Personally I doubt it's this, given the way the mystery has been unfolding over eight volumes and counting. It'd be kind of weird to just tell us instead of showing us, or indeed having the Hound literally be Summer. Also, if Summer is a Hound too then why is TR an experiment?

Summer was Grimmified but didn't survive the process, so she gave Salem the idea but she's not actually a Hound. This also seems a bit odd to me given that would mean she's basically just dead like we assumed, but with extra steps. Like it's upsetting but it doesn't represent the kind of dramatic upheaval to the sisters' worldviews that it feels like this is building towards. It doesn't explain how fucking smug Salem is about the whole thing.

Summer was Grimmified, but didn't actually lose any agency. This would explain why Salem is still experimenting, and why she's so pleased with TR—he's even more singleminded in carrying out her goals than Tyrian is. It also fits with the way the Grimmification worked on Salem. Even after she jumped into the goop, she was still very much herself—it's possible it influenced her, but she was definitely capable of showing love and affection to both Ozma and her daughters. She just, uhh,,, was also willing to try and murder them. But it's unclear to me how much of that was Evil Goo and how much was just that there's no way a human being spends any significant length of time as the Last Woman Alive without some unpleasant side effects. We're social creatures and we do not generally do well when completely deprived of company.

Summer wasn't Grimmified at all, the whole Hound thing is a red herring.

In either 3 or 4, regardless of how much body horror happened, Ruby is wrong about what happened to Summer. And in order to not undercut that moment of utter despair at what probably happened to Summer... I feel like what actually did happen has to be. like. worse.

AND IT'S A TAD DIFFICULT TO GET WORSE THAN THE HOUND.

So. Time to put our tinfoil hats on: what if we add an element of horrible betrayal?

Yes this is a Summer-joined-Salem conspiracy post.

But hear me out okay! Circling back a bit, why wouldn't Summer tell any of the inner circle where she was going? If she talked to anyone, it was Raven, who had already noped the fuck out by the time Summer went on her final mission. Now, if it was just Tai and Qrow I'd say she might've kept it from them for the same reason everyone always keeps that secret—she didn't want them to lose hope. But... Ozpin already knows. There'd be no reason not to tell him what she was doing, unless she knew he'd try to stop her.

Now: my goal here is to make all this make sense, without altering the first foundational piece of characterization we get for Summer. Namely, "Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters." I'm not saying Summer learned the truth and went, welp, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. Because both Summer and Raven tend to act as foils to Ruby and Yang, and "gave up immediately" doesn't feel like an interesting foil to Ruby's perserverence. But, if you find out that there's an existential threat to the entire world, and she can't be killed...

Isn't it worth trying to negotiate?

Especially if, say, you were absolutely desperate to end this war in your lifetime. Because Summer knows that if it's really impossible, if Salem can't be stopped, then Ruby will get dragged in whether she likes it or not. All because of a trait that Summer passed down to her.

Salem's been killing people with silver eyes, probably for millenia. It's easily possible that Summer had her own visit from someone like Tock, or noticed the same thing Maria's father did, that there's a suspicious lack of people with silver eyes considering how useful they are against the Grimm. As long as Salem is a threat, Ruby is going to be in that same danger. Forever.

So she has to do something, right? If there's even the tiniest chance she can end this now, before Ruby will ever have to suffer for it, before she gets pulled into an impossible war and Yang comes charging in after her, because of course she's going to try to help her sister... isn't that a chance worth taking?

This is why I think Raven knows some shit, by the by—when she's telling Yang about Salem, she actually kind of indirectly drops the same bomb that went off in Volume 6, it's just that she didn't do it in the same explicit terms that Jinn did. "She can't be stopped, she can't be reasoned with, and she will not rest until Humanity crumbles at her feet."

"Can't be stopped" is Raven's translation of can't be killed, since "We don't have to kill you to stop you" seems to be a flavor of terrifying exclusive to Ruby and apparently Summer. But "can't be reasoned with" implies that somebody tried. And like, let's be honest. Do we really think Raven was the one who decided to give diplomacy a go?

