#also YEAH GOD DO THE TRANSFORMATIONS TAKE FOREVER

[sweetlady555]

My Personal Solar Return Observations Pt III

reminder to check your degrees in your sr chart as they play a big factor in how certain sr placements would play out!

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Venus 5H 17° SR - when i had this in my sr chart for 2023-2024 i saw myself experimenting more with different creative styles/looks. i would try to find inspiration from different creatives on instagram. while i was doing this, i started talking to a well known designer in that creative scene who had messaged me because he liked my style. it was a secret relationship because he cheated on someone to be with me which i thought they were completely done but he kept going back to her then back to me. he was obsessed with me and it was a really weird relationship, he would only come to me when his lustful desires were acting up and then would go when he was satisfied 💀. i was tired of this so i started talking to someone else and he found and his little ego got so hurt and he blocked me thank fucking god 😭😭!! I was also approached by another creative because he wanted to use my face as inspiration for his clothing brand hehe ( the 17° rules leo & fame )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Aries Rising 2° SR - when i had this i felt like i was really impulsive i did lots of things without thinking twice. i had my chart ruler in the 5h that year so it might be different if you end up having your asc ruler somewhere else in your sr chart, but for me i was impulsive when it came to switching different styles. i also started drinking and partying for the first time when i had a aries rising in my sr when it was placed in my 5h. aside from this, i was very determined on finishing goals i set my mind to and i was very consistent in trying to build a good foundation for myself. ( the 2° rules taurus & early stages )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Moon 7H 4° SR - most of my relationships that i had that year were lowkey codependent, the guys i talked to that year were very emotionally dependent and attached to me. they would usually call or message me out of nowhere to vent or open up to me which would be random asf lmaoo ( the 4° rules cancer & security/protection )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Mercury 3H 28° SR - I started talking to my siblings more and my relationship grew closer with them. I also started becoming more vunerable with my siblings. My relationship with my siblings were more nurturing compared to the past. ( the 28° rules cancer & heightened sensitivity/vulnerability )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Mars 5H 21° SR - I went out a lot more when i had this in my sr chart with my sisters friends who would randomly go out just for the fun of it 😭, like it was last minute most of the times but it was so fun tho! i got to do lots of things on the trips we went to! I was also more open to expressing my creativity like making clothes and putting it out there and such. ( the 21° rules saggitarius & travel/freedom )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Jupiter 1H 8° SR - I was more optimistic about life when I had this placement in my sr chart. I also felt like I was really lucky when it came to travelling more. places ive wanted to go to forever i ended up going to! things i wanted to experience i experienced! it was a good year for experiencing new things. ( the 8° rules scorpio & transformations )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Uranus 2H 21° SR - yeah i dont know where my money went that year 💀 money would come fast and then it would go even faster 😭 i saw my money as a source of freedom and thought of money so recklessly like, “oh these shoes are $300 but i just got fired? dont worry the money will come back *BOUGHT🧾*” so i didnt care much about saving or anything 😭 it came back though!! but then it went bye bye the next day😍 also for some weird reason whenever i took money out from daily pay which is a app where you can take money out early from your check when you work, whenever i took it out it ended up saying i had to pay back the amount i took out? like uhhh im pretty sure this was my money i took out 😂🤔… so now im -$200 but they gotta catch me in person cuz im not paying that 😹 ( the 21° degree rules saggitarius and freedom )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Pluto 11H 29° SR - i ended two 5+ year friendship that year, it was hard but it was a trio and i found out that the both of them would ditch me to go hangout and do substances and i feel like that didnt align with my path because you are who you hangout with!! i also saw my goals/path changing that year, I completely re-evaluated what i wanted to do 🙏. ( the 29° is a anaretic degree that rules major transformations/completion/endings )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Chiron 1H 19° SR - I was VERY critical on how others percieved me and my self image, i had multiple identity crises. I was super insecure the year I had this in my sr chart i cant even lie, despite so many people telling me how beautiful I was I just couldnt see it. 2 months before my birthday in 2024 i ended up understanding who i was and finding out what I LIKE and not what other people expected of me. im not facing multiple identity crises anymore which i thank my nn in my 1h from that year 🙏. ( 19° rules libra & can make a person more erratic and critical )

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 1H SR in 5H SR - I was more open to showcasing my creative talents, designing clothes, starting lots of creative projects. I was also having sooo much fun that year i miss it so much but lemme stop reminiscing 💔 I was also more flirty and playful that year leading me to have a few romantic encounters this year. Lots of creativity, fun, and sexual encounters happened that year.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 2H SR in 5H SR - I spent most of my money on clothes and on creative projects just things that made me happy!!!! I was also recieving money from a lot of guys who wanted sexual things from me but they got #finessed and i didnt care because who do you think i am???????

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 3H SR in 3H SR - when i had this i started getting into astrology more, i was also reading a lot more aswell. I was really curious and i needed lots of mental stimulation from something that was neverending and astrology just so happened to be it 😹. I was also making tons of short trips that year.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 4H SR in 7H SR - my family life was lowkey stopping me from getting into any relationships, i came to the realization i wouldnt be able to get into any relationships while living with my parents because of how controlling they can be. Also my sister got into a new relationship that sr year.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 5H SR in 7H SR - I started talking to a creative designer the year I had my 5h in my 7h. I was also getting involved with creative partnerships aswell, promoting eye contacts/lashes/having my face used for someones brand. I also attended more parties and was going out more so i found most of my relationship encounters were through that.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 6H SR in 4H SR - i changed my diet when i had this in my sr. I also didnt know how to balance my work life and home life so it clashed terribly and i got fired😭. I was also going out more with my sister so my routines have changed from never going out at all to going out every week.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 7H SR in 5H SR - I met lots of new friends and different social circles through fun plans like partying, girls trips etc.. I also had lots of fun romantic encounters when i had this in my sr whether i met them when i was drunk or at parties it was lots of fun lol. There was so much childlike joy when it came to my relationships that sr year.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 8H SR in 5H SR - i lost my virginity the year i had this in my sr😶 but besides that my relationships in that sr year really shaped my understanding of love and myself. i was also recieving money from relationships i felt like a sugar baby🙈

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 9H SR in 1H SR - BABY I WAS OUTSIDEEE😭😩 okay besides that, that sr year when i had this i experienced a lot of new things that helped me discover who i was on the inside 😊. I was focused on self growth especially that year!

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 10H SR in 12H SR - I thought a lot about what I wanted to do career wise and how it would align with my goals and my purpose . I had this in my sr when I got fired 😭 and i realized I would prefer being my own boss when it came to my work life

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 11H SR in 12H SR - I unfriended my closest friends after re-evaluating our friendships that year. I also found out shady shit about them and I didn’t like that which led me to unfriending them

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 12H SR in 2H SR - i was manifesting money a lot the year i had this and im not even gonna lie it was coming!! so if you have this in your sr this year, manifest that moola$$$!!!!! i was also receiving money behind the scenes from other people the year i had this in my sr chart .

if my sr chart for that solar return year was a song it would be definitely be this song 🥲 #willforevercherishthatyear

dont forget to check out my other personal sr observations if you enjoyed this one :) !

[buckyshoneybunny]

The White Wolf (Part 2)

Wolf/Alpha!Bucky + Wildlifephotographer!curvy!reader   

W.C- 1000 

Warnings- None really, slow burn 

A/N- OMG!!! Thank you for all the likes, comments, reblogs, and follows!! You have no idea what this means to me! Anyway, I’m so sorry this is late, I hope you all love it though! Part three will be in Bucky’s POV! I will try to get the next part out sooner but shit kinda got busy here so no promises. Anyway hope you enjoy! (Let me know if you want to be added to the tagslist)

Taglist-  @blackbirdwitch22 @lesleurs

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 Masterlist Series Masterlist

Duffle bag in hand, you run all the way back to Bucky’s cabin, which was a lot farther then you thought. You run in and toss your bag on the couch.  

“Bucky?” You call, even though you know he isn’t here. You run back outside.  

“Steve!” You yell. You run around the forest yelling his name for what seems like forever. You come across a group of cabins, sitting on one of the porches you see Steve, two red heads, another guy, and a brunette.  

“Steve!” You speak desperately.  

“Y/N?” He gets up and walks over to you, confused. “What’s going on?” 

Before you can answer, the scarier looking red head speaks up, “What the hell is a human doing in here?” 

“There’s no time for that!” You pant.  

Steve puts his hands on your shoulders, “Y/N, what’s going on?” 

“It’s Bucky, he’s gone! H-he was supposed to be waiting for me at the edge of the woods but when I got back, he was gone and there was a blood where I had last seen him. I-I can’t find him a-and-” 

“Y/N, deep breath. It’s okay, we’ll find him. I think I already know where he is.” Steve cuts you off.  

You take a deep breath to calm your nerves. “How can you know what happened?” 

“A regular person couldn’t have taken him; it would have to be another werewolf.” 

“Rumlow,” the other man growls.  

“Who’s Rumlow?” You ask, confused.   

Steve explains that he’s the leader of the other pack, that Bucky and him are rivels. You also learn the other man is Sam, the other people in the pack are Clint, Wanda, Natasha, Kate, Yelena, and Peggy. You explain how you met Bucky. 

“You mean to tell me Barnes didn’t kill you?” Natasha grins and tilts her head. “Did he happen to sniff you?”  

“Yeah, he buried his face in my neck,” you laugh.  

“Oh my god!” Sam laughs, “You’re Bucky’s mate!”  

Your eyes widen. “What?”  

“Werewolf's can only smell their mate,” Peggy, Steve’s mate pipes up. 

“B-But that’s impossible, I’m human, there’s no way I’m his mate,” you feel like you’re dreaming, this whole day so surreal.  

“I’m human.” Peggy says.  

“Really?”  

“Oh yeah, it took me a while to wrap my head around it too. But once I did, everything fell into place.” She smiles and looks at Steve, she’s in his lap. He looks back at her with heart eyes.  

