#also he was definitely showing off.

[hel-phoenyx]

Domhildr is from @soupedepates, Oli from @thal-ent, Meili from @azeler and Kaizarz from @corneille-but-not-the-author

"Holy shit, how did you get that many scars ???"

I sigh. We're changing after a day of training, and I got off my shirt because anyway, every single person here saw me half-naked at some point. For either training, silly games or simply going in my room when I was changing reasons.

Well actually this is the first time I don't try to hide myself. I've never been that much of a prude, for the Coast's standards, but I still don't like being laid bare for too long. I guess it's legit Oli looks surprised I am covered in traces of ancient battles.

I still smile, a bit sarcastic.

"Well, the usual way, I suppose."

"Yeah, but nah, you're like, one of the most resistant fighters I know. Some look really painful and probably took a long time to heal, but aside from the day you lost your hand I didn't even see you flinch !"

"It was that day, was it ?" interjected Domhildr, curiosity on her tiny face.

My eyes darken. Domi, you know enough about me to understand that if it was really that day, I wouldn't talk about it.

So, I guess this time you are very lucky.

"No, most of them are from before. Either accidents with my powers, or just classic raids back when I was fifteen. Also, it's normal I recover quickly, Oli. I also have the spell from the royal lineage, might I remind you."

Not like I enjoy boasting about that, but I prefer giving the real explanation rather than let them believe I was some kind of superhuman when I had both my hands.

I see Meili's eyes focus on me right when I say the words "royal lineage". He may look like he's uncaring, but I know he's interested. Kraken nobility always keep an eye on adversaries. I know, since I was born from kings and high nobility alike.

I don't blame him. Paranoïa is a common thing in my life, why wouldn't it inhabit his.

Meili and Oli nod silently, but Domhildr pouts a little.

"Still, those look painful as shit. Especially the big one next to your liver. How did you get it ?"

Oh, this one. In another time, I would have looked upon the memory fondly, but it was before all of this happened. Still, I guess it's nothing wrong to talk about it, at least, how I got it.

"This one ? That was my first raid with Kaizarz. I blame my fighting technique."

All of them look at me with interested eyes, encouraging me to carry on, but I do not utter a single other word.

I only remember.

There were several ships leaving for the gulf, in a zone where Inkan marine was spotted on our kingdom's waters. I was the one who brought the intel to the crown, but they gave me the alarm, so I was allowed to bring them with me. I was supposed to command the ship, since I was the highest nobleborn on it, but when we sailed, I let the commands to the real captain.

We quickly encountered the enemy, engaged the fight. They were surprised to find us here, especially with the king, that was at this time the prince but leading like a true commander. Soon we ended up fighting on the same boat.

We were searching for the Inkan admiral. I have to admit, I'm not the one who killed it. Kaizarz was. But I stopped the second in command from a sneak attack that wouldn't have done much damage anyway, and no other ship could come to assistance thanks to their manoeuver to cut their path.

He was fighting next to me and Kaizarz and at that point I thought maybe just maybe I could link my two worlds together. Future proved me wrong, and it was a feeble hope anyway. But it was one of the only times I was truly happy.

That man fought fierce, and hard. Soon I only saw one way to stop him. My favorite technique, letting the enemy believe they won.

He striked one of my vital points. I felt the blood flowing from the wound, I heard Kaizarz shout my name, I saw his smile. Then the smile of my foe, persuaded he just killed the stupid teen leaving him so big of an opening.

His smile was still big when his head fell on the ground, eyes wide open in absolute surprise.

He thought me unable to move quickly that wounded but here I was, catching his wrist to stop him from pulling his sword out, and using that opportunity to swing Dainsleif. He was properly decapitated in an instant, and his last vision was my victorious smile.

Afterwards, the fight was a formality.

I hadn't finished healing when Kaizarz took out the admiral. He ran towards me almost immediatly, face twitching with worry, but I just pulled out the sword and smiled at him. The wound was already closing for I was of royal lineage, after all.

I remember him laughing right behind me.

"That's Tyr for you, always being so reckless in battle. The day he stop bringing his foes to wound him so he can reach an opening is the day the Kraken Coast is finally free."

I shrugged, still looking at Kaizarz. Seemingly less worried than earlier, but I could still see a shadow in his eyes.

"That was a good fight. But by War I thought he was gonna kill you."

I heard a whisper, of which I guessed the nature, but my concentration was on Kaizarz, and Kaizarz only.

