#and like…for the teenagers out there it’s also a marketing and projection thing

[nezumasa]

“Why do all the Persona fames have to feature underage highschoolers? It’d be so much better if they were in college/out of school!”

Not everything has to match up to your life experiences and you can just play a different series. Atlus has tons of them.

[satansapostle6]

Love The Sinner | Dexter Morgan

Dexter Morgan, a vigilante serial killer hiding in plain sight, loses sleep for the first time in his life when he’s met with the very last thing he expected: a kindred spirit.

Warnings: Violence. Mature language and themes. Sexual content.

Part One. Eyes of Darkness.

Most people, when they’re getting arrested, shit their pants with fear. Some scream, some cry. Some rage, and some try to run, and some just freeze. That’s what you usually see, when you’re in your parents’ living room, and your dad can’t wait to turn on the TV to the channel dickety-six news, of all things. But sometimes, people have other reactions when being handcuffed and shoved in the back of a squad car. Sometimes people enjoy it, for one reason or another. I smiled when Miami Metro put me in cuffs on the news. Laughed, even. You see my story is many things, but boring certainly isn’t one of them.

Let’s start simple. My name is Nicole Carvalho, and as of today, America knows me as ‘Murderous MILF’. You really can’t make these things up; I love this country. I keep reminding myself, if I ever go free, I need to clip that out of the newspapers. But see, right now, at this very moment, I’m sitting alone in an almost blindingly white interrogation room at the precinct, waiting for a cop to question me while they study me on the surveillance footage. I can’t lie, I’m sitting back right now in my chair, smirking. You see, I killed the men who violated and later took my baby girl’s life, and I’m currently very pleased with myself.

I don't think my grandfather pictured this when he left Brazil. This truly is the American dream; committing a crime and letting your own peers decide whether or not it was justified. In all honesty, a jury will be much kinder to me than ‘God’ has been. So, I figured I’d let myself have this one thing. I think I waited about a half an hour before they sent someone in; a female detective. They must’ve figured a matching vagina couldn’t hurt. The first thing I noticed about this detective was that she was strikingly young; close to my age. I’m thirty-six, so I would estimate her to be maybe a little younger.

But apart from her age, the next thing I noticed about this detective was that she was very robotic in how she interacted with me; she didn’t necessarily look like she wanted to be there. She barely looked up at me when she came in, holding my files and looking down at them like a teenager doing a presentation in high school.

“So. Nicole Carvalho. I’m Detective Morgan.”

She sits down across from me less like I’m a murder suspect and more like she’s interviewing me for a secretary job. I look at her, sitting forward as I join her in the conversation, still smug as ever. I think she was secretly hoping I’d say it, the four words that usually drove most cops insane that, for some reason, no one ever thinks to say in the movies.

“I want my lawyer.”

I smile as I say it. Detective Morgan also smiles, looking down at the table before getting up. I’ll never forget how pleased she sounded.

“Guess that means I can’t ask you anymore questions.”

She gets up and walks out, and that’s the end of it. In all honesty, I don’t think she was looking forward to questioning a woman about the murder of her daughter’s rapist. After the detective left me alone, I was allowed to call myself the lawyer that I had in mind. This, of course, was a friend of a friend, a perfectly shady guy named Johnny Bertelli, who was, in the nicest way possible, a fucking scum bag. You see, I work as a project manager at a marketing firm, so I’ve met my fair share of good lawyers, but Johnny was the fucking best.

He made Johnnie Cochran look like an idiot. He was the kind of lawyer who laughed at the prosecution in court, and I needed him. So there i was, in the Miami Metro precinct punching a number I’d gotten off Google into a wall phone. I looked around the precinct as I waited for someone to pick up, and suddenly it was like I felt a pair of eyes on me. I turned around, and I saw a pretty timid, mild-mannered looking guy who seemed as if he’d been standing there trying to figure out how to get my attention.

But the strange thing was, he didn’t seem to want my attention, at all, actually. If anything, he seemed perturbed by the fact that I was looking his way. I looked over at him, not knowing what the fuck his story could’ve been. Miami’s a weird place, because in this moment, I realized the guy wandering the precinct in a Polo and khakis could very well be an employee. I looked at the guy, not knowing what he could’ve wanted with me as I struggled with the phone. Funny enough, he actually just wanted to be helpful.

“You gotta press pound,” he says quietly, “For the call to go through,” and I almost laugh.

I appreciate the odd moment, just thanking him.“Thank you.”

He just nods, and says nothing as he quietly retreats to wherever it was he came from. I took his advice, and sure enough, the phone worked and patched me through to Johnny’s office. I wasn’t quite sure at the time, seeing as I was obviously a bit preoccupied, but I felt that strange man’s eyes linger on me for a moment. Even as I turned around, I could sense his surreal sort of presence that he had. Sure, I was used to having men’s leering eyes on me out in public; it was hardly unusual. But this was different.

Like he was less looking at my body and flesh, but more so imagining what was underneath it.

*****

The next couple years of my life were eventful, to say the fucking least. Johnny of course advised me to take my case to trial instead of taking a plea, for obvious reasons; there was no way any jury was going to give me the maximum sentence, or God forbid, the death penalty. I was a single mother who stabbed her twelve year-old daughter’s rapist seventeen times. In the eyes of the public, I was practically a fucking hero. Johnny’s confident that any jury would feel sympathetic to me, despite the brutality of what I’d done. As he says, the facts are still there.

My neighbor, a weasley little creep named George Randall got me, and my Isabelle, to trust him, and took advantage of her in the worst way. Then she killed herself, because of what he did, and I had to find out through a note left on her desk for me to find. So, I went to George’s with an empty baking dish of his, and once he let me in, I whipped out the knife I’d borrowed from him, the same knife I used to use to cook for my little girl, and I made his stomach burst like a water balloon. At this point, I’d already chosen to show little remorse for the crime I’d committed, feeling perfectly at peace with the possibility of prison, or the death penalty.

But Johnny said there was probably no need to be too fearful of either. He’d even told me there was a possibility I’d just get a few years, and then parole, or something, and I wasn’t sure that wasn’t bullshit, but I also liked his confidence. The reality of it was, Johnny had made much worse people look way better. To him, my case was already closed. All I had to do was play the part of the grieving mother, which took no effort on my part. I had to wait almost a year for my case to go to trial, which I of course did outside of a cell.

This gave me enough time to get all my affairs in order, or so to speak. My job was okay for the time being, and I knew I’d probably still have it so long as I wasn’t convicted of murder, given my ‘years of dedicated service’. Things were going to be relatively fine, eventually, but for now, I was stuck being paraded around like a jester on some twisted apology tour for avenging my daughter’s death. I’m a pretty good actor, but even my patience has its limits. And maybe wearing my white So Kate’s to court wasn’t necessarily the best judgement call.

But Johnny, being more than worth the money I pay him, made it work. I walked into the courtroom with him, humble and graceful, and didn’t let my eyes linger so as not to appear guilty. But even then, I caught a glimpse of him in the room. The guy who helped me with the phone. He was watching my trial, probably just as a police department employee. Probably.

“Will the defendant please rise?”

I complied with Judge Willis’s request, with my trusty guard dog by my side. I remained dignified, my head held high, but not too high, of course, as the proceedings began.

“Miss Carvalho. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty, your honor,” I told him.

The damage was done. My fate rested entirely in the hands of twelve strangers, and for some reason, there was a thirteenth who seemed oddly invested in the outcome.

-

Part Two.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Ellen’s agency and her connection to Count Orlok in “Nosferatu” (2024)

“Someone said to me in a interview the other day, well, isn’t Ellen like this victim? How is it like to play this victimized character? And I was like, well, I don’t think she’s a victim at all. Because she’s kind of calling the shots the entire time […] She has a great deal of agency in this story that I feel we haven’t seen in, you know, iterations of the past.” Lily-Rose Depp

Many are confused as to why Lily-Rose Depp says this, and even accuse her of not understanding her character nor the “complexities of victimhood”. A bit high on ourselves, are we?

The majority of the audience and mainstream media does not understand this film. At all. This is “Jennifer’s Body” (2009) all over again. Including the marketing. This film deals with references the general audience doesn’t recognize, and it will take years or even decades for the mainstream to actually realize what this story is about. And while the fanart coming out of this is beautiful, it should actually be the other way around (Ellen commanding Orlok). This story is also inspired by Serbian horror cult classic “Leptirica” (1973). Robert Eggers already shared his entire list of inspirations (2 books) and 8 movies. That has nothing to do with American Netflix, by the way, and “The Batman Returns” inspiration is merely aesthetic. You are all making comparisons with pop cultures vampires; when Orlok is a strigoi from Romanian folklore, and that’s his lore. He has nothing to do with “Interview with the Vampire” or whatever. Stop “americanizing” other people’s cultures. Robert Eggers subverted everything about 1922 “Nosferatu” and the “Dracula” novel by Bram Stoker. We are entering Balkan territory here, and European Paganism.

The occult themes are rooted on Pagan beliefs (the opposite to Victorian Christian society), and we have a lot of references to Aleister Crowley because he lived during the Victorian era. All the Şolomonari rituals we see in this film (and they are three, and I’ll talk about them here) are Sex Magick rituals based on Crowley and Paganism. The core themes here are sex and death, and female sexuality repression and liberation. Robert Eggers wants “to stay through the lens of the 19th century” because he has no interest in doing “modern films”, and Historical Feminism is his thing. Orlok, himself, is not only a follower of Zalmoxis, owner of the secrets of immortality, he's also a worshipper of the Divine Feminine, the opposite to patriarchal and male pleasure centered Victorian society. But more on that later.

This film starts with Ellen performing Black Magic (necromancy); and this should tell you everything you need to know about her nature. Orlok’s spirit was in a limbo (“darkest pit”) and only by the power of her words (“enchantress”) she makes his soul return to his former body (dead and rotting since the late 16th century) and curses him to be a strigoi (that’s why he calls her “his affliction”, as in “sickness”, “plague”). As Ellen sexuality awakes (15 years old), so does Orlok (resurrection).

Ellen and Orlok Connection

Let’s talk sexual abuse (some of you favorite topic): did Orlok ever had "astral sex" with teenage Ellen? No, he only has sex with her at the end. And the story itself tells us this.

Everyone already decided that he did, including mainstream publications that trap Robert Eggers into calling Orlok a “disgusting abuser” (this is also the only interview where he call Orlok such a thing but he doesn’t even elaborate). This doesn’t validate anything; Eggers just doesn’t want to deal with backlash because mainstream media already made up their minds on what his story is about, and creators can’t afford to lose investment for their next projects.

If we take Herr Knock’s ritual into context, at the prologue, it’s Ellen masturbating. Because when Orlok does touch her (when he reveals himself), she has a seizure (metaphor for orgasm). Eggers established a difference here. In Freudian symbolism, gardens also represent the female sexual domain. And these lilacs are in full bloom; awakening sexuality and fertility. This is Ellen’s realm. Metaphorically being attacked by a demon because of Victorian views of female sexuality.

Ellen tells Orlok (in a very sexual tone) she felt him like a serpent in her body, he says it’s not him, but her nature (her sexuality); this implies Orlok never actually had any astral sex with her (as in penetrating her), and what she has been doing this whole time is masturbation: a huge taboo on Victorian society, and the ultimate sin, as Ellen’s father calls it when he finds her naked, and yes, masturbating.

