#Written out muses

[vaguely-concerned]

My two cents on how much of Mind!Varric is Rook’s mind trying to fill the blank space and how much is Solas actively talking through a convenient blood magic paper doll of the mind: I think it's a mix of both, a truly collaborative psychosocial horrorshow if you would, but waaaay more towards the second. It feels too directed and tactical at times to be anything else. Rook's mind is willing to go along with the denial phase as far as it can fucking carry them to not have to face the grief and regret and does its part in papering over details that don’t make any sense, the way brains will strive to create coherent meaning even out of deeply confusing input, but to my understanding it's a collaborateur in how that plays out, not the instigator or control center. Solas is using it as a path to agency and to gather insight into Rook as a person unguarded as he can't count on in his own guise. (That stoic option that leads to him being like 'oh I see you're cautiously denying me access to your inner life. well. at least you still have Varric to talk to. y'know as an outlet :)'. You absolute BITCH Solas! That alone convinced me that he HAS to have an active hand in it on some level.)

My guess is that it takes considerable effort on Solas’ part to make Mind!Varric do anything more involved or complicated than seeming to sit up in bed and give casual commentary, and that’s why he keeps having eerie five minute shallow pep talks with you before he announces he conveniently needs a nap aaanyway good luck kid you got this haha. When he’s just spouting NPC lines from his bedrest, I’m ready to believe that could be Rook’s mind being allowed to improv lines for him more freely because it’s less about Solas trying to get something out of them or working an angle and more ‘Still here! Still totally alive and fine and the mentor figure you know and love and trust :) don’t even worry about it! Thankfully there is no war in Ba Sing Sei, as we all know’ upkeep work lol. Rook’s mind is allowed to set the tone of Varric, the outlines, but not always the content. 

AND, on a (beautifully fucked up) character psychology level, I feel like Solas is indulging in actually getting to be the good supportive mentor figure to Rook with one hand to assuage the guilt he feels about what he's done -- and what he's going to do -- to them with the other. Same internal logic as he uses in Trespasser about the Qun. ‘Almost everyone is going to die from the course of action I’m doggedly pursuing eventually. But at least I can make their last years happier and freer and kinder than they would have been otherwise. and that kind of makes up for it right. a little bit. doesn't it. doesn't that make it better at least. I need that to make it better)'. Did I really take your beloved mentor and friend from you if you don’t know yet that I did? Some philosophers would argue not really! So it’s probably almost ok actually. Isn’t it even a little noble that I’m taking all this grief and guilt on myself and shielding you for now. With undertones that I’m not sure he would realize himself (and might be mortified by if he did) that he is so incredibly lonely, and even a dishonest and indirect emotional connection is more than nothing when you’re that desperate. In this setup he gets idk. Both the control he craves so incredibly badly in relationships and over himself, and the scraps, the fading afterimages, of intimacy and warmth and companionship, even second hand. The one thing Solas and Rook agree on deep deep down is that they really wish Varric weren't gone. They're handshake memeing this in the saddest and most creepy way possible.

I think an important element too is that Solas needs Rook and their team to *succeed* —  up to a certain point. He needs someone to hold the two other elven mean girls off until he can get out of here. Ideally, in a perfect world, even do all the hard work of killing them so he can swoop in at the end and do his thing when both sides are exhausted and out of resources to stop him, and then Bob’s your uncle! Same logic as he was using with Corypheus, and after that worked out so well, too! King of choosing to never learn from a single solitary mistake he’s ever made even though i fully believe he could have the capacity to Fen’Harel <3 The underlying idea isn’t flawed, you see, it was just unforeseen circumstances getting in the way. This time for sure it’ll all work out the way I cleverly imagined it in my head beforehand. Cue By Talos this can’t be happening etc. in the form of a statue almost crushing him like a bug. 

