#and sort of in-between in DB

[randomnameless]

@cherry-blossom-inferno replied to your post “Which are the biggest examples of cowardice from...”:

This is wrong though. We do have Holst's reaction to Claude's ideas. It's in his A support with Claude and Holst is cool with it. He even calls himself Claude's #1 fan.

​Thanks to your comment, I realised I forgot a word in the earlier post lol (tfw you type on mobile)

If the Goneril issue was adressed, we could have had Hilda/Holst/their mom/their second degree cousin say that they are at least treating the Almyran children as human beings (lel) which is already giving them more care than what Almyrans do when they raid and pillage and “rampage” in Fodlan cities - maybe with some sort of Matthias-like example, Almyrans killing a pregnant woman, or, idk to keep in the “grandma from the 1800s tells me what the Orient is like” bias, captured women or what not

But as I typed it under this paragraph, it's only fuel for an AU (I didn't forgot the tag this time!) so yes, canon Holst and Claude support doesn't match this, because this is an AU, or a headcanon if you prefer.

That being said, Holst's reaction to Claude's ideas are sort of what the anon was talking about?

Canon Holst gives this :

And you also wish to establish relations with people from other lands, and those who follow other faiths. Is that accurate? Does this also extend to Fódlan's Throat? Will you throw open its gates and look to establish a friendly relationship with the Almyrans?

Logically, Holst wonders about "people from other lands" and the prospect of establishing friendly relationships with Almyrans.

And what of House Goneril, a family long seen as the enemy of the Almyrans?

Holst makes explicit mention of his house, who has been tasked with protecting the border since, well, idk when. Even if he sorts of reverse the issue for me, as the head of House Goneril, should he call himself someone who is seen as "the enemy of the Almyrans", and not put his people situation's first, saying House Goneril has been protecting Fodlan from Almyra, instead of being its enemy?

Would you send its only daughter to form a marital bond with the Almyran royal family? Is that a possible scenario?

And then all of the plot intricacies disappear in thin air, this is the equivalent of a Fjorming Bond or even worse, a FB being taken over by Ilyana with her "i love to eat" trope - this support might have tackled the year of prejudice Holst (and Hilda, as it is revealed in Houses!) have, arguably because they are protecting their people from Nader's weekly "rampages" or "tourism".

Or, idk, when Holst mentioned wanting to created "friendly relationships with Almyra", Claude might have added "friendly means feeding them everyday if you're taking prisoners, even children".

As the Nopes canon conversation goes, we basically have the equivalent of Caineghis agreeing with whoever was the sick fuck who enslaved Muarim to build "friendly relationships" between Laguz and Beorcs. And instead of talking about Muarim or the enslaved Laguz, we talk about Lyre's future prospects for marriage.

As @megafan1993 pointed out, even if we only have NPCs without a sprite, the Sreng/Faerghus conflict is tackled more seriously and with more gravitas than what was supposed to be Claude's core points (or one of his cores?), the prejudice between Fodlan and Almyra. We have a conflict based on ressources, resentment on both sides, civilians/non-fighters being targeted by both Faerghus/Sreng, extreme prejudice and an idiot who thinks it's time to stop and tries to stop the conflict.

On the other hand, you have an Almyran Prince who doesn't seem to be aware of the weekly raids, who wants to open borders regardless of said weekly raids, the House who defends their land from weekly raids has resentment against Almyrans, to the point of taking their children and "feeding them every 29th of February" - and yet we're supposed to believe the fissure between Fodlan and Almyra is mended in GW/VW off-screen because everyone loves to drink, to the point where Almyrans pillaging and rampaging in cities is nothing more than a joke, and no one ever gives a fuck about the "fed only every 29th of February" children?

We instead have a "joke" about Holst giving his blessings to marrying off his sister to Almyran Royalty ?

If Nopes (and arguably, Houses) didn't want to treat the "bridging the gap between two warring states" seriously and wanted to have a more Awakening-like resolution to conflicts only existing in the BG to provide sobby backstories to characters, then why did they brought more serious writing regarding Faerghus, and arguably, the CoS's writing?

House Goneril saw Almyrans as"rough and unreliable", people who "attack without reason and break treaties and tell lies" or are "brutes".

Holst seemed more open-minded than his sister regarding Almyrans (even if, apparently, you can still be "a prisoner fed once in a blue moon" and respected in Holst's mind?) but, once again, those previous bias are never adressed in Nopes, especially when Shahid apparently "attacks without reason", when nader is "rough" and a "brute" when he wants to bring souvenirs or pillage or rampage in cities the Federation is going to fight in, or even when Claude and his Almyran allies "break treaties" by letting Randolph die.

Tl;Dr : when canon sucks, people come up with transformative works

[parryperi]

Just passing thoughts as this brainrot continues and I still feel some attachment to the whole "the protagonist you choose is the twin that survived" headcanon.

At least, with Crea/F!Builder, I interpreted it as Bil/M!Builder initially being much better than her at their craft and her feeling envy for it. Thus, once she's in the illusion world and gets put up as this whole heroic builder, she's internally feeling like she's defrauding everyone there. And of course, once she finds out why she's there, believes Bil was supposed to have been the one that was brought to the Isle of Awakening. She had just been doing any request she got because she wanted to be praised (which inevitably leads to the Moonbrooke Incident).

And with Bil in my interpretation telling her he couldn't wait to meet everyone whose lives she changes before he's gone, she feels like she's failing him too.

But of course, at the end of everything, she grows to be more accepting of her work and have her perfectionist complex chip away. She had become so overly optimistic in order to imitate her brother's friendly personality, but it became a natural facet of her. She stops comparing herself to him, and goes on to continue her work.

[fabuloustrash05]

We can’t forget this gem :3

Seriously, Goku is the number one Vegebul shipper. Like he’s the only one that understands Vegeta’s inner feelings for Bulma. And on the other side Vegeta is the only one that really understands why Goku continuously wants to train, even if that means being far away from his family. Call it brothership or bromance, but those two are really in sync.

[takumiraine]

Once Upon a Time chapter 9

Danny is still going through it, but it gets better I promise.

Taku note: jesus fuck putting the links in on these ones was a beast. I actually had to LOG IN to tumblr on my COMPUTER. ick.

<first> <prev> <next>

There is some texting abbreviations here. The abbreviations are: B, meaning Bruce, obviously. It is saved as just ‘B’ in his phone. R, meaning Replacement which is Tim. Tim is saved as Replacement. DB is Damian, saved as Demon Brat. D, is Dick, and is just saved as an eggplant emoji in Jason’s phone. This may or may not be relevant later.

—-

Okay. Okay. He needs a plan. He needs to think and form a plan. He needs a computer. He grabs a notebook. Scrambles around his upturned apartment until he finds a pen. Starts writing equations. The equations will solve to binary numbers. Each one a different letter. His brain is humming. He double checks his work. Triple checks it. Tears the page out.

Checks the work again.

He grabs a bit of his remaining cash. Climbs out onto his fire escape. Phases his hand through the glass to carefully reset the trap.

Move on silent feet, sticking to shadows. Hoodie on and hood over his head. Silent and fast. Alert. Find an Internet cafe. Buy an hour of computer time. Log onto the conspiracy site. Send a new private message.

Carefully type in the equations with shaking hands. Time ticks by so slowly and yet so fast. Equations come back to him. Solve. Translate. Read. Send more back. More frantic than before. They have to run. They have to hide. They cannot come here.

He received a picture of a chocolate bar in return.

They’re coming here. They’re coming. They’re coming and Danny can’t stop it. Can’t stop any of it.

He deletes the messages. Logs out of the website. Clears the history. Takes the paper. Leaves the building. Burns the paper to ash.

Hears a van. Pulls his hood further down over his head. Has to get to the observatory. That was the agreed upon meeting place. Has to get there. Has to hide.

Has to find a way to keep them safe. He’s out of practice. He doesn’t have the upper hand. He’s so scared. Scared for his friends. He gets to the observatory. It’s dark in there. Locked. Danny finds a ladder. Climbs. On the roof. The dome is solid. Cold. Damp. He sits in the shadow of the lens. He waits.

Time moved. Time stood still. Heavy cloud cover meant he couldn’t watch the passage of time in the moon and stars. That was Gotham. Last clear night or day was a long time ago. Danny couldn’t breathe.

Loud footsteps. He pressed himself deeper into the shadows.

“D…?” The voice was familiar. Danny peered out into the darkness, and saw two familiar faces.

“Tuck… Sam…” he croaked, voice raw like he had just spent hours Wailing.

“Hey Danny, good to see you.” Sam sat beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. The Fenton Creep Stick laid across her lap. Tucker came to join them, sitting on his other side and rifling around in his backpack. Before Danny could process it, a couple high protein granola bars and a bottle of strawberry pedialyte was put on his lap.

“Eat. Panicking burns calories and you need them.” Tucker insisted, nudging him gently. Already Danny felt the panic subsiding, leaving him exhausted. He ate the protein bars mechanically, forcing himself to focus on the taste and the feel of them between his teeth. He needed the nutrients desperately. After the protein bars were eaten, Danny chilled the bottle of strawberry drink and popped the cap off, chugging it.

“Alright. Now that you’re sort of fed and hydrated, breathe. You know I love the whole dead vibe as much as the next girl, but you’re still half human.” Sam rubbed his leg with her free hand and Tucker rubbed his back. It was soothing and almost involuntarily he took a deep breath in and out, then another, and another. He felt his mind settle. When he could finally think clearly again, he pulled them both close in a hug.

“Ancients, I’ve missed you guys…”

“Us too man. Us too,” Tucker agreed, squeezing Danny back just as tightly.

“Now, not to turn you back onto a doom spiral, but what the hell happened?” Sam asked once they pulled back from the embrace.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story. But I’ll tell you everything.” And Danny did. He started with getting enrolled in school, which they knew, because Tucker helped. Then with the cute guy that befriended him out of nowhere, and although he kept the name to himself, Sam clocked his crush almost immediately.

“It’s okay Danny, I have a radar for that. You were in love with me for how many years now?” She teased. “I am now able to spot a Danny-crush from a hundred yards.”

Tucker laughed with her and Danny groaned putting his head back in his hands. “I hate you so much sometimes…” he moaned.

“Yeah we love you too buddy.” Tucker patted him again. “Keep going with the story.”

He did. The tutoring, the meetings with red hood, and then finally, the week before and that evening. Again he left out the fact that he recognized Hood’s real identity. Sam and Tucker wouldn’t tell, but he couldn’t out another hero in good conscience. Even if they were fighting.

