#anyway that’s like my new fascination. i love trying to decide which breed is my dream breed LOL

[zebrafiz]

my face after looking at all the dog breeds in cas and seeing 5758493748593 doodles but no belgian malinois

[xgoldentempest]

nsfw merman au feydpaul thoughts

i am thinking CRITICAL thoughts about feydpaul mermaid au...either feyd as this otherworldly creature (could be merman, shark, octopus?), cast out of his pod because of his ferocious fighting nature and deemed too dangerous to keep around when he comes of age. paul, human, sailing on board the arrakeen, with his father (still the duke) on the way to meet his mother (and duncan/guerney) in a new ? location idk. their ship gets attacked in the middle of the night, paul sees his father die on another man's blade. they come for him next, the pretty little duke's son, put a gag in his mouth - but he wriggles free, kicks a man but earns a long cut with a blade against his side for his trouble. he jumps overboard, and swims, cold panic squeezing his lungs. feyd smells him, blood in the water, for the first time in his life he knows the smell of mate, and his lonely existence seems to narrow down on this scent as the new centre of his universe. he is gripped with fear, why is his mate bleeding? until he finds paul, close to fainting as the blood loss and cold water tries to pull him under - and drags him to cave. paul is in and out of consciousness by this point, but feyd gets him out of those cold human fabrics and wraps himself around his body to try and warm him up instead. he licks up paul's cut, relishing in his mate's lifeblood gift to him - more than enough of a courting gift for him, he bled so feyd could find him! ig his saliva has magical healing properties idk. paul wakes to find this creature wrapped around him, feyd lets go because he thinks paul is disappointed in the lack of a prepared nest for him, so he quickly gets to work bring in nest-materials, and food, and he brings paul new things everyday as courting gifts and is giddy when paul slowly starts to take them. paul just thinks it's better to not offend the creature feeding him.

(for enjoyers of monsterfucking one may imagine feyd deciding he needs to clean paul, every day, preferably with his tongue (healing saliva pops off here) and yes - every part of him. paul atriedes is getting tongue in his ass bro. preferably multiple times a day if feyd has anything to say about it. he's also fascinated with paul's balls cause while he has a breeding pouch/tentacle thingo he doesn't really have an equivalent. he may also make the mistake of thinking that paul is then in a constate state of knot and feyd pities him greatly for the pain this must cause him - knotted all the time but with no relief to soothe him? and wants to suck on his balls like 24/7 which drives paul absolutely mental because he's a virgin duke's son and masturbation had been perfunctory at best and ohmygodsosenstive. feyd sees it as perfectly routine to worship your mate however he can and actually worries he is unworthy of paul, for feyd has had little sexual experience too, and that he is not good enough to give his little mate the ecstasy he deserves. paul on the other hand could not disagree more.

for noncon enjoyers: one may imagine feyd uhhh sliding some tentacles/fingers into paul's ass during the night just to keep him nice and plugged and full because feyd is territorial af. bonus points if feyd thinks it will help soothe my mate's constant knot! by milking his prostate. paul notices but lets him keep doing it anyway because he realises somewhere along the line it felt weirder to not be plugged and also he might be a little bit in love with this creature anyway.

anyway as paul starts to heal, he's been grieving for his father but realises his mother may have come looking for him. in this version he doesn't want to be duke all that badly and alia is aged up so she's only a few years younger than him so when he finally meets up with them he's like damn i kinda like it here. alia want to take over?

also come mating season feyd really wants paul to incubate his clutch and gets really sad when paul freaks the fuck out and doesn't want eggs inside him.... until he relents...... look is it so wrong to want that boy's holes full ...

idk i just had an image of feyd with black eyes and spikes down his back and now we're here. i think he would be hella cool as an octopus tho. does anyone fw this or am i yelling into a void. if u think this is weird. you're right but i won't apologise.

[splishsplashyouropinionistrash]

tell me about the catholic saints and flower language you're obsessed with

!!!!! i'm so glad you asked !!!!

okay so my absolute all-time favorite saint is saint dymphna of ireland. she's the patron saint of the mentally ill, survivors of incest, and also (sometimes) survivors of both sexual and domestic abuse. when she was fourteen, her mother died and her father, "in his grief" (not an excuse -_-) decided that he wanted to marry her instead. dymphna fled to modern-day belgium to the town of geel and ended up founding one of the first mental hospitals. her father tracked her down only a year later and killed her. she was canonized only a few years after her death, and people call her "the lily of eire". she was literally younger than I am, but shes credited with helping hundreds of thousands of people. people came from all over Belgium to visit her hospital. it's insane.

saint olga of kiev is another really fascinating one. so before she did any of what got her canonized (trying to spread christianity to kievan rus in modern day russia) she was this super badass vengeful icon. when her husband igor was murdered by drevlians, she hunted down and killed all of those involved (like the queen she is). she was also a big fan of arson. like, a huge fan. me too, girl. when she was baptised, she took on the anglican name helena (or elena, we're unsure). she's the patron saint of widows and converts, but many have also dubbed her "patron saint of vengeance" which is just so badass.

also there's like ten different patron saints of rats which is just.... so wild.

fun facts, there's a catholic chapel just off of broadway, st. malachy's, that's known as the actors chapel. they offer a saturday mass in between the afternoon and matinee performances along with sunday services, so lots of religious actors end up there. they have a shrine to some of the saints related to the performing arts at the back of the chapel. i was in NYC this spring, and i was lucky enough to be able to sit through a saturday mass there before I went to see some like it hot (if you haven't seen it, you should. SO. GOOD). the chapel is absolutely stunning. i also got to go to (and sing in!!!) st. john the divine's cathedral (the largest cathedral in the US, it was INSANE) and st. patricks cathedral. cathedrals are so stunning, the architecture is absolutely insane and i go feral just thinking about it. every day i long to go back, it was that gorgeous (I'm not even religious, but religious architecture just DESTROYS me. huge fan). but i digress.

some pictures of st. john's tho!!!

sorry if they're a little blurry, i was too excited to hold still.

okay but flowers!!! i love flower language, i think it's so fascinating. i actually got into because of this book I read, the grace year by kim liggit (must-read btw, so beautiful)

okay but anyway, my absolute favorite flower is the aster, specifically blue china asters (I liked them so much I named myself after them) they look like this:

they're gorgeous. anyways

so blue asters are a symbol of trustworthiness and wisdom, and china asters symbolize love and faith. asters are a breed of daisies, which symbolize innocence, new beginnings, and joy. daisies are also commonly used in herbal medicine, specifically medicine related to mental wellness. there's layers to the meaning, which is one of the things i love so much about it

i just !!! love things !!!! and nobody irl wants to listen to me rant about this shit !!!! bless you remi !!!

[rizubaby]

Danganronpa V3 Kinks & Headcanons (males)

genre ; nsfw headcanons.

summary ; my interpretations / headcanons for the boys from DR V3; what they're like in bed and what I think their kinks are.

tags ; mentions of various kinks / vulgar language.

note ; these are just my personal interpretations of the characters. Some may not agree or have other headcanons, which is fine. To each their own. ♡

This is an 18+ post. Minors dni.

Shuichi Saihara

Shuichi is definitely a switch. Nothing new.

He'd be shy at first, not really knowing how to let loose. I think once he's explored your body and himself a bit more, he can really be a great lover / sexual partner.

He quickly realises what turns him on; your thighs, your soft moans and god, your hands. Whenever you touch him, gently stroke his cock or run your fingers through his hair when you two make love, it drives him nuts.

When he's topping, he's very gentle and very careful not to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. You'd have to reassure him he's doing great, and with enough encouragement, he'll let go of all his worries and listen to your begging for him to go faster/rougher/etc.

When he's subbing, he'll let you take the lead (which is most of the time anyway). He's well aware that you are crazy for him and that you love to tease. He loves when you're dominant and show him what you like. He knows he's safe in your hands, so he'll let you have your way with him.

Gonta Gokuhara

Oh, my sweet baby boy.

Gonta is truly a gentleman in bed, which is a surprise to nobody. Though he has a much darker, wilder side to him as well.

The first few times you two had sex he was extra careful not to hurt you in any way, keeping his impressive stature in mind. He'd be very patient and loving. He loves your little whimpers and the looks of lust you give him. It makes him so flustered and he'll only want to fuck you more.

After a while though, his wilder side will start to creep up on him. Being raised in the wild and all, it's hard for him to contain those primal urges, and they will inevitably come out. He'll want to make you his forever, and in nature there's only one way to do that: mating.

When you let him have his way, he'll turn into a completely different person, and there's no turning back. He goes absolutely feral, his primal sexual urges taking control and wanting to breed you until you collapse. He'll mark your entire body with hickeys and his strong grip will give you bruises that last for days. Seeing you writhing beneath him makes him lose his damn mind.

This fucking dude.

Kaito Momota

Foreplay usually doesn't last very long because this man doesn't know self-restraint. He just goes fucking wild, so much dirty talk and he's so fast and rough, my god. Just seeing how horny you get when he touches and kisses you in the right spots already makes him rock hard. There's literally no room for you to top him, he won't let you.

I imagine him to be very into quickies. Just taking you somewhere for a quick fuck and leaving you trembling, trying to hold yourself together afterwards makes him so satisfied it's actually mildly infuriating. Getting to destroy you with his huge cock anywhere and anytime he wants really strokes his ego and makes him grin from ear to ear.

Kaito's got a lot of stamina, so prepare yourself for that. With this guy, the sky isn't the limit.

K1-B0

Okay, hear me out.

I headcanon that Miu did some sort of modifications on him and he can now simulate lifelike male reproductive organs.

That being said, he really had to adjust and learn about his new features lol. He's learnt a lot about sex and everything that comes with it — he eventually even developed his own preferances, and dare I say, kinks?

I think he'd be fascinated with your reactions to all the pleasure he can give you, even if it's artificial. He loves being able to learn more about human desires and intimacy, and he's become much more human-like because of it.

His favourite thing is definitely that he can simulate his own cum. He knows how much it turns you on, so he gets very happy when you moan and beg for him to cum inside you (or anywhere else, for that matter). He loves intimate sex, because he feel like he can truly connect with you on an emotional level.

Rantaro Amami

Rantaro is one of those guys that everybody lusts after, and for good reason.

His whole demeanor is enough to make anyone weak to their knees. He's really chill, almost a tad bit sadistic with the way he looks at you. You can just tell he's planning to do all kinds of naughty shit with you, and it'll be a while before he's done.

This guy is into it all. Rough play, BDSM, edging, you name it. Whatever you're comfortable with, of course. He loves spanking you or holding you by your throat, his jewelry jingling while he does makes it even hotter.

I think he is a switch, but he definitely likes to top. He likes to order you around and call you all kinds of names. Just imagine him sitting in a chair with his legs spread apart, ordering you to suck his cock with that low, raspy voice of his. He lowkey likes to watch you struggle a lil' bit.

This guy knows how to pleasure you and he's very comfortable with himself. Don't expect to walk away from him without having had at least three orgasms and a sore throat.

Kokichi Ouma

Kokichi is a brat through and through. He likes teasing you A LOT, making you hot and bothered and then pulling away to leave you helpless and unsatisfied, snickering maliciously.

While he loves to tease and be flirtatious with you, he'll quickly turn into a little freak when he decides he's had enough. He's borderline sadistic and enjoys surprising you. Somehow he always manages to do something you weren't expecting, but it makes it all the more enjoyable.

He loves it when you do little favours for him, or when you act all submissive around him and he gets to have fun with you. He loves using toys on you and seeing your lewd and embarrassed face. His absolute favourite toy is a remote controlled vibrator.

He uses lots of dirty talk, loves degrading you and making snarky remarks when you're acting out his orders. Definitely into some sort of roleplay/power dynamic.

Korekiyo Shinguji

He's a fucking sadomasochist. Nothing new here folks.

He loves S&M, it's basically 90% of the kind of sex you two have. While he can be romantic too, he just loves to hear your cries of pain and pleasure. He won't go too far of course, he's still a man of dignity and he knows where your limits are.

He's great at aftercare. After such rough sex, there's NO way he wouldn't care for his queen. He gives you soft kisses and gets a damp cloth to put on your scratches and bruises. He'll praise you, telling you how much he appreciates and loves you and that you did very well. He really appreciates when you care for him too, and he'll shower you with love.

He owns lots of toys, which is fitting for someone with an S&M kink. He likes using a gag ball and handcuffs on you, so you are completely submitted to him. He can have his way with you all he wants, and hearing those muffled moans make him go into a state of pure bliss.

Loves using a whip, too. Seeing your ass turn red with joyful tears running down your face just makes him cum instantly.

[animeyanderelover]

Whoo, requests are open! Can I get Azusa Mukami, Ash Launders, Lau, and Grell Sutcliff with a darling who's a ghost, or something akin to one? Thank you, please take your time with this and remember to take breaks when you need to!

I recently talked about this with my friend, but both of us are amazed with how popular Ash actually is. He suddenly became so beloved in here. Not that I complain😏.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, self-harming behavior, kidnapping, killing

Ghost s/o

Grell Sutcliff

🟥Grell is a grim reaper and for that probably met ghosts quite a few times ago. Ghosts are souls from people who didn’t find peace yet and whilst humans can’t see ghosts most of the time, other supernatural creatures can. Grell feels sometimes a bit sorry for ghosts whose souls are tight to this world until whatever doesn’t allow them to Rest In Peace is solved. There are exceptions though, it isn’t unheard that even after the issue was solved, ghosts decided to stay, mainly because they started enjoying life as an undead once again. So at one point such examples were counted in the supernatural community as well.

🟥If her darling should be a pure ghost, it depends on whether they still try to find a way out of this world or are one of those who decided to live forever as a ghost. If it’s the first one, she would definitely try to make her darling enjoy life once again since she doesn’t want them to leave. She wants to give them happiness once again and would try about everything to make them feel joy again. If it’s the latter case, she would switch from a worried mother mode in a totally fascinated one. She did meet ghosts before, but normally they are more of loners since they grief over whatever they couldn’t finish during life. So having a darling as ghost makes her more interested since ghosts aren’t that known to other magical beings.

🟥Hopefully you know how to manifest yourself or else Grell will get really pouty since she’s clingy. A ghost can learn to materialize their body so others can touch them even though that takes practice. Girl loves you just very much to the extent where she often wants to jump on you and tackle you in a hug after a boring day of work...which ends with her being met with the ground of you don’t know how to control it or did it on purpose. It also tends to scare her a bit if you suddenly pop somewhere up without her knowing since you can just walk through objects. There was this one time where you were looking for her, ending with your head popping up through the ground right in front of her. And Grell might be able to handle, blood, zombies and other gore stuff, but not this. It ended with her screaming startled.

🟥If you’re not dead, but just possess the possibilities of a ghost, the whole walking through walls and turning invisible stuff, you’re most likely a hybrid because believe it or not, in materialized form ghosts can create or bear children too. And half breeds have been since the earliest days always been a more risky topic. Many creatures are still lacking the openness to accept persons from two different kinds since many are still in the classic belief that only the same species should have children together. It leads her to being more overprotective over you since she doesn’t want you to endure hatred and racism from others. She’s fiercely overprotective in that regard.

Lau

🚢He has a weird fascination with such things, at least in my opinion. He might only be human, but he has awareness of the more otherworldly creatures on this planet and his assistant, Ran Mao, herself appears to be some sort of superhuman as well. He has probably heard a lot of ghost stories before, either from his own country or here, in England. And he is somewhat good in telling when a story was just made up so the person could suddenly gain attention or if there is a spark of truth in it. He has a nose for stuff like this and actually likes listening to such stories.

🚢So expect his obsession to very quickly grow if his darling should be a ghost even though he would hold himself back if they are unhappy due to their unfinished business. He is manipulative and is also, despite being good in hiding it from his darling, very greedy and mercenary. He might not show it, but he has every intention to make his darling stay with him, even if that means ensuring that whatever they need to do in this world will never be finished. If you are that kind of ghost who’s happy with their new life, he would be much more open with his curiosity, expressing his interest in your abilities and also backstory. Especially if you should be a lot more older than your appearance gives away, he would be keen on your story. If it should happen that you were murdered and the killer is still alive, that guy will join your kind maybe very soon if they have regrets in their life.

