#but after that point? :) plain sailing i'm sure :)

[wetcatspellcaster]

I saw “massive dip in Honest Lie” and I was like you know when that Loviatar priest hits you and you’re like oh no ;) it hurts ;)

OHHHH YEAAAAAAHH HONEST LIE ANGST LETS FUCKING GO IM SO PSYCHED IM SO PSYCHED

When Rosalie said “it might not be love, not for you” I was already on the floor I was crumbled into little pieces I’m just sopping about now waiting for the angst such that I can reform into a corporeal ghoul wailing oooOoooooOOOOIHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

As always!!!! I love you thank you!!! Thank you!!

hahaha, thank you for the message! I assume/want to hope the people who read my fic like angst to be honest :) otherwise why are y'all here :)

Anyway, the good news is that the question of 'love' is not going to be under fire in any of the angst, it's more just an issue of... definitions. Someone (Astarion) needs to learn that love ≠ "I'll let you kill 7000 people". Which is unfortunate... idk some people would think that's maybe what romance means. But we've all seen that timeline so... sorry Astarion. Time to suffer :)))))

[queenofclogs]

the next album review is gonna be a bit different from the usual, since this is a new version of an album i already reviewed (Queen album review) instead of just rating the songs with stars (★), you'll find the notes i took while listening to each song on the record and an overall opinion on the record in general

the ratings and notes are about the difference between the old and new sounds, not the songs in general

hope you enjoy and let me know what you think of this new version of the album!

Queen I

Artist: Queen

Release date: October 25th, 2024

Length: 42 min 16 s

Tracklist rating:

Keep Yourself Alive ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

• a little bit of a shocking change on the intro sound

• not a fan of the echoes on Freddie's vocal

• amazing drum solo sound, much clearer

• not bad, pretty good sound overall

Doing All Right ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• very nice intro sound

• clean and hearable bass

• wonderful acoustic guitar sound

• drums on point

• the high vocals sound nice

• very pleasing outro

Great King Rat ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• pretty good drum sound

• clear vocals

• clear and nice guitar solo

• great acoustic guitar

• not so different from the old version, nice to listen to

Mad The Swine ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

• good vocals

• nice drums

• acoustic guitar on point

• nice electric guitar

My Fairy King ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

• good intro instrumentals

• Roger's screaming sounds way better in the old version

• Freddie's vocals sound pretty nice still

• great bass sound

• very cute piano

• pretty good electric guitar

• nice outro

Liar ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

• not a big fan of this new intro sound, it's a bit plain

• electric guitar not so clear

• gorgeous acoustic guitar

• the "LIAR" sounds very good to be honest

• not sure if i like the note change in the "why don't you leave me alone"

• don't really like the vocal sound in the "i have sailed the seas" section

• the drums when the faster section starts are very pleasing to listen to

• guitar not as i clear as i'd liked

• not a fan of the "listen" sound

• very nice drums during "mama, i'm gonna be your slave"

• ok, but DEAKY'S VOICE???

• drums covering the guitar a little too much for me

• John's bass on fucking point

• i can barely hear the guitar at some points

• Freddie's vocals are nice overall

• amazing drums towards the end

The Night Comes Down ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

• amazing acoustic guitar sound

• not a at all a fan of drums in this one

• vocals still sound a little too different to the old version

• great bass

Modern Times Rock 'N' Roll ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• THIS is an amazing mix

• drums on point

• i'd like a louder guitar

• vocals much much clearer

• probably the best of the new version

Son And Daughter ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

• really nice intro

• nice drums

• guitar very similar to the old one, but a little low for my liking

• good vocals, i guess

• nice eco

Jesus ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

• this guitar is the way more hearable than the rest of the mix

• good drums

• pretty intact vocals

• the guitar on the bridge sounds really gorgeous, but right after is less hearable

• the guitar at the end of the brigde sounds beautiful

• didn't really liked the end of the song, doesn't have the gorgeous eco of the old version

Seven Seas Of Rhye ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• THIS, this is what i'm talking about

Total: 4.1 (46/55 stars)

General review:

to be honest, i think The Night Comes Down's new mix wasn't the best way to introduce us to the new mix of the album, cause it didn't gave the best first impression

i was expecting something worse, but still hoping and believing in Queen with all my will, so, when i first listened to the whole record i found myself thinking, it's not as bad as i was expecting

there's somethings i don't like, for example, you can barely hear the electric guitar in 90% of the record, and some small changes in the general sound a bit off for me

BUT, there's many things i did like, the bass sounds pretty clear now, the drums are pretty amazing in general, the piano sounds very nice, but i think my favorite thing about this new mix is the sweet and gorgeous sound of the acoustic guitars in it, it sounds truly beautiful

and obviously that you can hear John's "all day long" clearer (pls tell y'all did too and i'm not insane)

overall, it's not so bad, i don't think i will listen to this version more frequently than the old one, which i completely adore, but in general it's very nice

thanks for reading!

[rea-grimm]

Weapon Edward

You met Edward in Nassau. Like him, you were from England, and surprisingly, you hit it off. Plus, he was the one who gave you the opportunity to sail with him under the black flag. Very soon you became a match made in heaven, and you discovered that you were simply Master and Weapon. When you first touched him as a sword, your tattoo changed. Edward was also overjoyed, as he hadn't had much luck in love. Mostly it was a flirtation, but he was serious about you. Plus, no one was more badass than you and so lovable at the same time. His words. Sure there was Anne Bonny or Mary Read, but he never had a chance with either. And he was serious about you. Besides, you've never seen a weapon like him anywhere else. Edward was a pistol sword, where all you had to do was stab someone or hit them at an angle where Edward could shoot and deliver the final blow.

You were just in Nassau and on the beach, you had your last successful cruise, during which you managed to get quite a bit of loot. As you were celebrating, you noticed a rather familiar boat docked a short distance away. You knew from the flag that it was the same pirates who were trying to sink you. You were under the impression that they hadn't noticed you, so you let it go. But that was a mistake. A group of pirates made their way to you and after a few curses and threats, they attacked you. That at the beginning, you were sort of handling it. As long as you had Edward in your hand, you were sure to win. At one point, however, reinforcements came to the enemies, which included a man who had wronged Edward and who wanted to settle accounts with him. He changed and left you alone while he pounced on the other guy. You defended yourself as best you could and managed to keep your distance for a while longer, but it was hard to do without your weapon. You fought off one attack to take out the other. You beat one opponent as two more came at you. It felt like a never-ending story. You deflected one attack when you were about to lash out at another, but you couldn't and instead got stabbed in the side. You howled in pain, but you weren't going to give up. Edward noticed your injury and it made him even more dizzy. He saw the red. How could anyone dare hurt his Master? He came to your aid immediately. But before he could run to you and push his way through, someone hit you on the back of the head and everything went dark before your eyes.

You had no idea how long you'd been out. You were lying in your bed together in a house in Nassau. It was daytime, but Edward and you were nowhere to be seen. You sat up carefully and leaned back against the pillow. The wound behind your neck still called a little, but it wasn't bad. You looked under your shirt and noticed the bandage on your side. With that, you felt relieved. You lay there propped up for a while, hoping to see if Edward would come back. While you waited, you looked at your tattoo. The mark of your own weapon. Originally, before you met Edward, you had a plain grey sword. Then when you first picked it up, it changed. Now you had a pistol sword, just like Edward's. The blade of the sword was decorated with waves, and the hilt was decorated with the same tattoos he had on his body. However, you soon grew tired of waiting for him, as he still didn't appear, nor did you plan on spending the entire day in bed. You changed into something more comfortable and went looking for the pirate. You didn't have to look very long, however, as you found him at the entrance on a rocking bench with a bottle of rum in his hand. "Isn't it a little early for booze?" You asked, sitting down on the swing next to him. The pirate just grinned at that before taking a loud swig from the bottle. "I'm glad you're awake. I'm sorry I left you there. It's my fault," he said, and you could hear the annoyance in his voice. "It usually is in our line of work," you verified, not holding it against him. You knew how he was. "No. It's my fault. I failed you as a weapon. What if you had died because of me? "He asked you. He didn't even want to imagine what that would mean. "But that didn't happen…" you tried to cut him off. "But what if it had? What if…" "You don't want to fight with me anymore?" You asked, snapping him out of his train of thought. "I do," he admitted, and as you sat closer to him he gently pulled you close. "I don't want to lose you," he added, resting his chin on your head. "You won't. I promise," you said softly. Edward squeezed you tighter, as if he was afraid you would disappear on him. He was happy for you, for your constant forgiveness and for sticking by him.

Assassin's Creed Masterlist

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

storm warning

Helgrim sniffled. Took out a hankerchief and pretended to blow his nose.

