#be the change and all but i know my knowledge is terribly limited

[sunflowerdigs]

Thinking about the colors of Loki. Brown is definitely meant to be Mobius' color. It symbolizes reliability, warmth, and earthiness. And that earthiness? It meshes very with the positive aspects of Loki's green (growth, life, nature, harmony, fertility). So, it makes sense that when Loki and Mobius are their best selves, there's this harmonious and almost symbiotic growth that happens, not unlike the symbiosis between plants and the earth they take their nutrients from, earth which has, in turn, been fertilized by other plants.

Of course, the negative part of that is the potential for codependency - you introduce some poison to the soil and it infects the plant and vise versa. Imo, we see that a bit with the torture scene. That scene was great if you're a Loki enjoyer/apologist because, hey, turns out his partner is not only ok with the darker aspects of Loki's personality, he also maybe has some of them himself. However, it also showed us that both Loki and Mobius can do terrible things and be ok with them as long as the other agrees it's a good idea. When Loki and Mobius are working for good, they're great. But if they went bad together, things could get very dark very quickly. I think we also see that a bit in their last scene together, with Loki purposefully choosing a Mobius who is still pruning variants when he wants his blessing to kill Sylvie (who represents a part of Loki).

(Notably, though, with Sylvie's inspiration, Loki is able to choose a different path, and to grow in a way that gives Mobius the chance to grow as well, their positive symbiotic relationship intact - I particularly love that it's past Loki who inspires present Loki's heroism).

It's why I really liked the idea of Mobius, Loki, and Sylvie running the TVA together because Loki and Mobius need that voice outside their little couple bubble to say "hey, guys, this is a terrible idea." Ironically, when Loki and Mobius aren't together, they each tend to be the person in conflict with the systems around them. But they don't like to truly be in conflict with each other (the bickering is almost never serious), so they're each very accommodating of the other and his needs, which is great until...torture.

Anyway, to bring it back, I've always thought that green is a really great color for Loki specifically because it has a very strong duality of psychological meaning. Additionally, its darker meanings (jealousy, envy, materialism) are as well represented in popular culture as its positive ones. Brown has a similar clear duality, though its positive aspects aren't necessarily as easily recognized as its negatives. Which is very like Mobius himself.

[historiasbodyswaps]

I took possession of the body of my boss's son (male possession)

I am a fairly robust man since I work in an office where the salary is terrible, since we are under the command of a boss who seems like a tyrant. I can only say that my life could not be worse, I have no partner, no money, I am alone, and I live in a miserable apartment.

One day in the office at approximately two in the afternoon was when I saw him for the first time, it was that young man so handsome and marked that he walked through the corridors of the office with a strong musky smell, it was none other than Emmanuel, the young son of my boss, God, he was so hot that I couldn't stop watching him the entire time he was in his father's office, always so arrogant at his father's desk with those pumped and muscular legs, at that moment my head couldn't stop leaving to think that I wanted his life for myself, to possess that precious body

Fortunately I had some knowledge on the subject since my grandmother was a kind of witch and I had inherited some books from her, but I never paid attention to them until now. When I got to my dirty apartment I decided to look for them, until I found them in some boxes full of dust that I had in a closet, I knew that this was the time and that possibly there would not be a new opportunity like this.

It was approximately three in the morning when I finally found a spell that suited what I needed. It was my chance. I decided to prepare the potion. After a few minutes I drank it until there was no more left. A while passed and I didn't feel anything. nothing, I was disappointed to the point that I left everything and went to sleep accepting that all this was a farce, I had already accepted in a certain way that my destiny was to be this horrible man and not fulfill my dreams.

This all changed when later in the night my body started to shake, from when I opened my eyes, I couldn't move my body, this was very strange until it all started, my body started to move in an exciting way, I didn't know what was happening. I began to moan from the pleasure of this strange sensation, to the point of contorting myself, I couldn't stand this sensation, until all this stopped.

A while passed and I didn't know what was happening, when suddenly I woke up and thought it was all a dream, when I realized that I was in a different and very luxurious room, surprised I raised my hands and I couldn't believe it, they were younger, softer and muscular, I didn't know what was happening, I got up from that chamber and I felt like my body was lighter, without hesitation I looked for a mirror and it was him, I was seeing Emmanuel's reflection, I can't describe the feeling that passed through me, it was very exciting to the point that I felt a bulge in his crotch, Emmanuel's entire body shook and a picture of excitement began that he could not contain, I had to take off those tight Calvin Klein boxers that he was wearing, and I proceeded to touch that smooth cock that I now had, that experience was incredible that I cannot describe what I felt watching my new body moan with pleasure with that very masculine voice and my abdomen filled with fluids of myself, simply fantastic.

When I calmed down, I kept thinking about everything I could do with this new body, the sky was the limit, I had my ex-boss's credit card at my disposal, this was incredible, fortunately I kept some memories of Emmanuel and they had Living with my experience, my mind along with this body were unstoppable.

The following days I dedicated myself to exploring my body, down to the smallest corner. In the afternoons I spent walking around my enormous house. I had all of Emmanuel's servants at my disposal.

I can say that I don't care what happened to my old body since now I have an infinitely better one, I don't regret stealing this male's body, since he didn't deserve it, he was quite conceited and superficial, but now is my chance to use it at will. In the afternoon my new father will teach me more about the family business, I have put on a tight suit on this body that I can say looks spectacular on me, those silk socks fit my calves perfectly.

In the afternoons I go to my private gym where I put on the tightest leggings I can find, I love the feeling of the fabric rubbing against my muscular and sweaty body.

That was it, I have to go, since I have an appointment to put this well-endowed body into action, being Emmanuel is great and I love that this is my life now.

[syrupgirl]

warnings:

descriptions of blood(like fr), mentions of death, i call neteyam’s injury ‘a hole in the chest’, my very limited knowledge of medical procedures(both human and na’vi), me changing the severity of his injury probably, that’s it methinks?

a/n: this one just fell out of me. a fix it fic if you will.

Lie si oe Neteyamur -Neteyam

“You cannot rush this, daughter.” Your mother says as she strokes your head.

It has been days since the battle. Many lives were lost, even more injured. And as selfish as it is, you mind would not drift away from one person.

Neteyam.

-

You had been in charge on taking care of the injured that were brought back to the village. Being a Tsahik in training, you mother deemed it essential to have experience in real conditions to feel the pressure you would be carrying until you passed on the status to the best Tsahik.

After countless gruelling hours of tending to the wounded, you heard your name being called from the shore. After passing of your patient off to your partner, you down ran to the beach, only to be greeted by a sight you never thought you would have to see.

“Neteyam?!”

Sand kicked out from under your hurried feet as you approached Tsireya who had a bleeding Neteyam attached to her side.

“H-he..He was shot! It went straight through h-him.” The poor girl was hysterical. The blood of her friend covered her hands and even some of her stomach.

Neteyam himself looked terrible. His complexion was blanched and his eyes could barely stay open. Across his chest, he looked to be wrapped in seaweed, probably to stop the bleeding. You guessed that once you undid the bindings you would also find sea moss plugged in the wound as well. Curtesy of your sister, you guessed.

As much as you wanted to curl up and cry until you couldn’t anymore, Neteyam didn’t have that time. Right now, you weren’t Neteyam’s…friend..You were the one in charge of saving his life, in charge of his healing, and, if all went well, his recovery.

“Here, give him to me, I will take him to our marui.” You shouldered his body and he groaned. “Yes, yes, I know and I’m sorry.”

Neteyam didn’t seem to be capable of conversation but keeping him conscious was your top priority until you could get your remedies.

It was a struggle up the shore but you made it, with Tsireya stumbling behind. You lay him down as gently as you could.

“Neteyam? Neteyam, can you hear me? It’s yn.”

You spoke to him as you checked his body for any other injuries. Anything that would make it more difficult to deal with the hole in his chest. Nothing turned up so you continued to speak to him.

“Neteyam? I’m going to unwrap your chest now, it will hurt but I need to to stay with me, okay?”

He was awake but you had no idea if he was actually hearing anything you were saying. With a deep breath, you slowly started to unwrap his chest.

You weren’t ready for what greeted you.

The tight wrappings had slowed down the bleeding but there was still so much. It covered your palms and wove itself between your fingers. You heart was beating out of your chest and you got closer and closer to his naked chest.

Neteyam was moaning and muttering above you but you didn’t want to take your eyes off his injury.

“Tsireya? Is he still awake?” You asked your sisters, fingers still working on the makeshift bandages.

“Uh..uhm.” She knelt down closer to his face. “Yes, I think h-he is.”

“We need to keep him with us, as much as it will hurt him, we cannot risk him slipping away.”

Tsireya nodded and started to try make conversation with him. “Your brother still needs you, he is lost but he needs you to bring him back.”

You felt yourself tear up at her words. It was not just his brother who still needed him.

After discarding the seaweed in a pile, you came face to face with the bloody mess. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be bleeding as much as it was before and just like you thought, there was a large clump of sea moss packed around the wound. You picked it up as gently as possible and the boy above you jerked.

“It- it hurts!” He whined and you put a hand gently on his shoulder.

“I know and i’m sorry but it is what needs to be done.”

He didn’t respond after that but kept whining in pain and wriggling slightly.

“Tsireya-” your sister looked up and you handed her a tightly woven basket, “-fill this with water.”

She nodded and takes it from your hands hurriedly. You use the sea moss to clean up the sight as much as you can before putting is next to the seaweed.

In record time, Tsireya ran back to your side, handing you the basket now filled to the rim.

“Thank you, sister.” You said. You brings your hands up to her face and she closed her eyes. “Be calm, he will live, i’m sure of it.” She meets your gaze again and sniffs. You try to give her a reassuring smile before turning back to Neteyam.

With the basket in hand, you shuffle up next to his shoulder. As slowly as you can, you tip the container forward and watch the water wash into the hole in his chest. The blood melts off of him as the water takes its place.

Neteyam sounded like he was downright sobbing and you hear Tsireya whisper to him, “Be still, Neteyam. You are in good hands.”

You hoped she was right.

-

It had taken many hours of tears and screams but you had managed to bring Neteyam back to where he was stable. He now rests in his family’s marui like he has been for days, surrounded by the love of his family.

And as much as you want to see him, you know better than anyone how important family is in times like these. They need space.

“You did a great thing, without you, my love, the loses would have been so much greater.” Your mother is known for her stone cold resolve and tough exterior but you wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves you and your siblings in her own way. “I feel so proud knowing I chose you to take my place as Tsahik of this village once I return to our great mother.”

“Thank you, mother. It is a great honour.” She smiles down and you and holds you closer.

-

That night you cannot sleep, opting you go for a swim, a now common occurrence since the battle. You lie of your back, floating on the surface and looking up to the sky. You remember your father telling you that Jake Sully was from one of the distance stars. How fascinating.

Small waves lap underneath you. A small light shoots across the sky. Everything is still.

Well it is until someone dives in next to you.

You’re so surprised, you slowly a mouthful of water.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” It’s Lo’ak’s voice you hear while dying cough out all of the water from your mouth.

“It is okay,” You splutter, turning to face him. “Why do you come to me, Lo’ak?”

He looks down into the water and it is silent for a beat. “To thank you. I should have done it sooner and I apologise, but I just couldn’t..couldn’t-”

“Leave him?” You interrupt him and he nods. “I understand. After something so major, your family needs to heal. That includes you.” The sound of lapping water fills the silence between you.

