#and that me being a listener and people watcher is just fine

[babyleostuff]

happy birthday jeon wonwoo. thank you for showing me that there's nothing wrong with being the quiet one

[recklessghostart]

About the 'Skizz Situation' and why the fan community is not being a good representation of what it wants to claim.

Before I get started, I need y'all to read this with an open mind and an open heart. This is not an attack on you, or at all. It is me pointing out what I see and hoping to bring stuff to your attention. For those who don't know, the 'light' (and ultimately not entirely correct) synopsis going around is that Skizz got a donator asked Skizz to say 'trans rights' and he didn't because it was 'too political'. The reality? Skizz was chilling and vising with his chat having some good times and stuff, didn't vet the dono before starting to read it outloud, and that dono more or less said that they were a 'long time' viewer of Skizz and (the wording almost felt aggressive/accusing) didn't feel he did enough for the community and wanted him to say Trans rights. Skizz in the moment and trying to keep things light said he was just wanting to vibe with his chat and didn't want his channel to address things too 'political' (he clarified later he meant Polarizing) and he has nothing against nobody. He then followed up in the comments that clarification (which, lets be real, it is polarizing) that he didn't want his community to foster hatred in his comment section and its not the forum to have those debates (which is FINE. He is allowed to have boundaries. Those boundaries were set not just for himself but to protect his LGBTQ+ watchers) and of course he supports the LGBTQ+ community and Trans rights. Something else I wish to point out: This donator claimed to be a long time viewer of Skizz. Frankly I don't believe them or anyone who who is listening to any of this. He has been MORE than open about his support of the community in the past, and often. His last stream before all this was even him talking with Gem and Lizzy, two Bi women, about Bi stuff. That dono was made to stir the pot. To either make him say something to cause hatred in his comment space, or make him slip up and get the community to dislike him. So- how is the community a poor representation of what we claim? Well a lot of the claims the LGBTQ+ community makes is wanting people to grow. To want Allies. To support other discriminated groups. So- They see this Man- this DISABLED man (Skizz has MS) who has OPENLY SUPPORTED them in the past, make a slip up of words, and refuse to understand where is is coming from, why he may want to keep things 'good vibes' and just more normalized (because the very much Gay coded jokes and stuff he and Imp and Gem and the others make NORMALIZES the community which is AMAZING), Who himself is straight and comes from a very red state so may not 100% understand how to word what he means correctly, and basically tries to burn him at the stake. To take away his income. People want to Boycott him over this. To basically destroy his life. (Because he quit his Job to be a full time content creator, and he is still a very small one at that.) Tell me, how does that make anyone ever want to support this community? How does that show kindness and understanding? To make people want to grow? How does any of this treatment make you the better person? Because, long story short, it doesn't.

Now some of you are bringing up his mods, how two may be trump supporters. True or not (I haven't seen evidence of this? But I won't dismiss it), you also need to think of a few things in terms of that. They have been his mods for 5+ years. Mods often are close and friends of the streamers, especially small streamers which he is/was. People, can be friends with people of different political parties. You may not want to, but when I tell you that cutting people off because of a political opinion is new, its NEW. And a lot from the older gen wouldn't even dream of it. Furthermore they are (as far as I know) volunteers. He does not pay them (again, small streamer). He needs mods to run his channels and without them he can not do his job safely, especially for his community. And many people will not do this job for Free (at least not well). He can't just replace them overnight. Give him time to have those hard conversations if he chooses to have them. It's not like they have even brought those beliefs into their work or his streams. Long story short, Be good. Not just to each other but to Skizz himself. Have the understanding you would want people to have for you if you slip up with good intentions. Crucifying someone who supports y'all does nothing good for this community.

[raichett]

joel commits a hit and run

During the Watchers' debriefing after the end of Wild Life, Grian gets himself an unexpected - though certainly not unwelcome - ride home.

Content warnings: intentional vehicular violence against non-human entities who are not hurt by said violence, vaguely referenced character death, memory alteration, and being non-consensually trapped and made to play death games. This is unrepentantly crack.

AO3 version.

-

JOEL COMMITS A HIT AND RUN

The empty space between is desolate, as always. The others aren’t here, thankfully, too busy being other people in kinder places than this, even if they do remember. Only their own victory, of course, their one game, unlike Grian who is unfortunate enough to remember them all, and unfortunate enough to be held here and made to participate beyond the role of a player.

It’s possible he deserves this misfortune, of course. They have such power, see, and he is only one Watcher trying to stem the tide of many, all of whom are so eager to take delight in their newest game series. If he can’t stop them then maybe he can help lessen the damage, have a voice in the planning process, take part as recompense. Harm reduction, that’s what it’s called.

They’re talking, and he’s waiting, only half-listening to the post-mortem, the debriefing, as they chatter about likes and dislikes, review the experimental factors, reflect upon the latest game like they’ve just walked out of the cinema or the theatre, buzzing with glee. It’s offensive, this almost innocence, this lack of comprehension of the pain they’re causing, too caught up in the storyline, and the character arcs, and the symbolism. Sun, stars, moon, all the rest. Fuck them, absolutely fuck them.

Grian doesn’t speak. He’s just – too tired. He nearly won again, but not quite, and he doesn’t really begrudge Joel the win, his friend had worked too hard for it – but he had hoped that if there started to be double wins, then maybe they would start getting bored, their attention drifting away. A game is only a game if people agree to play, otherwise it’s just tugging people about and laughing when they stumble, when they fall, when they collide into the arbitrary rules and get tangled there, strung up to be laughed at.

There’s a sound, then, like cave noise, and for a moment Grian thinks it’s just a glitch, some piece of the Universe snagging and then setting itself to rights, but the Watchers’ chattering stumbles, grinds to a halt, and –

It’s low, rumbling, but getting louder. Getting closer. It’s not cave noise.

There are no doors in this place, but there is a type of barrier, some invisible division between the Void outside and this little space carved here. Grian watches, frozen, heart rabbiting in his chest, as – as a car smashes through it. He knows that stupid fucking car.

The car vrooms, revving its engine as it smashes into the meeting circle and runs over one Watcher, two Watchers, swinging around to shove to the nebulous ground a third and a fourth as it screeches to a stop right next to Grian. Watchers are damn hardy, they’ll be fine, but it puts Grian in mind of bowling pins and that’s just – it’s – it’s so insane, it’s ludicrous, and a laugh bubbles up in Grian’s chest just at the absurdity of it, the incongruity that makes everyone too stunned to react.

The window rolls down. “Hey, Grian,” says Joel, grinning.

“Joel!” Grian replies, loud and shocked, but somehow not surprised – who else’s car would it be? – which feels like the only thing he can say.

“Heard you needed a ride home,” Joel says, bright and vicious, his eyes still red. “Come on, this place is cramping my style. We gotta get back to Hermitcraft.” He turns his words now to the surrounding Watchers. “Sorry, folks! Me and Grian got things to do, places to see, honey shops to buy and sell at, all that good stuff. Later, losers, hah!”

The passenger door opens on the back, behind the driver’s seat, and Grian scrambles for it, diving in and slamming it shut behind him, barely getting his feet out of the way in time. There’ll be repercussions later, he’s sure, but right now? Right now, they drive out – nearly running over two more Watchers, but they get out of the way in time – and Grian hasn’t got a seatbelt on, doesn’t know how Joel got here, or why he knew to come, where to go, but that doesn’t matter: it feels good to do something to get one over on the Watchers, and Grian understands the power and importance of small victories.

“I can’t believe you ran them over,” Grian says, and at his own words he starts to laugh.

“They’re so cringe, Grian,” Joel answers, also barking out a laugh, as the car rockets into the Void like a comet. “What losers. Stupid idiots. Now come on, us winners gotta stick together.”

