#also it may be a lil wild cause ive been in and out of the hospital with gramps with very minimal sleep so yknow

[crazywolf828]

Next chapter of the ff/EMT au is almost done and boy is it a rough one

[lilithvibeplace]

HI. I FORGORT HOW TO SPELL IT IMMEDIATELY. AZ CAN WE HEAR MORE ABOUT AZ

YES HI SORRY IVE BEEN DEAD THE PAST EONS BUT I YET LIVE AND YET MAY STILL AZ INFODUMP

Azazel is a special lil enby they're delightful and lovely. And by that i mean of course WAR CRIMINAL 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

line break time since Az, like Nox, has much to be discussed

alrighty gang so starting at the start, Azazel is a little introverted lil enby who's particularly adept with some less well regarded magic, in particular necromancy and other fun things! they were thrown to Nox early on before the Watchers formed as a squire and pseudo-apprentice. technically they were under the apprenticeship of the same dude as Nox (Andros - Hey slij i know you'll read this im so sorry this was a genuine accident but i did name him the same as one of ur dnd characters in our campaigns im SO sorry) but in reality Nox was the one teaching them.

Anywho, Az had a bit of jealousy originating with Dusana's relationship with Nox, who as you may recall had a kind of pseudo-parental figure thing going on. This is because Az also is very depressed and lonely and found comfort in Nox and felt like Dusana was stealing her time when Dusana totally couldve just been going to Alice instead. Lots of stupid melodrama that the rest of the group is aware is stupid melodrama. But once Alice returns from Erelia with a dead Dusana and a missing Nox, Az goes wild.

They first threaten Alice demanding to know where the ever living hell Nox is. This goes badly and Az is forced to spend the night on a solo mission to spend some time away from the group. When they return, they attempt Necromancy to revive Dusana as a way to seek forgiveness from Alice. This goes worse.

Alice arrests Az for using illegal magic and is preparing plans to send them back to the Magi Council for trial. Maverick, being the icon he is (and the closest thing to a friend Az had, real opposites attract type friendship), helped Az escape and thus begins the Many Trials of Azazel, as they escape but are on the run knowing that news will spread relatively quickly of their actions.

Trial One: Azazel takes a trip to the Cursed Lands!

The Cursed Lands (name change pending) is a little section of the continent (abt 1/4 of the landmass) that is still lightly radioactive due to that time Romana went nuclear and destroyed a large part of the continent in the Erelian War for Independence. Here Azazel goes to hide out for a few months hoping to wait out the inevitable head hunt that will occur for them. And here as well, they learn more about a certain celestial, Passentha who was one that Nox worshipped and also one that was very illegal to worship. Yet her cult exists here in what is effectively a no mans land.

Trial Two: Azazel Goes to Windsbane and Steals A Sword!

Next up, Azazel after learning more from the Ashen Chrysanthemum (the cult of Passentha) and in particular the skill to alter their appearance, they head north to Windsbane, an Empire currently ran by an authoritarian and expansionist Emperor, hoping to forge a great Northern Empire to ensure no southern nation could ever conquer them again. (they are considered a rogue empire by most nations and a large coalition is forming against them, REGARDLESS) While in Windsbane, Az learns a neat thing or two about the celestials, in particular, how to kill one! and they need a certain sword, aptly named Godkiller (previously known as Wintersbane) which is a relic owned by House Zima, the dynasty in control of Windsbane.

After doing some assassinations and quite the solo heist, they pull it off and gain Godkiller! Woooo! Congrats to our little demon! In this trial they learnt how to manipulate and take advantage of people and that people are, at the end of the day, disposable! They also cause a civil war here but thats another story for another time. They also learn that Nox is supposedly dead.

Trial Three: Az Fights a God (fails)

After Windsbane, Azazel heads south! with only a horse and Godkiller on them, they come across the Knights of the Endless Night, a cult of Neternia that began taking advantage of the chaos of the wartorn north, and had gotten into raiding local towns and churches after the Church of Santiryn had their big split and the godly civil war restarted. Again, tale for another time. Anywho! Azazel tries fighting off these rogue brigands but of course because they never were trained with a sword, regardless of how incredibly powerful the sword may be, they quickly fall in battle and are kidnapped as part of a ritual to summon an Avatar of Neternia.

While they do manage to escape this ritual and secure Godkiller, they come across the summoned avatar of Neternia who, despite being very weak due to the ritual only partially succeeding, still kicks their ass but Az using tricks learnt from the Ashen Chrysanthemum escapes still.

Trial Four: Az Becomes a Double Agent

Az reaches Erelia right as Nox began her plans to take control of the city and restore the Erelian Empire (it's a long story.), and joins up with the Ashen Chrysanthemum formally, hilarious not knowing that Nox is the newest leader of theirs.

During this, Az also meets up with Maverick and after some convincing, rejoins the Watchers and Alice forgives Az for their many, many crimes against the Magi Council since they all now have a much bigger issue, the upcoming Erelian Coronation!

So this is where stuff gets a bit messy. The Erelian Coronation is where Nox coups the coalition-installed government of Erelia and revives the Erelian Empire, and there are three simultaneous conspiracies going on here.

Conspiracy One: The global leaders invited to the Coronation are all planning in secret a plot to assassinate Nox by any means necessary even if it means most of them dying because its only been a 100 years or so since Erelia fell and they all agree we can never live under such circumstances again.

Conspiracy Two: The Magi Council alongside the Watchers are also plotting to assassinate Nox (only Alice is aware Nox is the target though), not for any geopolitical reason just because they are all very aware of how dangerous and powerful Nox is.

Conspiracy Three: The Ashen Chrysanthemum, under the orders of Nox, are plotting to kill everyone at the coronation in an attempt to summon Passentha and meld their plane of reality with hers as a final push to let the Pestanae Pantheon win the Celestial Civil War (there's a lot of proper nouns here im so sorry).

Az is aware of conspiracies two and three, and becoming the deeply brooding pessimistic asshole that they are, will align with conspiracy three! So come time for the Coronation and when the cult, Watchers, and nobility all begin massacreing each other, Az is right in the middle and gets proper site of exactly who they've been following this whole time and realize it's Nox! This causes them to fucking lose it (again) and leaving the coronation ceremony through one of the cults many secret exits, goes on a brief massacre in town to cope with the fact Nox has been alive this whole time and never once reached out to say hi.

Alice presumes Az is dead, Nox and Az meetup and have their reunion (both covered in blood, vastly worse people then they were years ago when they last saw each other), and join up with Az becoming the Court Magi for the Erelian Court, and Nox's closest confidant. And of course, leader of the newly reformed Erelian Magi Corps.

As Head of the Erelian Magi Corps they do such fun things such as:

Using magic to completely and permanently alter the terrain of the world in a twisted corrupted nature in order to bond the land more with Passentha’s ideal of the world

Using necromancy to raise troops that had just fallen in battle, effectively creating an endless cycle of troops in the middle of a battle completely ruining an opposing army’s ability to fight

Nuclear suicide bombers (think modern day dirty bombs)

consistently creates plagues to infect people in advance to an invasion

Of course, they were also tasked with handling the war on the Church of Santiryn while Nox focused on the actual war going on. This Does Not Go Well.

basically any of the Septanae that can spare time or power are sending influence or outright appearing as avatars to fight against Az’s Magi Corps and its very fucking frustrating to them, to the point that in a moment that i’m not sure i’ll keep because it is an incredibly dark turn even for my already incredibly dark turn plot arc, az forces a magi to replicate Romana’s great sacrifice, and effectively forces a magi to become a nuclear suicide bomb detonated smack dab in the middle of the Celestial Cathedral. obviously a random magi who’s not entirely willing to do an action does not have the same power as Romana’s sacrifice, and they knew this! which is why they were fine doing it in the middle of the city of Erelia. It did infact obliterate the cathedral though! and several city blocks! and leaves them with like Chernobyl level radiation. It's a completely fucked situation.

I don't particularly have their ending thought out yet, but the gist is that they'll be killed by Maverick around the same time Alice is killed by Nox. Because i'm a fucking sucker for "friends turned to tragic enemies due to an ideological divide" and Az' death is a necessary action to help end the war.

But yeah! that's Azazel! lil trauma enby who is absolutely fucking going through it :)

[justburningdaylight]

Operation Love Me

Steve Harrington x Fem Reader

Summary: Reader has been with Steve for almost two years. Recently he’s been pulling away. She believes he’s fallen out of love, so she devises a plan to gain his love back.

Warnings: angst (again, sorry besties), but also lots of fluff, happy ending, mentions of nightmares, i think there’s a curse word somewhere, a few kisses, my inner stevie nicks stan pops out, dustin overstays his welcome a couple times, let me know when you spot the all too well reference, no spoilers !

Word count: 2.2k

a/n: just a lil something i whipped up for you guys <3 i had a looot of fun with this one ! p.s. requests are open, come chat with me !

When Steve Harrington asked you to be his girlfriend, it was a transcendent experience. You were almost certain it was a dream, some empyrean reverie concocted within the confines of your mind.

In the near two years since that metamorphic experience, things had shifted poignantly.

More specifically Steve had shifted. And you knew why.

He wasn’t in love with you anymore.

He never verbalized this, but he didn’t have to. The agonizing truth lingers in the air of his presence. The veracity of the situation persists like a never-ending storm, the tenacious, violent rain showing no signs of halting, leaving no room for the possibility of basking in the warm, ethereal glow of the sun.

He may have fallen out of love with you, but you were still in love with him. Desperately, in fact. Which is what led you to the conception of your ingenious 4-step plan to win back his affections.

Step 1 : Make an effort

Steve was the antithesis of a man who judged you on your appearance. He used to vow repeatedly that a person could never look more beautiful than you did in the morning.

Your face would still be riddled with exhaustion, the evidence of your tranquil slumber tucked comfortably away in the corners of your eyes, and Steve would adamantly insist that you were a veracious vision of grace and divinity.

You can’t remember the last time he’d done that.

You didn’t intend to make any fundamental changes to your appearance; You still feel a twinge of dissatisfaction when you think about Allison Reynolds in The Breakfast Club, they extracted every physical characteristic that made her unique and tried to sell that she was better off than before. Wild horses couldn’t drag you to that point. You were, however, open to the idea of enhancing some of your own preexisting characteristics.

You styled your hair the same way you did for your first date with Steve, applying a similar ample amount of lipgloss. The new dress you’ve been saving for a deserving occasion clings faultlessly to your body as you wait anxiously for Steve to arrive. It’s almost farcical, you suppose, being nervous to see your boyfriend of nearly two years. Yet you can’t shake your concern for his impending response.

