#and if you were to look into my soul you would find that I also think dbhc doc helped him craft earbuds using android tech to work perfectly

[jehadkhaled]

Help my family in Gaza, I'm begging you 💔‼️🙏

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters , my number verified on the list is ( #523)

✅️ Vetted by @90-ghost here

Dear merciful souls before everything I'm now writing to you and my kids are so hungry we don't know what to eat because everything running out and the cross borders were closed for three months so please read my story to the end 🥺🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Hello, I am full of hope and hope that you will read my message with love and that you will enjoy abundant health and well-being.

I come to you with an appeal that is heavy on my heart and that I had never imagined.

I look at you from under the war and the constant bombing of us in all its forms that the human or animal soul cannot comprehend

I am Jehad Kassab , a lawyer and legal consultant from Gaza City - Palestine. I hold a bachelor’s degree in law and many legal experiences. I have been working in the legal profession for a long time and I had a good work , which have become meaningless before this world, to stop the machine of war and destruction that has befallen us ،I had a private law office after the Israeli planes completely destroyed it and everything in it, after I built it with all its beauty after many years of toil, and it is my only source of livelihood.

I have a beautiful family that loves life as you love it and lives it in all its details. My family consists of (my wife, a nurse, and my son Khaled, a year and a half old, who has not seen life in all its details and does not know what it is yet, and my second daughter is now 11 months her age as the age of this bad war.

Our house was completely destroyed at the beginning of the war on Gaza with everything, and we did not even take anything out of it, not even the clothes, in the hope that we would return to it before it was bombed by Israeli warplanes

We were briefly displaced to southern Gaza and stayed in tents until this moment. We lived and are still living the harshest types of genocide in the full sense of the word: displacement, destruction, coming out from under bombardment, pollution, epidemics, and the difficulty of sleeping due to the sound of planes and the bombing that did not leave for a single second. Has the world become desolate or are we not fit to improve? For life or what? We do not know Khaled who started pronouncing the word bombing, and I am afraid.

I am not begging you or listing all the details, because an entire newspaper will not be enough. Television screens and social networking sites are enough to tell you about us, and no matter how much you try to say, what we feel will not reach you because we do not wish anyone to live as we live.

We are victims of conflicts and conflicts. We love life as long as we can. We do not like any form of war. We want a future like the rest of humanity for ourselves and our children.

In this moment of despair, I reach out to you, not just as a stranger, but as a human being, connected by our common humanity and the belief that compassion knows no bounds. Your support, no matter how small, can make an immeasurable difference in the lives of those struggling to find hope amidst the rubble.

We desperately need your support to rebuild my family's life that was destroyed by the war on Gaza and there is literally nothing left ، provide us with a glimmer of hope for a better life after we were fine before October 7th last year. Your support could mean everything to us ، If you are unable to support, please consider sharing our case. Every bit of support helps.

We also evacuated many times and the two baby were sick alot because of the bad environment

and you know there's no hospitals or medicin or even healthy food

and the rest of the.money will be used for the living expenses

We appreciate your help, even if it is just a little

Thank you all

You can share or donate this ‼️🙏🥺

[hanafubukki]

Summary: Malleus goes missing. Lilia panics a little (a lot).

“We can’t find him.”

The blood in Lilia’s veins froze. He stared at the two worried knights before him.

He straightened in his seat, “Knowing Malleus, he might have gotten distracted on his way back.”

The look the two sent each other sent a slight rush of anxiety through him.

“Father, we asked around and no one has seen him. We tried calling but…”

But his phone is probably broken. That boy. Causing me trouble even at this age.

Lilia looked at the young knights before him, “Go. Ask the Shrouds if they have footage of his last known location.”

Silver and Sebek nodded before heading off.

He knew he told Silver and Sebek to handle it, but he couldn’t leave it.

He felt unsettled.

Anxious.

He knew Malleus could take care of himself. There’s little in this world that could take him out.

Still.

Where is he?

Back in Briar Valley, he always knew where Malleus was: the castle or the cottage.

Their world was small and he knew he preached to broaden their horizon and meet others.

But…at least he’d always know their location. One way or another.

Even when Malleus thought he was sneakily running off to visit the nearby town, he knew.

But now…

Where did he go?

“Far Cry Cradle.”

The magic that reflects his soul, the reason why he manifested it, it doesn’t escape him, the irony of why he uses it now—this time to find Malleus.

Azul stared at the entity before him.

Living in the sea made him aware of dangers no man on land were aware. Tales told to keep mermans away from the darker depths.

Azul knew the dangers of the sea, but he had never known the fears of land.

Before him lay darkness incarnate, shadows moving with every step; crimson eyes bright as fresh blood.

He resisted the urge to press the panic button. He doubted he’d even have the chance with the slithering of vines on the floor.

“Let’s have a chat, Ashengrotto.”

“I found him.”

Sebek let out a sigh as Silver relaxed his tense shoulders.

“Where is he father?”

“Having a marriage ceremony with the Prefect and others.”

Silence.

“What?!”

Lilia’s shoulders shook at the response he received.

That boy…he better call soon.

It is forever funny to me how Malleus just left without letting anyone know. He said his time as the master of the dream world is over and now he’s going to go off to a wedding because he was especially invited. Bye family. 😂💞

You know, as if he didn’t wreck us all for over two years for said family lolol

I couldn’t stop thinking how would Lilia and the others react? I mean we’ve already seen how Sebek and Silver runs after him, but Lilia? He always seems to know where Malleus is (book 6) or he sent him off with others (events). This time he didn’t know at all. 😆😆

I feel Lilia would be happy and yet have mixed feelings. He’s happy because Malleus is being independent, going out, making friends and memories, etc.

But mixed feelings because…where is he? Why wasn’t he told? He always knew where he was before or he had an inkling. Lilia never that far away or Malleus under the watchful eyes of others. But this time? Nothing. Nothing at all.

So I feel he would pout just a little. 😆🤣💞💞 maybe feeling a little bit of empty nest like he did in the beach event. Happy but also pouty 🥰🥰💞💞

(I really like how I wrote Lilia here. I always love describing him as a different entity or something unnatural or different. It’s one of my faves to make him more darkness and creature like.)

[Using this as my summoning circle to hopefully get a cute Malleus story and voice lines. I hope we get something related to souvenirs or a phone call back or something. At the very least, I hope we get a beautiful Malleus groovy 💞🙏]

[devilish-cherry]

choso relationship headcanons pt 2 ♡

ᨳ♡₊➳ choso x reader

ᨳ♡₊➳ crack, fluff

ᨳ♡₊➳ part one

ᨳ♡₊➳ me, not posting content for months: 🛌💤

also me the second choso crosses my mind: 🧍‍♀️💻🔥

i abandoned you all for two months but crawled out from under my rock at the call of my choso thirst alone. brand consistency is on point. nature is healing. please accept these headcanons as a humble offering before i crawl back into my hole. 😌🖤

₊⊹. choso's idea of waking you up gently is hovering over your sleeping form silently, staring until your soul feels his presence, and you wake up in sheer terror. "good morning," he deadpans, genuinely puzzled by your startled gasp. "were you dreaming badly?"

₊⊹. choso insists on watching those overly dramatic soap operas with you because his memories vaguely recall his vessel's grandma watching them. now he's deeply invested in the plot. you find him dramatically yelling at the tv, "do not give him the rose, mari! he betrayed your trust!" if you miss an episode, he's like, "i have updates. you will not believe who betrayed who."

₊⊹. he's surprisingly good at video games once he learns them, but is personally betrayed whenever your animal crossing villagers move out. you find him softly murmuring to your switch, "was my hospitality inadequate?"

₊⊹. choso discovered cooking tutorials on youtube exactly once and now he's committed to mastering japanese cuisine. unfortunately, it usually ends up with rice burnt to the bottom of your favorite pan. he always looks so earnestly distressed, blinking at the scorched remains, "this isn’t how chef kenichi said it would turn out…"

₊⊹. once he found out houseplants increase serotonin, your apartment basically turned into a botanical garden. he gets emotionally attached to each plant. you swear you've caught him softly reassuring a succulent, "you are doing well. keep photosynthesizing."