“Shit man.” Tucker scooted himself closer, while Sam did the same on his other side. “That was…”

“I’d rather fight Skulker and Technus together without my powers or a thermos…” he mumbled, pulling his knees to his chest and pressing his face into them.

“Okay. So here’s what we’re going to do. Tucker is going to make sure none of his trip lines have been tripped, I’m gonna make sure no creeps sneak up on us here. You’re gonna take a nap. You look like you’re about ready to drop dead again.” Danny nodded into his knees, and Tucker got out his pda and got to work.

Slowly, Danny’s breathing evened and slowed then stopped almost completely. Having his friends nearby meant he was safe. Safety meant sleep.

Jason was out looking. He started at Danny’s apartment, but he wasn’t answering, there was no sound of movement, the thermals were all ambient, so he moved on.

The longer he looked the more he realized, he barely knew anything about Danny. Danny was great at hedging around questions about himself. Turning the conversation back to Jason, or topics that were safe. The weather, the best places to get burgers, the best type of tree to climb, the best dangerous animal to be freed from the zoo. That last topic was courtesy of Damian but…

Then Jason remembered. They had been eating outside after dark. Danny had looked up at the sky and sighed, then pointed fries accusingly at Jason. “Your dad is like, richer than anyone else here right? He should really do something about all this smog. Seeing the stars at night is one of life’s great pleasures.”

“You could go to the observatory,” Jason had suggested, fairly used to Danny occasionally having ideas for Bruce’s money without any real interest in using it for himself. Always for the betterment of the city as a whole.

“That’s a last resort option. Nothing beats constellation spotting laying on a rooftop. You should be able to see Orion’s Belt over….” Danny looked up at the sky, head shifting as he oriented himself to north and then pointing “over there, somewhere.”

“Well, I’ll bring it up and see what WE has in the works for ecological initiatives.” Jason had said, taken in by how certain Danny was. He could have been bullshitting Jason, but sure enough when he looked it up later, Danny had the right idea, even if he was a few degrees off in his estimation.

Not having any better idea, Jason sped off towards the observatory.

Danny had been asleep for maybe an hour when the motorcycle was heard pulling up. Tucker turned off his modified PDA, the backlight in the screen would have given them away in a heartbeat.

Once the motorcycle turned off though, Sam woke up Danny. He woke with a silent start, looking around to see what had alarmed his friends. When he felt the familiar press of another halfa’s core he pressed a hand to each of their knees and wrote a small smiley face on them. Danny did not miss the way Sam’s grip on the creep stick tightened.

Jason didn’t immediately think anything of the observatory as he circled it. There were two hot spots on the roof that were likely just horny teenagers. He would make his loop and then head off. At least, that was the plan until he spotted the ice cold person shape between the two warmer ones.

Nobody ran that cold except Danny.

Jason stood at the base of the ladder and considered his options. He didn’t know who Danny was up there with. He didn’t know if Danny was in danger. Though the pit in him wasn’t any more riled up than it normally was. He didn’t know if Danny would throw his ass right off the roof. There wasn’t anything around here for him to grapnel onto if he was.

‘I did not know your trip into the pit made you a coward, Todd’ he could hear Damian taunt in his head.

Shaking the thought of his brother off, Jason climbed the ladder. The moment his helmet popped over the roof Danny’s eyes were fixed on him. “Go away J-Hood.”

Jason was momentarily surprised, Danny had obviously not expected him to come in costume, but corrected himself fairly flawlessly. Not outing him to the two people who were holding him protectively. Must be Sam and Tucker.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Are these your friends?” He asked, not moving any further up the ladder. Danny nodded, continuing to glare over his knees.

“Sam and Tucker. They knew me… before everything else.”

Jason nodded. Climbed up enough to get a good look. “I have a safe house nearby. Can we go there and talk?”

“Is more of your little guano group” Sam snickered at the name and Tucker gave Danny a fist bump, “going to hunt me down if I don’t?”

“No. But you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

Danny looked between his friends for a minute, before slowly uncurling and standing, helping his friends up. “Fine.”

Once they were all on the ground they walked to the safe house, a couple blocks away. Once they were inside, Jason pulled off the helmet.

“Jason Todd. Also known as Red Hood.”

He noticed Sam give Danny a look, and he made a face back at her. Tucker rolled his eyes. “You talk to the Bat?” Danny asked, rather than confront his friend.

“Yeah. But that’s not the important part. After we talked tonight Oracle noticed something. The firewall was an automatic scoop. Anything related to your parents’….hobby got thrown into a…. Technological bucket. It’s why your messages never made it to the League.”

Danny took a step back, and Sam and Tucker automatically moved closer, supporting him. “You…. Heard the messages?”

“There was video too. Of… an attack.”

“Of course those assholes were filming it.” Sam tightened her grip on the creep stick as she spoke. Danny raised a shaking hand to his face, feeling for something. His eyes had gone unfocused.

Damn it. Jason took a step forward and Danny flinched, the air going cold. “Easy D.” Tucker soothed. “You’re in Gotham. We’re gonna go sit.” Sam and Tucker bullied Danny to the couch. Tucker sat next to him, while Sam stood in front of them protectively. When she caught Jason trying to look around her she snapped to get his attention.

“Hey, Danny needs some water. About 35 degrees if you have it that cold, cold as you have otherwise.” The snapping and hyper specific orders placed her in his memory. Samantha Manson. Daughter of the Amity Mansons. They attended a few Galas when she was younger. She was very insistent on her veganism even then.

Jason wasn’t about to argue with a woman holding a bat. If Sam was anything like his brothers, she knew how to use it even before the vigilante training.

He brought Danny water, tap with a couple of ice cubes, and passed it to Tucker, who was still talking quietly to Danny. Danny was nodding and occasionally giving a thin half smile, but was able to hold the glass on his own and sip from it.

“We need a plan.” Danny said after he finished drinking.

“Batman wants to talk to you.” Jason told him, which got Danny opening his mouth to protest.

“First,” Sam interrupted, looking at Danny then at Jason, “Tucker is going to do his checks, Danny is going to sleep, and we are going to wait.”

“I don’t need to sleep.” Danny crossed his arms, protesting.

“And Dash didn’t shove you in a locker at least once a week.” Tucker’s response was combined with an eye roll. “You look like you just went a dozen rounds with Skulker without your powers. You need pizza rolls and a nap.”

“You make me sound like I’m a kindergartener.”

“I think I have pizza rolls.” Jason interrupted the protest. “I’ll kill the lights, make the brat’s pizza rolls for you and you just lay there until they’re done.”

Danny scowled at Jason for hanging up on him but as Tucker slid off the couch onto the floor in front of him, Danny obediently laid down. As Jason pulled the bag out of the freezer and started the oven heating, he watched Danny’s breathing slow down and even out, then stop altogether.

Sam followed his gaze and took Danny’s sleeping form in quickly before peering at what Tucker was doing. Seeing that the people Danny knew the longest weren’t concerned about his lack of visible breathing, Jason settled a bit, texting the family chat.

From J: so I found Danny. But he has backup now. He managed to get in contact with his friends.

From B: Are you on your way?

From J: no. He was freaking out. Right now he’s asleep on the couch and I’m making pizza rolls.

From DB: Excuse me zombie child, those happen to be mine.

From J: Better learn to share now before you learn the hard way like Dickie, Timber and I did.

From B: Jason, please.

From J: what? It’s not a lie. He’s the fourth Robin that we know about.

From DB: I am the best. I will not be replaced.

From R: idk Dami, the new kid has black hair, blue eyes and a troubled past. He’s adoption bait. Hopefully he didn’t lie about his age and really is older than you.

From D: it’s never easy having to hand over the spandex and cape to a younger more dangerous Robin.

From DB: So you admit that I am the best.

From D: no I said you were younger and more dangerous than we were as Robin. Except for maybe Jay. He liked to bite criminals.

From J: hey! They were the idiots who put their hands near my face. I grew up hungry. You eat what you can.

From B: Before this gets more out of hand, Jason, do you know about when you will be arriving?

From J: probably going to leave here in 45 minutes to an hour. I will let you know.

Jason was going to take his time cooking those pizza rolls correctly. He wasn’t going to let them ooze out everywhere, then they would have to cool so when Danny inevitably wolfed them down he wouldn’t scorch his mouth. Allow for some wake up time…

Jason was completely, and understandably in his opinion, giving Danny as much time before the meet the family scene happened. The guy had been through enough.

[wildemaven]

first anniversary | dieter x poppy

A Sweet Creature

Ava Greene sits down with actor and friend, Dieter Bravo. Hollywood’s new leading man gets candid about life in front of and behind the camera. He talks about his latest movie, his commitment to his sobriety and his newest role— husband?!

Ava Greene: You're approaching three years sober now, how are you feeling?

Dieter Bravo: Probably the best I’ve felt in a long time. Sobriety is a day to day progression that I take very seriously, and I try to not lose sight of that even when I’m having bad days. Though, I’m grateful bad days have been few and far between at this point in my sobriety. I can attribute that to the support system I have built for myself through friends, family, my sponsor that I still work with and most importantly my wife who keeps me grounded daily. They all continue to keep me in check and remind me how awesome my life is, especially right now. Staying clean is a full time commitment, and it’s really a beautiful thing.

AG: You followed in your famous parents footsteps by going into acting and your career and struggles with sobriety have been well documented but your parents have rarely commented publicly, are they supportive of your work and your journey?

DB: For me, I don’t need them to make a show of it by commenting or sharing their thoughts publicly to know they support me. There was a point in time where they did all they could do for me, but ultimately it had to be my choice to make the decision to get clean. Thankfully, we’ve been rebuilding our relationship over the last few years. And being in the public eye for most of our lives, the last thing we want is for outsiders thinking they have a say in our lives. In short, yes I have very supportive parents in all aspects of my life and I’m so happy for that.

AG: This is your second project since rehab, are you viewing this as a comeback or a fresh start?

DB: Comeback? I didn’t know I left… Kidding! Sure, some might say it’s a comeback. A fresh start. Whatever analogy best fits the narrative is fine by me— and I don’t mean that negatively in any sense. I mean, you’ve known me long enough to know I just try not to focus on any of that stuff, messes with my fucking brain waves. I just see it as me doing what I love with a new perspective and a different approach to choosing what projects I’m going to give my time to than I have in the past.

AG: What can you tell us about this project and the character you're playing?

DB: I had the best f*ckin’ time while shooting this film— sorry, but the emphasis was needed. I was really drawn to the vibrancy that this script evoked, even with the serious nature of the storyline and characters. I couldn’t stop thinking or talking about for weeks afterwards. I’d sit with my wife at breakfast and we’d discuss the script and my character for what felt like hours. I knew after I heard her feedback that I needed to be apart of this film— she might have said I’d be stupid to say no to it, in her own loving way.