"Bah, the one that can kill me is not born yet. Or it's gonna be you, and I sure hope you wouldn't want me dead..."

... would you ?

He smiled.

"I would never. Ever."

"Good, then you don't have to worry about me dying anytime soon."

"Alright, stop boasting, you dumb fuck, he said with a hearty laugh. We got to bring the ships back to the castle. His Majesty certainly will have a generous reward for us, yes ?"

"With today's catch ? Absolutely !"

And that was it.

I blink, not realising I spent a long time silent. Oli, Meili and Domhildr are still looking at me, still waiting for more. They're all way too patient with me.

Well, except Domhildr, that just poked the scar.

"That's all ? No story ?"

"Heh, you can always ask Kaizarz. I'm sure he remembers."

Why wouldn't he ?

That day, both him and I thought it could only get better.

[bigfatbreak]

Birds of a Feather previous / next

[lgbtlunaverse]

Most annoying NMJ or JC take is when someone that dislikes them is like "oh you're a fan of him? *scoff* Well obviously you've only seen cql, where he was super watered down. In the novel he's a dislikable asshole and that's the objectively superior canon I'm working from instead of your woobified fanfic." Meanwhile your main canon is novel canon and you genuinely find novel Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue complex sympathetic characters.

[introspectivememories]

street interviewer: what's your type?

tim who's just trying to get to work: i have a boyfriend

street interviewer: so what's your type then?

tim: my boyfriend

street interviewer: and what does he look like?

tim who will absolutely gatekeep bernard from the general public: he looks like my boyfriend

street interviewer: so what would you rate me out of 10?

tim: um i can't do that

street interviewer: can't rate me at all?

tim: i can't rate you at all

street interviewer finally realizing that this is going absolutely nowhere: what would you rate your boyfriend out of 10?

tim smiling stupidly: he broke my scale cause he's so beautiful

[wonderfull-star]

I like that face Dev makes.

He just a smol baby 🥺

[lizord-lord]

You need a door.

[chuuzmii]

Omg nobody is saying eddie is queer because he had a few bad relationships with women like can we sit here and be honest with ourselves and say that HIS RELATIONSHIPS (excluding marisol bro rlly fucked that one up) WERENT EVEN BAD!! But there have been sooo many reasons over the years to think Eddie is queer? "I don't like dating it feels like performing." Cut to Hen giving him an odd look. "Ive never seen a man turn off a woman with so much skill." "It's a gift." "They weren't my type." Like we could really keep going because the amount of tthings he says that just come off as glaringly queer is abundant. But then we can look to his past AND SEE THINGS THEREEE!!! Eddie didnt marry Shannon out of love but out of duty. Do you know how many queer men get married to women because they feel like its what they should do? Eddie isn't hanging on to Shannon out of love but because she was christophers mother. Everytime he talks about her its NEVER ABOUT HER! He never goes oh she was kind she was soft she was sweet she was literally anything a man would say about a woman they loved and lost. He just says she was Christophers mother. That doesn't sound like a man who truly romantically loved his wife.

Then moving on to Ana. She was quite literally the perfect woman. Like she stood by and helped him after he got shot and they had barely even rlly been dating when that happened. You cannot tell me that him having panic attacks every time he thinks of going any further with her isn't indication of queerness. Dude is struggling to make a family with women but is relaxed and happy making one with a man? QUEERRRRR. But once again this relationship was less about Eddie and more about Christopher. "My son loves her?" "Is that enough?" Like Buck was right it WASNT enough because he didnt even like her enough to introduce her as his gf to ravi (this was truly evil).

And okay maybe ur like "Ana was his first gf after Shannon ofc he was having panic attacks!" But then look at what happened with Marisol.. he tried to go a step further with her then immediately regretted it and asked her to leave right after. He struggles in all of his relationships because he cannot bring himself to feel what he's supposed to feel for them. I also truly believe the Kim thing was partially him self sabotaging his relationship.

I could honestly keep going and talk about the military and toxic masculinity, i could bring up him having to be the "man" of his house, hell i could bring up marisol being a nun. This MAN IS QUEER TO MEEEEEEE

[scarletsinsblog]

idk why it needs to be said, but Kimiko and Frenchie have never been platonic 😭 since that finale, I’ve seen mostly positivity about their confession/kiss, but I have also seen people claiming that the writers are “pandering to a minority” by making them a couple…??? THEY HAVE BEEN BUILDING UP TO THAT SINCE THE MOMENT THEY MET!