So he's providing guidance and forging Rook into a leader from two angles: one Rook might not trust, and one they probably will. Shaping them into what he needs slowly and carefully. He’s helping you hone your team into their most effective state, as he might have done with his own agents back in the day, setting up his chess pieces even if he has to squint through two glimpsed realities to do it haha. Pincer maneuver of an insidious stealth mentor you never asked for. Also… at one point mind Varric gives you a whole little monologue about how Solas' problem is that he’s always seen his interpersonal connections as flaws and see where it’s landed him, all alone and the worst part? it hasn’t even worked. it’s all been for nothing he’s back where he began with nothing to show for it but his mistakes. Like...that has such strong 'uh okay happy to play your therapist from two rooms away here what the fuck kind of traumadump is this' energy to me, I’m not sure Rook like. Thinks that much about Solas as a private person. So much of Solas' self-loathing and futile insights into his own flaws seem to shine through in Mind!Varric's dialogue all the time — I just can't believe that there's no guiding hand behind it as it were. 

Most of all. I feel like people underestimate the degree to which Solas is incredibly funny. As in, he has a very consistent and recognizable sense of humour. It’s one of my very favourite things about him. We must remember — it is crucial that we always keep in mind — Orlesian accent and wig Solas from May The Dread Wolf Take You (my beloved, the explanation for why I love this dude even with the. All of the everything else. No one does it quite like him). He is not at all above doing things or adding little flourishes for his own obscure amusement, in fact that seems to me to be one of his most consistent traits. The Randy Dowager Quarterly comment Varric has? The ‘Maybe this is the Dread Wolf’s revenge. Forcing us to house sit for him’ thing? To Me this is 100% Solas amusing himself in his boring Fade jail surrounded by the screaming hellscape of all his regrets. Source: it came to me as divine revelation through pure vibes trust me bro 

If nothing else I find it much more narratively interesting personally if the connection between Rook and Solas really is that defenselessly intimate and entwined (and so unbalanced!), and the sense of violation and invasion and betrayal afterwards consequently all the more nauseatingly intense. Even if you kept him at arm’s length in the open, he’s been under your skin the whole time, looking around, gathering what he needs to destroy you, wearing the face of a friend. Regretfully, probably, but choosing to do it every step of the way anyway. (Sound familiar, Inquisitor? Solas doesn’t have that many tricks when you actually look at it, he keeps returning to old tried and true ones like a dog with a bone haha.) Maybe he even genuinely meant some of it as mercy, which only makes it so much worse. It makes his sin against his own core principles of autonomy and the freedom of all beings in mind, spirit and body so much more juicily grave if it’s something he pursues actively and consistently, rather than it half-falling into his lap as a happy accident mainly orchestrated by Rook’s own subconscious. Solas, too, is at his very lowest point, the closest to giving in and becoming his own antithesis fully that he’s ever been, and it makes the choice of whether you still reach out your hand to him one last time or not all the more impactful and difficult.

[walkingstackofbooks]

AU where Julian's been a little more open about his family - like, far from everything, but at least they all know the vibes aren't great. So when they come to the station he's like "Help can anyone be my fake date tonight for dinner? Don't want to do this on my own..."

Jadzia's obviously like "Here for you, but let me check with Worf" - but then to everyone's surprise, Worf replied with. "No. I shall fake date Doctor Bashir. Your parents would not dare belittle the mate of a Klingon."

And that's that.

(alternatively, Worf says "Lying is dishonourable. But Jadzia and I are willing to enter into a relationship with you" - I'm not sure which option I like better)

[imitransform]

head n hand holding 🔊💥

[midnaurs]

It feels v embarrassing to admit on this tumblr acc that i watch anime and used to write lesbian fanfic for genshin impact. I draw too but its like anime art and i tried to draw tch fanart but karen and martha dont look right in that v anime style

[avichor]

many thoughts about vampires and how consuming their media with a strict, humanistic moral lens defeats the purpose

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

can we get some burning spice cookie headcannons???

Sure! Apologies for the late response. I had to catch up on some lore. That being said, I have some interesting thoughts. A lot of them are based on my personal thoughts on his element as this isn't the first god of destruction I've written, and others are based on the inspiration he's drawn from and how the culture surrounding that deity view his element, because I think it's worth noting and is important to the introspection I'm going to lend.

Entropy is very much something Burning Spice is founded on. In the grand scheme of things, it is needed to create the circle of destruction and creation. Without his element, a great imbalance is caused. However, no matter how much he destroys, he himself can never witness creation through destruction as destroying him destroys an intricate balance put into place. He is a force feared, yet needed and even essential. Destruction clears the path for something new, but in witnessing this he knows that he himself will never one of those things. Because he is doomed to a life of ending others. A life of crumbling all before him to dust, forced to carry the knowledge of all he does for eternity.