The film is really about the process of rediscovering yourself. Navigating the challenges that come along with being at your lowest point and leaning on the ones who have been there for you. It’s about finding love in its purest form when you never thought you were deserving of it.

I found bits of myself in this character as we were filming, it was very much a cathartic experience for me. I guess you could say it was art imitating life in a weird way.

AG: There's already been some buzz about this year's award season, do you think this is finally your year?

DB: Ooooh! Is it too presumptuous for me to say yes?! I’ve started dusting the spot where I plan for it to go. I sound like some sort of pompous idiot! Now no one is going to go see it!*

I take it back!

In all seriousness, ‘cause I’m sure Poppy and my agent will be rolling their eyes when they read this. If all I get is a couple nominations, that alone feels like winning. A shiny statue would be nice though— just saying.

AG: You've talked often about your love of art and you recently purchased a gallery. Are you planning to publicly pursue other creative endeavors?

DB: I won’t be joining American Idol anytime soon if that’s what you’re asking. Oh, you weren’t referring to my ability to hold a note during our many karaoke nights— noted!

How did you put it? Other creative endeavors? I’ve got a few art pieces in the works right now that I’m itching to dive back into when I get home. I’ve got a major gallery in LA lined up later in the year for an artist spotlight exhibit, they’ll be housing some of my work through the next year. Shoutout to my wife for getting that all lined up while I was away shooting this film.

AG: What's next for Dieter Bravo? Any other projects lined up you can tell us about?

DB: I’m looking forward to some downtime I have coming up. Poppy has the summer off, so we’ll get to finally live that newlywed life. Settle into the role of doting husband while she does her thing at the gallery.

AG: Off the record, if you got married and didn't tell anyone I will kick yours and Poppy’s ass!

DB: We’re celebrating our one year this month actually. We eloped quietly last year right after we got engaged— wanted to keep it to ourselves for a little while. Which reminds me, you and Bryony should hop on a call with Poppy after this. Seeing as I let the cat out of the bag and this is our announcement— surprise!

Huge shoutout out to @gnpwdrnwhiskey for allowing me to borrow her Ava from Conversations with a Movie Star for this. Ava was so gracious and even wrote the questions herself. I’m so grateful for Lellen and all her support and advice she had given me throughout the writing process of Sweet Creature!

Sweet Creature Celebration

[luli-lads]

About dawnbreaker....I don't think he's a human being, I don't even think he has a body. The anecdote made it seem like he did but I think we were supposed to find out in this chapter. Dawnbreaker is not a different entity, he really is zayne, he lives inside zayne. Dawnbreaker's reality is bleak because zayne knew the experiments he conducted failed. So whenever he dreams, he imputs that guilt and sorrow to Dawnbreaker who then manifests in a horrible world full of alterum--failed experiments that haunt zayne.

And every time zayne is too tired, too angry, he lets dawnbreaker take over. That's why he tried to leave--because if he loses control again and if he's with mc during it, if he loses consciousness, he knows dawnbreak will hurt MC for having protocore syndrome. Zayne's absolutely terrified of hurting her again. But he loves us a lot. And he makes sure to point out that hurting mc would be the greatest regret of his life.

It's sad but they didn't leave on bad terms, no one is angry at one another, they're desperate, they went through an entire ordeal, zayne's nightmares, his worst fear, came to ife. MC found out she might destroy the world.. I also think something big had to happen for zayne to realize he wasn't in control at all. Not of his evol nor of himself. And he can't risk the consequences if the consequences all lead to mc. He couldn't keep being a doctor nor ignoring his nightmares and his past.

This is just a theory. I saw your posts about dawnbreaker and it got me thinking, you know??

Oh wow anon :O

That's a really interesting theory actually!!! All of Dawnbreaker's lore being a sort of inner world that doesn't actually exist.... Huh... Definitely an idea to keep in mind.

I'm really curious in general about Zayne's mental state, because as much as we joke about Caleb's, we haven't stopped to think about the rest of the LI's. I feel like I need to go over all of Dawnbreaker-in-Zayne's lore when I get free time to establish a proper timeline and key points.

It feels like a subject that should be treaded lightly, since dissociative disorders are already quite misrepresented in media so, from a narrative standpoint, I'm not sure if Infold should be taking that direction though. I hope if they are, they handle it carefully.

You're right about the control thing. I hadn't thought about that, but it's true that he was too confident in his ability to remain in control that it wouldn't let him see beyond, and though it's sad that it had to happen this way, it's better if he realizes now than when it's too late.

Still, I hope the lesson he learns from this isn't 'I can't do anything so I should leave everything to external forces' and instead he realizes 'There should be a balance between the things I can do and the things I can't'.

Gifted children and gifted people in general tend to have a strong internal locus of control, which means they blame their faults on themselves just as much as their successes, and it's reflected quite well here with how Zayne insisted on taking these challenges on his own. I hope he realizes he can rely on other people and the story doesn't isolate him completely (which would inevitably lead to the Foreseer's timeline).

As much as I hate that little kid that went looking for him, I hope he keeps Zayne company.

I'm probably going to be thinking about your DB theory all week now XD Thank you so much for sharing it!!

[tobiasdrake]

'ello again! got any db outfit that you have any particular fondness of or enjoy narratively? i personally like future gohan's gi, 'cause of it symbolizing his attempt and failure to be goku. so close, yet so far. also goku's unweighted clothes because i think he looks cool like that.

Obligatory mention of Videl fucking people up in her school uniform.

Which is easily the coolest look in Dragon Ball. As a general rule, I love uncostumed supers. People with fantastical powers kicking people's asses in jeans and a t-shirt? Yes, please.

Narratively, I've always been fond of Goku's blue dogi from the epilogue in the anime.

I'm actually not sure if he's supposed to be wearing a new dogi in the manga. The grayscale makes it difficult to definitely say what color this is.

But if this is the blue outfit then I like that too.

It harkens back to Goku's original outfit from the first arc of the manga so there's a bit of "full circle"-ness to it but also. Like.

After a certain point, the meaning of the orange dogi became lost. It was originally the uniform for students of Kame-senryu. Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha were supposed to stop wearing it as of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai but continued to do so as a way of paying respect to their master.

This was a cute moment. But then they kept wearing those forever. The orange dogi gradually ceased to have any narrative weight to it and just became... the iconic look. You wear that because that's what you wear because everyone knows you wear that.

It can be cute to wear your high school uniform to the graduation afterparty if you have really strong feelings about your school. But if you're wearing your high school uniform to the grocery store at 35, something's gone wrong with your life. Yamcha and Krillin never really left the nest until their retirement from martial arts years later. Hell, Krillin continued to live with the Muten-Roshi for decades after.

Goku did, sort of. He changes out symbols as his art develops under new masters, culminating in his Peak Goku outfit with his own Go symbol.

This is Goku leaving masters becoming and coming into his own. Stepping out onto Namek as the master of his own art.

...but also it's still the Kame-senryu dogi. Goku is wearing the uniform of a school he hasn't been a student of in about a decade. By the time Gohan and Goten start wearing it, two characters who have never once studied under the master whose clothes they're wearing, it has lost all narrative meaning and settled into pure brand recognition. "The Goku Outfit."

The blue dogi is the first time Goku actually does what Kame-sennin told him to do two decades prior and gets his own look. An outfit that is distinctly Goku's. Something that marks him not as a student of Kame-senryu but as what that symbol up there was supposed to mean: The master of Goku-senryu.

For similar reasons, I really like this look for Gohan.

The series goes back and forth between Gohan wearing Goku's clothes vs Gohan wearing Piccolo's clothes. WHICH ONE IS PEAK GOHAN? GOKU JR OR PICCOLO JR!?!?!

But that is an argument designed to keep Gohan in the shadow of one of these two characters. Whose son is he? Whose apprentice is he? Who is he the sidekick to? Whose legs should he be hugging? Whose shadow should he walk in?

The Great Saiyaman outfit, goofy though it is, is the only time Gohan has ever chosen a look for himself. It's the only look he has that is distinctively Gohan's. This is what Gohan looks like when he steps out of the shadow of others and gets to be the star. This is who Gohan wants to be, and not who Goku or Piccolo would make him.

Goku's blue dogi and Gohan's Saiyaman uniform with Super Saiyan hair are incredible because they both embody the apotheosis of these characters.

Let's see... Krillin with hair, that's a great look.

Krillin quit shaving his head when the fighting stopped AND suddenly had the first romantic success of his entire life. Coincidence!? Yes. Yes, it is. But it's still a good look.

I also like how Vegeta's look gradually devolves from the battle armor he's wearing in his first arc. Vegeta always looks phenomenal in civvies.

It is a crime that Vegeta didn't get to have a single fight while dressed in the Blowjob Princess outfit.

GT didn't do much that was good but it did give us this look.

And I am here for Vegeta finally going Full Earthling and wearing jeans and muscle shirts into battle.

To wrap this up, we'd be remiss to talk about Dragon Ball outfits and not mention Bulma. She's had a variety of looks over the course of the series but my personal favorite is this one.

Bulma's 25th Tenkaichi Budokai outfit is a simple, elegant, and mature that shows her advancing age while still looking stylish as hell.

Man, the Buu arc was just... a good time all around for character aesthetics.

[rafemotherfuckingcameron]

CAMPING TRIP

Word Count: 4.6K

Pairing(s): Rafe x Reader, Sarah & Kiara x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, Comforting, SMUT 18+

Summary: Your world changes when you are made to sleep in Rafe’s tent.

As we arrived at the lake and began setting up camp for the Cameron's annual trip, the excitement in the air was palpable. You felt incredibly excited because it was the first time Rafe had shown interest in joining a camping trip, and you couldn't shake the feeling that you might be the reason for his newfound enthusiasm.

Riding up in the car you occupied the seat beside Rafe in the back, and amidst occasional side glances, Rafe's touch on your thigh in the backseat, accompanied by a gentle squeeze on the inside, left you feeling a rush of passion that made your panties damp.

---

Everyone eagerly pitched in, unpacking gear and preparing for an evening under the stars. Amidst the bustle, you couldn't help but notice that your luggage was conspicuously absent from the pile.

"Hey, Sarah, did you happen to pack my bags?" You called out, hoping for reassurance.

Sarah's face fell as she approached, a sheepish expression replacing her usual bubbly demeanour. "Oh, Y/n, I'm so sorry," she admitted, her voice tinged with regret. "I mistook your bags for Rafe's and left them behind. I thought it would be a harmless prank, but I realise now it was thoughtless of me."