“How does the whole claiming, marking, and rut thing work though?” You ask, you have headache at this point.  

“You have to be claimed in front of the pack, if you weren’t human then it could just be you and Bucky but the pack needs to see it happen to officially welcome you.” She explains.  

“Is that what you did?” She nods. There’s rustling in the woods behind you, you all turn to see the other man, Clint, running towards the cabin in his wolf form. At the last second, he transforms into his human form. 

“I found drag marks leading to Rumlow’s camp,” he pants.  

Steve and Sam jump up, “Let’s go,” Steve says. “You girls stay here.” 

“Wait but-” 

“No, Y/N, wait here while we check it out,” Steve interrupts you.  

“But Steve-”  

“If they find out you’re Bucky’s mate, they’ll kill you without a second thought. Stay. Here.” You nod. 

As the boys leave, you plop back into your seat and put your face in your hands. “I can’t help but think this is all my fault,” you mutter.  

“I mean it kind of is,” Yelena’s Russan voice answers.  

“Lena!” Natasha, her sister, scolds.  

“Look, Barnes is strong, he’ll make it out alive and then you will be reunited again,” Yelena adds, gentler this time.  

“Yeah, but what happens then? Do I just drop everything to be with Bucky? I can’t just drop everything, my life I-” 

“Y/N, calm down, let's just focus on bringing Bucky home, okay?” Natasha cuts you off. You nod.  

The boys come running back.  

“He’s there,” Sam pants.  

“What’s the plan? How can I help?” You ask, frantically. 

“You,” Steve grabs your shoulders. “Need to go to Bucky’s cabin and mark it with your scent.” 

“Huh?” You ask with a dumbfound look on your face.  

“He has a plan, but when he gets loose, he’ll be a feral alpha wanting nothing more then to claim his mate.” Steve answers. “Go.” 

You look at everyone unsure and worried. Natasha stands up.  

“Go, it’ll be okay.” She gives you a reassuring smile.  

As you walk back to his cabin you can’t help but spiral in worry. What if he doesn’t like you or make it back safe? What will your parents and friends say, will they think you’re crazy? Every single ‘what if’ runs through your mind, but every time Bucky crosses your mind, it’s like a soft comforting presence settles over you.  

Just as you reach the cabin’s front porch, the sound of a twig snaping breaks you out of your thoughts. You tense when you hear a growl, one that sounds nothing like Bucky. On instinct you dart into the cabin, shutting the door just in time.  

Looking out the window you see a wild haired wolf, chipped teeth, and scary looking. You slide down the wall, the weight of everything finally catching up with you. You break down in tears, yearning for the one person who can make things better.  

Once you finally calm down you set about ‘marking’ his cabin with your scent. You throw clothes here and there, lay in his bed and couch, did basically anything you could think of to make the place smell like you. 

The next couple of days are spent twiddling your thumbs, not so patiently waiting. When finally on the second night you’re woken by a familiar growl. Looking over at the owner of the noise, you see two steel blue eyes shining in the moon light staring back at you. A shiver runs down your spine.  

Bucky. 

[talon-dragonbeast]

hi! can you talk more about the significance of the biological concept of species? I'm a nonhuman who currently believes that species can't exactly be interpreted the way gender is, but I lack the vocabulary and knowledge in ecology to properly communicate that lol, so I thought I would ask you as an alterhuman in science! no worries if you don't feel like answering this ask :3

ooh i can definitely talk about that, yeah!! i was meaning to make a post like this since forever, so thanks for giving me the excuse!

so, i want to begin by emphasizing that species identity is a very real concept that should be always respected. of course, im an otherkin myself, so i dont think anyone ever doubted it in the first place, but i wanted to make myself clear anyways. species-diverse folks are the species they say they are, regardless of ones own beliefs. if a dog therian says theyre a dog physically, i believe them. if someone who looks like a human to me insists theyre not human at all, i believe them. if someone tells me, an atheist, that theyre a god or an angel, i believe them. and if someone says they can transform into a unicorn-dragon-zombie with robot wings through fucking magic, i believe them. so, now that that is clear, lets begin.

traditionally, species were classified based on their morphological characteristics, that is, their physical appearance. while this method was effective at first, it quickly became too unreliable (as evidenced by the many bird species that look almost the same, and dog breeds that, despite their physical differences, belong to the same species), so scientists began categorizing species based on their reproductive compatibility, specifically whether they could interbreed and whether their offspring were fertile. so, for example, iguanas and monitor lizards are incapable of interbreeding (different species), whereas donkeys and horses can produce mules, which are sterile (different species, same genus). finally, dogs and wolves can interbreed and they produce fertile offspring (same species, Canis lupus). nowadays, we classify species via phylogenetic analysis, which looks for similarities in DNA chains, though this method also presents its own problems as described by @nisaetus-nerd in this post.

now, why is species identity different from gender identity? well, for starters, species is more akin to biological sex than to gender. aside from the fact that the majority of the population takes species identity to be some kind of hilarious joke, species, just like sex, has some physical characteristics that (for now at least) cannot be changed. the category that we know as sex is actually a combination of chromosomes, reproductive organs (internal and external), external characteristics, hormones, (not relevant to humans but) pheromones, and reproductive cycles; similarily, species is a combination of many things, including DNA, physiology, morphology, diet, ecology, and behavior, among others.

its also important to point out that within the different sexes that exist in the human species there arent that many variations from one another; humans dont actually have a ton of sexual dimorphism (at least compared to freaks of nature (affectionate) like birds of paradise) and many of the differences between sexes that society highlights don't actually exist (think "female brain vs. male brain"). sex, at least in my opinion, isnt that important outside of reproductive health, so not many problems arise from simply throwing it out the window.

meanwhile, we do use species for a lot of things! as a vet in training, this is especially important when treating different animals; you wouldnt use the same drugs for a dog as you would for a horse, nor would you give the same food to a cow as you would to a pig. species are too different from each other, especially the further down the phylogenetic tree you go. you can actually use similar drugs for a dog and a human being, because we evolved together and have a similar physiology, but the same cant be said about chickens. most mammals heal their bones in a similar way (only difference i can think of, aside from the drugs, is the fact that you have to protect the bandages so they dont rip them off), but when it comes to, say, a bird of prey, thats an entirely different story. not to mention bees! they dont even have bones!!

(species have other uses outside of health of course, thats only what i specialize in. someone who studies ecology, or zoology, or genetic engineering, or any other field of biology would give you a different answer than mine. this is only my point of view, which i admit is kind of limited)

so! to wrap up this extremely long post, i want to stress once more that we need a term to express the experience of species identity, similar to how gender is discussed in transgender communities. species identity is not the same as biological species, and its crucial to be able to freely describe this experience with our own vocabulary. the way things are, biological species is too important of a concept to dismiss its meaning entirely, which is why we often face ridicule and skepticism when discussing it outside of alterhuman circles. the way we define "species" in our community (in which species = identity) is quite different from how most people usually understand the term (in which species = biology), and i think this misunderstanding is in part what leads to doubt when we talk about our experiences with others. so by changing the way we talk about species identity, we could get more people to understand what we really mean, instead on assuming based on the words we use.

[somepsychopomp]

Do the gods treat odysseus differently in the omegaverse au than in canon in any significant way?(Circe,Zeus,Poseidon,etc)

I think it depends on the god. We know Athena wouldn't treat him all that differently

As for Poseidon, I have to imagine he'd be so ready to slaughter the so-called infamous King of Ithaca for blinding his son, so he sets out to find the king's fleet. And because he's a little bit of a dickhead I have to imagine he'd glance at Odysseus, glance at Eurylochus, and just assume that the large, imposing alpha with the big sword is the king.

He'd do his "Odysseus of Ithaca! Do you know who I am?" thing and intimidate them a little but when it's clear he's got the wrong guy, Eurylochus & Odysseus share a confused look. A part of Eurylochus is willing to take the fall and accept whatever Poseidon has in mind for "Odysseus" because 1) he loves his brother and 2) he does feel guilty for opening the wind bag.

But Odysseus, because he can't keep his mouth shut, is like "Um actually... I'm the king."

And Poseidon has to do a double-take because he didn't expect the omega of middling height to be the commander of the 600-person fleet.

Gonna be honest though, I think it'd only make him even more mad because he'd feel like Odysseus "tricked" or misled him. So yeah, sadly Ody will still lose most of his men.

I had someone else (@/3r0de) make the great suggestion that Circe might present herself as an omega at first, and I really like that since most strangers would be more willing to trust her that way. But when she faces off against Odysseus and notices that he's an omega as well, she changes tactics and transforms into an alpha to either overpower or seduce him.

Again, like canon, it wouldn't work because Odysseus is loyal like that, but still. It's a dirty trick, trying to take advantage of his omega sensibilities and his longing for his alpha wife.

And Zeus...

Zeus would take one look at Odysseus and be very tempted to offer him a different choice. (ie have sex with me or die) Odysseus is older and more chiseled than the pretty virgin maidens and cute young men that Zeus favors, but hey. An omega is an omega and a hole is goal.

Sadly, he's got to exact punishment and whatnot as the god of law and order or whatever. But u know what? After he smites all of Odysseus' remaining brothers-in-arms, if he ever wanted to sacrifice a bull to Zeus to get his attention... he's more than welcome ;)

Also Poseidon will be forever salty that a mortal omega managed to gut him like a fish with his own trident.

