#actually this is a time-honored tradition for me

[karnpuffs]

Now that I've regained some sanity, I thought I'd tell you about my experience meeting Kyle and Denise last weekend, because it was awesome!

Comic Con Holland on May 3rd: Insane. Simply insane. I was waiting for Kyle at his table, he just came around the corner and immediately spread his arms for a hug??! He even remembered me from the FACTS convention in Ghent?? man, I almost cried. He's so sweet. We talked a bit about how crazy the Star Wars Celebration was (and about those super weird people waving Syril banners... 😏) and about Japan, and I wanted to know what he thought of the Star Tours ride at Tokyo Disneyland where this photo was taken:

Because that's my favorite ride. But he said he didn't go in because he was just too hungry and tired the whole time - which was pretty much exactly my experience in Japan the first week too lol And we agreed: we both miss the japanese toilets the most... he even said goodbye to his.

I gave him some artwork of mine as a postcard, and also gave him one to sign, but he especially liked the Syril's space cereal stickers I made:

He liked them so much that he took a photo of it and sent it to Denise!!! wtf ahhhhhhhh 😭

His Andor panel he did with Matt Denton was also very cool, they talked about B2EMO, Syril's cereal and his outfits. If you're interested I'll upload more snippets from the video I made - here's one of Kyle talking about his cereal.

I also gave Kyle one of the cereal bracelets I made~

I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW 😭 love love love ❤❤❤

Power of the Force Con on May 4th: Ahhh I was shaking sooo much in the line to get Denise's autograph, I was just so excited. I couldn't talk to her that much (because there were a lot of people) but holy shit she immediately put on the cereal bracelet and when I gave her some of the space cereal stickers she got her phone out and said "oh Kyle sent me pictures of these!" and actually showed me their messages?!! 😭😭😭 And then she tried to take the sticker off the foil, gave it to me to do it but I failed (I was shaking too much) and in the end my partner had to help and she eventually put the sticker on! her! phone!!!

wtfwtfwtfffff I'm going insane!!! AHHH!!! This is the greatest honor on this planet. Then she also signed my artwork and wrote TURN OUT THE LIGHTS on it without being asked!!!

it's now hanging in a frame on my wall next to me. i'm just over the moon~

She did an Andor panel together with Elizabeth Dulau (unfortunately I don't have a video of it) and talked a bit about the scene where Dedra practiced smiling in front of the mirror. Dedra has to practice it, because she never smiles - and the smile doesn't reach the eyes, so it's not a true smile, especially not with Eedy. The only time Dedra genuinely smiles is when she's interrogating Bix. To quote Denise "Dedra loves torture and hates mothers-in-law!" But the funniest thing was that she was told that in Cologne you throw "Kamelle" (a tradition of throwing sweets into the audience) and Denise, because she is Denise, didn't throw it gently into the crowd, but with FULL FORCE directly at people 💥

ahhhhh it was a really fantastic experience and I'm still absolutely bursting with joy, and I love Kyle and Denise so, SO much! I'm just so happy and hope I was able to cheer up my fellow Keeros with these two cuties ❤

[aphel1on]

the most autistic thing i've done in the past year is when i typed out a transcript of the text from the entire main storyline in Pokemon Legends: Arceus into a wordpad document, complete with basic image descriptions, and then i didn't even write the fanfic which was supposedly the reason i started that whole project in the first place

[skitskatdacat63]

Big moment for me, actually!

[sincerely-sofie-shoebox]

Yee yee!! Honestly mood, I also grew up in a not very great place to make friends so having more is always such a nice feeling tbh

But yes, you're my bestie now, so says me

Getting promoted to One of Aria’s Besties and feeling like I need to write an award acceptance speech as a result rn

[notadventuring]

i kind of want to draw more arlefuri but also i want to draw a lil clorivia

[theguardianace]

mmm. mmm. emails.

[inbabylontheywept]

by tradition, the first day of the camp was spent pranking the group next to us. our prank was ziptying the zippers on their sleeping bags together. we figured one of them would sleep with a knife, because we all slept with knives, because we were dangerous maniacs and half the danger of a dangerous maniac is that they tend to think that they are Actually Normal. so. obviously that didn't pan out, and instead they got stuck in their sleeping bags for like half an hour and because their scoutmaster slept in their car and couldn't hear them yelling, they actually only got out when one of them went full caged animal and chewed through the plastic. which meant they had time to make it to the axe throwing station, but they did miss breakfast.

the scale of our victory was impossible to understate. it was an epic prank. unrivaled. the best in years. we knew they were going to retaliate, and we both feared and craved it. maybe i'm still a maniac, but that feels like a common thing, right? do well adjusted people that are not maniacs crave Judgement?