Though you felt a pang of frustration, you could see genuine remorse in Sarah's eyes. Taking a deep breath, you made an effort to stay calm. "It's okay, Sarah," you replied, offering her a small smile. "Mistakes happen. Let's just figure out a solution."

Kiara, always quick to lend a hand, stepped in with a reassuring gesture. "Don't worry, Y/n. We'll make do until we can sort things out," she said, her voice steady and supportive.

"Ok, well can we at least set up the beds then?" you question, casting a glance at the girls. "Sure," they both agree.

You head to the car to grab the air blower and start inflating the mattresses. After finishing Sarah and Wheezie’s mattress, you move on to yours and Kiara’s. As it starts to inflate, you notice that it's significantly smaller than the others.

"Sarah, why is this one smaller?" you inquire, puzzled by the discrepancy.

Sarah pauses, a look of realisation crossing her face. "Oh, wait. I think I might have grabbed the wrong mattress from the storage," she admits sheepishly. "I must have picked up the smaller one by mistake." She said placing her heads over her face. “You packed the wrong mattress size, didn’t you?" you ask, feeling a bit angrier than before.

"I thought it was the double, it says S2 on it," she exclaims, pointing to the bag.

"What do you think S2 means?" you ask her, hands on your hips.

"Sleeps two!" she says confidently.

"Sarah, S2 means the type of mattress. A double would say D or DB," Kiara interjects, flicking her hair out of her face.

"Only one of us gets to sleep in there now, where’s the other going to sleep?" Kiara questions, looking between all of you. "One of you can sleep in Rafe’s tent," Ward suggests, pointing towards Rafe, who’s finished setting up his tent.

“I'm not sleeping in there,” Kiara exclaims, her determination evident.

"Fine, I’ll sleep in Rafe’s tent," you say, walking over to Rafe. You felt excitement surge within you, but you made an effort to conceal it.

"Hey roomie," he says, opening his tent door with a welcoming smile.

As you step inside, you're greeted by the cozy interior of the tent. However, your heart skips a beat when you realise there's only one large bed laid out on the ground. You furrow your brow, a hint of confusion in your voice. "Um, Rafe, where's the other bed?”

Rafe chuckles softly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh, we are sharing, I Don’t sleep in single beds” he says, his tone casual but suggestive. Your cheeks flush with realisation, caught off guard by the unexpected proposition.

"Oh, I didn't realise... um, sure," you stammer, trying to hide your enthusiasm state. Fuck yes. Rafe's smile widens, sensing your unease but also enjoying the playful banter.

“You can put your stuff in that corner,” he says, pointing to where there's room by the bed. "Oh, I don’t have any. Sarah didn’t bring them because she thought they were your bags," you explain, watching his face smirk back at you.

Rafe chuckles, his smirk widening into a playful grin. "Looks like Sarah's prank backfired," he remarks, amusement dancing in his eyes.

You can't help but smile back, relieved by his easygoing response. "Yeah, it seems that way," you reply, feeling a weight lift off your shoulders. "Okay, well, you can borrow any of my stuff then," he offers generously.

"Thank you," you say, gratitude evident in your voice.

-----

After dinner, Ward, Rose, and Wheezie all went to bed, while the rest of us stayed up by the fire, enjoying the warmth of the flames and the company of each other. Surprisingly, Rafe stayed out with us, though he didn't contribute much to the conversation. Instead, he sat quietly, occasionally sipping on his whiskey as he listened to our stories and laughter.

Despite his subdued demeanour, there was a sense of comfort in his presence, his silent companionship adding to the camaraderie of the night.

As the fire crackled and the night air grew cooler, you found yourself stealing multiple glances at Rafe, intrigued by the way his throat would bob every time he took a sip of his drink, the way his hand gripped his glass, they would feel so good touching your body, his toned biceps holding himself up while he fucks you. 

"Earth to Y/n, are you coming?" Sarah asks, standing across from you.

"What?" You ask absentmindedly, your mind still lost in a whirlwind of thoughts, the images of her brother flashing through your mind.

"Are you coming for a swim?" she repeats, a hint of amusement in her voice.

You nod, snapping back to reality and quickly masking your distraction. "Yeah, sure," you reply, following them down to the jetty.

As we approach the water, you try to push aside the lingering thoughts and focus on the present moment. Jumping into the water, you didn’t think it was going to be that cold, but it definitely was. Sarah and Kiara got out as fast as they got in, their shrieks of surprise echoing over the lake.

You surface, gasping for air, the exhilaration of the plunge mixing with the adrenaline coursing through your veins.

As you tread water, trying to acclimate to the temperature, you catch sight of Rafe watching you from the jetty. There's a playful glint in his eyes, a silent challenge that urges you to embrace the adventure of the moment. With a mischievous smile, you swim towards him, relishing in the thrill of the chase.

"Brave move," Rafe comments, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips as you reach the side of the jetty.

You shrug, trying to appear nonchalant despite the lingering chill in your bones. "Just felt like cooling off," you reply, attempting to brush off the intensity of the moment.

Rafe chuckles softly, his laughter echoing over the water. "Well, you certainly know how to make a splash," he quips, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Feeling the chill of the water seep into your bones, you decide it's time to get out. You swim around to the front of jetty where Rafe stands, his silhouette outlined against the moonlight. "Need a hand?" He asks reaching out his hand, you nod and he uses his strong muscles effortlessly pulling you out of the water with a gentle yet firm grip.

Surprised by his display of strength, you find yourself momentarily stunned as he helps you onto the jetty. His touch lingers on your hips for a moment, the warmth of his hand seeping into your skin, sending a shiver down your spine for an entirely different reason.

With a charming smile, Rafe offers you your towel, his eyes twinkling with amusement at your reaction. "Thanks," you manage to say, accepting the towel gratefully, your heart still racing from the unexpected moment.

---

Arriving back at the campsite, you're greeted by the comforting sight of the flickering campfire and the welcoming glow of the fairy lights. Feeling the cool night air against your skin, you move closer to the crackling campfire, its warmth inviting and comforting. As you stand before the flames, soaking in the heat, you watch as Sarah and Kiara make their way to their tent, their laughter fading into the night.

After a while, you notice Rafe getting up from his spot by the fire and heading towards his own tent. With a sense of curiosity and perhaps a hint of excitement, you decide to follow suit, feeling drawn to the prospect of spending more time with him in the intimate confines of the tent.

As you step inside, Rafe looks up as you enter, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Hey," he says softly, his voice warm and inviting.

Sensing your discomfort, Rafe reaches into his bag and pulls out a soft oversized shirt.

"Here," he says with a warm smile, holding out the shirt towards you. "You can borrow this to keep warm." You're touched by his thoughtfulness. "Thank you," you reply, accepting the shirt gratefully.

He returns your smile warmly before turning around and settling onto his bed, giving you the privacy to change. You quickly strip off your wet swimsuit and slide into Rafe's shirt, the fabric is soft against your skin, carrying the faint scent of his cologne. 

Once you're dressed in his shirt, you take a seat beside him on the bed, feeling the warmth of his presence beside you. The shirt hangs loosely on your frame, as you settle onto the bed beside Rafe, the hem of his oversized shirt skimming just above your knees, you quickly tuck your legs under the covers, ensuring he couldn't see that you weren't wearing any panties.

Despite the alcohol you had ingested tonight, you couldn't help but feel a surge of confidence being basically naked with Rafe, especially after the thoughts you had earlier.

As you lean back against the bedding, you can't help but steal glances at Rafe, your heart skipping a beat as he begins to pull his shirt off. Mesmerised by the fluid motion of his movements, you admire the way his shoulder blades contort and then relax as the shirt slips off his frame, revealing the sculpted contours of his torso beneath.

Your breath catches in your throat as he then removes his shorts underneath the blanket, the gesture executed with a casual ease that belies the intensity of your reaction. Watching him discard the clothing, your pulse quickens, and a flush spreads across your cheeks as desire courses through you. With each garment he sheds, the tension between your thighs grows palpable, the air thick with anticipation.

As he tosses the shorts to the other side of the tent, you can't help but feel a surge of heat pooling in the pit of your stomach, a silent invitation lingering in the space between you.

As Rafe slides into a pair of sweatpants, you watch him with a mixture of fascination and anticipation, the fabric clinging to his form in all the right places. Finally, he rolls over to face you, his gaze meeting yours with an intensity that leaves you breathless.

In the dim light of the lantern, his features are illuminated, casting shadows that dance across his face, accentuating the rugged contours of his jawline and the soft curve of his lips. As he settles beside you, the warmth of his proximity sends a shiver down your spine. You can feel the weight of his gaze on you, his eyes tracing the contours of your face with a hunger that ignites a fire deep within your soul.

"Are you still cold?" he asks, concern evident in his voice. You nod slightly, grateful for his attentiveness. "Yeah, a little," you admit, feeling a rush of warmth flood your cheeks. Without hesitation, Rafe shifts closer to you, his arm wrapping around your waist as he pulls you into a gentle spooning embrace.

The heat of his body envelops you, sending jolts of electricity to your core. As you nestle into Rafe's embrace, feeling the comforting warmth of his body against yours, you're surprised when his hand snakes under your arm and comes to rest just between your breasts. 

A shiver runs down your spine at the unexpected touch, but instead of pulling away, you find yourself leaning into his touch, welcoming the intimacy of the moment.

With a gentle sigh, you shift closer to him, allowing his hand to rest against your chest. It feels strangely intimate, yet undeniably comforting, and you can't help but feel a flutter of excitement in the pit of your stomach. Without hesitation, you reach down and place your hand on top of his, intertwining your fingers with his. 

As the tension between you and Rafe grows, you feel his lips grazing against your neck in a tender, exploratory kiss. A shiver runs down your spine at the sensation, sending a rush of heat pooling in the pit of your stomach.

His touch is gentle yet possessive, his lips leaving a trail of soft kisses along your skin that ignites a fire within you. You tilt your head back slightly, giving him better access as you surrender to the delicious sensation of his lips against your neck.

With each kiss, the desire between you grows stronger, building to a crescendo that threatens to consume you both. Your breath catches in your throat as Rafe's lips linger against your skin, his touch sending waves of pleasure coursing through your veins.

And then, with a sudden surge of longing, you find yourselves drawn together in a passionate kiss, the slow burn of desire finally erupting into a blazing inferno of passion. 

Unable to resist any longer, you lean into him, your fingers tangling in his hair as you pull him closer. His warm breath against your skin sends electric through your body, heightening the intensity of the moment. The intensity of the moment grows, Rafe's movements become more deliberate, more purposeful.

With a gentle yet commanding touch, he shifts his position, hovering over you, his gaze locking with yours in an intimate exchange that leaves you breathless.