₊⊹. he knows how to use chopsticks, shake hands, and make a dentist appointment, all thanks to his vessel, but he has never emotionally processed any of those things. he does them like he’s cosplaying a civilian. that’s why he answers the door for the delivery driver by simply saying, “greetings.” and then doesn’t move to take the bag. just stares. the driver glances at the food, at choso, back at the food, like maybe this is a very elaborate mugging. you quickly jump in and handle the transaction while choso whispers to you, “they were unusually tense. suspicious?”

₊⊹. choso genuinely thinks the "don't talk to me until i've had my coffee" mugs you bought ironically mean you require silence in the morning. so every dawn, he sits in complete silence next to you, handing you coffee with reverence like you’re some ancient deity who must not be angered.

₊⊹. he knows how laundry works, in theory. but the first time you ask him to handle it, he somehow ends up washing your whites with a vibrant red hoodie. now everything you own is pink. he looks at you, tilting his head slightly. "pink suits you. i improved your wardrobe."

₊⊹. he doesn’t fully get sarcasm, so when you joke, "wow, love that for us," after you both spectacularly burn dinner, he nods sincerely, "i also appreciate our unified failure." he eventually adopts your sarcastic sense of humor but misses the delivery entirely, resulting in gems like, "oh great, another sunny day. precisely what we needed." completely serious, staring at a cloudless sky.

₊⊹. he tries to cheer you up by sending animal videos he discovers online but sends you bizarrely intense wildlife survival clips instead. "look, love. it's a meerkat narrowly escaping death. inspiring, isn't it?"

₊⊹. your first time visiting a pet cafe was his personal awakening. now, whenever he's stressed, you inevitably end up at the local cat café watching him silently commune with the cats. "they understand," he assures you while cradling a grumpy-looking cat named 'pancake'. "we should consider joint custody of this cat."

₊⊹. he knows what a “joke” is. he even knows the formula. set up → punchline → laughter. but when he tries to tell one, it’s like watching someone who read about humor but has never experienced it. he also always forgets the punchline halfway through and solemnly finishes, "i'm sorry. this was supposed to be humorous."

₊⊹. choso likes to hold hands, but doesn't quite understand when it’s socially acceptable. you once ended up awkwardly holding his hand while explaining to your landlord why the sink was broken, choso calmly beside you, fingers entwined, giving zero context.

₊⊹. choso tries texting you once, but doesn't understand emojis. you receive an ominous message: "Come home. 🔪🍅" and spend the entire day convinced something horrifying awaits you. turns out, he just wanted help cutting tomatoes.

₊⊹. choso believes firmly in quality cuddle sessions. he doesn't ask; he merely strategically drapes himself nearby until you notice and concede. you finally ask why he doesn't just say he wants cuddles, and he blinks slowly. "that seems aggressive."

₊⊹. choso finds diy tutorials online and tries them secretly to surprise you. spoiler alert: he’s hilariously bad at them. you've come home to questionable-looking clay mugs, half-painted canvases, and one very strange knitted... something. he presents each with absolute sincerity, "it is handmade. by me."

₊⊹. he randomly gives you head pats but doesn’t understand the social nuance, sometimes patting your head gently during serious conversations. "this is comfort." he declares, clearly satisfied with himself.

₊⊹. you once sarcastically called him “my strong little man” after he carried a heavy grocery bag. this man did not talk for an hour. he was processing. he sat down with a glass of water and said, “i am not little. but i am... yours.” you almost choked.

₊⊹. choso is basically your shadow in public places because he learned from his vessel's memories that partners stay close. sometimes so close he accidentally steps on your heel repeatedly. if you ever ask him for more space, he just blinks, totally deadpan. "i am ensuring your safety."

₊⊹. one day, you jokingly said, "ugh, i’d marry whoever does the dishes tonight," and you've never seen choso move so fast in his life. the plates nearly shattered from his enthusiasm alone.

₊⊹. if you ask him to pass you a towel while showering, he reaches into the bathroom with his eyes dramatically shut tight. his determination to respect your privacy while also being helpful is ridiculously endearing.

₊⊹. despite his perpetual resting bored face, choso genuinely believes everything you do is incredibly cool. you open a tricky jar? "incredible strength." you manage to fix the wifi router? "unmatched technological prowess." he looks at you like you're simultaneously beyoncé and albert einstein incarnate. it’s honestly adorable.

₊⊹. sometimes, he stares at your shared life, photos, plants, mugs, and mutters to himself, “i never thought i’d have this.”

[agirlwithglam]

for the girls who feel like they don't belong/ aren't wanted even in a group of kind, wonderful people.

idk if this will make anyone feel better, but i have trouble in my friend group. i sometimes feel like they may not be my people, but i also sometimes feel like those girls are the best out there. sometimes i feel really left out, i feel like im clingy and no one wants me there because im too annoying, and sometimes i feel loved.

if anyone else is going through that as well, i just wanted to give u a little piece of support or comfort that you're not alone, and its not just you who feels so boring and out of place in a group of girls who may be the sweetest out there. remember that they can even be good people, you don't have to hate them. you're a good person too right? and im sure you have preferences, you have people who you may like more than others, or might want to hang out with more than others. when you go around choosing who you like and want to get closer to, its because you have standards and qualities that you admire and would want in a friend- so its about what you look for, if the other person doesn't have those qualities, its not their fault because they are being themselves, and its not your fault either to know what you want. its natural, and so the same way when other people feel the same way, its not about you. trust meeee its not about you, its about THEM. idk how much more i can say this but it really is ABOUT. THEM.

but i guess thats also just how life is; everyone gets dealt a set of cards, good and bad, advantages and disadvantages. i believe that god deals out these handcrafted cards to you, so it ultimately puts you on the best path possible because i just cannot believe that people were born to suffer, i know many people will disagree, but i hope those people can respect my belief.

and you may find yourself wondering, and asking 'but why me', you may be genuinely such a wonderful, thoughtful, kind, funny, smart, beautiful person but still feel like you're not fully appreciated or that you're just not enough yet. but thats wrong. i promise you, i pinky promise you, you are enough. you have flaws, but i know that one day there will come someone who falls in love with the things that you hate about you.

and so also this is a reminder that you should absolutely still be enjoying the time you have now! thewizardliz said that every person you meet, you've had a soul contract with; you were supposed to meet, whether it was for 1 second or 10 years, whether they broke your heart, or made you believe in love again. so keeping this in mind, isn't it better to go with an open mind at what you could discover about the experience, go with an openness and willingness to have fun and laugh despite everything?

but anyways, it doesn't really matter because life is short, while i'm grateful you spent time reading this mini essay, go spend your life doing things you'd be proud of when you're old. go be a good person to people, go make hilarious and embarrassing memories. YOU'RE YOUNG. YOU'RE CAPABLE. YOU'RE INTELLIGENT. GO! HAVE FUNNNNNN

xxx, vanilla

bmac

[evans23]

Hello! May I request Severus Snape x female reader? He might be scolding her for something and even calling her stupid. But she doesn't pay attention and tells him that she thinks everything about him is beautiful...

Thank you 💖

(Sorry for my english)

You're handsome when you're angry

Pairing : Severus Snape x Reader OC

Summary : You are the assistant of Severus Snape. The man who lived. The sarcastic, cold angry Potions Master. And you think he his handsome. Even when he is angry.

Tag(s)/Warning(s) : None.

A/N : Thank you for your request ! I'm not used to writing about Snape because, well we have plenty of stories about him and each time I have an idea for our favourite Potions Master, I have that feeling that it has already been done, therefore, I hope you'd like it !

Also read on AO3

Six months. Six months since you'd been his assistant. You'd have thought the war had mellowed him out. That surviving a giant snake had made him more... agreeable.

But no, he was still the same good old Severus Snape. And he was now the one they called the one who lived. His name had been cleared of all shame thanks to Harry Potter. Or Bloody Potter, as Snape regularly muttered.