As for some of the other gods like Hermes and Aeolus, I don't think much would change. These two just give me the vibe that they'd be willing to mess around with Ody no matter his secondary gender

[lorax-devito]

Ahhh melvins fist kiss,such a lovely,romantic moment with such tenderness and definitely not el thinking and getting really happy over the fact that they might become siblings

okay I will admit malnourished fallopian tube can have some cute moments but this kiss just rubbed me the wrong way…it just seems very…forced and yeah,I get that ‘actions speak louder than words’ and all that but it’s just with the context it all just seems a bit…icky…

I’m not saying like forced himself into el but he kinda did,not in a technically bad way bc el never said no and all the complex stuff I’m not going to get into but by forced I mean that Mike got influenced or forced by Lucas and well el,she was fresh outta the lab she had no clue what was happening and as much as a want to regain my self from bringing up the whole ‘you’d be my brother’ incident (bc I bring it up a lot when comparing byler or using Melvin as an example for smth )I’m going too bc omg 😭the girl was not only okay with them just being bffs but she was exited over the idea of them being related and yeah,in els eyes that’s probably just friends considering the whole oh yeah,she was raised in a lab and called (I forgot her name) the other girl in leather her sister and papa told the other kids that they were all siblings and all that messed up stuff so ig she just sees siblings as friends or (the whole thing in s4 with her getting bullied in the lab and battered by the other kids In the lab) potential bullies.idk that’s just how I veiwed it but anyways here’s the byler stuff-

I’m leaning more onto the ‘passionate,sudden,I’ve gotta have you righty here right now’ kinda kiss with byler (if that’s the right way to explain it lol) but I also think a slow, gentle kiss with byler would be such a good contrast to mouldy eggs rushed kiss.the best way I can describe it is like the kiss in the fan fic ‘wills fluffy hair’ (I’ll link it at the bottom).

(I’m pretty sure that’s the right fic but they all kind of merge into one so if I got it wrong and realise I’ll change it later 💀)

if you can’t be bothered to read it basically Mike asks if will is okay,will cry’s bc he thinks Mike is lying/teasing him,it’s angst and I love it

basically the kids would be slow and Mike and will just taking their time,no interruptions,they keep asking each other is every inch or so that they move closer is okay and if anyone thinks ‘ewww that’s not hot or anything’ CONSENT IS MF HOT OK IM ALL FOR THE BIG ROMANTIC KISS WHERE THEY GO ALL IN AND ITS MESSY AND STUFF BUT IT CAN STILL BE ROMANTIC WITH CONSENT-okay,mini rant over,anyway they are both so terrified bc (Im pretty sure I’m quoting a fic rn😭god help me) is this allowed? Are they allowed to do this? It feels so wrong yet so right.

they have one small kiss,they’re lips barely touching or they are rlly close,noses brushing up against one another,neither one of them daring to be the one to break the small wall between their lips and omg I think I’ve done it again,good god I’ve quoted a fic,again😭

basically they are both so nervous and scared and then suddenly for one small moment everything goes away,they’re kissing and oh god it feels like heaven and then they both start crying and the just keep being big romantic,cheesy dorks and it’s emotional and all of the miscommunication gets cleared up and yeah,I just think that’s a nice way the byler kiss could go,I’m still a huge rain fight kiss fan (tbh I like most scenarios where they kiss and fall in live and are happy forever😭) but this is also nice,it itches a different kind a scratch,plus I just know that Noah would be able to pull his best acting skills out for that scene and melt our hearts which he’ll do anyway but we all know how this he is at crying scenes (I mean he’s had a lot of practice,I’m looking at you suffer bros🥲)

I think it’s is the right fic but as I said if I notice that I got it wrong then I’ll change it later,it’s still an amazing fic tho,so much angst😭😭

[nayatarot777]

how these mfs have you fucked up

read for a singular person if you’d like to

• pile one •

cards: knight of wands, king of wands, knight of swords, the emperor

for some reason, these people think that they can redirect your focus away from yourself and what you’ve got going on. what you’re building within your own life. your self-rulership is a trigger to them. your independence. your focus on asserting your wants and what you expect of your life and your desires. a lot of these people are very domineering and love to control people - but they obviously can’t with you. the way that they could try to redirect your energy is through petty gossip or trying to influence you to focus on shit that doesn’t benefit your personal growth. there’s self confidence that these people sense in you that is unmatched. for a lot of you, it’s your sexuality too. but whatever goals you have, you feel pretty capable of achieving them. and that’s why these mfs are intimidated. for those of you who are sex workers (i’m mainly seeing dominatrixes and onlyfans content creators), people are shocked at your energy of not giving af about being judged. i’m also seeing that a lot of you guys have smart ass mouths 😂 if someone’s got something to say to you, you’ll return their energy back to sender x5. you seem to be up on a figurative throne that nobody can get you off of. because you only listen to yourself and do what you want to do.

if you’d like a personal reading, please check out my pinned post 💞

• pile two •

cards: 4 of cups, 8 of cups, the hierophant, 10 of cups

these people really thought that your loyalty and commitments lied with them - despite them not giving you the emotional fulfilment that you needed and deserved. as if you’d never leave them in the dust like the dusties that they are. like you leaving was the most unrealistic thing. for some reason, these people felt like they had some imaginary ass authority over you - while doing nothing to deserve the respect of an authority figure. this could be a “parent” 😑. the fact that you’ve emotionally disconnected yourself from them and now that they see no signs of you giving af about their existence, now they’re feeling emotionally neglected. good for them. a lot of you have begun to build your dream life now that this person is no longer around you. this person knows that your connection to them is forever changed and transformed, whether they like it or not. but they have some delusional ass mindset where they have the power - somehow, in some way - to convince you to come back to them. this person may also have some sort of god-complex or they could use religion to emotionally abuse. Father God and Mother Gaia sure has something for this person - karma wise. especially Father Saturn (Satan)? yeah, this person has fucked up and they can go choke 🙃

if you’d like a personal reading, please check out my pinned post 💞

• pile three •

cards: page of cups, king of pentacles, 4 of pentacles (reversed), 9 of pentacles

these people don’t see the value in you. you may come across as very uplifting, unassuming, maybe even innocent. and because of this, these people have assumed that you have a lack of maturity within you. like you don’t seek stability in the connections that you invest into. little do they know that you take note of everything and gauge whether or not people are deserving enough of what you would give them if you were to actually take them seriously. they actually think that they’re someone who you value more than you value yourself. HA. bih please 😑. these people overestimate the importance that they have in your life. they could even assume that you have an unstable self esteem or something like that, and that you find validation in being likeable to other people, meaning that they assume that you’re easily played. but no. you’re just genuinely likeable. you’re not being a beg and a people pleaser by being nice to them. like, are these people okay or…? because ain’t no way someone being nice to you should gas you up that much. i’m sorry, that’s sad lmaoo. pray for these people y’all (if you want to 👀🤷🏾‍♀️). these people have now seen that the value that they once thought that they had in your life wasn’t that at all. they actually feel pretty dumb. pretty stupid. as they should. these people didn’t want to hold you down and give you any type of stability, thinking that it’s acceptable to be treating you like an option, or a “fun time” and shit, all because you were nice to them? so that must mean you’re dumb? dummies thinking they’re smart. damn 😪

if you’d like a personal reading, please check out my pinned post 💞

[wylanlupin]

Wolfstar Comfort Fest 2024

aka LU’S BIRTHDAYYYYYY (here late, but it was posted on her birthday 🤭)

Day 22 - Parenthood

A little slice of life in the Lupin household, on their first born’s birthday! (featuring pregnant Remus)

Happy Birthday (feat. Pregnant Remus Lupin)

Rating: General Audience

Category: Gen, Other

Pairing: WolfStar (Remus/Sirius)

Words: 2,8k

Main Tags: established Sirius/Remus, Trans Remus (ftm), Pregnant Remus, Genderfluid Sirius, Good Parents Hope/Lyall, OC Wolfstar Children, Domestic Tooth-Rotting Fluff

“Good Morning, sweetheart,” he sings and strokes through Conan's light brown curls, the same Remus has. A tired humble comes from under the blanket and Sirius has to smile at how similar Conan is to his father.

“It’s your sister’s birthday and today is the last day of your project week. You don’t want to miss this, do you?” The blanket moves and a tried mini-Remus looks at her with his eyes closed. “Juna’s birthday?”

“Yes, and Paddy’s gonna make pancakes so, up up!”

This promise does wonders and Conan climbs out of his bed and slinks tired into his bathroom. Sirius goes into Remus and her bathroom and showers quickly and brushes their teeth. On the way out, she looks after his husband who’s still fast asleep.

Grinning, they walk into the kitchen and starts making said pancakes, not only Remus’ favourite but also the favourite of their two children.

Through Juna’s loud music (thank god they don’t have neighbours right next to them), Remus wakes up and grabs the bedside next to him and it’s cold. Yeah, that won’t do it. Already grumpy, because how dare Sirius not cuddle him before getting up, he opens his eyes.

He lies on his back, just looking at the ceiling and listening to Juna’s music, that Sirius introduced her to. A big smile grows on Remus’ face, remembering that Sirius bought Juna tickets to this band. Because today is her birthday.

Today is Juna’s birthday!

As fast as a six month pregnant man can, he gets up and goes to brush his teeth and release his bladder. Knowing their daughter, Juna will take ages to get ready, just like Sirius. So he opens the door to his favourite little boy’ bathroom.

“Morning, peanut,” he greets Conan and helps him get ready. He already showered on his own and is currently sitting on the toilet but nothing else has happened.

Remus dries him off and tries to brush Conan’s hair. While he’s brushing his teeth, Remus collects his outfit for the day and helps Conan get it on. The entire week they had a Middle Age project week and the kids got to dress up and today is the last day.

The theatre kids are having a play and Conan is a knight. And there is nothing cooler than to walk through school as a knight. Sirius made the costume herself, it took forever but it’s the coolest thing Remus has ever seen.

And thankfully halloween is in two weeks, so it will still fit. And Conan comes after Remus with his height and will probably start growing at fifteen and always stay a little smaller than everyone else. Juna comes after Sirius in height and is already the tallest girl in her year.

[crying-fantasies]

Declaration of a robo-fucker

I think everyone has noticed to this point in my work that, as it is obvious, the many pieces of different transformers media are blended together.

Because every piece of media is valuable, be it north american, asian or whatever that comes, it feeds the little girl that once found something incredible in her uncle's pirated DVD collection when she was 5 years old, the very same little girl that learned English while watching with subtitles in bad quality how Optimus Prime declared that every life matters.