🚢He’s also interested in how your anatomy works since he’s an expert in it. He of course wouldn’t use you like some test subject, but he is just kind of interested how you are able to turn your whole body in one moment in something thinner than air and in the next moment into something that appears to be flesh and blood again. He also kind of likes it to touch through you since your transparent body has a certain coldness around it which gives him goosebumps. It’s a great contrast to when you have materialized and are in possession of a warm body which leads him to being even more touchy than usual. Lau finds it also always very amusing whenever you suddenly appear out of thin air, your abilities are such a breath of fresh air for him. He tends to be a bit surprised, but is good in hiding it with his usual mysterious smile.

🚢He can only guess that a half-ghost like you are one isn’t very beloved in this world. Lau of course doesn’t think you, he finds it highly interesting that you are a mix from two different species, he never thought ghosts could actually create babies. If there’s the possibility, he would like to meet your parents and talk with them, especially the parent who’s the ghost. It kind of leads him to wanting to isolate you a bit since he doesn’t want some other creature trying to kill you since different from a normal ghost you can get hurt by weapons and die like a normal human even though it’s harder to do.

Ash Landers

▫️Whilst he definitely is informed about all the other magical beings existing in this world, he stays away from pretty much everyone, even his own kind. Ash is just embossed from his obsession with purity and doesn’t think of anyone as really worth living since everyone is tainted by greed, lust, sloth and other unspeakable sins. He even hates his own kind since many angels protect the exact lowlife he wants to get rid off, believing that every life deserves living and given a chance. He is somewhat alone with his crazy goals, but he doesn’t mind.

▫️I think Ash with a ghost darling isn’t a very good mix, a horrible if I’m being honest. For the simple reason that you already died and merely your soul remains on this planet, either because of your own free will or because you carry a burden with you. You’re dead. That should say everything to why Ash is experiencing the true deepness of madness and terror someone could never possibly begin to imagine. He failed, he pathetically and utterly failed to protect the only person who actually deserved a happy and good life. It makes his whole life shatter, next to his already screwed up sanity. It does not matter if you were killed, died in an accident or because of a deadly sickness. The village you lived in will be blamed and slaughtered by him.

▫️He’s horrible to act with this because I have this terrible thought that he will not only not allow you to leave, but also desperately try to search for ways to somehow get your soul back into your body or will find a vessel in which you can live. He does not care if you want it or not, he doesn’t even really care if you’re happy or not. Dead is dead and he wants you alive. He would get incredibly prone and torn apart if you yell and cry at him that you don’t want it, that you want to die finally in peace or like being a ghost. You just don’t understand!! HE HAS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALIVE AGAIN!!!

▫️With you being only something akin to a ghost, a hybrid in here, the situation would still be very tangled, but a bit less than with you being an actual ghost. I see Ash as someone who usually despises hybrids, but you are made the only exception from this. It isn’t worth saying that he isolates you since he would do this in all scenarios, even though he also does it in here due to fearing that someone might talk down to you because of your unidentified species. He kind of thinks he’s the only one who can truly cherish you for your whole beauty. You might have an advantage since you can just sneak past him whilst invisible, question is if you’re heartless enough to let innocents suffer under this because Ash can and will burn whole cities down if it leads him to getting you back.

Azusa Mukami

🔪I don’t think he ever met ghosts or other otherworldly creatures before even though he lived a pretty long life. It stands even open to question if he is aware of the existence such other creatures. Whilst he does know that vampires exist, he himself is a half-blooded one, he is not really too informed about other creatures and might even not really cared about it anyways before meeting his s/o. His brothers on the other hand considered the fact of other magical beings on this planet.

🔪He is saddened that you are already dead, it doesn’t matter since how long you’ve already been. It’s still very upsetting for him, especially if you should be mourning over something you couldn’t do in your life as well. I do see him as someone who might actually possess the selflessness to let you go if you’re really desperate despite knowing he’ll die without you. So it’s up to his brothers to find ways to bind you to this earth because they’re scared what Azusa will do if you should ever disappear and leave him alone for eternity. With a darling who likes their current body and is satisfied with themselves, Azusa will be happy as well and be in love with you and your fascinating powers.

🔪But please let him touch you. He is clingy and likes having physical contact with you and if you aren’t able to manifest yourself and hurt him, he will become overtime more desperate. His brother also realize the problem with you being able to escape anytime you want from them except if you make this place your new place to haunt for eternity which all of them hope. Whilst he does like feeling your actual warmth and body, he still finds your ghostly form appearing, the feeling of cold and lingering touches everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. I do not know if ghosts possess blood or anything like this, I doubt it. So that means at least you don’t have to worry about him eventually giving in to temptation.

🔪He will never be able to understand if someone should dislike his s/o if they should be somewhat of a half breed. As I mentioned, I don’t think he really cared much about the possibility of other beings existing and certainly not a mix made from more than one species. It does add up to his worshipper tendencies since apparently people like you are not very common. He thinks you’re wonderful. As a half-ghost you might have blood inside of you, if it’s from a human is another thing to discuss. But Azusa is from all vampires the one who wouldn’t want to suck your blood, even if it drives him crazy. And even if his brothers try to force him, you can abandon your materialized form anytime for your ghost body. You give Azusa’s brothers honestly a bit of a hard time with your abilities, it’s mocking for them in a way.

[thesublemon]

planning ≠ coherence

I talk a big game about liking coherence in art, and it’s probably clear that I have an apophenic tendency to enjoy textual interpretation. And this might lead people to think that I have a preference for carefully planned and plotted art, or that I look down on the messy and improvisational. But this is actually almost the opposite of the case. Not because I don’t really like coherence, but because artistic coherence is something more complicated than planning, and isn’t even necessarily possible to achieve with planning.

The thing about improvisation, is that at its best it’s about finding the choice that feels right. I listen to jazz more than any other kind of music, and one of the reasons I like it so much is the exhilaration of someone landing on a musical idea that simultaneously makes a song feel bigger and more complete. A solo isn’t fun if it’s just a bunch of disconnected ideas (similar to how whimsy isn’t fun if it doesn’t also “work”). It’s fun if it picks up on the things that the other players are doing, or ideas that showed up earlier in the song, and then makes them feel like they go together. Even if they “go together” in the sense of being coherently discordant, eg repeating ideas that don’t work multiple times. If beauty is fit, then the joy of improv is finding fit in unexpected places.

This goes for narrative too. In long-running stories like comics, book series, and TV shows, much is often made about whether certain choices were planned from the beginning. If things were planned, that’s a reason for praise, and if things weren’t planned, that’s a reason for derision, either towards the showrunners or towards people attempting to interpret the work. Say, “This plot point only happened because an actor wanted to leave the show. Therefore it has no meaning to read into.” But making things up as one goes is not what makes a story lose its plot, so to speak. Making things up is only a problem if the things the artist makes up don’t go with what came before.

In Impro, a very excellent book about the craft of improvisation, Keith Johnstone calls this process of making-things-go-with-what-came-before “re-incorporation”:

The improviser has to be like a man walking backwards. He sees where he has been, but he pays no attention to the future. His story can take him anywhere, but he must still ‘balance’ it, and give it shape, by remembering incidents that have been shelved and reincorporating them.

Johnstone is big on the idea that satisfying narrative depends on a sense of structure, and that reincorporation is one of the most important tactics for creating structure. To paraphrase him, a story where a character runs away from a bear, swims across lake, and finds a woman in a cabin on the other side, and “makes passionate love” to her has no structure. It’s just a series of events. Whereas if the bear then knocks the cabin’s door down and the woman cries out that it’s her lover, then suddenly it feels like a story. Because not only has the bear been reincorporated, it has been linked to the woman. From this perspective, if a story has no sense of reincorporation, or new developments don’t make sense with what came before, then it will feel incoherent, no matter how planned out it was.

I also keep thinking about Paul Bouissac’s discussion of gags and narrative in The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning. He explains that what makes a scene funny is not whether it strings a bunch of gags together, but how those gags are organized. To use an example from the book, it’s one thing for a clown to pretend to hurt its thumb, and ask for an audience member to kiss it. It’s another thing for it to keep hurting different parts and then finally hurt its groin and act scandalized at the idea that someone might kiss it. Bouissac calls this sort of repetition “anaphor”:

Anaphor is one of the main tools of textual consistency. In linguistics, it designates the use of pronouns or any other indexical units to refer back to another word or phrase in the text. It links together parts of sentences and bridges the grammatical gaps between clauses, which is a consequence of the linearity of language. In rhetoric, anaphors are repetitions of words or structures that build up the cohesion of discourse and create momentum toward a climax. In multimodal communication, words, gestures, objects, or musical tunes can play the same role by reminding the receiver—that is, the spectator in the case of a performance—of signs and events produced earlier in the act.

One of the things that fascinated me about Farscape as a teenager, was that in contrast to other scifi of the time, it made no pretenses of having been planned—unlike say, Babylon 5. Or even shows like The X-Files, Lost, or Battlestar Galactica that gave you the “feeling” of a plan whether or not they had one, or were capable of following through. Farscape felt incredibly coherent, both in terms of theme and plot, but this coherence came about purely on the strength of the writing’s ability to ideate and then reincorporate. It would take someone’s weird costume idea, like the villain having glowing rods that screw inside his head, and snowball that into a whole storyline where the villain is a half breed of one hot-blooded race and one cold-blooded race, and can only stay alive by thermo-regulating the inside of his brain. And then decide that his vendetta against the hot-blooded race has motivated his obsession with the protagonist since the first season. Yet these twists never feel like “ret-conning” in a pejorative sense, because it all feels narratively and thematically sensible. (Unsurprisingly, making the show was described as “more like improv jazz than plotting out a symphony”).

None of which is to say that I dislike planning or polish, either. Stephen King, as a so-called “discovery” writer, famously writes off the cuff, without outlines. As he puts it in On Writing:

You may wonder where plot is in all this. The answer—my answer, anyway—is nowhere. I won’t try to convince you that I’ve never plotted any more than I’d try to convince you that I’ve never told a lie, but I do both as infrequently as possible. I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible. It’s best that I be as clear about this as I can—I want you to understand that my basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much make themselves. The job of the writer is to give them a place to grow (and to transcribe them, of course).

But his best stories feel like whatever bloat might have been generated from this narrative improvisation has then been pared down to what that improvisation was really getting at. And I can’t lie, I get a particular joy from reading or watching something and feeling without a doubt that the artist is in complete control of my experience. It was one of the most gratifying aspects of rewatching The Wire recently: the feeling that the little meanings and foreshadowings I was seeing in each choice were almost certainly intended. Nothing is more satisfying to an apopheniac than feeling like the patterns you see are actually real. And nothing is more annoying than a story that tries to pull some sort of reveal on you (“Dan is gossip girl!” “Angel is Twilight!” “Rey is a Palpatine!”) that doesn’t make any sense because it wasn’t intended from the beginning. Just because those characters existed in the story before, doesn’t make it good reincorporation. So if a story is a story because of structure, then if the choice is between a planned structure and no structure, the former is almost certainly going to be better.

Point is, it’s not really the process that matters. All creativity is improvisational in a sense, because all creativity involves making things up. What matters is how dedicated an artist is to the integrity of their work. If a writer has carefully planned their whole story out, with every twist and every theme clearly in mind, but can’t adapt if they start writing and find out that something they planned doesn’t actually work, that’s one kind of failure mode. The narrative equivalent of designing a perfect castle and then building it on a swamp. On the other hand, if a writer tries to go with the flow, but can’t reincorporate that flow, then that will be another failure mode. To the extent that I respond to improvisational art, it’s because improvisational art is often more attuned to these questions of whether something is moment-to-moment right. But what matters, above all, is the rightness. That’s what defines coherence. Whether there is a sense in the work that it is oriented around something, and whether the choices contribute to that something.

[americasass81]

Make Her Mine - Chapter Six

Warnings:- 18+, Dark theme, Smut, Dubious Consent, Non-Consensual Sex, Thigh-Riding, Swearing, Implied Breeding, Oral (female receiving).  Do not read if any of these warnings are upsetting.  Feedback is welcomed.

This contains adult themes and by proceeding you are acknowledging that you are over 18 and are consenting to the content below the cut.

 Word Count:- 2,893

Having survived Tony fucking your face as well as the humiliating experience of him washing you afterwards, the shocks just kept on coming when you exited the bathroom to see what he expected you to wear.  While he returned from the closet in a t-shirt and sweatpants, you quickly discovered your predicament was much worse than you ever thought.  Walking towards the double doors when Tony appeared empty handed, he quickly blocked your way and raised an eyebrow at you before speaking.  "Need something darling?"

"Yeah, how about clothes douchebag?"

"You'll get clothes when you need them and when I decide you've earned them.  Though I might be persuaded to fetch you something if you'd adjust your attitude." he smirked, as he reached out to run a hand along your cheek.  Pulling back and walking to the bed, you dropped onto it and wondered how you had come to be reduced to Tony Stark's pet.  Sighing deeply at your dejected form, Tony dropped to his knees in front of you and held you in place when you once again tried to free yourself before looking up at you.  "Y/N, surely you must find this constant struggle exhausting.  Give in to me and I promise your life will be so much easier.  You won't even have any further use for that getaway bag.  Kudos on that by the way."

At the mention of your getaway bag, your eyes widened and your hands clenched into fists.  "Ah yes, that." Tony smirked, shaking his head at your reaction.  "You didn't think I'd just leave it on the New York sidewalk, did you?  Don't worry it's safe, though I'm fascinated why you have it.  Maybe it's something we can discuss over dinner.  Shall we?" he asked, standing back up and reaching out his hand to you.  Suddenly realizing that you had spent too much time trying to physically overpower Iron-Man when you should have tried out thinking him, you decided instead to see what information you could wrangle out of him.

"Okay Tony," you said, unclenching your fists and rising from the bed.  "I'll agree to dinner and I'll try to adjust my attitude, but may I please have something to wear?  It doesn't have to be anything fancy."  As if to emphasize your sincerity, you stepped forward and walked into his waiting arms.

Shocked by this sudden change, it seemed Tony did have a weakness for you however and you soon found his arms wrapped around you while his chin came to rest atop your head.  Listening to the steady beat of his heart, you failed to notice him checking the data from your nanoparticles and whatever he read seemed to cement this sudden adjustment he'd hoped to see.  Releasing you, he quickly disappeared into the closet only to return with a grey t-shirt and blue panties.  "Will these do darling?"

"Thank you Tony.  They'll do fine." you said, taking them from him while reminding yourself to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.  Putting on the clothes before he could catch you out or change his mind, you then looked up at him before placing your hand in his and flashing him your best smile.  "So maybe while we eat you can tell me a bit about this place, I didn't really take much of it in when I was trying to escape."  Wrapping his arm around you, Tony led you out to the kitchen where he planned on introducing you to his culinary skills.

                    *************

Upon entering the kitchen area and seating you at the island unit, Tony told V.I.R.G.I.L. to release level one lockdown protocols which you discovered opened all the cabinet doors and drawers.  Working away on the food as he talked and you listened, you discovered that the house was not only situated at a secluded location but the windows in the ceiling were a result of most of the property being underground.  Tony also disclosed that the only two doors off the kitchen led to the garage and his lab.  The garage you also learned was the only exit out of the house.

"Mr. . . . sorry Tony, does that not seem like a rather monumental fire hazard?" you inquired, genuinely curious now.

Looking over at you while handing you a glass of wine, he couldn't help the smirk that seemed to light up his face.  "Y/N really, think about who you're talking to?  If a fire did break out here, the state of the art fire suppression system I designed will kick in and have it out in seconds.  Besides, I am Iron-Man.  Don't worry darling, you're perfectly safe here."

Choking on his last words, the wine you were drinking hit you wrong and it took him tapping your back to get your breathing back under control.  "Thank you, don't quite know what happened there."

"You're welcome.  I hope you're okay with chicken and mushroom pasta by the way?" he said, smiling over at you as if he had forgotten that it was in an Italian restaurant you had first refused his company.  Now that you had time to really concentrate on the wine, you realized with sickening clarity that it was the same one you drank that night.  Placing the glass back on the counter, a shudder ripped through you as you realized there seemed to be nothing he didn't know about you.

Picking up the glass and leading you to the table, he helped you sit before returning with the food and the bottle of wine.  Filling your glass while taking a seat on your right side, he placed his hand on yours before speaking.  "I'd enjoy the wine if I were you darling.  It's the last you'll be drinking going forward.  Now let's eat before the food gets cold.”