Orlok was there watching and/or talking with her; as a presence really because he’s a haunting, as that’s how Robert Eggers describes him. Either way she was fantasizing about him (“your passion is bound to me” and she believes he took her as “his lover”). She tells Thomas “you could never please me as he could” because the purpose of masturbation is orgasm (which is what she associates Orlok with) and vaginal orgasms by penetration (alone) can be difficult for most women to achieve.

While on his way to Wisburg, Orlok says to Ellen: “Soon I will be no more a shadow to you. Your spirit was never enough. Soon our flesh shall embrace and we shall be as one”; which, again, implies he never had sex with her (“and we shall be as one” = finally, at last). He has only been a shadow (haunting) to her, until now; they have not yet been as “one” (sex). He also tells her, after she gives him her soul; “as our spirits are one, so too shall be our flesh”, which indicates he hasn’t touch her in that way (penetration) before. Which also explains why he is hyperventilating before actually having sex with her at the end; and he stands there, waiting for her consent.

His entire demeanor with the locket also indicates a profound longing and yearning. You all are taking Orlok saying he’s an “appetite” too literally, because he’s talking about his consumption of blood after Ellen accuses him of being a “villain to speak so” in answer to “you are not of human kind”. She’s pretty much saying: “you are one to talk, you are a evil vampire”. And he denies being evil, he’s “an appetite, more nothing”.

"And I shall taste of you" [he doesn't mean her blood, alone]

And Robert Eggers gave us a parallel with Thomas, where Orlok does behave like a sexual predator, and Thomas is his prey, completely at his mercy. With Ellen, he awaits her command, she’s in full control. These two scenes are meant to show the difference in Orlok’s behavior.

He also uses Thomas as his masturbation assistant (sexually assaults him) and as part of his Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual to annul his marriage to Ellen, spiritually. Thomas, being her husband and fresh out of their honeymoon, has her sexual signature on him: “your husband is lost to you” = “you are single now”.

"Your husband has signed his name, and covenanted you to my person for but a sack of gold. For gold he did absolve his nuptial bond."

With Ellen, at the end, it’s also a Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual to consummate their own wedding and to break Nosferatu curse, with her full consent: “and so the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast, and with him lay in close embrace until first cock crow, her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu”.

And this is all according to her will because that’s how Magick works; they are both manifesting the breaking of his curse, and harvesting sexual power to do it, and the ritual ends with her orgasm, as it’s suppose to in Sex Magick devoted to the Divine Feminine. And in this scene, Orlok does have penetrative sex with Ellen because we can hear the penetration in the sound design. Thank you, Robert Eggers, for that detail. He really wants his audience to know penetrative sex is happening here. And this is connected with sexual energy, not only him drinking her blood: that's the willing sacrifice part, she's allowing him to kill her, as the dawn will kill him (setting their spirits free to be reunited in the spiritual realm as their covenant says).

When Orlok tells Ellen "we shall be as one”, she doesn’t have any seizure nor “hysteric spell”. She’s at the window. Waiting. Robert Eggers is giving us a lot of visual information about Ellen and Orlok’s connection.

Besides, Orlok is a strigoi, not a incubus (nor has Robert Eggers ever described him as such); strigoi have to be physically present in order to do things. And his scene with Thomas proves this. He made Knock drag him all the way to Transylvania to perform a Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual to divorce him from Ellen. Which indicates he can’t astral projecting himself to do this kind of stuff.

Robert Eggers also said that Ellen, unlike Anna, doesn’t conceal her sexual desires, which I find really interesting, because Ellen spends the entire story repressing her sexuality and nature (until she fully embraces it at the end); this implies all the moaning in on Ellen herself, and not Orlok actually doing things to her body (but more on that later). Because the prologue established that, when he touches her, she has a seizure (and this is the only time we see this happening). Von Franz exorcism doesn’t count because he was compelling her to speak what Orlok says to her.

Him asking her “remember how once we were? A moment. Remember?” is probably connected with the reincarnation themes in this story; and Romanian strigoi myths in general. This is a Gothic Folk Horror story.

Ellen also has premonitions (she knew Thomas would be sent away and later she confirms to Von Franz she has this gift). Orlok is a monster of her own creation (and she confirms this twice, to Von Franz and to Thomas). Her being an enchantress parallels Orlok himself who, according to the Nuns, was a “black enchanter” in life. These are their archetypes in the narrative: Ellen is the great Pagan priestess, and Orlok is the Pagan priest-shaman follower of Zalmoxis, the Dacian God of life and death.

Romanian folklore: strigoi showing up at their loved ones window, asking for entrance

Herr Knock had to set a whole room and perform a Şolomonari Sex Magick ritual (masturbation) just to talk to Orlok, Ellen doesn’t need any of that; her spiritual power is insane in this film.

And this scene tells the audience that Orlok has to be summoned for these communications to happen. He’s haunting Ellen because she wants him to haunt her. He’s exactly where she wants him to be. She controls their entire connection; she’s the one who calls out to him, always (not only at the prologue and at the end, which is what Lily-Rose Depp says in this interview). It was her spiritual power that put an end to their communication when she met Thomas (her socially acceptable sexuality). She has full control over everything that’s happening in this story.

Ellen’s communications with Orlok are very sexual in nature because it’s sexual energy that conjures him (like we see with Herr Knock). So, when she’s moaning she’s channeling her sexual energy to summon him to come to her. “He’s coming to him”, it’s her yearning for Orlok.

The maiden’s token was meant for Orlok; she knew Thomas would be sent to him, her hair smells like lilacs, and the next scene after Ellen makes the token is Knock’s ritual (Eggers is not even being subtle here).

Orlok knows what this means, and to him it’s confirmation of her yearning for him. He also remembers lilacs from when he was alive, which further strengthens the reincarnation theme at play here. And that’s why he accuses her being “false” when she claims to hate him; she has been calling out to him this whole time.

Ellen and Orlok’s connection runs deep and it’s spiritual at its core. Orlok has the divine feminine heptagram (seven-pointed star) on his sigil (not an alchemist heptagram), connected to Isis and Babalon. That’s why Robert Eggers calls their marriage sacred. Orlok magic isn’t only about the secrets of immortality, life and death; but also divine feminine, the worship of female energy. Which is the opposite of Christian Victorian society; patriarchal, male dominated and male centered, including sexually (sex for male pleasure alone). Which is why Eggers gave us the parallel of Thomas (Victorian society) vs. Orlok: Victorian men see sex as male-centered, while Orlok, the worshipper of the Divine Feminine, focus on female sexual pleasure, as Ellen finally experiences a vaginal orgasm with him.

Orlok has to be invited into places, like your regular vampire (and the film establish this with all the windows; the Nuns saying he can’t enter that house of God, it has nothing to do with God, but with him not being giving entrance; and Dr. Sievers saying they should go home because Orlok has certainly risen from his grave at that time, implying they aren’t safe in the streets). And it’s Ellen that gives him entrance into Wisburg, into the Hardings household and into her own home, at the end. He can only attack those in the street at night, and he threatened to kill Thomas knowing full well he couldn’t if he stays indoors and isn’t invited in.

But doesn’t Ellen suffers because of this haunting? She does and she doesn’t. She wants to interact with Orlok, but Victorian views of female sexuality tell her she shouldn’t want this (married heterosexual sex was the only social acceptable sexual expression and everything else was seen as “deviant”, “sinful” and “evil”; sex was a marital duty and for male pleasure alone; women’s sexuality was owned by their husbands; motherhood was a woman’s destiny). She’s conflicted. She also pretends to be innocent and naive because that’s what socially expected of her, and we see this with Anna Harding, as she infantilizes herself before her several times (“everything I say sounds so childish”).

And things get even darker because she gave Orlok entrance into the Harding household but then is enraged because Friedrich Harding sends her and Thomas home. The place where Thomas is actually safe from Orlok. And she pulls off her "possession scene". And during the carriage scene (when everyone is talking about destroying Orlok), she gets restless and intervenes: at first she plays it innocent by saying to Thomas "let me come with you", which he, obviously, refuses. Then she tells Professor Von Franz: "Professor, allow me to walk you to your door" but her voice sounds different here. We can't forget she's an enchantress, after all.

And, Professor Von Franz, the man who “saw things in this world that would make Isaac Newton crawl back to his mother’s womb”, actually looks scared of Ellen here:

Ellen is not letting anyone put a stake of cold iron on her lover demon, sending him somewhere she cannot reach him, and she finally accepts his covenant of being one with him, ever-eternally. Driving home the point: everything that happens in this story is according to Ellen's will. She's the one calling the shots, like Lily-Rose Depp tells us.

And she wins at the end because she gets exactly what she wants, as does Orlok himself, but he's scared of what will happen next because he probably knows there will be horrible pain in his physical death, and Ellen comforts him, as makes him look at her, instead of the sun.

[eqt-95]

Easter put together an amazing flash fiction challenge that I've finally gotten around to attempting incorrectly*:

Genre: crack Premise: sentenced to community service Trope: in vino veritas Subject: paint samples

*it is definitely longer than 1,000 words. my hand slipped. ----------------

Luthor Green

HOUR 1

"This would go a lot faster if someone picked up the tempo a bit," Alex said with a side-eye.

"Superspeed won't teach us any valuable lessons," Kara explained, carrying an armful of painting supplies.

Alex's side-eye became an eye-roll. "Listen, we aren't some rag tag group of teenagers who graffitied the centennial monument-"

"The Tag Teens," Nia whispered.

"-we are superheroes who-"

"Who caused seventy-three million dollars in damages fighting off an illusion," came a stern but familiar voice from behind Alex.

"Lena!" Kara exclaimed. Her hands sent the supplies sprawling across a drop cloth as they lifted toward the LuthorCorp CEO.

"It's Ms. Luthor, Supergirl."

The same hands fell lifelessly back to Kara's sides. Nia grinned mischievously. Alex was already over the entire thing.

"And she's right, Agent Danvers: powers won't teach any valuable lessons nor are they permitted," Lena continued, heels crisply clacking across the empty lobby floor. "Court orders."

"Rich coming from a Luthor," Alex mumbled, knuckles whitening as they tightened a paint roller to a long reach pole.

"But that'll take all weekend," Nia scowled.

"50 hours, actually," Brainy advised.

"Good thing you're getting an early start," Lena offered cooly. "Friday nights tend to be rather quiet around here-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Alex said, eyes fluttering with disbelief. "As in five-zero?"

"Correct," Brainy nodded. "Assuming no breaks except for the advisable pause between paint coats. That, and we should each average 300 square feet an hour for the base layer which is approximately 50% faster than the average professional painter - aggressive, but I have confidence in us. It also requires 20 square feet an hour for the rather intricate mural Ms. Luthor's marketing team has requested; however, I have gone ahead and simplified it to project as a paint-by-number scheme which seems quite popular among-"

"Mural?" Alex gawked. "No, no, we did not agree to a mural-"

"You agreed to paint LuthorCorp's lobby in preparation for the NC Science Summer Camp we are now hosting because a rag tag group of superheroes destroyed its original venue," Lena interrupted, gaze stern and voice in a tone that felt like an undressing. Alex glanced toward Kara whose chest was puffed out like she was jealous it wasn't directed at her.

"But I had plans," Nia huffed, eyeing the red cooler she was sitting on.

"That's hardly my concern and frankly, the task hardly fits the crime," Lena replied, fingers tapping against her crossed forearms. "If it were up to me, you'd be reinstalling the LuthorCorp signage you destroyed as well."