The very same girl that said how much she loved Optimus Prime in school and was bullied for it, with classmates harassing back an forth saying that she wasn't normal for liking a robot, her own teacher telling her parents that the original series for kids wasn't adequate for her age and it was giving strange ideas with inadequate romance.

A kid that was banned from her favorite series, had her poor and innocent uncle be reprimanded for showing a disrespectful cartoon that was giving strange ideas to his way too impressionable niece, an incredible uncle that only wanted to let her know of an alien species that fought for what was right and saw something special in earth and it's people.

A kid that was banned by herself to even think about it again, and if she did, she would do it with shame, one that tried to think about other things while at it because she could still hear the jokes about her and how she would be mother of a microwave.

A little girl that tried to forget but once again found a figment of her interest in the live action movies that, while not the pinnacle for majority, was enough to be accepted in some way, that got every penny in her possession to buy a ticket for herself and still be denied to use it because her parents said it wasn't normal she liked it so much, taking her to the psychiatrist instead of the movie theater while her mother asked God why her daughter couldn't be normal.

She was normal, I'm normal, Just because I like different things doesn't mean I'm that different, maybe not everyone writes about romance between alien robots and humans and that's okay.

So it's okay if I use fragments of the live action movies, be it from the Bumblebee ones or the Bayverse ones, because those were what I could get, especially the BV since my uncle was a fan too and he kept on giving me pirated DVDs under the table during family reunions where we should be normal in their own standards; I remember how the soldiers of NEST risked their lifes, their careers and their future as a whole to bring back Optimus Prime and protect the autobots from other humans, I saw Cade Jaeger risk everything to help the autobots while others said he was a traitor and wasn't normal, I saw Jetfire leave the decepticons for something better, give his life to save a planet in the middle of nowhere just because it was the right thing for him, and in his own words traduced to Spanish: ¿quién quiere vivir una vida llena de odio? (Isn't that what legends are made from?)

No one here is, but we also are, we just don't cut in their correct way of seeing things.

And, yeah, I like some things of the Bayverse, so what? The whole thing isn't perfect, hell, there is no media that's perfect so far because the 100 percent of our community can't agree in the same one, everyone has their own tastes, so don't go shaming me for liking these movies, and I'll keep on using some references in my works with them, you can ignore it or you can just stay away from my Tumblr, is as simple as that, there is no necessity to put the anonymous button to tell how lame my taste is or how ridiculous I'm for bringing up things in the movie or even dare to tell me my work sucks for those little things or to put it down from internet, because internet is eternal, nothing in there can be deleted forever, and it doesn't matter how many times you tell me that you like my content but hate those parts and even have the gall to insult me for it or tell me you'll steal my account to make it right to your tastes, my work will be safes somewhere of that im sure, and why do you want this account?! It isn't even more than a girl trying to create something she likes while other people also like it!

I love the live action movies because those reconnected me with something dear for me, I love the animated ones and I love the comics! All break my heart when someone dies, of course! Who didn't cry at least once when a loved character is gone?! But this is my fiction, this is my alternative universe, and I just want them to be happy and if I can then so be it.

So yeah, I've posted more than ever to spite you, because grow up or whatever, people won't do what you demand them for just because you want it, and yeah Cade and NEST and Lennox and Epps and many other characters of the movies exist in my AU! One way or another because I liked their characters and how they stay with the transformers because I would do the same if I could, help them as I could.

But everything is fiction and even now I'm facing and struggling to help people in a war that doesn't have feet or head and that's miles away from me, and it makes you ask how I can't do better or what the hell I'm supposed to do, which is stronger nowadays since I saw someone post a beautiful drawing of Optimus Prime (you know who you are and let me tell you again, your work made me cry in my path to work because yeah my life suck to it's down degree but there's people out there that are really suffering and need more help) declaring the freedom of every sentient being, and everyone should have freedom to do what they want for as long as it doesn't damage someone else, I just realize that there are better things to do and focus your energy on than harass me when you don't even know who I am.

Everyone has the right to post what they want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else, I don't want to hurt you, whoever you are, I just want you to realize how wrong it is to pester someone in what they are interested just because it isn't your taste, I'm sure you like something similar and that's great, but you can't force me to be like you, and I'm not forcing you to be like me, you can go to other places to search what you like and that's fine.

This is a safe place, I want it to remain like that by deleting every message of yours and be done with it.

[flamevbirdv]

my favorite podfics: stevetony ❣️

Out of all the ways fandom creates transformative works, one of my favorites is podfics, so I want to rec some. I'll start with stevetony because these were the ones that started my love for podfics. Enjoy!

I (created from fantasies) exist solely for you by Mizzy, read by badfinch (Badfinch1): MCU

Six years ago, without the Avengers Initiative there to save the day, scientist Dr. Eric Selvig sacrificed himself to save the world, the almighty demi-god Thor was lost to a terrible storm, and vigilante Iron Man – spotted with a nuclear weapon trying to take advantage of the situation – was forever labelled an enemy of SHIELD. This is a comic book office AU, where Steve is defrosted a year too late, Thor has forgotten who he is, and no one knows Tony is Iron Man. Also includes: office pranks, inappropriate post-it notes, and superheroes who like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Do It Over by Sineala read by miss_marina95: 616

The last words your soulmate says to you are written on your skin, and you won't know who they are until they die. The thing is, Steve and Tony die a lot.

I Always Have to Steal My Kisses from You by blue_jack read by Annapods: MCU

Okay, so Tony probably hadn’t realized what he was doing. He’d just had a near-death experience, and the kiss had been a way to . . . reaffirm his life. Deal with his emotions. Release some steam. Something like that. Nothing to be concerned about, and it’s doubtful that it’ll happen again. The fact that they risk their lives on a regular basis isn’t worrying at all.

Four (Or Five) Reasons for Kidnapping Tony Stark by scifigrl47 read by Hananobira: MCU

There are four reasons for kidnapping Tony Stark. Tony's sick of all of them. Well, there's potentially a fifth, but it's highly unlikely that Captain America will suddenly fulfill THAT fantasy. Tony's deeply disappointed about that. Steve Rogers, as always, is oblivious. At least, that is, until someone who isn't him kidnaps Tony. Then he's just pissed.

The Most Amazing Things (Some Terrible Lie), by copperbadge read by cookiemom6067: MCU

Tony's decision not to reveal his identity as Iron Man to the world was shrewd and calculated. Too bad it's about to backfire on him like a Jericho missile.

Never Too Late For Love by Sineala read by Cathalinareads: Ultimates

Steve has always believed that a soulbond is a blessing -- a rare and beautiful miracle, joining the thoughts and feelings of two people forever, from the first time they touch. Steve knows he's not going to be one of the lucky ones. He knows Gail isn't his soulmate. But he loves her, even if they're not soulmates, and he's going to do right by her. After the war's over, he's going to marry her, and they're going to settle down. They'll buy a house. They'll have children. He'll see his family again. Maybe Bucky will live next door. It's going to be a good life. He doesn't need a soulbond. He'll be fine without one. Then Steve wakes up sixty years in the future to find that his wonderful life has moved on without him. His family is long dead. His fiancée married his best friend. And the only purpose he has left is leading the Ultimates, a misbegotten team of superheroes with flaws too numerous to count. Steve hates everything about the future -- but most of all he detests Tony, flashy and flirtatious, who embodies everything Steve hates about a world he never wanted to live in. And, oh, yeah, Steve has a soulmate after all: Tony fucking Stark.

Bonus:

Robot Trip by copperbadge read by blackglass: MCU

Steve Rogers & Tony Stark background Tony Stark/Pepper Potts

"Tony is driving from Malibu to Manhattan with a robot in the back seat and Captain America riding escort at Pepper's behest. What could possibly go wrong?"

[dent-de-leon]

Listening to "Bedtime" from the Little Mermaid soundtrack and just,,,, thinking about how Taliesin said Molly was based on mermaids and not having a soul but Ariel gets her happy ending in the disney version and Kingsley gets a happy ending with the Nein and just,,,,

Taliesin Jaffe how dare you do this to me on this, our pride month

AH yes I love that Mollymauk is Taliesin's interpretation of a mermaid so much, it's so fascinating and tragic and bittersweet. Also, I just listened to the song and it's lovely. Makes me very nostalgic.

But yeah, that clip of Taliesin explaining his initial pitch for Molly still just breaks my heart. His acknowledgement that, "Mermaids are fucked," because they supposedly exist without a soul, "Empty" and eternally doomed from the start...it's just so tragic. "I want a body where the soul left, and the body just kept moving. Whatever was in there got pulled out, and went to the Raven Queen. And they just kept walking, like a mermaid--no soul....just someone who was a total blank slate."

And while he does get the fairytale happy end and get to live on with his loved ones, I think Tealeaf's narrative very closely mirrors the darker aspects of Hans Christian Andersen's original version. Especially given the premise of a being without a soul--someone who was supposed to be forever Empty, yet still became whole--

And one of my personal favorite mermaid parallels: A deal made with a witch for an impossible dream. Offering up a vital part of yourself in exchange for a false hope that can never truly be. To me, it echoes both Lucien's own family bargaining away their child to a hag--as well as Lucien later offering himself to the Somnovem. He might not have known Azrahari always planned to keep him as one of her puppets--"My beautiful boy...I had hoped to make you mine one day. What a perfect specimen you would have made. Oh, how you would have been merry with laughter and dance..." But he always lived in fear that it was a possibility.

His parents abused both him and his siblings, were willing to offer up one of their two remaining children to a witch for some fantasy; they passively stood by while they forced Lucien to lure victims to a deadly hag as a mere child--marks who were often bandits, murderers, and monsters as surely as the witch. Abandoning Lucien to them and Azrahari both. Azrahari, who promises she can finally make Lucien happy, return him to those childhood days of song and laughter and dance, if only he would let her carve out his soul--

Again and again, Lucien is promised happiness and safety at the cost of his own freedom and autonomy. The witch can take all his pain away, he just has to surrender all his willpower to her. Exist forever as a hollowed out, Empty shell, her glassy-eyed cadaver of a doll to puppet and put on display.

