#alternatively for extra relatable points from me

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

okay i know everyone always assumes that trent would be the one who like is experienced and knows what he's doing and is comfortable in his sexuality and out, while ted... well, i've definitely seen some interpretations where he's plenty comfortable, just not really out, but i think a lot of fan content tends towards it either being something he's repressed or he's literally only just discovered, etc. which is all valid by the way, i'm not knocking that at all, and i totally get why that vibe is what people end up going with. but like. have you considered the opposite. ted is like, pretty comfortable in his sexuality, people just make assumptions because he was married to a woman + his whole vibe of affable midwestern dad and all. trent, though, having assumed he was straight up until now, is having a Full Crisis over apparently his first crush being That Goddamn American Coach With The Ridiculous (And Unfortunately Hot??? Somehow?? Is This What Trent Is Into Now???) Mustache.

[holy--milk]

seeing this post and particularly the notes kinda reminded me of how the larger MXTX fandom sometimes tends to see all MXTX tops as like. basically one character in different skins? and while it's true that the three of them basically fit the same general archetype (which i'd probably call something like "overpowered sexy dom + service top + trophy husband"), i think that's still a pretty big mischaracterisation.

so like if we take the situation of "i need to chose between saving my husband and someone else who's important to me", here are what i think would be the biggest differences in approach between the three:

luo binghe: LBH straight up doesn't understand that it's supposed to be a difficult moral dilemma. of course he saves shizun, why would he even hesitate? he's fine with sacrificing someone important to SQQ (like YQY, LQG and even NYY) as long as it means SQQ gets to live, even if SQQ gets upset and leaves him as a result. the only other alternative that could perhaps make it a bit difficult for him would be his adoptive mother, but she's conveniently already dead at this point.

hua cheng: similarly to LBH, it wouldn't be a difficult choice for him since he doesn't really have anyone he cares about to the extent he cares about XL, HOWEVER. he does care about what XL would think about someone else being sacrificed for his sake, especially if it's someone XL personally cares about (and, inconveniently, XL cares a lot about a lot of people). he would obviously still choose XL, but he would probably take extra steps to hide the fact that there was a sacrifice if at all possible.

lan wangji: the only one out of the three who may even see it as a Choice to be made to begin with, since he's also the only one out of the three who still has his family and non-husband related responsibilities he cares about to some extent. it's an easy choice if WWX is pitted against someone he already dislikes (like JGY, SMS, JC and like 80% of the cultivation world), doesn't have a personal relationship with (like WN or, say, mianmian) or someone who would willingly sacrifice themselves out of love for either of them (like LXC or JYL). but if it's LSZ, someone who he both personally cares about AND has the duty to protect as his student? and who he knows WWX cares about as well? i don't think the answer would be quite as obvious to him as it is to the other two, from the purely emotional standpoint.

although to make it a bit more convenient for him, WWX is canonically a genius who may just be able to come up with a creative solution and save everyone. so saving him first is also justified from a pragmatic standpoint.

[miafeystits]

re: that last poll i reblogged, one of the reasons i find both mpreg & a/b/o fic kind of morbidly fascinating after many years in fandom (despite not liking either) is how these kinds of fic often function as a way of mapping the tropes and gender dynamics of cis/heterosexual romance onto (almost always cis) m/m stories without going so far as to gender-swap either character

like, this is pretty obvious with mpreg centered on cis men, which is often just the application of common pregnancy-related romance tropes to cis m/m couples (note: im excluding depictions of trans masc pregnancy from my discussion here because i just think its a separate convo with its own nuances, and because i think much of the fic im describing here generally draws from ideas about cis men & women without much consideration for transness). however its ESPECIALLY apparent if you look at common a/b/o tropes in m/m fic. namely, the fact that an a/b/o universe is generally a world in which irl gender essentialism and the resulting sexual power dynamics between (cis) men and (cis) women are able to be applied to relationships exclusively between cis men-- with one partner being dominant, often physically stronger and aggressive, and socially privileged for this (perceived or real) biological superiority, and the other partner (who is generally the one able to bear children) being sexually submissive, weaker, and thus socially disadvantaged or oppressed as a consequence.

furthermore, something EXTRA interesting to me is that in this type of fic these power dynamics are very frequently not just social constructs (the way they are in real life-- pls dont misunderstand me and think im saying women are inherently biologically submissive to men irl or something), but rather almost always depicted as a biological reality within the world of the story. this type of au (at least in m/m dominated circles) offers a way of exploring and depicting what are basically misogynistic tropes without ever naming it as misogyny or involving women at any point. and i'm not trying to make a moral judgement here--i just genuinely find it very interesting that one of the main ways that misogynistic sexual dynamics (and, frequently, the violence resulting from such dynamics) gets explored in fandom spaces is through the development of an alternate biological and social reality in which cis men experience a mirror of those power dynamics, often turned up to 11 via in-universe biological essentialism. it strikes me as a way to engage with irl misogyny and its role within relationships with a certain amount of emotional distance, for better or worse. on one hand, it might be used to explore this imbalance of power without ever needing to depict misogynistic violence happening to female characters, but on the other hand also often offers a way to engage with romantic tropes steeped in irl gender essentialism in a way that is justified within the fiction of the universe and therefore do not need to be considered as critically

now i dont think this alone justifies this trope's existence or popularity (i'm sure a large part of its popularity is people just thinking it's hot tbh, which is fine im not here to judge), and honestly i'm not interested in litigating the question of why people write or read this trope in the first place, but i AM continually fascinated by the degree to which heteronormativity is able to influence what are ostensibly depictions of queer relationships

[oh-no-its-bird]

TMA naruto au time buckle up,

Jon should get to be a half Uchiha bastard who has an infamously hard time controlling his sharingan.

His mangekyo (which he gets very very young when he accidentally leads a bully to their death at the hands of a nukenin with a love of spiders) basically acts as his beholding abilities and can allow him to compel people to sit still and answer anything he asks of them, which gets really messy when you consider a) shinobi society is built on secrets, and b) he has a really hard time turning it off

His visions absoloutley fucked but whatever bloodline his father was from seems to have caused the deterioration of his eyes to stop where it is— and is also the cause of why he has extra difficulty w it's flip switch

Anyways, Inuzuka Daisy or Hatake Daisy, I can't decide. Either way shes wolf coded as fuck and also in a similar boat of being absoloutley shit at controlling her bloodline. She and Jon are so problem child coded, and I think part of the reason she hates him as kids is bc she sees a lot of herself in him but like, at her worst. All of her issues but he just lays down and takes it when she fights tooth and nail against anyone who so much looks at her wrong. They are opposite ends of the spectrum and she's hyper aware of it

I think that when they're older they should get to go on a mission together and basically the whole coffin thing happens but with like an enemy nin w an earth chakra type.

Mmm alternatively tho, sprinkle in hints of the dreaded fears and play w the beasts and yokai of naruto canon, pull some spooky shit.

They get in over their heads, coffin happens, Jon goes back for her then we end with them both just kind of looking at eachother like "there are things in this world we can not comprehend."

Mmm, naruto version of the fears,,, that could be fun. Incorporate the bijuu maybe, idk

Anyways, Daisy hates Jon, coffin time happens and Jon escapes but then goes back for her (if she's a Hatake, this could also play interestingly w parallels to Kakashi) and they come out of the whole thing having Seen Thing(tm) and are irriversably changed and also now very much edging into co-dependant besties territory

Can u tell I'm a big fan of the Daisy and Jon besties agenda bc I so am

Moving on to the others ->

I want to say civilian Martin? I don't have much for him tbh, it'd be cool if he was like distantly related to Haku tho. Give him the cool ice mirror bloodline limit or whatever bc smthn smthn the lonely.

Mmm ok acrually hear me out: civilian Martin who's trying very hard to avoid shinobi things. He's actually a defected Kiri nin who forged a new identity for himself and fled to Konoha to start a new life after the bloodline hunts back in Kiri killed his whole family (except for Haku, but he doesn't know he's still alive) He's trying very hard to fly under the radar, but I doubt he'll succeed for long

I want him to look like all those fun lonely avatar fan arts of him w the sharp teeth, white streaked hair, dulled looking skin and kinda fishy vibes overall actually, but like he uses a seal to keep a permanant henge on him to look normal bc hes very visibly Kiri otherwise

Tim is giving me Yamanaka vibes for some reason. I like that also bc then we could possibly get him and Jon working together in T&I, which like yay parallel to how they used to work together before the archives

Sasha is giving me civilian born shinobi vibes, I think she should get to work in the hokage tower. Paper pusher with big dreams of moving up the latter and really being someone one day. She has her eyes dead set on a position in the Hokage's office

Basira is ,,, somewhere. You really can't have Daisy without her that's just illegal but I'm not too sure where to put her. Civilian born Basira kinda suits her but I'm ngl I'm kinda eyeing Nara Basira. Wait no fuck ok, Nara Basira and she was on a 3 man unit with Tim at one point, now they just need a Akimichi to complete the narashikacho trifecta there

She totally works in T&I now, or maybe with the Uchiha police force? It's like 90% Uchiha but I'm pretty sure some other clans are spotted here in there among them, and if they're not, I mean, I don't actually give a shit so .

I don't know if this is one of those aus where canon is still there but we're just adding tma characters into the mix or if it's just vague naruto setting but tma characters are our focus / replacing the main cast. But I think it's the first. If it was the second tho I'd say Elias as Danzo in a heartbeat

But since it's the first, Nara Elias who got a mysterious eye transplant years ago that seemed to have changed his personality entirley (were totally keeping the body hopping shit, rip the real Nara Elias who's been dead for years)

He's a slimy politician who works closely with Danzo

Ok so main narrative:

I'm thinking the coffin thing happens with Daisy and Jon, and now they're kind of eyes open to the existence of whatever version of the fears exist in this world. Jon is Jon and can't let sleeping dogs lie, and Daisy is Daisy and does her twitchy "there's something dangerous out there I can't control/don't know about" thing so she's really not stopping him, but she is helping him be more smart about it. Sometimes. They're both kind of lose canons tbh holy shit this is gonna be a disaster

So Jon gets kind of obsessed w whatever the FUCK that was, and Elias smells blood in the water and approaches

Idk what's going on with Elias but he's still body hopping bitch boy Jonah here. He's very involved in the fears, and he's had his eyes on Jon for a while. You see, the way that avatars manifest in Naruto world is that sometimes they'll often show their influence through bloodlines— Nara the dark, Yamanaka the beholding, Inuzuka the hunt, it's all there if you look for it.