"It wasn't a crime," Kara grumbled. "And you were replacing that anyway."

"There's scaffolding in the corridor," Lena continued, "try not to turn this into a total circus."

HOUR 4

"What are you shaking? Is that spray paint?" Kara asked from the top of a questionably supported ladder.

"We can use spray paint?" Alex called from the other end of the wall.

"Interior use without proper ventilation is frowned upon," Brainy chimed in from his own end of the wall.

"Relax. It's a shaker," Nia answered.

"For what?" Kara asked.

"From what?" Alex added.

"Court orders said nothing about doing this sober."

HOUR 9

"Here champ," Nia said. A hand offered an ice cold beer.

"No thanks; I don't plan on being here that long," Alex replied stubbornly.

Nia examined an imaginary watch and shrugged. "Suit yourself," she continued before turning toward the questionably supported ladder: "Hey red, wanna do shots? I've got rum."

HOUR 10

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong color," Kara repeated.

"And I could care less-"

"Couldn't," Nia corrected. A drop of condensation fell from her latest concoction as the scaffolding creaked under her movements above.

"I don't care," Alex said, eyes narrowed toward the blue-booted feet dangling from overhead. "If they gave us the wrong paint, that's on them."

"But-"

"And it's 2am. Name a paint store that's open at 2am."

"If I just hop over to Europe and-"

"Oh!" Nia exclaimed, head peering out overhead. "That's a great idea. Maybe you could grab some scones-"

"No, nope. No powers," Alex glared at Nia who pouted and retreated from view. "I am not about to get called out on a technicality by a Luthor."

"She's just doing her job," Kara defended with flushed cheeks that screamed Kara was at least two shots deep.

"Are we just ignoring the whole trapped-in-kryptonite bit now?" Alex gawked.

"I just think we need to take a different perspective: new timeline, new me, you know?" Kara offered.

"Perhaps when we're between coats Supergirl can acquire the correct paint," Brainy suggested.

Kara's eyes widened and head nodded like a bobblehead. The only thing missing was a lolling tongue. Alex lungs expelled in a slow, centering sigh Kelly taught her. "Fine. New us, whatever."

HOUR 15

"You missed a spot."

"And you could help," Alex muttered, pressing her forehead to the extension pole dripping SW 6364, Eggwhite. "New us," she whispered until her eyes caught sight of something giant and purple: "Is that a bean bag chair?"

"Can't," Nia explained from within the giant purple bean bag chair that also arrived just as mysteriously as the Mary Poppins cooler offering up an endless stream of drinks. "M'waiting for my section to dry."

"There are other sections."

Nia shook her head. "Uh-uh," she managed between handfuls of popcorn. "Those are Supergirl's."

"She isn't back yet?" Alex balked. "How long does it take to get paint?"

"Maybe she's stopping by Noonan's for some sticky-buns," Nia said dreamily.

Brainy cleared his throat: "Accounting for typical Saturday morning traffic and the quantity of paint to be mixed-"

"And don't forget she'll want to learn how the paint mixer works-" Nia added.

"Fair point," Brainy replied and gave due thought to his recalculation. "With that in mind, my estimates indicate she is twelve minutes overdue."

HOUR 18

"Where the hell are you?" Alex hollered the moment Kara picked up.

"They were insisting it's right," came Kara's voice over speakerphone.

"Which is exactly what I told you eight hours ago. Now get back here-"

"So now I'm trying to get them to tweak the recipe and-"

"Absolutely not, Supergirl."

"But-"

"Get back here. That's an order."

HOUR 23

"Hey, Supergirl, help a girl lift that bean bag chair up here, will ya?" Nia called out.

"You've got paint in your hair," Brainy said from Alex's left.

"Gee, I wonder how that happened," Alex said, glancing up between the slats of scaffolding where Nia was humming the latest pop sensation and taking long sips of her self-named mixed drink.

"Initial deduction would indicate it's coming from-"

"I was being sarcastic."

"Ah, right."

HOUR 34

"Where did you get that?"

"Dreamer," Kara explained after a pull. The bottle sloshed with far too little liquid. A paintbrush lay forgotten on the floor. Paint drops were everywhere but the wall they'd been sentenced to complete. "I wonder if she still has any Red Vines. Ooh, or maybe Goldfish."

Alex's gaze scanned for the youngest superfriend who had most recently been adlibbing science puns about the phallic-looking test tube Brainy had painted. It was purgatory bordering on hell.

"And what if someone sees you? Did you think about that, Supergirl?"

"No one works this late on the weekend, Alex," Kara slurred, rubbing at dripped paint on her cape, "'cept Lena." A hiccup followed. The cape was now stained a moss green. "Lena," she continued in a sing-songy way that made sober Alex want to hurl.

"Dear god," Alex sighed, reaching for the bottle of Alderbaran Rum. "Give me that. You're done-"

"Not unless you admit the color is wrong," Kara pouted. Another hiccup. More spilled paint. Mrs. Fischer was going to be pissed.

"Do you ever think maybe we shouldn't be allowed to operate life-saving missions?" Nia posited from her perch two storeys up.

HOUR 39

"Ok, the Pewter on the beaker and microscope is finished. With any luck we can all be home by dinner. How are we doing with the rest?"

"The Polished Concrete has been applied to the shaded regions," Brainy advised. "I will commence outlining with the Charcoal Dust to the mitochondria and rocketship."

"Beautiful. Dreamer, how is the African Violet and Passionate Purple coming along?"

"Well…" Nia began from the depths of her cooler, "the DNA, bunsen burner, and solar system would be done," she continued, reappearing with a bottle of neon blue liquid.

"Would be? What do you mean 'would be'?" Alex asked, jumping with a thud from the scaffolding to take in the three-storey wall.

"I can't exactly do my portion until someone finishes her part."

"Finishes?" Alex repeated.

"'Start' would be more accurate," Brainy corrected, swirling his own Nia-Nal-authored cocktail.

Alex didn't have time to give that a double-take. Instead she backed up to survey the progress. Sure enough not a single paint stroke of green had been applied. A forefinger and thumb found the bridge of Alex's nose. The slow exhale didn't work as well this time.

"Supergirl?" she called and waited. And waited. "Supergirl? Super- where is she?"

"Follow the paint splotches," Nia answered before the rattle of a shaker interrupted further conversation.

HOUR 45

Alex let her brush drop into the empty pail. She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck before checking the time and letting out a tired sigh. So much for dinner at home.

"How are we looking?" she called warily. "Any chance we'll be finished before the sun sets?"

"Nearly there," Nia called, somehow uninhibited by the conveyor belt of drinks she'd been knocking back all weekend.

"I've begun disassembling the scaffolding," Brainy affirmed, slightly more inhibited by the string of beverages he'd been knocking back.

"And Supergirl?" Alex asked. It was met with silence. Alex's hope vanished. A grimace took its place. "Supergirl?"

"This still isn't right."

Alex looked upward. To what, Alex wasn't sure - heaven was too far away because this was most definitely the last level of hell. "What isn't?"

Kara waved a handful of paint chips at the group. "This green - the paint sample still isn't right."

"How?" Alex huffed, landing with a thud from the scaffolding. She glanced between the chip and the sample they'd been given. "Looks right to me: foreboding, villainous, manipulative; it's 'Luthor' in color form - it's even written on the can. See? SW-6921, Luthor Green."

"And there's only one?" Kara continued, ignoring Alex's running commentary.

"Maybe it should glow in the dark?" Nia offered through the crunch of a cheese puff.

Kara's frown deepened. "I'm going to mix our own."

"Supergirl, hang on, no; and Dreamer will you please stop mixing drinks and pick up a paintbrush - Brainy, a little help here?"

"Far be it from me to tell Nia Nal what to do," he slurred from what was the vacant bean bag.

"Guys, can we please focus. I want to go home."

"And I want to run…" a hiccup, "run this to a head."

"She means 'ground'," Nia clarified before the sound of ice cubes jingled into an empty glass.

"Is that another bottle of Rum?" Alex asked. "Nia!"

HOUR 53

"Ok, guys, I'm close."

"To finishing?" Alex begged. Her head hadn't left her hands in an hour. "Close to finishing, right?"

"I've narrowed it to four different shades for the left half. I'm working with greys and purples which like, isn't ideal, but I think it's close. Now, the right half will be a bit trickier-"

"It's one color!" Alex erupted. "It's a single green. Why are we talking in multitudes when it is one - one - color," she shouted, stretching one extended finger for emphasis.

"Perhaps Supergirl is simply considering the lack of color neutrality coming through the glazing due to the slight tint of the low-e coating," Brainy postulated.

"Right," Nia snorted. A used lemon wedge sat in one hand and a salt shaker was held in the other. "It's the quality of the Sherwin Williams Luthor Green that Kara's all hung up on."

"What do you mean?" Alex pressed.

"I mean that-"

"I realize your limited competence lies in your powers, but I honestly thought you'd all be further along by now."

Alex looked up to find Lena standing, once again, in the middle of the lobby. "It is midnight on a Sunday, Luthor."

"Precisely. In less than eight hours this lobby will be bustling with children, their parents, and a hoard of my employees. This is what you've got to show for a weekend of work?"

"Look, see?" Kara exclaimed, finger pointing toward Lena. She stumbled to her feet, cape tangled around her and other hand gripping a dozen paint-filled brushes.

"See what?" Alex shouted. Her wits had ended hours earlier.

Kara marched toward Lena who lifted a single eyebrow in silent judgement. "It's not just one!" Kara slurred. "It's… a lot."

Alex looked between Lena and Kara's outstretched hand of brushes with dawning realization.

"Hang on: you thought 'Luthor Green' meant Lena Luthor's eye color?" Alex fumed.

A quiet 'ohh' from Brainy was interrupted by a howl of laughter from Nia.

"Um… yea?" Kara confessed, expression sheepish and confused.

"'Luthor Green' is part of LuthorCorp's marketing color scheme," Lena clarified curtly though her cheeks flushed red.

"Wait, it's not…" Kara started, nose scrunched in thought. "But why not? It'd be so much prettier. See? Lena, don't you think it'd be so much prettier?"

Alex's mouth fell open. "What?"

"I expect this finished before registration opens tomorrow," Lena continued through a crack in her voice.

Kara nodded eagerly. "So does that mean-"

"Use the 'Luthor Green', Supergirl."

[alexanderwales]

The Index

This is an index of things I've written and posted online, with minimal descriptions because most of them have blurbs if you click the link. This list is not exhaustive, especially because there are a bunch of short stories and dribbles in various places. If something you liked is missing, let me know.

Web Serials

Worth the Candle - Juniper Smith is a teenaged Dungeon Master who ends up in a world filled with all the things he dreamt up for his campaigns, along with signs of his friend who died months earlier. This Used to be About Dungeons - Five teenagers live in a house together, bake bread, tend the garden, and occasionally fight monsters in dungeons. Thresholder - Thresholders travel from world to world, fantasy one minute and scifi the next, always encountering an opponent, growing stronger as they battle. Shadows of the Limelight - Fame gives you superpowers, and Dominic just saved the world's greatest hero from defeat in full view of a large audience. Glimwarden (unfinished) - A small town huddles around lanterns that keep the darklings at bay. Four teenagers must grow in power as the darkness encroaches. The Dark Wizard of Donkerk (unedited) - Two men steal a baby from an orphanage, then find out he's too cute to sacrifice and raise him as their own.