Frenchie has always been queer, yes, but it’s SO obvious that he’s been pining for Kimiko since the very beginning. and when she told him he was “family,” it didn’t necessarily negate their romantic vibe. family is simply comfortability and love between two or more people, and it isn’t reserved to platonic relationships.

and for those who claim they were “more like siblings,” I beg of you to answer this: what does your relationship with YOUR siblings look like?! because if it looks anything like the dynamic between Kimiko and Frenchie…that’s concerning.

he literally calls her “my heart” exclusively for the better part of three seasons. which, in French, is typically a romantic endearment.

needed to speak my truth because I’m tired of this debate and the strangely purist takes people have expressed about these two and their relationship. they are allowed to like each other as more than friends, and I’m not sure why it’s such a taboo thing for two fucked up people to find their soulmate in one another. 🤷‍♀️

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

While Edwin’s more than a bit stand-offish and definitely not the most tactful, I never did get the sense that he doesn’t like people - in fact, I think his insistence that he’s “not good with people” and his general emotional detachment/disinterest has a lot more to do with his assumption that they don’t or won’t like him.

And while that’s very sad to think about… it’s not as if his belief here is hard to understand, considering his past experiences. But it’s left him quite guarded and lonely, and of course, the more he isolates himself from people other than Charles (and even here, he allows himself little vulnerability), the more he reinforces this fear that people won’t like him, and the less he allows himself to properly sympathize or empathize with others, which is why his friendships with Crystal and Niko and Monty (short-lived as that was) are so important. Once he started to let some of those walls down, to not be so scared of vulnerability and to be around people who allow themselves to feel and want so readily (to live! who allow themselves to live without fear of loving!), he’s really not nearly as bad with people as he seems to think he is - and, in fact, he’s actually quite good at saying or doing the right thing for them when it really counts.

[jamietwat]

Jamie and Roy spending ridiculous amounts of time together and Phoebe knowing about it definitely means that Jamie’s around Phoebe a lot more in the off-season when she’s off school and Roy’s off work but still being Jamie’s personal trainer for free (and she definitely likes bossing Jamie around just as much as Roy does and finds the ridiculous shit Roy makes him do hilarious)

And you know that thing where kids love to randomly go watch this, I can do a somersault or want to see me do a cartwheel? and then you just have to awkwardly stand there and be like wow whether they actually can do them or not (and sometimes several times in a row have to try to think of something new to say the fifth time they do the exact same thing and then look to you for a reaction)

I’m just saying at some point they’re in some park and Phoebe definitely pulls a look how good I’m getting at cart wheels, Uncle Roy! around Jamie at some point and while Roy just stands there like 🧍‍♂️ and gives compliments that gradually get more and more deadpan and debates turning it into saying how much more impressive that is than anything Jamie’s done all morning but he doesn’t because he’s 90% sure that would just lead to Jamie getting all indignant and competitive and proving he can cartwheel too as if Roy isn’t already annoyingly aware of that from when he was dying trying to keep up with Jamie in Amsterdam while he was cartwheeling and practically skipping

But obviously Roy not saying anything doesn’t matter anyway and Jamie turns it into being like watch this to Phoebe and cartwheeling too and turning to Roy after like well go on, tell me how good I am at that too

Roy deadpans somehow it’s far less impressive watching a grown man cartwheel for attention. It’s just sad, really

But Jamie isn’t offended at all and just shoots Roy an obnoxious smirk and insists you’re just saying that because you know you couldn’t do one. Even trying would probably end with you needing a hip replacement or something

But before Roy can even properly argue or say something bitchy back, Jamie’s turning back to Phoebe with a how about this then? But even though it’s her he asks, it’s Roy he looks to the moment he finishes running a few steps and doing a one-handed cartwheel

And Jamie’s like well now are you impressed??? And god, Roy resents that he is and he could make a dig about how useless of a skill it was as an adult and how that wouldn’t accomplish anything on the pitch and he’d just look like one of the kids that picks flowers on the pitch instead of playing or even paying attention to where the ball is, but instead he rolls his eyes and says yeah okay

And Jamie beams but he doesn’t have time to properly gloat and give Roy shit because Phoebe’s already bossing him around telling him that he has to teach her how to do that too

[buwheal]

How is your hand doing? Is it still bleeding, at all?

[themyscirah]

Complaining abt Suicide Squad yet again but the fact that they have Waller exposing the alien community to space racist attacks and talking abt how she got to her position through deceit and being a terrible person and stuff is just. Ahsfiwueh JUST SAY YOU DONT KNOW WALLER.

