#and that extended even to itself. you don't like thinking about that? we won't think about it anymore! this hurts you? we've erased it :)

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

On a day that isn’t one, Sheogorath tries to break into Aetherius.

It’s just a matter of going there, really. Going places is easy. So she does.

The great golden dragon is waiting just over the threshold. THIS PLACE IS NOT YOURS, it says—or rather, the words exist where they did not before, because the dragon wills them to. Its mouth never even opens. Show-off.

“No,” says Sheogorath with a smile. “But I’m everywhere else. Why not?”

ECLOSING ONE, HALF-DIGESTED THING. YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE.

“I belong where I am. I am everywhere but here. Now I am here, so now I belong.” She starts forward.

The great head lowers to block her path, eyes ticking brightly. WHO ARE YOU?

“Sheogorath,” she says, as her mouth tries to form another name. “The eyes want to see; I brought them to have a look. They’re here, aren’t they?”

THEY ARE ALL HERE, SAVE THOSE WHO ARE NOT. The dragon blinks, sidewise. She mimics, just to see if she can. YOU ARE NOT.

“But I am,” points out Sheogorath. “I’m right here. As you see.” And then, from her mouth but Before, “Please.”

DOES IT HURT?

“Oh, no; I’m done hurting now, thank you.” She tilts her head. “Did it hurt when you ate him? Was it—the same?”

YOU UNREMEMBER THE ASCENT. IT DID NOT HAPPEN THAT WAY, IN YOUR TIME.

“Didn’t it? Opened your great big jaws and then snip-snap! Just you, and no more of him. I was there, you know. I saw you.” Sheogorath taps her temple solemnly. “But that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be the priest. I don’t think the eyes want to see him anyway, the liar. Someone else, just to look. The last one told me ‘closure’—or it might turn out ‘closer’; I haven’t decided yet how it went—”

WHO ARE YOU?

“I told you already. Pay attention.”

SPEAK TRUE OR NOT AT ALL IN THIS PLACE. The wings unfurl—the dragon blots out the void above, rumbling dangerously. AND YOU CANNOT. YOU WILL LEAVE, UNWINDING ONE.

Sheogorath does not move. She listens, instead; it’s becoming increasingly difficult to pin down the Before thoughts, the ones bound to the name she doesn’t use anymore. It was the Before that wanted to be here, where the blurred faces came. The words of the dragon are, she identifies, making the Before thoughts sad.

“I see,” she says knowingly, and discards the sadness, as she has done. “We’re done with all that, you know.”

She gives a sweeping bow. The realization flits through on butterfly wings: Sheogorath doesn’t remember why she came here. Just to see if she could, more likely than not. She’s always doing things without a why. “Well. I have places to be that aren’t here, and better conversation partners to engage.”

The dragon only looks at her, silent.

This is the correct way—the only way—for it to end, of course, she acknowledges as she turns: no matter how else it went, the dragon was always silent, at the end.

But this is a Before thought, so Sheogorath puts it away.

[theosbaby]

Brother’s best friend!theodore smut please!! Super soft!dom Theo where he makes LOVE to reader. Perhaps shy!reader as well??

thank you so much for your request! i really loved this idea. i'm sorry that it took me so long to write this, but i've running low of inspiration lately. i hope you like it babe!

𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅ casually thinking about...

brother's bsf!theo taking your virginity

NSFW content ahead, +18

you can't believe you're actually making out with the theodore nott, sprawled on your brother's bed with theo between your spread thighs. his lips are avidly kissing yours, playful tongue delving inside your warm mouth as his hands roam over your gorgeous curves, fingers gripping your sides to tug you as closer to him as possible, not leaving even an inch between your bodies.

and you swear you're on cloud nine.

you're whimpering so prettily into his mouth, your body arching against his while you grasp his dark t-shirt between your slender fingers, the sweet flavor of your chocolate birthday cake still lingering on your plump lips as you return the messy kiss with equal fervour. the act is almost sinful —you're mattheo's little sister, for god's sake. not that he cares about it right now, anyways, not when your body molds itself so perfectly to his, like you were made for each other.

theo groans into the kiss, his hands sliding down to your backside to hoist you up against him. you gasp against his mouth, wrapping your legs around his waist, and you feel him grinding against the junction of your thighs, his own breath hitching as he feels your warmth through his jeans.

your pretty cheeks flush at the intimate contact between your heated bodies, your lips becoming sloppier as you struggle to keep up with him. this is the first time you're actually making out with a guy like this, and you're feeling embarrassed, nervous and excited all at once, which is kinda overwhelming.

he'd notice how your body slightly tenses beneath him. not wanting to make you feel uncomfortable, he slides his hands back to your hips to give them a gentle squeeze, trying to reassure you. he doesn't want to rush you if you're not ready —but oh how bad he wants to fuck you.

the kiss comes to an end, leaving you panting against his swollen lips, agitated. the way you find his deep set, blue eyes looking down at you when you open yours, makes you feel weak on your knees, the blush on your face deepening. he gives you a lopsided smile, his eyes glazed with lust as he brushes your long, soft hair out of your beautiful face.

"you okay, pretty girl ?" he'd ask, his voice husky, just to make sure you're not regretting what's happening. "are you enjoying this?"

the pet name he gives you makes you smile. "yeah," you whisper coyly in response, nodding slightly while your pearly white teeth sink into your bottom lip, which is a bit swollen from all the kissing.

"good," he murmurs against your mouth, "because i'm really enjoying it too." he pauses, his breath warm against your lips. "i was thinking maybe we could... you know... take things a little further?" he leans in and starts kissing your neck softly. "would you like that?

your heart starts hammering in your chest at his words, butterflies fluttering about crazily in your tummy, but you tilt your head to the side to give him better access to your throat despite your nervousness.

"we don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with, okay?" he reassures you softly, his hands squeezing your waist soothingly.

he continues planting gentle kisses on your neck, feeling you relax little by little against him. you let out a sigh, eyelids fluttering shut.

"i wanna do it," you admit, not being able to look into his eyes as you do, blushing, "just... don't tell anyone about this, my brother can't know."

you feel him smirking against your throat as he stops the gentle kisses, cupping your face to make you look at him; there's sincerity in his eyes as he says, "i won't, pretty girl."

"pinky promise?"

you'd extend your pinky, waiting for him to intertwine his finger with yours. theo smirks as he tenderly rubs the tip of his nose against your cheek, and he tangles his pinky with yours. "i promise."

he keeps kissing you for a bit more, caressing you over your clothes and whispering sweet nothings into your ear, before he starts undressing you with such care, as if he's afraid of breaking you. and you look so pretty while you're naked beneath him, just like a precious doll.

then, he'd spread your creamy thighs and ask for permission to touch you, eager to get his hands on that gorgeous pussy of yours, which is fucking soaked just for him, your juices dripping down your pink slit and onto mattheo's sheets —that fact has him painfully hard inside his pants. is he a perv? probably.

he's taking his time preparing you, thumb rubbing your puffy clit in tight circles while he plunges his thick, long fingers in your pussy. you're so fucking tight he struggles to push the first one in without hurting you, but after a few minutes, you're taking two of them like a champ, completely soaking his hand in your arousal when you finally cum on it.

theo can't take it anymore, seeing you so flustered and hearing your sweet little moans have him on the verge of bursting in his pants like a bloody teenager, so he withdraws his digits to start taking his clothes off too, and you whine at the loss. but the feeling of emptiness doesn't last long, soon he's pushing his thick cock inside your little cunt.

you're so slick that he slides in pretty easily despite the resistance of your tight walls, his dick stretching you a lot wider than his fingers. and it hurts a bit, but it's a sweet pain that has you whimpering as you beg for more. after a few thrusts, you're cock drunk underneath him, nails digging into his back and leaving scratches that he'll have to hide from your brother for the next few days.

he actually gets you to cum on his dick too, pussy milking him so good that he doesn't even have time to pull out. he spills inside you with a whimper, pounding sloppily into your spasming cunt to ride his orgasm as he stuffs you full of his cum.

more.

[hotvintagepoll]

Do you have any opinions on modern (post-1970s) movies that you feel capture the essence (in a good way) of Old Movies?

No, unfortunately. That doesn't mean I don't like modern movies or that modern movies aren't good, but modern movies—and here I'm really using modern to mean post-2010, so contemporary movies—have different standards for pacing, characterization, budget, and production that make it harder (or impossible) to capture some of the magic of old movies. Even when modern movies clearly try to emulate that old-movie feeling—I'm thinking of La La Land, The Artist, The Shape of Water, In the Heights—they play the homage too broadly, or they ignore crucial components that make the original films work.

There's kind of too much to go into here without writing a full essay, but essentially, the Old Hollywood system—ugly, failed beast as she was—made some movies simply more accessible to make, due to the ongoing storage of props, sets, master craftsmen, crew, and onscreen talent that could move from one movie to the next without pause. If you needed a dancer, he was already on staff. If you needed a fancy bed, it was already in the warehouse. That kind of longterm storage is invaluable if you want to crank out movies quickly and cheaply because it saves so much time on individual negotiation and sourcing. Modern production companies have to work out individual contracts for every actor on every film; crew members have to negotiate rental contracts and source pieces from scratch; if you need someone with specialist skills, you have to contract them specially at a high rate, which a lot of small companies can't (or won't) budget to do. There's sand in the wheels where there needn't be any. It's wasteful, and costly, but that's the system modern movies are made with.

Which all means that even if the modern movie system wanted to make a classic movie musical just like the old ones, they couldn't, because the talent isn't already there—it hasn't been trained up enough, and there's not that breadth of knowledge you can only get from people who have been allowed to work in the same department in the same place for decades. Movies like La La Land fail, for me, because they present themselves as descendants of Fred Astaire or Busby Berkley movies, while missing the bit where Fred Astaire was a master of his craft. When you watch Fred Astaire dance—or Moira Shearer, or the Nicholas Brothers, or Ann Miller—you are watching a true artist at work, purposely showcased by the studios because they already have them on contract. Modern movies, on the other hand, tend to take people who already have star talent (as actors) and try to convert them into dancers/singers—or they pull dancers/singers off of Broadway, but then they don't have the star power built in. You end up with lackluster musicals where no one truly knows what they're doing, or they do but they're not built up enough by the studios to sell. And that's me discussing just on-screen talent for musicals—there is a huge loss behind the scenes, as well, for all kinds of movies, where roles that would have been filled by union crew who moved continuously from one job to the next have been swapped for freelance labor who live with immense turnover, financial insecurity, and knowledge loss. You could hand me the budget and I could try to make an old movie, but the industry itself has changed so much it's impossible to recapture that charm of steady, niche talent, the amazing possibilities of bonkers set design, and the ability to take a risk on a smaller movie because the other films being produced by the same studio can help balance the budget.

I've talked way, way too much about all of this! Sorry, I just have a lot of thoughts—and the one above is just one of them; the talent loss and storage issues are only facets of a much bigger problem that extends to how we watch movies today, how we market them, what we expect of them, and what's allowed in them. It's a crying shame because the talent is still there, but times change and so does the industry, for better or for worse. (And, just again to clarify, I don't think modern movies are bad—they're just missing a lot of the juice old movies got to play with, even if there's more talent available than ever before.)

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Crash and Burn 4

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: Tony Stark

Summary: a powerful man comes crashing into your life. Literally.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

You shiver and hide behind your eyelids. The air swirls around you in a cyclone as you clasp to the icy metal against you. You can't believe this is happening and yet your imminent doom cannot be denied. 