(serious answers only please, from people who would never spoon a knife.)

anyway, the next day we got back to our camp, and the neighors had skipped dinner to just come back and fill all our tents with pinecones. which was like, a decent prank, i guess, but it probably took them an hour to fill all the tents up, and it took us like 15 minutes to tip the tents out, and as a return volley to the ziptie prank it was incredibly underwhelming. we felt a little cheated.

so our scouting group held a council, and we agreed, unanimously, that our prank was 100% better and theirs sucked and that there would be no escalating tensions because we were the clear victors. they'd had their chance to retaliate, and they failed, and so the war was over. that was it.

we agreed on this. we swore. but madness is a relative thing, and in our group of maniacs, we still had J. i have many, many J stories. too many. i biked up to school with him from 4th grade to 8th, and i saw him get hit by cars thrice. he'd just swerve into the road sometimes. one time on a rainy day in 4th grade, a car splashed me, and before i could even consider my response J yelled I GOT THIS and then he blitzed off after the car. i didn't see him the rest of the day. i was so anxious i barely slept that night. i saw him the next morning and he told me that he'd chased the car until it got to a gated community and then he'd climbed over the fence and looked in peoples garages until he found the one with the car, and then he'd ripped the hood ornament off and broke their window. then he gave me a hood ornament to a different brand of car from the one that splashed me and i didnt tell him because i didnt want him missing more school. i want you to mentally adjust your mental model of the things a 9 year old is capable of doing to include chasing a car for five miles, hopping a fence, breaking into a garage, and vandalizing a randos car.

and that's just the tip of my J stories iceberg.

the point of all this is just to say that J was so crazy that he made us knife spooners look like accountanting enthusiasts.

so we agreed the war was done, and we shook on it, and then J, in the name of friendship, in the name of honor, in the name of avenging our pinecone filled tents, snuck over to their camp that evening and fornicated with a watermelon that they'd been saving in their cooler.

i want to emphasize, again, that this was not the consensus of the group. that is not a prank. like i know it seems like we dont know what pranks are because of the whole ziptie thing, but even we knew that fucking someones food is not a prank, it is a crime, and a sin, the kind of weapon that had only been ethically used once in history by Horus in his battle against Set and none of us dumb assholes had owl heads.

so.

the next day went pretty well. we threw some more axes again, which is a valuable and important skill for children to learn i guess, and we learned how to tie knots, which is a skill that turned out to be far sexier than i ever expected, and i learned how to light fires with a magnifying glass, which was great. i'm looking back at this, and i am actually just now beginning to realize that the clear and obvious point of scouting is turning child sociopaths into apex predators.

and then the day ended, and we went back to our camps, except for our leaders, who had a sort of Scout Leader Meeting they were going to have for a few hours at least. it was built into the camp, that day was supposed to be our day to chill as a group, and make peach cobbler, and just be buddies.

except, as it turned out, our neighboring group's alternative to making peach cobbler was eating their watermelon. so at some point they opened their watermelon, and woo boy. oh man. you think catholics hated seedless watermelons? you should see how much mormons hate seeded ones.

so we were chilling by the fire, and then we heard screaming from the camp over, but we didn't pay much mind to that because there are many reasonable explanations for a group of 10ish children to scream simulanteoulsy, such as wasps, which are abundant in arizona, and then the screaming got closer, which did not bother us because there were many reasons for a group 10ish children to scream and run towards us, for example, wasps, which are abundant in arizona, and then we noticed they had large sticks on them, which we figured were perhaps being used to drive away the wasps, which are abundant in arizona, and then they arrived and they started beating the shit out of us, abundantly, in arizona.

so we ran into the woods.

now, at this point, we had no idea what was up. we knew that the camp next to us was out for blood, which was crazy, because we'd actually locked them in fartproof bags for 30 minutes and they'd barely done anything back, and were trying to figure out what could possibly have happened that could drive them to Terrible Violence when we realized that J was cackling like a witch that had learned how to order children off of ebay.

so we politely asked J what the hell he had done, and he politely explained that had "done" their watermelon, and we politely beat him with large sticks because life is nothing but endless cycles of violence.

we were still being chased by the other camp btw. so it was them, chasing us, chasing J, and then they got tired and went back to their camp, and we chased J a little longer because we were mad we'd all been walloped with sticks, and J did not care because he was a supernatural entity whose only weaknesses were Needles and Fire, and then we got tired and went back and J kept running, and we just kind of figured he would come back eventually.

he did not.

we went back to our tents, and we waited, and J did not come back. we stayed up all night, peering into the forest, worrying. our leader came back, and we did our best to hide our battlewounds, and he either genuinely did not notice or simply accepted this as part of Boyhood. then he went to bed, and we waited, and waited, and waited. And Waited. and did not sleep.

eventually, we convened again, and we agreed that if J was not back by after breakfast, we would have to tell the scoutleader about what exactly had transpired. and we really did not want to do that, because it would have meant that everyone would have gotten in a very large amount of trouble.

morning came around, and J still was not back. we went to breakfast, and we ate very, very slowly. we were afraid the other camp was going to continue their war with us, but they actually looked fairly frightened. one of them actually came to us and asked for a truce, and we agreed because we truly felt bad for them. like, yes, they did beat us with sticks, but J fucked their watermelon. we werent complicit in the watermelonfuckening but they didnt know that, and it was definitely the kind of crime that left one outside the bounds of the social contract.

and then when we could eat no more bits, when breakfast was almost done, right when i was getting pushed to go and tell the scoutleader that we needed to find J, he arrived. he was sleep deprived, and noticeably scraped and bloody, and tied to his belt was a blood squirrel tail.

and i asked him, J, where did you get that? and he said, don't worry man, it was already dead, which did not answer by question and gave me several more.

the camp ended that day, and the other groups avoided us like the plague, and it was not until some weeks later that we were able to piece together what happened.

