#act like the way i used to do until i got like. socially punished for it so much i learned out of it. which makes me REALLY get sureaus

[deconstructthesoup]

Looked at my Dead Boy Detectives swap AU, decided that it could be better, and ran with it. So... here ya go.

(For those of you who need a refresher---it's an AU where Crystal and Niko are the ghosts and Charles and Edwin are the alive ones. "Dead Girl Detectives," basically.)

Crystal is pretty much unchanged from the original concept---she died in the 1920's, she was a psychic socialite with absent parents, and she acted like the quintessential spoiled wild-child while secretly being fascinated by detective stories. She died when she got possessed by David the demon, who puppeted her body around for weeks... until she finally managed to wrench back some form of control, threw both of them off of a building, and wound up getting sent to Hell. Now that she's out and living free as a ghost, she's doing her level best to leave her old self behind and be a better person---partly for herself, but also so she can prove that she doesn't deserve eternal punishment if Hell ever comes for her again.

Niko's still an anime geek from the 1990's who was an outcast in life, but her death circumstances are different. Instead of dying from the dandelion sprites, she accepted an invitation to a party in an effort to try and socialize more after her father's death... and she got killed in a prank gone wrong, trapped in an abandoned mansion that used to belong to Crystal's family. She probably would've even moved on if it weren't for Crystal showing up and helping her out, giving Niko a reason to stick around. Niko's doing better now, but she still hasn't really processed her feelings surrounding her death. (Also, her hair's still white---she just dyed it that way, and it's never changed even after she died.)

Charles is also pretty much unchanged from the OG concept---he's still an irresponsible witch who got possessed by David and lost his memories as a result---with the added detail that he's one of many incredibly powerful magical people who David's possessed, wrecked havoc with their powers, and killed, though Charles thankfully survived the ordeal thanks to the Dead Girl Detectives. Also, I'm fairly certain that Charles is not only well aware that he's bisexual and out, but he and David were almost certainly dating. Or at least hooking up.

Edwin's still a socially awkward comics nerd and shut-in, but I decided to just have him get the paranormal parasite as a way for him to get involved with Charles and the Dead Girl Detectives---though, instead of a dandelion sprite that's all about soaking up attention, it's a hornet-themed sprite that feeds on people's insecurities and self-loathing. I think that he still butts heads with Crystal a little bit, but his bookish, studious nature winds up becoming incredibly helpful to the team, and he gets along great with Niko and Charles. Especially Charles.

Now, after thinking about it, I realized that if I was going to do a four-way swap with our main crew, it would probably make sense to do the same with our supporting cast. So:

The Night Nurse---or Minerva Knight, as I've tended to name her in my AUs---is in the place as Port Townsend's resident witch, though her motives are pretty different from Esther's. She has no need for any spells of eternal youth, having stopped aging a while ago, and she considers herself the protector of Port Townsend, keeping the forces of the supernatural at bay from the mundane residents... even if that means occasionally sacrificing a child or two to keep some of the more unsavory beings satisfied. Needless to say, Minerva has a very skewed view of morality, and unlike her canon counterpart, she can't really be swayed to change her mind. She's scary.

Esther, meanwhile, is in the lovely position as the Crow Queen, a charming and campy trickster being who exists to wear fabulous, over-the-top outfits, rule over her little feathered darlings, and to be a menace to everyone she meets. Her whole deal with Crystal isn't exactly flirtatious, but it's enough to give Crystal a gigantic bisexual awakening. And whether or not Esther's really all that interested and is just fucking with her, she's a lot of fun, and she's definitely instrumental in helping Crystal realize more about herself.

Thomas (the Cat King, but we're calling him by his first name) is Charles and Edwin's landlord---the owner of a queer bakery who's having a bit of a quarter-life crisis and is therefore a bit of an asshole to almost everyone he meets. Despite how prickly he is, though, he has an energy about him that makes him automatically endearing to every single misfit teen in a fifty-mile radius, and he's less than enthusiastic about it. Deep down, Thomas doesn't really mind, because he is a pretty lonely individual (not that he'd ever admit it).

And lastly, Jenny is the Night Guard On Duty in the Afterlife Lost & Found Department---overworked, burnt out, and thoroughly cynical when it comes to the affairs of the living. She's convinced that all she really needs is the big case that'll get her a promotion to a much less stressful position, and tracking down the Dead Girl Detectives seems to be just the thing. Of course, she's not as dedicated to her job as she appears to be, and even years of working in the most depressing place in the universe hasn't fully worn her down.

And, uh, other than the fact that I'm gonna have to figure out a stand-in for Monty... that's what I got!

[diejager]

I don't know if it be more of a köing thing or a soap thing but I wonder if he'd ever misjudged his strength while pulling some punishment on reader and end up really hurting them

Cw: fingering, spanking, use of safeword, crying, dacryphilia, pain kink, dom/sub dynamic, humiliation, punishment, tell me if I missed any.

It would depend on the situation you find yourself in. Where König is more of a anxious and social mess, sometimes underestimating other’s strengths and underestimating his despite his subtle confidence and strong strides like he owned every room he walked into; Soap is similarly compared to an overzealous puppy, energetic and eccentric as much as he was strong and prone to overuse the power behind his strong arms and back. 

In Soap’s case, it was a moment of agitation, lost in his dark haze of excitement and irritation from your mistake. He is nothing, if not a man with a determined mind, focused and on-track on the task at hand, and in this moment, that was you: your punishment. Perhaps you’d done something to crack his mind; perhaps you’d offended him in a way that had both surprised and enraged him enough to demand retribution; or perhaps you were just being a brat. 

But whatever you did had forced his hand into acting, pressing you into the hard mattress, the sheets muffling your cries and grunts and ass raised. Your thighs shook with every rough thrusts of his fingers, pumping into you with loud and wet squelches that made your ears burn a bright red as much as the overstimulation bled your body pink, panting and squirming. 

Whatever pleas that slipped from your heavy tongue were drowned out by the tent poking at your stomach and how embarrassingly wet you’d became from his rough treatment. Leaking down your thighs and Soap’s wrist, your constant squirming and kicking had annoyed him so much that he had to force you still by your nape. 

It’s in these moments where he loses himself, too drawn by your warm walls clenching around his digits and your cries that he forgets you until he hears the muffled safeword fall from your lips. He’s apologetic, extremely affectionate and at your beck and call for the next month. No punishment, no demands, and no expectations, all he’d do is please and fulfil your needs, becoming nothing but a man with a one-track mind to service you and you alone. 

In König’s place, if he’s overwhelmed by something and so stressed by the mounting responsibilities and work he has as a Colonel. It itches at his mind, crawling under a thin layer of skin, threatening to burst and all it needed was a small tick, a spark to ignite and send his irritation on fire. You were just the victim of his maelstrom, a dangerous and wrathful man on a warpath.

Spanking seemed to fix most of his issues, splayed across his desk, paper and pen recklessly shoved off it, littering the floor with dark ink spots and crinkled reports that he’d have to work on later. He hadn’t locked his office door and the room wasn’t soundproof despite the high budget KorTac had, and it worked for him, his punishment rarely only being about putting you in your place or relieving his pent-up aggression, but sometimes aimed to humiliate you, to play into your dignity and ego as much as it boosted his. 

And in such a strong haze, his hand would land too harshly, the usual tingles from spanking turning into a burning pain, every strike seemingly setting the skin on your ass ablaze. It left you a wailing and begging mess, taking the first few hits with pride and bitten lips to hold back any sounds until it got too much, your safeword falling out of you in gasping sobs.

He stopped then and there, his mind cleared at the simply utterance of the safeword you both decided, quick to pull you against his chests and praising you, mumbles of apologies and promises to pamper you. He let his aggression fester for too long and in the end, you ended up paying for his stubbornness, beating your ass black and blue. And next thing you know, he’s following you everywhere, taking his time massaging your ass with the pain ointment he bought for you and holding a bag of frozen peas on your swollen ass until it healed completely. Even then, he won’t let you off alone until the nest month or so.

Taglist: @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @bvxygriimes @distracteddragoness @konigsblog @im-making-an-effort @daisychainsinknots @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @danielle143 @tuttifuckinfruttifriday @notspiders @brokenpieces-72 @petwifed @randominstake @haven-1307 @shironasumi @sparky--bunny @bloobewy @cod-z @sweetnanah @aldis-nuts @evolutionarry @kaoyamamegami @cassiecasluciluce

[snail-migraine]

You know I was reading your platonic yandere Malleus story and I thought what if the punishment made the Reader realize how actually suffocating it is to be around Malleus and servants constantly? It's kind of inverse of Malleus, who was always didn't like being alone whereas his child realize how liberating it is to be free from royalty and royal expectations. The child, of course, struggled with cooking and cleaning at first, but slowly got the hang of it and realized this is the most fun and freeing they ever had.

Reader when Malleus tells them that their punishment is over and they can interact with him, the servants and act like a royal now:

Y'know, I like this idea. It gives the story a bit more ~angst~ and I think the yandere tab here on tumblr could use even more of that. Thank you for the asks!

-

Anon-Yan 💌‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

Platonic Yandere Malleus

Part 2

Your punishment itself lasted months, almost years, but Malleus could only bear to keep you in that rickety old tower for so long.

Until he decided to take you out make you "prove" to him that you changed.