Those in 'the know' believe that all bloodline limits came from the fears— sometimes their influence shows more than others. And very very rarley, that influence becomes a a bit more... potent, than in others.

Elias believes that Jon is one such instance of this, his strange mangekyo being so painfully and terrifyingly beholding coded, far more than his clansmen who's own mangekyo tend to branch off lightly into territories of different fears.

Jon (and Daisy, but Elias has a clear favorite here) running into such a strong instance of the buried, which is rare on its own, has only made Elias even more interested, taking it as some sort of sign that there really is something especially odd about Jon's unusually strong link to the fears.

Anyways, Elias sponsoring Jon's investigation into the fears, their links to the bijuu, how they interact with chakra and if they might truly be the source of modern bloodline limits.

Konoha secret supernatural task force (not to be confused with ROOT or ANBU) meant to monitor the fears influence in Konoha,,,

(God, of course Elias couldn't help but make his own fucking secret service in opposition to ROOT. He couldn't let Danzo upstage him)

Just like how ANBU has their shoulder seal and ROOT the tongue seal, I'm thinking their seal is a stylized eye on the back of their neck, which ofc Elias is always watching through, rip

Oh fuck, actually give me seal master Elias and his special spy seals he can watch and listen through. It's not a power thing it's just a specialization thing— he has his own eye tattoo that allows him to directly see through all his seals at any time.

Anyways we're calling this organization ARCHIVE bc I am a simple gal. Don't ask what it's supposed to stand for in verse, idk

Idk who else should be in it, or if it should be like ground up and Daisy and Jon are the first. Wait what the fuck am I saying, Gertrude and Gerry obviously. Michael Shelly too, can't forget him

Toss in Mike Crew and Jude Perry also just bc I like them. Maybe Nikola and an Aburame Jane Prentiss? But also idk if I'd want to put them in the position where they're technically working under Elias, I feel like that just doesn't fit. Better to leave them out in the wold to run into instead for conflict. Except Mike Crew, who is my favorite little guy and who should get to be here on loan from Elias' friend and Daimyo's court shinobi, Simon Fairchild

Honestly be funny if Kakashi was in it at one point just bc then he'd have been in all 3 konoha secret services and honestly? Hilarious. Someone give that guy a fucking break oh my god

Obviously Tim, Sasha, Martin and Basira all eventually join in, tho idk how. Maybe Jon is actually asked who would be a good choice for it? Jon says Tim and Daisy says Basira, then they both kinda eye Sasha who's been very fucking vocal ab needing just a chance to get her claws into the hooks of the Konoha power ladder and reccomend her too

Martin is the tricky one, I'm thinking Elias somehow finds out ab his Kiri background and has always wanted to poke more at the lonley's very visible connection to many kiri bloodlines— but Martin's in particular. So he kinda blackmails him into it, but framed in a more friendly "I'll make sure you don't have to hide anymore, I can secure your place in Konoha even with your ancestry :)"

Also maybe he was impressed by Martin's disguise seals, that'd be neat. Seal master Martin but he's Martin so he's like "Ah, I'm really not that good at it :("

(Jon is infuriated by his seemingly natural talent then even more infuriated when it becomes clear he's actual shit at most other shinobi things)

Ok so peddle it back to Mr Jonah eye fuckery Magnus here -> he was once like Jon. A man born into a clan w a link to the beholding, with a light eye themed bloodline limit. But he was born with a stronger tie to their patron than the others, strong enough to recognize they had a patron at all. And by feeding into it (don't ask me how I have no clue) he was able to strengthen that tie, gaining more power, and the ability to body hop through eyes

And he looks at Jon and wonders if he can replicate that in him. Groom him into something closer to their god, then feed him to the beholding to further his own power, which seems to have stagnated in growth.

I think also there's just a good amount of spite for ROOT and hunger for political power that he might get from ARCHIVE, and Jon is a clear fit for it, so like. Add him to the pile !!

I have a couple more vague thoughts for this -> the archive tunnels correlating to ROOT tunnels, the real Elias being childhood friends w Danzo and Hiruzen before Magnus took his body, Madara off in his cave somewhere being influenced by a Zetsu who serves the fears instead of Kaguya, etc.

But I'll leave it here for now, thank u for ur time

[sad-scarred-sassy]

In an alternate universe where Elain met Lucien before becoming fae

(an Elucien daydream)

“I would like to show you my estate, Lady Elain” The young Lord Graysen said and brought back her attention to the present moment. “I heard you like nature, would you like me to escort you?”

Elain took a little moment to ponder on what he was saying, her gloved hands resting on his forearm, his face open and waiting for her response, even if through the glimmer in his eye she could tell he already knew she would say yes to him. The man courting her was used to women bending themselves for his affections, constantly trying to make him like them, be the ones holding the key to his affection. And the gods knew she used to also feel that way, like she was special when she was the one those eyes were fixated upon. Lately, she realized, it did not matter as much as it did before.

Elain nodded and smiled as he guided her through the lands on his estate, she was not going to miss the opportunity either way. It was true, she did love nature and she did not have an abundance of opportunities to wander around places like these in her day to day life.

“These lands are very close to the wall, but worry not, they are very safe thanks to our sentries patrolling night and day” Graysen proudly announced. She glanced towards the thick folliage of the woods next to them. So inviting.

“Is it the same for those woods?” She asked pointing to the forest curiously.

“Yes, if we don’t stray too far from the manor, they’re as safe as can be” He said matter-of-factly. “Would you like to see?”

Elain nodded immediately and with a slight bow he directed her through one of the paths into the green thick forest.

Elain wondered if she should take his word for it as they walked further and further into the blooming nature, but any lingering reservations she may have was replaced with the allure of the mystical beauty of the woods, making her question what more exotic things could be found at the other side of the wall he had mentioned. A little nudge she felt in her chest made her curious about the things that her sister Feyre had once spoken about to Nesta, wonder if perhaps she hadn’t yet seen true beauty at this side of the world.

“Have you ever seen a fae?” That curiosity led her to ask her companion, his face incredulous for a moment and a bit irritated too.

“I- No” He said, a bit upset at admitting it. She knew that his family was very much against faeries, raising their heirs to become hunters, building their homes to protect themselves from the magical beings. She could tell that admitting he had never seen and naturally never fought one was a bit embarrassing to him, but she didn’t comment on it.

She had never really formed a strong opinion on the fae. Yes, she was raised to fear them, but after Feyre had come back from beyond the wall and had told them of the incredible things she had seen, and how she had even fallen in love with one of them, her mind could never stop wandering towards that. It was probably silly, and she doubted she would ever see anything related to the other side in her lifetime. But Elain still held her eyes ahead, as if she could see through the forest, to what was beyond it.

“If I ever get to see one, I doubt it will be a long encounter, my whole life I’ve trained to slay them. I hope I get the opportunity one day” Graysen continued and Elain simply nodded. He was brave, she thought.

They were walking by a blackberry bush when suddenly one of the Lord’s sentries atop a brown mare appeared from the forest folliage

“Pardon milord, but- we need your assistance, there has been an incident in the north border” He said, one more sentry appearing at his side, pulling an extra horse with him.

“What is it?” He asked.

“It-“ The guard glanced at Elain for a second. “We have found something you might want to see” He ended with a sense of importance.

Graysen nodded at the sentry and then looked at Elain. “Will you be fine going back to the manor from here?” He glanced at the manor, clearly visible from the place where they were standing.

“Yes, don’t concern yourself” Elain half smiled, not completely certain about how to feel. He let go of her hand and she awkwardly fumbled with her gloves as she watched him quickly near the extra horse. With a swift move he climbed into the saddle and directed his gaze to Elain.

“I’ll see you back at the manor, Lady Elain” He said and with a quick bow of the head he was gone, engulfed by the foliage of the forest surrounding her.

Elain watched him go for a moment, suddenly realizing how strange it was for her to be so… alone. The forest around her was very much alive, though. Birds chirping and wind singing through the leaves, the light breaking through the canopy by the lovely midday sun. It was a shame that the exploring had been cut short, Elain had just started enjoying herself, she pondered, fingers running softly through the leafs of a jasmine vine.

She glanced towards the manor. It was probably the wise choice to just go back and wait for Graysen to be done with whatever it was he needed to do.

It was the wise choice.

But something Elain could not really explain made her take a small step back into the woods. Just a little wandering wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it?

She told herself it was the feeling of finally being unrestricted that guided her further and further into the lovely woods. She didn’t know why it made her heart so happy, her limbs so free, she was suddenly smiling to herself, laughing even as she discovered a magnificent owl sleeping not far away on top of an oak tree branch, giggling as she skipped through leaves, passing by wildflowers and vines and apple trees. Even if a bit pathetic, she felt free and alive and somewhere down the line she lost her gloves and both her shoes were now hanging on her fingers, her stockings now the only barrier between her and the warm forest soil at her feet.

That was until she suddenly stepped onto something hard but soft and before she knew what was happening, she was stumbling face first down onto the ground.

“Ow” She groaned as the pain hit her ankle and she tried to gather herself. What in the world had made her fall-

She saw him then. She almost shrieked as her eyes took the sight all at once. Red hair, the most vibrant and rich crimson color she had ever seen, an enormous body, sprawled right beneath her as she sat on hands and knees. Directly in front of her: tan skin, with a few freckles speckled on his chiseled cheeks, a long brutal scar down the side of an otherwise perfectly handsome face, breaking through one of his thick dark eyebrows. Long lashes resting softly on his high cheekbones. And the ears, the slightly curved pointy ears pierced and sporting the most exquisite jewels she had ever seen. Elain gathered it all in seconds, and instinct made her jump and retreat away until her back painfully met the trunk of a tree.

Her heartbeat was pounding on her chest, the adrenaline preventing her of thinking straight.

A fae. A fae was lying right in front of her. She had stepped on… him. She had landed right on top of him too. Her hand pressed to her mouth.

She should run. She should already be running as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

She stared at him once more. He was looking so peacefully unconscious she suddenly wondered if he was even alive. She studied him warily. Why wasn’t she running again?

Gathering her strength she stood onto her two feet and wincing at herself, peered a look closer to him. She had never seen a fae before, curiosity taking the best of her as she took another step closer.

It hit her then that he was magnificent, something completely out of her world. Every inch of him designed for a much more exquisite realm, as much as deadly as he was beautiful.