J, in his sojourn through the forest, managed to find (or, possibly, make) a dead squirrel. he then cut off the tail to keep on his belt, because he was a weird little freak like that. he also took the dead squirrel, and he skinned it, then he tied it to a little crucifix made of wood, and he left it in the other scouting group's camp. which is why they were so scared of us.

it was such an unhinged thing to do it actually sobered us up for a while. scouting became a scary thing for us. we'd found something dark and primal there, in the place where no adult could see, and our appreciation of J as a wild ride kind of changed into seeing him as something truly dangerous. we had a sense wherever he went, something terrible would follow, and the only way to escape it was to not be there when it arrived. and so piece by piece, the scout group dissolved. it wasnt until he moved out of that ward that the rest of us started daring to go back to scouts.

and for the final epilogue of the tale:

i have a little brother who was friends with a younger cousin of J's, and the two would go to parties together in highschool. and sometimes J, who was in his early 20's at that point, would show up at the parties, and it was unsettling in such a way that it just became a known risk at parties with the cousin. and at one party, they were playing truth or dare, and J wasn't even in the room, but someone asked him the Truth of how he always knew how to find the cousin, and J said the cousin's mom had mentioned she was worried about him and the parties so he'd put a tracker in his car. and when he saw that the cousin was out of the house on weekends, he'd made a visit by, just to make sure he was safe.

then he left. and every single person at that party went over that poor kid's car. they searched the wheel-wells, checked underneath it, the works, until they found the tracker. then because they were clever, they didnt break it, or throw it away, or anything that would've given away what they'd done. they just gave the tracker to the cousin, who put it in his glovebox. and on schooldays, he'd take it with him, so J could see him in the parking lot. and on weekends, he could leave it in the garage, so he could go to parties with out Hell coming with him. because everyone that met J - every single person - knew that the only way to be safe from him was to be far, far away.

[our-inspire-verse]

Zim's still out.... oh lordy here qe go again

[harrysfolklore]

hi! i have a little bitch blurb request - piastri sis is on painkillers after a minor surgery or after being at the dentist and while carlos is taking care of her she says things she never would’ve DARED to say out loud - even about the fact she’s been infatuated with him longer than she’ll ever admit 😋

this was so fun write 😭😭 i love my little bitches so much

"Carloooooos," you slur through a mouth full of gauze, reaching blindly for him as the nurse wheels you out. "I missed you. Did you miss me? I was asleep but I missed you."

"Yes, mi amor," he tries not to laugh as he helps you into the car. "I missed you too."

"Your face is so nice," you pat his cheek clumsily. "Like... so symmetrical. Are you real? Maybe I'm dreaming."

He buckles you in carefully. "I'm real."

"Prove it," you demand, then immediately start giggling. "My mouth feels like clouds. Do clouds feel things, Carlos? Are clouds sad?"

"I don't think so-"

"We should ask Lando," you say seriously. "He knows about clouds. He's British. It rains there."

Carlos bites his lip to keep from laughing as he starts driving. You're staring at him with wide, unfocused eyes.

"Your hair is so fluffy," you reach for him, missing completely. "Like a lion. My lion. Did you know lions mate for life? Are we lions, Carlos?"

"Eyes on the road, eyes on the road," he mutters to himself in Spanish, fighting a smile.

"Oh! Spanish!" you perk up. "I know Spanish! Te... te something. What's the word? The love word?"

"Te amo?"

"YES!" you try to clap but miss your hands together. "Te amo! I love you SO much. Like... like more than pizza. And I really love pizza. I think I love you since the first time I called you a stupid little bitch."

"I'm honored-"

"But shhhh," you stage whisper. "Don't tell Carlos. He'll get a big head. His head's already perfect though. How is it so perfect?"

"Mi amor, I am Carlos."

You gasp dramatically. "No way! Since when?"

"Since birth, I think."

"Birth!" you suddenly look devastated. "I wasn't there for your birth! I missed baby Carlos! He was probably so cute. With tiny baby abs."

He can't hold back his laugh this time. "I don't think I had abs as a baby."

"Lies," you poke his arm, missing twice. "You came out of the womb with a six-pack. And perfect hair. And that smile that makes me want to take off my-"

"Okay!" he interrupts quickly. "How about some water?"

"Water is boring," you pout. "You're not boring though. You're exciting. Like racing. Vroom vroom."

He hands you a water bottle anyway, helping you drink without choking.

"My hero," you sigh dreamily. "Saving me from death by water. We should get married."

He nearly swerves. "What?"

"Yeah! Right now! Call Lando, he can be the flower girl. Oscar can be the ring bear."

"Ring bearer?"

"No, ring BEAR. He has to dress as a bear. It's traditional."

"Since when?"

"Since right now. I just decided. I'm very smart, Carlos. The doctor said so."

"Did he?"