Fanfic

The Metropolitan Man (Superman) - Lex Luthor attempts to unravel the secrets of the alien. A Common Sense Guide to Doing the Most Good (Superman) - Superman gets really into effective altruism. Instruments of Destruction (Star Wars) - A fable of project management aboard the second Death Star, through the eyes of Admiral Tian Jerjerrod. Branches on the Tree of Time (Terminator) - Sarah Connor is working as a software engineer at UCLA when a naked man shows up on her doorstep. A Bluer Shade of White (Frozen) - Elsa can make life, and Olaf is smarter than he looks.

Shorts

Eager Readers in Your Area - Artificial intelligence has left authors scrambling for readers. Charlotte clicks on an ad. Variations - An orc visits an art exhibition where she feels out of place. Contratto - Julia takes a job as a marketer, working for the vampires to keep their secrets safe. The Randi Prize - James Randi offers a prize for anyone who can demonstrate supernatural abilities. Coming Home - After a long time isekaied to a fantasy kingdom, an errant father has coffee with his estranged son.

I also post short stuff to this very tumblr, which can usually be found under the #microfiction tag unless I forget. Usually this is mirrored on AO3, unless I'm lazy.

Web Comics

Millennial Scarlet - Lamont Pearce is a gig economy demon hunter whose mother ran a government agency meant to defend against Hell. Worth the Candle - A webcomic adaptation of the web serial

Non-Fiction

The AI Art Apocalypse - Slightly outdated thoughts from 2022. Why to Write a Sex Scene - Observations on the narrative purpose of carnal pursuits. Game Review: Underhill - This review contains no screenshots, because this game does not exist. Writing: An FAQ - Accumulated wisdom from 4 million words and counting. Creating Interesting Magic - A much-requested post on making interesting magic systems (and characters, and plots, and worlds). How to Write a Web Serial - It's both easier and harder than you think. The Trouble with Writing Nazis - On giving villains too much credit. Interesting Things to do with Time Loops - Exploring the boundaries of the conceit.

[curtsycream]

My Heart Lingers in Italy

In which James Potter visits Italy for a school trip just to meet two girls that change him forever.

This is pretty short but it is only my first installment of this series if you want to call it that. It will be part of my summer project for my writing. So updates may be a bit slow but quality over quantity right? Anyway I hope you enjoy, it wasn’t beta read this time I wanted to get it out before I rewrite it completely or just scrap the idea. Also when they trade IDs it was supposed to be for Line and such like that but couldn’t find a face social media maker for that one, so yeah also English is not my first language so if my grammar or spelling is off I apologize in advance.

“Lily, where are we going?”

The two girls held hands as they weaved through a crowd of tourists. The streets of Verona normally weren’t so packed but it was tourist season. Smiling Lily tugs Y/N forward as the two girls walk, “Remember you said you’d go to Piazza San Zeno with me. I explicitly remember telling you last week when you were busy talking with Sienna.”

Y/N smiled broadly, “don’t tell me you were jealous again. You know you never have anything to worry about, she just wanted to know if I would be applying to universities outside of Italy. I told her I’m going wherever you go,” she whispered.

Ducking her head down Lily tried to use her hair to hide her reddened cheeks. “You’re so annoying sometimes, come on!”

The two girls, one smirking and the other blushing made their way to the open flea market. It was packed with locals and foreigners alike. Y/N waved to any and everyone she knew running different stalls. When Lily stopped walking she bumped into the shorter girl’s back.

“What’s the hold-up, Donnina?” Y/N glanced up to notice a group of teenagers. All about the same age as the two of them. But what stuck out the most was a group of boys playing around near a booth. Their playful nature was animated and rather funny.

Grinning she wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulder, “oh I see it’s those tourists. They’re rather cute I’ll admit,” she commented.

“What do you think about that one?” Lily asked pointing at a bespectacled boy with dark hair.

Squinting Y/N finds herself analyzing the boy from his charming behaviors to his handsome looks. “Attractive,” it was simple but for someone like Y/N, it meant a lot.

Lily and Y/N knew each other inside and out better than most people did. So a simple compliment from Y/N meant she wanted to get to know him too.

“Should we talk to him?”

“What about that thing we rushed here for?”

“Aldo will be here next Sunday with the book I want to look at, should we talk to him?”

The urgency in her voice was clear, it hinted at her fear of passing up on what could be a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Nodding her head Y/N nods her head in his direction, “Let’s go.”

Pulling Lily along she smiled softly when standing in front of the boy. Up close he was much more handsome than she gave him credit for.

James was listening to Remus explain the difference between the two books in his hands to Sirius. He knew Sirius only did this to rile him up. Looking away from his friends he noticed two girls walking towards him. One was short and flushed and the other tall and grinning.

He would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel something. They were opposites of each other yet they looked so good together. Like that of sunshine and rain where together they equal out to rainbows. A balance is what they represent one that he wanted to be a part of. It was a strange feeling but it felt meant to be.

“Ciao,” he said without thinking.

The tall girl smiled with a laugh, “Ciao.” While the shorter one looked away before looking back at him with a smile, “Ciao.”

“I, I didn’t really pass Italian just enough to end up on this trip,” he explained. He felt as if he had to as if he owned them something.

“No it’s fine, we know English. Your accent British?” The tall one asked with just as much interest as a puppy. Her accent is thick as she speaks fluently and confidently.

“Yes, I guess the accent was very obvious,” he joked.

“That among other things,” the words from the shorter girl made him grin. Her voice was lithe sneaking up on his ears with agility. While the taller girl’s voice felt like velvet wrapping around his eyes blinding him with mystery. Both were opposite but equal in the effects they were having on his senses.

“Oh, what are these other things?” He asked leaning forward enough to smell figs and jasmine on her. A floral and fruity scent that made him lean back some.

“If I told you so easily it wouldn’t be as fun,” she told him.

“She’s always like this if you’re wondering, you’ll have to pry her secrets from her cold little hands to know.” The glint of amusement in the taller girl’s eyes was evident. Just like the smell of mint and lemon when she stepped closer to whisper that to him. The crisp and citrus scent was exhilarating like a cool breeze sweeping over him.

“I’ll keep that in mind for the next time we meet,” he tells her.

The confidence in his tone was enough to cause Y/N to look away. Lily found herself squinting at him, “who said we would meet again?”

“I can’t say for sure but I hope so,” he says. “You’re both really interesting.”

“We’ve said less than five sentences each,” she tells him. All he did was shrug a look of certainty on his face. His expression revealed it all as if he knew they would.

“Then let’s trade IDs?” He asked them.

“How do you even know we have the app?”

“I don’t, but I’d like to hope you do, red.”

Laying in her bed whilst looking up at her ceiling Lily sighs. Sitting up she glanced over at whom she deemed her other half. The other girl was sculpting something with clay her headphones probably blaring some loud music.

Each time Lily tried to sleep her mind would wander to the bespectacled boy they met. His charisma was refreshing in a way she had not expected. Though she denied it on the trip back home she did enjoy his company.

His words so easily teased and left her cheeks red. She couldn’t understand how he so easily did so. Before she could think longer about the British boy she felt arms snake around her waist. A head resting on her chest, “What are you thinking so hard about, Donnina?”

Weaving her fingers through the taller girl’s hair the ginger sighs. A look of contemplation on her freckled face. “That guy…the British boy. He’s not easy to forget,” she uttered.

Mulling over Lily’s words she agreed, “I get that..he’s very charismatic in a way. But under all that, there is this heart tug where you can’t help but enjoy his company.”

“Exactly!” Lily exclaimed as she brushed hair out of the other girl’s face. Her finger trailed down her forehead and along the bridge of her nose. “I wonder if that’s normal…to feel that way about someone you just met.”

Humming softly Y/N’s fingers ghost over Lily’s sides before resting on her hips. “Maybe it’s a British thing? To be so charming and have people eager to see them again.”

“I thought that was the French?”

“It’s all relative, or how do people say Greek to me.”

Lily snorted shaking her head, “I think this is why you shouldn’t skip out on your literature classes.”

“Why would I stop when I have such a beautiful tutor to teach me when I don’t show up for classes?”

“You’re such a flirt.”

“You wouldn’t have me any other way, donnina.”

Verona was beautiful at night, James remembered Remus telling him it was the city of Romeo and Juliet. A lovely Italian city where lovers can go and enjoy the sights around them.

Lover or not he had to admit that the city was more than he expected. The town with its medieval architecture and the meandering Adige river. It was hard for him to stop looking out of his window as the moon reflected perfectly upon it.

He could hear Sirius and Remus’ hushed tones within the room. The two had spent the day with James although James made it clear he was okay alone. He didn’t want to ruin the time his friends could have in such a romantic place together.

But he was grateful, sighing he glanced down his eyes finally leaving the river. People were still walking about outside conversing. he expected the nightlife to not be as active. From the morning and afternoon being busy with bustling marketplaces, piazzas, shops, and gardens. But from the way people were chattering and laughing it seemed there was more to the city.

For some reason he found himself watching a duo of two women. One tall and the other short both of them laughing and clinging to each other in their drunken state. He wondered if they did similar activities, or rather he wondered what they were doing now.

A small ding left his phone, his hand dived into his trousers pocket to retrieve it. A message from Y/N appeared on his phone, eagerly he opened it.

Typos are on purpose because they are messaging in English. To better clarify when it’s just Lily and Y/N speaking together it will be in Italian. I’ll better indicate that in the next installment, but Y/N is terrible at English but she tries. I’m such a sucker for this trio already.

[phightingheadcanons]

Trying out the blog, call me emergency response kit

Anyway, thieves den headcanons (may or may not be my fave faction)

thieves den has seasonal phestivals with lots of bright lights and street markets, everything is organic and fresh

Street food there is amazing, but older folks dislike that stuff.

I picture thieve's den elders to be kinda strict about manners, and katana has picked up some of these things and wants vine, Shuri and sling to follow through

Vine is the most polite and courteous of the three. Sling is okay at it but prefers to be a little more comfortable, Shuri straight out speaks in abbreviations and is unintentionally rude sometimes. He means no harm though.

^headcanon that Shuri has audhd ( but somehow became friends with skate and boombox)

eats random stuff off the ground

collects bug pelts and pretty rocks as a hobby.

likes perching on high spots like his unc hyperlaser

He struggles to talk to new people

Hates rough scratchy textures in contact with anywhere on his body ( totally not self projecting )

Probably watches teenage mutant ninja turtles

Hyperactive at wrong times of the day

Is very impulsive when he's angry

Completely opposite when he's a vigilante because he's so focused

Vine headcanons!!!

worried for Shuri everytime he gets hurt because she thinks she's gonna turn into a tree soon and not be able to protect him anymore.

She isn't going to the tree curse only stays in one half of her body and doesn't spread any further

vine has insomnia and can barely sleep

She can make stuff like breakfast pancakes but can literally burn water when she's making dinner.

reads alot and frequently visits ghosdeeri to chat

Sometimes tags along with sling when he goes to hangout with his playground buddies

Met medkit when exploring crossroads and they exchanged some small talk.

Has mixed feelings about subspace.

Sling headcanons!

Used to be similarly as polite as vine but he lived in playground for a few years to pitch his Cafe project and came back totally different.

He also met skate, boombox and coil during this time.

After he set up the Cafe in crossroads he found a bunch of stray cats and fed them, long story short they accompany visitors in his cafe now (there are 5 of them)

makes really good pastries and taught Shuri how to make stuffed croissants. Shuri sometimes bakes them for family and himself, although they turn out wonky sometimes.