Common sense urged her to leave him, to run. But something deep inside her commanded her to stay, to inspect. For some god forsaken reason she was not as scared as she should have been when she reached softly and placed two fingers on his throat, just to find warmth and a rhythmic pulse underneath her fingertips. She looked down on his body. Even while hidden under the most exquisite clothes she had seen, she could tell the… male was ripped with muscles, strong forearms leading to big wide hands adorned with golden rings. The steady breathing marked by the rising and falling of his strong chest. Her eyes wandered a bit before coming back up to his face and to her utter shock, finding him staring right back at her with a pair of mismatched eyes.

Elain almost yelped as she was suddenly being thrown on her back, one of those broad hands instantly on her mouth holding any sound she might make, his whole enormous otherworldly body encasing her and making it impossible to leave.

“I won’t hurt you” The male said just as she was going to start screaming nonetheless. “Don’t make a sound” He said, his handsome face inches from hers as she heard dogs barking and coming straight towards them.

The hunting hounds.

“Mmm!” She said, trying to warn him that they would end up being their food in no time.

“Don’t” He murmured. “They won’t sense us”

She looked at him with an incredulous look, her eyes about to pop out of their sockets at how wide they were as he just waited for the hounds to come.

And they did. The enormous dogs barked and passed right by without a second glance. How was that even possible?

Before she could move she heard the sentries going after them. They were following a trace, Graysen with them. They rushed through the forest and then disappeared. The male on top of her just stared ahead, waiting for them all to leave, his hand still unmovable on her mouth as he counted the seconds, while she looked at his long strong neck in front of her. He finally looked down at her again,

“Can I trust that you won’t scream bloody murder if I move my hand?” He asked. Elain nodded once, eyes locked into his mismatched gaze, one eye of russet, one of gold. It was the most enchanting thing she had ever seen and she felt ashamed at the thought.

He nodded as well, hand falling from her face as she gaped at him.

“My apologies, lady” He muttered, still atop her. “I couldn’t let them find me you see.” He slowly got himself off her smaller frame, he pulled himself to sit on his knees, extending a hand to her to help her sit up, she realized.

Warily, she took it, the act of sliding her hand through his warm calloused palm a lot more exhilarating than she had predicted it to be. He helped her up with no effort whatsoever until she was sitting straight facing his impossibly beautiful face. She could not stop wondering how such a being could possibly exist, let alone be talking to her in this moment.

“I’m Lucien” He suddenly said, something about her intense gaze apparently making him lower his gaze for a mere second and run his hand through his molten red hair. Lucien, even his name was new to her ears.

“You’re fae” She said, and that earned her a lopsided smile from him.

“I am” He said, his white smile bright as he displayed his pointy canines to her. Elain couldn’t help but to gape again. “And you’re human I see” He pointed out.

“Well- obviously. You’re in the wrong side of the wall, you know?” Something about his smile made it easy to talk to him and she surprised herself at her boldness. Again, shouldn’t she be running away from him?

“I am aware” He said as his smile turned into a sly smirk.

Elain arched an eyebrow at that, but he only assessed her further, his intense eyes going from her eyes, to her mouth and neck, the disarray of her dress and her muddy stocking clad feet on display. Her cheeks flushed as his gaze stayed there.

“Were you running from someone?” He asked slowly.

“No” She said, his eyes traveling just a little up towards her ankles, as if he could see her little injury from the fall. “I was just wandering through the forest” She said.

“Well, I owe you one, because if it wasn’t for you I might not have awoken in time for that” He said, pointing towards the way the dogs and the sentries and Graysen had gone through.

How had she awoken him?

She was still pondering on that when he said. “I can heal that, if you’d like, it wouldn’t take long” He gestured to her sore ankle, one she didn’t realize she had been softly rubbing. She was hesitant when he added. “Please, as a repayment for… helping me”

She glanced at her ankle, it was sore and… something inside her was still curious, peeking its ears at this new stranger, so different from anything she had ever encountered.

“Will it hurt?” She asked, tilting her head faintly at him.

“Not in the slightest” He put his hand on his heart. “I give you my word”

She pressed her lips slightly as she pondered before slowly nodding her approval. He approached carefully and Elain wondered if she had made the right call as he glanced at her for permission to touch her ankle, pausing until she dipped her chin softly into a nod.

Her stocking was loose on that side, and as he softly took her foot into his big palm, he realized it had come loose from its suspenders, so he simply began pulling at the fabric, making her blush even more furiously when seeing him strip her foot bare.

“Where does it hurt exactly?” He murmured when the clothing item was discarded.

“I thought you could see it” She said with an inhale. Something about a stranger touching her bare foot was finally hitting the mark as scandalous, but she couldn’t get herself to make him stop as his fingers brushed her skin softly, in a way that made her wonder if his intentions were exactly as selfless as he had expressed.

“Clever” He said with a slightly wicked smile. “I did… sense your ankle was hurt, but I can’t see exactly where” He explained as she wondered how that could even be possible. “Is it here?” He pressed on the top of her foot. She shook her head slightly as his eyes found hers again. “Here?” He moved his long fingers towards the side of her ankle and she shook her head again.

“The inner side” She said with a breathy voice that she could barely recognize as her own.

He nodded as his hand moved to where she directed him. The pain concentrating there as he moved her ankle slightly and she flinched.

“It’s not every day that I get awoken by a beautiful lady in the middle of a forest, you know?” He said as little sparks of light began spreading around her ankle as he worked. Elain was in awe as she stared at his magic, almost enough to make her miss the way he called her beautiful.

She hid her blush. “And it’s not every day that I stumble upon a sleeping fae in the middle of a forest too”

He gave her a roguish smile. “Ah, I do have a habit of sleeping around” He teased and she smiled a bit at his sass, right as the last of the pain got swept away, but he still did not put down her foot.

“What were you doing here?” She was compelled to ask as he looked into her eyes.

“I was dropped here by- …it doesn’t matter” He set down her foot at last. “They wanted me to end up ripped to shreds by those hounds just for funsies you see”

“Why?” She asked in horror.

He just shrugged. “They love to play with their enemies and I fell right into their grasp” He said, for a moment he looked around, then back at her. “You shouldn’t be around here… especially alone”

“I lost track of where I was going” She didn’t even know if she could go back through the same path she had taken without ending up even more stranded into the forest. He studied her quietly. She couldn’t understand why she didn’t feel scared of him, even for one moment, when his whole body screamed at how much of a warrior he had probably been forged to be, his muscles rippling through his clothes with every move.

“Were you having fun?” He asked her with a slight smile.

“I was” She admitted. A smile creeping into her mouth too.

“Is that an unusual thing for you?”

She bit her lip, wondering if she should be opening up to this stranger here in the middle of the woods. “I’m not used to feeling… unrestricted” She surprised herself by saying.

“That’s a shame, milady” He gathered himself to stand, and Elain could do little more than gape at how tall he was, more so than what she had expected. He extended a hand towards her again, and when she took it, a small frown crept on his brows as he stared at her small hand in his and pulled her to her feet, not a trace of pain as she stood. When he looked up at her face again, catching her gaze with predatory swiftness, he smirked at her once more. “In my humble experience, there is no greater fun than a female unrestricted” He said and she shifted on her feet as a blush crept onto her cheeks. Scandalous, that’s what this was.

“Are all fae this shameless?”

“Are all humans this curious?”

She realized her hand was still in his when he said it, and she nimbly pulled it away, his broad palm remaining open as it had been. She couldn’t understand what had gotten into her, and why she did not have the mental capacity to look away from his intent gaze.

“As much as I’d love to stay and aid in your adventures” He mused and Elain averted her eyes. “I gotta go, as you probably do too” He said and she looked back at him, his body straightening to take a step away from her. Something deep, so deep inside of her urged her to stop him for a moment longer, and before she knew it she was talking.

“Lucien-“ She said, and his head whipped towards her again, as if hearing his name from her lips startled him for some reason. “Will we ever meet again?”

Something flashed through his eyes as he contemplated her question.

“What’s your name, lovely forest nymph?” He asked her with a sly grin.

“Elain” She said, and again he started, as if something finally clicked. “Elain Archeron”

“Elain-“ He repeated. “You are Feyre’s sister”

“You know my sister?” She tilted her head, taking a small step closer to him. “How is she faring?”

“I’m her friend. She’s well-“ He said, his eyes averting her face for a second. “I’ll send her your greetings-“

“No- I” She said too quickly. “Can this stay between the two of us?”

He looked at her long and hard. His mismatched eyes enthralling her, the strands of his hair falling to frame his handsome face. Elain realized her neck was almost bent in half to maintain their eye contact from where she stood in front of him.

He finally bowed his head just slightly. “Of course, Lady Elain” He said. “And to answer your question” To her bewilderment he brought one of his knuckles and brushed them on her chin in the faintest motion, making her heart start beating hard and fast. “I hope we do” He said at last, his eyes falling from her eyes to her lips and back again. Elain felt herself gulp for air. In that moment she felt her body be transported in a blink of an eye, and before she knew it the beautiful male was gone.

She shook her head and noticed the blackberry bush near the entrance of the forest, she could see the manor from where she stood, as if he had brought her exactly to where she had been before, and then left as quickly as he had appeared.

The faint whisper of his touch still remained on her chin, the smell of him still lingered on her nostrils. And Elain could not understand for the life of her why she could not shake the feeling that she would always be looking for him. Somehow she knew he felt the same. And a faint voice in the back of her mind told her that they would someday meet again.

[sometimes-love-is-enough]

Every time you talk about giving yourself writing challenges, I think about how it would be fun to have a 'handicap bingo'- where you get a random writing 'handicap' like not being able to say any character's name, and have to write a full story with it. Idk. I think it would be fun

Min's Writing Challenge

Rules: Roll a d20, accept your fate, write a fic of your choosing and follow your fate to the letter. (Creative workarounds encouraged.)

Roll twice; you have to use both. If you roll another 1, the extra challenges compound accordingly.

Pick a single letter, A-Z. You're not allowed to use it for the entire fic. (Bonus challenge: E.)

Every sentence must be under ten words long. (Bonus challenge: five words.)

Pick a poetry/lyric style (sonnet, terza rima, ballad, etc). The whole fic must be written in that form. (Bonus challenge: keep it still obviously a normal fic, with appropriate tropes and narrative conventions.)

You must write in future tense.

You must write in first-person POV.

You must write in second-person POV.

Take your least favorite fanon concept/trope, and make it into something you want to write. (Bonus challenge: play the trope entirely straight - no subversions! - and make it enjoyable anyway.)

No character names allowed. (Bonus challenge: no dialogue tags either; you can't use descriptive phrases like 'the man in the prince costume' to work around it.)

No dialogue allowed. (Bonus challenge: no internal monologues allowed, either.)

Dialogue only - playscripts encouraged.