You didn't really have to prove to him much, all had to do was give a half-hearted "Sorry" and he would've forgiven you.

Though it wasn't like you didn't change during your time up in the tower. You'd like to think you actually changed quite a bit.

Given that you're not some Manipulative little shit anymore, the servants would also agree.

Due to your time in the Tower you grew to be very self-dependent. You learned how to cook, clean, solve your problems all by yourself. Without the help of your "Loving Father".

You also got alot quieter, having spent the previous months in isolation. You basically unlearned any and all social skills that you had previously built.

While Malleus expected you to change, that being the whole point of him doing this, he didn't expect such a big change in personality.

He thought you were going to remain his precious little baby, who cried and hugged their father. Begging him for forgiveness.

His little baby that thrived off of his attention. Going so far as to become a little troublemaker for it.

Instead you're....this

Don't get him wrong, he still loves you. But where is his precious baby? Now instead of following him around like a lost puppy constantly you stay in your room for hours on end, barely making it out to have supper with him and the rest of the family before slipping away and back into your room again.

What are you even doing in there for so long? He doesn't get it.

He also learns that you've shooed off any and all servants that come to attend to you. While it is good progress for you being a good royal and not needing servants, Malleus doesn't know if he can handle you growing up so fast.

Or at all for that matter.

"Dear, I'm worried about you. You've been hauling yourself up in this dark and dreary room of yours for the past month! And not once have you come out to spend some bonding time with me and the rest of the family. Was I too harsh punishing you? If I was please tell me! If you're upset or angry at me for what I did please just say something, anything!"

Malleus gets desperate when he realizes that you aren't a baby anymore. You don't need him to survive anymore. The fact alone makes him want to cry.

But then again wasn't that how this all started? With you acting like a bratty two year old and needing to be taught how to be both an adult and a royal.

So why then..why are these feelings so conflicting?

Yes, he got what he wanted. You're acting like an actual royal now.

However you barely even speak to him. Your own father!

He can't wrap his head around his own emotions, it isn't until you come up to him and announce your plan of leaving the castle to go venture the world all on your own does he finally snap.

He doesn't even listen to your reasoning he just grabs you by your wrist yet again and take you to your 'new bedroom.'

A room right next his, only accessible to him.

This is the only way he can keep you in line.

This is the only way he can make sure the Draconia name is upheld.

This is the only way he can keep you at his side.

Forever.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, my child, but one day you'll understand. You'll finally see things the way I do. But until then I'll just have to keep you here and give you all the love I could ever give."

"Sweet dreams, little one."

[saintsenara]

Do you think Sirius’s parents were ever physically abusive? I see a lot of different takes in the fandom, and sometimes it reads well, and sometimes it feels like tragedy-piling. In one hand, if they were not physically abusive, it makes Sirius’s break-off somewhat even more impressive - he had everything, but still couldn’t stomach his parent’s political views and life of pretences. In another hand, maybe his parents would do anything to keep their wayward son in line. Whaddya think?

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

unsurprisingly, i've popped the answer to this below the cut, since it comes with a trigger warning for discussion of the emotional and physical abuse of a child.

to start with, the answer to this requires us to be specific about what we understand the term "physically abusive" to mean.

because - yes - i certainly think orion and walburga would have smacked [spanked, for american readers] sirius as a form of punishment.

indeed, i think this inarguable, since sirius was born in 1959.

in britain and ireland, as in many places worldwide, the social acceptability of physically punishing your children by smacking them is something which has shifted massively in the past twenty-or-so years.

[and with good reason! i'm definitely not about to start defending it!]

but the extent of this shift means it's easy to overlook just how normal it used to be. until really quite recently, smacking was considered a "good" way to instil discipline in children, poorly behaved children were considered to be suffering from a lack of physical discipline, and a parent smacking a child in public was unlikely to raise any eyebrows.

indeed, canon - the original editions of the books, at least - reflect the fact that this was a social norm in the nineties. the weasley children - for example - are noted to have been smacked on multiple occasions, and the text isn't treating this as evidence that molly and arthur are cruel or abusive, it's treating it as evidence that they're normal parents.

and so if - as is increasingly the modern norm - one regards any sort of physical discipline as abuse, then yes, i think orion and walburga were physically abusive towards sirius.

but the real question is do i think orion and walburga were abusive by the standards of their own time?

because - of course - smacking being socially acceptable historically doesn't mean that all uses of physical force against a child were. indeed, the reason that smacking is still legal in england and northern ireland [wales, scotland, and the republic of ireland have all got their acts together and banned it] is based in this - smacking was and is considered "reasonable chastisement". that is, it was and is considered to fall below a threshold which would transform it from punishment into abuse.

this threshold is based in intensity - smacking your children is legal if they're not left with marks, a smack which leaves bruises or which breaks the skin meets the threshold for common assault, and is a legal offence - in frequency - sustained or repeated force is more likely to leave injuries which meet the threshold for assault or other offences - in type - punching a child in the face is always assault, if not a greater charge such as actual bodily harm - and in the context of the act and the parent's broader behaviour surrounding it - a parent who smacks a child once as a knee-jerk response to a dangerous situation [the child trying to dash out into oncoming traffic, for example] and then collects themselves and speaks calmly to the child is going to be understood very differently from a parent who smacks a child for an unclear reason, who is ranting and raving, and who exclusively shouts at the child.

the problem with this threshold - which makes some physical punishments acceptable and others unacceptable - is that it's imprecise. children's experiences of being smacked are subjective - some might tolerate the occasional smacking with no adverse mental effects, but this is irrelevant, given that many others will not. outlawing it entirely is good because it removes this imprecision.

when it comes to sirius, then, we have to think about whether orion and walburga would have used physical force against him in a way that crossed whatever threshold existed in the norms of wizarding society between legitimate and unacceptable punishment.

and i think the answer to this is both yes and no.

because i think it's inarguable that sirius was subjected to physical punishments in contexts which were inappropriate.

his dynamic with his family, as he himself tells us, is a classic golden child versus scapegoat one. and so his parents undoubtedly smacked him in response to things he didn't do intentionally - for example, accidentally knocking over a glass and breaking it - or didn't do at all - for example, regulus breaking the glass and claiming it happened because sirius "distracted" him.

if we imagine that wizarding norms - like muggle ones - justify physical punishment when it's "reasonable", then it follows that this idea of reasonableness presupposes that the child is being punished for an intentional and undeniable act of forbidden behaviour. and, therefore, it follows that punishing a child who has not behaved in such a way is unreasonable, and therefore abusive.

connected to this, it's also plausible that sirius was subjected to non-physical punishments - such as being grounded or having his possessions confiscated - in similarly inappropriate contexts. and this again changes the meaning of these punishments - temporarily grounding a child in response to them intentionally doing a specific thing which they know will result in them being grounded is acceptable; grounding them indefinitely and arbitrarily is not.

it's also inarguable that sirius was subjected to non-physical punishments which were excessive within the context of wizarding norms. the way walburga's portrait speaks to him - which he tells us in order of the phoenix reflects the way she spoke to him when she was alive - is something harry finds utterly shocking. and - since we know that harry isn't shocked by shouting alone [molly shouts at her sons, for example, and harry doesn't consider this unacceptable] we can suppose that walburga's language, tone, and level of vitriol is so extreme as to have crossed the threshold between reasonable and unreasonable behaviour, and is, therefore, abusive. while we don't know how orion spoke to him, we have no reason to believe it wasn't similar.

but i don't think that sirius was subjected to physical punishments which were excessive in terms of their violence - rather than inappropriate in terms of their context.

and this is because he's clear that what he hated the most about living with his family was that they didn't deviate from social norms. he hated the mainstream political views they held, he hated that they considered themselves "practically royal" despite not being impressive or special at all, and he hated that regulus became the golden child for adhering to convention and he became the scapegoat for rejecting it.

if he understood himself as someone who had been physically abused, the thing he would hate about his family would be their deviance. he would abhor the fact that they'd transgressed the social norms which governed what was or wasn't "reasonable" in terms of physical punishment and - in doing so - had transgressed the relationship parents are supposed to have with their children.

and i think he would be able to acknowledge this - it's not just something he doesn't bring up in canon because he's not psychologically ready - not only because he has the experience of how james' parents treated both him and their own son to contrast against his parents' behaviour, but because he's able to recognise - without feeling ashamed of or like he was at fault for it, which is very impressive - that he is someone who was emotionally abused.

and this emotional abuse is bad enough.

there is - as you say - something which can get a bit torture-porny about the way sirius' early life is often written as a cycle of unrelenting physical abuse. and the reason this feels so unnecessary is because the experience he describes on the canon page is sufficiently horrible without anything else being added to it. i don't think we need to debate whether him breaking with his family is more impressive if they weren't physically abusive than it would be if they were - or vice versa. there's no hierarchy. abuse is abuse.

it wouldn't matter if orion and walburga had never laid a hand on him. given what we know of their emotional treatment of him, sirius is an abused child. and leaving an abusive situation - regardless of the exact form the abuse takes - is impressive without qualification.

[quitealotofsodapop]

After the whole mess with the Brotherhood is handled in Soft Boiked au, Wukong has another situation to handle. MK now knows he's a Stone Monkey, the same species as Wukong himself. He may also suspect Wukong to be his biological parent, although Wukong goes on record to say that no, Yubei was the only kid he actually birthed, MK may be his cub in his heart, but they share no biological connection that Wukong is aware of.