Not to mention this line, which I'm like 90% sure is referring to Summer:

"Or... you can go back to Qrow and join Ozpin's impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others."

It really seems like Raven knows something she's not telling us. Like, if that is a reference to Summer's fate, does that mean Raven knows what it is, or is she just speculating like everyone else? Does she have a portal to Summer, and is that giving her information the others don't have? All that, combined with the fact that she's also way more bitter about Summer than everyone else, seems signficant.

Anyways. Let's say Summer decides to have a chat with Salem.

She can't tell Ozpin. He'd try to stop her, because he'd see it as a suicide mission. Qrow or Tai both might tell him, or agree with him and get in her way, so she keeps it from them too. Maybe she goes off completely by herself—or maybe she goes to Raven, because she's the only one who might be able to help who Summer knows won't breathe a word of it to Ozpin. Either way, Raven doesn't help her. She's not getting anywhere near Salem.

And then... well. Salem got here by manipulating people, by swaying them to her cause. Summer asks her what she actually wants out of all this. Isn't there some way they could resolve this without this endless war, all this endless death?

Important to note, I don't think we've heard Salem's motivation in her own words. At least, not since the Lost Fable, when she wanted to rule with Ozpin as the new gods of Remnant. I think it's safe to say at least a few things have changed since then. Closest I can think of is what she says to Cinder in Volume 8, "In pursuit of a new world, no cost is too great." Which is ominous, but also quite vague, and says nothing about what she plans to do with the relics.

Instead, we get a whole lot of people guessing. Ozpin thinks she wants to die. Tyrian thinks she wants to destroy the world. Hazel and Mercury think she wants to remake it, with no Huntsman Academies, with them as the new top dogs.

There's a pattern here—Salem never actually says what she wants, and other people have a habit of projecting their own motives onto her actions. Ozpin wants to die, Hazel wants to destroy the Huntsmen Academies, Mercury wants to be the one with the power so he's not getting hurt, and Tyrian's just in it for the chaos.

And it's not like Salem hasn't done stuff like that on purpose. By the time she started growing her army against the gods and telling people they would all steal immortality like she did, she'd already tried to kill herself. She didn't want immortality. She just let people think she did, because it was more convenient for her.

So if this agent of Ozpin's comes to her, absolutely desperate for a way to end the fight before it can come for her daughters, well... why not just tell her about the gods? About how Ozpin plans to one day reunite the relics, and submit Remnant to their judgment? About what might happen if he does?

(TBH I don't think Oz will ever do that, not because I think he's decided not to or anything like that, but because I doubt he'll ever see a humanity united enough for it to be worth trying. We're an argumentative bunch.)

But like. To Summer, all of a sudden there's this other, even bigger existential threat. And Salem isn't like Ozpin. She does have a plan! She wants to destroy the relics, so that the gods can never be resummoned, because of course she hates them and so she would never want them to come back!

(Again, not saying this is actually true, my best guess is that she's trying to bring them back so she can fight them again slkdfjlskdj)

And then, if they succeed, not only will the gods not be a threat anymore, Salem won't be a threat either. She'll have gotten what she wants!

"This can all... be... over..."

Summer has to finish this. There has to be a way for her to do this by herself, to save everyone, to put a stop to it all in time to protect her children! (Raven can't be right, it can't just be hopeless!)

From there, all Salem really needs to do is be a bit careful how much she tells her other followers about what she plans to do—which it seems like she has—and eventually find a way to either hide what relics she has or convince Summer that she's trying really hard to destroy them, definitely, pinky promise!

(And, as an aside: if true, it's very possible that the reason Salem's so insistent on keeping Ruby alive isn't that she wants to turn her into another Hound, but rather that was one of Summer's conditions.)

All this, of course, may or may not come with a sprinkle of Grimmification. Because why not add some body horror to the good old-fashioned betrayal horror! Though, if I'm right and not going completely off the wall here, I suspect it's probably more in the vein of Cinder than TR. Namely, like, consensual.