"Mhmm. He said..." you scrunch your face in concentration. "Actually I don't remember. But I'm sure he did. Because I am smart. Smart enough to date you. HA! Take that, Instagram models!"

"What Instagram models?"

"The ones that slide into your DMs," you try to look stern but your numb face isn't cooperating. "I see them. With their perfect teeth. Well guess what? I have no teeth now! I win!"

"You still have teeth, mi amor. Just minus the wisdom ones."

"Wisdom..." you gasp. "Carlos! Am I going to be stupid now?"

"No-"

"Quick! Ask me something smart!"

"Like what?"

"Like... what's your favorite color?"

"That's not really a test of wisdom-"

"BLUE!" you shout triumphantly. "See? Still smart! And your butt looks really good in blue. Like REALLY good. Science fact. I used to stare at your butt when I pretended to hate you."

Finally, you reach home. Carlos helps you out of the car as you ramble about his "science butt" and whether lions know about race cars.

"Time for rest," he says, laying you on the bed.

"No," you grab his shirt. "Stay. Protect me from the tooth fairy. She's a thief, Carlos. A professional thief."

"I'll protect you," he promises, sliding in beside you.

"My hero," you mumble, already drifting off. "Hey Carlos?"

"Yes?"

"If we have babies, will they have wisdom teeth? Or will they be born wise? Like little wise lions...Or wise little little bitches."

You fall asleep before he can answer, drooling slightly through the gauze.

And Carlos can only smile.

[ducksido]

I was reading some of your new writings, and at the end of the one where we tickle Jade, an idea came to me: What if we accidentally do or say something that means nothing romantic in our world, but in our boys' world it does? Like, we do something like a touch or give a gift to the Octatrio that, among Octavians (don’t ask why I call them that—I read it in a fic and liked it), is actually a declaration that we want to be their partner! If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love for it to include the characters from Diasomnia, Savanaclaw, and Octavinelle.

(I love that term)

🪸 Octavinelle 🪸

Azul You hand Azul a new ink pen you'd spotted in Sam's shop, saying, "It just looked like something you'd like." Azul freezes. "You…you mean to present me with this?" "Yeah? Just a gift." He clutches the pen like it's a wedding ring. "In Octavian culture, such gifts signify intent to… to mate for life." "WHAT." Azul has turned scarlet. He’s already thinking of what dish to serve at your joining ceremony. You're frantically Googling Octomer customs.

Jade You're laughing after lunch, mid-yawn, and Jade casually glances over—then goes completely still. "Ah… you've opened your mouth to me. Intentionally?" You blink. "I was yawning." "In my culture, revealing one’s throat and inner mouth is an ancient courtship display of vulnerability and trust." You choke on air. "What?!" His smile turns sharp. "I humbly accept your invitation." Now he's following you everywhere, whispering about how honored he is. You’re reconsidering yawning ever again.

Floyd "Shrimpy just did it!" Floyd cheers, twirling you. "Did what—?!" "You opened your mouth! That means you're comfy enough to let me near your gills and teeth. That’s like, soulmate stuff back home." You're dying inside. "Floyd, I was sneezing." "Too late~" He nuzzles into your neck. "You’re mine now~" The eel won’t stop bragging to everyone in the dorm that 'his' Shrimpy picked him.

🦁 Savanaclaw 🦁

Leona In a playful spar, you nip his arm—lightly, barely a scrape. Leona stares. You blink. "...Did you just bite me?" "Uh, yeah. You do it all the time to tease me!" Silence. His tail swishes. "...You just challenged every potential mate and claimed me." You: 🧍 He: 😼 "Hope you're ready. ‘Cause I bite harder." You now have a smug lionman curled in your lap all day.

Ruggie You hand Ruggie a fluffy scone and pat the seat next to you. "Aww, thanks, Yuu!" He plops down, happy as a clam—until he realizes you're watching him eat with fond eyes. "You… you gave me food and didn’t expect anything back? And you’re letting me sit this close?" You nod. Ruggie flushes to his ears. "Yuu… that’s... that’s like... a wedding proposal where I’m from." You: "...I just thought you were hungry!" He's already planning what herbs go into the stew at your desert wedding.

Jack You swipe a thumb over Jack's fur, flattening an unruly tuft before stepping back to spar. He stares at you like you just said “I love you.” "Did… did you just groom me?" "I fixed your cowlick, yeah." His ears twitch. "In wolf clans, grooming is reserved for bonded mates." You freeze mid-stretch. "Do you… want to bond?" he asks. You're not sure if you’re blushing or combusting.

🐉 Diasomnia 🐉

Malleus You gift Malleus a pressed flower you found in Ramshackle's backyard. "A flower for me?" he breathes. "This…this is sacred." "Huh?" "In dragon fae traditions, this is an age-old rite. A gift of natural beauty symbolizes a binding courtship vow." "...It’s from the ground." He’s already holding it like it’s your engagement ring. "May I begin the preparation for our joining ritual?" "HUH?!"

Lilia You adjust Lilia’s collar absentmindedly while chatting. His eyes widen slightly. “That’s…intimate.” "Huh?" "Bat fae reserve outfit-touching for their beloveds. Especially collars. You're practically declaring you want to nest with me." You: “I WAS FIXING YOUR TIE.” “Too late, my love~ You’ve wooed me.” He’s already texting Silver that he now has a mother.