The mollifying sound of your front door opening resonates through the apartment and, while you were expecting Steve’s appearance, you were confounded by the hindering addition of Dustin.

“Hey (y/n)! You look nice. Got a hot date or somethin’?” Dustin’s playful voice sounds as he brushes past you, adolescent hands juggling a variety of VHS tapes.

“Did you have plans? I thought we were supposed to hang out tonight.” Steve asks, his magnetic caramel eyes searching your own in a delicate display of adept obliviousness.

“No. No, nothing special.” You sibilate dejectedly.

“Good ‘cause it’s move night! And Steve cheaped out on snacks, so you’re gonna want to make some popcorn.” 

“Right.” You enshroud your abasement with a counterfeit smile and venture into your kitchen to make Dustin his popcorn, the familiar notes of Eye of the Tiger resounding through your apartment as Rocky IV begins playing on the tv.

So your first attempt was met with an expeditious defeat, but perseverance can be rewarding. Right?

Step 2 : Remind him of the good times

You jolt awake from your slumber, the cold sweat clinging to your body serves as a physical reminder of the macabre scenario you just narrowly escaped in your nightmare.

In an effort to suppress the unsolicited atrocities racing incessantly through your mind, you surreptitiously make your way out of the bed you share with Steve, delicately extracting yourself from the steady grip of your unconscious boyfriend’s gangly arms.

You cautiously venture down the hall to the kitchen, momentarily detouring to the living room to clandestinely place Rumours by Fleetwood Mac on the turntable, ensuring the volume is at a near imperceptible sonority so as not to rouse your boyfriend from his tranquil sleep.

You pour yourself a glass of glacial water, condensation generously gathering along the perimeter of the cup, the dull glow of the open refrigerator acting as your light source.

“D’you have another nightmare?” Steve’s sleep-riddled voice questions gingerly as he wraps his arms tenderly around your midsection from behind.

“I just want to stop seeing it in my head.” You turn in his arms to face him, appreciating how magnificently the light of the refrigerator illuminates his divinely celestial features. 

“I know,” He begins delicately, “I’m sorry for dragging you into it. You should have never been anywhere near those things-”

“Steve, it’s not your fault, okay? I need you to know that.” You interrupt before he can incur being the responsibility of your nightmares’ source. He’s not culpable for anything that came from the Upside Down.

He gazes at you solemnly, nebulous eyes emanating with immense emotion as he hesitantly nods his head.

The gentle melody of Songbird begins, floating through the kitchen, causing a lithe smile to form on your gentle lips as you appreciate the mellifluous opulence of Stevie Nicks’ voice.

“May I have this dance?” Steve asks, donning a heavenly smile.

“I’d be honoured.” You answer as he begins swaying you adeptly in his agile arms, your modest grin blooming into a broad smile.

And so the two of you danced around the kitchen, with nothing to accompany you but the gentle glow of the refrigerator light and the seraphic sounds of Fleetwood Mac on the record player.

That night solidified Songbird as your song. Which is the rationale for why you’re standing alone in the living room at one thirty in the morning listening to Fleetwood Mac.

“(y/n)?” Steve’s fatigued and perplexed voice sounds as he advances down the hallway.

“Hey.” You’re apprehensive now, equal parts regret and hesitance swim through your bloodstream like a resolute fish headed upstream in a particularly vigorous current.

“What are you doin’? It’s like one in the morning. Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, no yeah I’m- I’m fine.”

The look he gives you is filled with concern, but there’s a glimmer of something else hiding in the shadows, regret maybe? You can’t accurately discern it, and it disappears before giving you a chance to unravel its connotation.

“Okay, well, if you’re fine, I um- I work in the morning so I’m gonna go back to bed.”

“Yeah. Go ahead, I’ll turn it down. Sorry.” That wan’t mortifying at all, you introspectively reprimand yourself, feeling a sense of dejection you’re beginning to grow painstakingly familiar with.

That could have gone better.

Step 3 : Spend some quality time together

You’re veritably hoping that there’s some authenticity to the phrase third time’s the charm.

Adorning a particularly whimsical sundress, you sit contentedly on the plush blanket you’ve laid atop the flexible sage grass in the park, ardently awaiting Steve’s arrival.

Your previous attempts to re-obtain his affections have been met with the abrupt emergence of failure, but the outcome of this experience was going to be different. What could go awry at a picnic?

“Hey. You look nice.” Steve’s symphonic voice sounds from above you, as he assuredly makes his presence known.

“Really? Thank you. So do you.”

Steve respires an exiguous chuckle at your response, taking a seat parallel to you on the thin blanket. You can’t contain the smile that accumulates on your face, outwardly displaying your pride at the small victory.

“So, how was your day?” You inquire earnestly, handing him the sandwich you prepared for him.

“Thanks. It was good. Y’know, busy. People really love their movies.” 

“How’s Robin? I know how much she-” “Steve! (y/n)! Hey!” Dustin’s voice reverberates through the air, effectively silencing your queries.

Seriously? There’s no way this is happening. Again.

“Hey! Dustin’s here! Look at that (y/n), what are the odds?” Your boyfriend’s usually endearing rambling holds a discernibly nervous undertone.

“I don’t know Steve, what are the odds?” You question, failing to cultivate eye contact as he’s currently preoccupied with looking anywhere besides your eyes.

“Gotta be one in a million! So weird,” Dustin lightheartedly interjects, “Actually, it’s a good thing that you’re here Steve, ‘cause I really need you to come help me with something.”

“What- Seriously? Now?” 

“Yes, (y/n), now! It’s very important stuff. Could be life or death.” Dustin emphasizes his point with resolute hand gestures.

From the repentant look in his sparkling eyes, you’ve already predetermined Steve’s next words.

“Go.” You preempt, dispiritedly.

Your boyfriend’s saccharine eyes are filled to the brim with a myriad of unidentifiable emotions as he scrambles onto his feet, sandwich still clasped between his lithe fingers, his smooth sorrowful voice mumbling a doubtful vow, “I’ll make it up to you, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” You nod pessimistically.

“Do you mind if I just grab one of those sandwiches? ‘Cause they look delicious.”

You hand Dustin a sandwich, temporarily suppressing each melancholy thought running around in your mind as you give him your best attempt at a smile.

“Sweet! Thanks.”

Third time was, decidedly, not the charm.

Step 4 : If all else fails, profess your interminable love

Step four was only ever thought of as a contingency. Existing solely for emergency use only. The invocation of this step means that there was a significant lack of reception to the previous three steps. You’re feeling particularly grateful that your antecedent self had included a backup plan.

“Oh hey, I didn’t think you’d still be up.” Steve’s delicate voice holds an air of surprise as he shuts the front door behind him, swiftly removing his jacket and shoes.

“Yeah,” You start, fiddling with your fingers in an effort to calm the anxiety coursing ferociously through your veins, “I thought maybe we should talk.”

“Talk? About- About what?” 

“About um- just us, I guess.”

Steve’s stately features are shrouded in a warm cloak of confusion and uncertainty.

“Are you- Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.” He pleads after a moment, finally shattering the suffocating silence.

“What do you think I’m going to say?” It’s as though you two have traded emotions, now it’s you who stands perplexed as your boyfriend gently paces the floor in an attempt to reduce his anxiety.

“You wanna break up, right? You don’t want to be with me anymore. Everything’s too complicated now, isn’t it? All the monsters and shit, it’s just too much. I know it is.”

It takes you a few moments to wrap your head around his words. You want to reassure him, as tenderly as possible, that his assumption couldn’t be any further from the truth. Instead you say, “Are you crazy? Did you hit your head or something?”

“Did I-? What?”

“Steve, I’m not breaking up with you! I’d never break up with you. I just spent the last week trying to get you to fall back in love with me!”

You both go still at the nuance of your sudden confession. Steve’s chestnut eyes are filled with salty unshed tears as he takes gentle, purposeful steps toward you.

“Fall back in love with you? (y/n) did you hit your head?” He places a delicate hand on your cheek, nimble thumb grazing your satin skin in a circular motion as he continues, “I love you, okay? I love you so much that I don’t even know how to think straight.”

You place your hand over his own as it traces the curvature of your face. Your heart is pulsating so immensely furiously that you’re shocked it hasn’t beaten entirely out of your chest and fallen onto the floor where you stand. 

“Then- then why have you been avoiding me? Like every time we’re supposed to hang out, Dustin magically appears out of nowhere! It feels like you never want to spend time with me anymore, especially alone.”

“Oh my god. I didn’t- That’s not what it was, okay! I just-” He sighs, moving his gaze earnestly down toward his feet before bringing it back up to your eagerly awaiting eyes, “I got worried. After all this monster stuff. I mean, you’ve been having nightmares! And I know you say it’s fine but it’s not! And I was just- I was worried that you’d realize it was my fault and you wouldn’t want to be with me anymore.” He exhaled deeply, once again dropping his gaze from your own.

“Steve,” You start, benevolently tilting up his chin in order to greet his warm chestnut eyes with your own resolute ones, “I would have a million more nightmares if it weren’t for you. You saved my life, okay? In every single way. And I already told you that none of that monster stuff is your fault! So I guess I’m just going to have to keep telling you as many times as it takes for you to believe it. Because I’m not going anywhere. Ever. Sorry to break it to you but, you’re stuck with me Harrington.”

“Good. ‘Cause that’s exactly where I want to be. Always.” Steve fixes you with an angelic, rapturous smile before bringing you into the solace of his steady, comforting embrace. 

“I love you too, by the way. Just in case it wasn’t obvious by now.” You mumble into his shoulder, intent on remaining in this position as long as possible.

“I know.”

“Take it down a notch, Han Solo.”

Steve chuckles euphoniously before pulling back to give you a lingering, ardent kiss. It was filled with emotion, longing, and passion, and oh boy did it take your breath away.

“You wanna keep doing this, or did you need to go call Dustin?”

“Shut up.” He mumbles reverently, bringing you in for another godly kiss.

Your contingency plan was a resounding success.

Mission accomplished.