“Even Scott?” Grian prods, though his heart feels like someone just dunked it into a warm bath, liquid comfort melting in his chest. Us. Joel recognises an us.

“Ughh!” Joel bemoans. “Maybe not Scott. He can sleep on the sofa, maybe, or whatever. Dunno if there’s a winner’s sofa, but – yeah, something like that. Something like that.”

“You’re so generous,” Grian says, his smile irrepressible.

“I am a king of humbleness,” Joel assures him. “You have never met anyone as humble and generous and handsome as me.”

The laughter that punches out of both of them echoes inside the car like music. Outside the windscreen, a trail of stars leads the way back home.

[rom-e-o]

We've discussed it with the Scrooges, it only seems pertinent to extend it to our DA couples.

What do we think it was like the first time Emmrich popped a surprise erection around Wifey?

Aaaaah, yes. Hehehe.

Listen, the man is a gentleman with his brushes and razors and fine dressing gowns, but he's still human. Very human, very red-blooded, and very fascinated by the woman who has just inspired such a reaction from him. It's been a while since he's seen anyone serious, after all. ;)

I think it poses an interesting question ... when is the first time it happens at all, and when is the first time Wifey notices it?

I don't want to speak for Guinevere, but I can definitely imagine it happening quite early. After all, these Raven lovebirds move at a pretty fast pace with their first date and second date being pretty spicy (I read your ask like 'DAMN, good for them!'). Does it happen during their first kiss? Hmm. Emm may be a little too seasoned for a kiss to get him at full-mast, so to speak.

Emm strikes me as a guy who won't get that aroused until there is some deeper feeling. Once he starts to think she's the one? THAT really gets him going, in my mind.

What do you see for G'iney, in your mind?

For Isma specifically, I have an hc that it's two separate occasions.

The first time ever is when she slips into the water and he dives in without a second thought to retrieve her.

He pulls her ashore, and she's clinging to him. She's wet (all over, haha), breathless, trembling, and her face is incredibly close to his. When she does look up at him, her expression is one of blissed out relief. "Oh...thank you, Emmrich."

It's a painful throb in that moment, when he realizes how badly he wants her. Also, there's guilt. She nearly drowned, and now his anatomy is betraying him by getting hard at the aftermath of the ordeal?! He's nearly ashamed, and pulls away before she can notice.

The first time it happens and she notices? It's after their dinner date. Where he scolds her favorite non-color, lmao.

When they kiss after the meal, I imagine she's pressed back in that chair while he deepens the touch. He leans in, and when she starts gasping his name, she feels it. At first, she thinks it's some Watcher ornament or mage totem on him, but...nope.

Sensing her surprise, he readies himself to pull away, but Isma's hands quickly seize his shoulders.

"It's just ... been a while," she tells him softly, shyly, "Since a man has done that for me. I don't mind. I-I quite like it, actually. I'd also like if we could keep kissing, maybe?"

They don't go all the way (that happens in the coffin for her, haha) but her knee does find a very pleasant spot against his crotch, and the necking that follows is quite superb.

Btw, I'm curious of your opinion: I do see a lot of people hc that Emm and their Rook consummate their relationship on the dinner date rather than the coffin. I think it's fascinating so many people came to that conclusion. i like it. actually, but for Isma, I think he first time with him is in the crypt. (Sorry for the chill, girl.)

[coraniaid]

What are your favorite Giles moments? What is a 'missing scene' or something you'd like to have seen Giles do or say and didn't?

I think my favorite Giles moments are the obvious ones, really.

His reaction to Buffy coming back to Sunnydale in Dead Man's Party: not just the fact he's the only person not to give her a hard time about being gone but because he's so obviously happy that she's returned but tries to hide that delight from her. He understands her in a way her friends and her mother can't -- he too struggled with his supernatural calling when he was young, and tried running away from it, after all -- but he thinks his affection for her is something to be ashamed of.

His speech to her in Innocence ("if it's guilt you're looking for [...] I'm not your man. All you will get from me is my support and my respect"). Not only is this a nice moment in itself (albeit one later undercut a little by the events of Helpless), it also -- together with Joyce looking at Buffy and telling her that "you look the same to me" in the very next scene -- strongly suggests that people who read Season 2 as the show somehow punishing Buffy for the "mistake" of sleeping with Angel have chosen a reading that the show is actively rejecting. Angel losing his soul is a metaphor for something that really happens -- you sleep with somebody and then they seem to become somebody a lot less pleasant -- but it's not the show's position that any of this is Buffy's fault.

His various moments sticking up for Buffy when she's not around to see it. Threatening Snyder in Dead Man's Party, of course ("would you like me to convince you?"), as well as more gently defending her earlier in the show, but also lots of his interactions with Wesley or other Watchers are also fun ("If you want to criticize my methods, fine. But you can keep your snide remarks to yourself. And while you're at it, don't criticize my methods").

Giles is pretty funny, actually; I think he gets some pretty good lines throughout the show. For example I like the scene in Intervention when he and Buffy are out in the desert for a ritual, she points out they don't have any food or water with them and wonders if the guide he's summoning for her will also "a week later" lead him to her "bleached bones", and he insists that won't happen: "it takes more than a week to bleach bones". Or his speech to the gang in I Only Have Eyes For You ("I appreciate your thoughts on the matter. In fact, well, I encourage you to always challenge me when you feel it's appropriate. You should never be cowed by authority. ... Except, of course, in this instance, when I am clearly right and you are clearly wrong.")

I don't really like fandom attempts to cast Giles as the Scooby Gang's unproblematic Team Dad, but I do like the very different ways Giles interacts with Buffy's friends, from his gentle support of Willow in the early seasons to his frequent irritation with Xander ("Am I right Giles?" "Almost certainly not, but to be fair I wasn't listening." or "Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books"). I like the fact that Dawn -- as the part of Buffy who gets to be a normal kid and not a Slayer -- quickly intuits that Giles doesn't really like her. I like the scene where Giles goes to kill Angelus in Passion and the scene in which he confronts Angel in Amends.

Oh, and of course "I believe the subtext here is rapidly becoming text", which I'm pretty sure I've quoted on this blog more than once.

Missing scene ... well, I've argued recently (and repeatedly) that we should have seen Giles trying to help Faith a bit more than we did if the show didn't want us to blame him for her changing sides, so let's go with something else. It would have been nice if we'd had a scene where Giles tried to get Buffy to talk about Kendra's death, I think (I mean in the same way he's able to get her to open up about how it felt to have to send Angel to hell). He wouldn't have to be successful -- you could contrast this with his own reluctance to talk about Jenny, even -- but it would make it much, much easier to read Buffy's ongoing silence about Kendra as a deliberate character choice, rather than -- as I strongly suspect it was -- the writers just never caring about Kendra at all and assuming the audience didn't either.

[dayntee]

I have very strong opinions about disaster wizards, and especially THIS MOTHERFUCKER:

Listen, if you haven't played Pillars of Eternity, I understand. It's a bit niche unless you're like us olds who grew up on real-time-with-pause CRPGs in the 90's and early 00's (namely the original Baldur's Gate, BG2, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights). That type of gameplay appeals to a veeeeeery particular crowd of people, and if you weren't either super into the Forgotten Realms or D&D in general, it likely wasn't your bag.

THAT SAID - with Avowed coming out next week, I need to gush about one of my favorite fantasy worlds and its disaster wizard because I just love this stupid man so much.

Mild spoilers for Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire ahead:

Eora is a fantastically interesting world. It has some of the most unique fantasy races to play and explore, it leans into its darkness and philosophy hardcore, and it takes a look at gods and says "What's that, you pretentious fucks? Sit your asses down, you have no power over me."

