#but are these ones the most connected? yes

[jayhyunglover]

Messy proposal

Pairing: Xavier x reader

Content: Xavier proposing while going down on you , oral sex , overstimulation, pussydrunk Xavier ( RIP MC ) , proposal , fluff at the end

A/N: since the nightly rendezvous banner dropped I am ovulating.

He has spread out on your couch on your back , hands looped firmly around your plush thighs with your legs lifted in the air while his skilled mouth was feasting on your cunt. 

You were supposed to be attending a romantic dinner,  with candlelit , Roses and all the tralala but the second he saw you in that dress all thoughts of eating went flying through the window. All he wanted to eat was you or rather the sweetest dessert he has ever tasted. A dessert that happens to be between your smooth legs 

“X-xav” you whimpered out, manicured fingers sliding through his fluffy hair , holding onto them for dear life as his tongue swirled and flicked against your sensitive clit. 

He was so messy , slurping everything down with fervor , not wanting to part even for a second. He was too far gone, too addicted to you. Your smile , your laugh , how your eyes lit up when you talked about something you liked , how your face would soften when he gave you that cute pout of his. 

You were perfect , all his and Xavier definitely took pride in that. That's why he wanted to take things further , to finally have you officially,  as his Queen , his beloved , his star , his wife. 

“Oh fuck” you gasped out when you felt Xavier pick up his pace tongue drawing mean little patterns against your throbbing clit 

“Love you s'much, y'know that?” He spat out right into your slutty cunt , sticky strands connecting his lips with your lower ones breaking when he parted away from you. 

Parting only for a millisecond before he dove right back in. Greedy tongue just laping at your drooling cunt. 

“Love you too” you managed to get out between moans and gasps,  back arching against him ,hand tugging at his hair to bring his face closer. 

And he let himself happily be manhandled by you , tongue now drawing letters against your clit . A mean sacatto of M-A-R-R-Y M-E?

One that has you cumming so fast and hard that your vision tipped white.  

He continued to spell it out on your cunt , not stopping even when you pushed his head on over sensitivity,  legs growing limp , broken whimpers leaving your lipstick-coated lips. 

“Ah Xav please” you pleaded body unable to take it anymore 

“Is it a yes?” He drawled out before giving your clit a gentle nip that made you squeal. 

Your mind was too scrambled to grasp what he was talking about so Xavier went back to drawing out the letters on your overstimulated cunt . 

M-A-R-R-Y M-E? M-A-R-R-Y M-E? 

Again and again until you were a blabbing mess , your whole body trembling beneath him , thighs locking around his head so hard he might think you were trying to kill him and -honestly he would let you. 

Only stopping when all that could leave your lips was “yes, yes ,yes” 

Finally , finally ,Xavier think he reached heaven,  he was already there between your thighs dripping in your essence. 

He left a last lingering kiss on your cunt before climbing back to you , those soft blue eyes meeting yours while his face wore the most innocent smile as if he wasn't literally feasting on you 10 seconds ago. 

“We're already 1 hour late” he murmured before nuzzling his cheek against your neck . 

“It doesn't matter anymore , you already said yes” he chuckled before kissing your nose 

Wait ! Said yes to what? 

You blinked back your vision his words pulling you down from your fluffy cloud of pleasure.

“What ?” 

“We're getting married, my star” he smiled before brushing a strand of hair out of your face. 

“Mrs. Shen” he mumbled affectionately before kissing your temple

@jinwoosbabyboo @yourlocalcatscammer @poisonf0rest

[grimrevolution]

i thought long an hard about responding to this because i'm from a very different background than most people in this fandom and to mary kirby, the writer of lucanis.

a preface; i am aro/ace. aromantic and asexual. i don't experience sexual or romantic attraction to anyone. i also have a partner of three years who is demiromantic and demisexual. yes, you read that right.

the common misconception that happens is that people consider the asexual spectrum to be on the same line of chastity, virginity, or naivete.

people who are under the asexual spectrum aren't immune to being horny. it's a hormonal and emotional response. we're not motivated by sex and it's generally not caused by other people, but that doesn't mean that asexuals don't actively enjoy it. there are people who are sex repulsed but still participate in getting their partner off by using words but not actual touch (hi, that's me). there are others who would probably throw up being in the same room as people who are actively having sex (doubly so with strangers. hi, also me), and others that go out looking for sex but not for long term sexual partners because, hey, sex feels nice and it's even better when there's no strings attached.

i know asexuals who participate in bdsm, who have files on their computer full of the horniest smut you've ever read, who tell sex jokes like they're going out of style. i know ones who are virgins and probably will always be and i know others who masturbate regularly because damn, if they don't find other people attractive at least there's this rechargeable vibrator they can use.

asexual people will contradict each other with how they feel about the act of sex but the one thing we all have in common is that, at the end of the day, sex doesn't sell to us. that doesn't mean that asexuals aren't kinky, that we don't write about sex, nor that we don't do participate in the act. it's just that we aren't motivated by sex and writing us like we are confused little virgins is incredibly infantilizing if you don't take great care in how it's done.

and when it comes to demisexuality, they need that emotional connection. once that's done, they could experience attraction to their partner the same that anyone else not under the asexuality spectrum do. some of them become the horniest person you've ever dated and some of them don't! but the fact is that it is still not about the motivation of sex; it's still that bridge of establishing an emotional connection.

Are y’all telling me you looked at Lucanis and expect him to have the understanding of himself that he’s demisexual?

The man doesn’t even realize he can buy his own wyvern tooth dagger with his own money. He’s not doing that kind of reflection.

[milkiclouds]

leon kennedy has a lot of moles, peppering across his body like a cosmic galaxy waiting to be connected together with the invisible ink of your fingers. most noticeable were the moles along his neck and collarbones, peeking out from his clothes and uniform. majority of them painted his back. there was a secret mole on his left hand - hiding between his pointer finger and his thumb. and a few more spreading across his arms and legs.

you had a habit of kissing his moles, every single one of them, but your favorite one to kiss was the mole on his stomach, right next to his belly button, perfectly placed to bring out the sweetest giggles every single time you did.

today was no different as you kissed his stomach, exposed from his shirt as it bunched up from his sleep. the laughter came out in uncharacteristic whines, too tired to actually squirm away.

“stop… it’s too early...”

you didn’t stop in favor of placing just a few more kisses against his stomach, the mark acting like the ‘x’ on the treasure map of his body. you finally relented, giving him once last kiss and finishing off with a gentle nibble causing him to jump and yelp in surprised laughter.

resting your head on his stomach you looked up at him as he met your loving gaze, his face flushed - another reason you loved kissing his moles.

“why do you always kiss me there?” he asked. “it’s ticklish.”

“you have a mole.”

he stared at you before letting out an exasperated chuckle at your simple response and mumbling how he didn’t understand you. yes, of course, he knew he had a mole. and while he was never insecure about them, the fact that they were the target of your lips and fingers made his heart thump in chest.

because while they were just moles to him… they were beauty marks to you.

a/n: hi i really like that they spent so much time mapping out moles on his body huhu plus i swear he has a mole on his tummy in one of the mods i swearrr lol i have a lot of moles myself and idk it made me love him more and i thought this was a cute thought hopefully i executed it okay bc i have not written in years

also dividers are by @cafekitsune bc i’m obsessed and they’re cute af

[snoopy7c7]

Swapped Wonderland Excerpt

Swapped Wonderland AU I'm working on alongside @dragon-createsand @endomentendo

Jax: “And last on our stop is just delivering this letter to the Red Queen.”