[moroser]

ive spoken about the adults in my owlet au but not much about the kids. tumblr is much better than twitter for rambling, i realized. SO,

eda and luz are similar. neither of them are by the book and neither of them really can be contained. they're wild and free and i think eda would have a fairly easy time raising a human child so long as she could figure out her physical needs. she is just naturally good at, if a little unconventional, momming.

luz would also be easy to parent! aside from the typical parts of children that make them hard to raise, she is from a home that loves her a lot. her real mom is a good mom and she has known love thru her for like the whole three years of her life, so while she may miss her mom when she realizes, she'd also be happy with the nice owl lady.

lilith and hunter would be so different than them. hunter has only known regiment and duty, even as a little boy. and in my au, lilith isn't told to be his mentor until he's about five. maybe a smidge younger. developing any sort of connection with hunter would be hard on his end but also lilith's. the two of them are not naturally warm for their own reasons. but i think as a child, hunter would be more trusting. and while Lilith isn't super Nice, she is just more nice than everyone else. so a lot falls on lilith. he looks up to her and listens to her, which is something lilith realizes she likes. with guidance from her sister, she can use it to help him.

belos is similar to the show. he is trying to raise hunter to be special and important. since we don't know why, ive just taken the reins cause... i can and it's not a big deal. (and really, that won't come up til much later.) i really love the theory he's not fully a witch and does have something to do with the wittebane brothers but belos has been lying to him through false praises and care. hunter doesn't know real love and lilith doesn't know how to give it, so developing their lil relationship is the good stuff.

in my au: both sisters are cursed and both kids are unaware. the kids have not met yet. king and hooty are in it!

[silverpsychedelic]

Hey I adore your artwork! As a NiGHTS and Balan Wonderland fan it's great to have someone on Tumblr who represents us in a positive light. I keep seeing references to characters named Amity and such. Are these OC's of yours, what do they do?

Surprisingly there are a lot of us! It's just sometimes hard to see it when there's been so much negativity surrounding BWW, but hey, there's enough of us who genuinely enjoy it to keep it going strong!

Amity, Ambi, Versi, Phantasma And Magoria (and more, though currently unnamed) are all ocs of mine I've created! They're usually results of crossover AU pairings I play around with which fall under various titles. Ambi, Versi, Phantasma and Magoria all come from a timeline I've dubbed the Lavender Gold AU (a reference to the colour schemes of Balan and NiGHTS -the main pairing). Amity comes from something called the Broken Mirror AU -formerly called the Broken Crown AU, and features Balan and Reala as a main pair (NiGHTS x Lance also happens in this one).

I MAY put this under the cut cause it's going to be a bit long, but I'll try to keep the character profiles relatively short (Ive been needing a post that puts all of them together anyway). So, if you want to check it out, feel free to take a look!

Ambivé (Ambi for short) is the firstborn between NiGHTS and Balan! She was kind of an accident that happened due to an intense spark of wild magic between the two, and she's basically a lil gremlin harbinger of chaos. She's wild, hilarious and is usually finding new ways to drag everyone around her into hair-brained schemes. For a while, she struggles with feeling as though she's not good enough to take over for Balan someday -because let's face it, he casts an enormous shadow and that comes with many expectations. She struggles with feeling as though Balan doesn't quite give her a chance, and that he's too scared of her messing up (like he has a few times in the past, which still haunt him). She ends up proving herself of course, and after a while she discovers she doesn't actually want Balan's role! Instead she leaves the theatre to set out on her own, and develop a gateway to Wonderworld that acts as a traveling circus!

Versi (short for Version) is Ambi's counterpart, and an adopted child of Lance! They came to the theatre as a child who had escaped a horrific home life, one of the worst Balan and Lance had ever seen. After their parent mode was majorly activated, Lance decided then and there that they would not allow the child to return to where they came from if it meant they would be placed in more danger, so Lance basically adopted them! Wonderworld also chose to bind Ambi and Versi together as counterparts, so Versi actually goes on to help run the circus with Ambi as her negative balance (and is often roped into her dumbassery). They're mostly mute, and often use sign language to communicate. In the circus their acts usually comprise of the darker, grittier stuff like contortionism, sword swallowing, fire and practical magic elements.

Phantasma and Magoria are the twins and second children to Balan and NiGHTS, and they come about when Ambi is around 18-19 and is becoming far more independent. Basically, Balan and NiGHTS aren't ready for the nest to be empty! The twins are even more adept at using practical jokes to their advantage and will terrorise everyone in a 50ft radius, they also speak in rhymes and riddles and attempt to confuse people by switching places all the time. I don't have a lot to them yet, aside from the fact they are the ones who will eventually succeed Balan's role (since Ambi decided she didn't want to do so). They are also, curiously, more Positi than anything, and they're the highest class of Positi Balan has ever created -hence why their ideya look like drops! They also have peculiar abilities with switching roles on command, and can change themselves from Positi to Negati at the drop of a (literal, I suppose) hat. It worries Balan a bit, because he fears his negative side a lot, and yet these two dip in and out of it like it's nothing.

FINALLY, there's Amity. They are the child between Balan and Reala, in the completely separate timeline called the broken crown/mirror AU. It took Balan and Reala a long time to reach the point of wanting kids, but they are their parent's pride and joy. Amity is a little intimidating when people first meet them, they're even liable to sometimes scare visitors at first! But they're a huge sweetheart, and they dedicate themselves to helping people just like Balan does. They can traverse mirrors, and this is often how they'll call upon visitors and summon them to the theatre! They primarily choose people based on problems to do with identity, self confidence, dysphoria and basically those who are struggling with feeling good about themselves. However, they struggle with their own sense of identity in the fact they don't quite feel connected to either side of themself -Maestro or Nightmaren.

There is also a LiGHTS kid in development but I don't have a name for them yet, all I have to their character is that they're strange and kind of off-putting and they hardly ever seem to blink lol

Thank y'all so much for listening to my NONSENSE, it's now 2am and I must pass out

[awstrck]

Alive?

A/N : so this is a one shot inspired by @psychovigilantewrites ‘Don’t Call Me That’, her work is really amazing and you guys should really check it out :)

My OC is basically Helena Wayne but if she was born on Earth 1 and Selina kept her a secret from Bruce, raising her with Ivy and Harley.

Warnings: a lil bit of swearing, a lil bit of violence and a some angst

Rat piss, sewage and dried blood filled Copycat's nostrils as she and Batman walked down the halls of an abandoned cell block of Arkham. Guards had sent a report of screaming and movement down in the old west wing, which hasn’t been used in years.

“What happened here?” Helena questioned as her stomach turned at the foul smell while Bruce seemed to be unfazed by it. ‘Must be used to it’ She thought to herself.

“Remember when Joker injected himself with the titan serum?”

“Oh.” Was all Helena could utter.

She wasn’t in Gotham at that time because of a mentor ship she had been offered overseas for 2 years. In that time, the Joker had caused a riot within Arkham and injected himself with a titan serum, a mix of Bane’s toxins and some other chemicals. After being defeated and locked up in a full body cast for 19 months he eventually broke out. It was also in that time Bruce had found a successor to the Robin mantle, Jason Todd, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in front of him at the hands of Joker.

Helena wasn’t bothered by it as she never really knew Jason, but it made her question why Bruce didn’t do more than just break Joker’s bones for what he had done. She may live with her father now, but it didn’t change her views on how justice should be dealt.

The stench of the cell block worsened as they encountered a locked door and her nose scrunched up, “The least they could do is clean up this place-”

She was cut off by what almost sounded like a whimper behind the locked door and looked at Bruce as he raised a finger to his lips, indicating for her to be quiet and took out a small explosive from his utility belt. The door handle fell as the two walked in and analyzed their surrounding.

The smell made Helena want to gag as tears welled up but quickly blinked them away as she saw a chair toppled over, animal bones, scratches on the wall and dried vomit. She then saw Bruce standing still over something.

Helena knit her eyebrows, “B, What is it?” She asked as she inched closer and froze with mouth agape at what she saw.

The body of Jason Todd, laying on ground and barely breathing. Cape tattered and body fluids covered his suit.

“H-how is he even alive?” It had been two years since that night Joker filmed his death, making them all believe Jason was dead.

Then it clicked.

The animal bones she saw that were scattered on the floor-

“My boy, oh god. My boy. What did he do to you Jason?” Bruce’s voice cracked as he cradled Jason in his arms, tears streaming down his face. Helena felt her heart ache watching her father let all his emotions out and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

“I sent Alfred the text, he’s waiting in the cave with all the medical equipment he could find.” Helena said, thinking he would get up and they could nurse Jason back to health quicker but he stayed on the floor.

She took off her goggles and sighed, “C’mon dad, the quicker we leave, the quicker we nurse him back to health.” Bruce got up with Jason still in his arms and walked out the cell as Helena followed behind them.

‘Two years? Damn I can’t imagine what he has been through.” Helena thought to herself as she trailed behind them, sat in the batmobile while never taking her eyes of Jason.

She had only met him once, both in their uniform but on different sides. Her and Selina were stealing the newest artifact in a museum when the dynamic duo showed up to ruin the heist. Jason got scratched up pretty good that day.

The sound of waterfalls and machine wiring brought Helena out of her thoughts as they drove into the cave, coming at a stop behind a rail.

Bruce and Helena jumped out as Alfred rushed with a gurney to Jason’s side, “Dear God! How did he manage to survive that long in there?” He questioned and hooked Jason’s wrist to an IV.

“There were signs of small animal bones on the floor.” Bruce stated and Helena grimaced at the thought of Jason eating rats to survive.

A silence passed over as the three looked at Jason and Bruce finally broke down, “I didn’t search hard enough, I should’ve- Oh god-” His voice cracking as he covered his face in his hands.

“Dad, please don’t blame yourself. You did the best you could-”

The sound of Jason’s heart monitor speeding and his whimpers cut Helena off as Bruce rushed to his son’s side, gently touching his arm.

That was clearly a mistake as Jason jerked away from his touch, eyes wild and breathing heavily. It certainly didn’t get any better when he realized where he was and who he was next too.

Jason immediately ripped off the IV, “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” He screamed and got off the table as the Bruce took a step closer.

“Jason it’s me-”

Jason shook his head vigorously, “No- No you’re not real! You never came for me.” He growled as he glared at Bruce and Helena’s heart broke a little.

Bruce slowly took a step forward, “This is real and I did come for you. You aren’t there anymore, you are here with me. You are safe.” He reassured him as he kept approaching.

“You’re real?” Jason whispered.

“Yes.”

Jason let out a humorless laugh, “Good.”

He then lunged at Bruce with his finger wrapped around his neck, pressing down hard as he shouted, “HOW LONG, HUH? HOW FUCKING LONG DID IT TAKE FOR YOU TO FIND ME?”

Bruce immediately flipped them over, pinning Jason’s arms, “Jason, calm down. You need to rest- “

“CALM DOWN!? YOU LEFT ME TO ROT IN THAT ABANDONED WING OF ARKHAM FOR OVER A YEAR! WITH HIM.” Jason’s voice cracked as he shouted at Bruce and didn’t feel the tears streaming down his face.