The combat and mechanics system is intricate and complex, but vaguely familiar if you've played any form of tabletop RPG. It does its own thing while still being reminiscent of stats and mechanics with which you're likely familiar. If you're the kind of person that likes to theorycraft their character into a fine-tuned murder machine, you will like this system. If you aren't, that's fine too - there's an option to take all the thought out of the process and let the game level you up itself so you don't have to worry about it and can just roll around doing story stuff.

Pillars of Eternity had a friendship (but not romance) system, which sets you up to have the best found-family adventure with total nutjobs that also has more Matt Mercers than you can shake a stick at (seriously, if you pick a male PC and the right voice option, within the first 20 minutes, your party can be composed of exactly three Matts). It deals with your character, known as the Watcher, getting the world's worst split personality syndrome and having to hunt down the mystery behind why babies are suddenly being born with no souls.

Stick with me, this ride is WILD.

After you resolve this pretty inconvenient global cataclysm, you settle down in a keep you acquire during the course of the adventure, only for a god to wake up between game 1 and 2 in your basement and *checks notes* CRUSH YOU TO ALMOST-DEATH.

Oh, and he also takes a part of your soul. For funsies!

Berath, the god of death, offers to restore you to life to figure out what basement-god (Eothas) has planned so long as you agree to be their herald. While you can say no, that just ends the game, so your will to live means you're in on this whole thing and now you get to sail a boat to do it, for reasons, I guess.

Several of the companions from the first game reappear in this one, but to keep on topic, the most important one is Aloth. Why?

BECAUSE NOW YOU CAN WOO THIS ASSHOLE AND THE ANGRY SCOTTISH LADY THAT LIVES INSIDE HIS HEAD.

Aloth is one of my favorite disaster wizards because he has all my favorite tropes just... built right in:

Crippling self-confidence issues

A "split personality" (it's more complicated than that) that is both mortifying and also potentially one of the best characters in the game

A maker of Generally Bad Choices™

Canonically bisexual

Entirely non-committal (at least without a lot of work)

A PAIN IN THE ASS TO ROMANCE

I say these are my favorite, but they're really just all the qualities that every other disaster wizard I've ended up falling for tend to have in some way. Aloth just winds up having them all, wrapped up in a handsome elven package, and then voiced by Matt Mercer because fuck me in particular, I guess, god damnit.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk on why Aloth is amazing and more people need to romance this jerk. I say this with nothing but love—it's 100% worth it, even when he's breaking your heart (or his romance flag is bugged and you have to roll back three hours to fix it AHHAHAH GOD WHY).

Should you want to read along with the general flow of my head canon for my own playthrough, which is a helluva slow burn will they/won't they extravaganza, you can find the largely completed series here on AO3. There's even smut now!

Back to Solavellan Hell with me.

[thecoolerliauditore]

long post: the neck kisses playlist on joel's spotify is about jimmy (and kind of etho too a little bit)

it's not actually about jimmy it very much is not about jimmy. however I had visions when I listened to it and I know at least one person really wants me to put this into words so

"I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" is a pretty straightforward song about Awsten Knight's post-break-up life as well as his frustrations with his fanbase.

The feelings post-break-up are described as freeing, hence the title ".. don't wanna die anymore" but the ending of the song hints at some nagging regret despite that, with the desperate repeating mantra of "but I think it's fine, it's cool"

While I don't think all of these songs signify chronology (and some I don't think are literal at all unless c!Joel has some weird daddy issue lore I'm unaware of), I do like to think the start of the playlist calls to pre-3L jimmy/joel, most specifically their relationship in x-life.

In x-life, Joel establishes a totally-not-cult religion he dubs "Jeremyism", Jimmy being his first member after he fails to trick Lizzie into joining. He later gives up his leader title, quote, "for content". Jimmy is unhappy with this development and begs Joel to stay, but Joel refuses. While their relationship in x-life would be hard to define as romantic in any sense, they were clearly fond of eachother before Joel eventually broke away.

Things get a bit hazy here since "for content" doesn't really translate to anything in-universe, but I think it's interesting to note that both the song and Joel mention an audience, specifically one that they feel the need to appease. Whether this is a metaphor or watcher lore or some secret third thing I have no idea but it sure is there 👍

In my mind, it goes like this: Jimmy and Joel meet, they hit it off, Jimmy is affectionate and Joel starts to catch feelings. Joel cuts Jimmy off for making him feel weird.

the second song in the playlist reinforces this, being a much angrier post-break-up song.

While this seems out-of-order (why does the immediate anger come after the song about life after the break-up?), I think it's interesting if you look at it from an angle of this not being fully Joel's feelings towards Jimmy, but Joel's frustration towards himself for messing it up.

with a little bit of frustration being placed on jimmy too:

pictured: joel in third life with a message from jimmy that he very much. does not answer.

personally I like to think Joel held a lot of resentment towards Jimmy in Third Life, both for homophobic reasons (i.e. you made me feel gay and now I'm gonna punish you for it) and for jealousy reasons (start of his number one scott hater arc)

this one's just in the wrong playlist first of all why does he insert this between two waterparks songs. whatever man.

anyway this song's interesting to me because it's literally just about a hot babe getting rejected by some fuck who refuses to be ball-and-chained.

there's two directions this could go imo: one is that this is, once again, evoking joel and jimmy's relationship. Joel acknowledges that he a life with Jimmy would be nice, but he refuses to settle down because it would rob him of his identity/freedom.

the other is that brandy is joel and the sailor is etho, since brandy shows an admiration for the sailor but also an awareness that he loves his job more than her

this storybook like description of how brandy saw the sailor's tales is very smalletho to me idk. very hand-in-hand with joel's child-like view of who etho is.

I don't have much for this one tbh it's pretty much just a love song and Joel really liking waterparks (king)

That being said, there's some fun imagery to play with here:

yellow = jimmy makes a lot of sense (blonde hair, canary imagery, yellow also representing people on their second life in the life series which evokes neither the assumed skillfulness of a late game green name nor the danger of a red name), as does green = joel (the green streak. shrek. yeahg. and while red joel is iconic "green like my insides" could also be read in this context as "deep down, I am safe to be around" which I think is neat)

"natural blue" is a bit harder to interpret (especially considering the original context of this being a joke about Awsten dyeing his hair) but blue is of course scott's colour. this could be read spitefully as Natural blue (was in love with jimmy first) vs scott's dyed hair or it's. joel saying that's he's gay idk man.

"at least I match your eyes" is pretty simple, with both of them having brown eyes, "jealous and hypnotized" once again alluding to some jealousy, likely towards FH again if you believe the blue line is alluding to scott.

however joel has plenty of people to be jealous of in regard to jimmy so. shrugs. hey you can even interpret this line as talking about jimmy's desirability. neat.

there's also this, which again might allude to flower husbands, implying in this fake world I've created that Joel doesn't view them as actually "married"

ok this is getting too long lmao see you guys next time i feel like writing about this stupid fucking playlist again

[clocainiac]

C.B x Reader headcanons perchance? 🥺

fine i will write about this disgusting grotesque creature that i love so much, i just want to tear his limbs off one by one 💕

C.B x READER

- Warning again! Another freak fest because it’s…it’s C.B, what do you expect? So yes there’s quite a bit of NSFW :3

- Flexible ASF! This lil guy can get in some crazy positions that have you in limbo between being flabbergasted but also hot under the collar. You can’t put your finger on it but there’s something about him that’s so uncanny but also so hot it’s unbelievable. CB being the sneak he is (since he’s a genius at reading people’s body language) would figure this out pretty quickly and use it to his advantage by showing off new tricks.