“That’s not the only reason i’m here.” He continues. You look up to him again, slightly confused. “Neteyam, he has been asking for you.” Your eyes widen a little. “While our parents aren’t around, he asks us where you are and how he still has to thank you.”

It’s a bit sill, but you can feel small tears well up in your eyes; he’s been asking for you?

“Since his..injury, he has been moved into a separate marui to heal and he asked if I would bring you there.”

Now you feel like laughing; this whole time while you have been aching to see him, he has been feeling the same.

“I would like that, Lo’ak.” You sniffed and Lo’ak grins.

“I had a feeling you would.”

-

Before you reach Neteyam’s marui, Lo’ak decides to go back to his family’s marui. You try to insist that he joins you but he flat out denies and just grins while he walks away.

When you arrive to the doorway and look inside, you see Neteyam sitting up against the side of the dwelling.

“Neteyam?” His head immediately spins your way and there is a big smile on his face. It is contagious.

“yn, it’s so good to see you!” He whispers as you kneel next to him.

“How are you feeling? Should you be sitting u-”

“I knew that would be the first thing you ask me.” His smile gets even bigger and again, you match it.

“I’m sorry, force of habit.” You both chuckle. “Was there any reason you wanted to see me?”

“I want to thank you, for saving me.” You are about to tell him that you were just doing your job but he keeps going, “I was..I was so scared. I felt like a little kid again. But when Tsireya brought me here, to you…I knew that I would be okay.”

“Oh Neteyam…” Your eyes well up with tears and Neteyam out his hands on your cheeks.

“I’m sorry, i didn’t mean to make you cry.” His thumbs caught the tears that rolled down your cheeks.

You suddenly wrap your arms around his neck. “I have been so worried for you Neteyam…” Your words are muffled against his skin and he can feel the vibrations echoing up his neck. Neteyam hesitates, before wrapping you up into his embrace. Silence blanketed the two of you, interrupted only by the sound of your occasional sniffles and the waves breaking against the beach.

Neteyam is the one to finally shatter it.

“While I was out there, I fought as hard as I could…To defeat our enemies, yes, but also…I knew that, whatever happened, I had to get back here,” He brings a hand up to your face that is still planted in his shoulder and lifts it gently. “I was so scared…”

Your eyes flutter close and another tear slips down your cheek, down past your quivering lips.

“But when Tsireya brought me here, to you.” A smile weaved itself into his voice and you looked up to him. “I knew that I was going to be okay.”

Neteyam looks like he is crying now and you can’t bear it.

“Oh Neteyam..I’m so happy that you’re okay.” You lean forward and rest your forehead again his.

“The great mother is not ready to meet me yet.” He chuckles and you let out a watery laughter with him.

In this moment, all is well, all is calm. He is here. With you.

You wouldn’t have it any other way.

Your dear Neteyam.

[auriidae]

more of these guys :] (part 1) (part 2)

classpect thoughts under cut! yippee

these absolute fools gave me SO much trouble. i changed each of their classes and/or aspects like twice while drawing this lmao.

pearle was going to be a rage player initially! i had her down as one for the chaos — yknow, ‘red’s my favorite color’ and all that. but the catch ended up being that in this au, as rage represents in-game chaos and bloodlust, it only exists while the game is in effect, and so rage players don’t have much dominion over stuff that happens after that period ends (which has all sorts of delightful implications for grienn’s character, but anyways). meanwhile pearle definitely continues playing and also grows as a character even in times of peace. i was thinking in terms of comparing her arc in double life to secret life in particular — ‘she left the tower’ and all that, yknow? she went from being terribly isolated and functioning on a completely independent scale, winning only for herself, to being a key member of a team and finding a purpose in helping them. which is pretty incredibly space-coded, in my mind! my personal qualification for space players is that they’re destined to be lonely, often physically separated in some way from others, for a while but not forever — because space is about creation, after all. and if you look at being a witch from the perspective of reinvention — what pearle manipulated or reinvented here was herself. she found her place in the story and the person she wanted to be. witches are also some of the most powerful characters in terms of specifically manipulating their aspect, i think, which is great because i’ve heard she's pretty great at pvp lol

ignore that martyn’s color palette is not particularly great it’s hard to unify the design of a character who is super rustblood-coded but also inextricably linked to the colors green and yellow of all things. i’ll redesign him later. anyways! at first i had thought there might not be any light players in this session — since light is about sort of seeing through the laws of the game and often deliberately defying them, as well as having a certain degree of control over narrative agency due to this. and because, yknow, the life series is a minecraft youtube roleplay series, realistically the ccs aren’t going to be playing any characters that go out of their way to completely ruin the game or refuse to play it by the rules altogether. but then i started thinking — and i don’t know an awful lot about martyn’s character so forgive me if i’m going a little bit off the rails here — does martyn want to understand? because if he as a character tries to understand and affect his destiny even though he’s ultimately limited by the nature of the story itself, then he could totally be a light player. so that’s where i was coming from here. think about how he won limited life in the end, for instance — not by playing into what the game itself had been leading up to, but by acting on and finishing his own story. he’s a knight because i do think knights are a certified Narrative’s Little Guy class — they persevere through so much pressure and often also have that sort of dual persona thing, both of which are particularly endearing to an audience. it’s hard work, keeping up with the narrative and fulfilling his own quest for understanding while he’s at it!! but he does it!!

renn is Such a blood player guys he is such a blood player ohhh my goodness. playing the game in terms of your relationships with others, right? basing how you go about it on allies and interactions, and being a leader above all else? i’d say that’s pretty ren the dog coded tbh. i don’t have too much to say here because i think seer of blood renn is pretty self-explanatory — he sees the entire game as a game of relationships and ties. he has a lot of knowledge about this field specifically, and shares it with his allies in the way he helps direct them and keep them alive. the reason he’s blood instead of light is because he puts his allies over knowledge, i think — he’s far too busy dealing with all that stuff to speculate for too long what the purpose of it all might be, and that would detract from his goal (of winning alongside others or dying nobly), anyway.

again questions abt them are open forever always :3

[thewildsophia]

3Below//Krel Tarron x Depressed!Reader

A/N: Re-watching 3Below has reignited my love for Krel. There also aren't any Krel x depression out there so fuck it ima do it myself. For these headcanons, I imagine the reader to have Major Depressive Disorder as opposed to any other kind of depression bc that's what I have. Enjoy!

TW: S//H, S//I, Adult Language

Another warning will be placed before sections containing the above.

Words: 2485

"Read More Link” placed due to length.

Krel Tarron x S/O w/Major Depressive Disorder

At first, Krel would not understand. That is, he wouldn’t pick up on the fact that you have depression. 

His knowledge of human sociology and behaviors is very limited when he and his sister first land on Earth. However, even after he’s spent months here he still struggles to understand and pick up on social cues. 

So even though you exhibit very obvious signs of depression — i.e. lack of energy/appetite, excessive sleeping, and loss of enjoyment in activities — Krel doesn’t suspect anything inherently wrong with you. He thinks that your personality is just different from your other human counterparts. 

And to be fair, for as long as he’s known you, you’ve always acted this way (because you were depressed-). 

You would definitely have to tell him you’re depressed because otherwise, he would never figure it out. You ended up telling him during a period of lucidity where you didn’t feel too bad and were conscious of his lack of understanding of your behavior. 

As you tell him, Krel stares at you intently, committing everything you're telling him to memory. 

Now he really doesn’t understand. 

This whole time he thought you just have a different temperament from the other humans at your school, but in reality, you were suffering from a serious illness that he had no idea you had.

Tbh, Krel’s not ok for a few days after you tell him. For a brief moment, he’s angry that you didn’t tell him sooner, but he quickly understands why and his anger dissolves into sadness. He feels so terrible about not picking up on the fact that you’re constantly in pain and that he’s done nothing to help you. 

Krel spends the next few days after you told him researching all about depression and other similar mental illnesses. He’s honestly a little fascinated by how many illnesses there are lmao. It’s just that on Akaridia-5, there aren’t illnesses like that, so he’s happy to learn something new (even if it’s not under more favorable conditions). 

Krel has a lot of questions about your flavor of depression for when you’re mentally ready to answer such questions. 

Tbh, he’s a little insensitive with some of his questions, but that’s just because he doesn’t know any better. Correct him (politely) and he’ll make sure to be nicer with his questions. 

Not much changes dynamic-wise; Krel’s still your loving boyfriend, the same way that you’re still his loving significant other. 

He does make it a habit to compliment you every time he sees you. Whether it be a compliment about your looks, your school work, or even something as small as “I’m happy to see you today,” he really tries to boost your confidence in hopes that you feel better about yourself. 

He also tries to be around you more often, both to make sure you’re ok and to show you that he’s there for you. 

Krel becomes better at predicting when you’re about to enter a depressive episode. Having been around you for so long and now knowing what the warning signs are, he’s very good at guessing when you’re entering certain episodes (sometimes even before you know. Scary, huh?)

When you enter depressive episodes, Krel does everything he can to make sure he’s there for you, both physically and mentally. He will hold you close to him with all four of his arms while he listens carefully to what is troubling you. 

Krel still doesn’t quite understand the emotions involved in depression. Like many other people, he believed that it was just constant sadness, but the more he read and spoke with you about the matter, the more complex it all became. Sadness, despair, emptiness, fear, anger, jealousy, all emotions that he’s never really felt in full. Not to mention other even more nuanced emotions such as paranoia and shame that he’s actually never felt at all. 

Krel is also very good at helping you through mood swings. He’s come to understand that all humans fluctuate between many different emotions, sometimes in a short period of time. He knows when you want him close to you and knows when you want space. 

If you are someone who is very mature with how you explain how you’re feeling, -- like telling someone you’re mad at them, why you’re mad, and that you want space to cool off/talk with them about it -- Krel has an easier time responding to you. He’s much less likely to misinterpret your feelings and what you want. 

Krel actually learned how to vocalize his own emotions from you whenever he’s distressed or upset which definitely opened you two up for a much more healthy form of communication.

He just struggles with emotions in general, but he makes the effort to understand for you :)

TW: S//H, S//I

If Krel ever gets even a hint that you’re hurting yourself, his mental walls would fall and he’d collapse in on himself.

If there is someone who is threatening or hurting you, he, his sister, and Varvatos can easily get rid of them. If you are sick, he can help treat you until you are better. Even if you do something as small as scraping your knee, he can be there to put a bandage over it.

But yourself? He can’t protect you from yourself. He doesn’t know what to do and that scares him so much.

After what happened with his parents, he is very grateful for the lives of those he loves as he understands just how easily they can be taken away from him. He is afraid that one day you will be gone and all that will remain is him.

Krel would have found out about your self-harm either on his own or someone tipping him off about it. You just didn’t have it in you to tell him yourself. 

Krel then begins to really try and learn human medicine. He would spend hours reading medical articles, watching first-aid videos, and taking copious notes about everything he learns, even if it grosses him out a bit (organic organisms were never really something he was interested in before).

He tries to come up with other things you can do when you feel like hurting yourself; Drawing/coloring, writing, reading, playing games, anything that will distract you. He’s always sending you ideas especially when he’s not with you and knows how you’re feeling. 

And to both of your credits, your self-harm does lessen in both severity and quantity. But unfortunately, it doesn’t always help since old habits die hard.