You squeal as Tony lets you go. You squeeze him tighter, knowing you won't be able to hold on forever. Not with the whipping winds and bone-deep chill.  

You brace yourself, trembling, and your feet meet solid ground. A gentle tap on your side has you tearing away as the dearth of sound and motion hits you like a truck. You look at Tony in defiance, your embarrassment curdling just under your skin. 

"That was fun," he chuckles as his mask retracts to reveal a taunting smirk. 

"Whatever. Go back to New York, I'll find my way--" 

You turn and swallow your words. Your grandmother's house is right behind you. You peer around and push your shoulders back. You really aren't winning this one. 

"Can't say I never did anything for ya. Lot quicker than the bus," he snorts. 

"Oh," you spin back to him, "so you think this makes us even?" 

"It's a start," he shrugs. "Now," he holds his wrist up as if to check the time and a projection casts from a microscopic projector. He swipes through the wall of text as a lens extends from his suit and hovers in front of his eyes. "If I'm gonna get that trailer, I need to speak with the leasee, a Darlene? Is that mommy?" 

You suck in your cheeks and puff out through you nose. It's like pulling wisdom teeth but you're getting somewhere. You put your hands on your hips and nod. 

"Yeah, I'll go see if she's home." 

"You know, I'm not sure how things work around here," he lowers his arm as the projection disappears and the lens folds back into his suit, "not sure about how things work around here but typically when someone brings you home, you invite them inside." 

You stare at him, your brows arching. He scoffs and tilts his head. 

"Tell ya what, I'll even dust my boots off." 

He kicks his feet and brushes his metal gauntlets of his chest place. All at once the suit folds into itself. You frown and examine him, trying to figure out where it's hiding under his blazer. He straightens his tie and comes out his hair with his fingers.  

"There, all dolled up to meet mom," he winks.  

You chew your lip. He's annoying but he says he's going to help. Besides, you'd rather he deal with your mom and be done with him. 

"Fine, come on." 

You turn and march away. He snickers and follows, "so hospitable." 

"Well, sorry to disappoint but we don't have a butler." You go up onto the low porch and pull open the screen door with a squeak. 

"Huh, that really what you think of me?" He grabs the door above your head as you unlock the inner one. "I sit in my ass all day and drink champagne and smoke cigars? I'll have you know I do all that and save the world when it comes calling " 

"Mm, got it." You drone as you push inside, "mom? Grandma? We got company." 

"Really rolling out that red carpet," he scoffs. 

"Stay here," you say as you head down the hall. 

"You know I don't usually take orders," he intones, his voice drifting off into words you can't make out clearly, "...kinda hot..." 

You don't think it's too bad. Your grandma's place is usually blistering in the summer but it's just about tolerable today. Her bedroom door is closed, signalling she's probably sleeping, but your mother isn't where you expect to her. Her ash tray is on the table but the kitchen is empty. 

The back door is open. You swing open the screen and lean out. She's puffing a cigarette over your grandmother's pansies. 

"Mom, someone's here about the trailer." 

"Tell the damn landlord I'm not payin' til I get a new one," she snarls. 

"It's not him." You insist. 

"Huh, insurance peddler?" She butts out the smoke on the wooden railing, leaving the stub there. 

"Tony Stark." You answer bluntly. 

She cackles, "fucking smart ass. Go away." 

You state at her and she scowls. She huffs and tramps over to you. You hold the door for her and she enters. 

"You and your goddamn jokes..." she grumbles as she crosses the kitchen.  

You stay a few feet back as you follow. She stumbles to a halt as she reaches the doorway. She coughs and looks at you over her shoulder, "holy shit." 

You shrug and shoo her with your fingers. 

"Darlene, wonderful to meet you," Tony sounds almost charming as his footfalls creak on the floorboards. 

"Mr. Stark," she preens. You haven't heard that simper in ages. "What are you doing here?" 

"Well, I did say I'd fix what I broke." He explains. "Really unfortunate what happened. Sometimes we can't avoid a little collateral but just happy no one was hurt." 

"Of course," she chimes. "Well, it wasn't much but it was our home." 

"Humble," he praises. "Your daughter has been a great help too. Such a lovely girl." 

"Eh, oh, I s'pose," her voice slants with uncertainty.  

"We got a lot of details to go over. I had my people come up with some options but I want you to be happy so I'll leave the choice up to you. Gonna take a bit so how about I order dinner. My treat, of course." He pauses and you peek put from the kitchen. He smirks past your mother, "you like pizza?" 

"Oh, Mr. Stark how generous. Whatever you like is good enough for us." She giggles. You wince. She doesn't giggle. 

You retreat back into the kitchen. She's just like those kids clamouring for autographs and the star-struck residents completely unbothered by the burning ruin. They don't see anything but him. 

[ultimatebabygirlsupremebattle]

It’s that time again! Official sign ups are now open!

For those of you who are new, this is an art tournament dedicated to our favourite babygirl, transfem Leo! This isn’t a heavily competitive tournament, our intention and focus is to give everyone a chance and excuse to brag about their art and their take on transfem Leo, we’re keeping everything fun and friendly here!

Sign ups will be open for two weeks starting today (March 1 - March 15 edit; sign ups have been extended for an extra week! Ending on March 22!) Below, you’ll find our list of rules and criteria, as well as instructions on how to submit your work!

RULES

• Both digital and traditional art is allowed! And it can be anything from a plain sketch to a fully lined and coloured piece!

• We won't be allowing edits, but tracing from the official comics or cartoons is fine! (No tracing of fanart, even with consent)

• NO AI ART! Any AI submitters will be blocked and if art is discovered to be AI at any point in the tournament it will be immediately disqualified!

• All iterations and AUs are welcome!

• Your transfem Leo does not need to identify as female, use she/her pronouns, or be fem-presenting (as much as a turtle can present as any gender anyways). "Trans" in this case is using the umbrella term, and nonbinary identities fall under that! "Fem" here can mean feminine, female presenting, female identifying, or even just using she/her pronouns! (This can get a little tricky to use as a requirement because gender is fake but basically if you think your Leo belongs here then they most likely do)

• The art piece itself must obviously include and focus on our babygirl, but if you want to draw other characters with her you can!

• For those who participated in the first season of the tournament, as long as you didn’t make it to the finals or semi-finals, you can participate again with a new submission!

• No gore, nsfw, or tcest. We don't be promoting any bashing of these things though, DNIs are fine but any variation of "kys" is not okay. Trying to keep things clean and easygoing here!

• If you’re submitting something that is part of an AU that features a triggering topic (self harm, suicide, abuse, CSA, etc.), your submitted work can not contain these topics, and the post that your submission is linked to must contain a trigger warning in the post itself (not in the tags) for those who follow our links and may be interested in seeing more of your AU

To sign up, please send us (via DM ideally):

• A link to the post with your art (so we can link to it during the tournament!)

• Your babygirl’s name (Leonardo, Lee, Leonora, etc.)

• Your babygirl’s pronouns (she/her, he/she, she/they, he/they, etc.)

And that’s it! If you have any questions, our DM’s and ask box are always open!

[entertext]

HGSN 28-1

Chapter (Japanese)

(Please hit the green thumbs up at the end of the Japanese chapter to show support)

Rough translation by me

P1

Rie: Sorry, Kayo-chan

Rie: Yes, I'm sorry to bother you, but

Rie: Please look after my mother-in-law and daughter

(sfx: tick tock tick tock)

P2

(sfx: message notif)

(txt: Tsujinaka)

Rie: I guess they'll be reaching the train station soon

P3

(sfx: ga-thunk ga-thunk)

(sfx: whoosh)

Rie: A hole, huh...

P4

Hikaru: I can't see those bands in the sky from before any more

Hikaru: What on earth were they?

Rie: It's probably...a sign of dispersion.

Yoshiki: "dispersion"?

Rie: The hole in Kubitachi isn't just one big hole, but it's probably split up into several holes

P5

Rie: The holes are connected to each other, and tons of impurities travel between them like a road

Rie: That was what we were able to see for just a moment, I think

Yoshiki: Huh? That was all impurities...?

Hikaru: Why all of a sudden?

Rie: All of a sudden? No, it was always there. It just couldn't be seen before.

Rie: The hole would have ended up like this sooner or later

P6

(Tanaka: At this rate, it'll cause a disaster any time now.

Tanaka: So I'd really like to get that thing closed somehow.)

Yoshiki: If a "disaster" occurs...what's actually going to happen?

Yoshiki: You said a ton of people will die...

Rie: If it's left alone, it's certain that "something" will occur. There's...not much time left.

Hikaru: So if the holes are closed, those bands will disappear too and there won't be as many impurities?

P7

(sfx: engine rumble)

(sfx: ga-thunk)

Rie: That's right...

Rie: By now, the entire town has become warped. If the holes are closed, I'm sure it will go back to normal

Yoshiki: Kurebayashi-san, you really seem to know a lot about all this... Thank you so much

Rie: ...I've actually secretly been looking into it myself! Ahaha!

(sfx: ga-thunk)

Hikaru: Hmmm, but why does the hole divide itself?

Rie: I'm not sure...but if it hadn't divided itself, things would have ended up like this much sooner...

P8

Rie: Ah! Of course! It was because it was divided that things lasted for so long.

Rie: By the looks of those bands

Rie: The impurities split into 3 streams coming out of the main source in Kubitachi.

Rie: There are probably 3 other holes outside of Kubitachi

Rie: The bands extended in the direction of Ashidori, Udekari, and somewhere in Kibougayama

P9

Rie: Thanks to that, the widening of the original hole in Kubitachi must have been slowed

Rie: since the impurities were dispersed to the other three holes

Yoshiki: Heads were offered to the hole in Kubitachi...

Yoshiki: and the rest of the body...

Hikaru: ..."had to be dismembered and buried as far apart as possible"

Hikaru: Right?

Yoshiki: Oh

P10

Yoshiki: Was that to make the hole disperse...?

Yoshiki: I don't know if they knew about the hole or not, but maybe what they were doing ended up being something that was necessary

Rie: The shape of this region...

Rie: You said it looks like a person right?

Yoshiki: Yes

Rie: It might be like a sacrificial doll*...

* a katashiro - a doll used as a substitute for a human in Shinto rituals. See wiki.

P11

Rie: Having the land itself bear their sins and their spiritual impurities in their place...

Rie: That might have been their intent.

Hikaru: So that's what splitting the village was for...huh....But why three?

Yoshiki: That's right, the abandoned regions of Udeiri and the southern region of Kibougayama don't have holes, right?

Rie: I wonder why? It's true that the impurities appear near places where people live

Rie: So even if there are holes, I don't think they'd come out...

Hikaru: Hmm...

Hikaru: So, in the end...

==

Next chapter: 2024/07/02

Twitter Extras:

1 (link):

History of Kubitachi

Start:

Life was difficult due to the impurities coming out of the hole, but unaware of this, people continued to settle there out of the desire for mercury

With mercury-based abortion pills as the origin, worship of "Unuki-sama" started.

With an incident where a farmer's head disappeared as the start, the head-sacrificing religion of "Nounuki-sama" was founded. The village was divided into 5, and many people were murdered.

In 1749, a "Spawn" appeared on the mountain. The Indou ancestor made a wish believing it to be "Nounuki-sama" resulting in the mass deaths.

Villagers: Who should we believe in now?...

Thinking "Nounuki-sama has become a tatarigami", the villagers believed that the god needed to be appeased, and the Indou family was assigned the duty of carrying out the ritual for generations.