“Joker was right, you never loved me-” He deadpanned as he got out of Bruce’s hold and attacked him, not once holding back on his punches as Bruce just let him.

“I was just a child soldier to you, huh? I bet if it was Dick, you would have found him in a heartbeat-” Helena had enough and knee’d him in his face, knocking him off Bruce.

He glared at Helena and before he could attack, Alfred quickly sedated him.

She then went to go check on her father who laid still on the floor, eyes wide open, “Why didn’t you detain him?” She asked him.

“I’ve never seen him act so wild before-”

“Jason was kidnapped, tortured and locked away for two years. It’s obvious that the Joker may have brainwashed him, said things about you that aren’t true. Anything thing to make him turn against you-” Helena paused for a moment as she put the pieces together.

“What if- what if this was Joker’s plan all along? To make Robin turn against you? Your own partner? I do remember him saying something about ‘getting tired of the same old fanatics’ with you before I left.” She theorized and Bruce hummed in agreement as he got up from the floor.

Bruce then looked at Jason, eyes softening, “If what you’re saying is true... then-” His eyes darting back to Helena, “We need to come up with a plan to bring him back.”

[theamberwriter]

Burned by You [ProHero!Shoto Todoroki]

Pairing: Pro Hero! Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Word Count: 1805

Warnings: Cursing

A/N: He’s probs a lil OOC, sorry ^^”

Something was wrong with Shoto. You couldn't place it, but he'd been acting out of the usual. Though he vehemently denied it every time you asked him what the matter was. You had a theory, but you weren't sure.

Shoto didn't talk about his home life much. His life before becoming a pro. But you knew about his burning hatred for his father. You also knew he had run into him recently. You had a feeling they'd fought. Even if Shoto was a pro now, it didn't stop Endeavor from being well - Endeavor. In fact, it made him even more insufferable!

You felt it was time to talk to your boyfriend. You'd been tiptoeing around him for a week. You just wanted your boyfriend back. You wanted to be able to comfort him. Show him that you were there, no matter what.

The opportunity presented itself that night. Shoto was home on a rare day off. Your day had been fine. But you could tell he wasn't completely over whatever it was.

"Shoto?" you started warily. He was washing the dinner dishes, his back to you. You walked close enough to touch him. You held out your hand but didn't lay a finger on him. "I know you're upset. You can't hide that from me. Is it because of Endeavor -"

Shoto's side immediately erupted in flames. You'd never seen that happen before. He whipped around to face you with fury evident in his eyes. "Don't you ever say his name -"

You weren't sure why you screamed at first. You only caught sight of Shoto's fire going out, his eyes growing wide. He reached for you, uttering something. But his words were muffled. Then, the ringing in your ears started. Following that, there was pain. Searing, burning, angry pain from your neck, over your shoulder, down your arm to your elbow. It stung, like a thousand bees stabbing themselves into your skin.

You fell to your knees, clutching that arm to you. Tears blurring your vision before you even knew they existed. Shoto knelt in front of you, a cold hand reaching for you. The relief that hand brought as a thin layer of frost coated the burn was heaven. But, inside, you recoiled from his gentle fingers.

"[Name]," Shoto's voice was weak. "I'm sorry - I didn't - I didn't mean to -"

You sobbed. Fully realizing what happened - for the first time in the four years you'd been dating, Shoto burned you. He hadn't ever used his quirk on you, unless you asked. Ice a sprained ankle, warm a bath - but never ever in violence. He was normally so good at controlling his temper. Controlling the bursts that followed seeing his father. 

But he'd never turned a hand to you.

"What the hell?" It was all you could muster. "Shoto, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Shoto's hand dropped. Your shoulders were shaking, your breath starting to come in pants. Your sobs were painful, raking hiccups. Shoto didn't know what to do. 

"I didn’t mean to...we need to get you to a hospital,” Shoto stated as if it was so obvious. 

You didn’t want him getting in trouble. You didn’t want to know what the headlines would say. PRO HERO SHOTO ATTACKS PARTNER IN THEIR HOME, PARTNER SUSTAINS THIRD DEGREE BURNS AND PERMANENT SCARING. It wasn’t like that. He was angry and, for just a second, had a lapse in control. You just happened to be in the way. Shoto wasn’t like that. Wasn’t abusive, wasn’t angry.

You grabbed his shirt sleeve, not saying a word. But you hoped the look in your eyes would get him to think about this. About his reputation. About how all his work could come crumbling down, because of an accident. It only took one misunderstanding to topple the delicate tower he stood on.

Shoto shook his head. You pulled his shirt again. He gingerly took your hand, looking into your eyes. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m not worried about that...We can say you slipped with a pot of boiling water if you’re that concerned. But you’re going. - This is my fault. I’m going to fix it.”

Shoto pulled you up with him as he stood. He couldn’t look at your arm. At what he did. But he was quick to find antibiotic ointment and gauze. He grimaced as he wrapped you up after putting on the medicated cream. Then he took you out to the car.

It was a quiet ride to the hospital. Shoto’s hands gripped the steering wheel so tight, you thought that it’d snap. But it sustained for the whole twenty-minute ride. Shoto’s face remained angry, focused. His eyes aimed straight ahead of him. 

The front desk workers stood immediately as the two of you rushed in. Shoto fed them the line about the boiling water. They swept you back into a room. Before you could blink, you were sitting on a hospital bed in a gown. Your burned arm was uncovered because you shrieked in pain when they tried to cover your bandaged arm.

Shoto was sat rigidly in the chair beside you. Still, he couldn’t look you. After a few minutes, he shot out of his chair and nearly sprinted out of the room. Leaving you alone. You tried not to focus too much on the pain. Instead trying to peer out of the clear walls. Watching as people walked by.

When the doctor came in, Shoto still hadn’t appeared. You gave him the line about the boiling water that Shoto’d given the nurses. But, when your wound was unwrapped, your doctor had a sharp eye.

“Are you sure these burns weren’t caused by fire?” he asked. He lifted your arm, examining it. Watching as pain flickered across your face when he moved it. 

You swallowed hard as he allowed your arm to rest. “Yes. - I’m just a little clumsy. That’s all.”

“Well, look what we have here.” You knew that voice. Endeavor appeared behind the doctor. What was he doing here? And why did he look so smug? “Looks like my quirkless future child-in-law.”

That word stung you more than any of Shoto’s flames could. Endeavor had looked down on you since the first day you were introduced. You were a pathetic, useless, unworthy bug in his eyes. He thought you were distracting Shoto from the purpose Endeavor created him for. And Shoto’s hatred for his father had grown more since you two were together. 

“Did you finally get a taste of my Shoto’s flames?” he asked smugly. “Do you finally see how useless you are? How much of a distraction you’ve become? You couldn’t even defend yourself. It’s disgusting -”

“You.” That was Shoto’s voice. And it dripped with more hatred and malice than you'd heard from any villain. “What the hell are you doing here?”

You’d never seen the sort of hatred in his eyes. He said he was over this. Over him. Over Endeavor treating him like a tool. But that look - you knew it would never truly be over. 

“This is your fault!” Shoto cried, one side of the room coating with ice. He was losing it. His control, which was always amazing, was slipping. His temper tipping into a scale you hadn’t seen before. You didn’t know Shoto was capable of such rage. All because of Endeavor. What happened last time he saw him? “What did you say to them? What did you say to [Name]?!”

“Nothing of consequence,” Endeavor said, turning to face Shoto. “Just seeing if your little pet had had enough. This -” He waved his hand towards you. “- isn’t my fault. You shouldn’t blame your weaknesses on others.”

“[Name] may not have a quirk, but they’re a better person than you will ever be.” Shoto’s eyes were wild. Scary even. “Bribing me to break up with them. That’s a new low, even for you. You have nothing you could possibly offer me. I don’t need you. - Now get. Out.”

Endeavor gave Shoto a look that could’ve killed. “When your quirkless pest gets in the way again. - Because, one way or the other, they will - you will have no one to blame but yourself, Shoto.”

Endeavor left without another word. Shoto silently defrosted the room. Then cut a sharp look at the doctor, who turned back to you. You were treated for intense burns. The whole thing being kept under wraps, in the way that happened with heroes. They kept you overnight in the burn unit. 

Once the doctors did their final tests, and you were given your second IV full of antibiotics, it was just you and Shoto. He was quiet. You were have thought he fell asleep with his eyes open. But you knew better. Especially with the way he was gripping your hand. It almost hurt.

Shoto tenderly kissed your fingers. “I’m so sorry about all of - this. About him.”

You sat quietly, going over the earlier fight. You swallowed hard. “He tried to bribe you. To break up with me?”

Shoto sighed as he nodded. Anger etched onto his face as it’d been all day. “There’s not a thing in the world that could get me to let you go.”

“But,” you choked before you could stop yourself. “What if he’s right? What if, because I'm quirkless, I hold you back? What if I get in your way? What if I’m captured by villains, but I don’t have a quirk to save myself? What if -”

“Stop,” Shoto said sternly.

“But -”

“No -”

“But -”

“[Name]!” Shoto finally shouted. You jerked your hand away, half afraid he’d set it ablaze. You supposed he saw the fear in your eyes. His expression changed into a pained one. He leaned back in the plastic chair. “He will never be right. He never has been. - No matter what comes, I will face it. With you. Nothing he says will ever change my mind on that. Do you understand?”

You knew that look. That determined, fearful look. You’d seen it on TV as you panicked watching the news. Crying and throwing yourself into his arms when he came home. This was the man you wanted your future with. And he was right, nothing - not villains, or fights, or Endeavor, or this - was going to come between you two.

You nodded. You could see Shoto relax, a small smile forming on his face. 

You two would power through this. Just as you had through everything else. You would push passed every flinch and hesitant touch that followed. Push passed every stare your burns and scars received. Ignore every question that came about how you got burned. You didn’t forget what happened. But learn from it. It made you two that much stronger.

And, you knew for sure, if you got through this - you could get through anything.