"I'm so proud!"

"Sweet merciful Halone. Leave my presence." Brucemont ordered, and then rolled his eyes as the highlander gestured at the training grounds.

"Look at him! One day he was just a little stripling! And now he's all big and grown up with his very own hatchling to roast!" Snickering could now be heard from the other members of the primary officer core. Helgrim sniffed again.

"They grow up so fast."

"I have to admit, Sauveterre sure knows how to find them." Therese, the House Hallienarte Knight- Dragoon captain admitted. "For her size and height, that Roegadyn can move quick when she wants to. Blew through the rooftop course without breaking a sweat! And she's been one of the top students in the endurance training too!"

"I think Sauveterre needling her is providing motivation." Helgrim cackled, putting away the hankerchief. "You should have seen them at Whitebrim! 'Push 'til I get tired, Squire Gohtawyn!' The look on her face!"

"On the more serious side, it wouldn't hurt to maybe set up some sort of training curriculum with Limsa." Brucemont mused thoughtfully. He crossed his arms. "She has a pirate background, but sailors working a ship's rigging and sails need to be fast and nimble. And some of the best of us stumble during certain points of the Eorzean Ninja Warrior course during Moonfire."

"You're thinking maybe more agility training then?" Therese asked. She tilted her head, putting a finger to her chin. "Wouldn't hurt, especially if we added it in as a pre-requirement to both the outsider hopefuls and our people. That way the ones who do pass and get admitted to the basic training pool have less to learn in that category." Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her.

"That reminds me, how did the meeting with the Parliament go?" Brucemont sighed, shaking his head.

"Not good. But not bad, either."

"Is that man..." Helgrim started, then swore violently as Brucemont nodded.

"He's saying all the right things to keep the traditionalists stirred up, but there's enough voices to keep him from blocking the measures and money that we need." The elezen twisted his neck from side to side, trying to break the tension that was slowly tightening his muscles. The man in question was Ghislain Naegelen, a wealthy merchant in the House of Lords. He was the current darling of Ishgard's hardliner traditionalists.

He was also the younger brother of Yvan Naegelen, a dragoon that had not only turned traitor during the attempted coup by the Brothers of the True Faith, but had murdered his former student Louis Bernard for not siding with the Church. Yvan had not only been tried and found guilty, but Louis's lover had invoked the right of Saint Renette, an Ishgardian law which permitted one to avenge their beloved's death. Yvan had also been sentenced to damnation mémoire, which meant his knighthood had been stripped and all his deeds expunged from Ishgardian history.

Brucemont knew there were still people who thought he'd gone too far. That he should have allowed Aymeric to show mercy. But Louis's mother had died the day after her son had been buried--her cold corpse found atop the freshly-turned dirt of his grave. Heartbreak, plain and simple.

Brucemont had found he'd been bled dry of any mercy to give.

He's becoming more troublesome. Bastion whispered in the back of his mind. Vexing in the way that draws darker attentions.

If he steps out of line, he'll be put back in place. Brucemont thought. Besides. He can only do so much. The Knights-Dragoon were still a needed presence in not only Ishgard but Corethas on the whole. Forcing the thought of Ghislain out of his head, Brucemont turned to the other dragoons.

"What's this bullshite I heard about Friar Tucker getting called in to meditate the betting pool over Reinhardt and his hatchling?" He demanded, putting his hand on his hips. Immediately several pairs of fingers pointed at Therese, who swore.

"You are not pinning this on me! The lot of you are the ones who started adding in crazier outcomes!"

"We're not the ones who got the groun--I mean the Temple Knights involved." Helgrim added.

"That was Purehart, not me! And I think he's the only Temple Knight who threw in!"

"No, Lucia somehow fucking found out and told Ystrid Frostborne." Helgrim countered, naming a well-known Temple Knight commander. "And then Ser Aymeric apparently got in on it--" Brucemont facepalmed.

Maybe a night to call your gunbreaker? Bastion teased.

Shut up.

-----

(@saesama 's Klynt)

Also I pull from a event that happened in my HW dragoon fanfic, Unorthodox. Chapters 26-28.

[t-inbound]

Hi again!

I've read the 10th chapter of TBF and I'm really interested in Narinder' past with Baal & Aym. Would you mind to tell some more things about them? Like some good memories they share

Hello! Firstly, I am happy that you have read the 10th chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Secondly I would love to talk about it but I feel like making a story is a little bit better, you know show don't tell and all that stuff they keep saying. So I decided to write that story of the Brook or the River situation in its entirety. By the way, I am sorry if I am a bit late as again the Uni decided to pull a fast one on me along with the new years eve doing its usual thing. Anyhow I hope you enjoy this one. Also anyone else who wants to ask for a prompt, feel free I am open. It doesn’t have to be about TBF it can just be normaş Cotl or really any Au

Brook or River

Trek was not long, nor was it treacherous. It was rather pleasant indeed, he thought as he made his way through the soft grass yet tall grass. There was a mild wind in the air, but it was not cold as it was warm. Sun shone in the sky as it was now way into the afternoon.

As he pushed aside the tall grass he could hear the brothers behind him following the path he had made through the grass. They were on a journey to the place Aym had described as ‘The giant river with all the fish and the pond and the birds and the’ so on and so forth. That boy sure likes to speak, he thought as he tried to look out for the river while trying not to blind himself. Even with the veil helping with the sun shining above it was still hard not to get his eyes burnt.

As they exited the plains and entered the more forested areas, he started to hear Aym talking to Baal.

Aym looked proud as he said ‘’It was so huge you could put a whole ship in it, like the ones on the coast’’ He opened his arms wide to show how big it was supposed to be.

Baal rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics ‘‘there is no way, we are in a forest, it is too big for that’’ Narinder let out a chuckle as he heard the indignant noises that came from Aym.

He scoffed ‘’You will see, it is so large that I am gonna make a ship myself then I am gonna go over the horizon and you are just gonna stay here’’ He giggled before continuing ‘’Maybe you can befriend the fish while I sail across the sea’’

This time it was Baal’s turn to splutter indignantly as he yelled ‘’You can’t just leave me!’’ He turned back to Narinder ‘’Isn’t that right Master?’’

He smiled at his young servants ‘’Well if it is a big ship I might wish to join in with him’’ He couldn’t suppress his chuckle as he heard Baal gasp.

He could see his face turn red as he looked like he was about to cry out of frustration ‘’You two cannot just leave me! I-’’ Before he could finish himself and most likely burst into tears Narinder turned around and took both the brothers and embraced them both.

After a second he let go of them, they still remained in his arms as he said ‘’I am just joking my little Baal, I am not planning on abandoning either of you ever. All for one and one for all.’’ He smiled to the brothers ‘’We do not leave each other ever not for venture, nor glory’’

He could see the way Baal seemingly calmed down, but he also saw Aym deflate a little. He felt a sigh almost escape him as he saw the way Aym looked at him with those disappointed eyes. He knew that Aym was not really thinking of staying here forever, he was too free spirited for that. Though he would eventually break that out of him. It would take him some time but slowly he would stop him from these silly dreams. He had to. He could not lose him too, He would not lose him too. He had already lost too much, never again.

Aym’s sudden shout took him out of his thoughts ‘’Here! Here!’’ He pointed at the brook up ahead, which was definitely not a river. He looked down the way he pointed and yeah, there was just the brook.

Baal looked over his brother who was still looking over the small brook with wondrous eyes ‘’That is not a river dumb dumb, that's a brook’’

Aym’s wondrous look shifted into an indignant scowl ‘’No, that’s a river’’

Baal rolled his eyes before he jumped out of Narinder’s arms to the ground, landing perfectly on the rock as was expected of him. He got close to the brook and dipped his leg into the brook which proved it to be rather shallow as it only came up just slightly above his knee. Without a word he just turned to his brother with a look that said ’Are you sure?’

Aym took his brother’s example and got next to him to dip his own leg into the water to confirm that yes, it was indeed shallow. Undisturbed by this he claimed ‘’It is just a small river’’

Baal slapped his forehead ‘’That is called a brook you dumdum’’

This time it seemed like it was Aym’s turn to look at his brother indignantly as his face grew red ‘’Don’t call me a dumdum, you dumdum! It is a river if I say it is a river’’ He turned to Narinder ‘’Isn’t that right master?’’

Before he could answer him Baal cut him off ‘’Don’t waste Master’s time with this. Master has no time for things like this’’ He looked at Narinder ‘’Isn’t that right Master?’’

Before he could answer him this time it was Aym who cut him off ‘’I am not wasting his time, you are!’’