Krel is there in an instant to help you when you relapse assuming you tell him you need help. Even if you decide not to tell him immediately and care for yourself that day/night, Krel almost always finds out sometime after and worries over you about it. 

His hours spent learning first aid pay off when goes to treat your wounds; Cuts, burns, bruises, bites, you’re convinced that Krel can treat any minor injury. And you’re grateful for that. 

Krel is thorough about disinfecting any open wounds with hydrogen peroxide or Neosporin over burns and is incredibly gentle when wrapping them in gauze. He likes to check on them every few days as well to make sure they’re healing correctly.

He holds you close to him afterward -- all four arms wrapped around you and face pressed into your neck/shoulder -- and begs you not to leave him. At first, you’re confused thinking he meant, like, break up with him. It isn’t until you give it more thought that you realize that he doesn’t want to leave him through death.

If you ever express feelings of guilt -- whether verbal or through body language -- Krel quickly dismisses them from your mind by telling you how he wants to help you and how much he loves you. That he wouldn’t bother doing all of this if he didn’t see anything of substance in you.

If you ever express a desire to die, -- whether through suicide or some freak accident -- Krel will look cool on the outside but on the inside, he will be panicking. As hard as he may try, Krel could never understand why you want to die. 

Even if you explain it to Krel -- Everyone and everything that troubles you and the awful guilt you constantly feel by just being alive -- he believes that there is always a reasonable and achievable solution to your problems. It’s not that he’s trying to downplay your problems or your emotions, he’s just naturally more of a rational thinker even under stress.

But even though he doesn’t understand the emotions themselves, he does understand that human emotions can elicit other undesirable responses and thoughts.

Krel will constantly tell you how much he loves you and that he doesn’t know what he’d do with himself if you were dead. 

He does what he can to push those thoughts from your head.

As written earlier, Krel likes to spend time with you in person. Not just because he loves you sm but also because it makes it easier to keep an eye on you and intervene when necessary.

Def says something along the lines of, “I’m happy you’re alive.” And the first time he said that you cried so hard he thought he insulted you lmao. You had to explain to him that you weren’t insulted but relieved and overjoyed. 

Krel is not the most emotionally intelligent person out there, but he tries to be and is willing to understand them for you.

When you had shown up at school with a busted lip, bloody and bruised knuckles, and a dull gash on your cheek, Krel freaked the fuck out. The moment he spotted you walking to your locker from his own locker he was all over you. 

“What happened?” Krel cried while gently taking your face into one of his hands while the other went to grab your hand.

“It’s nothing,” You mutter, pulling your face out of his grasp and taking a step back. Krel scoffed, looking almost offended while saying,

“Nothing? Nothing did that to you?”

“I just-” You start, raising your hands up in defense before dropping them at your sides, “I got in a fight with Steve. It was over something stupid. We’ve known each other for most of our lives; I just worry about him.” You cross your arms to hold onto yourself and look anywhere Krel isn’t. Krel moved his head so that it was in your line of vision, forcing you to meet his eyes. 

“I take it you don’t want to talk about it?” He asked. You nod ‘yes,’ and Krel frowns.

“I won’t push you then, but I really want to get you treated,” He says, taking a step closer to you. You stay where you are and allow him to hold your hands.

“Later, I’ll be fine for now,” You say while bringing up one of his hands to kiss the top of it, “You can have Aja or even Mother patch me up after school.”

Krel looks at your knuckle hesitantly before agreeing, trusting that you truly would be fine until after the school day.

The moment the last bell rang he made a beeline to find you and ran you to his house as quickly as possible. The two of you were the only ones home when you got there, so Krel wasted no time in having one of the blanks retrieve a first aid kit. Once given to him, Krel attempts to treat your injuries but fails pretty miserably. 

You end up showing him how to clean and wrap different kinds of cuts and bruises. It’s when you’re in the middle of cleaning your knuckles in the sink that Krel says something that makes your stomach drop.

“Mother, can you scan Y/N for any more injuries, please?”

“Wha-Mother! You don’t have to do that!” You shout panicked and covered your arms in a vain attempt to conceal your other injuries. 

“Numerous other injuries found upon Y/N in the upper arm, forearm, and thigh regions. Approximately 27 cuts to the epidermis and 3, 1st-degree burns found.”

“What!?” Krel turned around so fast to face you, you swear you saw his electric blue hair whip from the air, “Where?! I demand you show me!”

“No!” You cry back panicked, hands gripping the side of the sink behind you. Krel scowls and grows before shouting, 

“Mother, show me a hologram of where the injuries are on Y/N!” 

“My King-in-waiting, It would seem that I have breached a highly sensitive topic on behalf of Y/N. I believe it best that they discuss it with you themself.” Mother responds. Krel sighs, his upper right hand running through his hair.

“Y/N,” He starts, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m really worried.” He carefully walks over to you but leaves a foot of space between the two of you.

“Will you please show me where you’re hurt?” He asks quietly. Your eyes begin to burn with tears and your mouth opens to explain yourself before shutting quickly with a ‘clank’ of your teeth. Unable to speak, you place your hands into his lower ones, palms up, and nod your head. Gently, Krel’s other hands push your long sleeves higher up your arms, and he’s baffled at the numerous cuts he sees littering your arms. There were many different colors, thicknesses, lengths, and stages of healing -- some were a day old while others were weeks old. He ran his thumb over one of the older ones.

“Wha…” Krel stutters, eyes dancing over your arms, “What are these? What-Who did this?” His eyes flicker up to yours. 

Your jaw twitches -- wanting to speak but unable to -- and you pull one of your hands away from his to point to yourself. Krel’s eyebrows furrow.

“I-I don’t understand,” He whispers, his own eyes beginning to water, “I want to understand.” 

“I did this,” You mumble out, pulling your other hand away from his, “I am…ashamed.” Tears begin to fall and you scrub gently at your eyes to dry them.

“You-You did this?” Krel asks, confused and stunned, “You willingly hurt yourself? Why?”

You heave out a few breaths trying to figure out how to relay your emotions to him. While difficult to say, you manage to squeeze out three words.

“I hate-” You stammer, “I hate myself.” 

And Krel is immediately embracing you.

“I love you,” He says, cupping your face in his upper hands and staring into your eyes with his other two around your waist, “I love you so much. Please don’t ever say you hate yourself.”

Gently, he kisses your forehead, your cheek, and then your lips.

The two of you are left a sobbing mess of tender skin and emotion in the kitchen for Varvatos and Aja to find later when they arrive home.

[myfairstarlight]

Chronicles of Two Writers in Love

AO3 Link.

Rated: G

Length: 3.5k (for now 👀)

Pairing: Colin Bridgerton x Penelope Featherington

Canon Compliant

Summary:

As Penelope and Colin settle into their new married life, each also embarks on their own literary pursuits. Colin aims to publish his journals, while Penelope is reworking her Whistledown column for the upcoming season. Though, these projects would be much easier to accomplish if they could stop distracting one another. Or if life did not throw another surprise their way. Or. A compilation of post-s3 domestic scenes wherein Colin and Penelope build an empire and a family.

*additional notes on ao3

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

Colin was overlooking the mess that the Featherington finances are when his office door opens on Penelope’s giddy and radiant smile. He raises a curious eyebrow when she does not say anything and keeps tiptoeing her way towards him.

“Is there something wrong, Pen?” he asks, although perhaps “wrong” is not the correct adjective to use, considering his wife’s excitement.

She shakes her head as she walks around the desk to drape herself over Colin’s back instead. Colin blinks before leaning against her, smiling as a few strands of red curly hair tickle his neck. Although used to such displays of affection now, the novelty never seems to wear out.

“No,” Penelope says simply at last, and then her hands travel down Colin’s arms, her fingers purposely lingering on his muscles, he is pretty certain, until they reach his hands. She grabs the pencil he was holding to toss it across the desk.

“Wh— Pen!” Colin sighs, although not unkindly, rather amused even. “Do you have something to tell me?”

“Do you?” his wife replies.

“Yes, I love you,” he says like a lovesick fool, breathing in her honeydew perfume. “Which is nothing new. Unless you desire details about the horrid state your father left your estate in.”

He almost regrets offering his help when Portia kept complaining the other day when she came to visit. Colin, as a third son, neither the heir nor the spare, never had to worry about such things but he still was taught how to manage an estate and provinces at Eton, then by his brothers when he came back, just in case, though his knowledge remains limited compared to them. He laments who the next Lord Featherington will be — or well, who will act as the new head of the household until their son is old enough. His new brother-in-laws are kind men, but quite simple-minded, and untitled as well. Such responsibility would be quite a drastic and terrifying change. Colin is not much of a pious man, but he does pray for Albion and Harry.

Penelope makes a face. “I suppose these papers must be important then.”

“Yes…” Colin says slowly, trying not to react when his childhood friend and love of his life starts pushing said papers on one side of the desk and manages to squeeze herself on his lap. Not a terribly difficult endeavour, actually.

“More important than me?” Penelope quips, tilting her head and smiling innocently.

“That is a trick question, isn’t it.”

“I do not know what you mean.” The innocent smile turns sly.

“My wife is a menace.” Penelope visibly melts at the word wife and Colin decides those papers can wait, after all, he can always ask for Benedict's help later. He carefully cards his fingers through Penelope’s hair, tilting her head back and then kissing her jaw.

Penelope giggles, her right hand tracing the side of his neck, fingers playing with his cravat. “Your wife, dear husband, also happens to be with child,” she whispers into his ear, bringing one of his hands to her stomach.

Colin stops moving, breath knocked out of him in an instant. Penelope’s mischievous smile turns gentle as she intertwines their fingers together.

“Truly?” 

Penelope nods and then laughs as Colin lifts her onto the desk, showering her with kisses and caresses anew. It is safe to say that the important papers are quickly forgotten for the rest of the week.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

“Pen,” Colin whines, “you should not be working in your condition!”

“I am merely writing, that is hardly life-threatening,” Penelope chides, trying to ignore her husband’s grabby hands around her waist. “Colin! I’m editing your book!”

“And the sun has gone down, my book can wait another day to be finished.”

For someone so eager to become a published author, Colin sure has been the main reason his book is taking so long to be delivered to his publisher. His concern for her well-being ever since she announced her pregnancy is endearing, if not a little annoying, for she is perfectly capable of working still. She barely looks different, compared to her sisters who are already at the Featherington country estate to hide away.

“Shush, I am almost done, I might as well.”

Colin pouts, unrelenting. “Do not make me use my secret weapon.”

“What are you on about— Colin put me down!” Penelope yelps as she finds herself lifted into strong familiar arms, managing to grasp the pieces of paper and her pencil before they fly off her desk. She huffs, meeting the satisfied and a bit arrogant smile her husband gives her.

“Compromise? You can finish these last pages in our bed, while I still get to hold you,” he says, nuzzling her neck.

“Hardly seems like a compromise when you are already walking towards said bed, Mr Bridgerton.”

“You do not seem to mind, Mrs Bridgerton.”

She does love to be in his arms, after all, but Penelope does not give him the satisfaction of her answer. Instead, she casts her eyes back on her papers, pretending to ignore him as she mentally visualises the changes that need to be made. She leans her head against Colin’s chest as her husband starts humming happily upon winning what he is considering a small battle.