But even if MK isn't biologically Wukongs, they have the situation of his true form. Specifically, teaching MK how to Monkey. Wukong thinks it'd be easy, MK already acts so much like a monkey it's hard to imagine him struggling, but the problem isn't that he can't act like a monkey. It's that he doesn't have the confidence to do so knowingly. He can climb and groom just fine, but when it comes to things like diet and soaring through the trees, the way macaques do, he struggles. He gets grossed out at the thought of picking through someone's hair and eating bugs, he hesitates when he should use the branch he just climbed as a springboard to reach the next tree, he feels uncomfortable doing thinks like chirping and hooting. His upbringing makes him hesitate to listen to his natural instincts, and while it's nothing against Pigsy or Tang, it's just that societal expectations of modern China are causing MK to hold back.

Wukong had faced a similar problem when he'd gotten back from the Journey, after spending so many years being punished for 'hyperactive and unsocietal behavior' up until Tripitaka had it beaten over his head that Wukong was not only pregnant but that these were normal monkey things and not disrespectful in nature at all, he struggled to adapt to being a monkey again.

The fact that MK was already dealing with self esteem issues and then got stuck in a scroll with a ink demon in the shape of his monkey form that would only dig at those insecurities only made it worse.

Prev.

MK is in for a loooong learning montage after learning he's a Stone Monkey, thats for sure!

It's not an easy road.

Lots of "George of the Jungle"-esque mishaps involving tree climbing occur.

Could have it been a little easier if MK had been raised as a monkey demon? Yes. But he also would have faced greater social challenges, not to mention if any of Wukong's enemies "sensed" what he actually was.

And don't even get MK started on the "picking bugs out of each other's fur and eating"-part. He found a tiny garden spider crawling in Macaque's fur during a troop grooming session and nearly passed out.

MK, trying to psyche himself up to eat the bug: (*gags*) Macaque, sniffs himself thinking that's the problem: "What? I showered recently." Yuebei: (*reaches up and steals the bug from MK, eating it instead*) MK: (*very grossed-out sigh of relief*) "I love you, mooncake."

He feels like he's behind even little Yuebei of all people when it comes to learning to Monkey! At least she can chirp and hoot without anyone looking at her weirdly...

Wukong sighs and jokes it's like teaching two cubs at once.

Luckily, MK isn't alone. Turns out, Wukong has gone through the very same thing he has nearly twice over! Subodhi canonically strikes and punishes Wukong for happily jumping and hooting when he's excited for class, so Wukong literally had his instincts beaten out of him. And later still when he became Bimawen and a Peach Attendant, he found himself subconsciously suppressing his "monkey" habits in order to avoid criticism from surrounding celestials.

While the Tang Monk had been confused by Wukong's monkey habits, he adapted to them - with a lot of "gentle" persuasion from Guanyin, Ao Lie, Sha Wujing, and many of the allies they made along the way of course. Afterall, part of Tripitaka's character development is him starting out close-minded and opening himself to the fact that people just gonna act and be different. After Tripitaka learned that Heaven and even Wukong's first master had punished and resented his nature, he especially made sure Wukong understood that he didn't want him to see his behaviours as "unnatural". Just him.

MK also gets a lot of encouragement from the rest of his "troop".

Pigsy and Tang feel really bad not being able to indulge MK's natural behaviours as a cub, but they were always understanding that he was just their special little guy. If he was hyperactive or overstimulated, they had ways to address it. I love hcs of Tang being neurodivergent, so he when sees Baby MK throwing tantrums and just be like "Mood."

Red Son and Mei secretly begin flexing their own natural behaviours so MK doesn't feel as left out. Though MK was def confused the first time he got friendly-headbutts and nips.

[glitch-after-dark]

Mer formers dratchet finding a sparked Rodimus who was abducted from his home and can’t go back because it was destroyed?

Now they have a sparked distrusting & traumatized mer they are slowly falling in love with

oh yes

The way this idea just gripped ahold of me and I love this idea but got a little caught up in plot and it got pretty long.

I've got another related ask, too. It's probably a bit less horny than intended, but I'll do more in a bit. Happy mermay!

Rodimus grew up in the Nyon shoal and was very social and comfortable and happy. Their shoal was settled around an uninhabited island from which they took their name which spent most of the time submerged and has complex reef system around it. It was considered one of the most beautiful places on Cybertron with pink sands and fiery colors mers matching the reefs surrounding it. It was Preserved and people weren't supposed to travel there but that didn't stop an occasional wealthy mech from hiring someone to go there as they considered fees to be "entrance payments" more than punishment. While wary most of the people who came regular, marine biologists who studied them, were friendly and the shoal was a much more social and less aggressive one than most.

At least partially due to the fact the island used to be inhabited and they had a shared community until a disease that the mers were immune to wiped out the island population. They still passed down stories and remembered them. The "strange" rituals that the biologists studied are the ones passed down to honor their former friends. Rituals that look religious in nature because it was as their former neighbors worshipped Primus.

All this adds up to Rodimus seeing Tyrest, who was slightly obsessed with it since he recognized a long defunct religious gesture in one of the videos a Senator showed him of "visiting" the island and believe it to be a sign, and swimming right up to him. Rodimus sees him do the gesture and returns it enthusiastically, swimming much closer than he would normally and even perching up on the boat's edge which led to him getting snatched.

Rodimus suffers during his time with Tyrest, who treats him like a pretty toy, and punishes him when he "acts up". It only gets worse the more time passes and Tyrest gets handsy. Rodimus becomes incredibly hostile to all mechs and Rodimus starts to get drugged daily to keep him placid.

Then he has his first heat and Tyrest is eager to take advantage of it to arrange for artificial insemination. It required getting him out of the tank though. The drug burns out quicker than Tyrest realized and Rodimus begins to become more lucid and once Tyrest dismisses his guards and staff for the day, Rodimus rips out his throat. Tyrest kept Rodimus in his private island, letting him look out at the sea but never touching it.

Rodimus drags himself through the house and across the sand into the water. He's hurt and bleeding and exhausted but he's free even if he's somewhere new.

Rodimus is not a very sturdy breed of mer or one meant for long distance or deep ocean travel on top of still smelling like heat. He encounters a lot of dangers from predators and other mers, reacting with almost feral aggression not allowing anyone, even friendlies close. He follows old stories and constellations to eventually find Nyon, or where it was. There was an accident and a ship carrying oil wrecked and the leak destroyed Nyon. There are mechs working to try and clean it, but the reef and shoal are dead and the pink sands stained.

Rodimus now heavily pregnant and strained with grief wonders blindly, avoiding the large stretches of territory or inhabited areas he goes through, and finds an island that looks mostly untouched, no mechs or mer shoals obvious and just falls asleep exhausted in one of the underwater caves.

The reason it is untouched is it is neutral territory where the "sea witch" Ratchet and his mate Drift live. Who find Rodimus, so exhausted he doesn't even wake up when they touch him, clearly having starved himself, undersized and with poorly healed injuries. They take him back to their cave and Ratchet quickly cleans his long neglected wounds and treats them, while Drift helps him feed Rodimus via mouth-to-mouth until he has enough strength to respond and swallow when they put it in there. He sleeps for days with their tending, tense and curled up even in his sleep until on the fifth day he wakes up.

Rodimus is incredibly wary of the two other mers when he wakes up. He is hissing and bristling and ready to fight, though instinct has him pushing himself back into the back of the cave and curling around his swollen belly. He is full and healthier than he has been in ages, and everything is screaming to nest.

Drift and Ratchet are soft. They've never managed to carry more than duds despite their long courting. They suspect they are wither infertile or incompatible. They have more than enough to support a carrier, and both have gotten a little attached while carrying for him.

They give Rodimus space, leaving him food and not forcing themselves close. Slowly, warily, he creeps out. They both freeze when he does, letting him make the first moves. When he creeps out further, Drift trills at him hopefully, which startles him and sends him rushing back into hiding.

It's slow progress with Rodimus watching them warily from where they've tucked him into an inner cave, and their instincts are acreaming to take care of him more and barely sated by glimpses and food and occasional glimpses of him sleeping and smelling content. Both are patient though.

One day, when it's just Ratchet, Drift, having gone out to hunt and patrol to settle some of his "expecting babies" instincts, Rodimus finally creeps out. Ratchet's own instincts to prepare have led to him overprepping in medicine and gathering a bit. He's been trying to prepare for any eventuality. He doesn't freeze or react when he feels Rodimus moving behind him and forces himself to remain calm letting him approach and watch Ratchet curiously.

Rodimus, meanwhile, has gotten curious about his not-captors. He has become absolutely certain they don't want what most have wanted from him and don't appear to be a threat. Mostly, they seem to want to feed him. He's been listening to them interact and talk but still doesn't understand why. He doesn't feel safe, but he also doesn't feel actively in danger.

So he's decided to approach the safer looking one alone. Drift may be smaller, closer to Rodimus’s size, but he's all predator with prominent fangs and claws and spines. Ratchet, meanwhile, is bigger than him but has duller claws, practically just nails and grinding teeth as well as non-prominent fangs and eats kelp as much as any fish. Rodimus is pretty sure his main defense is his thick hide, size, sharp tongue, and Drift.