His eyes, dark with desire, search yours for any hint of hesitation, but all he finds is a mirrored longing, a shared yearning that draws you both closer together. With a slow, deliberate motion, he lowers himself, his body pressing against yours in a sensual embrace that sends a surge of heat coursing through you. 

As Rafe's hands trail up your thighs and under your shirt, a shiver of anticipation runs down your spine at his touch. His words send a rush of heat coursing through you, your cheeks flushing with arousal as his lips meet yours in another passionate kiss.

Feeling his fingers slip between your folds, you gasp at the sensation of his touch against your bare skin. The wetness pooling at your entrance betrays your arousal, a physical manifestation of the desire that courses through your veins.

"So wet already," Rafe observes, his voice husky with desire as he begins to rub over your clit, eliciting a soft moan from your lips. The sensation is overwhelming, sending waves of pleasure cascading through your body as he teases you with his touch.

"Mmmm, need more, Rafey," you murmur, your grip tightening on his bicep as he continues to stimulate you, his fingers moving faster over your clit.

"Tell me what you want," he whispers, his breath hot against your ear as he waits for your response, his eyes dark with desire and anticipation. And as you look into his eyes, lost in the intensity of the moment, you know exactly what you want – him, all of him, in every way possible.

"I want you," you confess, your voice filled with need and longing. "I want your mouth, your cock.”

As your words wash over Rafe's, a surge of arousal courses through your veins, your body responding eagerly to his dominance and desire. The anticipation builds within you, a knot of need and longing that tightens with every passing moment.

As he lowers himself to your core, his words only fuelling the fire of desire that burns within you. When his eyes widen in amazement at the sight before him, you can't help but feel a surge of pride and arousal at his admiration.

His lips attach to your clit, sending bolts of pleasure shooting through you as he sucks and laps up your juices with an expert touch. His words, his touch, his presence all conspire to push you closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy.

Your legs start to shake as your orgasm approaches, but Rafe holds them in place, his command adding an extra layer of intensity to the pleasure coursing through you. With a whisper-yell, you confess that you're about to cum, your grip on his hair tightening as you ride out your high.

"Cum on my tongue, baby," he commands, and you follow suit, releasing yourself completely as you squirt all over his face. He eagerly licks up every last bit of your release, his own arousal evident as he removes his boxers and starts pumping his cock.

Feeling emboldened by his desire, you remove your shirt, letting your breasts spill out as you bask in his admiration. His words of praise send a surge of warmth through you, and as he leans down to press a soft kiss to your lips.

Your mouth waters at the sight of Rafe's massive cock, the anticipation of its size and girth sending a thrill of excitement coursing through you. With wide eyes, you look up at Rafe, a mixture of apprehension and desire evident in your gaze.

"Don't worry, I'll go slow," he reassures you, his voice filled with tenderness and understanding. You watch as he continues to pump himself, preparing himself for what's to come, before he lines himself up with your entrance.

Your hips instinctively buck as his pink swollen tip presses against your puffy clit, the sensation sending a jolt of pleasure coursing through you. Before you can even form another word, his cock is pushing past your walls, stretching you to the furthest point.

A sharp gasp escapes your lips as you feel him fill you completely, the sensation both overwhelming and exhilarating. "Fuck, you feel so good," he groans against your ear, his hips pulling out before thrusting back in, each movement slow and deliberate.

His thrusts are deep, each one sending waves of pleasure rippling through you as you feel every line of his veiny cock sliding against your walls. "You're squeezing me so good," he moans, his voice thick with arousal as he continues to move inside you.

As he grabs one of your breasts, sucking on your nipple with a hunger that ignites a fire deep within you, you can't help but moan louder, the pleasure becoming almost unbearable.

With a desperate need for more, you wrap a leg around his back, deepening the sensation of him inside you as you surrender completely to the pleasure of being filled by him.

As the intensity of your connection deepens, your heart races with emotion, your body responding to the overwhelming desire coursing through you. With each movement, each touch, you feel yourself drawing closer to Rafe, lost in the heat of the moment and the depth of your feelings for him. With a surge of courage, you find yourself whispering those three little words that have been weighing heavily on your heart. 

"I love you," you murmur, your voice barely above a whisper, but filled with an intensity that resonates through the tent. As your words hang in the air, a moment of vulnerability and truth, Rafe's eyes soften, reflecting the depth of his emotions. His gaze meets yours, filled with a tenderness that takes your breath away.

As the weight of your confession settles between you, Rafe's expression softens, his eyes reflecting a mixture of surprise and tenderness. He reaches out to gently cup your face in his hands, his touch grounding you in the moment. "I want you to know that I'm in love with you too," he says, his voice filled with sincerity and warmth. "And I have been since the moment I first saw you.”

As Rafe's words sink in, a flood of emotion washes over you, you lean in closer, your lips meeting in a tender kiss as he continues to thrust into you. With a soft smile playing on your lips, you gaze into Rafe's eyes, feeling a newfound sense of confidence and certainty in your heart.

"Well, now that I finally told you how I feel, I need you to do something for me as my boyfriend," you say, a playful twinkle in your eye.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Rafe questions, a teasing smile playing on his lips as he leans in closer, his eyes sparkling with warmth and affection.

You nod, unable to suppress the smile that spreads across your face at the word. "Yes, boyfriend," you confirm, your voice filled with a mixture of excitement and anticipation.

With a soft chuckle, Rafe pulls you closer, his arms wrapping around you in a warm embrace. "I like the sound of that," he murmurs, his breath tickling your ear as he presses a gentle kiss to your cheek.

“What do you need?” He asks, “I need you to cum inside me.” You say desperate to feel him. As Rafe's movements become more urgent in response to your request, you feel a surge of anticipation coursing through you, your body responding eagerly to his touch. With each thrust, each caress, the pleasure intensifies, building to a crescendo that threatens to consume you entirely.

As he quickens his pace, delivering firm but gentle thrusts, you feel yourself teetering on the edge of ecstasy, your senses heightened by the intoxicating sensation of his cock sliding effortlessly inside you.

His fingers find your clit, rubbing in circles that sends waves of pleasure rippling through your body, pushing you closer and closer to the edge. With a soft moan escaping your lips, you pull him closer to you, desperate for more of him, more of the pleasure he's giving you. And then, with a final, powerful thrust, you feel the pressure building inside you, your climax imminent.

"Fuuuck," you cry out, your nails digging into his back as you reach the peak of pleasure, your body convulsing with the force of your release and as you gush all over Rafe's cock, you feel him follow suit, his own release mixing with yours in a symphony of ecstasy.

The sensation of his hot cum filling you up, combined with the overwhelming pleasure coursing through your veins, leaves you breathless and sated. With a contented sigh, he collapse against you, your bodies entwined in the aftermath of passion. "That felt amazing," you murmur, your eyes heavy with satisfaction as you bask in the afterglow of your lovemaking.

His warmth envelops you, his breath mingling with yours in a symphony of desire and longing. Sensing his movement to pull away, you reach out to stop him, your fingers grazing his skin in a silent plea. "No," you whisper, your voice barely above a breath, but filled with an urgency that leaves no room for doubt.

Surprised by your request, Rafe hesitates for a moment, his gaze meeting yours in a silent exchange of understanding and desire. And then, with a soft sigh, he relaxes against you, his cock still buried deep inside.

--- The Next Morning ---

As Rafe stirs from his slumber, he becomes aware of the soft light filtering through the tent, casting a gentle glow over your entwined bodies. With a tender smile, he reaches out to pull the bed cover back over you, ensuring you're both cocooned in warmth and comfort.

As you slowly awaken, you become aware of Rafe's presence, his body still nestled intimately against yours. His warmth envelops you, a comforting embrace that fills you with a sense of security and contentment.

As you shift slightly, the movement causes a subtle shift in Rafe's body too. With a soft sigh escaping your lips, you feel his cock slipping out of you, as you gaze into Rafe's eyes you reach out to caress his cheek, your fingers tracing the lines of his face with a gentle touch. 

“Breakfast Everyone” Rose yells.

"Looks like we better get going," he says with a grin, rising from the makeshift bed with a stretch. You chuckle softly, nodding in agreement. "Wouldn't want to miss out on Rose's cooking," you reply, a hint of eagerness in your voice.

As you sit up in bed the sheets wrapped around you, Rafe's hand finds yours, his touch gentle yet possessive. "You look even more beautiful in the morning light," he whispers, his voice filled with sincerity and affection.

Your heart flutters at his words, a warm flush spreading across your cheeks as you meet his gaze. "Thank you," you murmur softly, your heart swelling with love for this man.

Before leaving the tent, Rafe reaches into his bag and pulls out a soft, oversized shirt, offering it to you with a smile. "Thought you might want something comfortable to wear," he says, his eyes sparkling with tenderness.

Grateful for his thoughtfulness, you accept the shirt with a smile, slipping it on over your head. As the fabric envelops you in its warmth, you can't help but feel a sense of closeness to Rafe, with a final glance and a shared smile, you and Rafe make your way to join the others for breakfast. 

As you and Rafe join the others for breakfast, Ward's playful grin widens as he looks in your direction. "Heard you two were having quite the party last night," he teases, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

A chorus of laughter erupts from the group as they nod and exchange knowing glances, their amusement evident. "Yeah, we could hear you all the way from our tent," Wheezie adds with a grin, her tone teasing yet affectionate.

Blushing furiously, you exchange a sheepish glance with Rafe, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and amusement at the lighthearted teasing. "Sorry about that," you mutter, trying to hide your smile.

Feeling Rafe's arm wrap around you, you lean into his embrace, grateful for his comforting presence amidst the playful teasing.

“So what does this mean for you guys”? Sarah asks genuinely, taking a deep breath, you turn to face Sarah, your expression thoughtful.

“We are together, but we still have a lot to talk about." you explain, your voice filled with sincerity. "We're taking things one step at a time."

Rafe nods in agreement, his gaze warm as he adds, “I have wanted this for so long, so we are just going to take our time.”

Sarah listens attentively, her expression reflecting her genuine curiosity and concern.

"That sounds like a healthy approach," she replies, her tone supportive. "I'm happy for you both."

“Just no more sex when we around please” Sarah's remark elicits a round of chuckles from the group, lightening the mood after the serious discussion.

You share a sheepish grin with Rafe, feeling a blush creeping into your cheeks.

"Of course, Sarah," you reply with a good-natured laugh, nodding in agreement. "We'll be sure to keep things PG around here." Rafe leans in to your ear with a mischievous glint in his eye, his lips curving into a suggestive smile. 

"It's going to be anything but PG, with the way I make you squirt," he quips playfully, his tone laced with innuendo.

🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️💦❤️🏕️🏞️

Tags:

@anonymouscameron, @ilovethekookprince

[captainn-hook]

Character analysis on Prince Sidon (BOTW vs TOTK)

One thing I love about totk is how the game addresses Sidon’s trauma.

In botw you see how desperate he is for his father’s approval, it’s like Mipha set an impossible standard for dying not only for her domain and her people but for the whole kingdom of Hyrule. In their father’s eyes, she’s the perfect child, not only in personality but also in the way she’s honoured her family. Sidon sees how his father thinks of her, and although the king doesn’t do it consciously, he always put her on an impossibly high pedestal, and Sidon grew up believing that he HAD to meet that expectation, and that he would never, no matter how hard he tried.

When Link tames Vah Ruta and they both go to see the king, he tells his son:

“As your father, I am proud of you for fighting the Divine Beast alongside Link. You have grown much recently. I know you will be a worthy heir when your time comes.”

Then Sidon bows his head, as if he’s overcome with emotions because his dad tells him he’s proud of what he’s accomplished. King Dorephan isn’t a bad guy, don’t get me wrong, but the grief of losing his daughter (in this case, he thought she went missing and had been in the DB for 100 years, he didn’t know she died) made him sort of lose sight of Sidon’s achievements in those 100 years because he was so racked with worry and guilt. So although the king isn’t a bad father, he fails to reassure his son that he doesn’t need to do anything to make him proud (even though Sidon had definitely done stuff to make his dad proud over the years).

(Btw im pretty sure tripple digits in age is considered teens or early adulthood for Zora, so he’s still pretty young, I imagine around Link’s age if he were Hylian)

But that’s about all we get in botw.

So now we move on to totk. And oh boy do we get a load of Sidon angst. Some people might disagree with me but having read between the lines of what Lady Yona talked about (and just WHAT she actually said) in the first half of the water temple quest (before we find it, when we’re up in Mipha court), it really is angsty.

She’s aware of the fact that his sister’s death affected him a lot and still does despite knowing that her spirit moved on, and it (at this point) has started to affect their relationship.

Yona and Sidon have a disagreement before/after the battle with the Sludge Like, where they argue about him going with Link to this pillar of light that has suddenly appeared. It starts with Sidon saying: “Lady Yona! It is far too dangerous for you to be here” in reference to the sludge, but she has none of that.

She tells him that she wants him to go to the pillar with Link, and that: “For a long time, I have been concerned that you are holding yourself back and not acting as freely as I would have expected.” This has some credit because it’s mentioned somewhere how they were both childhood friends, and the Zora live long lives so it’s safe to assume their childhood is prolonged, which means that they’ve known each other for a very long time. Yona knows how he acts and behaves, his mannerisms and his fears, and that’s why she wants to push him to face them.

She tells him that if he goes with Link they’ll be able to overcome this problem, but he hesitates. She notices, asking him what is troubling him, and he hesitates again to speak what’s on his mind. This is when the Sludge Like comes in, and after the battle, the conversation continues.

Sidon hurries back to Yona and says: “Thank goodness. Lady Yona, if something had happened to you... I...” and there’s where it becomes clear just how terrified he is of losing her. He doesn’t finish the sentence, though, he changes the subject and tells her that she should go back to the domain in case more monsters show up. She tells him that he should focus on what Link said and that he can leave the court to them (Yona and the others that came with her). Sidon replies with: “W-well... Of course it would be best for me to accompany him. However, I cannot leave you alone in this dangerous place!” He’s ignoring what’s best and instead focusing on the safety of his betrothed, because of course he would! A monster just showed up and it took both Link and Sidon to take it down, imagine if neither of them were with her, what would happen? What would he do if she got hurt? And then the following dialogue happens (you dont need to read the whole thing, you can just skip to the bold parts):

Yona: “Did you not entrust this task to us already? We will not be on our own for long. We shall be just fine.”

Sidon: “But…”

Yona: “Sidon, my darling... I truly appreciate that you worry so for my safety. It speaks to the kindness in your heart.

But you are the prince of the Zora. One day, you will lead the people of your beloved domain.

I can see right through you, whether you want me to or not. You are yielding to the fear of losing someone you love again.

You must overcome your past and face whatever the future holds with courage.”

Sidon: “But... I...”

Yona: “Enough is enough! You are not acting like yourself! You must leave this place to me!

Sweet Sidon... Do not get lost in the past. You must keep moving ever onward. Just follow your heart, as you always do!”

Sidon: “Like my old self... Like I always do...”

Yona: “It is all right. I swear it. I am not going anywhere.”

Sidon: “I see... And there it is, clear as day... I was giving in to my fear of once more losing someone I love... I… I…

You are right, Yona! I will not give in to this fear! Nor forsake my trust in you! I leave this place to you, my love.”

[skip]

Yona: “All this time he was clinging to regret over being unable to save his precious sister, Mipha... My poor, tormented Sidon.

And to think he was unknowingly paralyzed from taking action because he feared losing me as well...

Yet he has overcome this trial and placed his faith in me. At last, the Sidon I know and love has come back to me.”

During this conversation, Sidon hesitates more than once and you can see it starting to irritate Yona because she knows the potential he doesn’t see in himself, because it’s not just fear of losing a loved one, but it’s his own insecurity from not being able to save Mipha.

He doesn’t care that he was very young and wouldn’t have been able to anyway, he just cares that he couldn’t. In his eyes, he failed to save his sister. And I’m not going to go too deep into this point but it’s clear that she was playing both older sister and mother, because we can assume their mother died a while back (she’s never mentioned and it’s just the two of them and their father even as far back as age of calamity if you want to include that).

What I’m saying is that with technically both the loss of his mother and his sister, it’s safe to assume that he feels some sort of responsibility for not being able to help, even if he was too young to do so, his disregard for the age he was at the time shows how much weight was left on his shoulders after Mipha died.

He never expected to be the heir to the throne, the sole survivor of his family (along with his dad), sure he’s a prince and princes have responsibility, but Mipha was always going to be in the spotlight (not that I’d imagine him jealous of this, it’s simply just a fact, and I think he might have actually even been comfortable with that), she was always going to be the Zora Champion and then Queen one day, so to have all of that suddenly dumped on him after the calamity as a literal kid would’ve undoubtedly had its effect on him.

Yona understands this, she tells Link, knowing he’s probably caught on, how he was “clinging to regret over being unable to save his precious sister, Mipha...”.

She has to reassure her love that she’s okay. “It is all right. I swear it. I am not going anywhere.”, she comforts him because she knows he needs it, he needs her to say it to him because that’s the only way he will believe she is in fact okay.

But his character develops. Sidon realises that in fearing for Yona, he has made her feel as if she isn’t trusted. He recognises the position he’s put them both in, him worrying relentlessly and stressing out about his loved ones because of his trauma, and her having to watch him fall down this never ending rabbit hole and being unable to do much about it because all he tries to do is shelter and protect her, even when it’s unnecessary.

But she does what she can anyway, and it pays off, because he comes back to reality and understands that although there will always be the risk of losing her, he knows that she is more than capable of taking care of herself. He knows of her strength, it was just hard for him to see the situation from her point of view. But she pushes him to do so, and he betters himself for her.

I think he’ll always have some small hint of this trauma response hidden away, but after this discussion, he’s got a firm hold on it, and is willing to control his fears for the love of his life so that they can start to build a life together without the sense of utter doom and despair over his past looming over them both.

I’m glad the writers did this, and didn’t just make them seem like this perfect couple with no issues, it shows a real and healthy relationship, and it shows that Sidon isn’t this perfect person and that he indeed has faults of his own.

That’s my take on it, anyway.

[the-nox-syndicate]

SysNotes devlog 1

Hiya! We're a web developer by trade and we wanted to build ourselves a web-app to manage our system and to get to know each other better. We thought it would be fun to make a sort of a devlog on this blog to show off the development! The working title of this project is SysNotes (but better ideas are welcome!)

What SysNotes is✅:

A place to store profiles of all of our parts

A tool to figure out who is in front

A way to explore our inner world

A private chat similar to PluralKit

A way to combine info about our system with info about our OCs etc as an all-encompassing "brain-world" management system

A personal and tailor-made tool made for our needs

What SysNotes is not❌:

A fronting tracker (we see no need for it in our system)

A social media where users can interact (but we're open to make it so if people are interested)

A public platform that can be used by others (we don't have much experience actually hosting web-apps, but will consider it if there is enough interest!)

An offline app

So if this sounds interesting to you, you can find the first devlog below the cut (it's a long one!):

(I have used word highlighting and emojis as it helps me read large chunks of text, I hope it's alright with y'all!)

Tech stack & setup (feel free to skip if you don't care!)

The project is set up using:

Database: MySQL 8.4.3

Language: PHP 8.3

Framework: Laravel 10 with Breeze (authentication and user accounts) and Livewire 3 (front end integration)

Styling: Tailwind v4

I tried to set up Laragon to easily run the backend, but I ran into issues so I'm just running "php artisan serve" for now and using Laragon to run the DB. Also I'm compiling styles in real time with "npm run dev". Speaking of the DB, I just migrated the default auth tables for now. I will be making app-related DB tables in the next devlog. The awesome thing about Laravel is its Breeze starter kit, which gives you fully functioning authentication and basic account management out of the box, as well as optional Livewire to integrate server-side processing into HTML in the sexiest way. This means that I could get all the boring stuff out of the way with one terminal command. Win!

Styling and layout (for the UI nerds - you can skip this too!)

I changed the default accent color from purple to orange (personal preference) and used an emoji as a placeholder for the logo. I actually kinda like the emoji AS a logo so I might keep it.

Laravel Breeze came with a basic dashboard page, which I expanded with a few containers for the different sections of the page. I made use of the components that come with Breeze to reuse code for buttons etc throughout the code, and made new components as the need arose. Man, I love clean code 😌

I liked the dotted default Laravel page background, so I added it to the dashboard to create the look of a bullet journal. I like the journal-type visuals for this project as it goes with the theme of a notebook/file. I found the code for it here.

I also added some placeholder menu items for the pages that I would like to have in the app - Profile, (Inner) World, Front Decider, and Chat.

i ran into an issue dynamically building Tailwind classes such as class="bg-{{$activeStatus['color']}}-400" - turns out dynamically-created classes aren't supported, even if they're constructed in the component rather than the blade file. You learn something new every day huh…

Also, coming from Tailwind v3, "ps-*" and "pe-*" were confusing to get used to since my muscle memory is "pl-*" and "pr-*" 😂

Feature 1: Profiles page - proof of concept

This is a page where each alter's profiles will be displayed. You can switch between the profiles by clicking on each person's name. The current profile is highlighted in the list using a pale orange colour.