Takes grudges very seriously.

all 3 of them live in the same apartment in crossroads (that looks more like a treehouse now) and visit katana in thieves den on weekends.

Also they don't sleep in normal beds. Shuriken sleeps in a hammock he made for himself that hangs from a tree protruding out of their apartment (vine accidentally grew out her sprout hehde)

Vine sleeps in a pillow pile in the mid section of the tree

And sling sleeps in a giant cardboard box which was once the packaging for their refrigerator.

/silly

.

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

The Fuck Up Chapter 1

Summary:  Bucky fucked up.  A few times.  Will his best friend ever be able to forgive him?

Warnings: language, smut, mentions of war, injury, pregnancy

Next chapter

Y/N and Bucky had been best friends since they were teenagers. They met on the first day of high school in English, both groaning over the fact that the assigned reading was The Grapes of Wrath, considered an American classic but an incredibly boring read. They were paired up in a project together and became inseparable ever since. Y/N had no family, having been passed from foster home to foster home until finally being placed with the family she was with now who were willing to keep her. She had a hard time trusting people, and Bucky liked a challenge. They quickly became the most important people in each other’s lives. They were teased about dating each other, and as much as they each had moments of having more romantic feelings towards the other, nothing had ever come to full fruition. Bucky’s family took Y/N in and treated her like their own. Even with her new adopted family, she had never felt so loved in her life.

After high school they had planned to go to college together, but the housing market crashed and Bucky’s parents, Winifred and George, had to use his and his sister Becca’s college funds to keep their house, and no companies were giving out scholarships as they all tried to protect their assets. Y/N had been able to use a grant system to get into college. Bucky came from a military family, and although he had had no plans of ever joining, it seemed he had run out of options. He enlisted in the Marines. Y/N was upset, not wanting him to risk his life, but understood. She supported him as he went through boot camp and then the rigorous special operations training, but the military was hard on him. Bucky had always been an emotional person, and Y/N hated watching him have to deal with the PTSD and the group mindset that the military instilled in him, changing him from the happy-go-lucky kid she’d known to an anxious, trauma-ridden mess. She finished college and got a digital marketing degree, working for a major online company while doing some photography as a side hustle.

Twelve years later they were both in their thirties, barely getting to see each other but keeping in touch. Bucky had had a few close calls while on special ops the last few years and his family was pushing him to not re-enlist.

“Please, Buck, no more,” Winifred begged him. “You’ve served your country well. You’ve almost died three times over the last few years. Please stay,” she cried as he looked at the re-enlistment papers.

“I know, Ma, I know,” Bucky sighed, setting them down. “I…I just feel like I got one more tour left in me. I need to do this.”

“Hey everybody!” Y/N called as she entered the house.

Winifred spun around. “Y/N! Come here please!”

Y/N followed her voice to the kitchen. “Hey Winnie…wait,” she looked between them. “What’s wrong?”

“Bucky is thinking of re-enlisting,” Winifred said, sniffling sadly.

The look on Y/N’s face when her head snapped towards him made him flinch. “You…” she stuttered, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed. “You just got back.”

“I know, honey,” Bucky walked up to her and grabbed her arms. “I just need to do this. One more tour.”

“No,” she replied, pulling away from him. “You said you were done. We wrote to each other about it. You promised me,” Y/N’s eyes started to fill with tears.

“Please don’t cry, Y/N,” Bucky begged. “I can’t handle it when you cry.”

“Well that’s TOO DAMN BAD!” Y/N screamed at him. Bucky stepped back, surprised by her reaction. Winifred gasped, also shocked by her outburst. Y/N was not one to normally get emotional or react out loud to things. Y/N shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to breathe normally as her hands clenched at her sides. “You promised me,” she whispered.

Bucky sighed and bit his bottom lip. “Y/N, please understand—”

“No, you need to understand something,” she interrupted him, her eyes opening and glaring at him. “I don’t know where this weird obsession came from with you wanting to run into danger. You joined the military so you could get help with college. But then you re-enlisted, and re-enlisted. And now you have this codependent relationship with an organization, in a government, in a country, that doesn’t care about you!” She walked closer to him until she was toe to toe with him. “You are just another body to them. If and when you die, they’ll easily replace you. We can’t replace you!” She gestured to Winifred and herself. “I need you,” she cried, the tears finally falling down her cheeks. “You are wanted, appreciated, and loved here, at home. Why is that not enough?”

“It is enough,” Bucky said, blinking rapidly to stop any of his own tears falling.

“Obviously not,” Y/N whimpered, her chin wobbling as she tried to keep her emotions at bay. “I can’t…I can’t do this,” she whirled around and left the way she came.

“Y/N, hey wait,” Bucky called after her, following her to the front door. “Come on, honey, please don’t leave, let’s talk about this!” Y/N didn’t answer him, continuing to walk through the front door and out to her car. “Y/N…honey please!” She didn’t even spare him a glance as she got in her car. He tried opening her door, but she had already locked it. She quickly backed up and left his parents’ house, her tires screeching as she peeled down the street. “Fuck,” Bucky grumbled, running his hands through his hair.

He knew she was right, that it was stupid of him to re-enlist and put himself in harm's way. He had made a lifelong friendship in the military, and through some misguided idea of brotherhood had promised his friend he’d come back for another tour and join him for more special ops. But he had also promised his girl he’d be done after this last time. His girl?

**picture found on Pinterest...can we all agree that A.I. is dangerous just for this picture alone? #buckywiththelonghair

[twopoppies]

https://rollingstoneindia.com/indian-boy-band-talent-hunt-savan-kotecha-interview-audition-process/ Savan Kotecha fancies himself a Simon Cowell and wants to launch a 1D-esque boyband in India. Sony India already launched a girl band last year- they literally ooze 5H and Little Mix energy. Now that the boyband craze has dried up in the west, these people have started leeching on South Asian countries. It is also easier to exploit artists here- we don't even have labor laws to the extent of the US and UK, and it's gonna be a huge mess. Savan was right at the forefront of 1D, and from what we know how much he sympathizes with Psycho and his ilk. I am just disgusted at this point.

What a load of horseshit this guy spews. So, basically, they’re targeting the Indian market to try and squeeze out every last rupee from them because the western markets are oversaturated.

[…]

Another term used by all stakeholders to describe the goals and ambition driving the talent hunt is that they want to help India build a “teen pop economy.” Kotecha says, “One thing I noticed while spending time here is that a lot of the big artists in India are older. But India has this massive teenage population, and there’s not much local music that’s made for them […] We want this band to represent teenagers from all over India.”

To that end, he even goes on to use the example of (Western) artist posters that are taped on to the walls of a typical teen girl in India. “It’s time for teenage girls to have Indian artists on their walls instead of just Western ones. We want to help make that shift happen,” Kotecha says.

[…]

Kotecha, who is all praise for the new pop bands, says, “I think every generation needs these kinds of groups. It’s a tale as old as time. As long as there are teenage girls, there will be pop bands — and I think that’s a beautiful thing.” Citing his own growing up years listening to groups like Boyz II Men and The New Kids On The Block and later being part of the development of influential British pop group One Direction, Kotecha says he saw “firsthand the impact they had on their fans and the music industry as a whole.” He adds, “As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate the nostalgia and timeless appeal of these groups. With this project, I’m excited to bring that same magic to a new generation of fans in India.”

While he’s had a continual role in developing pop music in the West, Kotecha says another reason to launch a talent hunt for an Indian boy band is to change Indians’ apparent “feeling of sometimes being treated as second-class citizens compared to the West.” He adds, “We need to stop looking outward for validation and start looking inward.”

Full article here

[yurnu]

Excuse no heaven war? The most interesting thing in a media about angels and demons? Right. At least I can hope Lilith has attacked Heaven because why is Sera so paranoid? Why heaven is full of weapons? I know she loves Lucifer but it is terrible example of favoritism. Plus I think making him innocent cinnamon who didn't nothing wrong is boring!

Damn possibilties , like Lucifer felt guilty about but his pride is stronger, or Charlie find out and has a fight with lucifer like "They didn't trust my project!because you give them no motive to trust" Giving Chralie trust issue about every person in lifer liying to her

And also how can you remove something so epic? I feel HH is following the road of Lore olympus, which 90% anti were ex-fans and series lost a lot of readers. I was one of them and I stopped to read after 2 season. I don't feel we are going to have more of 3 series, because if her market are teenagers they will grow up!

||🪽Divina Consecutio 🪽||

Although I doubt they will delve into the reasons why heaven is full of weapons despite being a place where peace supposedly prevails, I have very low expectations, it would be a great plot twist if they reveal the reason for a previous war between heaven and hell making sense of Sera's paranoia and Adam's hatred (although I doubt it, considering who the author is).

Personally I hate it when they make Lucifer a fucking cinnamon roll, we're talking about the fucking lord of darkness, use him as such.

Although there will be no trial in my comic, too much work and I am a certified slacker, there will be a fight between two special little people (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Hi can you please do a bucky teenage reader from the avengers hey can you please add that the teenage reader has Bucky's trauma and metal arm thank you 😁☺️

Also it's nice to have you back 😋☺️

-You held onto Jack’s hand with your one good hand, as you were still hesitant about doing anything like that with your metal arm, as you didn’t want to hurt them, as he led you through the farmer’s market together.

-You had been found after a raid on a Hydra facility, after you had attacked your new family, you had failed your mission and you were put back on ice.

-When you were freed, authorities wanted to lock you up, like you had any choice, but to your surprise, those you had attacked came to your defense, as you were only a teenager.

-Granting your family the authority to become your guardians, you were allowed to stay with him, as everything was discovered about what Hydra did to you, from the torture to the brainwashing, turning you into a sleeper agent, turning you into a weapon.

-You were a kid, one who should have never dealt with anything like that, but lucky for you, your new family was ready to take the challenge head on.

-They never made you feel like a burden, never yelled at you, they didn’t treat you like a weapon, like they should be afraid of you.

-Your large appetite surprised them, as you had been on ice for so many years, having been taken in 1937, just before WWII, to be a weapon, but they underestimated the complexity of the program and just iced you until they could handle the project.

-You were almost like an animal, protective of your food, as if they would take it away, because it happened before, but Eve and Parvati, who were in charge of feeding you, would just grin and give you another helping.

-Buddha was another one in charge of your food, giving you so many different types of treats that it was almost overwhelming.

-Going to therapy was very hard for you, as your memories, your mind, was all jumbled, it was hard to focus sometimes, and you would lash out in anger or you would completely shut down.

-Your massive family was with you, going with you to therapy, holding your hand, grounding you, taking it one step at a time, baby steps are what Kojiro called it, telling you that you had to learn how to walk again before you could run.

-You had activities with each one of your family members, from simple things like meditating, yoga with Shiva turned out to be way harder than it looked, sparring with Hercules, Lu Bu, and Thor helped a lot, as it was a good way to burn stress and energy, Adam would just let you sit with him and he would dote on you, patting your hair gently, while Loki and Raiden were trying to teach you how to have fun.

-Jack was enjoying the market with you, monitoring your inner colors, how you were feeling, as you both looked at the different booths, getting fruits and veggies.

-Jack was the one to help you go out in public, as they didn’t want you to be a hermit, but they never forced you into high stress situations, so doing things like this, going to the farmer’s market which you’ve been too a few times, was okay.