They talk, and while it is tense, it soothes things. Ratchet explains how they found him, what he is doing, and briefly a bit about himself and Drift. He also offers Rodimus safety in their home as long as he wants to stay. When asked why Ratchet nods to his swollen belly and says he can't just let a school less first timer go at it alone when he can help and that Rodimus will need suport and be unable to hunt for himself soon enough. Rodimus has bee filling more and more the instinct to den down and prepare but is still suspicious.

Rodimus demands what exactly Ratchet wants in return, and he says for Rodimus to let him treat his wounds and make sure he and any pups or healthy before Rodimus leaves. If he wants to leave, that is. He also confirms Drift feels the same way. Rodimus still doesn't trust it, but Ratchet hasn't lied so far and had plenty of time to take advantage.

Drift comes barrelling in, freezes, and gets excited, sending Rodimus back into hiding. Dratchet talks about taking things slow. Or at least that's what they think until the next day. Rodimus is nervous at first but gets comfortable very quickly, and by the end of the day, he is acting like he owns the place. Which is at least 65% bravado, but he is forcing himself to be comfortable in order to convey confidence. Drift, of course, is thrilled and very friendly and readily spoiling him, eager to show off their home and area, and Ratchet is very tolerant and fussing at him to eat or drink.

Rodimus is surprised how quickly it turns to genuine comfort with them. He swims with Drift acting as sentinel, but always gentle and cooing as he shows them small wonders and races and dances around him in warm shallows that look perfect for pup. He hangs around Ratchet on his tired days lounging and pestering him when Ratchet makes medicine, and Ratchet huffs but explains or tells stories about his travels, which are interesting and pretty wide. Other times, they go to gather medicinal things. It's further than Drift usually takes him but Rodimus stubbornly demands to come and inevitably ends up dozing on Ratchet's back being gently carried home between them

He realizes as his room (den) becomes filled with pretty rocks and decrotive plants and soft sponges for a bedding and fine sand perfect for burying eggs and carefully selected rocks that both have given him that they've been acting both as sire and community and he cries and realizes he may be rwally and truly safe.

He starts being more open with them and laughing and smiling, and things get warmer and affevtionate as all three start falling for each other. Now that Rodimus is safe and his body isn't stressed he enters a new stage of his carrying and finds himself curling up against Ratchet in the cave not wanting to leave and purring or dragging Drift to his berth to cuddly and clunsy try and wrap his tail around him. Both of them pick up on it and smell it, but after what Rodimus said, they are reluctant to force the issue. Finally, after he half tucks himself under Ratchet and just vibrates while chirping, they do, and Rodimus realizes he's been making moves and decides rather than be embarrassed to go fully in.

They start assisting him, and when they do, they can't stop. It's a near constant pausing what they are doing to push him down and gently fuck into him while he purrs and clings to them, long pretty tail wrapping around them and clinging as much as possible. Both becime reluctant to leave him and he is firnly in the den napping most days and rarely venturing far. They prepare in earnest not to leave for awhile and the last two weeks of his carrying is just slow fucking, cuddling and constantly rearranging things to be perfect.

By the time Rodimus lays the eggs, they are all thoroughly mated and pleasantly surprised to find they hatch a mix of Rodimus's broght colors and white and red patterns.

[merwgue]

Okay, but can we talk about how Nesta is so autistic-coded and the Inner Circle is just... completely missing the memo? COMMING FROM AN AUTISTIC PERSON🥳

Look, I’m not saying Sarah J. Maas intended to write Nesta as autistic, but come on. You’ve got a character who struggles with social interactions, needs her own space to recharge, has intense, specific interests (ahem, reading), and who’s constantly being misunderstood by the people around her. If that doesn’t scream autistic-coded, I don’t know what does.

1. Social Interactions? Nope.

Nesta’s social skills (or lack thereof) are a big flag. She’s always being criticized for not fitting in, not behaving “the right way,” or not being all warm and fuzzy with everyone. Sound familiar? People on the autism spectrum often get labeled as “cold” or “aloof” when in reality, they just don’t vibe with the social expectations around them. And what do the Inner Circle do? They constantly expect her to be like them instead of trying to understand her on her terms.

Feyre’s over here like, “Nesta, why are you so difficult?” And Nesta’s probably thinking, “I literally just need some space from all you over-hugging, over-talking, too-much-energy people.” But instead of giving her the tools to communicate or cope better, they just drag her to a cabin in the woods. Sure, lock her up. That'll definitely fix everything.

2. Sensory Overload, Anyone?

Nesta’s reactions to stress and overstimulation are spot-on. The whole time she’s in the Night Court, it’s just noise, noise, noise. Between Feyre’s incessant meddling, Cassian’s loud warrior energy, and Rhysand being... well, Rhysand, it’s like Nesta’s surrounded by sensory overload. So what does she do? She shuts down. Classic move when the world is too much.

But does anyone ask, “Hey, maybe this isn't about her being rude, maybe she’s just overwhelmed?” Nope. Instead, it’s more like, “Nesta’s broken, let’s force her to train and socialize until she magically becomes like us!” Not how it works, guys. Not at all.

3. Obsessions Aren’t Just a “Phase”

Nesta’s love of reading could be seen as a deep special interest, which is a common autistic trait. And yet, what does the Inner Circle do? They act like it’s some sort of escape or avoidance mechanism rather than a source of comfort and grounding for her. Of course she’s going to retreat into books! They make sense, they don’t demand anything from her, and they’re not trying to change her every two seconds.

4. Bluntness? It’s Called Honesty.

Nesta’s “rudeness” is really just brutal honesty. She doesn’t sugarcoat things. And why should she? In her mind, it’s more logical to say things as they are. But the Inner Circle constantly misinterprets this as hostility or coldness. Why? Because they’re all about emotional theatrics, and they just don’t get someone who communicates in a more direct, matter-of-fact way.

5. Let’s Talk About the Whole “Locking Her Up” Thing

So, Rhysand’s big idea for dealing with Nesta is basically to isolate her in a house she doesn’t want to be in and force her to follow his "recovery" plan. Yeah, because forcing someone who is already struggling to conform to your idea of healing works so well. The whole thing feels like they’re punishing Nesta for not fitting their mold. It’s like, “Nesta, you’re not behaving the way we want you to, so we’re going to fix you.” Cue the eye roll.

What They Should’ve Done Instead:

Instead of forcing Nesta to be like them, maybe — just maybe — the Inner Circle should’ve, oh I don’t know, accepted her for who she is? Maybe they could’ve recognized that she doesn’t process the world the same way and that’s okay. Give her the space she needs, stop trying to mold her into their version of “normal,” and for the love of everything, stop treating her like she’s broken just because she’s different.

Maybe Nesta just needs some sensory breaks, a quiet space, and people who actually listen to what she needs. Instead, she gets dragged through the mud, labeled as a problem, and forced into a version of recovery that only works for everyone else.

So yeah, the Inner Circle missed the memo — and that memo was: Nesta’s not the problem; their complete lack of understanding is.

Ty @fenrysmoonbeamswife for the idea!!! I loved your posts pookster

[thenightfolknetwork]

Hi, we are several hundred rats. More accurately, I am a rat, writing on behalf of my several hundred friends, who are also rats.

It's pretty good, being rats, certainly compared to all the nonsense sapios and other bipeds have to deal with. Like knees, and dentist appointments. Recently, though, we've run into a problem. It's very common for sapios to mistake us for a multi-coporeal entity or a collective intelligence or something of that nature. You know, quote-unquote hive minds. Ignoring the fact that most hives don't actually work like that and the way that the common vernacular exposes the inherent sapionormative biases of the modern social system, it usually isn't a problem. One of us corrects them, the human reacts however they react, no big deal. Their reactions are on them, not our problem.

I'm being asked to add that it's a little sad that the humans don't have the close social bonds that could be mistaken for that kind of thing. So now I have. And now they're discussing whether it's sad or just the nature of the human condition. I'm going to keep writing while they're not trying to co-author this letter.

Well, about three years ago, a colony of cerebrachnids moved in next door with their host body. We don't need to tell you, of course, that brain spiders are actually a collective intelligence. Almost all of us have been of great terms with them since day one. It's nice having someone around who can sympathize with how sapios view us. Rats and spiders, right?

Turns out that they've thought we were some sort of multi-coporeal entity this whole time. It came up last week when some of us were visiting for tea. They've thought for years that we were some manner of genus similar to them, and have just been too polite to ask what we are. I, the rat doing the typing, wasn't there, but the ones who were there all agree that our neighbor got a little weird about it, and they're a lot less overtly friendly since then.

We can't agree if they're feeling awkward, or if they're maybe reevaluating the whole friendship in the light of how we have less in common with them than they thought.

Any advice? Do we just pretend it didn't happen and go on like normal?

Thank you for getting touch, reader – or should I say, readers? I'm extremely heartened to hear how healthy your collective attitudes are to the misconceptions people have about multi-corporeal entities and collective intelligences. I'm also pleased that you recognise your own boundaries in managing other people's expectations and reactions to your lived reality.

That said, I don't think there's any risk of your overstepping those boundaries by reaching out to this neighbour and clearing the air about their misconception. I understand you don't want to take on more than your share of the emotional work. But frankly, simply being aware of that as a potential issue is generally enough to stop it from happening.