Thinking through the implications of his statement, you did your best to enjoy the meal while you tried to figure out how to get safely out of his clutches before he could knock you up, provided he hadn't done so already.  Deciding to play to his vanity, you complimented him on the meal before asking some of the questions you hoped to get an answer to.  "So Tony, you mentioned my getaway bag earlier, may I ask where it is?"

"It's in my safe, not that you'll be needing it.  Why does someone your age even have it anyway?"

"Being prepared for anything usually means I'm not surprised by something.  Though I guess you're the exception." you laughed, and Tony surprised you yet again when he took your hand and kissed it tenderly.  What shocked you most however was the slight tingle that ran through your body at this most romantic gesture.  When he released your hand again it seemed it was Tony's turn to ask you a question.

"So would you mind telling me what your plan was?  I'm fascinated to know."

"It's not all that exciting to be honest.  I had planned to stay at the Waldorf for a week in the hopes your infatuation would dissipate.  If it didn't, then my getaway bag, bank account and friends would hopefully get me far enough away from you.  Guess that didn't work out too well." you answered while eating more of your meal.

"Like I said, you're wasted where you are and by the way this is not infatuation.  I find you amazingly self-reliant for someone your age and I'd like to build a life with you.  As I told Happy, you're ingenious."  He smiled as if you should be flattered by the compliment, but all you saw was everything he had put you through.  Having finished your food, you drank the rest of your wine while you contemplated how best to continue the conversation.

"Tony let's assume for a moment that I'm okay with us, in plain english, what's your endgame?  Will I see the outside world again?  Will I ever see my friends again?" you asked, noting the irritated look on his face.

Sighing deeply, he took the wine from your hand and gazed into your eyes before speaking.  "My endgame as you put it darling, is to get you back to my place where you will be treated like a queen while our little ones grow up safe and loved.  If you'll agree, I'd also like to marry you and who knows, hopefully your friends can remain a part of your life."

Hating every word he uttered, but needing to know all the same, your hands left the table and inadvertently rested over your stomach as you stared off into space, thinking.  It was only when Tony cleaned up dinner and helped you stand to walk you to the living room, that you regained your focus.  "What about my job, my life?  Tony, what about the nanoparticles in my system?" you asked quickly, as he sat both of you on the couch and tucked you into his body as if you fit there all along.

"The nanoparticles stay, I'm afraid.  Like I said, they have good features and bad.  Hopefully with time and trust the unsavory features can be disabled.  As for your job and life . . . I won't interfere with your job if you wish to remain where you are.  Your life however . . .  I would hope you'd be willing to make room in it for our new family."  Trying not to tick him off, it was your turn to reign in your temper however once Tony uttered his next words.  "Hey perhaps you could tell me about some of the hobbies my money has allowed you to pursue."

"What, you mean there are things the nanoparticles and your Annoying Inquisitor failed to find out about me?"

"Y/N, you know some of the things I've done to get you, as well as what I'm willing to do to keep you.  So please make life easier on yourself, park the attitude and tell me some of the things I don't know."

Thinking through what he told you, you sadly realized that at the present time Tony did indeed have the upper hand in all aspects of your survival.  Swallowing any retort that would more than likely result in some form of retaliation, you gently freed yourself from his grasp and pulled your feet up onto the couch before answering.  "Shooting, Kayaking, Tennis, Hiking, Rock climbing, Restoring Classic Cars and Riding." you quickly rattled off.  Seeing the grin that appeared on his face and relating it to the last activity you named, you cringed as you reached forward and slapped him on the upper arm.  “Ugh, it's Horseback riding you ass.  God is everything with you sexual in nature."

You got your answer however, when he grabbed hold of your arm, pulled you towards him and pressed his lips securely against yours.  Finally letting you up for air, he positioned you on his lap with your back resting against his chest and his arms around your waist.  "Only where you're concerned darling and by the way I'd never have taken you for someone who was into classic cars."

"I'll have you know your money, as you like to remind me, has enabled me to purchase and restore quite a few classics." you replied, while trying to maneuver away from his roaming hands and lips.

"So how come you didn't just drive off in one of them when you left me three days ago?  Would have given you quite the head start."

Feeling your frustration growing you couldn't keep the venom out of your reply.  "Ugh I already told you, this infatuation of yours was supposed to blow over which meant I wouldn't have to leave my life, my friends or my car collection behind."  With that you struggled once more against his hold but unfortunately it held fast.

Moving you slightly so you now sat solely on his left thigh, Tony pressed down on your hips while simultaneously sliding you back and forth.  The friction this created against your clit didn't take long for the now usual sensation to begin building in your core.  Added to this the kisses he placed on your neck and down to your shoulders, along with the degrading things he whispered in your ear and the next thing you knew you were reaching for the edge as every muscle in your lower regions pulled tighter and tighter.

"Oh fuck, Tony, stop please.  I'm gonna . . . ahh."  Now nibbling on your pulse point, all words left you as your release hit you and you felt the moisture leak from you and stain both your panties and Tony's sweatpants.

"Well look at what my dirty girl did.  Now it's my turn."  And before you could protest or do anything to stop him, Tony threw you down on the couch, ripped your panties clean off and buried his head between your spread legs.  Lapping and sucking your now slick folds while shoving two fingers inside you, you couldn't stop the sinful moans that left your lips or the way your hands found themselves entangled in his hair.  Smirking against your folds as you gave yourself over to the pleasure building again from his skillful ministrations, it didn't take him long to get you hovering over the edge once more.

And hover you did . . . just as you were about to come for a second time, Tony pulled back and smiled a most devious smile when you looked up at him and whined.  "Tony please make me come.  Please, please, please." you begged, tears all but falling from your eyes.

Leaning forward to kiss the lips you had previously been chewing on, Tony quickly removed his pants and lining himself up with your entrance, bottomed out as his mouth swallowed the gasp that escaped your lips.  "Oh darling, you're absolutely perfect as always.  Just imagine how beautiful you will look spread out before me all round with our child."

If you had any retort planned, it was completely lost when Tony shifted your legs and hit that glorious spot inside you that had you seeing stars.  Thrusting harder and faster, his hand moved to circle your clit and you felt yourself reaching for the edge once again.  This time however you felt the familiar power building inside you and the possible outcome that awaited you.  "Tony please . . . slow down . . . ahh, it's too much.  I'm gonna . . . Oh god."

"It's okay Y/N, trust me.  You're safe darling, just let go.  I'll be here with you the whole time."  With that, he continued his relentless pounding of your pussy and all rational thought left you as you finally listened to both him and your body and allowed all your cares to melt away.  Crying out as Tony pulled almost all the way out and thrust back in while pinching your clit, you once again weren't conscious when your walls clamped his shaft like a vice as rope after rope of warm cum shot out and painted your walls.

                   *************

True to his word, you woke shortly after nestled on the couch with Tony gently stroking your hair.  "Hey gorgeous girl, how are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess, even though I've now passed out twice in the past few hours.  Perhaps you should consider taking me to a doctor." you suggested, even though you knew nothing would come of it.

"Darling I don't mean to brag, but you and I both know passing out from a powerful orgasm is not something that requires a doctor.  Now would you rather a bath or a shower before bed baby?"

"I think a bath might be nice.  Wait, am I to assume there's a bath here big enough to enable you to join me?"

"Of course silly girl." he grinned at you as he jumped off the couch and held out his hand to help you up.  "I'm surprised and offended you even have to ask."

Taking his hand, you had to grab onto his shoulder instead to steady yourself as you still felt a bit shaky on your feet.  Sensing this, Tony quickly and easily picked you up and next thing you know he placed you in the bathroom attached to what was originally your bedroom.  "Please tell me you'll behave yourself if I get in there with you." you questioned as Tony filled the bath while you made use of the toilet, not caring that he was right there with you.

"Of course I will darling, scout's honor." he smiled, holding up his hand in a salute.

"Seriously, do you honestly expect me to believe you were ever a boy scout?" you scoff as he lowered himself into the bath before reaching out to help you in.

"No, I don't really expect you to believe anything I tell you.  But that doesn't mean I won't spend the rest of our lives together trying to convince you."  With that he nudged you forward until your feet hit the other end of the bath and then leaned you back to rest against his chest before wrapping his arms around you.  Sinking into both his embrace and the warm water, you slowly relaxed for what felt like the first time since this whole ordeal had started.  Eventually washing each other and retiring to bed, you closed your eyes and let your cares slip away as sleep easily claimed you.

Tagging:- @nsfwsebbie @hoseokchild @gotnofucks @ironlady1993 @floatingdaisy7 @taintedgenre @buttercandy16 @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay , sorry if I missed anyone.

[mpregstoriesetc]

Slime and Punishment - deviantart

Vik’Tor, being an alien and all that, found himself learning new things about Earth every day. Like how it was fine for men to go topless in public but not for women, or that it was inappropriate to talk about your sexual exploits with strangers. Strange. Luckily, due to his meek personality, he managed not to embarrass himself too much.

More to the point, there were so many things from his culture that he took for granted, but humans had no knowledge of! He was the only Torran on Earth, at least as far as he knew: the rest of his tribe generally turned out to be warmongering morons, and they only took interest in visiting planets when they wanted to conquer them. Things were peaceful here, and he’d found a cozy little town that accepted him.

Now he was working odd jobs, mainly to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He was only 29 moon-strides old, after all...he had plenty of time to discover his passions. Today’s job was filling in for a rich family’s gardener. Apparently the man had been struck by a car and flattened like a pancake, and someone needed to take over while the doctors were reinflating him. Vik didn’t mind the work: in fact he quite fancied a good day of honest labor. But, come lunch time, he was positively famished.

He tucked into a double-decker mustard and eggplant sandwich and swiftly downed a concoction of his own creation, lemonade and Bloody Mary mix. Others found his tastes revolting, but he loved finding new flavor combinations. The real star of the show, however, was dessert…

“Pardon me, but what is that you’re eating,” came a soft feminine voice from behind him. “I simply must know, it smells so wonderful!” Vik turned around, locking eyes with a slender young woman with caramel-colored skin. Or perhaps it was a particularly short man. He wasn’t sure which, nor did he know if it even mattered.

“Ah, this?” Vik remembered just in time not to talk with his mouth full, and promptly swallowed. “We call it korrupa, it is a traditional dessert amongst the Ulvions.” He held it up: a shimmering orb of green that seemed to have a life of its own.

“Oh, so that’s what your tribe is called? Fascinating.”

“Well,” said Vik awkwardly. “Not exactly. My people conquered their planet and slaughtered all of their men.”

“Oh.”

Even with his obvious lack of social skills, Vik could tell the conversation was grinding to a painful halt. “Well, the good news is that it is quite easy to get korrupa delivered. Did you know that this town has one of Earth’s only transdimensional portals?”

The short one shrugged. “I’m not surprised. I’ve lived here all my life and I learn something new about this place.” He fidgeted, looking plaintively at the glossy green glob that Vik was devouring. “Do you mind letting me have a sample of your korrupa? I’ll take just a tiny bit, but my chef’s curiosity is just eating me alive! I must have some!”

Vik paused. “Well, Missus, or Mister, or whatever Earth honorific suits you best, I don’t know if you would be suited to trying some...it is quite filling, and you are quite small.”

This earned a little titter from the short one. “I’ll be able to handle it, I assure you. Oh pardon my manners! I haven’t even introduced myself. Camille, no Earth honorifics necessary.” Camille offered one hand out to shake, the other to take.

“I am called Vik’Tor...but you really must consider! It could be ill-suited to your digestive tract! Or perhaps there would be some other unforeseen consequences…!”

Camille stuck his tongue out cutely, reaching out and grabbing the korrupa. Vik realized then how tiny the Earth creature was in comparison to him; his hands were like a child’s in comparison to Vik’s own, hefting up the wobbly substance and bringing it to his tiny little mouth.

The young man moaned softly, his slender lips wrapping around the korrupa and slurping it up eagerly. Within seconds the shimmering green mass—about the size of an Earth coconut—had disappeared down Camille’s gullet. “Oh! Pardon me,” he said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to eat it all...but it was like it had a mind of its own! Hehe. It was remarkable, though! Absolutely delicious.”

Vik looked noticeably crestfallen at the loss of his dessert but didn’t bring it up. However, something that Camille had said sparked a realization inside him. “Oh, you did not know? Korrupa is a sentient creature, it would be quite accurate to say that it does indeed have a mind of its own. Were you not aware of this?”

Camille’s cheeks went noticeably green at this. “Oh dear. Did I just devour an alien without knowing?”

“Fear not,” said Vik, waving his hands quickly. “They are not harmed by this. In fact, they often reproduce inside warm, damp enclosed spaces. Us Torrans have rather dry insides, so we are not affected much. But I do not know about Earth creatures...”

Said Earth creature went even greener. “Oh dear...oh dear indeed.” His cheeks bulged slightly, as if about to gag. “I might have made a rather costly mistake…” But now Vik saw a truly bizarre sight: Camille’s face starting to glow. Not from the skin directly, but almost beneath it somehow. Most prominent were his cheeks—a bright lime green—which had really begun to puff up now. His lips, starting to run out of room on his face, began squashing into an askew O shape, the tiny opening revealing a growing colony of korrupa inside his mouth.

His belly began harboring the telltale green glimmer of his cheeks, the boy’s shirt quickly becoming near-translucent as the slime found a larger reservoir to reside in. Camille’s midriff, previously so thin as almost to be famished, started to bloat rapidly. Although not quite resembling pregnancy, his stomach was now so round and fertile as to immediately invite the comparison.

Camille gave a throttled moan, the korrupa inside his mouth jiggling as words tried in vain to escape. He gave Vik a desperate look, his hands unsure whether to cradle his burgeoning belly or try and unload the cargo inside his mouth. After a slight hesitation, they chose the latter. But as his fingers tried to pry apart his lips, a thick strand of the sentient goo snaked out and slapped away his hands.

“Korrupa do not like the breeding process to be interrupted,” said Vik weakly. “Although they do have a vested interest in keeping their host alive, so you will not have to worry about bursting or suffocating.” Small solace to Camille, who was now bent over with the weight of his ballooning belly.

His shirt, now so tight and see-through as to be mistaken for plastic wrap, was quickly starting to lose structural integrity. The only factor impeding the growth of his gut was Camille’s thin leather belt, now drawing taut and threatening to bisect his torso. The boy lurched forward, his hair falling over his face; if he could talk, it would undoubtedly be a deep moan of discomfort. Momentarily impeded by the belt, the korrupa moved further south to Camille’s rump, making it expand in much a similar fashion.

“I am aware it is rude to say ‘I told you so,’ but I did try and warn you of possible side effects,” mumbled Vik, avoiding eye contact and twiddling all four of his thumbs. “Had I known this would happen, I might have been more cautionary in my advice.” It brought him no pleasure to see this Earth creature inflate like a balloon, especially considering that korrupa could incubate for quite a while depending on compatibility with its host. Should he try and contact other family members? He knew they’d be around soon; would it look worse if he left Camille? Or if he just stayed there passively? There wasn’t much he could do at this point anyway.

Ping! The belt popped off, sending Camille’s belly wobbling like a bowl full of jelly. It might be mistaken for jelly at any rate: glossy, jiggling jelly that had an unearthly shine to it. It was a near perfect orb of green, only dimpled by his sunken-in navel, hanging off his torso rather awkwardly. It had become so big and distended by this point that it hardly seemed like an actual part of the young man, like a second-rate prosthetic. But there it was in both sets of his cheeks too, drawing his skin tight as more and more goo forced itself inside him. His face had become comically wide, two coconut-sized mounds of glistening green alternatively pulling his lips together and apart as they bounced softly. His behind was starting to catch up, though, his buttocks blimping up and making short work of his shorts.

Camille was short, even for a human, but nonetheless it was a surprise to see his tummy touch the ground. It was certainly less of a strain on his body now that gravity had done its work, but nonetheless he wasn’t exactly happy he’d gotten this big. His rear had already broken free from his shorts; but since Camille’s crotch was awkwardly mashed against his underbelly, his dignity was somewhat preserved. Were things slowing down? He was so enormous now that it was hard to tell.

Vik, having inwardly cursed himself for his inaction, decided to finally take off his upper garment and lay it across the boy’s bare butt. However, one last growth spurt caused the fabric to suck inwards, instantly getting lost inside the cleft of Camille’s ass cheeks. Well, he had tried. The young man could only sit there helplessly, the weight of his posterior threatening to pull him backwards, only anchored by his much larger stomach. Vik didn’t know every detail of domicile etiquette, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t a good idea to be standing near-naked in your backyard.