Regardless, it definitely feels like Summer has been idealized to a point that's just sort of... begging for trouble. She's the perfect Huntress. The best of us. The one who would have pressed on. And like, historically putting people on pedestals like that has not gone well in this show (see: Pyrrha). Not to mention the way trying to be the perfect Huntress that Summer was has been affecting Ruby over the years.

Also, definitely totally unrelated to all of the above: I think paragons that turn to evil despite or indeed because of all their wonderful paragon qualities FUCK SEVERELY and I would like to see it.

[the-selfship-corner]

Canon S/I Selfship Ask Game!

Original Post Here!

Using Kasumi for this :)

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

I’d say Kasumi is a beloved secondary character. Not quite as small of a role as a side character, but not important enough for a main character either. I like the think she’d be a fan favorite.

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

Kasumi would have transferred to U.A. under recommendation. Her appearance wouldn’t change much of the main storyline, but it would change small things like how Bakugo acts later in the series. She would probably have her own side arc.

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

The fanon would exaggerate her quirk, Angel, and probably draw her as some immortal being with six wings, floating eyes, and a halo.

🥰: How would someone who loved you portray you?

They would portray her as a sympathetic, kind person.

😡: How would someone who hated you portray you?

They would probably portray her as an emotional crybaby who obsesses over Bakugo.

👯: What canon character are you most similar to?

Probably a mix between Mina and Uraraka.

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

There would probably be a lot of angst with Bakugo and Kasumi, mostly because of Kasumi’s backstory and Bakugo’s aggressiveness.

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

Katsumi :)

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

Pretty popular. Most people either love it or hate it. Katsumi is almost canon, but never officially talked about. There’s plenty of scenes that hint to it, though.

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

Probably Kirishima. The two of them get along pretty well and have those similar bright personalities.

☕️: What are the most common plots of shipping fics between you and your f/o?

One rescuing the other from a kidnapping, one comforting the other from a nightmare, cuddling after Bakugos had a long day

🛌: What tropes show up in fics involving your ship?

Apocalypse, enemies to lovers, angst, fluff, villain x hero, married AU, breakup

🪐: What would be your most popular AU and why?

The most popular AU would probably be the World End AU, just because the designs are cool and Bakugo and Kasumi only have each other to rely on.

💘: Why would people love your ship? Why would people dislike your ship? How might it start debates?

People like the ship because Kasumi and Bakugo balance each other out. Bakugo teaches Kasumi how to stand up for herself more and get stronger, while Kasumi teaches Bakugo to have an open mind and try to be vulnerable with others. Some people dislike the ship because they feel Bakugo is too toxic for Kasumi, or that it’s doomed to fail due to the amount of stress on both of them. Some people may headcanon Bakugo as Aroace, while other avid Katsumi shippers would argue.

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

The ship would be considered cute and fluffy because it shows a side of Bakugo the fandom wouldn’t see otherwise. He’s this really tough, hotheaded character, but when it comes to Kasumi, he becomes gentler.

🎞️: What ‘canon’ scenes would the fandom point to as evidence for the validity of your ship?

Kasumi and Katsuki were walking silently together after All Might lost his powers. Katsuki hadn’t been the same since that night. “It’s not your fault.” Kasumi said, seemingly out of nowhere. Katsukis eyes widened a little and he stopped in his tracks. He balled up his fingers into fists, knowing exactly what she was referring to. She turned to face him, putting her hands on his shoulders. “I can’t stand seeing you give up. The Katsuki I knew didn’t give up, no matter what.” Kasumi said softly. It was already dark outside. Katsuki didn’t say anything, he just looked down. “I know you’re angry at the world and yourself right now.. but…” She moved her arms slowly to hug him. “I think you’re pretty cool.” Katsuki stood there in shock for a second, before one of his shaky hands found its place on her back, just barely noticeable. After a few seconds, he pushed her away. He wiped his eyes. “Of course I’m cool… I’m gonna be #1..” His said, trying to go back to his snarky tone of voice, though a quiver could still be heard. He had that cocky smile on his face, though forced. Kasumi smiled.