Missionaries arrived, and many villagers converted, causing "Nounuki-sama" to gradually be forgotten, but in Kubitachi where the ritual continued to be practiced, that wasn't the case.

Fast forward to the present.

While in the middle of the ritual, Indou Hikaru falls down the mountain, and wishes on the "Spawn" at the moment of his death, thus starting the main story.

--

2 (link):

Bad End Routes that Yoshiki Avoided

---

If he didn't accept 'Hikaru'

Yoshiki: Uwah! A monster!

--

Hikaru: I should have just done this!

DEATH

---

If he continued to treat 'Hikaru' as Hikaru

Yoshiki: You're Hikaru, so there's no way you would do something like that.

--

Hikaru: Was something wrong with what I did?

Yoshiki: ...

Villagers, friends, ALL DEAD

---

If 'Hikaru' returned to the mountain

Hikaru: I'm going back

Yoshiki: ...

--

Continues to dwell on it in the village for the rest of his life

---

If he took advantage of 'Hikaru'

Yoshiki: You just have to listen to what I say.

Hikaru: ?

--

Hikaru: This is "love", right?

DEATH

---

3 (link): (art only)

==

[argylemnwrites]

Anyone Still Here?

So... it's been a while. I had a baby. I traveled with her internationally for a wedding. She turned one. I built a house and moved into it. I had a dental emergency a few days before my closing. Everything in the new house is now toddler proofed... until she thinks of a new way to get into a dangerous situation. I think that many life events safely defines my hiatus as "extended."

The Choices fandom is, I'm guessing, dying. I've not been on Tumblr or even the Choices subreddit with any regularity in over a year at this point, so I don't know this as a fact, but I have my suspicions. The mass culling of PB staff, the acquisition of PB by an AI company, former talent from PB starting a competing app would tend to indicate trouble on its own.

But a dying fandom is one that is more worth coming back to, though. I firmly believe that. When the original content is floundering, when fan engagement is dropping, that is the time that fan works matter the most. So, knowing that my readership is likely going to be non-existent and that my series have probably been written off as dead for quite some time, I'm looking to come back.

I've been "writing" in my mind on my commute again lately. Found myself missing engaging with these characters. Most of all, I want to finish my current WIPs. I don't know if literally anyone who was reading them before is still around. But if anyone is, I want to know if you have preferences about how I go about tackling finishing up my two unfinished TRR canon divergent series - Why Are We Still Waiting? and Fight or Flight. (And yes, I still remember how they both end, hahaha)

Not sure there are enough people to warrant true polls, so just going to post this here:

Do you prefer that I alternate between my two ongoing series, or is tackling one first, then moving on to the other preferable? If the latter, any preference on which series I start with?

Do you prefer I post as I have a chapter done without any regular schedule, or would waiting longer for me to finish the series so I am able to guarantee posting dates be better?

Would links to AO3 be acceptable if I find myself getting annoyed with Tumblr formatting, or will you only read on Tumblr itself?

If you have opinions, I want to hear them. If you've left the fandom, I hope life is treating you kindly and don't worry, I'll be posting a tag list clean up post before I start posting any writing again so you won't get spammed. If you've straight up forgotten who I am, no worries. It's been ages. Trying to find my most recent tag list is a joke at this point. I think this is my "up to date" version for my TTR stuff at least, but sorry in advance if you either should or shouldn't be included and weren't/were respectively.

Perma: @forallthatitsworth @mom2000aggie @kingliam2019 @lovingchoices14

TRR/TRH: @motorcitymademadame @iplaydrake @princessleac1 @twinkleallnight @marshmallowsandfire

@axwalker @sirbeepsalot @iaminlovewithtrr @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @hedgehogs-dilemmas

Drake x MC: @rubiwalker @walkerdrakewalker @petiteboheme @mskaneko

ICWAM: @sunnyxdazed

FoF: @burnsoslow @monstercyclops

[nalyra-dreaming]

i agree that poly!loustat is v unlikely atp, given every promo & writing choice so far. if polyam was ever on the cards for them loumand would've been a golden opportunity to set that up, like having louis truly fall head-over-heels for armand but still be in love w lestat too. instead they purposely framed it as a rebound, jacob even called it that! loustat's 'open relationship' stunt felt like joyless point-scoring against e/o & they were only ever shown using other partners to fill a void or spite the other. & as you said, the jealousy & possessiveness was heightened so much. not that they can't grow or evolve as characters, they can & should, but they'd have to change beyond recognition in order to believably handle polyamory imo! i'm not criticizing the show per se. obvs their aim was to depict a fateful gothic 'entangling of souls' type romance & they committed to the bit. if the writing stays strong i won't complain. but the adaptational changes they've made will have ramifications on future plots & dynamics, we have to be aware of it! that said, call me delulu but i haven't given up all hope of dm being poly or at least firmly non-monogamous (cuck chair anyone?) i mean i'm not 'expecting' it as such, but as dm is still undefined they haven't painted themselves into any corners yet writing-wise, the way they kinda have w loustat.

... I think there is a misunderstanding of "poly", "polyamoros" and "non-monogamous"...... and what the vampires do. Imho.

You cannot apply the normal relationship labels to them, imho.

The "cuck chair" existed because in the books Armand did not have physical sex with Daniel. So he made sure Daniel was bedded by others. That does not make them poly per se in my opinion? And I would argue it doesn't even make them non-monogamous, if you want to call it that, because it was never about bringing someone else in - it was about the physical act, the scratching an itch, and likely dominance, too, but it was never about extending the relationship of Armand and Daniel to include someone else, not really, not even the dancer they "adopted" for a while.

It's the same for Louis and Lestat, imho. They love others, but these others are not really part of their relationship. And they don't invite those into their relationship either. I think they both... allow certain things, like Gregory giving Lestat blood to strengthen him in later books (for example), but Gregory still does not have one iota to do with Lestat and Louis' relationship.

And Loumand was deliberately set up in a very specific way, and by the show, because they talked about that, and implemented it, this is not only Jacob's comment there. I would recommend this thread on it as well.

And the jealousy and possessiveness... were on display in a very certain way to give us a specific picture - so far.

We know the tale was edited. We know some very... telling parts were.

Honestly?

We will only know about jealousy and possessiveness when we enter QotD "real time" territory. And I have a nagging suspicion that the picture then will shift quite a bit.

Just my two cents. I know the term "polyamory" is an umbrella term and probably allows for any interpretation, but the show did not write itself into a corner with Loustat, nor with DM (nor Loumand). They stayed quite close to the books with them, actually, imho.

[neuroprincess]

Baby's First Flu - Melissa Schemmenti/Female Reader

Melissa Schemmenti/Female Reader

Summary: Luca catches his first flu in daycare and Melissa can't help but worry about leaving her son and wife at home.

Classification: Domestic fluff

Warnings: Sick baby, flu symptoms, breastfeeding

Word count: +3100

Unrevised

  The first sign was the most alarming for Melissa, she had prepared carrot and potato soup, the boy's favorite, wanting to prevent any cold, flu or viruses he might catch at daycare. She knows how it works at this time of the year, the bunch of small children with colds and stuffy noses contaminating their classmates like a vicious cycle. As a teacher she has seen this happen a hundred times, it always starts with one and this one usually doesn't miss class, she doesn't blame the parents for sending them, sometimes it's impossible to leave the children at home because of work. And she knew immediately what she would face when the 10-month-old turned his face snuggling into the upholstery of the feeding seat, slyly. But she couldn't believe that right in the first week back to classes. After much insistence Luca ate a few spoonfuls, preferring the tasty broth to solid food and this was the second sign, sore throat. The third, irritability, manifested itself when the baby tried to bite the redhead when she brought the spoon close to his mouth in a failed attempt to get him to eat some more.

"Tomorrow we have to take LuLu to the doctor, I'm pretty sure he has the beginnings of a flu." she comments to her wife as she enters the kitchen, already dressed for the night in pajamas.

"But how is that possible? It's only been a week since he's been in daycare." Y/N questions confused, trying to remember if she had seen any signs of sickness in the other children "The Murphy's son had a runny nose, I don't know how I didn't notice that before."

"And you couldn't do anything about it, you just started teaching again and we can't predict everything that can happen. Never underestimate the power of a child flu." she reassures the younger and stands up, taking the baby on the lap with some difficulty "God, we have to stop giving this little boy so much mashed potatoes and spaghetti."

"I told you, the pediatrician said he's almost 6 pounds over average."

"He's about the right average... for a Schemmenti." they both smile and the baby babbles between them, his voice coming out hoarse, then he makes a pout threatening to cry "LuLu, it's okay to be a little chubby." she laughs as the baby stares at her confused and brings his little hands up to mouth, sucking.

"What do you think about giving him a bath and checking his fever?" Y/N proposes approaching them, suggestively extending her arms.

"No no no, Mrs. Schemmenti! You won't get rid of cleaning the kitchen, this is our agreement, the one who cooks doesn't clean." she walks past her wife and back two steps as she is about to leave the kitchen, depositing a quick kiss on her lips "Don't forget the blender."

One of the privileges of motherhood with Luca is that the boy loves baths, maybe one of the things he loves most, after eating and playing with his mommies. He loves when his full and coppery hair is massaged when washed, the warm water enveloping him while little hands play with the toys, and the only time he complains is when he has to get out of tub. Fighting against the towel and being dried off to put on pajamas. The bath was similarly quiet, but unlike the others he didn't fight his way out, almost falling asleep in the process. Melissa dressed him in yellow Lion King pajamas. She is brushing her son's hair when Y/N arrives on the second floor after leaving the kitchen shining so clean, admiring them in the nursery doorway, just watching the cute scene with sparkles in eyes as they have a tender moment.

"Just an initial fever." Mel says without even looking back, sensing her wife's presence "We'll have to keep an eye on him during the night in case the fever rises."

"How about sleeping with us?" she asks hopefully, although the baby has always had his own room and is used to sleeping alone, Luca slept between them a few times in the first months of life. It was comfortable and practical, helped the little family sleep better in this rough phase.

"Great idea, amore mio."

"Of course, he loves to be near you. Tomorrow I'll take him to the pediatrician if he doesn't get better." the redhead is about to contest when she is interrupted "No, you won't run away from the class, I only have two classes." Y/N winks at her and rushes to tidy up the bed.

Exhaustion took the couple down easy and just lay their heads on the pillow to sleep, their son between them, resting on the baby nest bed, wrapped in his own blanket, which he is practically pet and has difficulty sleeping without. About two hours later they were awakened by a movement in the bed, Melissa was the first to wake up and widened eyes to find Luca face down, orange drool dripping from his mouth, clothes, nest and reaching the baby blanket, luckily it didn't reach the sheets. Y/N woke up next, startled by the sight. Both woke up immediately, the redhead went to wash what was dirty and look for some fever medicine left over from her younger nephews' visits, the other cleaned the baby and gave him some water, hoping that it would take away the strange taste in his mouth, and hydrate as well. She had read several maternity books which always emphasized the importance of hydration in these situations, a quick google search helped too. Minutes later Melissa returns and can't stop smiling at the scene she finds, her wife is lying on the side, her pajama top up while LuLu lazily feeds. They have been working on weaning for four months, after the introduction he barely asked to feed and has adjusted well to the new diet. Inside she was thankful that Y/N is still producing milk, after all, she always loved to see her feeding their son, feeling privileged to be part of this moment of intimacy, of connection, it's precious and at the same time so important for the baby's health. The nutrients and antibodies provided being essential for the baby's immune system, as well as strengthening it, and protecting him.