“Well...I should probably get back to work,” said the alien awkwardly, slowly shuffling away. “I hear your family has a dinner party tonight...it would certainly be embarrassing if the garden was only half-finished.”

And, seemingly unaware of the supreme irony of that statement, went back to planting the petunias. Maybe Camille would share some korrupa once he was done breeding it...

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

I don’t trust Kat to give you context, so I’ll do it this time.

I decided to write something based on some stuff we were talking about. I don’t have the most confidence and this is more related to her stuff anyways, so while convincing me to post it, she offered to host it here. This has the added bonus of it being HER that hits post, limiting my chance to chicken out.

So enjoy this out of context thing I wrote because Kat is a bad influence.

-grungekitty-77

Eleanor knew she was an artist from a young age. From the moment she took he first picture she knew she’d found her calling. Other girls played dolls, she focused on posing them. She took photos of everything, always looking for something she hadn’t seen before. She got bored often and nothing frustrated her more than having nothing interesting to photograph.

From a young age she was hailed as a prodigy. Her eye was so unique, and she had a knack for finding things and making them interesting, things nobody realized could be that interesting. So, she had no trouble getting a start at a studio.

She hated family portraits. She hated them with a passion. They always wanted the same straight on angle and it was so painfully boring. They were frustrating to work with, they were all the same stiff smiles, one shot no different than the next. No talent or expression. She’d outright refuse them if they weren’t keeping the lights on.

She was ready for another grueling photoshoot that brought no fulfillment and wasted her talents. This family had an unruly kid.

Eleanor never really go the appeal of kids. They were loud and needy and usually a mess. They did provide more interest than their parents though. The boy screamed randomly at one point, much to his parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents’ dismay.

He laughed at their frowns and Eleanor captured it. The emotions and dynamics were the most interesting thing she’d gotten so far.

The boy got lectured by his mom and pouted. The adults were back to their static smiles, but he displayed his emotions, not looking at the camera or standing straight. Eleanor captured that too, focusing on the boy’s emotional journey.

The adults got frustrated with him as he fidgeted, and their smiles dropped. His mother pulled him aside and screamed at him. He shrunk down and started to cry. She captured it.

Then she hugged him, telling him that she loved him and just needed him to behave. Eleanor captured her favorite shot of the shoot. It was a photo she’d have framed and hung in her house for years to come and would be her favorite for a long time.

This child, crying and filled with shame, clinging to his mother, comforted by the very cause of his tears. The vulnerability, the emotions, the submission, it was all something Eleanor hadn’t seen before.

The rest of the shoot went normally, the kid even having some real fun by the end, but Eleanor never forgot how that mother had the power to control her child’s emotions like that.

Family portraits stopped being so boring after that day. Eleanor stopped focusing on trying to make something worthwhile within the stifling constraints, and instead focused on how much power mothers had over the children. How if Eleanor needed something from them, the mother would provide it. Telling the child directly rarely worked but asking the mother to tell the child always did. It was like they weren’t interacting with the world as their own beings, they could only understand what was filtered through their mothers. Eleanor became obsessed with that power. The power to control another’s reality like that. A mother was her child’s whole world, and she could shape that world as she pleased.

Eventually her artistic work gained enough of a following that she never had to do a family portrait again, much to her relief. She hated working through the mothers. She may’ve been fascinating with their power over their children, but she wanted to have her own and constantly borrowing theirs was getting irksome. She wanted to shape her own worlds, and not have to work around the worlds these women had already shaped.

She still didn’t want a baby though. She wanted the control of her subject being a mother brought, not a child to raise.

Her dilemma sent her on a path to find others like her, a path that led to a private online forum. It was full of people like her, people that were obsessed with controlling, with shaping a world and having total power over it. She finally had people that understood what was going on in her head. Not all of them approached it from the same angle as her, but they all wanted to control a subject. She made good friends.

Itssnowing: have you thought about a pet?

SkullsandRibbons: maybe….

Itssnowing: Get a pretty little thing and train it. I know where you can get a lovely little purebred. It might fill the hole.

Eleanor took her friend up on his suggestion and got Lucy.

At first Eleanor was happy to have a new subject, but quickly she got frustrated. Lucy didn’t listen. She couldn’t get Lucy to do what she wanted, and all of her shots were off center or blurry because Lucy refused to hold a position.

Itssnowing suggested she send her off to get trained and Eleanor again, took his advice.

It worked. Lucy came back ready to obey orders. Eleanor was delighted for about a month and a half.

Then Lucy got boring. She looked the same as any other pure breed. She had the same few emotions and responses; the interest ran out. Eleanor ran out of new things to capture. She hated taking repeats of shots she already had.

Lucy was sold.

Itssnowing: Why? I would love having something so pretty in my house. A living, breathing piece of art that’s just for you.

SkullsandRibbons: Why would I want something I can see anywhere? There’s nothing new about it. Nothing unique. Nothing raw! Nothing new to see. It’s boring!

Itssnowing: I guess I’m just boring then. I’d much rather a quiet afternoon at home with a pretty little thing snuggled on my lap.

SkullsandRibbons: Well you’re an office worker, I’m an artist! I need something fulfilling!

Itssnowing: Suit yourself then.

SkullsandRibbons: I’m gonna go to the shelter tomorrow, see if they had anything interesting.

Itssnowing: You want a MUTT!?

SkullsandRibbons: Absolutely! No two are identical. I might actually capture something unique!

Itssnowing: I don’t understand you… but I suppose I don’t have to understand your tastes.

Eleanor laughed at her friend. She shared almost everything with Snowing. He got all the shots she took of her new rescue. He even admitted that the pictures were marvelous, though he still had his own tastes.

Eleanor got bored too easily. She decided to foster, so that she’d get a different subject every once and a while. She definitely preferred the rescues over Lucy. They all had stories and intrigue and were far more dependent on her attention. She could brighten them right up with a little affection, and then destroy them by ignoring them for a minute. Best was that she could do it all over again and it still worked.

But dogs got boring. She needed something fresh, something entirely unique, something that screamed at her to be captured and focused on.

She was browsing the internet one day and a headline caught her interest. She’d vaguely heard about the ninja, but she hadn’t actually seen any real pictures yet, so she clicked the article just to see what kind of pictures it had.

The green ninja made her eyes roll. Scared boy trying too hard to look strong and important and nothing else. A few candid shots had potential, but he seemed to only be himself when he didn’t know he was being seen, which would be pointless to explore with a camera.

The white ninja made her cringe. He had nothing to give. Well, the interesting anatomy could be worked with, but the ninja himself was a stiff subject that had nothing to see.

The blue ninja was all energy, no form. She could probably get some good shots, but it would get very one note after a short while.

The black ninja at least seemed to know how to hold himself, though he didn’t seem to have any interest in being a good subject. He’d make a decent model for brand work, but he’d be worthless in any artistic projects.

The girl was a brat. She refused to be a subject. It was a non-starter.

It was the red ninja that made her stop breathing. Then she boiled over in rage.

He was…He was perfect. He was gorgeous. He had an effortless look with just enough edge to make you want to know more. He was stunning, and the framing was the worst she’d ever seen!

They focused on the complete wrong place, and the lighting was just….oh it burned her. Here was this boy being the perfect subject, all the stars aligned, and the photographer ruined it!

She searched him up, she had to know what he looked like when he was given the attention he deserved.

Kai Smith.

She found his social media and started to scroll through. He posted his own pictures and he had no training in photography, but at least he wasn’t ruining anything. She poured over each selfie. His eyes burned with mischief and passion, his face had beautiful angles no matter which way he turned, and he seemed to love being observed. He was preforming. Giving pieces of himself for others to see. Eleanor continues to scroll and fantasized about capturing those pieces and propping them up correctly. She could make something magical out of him. His expressions told stories, he wore his emotions like jewels and Eleanor had to know more.

She spent the next week obsessing over everything she could learn about Kai Smith, her new muse. And she found something she hated even more than boring subjects, seeing someone mishandle a beautiful subject like Kai.

They all were too focused on Lloyd, who looked uncomfortable half the time he was on camera.

Nya wasn’t always an awful subject; she seemed a lot more willing to be captured if her brother was there with her.

She was right about Cole. He had the training, but no passion for it.

Jay was an attention hog and she found herself annoyed with him. Too overpowering, he didn’t leave the artist any room to work.

Zane was everything she thought he was. No surprises there.

But Kai…

The pictures where he was angry were the best. He had such a raw emotion. He let everyone see how he felt and let the image have the power of what he felt. He let his soul be seen.

She learned all she could about him.

He had a tragic backstory. Something with teeth, no wonder he had a touch of a wounded look. He had no mother to shape the world for him. This interested Eleanor even more. Kai seemed to have filtered the world for his little sister, and seemingly Lloyd too, but he seemed to lack anyone that could reshape his world as they saw fit.

He was wayward child.

The thought made Eleanor smile. Kai had no mother to compete with. There was no woman she’d have to fight with to take control of his world. He was what she had wanted so desperately. A beautiful and interesting subject she could control.

Oh, how she’d love to have him.

[cristinablackthornkingson]

Shadowhunters Short Story #45 Baby Girl Lightwood-Bane.

It is a warm spring evening in May of 2014 when Magnus and Alec Lightwood-Bane are broken from their blissful domestic bubble while playing with their sons, by the sharp ringing of the landline.

With a sigh Alec stands up with Max on his hip and makes his way over to the phone. No doubt it’s someone from The Clave with more work for him, just when he thought he had finished for the day and could spend some quality time with his husband and children. 

“Hello?” Alec answers the phone, shifting Max in his arms as he begins to squirm and wriggle. 

“Alec! Can you come to The Institute right now? Please? Clary and I really need your help!” Jace’s panicked voice comes down the line, immediately sending Alec into a fit of anxiety and worry. Had something happened to he and Clary? Was there news from Idris? 

“What’s wrong what happened? Are you okay, is Clary okay? Is it the baby?” Alec asks in a tone equally as panicked as Jace. Clary is 6 months pregnant and Jace has been extremely protective of her over the last 6 months, rushing to summon The Silent Brothers every time she so much as flinched. Maybe now something really was wrong.

“Yes! Wait no! I mean yes it’s the baby but not our baby.” Jace hurriedly says.

“What do you mean Jace?” Alec asks in a confused voice.

“So this morning Clary and I went to go visit her parents but when we got outside there was a basket with a baby lying in it, on the front steps. There was a note saying that the mother didn’t want the baby, but there was no explanation as to why. The baby’s dressed in pink so we think it’s a girl but we didn’t check, we brought her inside and she seems to be either a Shadowhunter, a cub, half Faerie or a mundane, we have no idea though, can you come help us?”  For a few minutes Alec is speechless, brought back to that day in Idris 5 years ago when Simon had rushed up to tell he and Magnus about the blue baby left on the doorsteps of The Academy. No one knew how long Max had been there and no one knew how long this little girl had been on the steps of The Institute, no matter the weather during the day, it’s freezing cold at night, so cold Max could’ve died and so could this little girl. Clearly mothers who have unwanted pregnancies feel like they have no other option, since abortion is illegal among Shadowhunters (something that Alec is trying to fix, he feels like everyone deserves a choice and that they should decide what to do with their bodies, not him.) He will have to work on setting up a safe place for unwanted babies to be dropped, where they would be safe and warm and found immediately. 

“We’ll be right over.” Alec tells his brother, then hangs up without even saying goodbye. 

“Is everything alright?” Alec hears Magnus ask from behind him. 

“Yes and no, there was a baby left on the steps of The Institute this morning, Jace and Clary have no idea what to do and want us to come over.” Alec says, running his hand through his messy black hair.

“How those two are going to cope with their own baby is beyond me, come on let’s go help them before they drop the baby.” Magnus says in an amused tone. 

20 minutes later Magnus, Alec, Max, Rafe, Clary and Jace are standing in the drawing room of The Institute looking at the baby in her bassinet which has been placed on the sofa. Max and Rafe are fascinated by the baby but Clary and Jace are looking at her as if she is some new breed of demon. 

“How long have you had her?” Alec asks, reaching into the bassinet to stroke the baby’s flushed cheek. 

“About an hour.” Jace says.

“Have you picked her up or fed her in that hour?” Magnus asks, raising an eyebrow at his brother and sister-in-law. 

“We don’t have any formula or anything and she seems happy in there so we didn’t see a reason to pick her up.” Jace tells them. 

“And how are you going to cope with your baby when he’s born? You’ll have to hold him and feed him you know.” Alec says, smiling at the baby as she grasps his finger in her little hand. 

“Yeah but it’ll be different with our own baby, and mom and Jocelyn and Luke have promised to come help out when he’s born.” Jace calmly says. 

“Daddy.” Max pipes up. “Is this my sista?” He adds, looking from the baby to Alec. Alec and Magnus had discussed adopting again and have agreed that they want more children, and this little one does need a home. Alec shares a look with Magnus who smiles at him and then turns to look at Max. Placing his hand on Max’s back he says

“Yes Max this is your sister.” Max’s eyes light up in delight, and Clary and Jace sag with relief. 

“What’s her name?” Rafe quietly asks, looking between his dads. 

“She doesn’t have one yet Rafe, we have to think of one for her, can you think of any good names?” Alec softly asks his eldest son. Rafe shakes his head. 

“That’s alright, we can come up with a good one, we chose your middle name and Max’s name, we can choose a good name for your sister.” Magnus softly says. 

“How are you going to find out what she is?” Clary curiously asks, leaning against Jace, her hand resting protectively over her swollen stomach. 

“I’m sure The Silent Brothers could tell us, or we could take her to Catarina for a blood test, it doesn’t matter what she is anyway, she's our daughter first and foremost.” Magnus firmly says.

Later that evening, when Rafe and Max are down for the night, Magnus and Alec place the baby on a pillow between them on the bed and try to come up with a name for her.

“We kind of have a theme going on with the boys, we named them both after someone that was important to us, maybe we should keep up that theme?” Alec softly suggests.  

“Good idea, why don’t you choose her first name and I’ll choose her middle name?” Magnus says. He doesn’t  want to name his daughter after one of his ex-girlfriends like Etta, he could choose something like Lucie for her middle name, since he and Lucie were quiet close when she was younger, but he wouldn't do that without Tessa’s permission, and he Alec wanted to name their daughter tonight. 

“Okay, I think I’d like to name her after a family member, not mom or Izzy but one of my ancestors or something.” Alec quietly says, mentally running through a list of the names of his ancestors. 

“You always liked the name Sophie didn’t you?” Magnus asks. 

“Yeah but she doesn’t look like a Sophie.” After a minute’s pause, Alec’s eyes brighten and he says “I think I’ve got it.” 

“What is it?” Magnus asks. 

“Anna, after Anna Ligthwood. Tessa and Jem told me a lot about her, she was gay like me and non-binary and she refused to hide who she was even in a time when being gay was illegal among mundanes and a lot of Shadowhunters were extremely homophobic, I want our daughter to never be afraid to be herself, so don’t you think the name is fitting?” Magnus smiles at Alec and nods. He had liked Anna Lightwood very much, she was a wonderful person, they were good friends when she was a young adult, she had been one of the only Lightwood’s he ever liked. 

“I think it’s perfect. Anna Catarina Ligthwood-Bane, what do you think?” Magnus softly asks. Catarina is one of his oldest and closest friends, she has done so much for him over the years, she’s one of the best people out there, she gets so little recognition for all she does, the least he can do is name his daughter after her. 

“It’s perfect, welcome to the family my beautiful Anna, we love you so much.” Alec quietly says, leaning down to press a kiss to the baby’s forehead. She is absolutely beautiful, with a few wisps of a light blonde hair, pale skin and big green eyes. Both Magnus and Alec think she might be part fae. A few years ago that would have terrified them, with the cold peace in place they would’ve been terrified someone would want to hurt her or that The Clave would insist she be sent to Faerie. Neither of them had the slightest clue how to raise a baby who is half fae, but if she is half fae then surely they can get help from Mark and Helen Blackthorn along with Kieran. Helen and Aline’s daughter is part fae, as is Cristina, Kieran and Mark’s  daughter.