Sebek You tap Sebek's shoulder to guide him through a crowd, hand lightly grazing his elbow. He flinches like electrocuted. "Y-you touched me—gently. Deliberately." "Yes? You were about to walk into a wall?" He goes full red. "Among crocodilian fae, such soft contact is akin to…mating displays." You sigh. "I was helping you not die." He now escorts you like a knight, declaring your name as “My Beloved.”

[mariasont]

fool's folklore

you invent a romantic myth purely to flirt with spencer. he easily calls you out on it.

pairing: spencer reid x translator!reader warnings: fem!reader, fluffy, talk of fertility goddess, suggestive flirting prompt: here wc: 0.5k

“Did you know,” you begin, tilting into his space until the distance between you is little more than a polite suggestion. “The locals say this valley was cursed by some lovesick god or another. Apparently, anyone who sets foot here ends up doomed — like, inconveniently, irrevocably — to fall madly in love.”

Spencer’s silence is almost long enough for you to start convincing yourself you overplayed your hand. It’s not as if you’d exactly had a lot of prep time to craft that particular bit of folklore.

Honestly, you’d spun it out of thin air two seconds ago purely as an excuse to flirt. But seeing his eyes go slightly distant, those gorgeous gears turning in real-time, gives you enough confidence to believe you’ve successfully planted the seed of intrigue.

Watching him think is oddly riveting, like witnessing the workings of the world’s most attractive, perpetually tousled calculator.

Frankly, you should be better at this — your entire life has revolved around subtle manipulation and diplomatic half-truths — but Spencer’s intellect makes lying to him feel like playing chess against a grandmaster. Which, naturally, he just happens to be.

Sure enough, he pivots back to you, reaching out to lightly tug at your ponytail.

“Creative,” he whispers teasingly, effectively scattering goosebumps across your skin, “but completely made up.”

“Worth a shot, though, right?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Spencer agrees, smile breaking through his skepticism. “But for accuracy’s sake, this valley’s mythology actually revolves around a goddess associated with fertility. Lots of rituals, offerings, prayers — all aimed at encouraging prosperity and, well… reproduction.”

You flutter your lashes at him. “So hypothetically, if someone wanted to honor tradition right this very second, what they would do is —”

“Yes,” Spencer cuts in firmly, eyes narrowing sharply even as a faint blush rises along his cheeks. “Precisely the inappropriate thought currently running through your head, and exactly why I’m stopping it immediately.”

“Scared my next suggestion might scandalize your delicate sensibilities?”

“Terrified,” Spencer fires back instantly, deadpan and utterly believable. “But mostly because Hotch has explicitly warned me to stop you from getting us both fired.”

You suppress a giggle at the thought. Poor Spencer, saddled with the impossible task of curbing your innate impulse to provoke him into blushing silence. Frankly, Hotch should’ve known better than to trust him with the job.

“If we’re going down, we might as well go down spectacularly,” you say breezily, already imagining Hotch’s impressively eloquent reprimand. 

Knowing him, your termination letter would include phrases like a remarkable lapse in judgment and conduct egregiously unbecoming of Bureau agents. You’d probably frame it.

“Cheeky,” Spencer mutters, shaking his head as he nudges you forward along the winding path.  “But speaking of spectacular downfalls, did you read about the warrior who lost everything because she couldn’t resist pushing her luck?”

You sidestep closer, studying him with exaggerated seriousness before snorting softly. Your fingertips find a loose strand of his hair, returning his earlier gesture.

“Creative,” you mock sweetly, feeling particularly vindicated in throwing his words back in his face. “But completely made up.”

join me at the beach for my 1 year/4k event!

day 7 extras

💌 click here to check in → confirm your room (and crush)

maria's spring break getaway masterlist

[plethorawrites]

I love your fics sm 🩷🩷 Could I request a f2l au with Clark, where him and reader are super touchy n comfortable with eachother that everyone thinks theyre dating even though they say they aren’t. Then to stop the rumours, reader goes on a date w someone else and Clark gets mad jealous? Could also be nsfw if you want 🙏

Yes, yes, yes, I absolutely can! (Idk if this will live up to your expectations because it's like 2 am, but I hope it's okay!)

---___---___---___---___---___---___---___---___---_

Clark Kent grew up in the Midwest, obviously. In doing so, he was raised to be hospitable, polite, and yeah, he's a little touchy. It was how his parents were with him, always hugging him and swinging him around and how he was with you, always ruffling your hair and letting you lean on him when you were tired or bored.

You were his best friend, like you had always been since childhood. He remembered all the times you fell asleep on him during movies and made him carry you when the shoes he told you not to buy started to hurt your feet. You recalled the times you'd trim his hair for him or smack him in the back of the head for doing something stupid.

And of course, there were the times where you lost your aunt and he consoled you, holding you tightly and bringing you comfort only he ever seemed to manage. You brought him comfort too, though, when his powers grew and he panicked. You were the only one who could calm him down, who he trusted to come near him when he felt like he couldn't control himself. That stupid super hearing made everything ache, but your voice always brought him back.