He, much like his element is ever-lasting, immortal as long as there is something that can be destroyed. In knowing this, he holds a type of envy towards those who are finite. Those who have the joy and wonder of experiencing life anew. Those who can live in ignorance of bliss, without the knowledge of all that has come to pass, without carrying everlasting malice built up in the wake of all he's come to know. Cookie born a new are lifted of all that corrupt. Cookies born anew are free from the chains of malice and hatred. They are allowed to have free spirits and granted new experiences - all that he can never rid himself of.

Destruction exists as long as there are things to destroy. When all has been destroyed and nothing else exists, only then will he lose purpose.

"I wonder...what will it take to destroy me?" I've seen people analyze this line and interpret it in different ways. I see it in a bit of a different light. I feel the element of destruction works in two ways ultimately - destruction consumes and will eventually consume him, or the other outcome of his own demise may be that he's destroyed until there is nothing left to destroy and his element becomes useless by partisan. Therefore, he would succumb to the thing he hates - boredom and stagnation.

I feel these are two outcomes he knows well. Destruction pushes towards change through creation, but when he succumbs to his own element or fizzles out from being obsolete, will he too finally get a chance of creation? Or will he simply fade away until one who succeeds him will take his place? * That being said, I feel Burning Spice has a sense of immortality as long as there is use for his element. He will exist to lay waste to what he sees as the world's imperfections and destroy them so that the world may be reshaped through creation. Stagnation produces the mundane, the droll and the peaceful. Things that cause the cycle to wane or die out, things that threaten the abolishment of his element and all that he is...and what purpose would he have, if not to destroy? If not to plunge the world into chaos?

That being said, destruction is needed for change and advancement. If cookies fall into peace, they stagnate and Earthbread never advances. His element is needed for the great progression of all things - no matter how hated and feared it is.

I feel this is why these things bore him.

I'm sure I'll expand on these things and they may be subject to change when more comes out about him but these are what I'm going to lend my portrayal to for now.

[apheliia]

kinich as a boyfriend ❌️ kinich as an older brother ✔️

[crithaus]

Vax bc Liam cannot methinks help being extremely gay all the time, is the one to bring up elaina most often in far more humanizing terms which is par for the course because he brings her up so often

And vex doesn't much besides responding to Vax or the iconic "do you think this is what mother saw before she died?" and I got to wonder how often she just sits there at this tavern or that stump on her watch especially early on thinking about her and how proud or not Eli'd be of her. Like obviously Vex doesn't like herself at the beginning, she's greedy and mean and callous and had killed innocent people and is selfish and everyone but Vax expects that of her and they don't really care, but at the end of the day she's not just effortlessly good all the time like keyleth, who doesn't even have the decency to struggle at being good and kind and flush with likeable traits,

That's what syldor had wanted of her ofc, what she failed to bring him, so naturally he wishes she was a spot he could just bleach out, so then what would elaina think after all that hard work and sacrifice and the hope she'd had for the better life she and Vax would have with their father, if she knew vex had not only not lived up to anyone's expectations but had done worse

oh I bet it eats her up thinking about the possibility that elaina would be so deeply disappointed ohhh

[unironicallycringe]

dying trying not to share wips but I'm excited to finally be tackling the Demise mural/manuscript thing again that I just like, Stopped doing last year

it's uh, for the whole origin mythos of Ikana Kingdom in a style similar to the opening scroll of WW, so I'll smack that on the TMM page when it's all done whee

[tenebriism]

Headcanon: Sidon and Marriage/Children

This is exclusive to MY interpretation of Sidon.

It's not uncommon knowledge that the Zora are strict when it comes to traditions, especially marriage. Relationships with non-Zora are often perceived as less worthy, less fitting, and are relatively frowned upon. This ESPECIALLY goes for the Royal Family. It makes sense, though, because who better to help run Zora's Domain than another Zora? Someone who already knows the customs, and who can produce an HEIR when the time inevitably comes?

I will leave whether or not a partner can bear children by Sidon up to my RP partners, but regardless of who he marries or who he does decide to have a family with, another Zora WILL eventually be brought into the arrangement, married, and expected to bear children (most likely Yona just to stick with canon, and because I like her. I don't care what fandom says about her, they gotta let the whole Sidlink thing go; we weren't ever getting that no matter how much Sidon obviously loves Link. XD Yona was GOOD for and to him).