[fink-le-freak]

Name: Snarrl Nicknames: n/a Species: Galarian Obstagoon(homomeles foetidus), "smelly man-badger" Gender: male, male Obstagoon are larger and called boars while the smaller females are called sows, boars have thicker necks and broader chests than sows Sexuality: straight Age: 11, Obstagoon are longer lived than their Linoone and Zigzagoon pre-evolutions and healthy wild specimens have been known to live up to 40 years, captive individuals may live up to 55, longest lived specimen is a captive female named Roxanna who celebrated her 61st birthday this past August Mate: none, boars reach sexual maturity between ages 4 and 6 while sows do not typically begin ovulation until age 7, mating lasts for anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes and typically occurs between March and May but Obstagoon can mate at any point of the year, sows are pregnant for approximately 22 weeks before giving birth to 1-3 Zigzagoon cubs, Obstagoon are monogamous and mate for life Offspring: none, cubs are born completely white and blind, relying on the strong musk of their parents to get by for the first 5-6 weeks of life, cubs will suckle until around 13-15 weeks before being weaned, lower ranking sows aid in the care of the litter by cleaning them, feeding them and guarding them Height: 5'5"/1.651 m, average male height is between 5'2" and 5'7", females are between 5' and 5'4" Weight: 136.3lbs/61.82kg, average male weight is around 122-150lbs, females are between 115-140lbs General Health: good, Obstagoon are vulnerable to bovine tuberculosis, mustelid herpesvirus-1, rabies, distemper, generalized demodectic mange, pneumonia, lymphosarcoma and parasites such as tapeworms, fleas, ticks and lice, generalized demodectic mange can be caused by a weak immune system or individuals may be genetically predisposed to it and it can be treated with antibacterials, antibiotics and topical ointment, trainers with newly caught Zigzagoon are advised to have them checked for parasites at a Pokemon Center as soon as possible to prevent the spread of fleas and lice Fur: fur on the shoulders, neck, chest, forearms and shins is long and coarse with a soft undercoat and rough guard hairs, crest guard hairs are rough and bristly, underbelly fur is short and soft with pinkish grey skin being visible around the groin, fur is coarser and shorter in the summer with the deep grey forearm and shin fur being shed and the chest region resembling a vest rather than a thick jacket Skin: skin is pinkish grey in color, thick, loose and very tough to protect against Combee stings, Chewtle bites, Sizzlipede burns and all kinds of damage, skin is rubbery in texture, Obstagoon may be predisposed to mange so trainers are advised to take extra care of their partner's skin and watch for severe itching and hair loss, dermal health is good Eyes: eyes are small with deep red sclera and small dark irises, eyesight is poor and Obstagoon cannot make out details well, able to identify shapes and movement, irises range from chestnut to nearly black in color, Obstagoon have monochromatic vision and cannot see colors, optical health is good Ears: ears are small and rhomboid in shape with deep grey skin inside, trainers are advised to check inside the ears for ticks and mites, an Obstagoon's hearing is about the same as a human's, auditory health is good Nose: Obstagoon have an acute sense of smell and it serves several important functions, individuals recognize each other by their unique musk secreted by glands at the base of their short tail and on their anus, sense of smell is approximately 800 times better than a human's, olfactory health is good Teeth: adult Obstagoon have 34 teeth, they have large chisel shaped incisors and sharp canines with flat molars suited for grinding vegetation, their jaws are powerful enough to crush any bone in a Rapidash's body Claws: Obstagoon have three fingers and a thumb on each hand as well as four toes on each foot, their long shovel-like claws are adapted for digging and they put them to good use digging the shared latrines for their clan, burying their dead and poking around for tasty insect Pokemon to eat, you can get a general idea of an Obstagoon's age by looking at their claws as older individuals may have their claws almost completely worn down, claws are in good shape Level: 58, assessed by a Circhester police officer after investigating a noise complaint that turned out to be Snarrl viciously beating a trainer's Diggersby Ability: Guts, individuals with this ability are remarkably resilient and tough, where most Pokemon with burns are in too much pain to strike at full force and poisons leave them ill, Pokemon with Guts not only shrug off any damage that these effects do but become more aggressive as a result, increasing their Attack stat by 50%, however they may not outwardly express the pain these conditions are causing, inexperienced trainers may mistake their Pokemon's resilience for an immunity and unknowingly ignore the condition, causing it to worsen Status: wild ID Number: n/a Pokeball: n/a Nature: Hasty Held Item: n/a Characteristic: proud of its power IVs: 12/25/11/17/13/9 Home: a back alley in Motostoke, Galarian Zigzagoon and Linoone reside in a complex den system underground while Obstagoon live above ground outside urban areas as they no longer fear the Corviknight and Thievul that eat their young Affiliation: none, though Obstagoon are typically social creatures that reside in clans of 6-8 adults, Snarrl is a rogue individual Alignment: chaotic neutral Friends: n/a Enemies: n/a Birthday: October 8th Parents: Topper(father, Galarian Linoone) and Blaire(mother, Galarian Linoone), Snarrl was always a problem child and he'd fight with his parents all the time, was kicked out of the den after they had enough of his picking dangerous fights and getting into screaming matches, has no interest in seeing them Siblings: Maxine(twin sister, Galarian Linoone), were never close, Snarrl would beat her up regularly to show that he was the strongest and she grew to fear him W/L: unknown Battle Style: a reckless onslaught of aggressive tackles and wild punches with strong bites, graceless and lacks strategy but brute force usually gets the job done Ribbons: n/a Diet: Obstagoon are opportunistic omnivores and will eat just about anything they can get their claws on, main food source are larval pokemon such as Caterpie, Grubbin and Snom followed by larger insectoids like Sizzlipede, rodent pokemon like Morpeko and Minccino, Combee as well as their honey and comb, Bluk, Magost, Belue, Rawst, Nutpea and Tanga berries, Chewtle, medium to large avians like Corvisquire and Unfezant, Bunnelby, Morelull as well as clover, wheat, oats and grass, they may kill Wooloo and Dubwool if other food sources are scarce Energy Level: generally moderate but drops dramatically in the winter, Obstagoon and their pre-evolutions enter a state of torpor to conserve energy Willingness to Fight: very high Willingness to Surrender: low Willingness to Flee: low Willingness to Kill: moderate Threat Level to Humans: low-moderate, Snarrl avoids people and will not attempt to attack unless cornered and provoked Body Count, humans: 0 Threat Level to Pokemon: moderate, fiercely territorial and aggressive with Pokemon Body Count, Pokemon: 2, a domestic Bunnelby that escaped its cage and hopped out its owner's door only to end up in Snarrl's belly after having its throat slashed and a trainer's Thievul that caught him in a nasty mood Double Edge: Snarrl slams his powerful body into the foe with a reckless full force tackle, this attack is remarkably powerful but may leave the user with broken ribs, bruising and even internal bleeding Submission: Snarrl tackles the target to the ground and beats them down with a wild flurry of punches, this attack may leave the user with bruising around their knuckles Taunt: Snarrl goads the foe into attacking by egging them on with insults Night Slash: Snarrl uses his sharp, shovel like claws to rip and shred the target, this attack may cause the opponent to bleed out if a vital artery is severed Stamina: 6.10 Strength: 7/10 Durability: 6.5/10 Energy Projection: 2/10 Energy Resistance: 5/10 Agility: 5.5/10 Strategy: 2/10 Intelligence: 2.5/10 Previous Training(Behavioral, Socialization etc): none Previous Trainer: none Personality: gruff, rude, outspoken, prideful, selfish, cocky, aggressive, self reliant, wild, tough, abrasive, sadistic, shameless, impatient, bold, dim witted, brutish, boisterous, arrogant, simple General Description: Snarrl is a dirty punk bully that takes what he wants, when he wants. If his rotten breath and razor sharp teeth don't make them steer clear, he's more than glad to give them a thrashing they won't forget. He's egotistical and has no respect for anyone but himself. He especially loathes those who think they're in control of others and what they do. Snarrl is also terribly impatient, rude, loud and pugnacious. His joy comes from intimidating others, blasting rock music on his beat up radio and stealing goodies from domestic pokemon and their trainers. "Oi knobhead! Dontcha know who yer messin' with? The biggest baddest 'Goon this side of Circhester! I recommend ya bugger off 'fore I stop bein' so nice and start clobberin' ya!" "Reckon that belongs t'me now, heheh...snooze and y'lose, geek!" "Daww, lookit th' lil' tyke throwin' a wobbly...want ya lunch? Gotta reach fer it! Gahahaha!" "Shut yer trap, mate; this song is ace!" "Whoa, killer grub! Better than old wheelie bin burgers at least." Favorite Food: Snom, their fat bodies and defenselessness make very tasty snacks for Obstagoon Favorite Attack: Double Edge Likes: loud music, showing off his strength, dumpster diving, breaking stuff, getting on others' nerves/testing them Dislikes: goody two shoes, dancing, kids, humidity, not getting his way other facts about Snarrl -he loves to dig in garbage and see what neat stuff he can find, gets offended if you call it junk -Snarrl hates having his head and belly touched, he really like shoulder rubs though -his radio is his prized possession and he'll beat your sorry ass into submission if you break it -he is fiercely independent as well as stubborn and dumb, making for a Pokemon that will be a pain to try and cooperate with -Snarrl's favorite band is Whiteekans -he takes great pride in how nasty he smells, says it's natural for a big bad 'mon like him to reek other Obstagoon facts(headcanons) -Obstagoon use their long prehensile tongue to poke around in Combee hives and get at the sweet honey -Obstagoon are very vocal and communicate through loud shrieks, cackles, hisses, growls and whines -Obstagoon cannot digest dairy very well, avoid giving chocolate as well as it is toxic, if you want to give your buddy a tasty treat, try fresh Rawst berries or Nutpea berries -Obstagoon are cannibalistic and will eat the cubs of rivals to cut competition for food -Obstagoon, Linoone and Zigzagoon are very prominent in Galarian mythology and still today in popular culture, from the centuries old fables of shapeshifting Linoone defending a great king to a modern cartoon featuring an Obstagoon protagonist with an affinity for spicy curry -Obstagoon are generally quite docile in contrast to their more aggressive Hoennian cousins -It's a common misconception that Obstagoon are nocturnal, they're actually diurnal -Obstagoon can reach speeds of up to 35mph in short bursts, this makes them significantly slower than their Linoone brothers(60mph), Obstagoon's bodies are less adapted to speed and more for defense -The closest living relative of the Galarian Zigzagoon family is the Stunky line -Obstagoon need to scratch and keep their claws sharp, often a clan will have a designated tree to claw at, captive Obstagoon are fond of scratching posts -Obstagoon hair is used to make shave brushes -It is illegal to consume Zigzagoon, Linoone or Obstagoon meat in Galar

[8eht]

q - u? :)

 q: how do you feel about collaborations?

i don’t have too much of an opinion on it, to be completely honest. im pretty particular about what i like reading though, so if their writing styles differ too much i won’t be able to enjoy it really.