Pomni: “Today’s certainly been a productive day, wouldn’t you say?”

Jax: “It was most efficient, I admit. Despite some unpleasant moments.”

Pomni: “What was that?”

Jax (flustered/changing subject): “Uh-up ahead! I can see the castle coming up in the distance.”

(Pomni looks ahead to see the castle. She stops dead in her tracks, dropping the bag. Jax is still walking before he notices Pomni missing from his side.)

Jax: “Ms Penny? What are you doing?”

(She doesn’t answer. Annoyed, Jax approaches her.)

Jax: “Ms Penny, come on we need to finish this. Stop fooling arou-”

(But he stops when he notices her shaking in place. Tilting his head he waves his hand in front of her.)

Jax: “Ms Penny?”

(She doesn’t react.)

Jax: “Hey come on now, quit fooling around. Let’s just deliver the letter and-”

(He reaches out to softly touch her shoulder as her breath hitches. She suddenly pushes him back as she lets out a deep wail.)

Pomni: “NO! DON’T GO IN THERE!”

(Jax stumbles back, looking back in shock.)

Jax: “Don’t go? I have to do my job.”

(She hunches over as she presses her hands to her head, crying out.)

Pomni: “I CAN’T GO BACK THERE! THEY TOOK THEM FROM ME!”

(Jax begins to feel his skin prickle, this has far turned from a joke.)

Jax: “What are you talking about? You’ve never even been to the castle before.”

(He reaches out his arm only for the girl to cower back, clouded from her own mind.)

Pomni: “PLEASE! DON’T HURT ME!”

(His eyes widened.)

Jax (low): “Hurt you?”

(Jax steps forward as he kneels down to her level. She had tears streaming down her face, her vision unfocused.)

Jax: “Hey Penny? Penny. Penny, listen to me, whatever it is, you’re not there now. You're okay.”

(Pomni shakes her head, beginning to shake uncontrollably.)

Pomni: “I’M-I’M SORRY, PLEASE. JUST DON’T HURT THEM."

Jax: "Hurt who Penny?"

(Her one eye was closed shut as she held onto herself tightly.)

Pomni: "MOM! DAD! DON'T GO!”

(Jax’s eyes widen as he shakes his head slightly. He places his hands firmly on the sides of her face as he forces her to look up at him.)

Jax: “Pomni, LOOK AT ME.”

(Pomni gasps for a second as her eye connects with his. She blinks for a second. The light in her eye seems to come back. She’s now focusing on him. Fresh tears start welling up before she feels herself grow weaker. Jax catches her as she leans into his embrace, sobbing uncontrollably. He holds her close to his chest as he tries to comfort her.)

Jax: “Hey, hey you’re okay now. You’re okay.”

Pomni (choking out): “I-I d-don’t know what h-h-happened. I’m-I’m s-s-sorr-”

Jax: “Shh don’t apologize. Just try to focus on your breathing.”

(Her chest heaved up and down. Jax felt his chest become heavy with burden as began to take deep, calming breaths. It took a minute for Pomni to catch on as she did her best to match his breathing. She calmed a little but was still worked up, huffing and sniffling. Jax looked to the side, they had dropped their items and the letter from the whole ordeal. With his free hand he gathers them and manages to put them back in the bag. Putting it over his shoulder, he then slipped his arm around Pomni and hoisted her up. He gave a grunt as he looked back at her.)

Jax: “I’m taking you home.”

Pomni (growing emotional again): “B-But y-your l-letter.”

Jax: “It can wait. Let’s go home.”

(As he starts walking, Pomni can’t stop the tears as she just presses her face into his chest, beginning to sob once again. Jax kept his eyes forward as he pressed her closer to his embrace. Despite the deep pain in her chest and head, being held so close by him, she felt a deep seeded peace as she managed to calm enough to say.)

Pomni: “Yes, let’s go home.”

[sheep-from-rad]

Do you vibe with crossovers?

Cause an idea that's been wedged in my head has been (yandere!batfam) neglected!reader who was sent to either twisted wonderland or the devildom. Like I genuinely don't think the bats would stand a chance against that reader.

✨️✨️✨️

Omg anon yes!! Crossovers are delicious. 10/10 will eat again, will make series too. What about SAGAU x Batfam? <3  Anon ,feed me more. 

Let’s face it, both RAD and NRC, whether alone or combined, are too powerful for the Bats. If they want to see you again in Gotham then they will need to have the issues sent to other heroes and vigilantes in order to establish a connection (they’ll call it diplomatic approach too). 

If the reader was sent to Devildom and then the bats automatically lost. The DC universe has their own demons, angels, and gods but the thing is those entities aren’t a part of the game. You left Gotham as a normal human and you came back as a master of seven powerful demons and possibly a harem leader to powerful beings too. At least Obey me wise, you’re the one of the most powerful humans to exist. 

I just can see Batman working with Constantine even though he doesn’t like Constantine. On the Constantine note btw, I can see him making an enemy of the whole Devildom because of his crimes. He’d be like Solomon but the criminal version. OM! Ensemble will keep you in Devildom, not because they don’t like the bats. It’s because hell is much safer than Gotham. 

Twisted wonderland wise, you don’t need Malleus to fight the bats to keep you at 

NRC. Batman and the bats study their enemies first before fighting them and it’s going to take them years to study everyone, not to mention not everyone has their unique magic yet (at least not all first years don’t have it yet). Riddle’s unique magic will not work on Bats sure but what about the other Twisted wonderland characters? Leona alone is already too powerful and let’s not underestimate Cater too. In the events of yandere! Batfam trying to get MC back, Cater can just make a clone and trick them all. 

I feel like Batfam will try to fight dirty and show Twisted wonderland the truth about the seven being villains. While the NRC is having a breakdown, they can come and snatch you home, easy peasy. Crowley can try and hand you back to the bats because he’s easy like that but the others will fight back. General Lilia might come back, Crewel will have a verbal showdown with everyone and you know what, let’s just have Malleus make the whole DC universe go to sleep so you can live a good life.

Masterlist

[alienjoyful]

I am a certified farm game lover. I have been playing this genre of game since my brother gave me his old game boy.

Harvest Moon may have been where the farm game genre really got most of its roots but it was quick to spawn more games (Rune Factory ect) that established the genre as a THING way back in the early 2000’s (maybe even earlier honestly).

Stardew Valley has so many obvious roots connecting it to old Harvest Moon and when I first started playing Stardew I assumed everyone knew that.

But I learned quickly that NO people don’t know that. And now EVERY SINGLE farm game gets accused of being a ‘stardew rip off’ which makes me feral!

Listen to me the Farm Game Genre is a THING it always has been and it always will be! No one is ripping anyone off there just making games in a long established and well loved genre! Seriously the Farm Sim tag exists on steam for a reason guys! Did Stardew help introduce people to the genre and add to its popularity? Yes of course. But it is not the first it will not be the last!

That being said if you like Stardew and want to experience other farm games a quick list I threw together:

Harvest Moon - the original HOWEVER i do not recommend any ‘modern’ Harvest Moon as there was an incident with the ownership of the name and now any Harvest Moon made past Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning (2012) is basically a fake brandishing the stolen name

Story of Seasons - the new name for the OG Harvest Moon people. They still make games. They’re on Switch and PC and they are pretty cute and fun.

Rune Factory - Farm Game with action rpg elements set in a fantasy world with dragons. An older series that is proof that the farm game genre has always been around. I recommend starting with RF 4 its a personal fav available on PC or Switch RF 5 is also good to start but ive heard others say it has framerate issues.