Soon, she finds herself among soft silken sheets as Colin manoeuvers them so he may sit against the headboard, Penelope half-laying on him between his legs. His arms naturally find her middle, hands gently caressing the beginning of a bump, and he rests his chin on her head. Penelope, on her part, smiles fondly, almost getting distracted enough to forego her work and simply snuggle with her husband.

“You know,” she says after some time, earning a small hum from a sleepy Colin, “I like that last line.” She circles it with her pencil, adding a small heart next to it.

“Of course you do, it is about you,” he replies lazily, kissing her head. “My love, my life, my purpose.”

As my travels come to an end, I realise that this endless search for a purpose was a long-winded distraction, for home is where my love is, and I shall now return where she has patiently and kindly waited for me.

The Penelope to my Odysseus.

“Are you certain about the title though?” Penelope wonders out loud.

She only gets a petulant huff in response. Sounds like she really won't be able to make him change his mind about it.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

Despite the Queen’s approval, Penelope is afraid of continuing her column, Colin can tell. He catches her at night getting off their bed to settle by her desk, a small candle for only company, as she goes through the old Whistledown columns with the eyes of a forlorn lover. She doesn't like to talk about it, but Colin knows she has been prioritising his drafts over her own writing, lately. He is flattered by her eagerness to help, but also quite worried by it.

“You need rest, love,” he tells her on one of those nights as he, too, leaves the bed to read over her shoulder. She currently has Lady Whistledown’s very first column crinkled between her fingers.

“Mm,” is all she responds with, not moving from her desk.

“Pen.”

“Col.”

He grimaces. “You know I hate that.”

Finally, she tears her eyes away from the Whistledown column to give him a small, mischievous smile by tilting her head back. Colin bends down — goes down to his knees, really — to kiss her forehead, and she leans against his chest.

“Want to talk about it?” She shakes her head. “Alright.”

She makes a surprised noise but doesn't say anything else for a while. Then, gently, she pokes at his hands currently resting on her shoulders.

“Colin.”

“Mm?”

“I do not know what to do.”

“Regarding?”

“Everything.”

That is a loaded answer indeed.

“We can figure it out together, Pen, you’re not alone anymore, remember?” he says, gently playing with her hair while she buries her face in his neck. Although she tries to quiet her cries, Colin can feel her tears through the fabric of his chemise. He breathes in as she wraps her arms around him, bringing them even closer.

After a while, as the candle is almost completely burned out, Penelope pulls back with a loud sniffle that turns into quite an ugly snort. The sound makes them both pause before they burst out in fits of giggles.

“Ah, I’m a mess,” she sniffs. “No wonder Prudence was this emotional at our wedding if that is what pregnancy does to you.”

Colin wrinkles his nose at the mention of his least favourite sister-in-law.

“Want to talk about it now?” he asks again.

Penelope remains silent for a few instants, eyes closing, as if resigned.

“I should,” she mutters.

“But do you want to?” Colin insists.

Her eyes fly open, crystal blues looking at him with such disbelief, that it makes Colin’s heart ache. Then, she smiles, a hand cupping his cheek with all the tenderness in the world.

“Thank you, my ever-considerate and patient man. I love you so much,” she whispers, before bringing their lips together in a sweet kiss. Colin fully indulges in it. “I do want to,” Penelope answers at last after they pull away. “Let’s get back to bed first, though, your knees must ache.”

“My…?” He blinks, indeed remembering he has been kneeling for at least the past thirty minutes. “Oh.”

He hastily stands up, wincing as a few bones crack at the sudden movement.

Penelope bites her lip, surely to stop herself from laughing again. “Come on, take me to bed, husband.” She lifts her arms then with an indulgent smile. Colin grins wide and swiftly scoops her up into his arms with little to no difficulty.

As they settle into bed, Penelope immediately disregards her pillow to instead lay on his chest with a pleased hum.

“Where to begin…” she muses, her hand drawing patterns on his chest as she starts to speak. Colin wonders if it makes her comfortable. He is not going to complain.

So he listens, as she lists her worries concerning Whistledown, how she will gather gossip now that her face and name are shown, how to keep the Queen’s ever so fleeting favourable opinion, how to ensure no one in their family is affected by her work, especially now that they will soon have a child of their own.

From then on, she strays, talking about the various names she has been thinking about, how she imagines them to look like, and how they must have Colin’s eyes, apparently.

Eventually, she naturally drifts off to sleep before Colin can say anything in return. However, her body is completely relaxed against his in a way she has not been for weeks now, and a peaceful smile is on her lips. Colin kisses her temple and wishes her good dreams.

They can leave the worries and his suggestions for another day. For now, Colin is simply happy to provide a peaceful night as he gathers her closer to his heart.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

“Is he alright?” Daphne asks, nodding towards Colin who is dramatically lying on the couch, one arm draped over his forehead, and the other hanging onto the bucket Rae has provided him with.

“Morning sickness,” Penelope replies. “Although it has extended beyond the morning, it seems,” she adds, looking at the clock indicating that it is around three in the afternoon.

Her sister-in-law frowns. “But you’re the one…?”

“I do not understand either. He has also been having odd food cravings, although that may be normal for him, actually.”

“Mm. And you are fine?”

Penelope shrugs. “Surprisingly? Yes.” 

Colin starts groaning then. Penelope rushes to his side, leaning against the side of the sofa as she runs a hand through his wild curls. Her husband smiles dopily, his groans turning into pleased hums. 

“We are being terrible hosts, I must apologise,” Penelope says. “You’ve come all this way…”

Daphne chuckles, waving a dismissive hand. “Do not worry, it was no hassle. Though now I feel like you will not be the one in need of my special blend of tea to deal with the sickness.”

Penelope looks down at her now-sleeping husband. “Probably not.” A pause. “We just received a copy of his book, waiting for final approval before publication. He has not had the strength to go through it without the sudden need to empty his stomach.”

“Poor giant puppy,” Daphne mutters.

“Daphne!”

“What!” The duchess laughs. “Knowing my brother he is probably exaggerating just so you can dote on him, though you are the one carrying his child.”

Penelope feels Colin’s face twitch under her fingertips at his sister’s accusation, proving he is not actually asleep. Truth be told, she has had her suspicions, though she cannot help but indulge her husband. He looks oh so adorable when in such misery.

“Can I read the book?” Daphne inquires.

Colin suddenly sits up. “Absolutely not!”

Penelope has to rub his back as another nausea takes hold of him at the abrupt movement.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

Philippa and Prudence both give birth to little girls. Albion and Harry are relieved. Colin, on the other hand, is filled with dread.

Not at the idea of having a son— he would love his child, whether they turn out to be a boy or a girl. No, the issue is with the goddamn Featherington estate. He knows the odds that Penelope gives birth to a girl like her sisters are slim, which means he must prepare himself to officially deal with the mess that Archibald Featherington has left in his death, and that Portia Featherington has worsened, somehow, by adding fraud to the debts. When he asked for Benedict’s help, months ago, when he curiously looked at the records, his brother’s eyes widened with horror.

“I will be honest, Col, I don’t think even Anthony would know what to do with this. It is a miracle the Featheringtons were still in society!”

“Well, you cannot ignore that Lady Featherington is one cunning lady,” Colin reluctantly admitted.

So. That was grand. And Colin surely would not wish for his hypothetical son to be burdened by this.

But then Penelope props herself on his desk one day, effortlessly reading through the financial ledgers and pointing where improvements could be made with a faux air of casualty. Colin is left to stare, feeling, well, something stir within him at the new sight before him.

“What? I had to handle my Whistledown finances by myself, did you forget?” Penelope chuckles, happily letting Colin snake his way between her legs.

“Is there anything you cannot do, dear wife?” he inquires, lips mere inches from her neck.

She hums, a hand settling on the back of his head and playing with the hair at the base of his neck. “Not really.” He starts to pepper kisses on her exposed skin, earning more giggles. “Mm. Colin, do you reckon who will come out first? Your child or your book? You approved it months ago now…”

“I do not really care either way,” he mumbles, far too distracted by his need to taste his wife.

Penelope pulls away then, a serious expression back on her face. It takes everything in Colin to not pout. “I would like to celebrate your achievement before we have to worry about parenthood, or salvaging my father’s mess, personally.”

“That is if we do have a son,” he points out, a hand settling on her round belly.

“I just have a feeling,” she says with a shrug.

“Or you just really want to win this heir race thing.”

She gasps. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing, competitiveness is your thing, Bridgerton!”

“Tsk and you’re a Bridgerton too, now,” he reminds her. “And admit it, it would allow you to get a rise out of your sisters.”

He would know. He keeps reminding Eloise he was the one who met Penelope first.

“I already had a taste of that, their faces were quite amusing when I was being courted by a Lord.” He pinches her side. “Hey!”

“Do not remind me of this miserable time.”

His dearest wife dares to roll her eyes at him. “I have no care for a title or my old name. But if we do not have a son…”

“Your mother would despair,” he finishes for her, smiling. Penelope’s immense heart will never cease to amaze him.

“She… has never loved my father, but that title, that name, she cares for it so deeply. It would kill her to see it go to someone we may not even know after everything she had to sacrifice for it.”

“Pen… I understand, but it is not something we can control either. I do not want you to be disappointed—”

“God no! I could never be disappointed!” she protests immediately, her hands flying to join his against her belly. “Our child, Colin. How could I ever be disappointed we made a life together? It is just— you know, Prudence won’t let Mother live with her and Harry.”

Colin makes a face. “Philippa?” She seems like the type of woman to simply follow whatever her mother tells her to do, and she was the first to be married. She seems like the logical choice.

“My mother hates cheese.”

“Oh Lord, are you telling me we will be stuck with her no matter what?!”

Penelope only sheepishly smiles.

꧁༺࿅ིཽ• –– •❈• –– •࿅ིཽ༻꧂

If Eloise had known her best friend was with child, she would have delayed her departure for Scotland because learning about it through a letter and the new Whistledown column — which added the fact that the child is the new Lord Featherington, something both Penelope and Colin forgot to mention in their letter — was not something she appreciated. It felt distant, awakening guilt within her that she could not be there to support her best friend.

It is odd, she thinks, or perhaps cruel, that she did not feel that same kind of guilt for Daphne. Perhaps it is because her sister is living somewhere else, far from Bridgerton House, whereas Penelope and Colin remained near Mayfair, and are now moving back into Featherington House. She loves her sister dearly, of course, but they have always had differing interests, and her love for family and the desire to build one was one Eloise could never truly connect with, she who dreaded her presentation.

With Colin, she could always find a sense of kinship with him through his curiosity for the world. They were much similar in that way, she thinks, with the only difference being that he was allowed to go and learn about all these subjects that piqued his interest. In a way, although she disparaged him a lot with his tales of his travels, Eloise lived through his words. Jealousy is what made her so bitter, two years ago. And now she gets to read them, now that she has seen a little bit of the world as well herself.

(Granted, Scotland was not groundbreaking the way Greece or India could have been, but still.)

And then, of course, there is Penelope. Her dear, clever, too-good-for-Colin Penelope, for whom words are not enough to describe Eloise’s love, who dreamed of love and grand achievements. She who protected her work and her loved ones with a fierceness Eloise could only wish she could reach one day.

So perhaps the guilt truly stems from the fact that two of her favourite people have created a life together, and Eloise could not be there to witness them becoming a family, and she feared that she would be left behind again.