The potions professor had hardly appreciated the fact that Harry, in order to allow him to be officially pardoned and even receive the Order of Merlin, had made his memories public. At the time, Snape was in a coma, and McGonagall had encouraged Harry to bring justice to Severus, the bravest man who had ever attended Hogwarts, according to her own words.

Needless to say, when he woke up from a six-month coma, Severus wanted more than ever to jump off the Astronomy Tower... but he didn't have the strength to get up; the venom had made him weak, and all he managed was fall out of bed, face down, while Mrs. Pomfrey came running in, scolding him like he was still eleven.

And when Harry came to see him to thank him for protecting him all these years, Severus didn't tell him he was sorry and that he should have let him drop out of his damn ballet in his first year. No, he just told him, with cold calm, that he could put the Order of Merlin in his dark side.

Harry left the hospital wing with a big smile. Severus Snape was in better shape. And he was still himself.

And against all odds, when Minerva had offered him his old job as potions professor and Head of Slytherin... he refused. He had sacrificed enough of himself and life to finally stop thinking about himself.

He had traveled a bit, tried to find his place elsewhere, opened a small healing potions shop in Paris, tamed the demons that haunted the Vatican basements, lived a quiet life in a remote Swedish village where he barely lasted two weeks once winter came, then returned to the UK and wrote to Minerva.

The truth was, he didn't know how to be anything other than a potions professor. After all, he had spent his entire youth being one, and now he wasn't really old, but his soul was, and he was worn down. Worn down by life and the endless suffering it had inflicted on him.

Minerva had immediately given him back his job, arguing that the current potions professor could have competed with Longbottom, given how much she'd had to rethink the cauldron budget.

And two years later, you arrived. You were 33 years old. Not a young beginner, not a dunderhead fresh out of school. No, just a somewhat lost woman who'd struggled to find herself. A woman with her own past and her own wounds, and a recent career change that, you hoped, would finally open the doors to fulfilment, and especially to your dream career: Potions Master.

Snape had of course grumbled, protested, threatened to quit his job, but Minerva had been adamant. Hogwarts was part of a program for young wizards looking for their bearing, a pompous name given by the Ministry to people who had taken a little time to find their way in a world too fast-paced for them, or to those who had had to reinvent themselves after the war, and above all, Severus couldn't quit his job; he had nowhere else to go.

His house in Spinner's End had been burned to the ground, probably by Death Eaters. Not that he missed that hovel full of painful memories, but from then, Hogwarts was truly his one and only home.

When told about you, he had expected a 19-year-old girl, a recent graduate of a school with questionable training, whom he would have to keep a close eye on now that he had stabilized the cauldron budget. Not to a 33-year-old woman, disillusioned but eager to learn, capable of listening, absorbing knowledge, and above all, above all, not talking more than necessary. Or at least, not anymore. After one week you knew better. 

He would never have said it to your face, but one evening when McGonagall asked him what she should write in the report she was to submit to Granger, who was heading this rehabilitation program, he replied that you were promising and that he had nothing negative to say. McGonagall, her eyes wide as saucers, wondered for a moment if he'd lost his mind, her, who had never heard him compliment anyone, but she had the wisdom to say nothing about it.

You immediately found him handsome. Intelligent. Broken. Of course, you knew his story. Everyone knew it. It had been heard all over the wizarding world. But as the days went by, you were able to see beyond the story. You saw the man. And one day, you woke up hoping he would see you for yourself. For the woman you were, not the assistant.

He was tough, but he never shouted. His anger was cold, and he always spoke in the same laconic tone. Yet, you could tell whether he was in a good mood or not by a simple raise of one of his eyebrow. And you knew that after a class with the Gryffindors, and especially with McIntyre, a somewhat dreamy young boy incapable of following instructions unless you were behind him at all times, ready to catch his hand before he threw slugs instead of leeches into a potion that was particularly toxic if the wrong ingredients were added, then he wasn't in a bad mood or angry... he was unbearable. Suffice to say, you watched over McIntyre like a lioness her cubs, because you were the one who then had to put up with Snape until bedtime.

You didn't talk much, always about work, but little by little, you were getting used to each other, and he was putting up with you. At least, that's what you thought until today.

Today had been hell. You'd woken up late, and the glare Severus had given you... you were certain that if you'd still been a student, he would have given you detention until the end of the year... except it wasn't you he gave detention, it was McIntyre for setting his eyebrows on fire. His own, thank goodness, not Snape's. If that had been the case, you're certain McIntyre would have nothing left but his eyes to cry with on the train back to King's Cross forever.

However, you were the one who had to deal with detentions, which meant you'd never have another afternoon free until the end of the year.

Then you had to clean up the mess left by a fourth-year student who, Merlin knows how, had managed to make it impossible to magically clean the classroom. Three hours of scrubbing by hand, hands that were now red and irritated.

And after supervising the detention of two first-year idiots who had thought it clever to slip a toad into Madam Pomfrey's satchel, two idiots you should have made scrub the classroom after a second thought, you now had to spend your evening working with Snape on a highly unstable but terribly necessary position to vaccinate the thestrals who were suffering from a kind of purulent chickenpox, fortunately not contagious to humans.

The laboratory was dark, smoky, and smelled of a mixture of thyme, wood, and... Snape. Snape, his raven hair blowing over his eyes, was hunched over a cauldron inside which a purple liquid was bubbling bigger than your head. Your potion didn't have the same intense purple colour, but after a skeptical glance, Severus had said that was normal; purple could be more or less intense depending on the personality of the person brewing it. So you could easily guess that tonight, he was in as bad a mood as Filch's cat.

You didn't dare speak much. Not because he impressed you, but because you'd arrived a minute and fifteen minutes late, once again after your morning lateness, which had earned you a perfectly plucked eyebrow raise and a:

"Thirty more seconds and you'd have had to find another Potions Master to make life difficult for."

You hadn't replied; your past attempts at humour had taught you that it was a character trait very, very disliked by this man you admired almost in spite of yourself.

The problem wasn't that you weren't good at potions, it was that you operated on instinct, while Snape was rigorous. At least, that's what he said; you'd seen that he too had a way of sensing potions, of embodying them... and of being instinctive. But when you told him, you thought his gaze could have been the first to cast an Avada Kedavra spell. Or that he was trying to get into your head. When, still a little clumsy, you asked him with a crooked smile if that was what he was trying to do, he coldly replied that he already knew your head was empty and didn't want to inflict the torture of confirming it by entering it only to encounter nothingness.

You were busy stirring your potion, lost in thought, when it started to form black bubbles that made the table vibrate. It was when a greenish cloud began to rise from the cauldron that you realized: you'd made a mistake. Instead of using a specter's tear, you'd used a tarantula's tear.

A quick glance at Snape reassured you; he hadn't noticed. You tried to make amends by throwing in some catnip, but it only made things worse. A bubble burst with a dull thud, almost burning your forearm.

In an instant, Severus was leaning over the cauldron, wand in hand, muttering a formula you haven't heard before, and within seconds, the potion had returned to its original consistency.

"You brainless fool, are you completely stupid ? You could have set this classroom on fire ! The castle !"

He wasn't shouting, but his dark eyes flashed, and his voice, cold and sharp, hurt more than any scream.

"Do you want to die ?! Are you stupid or are you pretending ?! I should have told Minerva you were too incompetent to work at Hogwarts from day one."

He went on like this, accusing you of not taking anything seriously, of not being serious enough to have not yet found your way at your age, of not being reliable...

You took a step back, surprised, but you didn't lower your eyes. You were almost... peaceful.

"You can have your little smile... perhaps you'd like me to applaud you for not killing yourself like a first-year freshman ? Idiot !"

He had shouted that last word. His only outburst. Now there was only silence. Heavy. You took a deep breath, then, quietly, without irony, you said to him,

"I think you're handsome."

Visibly taken aback, Snape looked at you as if you were growing a second head.