with that being said, i give lots of props to those who actually collab w others bc im so picky abt my writing and have extremely specific ideas and if details aren’t described exactly how i imagined it in my head it causes me so much anxiety and distaste for it and askfhaskjfhasfkja. so it must really be difficult and i rly respect those are able to achieve that type of teamwork i could never tbh

r: are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

the first writer that comes to mind is tahereh mafi. i know her style is def not for everyone and neither is mine so sajkfhaskjf. feelinggenious on wattpad actually wrote a post about why they don’t like her style and expressed the reason being is that its “written in a chaotic, hallucinating-ish, journal style that’s oozing and overflowing of metaphors” and that ppl may find its a “lump of metaphors and horrid imagery” n binch thats exactly why i aspire to be on her level someday asfjhsfjhasfk. but i love it so much tho!! and thats exactly how i would want mine to be described as tbh

another person that stands out is tabitha suzuma. i’ve only read one book by her, but i remember ppl on goodreads reviewing it and saying its like 418 pages of poetry. she brings out so so so much emotion and all of her characters (even the younger children) are so three dimensional and they honestly felt like real people to me. the story is so so traumatic and hard to read, but i, at least, went thru so so so many strong emotions and sadness and happiness throughout the entire book. not many writers can do that to me and i admire her so so so so much. she took an extremely taboo subject and made it so you actually feel for the characters involved. i wont mention the book due to reasons but if anyone is interested u can message me or w/e!! 

and lastly, i mention her literally every moment of my life and she really is my biggest muse ??? i guess but its nicole dollanganger. she a songwriter which is technically a writer so i think she counts. not many ppl have heard of her bc she basically just came from bandcamp. but she’s been described as being like lana del rey but with way scarier and more horrific lyrics. i listen to a lot of her songs when i write to keep me going tbh. but i wouldnt rec her music to anyone who can be triggered by v*ol*nce and etc!! so keep that in mind

ask me more fanfic q’s!!!

s: any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

i love angsty bffs who are secretly in love with each other but are too much of stubborn and frightened buttholes they never say anything. so they always fight and get jealous and wow … im so weak for this d*mb shit. hmmm also practice kissing tropes and hurt/comfort and ajkdhaskfjasf. im boring ok i know this dont tell me

t: any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

ok so theres not many that i CANT stand, but theres a lot i literally have no interest in. i rly am against anything obviously problematic or gross. so theres that. but in terms of just popular tropes that im not into ??? anything paranormal (which is hilarious bc i love anything else paranormal n that includes books but for some reason in fanfics i just ??? cant do it.) however there have been a few that i love so i wouldnt disregard a fic completely jsut bc it has supernatual elements. i wouldnt disregard a dystopian fic tho maybe. idk wuts wrong with my brain and why it chooses some things and not others aksjfhasfkasf. but anything thats not everyday boring basic ass shit i usually cant get into it rip

so yeah. theres actually way more bc im so so so so picky af to the point where its disgusting brtywgasfjk

u: share three of your favorite fics writers and why you like them so much.

IM CHEATING !!! ok so instead of writers im gonna go w three of my fave fics bc thats easier for me.

1. letters (things unspoken) was the first fic i ever read that i really, really loved. its super heavy and so so sad so be warned if u wanna check it out. listen i didnt just tear up reading this ok. i straight up sobbed like a lil annoying binch and it really really broke my heart and wow. it involves d**th so. and its monsta x fyi

2. when i get weary of the sky is unbelievable. i havent read it in such a long time so i even forget a lot of it but i remember it being so incredible and well-written and asofhasufohas. im not gonna try to get into my reasoning bc as i said its been quite some time since ive read it and i dont want to give it an improper description. but anyway its abt pentagon!

3. desperate inhales;; relaxed exhales is shortish but its so good omg. im surprised it wasnt written by me tbh bc the author has a similar writing style as i do imo. its everything i could ask for in a fic i think. and wow its actually a svt centered fic amazing. which is wild bc 98% of the fics i read are seventeen related but yet 2/3 of the ones i mentioned are writers for different groups oops

idk why but i feel embarrassed if any of these writer have a tumblr and follow me but prob not and idek why i care but im such a shy awkward bean afhjksjkaf

[shrubforhire]

Asks 1-50

i rly Alright strap in i guess,,

What’s your favorite thing about yourself? uhhhhhh,, Im v proud of my ear for music

What’s the best joke you know? Def the one from who’s line "Our top story today: Convicted hit man Jimmy 'Two-Shoes' McClarty confessed today that he was once hired to beat a cow to death in a rice field using only two small porcelain figures. Police admit this may be the first known case of a knickknack paddy-whack." Colin Mochrie is a fucking god

If you could only have one of your non-canon OTPs become canon, which would it be and why? I want Elanor and Tahani together so bad bitch,,,

What’s your dream vacation? New York!! Seein a bunch of shows and just chillin in the city :)

If you have a girlfriend, what’s the cutest thing she does? If you don’t, what’s something you do that you think is super cute? Oh my goSh theres so much to choose from fuck,, def one of my favs is she will add like tons of disclaimers to stuff before she says it. like if shes asking a question in class she’ll be like “so this is kind of a weird question, and i totally understand if this steps beyond the boundaries of what we’re talking about, but i figured i’d just ask anyways just in case...” oh my god shes so cute 

How do you prefer to spend your free time? MUSIC,, if i can just dick around and cover songs i like,, i am free

What’s a random fun fact that you learned recently? Bamboo is a grass!

When you play truth or dare, do you tend to choose truth or dare? Why I choose truth because I get nervous and once I was playing truth or dare and i had to kiss each of my friends, one on the lips, one by their cleavage, and one on the inner thigh. I did the first 2 and i was so nervous,, prolly cause i was gay as fuck, and right as i was about to put my face right by the vargooba i was saved by god because my nose started bleeding and i had to go inside,,,,,,,, lmao

What’s your favorite thing about being sapphic? That people assume im not so i can rly surprise em!

Who was your first lady crush? Hayley Williams. Hands down,, bitch

If you’re out, who was the first person you told? The last? (If you aren’t out, who is the first person you want to tell?) I didn’t rly come out ever super officially, so I guess my friend amulet when i told them i had a crush on Hayley Williams like right as I realized it lol.

What scares you the most about the future? The fear that I won’t be happy

Do you have a type? If so, what is it? C o n f i d e n c e also when ppl are really smart and responsible and just have a really good handle on their lives. That sounds rly fucking nerdy. Also when people just go for what they want.

Funniest childhood pet story? When my gerbil died I didn’t realize he was dead, and i was so surprised that he didnt run away when i opened his cage like usual. and he even let me pick him up!! i was like wow!! he’s in such a deep sleep. then i didnt feel his heartbeat and i was like oh fuck. this story isnt really funny oops.

What’s your aesthetic? gay shit,,, either v feminine in a rly hippie portland kinda way

What’s your idea of a perfect date? Have you been on it yet? not 2 flex but i planned the perfect fuckin date. first we went rollerskating and hungout at the arcade that they had there and played games. Then we got lunch at this rly cute market, and then we went on a walk that was strategically timed by me so we would get to this giant hill with a perfect view of the sunset. and i had planted a secret backpack in the trees with a blanket to sit on and another blanket to keep warm. and we got to snuggle & watch the sunset together (and our first kiss was right when the sun hit the horizon eeeeee)

What does your favorite color remind you of? playing the og nintendo ds

Quiet studier or loud studier? loud studier cause i talk to myself lol

Coffee, tea, or energy drinks? tea bih!! coffee and energy drinks make me anxious

What’s your stance on glitter pens? fuckin,,,, love

Do you believe in love at first sight? no, i believe in attraction at first sight, but love is a 2 way exchange

Who knows you the best and how did they get to know you? oh gosh,, its a toss up between stevie isaac and shay. they just fuckin,,, get it. stevie gets it cause we’re almost the same person. and shay and isaac,,,,, i still have no fuckin idea how they picked up so much info abt me so fast,, they both scary observant holy fuck

What’s your favorite question to ask? To answer? I love asking ppl about their partners and just seeing them gush hehe. Uhhh idk, im a whore & i’ll answer any fuckin q ppl ask me cuz it means they’re actually interested in what i have to say which is wild

Do you like camping? I LOVE CAMPING. Ive only gone fake camping where your car is right next to the tent,, but its still so fun!!!!!!!!!!!

Cats or dogs? (Hamster is an acceptable answer) Cogs. Dats

What does your dream house look like? A house that I can afford. And maybe w a balcony and a secret room that opens with the pull of a specific book from my bookshelf

What’s your random, useless superpower? solfeg. i can usually figure out a song in solfeg p fast 

Tell me about the most beautiful thing you can think of right now. my girlfriend

If you could only hear three songs for the rest of your life, what would they be? Masterpiece Theater III Haunted House  She’s a handsome woman

What’s the most stereotypical gay thing you do?? (Besides being attracted to women) keysmash

If you could time travel without any negative consequences, would you? Would you change anything? I would retake the SATs lol

What were you most afraid of as a child? Are you over that fear? Dying. not rly lol,,,, what happens to ur brain bro?? will all my memories from this life be gone???? wtf bro

Favorite mythical creature? i rly love mermaids,,,, and sirens

Have you ever dyed your hair an “unnatural” color? Would you? i havent,, if i didnt do theatre my hair would already be lavendar lmao

What’s your favorite book? invisible man

If you could live inside one fictional world, what would it be? pokemon

Most embarrassing story? theres so many,,,, oh my god. prolly when i was chillin in bed with this girl i was dating and then i got super bad period cramps and threw up in her bathroom and my mom had to drive me home in case i fainted,,,,,, i have not seen her since

Proudest moment? making my boss double over laughing 

What’s the most comforting smell you can think of and what does it remind you of? garlic,,,,, it means moms cookin :’)

Do you like fluff or angst more? oh my god i love fluff so much,,,, hhhh

What’s the last thing that made you smile? this short lil dog i saw at work,,,,, so kind

What’s the first thing that draws you to a person? (Romantic or platonic or both) c o n f i d e n c e

Your favorite place to be kissed? fuckin,, anywhere,,,,,,,,,,,,,im a v sensitive person

What’s your opinion on zoos? they’re kinda boring tbh,, 

Do you have any siblings? Are you close? i got 2 bros,, we have a good relationship but we dont hangout a lot

Did you have a favorite movie that you would watch over and over as a child? What was it? the year without a santa claus just for the miser brothers

Do you have any tattoos? If not, do you want any? If so, what are they?