Because you were his best friend. Even if half the school thought you two were dating. He never quite knew why. Guys and girls could be friends, couldn't they? Not everything was romantic.

Except...then he saw you, talking to one of the football players, the ones you always mock and loath.

"Uh, no," you told him, rummaging through your locker. "I don't have a date for prom yet. Probably just gonna go with Clark."

His super hearing picked up the conversation from down the hallway and he was relieved to hear you turn the guy down, until he kept pressing you.

"I thought you've been trying to convince everyone you two are just friends?" He teased.

"We are," you reminded him, finally pulling your books from your locker.

"Well then why not go with me?" He suggested, taking you books, holding them so you didn't have to. "I mean if he was smart he would have already been putting a corsage on your wrist. But since the guy's clearly an idiot...maybe I could have the honor?"

You didn't like hearing anyone call Clark that, of course, but you knew he made a valid point. "I don't know," you muttered, leaning against your locker as it shut. "We go to most of these together and it's sort of tradition for us—"

You were cut off as he brushed a piece of hair out of your face and Clark's jaw clenched from all the way down the hall, the subtle gesture sending a rush of frustration through him. Who the hell did this guy think he was to have the nerve to touch you like that?

"Maybe it's time for a new tradition," he suggested, tucking the piece behind your ear and letting the back of his knuckle gently graze your jaw. "One where I get to compliment you and you hopefully give me a smile for it?" You huffed, your teeth barring slightly. "Yeah, like one of those..." He mumbled. "It's pretty."

Clark's fingers dug into the metal of his locker door, bending it without even realizing it. When he thought it couldn't get any worse, you nodded.

"Yeah, alright," you agreed. "I'll go with you. But I expect a corsage now that you've brought it up."

He grinned. "In whatever color you want, baby," he promised, tilting his head towards the hallway. "Can I walk you to class?"

Baby. Baby? Was he joking? There was no way you were actually buying into his bullshit, were you?

"I already said yes, you can stop flirting."

"Where's the fun in that?" He teased. "Besides, I already have your books."

That was true, you supposed. With a slight shrug you took his arm, walking down the hallway to him towards your next class.

Clark didn't know if it was on purpose or if you were just messing with him, trying to get back at him for something he didn't even know he did, but either way you didn't even look at him when you walked by.

That's when the hinges broke off his locker.

Everyone, aside from you and your date, who had already walked off, abruptly stopped what they were doing to stare. He cleared his throat, looking down and walking away quickly.

[tossawary]

Moshang fanfic idea that I've been holding onto for a while but have no strong plot for: the Airplane Extras meet-ugly happens as per canon UNTIL Mobei-Jun asks why Shang Qinghua saved him / what Shang Qinghua wants from him.

At which point, a panicking Airplane desperately searches for a compelling and believable character motivation as to why he would stupidly save the life of a murderous demon who might still kill him, and hastily blurts out: "You're so beautiful that I fell in love at first sight!"

Important to note: this is not true. It is bullshit. Airplane thinks MBJ is incredibly hot, obviously, but he does not know or like this guy as a person, because MBJ is both a relative stranger and a scary asshole.

Also important to note: some demon cultures have a marriage kidnapping tradition, but that happens under very specific and usually pre-arranged circumstances that obviously do not apply here. Mobei-Jun being whisked off to the equivalent of a shitty motel room by some random human outer disciple, who absolutely cannot forcibly keep him there, has no real romantic connotations. It's just weird. There's not even any life debt tradition aspect to it; Mobei-Jun could just kill this guy now and it wouldn't say anything about his personal honor even if anyone found out. It would just be humiliating. This guy would have to be fucking nuts to think this interaction is anything that anyone, especially any authority, would recognize, and that's not what this guy is claiming anyway. All he's doing is claiming that he's suddenly in love with a hostile stranger, which is still nuts.

So, Mobei-Jun (who is also still a teenager) is just... surprised and extremely confused. Does this kind of thing... honestly happen... in real life? Really??? And Airplane is like, "Aw, fuck, I made it weird. Well! I have no choice but to go with this!" and starts up the "Please don't kill me!" thigh-hugging routine.

Somehow, Moshang make it out of that meet-ugly similarly to how they usually do. Airplane is like, "Well, fortunately, nothing will ever come of this! No way would someone like Mobei-Jun ever return the feelings of his gross, pathetic human servant. I can freely express how sexy I think he is and it'll just be meaningless lovesick flattery to this asshole." Real emotions? That soft, squishy bullshit? Airplane does not have the TIME to contemplate having sincere feelings. He's in survival mode.

And teenage Mobei-Jun, spoiled demonic nobility extraordinaire, who otherwise would have spent the next 20 years or so thinking of his human servant as gross and pathetic and repulsive but strangely useful, is like, "I think... I'm being wooed...??? Is this working on me...? He's kind of... not unattractive, actually, for a madman. Maybe I should try to be... nice... to him??? How do humans do this???"

And THEN, months to years later, young and in-love Mobei-Jun somehow finds out that Shang Qinghua outright lied to him. (And by this point is pretty fond of Mobei-Jun but still hasn't looked directly at his own real emotions for years. He's busy.)