After that they had to wake up three more times to check that the fever had not risen, and luckily the opposite happened, the fever went down momentarily after breastfeeding. Without the need to use any of the meds that Mel found. The next time was to change the diaper, and it was a kind of torture to clean a baby with diarrhea at 4am, but Y/N managed, with a lot of effort and tampons in the nose. The last time was when Luca woke up at 6am with a flushed face, runny nose, irritable and crying at the top of his lungs. The fever returned and much higher, the two freaked out, calling the pediatrician immediately, after recommendations she passed on a short list of medicines and Melissa had to drive around city looking for an open pharmacy to buy them.

"Don't tell me you have a flu too." she whispers entering the house as she sees her wife sipping lemon and ginger tea while their son is lying on her lap, once again feeding "Lucky for you I also brought throat lozenges and some anti-flu for us."

"I am paying the price for underestimating the power of a child's flu. I woke up with a sore throat." Y/N confesses and settles the boy on lap, waking him up from his sleepy state, even he hadn't slept properly "I asked Jacob to cover my classes, he gladly accepted. No surprise, he loves art."

"I should call the school, but..."

"You have a commitment with many students and no one would be able to cover for you." the younger completes and smiles warmly "It's okay, honey. I understand you and we'll be fine."

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky Promise."

She comes closer and leaves a gentle kiss on both their temple, struggling not to kiss her wife's lips, also being sick isn't an option. Then she gave the medicines, giving her advice about time and amount, reinforcing the last part, worried about how this could affect their son. As well as the amount of medication the girl is going to take, since she is back to breastfeeding, even if only momentarily. Then she prepared a strong breakfast for the family and rushed to get dressed, knowing that she would be a few minutes late and with a class like the one she has now 5 minutes is enough to do a lot of damage.

"Don't forget to call me at lunch time or if anything happens." she reinforces one last time as she walks out the door, the sight of her wife and sick son makes the heart squeeze her before closing the door and heading out to start the day. The two on her mind the whole way and during class.

The wait until lunchtime was torturous, she could barely concentrate to manage the class and by great luck got both age groups to behave, resulting in a quiet morning in this matter. But inside the teacher is a whirlwind, checking her phone every half hour hoping for some text updating on their health status, maybe a picture would reassure her for the rest of the class. But it never comes.

After the night without sleep or proper rest and the visit to the pharmacy in the morning she didn't even remember to make something for lunch, luckily Barbara, who heard immediately from Jacob that Y/N and Luca are sick while he was talking animatedly about art classes, brought extra food so she wouldn't have to order takeout or stuff herself with snacks. She knew very well how her friend would react at her son's first bad flu, a little scared, flustered and very protective. She has been through this before and no matter how many times her own children have gone through the same situation she has always worried equally each time, Mel is new to the mothering world and this is just the beginning.

"No texts yet. And she hasn't answered my calls either." the redhead sighs in frustration and drops the phone on the table, turning to the pot of salad, nibbling "I wonder if something happened? I trust Y/N, but she's sick too."

"Mel, they are fine, if LuLu wasn't well she would call you immediately." Barb put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, trying to convey reassurance.

"What if she went to the grocery store to buy milk and got into an accident, the traffic could be horrible..." she began to ramble on possibilities, all negative about bad things that could happen to both, escalating to worst assumptions "What if she passed out in the bathroom and hit the head? I wonder if they are in the hospital? I mean, what if the fever..."

"Mel, your phone." the friend warned her and sipped the coffee, imagining that now she'll finally be at peace, mentally crossing her fingers that it's Y/N to reassure the fierce mother's soul.

"Oh shit, finally." the woman doesn't even try to control her dirty vocabulary when she sees her wife's name on the screen, two messages in a row.

The first is a picture of Luca, dressed in a cute jumpsuit sitting in the feeding seat, little hands clutching a bowl of orange buds.

"Hi, I'm sorry for not answering earlier, I will confess that we both passed out in bed as soon as we took medicine. We just woke up a little while ago. His fever has gone down much, he is even eating, although he seems to prefer to suckle. He has a dry cough, but everything is okay. We love you so much! <3"

She cracked a big smile admiring the picture and reading the text, feeling immediately reassured to know that the two of them are well. Before she could start answering other texts came in.

"He dropped the oranges and ran into my lap, this boy knows what he wants, cried until I let him."

Attached to this text is a selfie of her with LuLu on lap, under the blanket covering him all she can see are the little hands clutching her sweater as he feeds.

"We lost that battle to weaning, but not the war XD maybe we have to start over."

"He knows what's good."

Melissa replies and smiles, saving the picture as a new background screen.

"That's why he's obsessed with you. Oh, Annette lent us the compressor nebulizer machine, she said it helped the kids when they were sick. Can you stop by her house after work?"

"Sure, amore mio." the redhead mentally writes this down, Annette lives near Abbott, it would be easy to pick up the machine at her house.

"And it's not my fault I'm the favorite ;)" she adds.

They talked for a few more minutes until lunchtime was over, the teacher happy to receive heartening news of the situation at home, her son is not suffering with as much pain as the night before, his fever is down and, what made her happiest, that he is eating again. In the last four minutes before entering the classroom they made a quick video call so Luca could hear her voice, he laughed and vibrated every second, barely letting Y/N hold the phone properly, trying to take it from her hands and have Melissa's full attention to him. The goodbye was more painful than imagined, reluctantly she pressed the hang up button and her eyes burned to see him grumble in a start of crying when she said goodbye, not even saying they would see each other soon calmed him. The call ended with Luca calling her Mama and hands reaching out to touch her, as if he could reach his mom through the screen. An uncomfortable feeling weighed on her chest when she started teaching the class again, slowly dissipating, the positive part of having such a big and chaotic class of little kids post break is that there is not much space or time to keep letting these thoughts take over her mind when she has to take care of them. The texts that were sent afterwards also helped to reassure her, Y/N sent her various pictures of the afternoon with LuLu, there is even a short sequence of him devouring a pot of yogurt while watching Word Party, it's a total mess and the cutest thing she could receive. The rest of the day was calm and quiet, the pictures filled the space of worry and longing replaced it. She can't wait to get home, especially after the last message, which she opened in the parking lot, an attached picture of the two lying in bed, the baby resting on mom's lap and clearly sleepy, eyes half-closed and the familiar Schemmenti pout.

"Principessa, I'm home!" Mel announces closing the front door and leaves her shoes aside, without waiting for an answer she runs up the stairs towards the bedroom "Amore mio?" she calls out, no answer.

The scene she finds as she opens the door is heart melting, both are lying in bed, blankets messy as they stand side by side, Luca, who inherited from the redhead being spacious in bed by nature, has arms and legs outstretched, one chubby little foot placed on mom's face as one hand grabs the collar of her sweater, Y/N has one hand holding the baby protectively from the back and the other holding his little leg. Melissa smiles and tries not to make a sound as she approaches the duo, walking on tiptoe until she reaches the dresser on her side of the bed, leaving the machine she picked up at Annette's house on the surface. Then she takes off her jacket, throwing it on the armchair in the corner of the room, and sneaks into bed, trying to position her son so that he can sleep properly, waking her wife in the process.

"Hi, sleepy head. You feeling better?" she asks as she finishes positioning LuLu better, leaving him between them, he seems to sense his mom's presence and cuddles into her "Even sleeping, I'm the favorite."

"Little traitor..." the younger one props herself up on elbows and leans in to kiss her, but remembers the danger of giving her the flu, so she throws herself on the bed disappointed "We're okay, LuLu ate some things, not everything. He preferred to suckle. But he didn't throw up anymore, his fever is down. Which is a good sign. His cough is still there and nose is stuffy. Did you bring the machine?"

"Yes, I couldn't forget. We can use it when he wakes up." Melissa proposes and moves closer, taking her fingers to Y/N's hair, stroking tenderly "Now I want to know about my beautiful wife, how are you feeling?"

"Horrible, how can a flu that came from such a lovely little being be so strong?" the two laugh and she ends up coughing, putting the forearm in front of her mouth so it doesn't hit the other woman "My throat still hurts, headache and I'm so tired, the last time fatigue hit me like this was in pregnancy."

"I told you, you can't underestimate it." she blinks, pitying that her beloved was going through this "Did the antiflu helped at all?"

"A little bit." Y/N signaled with her fingers and smiled, trying to reassure her "I'm okay, I swear to you. No need to worry, we'll both be fine."

"But he gave me a scare in the middle of the night. I don't know what I was thinking leaving you alone with him, I can't imagine how hard your day was."

"Well, we survived and that's what matters."

"You're right, that's what matters." the redhead gets up carefully so as not to wake the baby and receives a questioning look from her wife, who thought she would continue to lie down with them "I'm going to make us something to eat, have you had a bath yet? I'll prepare one for you."

"Thank you, honey."

"It's the least I can do." then Melissa walks out the door, but returns in two seconds, with a small smile on her lips.

"What is it?" Y/N asks after a few moments of being stared at without understanding anything.

"Thank you for taking care of our little boy so well. You are an incredible mom." the teacher sends a kiss in the air "I fucking love you!" she whispers.

"I fucking love you more!"

"I bet you don't..."

Schemmenti Family Masterlist

[centrally-unplanned]

In my previous post around "ignoring election victories as events-in-themselves" we were memeing about it being a subtweet of Richard Hanania, but as I mentioned at the end it really isn't. And for a bonus reason, he doesn't make that mistake! He has a very explicit theory about "why Trump winning itself won't change the party":

This is an argument, fair enough! But I think it is a pretty bad one. The intellectual journey for this is, imo, the way that Trump beat all of his challengers in the post-2024 environment. People seemed to copy his playbook, he had halfheartedly launched a failed coup, and yet none of it was enough to beat him. It made a lot of people think, "oh, this guy is magic. No one can replace Trump"

The key weakness of this reason is that, yeah, no one can replace Trump - because Trump still exists? He was president. And he is still running for office! That is, in fact, quite normal for how loyal followers work. For them nothing has changed, why would they change? Trump's coalition is definitely not as bright as Obama's coalition so he gets a more extreme version of it, but Obama is still getting glowing reviews and polls well almost a decade out from his presidency era from typical voters. People are naturally sticky this way, it is how we work.

There certainly is more to it - Trump's 2020 lie definitely gave him a sort of narrative throughput to justify extended support for example - but you really don't need more, because this factor goes away when Trump dies. Which he will, pretty soon. And meanwhile what Trump's core wants is probably not going to go away (particularly because it is pretty incoherent). The idea that they will simply be incapable of elevating someone else to the same position is extreme Great Man Theory Brain.

A lot of this buys into this notion of 4D Chess Mastermind Trump but for political charisma, but that is silly. He is a perfectly talented politician in some respects, a charismatic guy, don't get me wrong. But he isn't like a savant; he constantly does weird, alienating shit, and is much worse this campaign as his age is showing. There just isn't any big mystery to why he succeeded (beyond the inherent mysteries of all causation): he was famous and also very committed to being a big liar who gunned for the obvious Republican weaknesses. He was happy telling a motivated base he truly understood their nativist impulses, while promising mainstream Republicans normality and his commitment to things like abortion. Shockingly few Republicans were actually willing to just Come Out And Say It like he did - like really, you can find barely anyone in 2016 who does it.