What’s your go-to hairstyle? spaaaaace bunsssssss

What’s your favorite flower? it’s not a flower,, technically its a flowering shrub,,,, but i love hydrangea. the color changes based on the pH!! how fuckin cool is that shit??

Are you the first person to fall asleep at a sleepover or the last? Or somewhere in between? somewhere in the middle lol,, never first.

[heartvalue2-blog]

Courtside Sixers Seats Are Philly’s Hottest Status Symbol

Sports

These days, if you’re not on the floor for the Joel and Ben show, you’re nobody.

Just look at who you could be sitting next to with courtside Sixers tickets. Illustration by Britt Spencer

It was just minutes before tip-off, and the vibe was electric. For a good hour prior to the start time of this nationally televised Sunday-afternoon game, fans, throngs of media, and seemingly every employee of both teams and the arena had gravitated courtside for a chance to see, yes, LeBron James, one of the biggest names in this or any sport. But there was more buzz for the opposing team’s collection of charismatic young stars, including the power forward acquired days earlier in a trade-deadline shocker that triggered a seismic shift in the NBA’s balance of power.

Now, with warm-ups over, the capacity crowd was about to learn which high-profile fan had been chosen to walk onto the court and, as has become custom here, pronounce the start of the proceedings. Scattered around the courtside seats were a couple of supermodels and their entourages, a franchise quarterback and one of his favorite targets, a pair of NBA icons, a retired hip-hopper swirling in comeback rumors, a nationally controversial pundit, the owner of a storied sports team, the local soccer franchise’s just-inked Mexican star, the consensus best player in Major League Baseball, and a big-deal trial lawyer with his trademark suit and slicked-back hair.

None of them got the nod, though. The celeb deemed worthy of this most high-profile moment was a polarizing Hollywood figure, among the team’s most recognizable boosters, one known to give refs an earful when they blow a call.

If you’re thinking Spike Lee at the Garden or Nicholson at the Staples Center, well, sorry. The super-fan chosen to “Ring the Bell” at South Philly’s Wells Fargo Center for this showdown between the flailing, LeBron-led Lakers and the ascendant 76ers was Mr. I-See-Dead-People himself, M. Night Shyamalan. And to the delight of Kendall Jenner, Anne De Paula, Carson Wentz, Alshon Jeffery, Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson, Lil Uzi Vert, Marc Lamont Hill, Robert Kraft (pre-prostitution charges), Marco Fabian, Mike Trout and Thomas Kline, Esq., along with the rest of the capacity crowd, Night rang the bell and rang it good. Game on.

Those on hand were treated to one of the most exciting Sixers games in a 16-month span full of them — the second contest featuring new stretch four Tobias Harris alongside J.J. Redick, Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. When the final horn blew on the Sixers’ 143-120 shellacking of LeBron’s reeling squad, it seemed to signal not just this team’s elevation to beast mode, but a changing of the guard.

It was the sort of statement game — just months after spurning the city as a free agent, LeBron comes to town and gets spanked — that will go down in the annals of Philly sport. It’s a game that a few years from now, everyone you meet will claim to have been at. Think the Birds’ 38-7 romp over the Vikings in the 2017 Conference Championship. Or Phillies closer Brad Lidge firing a slider past Eric Hinske at Citizens Bank Park in 2008. Or Bobby Clarke’s Broad Street Bullies bloodying the Russian Red Army team at the Spectrum in 1976.

But for a handful of the city’s cultural and power elite, the proof will be in the replays. Their faces are in the background of every timeout, every fast break, every dunk. This visibility is why sitting courtside at the Sixers has become the ultimate status symbol, and why the VIP scene there has become the city’s most elite networking spot.

•

If you got hit by a SEPTA bus sometime between Allen Iverson’s farewell in 2006 and Joel Embiid’s debut in 2016 and are just now waking up from your coma, the above scenario sounds like pure fantasy. During the later years of the Iverson era, with the team already in decline, Sixers attendance was buoyed solely by, as aforementioned author, pundit and Temple prof Marc Lamont Hill puts it, the “cult of personality around Allen Iverson.” After A.I.? “It was a ghost town in there,” recalls Hill, who’s had season tickets on the south floor near the Sixers basket for going on a decade. “There was hardly anybody of note on the floor. The only time celebrities came to the game would be if the opposing team was really good.”

After floundering for several seasons, the Sixers in 2013 — backed by a new ownership group led by Josh Harris and David Blitzer and including minority partners such as e-commerce billionaire Michael Rubin and the Smiths, Will and Jada — embarked on then-GM Sam Hinkie’s controversial tanking strategy now lovingly referred to as “The Process.” After three seasons of rote, agonizing ineptitude, The Process ultimately yielded the core of the Sixers’ current squad — Embiid and Simmons — bolstered since by an ever-improving supporting cast. The result: a team that is certifiably good, and certifiably hot. “Now, we could be playing the worst team in the NBA and it doesn’t matter,” boasts Hill, “because we’re the draw.”

Elevated play has caused a surge in demand to get close to the action. And that lure is further perpetuated by the who’s-who list of Philly movers and shakers already entrenched courtside. Among the local luminaries you may spy sitting on the floor: high-powered, silver-haired alpha attorney Kline (20 seasons) and fellow litigator Leonard Hill; Shyamalan and his wife, Bhavna Vaswani (three years); and venture capitalist Richard Vague (like Hill, he’s had seats for a decade). That clutch of power is camped between the scorer’s table and the opponent’s bench with co-owner Blitzer.

On the other side of the scorer’s table, by the Sixers’ bench, you’ll usually find supermodel Kendall Jenner, a.k.a. Ben Simmons’s gal pal; Harris; and real estate magnates David Adelman and Alan Horwitz (who, thanks to his “Sixth Man” jersey, wild white hair, and demonstrative pleading is known to Sixers Twitter as “Old Man Knees”). Across the court, you can find Iverson, Rubin, and the latter’s various guests, ranging from hip-hoppers (Meek Mill, Lil Uzi Vert) to business magnates (Kraft) to celebs and athletes (Kevin Hart, Wentz, Malcolm Jenkins).

It should come as no surprise that a team with the foresight to execute The Process — a gambit reliant on securing on-court celebrity athletes — was also intentional in fostering a culture of stars and influencers in the stands. “We like to joke that it’s been a six-year overnight success,” team president Chris Heck says before tip-off. He’s in the Patriot Partner Lounge, the luxe, invite-only VIP hang the team carved out of the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center. Heck credits celebs like Shyamalan and Meek Mill (and then-companion Nicki Minaj) with raising the courtside profile.

“We call it ‘Circle of Stars,’” Katie O’Reilly, the Sixers’ chief marketing officer, says of the team’s influencers program. “Our managing partners understand the importance of bringing these guys in and having them as part of our family.”

That means inviting Michael B. Jordan, Chadwick Boseman and Bryan Cranston to the Center when they’re in town. It also means making regulars of our other teams’ stars. “I see Alshon more than I see my family,” laughs Heck. “Half the Eagles are season-ticket holders.” And it means catering to power-broker super-fans — bold names more likely to show up in the Wall Street Journal than on a marquee. “Josh Harris and David Blitzer and that crowd, they’ve done a superb job of making sure that the service is excellent” for VIPs, says Vague, the venture capitalist who’s recently made news as a possible dark-horse presidential candidate. “That’s been true through The Process years. If anything, perhaps even more so early on.”

More than any other pro sport, basketball offers proximity to the action. It’s this access that draws the rich, powerful and aspiring. At breaks during the Lakers game, for instance, fellow court-siders sauntered up to Wentz for a handshake and perhaps to offer a bit of unsolicited career advice.

Peter Markowitz, owner of South Jersey’s Posh Automotive Group and a first-year season-ticket holder with seats in the fourth row on the floor behind the basket, recalls one game where “we were randomly asked if we wanted to meet Allen Iverson. They took us upstairs, and we sat and talked to Allen Iverson for 10 minutes.”

Diehards may be chagrined to learn that Markowitz is no Philly sports lifer. “It was a social decision,” the 37-year-old entrepreneur says of his season-ticket plunge. “I’m getting older, and everybody’s getting busier with work and families. I go to all of the games with one of my best friends. We’re not even that into sports, but we have a new appreciation from being there and learning. And we’ve made really good connections for work and pleasure.”

Just off the court, the Corona Extra Beach House has become a networking hot spot. “At halftime, all those people who are sitting around the court, they all go into that room,” says Markowitz. “It’s a nice break, and rather than seeing people you know and passing them by, you get to spend a couple of minutes talking to them.”

For Ric Harris, president of NBC 10/ Telemundo 62, the seats the station gets as a Sixers media partner have proven a superb way to entertain clients.

The networking aspect can grate on basketball junkies like Marc Lamont Hill, but he understands the significance. “You see a lot of empty seats after halftime,” Hill says of the exodus to the VIP bars. “You’ll see people in fancy suits with really nice watches talking about development plans and client services. As a businessperson, I get it — it’s a part of the energy there now. It’s about being at the game and showing people that you can be at the game. That is a super status symbol. Having dope seats to the Sixers is another sign of social and cultural capital. And that’s pretty neat.”

•

Sixers seats have been hot before. But unlike in Iverson’s heyday, when 100 percent of the draw was the otherworldly talent of a sullen, tattooed anti-hero, something about this model feels different. Certainly, part of it is that 18 years on from the Sixers’ last championship run, Philly is a very different city.

The idea of a “New Philadelphia” — one of eds, meds and tech, one that’s solving brain drain and in the midst of a renaissance — comes up often when Heck and O’Reilly discuss marketing strategy. But this is also a very different Sixers franchise, one more in touch with the broader cultural significance of the NBA.

One of the less ballyhooed benefits of The Process is that it essentially allowed the organization to reboot. With expectations nonexistent and a fan base comprising only the most hard-core adherents of the team’s rebuild, the Sixers were free to essentially operate as a start-up. The clean slate, thus, was an opportunity to reimagine.

“So much of our strategy was, ‘Let’s bring back the history of this brand,’” chief marketing officer O’Reilly says of how the team’s planners picked and chose elements of the franchise’s past. “Let’s create traditions and bring back that legacy.” The Sixers’ iconography throughout The Process has played on nostalgia, harking back to the glory days of Wilt and Dr. J. But other touches, from the “Together We Build” slogan to the Franklinian Join-or-Die messaging to the ceremonial ringing of a miniature Liberty Bell, were, in retrospect, ingenious, positioning the team as a public trust and recalling the city’s Revolution-era glory.