There might be any number of reasons for your neighbours' sudden standoffishness. They might be embarrassed by their mistake, or feeling foolish for misunderstanding your nature. Or they might be disappointed at the loss of what they assumed was a friendship built on commonality of experience. The fact is, you won't know until you talk to them.

Invite them over for tea and let them know how much you've missed them. Emphasise how much you all value your relationship with them, and that you're keen that this misunderstanding should be set aside.

I would also take the time to stress how much you do have in common, despite these differences. You may not share the same kind of consciousness as them, but there has been enough shared between you to sustain years of friendship – not only shared interests and talking points, but also deeper commonalities around how sapios treat your genuses.

I don't think anything will be gained by making them feel shamed or punished, especially if they were acting out of nothing more malicious than embarrassment. Give them a little grace, and take the time to clear the air between you properly. Then, with any luck, you'll all be able to shrug this moment off as nothing but an awkward bump in the otherwise smooth road of friendship.

[For more creaturely advice, check out Monstrous Agonies on your podcast platform of choice, or visit monstrousproductions.org for more info]

[capricioussun]

How do you interpret US Papyrus? I'm always curious how others interpret him because there's a good range of them!

Ooh, in general?? Hm, I guess mostly the way I try to interpret him is sort of like if you gave UT Papyrus chronic fatigue and issues tied to having to act as the judge in his world! Which, to me, basically makes him very silly, kind, sassy, but also very insecure and very lonely.

I should explain- ough this is gunna be an essay so there'll need to be a readmore soon aha, but I should explain how the whole "judge" thing usually works in my interps!

It's not an inherent thing, or some "angel given" power, there has always been an acting Royal Judge, someone the crown had appointed that they felt they could, well, trust the judgement of, who they could consult about crimes and justice and whatnot. The prior judge Fell some years ago, but since Toriel/Asgore had already left, Asgore/Toriel never appointed another, as a sort of self punishment as well as a promise they would continue with their task of collecting the human souls without the assistance (or interference) of someone else.

That was until Sans/Papyrus came along. The "judging" effect was caused by one of the many methods Gaster used to make the brothers, involving the justice soul trait. This is where the KR came from, as well as the unique ability to "see" the sins in others' souls. After discovering this unique ability, eventually the king/queen asks Sans/Papyrus to act as the new judge (as well as some other reasons that vary depending on AU).

Now, the kr and "judge" ability manifested in Stretch much later than the sanses in non-swapped AUs, which made it a much more difficult transition that only made it much harder for him to socialize with others. He basically couldn't "turn it off", which, on top of feeling incredibly guilty about the invasion of privacy, made him feel anxious and stressed out and couldn't help but put the negative thoughts front and center in his attention, making him also feel like those were the most prominent thoughts and feelings of those around him.

So like, you know how anxiety and self image issues make you feel like everyone secretly hates you or finds you annoying or etc etc etc, basically, he had "proof" that was true, and despite trying his best to ignore it, things are already hard enough for a pre-teen/teen, on top of his physical health taking such the dip it did around that time, too, he quickly became anxiety riddled, isolated, and miserable.

Before then, he was actually a lot like Rus (UT) when he was a kid! And it was hard on Blue, too, since he was practically just a teen himself, so for all of that to land on his brother as well as needing to work harder to take care of him when he had bad health flares, things were rough for a while there.

That being said, Blue did help in keeping Stretch's mental health from completely plummeting, always trying to keep his mood up, encouraging him, trying to find him friends (how he met Undyne aka Sylv!), etc etc, and the brothers grew a lot closer in that time, as Stretch had always admired Blue, and it meant a lot to him.

That was until, of course, things never got any better. His health continued to decline into older teendom/young adulthood, and there was some personal drama here and there, especially involving Sylv, and when Blue joined the guard, that was the last straw. Stretch was sick of feeling like such a burden on everyone, so even though he'd initially turned Toriel down to act as judge (knowing his brother absolutely hated that she'd even asked him in the first place), he went back to her and accepted. That was really when the distance between the brothers started, which wasn't helped by the resets starting up soon thereafter.

(Quick aside, as he got older, he did get the hang of controlling his "judging" ability, and "turning it off" is no longer an issue for him later on)

So in his efforts to become more independent, he worked a lot on his social life and how to interact with others and make himself well liked. Sure, maybe he doesn't really have any real friends, and people forget his name all the time, but he'd finally learned how to utilize his heightened intuition to get along with people, rather than weird them out.

He’s still riddled with anxiety and self worth issues, but he’s gotten incredibly good at masking, and typically comes off as very relaxed and friendly. He’s a big fan of wordplay and very mild practical jokes (like those types of gags where you put on Groucho Marx glasses and pretend to be someone else. Blue always plays along for the bit), but he has a tendency to hold people at arms length, and tries to avoid others actually getting to know him.

Very few people know he’s the judge, and he prefers it that way, he'd rather everyone underestimate him so he never disappoints. That being said, he does still make quite an effort to help those around him without their knowledge, and he’s still lowkey very interested in engineering and computer science. Him and Rus are definitely two peas in a pod when it comes to interests, they could talk about comics for hours on end, but the primary difference is that Stretch tries much harder to hide how much he cares, where as Rus will shout it from the rooftops.

I'm not a big fan of the characterizations that make him a huge brat, sometimes even an outright jerk, I don't really understand them since neither Sans nor Papyrus are like that, but w/ my guy, he’s definitely a huge dork and sweetheart, who just also happens to be very sassy at times ahdjfjsksk

He also still holds on to his belief in others, like Rus. Even despite literally knowing better, he’s also been proven right too many times to lose that hope, which is why, in his fight, as opposed to UT Sans, he gets very quiet and looks miserable. He genuinely doesn't want to hurt them, but he knows he’s out of options. When he offers an out before the fight, he won't spring a surprise attack, and just offers a genuine hug. The player doesn't get a choice after accepting, they kill him, and his final words are pretty similar to Rus' about knowing they can do better, and he believes in them anyway, though he makes a comment about that sounding pretty stupid with a laugh before he collapses off screen.

WOW this got longer than I meant it to I'm sorry huge lore drop instead of just general facts ough BUT ! Idk, hopefully this gives a half decent feel for how I interpret him! I love him a lot I'm mixing him into a salad like a crouton <3

[tachvintlogic]

I read your Danny isn't ok with people making jokes about him being adopted by Bruce Wayne and while I know it wouldn't happen I kinda wanna see someone call the cops on Stephanie and Dick for harassment. When Duke was trying to convince everyone to stop harassing Danny those 2 were the ones that were acting like it was funny that Danny was blatantly going out of his way to avoid them. Like do I think they'd actually go to prison? No. Do I think anyone would actually do anything? No. But considering they're famous? I think a few papers would run the story about how they were basically stalking someone who was not interested in being adopted by Wayne and try to harass him into agreeing. I like to think social media would make them regret it.

The fic anon is talking about

Danny’s not going to call the cops

Danny isn’t going to call the cops, nor are his coworkers. The police’s track record when it comes to minorities isn’t great, even if Danny is not visibly part of the minorities he falls into.

They also all know from a cursory check of Dick’s Wikipedia page that Dick used to be a cop, so from their perspective odds are the cops will only make the problem worse. Stalkers feel entitled to their targets and will lash out if their target attempts to deny the stalker access.

Their strategy is to keep quiet and hope it all dies out once they leave Gotham. Danny could leave early but he really wants to present and if he did there wouldn’t be a story.

If someone did call the cops

The officer who got the call would be very confused. They tell Jim Gordon, who calls Dick and Steph to ask about it. The police think it must all be a misunderstanding and don’t take it that seriously.

Depending on how entitled Dick and Steph are feeling, they may start going after him more and even go after his coworkers. It’s fine. They don’t want to hurt him or anything. They just want to talk to him!

If they instead realize the error of their ways, they may go after him more because they’re trying to apologize to him. They’ll have the wherewithal to realize they shouldn’t approach him as civilians and try to approach him as vigilantes. They plan to tell him they’ll take care of the stalking, so he doesn’t have to worry about it.

The problem is by that point Danny has already gotten a call from Wes about the Waynes and knows the Waynes are Gotham’s vigilantes, so he’ll be avoiding them too.

Would the newspapers help?

They would probably want to get Danny or someone from NASA to comment on it, and they would be asked not to publish until Danny is out of Gotham.

Would social media punish Dick and Steph?

Ehhhh… kind of a spoiler. Dick and Steph’s presence on social media is part of the plot.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Sooooo I am very curious about your Durge and how they are built. Do they link into the lore of the earlier games? Are they a resist or accept type? Tell us more! 👀

You mean built as in "how Bhaal made him", or as in character build, or as in characterisation? Well, I'll answer them all anyway. Here's more rambling information than anyone needed about my fucked up, socially-unacceptable mess who needs therapy!

[Be aware dead doves may be present, ymmv]

Resist, technically. He woke up with a tadpole in his head and no memories, he wasn't going to trust a presence in the back of his head that kept stealing his bodily autonomy until he understood what it was. As he grew fond of his party, he began to be pushed towards doing good things and helping people to please them (and because it honestly does feel good to see people happy, even as it makes the Urge hurt him).

Of course there were a few exceptions where nobody except Astarion was looking where he was a bit pragmatic or just plain mean, because it was funny.