Over the next few days Magnus and Alec settle into life with three children. Anna is mostly a very happy and content baby, she adores her big brothers who always manage to make her smile and laugh. She is spoiled already by Maryse who is thrilled to have a sweet little granddaughter, she talks non stop about how she cannot wait for Clary and Jace’s son to be born so she can have pictures of all four of her grandchildren together. 

A week after adopting Anna, Alec and Magnus summoned a Silent Brother to see if he could tell them what species she is. After examining her for only a few minutes, Brother Enoch confirmed that little Anna is part Fae part Shadowhunter. Alec rang Aline in the LA Institute that evening and asked if she and Helen would be able to give them some advice on raising a child who is half fae. They agreed that next week, Alec, Magnus, Helen, Aline, Mark, Cristina and Kieran would meet up for a while to discuss the matter. Rafe and Max can play with Tavvy and the babies are all between 2-6 months old, so they won’t be difficult to keep occupied. 

Tonight Alec has a Clave meeting which means Magnus will be on his own with the three kids for the first time, but he’s not worried, Max and Rafe are extremely well behaved and Anna isn’t fussy, she’ll be delighted to have some quality time with her big brothers. Alec needs to be at his meeting in an hour, but he hasn’t come out of his and Magnus’ room since he went in there about 2 hours ago to change Anna, Magnus suspects he fell asleep but if he’s to be on time for his meeting he needs to get up soon, so while Max and Rafe have their dinner Magnus heads into his and Alec’s room to wake his husband.  

When Magnus steps into his and Alec’s room, he sees Alec lying on his back on the bed, fast asleep with Anna curled up on his chest, also fast asleep. Magnus quickly pulls his phone from his pocket and snaps a picture of his husband and daughter, something Tessa encouraged him to do when he and Alec adopted Max. 

“Alexander.” Magnus softly says, taking a seat on the bed next to him and running a hand through his hair. “Time to wake up blue eyes.” Alec’s eyes flutter open and he smiles softly at Magnus. 

“Hey, how long have I been asleep?” He asks in a tired tone. 

“About two hours now, I wouldn’t have woken you but you have a meeting in an hour.” Magnus softly says. 

“Ugh stupid meetings, I don’t want to go to a meeting I want to stay and snuggle Anna and play with the boys.” Alec says, holding his daughter close and pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

“Now now Alexander, you can’t hog her all night, she’ll love having quality time with her papa and her big brothers, Max and Rafe have been talking non stop all day about how they’re going to help out with her, they refuse to change her diaper but Max says he will change her if I teach him how to use his magic to change her.” Magnus says in an amused tone. Alec laughs lightly. 

“He’s so funny.” Alec says. He would give anything not to have to go to this meeting tonight, it’s very tempting to cancel it or hand it over to Diego, who is The Inquisitor. 

“That he is, thank God he hasn’t got Jace’s sense of humor though, now come on, you’ll be late for your meeting.” Magnus says. Alec groans and passes Anna to Magnus, before pushing himself off the bed. 

“It’s ridiculous that I have to go to a meeting when we just adopted a new baby, I need to work on new rules for paternity and maternity leave, Jace should be able to stay with Clary and their baby when the baby is born, Clary shouldn't be called out on missions while she’s 6 months pregnant, I know I should think and say that nothing comes before The Angel but family does, you and the kids and mom, Jace and Izzy are far more important to me than my religion ever will be.” Alec rants as he looks around for a shirt to change into. 

“I agree with you Alexander, I hate the thought of Clary or any other pregnant woman going out and fighting demons, it’s not safe, everything is off balance for them, but things can be different now you’re Consul, maybe you could bring up the issue of maternity and paternity leave tonight? What is the meeting about?” Magnus asks. 

“Nothing in particular just a general meeting to review all that’s been going on lately, levels of demonic activity, what’s going on in Idris, stuff like that. Jace will be there, Mark, Julian and Ty Blackthorn as well and I think Jem is coming and taking Kit, I’m sure they would all back me up if I wanted to discuss changing the rules about maternity and paternity leave.” Alec explains while buttoning up his shirt. 

“Of course they will, Mark has a young daughter and Julian is about to be a father in a few months, Tiberius is very protective of his little nieces and Kit and Jem are extremely protective of Tessa and little Cordelia, they all have reason to want better maternity and paternity leave and anyone who doesn’t, well they don’t have to take maternity or paternity leave, but the choice should be there.” Alec finishes tying his tie and nods before leaning in to briefly kiss his husband. 

“You’re right, as usual. I love you so much that I changed the world for you and I’ll do the same for the rest of my family.”

Later that night, in the nursery, little Anna wakes up having lost her pacifier and begins to fuss and whine. Suddenly a tall, burly man with thick black hair streaked through with gray, blue eyes and a black beard materializes in front of the crib. 

Robert Ligthwood smiles down at his granddaughter, drawing enough energy to grab her pacifier and give it back to her. 

“Shh now little one, it’s alright grandpa’s here.” Robert quietly says, stroking the baby’s cheek. This is the first time he has come back to this plane since his death two years ago. He has kept an eye on his family, knows that Jace is about to be a father and that Max and Rafael are growing so fast and will be such wonderful, amazing young men. He had not planned to come visit his granddaughter but when she began to cry and fuss, his instinct made him rush to her side, as he had his own children when they were little. 

“She’s absolutely beautiful.” A voice at Robert’s shoulder says. Robert turns to see Michael Wayland standing beside him, and grins at him. They had been reunited in the afterlife and talked things through and repaired their broken relationship. Robert filled Michael in all that had went down since his death and constantly bragged about his grandsons.

“Of course she is, she’s my granddaughter.” Robert jokingly says. 

“I’m beginning to wonder if Jace got his arrogance from Valentine or you.” Michael says in a light tone.

“He has every right to be arrogant, he’s a wonderful young man, as is Alec and Isabelle is an amazing young woman.” Robert says in a proud tone. Little Anna looks up at her grandfather with wide blue eyes, and reaches her arms up to be lifted. “I’m sorry little one.” Robert softly says. “I wish I could lift you and hold you, my beautiful granddaughter.” 

“When we were teenagers, if I had of told you your son would marry a downworlder and two of your grandchildren would be downworlders you would have pitched an absolute fit.” Michael says in a solemn tone. 

“Unfortunately you’re right, I was an ignorant little brat, all I care about now is that my family are happy and healthy, which they are, thank The Angel. I just wish I could be around to see this little one grow up, Max and Rafe have already grown so much, I miss them so much.” Robert quietly says, trying to hold back his tears. Just when he had been getting his life together and fixing his relationship with Alec, Isabelle and Jace, he had been killed. Perhaps he deserved it, perhaps it was payback for all those innocent downworlders he had harmed and killed in his teenage years.

“You can still see them, Jace’s son will be able to see you whenever you’re around and you can choose to show yourself to Max, Rafe and little Anna here, I know it’s not the same but you can still see them and let them know how much you love them, and I know your kids aren’t going to let their kids forget about their grandpa.” Michael softly says, placing a hand on Robert’s arm. 

“I know.” Robert quietly says. A few seconds later Anna starts to cry and whine again. Not wanting her to wake Magnus and Alec, Robert reaches out and gently strokes his granddaughter’s cheek, fixes her blankets, etc. “Shh little darling it’s all right, you’re okay, don’t cry Anna, grandpa’s here.” Robert coos, but the little girls cries just grow louder and louder. 

A few seconds later, the nursery door creaks open and Alec stumbles in, bleary eyed and unable to see very well in the dark. He crosses the room to the crib and gently lifts his daughter into his arms, when he does, she immediately stops crying and a smile lights up Alec’s face.

“Oh baby, I bet it gets lonely in here huh? Seeing as your papa and I share a room and your brothers share a room too, maybe you should sleep in with papa and I, hm?” Alec whispers to the baby, not wanting to wake Magnus or the boys. Max had slept in his crib in their room until he was about 1, Rafe often climbed into bed with them in the middle of the night, too, when he had been adopted. At first Rafe had had his own room, but half the time Max would end up in Rafe’s bed by the morning so they decided to let them share a room which made them both very happy, it would make sense for Anna to sleep in Magnus and Alec’s room. 

As Robert watches his son tending to his daughter and being a far better father than he himself ever was, he feels an immense sense of pride, his son, Consul, husband, father to 3, big brother, it seems there’s nothing Alec can’t do and Robert could not be more proud that Alec and Magnus are carrying on the Lightwood name with their 3 children.  

[mrmattymatt87]

Self-quarantine, night six into the early hours of morning seven: On quiet nights, especially during trying times, it’s nice to practice gratefulness. With life slowed down there’s time to reflect, adapt, and grow. We cannot control everything, but we can control our response. Calm, kindness, reflection and happiness — they are things we all deserve. They are things that, in time, hopefully we attain. But it takes work. Now is a good time to do that work on ourselves.

With the pandemic, things may seem scary. I want to share love with everyone. We all go through this change together. Uncertainty can breed fear, frustration, and anger. However, new challenges can also inspire empathy, understanding, love and softness.

Some have decided to stay at home (which is wonderful). Some cannot because they are needed to help our society function (and we thank you). Others also cannot stay home simply because they cannot afford to lose their jobs and corporations are not respecting the well-being of their employees (and I fight for your rights).

We all have our stories and reasons for our behavior but at the end of the day, we are responsible for our choices. Make decisions that better yourself and our world.

In times like this? We like to think about our own well-being, safety, wants, desires and frustrations. That’s all natural because survivalism is a human response to danger. But that isn’t the limit of our capability, nor the purpose of our soul’s journey. Right now, we are being asked to keep distance, ration supplies, and stay home (if and when we can) so that we keep EACH OTHER safe, not just ourselves.

Now is a time to be reflective. As we have time to slow down, let’s be courteous of others. Let’s be kind. Let’s forgive. If you’re lucky to be/feel healthy and you can stay home for those who do not feel so well, then do it. Stay home to prevent infecting those who do feel okay, but may be vulnerable to sickness. The purpose of the quarantine is to protect each other, but mostly those who are without supports and those who are vulnerable. Be careful with your messaging and your actions.

And you’ll benefit from this anyway. Bored or not, you have time for yourself. Take this time to heal yourself — whether it’s breaking self-destructive habits or breaking patterns leading you into an unhealthy life. Pick up new hobbies. Find new books, music, art or movies to love. Or simply turn everything off and rest. If you are fortunate enough to be comfortable, you have all the time you need to clean up.

I like to pass time with humor and musings, but I am doing my part to stay home. I am staying up-to-date with news and also refreshing my knowledge of microbiology to better understand infectious diseases and their evolutions.

Science is fascinating, by the way.

Highly recommend 10/10.

[beyondthetemples]

Multimuse RP questions!

{{ I couldn’t figure out which RP blog to stick these on (since I have like. nine), so I figured I’d just skip to the Answering Part over here. =w=

Found here: https://memesfortheroleplayerssoul.tumblr.com/post/163688858676

is there a muse that you wish gets more attention? Honestly? Dove. There are a couple of people who've said they love reading about her, and I'm so absolutely eternally delighted for them, too deeply appreciative for words! A couple friends I met via rping her, and a couple friends I met in Certain discord servers, but that's about it anymore. But she's my baby, you know? I love her, she's amazing, and I wish more people took the time to write stories with her, because she just has so much potential! I mean, yeah, for angst of course, but also for healing and comfort, for action and fantasy, for mystical and mundane plots alike. She's so multi-faceted and fascinating to explore, I just... well, maybe it's more selfish in that I need help exploring some of the more mundane stuff with her. Because if it doesn't really Have Relevance to a Particular Plot, I generally won't wind up writing it, let alone publishing it. :P But this answer's already too long; I could rave about Dove for hours! All I'm trying to say is, I wish more people cared about OCs.

if you HAD to choose, who’s your favorite muse? Favorite to RP with? Far and away, Dove! Favorite for crack RPs, Srentha or Leyla. Favorite canon character is a GIGANTIC toss-up between Raven and Lapis. Favorite characters to explore for personal reasons are Ryou Bakura and Blue Diamond, but I have a hard time bringing myself to actually WRITE about them, for some reason...

is there a muse that not a lot of people roleplay with? (Besides the ones I haven't advertised? ^^';;) Maybe Phobia? She has only ever existed in comic canons-- though she WAS in the Teen Titans Go comics too! (The original series, not the... bastardization). Anyways, she's a much lesser-known muse. And my muse for her is wildly unreliable, she's a volatile and abrasive character, and my inspiration for her has run dry for awhile now...

if you HAD to choose, who’s your least favorite muse? Phobia. o_o See above, actually.

which one of your muses have you been playing the longest? Prooobably Dove? She was the one I started rping with, of course!

which one of your muses has the most ships? Ships in their canon, or ships in my rps? Because you're talking to a demigray here; I don't really do romance? But in my stories, Dove has 3 ships (all at different times in her life). In rps, Dove has been kinda-contemplating-it shipped a couple times, but never got to the point of, you know, kissing... and in fandom, Lapis probably has the most.

what is each of your muses’ otps? notps? ~ Dove and Srentha together~ (Don't have notps for them.) ~ Kary: food? sleep? Her canon boyfriend Eric ~ Leyla has a qpp named Toby in the stories. ~ Raven: I'm demonbirds trash. I don't even know how that happened, honestly. (Notps include B|BRae and, while not as strong of a NO in the jlvtt canon, ter/raven.) ~ Lapis Lazuli: OTP with Peridot! Intensely notp with jasper. ~ Blue Diamond: OTP with Yellow hardcore, no notps to speak of. ~ Phobia: Utterly unexplored??? I think she voluntarily abstains. ~ Ryou: OTP with Joey (thank my girlfriend for that one)! Notp with Yami Bakura, it’s absolutely 100% possibly my most violently-disgusted NOtp yet. Also with Diva because... What The Fuck??? But I won't rant about that just now. ~ Jess: I haven't really done much shipping, though Mistress and Trick are a hella canon, deeply bonded breeding couple. ~ Evangeline? Sorta-OTP with my gf's character Taex, though it's not exactly a ~romantic~ dynamic. Notp with Srentha, probably, considering she'd try to kill him, given the chance, and she’s pissed at Dove for marrying him.

why were you drawn to each one of your characters? Okay, listen, you can't just ask something like this and expect an easy answer! I could write an Actual Legitimate Essay on EACH ONE, because I only write a character when I'm Extremely Highkey Personally Emotionally Inspired by them!