(There was also this horrid voice in the back of her mind, always. She could have lost Penelope. What if something went wrong, during the birth, and Eloise came back to a desolate garden?)

Oh, how wrong she was.

She is crying, that much is certain, though Penelope and Colin are polite enough to not point it out. And the reason for her cries is the little bundle of joy in her arms currently playing with her hair.

And his name is Thomas Elliot Bridgerton.

“I will be your favourite aunt, I have to, what with you being named after me, huh?” she tells the baby, whose big blue eyes look at her with wonder before another giggle escapes his lips.

She smiles, her eyes drifting away to Penelope and Colin again, who are by the window. Penelope is holding up some drafts, explaining something, while Colin listens intently, occasionally sharing some insights of his own. Both of their hands are stained with ink as well, these restless overachievers. Eloise’s gaze softens at the sight.

She was terrified things would change, and they did.

But some things don’t.

She holds Thomas closer to her heart, kissing his head when the baby giggles once more and tries to wrap his tiny arms around her. She looks forward to this new life ahead of her.

[shimmeringweeds]

EDIT: this is a outdated mid S2 analysis. It’s not a terrible read but - my thoughts are always evolving with new info and greater understanding. So if you’ve finished S2, I’ve got a better take :)

Cheng Xiaoshi always dives blind.

He knows his instructions: deliver the message, find the secret, change nothing. He may even have a rough time frame for when the information can be found. Still, Cheng Xiaoshi never knows what's coming.

But Lu Guang knows. (Spoilers through s2 ep 9 + ep 10 preview)

Buckle up. Long post. This knowledge has pestered me for two years. Since Emma. I've found ways to chalk it up. Lu Guang just scans the photos, and doesn't see details until they happen; or Lu Guang thinks this will ensure past remains untouched; or Lu Guang is doing this to protect Cheng Xiaoshi.

I've also chalked it up, predominately, to story telling. What fun would there be if Cheng Xiaoshi knew what was going to happen? There would be no surprises! Boooooriiiiiing.

I'm not satisfied with that.

You know, each time Lu Guang withholds information, I find a way to forgive him. That is to say, I feel distrust; a need to forgive him that Cheng Xiaoshi never seems to let linger because of his unyielding faith in Lu Guang.

There are many moments where, if Lu Guang had just told Cheng Xiaoshi what was coming, he could have prevented discomfort and pain.

Exhibit A: Emma.

Instead of telling Cheng Xiaoshi that the situation is going to be okay, that nothing will happen, that her mom is going to call and interrupt. Lu Guang tells him to basically get on with it and then proceeds to lecture him in typical fashion.

"What a great personality," we think sarcastically, having known him for all of 5 minutes.

The scene is played off comically, because what else can Cheng Xiaoshi do? But he's visibly flustered on rescue, and I don't think that has to do with feeling Emma's emotions.

Okay, you say that this is how the writers are narrating the rules. Driving into our heads that the past cannot be changed. Yeah. You're right. How convenient for the writers.

That is not the only moment in this episode where Lu Guang essentially just tells Cheng Xiaoshi to be patient or ignore it instead of giving him the information he needs, but this post will be long enough. And again, we can chalk all those moments up to Lu Guang thinking he knows best (and being wrong).

Episodes 2 and 3 are tame. There are no surprises in the narrative except Cheng Xiaoshi's own mistakes, which cause Lu Guang to be sightless. Nothing to hide until episode 4.

The Earthquake:

Lu Guang makes the call to not tell Cheng Xiaoshi about the earthquake. Gods, I wouldn't either, spare him that pain. But that kindness backfires spectacularly, and the pain dealt is greater than the pain spared.

Does Lu Guang learn a lesson here? He's so careful with Xiaoshi, keeping his distance and not pushing him to do anything he doesn't want.

The next photograph is for DouDou. It's a surveillance footage and Lu Guang's knowledge is limited. Nothing can be done about the mess up. But the next dive is into Doudou. Cheng Xiaoshi smells the ball and looses consciousness. At the start of the photograph, Lu Guang says. "But the whole time, I was unable to get a good look at the human trafficker's face, as well as how she took DouDou away." He warns Cheng Xiaoshi to be careful, and when the ball rolls he declares, "It's here!" before falling silent. He doesn't warn Cheng Xiaoshi about the ball until it's already too late.

Chalk it up. After all we don't know what exactly it is Lu Guang can see in the photograph. Just that he can see 12 hours into it. Maybe he couldn't deduce sniffing the ball would lead to DouDou's abduction? That's reasonable. But how could he miss the ball entirely? Why not warn Cheng Xiaoshi in more detail? Even if Doudou needs to be taken, doesn't Lu Guang trust Cheng Xiaoshi to act? I'm left scratching my head.

For the rest of the season, the lead is predominately taken by Cheng Xiaoshi. Lu Guang is there, but he lets Cheng Xiaoshi have this. He trusts. And for the first time before diving, he warns. Before diving, he warns that Xu Shanshan may not be alive. But he doesn't know the future. And the decision to dive is Cheng Xiaoshi's to make.

Li Tianxi's photo.

Lu Guang hides the photo. He say's he can't see all the details due to his condition. I'll believe that. Flash back to Lu Guang looking at his phone, like he's trying his power on other, familiar, photographs (before deleting them, I guess, but.....didn't they already do that? Is he trying photos of the present?)

Of course he doesn't tell anyone about the photo. He wants to protect Cheng Xiaoshi. He can't see what it is they'd be diving into.

Of course this is no big deal to Cheng Xiaoshi, because Lu Guang himself has ensured that Cheng Xiaoshi will be a pro at diving blind.

Cheng Xiaoshi makes the call and, by god, if Lu Guang doesn't look exhausted when he agrees.

Lu Guang doesn't even warn him that Li Tianxi is mute. Right out of the gate. Is that really how little he could see? Okay. So we operate with the assumption that, right now, Lu Guang cannot see far in advance. Cheng Xiaoshi stresses, did he mess up? Isn't this a big deal? Lu Guang assures him that he can still see where the are going. Doesn't say where. Okay. That just means the future isn't dark. Lu Guang really can't see ahead right now. That's reasonable. And so we let the rest of the dive go... watching in horror at the events that unfold. Lu Guang apologizing to Cheng Xiaoshi in the photo. That if he could have seen, he wouldn't have let him dive.

Here's the thing. Two(?) nights prior, Lu Guang shows off a pretty bad ass skill. He sees into the security footage of the WHOLE DAMN HOSPITAL. How is that easier, soon after surgery mind you, than quickly scanning the photograph for even a hint of what might happen? (Or maybe Lu Guang can only scan the photograph once, before diving in. And he really couldn't see in that moment with a freshly opened stab wound. Apparently that's my new "chalk it up" theory, as of just now.) Remember, Cheng Xiaoshi doesn't know Lu Guang did that. He thinks Lu Guang was guiding them using live security footage, not becoming the eyes of the whole damn hospital.

When it comes to any present moment between them, Lu Guang is quick to give advice, nagging after Cheng Xiaoshi's behavior like a mother hen. But giving advice about the future? He doesn't do that. Maybe he can't do that.

Maybe no matter how badly Lu Guang wants to shout the future loud and clear, he is being prevented. Maybe it's a rule bound to his power. Maybe it's a rule bound to this "game."

Episode 10 preview. We want answers. We suspect Lu Guang has them. But guess what?

His lips are sealed. Literally.

[monimccoythings]

Arlong x Healer!human!reader Part 1

I will keep writing as long as I get this ideas, these will be all unconnected, just oneshots. I have some stories I would like to try however I've come to find that it is really difficult to write Arlong with a human reader, since he is so bigoted and hateful of humans, I also worry I'm going to make him too ooc for my taste. But I'm slowly getting comfortable with what I want to write and how I want to write it.

PS: Since this bitch of a website only allows a limited amount of characters, this one will have to be cut in half.

Tw: mentions of blood.

The only thing your Island had ever known was peace. Anyone with good intentions was welcomed there. Fishmen and humans lived together comfortably, there were even mixed couples with hybrid children running around. No fight got too serious and no race thought about submitting the other, because all of the villagers understood and knew too well what it was to be subjugated.

Since your mother arrived with you to this island several years ago, you had used your ever growing knowledge about medicine to help your neighbors and friend's lifes get a bit easier. You felt a bit proud of the small clinic you had established and wouldn't change your quiet life for anything in the world.

But one day things changed.

There had been a terrible storm the night before, and some things had been carried over to the sea, nothing too serious, just some furniture, some cloths and part of the roof of a barn. But still, people would want them back, so you decided to help them a bit.

That's when you saw him. A huge unmoving mass laying on the shore. 'He must have been brought by the tides' you thought. Your healer instincts immediately kicked in, he looked like he had been pretty battered. He had very ugly looking cuts, and seemed to have lost a lot of blood. Still, he seemed to be breathing, though with several difficulties. You had to act quick.

You called for Omar, your fishman friend, since he was too big and heavy for you to carry around without risking a back ache. Things seemed normal, just another patient to help. Little did you know that you had bit off more than you could chew.

The second he was laid on the bed, he magically sprung alive and lunged at you like a wild animal, his eyes madly moving one side to the other, baring his teeth and foaming at the mouth. The only thing stopping him from tearing you to pieces was the quick intervention of your friend, who even his prime, was barely able to contain that sharkman's fury. "How is he able to do this?? he is on the verge of death!" You couldn't answer. You found yourself unable to, because the look of deep hate coming out of that fishman's eyes had rendered you speechless. Nobody had looked at you that way. Ever.

After a bit of struggling, the man fell unconscious again from exhaustion. But your heart was still beating furiously inside your chest. If Omar hadn't been there... No. There was no time to think about that, he needed your help. Whether he wanted or not.

Your friend didn't seem so convinced when you decided to send him home to his family. He was reluctant to leave you alone with a dangerous patient. You quickly reassured him that as long as he was unconscious everything would be fine, and if things got rough you would call for him immediately.

After he left, you immediatly went back to action, getting all the materials needed to clean his wounds and start a blood transfusion. You wisely decided that fishman's blood would be the most appropiate given his inherent hostility towards humans. Still, the amount you had wouldn't be enough to make him healthy again. Guess you'd have to call your friend back after all.

As you were cleaning his wounds you couldn't help but marvel at the bulging muscles underneath your cloth. This fishman was enormous, even bigger than some of your neighbors. Gosh, he barely fit into your biggest bed. You shook your head, this was not the time to fantasize, you had to call your friend back and several other fishmen from the village. It was going to take a while...

After several days waiting quietly near his bed with your very overprotective friend by your side, the mysterious fishman seemed to regain consciousness at last. And boy did you regret it.

He was the most hateful, abrassive, headstrong, and rudest patient you ever had the displeasure to meet. How anyone could be so full of hate, you didn't know. At least he wasn't attacking you, he was probably feeling weak due to those days he spent unconscious. Or maybe it was because your friend was always there, supervising, just in case.

Arlong, as he was named (or as he had barked at you when you politely asked) had a deeply rooted hatred for humans, considering you all the scum of the earth and an inferior race to exploit and control. When you told him this island was based on peaceful coexistence between human and fishmen, he was outraged calling it shameful for the fishmen people.

When Omar's hybrid kid, Corcho, came by to bring some food to his Papa, Arlong's face morphed into a sneer of disgust. You had to ask him, because since the child was part fishman, he shouldn't have had any trouble with him. To which he answered that it was the child's fishman half what had kept him from pouncing at him.