Arguably, the above idea is one way to interpret normal canon already, with Mobei-Jun reading more than is mutually understood into Shang Qinghua's bullshit, failing to communicate what he thinks their relationship is (if he even fucking knows himself), and then feeling betrayed when Shang Qinghua ditches him for being an asshole. But I'm charmed by the idea of distracted Shang Qinghua explicitly lying, actively making it WORSE by knowingly behaving "romantically" under the assumption that it's harmless fawning because Mobei-Jun basically doesn't even HAVE emotions, and then getting totally blindsided by having his "impossible unrequited love" returned and accidentally, apparently breaking Mobei-Jun's heart. Fuck!!!

[phoenixyfriend]

The ColourPop Twilight: New Moon collection is very pretty. There are four different items I'm drawn to.

However. It is Twilight merch, and specifically New Moon merch, and I doubt there are any plans from Colourpop to donate any of the proceeds to the Quileute people, who have never seen a red cent of SMeyer's profits from her appropriation of their culture.

So. If you feel similarly, maybe pop over to this page and politely tell them about your concerns, and suggest that some profits go to the Quileute Higher Ground project.

Please share, maybe see if you can get people on other platforms talking about it.

Don't copy this directly, write your own, but here is what I wrote.

----------------------

Hello,

I have purchased many of your products over the last few years, sometimes through the site and sometimes not. I find the New Moon collection beautiful, but I feel some trepidation over it. Given your dedication to other moral issues, such as staying cruelty free, I hope that you are open to hearing me out.

Over the past two decades, Stephanie Meyer has made hundreds of millions of dollars from the Twilight series, and much of the draw of the three later books came from her use and misuse of the traditional stories of the Quileute peoples. None of the copious amounts of money that she made from her appropriation of their culture has ever gone to them.

At this time, the Quileute people are experiencing great risk due to rising sea levels, something they likely could have worked around easily had they any of the funds that the Twilight series should have led to for them. The current standard among Twilight fans is that, should any money come from a Twilight fan product (e.g. pins), then a portion of that money should go to "Quileute Move to Higher Ground," as a way of honoring the way their people's traditions led to a series we enjoy, and their lack of any true gain from that situation.

The collaboration you are doing will lead to yet more money going to Mrs. Meyer, and there is little doubt that she will continue to ignore the Quileute people's situation. I would like to suggest that your company donate a portion of the profits from this collaboration to the Higher Ground project, maybe even talking about it on social media if possible.

As it stands, this collaboration appears to continue the tradition of basing products on the Quileute people and their traditions, without compensating them in any way for it.

The donations can be found here: https://mthg.org/

I am not affiliated with the Quileute Move to Higher Ground in any way, but I am a consumer who is interested in your products, and would love to buy these specific products. Many who express concern regarding the Twilight franchise and its impact on the Quileute people may be driven to actually buy this collection if told that this particular set, which draws from the book most heavily based on them, will benefit them.

Thank you for your time.

[rpgchoices]

Davrin's past and his Dalish clan and his vallaslin (all mentions I could find)

So much in the game is hidden behind banters between companions (which is ahhhh a bit annoying) so I compiled all the banter and information I found about Davrin's past.

Not really plot spoilers, just Davrin spoilers.

At the end I will summarize everything in a bullepoints list.

Bellara and Davrin banter:

Text here (link)

There are also a few other banters I did not record where it is implied Davrin does not care about the gods or some other late game revelations. The only thing he cares about (and mentions again later in game, in a main scene) is how people see Dalish and elves, and how to minimize the risk of humans hating elves even more.

Taash and Davrin's banter (text in description for each image)

Davrin's quests information:

Here are other mentions from Davrin first quest: Rook: How did it go? Davrin: Poorly. They felt like I rejected them. Rook: Did you? Davrin: Yeah, I suppose. Clan life wasn't for me. I had to get away. Rook: So then what happened? You're out in the world, looking for adventure… Davrin: Got my ass kicked. Went broke. Davrin: I couldn't go crawling back to my clan a failure. Doubt they'd take me back. It forced me to figure out what I was good at. Always had a knack for hunting.

Other info we get from the Halla quest is that: Davrin spent summers tending Halla as a kid alongside Eldrin, who is not his uncle, but like an uncle. So this is a case of Davrin wanting to spend time with Hallas, or being made to by his clan. Eldrin's vallaslin is Ghilan'nain:

So it could be that Davrin's new vallaslin might be Ghilan'nain too. But I think it is Andruil's or a mix of the two.

Davrin could have gotten the vallaslin to honor Eldrin (we know he is the only member of his clan - if he is part of his clan - Davrin has no trouble contacting, even if they seem to have not met each other's in a while). But we also know Davrin was a hunter.

Eldrin was also the one who taught Davrin what to hunt basically. In his first quest Davrin says "When I was a kid, I'd hunt just about anything. Rabbits, deer, fox. Eldrin gave that purpose. Taught me the Way of Three Trees. The Way of the Arrow, Way of the Bow, Way of the Wood."