UPDATE: I tried to summarize, I really did! But there's just so MUCH, and it turned into an essay on its own. --> https://beyondthetemples-ooc.tumblr.com/post/189837029682/why-were-you-drawn-to-each-one-of-your-characters

Summaries go like this: Dove is brave, complex enough to delve deeply in and constantly discover new facets of, and inspiring enough to create a positive experience while doing so. Srentha is fun, positive, and passionate, and legitimate ADHD representation. Leyla is a chill miracle child of creativity and quiet passion. Raven is the reason I'm still alive and perfectly reflected me at about age 14, so I have a very deep personal connection to her. Kary is so fun to explore because she's my polar opposite, as a temperamental pyrokinetic who revels in chaos and really just wants to have a good time. Evangeline is everything Dove suppresses, brought to life, so she's fun to explore as an extension of Dove! Lapis has a lot of struggles to explore and has done a lot of healing and growth that I'd like to expand on someday. Blue Diamond and Ryou Bakura were basically literally me, so I can explore the trauma and healing from their perspectives in a safe space. And Phobia? I just wanted to put characters' mettle to the test honestly, and see what would happen.

which muse is the most fun to write for? Oh, Srentha, absolutely hands down! Dove does have the best close-friends casual-fun kind of rp relationships, though. And Mistress the Mismagius has this sardonic teasing sense of humor that always makes me smile, especially with Murky (Murkrow).

is there another muse you’ve been thinking of adding or writing for? who? Oh stars, I don't need another one. =w= I've been... struggling to get my Ryou blog actually up and running for a long while now. Nobody new has inspired me lately, but I'm pretty stuck in my fandom ways.

what is something everyone should know about your muses before interacting? I stick it all in their bios! But, let's see... Dove: Even though she's Raven's half-sister, she keeps it DESPERATELY hidden, and nobody IC is supposed to know about that. Srentha is very deeply rooted in Azarathean pacifism and won't do much in battle besides help people retreat. Leyla has her father's heart condition and can't do anything too active. Kary will rarely use her powers, as conjuring even a simple spark stings her scar badly. Lapis is more than her toxic relationship! Blue Diamond is NOT the dictator she once was! Ryou does NOT want the spirit of the millennium ring in his life anymore! Jess just... sticks mostly to Sinnoh and rarely ever leaves. And Evangeline has a palpable evil aura about her; she makes SURE of it.

what’s a weird headcanon you have for each of your muses? Dove hates pie. Srentha loves colorful things. Leyla will cover everything in glitter if you let her. Kary will do anything for some good food and/or a nap. Ryou's hair is untamable. Lapis doesn't guard her gem as carefully as she should. Blue Diamond may be more emotional, but she won't sing about it as frequently as other Gems. Raven... doesn't wear underwear?

which muse has the most aus or verses? I mean, the Lapis I was writing for was 97% canon divergent. Evangeline only exists as her own person (and not merely a partition of Dove's mind) in a DCUO-compatible timeline. But I don't really do aus or verses otherwise; it's just more stressful for me.

can you sort your muses from youngest to oldest? Sorting based on the ages I'll generally play them: Leyla (8-14), Dove (15-25), Kary (18+), Ryou (19+), Srentha (20+), Jess (22+), Phobia (23+), Lapis (5k+), Blue Diamond (10k+).

which muse is most willing to fight another muse? Oh, definitely Kary. (She won't fight Dove or Leyla, even if there's a really good reason. And Srentha has this weird power of defusing her. But anyone else, she can easily be provoked to fight on a dime.) Or maybe Evangeline, who will fight anyone at any time for any reason whatsoever?

do your muses get along with each other? Evangeline gets along with nobody. Dove/Srentha/Leyla are all a very tight-knit family, and Kary considers herself Dove's sister and Leyla's aunt. I've thought about what might happen if Lapis met Blue Diamond, but I don’t have the faintest idea of how that'd go? I did start an RP once where Lapis met Dove, and I planned to have them bond over homesickness and purpose-seeking, but then I lost the ehd I had that prewritten on, and never had the heart to try rewriting it. Ryou and Jess kinda exist in their own universe's bubble. (Jess has a whole cast of Pokemon creature muses she very much gets along with, though~)

would you ship any of your muses together? who? Dove and Srentha are hella-canon endgame already, that's been decided for like 12 years!

for each muse, is there a character you wish had a blog so you could interact with them? You know, I've never really been one much for wishing like that. I do wish Dove had a stable Raven again, since both of my all-time favorite Raven rpers have left the rp circle... but that's about it, really.

have you ever considered making a multimuse/is it easier having a multimuse? I mean, my Pokemon blog has like 19 muses built into the breeding center... 8F But no, I prefer to keep my drafts, rps, and tag systems for each muse on separate sideblogs. Tumblr's tags break WAY too often to shove them all in one place. (And with a sideblog, I don't have to log in and out every time I want to check for replies!)

which muse is the most problematic towards other muses? Toss-up between Phobia and Evangeline, obviously. Blue Diamond is a reformed Gem, the way I play her. (I don't care what anyone says, THAT'S CANON as HELL too!) But Evangeline actively goes out of her way to hurt and/or sacrifice people to her own ends,

which muse is most likely to make new friends? Probably Leyla, though now that SU has sent out a message across the Gem universe that Gems are welcome on Earth, Lapis could wind up meeting quite a lot of new acquaintances. It's much harder to befriend her, though. Srentha has a lot of charismatic energy too, and he’ll go out and make friends with anyone, given the chance.

which muses’ fandom do you like the best? Ahhh, don't make me CHOOSE like that! ;; Fandom like being a fan of them, or fandom like, liking the other people in the fandom? Because Steven Universe, Teen Titans, and YuGiOh all have incredibly special places in my heart, while having Their Issues amongst the fandom... Pokemon seems to be the best mannered fandom though, especially amidst the RP community.

is there someone playing the same muse/s as you and you really look up to them? Ohgosh, well there's a blog called, I think, melancholeyes?, that plays Blue so well, it's like reading canon scenes. I did see a blog that played a Ryou I respected, but I can't remember their name... and of course Larissa and Pix played great Ravens, but each a different version.

which muse do people send the most asks for? Probably Dove, thanks in large part to Caleb!

which muse is most likely to have kids? Leyla is already Dove's kid, so... 8F

is there a rule that someone keeps breaking for your muses? Not to my knowledge, but my rules aren't strict anyways.

can you sort your muses from weakest to strongest? ...Oh, stars. How am I supposed to sort them? Well, let's try this.

Weakest to strongest in combat (based on their style of choice): Ryou, Leyla, Srentha, Phobia, Evangeline, Jess, Kary, Dove, Lapis, Blue Diamond, Raven. ( * i switched raven and blue diamond around SO many times. both are immensely powerful with god-like abilities, but raven can literally destroy reality itself. so...)

Weakest to strongest by strength of heart and character: Phobia, Evangeline, uh... Kary? Srentha...? Uh... frICK THIS ONE'S HARD. Because they're all so strong in their own ways. Probably Leyla? Next tier is probably Blue, Lapis, and Jess, and Dove, Raven, and Ryou are highest tier.

which muse are you considering deleting? Phobia, and maybe sometimes Blue. (I actually... never got a single RP or follower on Blue. I'm still debating if I really WANT to rp as her, at least on Tumblr, knowing how toxic the fandom can get around the Diamonds...)

most importantly, are you having fun playing each one of your muses? Pretty much! Especially Dove, Srentha, Leyla, and Raven!~ Raven's wit and clipped verbiage can be tricky to for me sometimes, but all it takes is a little tlc on her dialogue, and it doesn't slow down my enjoyment one bit. :} And when I'm in a Pokemon-hyperfocus mood, writing the Pokemon team is ALWAYS a blast! (Especially the Pokemon; their personalities are so dynamic together.) With muses like Lapis and Blue, and even Kary, the mood for their emotionality waxes and wanes, but I don't write for them unless I'm in The Right Frame of Mind to KEEP UP with them, you know? I never push myself in an rp until it's not fun anymore; at least I know where my writing burnout limits are.

Phobia and Evangeline are both sadistic, and when you're a compassionate person, that can be very hard to write out in the painstaking detail of my style. But sometimes my mind just Won't Shut UP about 'Vangie unless I WRITE IT OUT. Which is a good exercise of course, stretching my horizons and all that, and I do love writing the drama and conflict they stir up.

But beyond the momentary discomforts, I'm just so eager to explore their lives and minds and adventures, so yes, I absolutely DO have fun writing for each and every one!

[fyrapartnersearch]

Long term M/M roleplays

Hey! I’m Kat, and looking for some more roleplays. I’m in my early twenties, so no worries there, and I’m in the GMT+3 time-zone, though I tend to be up at odd hours and I’m often online.

I mainly want to roleplay M/M right now. I tend to write multi-para and more often than not my replies are 700+ words. I don’t mind shorter replies, as long as I get at least a few good sized paragraphs and correct spelling/grammar. Mistakes happen and that’s fine, but I don’t want to read something with no punctuation and that’s nothing but mistakes.

Also please read this whole thing before sending me a message!! I ask you don’t just send “wanna RP?”, because I won’t know unless you tell me something you had in mind: a plot, an idea of mine you liked, anything really.

As for smut, I adore it. I don’t want to write only smut for now, but anything from 20/80 to 80/20 on plot/smut ratio is good for me. Just tell me if you want more plot or smut.

In M/M smut I prefer playing a submissive/bottom character. I can play a dominant character, but I don’t enjoy it so I wish you’ll be willing to play an exclusively dominant role.

What I like:

- Medieval/historical settings (especially ancient Egypt/Rome/Greece) - Forbidden love - Arranged marriage - Lots and lots of drama and dark themes - But also fluffy scenes and cute/happy moments - Mpreg (not a must at all, if you’re not into it) - Supernatural beings (werewolves, vampires, demons, gods etc.) - Omega verse - Role reversal (such as, for example, a bully getting himself in a situation where the bullied has complete control)

I’m rather reserved when it comes to modern day settings, but I can do those as well if there’s a lot of action and drama involved. I prefer a plot-heavy story in modern setting though.

Pairings I’d like to try: (Dom/sub)

- Warlord/prince - King or prince/prince in an arranged marriage setting - Pirate or thief/nobility - Samurai/geisha - Nobility/prostitute - Servant/nobility or royalty - Guard/nobility or royalty - Bullied/Bully - Nerd/popular student - Stepbrothers - Demon/angel - Poor guy/rich guy in an Victorian era/early 20th century setting - Mage/human (yes I have just finished rewatching all Harry Potter movies lol) - Werewolf/human - Professor/student

And many more fun things, but I can’t remember everything off the top of my head. Feel free to suggest anything, really. I’m also very much into playing femboys/crossdressing characters, though if that’s not your thing I can do other kinds of characters as well. I know it’s a concern for many with these kinds of characters, so I’ll promise my characters are never the “I-can-do-nothing-on-my-own-and-will-cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat-and-whine-the-rest-of-the-time” blushing virgin, maiden in distress types. No need to worry about that.

I am busy a lot, so I might not always have time to reply every day or even every other day, but I try to be as active as I can. Feel free to poke me if it takes more than a week or so though.

A few plot ideas: (MC = my character, YC = your character)

1) Insipred by the TV show “Lucifer”. YC is the Devil himself, ruler of Hell, the first fallen angel. He has grown tired of the same old tortured souls and fires of damnation scenery though and decides it’s time to visit Earth for a bit. A notorious playboy, seducer to sin, the owner of one of the hottest nightclubs in town is the image he creates for himself among humans. He grants wishes in exchange to favours and soon enough everyone knows of him. MC is a struggling student, or someone who has just graduated and can’t get on in life, and as a last resort goes to see YC. YC takes an immidiate liking to him, and initial fascination quickly turns into something more… human. Love, maybe? Suddenly YC has to make a choice of whether or not he’ll reveal who he truly is to the innocent human he has fallen for.

2) Once upon a time MC and YC were lovers, young and oh, so in love. They were happy together, planning their future, until one day YC disappeared without a trace and MC never saw him again. Until 10 years later; YC has inherited a large fortune from his uncle who had no family of his own, and one lonely evening he heads to a brothel to ease his longing for company. There, much to his shock, he is reunited with MC who is a shell of what he once was. The bubbly, social human, always so full of life, has turned into someone with a haunted look in his eyes and a deep distrust for other people. Not able to leave MC there, YC buys him from the brothel and takes him home. Now he needs to decide what to do with him. (Historical setting)

3) (Omega verse, preferably mpreg included) MC is a rare kind of a shifter, an omega desired by many. He was born in a different kind of a prison: to a man who breeds only the best omegas for the royalty. He and the other omegas he lives with have never seen the outside world. They are kept safe behind locks in the innermost monastery on the castle grounds, where there’s no chance of them getting out on their own. They are given to the harems of the royal family, or occasionally bought by the wealthies of the wealthy. But MC wants more, he wants independence and a life of his own, rather than a life dedicated to fawning over an alpha with an ego big enough as it is. YC is an alpha who has made a considerable contribution to the kingdom (could be anything from being an honored soldier to being a famous artist, whatever you come up with) and who is being gifted one of these rare omegas by the royal family themselves. On his visit to the monastery to choose one of them, he takes a liking to MC, the spiteful little thing who can’t seem to know when to shut up and who won’t bat his lashes and swoon at everything YC does. It seems like MC will be getting a new home.

4) MC is a shifter (species can be discussed and decided on later) who has been separated from his pack and survived alone for a while now. He gets caught in the middle of a fight between YC’s pack and YC’s rival pack, and after - possibly accidentally - saving YC’s life he is accepted into the pack. Some time passes, YC and MC grow closer, the suspicions some had about MC fade and MC feels he’s starting to belong in a pack again, when he finds out his old pack has merged with YC’s rival pack. Now he’ll have to choose whether he is loyal to his new, or his old pack. (I would prefer this had mpreg, but again not a necessity)

5) YC is a shapeshifter, the leader of a clan of dragons. Dragons have long ago been thought extinct, but the truth is there are still some clans left. The problem is, with the dominant personalities of dragons, it’s quite difficult to find a mate or a breeding partner. YC thinks to look for the solution outside the clan, to make humans their child-bearers. He picks MC as the first test subject. (Includes Mpreg)

6) Two countries have been at war since the beginning of time, as long as anyone can remember. All boys who come of age must join the army and go to war. MC knows he could not survive the war - he’s never touched a sword in his life, never hurt anyone. He’s not physically strong nor does he have any knowledge of fighting. His family has already died because of the war, leaving him alone on a small farm. So, to avoid having to go, just before coming of age MC started disguising himself as a woman. For some years it has worked out well, he’s lived his life peacefully on his little farm, until the enemy forces take the city just outside of which MC lives. YC is a high ranking officer (or the king) who takes an interest in MC, thinking he is a woman. Now MC must figure out what to do with the peculiar situation he finds himself in.

7) (A rare futuristic plotline I’ve been dying to do since I watched Black Mirror; Nosedive) People want good ratings on their pictures, on their posts and videos - on themselves. Everyone has a technological chip inserted into their eyes when they’re born that lets them see how other people are rated. Only the “best” humans in society are rated 9 or higher overall - 5 or lower makes life Hell on Earth for a person. Anyone can rate anyone on their phones every time they interact in person. One’s rating has a tremendous impact on their lives; whether they get the job they want, whether they can apply to a certain school, even whether or not they can buy a house in a certain neighborhood… this system makes creating deep relationships nearly impossible, because people are too afraid to show who they really are in fear of being rated badly. MC is the youngest son of a well-off family, an ideal family where everyone is rated 8.9 or higher, loved by most people. YC is from a family who have never much cared about the system. They are decently rated, but they don’t seem to care - what they care about is the honestly and real human relationships that are so hard to find nowadays. When MC and YC meet, MC is intrigued, but YC thinks MC is an empty shell only after numbers just like everyone else. Eventually, feelings start to develop between the two, but there are many problems to overcome, especially in their society. That’s it for now. I’m always happy to hear any ideas you might have as well, and all the ideas above can be modified or changed up a little!

My e-mail: kat_vainio@outlook.com

Anyway, hope to hear from you soon!!

[xathia-89]

A Wolf in Disguise

I was positively beaming as I was walking through one of the nearby parks with my husky, Yuki. He was bouncing on his leash, as usual, determined to try and pull me. My parents were concerned initially about my move from the family home, but after graduating successfully as a fugu chef, I was determined to make my own stake in the world. Yuki was barking at someone in a white coat, eager rather than aggression in the way he was pulling on the lead as I decided to go a little closer. He was pushing his glasses up his nose and muttering about something I couldn’t hear. Yuki startled him and rubbed against his leg and hand to indicate that he wanted some fuss and attention from the stranger.

“I am so sorry,” I blurted, pulling my husky back and trying to ignore the strength of the wag in his tail. “He loves people,” I flushed.

“It’s okay miss,” the man bowed slightly. “Sasuke Sarutobi,” he smiled.

“Natsuki Sanada,” I replied, “And this is Yukimura,” I ruffled the fur of my overly excited dog as he beamed up at me.

“That would make you Yukimura Sanada,” the man chuckled, as I blushed at the implications. He was kneeling in front of my husky, the pair of them tilting heads at each other as a heavy rainstorm came from nowhere, and then a crack of thunder and lightning.

It was thick with smoke and flames as Yuki was sticking to me like glue as I tried to navigate the scenery. Then he started barking, and pulling me towards a slumped over figure. He wasn’t very responsive as we pulled him from the destruction. Breathing was easier in the open air, and I didn’t realise that Yuki had taken to cowering behind my legs.

I quickly learnt that something major had happened, the arrival of horses had startled my dog into bolting, and I was not losing him. I followed him swiftly into the forest, ignoring that they had been staring at my attire and that it was possible they weren’t entirely sure what Yuki was. I practically ran into another man as the husky had found a clearing, and nearly fell over the edge of the cliff in the process. I was as flustered as he was and then I wasn’t sure who was more grateful to see Sasuke, me or the strange man.

“Yuki!” I sharply reprimanded.

“I saved you and that the response I get?” The man was aggressive in his tone but made no attempt to draw the sword at his hip as I looked up in confusion. There was a slight similarity in our facial structure and eye colour, which he didn’t pick up on as Sasuke did a double take.

“I, er, what?” I asked, looking straight to the scientist for help. “What is going on?” I pleaded with him desperately.

“Natsuki, this is Yuki,” he hesitantly introduced, as my big dog cowered behind me. “Natsuki grew up in the same place I did, that’s how we know each other,” he quickly fabricated as I heard others approaching.