You couldn't keep quiet anymore, and decided to call him out on his extremly bigoted behavior towards people that just wanted to help him. He scoffed at you, saying that you humans were just mud for Fishmen to step on.

You snapped at him that you didn't understand how someone could still choose to hate when there could be a chance of both races living peacefully, it was plain stupid. That seemed to do it.

With a snarl and a surprising speed for someone in his frail state he grabbed you by the neck. Omar quickly adopted a protective stance in front of his child, ready to attack without risking your safety.

"You should watch your tongue, human." He spat the last word as if it was venom. His webbed fingers applied the smallest of pressures to your neck, signaling you that he could do much worse if he wanted to. You watched with steady breaths how his eyes scanned your face, in search of fear, pupils dilating like a predator when his eyes met yours. For a second, nobody dared to utter a word, both of you lost in each other's eyes. He carefully sniffed you, and when he found no trace of fear, he harshly let you go with a grunt which turned into a wince of pain.

Omar quickly pulled you away from him, but you barely acknowledged his presence. Your focus was on the wounded fishman in front of you. You tentatively approached him, ignoring your friend's protests. "Don't touch me." He warned, panting. Desperate, you tried to give him something to drink.

"You are hurt, have a glass of wa-" "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, HUMAN." He bellowed at you, slapping the glass out of your hand. After a couple of minutes he started breathing normally again. But the memory of what had just happened hung heavily over the room. Arlong was violent, abrassive and a menace to humankind, but you couldn't ignore him in his time of need due to your Hippocratic Oath. You were stuck between a rock and a hard place. What exactly had you gotten yourself into?

[my-supernatural-rewatch]

Episode Five: Bloody Mary

Dean Winchester in the Supernatural episode Bloody Mary

Never one of my favorites but on this rewatch I realized it's actually pretty damn scary.

A child's game of Bloody Mary unleashes the vengeful spirit of a woman who travels through mirrors and seeks revenge on those with guilty secrets.

This one will probably not be that long either.

Right out the gate, we get concerned Dean who wants to talk about Sam and all the bad dreams he's having. Sam isn't very forthcoming. Big surprise.

I know we get a lot of "no chick flick moments" and all from Dean in the dialogue. But we also get Dean consistently saying to Sam basically "LET'S TALK ABOU THIS" so the narrative that Dean doens't like to talk about his or anyone else's feelings is already dispelled within the first five episodes of the first season yet it stuck to Dean for the entire series.

Make it make sense.

Right here is where I'm going to remind anyone who might come across this and decide to read it that I am not writing full synposes of the episodes so if you haven't actually seen the episodes there's a good chance you will be lost reading these posts if you're looking for any semblance of a plotline. This is definitely one of those posts that will completely confuse you if you don't know the episode. Sorry/not sorry.

I'm wondering if this is the only episode where we see the brothers bribe someone? It probalby isn't but at least it's the first. Sam bribes the coroner's assistant with money Dean won in a poker game.

Which gives us more of Sam trying to take the moral highground when Dean complains that it's HIS money by dismissing it becuase Dean won it playing poker. As if that isn't working for the money.

Christ, Sam.

Also on Sam: Yet another episode where he changes his voice when talking to the family of the victim so he sounds more sympathetic. How did ai never notice this before?

Cute brothers moment in the bathroom when they're both standing in front of the mirror talking about Bloody Mary and both refuse to say the words.

Okay, an important plot point: Bloody Mary only kills people with a terrible secret that they're absorbed with guilt over. Spoiler: Sam feels guility because he had dreams of Jessica on the ceiling burning for days before she died and he not only didn't warn her but he also took the fuck off with his brother to find their missing father who isn't really fucking missing. (Hey, does this mean we can pin Jessica's death on John?)

Another Dean myth dispelled in this episode is his intelligence. I mean they already pretty much have shown us Dean's no dunce, but in this ep he spends a LOT of time doing research, absorbing the material, and explaining things. And in one scene, he decides to do a national search for dead women fitting Bloody Mary's profile, against Sam's judgement...and THAT is how they figure out who she is.

Check out the big brain on Dean, motherfuckers!

They drive from Toledo, Ohio to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and back to interview someone, and my geography knowledge is so limited that I had to Google how long that would take. In one of what I would guess is one of their shorter trips, it's only about 3 hours round-trip. (THESE are the things I'm thinking about while watching the show?)

The name of this week's damsel in distress is...Charlie. I get there were over 300 episodes of this show but it drives me nuts how often they re-use names. (Amelia anyone?) Anyway...

Using his patented compassion and soft looks Dean's the one who gets Charlie to admit the thing she's guilty about (a troubled boyfriend who threatend to kill himself if she left him and then who DID kill himself after she responded "Go ahead").

In the Impala, the brothers are discussing how to call out the spirit and Sam says he has the guilt so he'll do the summoning. Dean has had enough of his emo, fatalistic bullshit so he stops the car and tells Sam to fess up his secret for fuck's sake.

Dean's concerns are that the spirit will kill Sam, and he reminds Sam that it isn't his fault that Jessica died. Someone should tell Dean we've decided it's John's fault because what does Dean say?

"Why don't you take a swing at ME? I'm the one who dragged you away from her in the first place."

Setting up a decades-long argument among SPN fans who think Sam made his own decision because he wanted to go back to hunting and those who blame Dean for goddamn everything.

To be fair to Sam, his response is, "I don't blame you."

Thanks for that, Sammy. (That's from me, not Dean.)

Dean really doesn't want Sam to call out the spirit but Sam is damned and determined to. It feels less like he's doing it to save poor first Charlie and more like he's doing it because he feels like he shoudl be punished for what he did (or really in this case didn't) do.

And thus begins the storyline of emo Sam feels guilty about everything that isn't his fault for the next two seasons culminating in Dean going to hell...

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Inside the antique shop where Mary's mirror is supposed to be, Sam is trying to call her out while Dean goes outside to talk to the cops who have shown up since someone is mucking about in the shop. When he can't convince the cops that he is the adopted son of Mr. Yamashiro, Dean knocks both cops out.

How often has Dean (or Sam) done this? I feel like not often.

We're also on a steady stream of slowly showing how well Dean can handle himself in a fight and I'm here for it.

Hey back to smart Dean (and skipping over pretty much the rest of the story): He breaks the first mirror that Mary appears in when she seems to have Sam in his trance and it gets Sam out of his trance, but it doesn't kill her. She shows up again and Dean...not Sam, Dean, gets the idea to hold another mirror up to her...and she kills herself when she looks in it.

Dean is a smarty. Stop telling me he isn't.

But not that smart...this time he only gets a handshake from the woman he saved...not even a kiss on the cheek. Oh well, Dean. Better luck next time.

We end the episode with Dean asking Sam what it is he feels guilty about...what his secret is, and Sam says this:

"Look...you're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself."

Two things: Sam telling Dean he'd die for him is kind of huge. Up until now, he's been acting like Dean is an inconvenience. So I loved hearing that. But, again, we get Sam not opening up to Dean about his secret...and yet fandom lore is that Dean is the one who always refuses to open up.

Some notes for posterity:

The significant music from this episode comes from Def Leppard -Rock of Ages (the first but not the last time we hear this one!), Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin Down, and The Rolling Stones - Laugh, I Nearly Died.

The brothers pose as medical students from Ohio State but don’t give out their names. When they introduce themselves to the first victim's family, they give their first names and say they worked with the victim. When Dean is talking with the police he tells them he's the adopted son of Mr. Yamashiro.

This hunt takes place in Toledo, Ohio, and they take a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dean wears John’s jacket in this episode.

[anxiously-sidequesting]

okay wait stop. okay wait for me, okay just- (steps around my mountains of garbage and slime)

Listen we all love Malorn Ashthorn (as we fuckin' should) but I just realized. okay, just how much undeserved mess that poor blessed soul went through

Like okay think about it for a second. He's introduced early on in the first arc as Malistaire's former top student and now impromptu Death Professor at Ravenwood, okay so we all know that. But the implications man. The implications, I didn't think about the IMPLICATIONS.

He's like this 12 year old kid, okay. Already even BEFORE his official appearance in the game, imagine being a straight A student, one of the very best (to the point where it's noted and revered amongst the other professors AND your fellow students), under THE Malistaire Drake, who, even before his villain arc, was also one of the most esteemed and powerful Death professors ever. Like I couldn't even keep a C in school that shit must be wild

AND THEN. And then, your professor literally commits several war crimes, causes irreversible damage and trauma, and becomes a national criminal against.... the universe???? Like Malistaite commits heinous terrible shit, and sinks the entire Death School along with him. And then it falls to Malorn Ashthorn, once again who's like a teenager, to PICK UP THE METAPHORICAL PIECES because he had no choice. He was literally the only candidate to fill in Malistaire's place, a legend turned monster, to teach and guide GENERATIONS of new children that are HIS AGE or even OLDER THAN Malorn is.

And then the actual changes in the school. Malorn, former student, now has to learn how to become a professor with his limited knowledge of Death Magic. Like imagine filling in for the college astrophysicist teacher when you've only graduated 6th grade. He has to change his SCHEDULE, from waking up early as a student to get up and get ready even EARLIER as a professor to prepare the classes HE comes up with. Not to mention late nights grading hundreds of papers from multiple students??? AND he either is the ONLY tutor (which means more overtime and work for him, to personally help individual students with different Death lessons), or he has to actually call upon help from other students to help him get his job done.

And then there's like the relationship aspect of it. Malorn is literally just a child, like any other student, but adopting a role as a professor, an adult, means that he also has to adopt a certain mindset. Malorn literally HAS to be patient, HAS to be guiding and nurturing, HAS to be the adult in every situation in order to be a GOOD professor. Malorn has to train hard not only in magic to be ahead of the others in order to teach them properly, but has to retrain his mindset to be ABLE to handle to teach properly. Like you can't be a regular tween teaching other tweens.

And then it's just the pressure after that. The PRESSURE GUYS, of not only living up to one of the most talented and accomplished the school has ever seen, but deal with the fact that the very same person also became a tyrant and war criminal and left Malorn, his most promised student, in his place. Like I could easily imagine the rumors, the judgement, and the fear surrounding that boy, wondering if he would ever turn out to be the same as Malistaire.

No one asked for this. This soap opera I mean, nobody asked me about Malorn Ashthorn or this long ass post but I don't care because I'm crying. Girls I'm crying my entire bed is wet with tears of despair and snot. Malorn is literally a sweetie oh my God he does not, and never will deserve this shit I'm so sorry honey. Sweetie Malorn baby I'm so fuckign sorry, i'm so so sorry,

[midnightmuffingay]

Rating the pets of EAH based on what is on the EAH wiki and my limited knowledge:

Adelita - Rosabella's butterfly. I have never heard of this. Also apparently Adelita translates to 'noble'?? 3/10 I don't think it suits her and also how do you keep a butterfly as a pet.