"Even when you're angry. Even when you're tough. I know it's because you can't bear to lose control. Because you never really had it. You were only given the illusion that you were in control. You lost something. Not a Lily. Freedom. The freedom to choose. The freedom to be yourself. But I admire you. I admire you for managing to get back up and fight every time, after every challenge."

Severus sighed deeply, and for the first time, you saw him remove his mask. Before you, you had the man, the real one, not the spy, not the professor, not the bat from the dungeons.

"It's dangerous... to see monsters as men," he murmured.

"I'm less afraid of monsters than of men," you replied with an enigmatic smile.

And in an instant, he understood. Understood that behind your smiles and your slightly awkward humour, there was a story. A story that was nothing like a fairy tale. Experiences, mistakes, back roads... a painful past. Maybe not as painful as his, but pain is pain, and yours was no less valid because you hadn't gone through the same ordeals as him. He knew better than anyone that you have no right to compare one person's suffering to another's. It wasn't fair. Every individual was unique, every suffering valid.

"Even the darkest potions have a light within them if you know how to look," you added without looking at him, already busy cleaning your work surface.

Severus froze, and for the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to say. He was dying to enter your mind, but he wouldn't. He saw no point in stealing someone's memories to get to know them better. In fact, Snape had never used his gift to get to know someone, because he'd never wanted to. But suddenly, you, he wanted to know you.

"No woman has ever told me I'm handsome," he said, before mentally slapping himself.

"Because they never looked properly," you shrugged.

You raised your head, a genuine smile on your lips.

"I see you. Not your story. Not your past. Just you."

It wasn't the first time he'd been offered this kind of philosophical statement, which he found a bit silly. Even Potter had said it to him, and it was after he had seen all his memories... well, him and three-quarters of the Ministry. But coming from you, it sounded true.

"I think you're even stupider than I thought," he said without any sarcasm.

"Oh, you have no idea. If you asked me out for a Butterbeer, I might well say yes."

"Even Professor Longbottom isn't that stupid," Severus added with a slight twitch of his lips.

"So, when are we going to drink this Butterbeer?" you asked, staring into his eyes.

He didn't need to use his magic to know what you were thinking. And for the first time in a long time, he felt like a man. For the first time in a long time, he no longer hoped. He knew. Yes, he knew that life was offering him a second chance to love and be loved.

[selfaware-promise-au]

The hurricane was going through Astral Express.

Hurricane named Akivili.

Pom-Pom's little legs were moving as fast as possible, trying to keep up with Aeon.

"HOW COULD THEY?! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?!"

They were in Akivili's private Astral Express car. Among personal belongings and knick-knacks from trailblazing expeditions, you could find the images of Creator. The current one. But now all the tapestries and statues were destroyed.

Like a hurricane, Akivili trashed every image of Alaric.

"THEY... THEY PROMISED TO SAVE PEOPLE! THEY PROMISED THEY WOULD DESTROY THE CULT! THEY..."

Akivili froze in the middle of the cabin. THEY slump down, falling on their knees. THEIR body was rocking with sobs.

"They will destroy everything. Take away freedom. And it's all my fault!"

Pom-Pom carefully approached Akivili. THEIR eyes focused on Conductor. THEIR fingers go through Pom-Pom's fur.

"Pom-Pom... It's all my fault. All poor souls tortured by the cult members... People who died from Tyrant's experiments... The upcoming mind control... It's all my fault. I brought it to our homes."

Pom-Pom hugged THEIR arm.

"No! It's not your fault! It's only Alaric's and no one else. We... We will fix it! We will save everyone!"

Akivili shook THEIR head.

"But I am also to blame. I should have done something else. I shouldn't have been asking Alaric for help."

A look of determination flashed on THEIR face.

"I will send Trailblazers away. And I will crash the Express with me on board. If I die, my path will become stagnated. Travels between worlds will disappear. It should stop Alaric and The Cult. At least in death I will redeem myself."

Pom-Pom hit THEIR arm with their small hands.

"No! It's not your fault! P-Please, Akivili... Let's remain hopeful! We will fix it!"

Akivili stayed silent. THEY just looked at Pom-Pom. THEY stand up.

"I need to meet with the others. Maybe we could think about something."

There was supposed to be some hope in THEIR words. If only light of hope reached THEIR eyes.

-----

There were discussions. There was help. There was Terminus's prophecy that returned the light of hope in Akivili's eyes.

Akivili's Hope. A person who are yet to be born or return to their world. But they already were Hope.

There was Rebellion.

There was holy fire, roaring through Akivili's private Astral Express car.

There were Akivili fighting with Tyrant's soldiers among the flames.

Fire hugged them.

And only ashes remained.

_____

One day, Express crashed.

One day, it was repaired.

Pom-Pom awoke in the world of mind-controlled people.

Aeons were losing hope. But still they waited for Akivili's Hope's arrival.

There was nothing they could do to help the Astral Express Crew to get back control over their minds and actions.

Pom-Pom could only pray and believe in Akivili's Hope.

______

There was something strange in the air. The World felt... right. Like it was before. When Akivili were around.

Then Pom-Pom saw Welt and Himeko. They were aware of what was going on. Of what Tyrant's spell was doing to them.

Dan Heng and March were aware of what was going on. Of what Tyrant's spell was doing to them.

There were three new passengers on Express.

Pom-Pom were waiting for their first meeting.

A pair of similar gray-haired people. Pom-Pom greeted them.

The third passenger walked into the Cabin.

Pom-Pom were ready to greet them.

But words stuck in their throat.

For ages, they were just a picture. For ages, they were Akivili's Hope.

You stumbled when Pom-Pom hugged your leg. They were sobbing.

"It's you... It's really you! You are here! Akivili's Hope are finally home!"

For that one moment, nothing else mattered. Akivili's Hope were here. The World will become right again. Tyrant will fall.

Pom-Pom were sure of it.

[thaltro]

On the topic of forcefully applying medievalist nerdom to the town dream and Nightmare grew up in (you can pick and choose which ones to answer or just go on an unrelated tangent idc);

Was it a trade town or was it isolated and self-sufficient? (If it was a trade town, what did it specialize in? Like weaving, metalsmithing, mining, livestock, cheese making, agriculture, wine making, manuscripts, etc)

Was the writing system for the language spoken in this town runic (like in the j*kubl*g backstory comic) or another kind of alphabet? Is that language an earlier version of the English/common language spoken by everyone in canon or did it die out?

Did the creationist church exist yet 700 years before canon? If so, did this down follow that religion or did it have its own?

Was there a tradition of making masks (like Dream’s owl mask) for a festival of some sort in this town? (My culture has an old tradition of wooden vejigante masks for festivals so I looked at that like 👁️👁️)

Were there any strange/outdated taboos or biases from that town that Dream still carries on with him knowingly or unknowingly?

Village lore?

Dreams village is a recent village built from the aftermath of the monster human war. Because the humans banished the monsters into the underground they started to move towards the monsters holy site, the soul tree.

The soul tree was used for monsters to enhance their magic and strengthen their souls, when an apple would be eaten their soul would be enhanced based on an emotional trait within them. Essentially it levelled the playing field between the humans as they had their soul trait magic (determination, kindness, bravery etc for humans) and now (positivity, negativity etc for monsters). The tree stayed alive because it fed off of the emotions of the near by monsters. Now with the monsters gone the tree laid unattended to and dying- so it harnessed all it’s living magic and took the closest vessels it could find near it’s roots (two twin human skeletons) and imbued them with all the living healthy magic left, giving two skeletons life.

The humans set up their village close to the tree as symbolic of their glory over monster kind. The area was already fertile with soil the monsters used to farm on and abandoned orchards they tended to. The humans used this and adapted it into their own agriculture. Making them a farming village. They also brought in live stock, mostly sheep to produce clothing. It became a pretty important village because of its location and the clothes they traded with people passing through. The humans spoke an older version of English and their religion predated the development of creationism.