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

A misconception would be that Katsuki is abusive because of the way he acts towards other people, however, he’s never shown to be this way towards Kasumi. He’ll get a little snappy, but he’d never lay a hand on her. The dynamic would probably be portrayed as Ray of sunshine x angry gremlin. People would focus must on how they grow throughout the story together.

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

Bakugos character would definitely be a little different. The way he treats situations would differ, how he treats people he’s fighting and people he’s saving.

[leffee]

Hii!

So I've recently followed you both here and on Wattpad... And I was having some questions. You don't have to answer them! I'm just curious? I guess.

Question 1. So what do you think of Fgod Error? Also, known as Forced god of destruction Error? Or do you like canon Error more?

Question 2. Bad Sans Poly! Yes! But what about yandere Bad Sans Poly? Not that I support yandere in real life! But I do like to write about it.

Question 3. That isn't really a question just an idea... Okay so yandere Bad Sans Poly, without Error at first. But then they become yandere for Error slowly over time! And if I want to make it even more angsty, throw Fgod Error in there too!

And now I want to make this...

Anyway, I hope you have a good day/night! Take care of yourself! Stay hydrated and eat enough!

Hello! No worries, I loove answering questions :> If you ever have any more feel free to send them, I'll be delighted, however absolutely no pressure. And thanks for following me, I hope you like your stay.

So I actually made a post talking about this very topic, it's here if you want a longer answer:

But in short, or if you just don't feel like reading this one, I'm not a big fan of Fgod. Like, the concept is good, is has a belivable motive and story and all that, but it's just not something for me. However, if it just existed I wouldn't complain, it would be just another iteration of Error and I don't mind those. But it's everywhere and I hate it. It's always the same story, it's boring, plus there must be some people who believe it's the true canon Error due to how popular it is and I don't like it. Oh, and also I hate seeing Error as a god which this Au of course presents him as. He's not a god, he's literally just a dude who can die like any other and is not immortal in canon. However, I admit, it's a useful concept and I use it sometimes when I don't feel like making Error more complex. I just slap a "he destroys because he must" label and call it a day. So in short: the concept is good although not something for me, and I dislike that it's so overused. If you like Fgod Error good for you people, really! But I can't say that I like it. Out of the two I definitely like canon Error more.

2. Ahh Bad Sans Poly is always good, isn't it? And a yandere one you say? Hmmm, I can get behind this concept, though I need to be in a specific kind of mood to apprecaite it fully, believe me, I went through this before and I did write at least one yandere story (this was for Insomnia though). Though how would it look like with a poly? Everyone is yandere for everyone? Anyway, I do like it :].

3. !!! Listen, lIstEn, I once saw this drawing of exactly that. Bad Sans Poly and they are yandere for Error and IIIII loved it (I'll try to find the artist later and see if I can repost it here). It might be unexpected, but I usually actually like Error being the yandere one in the ship, or just the one being obsessed with the other person minus the controlling behaviour or just lessened. I don't know why, but yandere Error?? Sing me the f up. Anyway, of course it's up to you but this sounds like a lovely fanfic idea, not to mention that it's Bad Sans Poly bby! My truest OTP. I don't want to brag, but I feel like I made this poly a bit more popular with my writing and I couldn't be happier, beacuse more people need to appreciate it WITH ERROR IN IT.

Aaaand that's it, I hope one way or another you enjoyed this interaction, have a good one too.