This idea of common purpose is espoused by one of the team’s most high-profile courtside fans, Tom Kline (of Kline & Specter and Drexel’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law). “Caring about a professional franchise has at its core caring about the city and caring about what happens to us collectively as a community,” says Kline. “Communities have leaders, and you expect leaders to be visible — so now we’re seeing the kind of people you’d expect to be drawn to the flame.”

Kline has been a season-ticket holder for 20 seasons, occupying what he calls “the best seat in basketball” — next to the visitors’ bench (where he can see opposing coaches draw up plays) — since these seats were first made available in 2006. “Of course, we’re on camera more than the rest of the floor seats because the cameras chase toward the benches,” Kline says almost matter-of-factly. “That’s not why I’m there, but I have represented people as a result.”

Vague, Shyamalan and Kline all profess that they’re in it for the love of the game, though as folks who were driven to the acme of their respective fields, they must be at least a little tickled by the TV exposure (and this season, the Sixers will appear on national television some 39 times). Still, something about all of this seems more substantial, more real, than the glitzy Lakers Showtime scene of the 1980s.

While this iteration of the Sixers appears set up for a run of sustained success, no professional sports team is immune to peaks and valleys. But in this moment, when Philly and its teams all seem ascendant, the Sixers have packaged that energy into something transcendent. They have built a scene — of workaday fans and power brokers and A-listers — around more than a winning team. They’ve built this scene around a belief that by bottoming out and then sticking to a plan, you can reach the stars.

It’s a story that strikes a certain chord in the soul of this city for reasons obvious to anyone old enough to remember, say, the 1980s. The courtside celebrities may ebb with the team’s fortunes. But this moment, when the city’s powerful and powerless clamor for seats to see success we all feel we made possible, may represent not just a team fulfilling its unlikely destiny, but a city doing so as well. Why are courtside seats in such demand? Yeah, it’s about Ben and Joel being the best they can be. But it’s also about us.

Published as “The In Crowd” in the April 2019 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

Source: https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/03/30/courtside-sixers-tickets-wells-fargo-center/

[inthewordsofahalfgoddes]

Free Writing

I feel sick. On friday i came home dizzy feeling like I was dead walking and passed out sleeping for most of the night into the day. I woke up sunday feeling a lot better but as i tried to eat my body was not having it. Even now I can’t stomach too much but apples and even then that is pushing it. i feel like at any second i will puke but It’s a faint sensation. I had two dreams that had me startled and put a slight cloud on my day until i forced the thoughts away. The first was strange and happened about 2 days ago. i was in an apartment listening to a friend of mine talk about his life. I was trying my best to fight trying to have sex with him and failing. even going so far as to entering the bathroom with him. ugh. i was pretty upset at myself in my dream cause I watched myself do it but in my head I was like ‘why are you doing this. don’t do it’. so anyway I have a pair of headphones on connected to like a walkkie talkie and I hear my ex’s voice on the other end. he’s talking about old money business and i click the talk end and ask him to repeat it. He is shocked and he says ‘your voice is too much right now’ and I apologize and ask him to repeat it. he starts to cry and i can hear the emotion and I look up feeling his pain. It was strange because I didn’t really care too much about the situation. I feel like I already moved on from him a long time ago and I didn’t regret my decision at all but haring the pain and emotion in his voice was too much. the dream ends and its a shallow dream so i know im near to akinng up. I carried that with me for the majority of the morning and it bothered me because i feel like i am being punnihsed for how the relationship went. I dragged it on for longer then it needed to be. wayyy longer and I still look back now and regret it but I’m learning to move past it and not dwell too much on it. I eventually was brave enough to face being alone and potentially being unloved so there is that. The other dream happened today. jesus had a weir dtanget and left a silly conversation we were having. i think he really just wanted to step away from me and i was actually pretty okay with it. I feel when we talk too much it puts a strain on our friendship. i wanna-say relationship but...I don’t like that. Inn my head im much more happy seeing it as a friendship because that means its safe. i almost don’t give myself any reason to be jealous  about others and i can give him my love in friendship and that is much more better for me. but some things he said got to me. He was talking about how dull and boring my life would be without him and at first i just joked about it but now I’m startting to see his point. Would i have been exposed to music without him? not as intense bth.My obsession with music and desire to persue it in some shape or form was inspiredby him and who he pointed out to me. I covet his songs so much. They are like staples for me and i dunno im actually listening to one of his songs now (let ‘em know by bryson tiller). So now that he has done his typical thing pretending to be upset and leaving “for couple of days” I have time to think. Its also venus retrograde whihc is like time to revisit and reassess how I see love, how i want to be loved and how I love others. also how my relationships look like and if there is a need for change. This is a simplistic view but its my understanding of it. So I know his venus is in Leo. which lmao is very fitting. hmm sometimes i wonder if I need to slow down with my thoughts of him. I am fascinated by him, pused by him, fired up by him, irritated, annoyed, and some feelings that i cant or wont name. So where does that leave me? Sometimes in my head i’ll call him allan and that makes me pause. Am i waiting for a saviour again? if i am i need to step back and realize that that only ends in pain and dissapointed hope. My last relationship i leanre da lot but it was under duress. it was painful and like forced me out of my caccoon under his hand and i felt so constrained as i tried to heal. it was too much for me and he never did understand me. Now that i’m just feeling jesus out I now see i see him as a saviour and i’m torn bewteen seeing him as one and being okay with it. is it so bad to have friends as liferafts? but at the smame time i dont think he should be treated like one :/ idk its weird though things have been feeling so surreal to me. watching my hands type and literally giving form to my words is unsettling to me. I feel like something is happening to me and i’m scared that its something bad. i don’t rmember being so sick before. in 3 years i only ever experieneced slight sniffles and here i am full blown sick and shit. i’m worried for myself and my body.I ask for michael’s healing and proetction. I am in a strange place and I wonder what will become of all of this. I feel so out of place. maybe its the books i have been reading too. When i read i somtimes carry bits of it into my life. i wake up in this world slightly disjointed and off. I finished reading parable of the talents and that left me shook. i have oto write a book review for that but ive been avoiding it for some reason? anyway I’m a lil way halfway trough lilith’s brood and I find the book fascinating and also scary in a way. i’m not scraed perse about the alients. or maybe i am idk. I’m more scared of the future where women and children will be vulnerable. why is it that males resourt to being bullies again once oscieties are gone? why sare they the most dnagerous? i mean even now they still are and its wrapped up in laws, decorms etc but in a dystopian futuere? terrifying. I couldnt be like Olomina and dress like a man because I am too fullfigured and womenly to pass. i am worried for myself. I just want to be free....i dunno what is going on with me? I ffeel like im drifting in and out of reality and things feel dreamy. I had a thought about my empathy and pisces power and like...maybe all my empathy is for books? thats when i feel so misty and out of it after reading ike my mind really led me away. im happy im reading again at least. it unsettles me that i am becoming  a women. I am entranced with myself seeing the curves, my skin and body seeing how beautiful it is but also seeing how dangerous it is to me and my life. How many times will people punish me for how i look? men mostly. and i dont mind suing what power i apparently have over them but its like i know it will be used aaginst me soon. i never feel wrong for knowing that my body is beautiful. I know it is and i know i am beautiful and a creature many may want to touch and have. I am growing into it and i feel like a flower that is maturing before peoples eyes and im afraid. i know fear is bad so let me say mor elike it unsetles me. but with chnage comes growth and i feel like because of my freeizing myself as i unthaw and turn into who i was supposed to be i am going to blossom very quick. its also weird too because as I say i want this this and this in my body over time i gain that. i was so e skinny and i wished to be thicker and now here i am getting thicker and i know if i atemore id be even thikcer and yet my stomach has not changedd and actually has remained smaller then it as before? i am also finally looking pretty. i felt like such an ugly child and now i wonder if its not that im being graced with it now but that i am seeing it in myself. i know i have eyes that can trap people. I actually look away to make them feel comfortable because if i stare too long at eople they either get caught up in my face (men especially) or they paue for a second.. idk. i feel like im changing t into something that ahs power that i am not comfortble handling;. or am i just being dramatic? the voice in my head is soft and quiet and that is the true me. I have to protect her because thhis world wants to hurt her and she is too good for it. that sounds weird.. But i know i have to keep this shell around me because peope see weakness and want to go for it/. when i gaine dback my sag and leo self i have used it like a shield against people and emotions. only a few know about my soter side/. jesus nampende and allan do. allan has used it and used it agains me to quiet myself, jesus looks down on it and i think nampende is the only one who sees it and sympathzes with it. alone i am soft and always ondering. when im with peoplei am dynamic lughing being wild and having fun. i know that that needs to be my face to protect me. these days i feel like i need to make a descion.  I dont know when and what i need to decide on but i know something will happen soon in my life. something big. idk.maybe its the new moon in virgo? or maybe its just me. im usually okay with momnets of confusion but coupled with this sickness and weird feeling im worried. i had my period so im worired im pregnant but....idk.anywasy on a more shallower side im getting my hair done and im trying to get a new phone. i know its mostyly because i wanna just fuck show people i actually am cute asf? for some reason i cna never capture how beauiful i am in pictures. maybe its the dymanicness of my face. idk i mosty want jesus to se it i think he thinks im ugy af and im like not??? if he saw me in person i dont think he would be saying and talking to me the ay he does. but i cant help things and tb its better that way. if i eve rsee him it will be a good suprise for me when i smirk at him like boyyyy you don fucked up;. anywyas im being etty and yes my exercises ha and will be fueled with this drema in mind veen tho i know it may not actually happen nor go the way i want ti to go. ughh sometimes i forget that im 23 and dont need to have it ll figured out. like thast not un expuse but i always be putting so much pressure on myself to know so much and catch up because i froze so much of myself. i know my body ma=eant well with how it chose to protect me but sis, i suffer lol.I am trying my best to just do my best. I feel tested and tested constantly but i guess with trying to be a better person and working on yourself. oh wait. PLUTO. i remmeber asking pluto a month ago to reveal all my bad shit a lotttt over the course of a month and sicne its a slow moving planet its prob now just hitting me. yikes. well if i cna make it through this then i really will be rdy for anything. so much pressure and stimulation i know i can survive but damn i need a break and shit.well i have tomorrow off so im probgonna chill and dhit. i have a meeting with some witches and other femmes in about an hour so lmao idk man im just trying my best. I hoope the universe sees that im trying because awd jesus i am. I love myself through this no matter what. the feeling that im gonna die is creeping up again its so strange i hvent felt this oh...its probably just anxiety over this sickess. ugdwheteriutuieyte45465hthrethuwt im gonna stop lol this has been too long already (peep the change in tone thast my sag self shining through)