And it started, the brother’s started their little scuffle with hands flying into each other in an odd slap fight. He could chuckle at their childish doings but really, he knew where this was headed. It would only be a moment before they would start attacking each other with curses and their staffs, which was good for training sure but he didn’t want the brother’s to be mad at eachother for the next week or two as both would get injured.

So weighing his options he decided the only viable one, or in other words the fun one. The brothers were in the middle of arguing what constitutes a curse before they were both lifted by their robes and dropped into the river.

There was peace, for but one moment before all oblivion broke loose. Shouting and hissing the two brothers started to yell over each other. However he couldn’t focus on what they were saying as he was laughing his ass off. It was perfect the way two looked at him like he had stabbed them in the back, the betrayal he saw in their furious eyes was too good.

Eventually though he knew what he had to do, as he shrunk himself in a moment before he too threw himself into the shallow brook. Splashing the two brothers and coating himself in cold water of the brook. It was only fair he should join them, all for one and one for all afterall.

Seeing the playing field becoming more fair the brothers teamed up against him, seemingly forgetting their dispute as they started to splash water on him. Their attacks were countered by his own as he began his own onslaught.

It went on for a while but eventually they decided to call it off as the water was getting colder by the moment. As they got out of the water he could tell it was getting into lunch time. Now by this point they should have been back at the temple with brothers eating lunch and getting some training done while he took care of a ritual or two.

After some thinking he decided that the followers could wait for a bit. He got both the brothers to take out their staffs and stand over a rock in the brook. they looked at him with both their heads tilted quizzically

He turned to them with his own crown turning into a trident like his own brother once showed him, before… He decided to avoid that thought for now. He cleared his throat ‘’Alright you two, now normally we should be back at the temple’’ He saw both the brother’s face fell but before they could complain he continued ‘’But, I decided that instead of learning some ancient war tactic or two, I would teach you both how to fish.’’ He smiled as he saw both the brothers perk up to his words.

He showed them how to hold their staff correctly for fishing before He demonstrated how to wait for the fish and strike at the right moment. At first the only thing they catched was bits of moss and water. Aym almost threw his staff away before he took it and showed him he was holding it slightly wrong. But eventually both the brothers started to learn what he was trying to teach them.

In the end, he caught around four fish. He could probably have gotten more but he didn’t want the brothers to get upset and besides they couldn’t even eat that many anyway. Other than Baal who almost got stabbed by Aym because he thought his feet were a fish. He could say that ‘their class’ was a success as they had caught three fish of their own. With one for each brother and plus one they caught with teamwork.

Now they sat around the fire they made together, cooking the fish and trying to dry their cloaks and fur. As he tended the fire he heard Aym and Baal discussing the previous water fight.

Aym showed up his hands with six of his fingers open. ‘’That makes six plus the ones before it makes at least twenty four points’’

Baal nodded as he showed his own five fingers ‘’Indeed, add my five and it makes it twenty nine points’’ He turned to Narinder ‘’Which means we won’’ He said with both brothers looking at him proudly.

He chuckled, shaking his head ‘’I didn’t know we had a point system. Enlighten me you two, how many points have I gotten?’’

The brothers looked at each other as they started to count; they looked up to each other before nodding. Aym begun ‘’You got around thirty’’

Baal took up where his brother left ‘’But since you are old you only get half the points’’

Rolling his eyes Narinder turned the fish to their sides to keep them from burning ‘’Unfortunately even so I have still won, my dear servants as I have gotten sixty points’’ The brothers looked at him confused before going back to calculating with frowns gracing their brows. He didn’t know how many points he had or really what they got points out of, but really he didn’t really care. He knew the brothers would argue about it either way.

As he looked at the two brothers as they calculated their points again, he felt a pride blossom within him. Even at such a young age, such capable fighters with such loyalty. As a fond smile grew across his face he knew they would be together, no matter what. He would make sure of it. After all it was all for one and one for all wasn’t it? https://archiveofourown.org/works/43839834/chapters/110724444

[ozimulmakesartwork]

March 2022 - A Newbuck for Your Thoughts

March 2022's Patreon piece. Readmore'd for length. Enjoy!

Beatrix hummed to herself as she fired up the Range Exchange. One of the many Slimes in the yard began chirping along with her, and she couldn't help but chuckle a little as she looked over the requests for the day. 

"Bob" was asking for chickens, as usual. Beatrix was pretty sure everyone knew that "Bob" was a bunch of slimes in a trenchcoat (okay, maybe Viktor didn't), but they'd reached a silent agreement not to say anything as long as they weren't causing real trouble. All the same, she scrolled past the request with a brief, bemused eyeroll.

The other was for Thora West, the rancher who had greeted Beatrix when she'd first arrived at the Far, Far Range. It had been a while since she'd helped Thora - while most of the other ranchers tended to ask for specific things like fruit or plorts, her requests could be a bit... scattershot.

All the more reason to help now, of course. Beatrix tapped Thora's icon on the Range Exchange's screen, opening communications up.  "Hi, Ms. West!"

"I've told you, Thora's fine, Beatrix." The older rancher smiled gently. "Just need a few things if you can spare 'em."

"Yeah, it's no problem! I have a lot of it around the ranch anyway - aside from the Quantum slimes, anyway... but it shouldn't take too long to go fetch them! The carrot patch is nearby, actually, lemme just..."

Beatrix wheeled around, priming her vacpac, and aimed it at her modest patch of carrots. She was long past being surprised that a plain old Earth vegetable was capable of growing out here, light-years away from home. They landed in the tank with a satisfying 'plonk', then sailed from the nozzle just as easily when she pointed the vacpac at the Range Exchange and set it in reverse.

"And the Phosphor plorts you wanted should be..." She scanned over the ranch behind her until she spotted the right pen. "I'll just run on over! " She didn't wait for Thora's response, and dashed over to the slimes in question. They mushed their dopey, grinning faces against the side of the pen to watch Beatrix, and just as lazily fell and rolled away as she dashed back to the Range Exchange to send the plorts along.

"Okay, just the slimes left, right? I'll be right back with -"

"Seems like you're running an awful lot, if how fast you fill out these requests means anything." Thora mused. "What are you running from, exactly?"

Ironically, the question made Beatrix skid to a stop at the ranch's gates, albeit not for long. "The only thing I'm running is late with those Quantum Slimes - gotta go!" she called back over her shoulder.

She hadn't thought about it before, but now that Thora brought it up... it seemed everyone out here was running from something. As she dashed through the Far, Far Range, Beatrix reflected on her fellow ranchers.

Ogden was running from a monster of his own making - he'd told Beatrix the tale after she'd had a particularly rough run through the Wilds. It turned out that he'd run an insta-food company back on Earth, and had grown disillusioned with it as it grew larger and cut more corners to get its products out. 

Ogden hadn't specified his brand, but with how huge he said the company was, Beatrix could make a pretty educated guess. Their food had been everywhere, and there were definitely a few nights where she and Casey had turned to said insta-foods when they had nothing else around. She decided to keep this to herself.

Viktor had been running from people. He'd rather proudly told Beatrix about his simulations, and how they kept him from 'wasting time'.  But he'd also been delighted to realize that the world could surprise him and throw off said simulations, so maybe he wasn't going to be running anymore. It was a nice thought, at least.

Mochi... was an interesting case. From what little she'd actually shared with Beatrix, she had initially been sent here to keep out of family affairs, and had wanted to return to them, rather than be kept at a distance. But now that she'd spent some time on her own, she seemed more than eager to try and surpass the rest of Miles Tech - to escape their legacy and build her own. It was an admirable goal, even if Mochi was kind of a jerk about it sometimes.

Beatrix stepped into the old ruins where Quantum Slimes lurked. She swore she could already hear one faintly buzzing nearby.

Her mind wandered back to Thora's question, and it dawned on her that she didn't really have a good answer for it. Hopefully, she'd forget that she'd asked it in the time it took her to return to the Ranch...

Taking her time heading back wouldn't hurt.

[avigayilrose]

The only thing more worrying about untraceable, magical letters forming in front of you weekly, was the contents inside.

Dick won't lie, and say it was a normal day for him-afterall, what can be classified as a normal day for him?- but it wasn't 'slips of paper simultaneously forming' weird until after his lunchbreak.

There weren't too many cops at the station due to the holiday tomorrow. A few called in to get a start on their Thanksgiving cooking sessions. Many others decided to leave after lunch. Dick was one of the few poor bastards who had to stay behind until the station closed for the night. Add a late night patrol to the mix, a worry that an emergency might come up if he were to leave Bludhaven during the holidays, and that left him with staying in his lonely apartment for Thanksgiving.

It sucked. One of the only times the whole family was together for a meal, and Dick was on call until further notice. Even Jason was going, though that was probably more to help Alfred out with the feast more than anything. Still, an older brother could dream that things might be getting better with his family. Bit by bit.