Instead of multiple creators they believed In a sole male creator god that predetermines everyone’s roles. This religion believed negative experiences ment that the creator was punishing you and trying to push you in a different direction, positive experiences are encouraging you towards your predetermined role. When dream grows up and moves to the omega timeline where he’s introduced to creationism, he accepts that there are multiple creators but holds the view of punishments from his old religion. The creationist church itself is a cultural mosaic of different aus interpretations of creators merged under one church. There are different denominations and sects because of the verity of beliefs with creators- with Dreams more traditional denomination being called pathway creationism.

I should make a post on the religions itself ough

Ok back to the village- yes dreams mask is given for a festival! Owls were believed to be used as eyes of the creator, watching over the humans and villagers. Dream would be gifted this mask by the villagers as a rite of passage for becoming their official village spirit. Therefore, by embodying the owl he represents the creators divine will, not just reminding the villagers to find their correct role but also himself to stay in that path.

Probably the one of the most impactful things to Dream is the beliefs he gained from the village

-Dream is somewhat anti science, he sees it as an attempt to escape the creators punishments. He does have acceptions to this but most the time he’s sceptical and prefers magic healing and herbal healing.

-Dream believes that he must constantly serve and protect the community as thats what the village priest confirmed as his role. He will continue to do this even if it’s a detriment to his health.

-Dream doesn’t consider himself a monster. He sees himself more as a human then monster, but has grown to appreciate monster culture

-A more lighted hearted one is he only eats Medieval English food.. like oats and rye. He hunts his own meat too, and only buys groceries straight from trade markets and farms.

[ashthewaterghoul]

Mushy May Day 3: Nesting - Swiss/Phantom

Prompt list by @forlorn-crows can be found here All my Mushy May will be slightly shorter stories and can also be found on ao3 :) Words - 970 Phantom is pregnant in this btw (no one can tell me they wouldn't look so damn cute pregnant)

    Swiss came home from his duties in the music room one day to a very adorable sight that he simply watched from the doorframe for a while.

    His mate, Phantom, fussing about their nest as they decided the perfect spot for each pillow and blanket to be placed at. Their little determined face was very cute already but what made it even cuter was the hand on the swell of their belly that housed the life they made together.

    Contrary to what many would derive from Swiss’ history, the kit was entirely planned. They had been mated for about two years and, after a lot of discussion and careful consideration, they decided they both wanted a kit. It took a several months – not including the time to get Phantom weaned off their testosterone and hormone blockers - but when Swiss saw that bright little soul starting to grow inside Phantom, neither could wipe the cheek-burning smiles off their faces for days.

    Phantom was seven months along with their little Multi boy, and the nesting instincts were in full-swing. The bat plushies that usually sat in Phantom’s corner of the nest (easier to turn around or be covered so they couldn’t watch the mates… mating) now had to be placed in specific spots all around. The purple blanket that Swiss was given on his summoning day used to be at the bottom but now was rolled up to one side like a little wall to keep the world out. And there was of course the massive pregnancy pillow that Swiss had to compete with for Phantom’s affections.

    The angles of the blankets had to be perfect and the pillows had to be propped up just right. Phantom couldn’t explain what metric they were using other than sheer instinct as they moved everything around until it felt right. The pregnancy and changes to their body were, perhaps foolishly, more of a sensory nightmare than either of them expected so Swiss was happy to follow whatever they needed.

    Swiss stood and watched for a while until Phantom broke from their little nesting trance and saw their mate at the doorway.

    “Oh! Hey, love!” They smiled, tail wagging softly behind them.

    “Hey, lovebug. You okay?” He said as he came over to kiss them.

    They nodded as they kissed back. “I am now I’ve done all this.”

    “It looks fantastic. Can I climb in?”

    “Of course.” They said as they scooted back and made room for him. They both laid on their sides, facing each other with Phantom’s kit-bump pressing against Swiss’ own soft belly.

    “How has our little one been today?” He asked as he stroked the bump softly.

    “Been practicing his dance moves just like his Dada.” They trilled softly as their hand joined their mate’s on the bump.

    Swiss chuckled. “I hope he stretched properly beforehand. Don’t need him getting all my back and hip pain.”

    “He definitely stretched.” Phantom said as they reached for their phone and showed Swiss the video of the bump contorting as a foot pressed out against it, Phantom’s own voice in the background going “Oh, biiiiiiiiiig stretch.”

    Swiss purred at the video and leaned down to kiss the bump. As he came back up though, he disrupted a few blankets, a plushie toppled down and he pushed a pillow from its assigned spot.

    Phantom’s face pinched together with big sad eyes.

    “You moved it…” They quietly in what was quite possibly one of the saddest voices Swiss has ever heard from them.

    “Oh, fuck. Sorry, let me fix it.” Swiss said, kissing their forehead and helping them sit up. He moved everything back to his best recollection of how it was and looked to his mate. “How’s that?”

    Phantom swallowed and muttered: “It’s not right.” Their bottom lip coming forward a little in a pout that Swiss tried not to find too adorable as his mate was genuinely starting to get distressed over this.

    “Alright, tell me how to fix it.” Swiss said.

    “That blanket needs to be straighter.” They said as they pointed to the offending piece of bedding.

    “Okay… Like that?” Swiss asked as he followed his best interpretation of his mate’s instruction.

    They shook their head. “No, more towards me… Back a bit… Back… That way… Okay.” They said, their brows un-creasing some by the end.

    Swiss followed similar directions for the rest of the items that had shifted and carefully climbed back into the nest when everything was in order once more.

    “So what are we going to do when we fuck?” Swiss asked.

    They shrugged, “Fix it after.”

    “And what about the plushies?” Ever since their first time together, Swiss has known how much Phantom hated having their fluffy friends as tiny voyeurs.

    “We’ll just have to turn them all around.” They said again with a small shrug.

    Swiss tried not to roll his eyes as he thought about how long that may take, but again, he was happy to do whatever Phantom needed throughout this entire journey.

    “It’s a good job I love you.” He said with a smile and kissed them.

    “I love you too.” They smiled and kissed back.

    “I love you too, Babybel.” Swiss smiled as he caressed the bump once more, finding his hands usually did it of their own accord nowadays.

    The kit inside let his tiny hand whack the bump a few times where he could feel his Dada’s hand right there.

    The two Ghoul laughed softly as they felt it.

    “I think he loves you too.” Phantom said, looking at their mate's golden eyes with pure love and awe.

    As the two held each other, the kit making his presence known from time to time too, neither could wait for the day this scene played out with their kit wriggling and laughing between them.

[daosies]

in the silence

akademiya days | this piece is part of the spring & swag event!!

You fall asleep in the library; Alhaitham doesn't wake you up; love ensues.

alhaitham ♡ gn!reader

warnings: alhaitham is SMITTEN, use of "[name]", physical description of reader (ex: moles, scars, etc.), pre-established relationship

notes: banter my beloved

“I won’t wake you up if you fall asleep,” Alhaitham states blankly, his eyes never once tearing from the pages of his book.

“Really?” You yawn. “Even if the Grand Sage came in right now and told everyone that if they were conscious, he’d give them a graduation certificate?” 

“Even if the Grand Sage came in right now and told everyone that if they were conscious, he’d give them a graduation certificate,” Alhaitham repeats without a second thought. “And I’d be leaving with mine.” 

“Oh, you traitorous scum.” 

“Sleep.” 

“Even when you’re not gonna wake me up?”

Alhaitham doesn’t even spare you a glance. You take the silence as affirmation, and even though you think you’re supposed to be offended, you don’t have any energy left in you to fight a losing battle against a man who got a full eight hours of sleep. 

So, you fold your arms over each other and you tuck in for the night, the side of your head buried into the fabric of your uniform sleeves, breathing in the scent of the wooden library table. 

“Night,” you mumble.

“It’s morning,” Alhaitham replies.

You don’t respond. He closes his book. Turquoise eyes drink in the sight of your face greedily, compensating for all the time lost sinking in pages when, since the beginning, all they have ever wanted was to drown in you. They’re out, Alhaitham thinks—not like a light, because still, you glow—already? 