Anyways literally the 3rd mission of the Squad ever (and the first framed as smth Waller picked and not orders from above) was the Squad discrediting and stopping a rogue vigilante who was only arresting POC and funneling white people into white supremacy groups (of which he was the most prominent member) in SUICIDE SQUAD #4. and it's explicitly framed as this mission being personal for Waller that she's hiding from the government bc its illegal like. Guys. Please why are we having her incite (space bc comics) racist attacks now

Also the whole "Amanda got her position through deceit and being a terrible person" NO. she KEPT her position through being shitty and playing complicated political games!!! She wasn't always that way like there is a difference and it is IMPORTANT ppl PLEASEEEE. In Secret Origins #14 we learn Amanda's backstory and she used to be a normal, caring person! Like even after she entered into working in government and politics she wasn't automatically morally bankrupt like please people. She was originally given control of the Squad by Reagan (*sigh* 80s comics...) to distract and get rid of her because she was so successful at pushing progressive social policy in Congress. Acting like she's this static pillar of evil is such a waste of her character and so fucking uninteresting and disrespectful to her arc it drives me MAD.

Like I am NOT saying Waller is all sunshine and rainbows, she fucking SUCKS (said w love <3) but like there's a human being there. It's a progression, she has a character arc like please, DC, please!!! They've fucked up Waller so bad and made her so opaque and uninteresting she can't even be the protagonist of her own story for fucks sake!

Like I don't know how many times I have to scream it until DC hears me or remembers but WALLER IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF SUICIDE SQUAD. ITS HER BOOK. yet right now she's a cutout to be used as the villain wherever the writers please. Even in her book we get none of her perspective really displayed, no exploration of her thoughts with any kind of understanding of the role she traditionally has played and was made to play in the story.

[naturepointstheway]

Vienna 1989/90 giving me that tasty Tuggoffelees juice at the end of Mistoffelees' number. Love how Misto just spins Tugger away. It also actually reminds me a lot of a very similar duo spin dance at the end of this number that happens in Zurich with Lindsay Chambers' Misto, but instead it's with Munkustrap rather than Tugger.

And in Zurich's case, well, let's say that this Misto has a very different experience to Valentin's (who reminds me a lot of Tim Scott's Misto, especially with the makeup), and Munk is more showing he has accepted him fully.

@absolutehumandisaster - hope you don't mind me tagging you as I feel you'd be interested in my "little" tag ramble/thoughts on Valentin's vs Chambers' Mistos and how Valentin's is Chambers' Misto once he is fully accepted and has grown exponentially in confidence by the next Jellicle Ball.

[jojossillywalk]

do you ever think about how polnareff lost his mom young and canonically admits that he has no family back in france, his memory version of sherry says that he'd have done anything for her, one of his prominent memories is buying her an umbrella, and his memory version brings up his regret about one time he flipped at her when they were kids.

and how he initially takes avdol having concern for him as patronizing and how he is very insistent that he's been "alone from the start" and his admittedly extremely inconvenient habit of going off by himself by reflex becomes minimally less funny

[selfindulgentraptor]

No but actually I've been headcanoning this since the dawn of time, this con was 2 months ago how am I only learning about it now

(OG source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iMiAK5i9T0)

Like this is most likely just Tom Kenny being a G and inspiring the individual he spoke to, but I'LL TAKE IT AUTISTIC SPONGEBOB CANON WE WIN TODAY

[ratatatastic]

"[My Dad, Brother and I] all got matching Stanley Cup tattoos on our quads!" "Let's see it! Let's see it! Stand up real quick! Let me see you!" "'Let's see it!' Look at that." "It's just a little guy! It's just a little guy!" "I love it!" "It's just a little guy, but yeah, no...Sam Bennett, Anthony Stolarz, Monty, and Steve Lorentz—we all got em like 2 days later. It was fun! We were all—you know, no sleep, straight into the tattoo estab—" "Oh sure! You woke up and you were like, 'Huh, I got something on—" "Oskar Sundqvist did the same thing, man!" "I like it! I'm a fan of it! I really like it! And the fact that we all have the same one is pretty cool!" "Let's see that hair real quick! What do you got going? Let's see what you got going—Oh, God! Andy!" "What?" "Geez, he's got that Swede in you!"

The Cam & Strick Podcast | 7.30.24 (x)