Then he got his memories back in Act 3 and had a full blown nervous breakdown as he realised how badly he had failed Father and his sole reason for existence by allowing himself to fall for the delusion that he was a real person. He tried to go back to just being Bhaal's evil little puppet, but it was too late and his loyalties were torn between being what his friends wanted and being what Bhaal wanted. There was another panic attack when he couldn't bring himself to kill Minsc because it would upset Jaheria, Wyll and Karlach. Still murdered a few innocent people and a celestial being behind their backs. Also every Flaming Fist in the Lower City, but that was their own fucking fault for having stupid AI. Turns out you can't have everyone you love, but luckily he got to solve this issue by letting Father kill him as punishment for his failure! He repents for his failure and his friends get to believe that he died a heroic sacrifice and move on with their lives - win-win! Except that Jergal interfered and now he has to carry around this tainted, stolen flesh he doesn't want to claim - damn you, old man.

Post-game he's living with Astarion; both having their bad days where they have time to stop and process their trauma now, and also having good days where they adventure; grow into being fully free willed individuals; hunt and kill people for fun, blood and profit where socially acceptable; and get some research done on stuff like Bhaalspawn and vampires. He'll probably be ok in, like, a decade or twenty, once he's finished coming to terms with the idea that he was genuinely miserable and terrified living under Bhaal's control and has formed his own life and a stable identity. In the meantime - abandonment issues, identity crises, issues about autonomy, paranoia about retaliation and religious guilt!

If he had failed in his duel against Orin and been condemned to lose his autonomy (and seen his friends immediately give up on him), or had he not been given death as a choice, he probably would've forsaken the party and fulfilled his original purpose in the end game. But he would've quickly killed them in their sleep first as a mercy! He's not totally heartless! He's an absolute mess.

He doesn't have much in the way of connections to the original games.

I go back and forth on how old I want him to be and haven't settled yet. I don't think he's young. Originally I had him be born in the temples before the Time of Troubles, along with the other Bhaalspawn but then it turned out that Durge's backstory is weird.

Going off of what we're told about being carved from Bhaal's dead flesh, having no birthday and being conceived beyond mortality, I'm assuming he was created from a part of Bhaal's corpse on the Astral Plane, where there was no time. Probably shortly after the end of Throne of Bhaal, in 1369 DR - maybe Bhaal was paranoid about Amelyssan and Bhaal's failure to be resurrected triggered the failsafe and initiated plan B: the Dark Urge.

Or Vel was born after 1372 DR, when Bane was reborn and Bhaal maybe felt a little insecure.

I have contemplated having my Charname meddle with his "birth" to piss Bhaal off, adding part of her own essence into the mixture. Technically it's not incest, because it's purely by magic, but it's still enough to make her sort of his mother and make it weird. Just to make the family tree even more complicated. Also technically makes him a half-human, half-hin, sun elf, quasi-deity. Nothing in this guy's life makes sense.

He's a ranger, because hey, he's a hunter - he just hunts people. He's comfortable hunting and surviving in urban or natural environments; he learned to live off the streets while being homeless after his foster family's death (and the subsequent massacre at the Ilmatari shrine that sheltered him) and learned to live off the land after fleeing into the wilds to lie low. It's also how he's familiar with poisons and venoms. He has an interest in death as part of the natural cycle, so the nature class suits him. Also likes animals, who are significantly less judgemental and more pragmatic about killing. Scavengers tend to follow him around for the corpses he leaves, and he ended up with a few rat and corvid animal companions (though Bhaal often forced him to kill them if he got too attached). It also lets me play a divine spellcaster, although I assume in his case the power is coming from his own soul rather than a patron god.

He's a divine being and an excellent killer, he knows this and it gives him self-confidence in his actions that some have described as "insufferably arrogant" or "suicidal". His go-to tactics for dealing with a problem are: Step 1) Promise death if subject does not submit Step 2) If subject does not submit; kill them Skipping to step two is also always on the table. All problems can be solved with murder.

His dump stat is intelligence, because the poor kid who ended up alone and homeless didn't have much time or resources for education. In another life he would've been a bard, he has a knack for carrying a tune and writing prose. I like to think Orin would've enjoyed art and maybe the theatre in her own alternate Bhaal-free universe, so it's an interesting parallel for them.

He takes an approximation of elven form because Bhaal decided to reverse engineer the Blessing of Corellon, using the soul of one of his elven kids as a reference, to give Vel a physical fluidity/flexibility that would be useful to his plan to breed an army of Bhaalspawn using Durge. Also works as a threat; obey, or there are other uses I have for you, and some of them will see you locked up for nine months. (Vel goes by male pronouns and presents as a cis man, but is somewhat flexible and accepts they/them pronouns. Not she/her though.)

Vel also has a million and one hang-ups about sex because of stuff like this; namely that he won't have any kind of sex that might cause pregnancy, and he used to kill the partners he begrudgingly took so that they wouldn't be able to perceive him during the act or remember him sexually. He makes a special exception for people who he's assigned an "equal" or "higher rank" over himself - they can do what they like with him and it's their right. Those exceptions would be Bhaal (Vel's body is Bhaal's body, as far as he's concerned), sort-of Gortash (except Vel didn't fully trust him and their relationship makes Bhaal irritated, so every time they had sex Vel had to leave and have a panic attack afterwards) and Astarion (who has his own hang-ups). There might have been something kind of going on with Orin, partly due to pressure for them to have "sacrificial lambs" together, but neither want to talk about it. He considered Ketheric, but Ketheric can't die and that would ruin it because Vel would be too busy trying to kill him to actually have sex.

Originally he was going to be the son of a member of the Eldreth Veluuthra, who turned to Bhaal for divine aid because the Seldarine still won't aid the terrorist organisation in committing genocide against the human race, for some strange reason. She would've raised her little abomination into be a weapon to set on them, and enjoyed the irony of humans being slain by an abomination spawned by of one of their own gods.

Since "the Dark Urge" gets you some funny looks when you use it in public, mine concedes to being called "Vel" - a name that only gets you funny looks from the minority that speak elven, because you've just introduced yourself as "dagger/knife." It's a description of him as a tool, not a person. His foster family did give him a name, but he refuses to acknowledge it because it was intended for a person who only existed in their imagination and he'll stab you if you call him by that name. He technically got the name from Gortash, who once "jokingly" referred to him as his favourite weapon one evening, enjoying the success after one of their joint plots to exploit some noble or other and advance both their goals via assassination/politicking. Vel has identity issues and complicated relationship with real Tel'Quessir, so he chose the elven word for the irony (no real elf would accept association with a Bhaalspawn, least of all this one).

Mostly he goes by no name at all. He might pick a new one, in a few decades when he's grown, healed a bit and feels secure in having his own identity.

Vel is Lawful, and alternates between Evil and Neutral depending on his mood and situation. He will fall to pieces without a purpose to structure his life around. He doesn't care if people around him are more Chaotic though, it's purely a personal code. If he takes a mercenary or assassination contract or something, he will fulfil it to the letter and make no attempts to backstab his employer or get any more than the agreed upon payment. He makes zero promises about the actions of anyone working with him, they can do what they want and it's not his problem.

He has a hierarchy in his head: Bhaal > Himself, Gortash, Astarion > Orin, the party > everyone else

His moral compass is a twisted thing that he's cobbled together out of scraps over the course of under two months, it's not very complete or useful. On the good-evil axis, he doesn't usually have second thoughts about taking actions that are evil, and he's not keen on the concept of morality as a whole; there was never any point in developing a sense for it. He never had any real say in his actions and he kind of resents people who judge him for them.

He kind of misses Sceleritas, his "great purpose" and all the power he used to wield, and he would make a fantastic Sharran.

[attorneys-against-court-violence]

Alright sit down I'm ranking Dual Destinies culprits. Spoilers abound!

Just going to list my thoughts on all 5 culprits in order of beloved to beloathed. Expect me to be mean.

Marlon Rimes

Easily the most nuanced and sympathetic of them all, and a well-written one to boot! His grudge against the orca is understandable, yet flawed in a very human way. He had no intentions of harming anyone - in fact he wanted to save his co-workers from what he saw as a dangerous animal. When Sasha was arrested he went out of his way to lie in order to get her off the hook. When push came to shove, he accepted his sentence to save her and punish himself for unintentionally setting up the Captain's death. It's all the more heartbreaking that Azura wasn't even killed by the previous orca, rendering all of his hatred and actions resulting from it irrational and unfounded. He sort of reminds me of both Simon and Aura in a few ways; taking the fall to save a friend, trying to enact revenge on someone he saw as a crazed, emotionless animal... his plight has plenty in common with both. 5-DLC gets a lot of praise in my books for its parallels to the main conflict (not that the other cases lack them) and Marlon is no exception.

The thing that makes Marlon so compelling is that he isn't a monster. He doesn't even have much of an ego, calling himself too weak to save anyone. He's a man who acted on his rage and made a dreadful mistake in doing so, trying to right his wrongs and eventually being forced to give up and admit that he had no right to do what he had done. Even agreeing that he had no right pruely on the basis of it causing someone to die inderectly. Him being rehabilitated at the end is the feather-on-the-cap to show that he's someone the characters genuinely care about and wish to do better in spite of his flaws. It took a while and plenty of evidence, but the Captain's words finally got through to him and he's a lot better for it. His animations are wonderfully creative, by the way! Turning the spyglass into a faux microphone, re-using the bucket of fish for a Popeye-esque transformation, the name-tag turning into a rapper's gold chain, his breakdown turning the witness stand into both a helm and a set of prison bars - so much visual creativity with this guy! It's such a treat.