The logic for the profiles functionality uses a Livewire component called Profiles, which loads profile data and passes it into the blade view to be displayed. It also handles logic such as switching between the profiles and formatting data. Currently, the data is hardcoded into the component using an associative array, but I will be converting it to use the database in the next devlog.

New profile (TBC)

You will be able to create new profiles on the same page (this is yet to be implemented). My vision is that the New Alter form will unfold under the button, and fold back up again once the form has been submitted.

Alter name, pronouns, status

The most interesting component here is the status, which is currently set to a hardcoded list of "active", "dormant", and "unknown". However, I envision this to be a customisable list where I can add new statuses to the list from a settings menu (yet to be implemented).

Alter image

I wanted the folder that contained alter images and other assets to be outside of my Laravel project, in the Pictures folder of my operating system. I wanted to do this so that I can back up the assets folder whenever I back up my Pictures folder lol (not for adding/deleting the files - this all happens through the app to maintain data integrity!). However, I learned that Laravel does not support that and it will not be able to see my files because they are external. I found a workaround by using symbolic links (symlinks) 🔗. Basically, they allow to have one folder of identical contents in more than one place. I ran "mklink /D [external path] [internal path]" to create the symlink between my Pictures folder and Laravel's internal assets folder, so that any files that I add to my Pictures folder automatically copy over to Laravel's folder. I changed a couple lines in filesystems.php to point to the symlinked folder:

And I was also getting a "404 file not found" error - I think the issue was because the port wasn't originally specified. I changed the base app URL to the localhost IP address in .env:

…And after all this messing around, it works!

(My Pictures folder)

(My Laravel storage)

(And here is Alice's photo displayed - dw I DO know Ibuki's actual name)

Alter description and history

The description and history fields support HTML, so I can format these fields however I like, and add custom features like tables and bullet point lists.

This is done by using blade's HTML preservation tags "{!! !!}" as opposed to the plain text tags "{{ }}".

(Here I define Alice's description contents)

(And here I insert them into the template)

Traits, likes, dislikes, front triggers

These are saved as separate lists and rendered as fun badges. These will be used in the Front Decider (anyone has a better name for it?? 🤔) tool to help me identify which alter "I" am as it's a big struggle for us. Front Decider will work similar to FlowCharty.

What next?

There's lots more things I want to do with SysNotes! But I will take it one step at a time - here is the plan for the next devlog:

Setting up database tables for the profile data

Adding the "New Profile" form so I can create alters from within the app

Adding ability to edit each field on the profile

I tried my best to explain my work process in a way that wold somewhat make sense to non-coders - if you have any feedback for the future format of these devlogs, let me know!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimers:

I have not used AI in the making of this app and I do NOT support the Vibe Coding mind virus that is currently on the loose. Programming is a form of art, and I will defend manual coding until the day I die.

Any alter data found in the screenshots is dummy data that does not represent our actual system.

I will not be making the code publicly available until it is a bit more fleshed out, this so far is just a trial for a concept I had bouncing around my head over the weekend.

We are SYSCOURSE NEUTRAL! Please don't start fights under this post

[justkillingthyme]

Hi, can you tell us more about your AUs please?

I’ll take this opportunity to tell everyone about the singular au I’ve said nothing about because I keep forgetting to make an actual post about it. DL Hershel

DL stands for Death Loop because it was a nickname that stuck and I haven’t found a better name yet.

The essential idea is that Hershel has an understanding of the save points between chapters. I haven’t yet decided on whether or not this applies to Akbadain but the answer is most likely.

Major CW for death (and suicide) from here on out cause it’s like the whole plot

Yeah he dies. A lot. And every time he does he goes back to the start of the chapter with the knowledge of what happened last time and a lingering pain. Most of the time (towards the beginning) it’s not his fault. For example the first death in LS is that he went out to make sure Browne was gone and got squished by the specter.

This does affect his perspective on things A LOT, because he acts differently towards people that have killed him in past runs (coughs at all the villains) and even more so if they’ve hurt his companions.

Eventually he figured out that he can go back if he kills himself too. So it kind of becomes a mad scramble to see if he can die before the chapter flips if something major happens. He associates the two, that major events (like schrader dying) means that there’s a new save point coming, and if he wants to change something, he’s got to go fast. This doesn’t work in the case of schrader, because we start the game having schrader already dead. It’s incredibly distressing.

He’s also gotten into this sort of obsession with control and something like a martyr complex. If something isn’t going as expected, or he thinks he’s going to a bad outcome it’s lights out. So much unnecessary suicide on his part. Coming out of an embarrassing conversation like I’m gonna kms except he would. He’s so nonchalant about it to it’s fucking insane

I think as of this point I’ve tallied over thirty deaths? The tagline of the au is pretty much Murphy’s law. If something can kill him, it will. One of his deaths in DB is they make a tea so astronomically bad that it’s toxic and kills him.

The only thing I haven’t figured out is how to deal with the end of AL. He needs to die there with everyone else but I can’t have him reset. Unless I choose a major canon divergence path. My idea there is possibly have it be azran related. As in the azran gave him that power and thus the death still counts. Might have something to do with Akbadain if that ends up happening. That’s my only issue with this au that I’ve run into

[melancholiast-clair]

For the ask thing. Melancholia, since she’s your URL and I’ve never seen you talk about her

YES YES YES OMG OKAY HI. i have been Waiting for a chance to talk to her but its been so long since i've reread the books that specifically involve her that i feel like my knowledge of her as a character has dipped. still !!

here is the link for the ask game :)

favorite thing about them: her attitude, honestly. i LOVE a rude character, especially when that comes from a place of jealousy, and she is my Queen of jealous behavior <3

least favorite thing about her: difficult question, to be honest! anything i dislike is often sort of meta and aimed at derek landy's method of writing characters who have been "brainwashed."

fav line: DIFFICULT!!! "surprise," when she first goes to hunt valkyrie in db is a classic, but i thiiink. i think i'd have to go for a moment later in that conversation, when she talks about what it feels like to be a god.

like... she's so clearly desperate to convince herself just as much as she's desperate to convince val, and i love it so much. she's so SO messed up.

brOTP: i honestly don't look at mel as someone with a lot of friends, but one of my favorite dynamics i like to run over in my head is her and clarabelle. i think interactions between them could be so so funny and honestly really cute - mel's such a self-centered grump, it would be fun to see her against someone who's so constantly lighthearted.

OTP: val/melancholia has my heart . like literally forever. they're so awful to each other in the beginning but they establish this understanding that actually means so so much to me? their dynamic is so fun to play with, and i have an au where mel ends up near val during the post-dotl time skip that i think about All The Time.

nOTP: haven't seen anyone actually ship these two, but just one thing i would be decidedly uninterested in is mel and craven. for a lot of reasons overall, but idk. with the way derek writes their relationship i wouldn't be comfortable seeing them in anything outside of what they already are - which is uncomfortable in itself, to be honest.

random headcanon: i like to think she used to be a writer, when she had free time. i don't really have a basis for it, but i like to think about 15 yr old mel with a poetry journal, scribbling down edgy lines and dreaming about becoming the next sylvia plath. i just really like the idea of her with dreams before she became the death bringer.

unpopular opinion: um. i haven't really seen enough opinions About mel to necessarily have an 'unpopular' one? i guess mine is like... i would've actually liked to see more of her and the consequences of her failing on the necromancer community.

song i associate with them: okay. a song with both vibe and lyrics that fit her would be this but i have like. a whole list of specific val/mel songs and songs that mel would just break down upon hearing the lyrics of, including satisfied by MARINA, to be seen by searows, and drunk drivers/killer whales by carseat headrest. also, the line from the arcane s2 soundtrack goes CRAZY as a melancholia song, actually.

favorite picture of them: i don't feel right reposting other people's art, but i've really only ever seen @nicstylus draw her, so PLEEEASE go check out their stuff because its brilliant <3

[finnyphcntom]

Skyrim Theives guild is my hyperfixation rn because. Like.

Okay, first, I'm looking at the parallels between Gallus and Karliah and Brynjolf and DB. Snow Veil witnesses the death of Gallus, Karliahs lover. Karliah is left forgotten and accused and hated for something she never did. They're three nightingales.

Then, the DB comes along, and realistically I honestly think its heavily implied that Brynjolf has a crush on DB. I think many lines of dialogue almost prove this. However, I will explain that in a bit. Back to parallels. The DB comes along- and again, its the big three of the guild: Mercer, Brynjolf, and DB. Picking up what Im laying down? Mercer, again, makes an attempt at DB life in Snow Veil.

I dont know if I need say more. Im fairly certain that the whole point of Mercer is that he is caught in a web of lies, and its almost the exact situation that leads to his demise.

Also, Im looking at it in the perspective of Brynjolf. I think its very clear that he has some sort of romantic feelings for the DB. Many lines of dialogue prove so;

"Ill send your regards to Brynjolf" -Mercer

"Everyone's been worried since you and Mercer haven't shown up in a while. Brynjolf went out to find you." -Vekel

The dialogue set where DB first enters the ragged flagon after starting the questline. The one where he is swearing up and down that DBis different than anyone else

" ... Brynjolf assures me you'll be nothing but a benefit to us ... " -Mercer

Him being concerned that Mercer wants to immediately throw you into Goldenglow

Following the conversation by, "You watch yourself on that island,"

Him promoting you to guild leader. Be real, over Vex, Delvin, and hell even him? It was stated that Vex and Delvin ran shit while Mercer was away. That man adores you, and maybe promoting you is his only way of repaying you

This one maaay be a stretch. But when he approaches you, he is persistent. Given he is a theif, he cant just... go around, well, telling everyone he's a theif. Maybe he thinks the DB is cute??? Wink wink shrug shrug nudge nudge. It does say that he did recruit a lot of people though, so maybe he is truly just dumb.

Im pretty sure that there is other dialogue that shows that Brynjolf is mourning your "death," but I just cant find it. However, in his mind, he subjected you to that. He was the one who recruited you; just to fall in love; just for you to die. Obviously, that may way on his conscious a bit. If he hadnt of recruited you, then you may not of shared that fate you did with Mercer. I think this is where the distancing comes into play- and its realistic too.

Also, realistically, he knows the DB is well, the DB. The DB is a celebrity, a hero. Has saved the world a million and one times, is thane in basically all nine holds, and naturally leads everything they do. Is allied with people of power (ex. Jarl Balgruuf, any jarl actually, the companions, especially circle members, literal daedric princes. You know what you get it) They are basically a blessing (or a curse) from a literal god. Everyone knows who they are, and they have saved countless of lives. Literally the harbinger of the companions. Many of them see them as, once again, an idol or hero. The world is on the DB's shoulders.