His sulking was rudely interrupted by a flash of green light, and papers sailing down onto his desk. Dick jumped back, his hands slipping towards his taser as he watched the papers lazily landing on his current case file. He checked his surroundings quickly, then quickly glanced at the papers.

He eyed them warily, waiting for them to do...something, he guessed. But after a good five minutes of nothing else happening, he narrowed his eyes. He pulled his baton out of his pocket and poked at the paper. That resulted in nothing happening. It just looked like normal paper.

Of course, Dick knew better than that. He had a box of disposable gloves in his desk drawer. He wasn't planning on touching that paper anytime soon, but he wanted his skin covered up, just in case.

Baton still in hand, he peered at the pages. It was a note. Written in plain English.

Huh.

He used his baton to pull the note a bit closer to himself to scan it-only for all of his training to fly out the window as he snatched the letter and read it more carefully.

"So...hi," the letter started. "I don't know if you're going to believe me or not, but my parents just told me that I'm a clone of you."

Dick's eye twitched. What. The. Fuck?

"Well, mostly you-there might be a few other people mixed inside of me as well. My parents aren't exactly the best with lab safety and contamination protocalls (ie, see the story of our Thanksgiving turkey coming to life on page 3)."

What.

"Anywho,"

The.

"I decided to write to you because...if I'm being honest, I'm not quite sure why. Maybe so that I finally have an adult to rant to without me having to see that you don't believe me?"

Fuuuuccckkkkkk????

"No one really believes me or any of my friends when weird shit happens-and trust me, it happens a lot. And not only that, but I seem the only one who is able to deal with all these problems. I have powers that no one else has, but I'm 15??!!! And all helping has really gotten me was getting beat up by rogues, failing classes, getting detentions because I keep falling asleep in said classes, one of my classmates starting a rumor that I have a bladder problem, and having my parents rant to me about how they were going to capture me and 'rip me apart molecule by molecule' (their words, not mine)."

At that point Dick needed to stop reading for a moment. He took a few deep breaths. Glancing around to make certain that no one else was around, he covered his face with his hands, and screamed. He needed to count to ten several times in order to calm himself down enough to keep reading. God, this couldn't get any worse.

"Don't worry, they don't know that it's me. I didn't tell them about my powers. I'm pretty sure that they'd accept me for who I am, but getting vivsected seems like too big of a risk for me to find out."

Christ on a fucking dinosaur-!

"Anyways, that's all for now. I have some situations that I've written out if you want to read. Or you can dump them. You can throw away all my letters, if you want. I think what I really want is someone to rant to. Make of that what you will.

Anyways, that's it for now.

Signed,

Phantom

P.S. I have absolutely no idea what to call you, since I think just writing your name is way too creepy (where the hell did my parents even get your DNA?), so I'm going to stick with calling you 'you' for now. Hope that that's okay.

P.S.S. I forgot to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. You do that! I'm just going to sit here and pray that I don't have to battle my dinner for the tenth year in a row.

Peace!"

Dick stared at the papers in his hand. He flipped through the pages. There was more then one story. They were titled. The titles were all varying degrees of disturbing.

Feeling like his body suddenly weighed a million tons, Dick sat down in his office chair. He spent the next god-only-knows-how-many minutes just scrunched up in his chair, brain fighting to comprehend what the actual fuck he had just read. It was only the crinkle of the papers that pulled him out of his own mind.

He had crushed them in his fist. It looked like an ordinary letter, all innocent, and not at all like the life changing, nightmare fueling, hell scroll that it really was.

And that's just the first page, Dick reminded himself.

With a dry swallow, he pulled out his phone. He had absolutely no idea who to turn to in this type of situation. God, who does anyone turn to in these types of situations? So, despite knowing he was busy, and feeling guilty about that, he turned to the person he knows he could depend on when he was dealing with an emergency. (He was pretty sure he could depend on in an emergency, he joked humorlessly to himself).

"The fuck do you want?" Jason sounded annoyed. In the distance, Dick could hear gunshots. It made him wonder how long this entire experience was. It both felt like minutes and hours had passed at the same time.

Without much prompting, Dick replied. "I need your help, Jay. Its urgent."

@northernlight-witch gave me the idea for Jack and Maddie probably mixing up the DNA samples due to...well, them being them. @honeycombflavors17 gave me the idea to use Dick Grayson as the parent/unconsenting DNA donor.

Hope this turned out okay. I haven't been writing consistently for awhile, so I feel rusty.

Danny finds out hes a clone/ adopted, and instead of processing that like a normal person he decides, "Well its not like they can find me so imma mess with my bio parent(s) while venting my frustrations. Two birds with one stone."

Hence (hero or villian of your choice) begins receiving letters via untraceable magic of him telling them he's thier clone/son and just telling them about his day/past adventures.

Unfortunately most of his adventures are horrifying and the person is desperately scrambling to find thier dumb (possibly undead) child and rescue them.

It probably doesn't help that Danny only signs his name as Phantom and is careful not to give clues to his location.

[tathrin]

Angmeril 7, 13 & 40.

Question J?

Ahh, Angmeril! I would love to talk about her, thank you anon. (Questions from this list.)

7. What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

I don't think it's something that has a lot of weight or meaning for her before she leaves the Greenwood, but once she (reluctantly) sails to the Undying Lands I think that she ends up pretty consumed by nostalgia, because she didn't want to come and doesn't want to be here and desperately misses her home and her people and she feels so very, very alone without them and her trees.

At that point anything can trigger the feeling/memories, and often does. The wind whispering through the branches of trees that sounds a little bit like it did at home? The wind not sounding like it did at home? A flash of the right shade of green on someone's clothes, a shadow that hits her face just right, the moon framed by the fingers of tree-branches overhead? etc etc.

Once more of her people cross the Sundering Sea and they decide to start making their own space in Aman, start the effort of bonding with and settling in a new forest, it gets better (because she has a distraction, because she has a place that might someday be home) but also worse, because there's so much more to remind her now; because this simple plain young forest doesn't have any of Greenwood's strength, its weight. Because for a moment she can maybe fool herself, glancing out at the trees...but they're not the same, and she can't fool herself for long, and then it hurts more.

So to the question of whether she enjoys the feeling...? Well, yes and no. Because it's painful, so painful, to feel forever sundered from your home and all you know and love. But her memories are also all she has left of the Greenwood now, so as much as the reminder of her losses hurts her, she cherishes them too.

13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

Oooh this is an interesting one. Definitely some shade of green and that would likely suit her, with pale spring greens looking striking against her rich brown skin and darker, deeper greens making the sort of faded-bark-brown of her hair pop in contrast. For preference, I feel like she'd mostly dress more for blending with her trees than standing out against them, so it's convenient that that coloring suits her. She'd probably look equally good in blues, but greys and some shades of browns might make her look washed-out, I'm thinking. Reddish-browns would either look really rich and vibrant on her, or very wan; it would depend very much on the individual tones.

I think in general she dresses very plainly and practically, and especially during and following the Last Alliance she pretty much eschews any concerns for aesthetics. (See: the hair chopping incident.) Her only ornamentation in those years would be flowers that somebody (Thranduil, Merilgais, the kids, whomever) wants to braid into her hair or loop around her neck. Even in Aman, where there's endless time and no danger to fight, I think she'd stick with a lack of ornamentation and "superficial" interest in her own appearance both from habit and out of stubbornness—very plain clothes, braids whose complexity is solely a result of wanting to keep the hair held back securely rather than out of joy in the patterns themselves, etc—until Gimli comes along and starts gifting everybody with jewelry that's made with too much love and care to refuse. (Then it turns out some of the haughtier Noldor are irritated by seeing the "simple" Greenwood elves prancing around with brand new dwarf-made accessories, so she makes sure never to go out without at least one bracelet or hair-comb after that!)

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

In some ways probably too much. Angmeril inherits her mother's sense of (over)responsibility, and takes on a lot of guilt for not doing enough—about anything: not being able to keep more of her people alive during the Last Alliance, not being able to fill-in for their missing parents for Merilgais better, not being able to free her forest of all threats, not being able to stay and continue to defend her trees and see her son grow up...etc. She's focused on the practicalities almost to the point of being cheerless sometimes when things are dark; even when there isn't an imminent threat she's still always running what-ifs? in her brain, constantly aware that there could be a threat and consequently very unforgiving of herself when she doesn't reach her own expectations.