The worst I can say about him is that the rapping is a bit of a stereotype. Yes, this is the same game that body-shames the one fat character, has no idea what a trans person is, and... well we'll save that part for later. No one enjoys that. That said, I'm willing to say the good far outways the bad here. It lead to one of the funniest witness testimonies in the series so I can't be too mad!

2. Ted Tonate

What a peculiar character... semi-verbal, anti-social, obsessed with explosives, and overall a strange specimen to behold. It doesn't feel like he has a specific quirk more than it feels like everything about him is off-beat, ranging from uncomfortably still to absolutely feral. I like it!

More importantly - while he did commit murder and assault - he does serve an important role in the plot and is not completely incompetent or heartless. That courtroom would have become a graveyard without his warning, after all! He's a bit like Frank Sawhit where he'll resort to physical violence under pressure but doesn't seem to have intended to kill necessarily. Difference is Frank was a common thief, while Ted's a bona-fide member of the police's bomb disposal unit who - black market deals aside - actually carries his duties out and does a good job. Nice little misdirection there too. That opening monologue fits the phantom better than Ted but we don't figure that until near the end. It doesn't erase the fact he's done some terrible things but at he's not a monster. Just a woefully anti-social guy who doesn't respond well to being called out.

Dual Destinies gets a surprising amount of mileage out of its Case 1 antagonist and it's a treat to watch. There's plenty that case does to give the game a bad first impression, but Ted's not one of them. He can stay!

3. Aristotle Means Aaaaaaaand we've nose-dived. Prepare for snark.

Means is emblematic of a much larger issue with Dual Destinies; it doesn't seem interested in treating the main conflicts of its cases as much more than generic good vs evil despite having an abundance of material to make things more interesting. Yes, I know Ace Attorney culprits aren't the most 3-dimensional bunch - usually the character conflicts they cause are the most interesting parts. Though they usually make things fun by being smarmy bastards. Means is just repeatitive. It's one thing to be a shallow bad guy, it's another thing entirely to beat you over the head with a single catchphrase without putting any spins on it. Manfred has the same one-track mind in his philosophy but he never felt this aggressively tedious about it. There's also the fact that, well... the ends DID justify the means in the end. Dual Destinies' main conflict would not have been solved without Aura taking extreme measures to save Simon. Having that while saying "doing bad things is bad no matter what!" with this guy makes him feel all the more flimsy and misguided. Him wanting to save Juniper and honour her wishes by any means necessary is a nice way to add flavour to the conflict but it's grossly overshadowed by him being a flat cartoon for the most part.

I feel like there's a sorely missed opportunity here for him to point out that Phoenix Wright also exercised that philosophy at times. Yes I'm talking about forging evidence in 4-1, it would have been a nice way to make his conflict with Athena more interesting. Pointing out that her boss is an exemplar of "the ends justifies the means" - especially with Apollo in the same room - is an idea that fills my brain with thinks. Might have even been the reason why he invited Nick to the academy too... oh well. It takes a lot to bouy a one-track villain like him up as it is without actively adding more baggage through redundancy and lack of presence. He doesn't even do much of anything or have a chance to BE evil before his hair stands up like other villains. He's just. Annoying. I know I keep comparing him to Manfred, but imagine a version of him that didn't do anything until the tail-end of the last trial and with none of the backstory and gravitas. That's the level Means is at.

A crappier Manfred. Joy to the world!

4. ???

YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SOMEBODY! YOU HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL! Hell, he arguably does have dramatic weight as-written. He's the embodiment of the distrust and denial of ones true feelings/identity that has caused this racket in the first place. Dual Destinies as a whole is a game about people who put on masks to do what they feel is right or necessary, then being forced to take the mask off, confront themselves and their actions for what they truly are. Having a villain who's hidden his identity this entire time is such a fitting choice! It's just a shame that he, oh you know, it's small thing it doesn't really matter... DIDN'T HAVE AN IDENTITY WORTH HIDING TO BEGIN WITH!!! Dual Destinies beats you over the head about how scary this guy is for having no personality. And that's exactly the problem. When you spend that much time telling people the villain isn't worth caring about then that's what people are going to take away. Nevermind that his personality for most of the game was a goofy detective man who valued JUSTICE! above all else, a man who is willing to question his own definitions of it despite what others may think but still allows it to justify doing awful things like zapping Simon. Maybe that could have been the answer! That he allowed his perception of JUSTICE! to warp so much that he became this ghoulish ghost who kills and commits acts of terrorism without remorse. His life being threatened when his literal mask falls acting as a metaphor for how he is unable to confront himself for who he is and what he's done; he, in his own eyes, would be the least justified of them all, and so he has forsaken his identity to avoid that truth. A truth that would spell the end both within and without.

But no. The game does everything in its power to tell you he's a hollow, empty husk of a human being. More importantly, even if the above was the case it doesn't do anything at all with the concept. It just comes across that his main conflict is "who tf am I?" Which is... oddly sad and worrying? Yes, I do think the idea of letting your true self go leading to awful, terrible things and the horror of realising that that's exactly what you did - even denying it or using it as a point of strength - is an interesting and befitting idea. They just don't do anything with it before he's already carted off to the pile of characters we'll never hear from again. There's nothing there by design to the point where it doesn't feel like there was anything he COULD have discarded in the first place. His lack of identity feels less like a concept the writers wanted to explore and more of an excuse to get a twist villain who could pretend to be anybody.

It's a diservice to both the story and to the false identity he had before this. "Bobby Fulbright" somehow ended up a more interesting character and he's the one who's chastised by other characters for being a simple idiot! And he was discarded for this guy! "Bobby" should have mattered more, both to the characters and to the phantom's identity. Not get an unceremonial "he was dead the whole time" reveal and be completely divorced from the phantom's character in every way the story can think to do. Erasure in more ways than one... no wonder people felt betrayed. In a bad way. You shouldn't feel betrayed by the writing if it's any good and that's how plenty - myself included - felt. Oh, and having the only character who's low/no emotion be the shallow bad guy is not a great look... I'll say it again; the problem isn't that he's the antagonist. It's that he's not a well-written one. A psychopath would be fascinating as a character in ANY role in this psychology-focused mystery game if Dual Destinies had the gall to make one that's actually interesting. Remember what I said about Means crushing the conflict into something too simple for the concept behind it? The phantom does that on a wider scale and it deals a massive blow to Dual Destinies to have its overarching villain so infuriatingly empty and disposable. It makes themes of trust and masks I mentioned fall flat.

I'd rather Athena kill Metis over this. It'd be a similar concept with more justification behind it without completely dismissing the players emotional investment or cheapening the themes of the game. Or at least execute those things in a better way than this. In justice we trusted...

Sidenote: I was torn between ranking Means or the phantom here. While Phanty is definitely more interesting to talk about than the living staute, him sucking hurts more than Means due to his status as the main villain. It's easier to get away with being a shallow puddle when you weren't meant to swim much in it to begin with.

5. Florent L'belle

You'll notice I didn't put an emotional marker on this guy. That should tell you everything you need to know. At least the phantom makes me feel something, even if it is abject despair at how much of a gaping hole he leaves in the story. Florent just... I mean he's... His breakdown's creepy, that's kinda fun... I got nothing, he's just sort of there.

Lick a toad, you inferior Redd White. I'm going need to borrow Bobby's Jolt of Justice next time you show up.

At least I'd feel something that way.

[perilegs]

yeah idk i don’t think i’ll ever recover from this

OH dungeon meshi has less than a 100 chapters???

[angeart]

Oh...oh Rei did a baaaaaaad.... Oh but he's still hurting from that himself isn't he? While people are trying to punish him... And he has to look out for Raven when he's not okay himself... (not that him hurting forgives the toxic things but that is still some hefty guilt right there)

Yessssss tell me more about this universe's Raven!

-🎀

yes, rei’s hurting <3 and it doesn’t fix or apologise or make anything better. fyi, the girlfriend incident happened about five years ago to the current raven’s events! 

it’s not the only bad thing rei’s caused, but… let’s circle back again and talk about rei’s raven and their life. 