Stardew Valley - indie farm game that helped bring the farm game genre into the modern spotlight. Clear old school Harvest Moon inspo. Fun lots of mods active community. You probably already know it need i say more.

Sun Haven - indie chibi pixel rune factory light with like 20+ romancables in early access. A decent 7/10 farm game. I say get it on sale.

Fae Farm - 3D cute fantasy farm game type has. Free demo check it out. Playable with friends more farm focused less romance.

Paleo Pines - 3D farm game with dinosaurs has a free demo check it out. More farm focused from what I can see but hey DINOSAURS.

Roots of Pacha - Pixel art farm game taking place in the stone age. I tried the early access free demo available several months ago and found it very charming.

My Time At… - You may have heard of the My Time at Portia game if your in the farming game circle. They have since made more My Time At… farm games. They are more open world then others but have good reviews.

Coral Island - A recent release well liked by the community. It takes on a more modern art style for its characters but still has fantasy elements like mermaids.

Moonlight Peaks - Vampire farm sim for that mix of spooky and cozy. Its not yet released but it has a demo out now so people can provide early feedback. One to keep your eye on for sure.

Fields of Mistria - indie pixel art 10/10 even in early access charming cute amazing clearly a labor of love for the genre itself with old school Harvest Moon. Do not hesitate just buy it. Trust me.

This list by far does not cover every farm game out there. I could keep going and list more or even start recommending games that branch off the farm sim genre like Potion Permit but if i did wed be here all day. If you like Stardew please give some other games in the farm sim genre a chance. This genre has been around for a long time and I want to see it thrive with new creative games.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, newer farming simulator/ agriculture/ cozy games AREN’T stardew valley knock offs, if anything they’re harvest moon knock offs but atp in the big year of 2025 we should be considering that maybe it’s a genre???

[sweetdispatch]

How would the Hughes brother react when they find out her bf is Connor

i'll definitely write longer fic for this but here's shorter version!

Next door hearts

“How’s Chicago?” That's the first question you heard from Quinn when you entered the house after returning for a summer.

“Great! I love the city and the job and…” You didn't finish your sentence because Jack interrupted you.

“Later you’ll tell us. We have more important things to discuss. What does the caption mean under your post?” Jack asked you and the eyes of all three brothers were on you.

“Umm… I meant that I fell in love with the city” You lied and judging by their faces, you knew they’re not buying this..

“Bullshit, tell the truth” Luke said and you were surprised at this outburst. You expected this from Jack, even Quinn but not Luke.

“Okay I have a boyfriend. Happy?” You were done with this conversation already and it hasn't even started. 

“Who’s the boy?” Quinn asked you and you took a deep breath.

“He’s my neighbour, his name is Connor” You told them, trying not to share the news that he’s a hockey player and keep it simple thinking that they’ll drop the topic.

“Like Connor Bedard? The one from the Blackhawks?” Jack asked you and you cursed under your nose. Of course they’ll connect that you said to them that you live next to the hockey player and work with the team.

“Yes” You confirmed and waited for their reaction.

“I’m cool with that” Luke replied and you looked shocked at him.  

“Me too, he looks like a good guy” Quinn said it back and you froze. You expected screaming from their side and they just accepted it. This felt bizarre for you.

“He better treat you right or I won’t be too careful on the ice towards him” Jack said and you laughed. Now that was the reaction you expected. 

“I’ll tell him that but Connor is treating me right. We’ve been friends for the past 5 months before he asked me to be his girlfriend. Actually he planned a super cute day for me before he even asked me the question. I’ve never been in such awe of a man” You replied, still replaying the day in your head.

“That's the most important thing, but as Jack said, he better not hurt you because we might not be too careful on the ice next time playing against Chicago” Quinn said and hugged you. You smiled, grateful that your brothers accepted Connor but also scared of them playing against Blackhawks next season. 

[blushingdread]

The thing about Cold that gets me the most is that Cold barely gives a fuck about any of the vessels, the only one he feels anything about is Fury, and he talks about how he hopes your actions put the Adversary's spark out. This man is a little asshole who doesn't care about anything. Anything but change

What does Cold hate the most? Boredom, endless nothingness, doing the same thing over and over again... which is sorta of what he is. Both in the sense that he's a part of the Long Quiet, God of all those things, but also because Cold is the most stagnant of all the voices. He's resistant to pain, emotions, changing, everything except boredom, really. The only time he's ever changed changed is in Molment of Clarity, where he's a lot more terse and seems annoyed the entire time

On top of that, Cold is the most comfortable and intuitive about your godly nature. Poping in at the Tower Fury fight when she calls you noting and he immediately is like "yes,". When going into oblivion, he says it feels like home. He seems to be kinda subconsciously aware of what you are in a way the other voices aren't

So, Cold. The voice that most embodies stagnation, being frozen in time if you will, that seems to grasp the true nature of TLQ the best absolutely hates boredom and is constantly seeking out change. He's constantly seeking out their other half, the Shifting Mound

I think that in the same Wild and Stanger are "a smaller version of me" and "a peek behind the curtain" to the Shifting Mound, Cold is like that to the Long Quiet. He is kinda like TLQ at its most basic, cold, and unmoving, constantly seeking the waves of change to crash upon him. Constantly seeking her, while she constantly seeks him, going around and around getting what their missing from each other

But thats not all!!

Cold talks like the Shifting Mound. They share similar thoughts on what exactly "the end of the world" means

They also feel similarly about all the horrible things that happen during the game

Cold doesn't care if what he's doing is good or bad, good or bad don't even register on his radar. The only thing that matters to him is new and interesting experiences

A perspective that's also surprisingly close to how the Shifitng Mound feels except she's affected by her emotions and about the other person in this lol

I don't really have an end point with this, I just think the Cold and Shifting Mound are neat

It's just. So !!!!!!! that the most Long Quiet nothingness voice is both super into their other half as her entire domain and not just a single vessel and sees the world in a parallel way

What if there was a part of me that was so much like you that loved you more than anything that seeked you out in everything??? What then

BTW, can you imagine Cold and Wild together? Cold being plugged into eveyrhing? Connected to the Princess in the most direct way possible. Change would be constantly happening around him because he'd be interconnected to her. He'd be able to feel it all, and maybe her powers would even push through his eternal apathy and make him feel something like Fury did, but even more

Would Wild like that? Like him? Having a rock to wrap around and anchor herself to? Cold doesn't really feel hate except for the Narrator, so him getting mad at her wouldn't knock them out of being connected to each other. Would she drop her sorta mind control that made the voices much more willing to go along with being one than they frankly would otherwise because of this trait of Colds? Would she find his apathetic temperament comforting and grounding, able to keep her from violently trashing from calm to agitated

Unsure, but it think they'd have an interesting dynamic

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

It was Eddie who told him about the fights. "There was a time," he said,  "when I didn't know how to deal with my pain and anger. I just wanted to feel something, anything other than shame."

Pain, anger and shame – Tommy can relate to all of these feelings. Most of all to the shame, as bitter as bile, rising up like an acid reflux burning your throat as you try to swallow it back down. 

Tommy doesn't want to take part in underground fights, that’s stupid and probably illegal. From an early age, he learned to be responsible. Sensible. Reason and adaptability were excellent masks in a world that seemed to rate every outlier on a scale he believed he’d never fit. It was important not to attract attention so that no one would notice how Tommy grew up, how he lived, how he felt. But anger, pain and shame did not simply disappear. Suppressing these feelings made his skin itch like a wound that continued to fester beneath the bandage. 

And now, it was happening again. 