[a-substantial-trash-pile]

i usually try to accompany my hlvrai ramblings with a drawing because my dumb brain thinks my words/ideas on their own suck and have no value so i have to make them worth it with a drawing of some kind yadda yadda BUT i can’t draw fast enough to express all my ideas so i’m just gonna say fuck it and just dump some out here.

also sorry idk how to add a “read more” on mobile i will do it when i get home if i remember!!

ok anyway this is about tommy. i see him as a secret badass kind of character. in my ver of hlvrai, it’s a virtual simulation that’s got the resonance cascade on a loop. the original goal of the simulation was to figure out the best way to handle the res-cas irl—except the real world got fucked and it doesn’t really matter anymore, but the simulation doesn’t know that. tommy is very much aware of the loops since his dad is gman and all and retains memories through the loops. his main job is to more closely oversee the events and make sure nothing gets too “broken.” but he’s kind of tired/bored of it honestly. on the outside he acts all bubbly and naive, but on the inside he’s secretly like “jesus christ these people are a mess. they could never survive out in the wild.” but like he doesn’t hate the team or anything. he just gets tired of their shit sometimes. during one loop he made an immortal dog that also retains memories through the loops so he has a companion other than his dad (who, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly around). this particular loop that hlvrai takes place in is the most buckwild of all the loops for various reasons that includes benrey learning how to mess with files and remove the final boss, so tommy is a little thrown off, but it’s exciting! he really gets into being a secret little shit. like he does actually know how to handle a gun but pretends to be clumsy with it for the laughs because he knows nobody gets seriously injured if he “accidentally” shoots them. when his dad stops time to talk to gordon, tommy just pretends to be frozen too, but barely puts effort in—gordon just too distracted by gman to notice tommy scratching his nose in the background. i’d like to think that the part where tommy follows forzen down the pit and disappears with him, he takes that moment to drop the facade and corner forzen and be like “who the fuck are you and why haven’t you been in any other loop.��� and forzen’s like “oh god what the hell you’re terrifying i thought you wanted a beyblade???” and the part where the coomer clones are attacking is one of the rare moments that tommy goes serious mode in combat. just silent and deadly. i love the secret badass trope ok aughhh. ok i’m done sorry for the dump.

[croc-odette]

let the hater out i wanna see the 6 paragraphs about snw

it's just BORING. crucially. like i'll start an episode because i'm like 'okay maybe this time... it SOUNDS like a fun premise. spock antics! horror! cartoon crossover!' and it still manages to so boring that i don't even finish the episode. if i watch a show and get mad, it still gets credit for the fact i sat there and watched the whole thing anyways. but snw i'll be sitting there like... why bother? they are not going to do anything surprising, or that makes me think after the credits roll, or that sticks with me because it was particularly funny or clever or new.

the snw/lower decks ep was almost a bad move because it was so refreshing to see boimler and mariner to the point that i'm like why am i watching a show about these other people who just say things like 'wow... THAT was weird' or '... what's... happening now?' and it's like for the love of god. you are in space with aliens. your life is weird and i need you to get freaky as hell to match up with it. like tng had some real nerds on it and they were still fucking weirdos. riker and troi's vaguely open relationship where they are soulmates who aren't dating exactly. data is doing stand up with the bartender who is immortal maybe? worf is resolutely boring but he is also embroiled in KLINGON NOBILITY BLOOD FEUDS! picard's bald ass stuffy french shit he loves tea and horses and hates children and also he was STABBED in a bar fight as a rowdy ensign!!! and this isn't even the weird freak energy of DS9!!!

idk. there have been 19 episodes of snw and it feels like they've barely said anything. like it just feels like 90s trek was DENSER writing. they said we have 45 minutes and we need to see hobbies, we need to see plot, we need to see ethical debate, we need to see bizarre side characters, we need to see some weird shit. where is that. snw is spending its time rehacking the most tired romance/war tropes and dialogue that even marvel wouldn't keep

[jimmycarterghostland]

The Flaws of VE Schwab's novel "Vicious"

Before I begin, I need to say that I loved Vicious. But I hated the sequel book, Vengeful. And as much as I like Vicious, nothing is without flaws, and I want to bring up my dislikes about Vicious. Maybe some of my opinions about it haven't been discussed by anyone else before.