- Also since CB is just such a thoughtful partner (that’s not sarcasm trust me he is! Once you break through his walls first!) He decides to help you get flexible too, every morning you will come out of your bedroom to see a yoga mat and a grinning CB. As he helps you stretch out, he always places pressure to make it burn in the best way, and it’s actually very effective as you become nearly as flexible as him within a month!

- His flexibility also proves to be useful in other ways, when deciding to get creative in bed you both can do practically any position! Which leads to him hitting spots you didn’t even fathom were real.

- Spacial awareness? Who even is she? This man has NO CONCEPT of spacial awareness, like you could be taking a dump and CB would be right there with you. If you did kick him out, he would listen but he would wait right outside the door like a cat. Or in public, if you felt breathing on your shoulder don’t worry! That’s just CB :)

- Chronic reels watcher. He scroll for hours at full volume mind you, and it drives you so fucking crazy. The videos are so bad as well, imagine troom troom mixed with subway surfers. He also forces you to watch them with him and if he catches your eyes shutting trust me this little gremlin is not letting you sleep, you sleep when he lets you…

- CB has the cutest glasses ever! little nerdy ones that make him look like an academic whiz but you love them! Plus there’s something so hot about him being inside you, his glasses slowly slipping down his nose so you gently push them up for him. However, as much as you love them, CB despises them. He would much rather suffer with the headaches and squinting than actually being able to see. But the fact that even though he hates the glasses sometimes he will wear them during sex just to see you better, makes you feel warm inside.

- CB somehow has supersonic hearing, like this mf will hear you even if you’re whispering on the other side of the yard. It’s kind of scary how much he knows about everyone due to how much he listens… but hey you aren’t complaining since he always knows what your favourite things are without even telling him!

- He has perfect teeth, just straight pearly whites (he never had braces either!) You can’t help but be jealous by that stupidly pretty smile of his, or the fact that even right as he wakes up when he greets you his breath actually smells good for some fucked up reason. Or it might be the fact you’re so in love with him you can’t smell his morning breath, who knows?

- Also CB has a tongue piercing! You never noticed until you both were making out and you could feel something foreign brushing against your tongue that wasn’t CB’s tongue. You’re in luck too as that piercing will make you see stars as CB regularly changes it to get different textures to try in on you.

- Piggybacking off that other idea! CB is super hygienic and he shaves! I’m not just talking about his face either, you were quite shocked when you were kissing down his happy trail to find out it was smooth. It’s actually a blessing how well groomed he is, as that means no stray hairs getting in your mouth as you go down on him!

- This dude could win an award for how gorgeous his fluffy hair is, I mean that coppery colour mixed with the soft texture! Could you ask for anything better to tug on as he pleases you? I think not! Even better, CB definitely enjoys when you tug on his hair as a sign of ‘good job’ or ‘keep going’.

- CB gives unbelievable head. Just pure eye-rolling hot pleasure, who knew a man who uses his mouth to manipulate people could have other good uses for it! The best part is this little shit makes eye contact with you the whole time, even though he’s going down on you it’s like a sign of ‘I own you, all this pleasure you’re getting is from me and me only’

- Turns out he’s also really good with his fingers! That was to be expected though, with all the hustles he’s pulled off. It’s like CB knows exactly what you need, always pressing in the right spots at the right time. CB also likes to leave marks with his hands, especially near your throat and thighs.

- Surprisingly, for being a part of freight, CB is really smart! This guy can do equations within seconds like it’s nothing, but instead of choosing to go clean and use his smarts for good, he’s always up to mischief.

- CB is super funny! Without even trying he makes you laugh, because he’s just so weird and blunt and just everything about him makes you giggle. He’s definitely the worst person to be around in a situation where you aren’t allowed to laugh since just his face will make you crack up.

- Just an all round clingy bastard, he loves a good cuddle. Ever since making it official with CB you have never EVER slept alone without some part of his body being in contact with yours. Even in the summer when you both are dying from the heat, he would rather risk heatstroke than not being snuggled up next to you in bed!

- Not only is he a big cuddler, but CB is always secretly bumping and grinding into you on the yard. It’s a game that you and him play where you both see how much you can get away with, such as practically fucking eachother just with clothes on. Turns out you can get away with quite a lot with a boyfriend as sneaky as CB, you both managed to get each other off in front of Flat-Top once without him knowing!

- When you and CB first started getting intimate you were always so confused about this strange bump you could feel on his bulge, that was until you realised he had a frenum piercing! At first it seemed a bit daunting, I mean what if it got caught in your insides? Well the moment he entered you, you knew that was definitely NOT a problem as fucking hell it hit the right spots!

- CB is a huge fan of edging, whether he does it to you or the opposite. Just watching you give control to him and let him torture you is so hot, you feel the same way as you get some sadistic kick out of making CB cry. It’s a sexy sight seeing someone who is usually so in control like CB being broken down by you.

[musings-ofthe-unamused]

Not Mushroom for Love (Tighnari x Reader)

A/N: I love Tighnari he's so cute i just wanna AAAAAAHHHHHH

Warnings: Mild angst, mild descriptions of broken bones

Word Count: 2.6k

Ask Box: Open

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Tighnari was a hard ass. It was for good reason, sure, but it didn't mean that it annoyed you any less. Another thing that annoyed you was how much you wanted to prove yourself to him. Not only did you want to be a worthy forest ranger, but you wanted to be someone worthy of his love. It was frustrating, not only to be in love with your superior, but to also know he'll never see you the same.

Love was never meant to be, when it came to Tighnari. It was like the two of you were polar opposites. He was smart, consistent, and stern. You were aloof, not the brightest, and tended to bend the rules. You honestly had no clue how you fell in love with him. Was it the way his ears twitched when he was reading a book? The way his tail swung happily from side to side when he was talking about something new he learned? Maybe it was the way he pulled his hair back while doing an experiment? Whatever it was, one day you realized you had loved him. And it was terrible . How can someone as stupid as you love someone as incredibly smart as him?

You had failed your promotion exam. It was the fourth time in the row you tried to become a Forest Watcher. Some people were fine with being Rangers their whole life. But not you. You wanted to make everyone proud. Prove them wrong. You weren't just some stupid Ranger that always got in trouble or made mistakes on tests. Yet here you were, sitting with Collei as Tighnari stood in front of both of you with his arms crossed. 

"You got more questions wrong than the last time," Tighnari shook his head. "I thought you were studying?"

You sighed in frustration. "I am! But for some reason, I can't- the material just doesn't stick."

"Well, it needs to. It can be a life or death situation when you're out there."

You rubbed your forehead in frustration as he turned his attention to Collei. This happened all the time. You barely were able to learn the material to become a Ranger. It was the field test that had given you your position. It was your ability to act fast in a situation and keep your calm that made you keep your position. You stared down at your test, seeing the big marks of ink that glared at you. Mockingly. As you read over your answers, you realized that you did know all of this. So why did your mind always blank when it came to testing?

"Are you listening?"

You were pulled out of your thoughts and raised your head. "Huh?"

"We need to talk about your rescheduled test."

"I can do it tomorrow."

"No."

"Why not?" You frowned.

Tighnari motioned to Collei who looked uncomfortable. "She needs to rest since she's been having more flare ups recently. I think it would be wise of you to use this extended time to think about your path."

"What about my path?"

"Well," His head tilted to the side. "You have been consistently failing in the tests. You don't seem to take in information like the others. We should consider keeping you as a Ranger instead of trying to become a Forest Watcher."

Collei looked between the both of you. She could tell that things were going to get heated. "Uhm, why don't we discuss this at a later time?"

"But Tighnari, I know what I'm doing!"

"Your test scores say otherwise."

"I know my stuff! Can't I have a field test instead?"