Barber - Poppy's squirrel monkey. I guess squirrel monkeys are cute and I can see it as a pet for her but I have yet again no memory of this. 5/10

Clipper - Holly's lion cub. Apparently it is 'charmed' to stay a cub forever?? Don't know how that work or why she has a lion or why she would name it Clipper?? there are better names girl. 3/10

Carmine - Cerise's dire wolf. Okay so technically they're part of the same pack or something but it's the daughter of Littler Red Riding Hood and the big Bad Wolf. You can't go wrong with giving her a wolf friend whose name is another shade of red. 6/10

Carrolloo - Kitty's caterpillar. A sneaky little guy. From what we saw of him he compliments Kitty's personality and you know, a caterpillar with a wonderlandian? It's not like I can be mad. 6/10

Clockwork - Cedar's wooded cuckoo. Okay I do actually like this a lot. Even if we never really saw him it's a great concept for her pet to be wooden like her. Especially when you consider it would probably have to been made specifically for her. I love it 8/10

Clydesdale - Farrah's pet mouse. Don't recall and there are better mice. 2/10

Divacorn - Briar's unicorn. Absolutely slayed so hard I don't care about the name which is an astonishing feat. I mean of course Briar would have a pink unicorn it just makes sense. 8/10

Drake - Hopper's dragonfly. Drake. 2/10 Only getting extra points because it is a literal DRAGONfly. He breathes fire.

Earl Grey - Maddie's dormouse. Perfection. Best dressed of all of the pets. Is a silly little guy with a silly little hat that lives in her hat. Impeccable. 10/10

Gala - Apple's snow fox. Gala is a great name just because of the fact this it is not only a type of apple but also a fancy party. Very royal, on brand, like to curl around her neck. Iconic. 8/10

Grizz - Blondie's baby bear. Blondie. Girlie. You are a reporter. Please get original. A bear for goldilocks' daughter is fine but it's just like. I'm bored girl. You can do better. 3/10

Jelly - Ginger's gummy fish. I. Love this. A sentient gummy fish she accidentally made? So iconic I'll ignore the basic name. It's like naming your goldfish 'Goldie'. Anyway, I love the concept, love the execution. 8/10

King Benedict - Humphrey's chicken. No. 2/10 for egg related name.

Mr. Cottonhorn - Dexter's jackalope. Guys. Guys. look at him.

He's just a little guy. 10/10.

Moustro - Melody's rat. I like the idea and the pun name but I feel like I'd need to see a picture to be impressed. 5/10

Nevermore - Raven's dragon. There is no need for discussion. 10/10

P-Hawk - Daring's peacock. I think I remember him being kind of terrible so uh 1/10 because Daring I don't think that's how you say peacock honey.

Pesky - Hunter's squirrel. I love how even though they're like enemies they have the same haircut and Pesky has a little acorn bag that Hunter definitely made for him. Lives up to his name. 7/10

Philia - Cupid's Pegasus. Apparently 'Philia' is one of the ancient greek words for love that is often translated to friendship. soooo, even though I didn't know about her she gets a 6/10 because I think that's sweet.

Pirouette - Duchess's swan. Queen. Icon. Slay. Need I say more? 10/10

Sandella - Ashlynn's phoenix. The fact that Ashlynn has a phoenix because it rises from the ashes is so hardcore and I love it. Even if her name is Sandella. 7/10

Shuffle - Lizzie's hedgehog. The bestest and cutest little croquet ball. I don't have much to say but love you dearly. 7/10

Sir Gallopad - Darling's horse. He can change colour and camouflage which is THE coolest thing. Horsegirl Darling. 8/10 Also Daring officially has the worst pet out of the Charming siblings.

Spindle - Faybelle's pomeranian. Of course an evil fairy you have such an unassuming evil little dog. And of course she named it after her evil destiny. Iconic. 8/10.

[orchidyoonkook]

Do you have any tips for new writers/accounts to get popular???

Hello!!!!!

SO:

I was a shit writer for a very long time cuz I never wrote. But one day I wanted to change that so at 19 I made up a story and wrote down all my plot points and then did a DEEP DIVE on Pinterest of all things collecting every bit of advice I could. I’m talking ideas, how to do this, how to not use the word said, how to start sentences. How sentences should flow and their lengths, big uncommon words. EVERYTHING.

Anything and everything I could get my hands on. 

And on top of that I’ve been a reader for forever. I have so many books I don’t even know how many I have. And so I use that knowledge when editing. I don’t read it from a writing POV after I write it. I turn into a reader and think about how I would feel about it from a readers POV and if something doesn’t work. I fix it.

I have a small background in script writing from my college days which definitely helped a bit. But if you’ve ever studied script writing you know it doesn’t really help creative writing outside of structure.

And when I write I’m someone who writes until I think the story is done. Not the arc. Not the characters. But the overall story of what I’m trying to portray. I don’t actively think about putting the climax of the story here or some foreshadowing there. I write intuitively if that makes sense. I try to sense out what feels right. And some of that comes naturally, some of it doesn’t and I have to work on it.

Me and @violetsiren90 were actually talking roughly about this last night. Our differences in how we write and how my advice from her last fic that I edited had already helped her with her new one cuz she can now see all of the little things that I pick up on from my style of writing versus the times where she tells me why she writes in that specific way and why she will be keeping it as is. Vi if you wanna add anything in the comments I’m forgetting, by all means feel free.

Most writers will tell you to practice. To tell you to write something even if it’s just a sentence everyday. But that didn’t help me. The stuff on my blog are the very first things I’ve written for myself ever. I didn’t write in highschool or college outside of what I was forced to write and my one story that the Pinterest board was initially for.

For me it was about researching style and reading posts like these from other writers, being confident in your style and learning what rules to break and when to break them. It was about reading over your work a hundred times and to be impartial when you read so you can fix the mistakes that won’t work.

The benefit of writing is you can go over something you’ve written a hundred times until you think it’s ready. A thousand times. I can go back and rewrite that first story if I want too. Nothing can stop me.

But don’t get me wrong. I go back and read all my works on here from time to time and I still constantly find things I would change now. Word changes. Phrasing changes. Everything. But that’s just another sign of improvement. Writing is a constantly improving art form. There is no limit. Only growth.

And the last thing I do is write down everything. I have a TERRIBLE memory. So I write down every single idea. On a scrap piece of paper. In my phone. On a computer. In a notebook. Cuz you never know when you’ll use it.

My most recent story, The Devil Wears Valentino, I got the idea for that name sometime in the immediate aftermath of Valentino Yoongi. I was in the shower after watching the devil wears Prada and my mind just connected the two. And then it sat unused in my notes all until the week before Halloween 2023. I would’ve forgotten had I not written it down. But there it was right when I needed it, a gift from past me. And here we are.

As for popularity, dude I have no goddamn idea. I don’t even think I count as a popular/big blog. I utilize the HELL out of aesthetics, formatting and tags and I’m nice. That’s my spiel on that. Aesthetic. Format. Tag. Kindness. Talent, sure. I guess. But writing is one of those things, ESPECIALLY in fic, where it doesn’t have to be the best cuz folks just wanna read their comfort character or person in the same scenarios over and over again. Source: I do that. And I’ve read stories that don’t have the best writing. But the story was good, or vice versa. People are way more forgiving on here.

I didn’t come on here(tumblr) with the intention of writing let alone giving writing and popularity advice. I just wanted to read and support people and then the community I’ve built for myself has just grown and grown and I’ve been so incredibly fortunate, which is where kindness comes in.

Leave reviews and like and reblog stuff. Tell people how much you love their work. Let them know you write too. Create friendships with people who wanna support you. And people who you wanna support. Community is the base of everything.

[bugcatcherkit]

okay i would like to rant right now but i struggle to get my thoughts in order so it might be messy. ok? anyway

FOREVER will be kinda mad about this change. to be honest

the original scene reads like suchh a terrifying revelation for Reigen because despite knowing how powerful Mob was he never really found a reason to fear him -- to Reigen, his powers were mostly "under control (thanks in part to him)." that single page alone gives you basically all the information you need to understand that Reigen is suddenly realizing that he is faced with a side of Mob he has never seen before -- one without limits and also one who seems to harbour some contempt for him (for imposing them). and not only that, he is WEAK and VULNERABLE in comparison because the power he usually uses to protect himself is currently turned against him. LOOK HOW SCARED HE IS!!!

BUT even despite his fear and powerlessness he is still determined to try and reach out to Mob so they can talk things through

and i LOVE the "maybe worrying is fine, too... it's only natural" panel because it reinforces that same realization through its framing. they were both scared of mob's power in that moment but they faced and accepted it anyway, just as they both held contempt for the "other side" of Reigen and faced/accepted it as well. but it was like. IT WAS SCARY!!!!! physically and also interpersonally things very well could have gone TERRIBLY and that was SCARY!

AND IN THE ANIME ITS JUST. ITS LIKE. it feels triumphant. which is cool, i guess, but also it lacks the feelings of Deep Fear but Acceptance that made the original so impactful to meee. in the anime, he doesnt feel vulnerable, he feels empowered (which, personally, kind of takes away from the whole thing? a little) He is Reigen: facing something head on like he always does because he doesn't leave much room for doubt in his abilities to turn things in his favour. He is NOT: Reigen, doubtful and scared that things wont turn out well because he has no security in this situation due to his lack of control/knowledge about it, but choosing to face that anyway instead of running away (cuz he has the responsibility to right his wrongs and also he really cares about mob)

does that makes sense

[bracketsoffear]

Maureen Miller (TAZ: Balance) "I saw beyond the omniverse

far past the places we should see

but for my vision I was cursed

torn from my home and family

lost to my Crystal Kingdom"

"Maureen was a scientist who attempted to view the entirety of the planar system simultaneously, but the knowledge of what she saw destroyed her mind and killed her. Even her ghost was not immune to the cosmic madness that the vision imposed on her, though she was able to suppress it for brief periods."

Jadis (Kill Six Billion Demons) "Jadis was born into a family of philosopher royalty who saw the Shape of the Universe as an experiment to study and dissect; they wasted ten generations in their efforts to witness the Shape (something that boiled a goddess’ eyes to see) and obtain all the secrets of Creation, a task she was prophecised to complete. She successfully saw the Shape, but it proved to be a thing beyond mortal ken and Jadis was shattered in both mind and body. She now exists inside a block of glass, a decaying, unmoving corpse, whispering prophecies with her perfect, terrible knowledge and worshipped by a cult devoted to recording and intepreting her whispers (and occasionally mis-interpreting them) while keeping their God-Queen alive. Book 5 demonstrates that, like the author has said, “Jadis knows the most, in fact. Of anyone. Ever”…and it has utterly destroyed her. Her perfect knowledge left her a deeply jaded, nihilistic woman who feels her actions, choices, and even her own identity (and everyone else's) are rendered completely moot when compared to the full shape of the universe. As someone who is ignorant of nothing, Jadis' limits are absolute and she is incapable of anything she hasn't already predicted will happen. She can't choose to do anything, because her decisions and their outcomes are already known to her. The alt text and some of her lines in her section of Breaker of Infinites discuss how if you can see everything, anything in it just becomes meaningless, unidentifiable noise in the infinite detail of it all: “When you see everything, there’s only one color left.” Jadis straight-up tells Allison that she, Jadis, does not exist in any meaningful sense because she can't tell where the lines between the Shape of the Universe and even her own mind are anymore. Consequently, Jadis tries to convince Allison to stop her mission to stop the destruction of the multiverse because she’s convinced that fighting is futile and meaningless in the end, so she should surrender instead of choosing more suffering. She takes Allison to see the machine that showed her the Shape, tells her the exact time from then she will die, comments on a personal detail of Allison’s past, and says what she’s doing before she does it (to make it creepier, her predictions were in the alt text several pages before). She then shows Allison the Shape and gives her a breaking speech to try and convince her to give up, and eventually talks Allison into accepting futility for months before she gets her shit together. Allison eventually realizes that Jadis is unable to change or recover from the traumas of her past because she no longer has a past - her perfect knowledge of everything that ever is, was, and will be means that she is constantly, continually reliving the complete and total despair that hit her when she saw the Shape and realized the futility of everything, and will do so for as long as she exists. Jadis wanted to know, believing that she could use her wisdom for the greater good, but the horrible knowledge she gained by seeing literally everything ever destroyed her so completely that she cannot comprehend being a person or making choices anymore--she has thus trapped herself in nihilistic certainty that she knows what’s going to happen and therefore nothing matters, and she wants to impress that mindset onto the only person she can even share her omniscience with anymore."