//cw for suicide mention.

even when they were little, rei and raven were pretty different. raven was a sweet, sensitive boy who unintentionally drew all the affection to himself. he didn’t ask for it, it was just unconditionally given to him on the merit of his bright, friendly, easy personality. the adorable clumsiness and need for help. the gentle heart. basically, he was spoiled and beloved by all.

rei was the opposite. he didn’t know how to express his wants or ask for things, he wasn’t good at expressing his emotions, and never seemed particularly social. unlike raven, who was perceived as someone who thrived on and needed love, rei was deemed “independent enough not to need love or attention”, which led him to feel overlooked and neglected.

despite this, rei and raven used to have a good relationship, a tight sibling bond, for a good couple of years. but over the time, rei’s internal struggle started wedging a knife between them.

they were twins, but rei never felt seen. like i said before, he always felt like he had to fight for things. for scraps. he went down bad routes because they let him scream out his soul. the literal fights were a cry for help, littered with bruises and wounds that he pretended never hurt. 

without being sure there were going to be gentle hands to catch and hold him, he couldn’t afford to be weak.

where raven grew timid and quiet—the good, perfect kid—rei had temperament and zero idea how to control it (or even why he should bother to). he was prone to outbursts and anger and frustration. he wanted to be seen, and, at the end of it, he craved attention—no matter if good or bad. which led him to lashing out and rebelling, which only led to less love and more scoldings and disappointment aimed is way, leaving him feeling alienated and wrong.

when him and raven talked together, sometimes it went okay, sometimes it was a disaster. often it was raven trying to be a moral compass for rei, trying to (mostly) gently steer him and bring him to his senses, but rei interpreted it as condescension and dismissed it all with a scoff.

they grew older, continuing on this diverging path, hurtling further away from each other. 

raven never wanted this distance between them. it wasn’t always this complicated. it wasn’t always this hurtful. he didn’t know what he’s doing wrong, why rei seems to hate him. 

here’s the thing. in a way, they both sort of never formed attachments: 

raven craved the bond he used to have with rei, but translated his brother’s attitude as a rejection, making him think he’s not worthy. he felt like he couldn’t have relationships with anyone unless he has one with his brother in the first place. (otherwise, it felt like a betrayal of rei, like a cheap replacement to fill the hollow part of his soul where his twin should be.) 

rei, on the other hand, felt like nobody could love him, because raven “steals all the love away”, placing the blame in all the wrong places. he got into habit of pushing people away and acting tough, layer upon layer of pretense until he was not capable of getting close to anybody. he was terrified of gaining something only to have it all taken away, put into better hands (that were never his). he was scared of having everything sucked out of him, so he hid and pretended and fought.

then the whole Girlfriend Incident happened, on that wretched cliffside.

rei took it badly, shocked and shaken. despite his behaviour, he never wanted to bring harm to anyone but himself. yet here he was, plagued with nightmares and unable to breathe through the rampaging guilt that only seemed to prove that he is a bad person, that everyone was right—

he pushed it down. tried, desperately, to pretend that nothing was wrong. 

he couldn’t stand losing control, however illusionary it was. 

raven called out his bluff, noticing something is wrong. because for all the years rei felt invisible, raven never stopped paying attention to him. but rei just buried it deep down and kept lashing out and pushing people away even more, including raven. 

by this point, raven put a lot of attention on rei, but rei never noticed. he was too blind to it, too wrapped up in the way he perceived things to work, shackled by self-pity and guilt and outside expectations.

this was a fight raven couldn’t keep fighting for him. he grew exhausted, because he, too, wasin pain. rei put so much blame on him, all of rei’s life was “going wrong” because of raven—or so it seemed, so he made it sound. and that was a heavy burden to bear! 

raven was aware of rei’s hidden pain, and without being offered any other explanations or alternatives, he recognised himself as the source of it.  and… he didn’t want rei to be hurting. he  didn’t want to be this burden ruining everything for his brother. maybe if he wasn’t in the equation… if he’s such an obstacle in rei’s life, causing all that struggle and suffering, maybe if he was gone, rei could get better and be happy and—

without answers, raven started to believe he’s responsible for rei’s misery. his idea was that they were both only halves, but instead of complementing each other, they destroy each other, and while they both live, neither of them can really live.

this all built up, in quiet, dark recesses of raven's soul, until one day, he stood at the edge of the cliff.

oddly enough, the exactly same cliff as the incident before.

rei got there too late, but not late enough to miss it. he was forced to witness it, helpless to stop it.

raven’s last words, as he cried and looked to rei, were, “i need you.” 

which is exactly what rei was trying to get his girlfriend to say, months ago.

he wanted someone to need him, and here was a person who so achingly needed him, and rei never saw it. he failed him. he— 

he couldn’t stop this.

raven toppled, fell into the waves, and died.

he drowned.

and rei,

well,

rei screamed.

he couldn’t bear it.

and his soul tore the world apart to fix it.

because raven needed him.

[papirouge]

you knoe you are lying when you say that men also have to wait until marriage. they don't. you can act if traditionalists act like it and it is expected, but the rules don't apply in real life. men are given way more freedoms, they aren't punished as hardly as women. you are a liar.

The problem with people like you is that you have a critical lack of reading comprehension, so you consistently misinterpret statements and put words into my mouth.

I am not "lying". Traditionalism doesn't make double standards when it comes to men having sex out the wedlock. In traditional societies, it's pretty common to shame men into marrying the women they got caught having sex with.

"the rules don't apply in real life" just because some people fail applying those rules IRL doesn't rebuke that denying sex before marriage is a fundamental staple of traditionalist theory. Even under traditionalism, women too have sex out of wedlock and end up single mother. The thing is, traditionalism isn't some extremist dictatorship removing people their free will and physical agency, and humans being humans, they will do things going against what they've been taught.

But just because some people don't abide to traditionalism, doesn't mean that it's impossible and that nobody does. It's actually pretty easy to not have sex before marriage or have child out of the wedlock...

"men are given way more freedom"' that's not true. I'm Christian and this argument has always been used regarding the fact that women can't teach men in the assembly. They act like Christians women were quarantined into a church and were forbidden to teach men perpetually regardless of circumstances. It's also important to note that in christian culture, the church leadership is a MINISTRY and therefore treated like a "profession". This predication isn't due to the female nature being intrinsically lower than male, only social circumstances. You'll NEVER find anything in the Bible saying that women are inferior to men. Nothing.

Feminists NEVER acknowledge the fact that women had prerogatives that men did not have, such has not having their genitals mutilated a few days after birth or go to war (in the old Covenant/Israelites), not having the burden of sustaining economically their family, etc. It's interesting how the feminists seething against christianity constantly gloss over those "restrictions" imposed to men because if the roles were reversed they would say that Christianity hates women and condone the sacrificial labor of women for their family or whatever. And let's not talk about circumcision....

Christianity may remove some freedom for women, but it does also for men

[somanyscarsonmyskin]

incoherent thoughts

07/07/2023

I’ve gone completely numb. Discomfort and frustration. Lonely. Still feel like a fraud. Maybe it’s all performative. It must be. Nothing that bad ever happened to me to justify such a reaction. I’m overly dramatic. Why do I feel like I need to have something wrong with me? Maybe I just want to be a special little snowflake like the rest of my generation. Numb. Everything feels flat. I wish my tummy was also flat. Restrict. Restrict. Restrict. Restrict. Don’t break the habit. I’m not even restricting enough. I just want to grab a knife and drag it through my arms and thighs. But I promised I wouldn’t, so I won’t. Or maybe I’ve become too cowardly to do it again. Maybe I was never actually brave enough. Other people’s scars look better. They last longer. There’s more of them. They go deeper. I want to be that beautiful. Beautifully sick. Sickly beautiful. Maybe I’m just going crazy. Hope my therapist doesn’t get too concerned; I’m not actually sick anyway. This must all be fake. There’s no reason for it. I’m just too high maintenance for anyone to give me enough attention. I’m just too competitive not to get on the mentally ill train with the rest of the people I know. They have actual problems though. They deserve a spot on the train. I should just be under it. Under it with all the other normies. With the neurotypicals, and the ones that didn’t have it that bad. The ones that are just overreacting to minor inconveniences. The ones that are not on meds. The ones that just have the blues sometimes. The ones that never needed to be in the hospital. Or under observation. The train is for the ones that had actually narcissistic parents, that got beaten up in school, that cut deeper, that tried to end it, that get the help when they look “off” because off for them means an actual crisis, not just looking slightly sad or distracted. It’s for the ones that actually got to that goal weight and ended up scaring everyone around them. I want to look like a ghost. I want to be repulsed by food instead of craving it so much. I want my clothes to fall off me. I want my nails to be blue, my lips dry, my jawline sharp, my hipbones to create that nice little gap between my tummy and my underwear, and my legs to not touch. I want to count my ribs without lifting my arms. I want bruises all over my body. I want. I want. I want. I’m so greedy… I’m too lazy to even have an ED. I think about running until I collapse. I never actually do it. I give in to food when it gets difficult to stay consistent. Maybe I just don’t hate myself enough. Maybe I haven’t gotten to that point yet. Definitely, I’m not sick enough. Definitely, I’m not mentally ill enough. Definitely, I’m not sick at all. For sure I’m just faking it. Otherwise, I’d just do it. I’d just fucking do it. I would have done it. I’d bear the evidence on my fucking body. My scars would be beautiful. Too deep to fade. My bones would be exposed. People would think I’m about to die of consumption like a Victorian child. I’d look ethereal. Otherworldly. I don’t want to see anyone anymore. Social interactions drain me. Even seeing L. has become too much. Taking care of D. has become too much. It’s triggering. It makes me feel invalidated. It reminds me that no one listens to my advice or anything I have to say, really. In turn, I’m draining K. myself. He gets triggered by my self-punishing behaviour, he feels like his efforts are pointless. I’m just too exhausted to keep up the good girlfriend act. My libido is the lowest it’s ever been since we got together. I used sex to punish myself today and to feel something. Anything. And I triggered him, cause he sees right through me. It's not fair to use him to hurt myself. But I can’t hurt myself in other ways. I want to smoke until my lungs burn. I want to put out each cigarette on my arm. I want to cut. I want to run until I collapse. I can’t do any of that. He would know. He would be upset. He would be disappointed and betrayed. He would feel powerless. I can’t get out of bed. I just stare at the ceiling until I fall asleep. I just want to sleep.