In others, however, she'll definitely gloss-over both her own flaws and those of her fellow Greenwood elves, out of mingled pride and defensiveness. How dare those uppity High Elves say that Oropher was to blame for the "recklessness" of the charge that saw so many of her people killed? If Gil-galad wasn't such a pompous, arrogant, condescending ass that he refused to "set his ego aside" and order the rest of the army to follow what was obviously the right call, Greenwood wouldn't have been slaughtered and the siege would never had happened because they'd have defeated Sauron right then and there! And Gil-galad definitely had it coming when she decked him for expressing his sympathies for their losses too. She's protective of those she loves, sometimes at the expense of a rational assessment of reality.

Angmeril is not as (sometimes willfully) oblivious as some elves of the Greenwood (cough*Merilgais*cough) so she knows that sometimes they aren't in the right, or have to at least take a share of the blame, etc etc — but she's very good at mentally skipping-over that possibility whenever there's a chance to blame a Calaquendi, especially a Noldor and especially someone related to Gil-galad instead (Elrond is very lucky that she wasn't still in Middle-earth when he sent Legolas off with the Fellowship into danger y'all). She's also got a fair portion of that "the best way out is through" attitude that defines so much of Mirkwood's elves, so sometimes self-awareness falls to the wayside in favor of just yeeting herself directly at the problem until one or the other (or both) of them are eliminated. Problem solved, yes?

Thank you so much for giving me an excuse to think and ramble about Angmeril, anon, she's one of my favorite bits of Greenwood and I don't get to write her much due to timeline. Thanks!

[sashi-ya]

Hi sashi!!!!

I really love your event and all your stories. Thanks for being that awesome!!! You're the best!!

Don't know if I'm doing this right but I need some zosan for Sanji's bday, pleeeeeeease 💚💛💚💛

Hii sweety! Thank u for your sweet words omg!! Of course!! I hope you like it! Enjoy this sweet lovely Zosan fic! 💛💚

🌊 Sanji's Birthday Celebration 🌊

SFW ~ Sanji x Roronoa Zoro ~ The First Time

tw: nothing really. It is placed Pre time-skip!

wc: 2.4K

His blue eyes are always the first ones to see the sun rays. Blue like the ocean, blue like the sky. His steel eyes are always the last to see the moon shine, silver like the blades, silver like the stars that shine on a dark sky.

As always, Sanji, the first one to wake up, runs to the kitchen of the Going Merry Go. He prepares the eggs, the rice, the pancakes, and the tea. “Today is not a different day”, he thinks. “Today it’s just my birthday…”

Sanji’s miraculous hands work hard, and as he stirs the vegetables on the pan, his eyes fix on the clear sky ahead. The sun is still a little lager. It stays on his horizon bed for some time. It’s earlier than ever, but the chef of the Mugiwara no Ichimi felt the need to start earlier today.

The sky, as blue as the sea around him, reminds him of his mum. Sora has always been that clear sky after a storm for Sanji, and he knows she is right there, everywhere, in the seagulls dancing in the distance, on the waves that crash the bow and the wind that moves the sails.

“Should I tell them it is my birthday?” he asks, whispering, waiting for a sign of her mother. A sudden noise distracts him from his personal talk with his mum. “Luffy?” the blonde asks, turning his body around, because he is sure the eating monster is already awake looking for food.

But there is nobody.

“Uh… that’s probably some creaking wood… never mind” he mumbles, continuing with toasting the bread just like Nami likes it.

The next few hours were filled with the devouring monster eating everything at his pace known as Luffy, Usopp fighting over the food with him, Chopper and Robin chatting and having sandwiches and tea, Nami giving orders for the next landing and Zoro eager to finish eating to go back to sleep until lunch.

“Cook-san, sure you don’t need any help with the dishes?” Robin asks politely when Sanji takes the dirty plates off the wooden table. The cook, as the good gentleman, jolts immediately from where he is. “OH, LORD MY DEAR ROBIN-CHWAN, YOUR HANDS ARE NOT MEANT TO BE FOR CLEANING! DON’T WORRY” Sanji chimes, with excessive chivalry, winning a “tsk” from Zoro.

Those annoyed looks, and those commentaries the swordsman does that Sanji hates the most. “Oi, marimo. Why don’t you do anything, then? HUH?” the blond shouts, pointing at him with a fork. “Don’t point at me with that fork, you curly” Zoro fires back, standing up and taking his plate to the kitchen under the thunderstruck sight of Sanji.

He follows him back, spitting insults and not letting him touch anything in his kitchen. But Zoro plain ignores him, with that characteristic samurai calm he has. The calloused hands of the swordsman begin to scrub the crumbles off the plates, even with Sanji shouting at him.

“Oi Marimo!! What are you doing?” he shouts. “M’doing the dishes” Zoro answers, paused. “I know, but why?”

“Cause you made breakfast today”

Sanji looked at him confused, he always cooks breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc for them. He is the cook! The question was why would Zoro want to help him now? In any case, Sanji decides to remain silent, because Zoro won’t go away, but most importantly he isn’t fighting back

The blonde notices how the rest of the crew leaves the kitchen, ready for the landing on the upcoming island. Sanji hurries Zoro to move out of the kitchen, he needs to start preparing the bento boxes for everyone. “Come on, damn marimo move out, I have to prepare lunch” he grunts, pushing his muscular friend out of the kitchen.

“Fine… but you shouldn’t work that much” Zoro says, giving the sweetest smile he could have ever given to him. Sanji’s cheeks blush, not sure why… And instead of reacting he simply stays there, immobile, watching Zoro’s back disappear from the kitchen into the deck.

Sanji would normally bark at him, even insult him… but right now he isn't able to do so, he feels confused. Zoro never does the dishes with him, he doesn’t even care. But today, during his birthday, he did. “Is this a sign to tell them, mum? What do you think about that mosshead? Isn’t he an idiot? Everything with him has to do with number three… his earrings, his santoryuu style. It’s funny how I’m called “San-ji” but he hates me… huh?...

Every lunch box is ready and packed up. Luffy is already trying to reach for his bag, but Sanji scolds him enough not to touch it yet.

The pirates have decided to take their paths, the girls and Chopper are going to enjoy the stores at the island, while Luffy and Usopp are going to see if they can find bugs. As for Zoro, well, he never has a plan besides going for a drink or resting at the ship. However, he does have a job from time to time, and it is with Sanji. Whenever it is about to restock the pantry with groceries, the wings of Luffy always go together to do so. And it's strange because they fight, but they enjoy it.

Sanji knows he has enough food until the next island… but he lies… perhaps he wants to be accompanied during this day, or maybe it's just curiosity; Sanji needed to know why Zoro was acting differently today. "I need help for the groceries, marimo" he barks, for some reason he gets nervous whenever he has to talk to Zoro and that's why most of the time, he speaks violently towards him.

Zoro looks at him, fixing his haramaki and swords and answers quickly. "OK. Let's go". Sanji had prepared an insult since he was sure he would complain, but the swordsman didn’t. The cook stays silent and only walks off the ship for him to follow. Yet his mind is troubled, really troubled.

They walk towards the busy streets of that autumn island; Sanji’s hair blows with the soft cold breeze while he keeps an eye on Zoro so as not to lose him. It’s easy for the swordsman to get stray, even if he has to follow his blonde friend.

None of them talk, even if normally they would probably fight all the way along, today Sanji is out of words. He notices Zoro analysing the streets, always with his right hand over the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. The cook is desperately searching for any topic to discuss -talk- to him, his samurai calm, his silence is killing him.

“Oi, marimo. Is there anything I should be worried about? Why do you have your right hand over your sword?” he asks, rather violently. “Huh? Oh no. You actually noticed? That's really good of you, cook! See, when I carry my swords on my left side it is because I’m relaxed, and there aren't any signs of danger. But when I do have them on my right side, and my left hand rests on them is because there is a probable threat” he explains to him, for the first time since they met a few months ago Sanji felt like he was learning something else from him.

“That means you are left-handed?” Sanji processes the information and gets interested in him. “Right, so even if I use three swords, my dominant hand is actually my left one. The right position of your blades indicates the disposition of the swordsman”.

“Oh, so you are relaxed now?” the blonde asks, noticing now the little details that compose Zoro’s hand. Big, veiny, a little bit more tanned than the rest of his body. He has a rather little wrist, and a little cut there that makes Sanji wonder how he got it. He also gets fixed on the way his belly goes calmly up and down as he breathes, and the way his haramaki warms it around that same white shirt he is sure Zoro never cleans.

Zoro clears his throat, because Sanji is actually not walking nor talking, he is just stunned looking at the testosterone filled anatomy of his body. “So, what's the next stop?” the green haired nakama asks, to conceal both reddish cheeks. Inexperienced young boys, only nineteen years old, maybe discovering what mutual attraction is?