And meanwhile, Trump is not a popular politician! He isn't at 50/50 because he ran a good campaign, he ran an awful campaign. He is just up against an incredibly unpopular incumbent in a world where incumbents in every country are losing every election. Nikki Haley would have easily done better. A big part of Trump's hand-picked down-ballot candidates doing badly is that he just chose fucking awful ones because he is a dumbass. They weren't awful because they were radicals; they were bad politicians, with ludicrous weaknesses and poor skillsets. What "magic" is there to capture here? The next leading Republican politician will likely do much better than him, unburdened by all his terrible baggage and off-putting behavior.

A next leader who will be leading a party that has now been shaped and molded into one far more comfortable with authoritarianism as a solution to policy gridlock. Maybe they won't value that! Fair, I think that is possible, and even likely. Most people are just generally decent people, and voters generally find this brand off-putting. But saying that it can't happen is complete folly. And we have a laundry list of leading Republicans who have openly embraced election denial to juice those odds, and voters who love to punish incumbents for this-or-that problem of the day.

IMO this is cope, building up Trump to be something far more special than he is. Voters just like authoritarian policies sometimes, and courting that isn't magic. It alas be that way.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Your Majesty, it's so great to see you again. Come, sit down. I've arranged for tea to be served if you'd like."

King Liam of Crystal Cove was a timid creature. His parents had been murdered when he was a child, and he had been raised under the thumb of King Ben Siew to be a compliant puppet to Twikkii Island's needs. Ben had married him to his granddaughter, Celeste, who had run the country for Liam until she and Charlotte Maricourt attempted to kill the Grim Reaper with the full force of the Strangetown coven. Since Celeste's death, Liam was trying his best to rule effectively and was utterly failing. His daughter, Theodosia, had been raised by her mother to force her father to abdicate the throne upon her mother's death, but Liam had refused to budge. The throne had been his mother's final gift to him and he wouldn't release it until it was his time to join her in death. It would be him who faced off against Claudia, even if Theodosia insisted on helping him.

Claudia was more than fine with the arrangement. All she needed was her heir by her side, and her number one secret weapon, Theo.

"How kind of you," Claudia replied dismissively. "It's a bit too hot for tea, don't you think? This meeting shouldn't take very long anyway."

"We'll see," Liam answered, attempting to sound authoritative and failing. "We do have so much to talk about."

Claudia only smiled in response. With a practiced nod, she gestured towards Theo. Victoriana walked to her mother's side (though two paces behind her at all times as appropriate for an heir). Theo nodded stiffly and marched carefully towards the front of the palace. He'd been doing lots of training with the queen lately since school was out for the summer and was loving every moment of it. He got to sleep in a castle, in a luxury bedroom all to himself. He'd been allowed to visit his parents twice now, but could only call or text Adam. Adam's parents had decided to keep Adam close to them for the summer and had forbid him to be alone with the demon hybrid until school resumed. Even if Theo's powers had been healed with divine intervention, neither Edana or Ewan wanted to risk another possible injury to their son.

"So, let's just get this out of the way," Theodosia began. "The Harvest Moon Ball will not be held this year. Our sovereign ruler has given his final decision on the matter, and you won't change it."

The crown princess glared at Claudia, but Claudia didn't seem to notice. Theodosia's wife, Charlotte, had gladly abdicated the Pleasantview throne to Claudia years ago, but Theodosia still had mixed feelings on the matter. True, Claudia had a better claim to the throne, and Charlotte was almost universally hated there, but the daughter of the Red Queen had to have some sway there.

But Theodosia was failing her mother's guidance. She had been too blunt, too quick to offer her opinion. Claudia had seen her true emotions on the matter, but Theodosia had seen nothing of Claudia's.

"Of course," Claudia responded, looking appalled at the insinuation of her having come to question the king's decrees. "Pleasantview has allowed your country to govern itself for what, seventy years now? My grandfather saw the potential in a second empire during his rule, but I made a very sincere vow to your nation upon taking the throne. Under my rule, you're free to make any decisions you'd like about your country. I do hope that Victoriana extends you that same courtesy when she takes the throne someday."

"You don't have a drop of Alioto blood in your veins," Theodosia said sharply. "My grandmother is your aunt on the Goss side only. You can claim relation to any other kingdom but this one. Your claim would have to go back all the way to the first emperor, who lived centuries ago. You don't know the first thing about Crystal Cove. We aren't so helpless these days."

"Ladies, please. Let's not let the heat get the better of us," Liam pleaded, looking sternly at his daughter. "Queen Claudia has sworn to keep the peace, and so have I. There's no need for arguments."

"It would help me learn about your country and traditions if Princess Isadora transferred to Princess Zarah Academy," Victoriana chimed in. "Queen Maura’s children and King Charley's grandchildren attend Pleasantview academies, and they love it there. It would no doubt be beneficial if your future queen studied alongside her royal peers. It would be unfair for the other future monarchs to have strong friendships with each other and poor relations with Crystal Cove."

"I'll consider it," Theodosia replied, in a tone that clearly conveyed the message that she would never consider the option. "So, if you're not here to complain about the ball being cancelled, I'm curious about the reason for your visit. We love hosting foreign royalty, but I wouldn't want you to waste your valuable time on something that could have been sent by message. I'm sure there's much to occupy your time in such a large nation."

"That's a good point though. Isadora is rather isolated from her peers. My own mother was born in Pleasantview, and we have a long history of friendship between our nations."

Theodosia cleared her throat, cutting off her father.

"Dad, Isadora loves her school. It's important to maintain our traditions and not be swept up by the culture of larger nations. Especially nations that have a history of making us their colony."

"I'm glad that she's happy with her education," Claudia replied calmly. "Crystal Cove has fine educational facilities. We have a few witches in Pleasantview who like to sign up for the occasional course here to experience your culture. The last one I approved to take a class abroad made me a little crystal tree in thanks. I proudly display it in my formal entryway."

Liam looked like he was about to say something in response, but Claudia cut him off.

"I'm sad to hear about the cancellation of the Harvest Moon Ball, but I can understand your concern for safety. I've come today to share some news I've received about another concerning threat."

"Another assassination attempt?" Liam asked, gasping audibly. "Another attack on Twikkii Island?"

Claudia shook her head solemnly.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. This is a global threat, I'm afraid. It's likely related to the attack that nearly claimed Queen Maura’s life, but it's been only spread by whispers so far. The dead are returning to our realm to warn us of what may come."

"The dead are returning? Is this-could it be...."

Theodosia trailed off, looking uncharacteristically unnerved by the Pleasantview queen's words. When she had gathered her thoughts, she cleared her throat and spoke with purpose.

"Does this concern our shared brother? Has he been...experimenting with the teachings of his mothers?"

For once, Claudia was caught off guard by a question and she didn't enjoy the feeling. She had prepared to talk about the names of dead reapers being mentioned to the living, but not about Travis.

Why would she bring up the shy, sensitive warlock who loved reading more than making a friend? To Claudia, Travis was a sweet, talented young man, who just happened to be her brother. Theodosia clearly didn't feel the same way.

Travis was Theodosia's biological brother by their mother, Queen Celeste, and a powerful threat. Celeste had been a dark, ruthlessly trained witch, and Theodosia was still learning about new terrible things her mother had done. His other mother, Charlotte Maricourt, had been an ancient witch raised in the Old Ways of Strangetown. Entire books could be written about her dark legacy. Travis was made by these two master magic users to sacrifice in their insane scheme to murder the Grim Reaper. Theodosia had seen the rituals for herself the day her mother died and remained terrified of Travis' potential, despite him having grown up into a shy, respectful teen.

Travis was Claudia's biological cousin, and Claudia was no stranger to the darkness that ran in their shared genes. Pleasantview lived at least a little bit in fear of their queen because she descended from tyrants and murderers, and that was something Claudia had been trained to promote. She knew the grey areas of her life and how to reign in the darkness without ignoring it fully. Celeste had been a terrible person, but Claudia's grandfather had instilled fear in the hearts of nations around the world. Crystal Cove had fallen to him in an afternoon and the things he'd done were too terrible to repeat. Hell, Theodosia was related to him as well on her father's side, but she wasn't his direct heir, so she got to be presented as innocent and kind. Claudia knew how Theodosia felt in secret, being a descendant of deranged monsters, but Theodosia wasn't using this insight to help others. Instead, she was placing her own fears and resentment on an innocent child and expecting praise for it. The Goldmans believed in the good of humanity and in redemption. Claudia's father adopted the unwanted son of the sister who had murdered him as an infant and had never once questioned Travis' heart. Theodosia had been telling the truth when she pointed out that Claudia had no Alioto blood in her veins. Maybe if she did, she'd be an asshole to innocent children too.

"No, it doesn't concern Travis," Claudia spat, trying to reign in her anger and failing. She paused to collect herself before continuing. She had business to conduct, and punching a foreign crown princess wasn't going to help anyone. "Ghosts have been seen for the first time in centuries. Have you received intelligence on this?"

"No," Liam answered, looking at his daughter, who shook her head. "I haven't seen any ghosts personally or had reports of them. Honesty, I've always thought that ghosts weren't even real since people like your parents apparently guard the dead so well."

"They usually do. Unfortunately, things happen out of their control sometimes. I believe the ghosts are trying to tell us something important. It's my intention to learn what they want, and my parents have suggested that I might have more success learning that information with a party. Spirits love gatherings of mortals for any reason, but especially when that gathering involves food and dancing. Blood magic is apparently stronger during celebrations involving food and thanksgiving, so their theory is that ghost might feel the same."

"Is that so?" Liam asked, leaning back in his chair. Beside him, Theodosia glowered.

"Now that you've cancelled the Harvest Moon Ball, I have to adjust my plans," Claudia continued. "You see, Lukas also fears what ghosts could mean for our world and has begged me to continue my investigation."

Her words had the desired effect. Liam froze in place, terrified of the mere mention of the being who had taken his throne when they were a teenager. Some nights, he still woke up in a cold sweat at the thought of the deity returning. Claudia had him just where she wanted him.

"So, you see, since the Harvest Moon Ball will not be held this year, I plan to hold my own ball to continue my investigation. Because your ball was cancelled, I thought it was only fair that I hold mine in Crystal Cove so that your subjects don't have to travel to Pleasantview to attend it."

"You don't have the right to just announce events in another country," Theodosia seethed. Her father had suddenly gone quiet. "You can't just rent out the ballroom. That's owned by the royal family and I don't grant you permission to use it."

Claudia smiled, her face perfectly calm.

"I wouldn't dare assume to use your property in Crystal Cove. That would be incredibly rude of me. No, I was planning on holding the ball in the piece of Crystal Cove that I own. The ball will be held in the Honora St. Julien Tower, which is the legal property of Pleasantview, so you don't need to worry about helping in any way. You're rightfully concerned about safety, but I can guarantee that my security team, several units of my military, and the brightest stars of my coven will be on hand to protect anyone who attends. Your whole family is invited, of course,"

Theodosia's face was turning from red to purple at this news, while Liam stared at the table, trying to form an objection to this plan.

"Your military in our streets? Your coven out hexing and cursing our magic users while people dance in the background? You don't have the right!"

"Well, actually, my mom legally owns the Honora St. Julien Tower. It's, therefore, a part of Pleasantview, and she can do what she likes in Pleasantview," Victoriana added quickly. This wasn't entirely the plan she had discussed with her mother before arriving here, but it was close. The queen had intended on elaborating on what she knew of the threat concerning old, dead reapers, but Victoriana could practically see steam coming out of her mother's ears. Clearly, the idea of sharing information had been abandoned. Victoriana was okay with that. She hadn't been briefed in full by her mother, but even she had not appreciated the princess' lack of respect for her Uncle Travis.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, hey! Her Majesty thought you'd be here. I'm supposed to delay you while they talk a bit. Then you can barge in all you like."