Tommy had only let the barriers down for half a year, taking life as it came, almost aimlessly, because dealing with Evan, there was hardly any room for strategy or planning. It was a rollercoaster in which he was – once again – the only stable element, and when he realized this, he got off with shaky knees. It used to work. It used to be easy for him to remember what had always worked: to shed his experiences like an old garment and accept that it just didn't fit anymore. And if there were any feelings left, festering beneath the surface, they evaporated when the rotor split the clouds, or when his fists hit the punching bag. 

Not this time. Usually there was little anger behind his self-built walls, because Tommy had seen where anger led, at least in his father – not a role model he wanted to follow. This time, however, anger smoldered inside his body and, much to his annoyance, it was fueled by self-pity.  

His thoughts were a carousel of shouldn’t have’s: shouldn’t have opened up, felt so save, enjoyed it so much. Shouldn’t have fallen in love.  All the missed opportunities and supposed mistakes piled up in his mind, seeking an outlet. Somehow, Tommy often thought about the underground fights Eddie had mentioned, the ones he’d taken part in; they seemed interesting like a forbidden drug he’d never tried but longed to experience. It’s a fickle thing, the mind. It can convince you that something is bad, but at the same time incite you to do it. 

Tommy’s mind must have convinced him that underground fights are evil, but hitting people on the street somehow isn’t. It sounds stupid in his head, and even more so when Athena – however she found out about it, she immediately took charge of the case – sums it up. Her voice is soft, she’s not without sympathy: this is the woman he rescued from a sinking cruise ship. Essentially, a foolish endeavor, wasn’t it? She’s still a cop, she’ll connect the dots.

"Explain it to me again," she says – yes, gently, but also inquisitively, "why did you give the guy a black eye?"

"Wasn't my intention," Tommy reluctantly replies.

"Then what were your intentions?"

Athena’s hazelnut gaze rest on him, not without warmth. Tommy sighs. His intentions. He'd been asked the same question a few months ago, by Evan's friends and family, sometimes directly and sometimes more or less subtly. Even by her, at a dinner that made it clear that Evan somehow belonged to her family; an extended family that had to be protected, even from – or maybe especially – Tommy. Hadn't they been right? He was the one who’d broken things off. If Evan had been hurt, it was because of him. 

"Tommy?"

Athena is still waiting for an answer. But what answer does he have? Tommy doesn't know. Six months of happiness without reflection, a break from his routine; he should have suspected that wouldn't work. Where did it lead him, lowering his guard? Into a bleak precinct, blood on his scraped knuckles. This has nothing to do with Evan, or Athena, or anything from that life. It's all his own fault. 

"There was this guy, walking on the street with his girlfriend. He was snappy, complaining about her skirt, the way she’d been flirting with some waiter… he was obviously drunk. She seemed pretty uncomfortable."

"And then?"

 "And then," Tommy heaves a sigh,  "I confronted the man. Went up to him, told him that’s not how you talk to your girlfriend."

 "He didn’t like it."

 "He didn’t."

 "Why?"

 "Why what?" asks Tommy confused, blinking. The police station is brightly lit, the back of the chair presses into his spine, and he’s tired. His eyes are heavy, as is his whole body, the heaviness of a mistake, and such a silly one at that.

"Why did you hit him?" Athena asks in that voice that sounds like it's reserved for wayward adolescents. He had it coming, right?

Why. Is there an answer? The most obvious one is that the guy was an asshole and that you don't talk to your partner like that. But is Tommy the expert on that subject? He, who preferred not to talk at all to his partner. Who pulled up his barriers out of fear, out of cowardice, ain’t that the truth? 

"He turned hostile, then," he replies, and at least that’s the truth. "He said it's none of my business, it’s his right, all of that crap. It’s what they always say."

Tommy’s eyes meet Athena’s, and he can see that she knows that. That doesn't make it any better.

"So you gave him a smack."

"He started it," Tommy thinks he sounds like a defiant schoolboy, but it is what it is. "He pushed me, towards the road. I'm not easily thrown off balance, but…"

"You weren't quite yourself, you mean? Your arm swung forward and hit him in the face?"

"I defended myself because I thought he were going to push me in front of a car." 

"You're bigger and stronger than that man," she objects.  "Don’t you think…"

 "I didn’t think," he admits, expelling his breath like a sigh. 

He really didn’t, but he still remembers how it felt. It felt awfully good, a sense of satisfaction at finally channeling his anger. He wanted to hit him – exactly the reason why Eddie had sought out these fights back then, as stupid as it was. Just like him, Tommy had wanted to hit something or someone for a while, preferably his reflection. The man on the street was instead his father's reflection, in a way, and that was enough. 

Athena raises a brow and gives him that look, you don’t say!, but she suddenly rests her hands on the pile of papers on the desk that doesn't belong to her and sighs. This isn't even her precinct. Whatever she did to be here instead of any other detective, whoever called her... she answered the call for him. Tommy thinks he might be running out of favors, and he never demanded that he be repaid in any way for what he did to rescue her and her husband. 

"The girlfriend confirms your story," she says, and Tommy looks up in surprise. "She says he's been drinking too much, that she was afraid of him tonight, afraid he’d gonna push you on the street."

"It still wasn't right," he sullenly replies. 

"Hitting him? I don't know, sometimes people deserve a wake-up call." Now she looks at him inquiringly. "I'm not saying it's right to hit people," she quickly adds, "but the guy is not pressing charges."

 "What?"

Athena shrugs, "His girlfriend probably talked some sense into him. It would probably do you some good, too."

She rises from her chair, and while Tommy is still processing her words, she casually adds,  "Oh, I informed your emergency contact, you’ll be picked up soon."

"I don't have an emergency contact."

It's probably a pathetic confession, but that's the way it is. Athena cocks her head. 

"I don't think you got me right. I didn't say that I would call him, but that I already had. Because, Tommy, you do have somebody who cares, and not just one. Get used to it."

With these words, she leaves, and all he can do is look after her, confused and somewhat raw, as if she’d taken him apart and put back together rather carelessly. His gaze remains fixed on the doorframe through which she disappears, to be replaced by a new presence. Surely Tommy’s mind is playing tricks on him, or it’s his eyes. It can't be that Evan is standing there. He can't even now manage to call him Buck in his mind, the shame of having left him like with that name as his last word is overwhelming. Still, there’s no sign of anger on Evan’s face. He hasn't spotted him yet, still standing there searching, his ocean-blue eyes sweeping over the crowd.

He looks good. A little thinner than last time, which stings. As if he’s responsible for everything, even for Evan continuing his healthy life as if Tommy had never existed. Months have passed, why does he even care? Truth is, he will always care. The man has made so much of an impression, left such an indelible mark on his life. Why, Tommy can’t say, but then again, who can ever explain love? No one can predict if the fire inside might become a volcano. 

Finally, Evans gaze lingers on him. Leaning in the doorframe, he’s a tall man with an impressive face, Tommy sees the looks thrown at Evan. He tries to regard him the same way that the neutral observers in the room do, but that's nonsense. He may never be able to look at him that way again. 

Even now, there's no anger in Evans gaze, no resentment or anything like that. He’s been called to a precinct at the other side of town in the middle of the night, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. He saunters over, acting casual, but he’s not unaffected; Tommy recognizes when those muscles are tense, he still does. Evan drops onto the chair that Athena has recently vacated, his gaze curious. Pointing at Tommy’s knuckles, he remarks, "Did you really smash a guy's face in?"