He doesn’t pay any mind to the clock, its rhythmic ticking falling behind the pace of his heart, the organ which beats, alive and wild in comparison to the hand of time which, although pervading, has never once perceived you. If it did, Alhaitham thinks that time would speed up, that it would leave everything behind, that you would wake up and find yourself in the future. Beyond him.

He stares at you (but he has always been staring at you?), insatiable. Alhaitham is greedy. Alhaitham’s gaze traces over your existence once, twice, before starting again. 

As if he were rediscovering a relic, as if he had buried it eons earlier and dug it up once more, his hand fluttering across all its patterns, its weathered material, discovering new intricacies and features—a mole, a scar—and loving them again, all the same, each and every time. 

From the flutter of your lashes to the pout of your lips, your image sinks into his retinas, never to be reflected in his irises as you have driven long past the color, diving straight towards his soul. Absorbed. Whole. You glow. You glow!

“Huh? Alhaitham?” someone calls, and Alhaitham’s brief—but, really, it was not so brief; he had been staring for the past five minutes—solace is interrupted, his drowning eyes narrowing with distaste before he wills his mental fortitude to deal with this sudden obstacle. Kaveh. 

Alhaitham doesn’t respond. 

“Alhaitham, I know you can hear me.” 

“Now, what gave you that idea?” 

Kaveh sneaks a glance at you (which doesn’t go unnoticed by Alhaitham), before turning his head away, trying his very best to contain the essence of a smile wisping across his face (which doesn’t go unnoticed by Alhaitham). 

“Just a hunch,” Kaveh says with a shrug. 

Alhaitham doesn’t respond. 

“Can you let me know when they wake up? I need some of their input on this new design I came up with,” Kaveh asks, gesturing towards a scroll of paper which folds from his hand. 

Alhaitham doesn’t respond; not only that, though, because he also makes an effort to look away from the architect. 

“I’m not waking them up.” Even if the Grand Sage himself were to enter the library and tell everyone that he’d give them their graduation certificates if they were conscious. Even though Alhaitham himself told you to sleep. 

Kaveh scoffs. “You’re terrible.” 

Alhaitham doesn’t respond. Kaveh takes his silence with an offended scoff (again), before grumbling away with his scroll clutched tightly to his chest. Alhaitham stares at you (but he has always been staring at you?), his gaze finding their face on your features, and the relic is found. 

A mole. A scar. A glow.

Someone else enters the library, frantic, their voice diminished to a whisper-yell: “[Name]? [Name]! Is [Name] here? I need their notes!”

His fingers come to unclasp his ear pieces (which were, as they always are in your presence, turned off), deftly hooking them over yours. You stir a little, but Alhaitham doesn’t mind; you never notice when he does this, anyway. Whenever you sleep, you’re truly knocked out.

(He has done this, time and time again. Like how the relic is buried only to be rediscovered again. Like how the light is flickered off only to be turned on again. Like how his gaze finds you, time and time again, only to trace over familiar features and new ones alike, and, ultimately, learn and love, again and again.)

“They’re not here?!” the person continues to whisper-yell. “I need their notes! I’m going to fail! Oh, the agony!”

Alhaitham is terrible. 

He looks at you. 

A mole. A scar. A glow. 

Alhaitham is terrible; he’s okay with that.

[baeddel]

I think the purely in-game reading of gwyndolin betrays the out-of-game reading which is an obvious 'trap' situation, that is to say, a trans woman written by someone who either doesn't know what a trans woman is or has reasons to avoid the concept. Out of all the unreliable narrators of dark souls, miyazaki is but one of them.

see my previous post for why i don't agree with your interpretation of the "purely in-game reading"

i also really find this perspective quite shocking; what about Gwyndolin strikes you as insensitive or ignorant? just because she has an identity that isn't exactly yours? i feel like this is binarist at least... it's similar to how people say that GGACR's Brigitte and Testament were transmisogynist stereotypes and were corrected in Strive; that is the transmisogynist position...

also just look at how Dark Souls is written. virtually nothing in it is assumed from our world; everything that enters its cell of meaning is subjected to complex critical assessement. it is demanded of everything that it be fully explicable in terms of the world of Lordran and not in terms of earth. even the existence of a glaive, which we have in our world as a common weapon and would not startle any player more than a sword or shield, is rigorously explained as arising from Gwyn's knights' conflict with the Izalith demons, demanding special weapons that can stand up to large enemies. of course in this setting you won't just get a normal transgender woman with the same relationship to gender as us. the demand it makes of us is to interpret gender in light of Lordran's own system of meaning, and locate Gwyndolin within it.

the games have gender and hormones sliders ffs XD

because calling it a gender slider ASSUMED TOO MUCH! so in the next game they called it a HORMONE SLIDER!

no one was ever that careful with their game!!

by the way, on Miyazaki, let me defend him a little bit: i won't be able to find it too easily (translations kept getting made and hosted on some google doc that later disappeared) but there was an interview with him on some kind of gaming show that had twitch-like viewer comments that they'd respond to. the topic came up that everyone was saying who their waifu would be (and they all hade cute bynames for their favourites). Miyazaki acts embarassed: 'i didn't know i made this type of game...' then he's looking at the chat and he reads it out: 'otokonoko... otokonoko... who do they mean?' the interviewer explains that they mean Gwyndolin. he says: 'i don't understand, Gwyndolin is clearly male... he has a male voice actor...'

this line has fascinated me so much, for over ten years... look at it... he can't be an otokonoko, says Miyazaki. because he has a male voice. what did he MEAN!!!!!!!!!!

i've started to think that he was actually joking, like playing dumb. as if he didn't even know what an otokonoko was and thought they were pretty young girls :) i'm not sure... i would have to hear the tone of his delivery, etc... in effect learn Japanese (because i'll never trust someone else to tell me!)... maybe one day i'll understand. in any case, Miyazaki's views are probably strange and complicated. we do not know how we got Gwyndolin out of them; but we did, and that makes all the difference.

[munchkin1156]

HADM 3- Tangoo

And we’re back! My writing is going to get more over the place the longer I do this, so I hope you enjoy some floating islands!

Word count: 801

Tws: Technically post apocalyptic? But it doesn’t feel like it

As always, thanks you to @hermitadaymay for running this event!

. . .

According to the elders, there had used to be a proper world. Not just all these broken, floating islands. They'd sound bitter when they told it, followed by how it was humans who had ruined all that. Annoyed the gods and cursed the land, they had.

Tango wasn't certain they were right. This didn't feel much like a curse. In fact, it was a joy to him, to run and jump and feel alive. He felt it in his heart that this was the way it was supposed to be, no matter what the elders said. The fire in his soul, mixed with the air and water around him. The earth beneath his feet crumbled sometimes, sure, but there would always be another island to leap to, another tree that wouldn't burn to sleep under, when the sun got too hot, even for him.

Birds were one of the few large creatures that had thrived besides the fire-born, and they dominated the skies more than Tango ever could. Their colours, their wings, the way they flew like the sky meant everything- He could watch them for hours on end. And had, multiple times in the past. Other than bird watching, Tango usually wrote in his journal, and hunted things that belonged to the time before. He was rather proud of his disc collection, if he was being honest. He had nearly thirty collected so far, and was always finding more!

It wasn't a curse in his eyes, and never would be, but he couldn't help but wonder what the world might've once been like. That's why he asked the elders, even if he disagreed with their opinions. That's why he hunted up discs, even though he had no idea what they'd been for. Maybe to throw at people. His disc collection was his best one, yes, but the things Tango loved to find the most, (and he hardly ever got these), were the drawings. He never properly understood them, or what they used to draw with, since they didn't seem to have that odd grey stuff here anymore, but they were the most amazing thing he'd seen.

The one framed above his hideaway, a small cavern in one of the larger islands, was a drawing of a flying machine. It had been drawn on blue paper, and over the past couple months, Tango had been studying it, slowly decoding it bit by bit. Now he was out material gathering. It was harder, since cloth and wood were rarer, but he was getting there. Slow and steady. It was something like a hang glider, except attached to your back, and it used some sort of fuel, called rockets. He was learning things. He asked questions to anyone who might know the answer, even the travelers who passed through, who he'd previously shown no interest in.