[twin-chains]

Explaining A Chronological LOZ Timeline

(Based on this post)

First, the elephant in the room: Skyward Sword

How does Skyward Sword come after Spirit Tracks?

Well, as we know the world was flooded by the goddesses in the adult timeline of OOT which triggered the events of the Wind Waker. Then after WW/PH, Tetra goes on to sail to new lands and found the kingdom of New Hyrule as we know it over a hundred years later in Spirit Tracks.

With Spirit Tracks having extensive train systems, why stop there? The longer the kingdom stands, the structure and technology of New Hyrule will only continue to improve. Like build large temples and cisterns to honor the spirits or advanced tech like robots in the distant future. Maybe even ones to help them mine resources or man pirate ships to continue exploring the Great Sea (Tetra was a pirate first, after all).

But then there was another terrible war on the surface and the goddesses couldn’t flood the land again to save its people. Out of options, there’s no where else to go but up, and Hylia hid her people in the skies until the war was ended. It’s not like godly intervention is a new concept in this timeline. During the Era of the Sky, some of the flood began to rescind, drying up waters to expose sandy deserts and new lands on the surface.

Thus, the ancient temples of Faron and robots in the Sand Sea of Lanayru in Skyward Sword could come from New Hyrule and part of the Great Sea in Spirit Tracks.

Like cmon, they literally have robot pirates!

And New Hyrule already contains interesting clans and races not seen before in other zelda games like the Lokomo and Anouki. It’s not far off to think other unique peoples like the Kwikwi or Mogma once inhabited the same continent.

Furthermore, remember how the recruits of the royal guards/knights of Spirit Tracks wore specific uniforms that model the WW hero’s clothes? What if one of those recruits happened to survive and be sent to Skyloft? They could have wanted to pass on their knowledge and founded the Knight’s Academy, retaining the knight uniforms as a way to preserve their history. Of course, the meaning behind the uniforms was later forgotten since they end up changing up the uniform color every year. It was only by luck (or destiny) that SS Link happened to get the green version of the uniform.

Basically, my reasoning for SS coming far after ST is the ancient temples/robots, Lanayru sand sea, unique species, and knight’s uniforms all come from New Hyrule.

But what about the Master Sword?

For the most part, we know the blade of evil’s bane is a silver sword with a purplish handle. The iconic look that Fi is based off in the first place, right?

Except, some iterations of the master sword are blue. Or the little diamond-shaped gaps of the hilt are inconsistent, being blue or green or purple (with the crossing ribbons part being green in this case), or are missing altogether. Hell, the MS isn’t even present in the original 1986 game.

Sure, some of these minor color changes can be attributed to graphical limitations or different art styles per game. But what about all the transformations the sword has gone under like the drastic red and gold color changes of an upgraded MS in ALTTP/ALBW? How do we go from a thin, white and light green Goddess Sword forged into the larger blade in SS?

(I made a powerpoint infographic :D)

That's why I propose the master sword isn't one single blade, but rather a title given to multiple swords throughout the years. It already has legendary, grandiose titles like "The Blade of Evil's Bane" and "The Sword That Seals The Darkness" so why not 'The Sword of the Master' which would've gotten shortened to 'The Master Sword' over time. But not just any random sword can be deemed the MS. It's the hero of the sword, the wielder of it, that makes it the worthy blade of a master.

That way it includes the first hero of TLOZ wields the "magical sword" who hadn't yet become a master or how the hero of men forges the Picori Blade which later becomes the Four Sword in MC. And explains how the master sword seems to change locations between the Lost Woods or temples all the time. They're all different blades.

Yes, some Master Swords can be retained between generations though. I'd be willing to say the sword from OOT is the same in TP or the one forged in SS is the same one in BOTW/TOTK for instance (since Fi's chime can be heard in TOTK).

But how does Demise's curse and the reincarnation cycle fit into this?

During the end of Skyward Sword, Demise speaks these final words:

"My hate...never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again! Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time."

Usually, this is interpreted as Demise declaring this Link and Zelda as the first of an eternal cycle and Ganondorf is his reincarnation. Yet in the Skyward Sword manga, there is a whole other hero who fought for Hylia before the reincarnated SS hero, so how can the SS hero before the first iteration who 'started' the reincarnation cycle?

Remember when Demise says 'those with the blood of the goddess and spirit of the hero are forever bound to this curse/cycle.' What if he isn't saying 'I am actively binding you two (Link and Zelda) to a curse I'm creating right now' as is the common interpretation. Rather, he could be saying 'there is a pre-existing curse that you two are already bound to, and only a god like me can perceive it. So I'm pointing it out to you now because I'm adding more to it.'

It's a bit of a stretch but bare with me.

Yes, Ganondorf/Ganon is seen as the reincarnation of Demise. I mean they tend to have similar builds and the same striking orange-red hair, right? But there several other villains in the franchise that don't remotely resemble Demise or his hatred. In fact, the only time Ganondorf looks like a true reincarnation of Demise is during TOTK (more on this in a bit).

Instead, there's something greater at play. Demise supposedly locks these two souls in reincarnation but fails to acknowledge why the triforce always seems to be a part of this cycle as well. Link is always the representation of courage and Zelda is always wisdom even when these souls are reincarnated as completely different people.

The only explanation I can think of is that the golden goddesses created Link and Zelda's souls to permanently embody their triforces. They locked these two in reincarnation as insurance to keep peace and order in the world when there is a threat or thief of the triforce of power. Sorta like a system of balance, their souls were put in place to keep the more volatile of the three triforces, power, in check if it got out of hand. As mortals, Link and Zelda wouldn't really be aware of the inherent duty/burden placed on their souls but it would be more obvious to an outside deity like Demise. That's why these specific versions of Link and Zelda are only really ever reincarnated when there is any sort of threat to Hyrule to deal with, not just Ganon but also Vaati, Zant, Yuga, Cole, etc.

Besides the reincarnation cycle theory, Demise definitely did declare that his hatred would be reincarnated in SS though. But it's not just every iteration of Ganon. With the greater extent of destruction that Demise causes compared to most zelda villains, I'd go so far as to say the battle against Ghirahim and Demise in the events of SS were the first Calamity from BOTW. The second Calamity was that of the Sheikah, the ancient Zonai hero, and the Divine Beast detailed 10,000 years before the events of BOTW/TOTK. And the third Calamity was the events of not just BOTW, but also TOTK.

You know, the era when the physical embodiment of hatred (aka malice and gloom) poisoned the land, when the hero and most of the kingdom was killed, and when rehydrated Ganondorf looked eeriely more similar to Demise than any other Ganon. It matches up a little too well with how 'an incarnation of Demise's hatred' will haunt them forever. Especially when there is a giant valley on the BOTW map literally called The Breach of Demise.

More to come about how the other games fit into this timeline au. Let me know your thoughts and ideas!

[egg-emperor]

Has anyone ever tried telling you "eggman probably isn't as evil as you think" If so, how did you respond?

Side note. I really appreciate your account. We need more people who embrace Eggman as the irredeemable monster he is.

Yes, often and well they're either coming from a place of not being knowledgeable enough about Eggman and overlook all his crimes, or it's a case where they turn a blind eye because they don't want to believe he's actually that evil because it's not to their tastes and makes them uncomfortable. And I get it but it doesn't change the facts. I enjoy getting to help people learn the solid unbiased facts about game canon Eggman, by bringing up all the canon examples of what makes him such a terrible person and try to note as many of his actions as possible that prove he really is that evil.

Being a totalitarian fascist dictator who wants to own the world and strip freedom and free will away, a war criminal who causes mass destruction and is willing to commit genocide, will try to kill anyone who gets in his way even children as young as 6-8, has been sexist, will manipulate/gaslight and abuse people and animals in various ways and enjoy it, wants to build intentionally dangerous theme parks that can kill people in brutal ways as we hear all about in Colors, and knows he's evil and acknowledges it proudly and revels in it is the most evil of evil!

We've seen many examples that show just how low he'll stoop and he hasn't been known to have a single limit in canon, besides things that get the entire planet and himself destroyed so he can't rule it, obviously. Besides that purely selfish reason, he isn't shown to have any good morally based limits and doesn't show any hesitance or remorse for his actions, despite clearly being fully aware that he's the bad guy doing the bad thing, calling it evil with glee. He's ranged from completely apathetic towards the evil he commits to downright sadistic as he smirks cheekily and laughs through it!

Those aren't actions to be downplayed or overlooked, they're important traits that define his character and are involved by countless significant plot points, including his whole motivation and methods in his plans. They're the very things that establish him as a villain and a threat in the first place. It's what puts the "evil" in "Ivo (ee-vo)." He's not the villain and not the Eggman, or even the same character at all without it, I'm not even exaggerating. But yeah point is, if someone is to deny or ignore all these intentionally or not, then they're not gonna think he's as evil as I say he is. XD

From my experience, they haven't been able to provide solid proof and evidence, nothing I couldn't disprove with my own stacks of evidence taken right from the games, if they do have any they claim to be at all. Because a lot of the things I see that they tend to try to use are things that actually prove my own point instead, when looking at them in actual context and what they really mean. So what I'd also do is debunk anything they try to use to attest to the idea that he's really that evil of a guy, using those very same things they're trying to use for their statements and much more.

I really like having sensible discussions and debates where I get to put all my heavy passionate research and analysis to use but I don't really get the chance very often because people take it the wrong way. I think if people didn't take disagreements as so hostile, we could be having some really interesting discussions. Like sure, when someone says "Eggman isn't as evil as you think" I'm like "ah hell no, no way lol" but I'm not angry or insulting, I'd just like to discuss why I disagree and share some of the reasons why, which are based in fact. I encourage others to do it to me too.

Anyway, these are usually the points I bring up when I do get the chance. Then I ready all my tons of excerpts and sources right from the games explicitly written into the text, and with some further analysis adhering to that knowledge, and sometimes additional creator commentary that's solidly backed up by the game canon as a bonus. People I've talked to have been upset by being asked for sources but I'm always passionate about gathering all my sources the second someone asks because I'm like finally I get to do something with all this information lol

Thank you so much! I'm really happy you enjoy my stuff. :D I'm just super passionate about gushing over, analyzing, and educating over how Eggman is a lovable nasty evil bastard man and I'm really happy that I'm not alone, I have so much fun making the posts and to know that y'all enjoy it too makes it even better. Here we love and embrace this handsome horrible man always and I'm delighted for you to join me in it. We make fine loyal members of the Eggman Empire for it hehe 💜