I wasn’t expecting two looming individuals, as both Yuki and Sasuke quickly engaged in some updates with the men. Then the sound of approaching horses made them disappear into the forest again. I wasn’t sure entirely what was going on, nor where I was.

I had been chased through the forest, and my beast of a dog was cowering behind me as the horses approached us. I vaguely recognised their faces from where I had dragged the man from the burning building. They realised I wasn’t entirely alone and looked apprehensive about bringing my pet along.

I was picked up into one man’s arms, and he was glaring at Yuki, who was adamant about trying to get on the horse with me much to my amusement. Though the now introduced man, known as Hideyoshi, spurred his horse out of my dog’s reach and back to the site where we had originally run into the forest.

Yuki found us again, and Hideyoshi drew his sword as he was yelling about a vicious wolf.

I threw my arms around my husky, needing to protect him from the delusional man as the vassal was then restrained.

“He’s not a wolf,” I stated, I could feel Yuki trembling a little, and I was almost certain that he had relieved himself on the floor next to me. “And he’s certainly not vicious,” I fussed my husky in reassurance.

I had rescued Nobunaga Oda it seemed from certain death. I was completely stunned, it was 1582, how on earth had I managed to get here. And the vassal of Oda had been threatening to strike both me and my pet down without issue for the sake of protecting his lord.

Yuki kept pace with the soldiers, and once he realised I was okay, he was running amongst the masses and causing chaos. He was happy to be around new people, though he always ensured I wasn’t far away as Masamune Date was carrying me on the back of his horse. The ally of Oda was amused too much by my expressions as he swapped me from the back of his horse to be carried in his arms.

I was given the title as Princess, though whiling away my time on ‘girly’ things was nothing to do with me. So I argued back and was given the additional role of Chatelaine, not that I had any clue what it would entail.

Sasuke was able to break into the castle and find my room. He was amused to find out that I was given a private garden off a veranda from my room, and that Yuki was as pleased to see him at that visit as he had been at the monument to Oda’s death. He fussed my husky as he explained that we had been transported back in time and that it was roughly going to be three months before we could go back.

“Three months? Fun,” I sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to pass the time, right?” I weakly smiled.

“I’ll pop in when I can,” he reassured me and then left after a quick goodbye.

I was surprised when not long after that, Masamune broke into my room and was holding a sword to my neck.

“Is it true you come from 500 years in the future?” He demanded, and I was struggling to breathe with the metal pressing into my neck.

“Yes!” I exclaimed, scrambling back as I was pressed into the wall.

He chuckled and did a complete relaxation of his guard, the sword being sheathed instantly and then sat opposite me. Yukimura was now being any good, placing himself between me and the insane warlord.

“You are officially useless,” I sighed at my pet, ruffling his head. “And I’m sure there are better ways of asking questions!” I scolded the amused male.

“It’s hard to lie with a blade at your throat,” he grinned. “And you’re a bold one anyway with a wolf for a pet.”

“He’s not a wolf, he’s a dog, though he’s useless at doing anything except being friendly,” I smiled fondly as Yuki flopped onto his back and demanded belly rubs.

“I’ve never seen a dog like him,” Masamune was looking thoughtful.

“I don’t even know when his breed was introduced to Japan,” I admitted. “I rescued him from a family who didn’t know how energetic he could be. And he gets a little rough to be around children too much,” I added on, continually fussing the overly large husky as he put his head in my lap.

It was a few weeks later when the kitchen staff were having a little panic about something. I sighed as I dived in to the work, I had an idea of the dishes they were trying for as my chef training automatically kicked in and I was slicing vegetables as they needed to be for the various dishes.

“Huh, looks like kitten can cook,” Date’s voice surprised me.

“I’m a trained chef,” I smiled. “And that’s Fugu in that bucket. The staff couldn’t identify it,” I sighed, wondering if they even had the equipment, and then spied something with a glimmer in my eyes.

“I’m not sure about that expression kitten,” Masamune was looking serious and reacted a little too late as I withdrew his sword and grabbed the tail of the fish.

The whole staff looked on in fascination after I yelled for silence. I needed to be so careful with every movement. The poison in the fish was fatal and it even had no known cure in the modern era, you simply got lucky and survived it. The blade was clean and sharp after I had scrubbed it much to the disgust of Date. Every piece was virtually transparent and arranged on a plate delicately before I looked up and feeling triumphant. And went red as I had the whole room watching me.

“Kitten, that’s a highly poisonous fish,” Masamune frowned as I picked up the testing piece. It was a small piece on purpose, and I swallowed nervously. The idea was to leave the trace amounts behind to give the thrill as I put the raw fish into my mouth. Everyone was watching on with bated breath, and then I smiled at them all.

“I trained for three years to become proficient in that specific fish,” I admitted quietly to Date whilst I was scrubbing the area where I had prepared the fugu before anything else could be prepared on it. “Unfortunately your sword was the closest thing I had to what I needed,” I grinned. “So your enemy’s might die of the poison,” I shrugged.

“That’s not a bad idea if you like to backhand people,” Masamune was looking serious, before a grin cracked across his face. “Say, that dish aside, whoever gets the most eaten tonight, wins a favour from the other?” He offered.

“Oh, honey, challenging me on a cooking contest?” I tilted my head to the side.

I wasn’t sure who had won. The whole hall was in a food coma, as I slipped another piece of the fugu. Masamune and myself had mostly been bullying people into trying our dishes, and there were only scraps left.

“I’m thinking it’s a draw,” I offered a hand out to Date, who shook his head whilst highly amused.

“Bonus round tomorrow with desert, one each,” he grinned and offered his hand out.

I brought Yuki out with me to the market. Most of the locals were used to seeing a ‘wolf’ with me on my outings, it made Hideyoshi a lot less of a worrier as well since the imposing view of Yuki was a great visual deterrent at least. I was buying some sugar candies for the Lord of the manor when my husky disappeared into the throes of the crowd. I thrust the payment into the merchant’s hand and ran off with the goods after my wayward dog.

“Yuki!” I yelled and found him with Sasuke, and the other Yuki. And then I spied another male with them who was looking on with an amused look. “I am so sorry,” I gushed, holding my energetic overgrown puppy between my legs.

“That’s cute, she has a wolf too Yuki,” the strange man chuckled, and Yuki blushed furiously.

“He’d love to think he’s a wolf, but he’s far too friendly for that,” I deflected away. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” I lifted my head up, pushing my long hair out of my face, and found that the handsome stranger was staring at me.

“This is my boss, his name’s Shin,” Yuki blurted out, as I saw that I was now effectively blocking his stall from the market.

“I am so sorry, I think Yuki has an affinity for you,” I apologised, and tried to move my overgrown puppy out of the middle of the market. I was trying to ignore that I was being stared at by Shin before looking to Sasuke. “Can you see if anyone has any rope, please? I can’t get him to stay by my side for once,” I asked with a gentle smile. The ninja nodded and disappeared as I sat on the ground with an ungraceful sigh. Yuki was trying to sit on me, despite that he was clearly too big for my lap, much to the amusement of the merchant’s boss.

It was a stifling atmosphere between the three of us, I was keenly avoiding both men’s gazes, whilst the locals were always stopping to check on the princess, and it was making the others nervous for some reason. Sasuke reappeared with some borrowed rope, and I was able to fashion a collar and lead.

“So, you’re the Princess of Azuchi?” Shin asked as I stood up to leave.

“Yes,” I replied, a slight frown. “Why does that matter?”

“You look like Yuki’s little sister is all,” he casually shrugged. “Must be my sight going in my age,” he chuckled.

“Have fun with the goods,” I shook my head and left to get to the food stalls.

I managed to get all the Manjū made without a lot of fuss. It was always something that went down well, and I had sugar candies as decoration as well. I had seen that Nobunaga had a sweet tooth that meant he would be strictly rationed by Hideyoshi. And then I had a bag of them in my pockets for bribery anyway.

The warlords were all grateful it wasn’t turning into a dish bonanza again the following night as the two dishes were passed about. I had already slipped the candies to Oda and had a back up in reserve. I had been praised for my strategy quietly before I started circulating my deserts. Masamune had made some dango, and it was also making its rounds. Hideyoshi wasn’t pleased with the amount of sugars we were all consuming, but both plates were empty, and it was frustratingly turning into another tie again.

“Neither of you will win,” Mitsuhide chuckled as we left the hall, attracting both of our attentions. “They either want Natsuki’s affections or Masamune’s side in battles,” the serpent smiled in explanation and then disappeared into the corridors.

“I don’t think my affections are being competed for,” I snorted derisively before going to leave for my room. Masamune placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me and drawing my attention to him.

My head was tilted upwards and our lips crashed together in a sizzling passion. I was gripping to him as we couldn’t get enough of each other in that kiss. Our bodies were pulled together, our arms wrapped around each other as my world was turned on its head.

“You are completely oblivious to anything that’s not food,” Masamune chuckled once we parted for breath. He kissed my forehead and wished me goodnight before I was released, and left to go back to my own thoughts.

The wormhole would be here in a few weeks. It was easy enough at the beginning to say that I wouldn’t get involved with any of them and cloud my wish to return to the present. I was stroking Yuki’s fur as I was thinking about my life. I had been content in the future, I was always under someone else’s expectations to succeed, and most recently to settle down and start producing grandchildren for my parents to carry on our lineage. There was no escape for me, I was an only child, which made it all the more impossible to avoid. Here, I was largely free to do what I wanted, I was never feeling unwanted or anything was ‘expected’ of me. I had dove into the role of chatelaine with gusto and enthusiasm, which had warmed Hideyoshi to me as he saw that I clearly didn’t think above scrubbing floors with the maids, or helping out in the kitchens to prepare vegetables or clean the dishes.

I barely slept for a few nights. I was weighing up the pros and cons of staying and leaving. I would definitely miss the warlords, and they would miss me, but was I going to be fulfilled in this era if I stayed? I had an entire career waiting for me in the present.

“But it doesn’t have Masamune,” I murmured to no one in particular as I stared out over the private garden, watching my husky bound about with endless energy.

“Ah so that’s what’s been bothering you,” the familiar voice made me jump a mile, and I scowled whilst turning around to see that Date was loitering at the entrance to my room. “You’ve barely been seen since our little encounter, I was curious as to what was stopping you from being yourself. You’re considering not leaving us then?” He took a seat on the opposite side of my table, a serious expression on his face.

“It’s not too long until it comes, and then if I don’t go, there’s no guarantee of me ever being able to go back,” I explained. “I was trying to see if there was a way of me making my decision,” I blushed and felt like a kid who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Me aside, why would you stay? It’s a lot more dangerous, there’s a constant threat of war, and we go to battle on a regular basis,” Masamune was frowning in concern.

“Because it feels like home,” I was finally able to pinpoint what was bothering me. “I never fit in to anywhere in the present. Here, the point aside of marriage and having children, I feel like I have a purpose and use.”

“Marriage is something that happens when you’re ready,” Date shrugged casually. “Or when children start appearing,” he smiled. “Right now, Hideyoshi has a sixth sense that you’ve not been sleeping, so off to bed with you,” I shook my head at the one-eyed dragon, and then tugged on his sleeve, catching him off guard.

“I could just do with a cuddle,” I smiled.

“Oh kitten, what are we going to do with you?” he chuckled, wrapping me up in his arms after we had gotten into my futon.

[peacefulheartfarm]

Thanksgiving Tradition

Thanksgiving tradition is the topic today. I try not to date my podcasts, and today is no different this will be appropriate today and for many years to come. I promise.

Let me take a minute to say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you today George Washington’s First Thanksgiving Proclamation and a little bit about Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

Let’s do just a few homestead updates. Some of you will be upset with me if I don’t let you know how Claire and the girls are doing as well as the donkeys, sheep and goats. And then there are those quail.

Cows

Let’s start with the cows. Cloud finally got some relief for her overgrown hooves. I mentioned this ages ago. We even had to stop milking her because she was so sensitive to us getting close to her rear hooves. Both were quite overgrown. Well recently she had begun to limp quite profoundly. And we just don’t let our animals live in pain. They must be treated as soon as possible. That required finding what is called a squeeze chute to be able to get to her hooves. It holds her comfortably without Cloud being able to kick the vet in the face and anywhere else she could land a hit. It took a day or two to get the device, set is up and coordinate with the vet. But it has all been accomplished. Yay!!

While the vet was here, we also had her cut off the sharp ends of Rosie’s horns. That didn’t go as well as we would have liked, but Rosie is fine and no longer able to intimidate the young calves with very sharp horns. While the vet was doing the trim, Rosie decided to kneel down. That caused the vet’s angle on the cut to be off and Rosie caused herself a bit more bleeding than we would have liked. It’s all over now and she will heal up just fine. I was biting my lip with anxiety and it was all for naught. She is fine. Rosie is a strong young lady. Scott says she is doing very, very well. She is alert, attentive, in no apparent distress.

Donkeys

The donkeys are still awaiting their pedicure appointment. With the holidays and company arriving, this was put on the back burner for a few days. We are looking to get that done in the next few days.

Both sets of donkeys came up to say “hi” to the vet. There was a substantial amount of braying and hee hawing. There is nothing quite like a chorus of four donkeys trying to outdo one another.

Sheep and Goats

Nothing really much to say about the sheep and goats. They are all just grazing, chewing their cud and wandering around the pastures. We are blessed to have no problems with these beautiful animals.

Quail

The quail, which also seemed to easy, are proving to be a little bit of a challenge right now. I talked about the one white bird that was beat up by her companions. And I mentioned the one that had a mite infestation. Neither faired well when we tried to re-introduce them to their cage mates. Both ended up back in their individual brooder housing, completely separate from the others and also from each other.

Shortly after that, another hen from the same cage as the one with the mite infestation got bloodied. Because of recent experience, I moved her out immediately. And one of the roosters from the same group showed signs of being pecked on too much. He is also in his own brooder condo. Four birds in four separate living quarters. At this point we may just cull that whole cage of birds and be done with it. Once they show they will be too aggressive with each other, I don’t know that there is anything we can do about it. As I mentioned in the last podcast, Pecking Order, it’s a real thing. These birds can be vicious with each other.

Praise be to God, the rest of them seem to be doing fine. And the eggs are starting to come in at a much faster rate than we can consume them. It seems that 35 breeding hens is a bit much. We have plans to cull out eight birds, six of which are hens, so that should bring down the egg population a little bit.

There are 10 hens on each side of the penthouse. Yesterday, I got nine eggs from side and seven from the other. Previous to that day I was regularly getting seven and four respectively. It looks like we could be getting 10 on each side soon. On the bottom level are 12 hens out of the usual 15 in those cages. Three are in quarantine in the brooders. Those 12 hens are laying 10 to 11 eggs each day. I harvested 26 eggs yesterday. So you see, way too many. Realistically, we only need 15 to 20 eggs a day. We may have to cull even more before winter is done. Else we will be overwhelmed with tiny, cute quail eggs.

If you are interested, I will have them for sale at the farmer’s market. Three dollars a dozen. I’ll even have some recipes for you to try.

That’s it for the homestead updates. I’ll talk more about the creamery next time.

Thanksgiving Tradition

I briefly mentioned that I had company earlier in the week. My son and daughter-in-law came all the way across the country for a visit. It was wonderful to see them again. Their Thanksgiving tradition is to arrive here on Saturday or Sunday before Thanksgiving and spend three to four days with us before moving on down the road to visit the other parents in South Georgia. Then a quick swing back to Oklahoma and back to work for both of them.

The Thanksgiving tradition of families getting together has been around for a long time in this country. Today, I want to talk about how that tradition originated. Likely there is going to be some information here that you have never heard. Or perhaps, like me, you may remember some of it vaguely and other parts are completely new. Let me start by going over some of the things that happened at the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

It is unlikely that any of you learned of the political disagreements between the native tribes. And there is a great deal of history leading up to 1621 that is left out of history books, and indeed today, is even being rewritten. I’m going to leave it to you to investigate this information. There are two articles that I will link in the show notes to get you started. The first is “History of the First Thanksgiving” by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks and published on the “History of Massachusetts Blog” on August 31, 2011. The second, “The First Thanksgiving Was Nothing Like What You Were Taught” by John Daniel Davidson was published in “The Federalist” dot com website on November 22, 2017.