He was going to finish this, no matter what anyone said. And, luckily he hadn't told anyone, so there was no one telling him it was a stupid idea, or that it wasted resources. If he had, this would take even longer.

Tango watched birds much more frequently, but now, while he still admired their beauty, he was also watching them for how their body was built, how their wings moved. It was a whole different type of admiration. He burnt sketch after sketch into his journals, until he'd had to ask for several more just in case. They had been specially made so that they wouldn't catch on fire, since that's what fire born did, but they also hadn't counted on someone as determined as Tango to write things down.

People started noticing things, obviously. How he wasn't around as much, the way his eyes gleamed in excitement when he looked to the West, the odd questions, and how whenever someone tried to speak with him about anything other than what he was asking, he excused himself as soon as he could. But there wasn't much they could do. They could only hope, whatever it was that had caught his interest, would be over soon. Maybe it was a girl.

Little did they know, it wasn't going to end for a long long while. Once Tango would finish what he had named an Elytra, he would feel a different spark inside him. One that let him create things, and build things others couldn't even dream of under this sun. With wings on his back, he would know he couldn't be happy in the small town he grew up in. He would learn about the ruins of the past, and the people exploring them. He would head off to find them. Something like a new beginning, if you will. And he would be ready to start again, but start again flying.

Ready to soar with the birds.

. . .

Taglist: @i-am-beckyu , @da3dm , @faeiyn-cant-write , @boiled-ginger-ale , @local-squishmallow, @akatthatwants2sleep , @vocal-nyx-cords

Taglist just for fics: @mushr00mgurl

See you tomorrow!

[lancer-fan-club-was-taken]

hi it's me the anon.

i'm not getting as much kindness soul posting as i wanted, so i'm posting my half-baked (ha) ideas to get more of yall out of hiding.

please. i needa see everyone's lil green fellas :]

blabbin under the cut. also. tw// child abuse. i was vague about it through out the post but at the end when i was describing their bullets i had to be more specific sorry.

their name is merin. their actual given name is meir. but they prefer merin.

they fall in 207X and spend half a year in the underground, aging from 12 to 13. they're the 5th fallen human not including chara.

while they did enjoy cooking, they weren't very good at it. they would try to make their guardians cookies to appease them. it never worked.

they didn't have many friends, and they dont really make any friends throughout their adventure either. they're a bit of a hermit, and don't really like talking to people, that being said, they're incredibly lonely. they climb mt ebott to be alone. they needed to do some thinking. and... they wernt looking were they were going. they fall. sadly.

they didn't like talking about their home life. they didn't really have one.

toriel takes them in of course, it was nice for them to be wanted by someone for a couple weeks, but... they eventually find it overwhelming and escape.

they don't talk to anyone once they reach snowdin, and nobody bothers them either. except, for one person. a strange man recognizes them as human. he's apparently talked to all the fallen humans before them, and can now detect a human from a mile away.

he tells them right off the bat that they won't be able to leave. the barriers only one way! however, the royal scientist? he's looking to break the barrier. even if he's been a bit... distracted recently, and lucky for merin, the man happens to be friends with the royal scientist. in fact, they live with each other. they're partners if you will.

the man tells them that he's on a business trip alone right now, since the royal scientist hates snow, and tells them that in a week he'll take them to new home to met dr. w. d. gaster. he'll be able to get them home, and with a 'soul like that' he'll be able to break the barrier! he doesn't have malicious intentions at all! regardless, merin goes to new home with him since they don't have anything better to do, and they believe that to be the easiest way to get to the barrier.

the man takes them to meet gaster and he's curious about them on the spot. he's never seen a human soul like that!

so. context. anti-human propaganda is still running rampant. gaster is old, but he's not old enough to remember being on the surface. from asgore's accounts of humans he assumes that the kindness soul trait doesn't manifest in humans. that kindness is a uniquely monster trait.

gaster comes to the conclusion that merin is a 'human with the soul of a monster,' and invites them to live with him and the man, so he can observe them and perform basic experiments. they are extremely hesitant, but they decide that it's better to remain passive as to not anger him. they agree.

also context, soul traits have different rarities here. there's soul traits that are more common then others, and some that are much rarer.

for humans, most common to most rare:

hope(red), kindness, bravery, integrity, patience, justice, perseverance

and the same for monsters:

kindness, integrity, bravery, justice, perseverance, hope(red)

kindness is the most common soul trait in general, but since none of the fallen humans had a kindness soul, monsters made up that humans are incapable of being kind. that it's ok to kill them because of that! anyway. that's where gaster is coming from. no one is immune to propaganda.

they spend a couple months with them, and they grow pretty close. merin even telling them that they should have kids. gaster is unamused. the man considers it.

the man teaches them how to make a quiche. it's the first thing they make that's edible. he tells them that the former queen taught him how to make one and that he's proud of them. i feel like i shouldn't have to explain why eggs are their healing item.

they run away very suddenly to the two of them. not leaving a note of anything. just. leaving. when they find their body, and tell asgore about them, he apologizes serval times over, saying that he'd never kill them if he had known. neither of the believe that.

anyway! why they ran away!

the man essentially lets it slip that he was planning on bringing them to gaster so he could... kill them. saying that it would be easy for him. but, since they're practically a monster, they must want to give up their soul willingly. for the good of their whole race. they'd be remembered for all time as a hero!

needless to say, merin is horrified by this information and decides to take their chances with asgore. it doesn't take long for them to lose hope, since they never had much determination to begin with. they die after a being struck down about a dozen times.

their bullets are fire because they were often burned with a hot metal rod as 'punishment.' their guardians were horrible. they have several burn scars all over their back. asgore's fire magic made them freeze in their tracks. they could barely move. they also despised hotland.

Transcript: mod's answer about their fav confessions just reminded me of sth...

i'm pretty sure no one asked about people's kindness soul ocs.

you know the drill. show us your kindness souls please.

[shepscapades]

Why does Ren have 4 ears? Are they all real or is one set fake?

Hehe I’ve gotten this question a lot actually! They’re all real— I like to think hybridization isn’t always a clean balance of traits, so Ren just unfortunately ended up with two sets of ears— his Dog ears being much more receptive to sound, naturally— and sometimes when the extra intake of sound is too overwhelming, I imagine he wears earplugs in his human ears to help adjust :> it’s a bit weird, but idk! i like to make designs funky and nonconventional! I liked the idea that Ren had hearing struggles due to wonky hybridization and just kept the concept :>

[silverwhittlingknife]

hi Silver! o/ because that fanart made me wonder - would you happen to know when/where Dick's stuffed elephant plush Zitka turns up in the comics?

GREETINGS CAM <3333 THAT ART WAS SO CUTE

Yeah, I think your instincts are right - it's a truly adorable bit of transformative fandom, but I'm 95% percent sure it's not comics canon. Barbara has canon plushies, but I don't think anyone else does.

I got kinda invested in the investigation (it's hard to prove a negative!) and I ended up typing out an entire History of Elinore/Zitka, so, uh, if you're curious, meet me below the cut for:

Where does Elinore / Zitka - the animal - appear in comics?

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

Where does Elinore / Zitka appear in comics?

We're gonna go in chronological order!

Dick's circus elephant friend was first created for practical reasons: in Batman 436, Marv Wolfman does a big expanded flashback to Dick's circus backstory as a way to subtly show us Tim before officially introducing him (so that we can have a technically-solvable mystery-of-Tim's-identity in LPoD). In this comic, there's an elephant named Elinore who loves Dick:

Aww. Such a cute elephant!

Batman 436 comes out in August 1989. New Titans 60 comes out a few months later, in November, and guess what? When Dick visits the circus, he is suddenly surprised by an unexpected blast from the past! It turns out that even though it's been years, Elinore still remembers him!

Here's the part where Elinore remembers Dick:

SUCH a cute elephant. I love her.