And the Somovem can make all of his dreams come true, can make his fairytale Once upon a time and happily ever after a reality, he just has to submit to their thrall completely. And, like with the Little Mermaid, it will also come at the cost of unimaginable pain. A girl who can dance beautifully, but every step feels like shards of glass in her feet. The pain of her transformation never leaving her. The Somnovem promising Lucien the whole world, and when he asks what it will cost, they decree, "Pain and pain and pain. A dear price for a man, a pittance for a king, and nothing to a God, cosmically ordained."

And while the Little Mermaid longs to meet her love, she also mourns the fact that, while mermaids live far longer than humans, they have no immortal soul. No eternity or gods or heaven awaits them. They merely fade away, dissolve into seafoam and cease to be. (Just a body without a soul, an abandoned vessel. Hollow. Empty.)

I don't think it's a coincidence that's the fate that awaits all mermaids--and that when Lucien dies, his soul is scattered into dust across the Astral Sea. "It's one thing to be in a different body, it's another to have your very essence scattered. Your very immortal soul divided into pieces, like so much confetti. I believe you seemed to fall for one of those pieces that stuck behind..."

To me though, a parallel that really stands out is the narrative culminating in a decision where you have to either kill someone you love or turn that blade on yourself. Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid is granted a last gift at her darkest hour--a way out where she doesn't have to fade away into nothingness. A chance to live on with her family beneath the sea--a family who loved her enough to barter with the sea witch for one last chance at her freedom. And all it will cost is a dagger through the prince's heart.

But of course she can't bear to go through with it. She tosses the witch's dagger into the sea and falls after it to her death, choosing to sacrifice herself instead of the person she loves. And Mollymauk? When faced with the reality that he could only save the Nein by tearing apart Lucien--and himself along with him--he doesn't even hesitate.

He digs his claws into his own wound and lets himself fall to pieces. He never once thinks of self preservation, tries to barter or plead or find a way to save himself at the last moment. He knows either the Nein will survive or the Nonagon will--and perhaps through him, a part of Molly, even just a piece--but he chooses a painful, agonizing death over Lucien's warped perception of godhood and eternity.

All Mollymauk has ever wanted was to live--in spite of how harsh and cruel the world always was to him. He still wanted nothing more than to walk Exandria and fill that clawing Emptiness with joy and love, have just one more day out of the grave to live and feel and be almost real. And still, he chooses to offer up himself if it means sparing everyone else. When Matt narrates Kingsley's nightmares of Cognouza, he emphasizes that to Tealeaf, "It was worth it. It was worth it." As long as it's to protect the people he loves, letting himself pay the blood price will always be worth it--

"Looking out from within your prison, pushing against your invisible bonds--when your heart found the strength, giving all that you are to help those who gave you purpose in return. It was worth it. It was worth it...The moment you gave yourself and broke your prison. The lights, so many around you free to move on. The warm catharsis of letting go..."

Like the merfolk of the original tale, when Mollymauk sacrifices himself, it's not just death that he faces. It's total oblivion. Offering up all that he is. And he does it gladly.

But when the Little Mermaid sacrifices herself, she is welcomed by warmth, and light. Given a chance to earn an immortal soul through good deeds. And by the same token, when Mollymauk tears apart both the Nonagon and himself, he falls back into the Moonweaver's welcoming embrace. Given another chance by both her and the Wildmother--divine, higher powers that looked at this supposedly "Empty" vessel and saw a warm, bleeding heart. A "forgotten fragment" that was loved so much--and loved so fiercely and selflessly in turn--they became real and whole.

“Light gathers around the body, the magic attempting to reach out into whatever space holds the souls here in the Astral Sea, as so many go scattering outward now to search for one. A fragment of one. Or is it a whole one? If souls can grow from but a piece…”

I think it's both terribly tragic and heartwarmingly bittersweet that Mollymauk's ending echoes the Little Mermaid's own--a gutting sacrifice that leads to hope and a new beginning. A second chance and a soul made whole. Being saved and held together by the very love you sacrificed yourself for. It's also suitably a very romantic end to me, which fits Tealeaf perfectly. And the fact that the character who was inspired by mermaids goes on to become a pirate king...I do wonder if Taliesin did that on purpose, because I think it's adorable--

Anyway, I love Mollymauk, and all the Little Mermaid parallels, and wish we could listen to Taliesin talk about mer inspired Molly more. Also, this bit of character building makes mer widmauk one of my favorite au's--

[voltrixz]

Favorite blorbo and why ? You must tell me your lore

STARES AT YOU WITH GLEAMING WIDE EYES AND SMILES RLLY WIDE. (I WILL BE RAMBLING A LOT)

I cant narrow it down to just one so you'll be hearing about my current top 4 (putting the rambles under a read more because erm. THIS SHIT IS LONG AS FUCK, I RAMBLED SO MUCH...)

Auditor (Madness combat): LOVE LOVE SHADOWY CHARACTERS WITH GLOWING EYES. AND EXTRA BONUS POINTS IF THEY HAVE ELEMENTAL RELATED POWERS. And well Auditor is very funny to me. Essentially a major antag but he like rarely shows up, hes just in his dinky office drinking soda (canonically has a sweet tooth and HEHE). Also said to be canonically not the brightest which like this mf has a whole agency dedicated to kill ONE guy and still fails. Also struggles with hand to hand combat, like what is is their problem. This guy is basically a god and this whole thing is their one job yet HE SUCKS AT IT!!!!!!!! And they're such a show-off and so dramatic about it and AGRHRHRHRHR strange guy. I like him a lot.

Phobos (Madness Combat): What is his problem. Like geniuely. This guy is so ?????? LIke he was the leader of the biggest cities in Nevada, had people full under his control. And he was willing to drive the whole city and Nevada into pure destruction to achieve his selfish goals born out of his MASSIVE EGO and self entitlement and his belief of him being a god. Yet he failed. But HE HAD A BACK UP PLAN, HE WAS PREPARED AND HE STILL GETS HIS ASS KICKED. Like this guy. He'd be as pathehic as Auditor but like. his influence over Nexus City and the narrative is SO GAHRHRHJ, rlly interesting guy. He is very often played off as a joke but like. gneiuly such an interesting guy that forever changed the course of the narrative.

Electro (TSSM): i mean. I mentioned liking characters with elemental related powers and well. "Volt" is literally in my name so you can take a guess on which elemental power I rlly like. (ELECTRICITY!!!!! I LOVE ELECTRICITY RELATED CHARACTERS/THINGS!!!!) And also AGRHRHR what a guy. WHAT A GUY I TELL YOU!!!!!! Gets his life completely turned upside down by a workplace accident. Freaks out and lashes out (understandable I would have killed a man) and its only downhill from there because this guy cannot make a good decision for the life of him and he is TERRIBLE at managing his frustrations. He is also terrible at handling any kind of relationships, the ultimate fumbler. The fact we first see him as just a your average typical guy but as he descents further and further into villiany it kinda makes you question about who he was before. BECAUSE THE SUPER INTERESTING THING IS OUT OF ALL THE VILLAINS IN TSSM, HE IS THE ONE WHO WE SEE THE LEAST BEFORE HIS TRANSFORMATION. super interesting to me. Also his design fuckin rocks. And hes trans coded as hell, so double win (hes just like me fr...) Also i both need him and need TO BE HIM. but yeah.

Shocker (TSSM): I need him so bad. WHO SAID THAT. WHO SAID THAT. ok but like. He's a cowboy and hes a hired merc. And he's given a dumb looking suit when doing so at some point. He literally comes up with his villain name by using A FUCKIN PUN/QUIP WHEN HE FIRST MEETS SPIDERMAN. I hope he gets hit by a truck. LIE. Idk hes a very ??? guy to me. Because unlike the other villain he has a no personal vendetta against Spiderman, he was just hired to take him down and well thats his job and hes dedicated to it so thats what he does. Also hes wayy more comfortable with quips and such, and AGRHRH despite appearing the more rational and level headed of the villains, he has RLLYYYY bad temper and hates hits at his ego (which spiderman and his boss's right hand man do ) Also hes the one who's way more involved in the criminal underground and AGRHRHHR its so interesting to piece together his relationships within that underground. Also he has a bar and he plays pool, very cool. Also he hates working with the other villains (the rest of the s6) and would rather work with the enforcers (his orignal team) since he sees all of them as amateurs and only sticks around because his boss told him too like AGRHR he hates their asses... LIKE AGHRHR idk hes such a guy. Hes so different from the rest of the villains and yet. agrhrhrhr agrhrh. A lot of story and dynamic potiental there. AGRHRH

[scuderlia]

haircut!anon again: ok. wow. had to slam my phone down in my uni computer lab and wait until i could string together a coherent thought again. first off like au itself on back burner your MIND and the way you construct this narrative is INCREDIBLE and so raw adn true and pulling on the queer (as in deviant and as in gay) hair experince sooo deeply i feel soooooo deeply you are a magician. further. i was PICTURING max in braids and god fuck the tenderness of charles and max setting their mise en place and sitting together and braiding her hair before their prey comes in…. god. jesus. i can't stop re-reading the snippets. FUCK! sorry this isn't coherent thoughts after all. max and control and cutting charles' hair. fuck me uppp….

anon! i spent so long smiling like an idiot because of this ask, at this point you're basically my betrothed <3

but yeah, you get it. at the core of max and charles' relationship is truly their hounded devotion and acceptance of one another. the queer experience really is defined by those you hold close, and it's been interesting (for me) to try and thread that idea through this greater story about desire and hunger in a way that feels genuine. i've pulled on a lot of my personal experiences of being a young lesbian and being guarded about sexuality, but ultimately it all comes back to (like you mentioned) the idea of relinquishing some control and feeling comfortable enough with someone to let go of the safety of doing things alone.

i also love love love giving characters their own little rituals, and seeing as how max and charles both have a lot of emotional connections to their hair/haircuts/etc. the braids were an easy decision.