He shook his head. "We have standards that we need to uphold. Knowing things in the moment is good, but you need to be able to know this stuff outside of that as well."

"That doesn't-"

Tighnari said your name sternly. "You know we have rules for a reason."

You stood up. "You just don't trust me."

There was a pause. The two of you stared at each other. It would have been easy to follow what Tighnari was saying. He was smart. He knew what he was doing, saying, and teaching. But there was something inside you that left you feeling frustrated. So you wanted to challenge what he thought of you. 

"I don't trust you to go out there alone."

"That's all I needed to hear."

Collei and Tighnari's calls fell on deaf ears as you left. You weren't stupid. You can be trusted. It was your job as a Forest Ranger. You've been doing this for years, for crying out loud. You clenched and unclenched your fists in anger. The one thing you hated about yourself is that you cried when you got angry. It made you seem even more weak and stupid than you already were. You took slow, deep breaths to keep your cool and your tears inside their ducts. The scent of last night's rain made you calm down, only a small bit. You stomped down the path through the village.

"Wait up!" You turned your head to see Tighnari running after you. Your heart skipped a beat. "Why did you leave?"

You tried to not let your feelings for him let you soften. "I need to go for a walk." 

"Can I come?"

"Why?" You huffed as you continued to walk. "Do you not trust me to even take a walk?"

"No," Tighnari spoke in a matter-of-fact voice. "I don't trust you to go off into the forest on your own. You know, a Forest Ranger is even stronger in pairs or more. Not only that, but if something were to happen, you have someone to have your back."

"Forest Rangers go out on solo patrols all the time."

Tighnari sighed. The two of you were now walking precariously over a fallen log. "That's not what I mean."

"Of course not. What you mean is that I'm too stupid to go out on my own."

He stopped. "Is that what you think?"

You turn towards him. "It's what I know. Don't act like you don't want to get rid of me."

"I don't!"

"Liar!" You point towards his chest. "The disappointment in your eyes whenever you see my test scores, the sigh when we go on patrol, the constant lectures. Admit it!"

"Oh please." He rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic."

"I am nothing but a liability to you!" You poked at him again, slowly making stepping forward. 

"Watch it," Tighnari reached out towards you. "Just calm down."

"Don't touch-"

Your words were cut off as you lost your footing on the log. Tighnari called out your name, trying to catch you. Of course, this was why Tighnari didn't trust you to be out alone. Of course the wood was slick. The rain still didn't dry out. A log as big as that one would take a while to become safe to walk across. But it was too late. You crashed through vines and branches. The wind was knocked out of you as you landed on the hard ground. You desperately gasped, trying to get air back into your lungs. You stared up at the sky, the log you fell off of nothing now looking like a faraway stick.

After gaining back a semblance of normal breathing, your training kicked in. Wiggle your fingers. Check. Wiggle your toes. You winced, your left foot sending a shooting pain all the way up to your lower back. Ok, not good. You raised your arms. Some cuts and scrapes, new bruises forming. That was ok, something you can handle. You slowly, very slowly sat up. Your bones and muscles ached. You turned your neck from side to side. It seemed you had no spinal damage, which was a relief. 

"Oh, archons have mercy."

Your left leg was swollen and twisted in an unnatural angle. Adrenaline pumped through your veins, enough to keep the scathing pain of a broken leg away. You took a deep breath. There was no way you could set it on your own, but the least you could do was move it in its right position. The pain pulsated as you slowly turned your calf, and then your ankle. That was when the pain really started to flare up. Tears streamed down your face as you reached into your pack that was snuggly attached to your waist.

"I'll be ok," You whimpered to yourself as you took out an antiseptic balm and started applying it to your cuts and scrapes. "Just don't focus on the pain. Focus on cleaning the cuts. You've trained for this."

"Are you ok?"

Tighnari had already made his way to you. He kneeled down, his eyes searching your body for any terrible injuries. You started to sob. You felt like a child who had fallen and scraped their knee. Your hands tried to desperately wipe away the tears to no avail. Tighnari's arms wrapped around you, pulling you into a hug. 

"Hey, it's ok! It's ok. I'm here."

You clung to his sweatshirt. "I'm so stupid!"

"Shush, no you're not."

"Yes I am. Just look at me-" You pushed him away and sniffled. "I almost killed myself."

"Well," He looked at your arms. "It seems to me that you did exactly what you were supposed to. Now your wounds won't get infected. Good job, Ranger."

You rolled your eyes. "You're just saying that. I wouldn't be surprised if you want to kick me out after this."

"Why do you keep saying stuff like this?" His voice grew dark as he started to wrap your arms up in bandages. "It's- I just…I can't have you out here!"

"Because I'll just do something stupid-"

"No! I don't want you to die out here! Do you know how scared I was when you fell? I could've prevented that. I wasn't fast enough. I couldn't save you in time, and I failed at what I'm supposed to do as a forest watched. I thought…I thought that if you were to die, it would be my fault. Because I couldn't teach you. I was the one who wasn't good enough." Tighnari's ears lowered, and he hid his gaze. "Let me finish bandaging your arm."

Your eyes widened as you stilled. You couldn't speak. If you were more delusional, you would have thought he sounded like he was in love, more than a teacher and coworker. His hands were gentle as he finished fixing you up. He then sat back on his legs and looked at your leg. His breathing was shaky. You swallowed.

"I- uhm…"

"Are you in pain?"

"I would be lying if I said no."

He scooted forward. He took out a pair of shears and snipped up your pants. The gasp he let out sounded even more painful than your fall. "It's definitely broken."

You let out a weak laugh. "You should've seen it when it was all twisted. That was really bad."

"You moved it all by yourself?"

"I'm strong."

"You know you don't have to be," Tighnari looked around and found two sticks. You grimaced, knowing what was coming. "I'm here. I want you to rely on me."

"But I want to prove to you that I am capable of doing things on my own."

"You don't need to prove anything to me." He positioned the two sticks by your calf, pressing them gently against your skin. He took out a thick looking cloth from his bag. "I'm going to wrap some cloth around the ankle first."

"I do. It's because I want you to see me as an equal. Then, maybe, I can confess my feelings for you."

Tighnari suddenly wrapped the cloth around without warning. You let out a shout and fell onto your back, trying not to writhe in pain. Maybe confessing your feelings while he was trying to attach a splint was not a good idea. He glanced at you, then continued wrapping your ankle. He then moved on to the middle of your calf. You balled up your fist and stuck it in your mouth, closing your eyes. Don't pass out. Don't pass out.

"All done." You opened your eyes and saw Tighnari standing. "Ready to get up?"

Your heart sank as he didn't acknowledge what you said. You sat up. "Yeah, sure."

He grabbed your hand and slowly hoisted you up. You tried not to put pressure on your leg, or think about the extreme amounts of pain you were currently in. After wobbling slightly, you were finally upright.

"Lean on me," Tighnari whispered, his arm wrapping around your waist. "I'll keep you steady."

"Well, let's try getting back."

Tighnari didn't answer. Instead, his free hand reached up to grasp your chin and move your face towards his. The only thing you could think of was how soft his lips were. They tasted of a floral balm that you've seen him put on countless times before. You leaned into him and his grip on your waist tightened. It wasn't long before you were breathless. 

"Are you still in pain?"

You shook your head. "N-no."

"Good. Let's go. I'll make sure to get you back quickly so you can get proper care."

It was silent as the two of you started slowly traversing through the forest. Your lips craved his again. Your heart craved his affection, his love. It was full knowing that he had confirmed his feelings. It didn't seem like him to act like this. But love made people act out of character.

“Do you know when I first fell in love?”

"Hmm?" You glanced at Tighnari who decided to finally break the silence. A blush creeped across your face as you registered the word 'love'. “When?”