Epistolary fic - only letters, emails, notes, etc.

Write an AU, but the alternative universe is a profession!AU that you know nothing about. (Bonus challenge: no research allowed.)

Unreliable narrator. (Bonus challenge: the narrator is good at being unreliable, to the point that they might legitimately fool a reader.)

Whatever fic concept you have, you can only write the very ending of it. (Bonus challenge: you aren't allowed to use any exposition to explain how you got to that point.)

Write any AU of your choosing, but you must choose at least one major canonverse event/plot point and adapt it accordingly to your setting of choice. (Bonus challenge: Make the canonverse event and AU of choice absurdly incompatible.)

Must start in medias res, with a 'yep, that's me. Bet you're wondering how I got into this situation!' moment. (Bonus challenge: Don't plan what the in medias res situation is before you write it. Force yourself to resolve whatever bullshit you come up with on the spot. I've definitely never done this in my life, ever.)

You must write in outsider OC POV - no canon characters allowed. (Bonus challenge: No Sanders Shorts/related characters allowed.)

Pick a fairy tale, fable, or myth. The fic must be a retelling or reinterpretation of it. (Bonus challenge: you aren't allowed to reread or reference any version of it while you're writing - from memory only!)

Dealer's choice - pick from any of the above.

Good luck.

[doyoulikethisanimesong-poll]

I have finally caught up with my Ask inbox!

After having my inbox closed for probably a month or so (I really should note this shit down), I have finally reached the latest ask and queued it up.

Shits Changing

After having a couple weeks of going through your submissions, I had some ideas on how to improve this system because it wasn't working for me and wasn't working for many of you either (as evidenced by the confusion from some people when the 17th Zetsubou song came on). I tried to mitigate this by putting a day or two between songs from the same artist or anime but it wasn't perfect and didn't fix the issues I was having on my end (namely that I just don't want to listen to an animes whole ost for an hour)

From now onwards I will be doing submissions through google forms (or some kind of alternative if something catches my attention. If you have any reccs, lemme know). I will have the submission form open until I get roughly 50 songs (subject to change if I think its too many or too little) and there will only be one song per submission. You will have to be logged into google to make your submission although I will get no data about who sent what, its just a way to stop people from making 17 submissions under the same email. If you want to game the system, I'm gonna make you put atleast a little bit of effort into it.

However do not be discouraged, it doesn't mean you get one submission ever, it just means you only get one submission per submission period. At a rough estimate of how many songs I queue up a week, you will probably get about one submission a week/fortnight.

Here is the current submission form:

The latest submission form will always be amongst the blogs links thing (if you can't tell at this point, I am not particularly good at tumblr and honestly have no idea what half the stuff is called.)

I'll just post a picture and hopefully it will make more sense. I will also be making a post everytime a new submission form is made as well.

Right there in the middle called Submission Form #1, thats what I'm talking about and hopefully is accessible to all of you (I really do not understand how this site works).

But what about my submission, I haven't heard it yet?

If you haven't heard your submission by Poll #493, that means I haven't queued it up. This can be for multiple reasons. The biggest one is that you didn't give me enough information and I could not be fucked scouring the internet trying to decipher your submission so I will be making certain info required for future submissions. Don't be discouraged if you didn't hear your song at that point, it doesn't mean that I hate it and never want to listen to it again, just resubmit it in the new submisssion form with the required information and I will happily throw it in the queue.

Back to the Asks

The ask feature will now go back to being used as intended, namely to ask me personal questions and blog related questions. Any submissions sent through it will just be ignored and deleted but if you want to ask me about my favourite food, favourite anime or my opinion on anything, I will happily answer.

This is my last paragraph, please put up with my last ramblings

From Poll #500 to #510, I will be testing a new poll layout. This is due to people wanting certain options on the poll that I did not originally add due to the limited amount of votes. Now that a poll gains roughly 300 votes at mininum though, I feel its a good time to test a couple extra polling options.

[ready-to-obeyme]

(not) pleased to meet you

lucifer x reader

notes: gender neutral; an alternative first meeting, implied annoyance to lovers; pre-relationship; (feels slightly like crack but that's just lucifer having a hard time lol)

word count: ~1.3k

No matter how Lucifer likes to spin it years down the line, the truth is, it was annoyance at first meeting with you.

For the last few months before the beginning of the exchange program, he's been doubling down on more work (if that is even possible) trying to finalize the details. Picking you for a human representative at random was the last thing he had to do-- and Father forbid Diavolo ask him how he chose you. (He thinks the prince would get a kick out of it if Lucifer told him it was the first paper that landed on his foot after they all fell on the ground.)

Just when he thinks he can finally filch some responsibility to Mammon as your attendant when you're summoned down to the assembly room, Lucifer watches with quickly growing iritation as you insist Diavolo-- crown prince of the Devildom-- make additional accommodations before you spend the next year with the demon brothers.

"I mean," you say with growing distress, "you can't expect my family and friends to just be... okay with my sudden disappearance, right?"

Damn.

It's rather unfortunate you make sense with the points you bring up; Lucifer would have rather preferred to ignore you entirely and get on with everything. The feeling must have shown on his face because when you turn to look at him, you narrow your eyes in a way that almost mirrors his own displeasure.

Truly, Lucifer thinks seethingly with a charming smile now plastered on his face, an annoyance.

You turn from him quickly when Diavolo lets out a thoughtful hum, glancing at Lucifer with an otherwise well-disguised amusement had Lucifer not seen the expression numerous times before. It normally does not bode well for him.

"I must say, you've brought up rather important details to our attention," Diavolo begins. "I must apologize on all our behalf; we utilized the other human representative as the backbone for human accommodation, but perhaps he was not the best candidate for a normal human."

Curse that black-hearted sorcerer, Lucifer thinks instinctively. (In Purgatory Hall, Solomon sneezes twice in the middle of baking fresh cookies for his new angelic roommates.)

"That's alright," you say in relief. "Glad you're so understanding. So you can send me back--"

"And Lucifer will accompany you to the human world to tie those loose ends," Diavolo tells you cheerfully, and Lucifer watches as your expression freezes (in the same manner as his, most likely).

"Uh, what-"

"We discourage hypnosis on humans for the sake of better relations, but I think we can make this the exception." Diavolo nods, counting off his fingers the long list of 'loose ends' you so kindly provided to him not a minute earlier. "Your family, your friends, your work place, and wherever else you believe a long absence will be alarming, please allow Lucifer to help you make it more palatable. I would hate for you to be jobless or homeless when you come back, of course!" He laughs, and you can only smile back weakly, knowing when it's a losing battle, to Lucifer's surprise.

You look to Lucifer again then with a mildly defeated expression, and the smile Lucifer gives you then is just a smidge more genuine as it is wry.

.

.

.

You follow Lucifer quietly through the portal that connects the Devildom to the human realm, only always a few steps behind. You are quick to jump in and lead the way once you are near where you were first summoned, and for the most part, the journey is oddly quiet.

Lucifer rather expected begging, or at least, more insistence on not being a part of the exchange program since you were so adamant a few hours prior. He is allowed into your home and, with reluctance, into your room as you pack some ammenities and extra clothing for your stay in the Devildom. "It's messy; don't look," you tell him, waving your hand in his line of sight. "I haven't had time to clean it and, well, I probably won't have time to now either."

"Diavolo granted us a few days to... settle your matters," Lucifer explains, glancing over at your open closet, to which you stand up and futilely attempt to block his view. "You can afford to take the time to clean up."

It's amusing to see you embarrassed of an unkempt room of all things after standing up for yourself in a room full of demons, but perhaps that was simply another human peculiarity.

"You sound like my mom," you mutter.

Lucifer glares. "What?"

"Nothing!" You sigh, shoving a set of clothes into a suitcase. "By the way, you think you can convince my work place to give me a whole year leave of absence?"

"I don't see why I would be unable to," Lucifer replies, trailing off. He watches as you take a small photo album from your drawer and place it into your suitcase pocket delicately. Your expression is wistful - a far cry from your earlier determination or previous irritation. You obviously have reasons not to leave for the Devildom, which makes him all the more curious as to why you've come willingly to say goodbye. It makes him pause before saying your name.

It's only when you turn to him quickly that he realizes it's the first time he's used it. Lucifer clears his throat before continuing, "You seem... to be reacting well to the exchange program, despite your initial hesitance."

"Oh, well." You look down at your packed suitcase. "I just thought the idea sounded... rather nice," you say, "despite how inconvenient it's been for me." You zip it up swiftly, with a finality. "Peace in all three realms-- I like that... even though the knowledge that heaven and hell actually exists is insane--"

A human believing in the dreams of a demon and giving him the benefit of the doubt. You must either be brave or foolish for going along with it-- or maybe both, Lucifer thinks, watching you clear out your desk. Perhaps he had chosen right with you, even if it was technically at random. Perhaps it was fate to bring a human that would fit right into the Devildom.

You stand up and turn to him with your luggage packed and ready, and Lucifer realizes then how quickly his annoyance turned into genuine interest. It's ridiculous to think about. Him? Invested in the fate of a human? Are all of them like you, he wonders.

"This clean enough?" You say almost teasingly, and Lucifer looks around before giving you a smirk. He's pleased to see you look down, cheeks warm and expression embarrassed because of him, before he can even respond. (Perhaps you are not so infallible...)

"I expect this level of cleanliness when you live in the House of Lamentation," he tells you with amusement. "I'll be checking ever so often, so try to keep the mess to a minimum."

"You really are the eldest brother," you say with a surprising amount of exasperated fondness. Before Lucifer can register how that makes him feel, you walk past him, saying something about having someone take care of your pet, and the moment is gone.

He watches you flit back and forth between rooms, putting your life in a neat box before you return to the Devildom with him, and briefly, he wonders if you could help him keep his brother in check rather than the other way around.

He supposes he will just have to watch over you to see what happens.

[withered--s0uls]

Oh look it's another GD crossover

Ghost Drone AU - @electrozeistyking

You already saw all this art but shhh HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

This originally started out with me just wanting to draw Beanie interacting with the Intertwined Codes Kids but then I added some extra stuff lol.

If you're a reader of Intertwined Codes, this kinda sorta spoils future stuff bc only the twins have been mentioned in the Draft/Teaser fic but oh well. You have been warned.

IC!Uzi wouldn't like actually meet GD!N bc they'd kinda decide that "hey, let's not have the widowed man see an alternate version of his wife that actually got live." simply out of respect kinda?? So she would stick around at home with the kids whilst IC!N goes out to look for Beanies Dad after their kids drag her to them lmao.