What I didn't like about Vicious:

1 The overly comedic tone. I'm not a fan of comedies. I prefer more serious works. Comedy can be great, but sometimes, it can make a piece of fiction suffer. It's hard to take something something that should be serious seriously when there's a noticable comedic tone, which Vicious has.

In Vicious, there's humor in pretty much every chapter. And all of the characters are funny and witty in a way. It makes the quality of the novel suffer, because the characters are too similar. Plus, the dark tone in Vicious would've been darker if there was little to no humor. It would've made the novel better. The series is called Villains. But the Marvel's Cinematic Universe type of tone in this series ruins it a bit for me. You never want to make all of your main characters be funny.

One comic relief character is fine, but the excessive amount of humor in Vicious is very "try-hard". It's forcibly witty. Which makes it annoying. In my opinion, Schwab should've given all the jokes and humor to the character Mitch. Everyone else should've been more serious, especially Sydney, who should've been more depressed, considering she got shot by her sister's boyfriend. Her own sister tried getting her killed. Sydney should've been more sad throughout this novel.

Basically, Vicious has a Joss Whedon sort of tone. And I'm not a fan of that kind of humor.

If I had written Vicious and wanted to insert some comedy, but not too much of it, I would've made one comic relief character. I can tell Mitch is the main CRC. So, I would've given him all the jokes in his dialogue and his narration. Only his chapters would've had the humor, though. This is actually how I tend to insert humor in my creative writing these days. I only make the designated comic relief characters say jokes and have humor in their POV chapters. The characters who aren't CRCs rarely joke around. With my method, you get humor, but never too much of it.

I wish Vicious were more of a grim novel. I would've enjoyed it more if the characters weren't cracking jokes like too many fictional characters do these days. Especially because of the influence of the humor found in the MCU. Vicious had too much humor in it. It reminded me of a Reddit post I read once, where the original poster was clearly trying too hard to be funny. There was a lame "joke" in just about every other paragraph. It was irritating.

2 Sydney and Serena's parents. It bugs me how they're rarely mentioned and don't matter to the plot at all. Apparently, they were those emotionally neglectful sort of parents.

Regardless, I hate that this book didn't include them or explain why they're neglectful to their daughters. It's not so bad that Victor's doesn't get fleshed out or anything, because he's an adult. Sydney is a child. Her parents not being concerned about her is "hand waved" away. They think she's still with Serena. So, no need to check on her.

This whole thing just feels weird. Schwab could've done something with this. It gets worse in Vengeful, because the parents are absent in that book too. I don't remember them looking for her or anything. The absent parents trope is heavy in this series. For everyone. It's like nobody in this duology even has parents. Bizarre.

Sydney and Serena having neglectful parents was a cop-out. It was also a case of bad writing, because it presents some issues.

3 Victor's plan to kill Eli. Victor had no actual plan to kill his immortal, self-regenerating former friend. He wanted to kill him, but he had no real method of doing so. What exactly was Victor's plan in that final battle between them? He knows he can't kill Eli. But he wants to. The whole thing is ridiculous, because Victor pointlessly tries to kill Eli. He never has a real plan to do it, either. When Batman wanted to kill Superman, he used kryptonite. As far as Victor knows, Eli doesn't even have a weakness. His ultimate goal was always to kill Eli, though.

The quality of the book goes down because of this. You would think Victor is smart enough to not fight Eli without a plan, but that's exactly what he does anyway. And it gets him killed. Another instance of bad writing. Victor trying to kill Eli when he knows he'll just heal is something that doesn't make sense when you think about it.

4 Are ExtraOrdinaries all over the world or just the area Eli is in? The way the book makes it seem, people with superpowers(EOs) only live within driving distance from Eli. He's clearly not murdering the ones who should be in China, Alaska, Mexico, etc. Like Victor, Eli has an unrealistic plan, and the author tries to hide it from the reader by not mentioning how the plan is unrealistic. More bad writing.