“When you became a junior ranger. We were on our first outing as a group. You always had a habit of straying, but seeing your eyes wide with wonder as you asked me every single question you could…how you listened with the utmost attention, the way you complained when I told you to be quiet, how you would recklessly touch something without knowing what it was-“

“Wait. Isn’t that something you hate?”

“I could never hate anything about you. Because it is you. I don’t want you to be different.” He looked off to the side as if this was something he'd kept hidden for a while. "You'd make a great Forest Watcher one day. I care for everyone. I care for you. But I guess love got in the way of me being an actually good teacher. I should have realized that testing just isn't the method for you to learn things. I should've taken a different approach. Because of me, you started to doubt yourself."

"Tighnari…"

"I have strong feelings for you. I want to go about it properly. Relationships are something that are built slowly. And I want to spend all my time with you."

"Are you asking me out?"

You forced out a pained smile. "That's very sweet of you, Head Forest Watcher."

"You sound upset. I also wanted to apologize for how I've been treating you. It wasn't fair."

"I appreciate that…" You trailed off. Ghandarva Village slowly came into view and you sighed. "I only sound upset because I'm in immense pain."

"Oh." Tighnari's ears fluttered. "Right. As soon as we get back, you need to be on bed rest for at least six weeks. After that, we can talk about your promotion."

You leaned your head against his shoulder. "Thank you, Tighnari."

"No complaints?"

"I think I'm going to rely on you a little more."

"I'll always be by your side." 

You smiled to yourself. Just like the forest, there needed to be a balance to everything. Tighnari was there to make sure you had someone to fall back on when you got in trouble. You were there to push Tighnari out of his comfort zone. Previously, you had thought that being opposites meant that you weren't compatible. But you two fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It was meant to be.

[delta-orionis]

Tuesday Again No Problem 4/29/25

This one is kinda chunky. Also includes a sneak peek at some ask blog stuff.

Listening

Mostly the backlog of WTYP episodes, though they did release two new ones recently:

The Bermuda Triangle episode is a good one. It also leads nicely into the Watching section...

Watching

I subscribe to Contrapoints but somehow I missed this new video in my feed... I was happy to find it, though.

This video essay is less about conspiracies themselves, and more about what motivates conspiracy theorists to create conspiracy theories. It's definitely worth a watch.

In one section (starting around 1:20:00), she talks about the appeal of Astrology, which I found particularly interesting:

"Human brains search for patterns. It's called apophenia, the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. Not only do we recognize patterns where there aren't any, but also our preconceived biases influence the type of patterns that we recognize... "...I think arational symbolic thinking is inherently human and will never go away. Academic history and policial science will never fully replace conspiracism for the same reasons that astronomy will never completely replace astrology: because the scientific worldview cannot meet all human needs. Science tells us how things happen but it doesn't tell us why things happen, in a certain humanistic sense... "We rely on symbolism, on mythologysm to inscribe the world with meaning. And science destroys that mythology... Divination survives and thrives in the age of science because there's important questions that scientific rationality cannot answer."

Some of my colleagues in astronomy have a tendency to get very upset when people bring up astrology, but I think it's just... fine. I personally don't have any strong feelings about astrology. It's not real, but if you want to use it to harmlessly psychoanalyze yourself and your life, then that's okay.

I also recognize its historical importance- modern astronomy has a lot to thank ancient astrologers for. It's kind of like the relationship between chemistry and alchemy.

Later in the video Contrapoints draws the distinction between astrology (and other forms of divination like tarot) and conspiracies- the former is basically harmless when used responsibly, the latter can be actively harmful and warp your sense of reality. She talks about the other influences conspiracism can have on people throughout the video, I just thought the aside about astrology stood out to me.

Playing

(WATCHER ENDING SPOILERS)

I got the first ending (the echo ending). I haven't gotten the second one yet (the rot ending), but I've been exposed to enough spoilers at this point that I've been allowing myself to start reading lore theory posts. I will finish the game eventually, I promise, my brain just hasn’t been up for gaming recently.

I'm still trying to come up with a way to reconcile my ask blog lore with the things learned in Watcher (i.e. that the firmament is real and outer space... probably doesn't exist). I think the best way to do it is to assume that Outer Rim and the falling stars are located on a different plane of reality.

Rain World has hinted at the existence of other planes, and the mechanics in Watcher basically confirm this. I think that Rain World's reality extends into different dimensions, with OR being located on a "higher" plane. There are also "lower" and "parallel" planes... kind of like a fourth dimension that can be moved through. These parallel planes include alternate realities, such as those where the player dies.

I could be completely wrong, I don't know. I'll keep workshopping this. I still want to formalize my personal theory about the Cycle's mechanics (even if I end up being totally wrong). It has a lot to do with the Ptolemaic model of cycles and epicycles, along with concepts from quantum mechanics like superposition. It will make me sound like a madman, yeah, but that's the fun of it.

Making

I’m chipping away at ask blog answers, giving priority to older asks. Lots of writing, lots of drawing…

Some of the asks in my drafts have to do with TSAC receiving some visitors… maybe this one looks familiar!

I should have this one posted by next week. I’m also planning something I’d like to post in about a month… so stay tuned for that.

———

Same deal as always, I’ll check in again next week (if I remember…)

[tasty-littl-snack]

Random thought but there is something interesting with shane and ryan where it's like. They're less overtly shippy than some other duos out there but like, somehow it results in them being more genuinely gay for each other like. Other people play it up/advertise it and thus are more obvious but shane and ryan being more subtle ends up feeling more authentic because they're not baiting. Incredibly organic yaoi

I want you to know that the phase "Incredibly organic yaoi" would be one of those tags people did on tumblr for their otps back in the day. It made me smile so much when I first read it, thank you for ending your ask that way <3

But yes what I find so fascinating about Shane and Ryan is that in most cases it's the "oh those are just friends, this is how friendship is you're just making stuff up" but I think they express their friendship in a way I haven't seen before. They really like each other and like spending time together and talking about things that seem insufferable (don't get them started on popcorn or hot dogs or whatever) to the listener, but because Ryan finds Shane so fascinating, and Shane likes Ryan so their dynamic is like that because they genuinely love to spend time together.

I think an interesting comparison would be with Steven and Ryan who are also friends and from their interactions (especially with Steven in his tms/drink to that! bartender role trying to also be on their level of jokingly being shipped with Ricky or saying that he flirts with the clientele) we can see that Ryan and Steven genuinely like each other as well. There's a whole dynamic that is not on camera because they keep that to themselves, but when they mention it (especially Steven who made the dish for Ryan in dish granted) the way you can see that they're friends friends, you believe them by how they talk about it but not show it as much.

So obviously some of it comes from Shane and Ryan's dynamic being the bread and butter of watcher. They are so fascinated by each other but we know that because we see how they act in hours of footage. But they also really are close friends who have a certain magnetism about them. I think they can't help how much they like each other and in the past they tried to maybe hide it a bit/didn't know each other that well (Ryan's whole journey in bfu, Shane acting more standoffish and like an actual jerk skeptic back then compared to now) but now they don't. Ever since they started watcher we have multiple times of Shane and Ryan saying they love each other on camera, and they can't hide how much they love spending time together. I think they also are very honest in what they do when feelings towards the other comes into play, in a way that they can't fake a "friendship divorce" for more than five minutes. What you see is what you get with them and what you see is that they love each other as friends and like spending time so so much together. There's nothing to bait with, because they would end up baiting themselves and you can see that they can't stay mad at each other for long. (There's that one week of them not talking to each other after waverly but that was some time ago, so now Shane always says "this is fine we're still friends" whenever there's a possibility of them arguing too much.)