So yeah she doesn't necessarily know the extent of the mans depression, the kids just mentioned there only being a dad so she just specifically asks about GD!N in this doodle

IC!N would quickly pick up on GD!N not being completely okay, even without being told any details. So he probably would end up sitting him down to talk on their way back to the IC!Doorman families place, wanting to help if he can in any way. (He runs a Daycare and tries to also be a support to any parent that needs it, so I feel he out of habit would lean into trying to do that with GD!N)

More/The kids under the Cut otherwise the post looks so long rip

I will go over each of these one by one (can'tdo close ups bc 10 image limit, I'll reblog this in a second with the close ups.)

Left are the Code-Related Nuzi kids, right are the adopted ones.

Code related kids

Zagi:

Not much to say, I'm still working out their personality - they're maybe 2-3 years older than Beanie, so they aren't too far apart in age. :)

Orita:

She's the sibling who started the trend of putting stickers on her siblings, so she DEFINITELY would do the same with Beanie.

She also probably originally was going to show her how to build a weapon, but her parents promptly stopped that lmao .

She would think it's really cool that Beanie has a custom core icon & in general is completely customized from the start! She herself was originally put into a regular worker body (just with the tail and headband being custom made by her mom), she had to build the DD forearms herself. She also has a sticker of the DD icon on her core, covering the WD icon :3

Rexim:

At this point he has enough siblings to be past the "ew a little kid" phase, so luckily Beanie gets spared that. His main camera is damaged, he only really uses his headband optics to look around, so he would kinda just look as if he's staring past her a lot. But bc of the obvious cracks in his visor I feel she would pick up on the fact he's not actually ignoring her.

Also he definitely would just play music to her, because IC!Uzi kinda always has music on whilst working in her workspace he kinda picked up some of her taste in music (Hence he's playing the same song that Uzi is shown to have been listening to in Ep7)

Raven:

First up THANK YOU Zeisty for helping me brainstorm silly stuff for them. They're a little ball of chaos now and I love them.

Anyways.

They would join Orita in bedazzling Beanie, and then they'd start talking about bird facts and also try to get Beanie to talk about her interests.

(Their height difference isnt 100% accurate bc halfway through drawing this I changed the IC timeline, making Raven about the same age as Zagi instead of them being a teen, so I kinda had to manually try and semi-fit their heights lol)

Adopted Kids

Ray:

Nothing to say. He's a baby. Tho whilst I was outlining this one I had to giggle because of how big he is in Beanies hands. She's so tiny 😭💕 /affectionate

Annika:

Oh boy. Ann.

Annika is the eldest kid & was adopted a while before Zagi was coded / whilst the parents were organizing the code copies for Zagi

She does NOT know how to talk to other kids. Never did. It made her stick out at the orphanage wing because she just avoided everyone. And it is very chaotic when Olivia and Ray first show up, because Ann's only idea of talking to other Drones is "well you got to be relatable" so she brings up the siblings dead parents bc like, her code parents are dead too. Both pairs dying to DDs. So yeah she probably would be the first, if not only one, in the whole household to just bring up GD!Uzi. She would do it like it's nothing either.

IC!Uzi would promptly get her to stop and sit her down having a conversation about "what did N and I say about trying to connect on that topic?"

Like IC!Uzi would actually feel really bad about it despite Beanie not knowing her mom. Bc she herself obviously didn't remember IC!Nori growing up but still didn't like the topic.

Olivia:

Olivia, as I said, was greeted with the topic of dead parents by Annika as well. So she probably would kinda interfere when IC!Uzi goes to sit Ann down to talk.

She would feel the need to apologize for the older girls behavior (which Ann would apologize for herself later too ofc) and would try to get Beanie to go play something together whilst IC!Uzi sorts that whole situation out.

She's also the closest to Beanies age probably, just was forced to mature bc of what happened to her parents, despite being taken in by Nuzi shortly after. She still obviously acts like a kid tho when comfortable, so I feel she would kinda ease up around Beanie and actually act more like a 4-5 year old around her.

Bonus? Bonus!

Needless to say Beanie would return home covered in stickers & hairpins (Orita & Raven have more than enough of those, they'd just let Beanie keep some)

RIP GD!N having to get her out of those stickers once they're back home

Also, for the "*humming*" variation of the picture I blame @k1k0oftheworld. Kiko was in vc with me when I was talking about how Beanie would be covered in stickers when she gets home, and saw the doodles as well.

He proposed the following scenario after seeing Rexim show Beanie IC!Uzis playlist:

Beanie humming dead batteries song & GD!N having a breakdown bc it reminds him of GD!Uzi

I do not take accountability for this, I was going to spare the poor widowed man.

(I scrapped the idea of him not knowing ab the IC!Doorman family and him getting a mini heart attack when Beanie goes "I met Mom today" in favor of him and IC!N meeting & talking - I WANTED TO SPARE HIS POOR HEART)

@k1k0oftheworld you owe him money for a therapy session now /silly

Anyways that's it, I'll put the close ups in the reblog like I said 👍

[lindsey-laufeyson]

Distractions- Chapter 9

Distractions Masterlist

Pairing: Reader x FWB!Tom Hiddleston

Series Warnings: SMUT, fluff, angst, friends with benefits

It was the morning after you had discovered the drunk texts from Tom and you were exhausted. Though you had tried to sleep, your anger kept you awake until the wee hours of the night, and when you finally fell asleep, you dreamt that Tom was saying the exact things he said in those messages, but in person. He was spitting them at you like a cobra spits venom, over and over until you woke up in a cold sweat. You dragged your feet getting ready for work, dreading the day ahead of you, and you had to put extra effort into covering up all of the marks Tom left on your neck the previous night. Unfortunately, that meant you didn’t have time to get yourself a latte on your way to work, and you hated drinking the shitty coffee from craft service. 

When you arrived at work, you were glad to be setting up alone. You and Kaitlyn had taken to alternating days where one of you would prep in the morning and one of you would close up at the end of the day. By now, you’d considered Kaitlyn to be a friend, but you hadn’t forgotten the fact that she’d told Tom about Trevor. Eventually, you would have to confront her about it, but for the time being, you would simply enjoy your peace and quiet.

Half an hour later, Tom and Kaitlyn arrived at the same time, Kaitlyn greeting you with her usual, much too chipper “good morning,” and Tom with an apologetic look in his eyes and two coffees in hand. You merely gave them a half-hearted “morning” before turning back to your station. 

“I thought you might like a latte,” Tom said meekly, putting the coffee cup from your favorite café on the counter in front of you. 

“I’d like to get started right away, if that’s alright with the two of you,” you stated, refusing to look at Tom and ignoring the latte you so desperately needed.

“You alright?” Kaitlyn asked. 

You shrugged. “Tired. Didn’t sleep well.” Out of the corner of your eye you saw Tom look at you with concern, but just like the latte, you ignored it.

The minutes dragged on at an agonizing pace as you listened to Tom and Kaitlyn make idle chit chat while you worked in silence. Whenever they attempted to bring you into the conversation, you gave them one word answers without looking up once. You could tell they were both uncomfortable with the palpable tension emanating from you, but you didn’t care. 

By the time Tom’s hair and makeup was almost finished, you’d decided that you were desperate to leave the awkward silence you’d created and even more desperate for caffeine. “Kaitlyn, you finish up,” you told her. “I’m going to go get some coffee from craft service. I’ll meet you on set.” 

“But–” she began, confusion in her voice as she pointed to the now cold latte sitting on the counter. She was cut off by the sound of the trailer door shutting behind you.

…

When you arrived on set, you decided you’d rather stand in the back rather than sit in your chair next to Kaitlyn. It wasn’t just that you were angry with her for telling Tom about Trevor, but you also knew that she would want to know why you were ignoring Tom and try to pry it out of you as soon as she had the opportunity. Mostly though, you just wanted to be left alone for a while.

Of course, your job wasn’t that forgiving. You couldn’t keep putting your assistant on Tom, and you were nothing if not professional. Well, you had been before he came along. So, when duty called, you did what needed to be done with the intention that you would simply treat Tom as if he was a client you’d just met and keep things as professional as possible. Of course, Tom had other plans.

“Y/n,” Tom began as you touched up his makeup.

Without looking at him, you stopped him immediately. “If what you’re about to say isn’t strictly work related, I’m going to have to ask you to shut it.”

“I don’t understand why you won’t just hear me out.”

“I think you’ve said plenty in those texts you sent me.”

“I don’t think you’re being entirely fair…”

You finally looked him in the eyes, your eyebrows raised. “I’m not being fair? You basically called me a slut, Tom.”

His brow furrowed. “You know I would never call you or any woman a slut!”

“You may as well have.”

“I was pissed out of my mind!”

“So was I! But I didn’t send you any nasty messages, did I?”

“No, you just slept with Trevor.”

You shook your head as your eyelids narrowed. “Oh, fuck you, Tom. Don’t you dare throw that in my face. Last I checked, we’re allowed to sleep with other people.”

He stood his ground. “But you wouldn’t have slept with him had you been sober, just as I wouldn’t have said those awful things had I been sober.”

“That’s not the bloody point,” you shot back before you spun around and stormed back to where you had been standing before, eager to regain your solitude. You spent the rest of the morning there, and anytime Tom needed hair and makeup from that point on, he was wise enough not to push you any further and just let you work in silence. 

Kaitlyn, however, couldn’t stand your cold shoulder any longer, and just as you suspected she might, she eventually came to confront you.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you or do I have to force it out of you?” Kaitlyn demanded.

You sighed and then looked at her with irritation. “Do you remember yesterday when I told you never to mention the whole Trevor fiasco ever again?”

“Yeah…” she replied with nervous hesitation.

“Well, for future reference, when I say that, I mean never to mention it to anyone.”

She scrunched her face in guilt. “Tom told you I told him?”

“He told me you told him.”

“But you didn’t tell me not to tell him!”

“Unless I tell you to tell someone, don’t tell anyone!”

“Wait, I’m starting to get confused.”

You let out an exasperated groan. “Why did you tell Tom about Trevor?”

“It was an accident, okay? He was so quiet yesterday, so I was trying to fill the silence when at some point it just sort of slipped out. I don’t see what the big deal is anyway. You guys are such close friends that I figured you were going to tell him anyway. I mean, you told Warren of all people.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose. “The point is, it’s my business and I should be able to decide who is privy to it and who isn’t.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Thank you.”

After a beat, she spoke up again. “So now I know why you’re mad at me, but what did Tom do? I mean, it was pretty cold to blatantly reject his latte like that, and you haven’t exactly hidden the fact that you hate the coffee here.”