Theo smiled at the new guests. Claudia had assumed that just because Lukas had asked for her help, they would have also reached out to a second person just in case. Usually, that meant the genetic line of champions they maintained to serve their wishes.

And here they were, standing before Theo. Varia, Vrai, and Leo all waved at the teen. It was just like Claudia had predicted.

"They're making you deal with this too?"

Vrai was old and tired and sick of politics. If his son hadn't nearly literally pushed him out the door, Vrai would be happy at home, ignoring Lukas' call.

"Dad, you were the crown prince of Strangetown when you were young. Politics is what you're good at, and it's not an inconvenience to spend time with me and your granddaughter on a nice day. You're still a prince, actively supported by Uncle Charley. Stop whining like a child and act your rank. We want the king to take us seriously."

Leo stared at the sky, wishing for a hole to swallow up his father and remove him from his sight. Vrai had never been a good father, and despite it being his destiny to serve, he was also a pretty lousy employee for Lukas. He sometimes behaved well when hanging out with his brothers, but overall, Leo found tolerating his father impossible. He would certainly never treat his own kids like that. It was getting to the point that if Vrai showed up properly dressed and with his mouth shut, Leo could usually get some work done. He'd been hoping that his father might pick up the conversation at the royal table and take an interest. He could make their job easier, though Leo knew he wouldn't.

"Theo! It's great to see you again! When did they let you out of school?" Varia ran to Theo excitedly, crushing him with a hug. "I haven't seen Adam in forever either. You must have so much to talk about. Was it a nice school? Did you have any favourite teachers?"

Theo laughed.

"It was the worst. Oh my god. They took my phone and I couldn't see Adam at all. I met Lukas there, though. Did they mention me at all?"

"Hmmm. I don't think so, but I don't always see them. You'd have to ask my dad. He doesn't always let me come on work trips, so I miss out on all the gossip. I have to spend more time in school before he'll let Lukas ask anything of me."

"My dad's ex-girlfriend hired me as a summer intern without asking me," Theo commiserated. "It's really cool, and I get my own room in a castle, but sometimes I wish I was back at school with Adam. Your dad probably has a point about not committing to serving a deity before you've learned how to handle them, though. Following the queen around is sometimes pretty boring."

"Your Majesty King Liam. Your Majesty Queen Claudia. Your Highness Princess Theodosia. Your Highness Princess Victoriana. I've come to talk with you all on a matter of some urgency." Leo stood politely beside the table of frustrated monarchs, waiting for an invitation to join them. The Crystal Cove royals looked furious, while the Pleasantview royals seemed to be enjoying themselves.

So nothing new then. This was how Leo had always seen the royal families act with each other. He had been born and raised in Crystal Cove, but he'd never felt respect for a monarch until he'd spent time with his Uncle Charley. Strangetown may be strange, but at least it had a functioning government.

"Of course you may join us," Claudia declared, once again acting on behalf of the king without permission. "If you have something important to discuss, then we are all glad to hear it. Victoriana, go sit with Isadora at another table and continue to think on our conversation while we speak with Leonid."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Leo said, pulling Victoriana's abandoned chair over to sit at the table.

"Is this news from Lukas?" Liam asked wearily. "If it is, then Her Majesty has already informed us of Lukas' displeasure with our choice about the ball. We were just discussing that matter when you arrived."

"No, not directly from Lukas," Leo lied. "From my uncle, the king."

The king and his daughter shared a worried look at these words.

"King Charley sent you here? For what purpose?"

"About the cancellation of the Harvest Moon Ball," Leo repeated, eliciting a deep groan from the Crystal Cove royals.

"Not you too," Liam exclaimed. "It's just a ball! We have several of them each year when it's safe to gather. Doesn't anyone else have a self-preservation instinct? The Queen of Twikkii Island nearly died, and that was just a barbecue!"

"That's why my uncle has sent me to speak with you," Leo replied. "He's been tracking the threat of this spiritual unrest, and he wants to hold an event in place of the Harvest Moon Ball. The barrier between life and death is thinnest at the time of the ball, and the spirits will be displaced if their usual schedule is interrupted. If you are unwilling to play your part in the maintenance of the world, then His Majesty will do so for you."

"It's just a ball! Besides, Queen Claudia has already threatened to have her military in my streets to hold her own ball in place of the Harvest Moon Ball. Are you both going to fight over the same day?"

Claudia smiled at Leo, and he grinned back.

"Not at all," Claudia said confidently. "There's a window of time where the barriers thin. We could easily pick separate days. In fact, if we stretched the events over a weekend, the spirits might be even happier."

"My uncle is very spiritual," Leo continued. "He would gladly hold a spiritual gathering to uphold the Old Ways during the day, with every intention of joining Her Majesty's ball at night."

"I would gladly attend such a spiritual gathering," Claudia added. "My parents and their coworkers might also want to attend. My mother is a descendant of Holy Queen Jasone, after all. I extend the use of my property within the boundaries of Crystal Cove to your uncle to hold this joint event. With my military and coven, and your uncle's military and coven, plus at least my parents' reaper team and possibly more, I think this event will be well protected. People will flock to this event due to the disappointment of the Harvest Moon Ball's cancellation, and we can assure them that we will protect them where their own king could not."

A silence fell over the table as Liam considered his options. This had to be at least partly Lukas' fault. Their employees wouldn't be here unless the deity had forced them to be here. Leo would still be advocating for his uncle, sure, but Varia and Vrai? Liam could hear Vrai complaining from where he sat. Claudia had admitted to speaking with Lukas when she revealed their anger at the ball's cancellation, but she was grinning too much at the thought of holding an event in his country. Lukas might have inspired some of this, but Claudia and Charley were exploiting this weak spot of Liam's. Every second he refused to hold the ball, the greater the chance that the other monarchs got even more ideas to make him look weaker.

"Sorry about my grandfather. Mom says that he's seen a lot of bad things, which makes him paranoid and that we should go easy on him. I agree with your mom. Cancelling the ball is stupid."

Isadora smiled at Victoriana. The gesture seemed earnest, which Victoriana thought was strange. No one in line to a throne ever relaxed in front of the other royals. The teens' mothers certainly never let down their guard around guests. Hell, sometimes Victoriana saw her mother wear her "I'm the queen and you will all obey" face for days. Princess Theodosia seemed to be equally distant, something her daughter didn't seem to share. Isadora was sheltered by her paranoid parents and was deliberately kept out of the school in Pleasantview where she could make political friends. To Victoriana, the princess' life was depressing. Claudia gave her plenty of choices to make on her own, even if the queen frequently interrupted her daughter's life when it was necessary. Even though Theo had been hired for the summer without knowing it, Claudia still allowed him every luxury owed to him as a guest of the queen. Theodosia looked like she ruled her daughter's life without restraint.

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Victoriana said charitably. She smiled back at the princess. Isadora had a beautiful smile.

"Hey guys! I mean, greetings Your Highnesses." Varia charged across the lawn and unceremoniously greeted the other teens. Her dad's work didn't often involve kids her own age, and she'd much rather hang out with princesses than listen to her miserable grandfather. "What's going on?"

Victoriana grinned at the sight of Varia. Varia and her father were frequent guests at the Pleasantview castle. They didn't see each other often outside of their shared science class, but Victoriana liked to think she and Varia were friends.

"We're talking about the Harvest Moon Ball and how much of a baby Isadora's grandfather is," Victoriana explained, causing Isadora's face to flush with embarrassment. "Everyone wants this ball to happen, even Strangetown. I think my mom's about to invade Crystal Cove just so it happens."

"He's just being sensible," Isadora protested. "My aunt died in the attack that killed Queen Cherry. He's never really recovered from that loss. It's okay to be safe sometimes."

Victoriana rolled her eyes.

"Sometimes, but not all the time. The man is afraid of his own shadow. My mom always says that a monarch has to take risks and go on the offensive or they risk everything they have. A lot of powerful people would be angry if she didn't rule the way she does. I plan on following her path one day when I'm queen."

"That's easy for you to say. Your mom has all the resources she needs to act like she does. The queen of Pleasantview gets everything she wants," Isadora complained. "Everyone is too afraid of her to go against her."

"Fine! I will hold the Harvest Moon Ball as scheduled as long as both of your kingdoms leave your militaries at home, and Strangetown's spiritual gathering is contained to the tower."

The teens could hear the king's frustrated declaration from across the yard. Isadora continued to flush with embarrassment, while Varia couldn't keep a snort of laughter from escaping.

Victoriana grinned proudly.

"Like I said, the queen of Pleasantview gets what she wants. One day, that's going to be me."

[sangreprince]

Headcanons: Zagreus, The God

Who Zagreus is as a god is a complicated question, but one that boils down into a semi-simple answer: He is the god of blood, sweat, and tears. In other words, determination. This is gonna be broken into a few parts to avoid yapping so people can easily find the lore they're interested in.

1. Overview & Sources

2. Abilities

3. Personality / Alignment

4. Following

1. Overview & Sources Borrowing from his etymology first, I'm sourcing mostly from Dionysos by Karl Kerényi. A lot of what he is as depicted by SSG comes from that and I'm similarly drawing from those sources. There's other conflicting information out there such as some of the materials in the Greek Epic Fragments by Martin L. West, but I personally won't be referencing it since I don't believe much of that was sourced for his character in this specific portrayal. That said though, I do recommend people check it out regardless as there are some things in there that also seem to be the basis for what SSG establish (Such as some lines cited by Timothy Gantz). That said, I also borrow (what I can) from the Sisyphus epic as detailed in the Aeschylus, which you can find online under West as well. Mainly this pertains to not only his nature as the Son of Hades but also his specific function within the Underworld. My portrayal is kind of a mix of those sources, heavily inspired by the tones SSG set in their own interpretation of the mythology.

Because we don't actually know a lot about the historical Zagreus and some of the information is conflicting, especially regarding Orphic tradition and his relationship / identity with Dionysos, most of my portrayal is going to be a mix of filling in the blanks with my own narrative based off of (primarily) the sources given. There's a lot of mixup there regarding Zagreus and Dionysos that I won't really be touching for the purposes of this blog. That said, I strongly believe in being authentic and respecting the source material! If you know of any good sources. That said, if anyone has any ideas or thoughts regarding this please let me know some source materials I can go over!! Mediterranean history and mythology is something I'm going to try and respect and acknowledge, even if some liberties are taken for the sake of distinction. Comments should be open for this so if you've got sources, feel free to paste them below!

I'm using these two sources alongside the story established by SSG to sort of form my own narrative with Zagreus. That said, if anyone wants to read them I'll source them here!

Kerényi, C. (1976). Dionysos : Archetypal image of indestructible life. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA52740670

West, M. L. (1990). Studies in Aeschylus. In De Gruyter eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110948066

2. Abilities.

Zagreus is Hades's son. He is undying, unable to die except by extremely unconventional means that would sever his link to the cycle of life and death itself. But that isn't to say he can't be killed. He is still partly, even if only by a small margin, mortal. This allows him to be vanquished by any conventional means that would otherwise kill a regular human. Even if he's a god, he bleeds. He can be bested.