5 Serena's jarring change of mind. In one flashback chapter, Eli wants to kill Serena's sister, Sydney. She doesn't want him to kill Sydney. We are never shown Serena deciding that maybe Sydney should die. It's jarring, and the fact it wasn't expanded upon is terrible writing. We get the reasons why Serena believed Sydney needed to die, but we don't see the transition from her wanting to protect her to her being okay with Eli killing her. This should've been expanded upon. Sadly, it wasn't.

6 Serena controls people's minds, but when she tells Eli to "wait", he shoots Sydney anyway. There's no excuse for this one. What Serena tells people, they will do it. Eli should've waited. This is an annoying plot error. Schwab broke the rule of her own superpower system.

7 Detective Stell is hesitant about believing Eli is a hero, even though Serena tells him to believe it. This is another instance of Schwab being inconsistent with Serena's power. Stell shouldn't have been able to delay his agreement that Eli is a hero. He should've nodded right away.

8 Sydney should've been more depressed that her older sister tried to have her killed. Sydney doesn't seem all that bummed out that her sister's BF put a bullet in her arm during an attempted murder attempt. It's weird. I understand fiction can suffer when a character is being overemotional, but there's such thing as being underemotional. Sydney treats the murder attempt like it was a minor inconvenience. Strange.

[aparticularbandit]

🥺🛒 ❌ 🏆 🎯 🤗🧠✅

Listen... You already know I'm a huge fan of your work by the way I'll ramble on about everything with you. However I'm realizing eight might be excessive, so feel free to pick and choose <3

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask game!

🥺 - Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

LETTING THEM PLAY WITH KIDDOS. OR HAVING KIDDO VERSIONS OF THEM BEING KIDDOS. THEY ARE SO CUTE IT'S CUTENESS OVERLOAD I LOVE IT.

🛒 - What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

The curse of immortality. Redemption arcs. Immortals falling in love with mortals (or ancient beings falling in love with less. ancient. beings. (this is not about Cian; this is about Luisa and the Fox)). Mental illness. Queer characters. SO much backstory trauma. SO MUCH BACKSTORY TRAUMA. Apparently also discussions of the use of sex and consent and vulnerability, which is a shocker to me, too, honest. Metaphorical masks and monsters. Usually also a kiddo scene, as mentioned above.

❌ - What's a trope you will never write?

Probably anything that requires sexual intricacies to fully flesh out. But also I'm hesitant to say never because I've found that even tropes I don't like (love triangles, i HATE you SO MUCH) I. still write, on occasion (looking at you, TNOS). So I'm not sure I can say there's a trope I will never write. ...unless it's something that is really triggering for me. But I've also written stuff that would be triggering for me if I were reading it, so like. This is not a good or helpful answer, Skylar, I'm sorry.

🏆 - What's your most popular fic?

AO3: It's a toss up between Finding Family (hits; comment threads) and What Dreams May Come (bookmarks, subscriptions, kudos). Tumblr: The Nature of Soulmates. It consistently has higher notes (even with prompts) than most of my other stuff (with the exception of Christmas Traditions and the very first Agave Stuff one-shot, which surpass or equal a couple of the lower ones).

🎯 - Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

Yes. I'm fairly certain - particularly with Finding Family - that someone (or multiple someones) did. I also think you have maybe at least once. But I don't remember...what exactly...those were...to tell you which.

🤗 - What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Write what you are most excited about writing. Don't worry about being perfectly in character or having amazing prose or making everything neat and tidy. Get messy. Write a bunch. Write just for you, just what you want. Post when you're ready, and ignore everyone who gives you shit for it. Fanfic is about the community. It's about having fun with characters you love. Keep having fun and focus on that.

🧠 - Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

skylar you have to pick a character friendo You said Eve, so. Favorite headcanon for Eve! Probably that, despite her fervent desire to see the best in everyone (and her flaw of blaming herself for things when she...shouldn't, sometimes), Eve does have a line and it can be crossed (looking at you, Ted). For all that she loves people, she does have a boundary. But also that - if Ted had wanted to be forgiven, Eve would have forgiven him. If Ted had wanted to be reconciled, Eve would have allowed that. I think the point of this isn't just that Eve has self-respect and boundaries - she does - but also that she respects the boundaries other people put in place, too. If Ted doesn't want to be forgiven, then why should she put in the work to forgive him? Etc.