He looks at him, also expecting an answer, and although Tommy is apparently free to leave, he doesn't want to. Evan deserves that, just as Tommy deserves to be here and to do penance in some way. Tommy's hands are in his lap; you can still see the marks from the handcuffs, but above all, you can see his bloody knuckles. 

"Right after that, I hit a lamppost," he admits. 

Not just because he’d been angry with himself for acting so stupid. A single swing, not even a particularly hard blow, but it had the guy screaming, writhing on the ground. Most of it was an act, Tommy knew that, but… still. It was a stupid thing to do, and part of him was punching out of a need to hurt himself for it. Yet, something inside of him wanted to keep punching the stranger, and he couldn’t let that happen.  

"You want to talk about it?"

He sounds so calm, so collected. Certainly not because Tommy also left his marks in Evan’s life. His curls are combed back, there's not a hint of a beard; he looks like a man who moved on. That’s all Tommy ever wanted, right? For Evan to move on. He’s not stuttering, he’s not angry. Tommy should be relieved, but he’s not. It would probably be easier to let a hint of annoyance bounce off him than that compassionate look. It breaks Tommy like nothing ever has before. 

"Are you drunk?"

"No." Tommy’s answer is quick like a shot, yet he sees the unspoken question in Evan’s eyes, and more words tumble out of his mouth,  "my father’s been drunk worth two lifetimes, I’d never."

Evan's gaze softens as he says,  "I wish you’d told me sooner."

There’s more to that remark, Tommy can almost hear it, like a clairvoyant roaming inside Evan’s mind. I wish we’d talked more.

That's his fault too, isn't it? Excursions and helicopter rides, nights on the beach, lazy mornings in bed – he distracted himself so thoroughly from the inevitable end that he never found the courage to talk. He never admitted that those six months with Evan meant more to him than superficial fun, than a pure savoring of life, carpe diem. Evan had long since been willing to give him more, to grant him more space than that one drawer in his closet. Tommy, however, had counted on the assumption he’d remain so erratic, that one day he’d realize that it was time to see what else was out there. Instead, he offered a man who was not worthy a place in his life, and Tommy offered a reason to leave that wasn’t the whole truth. 

Tommy lifts his head, seeking Evans's gaze. Maybe it's all a twist of fate. He doesn't believe in fate, but like all firefighters, he’s superstitious, at least a little. Two people turned up tonight, even though they didn't have to, to help him out. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but what if it does? He's already done something stupid tonight, and letting this chance go could be just as dumb. There’s something Athena hadn’t said, but he’d seen it in her eyes. That rescue mission back then, it had been a risk. More guts than brains, as people say. Can’t he do that again? Can’t he shut of his treacherous mind and just live? Tommy remembers his words when he left Evan, when he turned his back on him,  "You’re just gonna break my heart" – yet it happened anyway because he left. 

"Do you think it's too late?"

"Too late for what?" Evan asks, and maybe, just maybe, there’s a whiff of hope in his voice. 

"To talk. To explain. Maybe... start over."

"It's never too late for that," says Evan.

He smiles, and Tommy's heart breaks once more. But this time, he hopes, the pieces can be mended. 

[AO3 version] Special thanks to @iphyslitterator for sorting out a special brainworm! (I'm sure there's tons of more mistakes but my time and brain are limited, sorry)

[bambi-kinos]

A question to be taken lightly but not meant to offend you or anything. But who was/ is the walrus? like in the video, in the song(s) and what can it mean, really? ( I "know" the "official" content) but I don't really believe neither wrote songs w/o meaning anything or used double meaning words for nothing. I also don't think everything has a meaning or an answer.

I think the concept of the Walrus is amorphous and shifted around depending on their moods. A meaning can't be pinned down because the meaning changes depending on the context. The most reliable interpretation of the Walrus is that it demonstrates John's mindset depending on how he uses it. Otherwise I don't think there's anything special about the Walrus in of itself.

So the official story is that John wrote I Am The Walrus to get back at the people who were convinced that every Beatles song had a special encoded meaning. John responded with one of his nonsense poems and he ended up choosing Lewis Carrol's creation The Walrus as a touchstone. Right? Right.

There used to be a post floating around waxing rhapsodic about how John modeled himself on the Walrus and Paul on the Carpenter and this was because the Carpenter could ONLY be Paul and zomg you guiz SYMBOLISM. It was all so intentional!!! (Personally I think that shit gets more and more pretentious the more I think about it.)

It's a cute idea but it's missing out on one important factor: John didn't think in those terms. There is a connection between him, Paul, and Carroll in John's mind but it would only make sense to John and perhaps Paul. When John says he wrote it to bite back at critics, who were using their Ovaltine decoder rings trying to figure out the DEEP INTENTIONAL SYMBOLISM OF BEATLE SONGS, I think he meant it. He made the Walrus a touchstone because John loved Carroll's wordplay and poetry. They were aiming for an animal motif and it fit. It was a cute shorthand nod to his genuinely sociopathic partner, John got to watch a bunch of overeducated pencil jockeys trying to figure it all out, he laughed, good times had by all. The important part is that it wasn't a big deal.

But for John there was dismay on the way. People would not shut the fuck up about the Walrus and what it meant and John is getting increasingly angry because it doesn't mean anything and now a bunch of people are getting fired up over nothing and OOOOHHH GLASS ONIONNNNNN. So John puts in the Walrus again on Plastic Ono Band, again as a big middle finger to all of these blowhards and me-tooers all pulling on his coattails going "hey John! hey John! what about the Beatles! what about the Beatles John! what does it all mean John!" So John writes "I was the walrus but now I'm John" on the track God. The Walrus itself still does not mean anything to John, he's just weaponizing the perceptions of fans against themselves. In their minds "the Walrus" represented The Beatles and John's own Beatleness and John knew that. The boomer fans at the time were absolutely convinced that I Am The Walrus was a secret masterwork of unbreakable code...simply because they didn't understand it. "I don't get it so it must be super deep!"

And the thing is John hated that kind of thinking. He appreciated mystery sure but he was a lot more invested in accessibility. He wanted art to be for everyone, he wanted everyone to invest their own meaning into art. That was why he was so taken with Yoko in the first place, because Yoko's artwork is based in creating open ended experiences where the art itself is created by the thoughts and feelings and sensations you experienced while you interact with her exhibits. You don't get in the bag to look cool, you do it so you can have the experience of being in the bag, even if it was just "well that sucked." What John loved about it was the "YES" factor, that Yoko Ono wants the audience to create the art with her by interacting with her exhibits. Art is not a static thing where you sit on your ass and stare at it or listen to it, art is the thing that happens inside your head when you hear "I am the Eggman/I am the walrus/googoo gah joob" and think "what the fuck does that mean" and then you develop a personal interpretation with your thoughts and feelings that belongs to you and you alone. (And that is why Yoko is actually kinda underrated! She was too hip for the room man. You just don't get it man....)

But the fans and overeducated idiots didn't want to do that. They wanted strict prescriptions for interpreting Beatle music. Many fans refused to appreciate I Am The Walrus for what it is: a silly and slightly lewd/violent nonsense poem John probably worked out on the back of an envelope. (Written with Paul's bottom as a table, I'm sure.) They wanted it to be more than it was instead of appreciating the joy that John gifted them by singing the song for them.

So John turned it around on them in God and on Plastic Ono Band. They want to believe in the Walrus so much? Fine. He'll kill the Walrus. It's dead. There is no more Walrus, there are no more Beatles, there is only John, and Yoko, and John&Yoko. The fans wanted the Walrus to mean something so badly that they strangled the poor thing to death and John had to put it out of its misery. That poor fucking creature, John just wanted it to amuse the children and look what the cretins made him do. The Walrus was supposed to be a cute nod to Lewis Carroll, not be a fucking Beatle thing!