“I don’t hate it,” you defended. However, in your attempt to prove her wrong, you took a sip of your coffee and couldn’t fight back the grimace that appeared on your face.

“You were saying?”

“Alright, without giving too much detail, he said some things to me that a real friend would never say.”

“What?” She looked surprised. “That doesn’t sound like Tom at all. What did he say?”

“Do you really think I’d tell you after you opened your big mouth yesterday?”

“It just seems very unlikely that he would say anything untoward to anyone, let alone you.”

You shrugged. “It turns out people can surprise you. And what do you mean by ‘let alone me?’”

“Please. Are we going to pretend like you two don’t instantly light up every time you see each other? At least before yesterday you did. I can’t say whether it’s just your friendship or something more, but the two of you are like flint and steel. Together you create a fire that warms the entire room. The last two days, however, it’s been cold and dreary on set, and everyone can feel it, whether they realize why or not.”

You thought about what Kaitlyn said. While the sentiment was nice enough, you weren’t sure you believed her; or for some fucked up reason, you didn’t want to believe her. “I think you’re imagining things, Kait.”

“Deny it all you want, but it’s true. I don’t know what he said, but I think it might be worth it to forgive him. Not many people have the kind of infectious chemistry that you two have.” And with that, she left to go back to her chair.

You folded your arms and leaned back against the wall behind you. You were somehow more angry now because you knew Kaitlyn had a point. Was it really worth it to keep punishing Tom if it meant stewing in your own anger all day? But then Tom’s messages appeared in your head again, and the image from your dream of him yelling them at you. No. You weren’t ready to forgive him. As much as you wanted to, you just couldn’t. Not yet anyway.

…

By the time lunch was called, Tom felt utterly defeated. He knew he’d royally fucked up, but he didn’t know how to fix it. Typically he found that his words were his strongest asset in expressing himself, but he couldn’t begin to find the words to express how sorry he was, and even if he did, you refused to listen to anything he had to say. Not that he blamed you. 

While everyone else swarmed craft service or went off the lot to get their lunch, Tom found that he wasn’t hungry. This was the second day in a row that you had affected his appetite and it was maddening. He resolved to go back to his trailer, and on his way he heard your name come from behind one of the other trailers in the lot. He paused to listen.

“…but Max here was too bloody chicken to bag that bird!” exclaimed the voice of a man Tom didn’t recognize.

Then came a voice he could only assume belonged to Max. “I wasn’t chicken. She was just a fucking tease.”

A third man chimed in. “It’s a shame, really. Can you imagine what a spitfire like her is like in the sack?”

Max laughed. “The best part would’ve been getting to say that I fucked Hiddleston’s whore!”

Filled with blinding rage, Tom couldn’t listen to any more. He rounded the corner and met Max with a right hook to the jaw. The brawny man immediately retaliated with an equally devastating punch to his assailant, only to realize seconds later whose million dollar face he’d just marred.

“Shit,” Max cursed, his eyes wide with fearful regret. “Mr. Hiddleston, I—“

“If you ever want to work in this industry again,” Tom interrupted with a low growl. “I suggest you leave this studio in the next ten seconds and reevaluate how you’d like to treat women from now on.”

Without a word, Max nodded his head and sped off, his two friends following close behind him. 

“Fuck,” Tom hissed in pain as soon as they were gone. He held his right hand in his left, flexing it open and shut a few times while he examined it. The skin over his knuckles had split open from the force of his punch to Max’s hard jaw bone. He then carefully brought his fingers up to his throbbing left cheekbone, the sharp pain causing him to instantly retract them. 

It was a stupid thing to do. Tom was fully aware of that. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d thrown a punch that wasn’t choreographed. He was never an aggressive person by any means, and he had certainly never abused his power like that, but he couldn’t stand men that were so blatantly disrespectful to women, let alone you. He began to shake with anger again just thinking about what Max had said about you, what he’d called you. 

…

For your lunch break you wanted nothing more than to hide away in your trailer, away from Kaitlyn’s infuriatingly insightful observations and, most of all, away from Tom’s stupid face. But you should have figured out by then that luck was not your friend as of late, because who should you run into on your way to your trailer but the exact stupid face you were trying to avoid. All anger was momentarily forgotten, however, when you saw he was hurt. 

“Oh my god, Tom, what the hell happened to you?” you asked in a panic as you rushed to him and grabbed his injured hand.

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” You brought your hand up to his cheek to examine his face. “You’re bleeding! You need to see the medic.”

He shook his head. “Nevermind, it’s fine. I have a first aid kit in my trailer, so I can just patch myself up.”

“If you won’t see the medic, at least let me do it. I have some liquid plaster in my kit.”

“You don’t have to,” he urged you in a low, gentle tone. “Really.”

“Tom, it’s fine.”

He tilted his head forward and raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

You sighed. Damn him for being so considerate. “Let’s just go before I change my mind.”

Tom’s trailer was small but rather nice, with a kitchenette, a table and two chairs, a sofa, a bathroom, and even a small bed in the back. Tom fetched the first aid kit out of one of the cupboards. 

“I’ll take that, you sit down.” You gestured to one of the chairs. He raised his eyebrows at you. “Sit.” You commanded once more. He obliged. After getting some ice from the freezer and putting it in a bag, you handed it to him “Hold this on your face.” Then you washed your hands, found a clean washcloth, and wet it with warm water. The whole time Tom simply watched you, looking up with those puppy dog eyes that always made you weak, but you were determined to focus on the task at hand. You sat down in the other chair and pulled it close to him so that you were sitting between his wide-spread knees. Letting out a quiet sigh, you took his injured hand and began gently cleaning it with the washcloth. “So, tough guy, who was it?”

“Sorry?”

“Don’t be daft, Thomas. I know fist fight injuries when I see them, so out with it.”

He hesitated for a moment. “I’m afraid you’ll be angry with me.”

“Well I’m already angry with you,” you told him as you took the liquid plaster out of your kit and applied it to the cuts on his knuckles. “So what have you got to lose?”

“It was Max.”

“What? Why would Max punch you?” you asked with a small chuckle at the ludicrous idea.

“Because I sort of punched him first.”

Your head shot up to look at him. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“He was saying awful things about you,” Tom defended. “And don’t ask me to repeat them because I won’t.” 

“Oh well now you have to,” you told him, your curiosity piqued.

“I’m telling you, you don’t want to know.”

“I’m a big girl, Tommy. I can handle it.”

He sighed heavily and you could see the anger seep into his features as he thought back to what happened. “He called you a ‘fucking tease,’ and he said that he would’ve liked to have been able to say that he fucked ‘Hiddleston’s whore.’ And then, I don’t know, my anger just took over, I guess. I punched him and then he punched me back before he realized it was me. Once he did he ran off.”

“‘Hiddleston’s whore?’ Do you think he knows we’re fucking?”

“That’s your takeaway from this??”

“What do you want me to say? As flattered as I am that you would punch someone to defend my honor, it was still an incredibly stupid thing to do.”

“I know. I wasn’t thinking.” 

You finished his knuckles and moved the bag of ice from his face to his hand, so you could begin to clean his cheek. “I’m just glad this is the extent of your injuries. He could have given you a concussion.”

“Do my ears deceive me, or are you worrying over me?” he carefully prodded.

“Don’t make a big deal about it,” you warned. “I’m still cross with you.”

“I know. You have every right to be. But I need you to know that I didn’t mean those things I said. 

You kept your eyes on his cheekbone while you mended it with plaster. “Whether you meant them or not, they still hurt.”

“And I hate myself for that. You’re the last person on earth I’d want to hurt.”

You looked at him skeptically. “What about your mum?”

“Okay, you’re the second to last person on earth I’d want to hurt,” he corrected.

“What about your sisters?”

“Are you kidding? We tortured each other growing up. You’re still second.” He smiled at you and though you tried your hardest not to, your lips still curled into a small smirk while you rolled your eyes at him. 

Once the plaster was set, you took out some foundation and a blending sponge to cover up his injuries as best you could. 

“Ow,” he winced and pulled away when you began tapping the foundation into his bruised cheekbone.

“Oh hush, you big baby,” you told him, cradling the side of his face and neck to keep him from moving. The two of you were quiet for a moment as you continued to blend the foundation on his face. You kept your eyes on your blending sponge, but his eyes stayed on you. His gaze darted between your eyes and your lips, his eyebrows slanted upward and inward ever so slightly. You’d seen that expression many times before. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Making that face.”

“I’m not making a face.”

“Yes you are. It’s the face you make whenever you want to kiss me.”

“I do want to kiss you.”

You paused, looking at him briefly before bringing your attention back to your sponge. “It’s not that easy, Casanova.”

“Very well,” he said, his grin never faltering. Suddenly the speakers in his trailer came alive with the sound of an electric guitar strumming in an upbeat rhythm, making you jump. You looked down to find Tom’s phone in his hand, having just pressed play on the song “If I Could Turn Back Time.” When you looked back up at Tom, he was swaying his shoulders to the beat and singing along with Cher.

“If I could turn back time,” he sang, his eyes locked on yours..

Your wary gaze followed him as he stood up. “What are you doing?” 

“If I could find a way,”

“Thomas…”

“I’d take back those words that have hurt you, and you’d stay.”

Listening to the lyrics, his intentions dawned on you. “Oh, you think you’re clever now, don’t you?”

In lieu of an answer, Tom simply winked at you as he serenaded you through the first verse. You glared at him while you bit your lip to stop from smiling. “I don't know why I did the things I did, I don't know why I said the things I said, pride's like a knife, it can cut deep inside, words are like weapons, they wound sometimes.” You almost broke during the pre-chorus when he fell to his knees in front of you and made like he was begging for your forgiveness while he sang, “I didn't really mean to hurt you, I didn't wanna see you go, I know I made you cry, but baby, if I could turn back time…” As he went back into the chorus, he stood back up and reached his hand out to you as an invitation to dance with him. 

You shook your head. “Oh no. Absolutely not.”

Still singing, he ignored your objection, grabbing your hand and pulling you up out of your seat. 

“No no no no no,” you protested in rapid fire succession as you were lifted onto your feet.

He wrapped one arm around your waist and with the other he took your hand in his. After rocking with you back and forth to the rhythm, he spun you around and dipped you, an impressive feat in his small trailer. By that point you couldn’t hold back your smile any longer. In fact, you found yourself giggling uncontrollably. “If I could reach the stars, I’d give ‘em all to you, then you’d love me, love me, like you used to do.”  The two of you danced and sang and giggled through the entire remainder of the song, each of you trying out your best Cher impressions and laughing even harder in turn. It was silly, and uninhibited, and by far the most fun you’d ever had. It made you realize how lucky you were that you had the privilege of seeing this side of him, away from cameras, and press, and fans, where he could completely and totally be himself. You didn’t understand why, of all people, he felt comfortable enough to share that part of himself with you, but you did know without a doubt that you felt just as comfortable with him. 