Sanji hides under his bangs, widening his only visible deep blue eye, fixing it on the leather pointy shoes he wears. “Uh… I need species'' he mumbles and looks further. “Come on, Marimo. Or you will get lost”.

They didn’t speak much after that encounter, Sanji was too nervous and Zoro, who seems like a careless idiot was indeed sunk into his own thoughts about if the cook’s hidden eye was just as beautiful as the one, he shows.

The sun slowly falls into the horizon, the seagulls in the distance give their last flights before hiding in their nests until the next day, and the cold shine of a half-moon takes over. It’s time to reunite with the whole crew, and even if Zoro and Sanji’s cheeks are still a little hot, they act out as if nothing has been happening… though, every time both had to talk during their shopping spree, they would stutter and sweat. Something felt a little different from then on…

But Zoro, Zoro knows something Sanji doesn't. And while they approach their ship, and both notice little fairy lights decorating the deck, a smile forms on Zoro’s face, while Sanji’s eyebrows twitch…

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANJI!!!” every member of the still new crew of the Strawhats shouts, scaring Sanji to the verge of tears. His barely covered in facial hair chin trembles, and his eyes get watery. He looks at Zoro, confused, but soon melting because of his beautiful smile was all for him.

He is soon attacked by Luffy and his gum gum hugs, pulling him into the middle of the deck. Chopper crawls over his shoulder and rests his fluffy body over his head. Nami and Robin have managed to create delicious food that made his gentleman heart hurt, while Usopp uses a tone dial to play music as a musician is still needed on the ship.

The party went on, and on until late hours under the moonshine. A silver light that Sanji would always associate with Zoro's eyes for some reason…

“Nami-swan, how did you know it was my birthday?” Sanji asks, preparing more food for Luffy since of course he ate it all. “Well… let’s say someone told us” she says, winking and looking outside towards where Zoro is, resting his belly on the railing, allowing the moonshine to bathe him with its icy mantle.

“M-marimo?” Sanji stutters, feeling the tip of his ears turn on fire. “Uhum, you should thank him. He told everyone he heard you speaking and said it was your birthday. Sanji-kun, you shouldn’t hide that from us! We love you!” the tangerine haired navigator tells Sanji, making a little drop of blood fall from his nose.

She leaves, gracefully and laughing… because she knew deep inside Sanji wasn’t bleeding for her…

The cook finished the whole new plate of meat Luffy asked and blew some candles on a weird looking cake Usopp and Chopper baked. After the kitchen was successfully cleaned and every nakama went to bed, Sanji noticed Zoro was still over the deck…

“So, it was you” he mumbles, to a drinking sake Zoro resting as always with his back over the wooden wall of the main cabin. “Yep…” the swordsman whispers, focusing his sight on the contents of his cup.

Sanji sits next to him, and sighs. “Thanks, marimo… it’s the first time someone throws a surprise party for me”. Zoro turns to him, painful lips so close yet so far. “It’s nothing, but don’t do the same for me, ok?” he says, because even if the samurai loves the taste of good party food and booze, he feels a little off when it comes to parties. “Fine…” Sanji chuckles, patting Zoro’s knee. “But at least I’m gonna be sure the pantry is full of that ethylic venom you put into your body…” he says and stands up.

“S-Sanji?”

The cook walks a few steps from Zoro but freezes still when the swordsman decides to call him by his name. Zoro’s speech was low enough only for the blonde to hear it, but full of anxiety and feelings.

Sanji felt his skin become bumpy, for some reason hearing him calling him by his name had a bigger impact on him than he would have expected. “Yes, Zo… Marimo?”

“Can you stay?”

“Sure…” Sanji says, sitting back next to him. He lights a cigarette while both remain in silence, the little fairy warm lights were already turned off, and the only source of light comes from the cook’s cigarette cherry and the moonshine above them on a beautiful night sky.

Sometimes words aren’t necessary, because Sanji felt the need to rest his head over Zoro’s wide shoulder and so he did. “Uh…” Zoro mumbles to such a weird, unexpected movement. “Marimo… what you did is by far the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me since I joined the crew… and even in my whole life” Sanji confesses.

Zoro is out of words; he passes his arm around Sanji’s tiny waist to bring him closer… an impulse he can’t stop. The blonde doesn’t fight back, what’s more, he takes his legs closer to his belly making himself little, really little under Zoro’s embrace.

“This is the very first time in years I want to celebrate my birthday, you know? The day I was born…” Sanji whispers, a little tear running through his eyes. A tear wiped by Zoro’s calloused thumb, who notices how painfully it is for the blond to talk about this.

“Sanji… don’t cry, please. Your blue eyes are beautiful when you smile” Zoro whispers back, kissing the crown of the blonde’s head.

“Thank you, thank you so much, Marimo…” Sanji says, cuddling closer to his chest, wetting Zoro’s white shirt with a different type of tears now… Tears of joy, tears of relief… Tears of finding that place to finally rest, safe, warm, secure… loved ❤ ~

[beautyofthend]

I agree s24 gave us the obvious (for me anyway) Jack and Nikki are in love so we don't need to really analyse much. Which was actually nice of them to end it like that because I didn't need the added stress while we wait for s25 lol. I think s25 will give us more to analyse depending on where they go with it. I cant imagine at all that it will be plain sailing and they are just going to be like 'oh OK we love eachother let's be happy and together' , so I'm sure we will have plenty to over analyse soon. Maybe they'll make Nikki decide to not be with Jack after all for the whole season because she wants to be single and get her head right after Matt, then realise by the end of the season that she wants to have a proper relationship. Maybe something will happen at some point in the case to bring up a deeper conversation between them or another hurdle. Who knows i guess at this point. I thunk they could go anywhere with it which actually makes me excited. There's plenty left to explore and it may just be small moments for this season because of Sam's return which I will be happy with.

Series 25 will give us SO much I just know it!! I’ve come to the realisation that S23 gave us questions where S24 gave us answers and I’m honestly okay with that!!

Although, as I answered all these anons the other day, I’ve ended up analysing S24 as a whole 😭 But it’s deffo more of a play on the writing and storylines as opposed to just Jack and Nikki!!

But I’m v v excited for S25 and right now I’m happy to just sit back and wait for it 😌

[hipsofsteel]

Baby states with like any of 'em- cities, estados, whichever you want (i'm begging for baby berto tho- can you tell he's my favourite)

I don’t always have much on my states when they were younger and Roberto’s a bit of a hard one, actually, but I’ll have some content for you about him at the end. So, a selection of baby state things.

1. Jan Kees (New York) spent the first ten years of his life (1614-1624) in Europe with the Netherlands. Ned needed to conduct business at home, not in this barely established colony, but he wanted to make sure that this little personification had a good start (also it was an easy way to check on his colony’s health without having to sail across the Atlantic).

2. Elijah (New Jersey) absolutely protested his adoption into the New Netherlands family at first. He was a little devil to Ned unless he was unconscious. He finally started to settle down after learning some Dutch and meeting some rabbis, who quickly taught him about Judaism. Ned realized pretty quickly that that was the best way to keep the little hellion child calm and encouraged him the more interested he got in what would be his faith.

3. Despite only a two year age difference between Mary (Indiana) and Jean Baptiste (Illinois), Jean has always played the little brother part well. When he was really small, toddler age, he would follow Mary around and if something went wrong or he wasn’t allowed to go somewhere, he would just lay down on the ground and throw a tantrum wherever he was. Usually he threw a tantrum to the point of passing out, and would just lay there unconscious on the ground, completely worn out. Mary insists to this day that he is the fussiest man she knows and also still prone to tantrums. Ah siblinghood.

4. Helen’s (Montana’s) first language was Plains Sign Talk as her mother was deaf. She not only used this with her first encounter with her older sister June (Wyoming), but later would end up teaching it to Adam (Nyo Washington) as his first spoken language. 

5. Chris (Nyo Oregon) picked Adam up out of the Whitman Mission aftermath of the Whitman Massacre. Despite being small and rather frightened with what had just happened, he quickly took to his new life with his Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) family, and Chris, belonging to that people, basically brought him up in that community. His first language he understood fluently was Niimi'ipuutímt (Nez Perce), and his first language he could speak was Plains Sign Talk.

6. Beverly (Oregon) and Martha (Washington) had few spots of joy in the constant anxiety of the Civil War, but Clark (Idaho) was one of them. Clark was for the most part a cheerful baby around his sisters, and his sheer happiness (baby coos and laughs and all) helped carry them through an anxious time when Roberto could hardly be present due to his responsibilities to the war effort.

7. Roberto (California) had an incredibly human childhood. He aged like a human for the first thirteen years of his life. But his childhood was good. His mom raised him well, and had the land not chosen him for it’s personification, he would have grown into a fine young Mojave man and stayed with his people the rest of his life. He was always adventourous, and probably has a few small scars on his hands from catching himself whenever he fell. He’d run home grinning like a loon wearing them like badges of honor though once the pain wore off.