If they were a couple they'd be one of those "don't go to sleep mad at each other" which I think they still do anyway because they are that close. And as I said, they can't hold back the affection they have for each other and it's soo fun to witness. Even if nobody in the world shipped them they'd still like each other so so much.

[anewnewcrest]

"It's persecution, I tell you!"

"What have you done now, Max?"

"Nothing! I did nothing wrong! And the university wants to suspend me!"

"... Max!"

"Well, I may have called Piper Jones a slut, but she is a slut! She's a product of fornication and adultery! She should not be going to university! University is for Watcher-honoring people!"

"You can't insult people like that."

"But it is the truth! I was only telling the Watcher's truth, why are they punishing me for that?"

"Because you're acting like an A-grade asshole, Max. You want to be a politician. You need to make people like you, not alienate Henrietta Jones."

"But she's a fallen woman!"

"What does that have to do with anything, Max? This is politics. And she's rich, she knows a ton of people, and you just made your life ten times harder if you want to get elected!"

"This is religious persecution! They are punishing me for being a real man, who tells the Watcher's painful truth! Like my father does!"

"Nobody cares, Max."

"But... but you're a follower of the Watcher! You have to care! My father..."

"Look, do you want to get elected one day, or not? Because if you want to, you have to cut that crap right now. I worked hard to make sure you're going to college, don't fuck it up."

"But... my father..."

"Max, your father is good at what he does, but he is no politician. If you want to be one, you have to listen to people who know what they're doing."

"But my father..."

"I'm sick of hearing about your father. Look where listening to him got you!"

"But... Prissy..."

"I married you, Max. You should remember that the next time you're doing something stupid, because there are perks to having a wife, and I can take them away."

"You mean... no sweet fellowship?"

"Exactly. And we're going shopping. I can't do a thing about you acting like an idiot, but by the Watcher, you won't look like one a single day longer."

Later...

"Ugh. Fine. Whatever. I give up."

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

sulani: night of day four, household two's rotation - part i

note: completely au. featuring homebrand leo (with @akitasimblr's permission) - and a very special guest. cw for character death. thanks again to @ravingsockmonkey for bo, and for providing me with some input and ideas <3

"Oh, plum it all. First someone died, and then the very next morning I had to strike perhaps the most annoyingly decent person I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet with lightning. Which sounded funny in the writing room and she was fine but everyone was terrified. Watcher, why did you sign me up for this?"

(possesses)

"What the plum, Watcher?"

"Hello. I'm your worst nightmare. Also - boo."

"AHHHHHHH!!!! FUCK! Dude - why?"

"Also that is like the cheesiest line ever. You need to workshop it a little, is all I’m saying."

"The water on the rug, could you just not?"

"WELL I DON’T KNOW, ARSEHOLE, COULD YOU HAVE NOT LET ME DROWN?!?"

"LISTEN, THIS HASN’T EXACTLY BEEN EASY FOR ME EITHER."

"Oh, boo hoo, my death has been hard on you? Was striking Araminta by lightning and watching your brother cry over my grave hard on you too?"

"Well, actually-"

"Shut the fuck up, dude. You know, I thought that maybe being filthy rich is why you see people as disposable - like my mom did. But then I met Minty and she’s like the kindest person ever. And your brother turned out to be a good guy too. And your parents seem cool. So clearly this is you. All you. You chose to be this way."

"Listen please. I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. Just please please please let me get some sleep so that I can actually try and figure all this out. I’ve been having nightmares as it is."

"Oh, poor little rich boy up in his swanky suite having nightmares due to his own fuck up. Why don’t you go down and complain about how hard your life is to your brother and everyone else currently sleeping on the ground and scraping for food on a deserted island? Why don’t you discuss your nightmares with my uncle, who had to watch me die on TV?"

"At least you still have a life. And I’m going to make it a misery…"

(screams in sheer terror)

"Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a starlight accolade award to haunt…"

"WHERE IS MINTY???"

"Watcher, why on earth am I here?"

[minicy]

Really resent my culture's relationship to food. Food as a commodity, as something to be grown not to be eaten but to be sold overseas and to rot uneaten in fields and behind grocery stores. Food as a comfort, one of few things you get to actually choose and indulge in, and the least healthy choices are the ones that are easiest to buy and consume. Food as a point of control, you can't buy food if you don't sell at least so many hours of life to the Machine, and then what you do get as someone at the bottom of the hierarchy is dictated by others- paternal lawmaking, or arbitrary restrictions, or food given that is unpalatable or outside of your culture or that you don't know how to prepare. Food as a product, what you want is what we have paid for you to want, the food choices you make dictate your marketable lifestyle, the things you eat and drink show your allegiances and your subculture and your sub-subculture, you must eat this much to enter.

Food as a tool for shame is one of the worst offenders. You shouldn't have eaten those things, you should eat this thing instead, why aren't you doing what you're supposed to? You listened to those advertisements and ate what we designed to be as delicious and consumable as possible? You're disgusting. Why won't you eat what you're given? You're ungrateful. Why would you have that carb? Sorry, why would you eat that meat? Sorry, why would you eat anything besides meat? Then, food as a punishment: you must eat the unpleasant thing in unpleasant ways, or else you are irresponsible and deserving of great cruelty. Or, you must not eat anything, or else you are weak willed and deserving of great cruelty. Or, you need to get better, since eating disorders are a feminine problem, a mental health problem, a physical health problem, and being unhealthy is immoral, and unhealthy people are deserving of great cruelty. Why can't you just be normal? By the way, your entire workplace is going keto this month. Your friend is intermittent fasting. Your parents are back on Weight Watchers. Why can't you just be normal?

Then, the way white supremacy permeates it all. Different is disgusting, new is untrustworthy, flavor is unhealthy. I feel like I've been so much better since I started clean eating. That MSG gave me migraines. No, I don't mean from chips, those are fine, I mean from all the stuff they put in Chinese food. Not sure if I want to go in on some tacos, my stomach can't handle it, haha. You know that fried food is always unhealthy, right? And unhealthy is always immoral. Did you eat your vegetables today? Oh, no, of course curry doesn't count. Those vegetables were seasoned and cooked. Processed vegetables don't count. You should have a salad with that, then. You should try this quinoa salad I made. You should really be using agave instead. You should really try out this cleanse.

Food as an entitlement, too, for those with the power in this culture. Violence waged over tropical fruit. Panic over access to anything wanted at any time being interrupted, not even halted. A lack of willingness to change even the smallest amount of their diet when they find out it's killing our planet to farm this many steer, or catch this many fish (and their habitats and the bycatch), because I want steak god damnit, it's a free country!

We're sold poison for our binges and diets for our purges. Our options are growing slimmer, as time is stolen and markets are shuttered and prices continue to go up while packages continue to shrink. Health is kept behind paywalls and sickness is moralized. And somehow, you're the one who's wrong if you don't buy in.

[freezerbnuuy]

Act 6:8- The Curse is Come Upon Me - Part 1 (Page 3)

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CONTENT WARNING: I am warning for the whole 2 parter chapter here: kidnapping, violence, threat, fire, death. Things are going to get more violent and dark from here on out, so this is your warning.

SPOILER WARNING: Massive spoilers this chapter. If you are planning to eventually read the story block the #divided sims 4 story spoilers

Daniel

"…and if we find him, I swear to the Watcher that I'll chop his bollocks off with my sword and shove them down his throat!"

"Are you finished? Wait- what do you mean your sword? I thought you handed it in to Mother Clementia?"

"Eh. I had a change of heart. A dead witchfinder didn't need it, so I took it. Me without a sword is like you without a fishing rod, if you think about it." 