(more about max and her relationship to hair below the cut)

there's this really interesting article by Amelia Abraham titled 'What butch queer identity has to do with hair' that got put out by Dazed in 2022. it primarily covers a photography exhibition called Close Shave—which centers itself around butch haircuts and identity—but also goes into the cultural relevance of 'masc' hairstyles and their role in queer (mainly lesbian) expression.

i remembered and re-read it when i was in the early stages of fleshing-out max's character. i recommend the article to everyone, but especially people who are maybe looking to better understand the history of butch optics, and kind of where i'm coming from with some of max's characterization.

(see one of my favorite quotes from the article below)

While having short hair and identifying as butch don’t necessarily come as a pair, for butch people, haircuts can be transformational – getting your hair cut off brings you closer to your gender identity.

like I mentioned in the the answer to your previous ask, max's haircut kind of serves as a physical manifestation of her relationship with her father, and more specifically, how that relationship influences her feelings of shame (and eventually acceptance) towards her own sexuality.

part of the reason that max is so struck by charles saying she'd let her cut her hair is in large part because, for max, hair is incredibly representative of an individual's ability to control how others perceive and relate to them. by breaking the ritual with her mother, charles is essentially showing max that she not only finds comfort with her, but also trusts her enough to have her identity placed in her hands.

i could honestly talk about this forever... since body politics and queerness are things i'm just genuinely very passionate about... but i will save the innocent bystanders of this blog from having to read through all of that in one sitting.

(anyways, i'm so happy that people are as invested in this as i am... keep sending me long asks like this... if you couldn't already tell i'll take any opportunity to talk more about this au)

[howsitduud]

Ranking Every Single Piece of Media I Watched/Played/Read in 2024 Part 1

The title says it all, really.

I have kept a list of every single thing piece of media I have watched/played/read this year and now I will rank them all. Everything is fair game with this list, be it movies, tv shows, video games, musicals, plays, books, analog horror series, music albums (if I listened to any). If I first consumed it this in 2024, then it's fair game for this list. The only things I'm not including are Youtube videos because that seems like a lot.

For this part of the list, I will be going through the bottom to top, starting with the worst thing I watched all year and ending with the best. Part 2 is after this, so keep watch.

Megamind vs The Doom Syndicate - 1/10 - Easily one of the worst animated movies I’ve ever seen in my life. It is so lifeless and dull, not just in terms of animation, but also in terms of the writing. Megamind is straight up not the same character he was in the original, Minion’s name was changed for no reason, Roxanne has literally nothing to do except become mayor at the end for no reason, the new characters are annoying, and aside from ONE JOKE, this movie is painfully unfunny. I can’t believe Despicable Me’s low point was better than Megamind’s.

Ouija - 2/10 - Who’d ever think that a movie about a Ouija board would be bad? Imagine every single horror movie cliche you’ve ever seen and heard of done in the most boring, incomprehensibly stupid way. You have now imagined a movie that is a hundred times better than this.

Battleship - 2/10 - I was dreading watching this movie for years and after conquering my fear and putting it on, yep it was as bad as I thought. The characters are ass, the alien stuff takes forever to get going, and the action itself is so slow. I would rather watch actual Battleship gameplay.

DnD: Wrath of the Dragon God - 2/10 - This name is way too good for this movie. There’s a fun moment once every 20 minutes but other than that, it’s bland, generic, poorly acted straight to DVD schlock that has nothing to do with the first besides Domodar being in it.

Christmas Again - 3/10 - I will give this two compliments: The concept of a time-loop Christmas movie is a good one, and there’s sometimes a good joke. Other than that, this movie is a dumpster fire of horrible writing and worse characters. The main character is insufferable, and I just wanted it to be over so I can hang ornaments.

Dungeons and Dragons - 3/10 - Yeah, this movie is bad, what’d you expect. Every single character walks the spectrum between boring as shit or annoying as shit, especially Snails and Ridley, two of the main characters. The only things that gave me any sort of joy was the horrible special effects and Jeremy Irons playing the hammiest villain he’s ever done since Scar. Honor Among Thieves is better + L + ratio.

Power Rangers - 3/10 - Oh, goody, another classic property that had all the charm and fun sucked out of it for a boring, basic, lifeless remake that adds nothing to the franchise. The only net positive here is Billy Cranston, who is the best and I would give my life to.

Transformers: The Last Knight - 3/10 - Well, it’s better than the previous one. It’s still visually bland and the plot is borderline incoherent at times and the acting sucks and the aspect ratio changes actively got on my nerves, but at least Cogman, Nitro Zeus and Sir Burton were fun characters.

Madame Web - 3/10 - Yeah, it’s bad, but like, not that bad. I get a lot of ironic enjoyment out of how stupidly written every single aspect of this movie is and how most actors here just have no interest in actually making a good movie. I will say that Sydney Sweeney does a good job here, and Webb’s powers can make for decent editing and visuals, but this is a perfect “get drunk and watch with your friends” type movie.

DnD: The Book of Vile Darkness - 3/10 - The second best D&D movie, only because some of the action scenes and magic spells were pretty cool and there’s a single character I liked. Otherwise, it’s still a poorly-acted, poorly-written, ugly as hell fantasy movie. It was also impossible to find, so fuck you for that.

Jem and the Holograms - 4/10 - This was a theatrical release and that is the only memorable part of the movie. It’s just your standard generic pop star movie chicanery, with the editors using random Youtube videos and fans celebrating the original Jem show to pad the runtime.

Red One - 4/10 - Not as bad as I was expecting, but it was still bad. Occasionally, there’s a hilariously bad moment or an unironically good action scene (plus Krampus was good), but other than that, this is a self-serious, tacky, unfun action slop with a Christmas coating on top of it.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation - 4/10 - This is exactly what I thought the first movie was gonna be like. It has its moments, namely the mountainside action scene, but this is as bland and generic as 2010s action movies get with none of the personality the first movie had. They don’t even scream “Yo Joe!”

Snake Eyes - 4/10 - The action is surprisingly great, but the story and concept of the movie is so dogass that I can’t bring myself to like it. Whoever thought to make a Snake Eyes movie that has him maskless and talking the whole time while not even bothering to explain why he’s mute later on should go immediately to jail.

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie - 4/10 - It’s just an hour and a half long episode of the show, and not a good episode at that. The villain is annoying, barely anything happens, but there are at least a few fun moments to keep my attention. Also the rubber suits are back THANK GOD.

Maestro - 5/10 - By far the weakest Best Picture nominee this year, but it’s not that bad. Carey Mulligan is good, the beginning is well shot and edited, but all that energy is lost in a painfully average middle and a good end that hits a little too close to home for me. Thank god this didn’t win any Oscars.

Town Hall - 5/10 - The performance I watched had great acting and phenomenal sound design, but in terms of the story, there is none. It’s intentionally vague to fit with any time period or issue. While I like that conceptually, the execution was just not there. Also wild to watch that before election week.

Kung Fu Panda 4 - 5/10 - Incredibly beautiful animation, fight sequences and visual gags wasted on by far the worst script in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Dreamworks had a mixed bag of a year, but at least they gave us more time with Po’s gay dads. More movies should’ve done that.

MLP: Rainbow Roadtrip - 5/10 - It has some decent characters and songs, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this is just a worse version of The Crystal Empire, made even worse since the movie character designs are back, but without the budget to make them look any good.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 5/10 - Easily the weakest Mario platformer I’ve played so far, but it’s still a decently fun experience. It’s boring in terms of the aesthetic and overall gameplay, but Coin Rush is a cool gimmick, some levels and worlds are fun and challenging, but the boss fights are fucking awful and worse than the ones in Wonder. Yeah, that’s possible.

Echo - 5/10 - Sure is a show that exists. I liked Maya in the Hawkeye show, and her story is still pretty interesting, but not a lot happens in this show and it makes Kingpin look super weak and unintimidating, especially with that last episode. Like a lot of MCU projects post-Endgame, this will probably get worse the longer I think about it.

MLPEG: Better Together - 6/10 - Never expected there to be a Red VS Blue-style Equestria Girls webseries, but here we are. It’s perfectly fine, but with this being the last bit of content for the most popular My Little Pony generation, I would’ve expected there to be more.

Percy Jackson S1 - 6/10 - The biggest disappointment of the entire year. It’s better than the movies, no doubt about that, but the slow pace of the show and how badly written a lot of the dialogue and characters are make me feel like I’m watching a poor imitation of the books, which would be fine if the author didn’t write for the show. That being said, it’s still Percy Jackson, you’re gonna have to fuck the story up a lot more to get me to hate it.

MLPEG: Spring Breakdown - 6/10 - Rainbow Dash is pretty annoying, not a lot happens until the end, and the pacing is hella off, but Sunset, Sci-Twi and Rainbow Dash going to Equestria was a nice surprise, and the ending with the Storm King was tense and fun.

Star Wars: Hunters - 6/10 - A pretty fun, but not super deep Overwatch clone. Being a mobile game ported to Switch, there’s plenty of graphical updates to be desired and there are way too many currencies and microtransactions to keep track of, but the core gameplay is fun enough to make it good for a “free” game.

Past Lives - 6/10 - I really want to love this movie, but I can’t. I really liked the writing and there were some scenes that hit me emotionally, but I am just not into romance movies at all. You have to have some great filmmaking or talented performers to keep me purely invested in a movie that’s just about romance, but this movie didn’t have those things at all. At least it ends in a super mature and interesting way.

Super Mario Land - 6/10 - Out of all the Super Mario games, it’s certainly one of them. Props to it for being unique with its setting and level design, but it’s super short, super janky, and it doesn’t look that good, especially in comparison to its sequel. You can tell it was a launch title for the Gameboy.