[teachandwrite-blog]

from trevor’s encyclopedia of things plain, simple, ordinary and human

My name is Brendan.

Some call me Saint Brendan.

Saint, not because I'm perfect.

Nope.

Not even close.

I’m not perfect, for sure.

“To thy own self be true,” wrote Shakespeare..

Nosce te ipsum. “Know thyself” says the Latin motto.

I am.

I do.

Maybe I’m Kind of an anti-saint who, like an anti-hero, isn’t what people expect a saint to be.

A saint who is perfectly imperfect.

The patron saint of imperfection.

I am named after a saint, though.

St. Brendan the Navigator.

In the sixth century, he set sail in a small boat from his home in Ireland.

He made it all the way to the New World and discovered it wasn’t so new.

There were already people there.

People beautiful in their humanness.

People human in their beautifulness.

Like Brendan, I travel over the waters.

I don't sail, though.

I swim.

I'm a blue whale.

Do you know very much about blue whales?

We have ears the size of a pencil point.

But we can hear over thousands of miles.

And we have the biggest hearts to have ever beaten on Earth.

We listen carefully.

With our ears.

With our hearts.

With the ears of our hearts.

We're migrants, too.

We swim over 4,000 miles each year.

We start in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, move to warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean around the equator, and then go to the Arctic Ocean again.

And, can you believe it?

We sing.

We sing while we're swimming.

We sing while we're resting.

We sing.

We sing wandering, wondering songs.

But here's the thing.

I sing at a decibel no other blue whale can hear.

I can hear their songs.

But they can't hear mine.

My nickname is 52 blue, because I sing at 52 MHz, a frequency no other blue whale can hear.

Ah, the patron saint of silence.

The patron saint of songs of the heart.

[seksipomminpurkaja]

oh just do all of them i'm not the one to pick

*cracks knuckles* one from each universe

1. Is most likely to go on a rant for an hour

Anze about the state of politics. 

Trias about any conspiracy theory,

Jane, about anything really, she’s the talkative one of the mobsters

2. Starts or wants to rant but restrains themself

Ode, but she’s lived her whole life shutting up about everything. 

Hazel, but he slips from time to time bc he has Opinions. 

Annie, most of the time about Marcus but she has no one to blame

3. Is surprisingly articulate

Maya, lil girl has lots of thoughts and through learning from Lucas she can put them into comprehensive sentences.

 You’d think from Harlei’s use of slang would stop her from being articulate, you’re wrong.

 Pietro, having his challenge being mute but he’s not dumb and he thinks a lot about what he’s gonna say

4. Is surprisingly inarticulate

Vitany, the olde tongue stuck to her and now she speaks seemingly weirdly

Maz when they get excited, a job handling lot of people you’d think they could put out good grammar in vocal conversation but alas, they get excited their mouth doesn’t keep up with the thought process 

Frans, he’s somewhat smooth talker, but some of that charm is when the lads and ladies have no fucking clue what he’s saying other than maybe cursing in french

5. Has no off-switch

Anze, if not looked after, he would work himself to death

Alia, same thing as with Anze. And hatred for cultists has no pause

Jonas, the ball of anxiety and self-hatred never sleeps

6. Doesn’t know when to quit when they’re ahead

Romir, came around to bite him in the ass few times, just when you think you’re invisible, some bigger guy shows up and beats you to pulp

Jack used to gamble a lot, made profit but also lost all of it. Think he’d learn from that, but then he found drugs and alcohol and hey, he’s still alive so why would he stop

Lola, it was that stubbornness that got her arm blown off

7. Argues they are right despite evidence to the contrary

Rene, ‘nuff said

Enrique has bit of that habit of not giving up on his views until the very end (he does give up at some point tho)

Sarah does it for a living

8. Freely admits they were wrong about something

Nayden, he’s the prime example of owing up to his mistakes, yes he was wrong about the elven demigod, and the mage, and sure he didn’t trust the army either (he was raised in a farm and to be suspicious about everything) but he made amends and grew quite fond of everyone mentioned

Tia, she’s stubborn and wants things to be done her way sometimes, but Harlei has the last word always, and sometimes it’s better that way, Tia apologizes for strongly opposing the captain sometimes

Penelope, the only time she’s been wrong tho was when Lola brought Pietro in and she insisted that he’s going to get them all killed. He turned out to be a great work partner

9. Plays innocent

Vilya, look, none of this chaos is her fault, some idiots just decided to summon her without fully understanding what will happen, it’s like throwing a slab of meat to a wyrm, what did you think was gonna happen summoning a trickster demon

Ihn, every chance he gets, look officer i have no idea what you’re talking about two murders right around the corner, me and my buds just arrived

Pietro, he refuses to acknowledge the two androids running around

10. Settles into a begrudging silence when outplayed

Amir, whiny commander goes into his hissyfit corner to think about what he’s not done

Sangre, he is Never outplayed HOw Dare you THink THAT

Jane, Sarah would just outright shoot the other person, but the gf if less triggerhappy and more ‘cold shoulder’ type o gal

11. Changes subjects when they start to lose a debate

Jalan, she doesn’t wanna continue into the losing territory so better put that sweet tongue to use and distract

Akiph, he has a history of getting into debates he doesn’t know half the facts and just as much he switches topics

Marcus, or just straight up flee

12. Is slow to anger

Nayden, he’s a teddy bear, why would you want to make him angry, who hurt you

Maz, it takes some serious work to get that roly poly boiling yet somehow quail and moran did it

Penelope, she’s mellow like that

13. Has a hot temper

Odelia, she’s small and angry and won’t be stomped over ever again

Alia is the princess of pissed off

Sarah, it’s her redeeming quality

14. Is known for their rudeness

Again Ode, she has a particular distaste of humans and the like, and whatever they’ve created (Lew is just so bad at this whole human thing he has a certain charm to him in her eyes)

Jade, you win million dollars if you catch her not being racist and shouting slurs or throwing knives at innocent people

David, another doctor with no bedside manners, he deal with the mob just ok, but others, nah.

15. Is often accidentally rude

Lucas, he’s brash and a man of few words, and it also takes a while to get used to all this weird shit happening and meeting lots of new people, there’s bound to be few hiccups for men like him

Harlei, some things just slip her brain to mouth filter

Ira or Sam, both are programmed weirdly don’t question it

16. Is very polite or mild mannered

Sharni, the brothel raised no foul-mouth, though she did commit an arson at one point. But she’s quiet and has good basic manners

Tobias, out of all the clinic he’s probably the most plain and ‘normal’ (also a true mvp, caught enrique fingering juno in the supply closet and said nothing)

Annie, her family is higher class so that might explain it

17. Is blunt or otherwise painfully honest

Nics, he has no time for bullshit when there’s arrows poking out of his friends’ backs

Roben, tells them how it is

Marcus, truly has a way with words even in serious situations

18. Likes to tease others playfully

Maya, bls let the child play

Tia

Lola!!

19. Is serious

Brianne, Anze, Nics, Lucas, the list goes on 

Like half of them

Just Pietro and Penelope

20. Is questioning or nosey

Helga a little bit, just has that built in suburban mom kind of nosy

Trias, LET. HER. KNOW. THINGS

Marcus, sticking his nose everywhere it should not be (more than just metraphorically) 

21. Is secretive

Yu-Wen, no one knows where she’s exactly from, probably from the north-west islands of the great sea? who are her people? when did she learn to sail and fight with two swords? no one knows

Kadiz at first, it might’ve been 20 years between escaping the lab and making contact with Quail, and even after that she kept herself secret and a mystery for everyone else than the strike team

Pietro, but just because he fucked up and doesn’t want anyone knowing he even exists

22. Does their best to seem tough or mysterious

Lew, he’s tough, don’t get me wrong, but he’s also a kind of show-off

Trias, but honestly she spills out a lot, so she’s on the very edge of mysterious, she’s that because no one knows what her motives are because it can’t be as simple as “hey why tf not”

No one, everyone’s a fucking flamboyant peacock showing off their best and worst and then there’s pietro, there’s not much to say about him

[vk-crzy]

Oh my dear God, I ship Ai&Takuma so hard you can't imagine. Just when I think about potential of their relationship... Oh my, I'm a sucker for ships where partners are spiritually related like here, Takuma is Ai's father's best friend and Ai reminds him of Kaname but she's a Woman and all feels of respect he had for Kaname turned into romantic ones for Ai, I love this transformation! This is too good to be real, Hino is not that smart to give us this ship NOOOOOOO

(Continued) [I’m the aikuma anon] *coughs* Well, actually I wrote you because of a bit different reason: do you have any headcannons about aikuma? Maybe you can write what your thoughts are on the time when and where they realized they had feelings for each other? Or maybe first kiss? PLZ SAVE ME.