It's important to note John's (warranted) bitter and volatile mindset towards the Beatles machine. I want to make a whole post about it someday but John was pretty furious and I think he was right to be. But he also chose to deal with it by killing what the fans loved. I think he was justified but also, oof.

Wrt the music video: I believe it's Paul in the Walrus costume right? George referenced this in the When We Was Fab music video where there's a left handed bass guitarist in the Walrus mask. So yes, there was a link to Paul and the Walrus in the beginning. I think this was part of John's private joke. Paul was the closest to his heart so of course Paul should get to play the character from John's favorite poet. John even references this in Glass Onion, the last time he tried throwing Paul a bone. But again, I don't think it meant anything overly deep or significant as a symbol in of itself. The Walrus doesn't mean anything innately.

But then we get into the interesting stuff: John referencing "the Walrus" in his Just Like Starting Over demo. Specifically referencing taking the Walrus back to bed! Well, well, well. And I believe there's an interesting line from Paul in 1979 isn't there where he says "I am the walrus/was the walrus but now I'm Paul" in an interview or something? I may be making that up, I'm not sure.

So what does this big slurry mean?

I think that the Walrus started out in John's mind as just a cute literary toy for Beatle fans to puzzle over. The overeducated and overeager pencil jockeys got one in the eye trying to make sense of gibberish and John got to indulge in his love of cosplay by sticking Paul in a Walrus suit. And it should have ended there, except it didn't, everyone and their dog assumed the Walrus meant something (what about the poor Eggman???) and John tried to pacify them and then that didn't work and then he goes FINE YOU DON'T GET TO HAVE A WALRUS ANYMORE. And he pulps the Walrus.

The change comes with John's shift in mood. Paul's arrest in Japan legitimately threw John for a loop IMO. That's when John started softening towards Paul, that's when Bermuda happened and his creativity came roaring back. The sudden reminder that he could lose Paul forever and then John's realization "I can steer my own ship, I'm in charge of my own life!" which resulted in John starting the process on leaving Yoko under his own power, a very vital point. John was getting his own divorce lawyer according to industry rumors. John was reemerging as the hero he needed to be to save himself and forgive Paul.

All of that culminated in "the time has come the walrus said/for you and me to stay in bed again." If the Walrus charts John's inner landscape and his personal feelings towards Paul then this means he was coming out of the fugue and wanted to dote on Paul again, like he used to. Figure out where they could go from here. And it seems John was very optimistic about his future with Paul to be perfectly honest. Taking Paul back to bed after all that time? And Paul seems to have been the one who instigated it! He was still hot for John! Whew!

So all that IMO is what the Walrus "really means." I don't think it's definitive and there's lots of stuff I am definitely missing and didn't include here. Someone I used to know once said she didn't put anything past John because he read everything and kept it all stored in his head, so who knows maybe the jerk off interpretation about the Walrus and the Carpenter and Paul is true.

But ultimately it's just a word with no genuine connection to its animal counterpart and the purpose of it is as a demonstration of John's personal thoughts and feelings mostly (but not always) relating to Paul McCartney.

[bonewaryreblogs]

I’ve decided how Batman meets Danny Phantom.

While connecting characters between DC and DP, I came across the DC villain Pariah, who shares a name with DP villain Pariah Dark. I’ve decided that these two are the same person and fighting him will bring Danny Phantom into contact with Batman, or at least get Danny onto his radar as someone to look into further.

But first, some backstory...

Since we don’t know much about Pariah Dark, other than being sealed away a long time ago, I’ll mostly be pulling his backstory from Kell Mossa, a scientist who accidentally brought his universe to Anti-Monitor’s attention and watched it be destroyed as the only survivor, renamed Pariah by his savior, Monitor (Anti-Monitor’s “good” twin brother). He involuntarily watched Anit-Monitor destroy several other universes, blaming himself for (supposedly) releasing Anti-Monitor, though he is later assured that Anti-Monitor was just doing what he had always done and Pariah had simply diverted his path of destruction. Pariah is dropped off in a random universe, where he tried to live a normal life, though he was constantly drawn to impending disasters that he had no hope of preventing, as no one heeded his warnings (like a mix of Pokemon’s Absol and Greek’s Cassandra); he was killed and revived a few times, only to eventually fall through the cracks of reality and driven insane. Instead of being found by Flash and sent to the “paradise world” called  Earth-Flash.1, Pariah became the first inhabitant of the newly formed Ghost Zone pocket dimension and declared himself the Ghost King, sometimes calling himself Pariah Dark. (He may or may not have connections to the cosmic Great Darkness, I haven’t decided)

Pariah decides to use the ghosts of the Ghost Zone to invade the living realm of Earth but now he needs a lieutenant he can trust...

After turning completely evil, Eclipso was replaced as the Wrath of God (yes, THAT God, cuz apparently He exists in DC) by Aztar, who instead calls himself the Vengeance of God, and is bound to a human host to keep him from turning evil like Eclipso did. He’s had many hosts over the millennia and his most recent host, James “Jim” Corrigan, had been the hero Spectre with Aztar since Jim’s “death” around 1940, but he was getting old and had chosen Detective Crispus Allen of the Gotham Police Department as his replacement in 2005. The ritual to transfer Aztar’s host was interrupted by Pariah Dark and Aztar was “recruited” as Pariah’s lieutenant, killing Jim and leaving Cris unpowered and in distress. Pariah convinces Aztar to join him by promising freedom to choose his own path rather than be tethered to some goodie-two-shoes human and Aztar accepts. Danny is called on to defeat Pariah by the ghosts that don’t want to serve the self-proclaimed King (most of whom end up being Danny’s various Rogues Gallery) and is thrust into leading the resistance; meanwhile Cris enlisted the help of Batman and the rest of the Batclan (and maybe some members of Justice League Dark), who join the resistance as well.

I’m thinking this will be the first big crisis Damian will participate in as Robin, though I’m not sure if I want Duke Thomas (Signal) to have been recruited yet or not; if he has been recruited already, he’s still in training and hasn’t become Signal yet. I’ll get my timeline ironed out for my next post.

Various other connections:

There is a Pandora in both continuities, so after she “accidentally” released the Crime Syndicate (evil JL) into this universe, she decided to move and found the new Ghost Zone to be acceptable, as the inhabitants amused her. She recognized the ectoplasm that saturated the pocket dimension as being related to the Fountain of Life but didn’t bother looking into it or telling anyone because she didn’t want to risk them ruining her fun. She let the Box Ghost steal her box and toyed with Danny before agreeing to help him retrieve it. She could probably take down Pariah on her own but that would be really hard and this resistance thing sounds like more fun than she’s had in ages anyways.

DC Cronus is more-or-less the same as the god from Greek mythology but has also been equated with Chronos, the Greek god of time. After Cronus was imprisoned in Tartarus by the Olympian Gods, Clockwork was given his duties as the God of Time by Hera, loosely working with the Quintessence’ Observants.

Speaking of, DP’s Observants seem to fulfill a similar role as DC’s Quintessence, so I’ve decided that the Quintessence are the gods in control but they employ the Observants to catalogue and categorize events for the Quintessence so they don’t have to do everything themselves. The Observants are the ones who decide what deserves the attention of the gods in charge. I’ll probably have the Quintessence decide the fate of the Ghost Zone after Pariah Dark is defeated.