Convent of Pleasure - 6/10 - This is a play about a woman who opens a convent full of just women havin a hot girl summer. It’s perfectly fine and as an early modern feminist piece, it’s pretty good. Madam Happy and the Princess were obvious highlights, but the way the play ends with the secret man who came into the convent is not the best. Make the ending gayer and it would be a 10/10.

Death Proof - 6/10 - Easily Tarantino’s worst movie. The extended cut adds some of the worst directed and acted scenes in his entire filmography, and the Grindhouse cut is better, but there’s still some serious pacing issues. That ending was a fucking 10/10, though. That’s pure Tarantino.

August: Osage County - 6/10 - I read the play and watched a bootleg back in highschool, so I knew what to expect, and yep. This is a decent enough adaptation of a decent enough play. The acting is good, but it feels too awards-baity at times. Also suffering through Benedict Cumberbatch’s American accent is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Robodunk - 6/10 - A cute little indie game about robot basketball. The most striking things about this game is a) the art style replicating stop-motion LEGO films and b) the rogue-lite style of the story mode. It’s not necessarily my cup of dunk, but it’s still fun.

Woman of the Hour - 6/10 - Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut is very simple, but I was pretty much hooked from start to finish. Having never heard of the original story, I was interested in seeing where the movie would go from scene to scene. I will be watching her career with great interest.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit - 6/10 - A pretty great, but pretty dated early Mario Kart. It’s a struggle to get a handle on the steering and drifting, but the maps are still pretty fun, especially Sky Garden and Sunset Wilds. Imagine those courses being fun to play and not missing key elements of their designs wow crazy.

X - 6/10 - Never thought I’d see a horror movie where a horny old lady kills people making a porno, but never say never. This movie is well shot, gorey, but the plot takes a while to get going and I really don’t like a few of the characters. RJ, I get it, but take a look at what kind of movie you’re making.

Pom Poko - 6/10 - A pretty good, if not super well-written movie about raccoons fighting deforestation with their balls. What’s not to love? I would’ve liked some better characterization for our main raccoons, but the story is still fun, and the ending is pretty bleak for a movie like this. That’s not a bad thing.

MLPEG: Rollercoaster of Friendship - 6/10 - It’s pretty fun all things considered, and Rarity being gay for Applejack is always a plus, but the villain hard tanks this special. She’s so annoying, she’s derivative of another villain, and her redemption at the end is rushed.

Drive-Away Dolls - 6/10 - This movie should’ve been called Diners, Drive-Aways, and Dykes, but whatever. This movie is weird, queer, and generally pretty fun. While a lot of the humor doesn’t hit, the characters are fun and likable, the plot is fast and interesting, and the editing is fucking hilarious.

Tales From Earthsea - 6/10 - Better than I was expecting. It’s not a very good movie, since there’s plenty of filler content and the characters aren’t that special, but I did like the worldbuilding and the animation, plus there’s a few charming characters and Willem Dafoe plays the villain, so the choice was made for me to like it.

MLPEG: Holidays Unwrapped - 6/10 - It’s sad that the one of the last things in G4 of MLP was a half-baked compilation film, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Twilight convinces everyone to not commit crimes, Flim and Flam commit crimes, a war happens outside Pinkie’s home, it’s all pretty fun.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - 6/10 - It’s still fun, creative, and inventive with its humor and visual style, just like the first movie, but the plot is way too unfocused and lame. I could’ve done without the ghost boy subplot or the new age stepdad subplot if it meant spending more time with Mr. Juice and Dolores.

MaXXXine - 6/10 - I watched half of this movie shitfaced so I could be misremembering things, but I enjoyed it well enough. It's fine enough, but it’s really unfocused and turns into a completely different movie by the end. Still, the scene where Maxine almost gets mugged at the beginning made me feel a certain type of way.

Super Mario 3D Land - 6/10 - A good 3D Mario game and a great showcase of what the 3DS is capable of, especially with how it uses the stereoscopic 3D in certain levels. The only thing is that 3D World is just a better version of this game and I was constantly thinking how I’d have more fun playing that game instead.

G.I. Joe: The Movie - 6/10 - Not much to say about it that isn’t blatantly obvious. Animation is beautiful, the story is bonkers in the best possible way, and the villains are some of the best in Hasbro’s lineup. Still, Duke living at the end felt like the biggest ass-pull and feels like a late-stage change more than anything.

Big Cats - 6/10 - It’s a lesbian cowboy erotica, what else do you want me to say? It’s not really that spicy, but the story and characters are pretty solid. I can’t wait to see what the author has in story in the next book or in her Dragon yuri webtoon.

American Fiction - 7/10 - It’s a bit on the pretentious side and the two plotlines in this movie barely intersect, but I still think it’s a great satire and a funny as hell movie. The ending bits slay me everytime I think about them, I can’t believe that’s how they chose to end it.

Another Crab’s Treasure - 7/10 - Crab Dark Souls is pretty fun, but it has a lot of problems. The writing is hit-or-miss, and while the combat and exploration is fun, the game is incredibly buggy. It could just be the Switch port, but I’ve seen other people playing on PC complain about it as well.

Porco Rosso - 7/10 - A solid, but not too special movie in Ghibli’s caliber. It’s pretty funny and I like Porco as a character, but the rest of the characters aren’t that interesting and I really wish everyone in the movie didn’t fall in love with the 17 year old girl. Still, it’s a good time and it made me hungry for bacon.

OPM: Road to Hero - 7/10 - It’s my first time going through the One Punch Man OVAs, and this is one of the better ones. I like seeing Saitama struggling through his earlier days and the ending where he gets his costume is great, but I would’ve loved better villains that aren’t a fish in BDSM gear.

From Up on Poppy Hill - 7/10 - Yeah, yeah the incest scare in the middle is bad, but aside from that, this is a pretty cute movie. The characters are fun, the plot to save Latin Quarter is fun, it’s mostly a solidly fine Ghibli fare. Also Shun’s english voice sounds like Cookie Masterson and that made me happy.

MLPEG: Magical Movie Night - 7/10 - Dance Magic was alright with a great song at the end, Movie Night was really undercooked, and Mirror Magic was great! I wish that we had more time with the last short, but I still had a fun time with this movie/anthology/compilation.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - 7/10 - This movie is rad as hell. I love the action choreography, I love the super cheesy villains, I love the practical effects, I love how this movie oozes 90’s cheese, I love almost everything about this movie. If the last 30 minutes or so were hacked off, I’d say this movie is a solid 9/10!

Hazbin Hotel S1 - 7/10 - I don’t get the hate with this show. Yeah, the edgy humor can be bad at times, but I still thought the setting was creative enough to carry the plot forward. There’s also some great characters, voice performances, and some slick as hell songs, especially “Poison.”

My Neighbors the Yamadas - 7/10 - This is a cute little anthology movie about bits and pieces of a family’s life and that is about it. I do really love the art style, but it’s something that The Tale of the Princess Kaguya does so much better.

The Color Purple - 7/10 - Never seen the original movie before this, so I was really invested in this story and the characters. Great performances helped this movie out a lot, and while I didn’t necessarily need the musical bits, I still loved the songs.

I Saw the TV Glow - 7/10 - I absolutely love not only the visual flair this movie has, but also how deep and in-depth the metaphor about being trans (or queer as a whole really) is. The problem is that I don’t really like the characters or the story and that is a big problem for a movie to have.

The Terminal - 7/10 - A cute little movie, but that’s about it. Tom Hanks does an incredible job, especially during the beginning when Viktor doesn’t even know English yet, but other than that and a couple of cute and well-done scenes, not a lot of this movie intrigued me. The romance subplots weren’t that great, the overall filmmaking isn’t that special, but I liked it well enough.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - 7/10 - What the fuck, this movie was actually good? I mean, it’s not a great movie, but I had a fun time with these characters and the editing and action were surprisingly great. Nothing to do about the hammy writing or the awful CGI, but I still liked this a lot more than I thought.

An Extremely Goofy Movie - 7/10 - Not as good as the first (because there’s no songs >:( ), but still a damn fun movie. I don’t like how Max seems to regress as a character, but Goofy getting his degree and a girlfriend and the respect of everyone on campus is so fun to watch. Also that coffee shop lady gave me gender envy and I’m sad now.

The Girl From the Sea - 7/10 - Not really much to say about this book. It’s fun, it’s cute, it’s got lesbians in it, what else is there to say? I do wish there was more depth to this story, it is a pretty basic coming-of-age graphic novel, but I liked the supernatural elements and Keltie was really adorable.

Jackbox Party Pack 5 - 7/10 - Zeeple Dome and YDNJ were fun, Mad Verse City and Patently Stupid were the highlights of the night for the people I played with, but Split the Room really drags this pack down. Still, one bad game doesn’t hurt the 4 other fun ones.

The Tempest - 7/10 - Holy hell, Christopher Plummer could act. There’s not much to say about this play that hasn’t been said in the past 400 years, so I’m just gonna say I like the magical elements and how convoluted Prospero’s plan is and I fucking hate Stephano and Trinculo with a passion.

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure - 7/10 - A pretty good comedy and an excellent showcase of Tim Burton’s talents as a director, since this was his first movie as director. It’s very cute and funny at times, but I personally find Pee Wee to be a kinda annoying character. I also can’t see him without thinking of Paul Rubens’s big adventure to prison.

Mario Party 3 - 7/10 - A decent Mario Party game, easily one of the better N64 games I’ve played. Most of the boards are fun, the duel maps are quick, the minigames are stupid in a good way, and Daisy and Waluigi were added to the series here. What’s not to love?

Challengers - 7/10 - Can’t believe the bisexuals convinced me to watch a tennis movie man. I liked the story and the acting here, but I really wish that Tashi was a more developed character. She’s essentially the lead and all the development she gets comes in towards the end while the gay boys get so much more. Still, this is the best representation of bisexuality, so I’ll take it.