(Guess who else still remembers Dick even though it was so long ago. Guess which other character is about to be an unexpected blast from the past. Guess which character Elinore is directly paralleling guess guess guess sorry everything is about Dick and Tim in my mind but I can focus I swear)

Four years later, in 1993, Batman: The Animated Series retells Dick's origin story. They like and keep Wolfman's elephant, but they change her name to Zitka:

Wolfman doesn't return to the elephant beyond those two appearances, and a few years down the line, New Titans gets cancelled and Wolfman's not writing Dick anymore anyway. So the animal gets abandoned for a while, until Devin Grayson, a fan of both Wolfman and B:tAS, revives the Wolfman-era Titans team in JLA/Titans and then the ongoing series Titans 1999.

Grayson then brings back the elephant in a flashback to Dick's past in Titans 16 (Jun 2000), where she imports the B:tAS name. Sometimes I'm skeptical of TV-to-comics imports, but honestly, I endorse this one. You lose the alliteration, which is a shame, but IMO Zitka is a better elephant name than Elinore.

Here's Dick with the newly-christened Zitka in Titans 16:

Grayson also briefly references the elephant in Gotham Knights 20 and - in a final angsty callback - in Nightwing 88 (Feb 2004), where Zitka tries futilely to comfort Dick in the midst of his trauma conga line:

... And... honestly, I think that's it for comic appearances? The two Wolfman comics plus the three Grayson comics.

Both Wolfman and Grayson are writing multiple titles - Batman, New Titans, Titans, Gotham Knights, and Nightwing between the two of them, spanning a big chunk of Dick's post-Crisis canon - and both writers use the elephant for heartwarming moments of nostalgia, which means if you're doing a post-Crisis readthrough for Dick, Elinore/Zitka feels memorable. But I don't think she actually shows up that much.

For post-2011, I am not as well-informed - throwing this out to the dash? anyone know? - but I feel like Zitka the heartwarming symbol of Dick's heartwarming circus past is, uh, thematically very at odds with the Court of Owls evil!circus vibes, so my instinct is that this story element was almost certainly dropped in the reboot.

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

In WFA, yes; in main comics continuity, no. Technically, I have not read every comic ever published, so I could be wrong!! But I don't think so.

Below, find my rambling reasoning on the tonal vibes of pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-2011, and why this particular story element doesn't seem right to me for the first two.

Pre-Crisis (...okay, mostly the Silver Age): stuffed animal, yes or no?

tl;dr no, requires too much background knowledge on the part of the reader, plus the elephant wasn't a thing until later

Elinore doesn't get created until post-Crisis, but also just generally, pre-Crisis callbacks are more along the lines of this reference in Batman 129 (published in 1960), where, wow, Batman and Robin are hunting jewel thieves - and it turns out Robin recognized this strongman! BUT HOW?!

The comic goes on to recap Dick's entire origin story in flashback, on the assumption that you may not know it.

(BTW, if you'd like to know more about Haly's Circus throughout the years, nightwingology has a great post here summarizing a lot of fun plotlines and characters!)

Basically: Silver Age comics are very self-consciously episodic and kid-friendly; they're not generally gonna do overly-elaborate callbacks because they don't know what comics their kid readers may have randomly picked up or remember.

By the time of post-Crisis, comic books were being written for an adult audience buying from the direct market, i.e. readers who are collecting whole runs & don't need or want Dick's origin story to be recapped to us in full every time it's referenced. That's why in post-Crisis, we get stuff like "hey, neat, this particular soda brand is getting mentioned in several different books!!" or "in order to understand this story arc, buy SIXTEEN DIFFERENT COMICS in FIVE DIFFERENT RUNS and read them ALL ACCORDING TO A NUMBERED ORDER and also you better be following the individual plotlines and recognize these five minor characters who we don't bother to introduce!! Good luck!!" But the elaborate post-Crisis plotlines - and subtler worldbuilding like a stuffed animal callback to Dick's backstory - don't make a lot of story sense UNLESS you're imagining your readers as completionist adult fans.

So IMO a stuffed animal wouldn't be a pre-Crisis thing unless it was The Episodic Story Of the Week, and I don't think a stuffed animal is action-adventure-y enough for the fast-paced storytelling of the Silver Age. (Unless it, like, came to life and tried to eat you or something.)

Post-Crisis: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr: no, Dick's a manly tough guy, he's not gonna have a stuffed animal, that'd be lame, like something Tim might do

Part of the edgy grimdark adult vibes in 80s/90s comics is that some characters who used to be kinda silly & goofy & lighthearted - like Batman and Robin - get reimagined as Serious and Angsty and Edgy in a Tough Cool Manly Brooding Way. This massively affects characterization for Bruce, Dick, and Bruce and Dick's relationship.

(I obviously love this change & love the tense Bruce-and-Dick interactions, but plenty of fans of the earlier fluffy comics really disliked the edgy retcons of Miller / Wolfman / Starlin / et al.)

The upshot is that post-Crisis is a period when you could have a recurring reference like a stuffed elephant, but you wouldn't have a stuffed elephant, not for Dick. I think a toy like that would be too cutesy / childish / effeminate to give a male character in post-Crisis, unless you were poking fun at him.

Now, you could probably let Tim have a stuffed animal, because Tim is sometimes cool but also sometimes a tryhard loser who is faking being cool and not entirely pulling it off (see e.g. the Robin comic where he practices tough-guy faces in the mirror, or the Teen Titans comic where Conner discovers his cringy Enya CD, or when he's fanboying over Connor and it's awkward, etc etc.). A stuffed animal would be deeply embarrassing, and you'd have to be careful to compensate by having Tim do something cool afterward - but Tim's character concept allows for "he's kind of a loser sometimes."

But Dick isn't!! In post-Crisis, Dick's a tough / impressive / "cool guy" character, the kind of guy anyone would want to be, even in the flashbacks where he's Robin, and even in the stories where he's more lighthearted than angsty. It'd be kinda lame for Dick to have a stuffed elephant, so he wouldn't. I feel like Dick would be more likely to poke fun at it if someone had one, like when he's making fun of Wally for liking the Hardy Boys. Dick could have a Batman action figure, at most, and if he had one he would have it ironically.

Basically: in post-Crisis, a male character hugging a stuffed elephant feels more likely to be a punchline to me, not something poignant. (Even with Tim, Tim could have an embarrassing stuffed animal, but he couldn't hug it when sad - that's too far. Maybe Booster Gold might do this. Probably he wouldn't, but spiritually, he would. Sorry Booster ilu! <3)

Instead, Dick instinctively deals with his inner turmoil like the TORTURED ACTION HERO he is: by punching things and brooding and yelling and joining the mob and sleeping on rooftops and going on obsessive secret missions and acquiring Angsty Stubble!! Just like Batman!

(Technically I don't know if Bruce ever joined the mob but you know he would.)

Anyway as you know this is my favorite continuity and I am poking fun affectionately, but uh, yeah sdfsfdsfs. No stuffed animals.

Post-2011 / Infinite Frontier / Wayne Family Adventures: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr it's in WFA! Probably not anywhere else, but it could be.

Post-2011 stuff tends to be cutesier overall, most of all in the current Infinite Frontier era. So I don't feel like this would be tonally out-of-line with IF comics. Taylor tends to go for more meme-y references rather than fanfic references, though.

So the obvious best fit is WFA, which is aiming for a rough approximation of Silver Age family-friendly vibes - wholesome, episodic plots, Teaching Good Moral Lessons For The Youth, etc. - plus lots of Easter eggs for fanfic readers and some comic references.

And look, here we are:

Aww.

Whew - that's everything I could find!

Anyway as you can probably tell, I LOVE the elephant, so this was a very entertaining rabbit hole to go down, thank you <3

[nyan-bynary]

I'm gonna have to wait out a few weeks to be able to complain about jjk's ending bc rn half the ppl are bashing everyone who expected more as ppl who just wanted gojo back

[evenmorecrows]

kieran is my little guy. my boy my son. maybe i Am rotating an au in my head where hes the datv protag. maybe he enters into a romance with lucanis. like father like son (his dad being m!amell who romanced zevran.) plus itd be. so fucking funny