The Guys in White are an obvious reference to the Men in Black. Looking up various government agencies in the DC Comics, the Bureau of Normalcy (formerly Bureau of Oddities) seems to serve a similar function, so I’ve decided that GiW and BoN are both departments of the larger Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), where the GiW are specifically focused on eliminating threats from ghostly (and similarly paranormal) origins, while the BoN handles cover-ups and convincing the public that everything is “normal” and work both in the field and in cyber security. BoN people often accompany other agencies to run interference so the other agencies are able to do whatever they need to do without fear of being seen or regular people getting in the way. The GiW was beginning to investigate the uptick of paranormal activity in Amity Park and would have contacted SHADE if they ever discovered Danny Phantom was anything more than an ordinary ghost.

Other departments include Knightwatch (general military enforcement), the Suicide Squad (generally works with Knightwatch, enlisting the aid of established heroes and villains alike, the roster constantly changes), Squad K (which is specifically designed to take out Superman if he ever went rogue), the Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive or SHADE (focused on talent acquisition), Project Cadmus (technically Research and Development, but actually trying to clone heroes for SHADE), the Department of Metahuman Affairs or DMA (the public face of SHADE), and probably others I couldn’t find in my quick search. 

[larathia]

Dragon Prince thoughts - no really, Magic = Love

You hear the phrase within the series now and again - usually repeated in the same platitudinous way you'd hear "friendship is magic" on My Little Pony episodes. It's treated as a kind of optimistic affirmation, not something literally real.

But I think the real secret to the magic in this setting is it is, in fact, actually literally the case that Magic and Love are very deeply intertwined, and I think that's the secret of Dark Magic too. Because, as Pratchett once observed, hate and love are very nearly the same thing, emotionally. It's the same focus, the same passion, just hate has its back turned.

I think, too, that the majority of people in the setting therefore have it backwards. It's not that "humans have no magic". Everything that lives has the potential for magic. It's that humans have traded an 'in' on one type of magic for being generally capable of doing any and ALL types of magic, as a species.

...Oh...I've probably got to explain this. Lemme put a cut here before I go breaking people's dashes.

Mmmk. Let me take this in ...more or less order.

Humans aren't WITHOUT magic - they're highly GIFTED at magic.

That's nonsensical on the face of it, but really think about it in a big-picture way. Elves, all the elves, are born with one kind of magic. They don't get to choose it. It defines their culture, their tribe, their worldview. Regardless of whether an individual elf is suited to any of that.

Consider, as a really quick and obvious example, Rayla. Rayla the moon elf, who almost never uses illusions, who's typically highly honest and straightforward, an assassin who really sucks at being an assassin. Yes, she has access to Moon arcana, but not much, and she's not suited to it. The moon elves that are most connected to their arcana ARE secretive, prone to obfuscation, mystery, subterfuge. Personality meshing with the arcana they're born to, creating a powerful mage.

Consider the sun elf Karim, stated in canon to be the strongest sunfire mage bar none. He's direct. Bold. Strong physically and mentally. Ambitious, and unbending. These are all traits of the Sun arcana, and he shares them to an actually detrimental degree - but it makes him one hell of a sunfire mage. Who he is meshes with the arcana he's born with.

Consider, too, that every elf being born connected to an Arcana means every elf - however weakly - is directly bound to some aspect of the natural world, meaning there's a background drive to preserve and protect that aspect. They care, and caring is sort of like Stage 1 Love.

Now...let's consider how they almost HAVE to view humans. Pitiful, short-lived creatures, born without any connection to the arcana. How do you teach a blind man about colors? How do you explain sounds to the deaf? Elves are at a disadvantage trying to teach humans about magic because 1) any given elf knows only one arcana, and 2) they've had it their whole lives. Teaching someone how to sense it is a huge hurdle, and that's just the teacher. Tack on that every human's different and no wonder elves think teaching a human magic would take most of a human's lifespan just for basic spells.

Elves think of humans as...well, magically handicapped. Which makes humans angry and envious and...hateful. And because a lot of humans are approaching elves to learn magic because magic has power, they're...well. Firstly, not in the right mindset even at the start, and secondly, it's going to make the consumptive, destructive aspect of Dark magic look that much more attractive because fuck you, elves, fuck you.

The history of human magecraft is that of power-seeking. Of course it went wrong. But it didn't have to.

Look at Callum. He's done Dark magic, now and then, but never really took to it. To him, magic is beautiful. Creative. Wonderful. He's not in it for the power. He's in it because he loves it (LOVE) and because he wants to help his friends (CARE). He's not in this for glory or might, and even when he gets authority and title he has no problem handing both of them back. His most useful power, flight, was gained while trying to save someone else's life. Most of his magic is like that; something he works out when he needs to help someone else. It's very rare for him to play the badass, and when he does it's against another mage...and again, to save his companions.

He learns magic out of love. He practices it out of love. He mastered the Air arcana first, probably because it's very liberating and he's always kind of been bound, his whole life, to the royal family and its duty. But he can dip into other arcana when he needs to - something that stuns everyone else - because he's not treating it like Power to be grabbed. He tries his best to understand the natural forces around him, and when he taps into them, it's out of love. It's not that he's a natural genius (although the photographic memory and art training help a LOT) but simply that he approaches the entire situation differently than humans typically do.

[sarcasticace]

Episode 7. Little bit of a live reaction. The opening, very tragic. Very emotional. But the dialogue, I can't help it, its so funny. "Doctor, this is beyond me, but you are the worlds leading most expect. So smart and handsome. And cool too. If anyone can save her, it would be you." I'm exaggerating just a bit like I do, but really.... they were laying it on real thick.

But that's not what I want to talk about. I love how every member of the creature commandos, more or less, are different kinds of monsters. Either literally, they are a robotic killing machine or walking, talking corpse. Or it their nature/origin story are metaphors for what 'a monster' means in our society.

Nina is an outcast. The whole group are a bunch of outcasts, yes, I know, but Nina was born into the world of humans. As was Dr. P, but unlike him, Nina never fit in. Dr. P lived most of his life as part of the human world. He had a childhood. Fell in love. Had a daughter. Then as an adult, he was pushed to his limits. Broken. Had everything taken from him. By the greedy and corrupt who didn't see him as an equal. As lesser. Someone who they can inflict harm onto because who gives a shit about anyone who isn't on their level. Everyone else is less important than the pursuit of profit. And how dare he threaten that profit. Everything was taken from him until the only thing left was his rage.

On the other hand, Nina never fit in. She was bullied. Rejected. Other-ed. Her being a monster is a very obvious, not at all subtle metaphor for how society treats people who do not fall within the expected standard of how we should look, act, etc. I could go on but I think a lot of us here get it or know what that's like. To be treated like a freak for being different in some way that someone doesn't like or thinks is abnormal. Nina never connected with other humans. She connected with other 'monsters'. That is where she finally fit in.

And then, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, Nina dies. Seemingly. Most likely. Yeah, she's dead. No coming back from that. And as much as I'm sad that she's gone, in terms of the narrative, it was necessary. She was a casualty, an unnecessary casualty, of the actions of humans being awful to one another. Nina was never a monster. Waller was the monster. The princess was the monster. But Nina was an 'other'. She was expendable in Waller's eyes. That's why she was put on the Creature Commandos. Sent off to fight wars that weren't hers to fight. To suffer on their behalf so the humans don't have to. Die on their behalf. also of course nina dies and GI robot turns out to have been rebuilt. now its his turn to mourn her fuck you james gunn. Humans keep on being awful and we monsters pay the price.

Except this one time where the bride says fuck you.