As the music began to fade, Tom spun you out one last time and then spun you back into his arms and held you close, your heaving chests flush against each other while your lips were mere centimeters apart.

“You make it incredibly difficult to stay angry with you, you know that?” you told him breathlessly. 

He let out a small chuckle, and then looked down at your mouth like it was water and he was dying of thirst. Slowly, cautiously, he brought his lips to yours. He kissed you with a softness you hadn’t felt from him before. It was tender yet deliberate. You reciprocated with the same gentle affection, savoring it for as long as you could until you were startled by a knock on the door, causing you both to pull away abruptly. 

“Mr. Hiddleston?” came Trevor’s voice from outside.

Fucking Trevor, you thought. 

“Yeah,” Tom called, looking and sounding as if he’d just woken up from a dream.

“They’re waiting for you on set, mate.” Trevor said.

Tom sighed. “Be right there!” You looked at each other with cheeky grins on your faces until you were sure Trevor had gone, at which point you both burst out giggling again. When you settled down, he put a hand on your waist. “Thank you for patching me up.”

“Nevermind. Just promise me you won’t go round punching anyone else for me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t make that promise.”

“Well, try. You’ve made my job hard enough as it is now I’ve got these cuts and bruises to cover up for the next week.”

“I’ll do my best,” he replied with a chuckle. He kissed your forehead and headed for the door, turning back to you once he’d reached it. “See you out there, yeah?”

“It’s my job, isn’t it?” you teased him.

“And maybe you can come over after?” he suggested hopefully. 

“Don’t push your luck, stud,” you replied, but there was no hiding the uncontrollable grin on your face. 

Taglist: @chronicallybubbly, @the-princess-of-loki, @princess-ofthe-pages, @darcylikesloki, @kikster606, @foxherder

[matan4il]

I don’t know if you or anyone can really answer this accurately, but are GoFundMes for people living in Gaza trustworthy at all? or even trustworthy on a case by case basis? a musician I like (Maisie Peters) shared several today, with “help (these families) move out of Rafah,” and it gave me pause because I wholly believe in helping people who need it, but how can we possibly know if that contribution will go to the worthwhile places and families who need it? so much aid is being stolen by Hamas and UNRWA even still, and I have no idea how well researched any of those individual fundraisers are. I’m sure people mean well but it seems like there must be a more reliable option?

Hi Nonnie!

You're so right to be doubtful. Every humanitarian crisis brings with it a bunch of scams, but when we talk about a situation where there can be terrorists getting the aid, I think being cautious with people asking for money is extra justified. I'm glad you already know about the theft of humanitarian aid in Gaza, and are being careful.

First, I will say that the ones setting money to get people out of Gaza completely are very suspect to me. Especially now. Egypt has not only been extremely reluctant to take in refugees from Gaza, even on a temporary basis (for historic reason I won't get into, and which have little to do with "preventing ethnic cleansing"), they've doubled down on closing their border with Gaza to the point of not even allowing humanitarian aid in through their border anymore. Even before this recent development, they were only allowing in medical cases. We do know some people, related to Hamas, got out of Gaza, likely by pretending to be a medical case. This would suggest that maybe, up until the recent Egyptian crackdown, there was a way to bribe some Egyptian personnel to look the other way, and pretend regular people were medical cases, but it would take substantial amounts of money, and would be limited in how many could actually get through that way. In essence, you had no way of knowing who legitimately would take your money and use it to get out of Gaza, and who would just take your money, and do with it God only knows what. At best, just keep it to themselves, at worst use it for terrorist purposes. There is NO WAY for people outside the region to be able to check how the money will be used, or if any of the claims made by a campaign runner are legit, so anyone telling you, "This is safe, it's been vetted!" is either fooling you, or is being fooled themselves.

Inside Gaza, people don't actually need money to get out of Rafah. They can just... move out. Israel has already set up an improvised shelter city within walking distance from Rafah, it also already allows evacuation to other safe parts of south Gaza, and we know that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already moved out of Rafah and away from the zones designated for military action. And this costs nothing. Especially with humanitarian aid being poured non-stop into Gaza, including temporary shelters. Are those great? No. But if the goal is to get out of Rafah, it's possible to do that without paying a dime.

Bottom line, I'm not saying every fundraising campaign is untrustworthy, I'm saying that there is no way to know which one is and which one isn't, and that I personally wouldn't donate to any, because I wouldn't want my money to go to terrorist activities no matter what, and when I know that people do have alternatives and can get by, even if they don't get my donations, I'd rather be safe than sorry, meaning having to live with the possibility that my money directly got someone murdered.

I hope this helps! Take care! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[kenobers]

What kind of music do you think the other Batboys listen to? (If you're interested in them ofc)

okay, first of all this is my first ask!! hello!! and it's about music, so extra bonus points to you!! 🌟

second of all, of course i'm interested in the other batboys! i'm working on their spotify wrappeds right now. for anyone’s who interested, here is my spotify!!

these are what i personally think each of them lean towards music wise based on canon and my own headcanons, please don’t stomp on me if you disagree :-)

Dick listens to clown music i really only found one panel of Dick listening to music and it was mostly Original Pilipino Music and mostly ballads, which i love. it also lends itself to Dick being a fan of indie and soft rock, as well very much being a child of the 90s. The Cure and Billy Joel are artists i see him enjoying. i know a lot of people envision him as a pop fan and i think he specifically listens to early rock-pop music from the 70s; think ABBA, the Carpenters, Donna Summer, artists who would mix well with his affection for balladeers. My self indulgent headcanon is that he's a huge Fleetwood Mac and Mavis Staples fan. i think it's a legal obligation to have an appreciation for grunge to be part of the batfam, but i think he sticks with the basics.

Jason canonically likes Slipknot, Lacuna Coil and Poison Idea (which i forgot to include on his spotify wrapped, oops). however, given his background, his continued interest in being connected to the streets of a large east coast city and the fact that we know he loves good writing, he's definitely a 90s east coast hip-hop guy. i really envision him being a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan (as we should all be) and DMX wrote his theme song Where The Hood At. both the metal/punk and hip-hop genres have heavily political roots and the flaws of political systems are a common theme, which is something he’d appreciate. however, i think Jason's criteria for adding a song to his spotify is if it's good. he's not a snob, he just likes his music to be loud and have good lyricism. he likes to be able to relate to it, whereas Dick would be more about the vibe. i love the idea that he's into Jack Johnson when he wants a softer sound. he also gives me major Artic Monkeys vibes.

Tim canonically likes The Clash, Green Day (i think this is another one they all have in common) and i believe Oasis. so one could comfortably deduce that he's into punk rock, early alternative and brit pop (which makes sense, these all tend to go hand-in-hand). i think he would be fond of alternative and indie, like i think he would dig Steve Lacy and Frank Ocean (he's also a bisexual man in his late teens/early twenties who's heavily online, so i feel like it's also a fairly safe bet that he listens to Frank and probably Tyler too). i think he goes through strong phases of certain artists/genres. i think, like Jason, he likes to be able to relate to his music, but he’s also a bit of a music snob.

Steph's most streamed artist is Mucous Membrane. i get strong punk rock, punk pop vibes from her. she likes anything she can scream along to. My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Avril Lavigne, Pierce The Veil, Hollywood Undead. she definitely had a very strong Panic! At The Disco era. she's got a soft spot for Megadeath too. but i think she’s also more than capable (and willing) to scream along to some bubbly pop music too.

Duke has been seen singing The Man on The Flying Trapeze by Spike Jones. granted, this is a fairly well known song and it had a specific context, but i also kind of love the idea that Duke listens to jazz, like also has a lot of Chet Baker and Billie Holiday saved. that’s his time-to-lock-in music. then i could also see him digging a genre that samples a lot of these artists, like r&b and hip-hop. i see Kendrick Lamar pop up on a lot of Duke playlists and i’m inclined to agree. i’d also add Jay-Z to the mix. a good chunk of his spotify wrapped is stuff he plays to get hyped up, which can vary quite a bit. there’s some Fall Out Boy, Chase Atlantic, Rihanna and some classic rock. i think he also daydreams to Holding Out for A Hero quite a bit as well.

honestly, i feel like Cass pulls the most from everyone else’s playlists. i would say that she’s family spotify stalker, but frankly i feel like she uses youtube music. anyways, her personal tastes would lean more towards the sad girl side; Halsey, Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers, Mazzy Star. maybe Penelope Scott and Grimes - i could see her vibing with the combination of the sad girl feel and a unique sort of sound. thanks to Jason, she also digs System of A Down. for Cass especially music is an emotional outlet, so i think she’d be drawn to more emotional stuff. that said, she’s definitely an ABBA girl.

i see people try to argue that Jason would listen to musicals, but if anyone is the secret theater kid, it’s for sure Damian. he likes the drama and the flair of a megamusical and as such, a couple of songs from The Phantom of The Opera make their way onto his playlist (he secretly relates to certain aspects of the storyline but he won’t say that part out loud). he’s a musician himself so it’s not hard to imagine him enjoying someone as genius as Sondheim, although i imagine he’s very picky about which cast albums/recordings he spins. he listens to a lot of classic music, with a special appreciation for Bach as he’s more or less the violin king. but Beethoven’s got a little more flair. i think he also has a playlist of songs he picked up from his siblings and Superboy

i think they all share an appreciation for Nirvana, The Pixies, The Spice Girls and A Tribe Called Quest.

and i do think The Spice Girls comes strongly from Dick’s influence.

what do y’all think they listen to?

[doodles-and-dragons]

So, I’m spitballing a magic system based lightly on quantum mechanics. Here’s what I’ve written so far—it’s pretty barebones right now, so if you have any feedback or suggestions, let me know!

I’ve been thinking about one that takes inspiration from quantum physics (i.e magic basically works like schrodingers cat in which observation solidifies the outcome or state of something).

I’m gonna try to explain it through a simplified example of schrodinger’s cat; the premise is that there’s a cat in a sealed box, and in that box is a vial of radioactive material, which is connected to a device has a 50/50 chance of activating and breaking the vial open, killing the cat. Until someone opens the box and observes whether or not the vial broke and killed the cat, the cat (who is not an observer of itself, for some reason, but that’s what the original thought experiment seems to imply) is in a state of being simultaneously alive *and* dead—a state of quantum superposition.