Zora children are necessary for the royal line to continue--- that is non-negotiable, and Sidon understands and accepts this. If his partner cannot, then he will not take it personally if they decide to remove themselves from the picture or not pursue anything with him. It's not a fun situation for anyone involved, and the last thing Sidon wants to do is hurt anyone, his people included.

... but, ultimately, his people come before what HE wants or needs, and sadly, before his partner.

[wecouldmakediamonds]

the nature of Me is that every so often i will find a weird guy with a guitar and the fluffiest coat known to humanity and fixate on him

[santorie]

do i re-add my old infernal devices verse

[walkingstackofbooks]

My vision for endgame Data/Julian which has consumed me ever since I watched Picard 😅

A few months after the Dominion war, the Enterprise docks at DS9 for a short while allowing Data to meet his long-time pen-friend, Julian, again. Julian's not doing well, but since he seems to enjoy Data's company, Data decides to take a couple more weeks of leave to spend some more time with his friend. However, Julian starts becoming more and more withdrawn and anxious, and after an incident one evening where he becomes agitated to the point of storming out, Data reaches out to Deanna to see if she can give him any insight into his friend's behaviour. She has some ideas, but also suggests that Data ask Keiko, and after talking with the O'Briens, Data believes he understands what's wrong. When he asks Julian if he's correct in thinking that his impending departure is what's upsetting the doctor, Julian's surprise at the question is enough that he answers truthfully - yes. To Data, the solution is obvious: if Julian is distressed by the idea of someone else leaving him, then Data will not leave. (Julian begs him not to make promises he cannot keep, and has a minor breakdown when he realises that Data is deadly serious.) After a lot of conversation, some favour-cashing, and the fortunate coincidence that one of Beverly's doctors was beginning to look for a promotion to CMO, Julian ends up transferred to the Enterprise: technically a demotion, but after so long having so much on his shoulders, it's actually a relief.

While on Enterprise, Data and Julian get closer and closer. Their relationship brings some difficulties when it becomes public, though: some see the fact Julian's dating an android as proof that he's not really human; others wonder how Data's affection can be real, and feel that if he were as human as he wants to be, then he wouldn't be dating an augment. Julian's parents definitely berate him for wasting all the gifts they gave him by marrying an android - if only he'd talked to them before the wedding, they could have adbised him against it! - making him a zillion times more grateful Data talked him out of inviting them every time he started to feel guilty about it. But that's by the by. They're together, happily married, endgame Julian/Data achieved, right?

... Wrong. I hate Nemesis, but imagine Julian following Data down before he throws himself into space, knowing he could probably stop Data from doing this if he asks. Data saying, "I know I promised never to leave you," and Julian shaking his head and barely being able to choke out the words "It's okay," and then Data's gone. And Geordi's trying to reassure Julian (Geordi's trying to convince himself...) that Data will be alright, he's got the emergency tranport unit, and they get back to the bridge, and Picard transports in, and Data's still on the ship that's blowing up, and Deanna's asking what happened and Julian's sliding down against a wall, horarsely whispering "I let him go..."

20 years later... Picard season one. I haven't quite decided when I want Julian to appear, because the idea of Julian fighting for android rights is everything to me, but also I kind of like the premise of changing as little as possible in canon... (Maybe Julian had tried to be part of the movement for android rights, bu the media had really latched onto his augment status and used it as another reason to discredit the movement, and so he'd withdrawn from it, as it seemed his presence was doing more harm than good….) So the Picard crew all return to the Riker-Troi household after the final showdown and Deanna welcomes them in with a "Guess who we finally managed to get in contact with" and bring them into the lounge where Julian' anxiously waiting. And of course the initial introduction is awkward and Julian's talking a million words a minute until Will pokes him and then over the next few days he's trying to keep his distance so that Soji doesn't feel that she needs to let him into her life... And meanwhile Soji is still, you know, coping with ALL the feelings and trauma that the last - what, week? - have given her and so she has no idea what to do with this man, who was apparently her father's husband, especially as she has no clue how he feels about the whole suddenly-having-an-android-stepdaughter thing. But eventually they do manage to have a conversation (/are forced to talk it out) and they get on so well and Soji realises how much Julian genuinely wants to get to know her for her sake and while Julian's terrified at the prospect of having a daughter, he's also delighted (and Will and Deanna make them both stick around for a whole while, 1. because they do enjoy having them both around, 2. because Kestra adores Soji, and the two are pretty good for each other, and 3. because, while they have kept in contact with Julian over the years, they also know how long he's been on his own for, and they want to make sure he's got a solid base and people to lean on. As much as Julian wants to be a good father, Soji deserves more than one traumatised, lonely man doing a best that would quite possibly not be good enough...)