-As the day went on and it got a little busier, you started to get a little flustered, overwhelmed by the amount of people, but Jack spoke, “Deep breaths, slowly Y/N. You’re okay. Nothing will happen to you, not while I’m here.”

-You gave his hand a small squeeze, eyes closing as you inhaled slowly, like how Buddha taught you. Jack felt the slight trembling in your hand as you opened your eyes, taking in another breath.

-Your eyes then zeroed in on something and Jack saw your color go from stressed to elation and he followed your gaze and chuckled, “C’mon, we deserve a treat.”

-Minutes later, you were holding an apple hand pie in your metal hand, holding it carefully as you took a bite, as you were still trying to figure out how to control your strength.

-Jack chuckled, having one himself, “At least I know that food is a good distraction.” Your soft smile made him return it with a chuckle as you enjoyed your treat, calming down a bit more before heading back out, taking Jack’s hand once more, clinging to him.

[f1endish]

Ok so my brain has decided to spiral from the headcanon of Papa Ed and Eddie Chiplucky being related which has turnt into me thinking up a whole backstory for both which I need to expel from my thoughts sooooo

Basically in the order of events:

* Ed and Eddie are twins whose parents separate when both are in their teenage years. Predominantly raised by their mother, I can imagine their dynamic is very similar to that of Stan & Ford from Gravity Falls, Ed ends up as a scientist and Eddie being considered the black sheep of the family with him being transmasc & gay and they live in Texas (not the most accepting place for the LGBTQIA+ community from what I've heard, probably worse since I imagine he's in his late 30s-early 40s so he was probably born somewhere in or around the 80s) so gets kicked out by his mom and finds work on the black market.

This work involves being paid privately by clients to track gather blackmail on people normally with photos/videos. As an example, a suspicious spouse paying him to see if their partner is out cheating on them or a business owner wanting to get more stakes in their company so get Eddie to get evidence of their co-owner doing shady stuff so blackmail them into getting their claim of the business. I chose this since 1) I myself am into photography and am taking it for one of my college courses 2) It gives opportunity for Charles & Eddie to have possibly worked together in the past before properly meeting and in turn Charles knowing who he is and what Eddie can do. Not only being able to find people (A bonus of this is that Eddie has the gift in my mind, it was definitely stronger when he was younger but it has still stayed around a bit. In a nutshell Eddie has a spider sense thing that helps him identify if someone also has the gift) but get out of situations where he was probably caught by the people he was getting blackmail on and having to talk his way out of that situation, which would be good for convincing people to get into the whole Rollerama thing; And making it to where I can compare Eddie to Daniel from Interview with a Vampire so that makes Charles Armand and in turn Golden Treasure as Devils Minion sounds perfect in my mind, and 3) It gives Eddie at least a tiny connection to Blinky cause I swear he does like, from the Blinkys song instrumental playing in Yellowjacket when Ethan & Hannah are in Pizza Pete's to the whole looking through security cameras being the first time we meet him.

* Back onto the main plot of the backstory, Ed worked on the project that created Otho and had a lot of concerns over it. At the same time, Eddie & Ed's mother contacts Eddie begrudgingly cause she's concerned over Ed and can't get into contact with him since he moved out and didn't give her his number. So Eddie takes on the task of finding him and ends up in Hatchetfield where he runs into Ed and they talk, Ed expressing how worried he is about what Otho could do if the project were to be completed so asking Eddie if he can break in there with a key card Ed gives him and gather evidence against the project to get it shut down or at least halted as for as long as possible.

* Eddie agrees, but later on ending up getting caught and questioning on who gave him the key card to get in. Eventually, ending up getting punched in the mouth by one of the security guys there (who I like to imagine is Bruno since I like the idea that he gave him his iconic golden tooth he has in Yellowjacket). Charles who has heard of what's gone on since of how Eddie getting in could have been a bad thing cause of how much he invested into Otho, comes to see Eddie who he recognises and has a talk with.

* Very much like the song 'The Other Side' from the Greatest Showman, he gets Eddie a drink to loosen him up (hopefully enough to get him to talk) and says he basically just simply wants to know who gave him access and Eddie would be good as gold. Even offering him the recruiting job at the Rollerama. Eddie considers this, he's not stupid and he knows if he doesn't eventually rat Ed put, he's fucked. These guys mean real business. Eddie is not a brave man. And Charles is considering him after everything, offering him a more secure job than he had before, he has had experience talking with the guy briefly before but to get his talents noticed is a thing Eddie hasn't dealt with in a while, looking at him like he's... good treasure. His mother had always favoured Ed over him, with him being the more academically successful, while he was probably just the screw up who only was contacted by her to find her golden child of Ed. He's been bitter and doesn't want to be in this level of trouble cause his brother couldn't even deal with his own problems himself. So... he agrees.

* Charles thanks him, and Ed gets taken in and probably exposed to some sort of other project him and the other scientists were working on and then promptly fired, so now probably very traumatized he ends up adopting Peanuts the Pocket Squirrel as a coping mechanism to focus on. Eddie's corruption arc furthers to how he is when we see him in Yellowjacket.

* Ok, so this probably doesn't line up with the proper timeline of the Hatchetfield Franchise and might be a bit ooc. Still might make a fanfic or an au around it one day, who knows 🤷

[nostalgic-sunflowers]

My Scene Headcanons - Chelsea (Part 1)

In honor of the rereleases for the My Scene dolls, and as a means of fun and stress relief, I've decided to write in-depth headcanons for the original trio- Chelsea, Madison, and Barbie. For context, when I got sick last month, I decided to delve right into everything related to My Scene and it was a lot of fun, I love the vibe of those webisodes and I wanted more. I haven't gotten around to watching the Spanish language exclusive ones yet, but when I have time I will sit down and do so and maybe add more info to these later.

So here are some headcanons for Chelsea based on the webisodes, and the additional diary content that existed on the website back in the day (and is available on the wiki page now).

Age: 23

I'm going to put the My Scene crowd in their early twenties. Yes, I know a bunch of canon content labels them as teenagers and even puts them in school, but come on. They went clubbing for god's sake. I'm going to pretend that any mention of them being in school is actually college.

I don't know, maybe when I'm really bored I can try to fix this into an extended timeline showing the "real" chronological order of the webisodes, for now, just run with it.

Also, I feel like the people in this friend group would be of different ages due to possibly taking gap year(s), working, being rich socialites, etc.

Personality:

The webisodes and her journal don't really give me much to work with so I'm going to speculate/stretch for the most part.

While all the girls are very flirty in the webisodes, she's absolutely the most flirty and just outwardly confident when it comes to guys. She knows what she deserves and will call you out for bad behavior. A real girl's girl, she will stand up for herself and for you as well (she knows that women have to stick together).

She's very extroverted and friendly, she'll talk to anyone really. That's how she knows a bunch of people, seemingly almost everyone

She's not one to be cliquey or exclude people for the heck of it

A huge fan of couture, she pays attention not just to the New York runways but also to smaller indie brands, and other up-and-coming designers like herself in the New York scene. (She meets many people at the weekly flea market where she canonically sells her creations).

She can get really hyper-focused when it comes to her creative work and often can go hours into her projects be it sewing, drawing, painting on embellishments, doing embroidery, leather work with handbags, or any number of things. This is how she's able to randomly alter her clothes on the subway without it being an issue

Her diary basically states that she also carries around a huge sketchbook with all sorts of ideas (and maybe even fabric scraps? I'm calling it) with her constantly.

Her Relationship with Hudson, Friendships with Barbie and Madison:

She went to high school with Barbie, Madison, and Hudson

This is my attempt at consolidating canon (there's one episode where Hudson's being a jerk to Madison and then he gets shoved in a locker. No one said it had to be chronological)

Let's steal one thing and only one thing from Masquerade Madness and say that she struggled with geometry and math in general, but was really into humanities stuff (Especially english and history) a lot. She was into Bio too, but hated organic chemistry

She was considering becoming a teacher at one point

loved dissecting different stories, she loves being able to tell different stories and also writes a lot of poetry and random short stories but is too shy to show them to anyone

Barbie and Madison had a longer history/friendship, but instantly hit it off with Chelsea when the three attended the same high school

Chelsea doesn't hesitate to compliment people on their outfits (even with complete strangers on the train) so that's how she first started talking to Madison, and then Barbie, who even in high school had fits that were on point.

Chelsea's style wasn't quite as y2k my bling bling chic yet, but she was introduced to that because of Barbie and Madison's influence

But also, she was already into it even if she didn't dress like that herself with a love of music icons like Cher and Diana Ross

Her style really focused more on being sort of an amalgamation of more casual dresswear from the 1970s and late 60s as well as the 90s. Basically, I see her being inspired by both Selena and Jane Birkin at the same time

She and Hudson dated on and off during this time, but broke it off after they both wanted to attend senior prom with other people and have been more like bros than romantic partners since.

He's like the annoying brother of the friend group who occasionally tags along with the trio basically.

I don't really ship her and Husdon, and to be honest, Masquerade Madness didn't help with this. It's just not interesting to me for a relationship. More on Chelsea's romantic life later.

Family:

Delancy and Chelsea are second cousins.

They seem distant enough in relation that of course they'd be weirded out by their moms trying to set up a hang-out for them when they're adults

But their moms would have to be close enough to think it was a good idea, so I'm calling it, their moms are the ones who are related. (Not their dads). They were first cousins who were close friends, and wanted to see their daughters also have that type of friendship.

This makes sense to me.

Delancy is Irish-Italian according to the wiki, so I thought that their moms had Italian heritage.

When I was a kid, I always thought that Chelsea was Latina, since she had the same name as a childhood friend of mine (and even sort of looked like her)

So I honestly think it fits for her to be Puerto Rican on her dad's side.

You're allowed to imagine her as just a brunette/red-headed/auburn girl from a number of different places, this is just what's in my head from the vague descriptions that are provided to us

Compared to the rest of the friend group, Chelsea grew up upper-middle class. So still very comfortable financially, but her family wouldn't spend like crazy or purposefully flaunt their wealth (which is why she's jealous of Delancy's family being able to afford a lot of things like a quick move to New York or a whole mansion in Jammin in Jamaica)

She's always been obsessed with high fashion and with couture - stuff her parents would never let her buy

So she saved up money for a sewing machine and got down to business- she learned how to from her Nonna, who also taught her some basics for drawing and painting and even bought her

(Chelsea learned a lot of other things like embroidery and leather work through her other connections in the smaller indie fashion scene, and also through taking various classes)

Love Life:

The webisodes always hone in on this for the girls, so how could I leave it out?

At the moment, she's single but happy with where she's at. Very much Cher, "A man is like a dessert, absolutely not a necessity"

However, Chelsea doesn't miss the opportunity to flirt with a cute guy if they seem single and available. (If they're not, she wouldn't do another woman dirty like that)

She does want something lasting though in the long run, even if she has fun with these guys

Her type is artsy, expressive guys

She canonically dated Enrique from Madrid with a nose piercing and went to galleries and coffee shops with him so

Her diary on the wiki said that she had a crush on River. So I honestly kind of vibe with that more than the canon couplings (please don't come after me)

It fits so much better than the girl who is into artsy soulful thoughtful guys to ends up with the singer and main songwriter of an up and coming rock band rather with a jock who pulled Madison's hair

She'd be a lot less jealous than Barbie is and it would make more sense for her to make clothes for the band then- she knows how important image is within the music industry even if she's a pop girlie

She'd never be like "wow Madison is cheating with him" when Madison is the band's manager and the brains of the logistical operation

There's not a lot of reasoning for Barbie and River to be together other than they both find each other hot. Same for Chelsea and Hudson.