'Zagre' has its roots with 'zoë' and 'zoön', the Greek words for 'life' and 'living thing' respectively. I take this to mean he can be killed as any living thing can, a narrative the game-play supports. Taking a 'Yes and' improve approach to that, I also feel like part of what makes him formidable however is his influence over the blood of living things. This can extend to the ability manipulate the blood in an individual's body to a number of effects, such as making wounds that never heal on their own or stop bleeding. This would reflect the casting ability he has, and possibly was even one of the sources of inspiration for SSG in regards to that mechanic. Secondly, taking that prescient I'd like to think he could also control the flow of blood in a living creature to varrying effects. Heightening senses, accelerating heart-rate, even using the blood of living things to heal himself. But nothing on the level of say, water bending. His power is a lot more subtle than that.

Additionally, his name (and even Artemis in game) suggests he's a fantastic hunter. And that, I think, is where much of his actual formidability comes from. An exact translation of his name would be something like, 'catcher of game' and I think that's appropriate. He is a fighter trained by Achillies and a hunter favored by Artemis that cannot die. What makes him frightening as an enemy is the fact that, no matter what you do, he's just going to come back. And every time he does, he gets a little bit better at fighting you. And that should be terrifying, were it not the fact that Zagreus can be reasoned with. It would be a nightmare if you couldn't avoid him simply by laying down your weapon and engaging in a dialog. In as much a way that he is a god and an unstoppable force, he is still his own individual with principles. Among said principles is mercy, understanding, and compassion.

But to those that don't heed that? Zagreus is and should be frightening. Because he is stubborn. In that way he is Hades' son. And he will never stop until one day, eventually, he bests them. It isn't a matter of 'if', but when.

3. Personality / Alignment

As a god, Zagreus is... Fairly outgoing. He doesn't believe himself above anyone else, living or dead. In much the same way his name derives from 'living things', he's very compassionate towards mortals and doesn't place himself on a pedestal regarding them. If anything, he views his power as a god as a responsibility, a trait his Father instilled in him after much effort. In this way, he uses his power and influence as a god in service of the living despite being a chthonic god of the Underworld. But from a distance. He knows that power can corrupt, and his influence carries weight among the mortals that acknowledge him. So he prefers to be more of a distant but dedicated figure, one who only intervenes when inaction would be detrimental to all parties involved. Including his conscious.

For the same reason, he doesn't to reveal his nature as a god too often to those that don't already know. He understands that others might perceive him differently as just another being with their own agenda and morality if they view him through the lens of a god. They might think because he is a god and thinks these things, his opinion should be held with more regard than somebody else's. And Zagreus just doesn't believe in that. And more than that, it often introduces a power dynamic he simply isn't comfortable with in most instances.

4. Worship Zagreus is often misunderstood by mortals. Often, they see that him and Ares are close and, considering his affiliation with blood, make him out to be somewhat more of a sacrificial deity than he is. Mostly they perceive that he's the good of blood without contextualizing that he's more than that in a literal sense. Zagreus's domain more subtle, less 'blood and conflict' as it is 'blood sweat and tears'. He's portrayed as a stubborn, defiant, persistent and I'm inclined to believe he's the of god of effort and 'bleeding for your passions' so to speak.

While this does have relationships with conflict and battle, as you would naturally expect,  it's hardly what he represents on the whole. In regards to most of the people that follow him, he almost has this bitter and hesitant relationship. He doesn't necessarily endorse the collection of people who see him as a sort of god of passionate violence and bloodshed which. Is only a partial truth, and one he isn't fond of.

Ironically, a lot of the times the mortals he actually admires don't' even worship him at all. To an extent, Zagreus actually prefers this.  He doesn't seek worship. So when people actually come around and understand him and pray that fit that niche of being stubborn and passionate people who bleed for their convictions and invoke his name? He's' probably one of the easiest gods to talk to individually, as well as work with on a practical level due to his compassion and natural intuition.

[asksuccubussides]

Logan! *pokepokepokepokepokepoke*

How old are you and how old do Succubi normally live?

Do you and P have any friends that know what yall are?

I don't think Remus is going to come to you for that pre-kill discussion. What were you wanting to say?

Do you and P have any pets?

*pokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepokepoke*

What's the arm scar from?

"I was born in 1624 which if my math is correct, and it is, that makes me exactly 400 years old this year" His eyebrows perked up slightly "Huh...I hadn't realised I was turning another century this year. Even numbers are pleasant"

He took a moment to smile to himself before continuing to answer.

"According to my calculations for every 100 years Succubi age about 7 years, give or take. Which makes me about 60 which I would agree is accurate. My husband is about 65. I'm not sure how many succubi reach our age, from what I know I believe most succubi move on to some other job in Hell after a certain age...or get punished...or sadly killed in some other way, there's quite a high turnover rate for that job"

Logan got distracted thinking about demon pensions for a while before getting distracted by your next question that made him look wistful.

"Friends? Not right now, we've been focusing on settling down recently. The humans who knew have died and some demons have moved. I enjoy the peace and quiet to be honest. There are only so many years of socialising that you can take especially as you get older, But I have enjoyed speaking to Remus, but don't tell him that!" He perked his eyebrow up slightly at your next question "Oh he will, I believe he will. If he doesn't that means he wasn't ready for that information and staying in ignorance is of course his choice to make. But sure you seem to be a distinguished..thing..so I can tell you. I was going to-"

"HONEY! THERE WAS A SALE AT THE SUPERMARKET!" His husband announced while bargingin in through the door "I BOUGHT CAKE!"

"We don't need cake"

"I need cake!"

Behind his husband their big hellhound came waddling in and immediately jumped up on the couch beside Logan before putting her heavy saliva dribbling head in his lap.

"Oh the person is here again, I won't disturb" Logan's husband gave him a quick kiss before motioniong for closing his own mouth and moving to the kitchen to put the cake in.

"Well that should answer your question about our pet" He put the hellhound's paw up to wave at you "This is Nico the fourth. She's a Mastiff-hound and a metaphorical slober machine. Sadly while Hellhounds do live longer dogs still have a shorter lifespan than demons. Nico the third passed some years ago but this Nico is just as lovely. She's turning 16 soon"

Nico still looked like a 3 year old dog at most. She was as huge as a regular mastiff but her hye was slightly purple and when she opened her mouth to yawn you could see she not only had abnormally large fangs but also two tongues. Her claws if extended could become several inches long.

Logan began to wave his tail back and forth which made Nico leap down on the floor to try and catch his tail. Free dog toy.

You poked Logan exactly 15 times right in the face while he sat there expressionless except for his horns turning a darker shade of blue.

At your last question Logan rolled his sleeve up and looked at the rectangular scar covering his forearm as if he hadn't thought about it in a while. In the same way Janus looked at his scars in the mirror with mild disinterest after years of seeing them. It faded into the background like a commute to work taken every day.

"Oh that....That's from a bit after me and my husband met...yes in 1645, I remember it because there was a terrible plague in Scotland were we were living that year" He looked at the scar again "To be honest I don't remember much of the event leading to the scar itself since I had an awful fever at the time but my husband was there and he's told me what happened"

"Please don't bring that up while I'm eating delicious cake. You're going to make me sick" His husband interrupted as he came back into the living room.

"Sure my love" Logan turned back to you who by now was getting chewed on by Nico "I hope that satisfied your curiosity. It was.....not unpleasant to have company"

[viaphni]

Writing another corrupted colors theme, but this time about the Chromatics

because there is something so FASCINATING to me about their story despite how little we actually know

The Locks of the Ores, the erasure of history, the revenge of the colors

Unhinged analysis time

Until Corrupted Colors, our knowledge of this universe's residents extended only to the existence of the Ores. Weaker, less powerful, lacking some of the key abilities that typically accompany Steves in their energies—because they were locked away. To access one's true potential within them, they had to snap. To break the Lock that lingered in their soul and have the rites of power they were made with

But a Lock is not natural, not native to the normal state of people

For there to be a Lock, somebody had to have placed it there, thrown away the key — but who?

Diamond learned of this Lock through Lapis when they had just met one another, talking in his bedroom. That this energy, the force behind this Lock, drew its origin from a different, unknown type of Steve. But not even Lapis knew who.

Later in the show, in the lab, Professor Red told his tale of the Chromatics to Lapis and Diamond. The story of their origin and of their past.

A story linked to Chaotic.

"Before the Ore Steves, there were Chromatics! Red, Blue, and Yellow. And... some others. Don't ask.

Overall, life was peaceful. Until... The First War. It caused Chaos, Pain, and Destruction.

The Creators of this world who watched over us decided to forsake us. And punish us. For ruining the world.

Now. What happened to them, you may ask?

...Punishment."

And the Chromatics were gone. It's such a vividly awful sight in my mind, the idea of the very gods who formed the world wiping out their own creation in face of their own impurities, washing the world clean with the blood drawn of their people, if there was even time for blood to be drawn

If there is something I think is missing in a lot of Steve shows, it is the viewing of gods and Creators as truly holy beings, beyond the comprehension of the mortal mind, even if in the slightest ways

The idea of such a devastating purge by the hands that held the very power to make this world real in the first place

It is a terrifying sight

And more terrifying to think that this history was erased almost completely. Even Lapis revealed that he believed this "First War" was the Diamond Civil War

History has been rewritten to reflect the will of their Creators. And now, it's being dug up by force.

The Ores were the product of this purge, beings of the blank slate, freshly created. The Lock on their power, to keep away such catastrophes that got the Chromatics killed.

But this is where we get into Chaotic.

From a different analysis:

"It was revealed that Chaotic seemed to be the very essence of Chromatics ("It seems like the pure essence...of Chromatic energy."), seeking vengeance, the betrayals of their people. Chaotic is constantly switching attitudes, constantly contradicting itself, seeking to infect and overtake the Ores. The infection is messy, a swirl of all the colors. It wants to come back."

It wants to come back.

It seems that even in death, the Creators could not erase the stain that Chromatics were on their world. That something was left behind to linger, festering in the long years that followed after the purge, seeking only itself and coming and growing together into the conflicting, colorful amalgamation that is Chaotic.

"I AM NOBODY AND EVERYBODY. WE ARE EVERYONE."

"NO! WE WON'T HURT ANYONE!"

"NO NO NO! SHUT UP!"

"We won't forgive him..."

These are some of Chaotic's first lines in the show. Given its recently revealed motives, it makes everything clearer and clearer.

There seem to be the spirits and souls, at least the consciences, of the Chromatics, melded together and moving as one. There are some who are merciful towards the Ores, seemingly accepting of their fate—but others hold the fury that drives them to infect and overtake, color swirling over the land and across the bodies of the mindless infected

"We won't forgive him."

It appears they will do anything they can to return, crawl out from the abyss they were banished to, claw their way from weakness to dominance once again, clearing their path of recognizable Ores until all that is left is that mass of color, anything to return, anything to be worthy again, to be desired and seen and understood again

"We won't forgive him." and who could he be? I assumed it was Origin but apparently he isnt involved,,,

Not forgiving him for taking their lives and leaving them forgotten. A mistake. A simple screw up. Leave it and move on.

But this is nothing new. We've seen the tendency for memory of the past to never quite fade fully— not only the survival of some Chromatics (Red, Blue, Great Librarian), but the remnants of Diamond's memories from LOTB... flashbacks, hallucinations, familiar feelings, wherever they may have returned from. The Creators seem to always let something slide. You'd think they'd all have been erased from existence. So why are they still alive? Why is Chaotic roaming the world why those who sought to keep its original forms dead—do seemingly nothing about it?

Or perhaps they are, and we cannot see it, or maybe the rage and fear of the Chromatic amalgam is so strong that it even overpowers the gods that made it

Maybe it has grown to an equal match against its oppressors.