Picard season 3. Julian and Soji are visiting Geordi at the museum when the Picard crew come along, and are swept into the action... Julian learning that Data's alive - kind of... Julian tenderly kissing Data before they take down the partition, telling him he has to win so he can meet their daughter... The two of them barely having time to reunite before having to rush off to their respective duties in saving the ship... (I have VISIONS of Soji and Julian working desperately together to find a cure for the transporter virus, while Julian's augment physiology has done something weird to make it that he's turning, but very, very slowly. Julian making sure that Soji is armed, and making her promise to shoot him if he turns too quickly. Soji telling him he has to keep fighting it and refusing to think about what it might come to. Julian realising he's about to lose control and getting Soji to restrain him. Soji despairing that she won't be able to find a cure by herself - she's not a doctor doctor like he is - and Julian reassuring her that he believes in her, she just needs to do her best... but most importantly, if she doesn't find it, it's alright, it's not her fault, and he loves her. Resistance is futile. A phaser shot.) And afterwards, when Soji's found the cure and it's been distributed, Julian wakes up to find Data sitting next to him and Soji hovering nearby. He tries to scramble up and leave to help the rest of the crew, but Soji informs him that just as he took longer to turn, he took longer to get better, and he's the last one to wake up from it. And then she makes to leave, to give the two of them some time alone, and Julian tells her that's nonsense, she needs to meet Data, and Soji says that it's fine, they've been talking while he was asleep, and Julian replies that now he feels left out, so she definitely can't leave, come here, sit by me, I'm not letting either of you out of my sight.

[aparticularbandit]

In light of -gestures- here is this:

Feel free to be more specific in the comments/tags - MCU is vast and so is Hahnverse, and also I know there might be ship preferences, too.

Feel free to ask. I may try to start daily posting again for a bit.

[protect-namine]

every season I'm like, "okay yeah I understand the dive back in time video. what's not to know? they're diving back in time. simple!" and then every season I'll see someone point out a detail that makes me go, "oh okay. not so simple after all!"

[immunetoneurotoxin]

ENTANGLEMENT | Part I, Chapter I

A Portal/Half Life Universe Fic from Chell's Perspective Rating: Explicit Overall Word Count: 10,730 Chapters: 1/20 Where to Read: AO3 | Google Drive | // ?UN?/KN@?#WN

SYNOPSIS

Location Unknown, Michigan, USA.  Aperture released her, set her free. That ought to have been the end of it. But cast out into a world rendered unrecognizable after a mass extinction level event, Chell is forced to fend for herself, navigating a war-torn world in the aftermath of the seven hour war that devastated the states in a bygone era.  Mere days into her newfound experience on the surface, Chell finds bizarre technology inside a Michigan radio tower, discovering that the same interdimensional forces that started the war were still around, scouring the area in search of technology from the facility she hoped to never see again — Aperture Science.  With no choice but to go back to the facility to deliver a dire warning, Chell tightropes on the cusp of two worlds, unaware of the consequences of pursuing the past and surviving an uncertain future alongside an unlikely ally.

It's finally here!! A former roleplay thread with @sarcasticgaypotato turned novel, this story follows the events of Half Life 2: Episode 2, and is an inspired continuation of the ending of Half Life: Alyx from the perspective of everyone's favorite Aperture-dwelling characters. Chell, whose mission is to protect Aperture technology from getting in the hands of the Combine, must also act as GLaDOS's protector and keep her safe. GLaDOS, on the other hand, has to figure out the complicated ways of the world from a new perspective - literally. This story is friendly to those who don't know Half-Life lore, and a treat for those who do! This story is a close-to-canon survival novel fic with ChellDOS as a major focus. Full of survival, interactive elements, complicated feelings, and a beautiful slow burn robot/human love story. <3