I’m so sorry for the reply on this Anon! 

I was supposed to answer this yesterday but I ended up coming home super late last night and I went straight to bed and I forgot to answer and omg I’m really sorry T__________T

But onto what you’ve been waiting for… 

AIKUMA HEAD CANONS

Early Days

When it comes to getting together, I really think that this was slow burn type of relationship. Because the two of them weren’t necessarily looking for a partner, but somehow or other a spark just sort of appeared? Slowly but surely they started to hangout more, but they never quite realised when their feelings truly developed. 

If anything, it took someone else to point out how much time they were spending together, they started to wonder why that was? Did they like each other? No, of course not! Or maybe there was something there? Why did they start to feel strange around the other? Why did they notice things that they didn’t before? 

And for the longest time, all of this was unspoken and they didn’t really acknowledge it. Until one day, something happened, and it all just… Clicked? They kind of knew what was going on, but who was gonna make the first move and cross that boundary? 

First Kiss

Their first kiss is what broke that boundary actually, and it was Takuma who made the first move. Was he nervous about it? Hell yeah! This was his best friend’s daughter, and there was always something in the back of his mind that said maybe he shouldn’t really like her? He’d let Kaname down before, and it almost felt like he was doing it again? But he liked, Ai, he cared for her, and at some point, it just became too hard to resist her anymore. He made the move, and he never looked back. 

Difficulties? 

Now, just because they both liked each other and had finally started to take things further doesn’t mean that it was all plain sailing. If there was one major issue that constantly played on Ai’s mind, it was whether Takuma really loved her, or if she was just the next available Pureblood. And one day, that fear slipped out. And there were tears and there were arguments, and the whole situation was just so desperate? Because there was no way that Takuma was gonna let Ai slip through his fingers like this when he loved her with everything he had. 

Calm & Cuteness After The Storm

But if we put aside all the angst and desperation that was in the early days of their relationship, eventually, things settled and it was the happiest they had ever been! Takuma teases, and Ai has little tantrums in response, but at the end of it all, they’re both just so happy that they finally found someone who loves them completely. 

They play wrestle a lot, and Ai hides Takuma’s watch in the hopes that she can make him late for work and he’ll stay with her for just a little bit longer in the mornings. But sometimes she’ll catch Takuma talking to Kaname and whilst it puts a smile on her face, there’s a part of her that can’t help but drift off and think of how happy they all could have been if he were here. 

All in all though, they’re a really happy couple, and sometimes they like to think about children, but maybe not just yet. 

[thank-your-lucky-stars]

I think the point is meant to be for Aaron to finally get past this and move on with his life etc but seriously? they had to torture him in order for him to get that help. I'm struggling with it tbh, I'm angry at ED for breaking him down so much when he finally had happiness.

Honestly I had (wrongly) got it into my head that Aaron’s wedding day would mark the start of a new era for him, a happier, simpler time....I never expected it to be plain sailing all the time, I knew there would be drama long the way because of course there would.

But this??? This is in another league to what I think any of us ever expected, even when we learnt he was getting sent down. I think we all knew it would be bad, but this is honestly like nothing I can recall ever seeing on a soap.

I mean, to me, it literally cannot get any worse than this. And I really hope you’re right, that ED are sort of saying “this is the bottom so the only way is up.”

And for the love of all that is holy....there NEEDS to be an “up” after this. There needs to be happiness. There needs to be a long stretch where Aaron (and Robert) are only involved in mild-drama. Nothing too major, nothing too psychological....

Because what we’re seeing right now is traumatic. It’s traumatic viewing. Even my dad looked uncomfortable, and kept signing, and kept making noises that showed he found it difficult to watch. My mum refused to watch it at all after seeing a bit of one of last weeks eps. 

It’s traumatic for the viewer because it’s so traumatic for Aaron. The emotional/verbal abuse is much harder to take than the physical. I mean what we saw tonight was literal emotional torture. This is something that wouldn’t have been out of place in a post-watershed, gritty, violent drama. 

I’m not sure if Emmerdale are going to expect such.....backlash. I don’t know if “backlash” is the right word. I mean people are genuinely upset by this and rightly so.

What we all need once all of this is over (and I’m expecting it to be over by the end of the month tbh, because they cannot carry this on much longer. They just can’t.) is for some CHILL time. For Aaron to get therapy and for things to just go okay for a while. That’s the main reason I’m worried about this R+R stuff. I’m not worried about the attempted kiss itself, because I understand it and I see it for what it is. But I’m worried about the aftermath, about Aaron inevitably finding out, and I’ve said already that I really hope that this time it’s different from all the other times he’s found out one of Robert’s secrets, and that he actually understands and believes what Robert tells him.

Because by god....if we have to go through Aaron having another meltdown, breaking up with Robert, telling Robert to get out....having their relationship in tatters all over again.....that misery will be exhausting. It would be exhausting at the best of times, but after all of this??? After all of this emotional trauma as a viewer, and watching Aaron go through such trauma?????

I understand what ED are doing - to an extent. But there NEEDS to be an ending once Aaron is out of prison. Okay so it won’t be all fine and dandy overnight, but it can’t be any more than a month or two before they have Aaron seem okay again. Maybe that would be unrealistic, but they at least need him to be....alright. They at least need to not throw any shit at him again for like at least the next 6 months.

We need a break. These characters need a break. Emmerdale have exhausted them, their misery, their heartache. They have thrown literally everything at Aaron. I mean there is nothing else left to chuck at him and they must realise this. They must realise that we cannot take any more of this. That Aaron can’t, that we can’t.....it’s reaching a point where it really isn’t enjoyable. I love a bit of angst, but this isn’t angst. This is something else.

Danny is an insane actor. Like you’ll be hard pushed to find a better actor on TV or in film tbh. And I appreciate what he’s doing and he should be proud of himself. I mean, everyone should. Ryan and Isobel were amazing tonight too. I mean....it was all amazing in that respect. It cannot be faulted.

But we have to see some happier times for this family. We have to. They need to have a happy summer. I don’t even care if we don’t see them for a month, or if they’re hardly on screen - I honestly don’t care. Of course I want to see them happy like every single day, but I understand that doesn’t always make great TV (although IMO, it really does). We have to have a break from this misery and so do they. This is painful to watch. 

Emmerdale have to give them a happy storyline once this one has wrapped up, because by god.....this really isn’t fun any more.

Aaron deserves happiness. They can still give him drama without giving him this. They can still give Robron drama without piling on the misery like this. And as much as I appreciate the amount of screen time they’re getting at the moment, something has got to give.

We all need a break. 

[spellucci]

Tumbleweeds and Wild Horses

Friday, March 13, 2020

We had broken camp somewhat late yesterday, so today we changed things up and broke camp really late. We stopped into the Walmart where we stayed to pick up some gear, and noticed the toilet paper and tissue aisle was completely bare. What is with the toilet paper hoarding? The COVID-19 news has been disturbing back home, but this is the first we have seen of shopping frenzy in Colorado.

What with shopping and wizarding and more shopping, we didn't really get on the road until after lunch. But boy are we firmly in the arid southwest!

The roads are flatter now, and the scenery is that which we love: open skies, sandstone rock formations, sparse vegetation, colorful arroyos, and hints of mesas and canyons in the distance.

The wind is fierce across the plains. A tumbleweed rushes across the road. And another. And another. Some fetch up against the fence along the side of the road. Others travel to infinity, or at least they could as far as we can tell.

We pass wonderful rock formations, turrets and cliffs and spires, oh my. Off in the distance, we spy one that looks for all the world like the sails of a tall ship, and as we turn west we see a sign pointing south that says Ship Rock. We are itching to get off the highway and do some four-wheeling.

Out of nowhere we come across a herd of horses. This does not look anything like ranch land so our conclusion is they must be wild. They sure do look like they're in their element.

We come up to Four Corners, a tourist trap if ever there was one. We succumb, and enjoy the children running around exclaiming, "I'm in Utah!" "I'm in Colorado!" And round and round they go.

This is Pueblo (Diné) land. There are stands selling souvenirs. Jeanne liked this T-shirt: “Homeland Security. Fighting terrorism since 1492.”

But with it still colder than is comfortable, we push on south. Well, kinda. We stop in Tuba City for water and fuel, and Jeanne finds a boondocking site on the road to the Grand Canyon. We are so close, it seems a shame to bypass it, so we head for the Kaibab National Forest and pull into an informal campground on a Forest Service road for the night.