And what is he? A theif. And one that almost subjected you to death. He is a confident man- but, DB knows all these people that can provide more for them without risking them losing their title or hell, life. He sort of sees himself as a... stunt to the DB.

I do genuinely think the romantic chemistry between the DB and Brynjolf was on purpose, and that it makes sense. I feel like the shift in the relationship makes sense. Rewrite the Stars has turned into my fav Brynjolf song now, lol.

Also, he is a known womanizer and player. Maybe he wanted to play you. Its rumored that he slept with Tonilla 🤷‍♀️ So he could honest to god just be trying to get in DB's pants.

But ill chose the former. Something about him makes me think he genuinely loved the DB. Hes a sweet boy, and rather loyal once he actually commits. Maybe, because of his history, he doesnt know how to do relationships. Maybe he doesnt understand love. Maybe he doesnt know why he loves the DB, and like I said maybe he thinks he will only hinder the DB.

You're a hero and a world celeb, he's a theif whose real name probably isnt Brynjolf.

It still really does suck that we cant marry him. But at least now it makes a tad bit more sense? 🙏🏻

Forgive me for weird typing or wording. I wrote this after a long shift and I am very tired! I hope this made sense to you all. This could literally be me word bombing. I could literally think this is all accurate, and then be wrong. Thats possible. But hey, at least now you know my headcanons.

[angevinyaoiz]

It really depends!  Medieval sexuality was considered under different fundamental and social assumptions than in modern times. So even though what we would now call queer sexualities certainly existed, people of that era would not have sorted themselves into "gay" or "straight" etc in the same way as people do today. This is further complicated by the fact that there were gender standards and ideals, that sometimes correspond to modern  masculine and feminine ideals but sometimes do not.  Because of this, the "starting point" of what historical figures' specific personal sexualities are remain unknown, as all we have to guide us are external reports of their actions and how they were perceived at the time. Gabrielle Storey's article does a really good summary of this in relation to historical masculinities.

However the good thing about this is that it gives ME a lot of fun creative room to operate, which is what I do (long post so readmore)

Because of sort of more traditional portrayal rather than historical accuracy, in my headcanons I tend to stick with what works with the kinds of stories I'm going for in a way that maybe isn't historically supported BUT also isn't necessarily contradictory (I.e., no one said they DIDNT do xyz...) . I usually go with Richard as gay (very aware of it, flips between not caring and doing purges/penances for it) and Philip as bisexual (doing his best to be the most Unaware of it, leaning really hard on that "Christian brotherhood" excuse). I also like to portray Henry II as bi (no real historical "proof" of this, but every single media I've seen him portrays him as serial womanizer with token yaoi situationships), John is very straight to me but like historically in modern visual media he gets extremely gay-villain-coded in dress and mannerisms which i think is interesting to play around with.  (I've talked about how I like exploring "straightness" in yaoi stuff a lot before, so no surprise to those who know me)

However these are just shorthands bc I find character's internal specific orientations much less interesting than say, their specific relationships to sexuality based on their values. To focus on RichPhil (blorbos bias etc) bc to me Richard's identity was centered around the ability to do knighthood well I can see him being periodically unbothered by various "deviant" habits and behaviors as long as it's private and he "makes up" for it lol, vs Philip whose entire core of identity and masculinity rests on being sacral so would require some more creative delusions (i.e. having trouble coming in a woman? Must be WITCHCRAFT!!!) This is also a big oversimplification of my thoughts/hcs about them (I have a lot on Philip and his relationships with his wives over the years) but u get the gist. 

When it comes to the AUs I like trying to keep main things the same but I like being able to translate their complexes into like, modern complexes. Devilsburger is kind of a big cartoon simplification of a lot of things, so characters are in more modern tropes in that kind of young people "coming of age" type of story. So in DB Rich easily falls into that YA yaoi story trope of gay and aware but repressed/private about it bc of father issues so tries to self-define through excelling in other interests/actions, I also see him dabbling in those goofy nofap/volcel types of trends for the kind of porn purging behaviors. DB Philip also to me is more guy who likes girls but struggles to connect with them (bc of sexism but also a level of shelteredness/inexperience), also has guy crushes but doesn't recognize it as such for a while (Christian brotherhood strikes again) so just gets into some weird friend dynamics. Also Henry translates well into a modern type of homophobic divorced bi dad with wild conclusions about gender type lol.

In modern day it's interesting bc we know more about queerness and it's obviously a freer time than in the past but also people still have prejudices and brainworms and concern about safety and how they "look" to people on the outside, and those restrictions are interesting to me. (Henry Jr and John are still straight to me but they also got stuff going on ...I'm bi Geoffrey truther just bc I like giving him issues and also shipping him around. But I like to think he figures himself out in a more timely/healthy way than the others)  In general though, just like with the historical settings, I find characters’ exact identity category labels less interesting than their behaviors and thoughts about themselves in the world.

Yuriburgers is like, an entirely different level from the original AU since thinking about "what if they were girls? What if they were trans?" Kind of adds new types of explorations. Bc of that the sexualities of course have to adapt, although to me it's less trying to keep things "intact" and more trying to think organically how these characters would evolve to relate to themselves and each other in this new context. Also bc there's more freedom I can kind of make up lots of new relationship stuff, so im still kind of exploring it too.

To bring it back to my Pairing tho I think Valerie would still like men but also still have a kind of holy maiden distance feeling about it (I have thoughts about her dynamic with a modern Mercadier character but hmm ..), also it would be funny bc re her feelings for Marie-Denise she would then I guess loop back around to doing the tsundere Yuri denial "well I don't even LIKE girls" song and dance but then still getting involved in various lesbian misadventures (I want to draw her and Henrike doing their weird accidental bdsm and then feeling hmmm about it). Marie Denise I see being more into women but maybe still flirts with guys now and then, despite  not respecting them very much lol (the sacral is still strong, God's Special Girl...)

I think it's neat to play around with bc like, now in the modern day a lot of queer ppl like to kind of think back to historical people and relate to them even though we are completely different types of people from across time and place. And I think even with the difference and distance of gender and geography there are elements of flaws and virtues we can identify with and see in life even if in a time much more alien to ours.

[neeeooon]

documenting my thoughts as i read smu because i am incapable of shutting the fuck up (haha get it. cause.. shut me up... okay ill leave)

profiles: okay go off y/nnagi matching pfps and users on their priv?? rin's habit of sticking out his tongue while playing drums? #needthat. KAINESS CANON??????

ch0: y/n is so real for crashing out, love the energy already

ch1: "ig he's losing money?? weird." i love rin sm

ch2: sae keeps bullying rin but i will take ANY itoshi brother interactions atp

ch3: y/n drooling over kunigami is so real, i would too. NAGI SLEEPING ON HER CHEST??? LORDDD I NEED HIM

ch4: i feel tension between y/nnagi.. 🤨 "I'M NOT A VIRGIN" "yes you are?" is crazy. rin is in his emo era

ch5: "i want to have shidou and bachira's babies" me too girl.

ch6: BACHIRA LOOKING AT ISAGI'S DICK HELPPP (let me see too llsplspslpslspls)

ch7: nagi calling y/n his wife i can't breathe i need cpr (and him)

ch8: shidou getting rejected 🥀 BUT KAISER INTRODUCED TO Y/N (sort of) LET'S GOOOO

ch9: THUMPER FROM BAMBI IS INSANEEE. i love the references to the db jar?? ALSO RYUSAE MY LOVES

ch10: KAISER MEETS Y/N FOR REAL THIS TIMEE !! kaiser with lipstick on his neck.. get a load of this guy (I'M TRYING🥀🥀)

ch11: the boys threatening to kill nagi HWGDJWB also yes nagi and i are dating sorry you had to find out this way, bachira

ch12: that kaiser mirror pic.. im bricked up. tbh if i looked like that id be a whore too (already am one idk what im talking about)

ch13: CALLING BLU BOY LOVE UNIVERSITY IS FUCKJNG CRAZYHEHDN also shidou traumatising rin is the funniest shit ever

ch14: there's so much going on in this chapter HELPPP not y/n moaning to annoy kaiser 💀💀💀 ALSO TITLE DROP WE ALL CHEERED

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you're so funny elle i love this series already 💔 scared for the angst because kaiser is fucked in the head hello??? anyway will add on when i read the rest 🫶 mwah love you, stay hydrated and have a good day/eveninggg

- 🍡

i wish tumblr made let us have 3 pinned post cause i’m obsessed with this 😭

[samueldays]

I have made the mistake of letting myself be talked into running the Exalted RPG again. Rereading the 3e corebook, I am reminded that the mechanics are bizarrely bad in so many different ways.

Like many RPGs, Exalted has abstract skills that cover wide categories, as a matter of gameplay convenience and character archetypes. "Melee" skill applies to both dagger and polearm. "Perform" skill applies to both harp and trumpet. "Larceny" skill applies to both disguise and pickpocketing.

except for the "Craft" skill!

Craft is bought as a series of narrow subskills like Craft (carpentry) or Craft (woodwork) - yes, those are canonical examples. Some are oriented to a material like Craft (gemcutting), some are oriented to a result like Craft (weapon forging).

This is dumb in its own right, to have one skill which is sliced much more finely than the others, and so costs much more XP than the others to achieve similarly broad competence.

This is super dumb in the context of the previous edition, which tried dividing Craft only five ways by element: Air, Earth, Fire, Wood, Water. But then the previous edition quickly picked up esoteric elements like "Vitriol" and non-elements like "Necrotech" in splatbooks, and they had a great test case in Craft becoming bloated with too many subtypes, and a hint that Craft should be unified into a single skill. They did not take the hint.

And then there's Excellencies.

Exalted 2e was already suffering a problem of Charm bloat. ("Charm" is the name of a single discrete superpower, a character will have many of them.)

Exalted 3e made an attempt to slim that down by declaring that Excellencies, the basic dice-adder Charm, should not have their own rules entry and should not cost XP, being instead a side benefit of knowing a proper Charm in the appropriate Ability. It was not very effective, but there was an attempt.

And then I see that Exalted 3e reversed this decision for the Dragon-Blooded Charms, for some godforsaken reason. DB Excellencies were turned into a sort of Minimum Viable Product that is dice-adder + a tiny benefit like "a stunt award for this roll also gives a silver craft point". The benefit varies by Excellency.

So we are back to Charm bloat, PLUS de-standardization as an ass-backward reason for why Excellencies should exist as separate charms, PLUS inconsistency between Solar Excellency and Draconic Excellency mechanics in use, PLUS inconsistency at the abstraction level of character progression and learning Charms.