After some discussion, we decided that visiting Mother Clementia is the best course of action. I'd wondered if I was being paranoid, or if I didn't have enough information to be concerned, but I trusted Maddie's judgment. It was better to share concerns of the safety of a girl who turned out to be fine, than it was to assume she was okay and she be in danger.

I don't want to worry Eli over this, not when we don't have any outright proof. Róisín's mother and father are in Glimmerbrook, and the people there aren't going to trust nor welcome a complete stranger with no familial ties to their people, nor ties to two ex-witchfinders. Mother Clementia had a close enough tie to Róisín to listen, and was level-headed enough that she wouldn't panic about it.

It makes me sick just thinking about it - that witchfinders would benefit from the one thing they seek to wipe out. The way that Róisín's compassion for the patient convinced her that he was genuine and of no harm to her - then again, even if he was, what choice would she have? Josiah doesn't get to choose who gets treatment and who doesn't. He's a stronger person than me. It's all such a mess. Whether it's Edwin or Róisín or anyone else, no-one their age should be caught up in all this mess.

The doors swing open, and we catch Mother Clementia not delivering a sermon, but practicing with her sword, with no-one else in the room with her. Where are all the regular Peterans? 

Clem raises an eyebrow at me in curiosity, and one at Maddie in distrust.

"Don't smile too hard, Mother Clementia. Your lips might fall off."

"Don't mind her, Mother Clementia. We have some concerns about your niece-"

"To put a longer story short, she's just revealed her magic to the nastiest piece of work in Henford - a witchfinder by the name of James Tanner. Forties. Moustache. Blond fellow. Purple jacket. Glasses. Single, to the surprise of nobody. She healed his wounds at the mansion working for Lydia and he pretended he cared for the plight of witches."

Maddie's explanation leaves Mother Clementia giving her the most doubtful look I've seen on any human being.  

"And how would you know this?"

"Because I was the one who wounded him that way. I thought I'd left the bastard for dead."

"I thought you gave me your sword?"

"Oh, come on!" she whines. "Look, lady, sorry I'm not your shining star of redemption but I'm trying to warn you that your niece might possibly be in danger. You know - the girl that saved your life? The least you could do is return the favour to some extent."

Mother Clementia's eyes turn to me and she gives me a quick nod. 

"I believe Maddie is telling the truth," I tell her. "She has no reason to side with the witchfinders at this point. And if someone is so bad that even Maddie thinks they're dangerous, then that's cause for concern. We figured we'd come to you first, since her parents are in Glimmerbrook."

"Her father is here in Finchwick. He lives with me, but believe me when I say he's in no mood to discuss anything like this, not in his current state. That's why I'm here and not there. Her grandfather isn't any better in that regard. Trust me - make sure they hear nothing of this just yet."

Eli didn't speak often of Róisín's magic, but he did mention it giving her terrible outbursts on full moon days. I remember that Reynold had helped Eli manage and validate his own emotions, probably due to his own issues with intense feelings. If her father reacts to this news in an irrational or angry way, it could cause far too many problems. Not only that, but now we also have to try and see if we can find any useful information before the wolves start prowling tonight...They scare the life out of me with their huge claws and piercing eyes.

"I can't leave the monastery unattended," she says. "The Jacobans have been finding any excuse to try and come for this place, and I can't endanger the witch refugees like that nor the regular Peterans. I'll fight off as many of them as I have to, but I can't leave them for dead. If you genuinely believe she is in danger, I will try and spread the word about this witchfinder. My numbers dwindle lately, but the Peteran regulars will be here soon enough and they'll help me spread the word.

I ask that you please keep an eye out for her. The last time I saw her was a few days to a week ago, when she visited my home."

Maddie tries to relax herself before she speaks to Mother Clementia. 

"Don't worry, Clemen - I mean - Mother. Mother Clementine."

"Clementia-"

"We'll keep an eye out for the girl and for James. If I see the girl I'll let you know. If I see James, I'll use his entrails as Winterfest decorations."

Maddie gives an awkward look to the Jacoban cathedral as she walks past it. 

"...And once I'm done hanging them up in the drawing room, I'm going to use his skin as a rug and his bones for...Hmm, what should I use his bones for? I suppose they would make a fun decoration for the garden and-" 

"Sweet Watcher's arsehole! Is that a gryphon?!"

Sometimes, I see shadows and I hear calls and screeches - but I've never seen it clearly. It's massive!

"I bet we could feed the whole of Henford off of that thing. I wonder what gryphon chicken would taste like-"

It calls out in our direction, and Maddie freezes. 

"That's enough heroism for one day. I'm going home-"

"Don't you dare. Come on. Let's just be calm and relaxed and non-threatening."

Maddie and I gently walk forwards, keeping ourselves firm yet calm, as to not alert the gryphon - 

It charges at us, screaming and rearing up on its back paws. It's practically the height of our house! It spreads its wings wide, and its claws are as big as my hands! 

There's a burning sensation in my mind all of a sudden, and a loud, low woman's voice. 

[theeldritchcorvid]

TMAGP 21 Thoughts

spoilers below cut

So I actually had to use the transcript for this one instead of listening to it because it's got the sound of a limb being removed and I couldn't take that risk - the one element of Archives that really freaked me out was the bit in Takeaway where a man gets his achilles tendon severed with bolt cutters. It's my one serious content warning - moreso even than spiders. If I can't SEE the spiders it's fine

ANYWAY

Complicated immigration status? this HAS to be TMA Celia. And also YES Sam backstory! He used to be in law!

Okay. Chester Institute Incident. Really need to make the 'what's in the incident and who hears it' post now. And it's SAM'S workstation too! My god! FREDDIE is sending Sam after the institute, just like we thought!

Leonardo Jennings - Treasurer, Institute. Dr Welling (and team) - research of some kind, unknown. possibly spooky

Harnessing potential power in an exhibition is big ritual energy, I'll be real. And in the MILLENIUM DOME TOO?! Wow. Apparently the constellations and astrology are very involved in their research - someone should def get on that connection to the alchemy.

The project is apparently UNIVERSAL TRANSMUTATION. Again, this feels like verse-hopping or a Big Ritual like before. Bigger even than the Watcher's Crown, though much less involved. It may not even be the powers this time.

'Both optimism and despair' implies POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE powers, just like Lena mentioned earlier. We are NOT dealing with the fears this time, I think. We ARE dealing with different powers! The institute cannot be confirmed to be aligned to the Eye any more, put those theories aside.

And there's something already there, too. Another power. Linked to soil toxicity causing people to age to death. This power seems to be entropic in nature. Corruption with respect to time, not our Corruption at all. And there is, the big words:

GRAND RITUAL.

And Alice has clocked it, too. I think her deleting this incident is setting her on a very different path to the others. And she's right, though - but it annoys me. It's like a call of Cthulhu player who refuses to engage with the spooky bits. Then again, she's not aware of her genre. Also, FREDDIE seems to be able to hear her? We knew that, though.

And now to Gwen. So Ink5oul can control tattoos. Any tattoo. Interesting! (and there's the arm-sawing-off - yeah no we're skipping this one for audio. Reading is fine though)

And it's [ERROR]! It can teleport, it seems, and it COMPELLED GWEN. We've only known one thing able to do this... ARCHIVISTS. [ERROR] is an Archivist! And it's linked to the tape recorders!

also this is the first recorder we've seen capable of VIOLENCE. The tape recorder biting Ink5oul is the only spoiler I saw and it's fantastic. And we know the tape recorders are definitively Web.

It is therefore my belief that [ERROR] is from the Archives universe, and is an Archivist captured by the Protocols Magnus Institute to research multiversal transportation. I like to imagine it could be Emma Harvey, as wielding the tape recorders as a weapon suggests joint web/eye affinity, but again - no Powers, that we know of. Yet.