Barbie fully says "And did I mention that Mads is sweet on Sutton? They’ve spent some serious quality time together. But…hmm…I’m still not sure about River. I think we may be better off as friends – at least for now."

So they're not convincing to me

And then after River rejects Chelsea the writers do a hard pivot and have her say "I guess I'm into Hudson now" No it was not properly built up

"I never really noticed before, but Hudson is one babe-alicious boy!"

Yeah no.

She and Hudson do actually hang out one-on-one according to the diary entries and she's intrigued by how quiet and (I suppose) sensitive he is

Yes I'm aware this was a webisode series designed to sell dolls I don't care this is for fun. I think that this was sloppy in the diary entries.

My headcanon is that Chelsea would eventually be a fashion designer heavily associated with the band as a muse (which they would first try and hide and say that they're purely professional because River would be against it and want the relationship to be private, but the tabloids are vultures so eventually Madison leverages it for PR)

The fashion designer and the rock star

She'd so be like Alexa Chung but more behind the scenes on the fashion side of things

River would be kinda pretentious about his taste in rock music and she'd make him respect pop

also through her love of literature and poetry I think she'd give him more creative ideas for lyrics, at least inadvertently

A lot of people would be curious about this mysterious woman with red hair and dark eyes that he keeps mentioning in his songs

Chelsea actually knows a lot of rock music through Madison, it's just not her favorite

Unless it's like No Doubt in which case she's obsessed

Don't worry, I have other shipping ideas for Barbie

Misc:

Favorite decorations: Her apartment is filled with various CDs of pop icons and corresponding posters and album art

It's also crowded with various projects, sketches, and clothes that she's altering

Favorite random topic: She loves art history almost as much as fashion. Almost. She will geek out to you about the surrealists, even their more meandering works

Favorite music: Cher, Selena, Stevie Nicks, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, ABBA, No Doubt, Mary J. Blige, finds Ricky Martin to be catchy but overrated, she finds JLO to be in the same boat, Madonna, the Cardigans, Diana Ross, Celia Cruz, her mom would not stop playing Adriano Celentano so she unfortunately also picked it up, begrudgingly some reggeaton though not all of it (granted if someone plays Gasolina she's coming onto the dance floor no matter what)

I'm trying to keep this to artists that existed in the 90s/2000s but I feel like she'd vibe with both Sabrina Carpenter and Kali Uchis

Favorite perfumes: Marc Jacob's Daisy line

Favorite hot drink: latte, nothing too strong. She prefers more milk in her coffee

Favorite book: Anna Karenina because of the amount of political and psychological themes that Tolstoy included

Favorite drink: she likes fruity cocktails in general but especially a Long Island iced tea

Favorite lipstick: MAC's Ruby Woo

Her dog's name is Mambo and not Churro. I think it's cuter with the original name. It's apparently supposed to be a combination of Madison and Barbie's names who seem to have inspired this adoption, which again, is cuter than "I renamed the dog when Madison brought Churros one time and asked him if he wanted one"

Her parents instilled a love of partner dancing in her, it's brought up in her diary that she's forced Hudson to go salsa/cha cha/rumba/tango lessons

She takes the subway because it's the fastest way around the city, Barbie and Madison are picky and prefer not to (one diary entry mentioned that they once had to take the bus and the two of the looked very out of place. There's no way those two take the subway).

She dyes her hair with Henna so that's why it's red sometimes

Career Aspirations:

To become a fashion designer, but not for fame or fortune, out of a legitimate love of what she does

She has so many concepts for different designs and how to make clothes that are upcycled and insanely stylish

At the moment, she's attending design school

Her handbags have been taking off for their eccentric, yet practical designs

Ex: she has taken old cigar boxes before and refurbished them into usable handbags (this is canon based on her diary)

She wants to start a sustainable upcycling business, rather than always buying a bunch of new materials every single time. There's something cool about the creative challenge of taking an existing piece and adding to it

[glittering-darmallon]

Rook Literary Device Asks

Post made by @antivan-sprig can be found here

Thank you @larknnightingale, @booksncatsworld, @teamtakagi, @a-mumbling-nerd, and @virenasalin for the asks

Allegory: What does Rook dream about?

Luca: His ADHD brain comes up with some WEIRD dreams(again another self-projection on my part here0. Let's see, there was the time he dreamed he was invited to speak in front of the Magisterium, but the chamber was invaded by wisps. The wisps didn't do anything but they did insist on negotiating.

Another time when he was home on holiday as a teenager, he dreamed he found his feet glued to the floor, but the most delicious looking cake was right there on the table….just out of arms' reach.  He will forever be mad that Vitus woke him up before he could problem solve to get that cake.

Luca to Davrin: I had a dream about you last night. Davrin, intrigued with a flirty smirk: "Oh yeah what about? Did I look good?" Luca: Well….you got stronger and all the buttons popped off your shirt. You looked real good there. But then you grew feathers and turned into a griffon. It was…you looked like a griffon and yet I could still tell it was you. It was weird. Davrin: Your brain comes up with some very specific and endearingly odd things. Don't change.

Canelo: If he sleeps at all, and manages to dream they are almost always nightmares which will be answered in the next question. The last time he had a happy dream that he can remember he was 18 and Zenzera and Zafferano were still alive. All the dream entailed was him being able to save enough money to quit s*x work and get them a small cabin outside Treviso and he was able to support his family by hunting and setting up a market stall to sell his surplus catch

Valrys: If they could dream…skeleton rave, no doubt. Skeletons would be wearing shutter shades, glow sticks, the necropolis would be a banging party.

Or being surrounded by cute baby animals they could pet

Valo-Asaara: The most innocent dreams most of the time. Dreams of a nice day at the beach, playing with dogs, doing things with his friends.

He has layers, but he is not complex. What you see is what you get and it is the same in his dreams

Repetition: What are Rook’s nightmares? Did/does this change with age?

Luca: Birds. All his nightmares ever either involve birds (He has been terrified of the things since he was small and a neighbor's chickens attacked him) or being given away by his family- This one has not happened since he was a kid. As an adult, he has overcome this fear of abandonment, even though his relationship with his mother rattles the chains on that box he puts the fear in. However, he routinely has this one nightmare where everyone actually does hate him instead of his RSD as a result of his ADHD just saying they do.

Canelo: Most of his dreams are nightmares. And it's generally the same two over and over.

Reliving his SA before joining the Crows or seeing Zaffa's limp and lifeless hand fall off the stretcher and out from under the sheet that had been draped over him, his hand just dangling back and forth taunting him- from there his mind spirals and makes up events to fill in the blanks and it is always heart-rending.

He wakes up crying and sweating every time

Valrys: If they could have nightmares it would be of something bad happening to their chosen family, a great evil attacking the Grand Necropolis, though they imagine they would also have a night mare of Ghili'nain actually killing Lace instead of just wrapping her up in that creepy tentacle.

Valo-Asaara: For as happy as he is, he does have the occasional nightmare about losing his parents, or how he imagined they died. He doesn't know much about avalanches, but he assumes they got bludgeoned by debris (instead of the more likely suffocating under snow that is too packed in for them to crawl free). He also has a fairly frequent recurring dream where those he cares about realize his lack of smarts is more trouble than he's worth. Big fear of inadequacy here.

Omniscient: Are there any secrets Rook is hiding? From others? From themselves?

Luca: Yes, I know it seems counterintuitive but his vanity stems from low self-esteem, which is a result from vastly different levels of parental affection. His mother, a soporatus in a family full of mages was treated terribly(physical and emotional abuse), and grew up insecure. In an inverse of that, Luca is the only mage in a family of Soporati (all Charon's family are soporati) and she keeps her contact with her family light (their social position helped Charon get a chance at higher military ranks. She knows her family [Charon and the three kids] quality of life depends on her maintaining this affiliation). Though it wasn't her intention, she passed that insecurity onto Luca through her words and treatment of him (nothing like what her family did to her physically)

So with that context, Luca has tried his whole life since his magic manifested to gain her love and acceptance, and he feels no matter what he does it is doomed to fail.  He doesn't really like himself, but he wakes up each morning and tells himself, "Everyone does NOT hate you," and continues to keep making a difference as best he can. But he is embarrassed by this insecurity so he keeps it to himself. Davrin and Neve have caught on though.

Valrys: They are envious that Lace got magic from touching that dagger, when they are also a Dwarf and nothing happened to them when they first touched it. They have wanted magic all their life. Yes, they love and support Lace through learning about her new magic, but they just really wish they'd been gifted some too.

Valo-Asaara: I think Valo is very bad at keeping secrets. It's too complicated, so the only secret he'd be keeping would be that he truly thinks Viago hates him but is too afraid to ask. So,  he just keeps it to himself every time he sees him.

Canelo: He is a whole vault of secrets. In time he tells a lot of them to the Veilguard. That he lived on the streets for a while, that he raised his siblings from the time they were two and he was 15, that they were all orphans, that they are now dead, that he was recruited to the Crows because he unknowingly killed Viago's target in self-defense, that he used to be a prostitute. He tells all secrets but one.

When he explained that he got his scar in that fight where he killed the guy, he just says it was a fight and that he killed the guy with garden tools that were nearby. He keeps the fact it wasn't just a fight, but a sexual assault as well that resulted in Canelo going ham on the guy. Only Viago knows the truth of this, and that is because he happened upon the scene as it was happening, but wasn't able to get close enough to help before Canelo killed the Noble himself. Viago was there for the aftermath and kept pressure on Canelo's chest and neck so he couldn't bleed out while he called for the Crow that had been following as guard for Viago (at his insistence) to get help.

Canelo may eventually tell Lucanis this. Or he may take it to his grave. He hasn't decided yet

Archetype: Describe what another character might notice about your Rook physically.

Luca: That is he is BIG for a human. I've said before, he's the height of some Qunari, and though a mage he is broad. It's the main reason he focused in battle magic. His size is literally the first thing people notice about him

See look. Davrin has muscle. He's tall for an elf, and Luca just looks soooo much bigger than him

Valrys: That they are really talented at makeup. No matter what gender they are presenting, their eye makeup is always on point. As seen below

Valo-Asaara:  If they can get past the fact he's a giant, it's his eyes. They are so pale grey they almost colorless. He gets a lot of compliments on them.

Canelo: Depends on what part of him they see first. If they don't notice the hair, and he's wearing his Tiddies out for Thedas Armor (The Invitation), they notice the scar. If he's wearing something else, it's the jaw so sharp it could cut glass. And if they don't notice that, it's likely that what they thought were blue eyes were actually blue with brown centers

Since I've talked a lot about his hair and the scar, here's more on his eyes

Onomatopoeia: Describe how Rook speaks.

Valo-Asaara: Has no inside voice. Man is a golden retriever in person form. He's full of energy and that transfers into his voice which is booming. Okay, he does have an inside voice, it's just louder than most peoples. He has an odd Antivan accent mixed with a little bit of a Seheron one from when he lived there and the Par Vollen one of his parents. It confuses people when they first meet them.

Valrys:  They're eloquent  and very good with words. If a voice could sound diplomatic, that would be what they have. Their  accent, I think the Grand Necropolis is so insular, that it might have its own dialect of Nevarran and its own accent. Since they were raised in the place that is the accent they have. But also when they want to get the point across succinctly, they suddenly start speaking VORGOTH.