This is from Andruil and if we look at all three vallaslin:

Emmrich and Davrin:

(they have some discussions about Davrin not believing in the Fade or liking it, this is the one which mentions the Dalish clan)

There are also a few other banters at the Lighthouse that mention the Fade and the sky. Mainly they are about Davrin being uncomfortable with the open space and stuff about him disbelieving the Fade: "Good. Because it's not the sky. Emmrich says it's the Fade. Me, I don't know what to think."

Final banter with Davrin:

So basically, the summary of what we know for certain is:

Davrin left his clan voluntarily because he felt restless, he did not care about tradition and lessons, and he wanted to see the world

He felt like he did not fit in his clan since he was a kid

He was also hunting everything he could find until Eldrin taught him the way of the Three Trees and to protect life by hunting darkness (monsters)

Eldrin is like an uncle for him and lives isolated (unsure if he is part of Davrin's clan) and Davrin used to spend summers helping him with the hallas

Davrin feels like he pissed off his clan, he rejected them and both Davrin and Bellara agree it would be hard for him to go back

In another dialogue, he says he actually did not think the clan would take him back at all even if he crawled back asking for help ("Like a failure" he says)

He does not regret joining the Grey Wardens and looking for adventures, but he seems to regret that came at the cost of leaving the clan and not being able to return or keep in contact with them

Also, he says the outside world was different from what he imagined

PART 2 HERE

[blasphemousclaw]

why Divine Beast Dancing Lion has the best soundtrack in the entire game

When I watched the first DLC trailer 6 months ago, I was so focused on Messmer that I never gave the lion dancers a second thought. But in a shocking turn of events, Divine Beast Dancing Lion is now my favorite boss in the whole game. To me, what makes this fight truly exceptional is its soundtrack, so I want to go through the music and outline all the things that make it so great!

What makes the music stand out is that it feels SO different from the rest of the OST… the majority of the boss tracks have a pretty similar style and instrumentation, but Divine Beast stands out in my opinion because of how it emphasizes its rhythm and texture.

Conceptually, this boss fight is first and foremost a dance — you are fighting two Hornsent warriors operating a lion costume based on the traditional Chinese lion dance in an arena that’s actually a giant stage.

The Chinese lion dance is typically accompanied only by percussion (drums, gongs, and cymbals). So naturally, Divine Beast’s soundtrack has much more pronounced percussion in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, featuring heavy drum beats and cymbals, plus shouts and chants from the choir. The music is in a steady 6/8, with 2 beats per measure divided into three pulses (think 1 2 3, 1 2 3) giving it a lilting, dancelike quality (this type of meter is often used in folk and traditional dances!). And, in the boss’s second phase, the dancing lion’s lightning, wind, and frost phases each have their own music and are timed to transition as the music transitions. The whole boss fight is programmed like a dance, so when you fight the boss it feels like you’re dancing with it too!

The choir has a range of vocalizations that goes beyond singing melodies and harmonies; as I touched on before, they’re also shouting and chanting. The shouts are used percussively and help accent the rhythm of the dance, and the low chanting also brings to mind a sort of religious ritual? Which is exactly what this boss fight is… in Hornsent culture, the lion dance is a ritual for invoking divinity:

“A charm depicting the crazed, cavorting dance of the divine beast conducted at the tower festival. Raises potency of storms. Divine beasts are messengers of the heavens, and their rage mirrors the tumult of the skies, of which storms are the pinnacle.” (Enraged Divine Beast talisman)

The lion dancers, or “sculpted keepers,” are those amongst the divine beast warriors (themselves the chosen amongst the tower’s horned warriors) who truly excelled at divine invocation, and were “granted the honor of the lion dance” (Divine Beast Warrior Armor). In the boss cutscene, the Hornsent Grandam calls upon the divine beast to possess the bodies of the sculpted keepers, and rise again to defend the tower… so the lion dance, performed by warriors skilled in divine invocation, is essentially a ritual for invoking the presence of the divine beast within the dancers in order to commune with the heavens.

The sculpted keepers, having invoked the rage of the divine beast, are able to channel the forces of the stormy skies — lightning, wind, and frost. The force of the storm is represented in the music by quick runs in the high woodwinds and strings that come and go like gusts of wind. The music almost never lets up or loses momentum; it goes at a powerful, furious pace until the end, embodying the divine beast’s fury.

But the Divine Beast that we fight has an extra layer of emotion that goes beyond divine ritual:

“When the Impaler's army assailed the tower, the ritual of the lion dance was turned toward martial ends—its divinity, its fury, its light-footed beauty.” (Remembrance of the Dancing Lion)

What was once a beautiful ritual dance conducted at the tower festival was forced to become a weapon of war in order to fight against their people’s annihilation at the hands of Messmer’s crusade. And even this was not enough…

The Dancing Lion that we fight was slain, lying in a pool of dried blood, when it is miraculously awoken again with a fervent prayer. This is the last lion dance that may ever take place, giving us a mere glimpse of this ruined city’s long-vanished splendor.

Listening to the soundtrack, there is not only pride in the music, but also an urgent, visceral, warlike rage, a multitude of voices joining in a desperate fight for their civilization’s very survival.