✅ - What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

So many characters in a lot of my most recent fics - not just Agatha, but I've caught Wanda saying it, too, and it's probably been more than just them - very clearly ask their partner Is this what you want? and then act accordingly. It's less about that last bit - it's more about that very specific line popping up fairly frequently recently. Sometimes multiple times within the same scene, that constant checking in (or pressing for an answer). Unintentional! But very much there.

[lunarsands]

Empires SMP Season 2 theories/headcanons that are completely wild speculation because the series just started! These are mainly about Scott and Sausage’s characters because @cynthrey​ and I are in a pit of brainrot over them in particular.

This might read a bit disjointed because it’s snipped from different discussions we’ve had but I tried to put them in order.

Regarding Scott’s character:

A collector of things, and that might not be limited to physical objects. He might have magical powers for all we know, which leads to him collecting things like other people’s memories.

The two different color eyes: one eye “collects” the memories, the other returns them.

Mix in some symbolism of "moon" eye takes the memories = like a dream, "sun" eye returns them = wakefulness

(The innocent, wholesome flower field is just a cover, the man is up to something)

Re, Sausage:

What if...going by the "all new characters" thing, it's not exactly S1!Sausage but a parallel version and similar things happened. Like maybe he was actually a blood relative of fWhip and Gem, or had a deeper relationship with Pearl, etc., and also ended up travelling dimensions.

Also throw in the concept of Sausage being cursed with immortality. (Y'all might see where I was going with this ficlet now)

(I’m putting the rest under a read more to save your dash and possibly your sanity)

Now have Scott poke around in Sausage’s memories. Scott seeing the memory of Pearl dying and just casually starts mentioning pearls around Sausage to see what sets him off, because he's mischievous/antagonistic like that.

(More Scott villain arc yes pls)

Him seeing Sausage’s past mistakes and everything he hates about his past (he does see a few happy memories but it’s like 1 out of 5). Then imagine Scott taking previous memories hostage -- snatches the memory of the Wither Rose Alliance -- and forces Sausage to collect something of great value or bye bye to one of the few good memories he still has.

Back to the Pearl relationship thought, maybe they never admitted their feelings and Scott has been memory viewing then hints about her out loud, which really presses Sausage's buttons because he lost her.

-first is just a peek and then when Scott notices how he can use that to his benefit he full on yoinks the memory of her -

Sausage being like "Hey why the f*ck does my heart hurt so much all of a sudden, I have no idea"

(Scott yoinking the memory of Pearl and then starts bringing sunflowers to Sausage, just to push buttons.)

Imagine Sausage threatening to kill him when he finds out and Scott just goes "yeah, no, bad idea, if I die so does the memory. Wanna lose her again?"

(In this house we love our angst)

OR

turn things around and have Sausage asking Scott to remove a memory because it's so bad.

Not-so-evil (redemption arc?) Scott helping others get rid of memories that are just too painful to deal with = cute and sad

- would be extra painful if he sees the memories in first person too.

- one minute he is helping a friend, next one "he" is causing a bloodbath.

- But! What if it's so bad that even Scott doesn't want it in his head, and he will collect anything. Like something exceptionally horrific about something out in the dimensions Sausage traveled through.

--

Sausage: "What do you mean you are not going to take that memory???"

Scott: "Listen, Sausage, you are my friend but if YOU can’t deal with that memory what makes you think I can?"

--

Like before this anytime he stole a memory it was just being able to observe it but now he's experiencing them and feeling the emotions. (Oh look more shared feelings trope) Then he starts feeling things from the POV of other people in the memory, not just who he stole it from.

--

Scott: "Hey before I met you I was just watching these like a movie, now I'm feeling things, what did you do to me?"

Sausage: "Uh yeah there are side effects to travelling through dimensions. Um. Sorry I guess???"