An ordinary person can only open the box and resolve that superposition into one of its two possibilities—the cat is alive, or the cat is dead. They can’t really control which outcome they get.

A spellcaster, however, has developed the ability to observe this superposition without resolving it. They are then able to choose the desired outcome by timing when they open the box/become an observer just right (failing to time it right results in the wrong outcome and the spell failing). That’s basically how spells are cast.

Trouble is, reality is more complicated than that. What a wizard wants to happen, while theoretically possible, is often an extremely small likelihood. Part of spellcasting also involves altering the state of superposition to make an outcome more favorable and easier for the wizard to make occur. I haven’t decided how they do this, but this is how more advanced spells are cast. A lot of the times altering the likelihood of an outcome happening also tends to influence the likelihoods of other outcomes within the superposition, which is what results in catastrophic spell failures/unwanted side effects.

So, if a spellcaster wants to cast fireball, it’d be like this:

1. I want to throw a ball of fire. Right now, the likelihood of me creating a fireball is extremely low.

2. If I reach out my hand like this and recite this incantation, I can increase the likelihood of creating a fireball.

3. At this point, I can “cast” the spell by resolving the superposition at the right moment, determining the outcome. If I don’t time it right, either nothing happens or an unwanted effect happens (e.g I just make smoke, I just set my hand on fire instead of make a proper fireball, etc).

4. I could also do more actions/things to further increase the likelihood of casting a fireball. This takes longer, though.

5. I can also try and make my fireball more powerful, either by being extra careful with my timing or doing other actions to increase that likelihood. That more powerful fireball, however, can only happen if I cast a fireball at all, which makes it harder.

So a powerful spellcaster is either one who has determined practical and highly reliable rituals that allow for consistent spellcasting, or has become extremely good at timing their superposition resolution ability such that they can cast more powerful spells by doing less; the former requires more time and materials, however, and the latter is more prone to failure and unwanted outcomes. What path you go for is up to you.

In a similar vein, magical objects are ones that help increase the likelihood of a certain outcome when you use it (e.g pointing a fireball staff towards something increases the likelihood of creating and sending a fireball in a given direction, and requires less work than casting fireball yourself. Alternatively, a passive magical item just increases the likelihood of its related thing happening in general, without any input from the user).

That’s probably also why materials are sometimes consumed in spellcasting—in order to increase the likelihood of an occurrence it must also increase the likelihood of its own destruction or something.

How you get the ability to observe superposition and affect the likelihood of outcomes varies from person to person. For now, I’ll just use D&D spellcasting classes for some examples

Wizard: a wizard learns to cast spells by intense study and experimentation. With enough study, one can develop the ability to intuit superposition and how to influence its outcomes. They create spells through experimentation, or by studying the methods of others, writing down the most efficient and reliable ways to cast each spell in their spellbooks.

Sorcerer: a sorcerer is born with the intrinsic ability to see superposition, and, to some degree, passively influence probability, often through emotional states. With practice, one can learn to harness and hone these abilities to become a spellcaster.

Warlock, paladin, and cleric: these classes rely on a higher power to grant them the ability to see and control superposition, in exchange for their loyalty. These classes rely on their connection to their patrons/deities to influence outcomes and cast spells (which also means that these deities can control which spells they can cast—and why breaking an oath or pact results in the loss of the ability to spell cast, though one may sometimes retain the ability to observe superposition, just not the probability altering that their patron provided).

Again, this is all pretty rough right now, and there’s a lot of room for improvement. Hopefully it’s at least somewhat interesting!

[dreamsinger-rose]

Of Magic and Mating

Looking back over all the movies and specials, it seems to me that trolls are very magical creatures, whether they realize it or not. They are so magical that other species can actually make use of that magic. Velvet and Veneer could draw upon the trolls’ musical talent and the confidence to use it. The bergens did much the same thing, except their way of absorbing whatever makes a troll so magically “happy” was much cruder, by just eating them whole.

Maybe because of their generous natures, I feel that the trolls are open to being used by others. I got the distinct feeling that Floyd had befriended a shy Veneer and somehow given him a bit of his musical ability/confidence. Then Velvet found a way to exploit Floyd’s good will, which is why he was so bitter and sarcastic later on, having been betrayed by this “friends.” Thankfully, Veneer proved to be Floyd’s friend in the end, and turned against his sister.

My point is that rolls are steeped in magic. Their hair tends to be the main repository of it. They can move, stretch, and shape their hair. They can use it as an extra hand or foot, for travel, and object manipulation. They can change its color and texture to make it look like other things, like bushes for camouflage. They can use it to store items and carry babies. From what we’ve seen, they also create babies within their hair.

Now we learn that trolls can procreate with other species. Most likely due to their magical hair somehow making them compatible. It is worth noting that Bruce’s children are not trolls, though. He only seemed able to help her reproduce. Unless Brandy’s species can also self-clone, like Guy Diamond did with Tiny.

But if she does need a mate to produce babies, maybe his hair gave her the ability to self-clone like a troll. Maybe even produce eggs – which would explain why they had so many kids. I’d imagine Brandy would be delighted not to have to go through traditional pregnancies, lol. Or maybe Bruce’s hair actually produced their egg-babies.

That leads to the question of whether or not trolls have other reproductive organs, like humans (and possibly bergens) do. They probably don’t need them, but I like to think at least some have them, just for fun and frolicsome times 😉 Oh, so many questions…

On cloning… Poppy mentions DNA at one point, so genetics must have some effect in the trolls’ world. Branch and Poppy’s siblings look similar but not identical to them; brothers and sisters, not clones. Did each set of siblings truly come from a single parent? Then what about how some trolls seem to have two parents, like Cooper and Prince D’s parents? Their sons are twins who share identical coloring, but neither matches their parents. That suggests two-parent mating, not cloning.

Maybe it’s optional. Some animal species in our world can either self-clone or mate with others, if there are mates available. Maybe trolls are the same way.

Or, magic is involved. The fact that Bruce and Brandy reproduce together baffles even them. I say it’s got to be yet another magical-hair-related ability, fueled by more magic than they know they possess.

Of course, the trolls’ world itself could be considered magical. It has physics that wouldn’t work in our world, like seeing sparkles and musical notes in the air. Talking, self-aware clouds. Water made from glitter. Creatures like glowbugs that shouldn’t even be able to fly, let alone carry trolls. Animals with books growing out of their faces. Seriously?! Enlightened gurus like Cybil (and, I suspect, Tiny Diamond) can float. Which proves that Creek wasn’t a true guru – he used bugs to carry him and make it seem as if he were floating.

So we might as well call alternate-world physics “magic,” yes? 😉

I hope you all had a great holiday 😊

[rottenraccoons]

HIIII I wanted to ask a more technical question related to the game. I know in another ask I think you mentioned that the ending you get in chaper 1 would determine where the story goes in chapter 2, but I was curious if individual/specific choices from chapter 1 would make a difference or effect anything like a bit of dialogue in chapter 2.

Like for example in Oleanders route you pick a trinket and that can effect a few lines of dialogue later. Will some choices like that carry on into other chapters? Tho I'd totally understand if not since it'd probably get too complicated to do stuff like that ^^

I really hope this isn't spoiler territory. I tried my best not to do that ><

The short answer is yes! Choices you make in chapter one can absolutely be referenced or have ongoing effects in later chapters. For anyone who has never programmed before, I'll explain a little about how choices work under the read more and show some examples of Obscura code, but the simple version is that it's only a little more work to include stuff like this: a line of code and then whatever the extra/alternative dialogue is.

So!! If you've never programmed before, the word you'll want to know is variable. A variable is basically just a box that contains information. In basically all visual novels any information the game needs to remember is stored in a variable. And in Ren'py games, it is very easy to make and use variables for a lot of stuff!

Your protagonist's name, for example, is put in a variable box labelled "Name", and so we can just type [Name] in dialogue and Ren'py knows that what we're asking for is the contents of the "Name" variable box, so it just shows that. You can see us doing just that in the first line of this code screencap! So when you enter your name at the beginning of a playthrough, you're telling the game what information goes into the "Name" variable box.

(You can also see how we set variables here, with the "trust_keir" variable remembering if you said yes or no to trusting him, and if you say no then he gets one point added to his affection score.)

Within a single playthrough/save file your variables stay the same until something in the code changes them, but starting a new game makes a new set of variables for that playthrough. That's why no matter how many new games you start and enter a different name into, your old saves will still have the name you entered there.

Since Chapter 2 is going to be a direct continuation of Chapter 1, you're still in the same save file and so all your variables just continue being used. And that means they're available for us to use for all sorts of things! Using variables can be complicated if there's a lot of them that interact in a lot of ways (ask me how a certain date scene is going!), but here's a pretty simple version.

There's two ways onto Keir's route: you can get kidnapped by him normally, or Vesper can accidentally find a way into Mouse Hole after leaving Cirrus' route. If you do leave Cirrus' route, the variable "cirrus_escape" is set to True. That means that later on, I can program dialogue that will only be shown if you left Cirrus' route, in this case mentioning him by name while passing his church. There's a different line for players who didn't leave Cirrus' route. And we can do that with basically any variable in the script!

(For those who want a total breakdown, the screenshot above works like this:

First line: everyone sees this.

Second line: the code that tells the game only to show anything "inside" it (below and indented) if the player left Cirrus' route

Third line: the piece of script that's shown to players who left Cirrus' route

Fourth line: the piece of code that says "anyone who didn't get to see the third line get to see anything inside this"

Fifth line: the piece of script that's shown to players who didn't leave Cirrus' route

Sixth line: everyone sees this.)

So yes, there will be references to previous things that happened where they're appropriate! We love weaving references to things that happened before into the script, it makes everything feel more alive and responsive to your choices, even if those responses are individually pretty small.

[artfightdramaconfessions]

https://www.tumblr.com/artfightdramaconfessions/752851168459423745/was-looking-forward-to-artfight-this-year-was

A few years back, someone attacked my oc with two canon characters from the series universe he was from. They posted the image with him alone in it as the attack, and privately sent me the version with the canon characters so that it didn’t break artfight rules and they could still draw my oc with canon characters. So… you don’t get as many points for it, but this is a good alternative if you really want to draw ocs with canons I think. Same with other things that are now banned by the new rules.

Artfight Mods don’t need to know if two copies of the artwork exist, send it privately to the recipient through a different website and upload a 4Kids sanitization to Artfight (/lighthearted). Making two pieces is extra work but then you can draw what you want to and still participate 😊.

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