Straight Outta Nowhere - 7/10 - I would consider this to be a masterpiece if I was actually invested in Courage. Never watched more than a few episodes of the show, but I still enjoyed this movie. There are some neat bits of animation, there are plenty of funny jokes, and it’s a great ending to a show I wanna watch someday.

Measure For Measure - 7/10 - Wikipedia says that this play is a comedy, but this is a comedy in the same way that a tomato is a fruit. This is one of Shakespeare’s better plays, but that’s entirely because of the Duke. What a dramatic lil bitch, I love him so much.

A Goofy Movie - 7/10 - This is a really sweet, pretty fun movie about Goofy reconnecting with his son. Max and most of the other characters were fine, but the star of the show is Goofy. I love most of his antics and the way he grew as a character with his son is sweet.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - 7/10 - As someone who’s a casual fan of the newer PotA movies, this is definitely the weakest one I’ve seen. It’s not a bad movie at all, but the characters (save for Racka and Proximus) aren’t as interesting as Caesar or Colonel. Still, the action is great, the story is well-written, and the visuals are top tier.

Smiling Friends S2 - 7/10 - It’s not as good as the first season (mainly because no Glep episode), but it’s still as funny, creative, and visually amazing as the first one. Still THERE’S NO FUCKING GLEP EPISODE IN THIS YOU FUCKERS. Also Doug Walker jumpscare

[honourablejester]

Numenera Character Foci That Make Me Giddy

I’m really liking the Numenera character construction. You have your character type, which is basically your class, but then you have your character focus, which is a whole extra set of cool abilities on top of that. You can control metal. Cast illusions. Be a werewolf. Skulk in alleyways. Go berserk. Forever wear a halo of fire. You can be a sneaky rogue who turns into a ravening beast five nights a month (a stealthy jack who howls at the moon). You can be a scholarly mage who also happens to be a professional assassin (a learned nano who murders). You can be a daring ruin-spelunker with ESP (a risk-taking delve who sees beyond). Are some of those advisable? Possibly not. But you can be them. Heh.

So. Some of the foci that make me excited, just from my first skim through:

Controls Gravity. Because if there is any power that’s guaranteed to make you feel like a minor god, it’s the ability to control what’s up and what’s down. You can (eventually) fly. You can smash people into the ground. You can make people/things so heavy they can’t move. And then there’s this:

I’m putting it here because the second I read this, I found myself making the gesture. One hand palm up in front of my chest, the other palm down, moving sharply apart, like an orchestra conductor telling one section to get loud and another to quiet down. And if a game ability immediately has you physically acting it out, then it’s a cool ability.

Explores Dark Places. You’re so used to digging around in the dark that you’ve adapted to it. This is a mix of relatively mundane and relatively less mundane abilities, varying from making you better at sneaking and physical exploration and finding stuff, to giving you darkvision, to letting you partially become a shadow. And I just like that mix of practicality and edginess, and I also like the idea of someone who was just so good and went out of their way to become so good at spelunking and exploring dark, inaccessible places that they sort of absorbed the darkness and got comfortable there. I wanna make a stinky mole-man jack or delve who hasn’t seen daylight in three years because they were too busy rooting around in ancient sewers.

Fuses Flesh and Steel. You’re just straight up a cyborg. One who can tinker with themselves to try and improve their form/abilities. Your initial artificial components might have been done to you, or you might have done them to yourself. And. Sometimes you just want to play the nano/wright scientist who tried to make themselves that bit more durable the old-fashioned, mad-science way?

Howls at the Moon. You are a werewolf. And by that I don’t mean any old shapeshifter, I mean you involuntarily change five nights a month, you can only transform at night (for an hour), and you have to level your character to gain the control to shift voluntarily (and you never lose those five involuntary nights). And while you’re in your beast form, involuntarily or otherwise, you can’t use Intellect, you involuntarily attack anything close to you, and if you didn’t kill and eat anything as a beast, recovering after the transformation is harder. You are full on roleplaying the werewolf curse. But hey, you do a shit tonne of damage and you can tank a lot as that beast. And! You get the option to pick one of the other PCs to be your special person, who soothes your beast and is safe from them, and can let you transform back easier. Is this necessarily the best focus to pick in a team game? Possibly not, depending on how willing the rest of the party is to work around the ravening indestructible monster that guaranteed WILL erupt in their midst at least five nights a month, but if you’ve always wanted to roleplay the struggle against your inner beast, Numenera does go all in.

Emerged from the Obelisk. You got eaten by a hovering crystal obelisk and spat back out a year later with no memory of what happened in there and, oh yeah, turned into crystal yourself. Because these are the sorts of things that happen in the Ninth World. I just. I love that this is a thing. You don’t even have to have been spat back out as a humanoid crystal, there’s a note that if you want to be differently shaped, like, say, a levitating crystal shard, you just have to work it out with your GM how you, you know, touch and see and manipulate things, etc. One of the suggestions is ‘crystalline tendrils’. So, yeah. You can get hoovered up by a giant floating crystal and spat back out as a crystalline tentacle monster, if you so choose. This is excellent. You do get boosts to physical stats for being crystalline, and later on you get levitation, laser beams and teleportation through known crystals/obelisks, which are definitely all cool, but if I’m fully honest I’m taking this to be an amber crystalline fish creature with tendrils, whose driving quest is to figure out how the fuck this happened. Obelisk! Get back here! I have so many questions.

Never Says Die. What it says on the tin. You are doggedly determined not to die. That’s it. That’s the whole deal. You’re just not going down. Health boosts, recovery boosts, later abilities to stay up a round after you should be dead. For when you just want to be stubborn about this. I’m gonna be immortal by sheer dint of just not dying. I just. I always enjoy abilities that are just raw bloodymindedness.

In general, the Foci are just cool. Pick the fantasy you want to live out, and go for it. Heh.

[pricechecktranslations]

Hey price, about Gumilia, I read one post of yours saying her immortality was the same as Elluka's and in another you added it was because of her Second Period soul. Does this mean that all the souls from the Second Period (the 73 who became forest spirits, gods, and/or demons) will have that same immortality if they ever choose to (re)incarnate? Does this also mean that as long as they aren't killed, they can basically live forever? After all, Elluka Clockworker (referring to both the incarnated Levia-Behemo and Ma) lived for 500 years before she had to find a new body. Gumilia survived in the Hellish Yard, a place reserved for deceased spirits, despite being alive the whole time. Also, considering Michaela "died" as a human but then became a sapling (a forest spirit), does this mean that they can be "killed," but they won't die, just return to their previous form like how Michaela returned to being a forest spirit and Behemo returned to being a god? Thanks!

Yeah, pretty much. All the information we have basically states as much, that Second Period souls are functionally immortal in their physical incarnations in a way that regular souls are not.

(I do think there's something that states that Gumillia is dead by the time of the Heavenly novel, but I can't remember where so I might be misremembering. And I don't think it was a "die of old age" thing anyhow).

But as to your last point, no. Michaela didn't just automatically turn into a sapling on death, she was transformed into a sapling so she could take Held's place as the Millennium Tree (also, as a tree, she was not a mere forest spirit, she became a god). When they die, they become souls without a body--this is what happens to literally everyone in the series when they die. It's just that the quality of their souls is different. Behemo in particular didn't "die" so much as get liberated from Elluka Clockworker's body and blown into the Hellish Yard.

I think there is some power difference between the Second Period souls that became "gods" versus the ones that became "demons" and those that are simply marked as "god-kin", but for the immortality bit yes I think they all have that in common. Lich and Eater are another example of this (granted, their bodies were made of the special mud and not biological in nature).

Second Period souls being Special is something that comes up a little in the E.A.T. prologue, too.

[j2zara]

rotating vampire!j3 in my brain btw, and please elaborate with any thoughts you may have if you so wish. incredible idea omg

Also while I'm at it i'm gonna tag in @rebloggiest-reblogger b/c Vampire!J3 was. something they suggested and thank you for that b/c it is not mine but it will live in my head forever

Anyway. I will say First and Foremost. Vampire!J3 should exist for no other reason than it be so so so so so hot <3. It needs to be said <3

I do think this is such a fun concept that works for J3 tho b/c like. For j4 the reason the idea of her being a werewolf was appealing to me was. Like. I was overthinking abt Daphne and Apollo and this general Idea of. Violent Transformation that dooms a woman to death or inhumanity. but also in a way spares them from the desire of god. Of a man. either/or. Like. A werewolf is something hairy and violent and unpalatable and kinda the opposite of the male gaze. And its something that is base and violent and animalistic, like i just think she deserves to give in to her rage and hunger for violence <3

Meanwhile j3 is so like. Already Keyed In to The Vampire and themes of. Consumption and Predation and Desire and like. The ability to charm and deceive and seduce. It's about having urges, cravings, desires that you believe as so dark and despicable that your loved ones would turn away from you in disgust or horror (whether the desires are truly disgusting or not, the shame could be self imposed). He hungers for EVERYTHING, and yes that includes sex but its about all the highs and lows of life, he wants violence and pain and he wants to consume it all, every piece of people, of life, something essential. If he has to cause harm to get it, he will. Blood as proof of life, proof of desire, and J3 has so much desire, and wants to cram in as much life as possible. Vampires as a liminal undead existence. Not really alive or dead. The clones and their tenuous grasp at life, and J3 knowing his grasp is most tenuous at all unless he can charm his way into people's pants. And he can charm you, get in your head, make you think it was all your idea to give it to him in the first place <3. The vampire as the invader, the monster among us, a better Jace than Jace himself <3

But also i think he deserves to feed on J4. The idea of doing something so vulnerable and intimate would frighten her at first I think, as is the idea of her being the one to submit in that situation, we all know what the fangs are a metaphor for, but also. She is into it <3. The trust, right? Giving someone the power to hurt you, and maybe they can and do, but instead they provide pleasure? Willingly surrendering herself to give someone else sustenance, to let them take from you, that's the peak of free will, right? Doing something that might be a little bad for you? Against your better judgement?

Oh yeah. She's into it <3