Luca: It's a deeper voice, but not too deep. And I think, given that he's from Ventus/Qarinus, he might have a similar accent to Dorian's father (I like to pretend, Dorian purposely lost his own Ventus accent in order to further distance himself from his parents). He speaks like he's received an lengthy education, but not to the point of being pretentious. He's just choosy with his words. But there is also a lilt to his voice as well. He relies a lot on charm.

Canelo: Ever heard of the trope "Vocal Dissonance"? Ever watch the Dragon Prince and hear Aaravos speak? That  face with that voice? Yeah Canelo has that super deep voice going on but with a thick Antivan accent with a very pretty face. His voice VERY much does not match his face. Lucanis likes to describe it as dark honey stirred into black coffee.

[silviawordsworth]

A comprehensive reason as to why I, as a teenage girl, think the marauders fandom is heaven on earth. (+ a few faults)

In simple terms, its a pit of representation. The characters, even the ones mentioned more than just a name drop, have very little known information about them. Like yes, we know remus lupin marries tonks and we know james marries lily, but besides that? They were teenagers at hogwarts, its fun to play around with the dynamics of them.

And its also a passion project. The marauders is by no means an actual thing. Sure, theyre side characters in hp. But the marauders fandom is created solely on headcanons and fanon info. Its almost like if i were to pull finnick and annie from thg and develop them with such depth that it contextualises things that couldve been explained better in the actual books.

And not only that, but it shows creativity. Its like weve all taken these characters, aged them down to make them more relatable, and projected our own teenage experiences onto them in a way that jk could never as she wrote them as an adult and likely has never experienced the struggles of the lgbtq teens nowadays

The lgbtq is also a good point to bring up. Nowhere anywhere else on the internet will you find a fandom so full of lgbtq characters solely bc 'it doesnt sell'. The marauders is a prime example of how marketing realistic teenagers to teenagers is not unprofitable.

Mental health is also a big thing that needs to be explored more in media. And not as the main plot, but as something that just exists. Its done well in the marauders fandom.

Usually when watching a show or reading a book, you think these characters arent that realistic. In their world, sure. But its hard to relate to characters who link nothing to you. The marauders, though wizards, are teenagers in school. They are relatable.

Also the ability to create everything out of nothing. I adore pandora rosier and regulus black but in canon they are never even shown in the movies besides reg.

The poc inclusivity, the non skinny inclusivity, etc etc.

However! There are issues.

The marauders fandom is primarily girls, yet this fandom is an excellent example of the preference that male characters get. Like, i love regulus. But pray tell why jegulus gets more hype than pretty much any wlw ships combined? And why do i see so much of lily being a surrogate or her dying and james and reg getting harry? If youre gonna cut lily out of james life for him to be w reg, atleast find another way for them to have a kid. Lily is more than her uterus and a plot device for a kid.

And theres also sm arguments over headcanons. Like, if i were to say i hc james potter as straight, i would get attacked in todays fandom. It just gets a bit strange sometimes when people disregard canon at all. I get the seperation of canon from fanon is definitely inevitable in this fandom, but i dislike when people push their hcs as canon when its literally contradicted by canon.

I love the marauders fandom i do, and i love the way the characters are developed enough to be interesting to everyone, and not just babied down enough to be advertised to kids. Theres so much you can do when you dont have to worry about pr.

Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant. Please feel free to reblog w any questions or comments, il respond to everyone x

[vasito-de-leche]

;NSR MAYDAY - General Headcanons

Compilation of general headcanons and analysis about Mayday and other Mayday related things.

I just needed an excuse to fleshen out / analyze Mayday and any HCs I have for her bc I'm thinking soooo much about this game <3 there's also Zuke stuff in here because you can't talk abt one without the other lmfao

Aside from music, Mayday and Zuke share an interest for fixing, modding and tinkering with machines (any piece of tech discarded out in the streets).

Their approach to reverse engineering all the tech they get is different - Mayday focuses on recycling to build something entirely new and more powerful, while Zuke focuses on fixing and perfecting whatever it is that he's tinkering with, to make it more precise.

This is most notable with their respective instruments. Mayday's guitar is 100% built from scratch, spare parts and passion, it's also modded and tuned to her liking. This means that she's literally the ONLY person who can understand how it works, and why she couldn't replace her old guitar once it was destroyed at the end of the game. Meanwhile, Zuke opts for using NSR-brand drumsticks - the best of the best in the market - which he mods to work better with his way of playing.

The workshop in their base is attributed to Zuke because he's the one who cleared out the area to have all of their little projects located in an organized spot, since most of their living quarters were filled with unfinished projects, wrenches and bolts everywhere and so on. This is because Mayday has a very short attention span and gets attached easily, so she never has the time to finish anything nor the heart to discard her projects - especially when she keeps drawing faces onto everything.

A lot of their equipment was just made by Mayday herself, since she needed speakers strong enough to withstand the power of her guitar without getting fried after every performance. Many of their mutual friends see Zuke as the genius of the duo, but he insists that Mayday is the one doing most of the carry for B2J.

Both Mayday and Zuke got into music because of their loved ones.

It's canon that DK West is the reason Zuke got into music, and I like to think family was also one of the main reasons Mayday got into music, namely rock. One of her dialogues in-game mentions how her grandma used to listen and sing to the Goolings with her using an old radio, despite not knowing the lyrics nor understanding the music.

Whereas Zuke was influenced by his brother's rap career to give music a try, it was kind of the reverse for Mayday - rock music became a big interest for her from a young age, and her family supported her wholeheartedly. They would take her to concerts, buy merch for her whenever it was possible and basically hype her up. Her father can probably name every different phase and era in Mayday's childhood and teenage years based on the groups she was into at the time.

Judging from dialogue, I think it's implied that Mayday was born and raised in Vinyl City, and that she never really travelled outside. So it's not impossible for her family to attend her first concerts (in small, local venues as a teenager, before she and Zuke even met) and her proper debut in B2J. Her family is also the first ones to receive official B2J merch, shirts that she and Zuke designed and that look AWFUL but that they love all the same.

I think this family aspect also ties in nicely with the base game, specifically Yinu's fight since it's the first moment of tension for Mayday and Zuke in which they realize they might not be the good guys for hijacking concerts.

For Mayday, music is a lifestyle, not something to be forced onto people - she goes directly against NSR because of the EDM enforcement and the rock ban, after all. So it makes sense to me that she becomes a bit too engrossed in fighting Yinu's mother, someone who is directly puppeteering her own child and represents parents who live vicariously through their talented kids, to the point where she also forgets that Yinu is a child. A fact that she also initially brushes aside herself since Yinu is part of NSR.

I don't know, I just like when characters are flawed and multifaceted! Mayday and Zuke should be allowed to be hypocrites, as a treat.

Mayday taught herself how to play.

My personal agenda is to also hype up Mayday for being a music genius at 21, so yeah! I like to think she's 100% self-taught, which parallels Zuke's musical education rather nicely. They're both extremely good in their own unique ways.

She used to play by ear, trying to figure out how to play her favorite songs when she was younger, and later began to actually study music notation and so on.

When spontaneously coming up with new melodies and songs for B2J, she mostly uses her phone to record herself singing, as opposed to Zuke immediately needing to jot down everything.

It took awhile for Mayday to pick up and use Kul Fyra's guitar.

After the events of the game, Mayday ABSOLUTELY needed some time to properly process everything - her dialogue is all about realizing that she was in the wrong and reconsider the reason she picked up music in the first, wondering if she began to rebel against NSR because she couldn't cope with B2J and rock (two things very dear to her heart) being rejected, etc. So she wouldn't have had the heart to use her idol's guitar without coming to terms with a lot of things first.

My favorite headcanon to think about is that the cutscene at the very end, during Tatiana's speech, is of Mayday and Zuke performing after B2J's hiatus, after they both help each other mature and grow up a bit. And Mayday using Kul Fyra's guitar is symbolic of her renewed love in music and taking Tatiana's words to heart - "where I have failed, I want you to go beyond".

Mayday doesn't have any powers unique to herself.

I KNOW, I KNOW - it's kind of UNFAIR since EVERYONE has WORLD BENDING ABILITIES AND WHATEVER. Even Zuke is implied to have inherited DK West's shadow puppets and all, BUT consider THE FOLLOWING....THAT'S THE POINT.....

Every major character in NSR represents a type of musician or figure in the industry - and I'm not sure if it was meant to be read like this or not, but Zuke reads as that type of person who has really good connections with important figures, who had the chance to pursue higher education and afford expensive equipment, who is knowledgeable when it comes to the ins and outs of the industry BECAUSE he was there to see and experience it all firsthand (if we're taking into account the fact that DK West was implied to be a revolutionary activist related to NSR). He's even the one who is the most reluctant to go against NSR and gives them the benefit of the doubt, which can easily be attributed to him being the calm and collected, reasonable half of the duo but also because he personally knows EVE (and DK West if you count him as an important major figure). He's a huge fucking nerd with a degree and it makes sense that he's the one giving ALL the information about the music industry when interacting with all the objects around Vinyl City.

But May? Her dialogue is all about more common things, the way she talks about certain people shows that she knew them personally, that they were friends or acquaintances from all over town instead of the important figures Zuke speaks of. She complains a lot about the fact that from a surface level, NSR does look like a bunch of sellouts and really offers that underdog vibe in B2J. She has NO connections to ANY major character in NSR other than being a fan of Kul Fyra. We know virtually nothing about her backstory too.

So to me it makes sense that Mayday lacks any sort of unique and incredible ability, as she IS part of the little guys that B2J fight for. The underdogs that get brushed aside for whatever reason, because they're not relevant or seen as profitable and so on. She represents the artists who are naive, full of passion for their craft and determination to make their dreams work regardless of how cruel the industry might be.

My personal hot take is that instead of powers and some innate talent, Mayday offers something else: deep connections with people.

This example might not click with everyone since it's how I personally perceived the music and all and I actually know absolutely nothing about music other than It Sounds Good and It Makes Me Want To Dance, but yknow!

When listening to the B2J solos, there are times when Zuke's solo is very aggressive and almost takes over the entire song, which makes sense since it's a solo and they ARE trying to win over EDM. But Mayday's solos blend in so well with the base track of each boss fight, like she really is trying to match their vibe using her own genre rather than fight for the spotlight.

This is most noticeable in Eve's fight - both Zuke and Mayday's solos match Eve's base track perfectly. You can understand why Zuke would match her, since they know each other intimately and when you explore Dream Fever, he's the one giving ALL the in-depth explanations about Eve's vision when creating her sculptures and art. But Mayday would have no reason to match Eve at all, she doesn't understand any of her art let alone know her as a person. And still, the ONE thing Zuke tells Eve at the end of the fight is that if Eve came to know Mayday the way he does, she would like her as well. Zuke is happier being Mayday's friend and bandmate despite the fact that he's Mayday's antithesis, than being part of a big company and records label with his super hot girlfriend.

I like to think that Mayday's solos, the fact that she is Zuke's direct opposite in almost every way, that she's closely tied to the regular people and citizens of Vinyl City and that piece of dialogue from Zuke are a testament to Mayday's ability to really reach out to people through music. Not to say that her power is just friendship, but just the fact that she can adapt and come to understand anyone - as long as it's in a musical setting.

Personally I like it more when Mayday is just a regular girl without unique powers, but you could take these aspect of her and turn them into its own power!