These articles look at this bit of history as seen through the political eyes of the native population. One is written with a politically left vision and the other from the right. It is fascinating reading. The same native peoples appear in both accounts and the factual events are nearly identical, but the motivations for the events as told by the two authors are vastly different. It was very educational for me to say the least.

Neither of these perspectives speak to the motivations of the settlers which is what was presented in the history books of my childhood. The popular story is that the Pilgrims put on a feast and invited the natives to attend to thank them for their assistance in teaching them how to fish and hunt the local fowl and animals. The Pilgrims also learned how to use the hides of the animals to make clothing. There was much to be thankful for that year.

I’ll give a very brief historical account as I know it. I’m not vouching for the complete accuracy of what I’m about to say. But I think it is pretty close. You can fact check me. I’m okay with that.

The Pilgrims landed in November 1620 far north of their intended destination in the Virginia Colony. After a failed attempt to head south and go ashore in Virginia, they landed their ship, the Mayflower, in the bay that would become known as Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts. Winter was already upon them and they pretty much stayed on the ship throughout the winter of 1620-21.

In the spring of 1621, they emerged and began treating with the natives. I won’t get into all the details there. The politics are deep. Again, I’ll link to two articles that will give background on politics and motivations of the natives. It wasn’t all roses and daisies on either side. The settlers wanted to survive to fulfil their contracts with those who had sponsored them, as far as I can tell. The natives were trying to recover from a pandemic a few years back and rivals were vying for control of the area. Should they fight these newcomers or help them? What would benefit them the most.

As I mentioned, the natives did help the settlers – of the 102 that made the journey across the ocean, only 41 were the religious sect known as Pilgrims so I will refer to the entire group as “the settlers”. There is a lot more to that story as well. Anyway, the natives helped the settlers with planting, hunting and fishing. That assistance got the settlers through their first spring and summer and produced some provisions for the winter. When the harvest came in, they held a feast in honor of their success. They thanked God for getting them through this very trying ordeal where many died.

Now fast forward to George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation. It was delivered October 3, 1789 and was a one-time event. It was Abraham Lincoln that created the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday to be held every year. Indeed, there have been many thanksgiving celebrations given in many different parts of the very young country even before Washington’s proclamation. But the text of Washington’s is inspirational. I’ll read it. It’s not that long. I’ll leave a link for this document as well.

“‘Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’

“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

“And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

“Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.”

Do I have time to read Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation? Sure, why not? It is also delivered on October 3rd. This time in the year of our Lord 1863 in the midst of the civil war.

“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and even soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

“In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

“Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

“No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln.”

Final Thoughts

That’s it. I know people say that our founders were not religious; that they didn’t have much to do with religion at all. Some say they were atheists or agnostics. But George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation tells me otherwise. The holiday tradition we know as Thanksgiving is about turning our attention to being grateful for the blessings in our lives. And it truly is about giving thanks to God for each and every one of those blessings. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Let all celebrate as they choose, with or without thanking God, but the truth about this traditional holiday is indisputable. The Pilgrims thanked God. George Washington thanked God. Abraham Lincoln thanked God.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

References:

History of the First Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving Was Nothing Like What You Were Taught

George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

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Check out this episode!

[hachibe]

thoughts on The Legend Of Korra season 3:

for the amount of ranting in this you wouldn’t believe this to be my favourite season ^.^

- oh look! it’s almost as if Korra decided to keep the portals open without thinking of the consequences.

- i’m gonna be upfront and say that i hate that 1) people now just can airbend 2) Bumi can airbend. about #1 i think is kind of stupid, there was no need for more people to be able to airbend (if you disregard Zaheer). and i have this whole rant about the air nomads being reduced to airBENDERS in tlok. and i’ll rant about it when the time comes. what really bothers me is #2. because the whole essence of Bumi’s story is that he thinks he is not good enough because he can’t bend, because he is a regular guy, so instead of giving him a story where he learns his value they decided to just give him bending! like, srly!!!? because people only have value if they can bend? and it’s almost like, did s1 even happened? yes, Amon was a hypocrite but the issue with the non benders were/is still real. but the narrative refuses to acknowledge this! they are all like “what, no! i don’t know her” to this whole issue.

- and i still don’t understand how the spirits prowling the world should fit (or not) with this modern world. that’s a freaking awesome story right there to be tell but the narrative just refuses to deal with it because look! there’s airbenders now so let’s focus all the season on that. and like we did with s1 let’s forget that whatever happened that season had any consequences whatsoever! Korra was just like “fuck this, let’s search more airbenders because fuck this city, who cares anyway?”

- (me from the future: yes, i agree that tlok did a disservice to the portrayal of spirits that we had in atla. instead of unknowable creatures beyond our comprehension we got fluffy cute little creatures who could be good or evil. in a very black and white christian reductionist take. and i should have talked about this in the s2 notes. BUT the spirits are still here, this is something that is happening in the time of s3 but the narrative refuses to deal with it. it shows the audience that the spirits are there, they did caused some disturbance, there are vines in the city and people’s lives are getting disturbed by it. but this is the maximum of what we get from this. (i haven’t started s4 yet, i think there is some talk about it there, i’ll revisit the subject if it’s necessary.) and not once the narrative spends time exploring the implications of living in this modern world, that is constantly changing, that sees technologies and innovations as monoliths of good. we don’t get to see the spirits having to deal with this world. nor the humans having to deal with the spirits and reconciling it with their new modern life. and we never see the consequences in the lives of these people, or of this nation as a whole; or the contrast of the life in this nation as opposed to the other ones. and atla did such an amazing job of showing the world entrenched in colonialism and it’s consequences, not only to one nation but every nation. we saw what colonialism did to the southern water tribe, but we also saw what it did the fire nation. but tlok just drops a bunch of ideas and story lines and then just go focus on other things)

- should i talk about Zaheer? I love Zaheer. s3 is my favourite one because of him. I know, i just spend 2 paragraphs complaining about it. But i think Zaheer is fascinating. To me, with all the writings shortcomings he is still the best villain tlok had. his potential, ma man? i live for that. 

- i want Mako’s job btw, i want to just call my boss and say “hey, so, i’m gonna go on a trip with ma friends, idk when i’ll be back, see ya. don’t forget to mail me the paychecks!!!” ALSO, Mako is such a COP™! Let’s threaten this 13 yo orphan kid that had to rely on a life of petty crime in order to survive. it’s not like Mako himself isn’t an orphan and hadn’t gone through basically the same thing.

- the writers might not have given the red lotus a deep and meaningful story  and a rewarding narrative arch but they look COOL AS FUCK! SRLY, all 4 of them are the coolest looking characters in this whole series.

- the kid runs away in BA SING fucking SE and they send 2 people to look for him. yes!, i’m wasting a comment on this.

- (i saw someone implying that Mako and Bolin’s grandma is that girl Zuko went on a date once. do we know that for sure? note to self: remember to check that later)

- ok, so before we meet Suyin i think i need to talk about why i don’t like this “you’re an airbender, you’re an airbender, everybody is an airbender now” story line. the only real reason for it that i see is that the narrative needs Zaheer to be a airbender. and i get it, they really need it. i guess you can’t explain why only one guy can now suddenly airbend, so a bunch of other people now can too. so i think my issue is not that opening the portals brought back airbending to the world. is more on the fact that so far the narrative acts like airbending is the essence of being an air nomad. Tenzin has lived his whole life with this HUGE burden, trying to hold the single torch of an entire culture, god knows if he only ditched Lin to be with Pema because Pema could get him kids so he had a chance of passing his blood and bending skills to a next generation.  but this is kind of stupid, man! Tenzin is the only of Aang’s kids who can airbend but Kya and Bumi still carry airbending (and air nomads) genes! Idk how genetics in the avatar world works but i think is not that different from our world. Kya and Bumi’s kids could still be air benders. Kya and Bumi are still half air nomads, in the same way that Tenzin is half air nomad. and in tlok is like the whole air nomad culture is reduced to air bending.

- like, take the water tribes for example. Sokka didn’t bend, his parents and the rest of his family aside from Katara didn’t bend. that didn’t make them less water tribe. being a water tribe was not only about water bending. Toph’s parents couldn’t earthbend either, that didn’t made them less influential citizens of the earth kingdom. Mai’s parents all normal people, still powerful fire nation politicians. each nation had their own culture and that wasn’t reduced to their specific bending. so why it is not the same with the air nomads?

- Aang had being collecting “fans” since one of the first comics (i don’t remember which one). actually, i might say he’s being collecting those fans (that later became the air acolytes) since Kyoshi’s Island episode back in atla s1. and we see in the comics how he had being teaching them the air nomads philosophies and life style. and i understand that bending is important and that air bending is in a brink of extinction but i don’t understand how all these other people (the air acolytes) can’t be considered air nomads. let’s say, i move to australia, learn the local language, eat the local food, have kids and raise them in australia, we all have the same costumes as any other australians, why can’t i be consider australian as well?

- and sure, they are not the “real” air nomads, but i wouldn’t be picky if you are all facing extinction. and to be honest Tenzin is not “real” air nomad either because he is MIXED! he is still half water tribe, he didn’t born out of Aang’s forehead! Tenzin’s kids? All not “real” air nomads either, if we are going to ignore Tenzin if half air nomad, we still need to assume Pema is earth kingdom (or is she fire nation? since her eyes are golden. her eyes are golden, right?) And not only Aang could have had his two other kids be good leaders for the air nomads, could have taught them their history, life style, culture. instead of leaving all the burden on Tenzin’s shoulder. why couldn’t Aang have choose good leaders from the air acolytes? instead all we get from them is stupid servants. Pema included. i refuse to believe that anyone who was ever interested in air nomad culture and seeked Air Temple Island (and whatever other places) were all simpletons who never had any critical thoughts on their heads. they were all taught in air nomad culture and history (we see one of them answering all of Tenzin’s questions) but they are treated as servants. as a matter of fact we see Tenzin treat them as inferiors. and i guess this is the whole non benders issue from s1 back again. 

- (me from the future here: i just watched a video essay on youtube about genetics and bending in the avatar world and they said that is mentioned that all air nomads were air benders, the reason being that they were all more connected to their spiritual side. and OKAY, but i still think that most of my points still stand. if you are breeding sky bisons for a while now and you have a bunch of people willing to connect to their spiritual side and follow air nomad culture and life style, why can’t you have them learn air bending from the original air benders, the sky bisons, again? why did it have to be given for free like that? it’s so reducing! and poor! and if you wanted Zaheer to be able to air bend have him learn from the sky bisons! have him be an air acolyte who took the teachings of a air bender Guru to an extreme)

- idk what to say man. I will admit that all this don't piss me off as much as Suyin's story line, that’s for sure.

- so let's focus on Zaheer pretending to be an innocent new airbender seeking knowledge. He is a natural! And why it is that? Because that's a guy who is interested, who learned, who likes and admires and tries to live by air nomad philosophy. a lot of people critique this season because they thought it was stupid to have this guy who never bended before be so good ans skilled in airbending. and okay sure, but it always made so much sense to me because he is a guy who admires the life and teachings of the air nomads. that’s a guy who studied, and not just studied but lives his life according to those teachings. and that makes him a beautiful foil to Tenzin, who is this nerd bookish man, who is a scholar, who knows the teachings but don’t really live by them. ii don’t want to minimize Tenzin or call him a bad air bender (or air nomad. at this point what’s the difference?). but i love to see this contrast of this guy who struggles every step of the way and this other guy, who is a natural but will never be consider a master. their fight gives me the chills.

- I can't even talk about this because Suyin is getting in the way and this whole story just makes me. 

- i don’t resent her existence. in my head she is Sokka’s child, no one can convince me otherwise. but the way they wrote her is just awful. 

- did she just said that the idea of having an Earth Queen is outdated? While she rules a city of her own? AS THEIR QUEEN? and she's harbouring Varrick! "Sure he made a few mistakes in the past but that doesn't mean he should pay for it the rest of his life" sure let's not address the fact that he is only in her house doing business with her because he has business to do (if Varrick was a poor fellow who committed a crime and escaped prison he for sure wouldn’t have the same treatment. and i’m flabbergasted that Lin didn’t arrested him right there). Let's bring in the maglev and forgive the crimes he committed and lives that were lost because of him. Capitalism don't exist in the world of Avatar. Who da fack wrote this? (Oh this particular episode was Michael Dante DiMartino, so there's that)

- i’m not even gonna talk about the disrespect that this whole story does to Lin. This woman don't deserve this . FOR REAL!

- look, I get it, I agree people shouldn't be paying for mistakes or crimes they committed and have being repenting for 30 years. But the thing is, instead of apologising to Lin for what she did she just says "oh you should get over yourself, it's been 30 years, that's why you're an old bitter lady, no wonder Tenzin broke up with you!" and everyone treats Lin like she’s in the wrong. BITCH WTF!!!!????? (Suyin later apologises but not for the right things, she says “sorry i gave you grief when we were young” and honey, that’s not it!)

- and then Lin is like "cured" having kale juice and wearing those silly Zaofu clothes. Honestly! WHO DA FACK WROTE THIS?

- the fight scenes are all bloody impressive tho. the red lotus knows how to work together and they are all amazing.

- and P'Li? I would die for that woman.

- Ming-hua and Ghazan naming the constellations and coming up with stories about the guards ❤️ Also, 2 out of 3! so which one we think is the wrong one? Of course the unspoken attraction between the two is true. So that leaves us with ‘raised by sister’ and ‘had moustache by age of 10′. Place your bets fellas!

- that thing with the Earth Queen? That thing shook people. We were shooked™️ with the s1 finale and we were unearthed when she died. I still can't hardly believe.

- wait a minute, are you telling me that Tonraq, Korra's father, fought together with Zuko and Sokka and managed to imprison all 4 members of the red lotus but never learned what they were called? You are telling me that Guru Laghima fanboy Zaheer that can't shut up about it never dropped his spiel about caos is the natural order of the world? He never mentioned to every single guard who went to feed him that they are called the red lotus? And that this never reached the ears of Tonraq?

- fuck Zaheer but I'm different

- I find it very homophobic that even uncle Iroh we get to see several times, but Sokka only once in a flashback :(

- this fight with the cloudbabies and the red lotus? I get chills every single time. And Tenzin never stopping? Never giving up? 😭

- let go of your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind.

- did you think that the Earth Queen's death was horrible? I present to you P'Li’s.

- i do love the fight scene at the end. i love and it breaks my heart that Korra fights every single second of it, with the poison and with Zaheer. and in the end she remains broken. 

- i love the moment when Tenzin decides that the new air nomads will be roaming the earth trying to bring balance. even if we can later debate the morality of it, i love that he takes this decision out of his own desire to help. he finds a meaning for his people based on the needs of the world right now and not trough a guideline he learned from his father. i really love Tenzin in that moment, and Jinora’s ceremony may or may not have brought tears to my eyes.

- overall i do love this season, mostly because of Zaheer and the red lotus. the writers made a huge mistake in making Zaheer and his philosophy so hypocritical. the same happened with Amon. in order to make them the villains the writers wrote them so hypocritical that it invalidates what they were fighting for. the non benders and benders issue is still big and present, the story just refuses to talk about it. the tirany and the corruption of the systems of government are still very real and still very there in Korra’s world, but the narrative don’t discuss it, or when it does it gives the most bland simplistic take. I do love Zaheer tho, as a character, and what he represents to air nomads and air benders culture, and the role he plays in Tenzin’s arch (even if it’s in a more covert way). i also think that by the standdars of his philosophy he was justified in trying to it makes sense for him to try and kill Korra, she is somehow a world leader and afterall an authority figure. i do resent that the writers made him a bad anarchist. for all the talk he had of freeing the earth kingdom people of their tiranic ruler he did fail in giving the people the means of taking over the government. you don’t simply dismantle a system by killing a monarch. that is a very simplistic view of anarchism and social revolutions for that matter.

- (little note in the finale, that i just realised now: wasn’t the poison made of platinum or something? a metal metalbenders can’t bend? how come Suyin can just bend it out of Korra’s body? is this going on the list of countless things Suyin can do because she is PeRfEcT ? also, the guy putting the poison in Korra’s body, wasn’t him bending the poison? is he just a nameless dude who miraculously can bend a metal no one else can? or is he a waterbender and was only able to bend the poison on Korra’s body because it’s a liquid? if so, why was it Suyin the one to take the poison out and not Kya, a waterbender AND someone versed in healing bending? make it make sense tlok!!!)