This is. fascinating to me

[beautifulpersonpeach]

I feel like the ot7 "love all members equally" became such line pushed from some of the fandom in response to solos acting up and attacking anyone who they thought/think doesn't support the member they stan. It was almost a direct response to the "fake ot7, you're a ot6 or x member anti" that has become such a copy paste attack, so it almost became a copy paste response.

A world where each solo work is as equally supported or successful was unrealistic to anyone not too caught up in stan life. Taking member popularity out of the equation, even Bts songs perform differently and have different success levels depending on the actual song type, the release strategy etc. I think some people forget that despite army being massive they are not a hive mind for one, but also Bts have a lot of fans who aren't actively engaged in online fandom life or stan culture. Casual listeners, people who consider themselves fans, but don't spend any time online in kpop spaces, general music fans who like them. People like to put all their success on fandom, which yes Army play a massive role in, but they end up being very dismissive of the mystical gp people talk about so much. Bts have general music fans as listeners. If army was singularly responsible for everything then every bts song would perform as well as if not better then the previous and we know that in itself isn't true. It was the goto after Dynamite and Butter to treat anything not reaching those levels as a failure. If we can acknowlege their own group songs perform less well (well less well by chart watchers anyway) by being a korean ballad over an upbeat pop song, then that also extends to their solo releases as well. Infact most music artists have songs that hit and songs that miss charting wise despite having their own fanbases to help push them.

It's also perfectly normal for people to have preferences. Nobody loves each bts song equally. People prefer different genres and will act accordingly. Personally I'm more rapline biased so I naturally prefer and listen to their solo music more. On opposite side I've never really connected with Taes solo music prior to chapter 2. Does it mean I hate him? No it just means I have a musical preference.

People criticise army for being brainwashed and mindlessly supporting everything whether they like it or not, then criticise army for not being brainwashed and letting preferences show.

I guess my point is that we can't say Bts have broken through beyond kpop meaning getting on the radar of non kpop fans and then try and pin everything about them at this point onto only their kpop fandom. There's a difference between being a stan and being a fan and Bts don't just have stans they have fans. Look at how wonderfully diverse army can be from race, gender, age etc and you think all those people are sitting on twitter or tiktok? That every single butt that fills those stadiums also has an online stan account? It might come as a shock to solos, but even people whe might like one members solo music won't automatically develop a hatred towards their group and other members because general music fans are not hyper competitive in that way.

It's like Yoongi talks about people seeing the world in black and white, when most people are grey. Stans, certain factions of army, solos etc they see things about Bts, the members, Army and achievements in black and white, but there are many Army or general Bts fans that exist in the grey area and the grey area isn't a hive mind so people need to stop expecting the actions and results of one.

Anyway sorry for my rant, it's not directed at you bpp because I feel like you'll understand what I'm saying. I've been thinking about it for a while and its a topic you've been discussing recently, so it just came out.

***

Yeah, I get what you mean and agree for the most part.

I'll copy-paste what I said in the replies earlier:

"The notion of ‘equal in every way every time’ is a mantra that actually comes from solo stans, that ARMY started mirroring back because in group systems, nuance isn’t well communicated. The reality is that while all the guys are equally responsible for the group’s success and should get similar support over the course of their careers, the nature of that support will likely change depending on year/era/concept etc. It requires us to focus more on ‘equity’."

I don't really blame the fandom because I understand it's easier to say 'treat the members equally' when what you actually mean to say is 'Recognize all the members contribute equally to the group and should get your support if you claim to support BTS within your means, preferences, and ability, no matter how that support looks like. Also, 'support' doesn't mean interloping their team and management to push your own preferences on them if what you see isn't what you like.'

BigHit has always seemed to highlight different members or sub-units of members in different eras, rather than equal focus on all seven all the time. It's like the line distribution discourse: they select different members to use in different ways depending on the song. Someone doing only adlibs could just as much to add to the quality of the song as someone with half the lines. Like I've said, BTS is a team, a utility tool, or a room of weapons that they all decide on strategically using to elevate the whole group from time to time. From my observation it was:

JK + rapline - 2013

Jimin + rapline - 2014 - 2015

Jimin + Jungkook - 2016 - 2017

Taehyung + Seokjin - 2018

Seokjin + OT7 - 2019

Jimin - 2020

Taekook - 2021

JK / OT7 or Chapter 2 - 2022 till date

It doesn't mean the other members were being 'mistreated' during those times either despite the akgaes of those members being absolutely convinced this was happening. BTS is just continuing in Chapter 2 a pattern they've showed throughout their career. All the members' debuts have been of outstanding quality and have been some of the best releases this year. It's clear the members ideas drove the music, concept, and presentation, and they're all reflecting on how to improve based on the feedback they've received. That to me is the most important thing in Chapter 2, and why I simply cannot force myself to be worried for them. That also would not have been possible under a company that's looking to stifle them or limit their potential. It's simply not how these things work here. Jungkook and Seven is the weapon they've decided to use this time and I hope they're successful.

"People criticise army for being brainwashed and mindlessly supporting everything whether they like it or not, then criticise army for not being brainwashed and letting preferences show."

Like I keep saying, it's a myth that people in the fandom are being coerced to support everything BTS releases. The fact is everyone here does what they want, and the overwhelming support BTS gets is because they have that many fans who genuinely like what they put out and want to support it. The results frankly speak for themselves and many narratives from multis, mantis, akgaes, and other k-pop stans, haven't matched the reality for a long time. The only reason it's still spread is two reasons: copium and hate.

*

It doesn't surprise me that the fandom is in this state tbh. I did a poll three months ago asking when people joined the fandom, and it showed ~60% of the responders joined after 2020. And many of these people are in jikook spaces (given I posted the poll on my blog) so I'd assume many could be very heavily biased to one or two members, and that's usually a pre-cursor to becoming a full-blown akgae unless someone actively de-radicalizes themselves. The only limiting factor for that transformation, is time.

I've been getting an ask from an acct for months asking the same thing. It's like they copy-paste the exact same ask into my inbox at the same time every week. I've never replied. One time they slipped up and posted the ask without being anonymous, so I saw their profile. This person was asking me why people in the fandom hate Jimin, how there were many OT6s, how they think I'm one myself, how they didn't understand how someone as sweet as Jimin would have people dislike him much less hate him. I looked at that person's profile, saw their following list filled with self-avowed PJMs whose blogs were more about 'Tedros', 'Payolakook', 'arrogant, selfish, stingy Yoongi and Namjoon', 'useless Seokjin', and 'sweet j-hope' (I'll come back to this), than anything about Jimin, his words, and his art. In fact, j-hope who was initially lauded on one blog as Jimin's only true friend in BTS (it doesn't escape me how he's had the furthest debut time from Jimin), was a fave until someone pointed out how he 'hogs' the dancer position in BTS and that he actually released On The Street close to FACE, and then Hobi became an asshole too according to those PJMs lmaooo. Like, these people just have such a simplistic, juvenile approach to BTS that I'd assume they were children, if not for the fact we see the same thought process play out in our politics - the realm of so-called adults.

Looking at that account's posting history, it was clear this person likely wouldn't think of themselves as a solo stan. Maybe just someone with a heavy bias who 'doesn't want to be in an echo chamber', or feels interacting with that part of the fandom is necessary to properly support their bias, or who wants to see frequent updates related to their biases; but it amused me how they could not draw a connection between their actions, their tolerance of hate towards members they don't think are as important/talented/etc as Jimin, and the state of the fandom towards the member they like. Like, do they think they're the only 'heavily biased ARMY' who casually scrolls pages that treat their bias like a god but nitpicks and tear down other members for real and perceived slights? Do they not see how they are creating the very problem they're observing? A lot of people are comfortable with supporting relentless 'criticism' or flat out hate thrown at other members (maybe even a member that person also doesn't like), but then act surprised that someone else in the fandom is just as comfortable with that mindset towards their bias. These people are mirrors of the exact same behaviours they say they hate, just towards the members they don't care about.

It's one of the most curious, hilarious, cognitive dissonances I see in these parts tbh.

But anyway, unless there's something drastic that splinters the ease with which people like this can stay and move around in the fandom, the situation will only worsen towards a full implosion. And if JK indeed gets a nomination, I'll be very happy. For many reasons. But the tantrums and resulting chaos will be a pain. If he doesn't get a nom, the heaving sighs of relief from the fandom too will be a separate problem loool. And then, *gasp* another k-pop act snagging the nomination and/or winning? Might as well become a prepper and plan for Armageddon.

Fun times ahead for the Purple Bloods! :)

[hungnitan]

Penacony TB 2.0 Impression

Contain very heavy spoiler so don't click keep reading below if you don't want to get spoil (JP DUB)

I won't talked too much about story here since everyone can read them

Story Impression

I don't know if I miss it but has anyone explain the graveness of someone dying at dreamscape ? From some side mission, I think it's just they will comeback to reality ? So why at TB they made us think like we died for real ?

I only can hopefully think hoyo will explain it at later date ! If not, then it's just Xianzhou Luofu things again...

But I quite like the course of story so far despite above and the fact it's very similar to Flamechaser premise of story. I think anyone who play HI3 should notice these. As now the premise are grouping a very range personality people together in same place -> kill them one by one -> spreading distrust to MC and yeah those same premise already happened in Flamechaser stories...

Remember seeing this flamechaser editing pict ? With current story, I guess it shouldn't be that far with changing March7 to Sunday and now hoyo just killed 2 person easily and with Misha get mentioned too much in 2.0 I can't push him away from picture~

And with just 2.0 aside Family will doing something fishy, I can't grasp the main problem at Penacony plus (literally) everyones have their own morally gray goal which make things complicated especially someone like Sparkle which doing things just to make it interesting or Acheron basically hunt injustice equally.

2.0 Important New Character

Firefly, I kinda had Yuuki SAO impression from her so I can't even sad she's gone since I already know the very same "someone terminally ill dive into dreamscape-like to extend their lifetime" premise (plus she still hiding something important even for Sparkle came to us disguise as Sampo lol) but wow hoyo really kill her in brutal and clean way...

It's just this pict hit my heart of course if she's really dying later don't know though

Aventurine, his JP VA Kengo Kawanishi doing a good job voicing him as calculated tricky but bit mellow person. At most scene I'm suspicious of him since he's sounds very similar to Akira Ishida (but his "my friend" line keeping me laugh lol) but one thing I'm sure after read 2.0 about him is he will become a important character even in future version. Why ? He's having too many background mentioned scene

(1) This "Sigonian" bloodline things get mentioned at two scene, other one from Sparkle after made a comment about his unusual eyes. Seems that bloodline connected to his other form~

(2) This one too direct line came from Ratio (lol) saying about he's just a slave to IPC which he brush it lightly

(3) But weird enough when he talked about his family, Ratio suddenly apologies. It still too early to say this but maybe ten stoneheart are all extinct people got taken/buy by IPC

What's more, just what's happened at the end of stories ? Same like Firefly case with Sam, we can't conclude that Aventurine killed Robin with that scene... fyi, these scene too moreless same as Flamechaser story and in the end suspect isn't killed anyone lol

Why only those two ? So far Acheron and Black Swan only become our bodyguards (lol), Sparkle playing around us in her own interesting ways, Ratio isn't doing things too drastically to us he's too busy to wipe his wife sorry ass lol but those people seems have same purpose, keeping eyes on us in this point too is same like Flamechaser story lol

PS : I kinda had some nauseous a bit while playing at 3d maps but so far it's very fun, I need another weeks for all complete I guess. Well, I had Genshin too but the maps itself really big and too many side things to do (I already saving 15 side mission after exploring half of Penacony)