[aishangotome]

Azel Radwan: Chapter 18 His Side Story

Chapter 18

Thank you @passthechloroform for providing the video for this chapter!

♡———♡

Enis: "On the day of the end, Tanzanite will lose its God."

Enis: "The moon will disappear, and the people will awaken from a long dream."

Enis: "With the death of the eternal God."

The prophecy of the end, said to have been left by the first Living God, may have been a message sent by a past Living God to a future Living God.

That one day you will surely die –- it is the first mercy that the former god gives to the people, and it is also the last mercy that the current Living God gives, lamenting the decline caused by faith.

-

There is a sign of someone approaching in the quiet desert night.

I sat up, leaning against a pillar of the ruins.

Basil: Prince Azel, the transfer is complete.

Azel: Thank you for your hard work. Were the guests from Rhodolite behaving themselves?

Basil: Yes, they were very cooperative. I don't think there were any suspicious reactions.

Azel: That's good.

Basil: I think the other members will be back soon.

Azel: Yes, I'll be waiting.

(...With this, the preparations for the plan are complete.)

(There is no need to bind that woman with debt anymore.)

I let the guests from Rhodolite roam freely within the country for a while, but as expected, they were good at maneuvering and I couldn't see a definitive connection to Obsidian.

However, they are not completely able to hide their connection, so I decided to switch to a policy of having them stay quiet before the end.

(The problem is how to get that woman out of the temple.)

(...I hope she'll just leave quietly.)

Basil: Prince Azel. Over there... I think I see a light in the hallway...

(...!)

Turning around, there is a light moving down the hallway, just as Basil said.

(Is she awake?)

(From the looks of it, she's looking for me.)

The light is on the left side of the temple.

It seems she has entered the forbidden area.

(...This is troublesome at the very last moment.)

Azel: Basil, could you please tell everyone to wait outside?

Azel: It seems that an uninvited guest has entered that room.

-

––This vast space deep within the temple seems to have originally been a place where the god gathered believers and gave oracles.

It is said that the first Living God handled political affairs here, listened to people's troubles, and built the foundation of divination.

(Tanzanite began here.)

(I wonder how far into the future the first god saw...)

The woman who wandered into the sacred space puts a lantern on the table and picks up a document.

That paper, spun with confidential information, is the most important and prohibited item in this space.

Azel: ––Have you been looking?

Emma: !

(Why of all things would she look at that?)

Letting out a sigh, I call out to the woman's back.

She seems to be aware that she has seen something she shouldn't have, as she didn't react in her usual carefree manner.

Azel: I warned you not to enter, didn't I?

The woman, her body stiff, turns around awkwardly and opens her eyes wide.

Emma: Prince Azel... that outfit...

(To be preoccupied with my clothes first...)

It was prepared by Kamal as a symbol of the end of the era of gods and the arrival of the human world.

When I am involved in the plan, I dutifully change my clothes and switch my mind to "killing the god."

It's not as if anything changes just by changing clothes, but this outfit is lighter since I don't have to carry the weight of a god.

(But I don't intend to tell her that much.)

Azel: There are things you should be more concerned about than my clothes, aren't there?

As I approach, the woman backs away with a strained look on her face.

Still, I corner her against the wall and put my arms around her waist so I can give her the "medicine."

Azel: You touched a taboo.

Azel: Do you think you can get away with it?

Emma: ...What... what is the taboo...?

Emma: The prophecy, this room...

Even in the dim light, I can see the woman's expression contorted in agony.

For some reason, my chest hurts.

Azel: ...Why do you have that look on your face like you're about to cry?

Azel: I told you at the castle, didn't I? That it has nothing to do with you.

Azel: Tanzanite itself is a dream to you.

Azel: When you wake up, you'll forget everything and return to your everyday life in Rhodolite.

Emma: You think it has nothing to do with me... do you really think that?

Emma: You think it has nothing to do with me... do you really think that?

Emma: Humans aren't that heartless.

Emma: ...Now that we've made a connection...

(This is why good people are troublesome. They don't abandon others just because they are strangers.)

(No...)

(Am I truly a stranger to you?)

*remembering a moment from the past*

Emma: If I'm going to make it, I want Prince Azel to be happy with it, of course.

Azel: .....

(I can still turn back.)

(...I wish that were the case.)

Azel: I told you before, didn't I? That I can show people sweet dreams or maddening dreams.

Azel: Everything you're seeing now is a dream.

Emma: There's no way I'll be deceived by such words--

Azel: If I say it's a dream, it becomes a dream.

Azel: That's the Land of Illusions.

I flick the lid of the small bottle I had hidden in my hand and take the liquid inside into my mouth.

Before the woman could grasp the situation, I covered her unguarded mouth.

Emma: ...Nn!?

(It will all be a dream anyway.)

I subdue her resistance with force and pry open her lips, which were tightly sealed in refusal, with my tongue.

While she opened her mouth without thinking, I quickly poured the medicine in.

I deepen the kiss, pressing our lips together tightly so that she can't spit it out, and hold her close until the liquid flows down her throat.

(What kind of face should I make when she wakes up next?)

Gradually, the strength leaves the woman's body.

After confirming that the medicine has taken effect and releasing her face, she weakly grabs my collar.

Emma: ...The... worst...

Azel: Too late for that, isn't it? You were the first one to say it.

Azel: That I'm an evil God.

(It's all a bad dream. ...For you, and for me.)

(Please forget it.)

The woman's hand, which had been holding onto me, falls limply, and silence returns.

I support her collapsing body with my arm to prevent her from falling.

Azel: ...You could have just obediently waited for morning.

(Then I wouldn't have had to hurt you more than necessary.)

(It wouldn't have been so... unpleasant.)

(You hopelessly kind person...)

Azel: I really don't understand.

Azel: Why do you take other people's problems as your own?

Azel: ...Is that what a normal human is like?

Kamal: No, it's not.

(...Oh, you were there.)

Kamal, who had been leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed at some point, puffs on the cigar smoke he was holding between his fingers.

Perhaps only my brother couldn't suppress his curiosity about what had happened inside.

Kamal: A normal human wouldn't worry about you, a God.

Kamal: It's disrespectful. A God is a being who saves people, not a being to be saved.

Kamal: But the you reflected in her eyes is not a God.

Kamal: The one who held back tears and desperately searched for you is not a God.

Kamal: This is what it means to become close.

Azel: …How troublesome.

Azel: I have no intention of becoming close.

(I've always been the wicked god to women.)

(The reason I didn't hide my true nature from the beginning was so that I could break up with her without any lingering feelings in the end.)

(I've never been kind.)

(...I think.)

Kamal: Seriously?

Azel: Seriously.

Kamal: …Poor you.

(Yes, I admit it's sad.)

Azel: Don't expect a God to have human emotions.

Kamal: Hmm?

Azel: What?

Kamal: Hey, I was wondering… why did you ask Enis to explain?

Kamal: You should have been told about the prophecy of the end too, right?

(...You're sharp.)

(Even Emma didn't notice.)

Azel: It was just a bother.

Kamal: Is that all? No, it's not, is it?

Azel: …It doesn't matter.

Kamal: Answer me properly. It's important.

Azel: …

(...There's no deep meaning.)

(It's just that I knew from the beginning that woman wouldn't stay silent if I said something like "the god is going to die.")

Azel: ...............For some reason, it was hard to say.

Azel: That's all.

(Even if someone else delivered the message, the result wouldn't change.)

(I threw everything at Enis, who is better at handling women than me.)

(…I should have just left it all to him, but for some reason I chased after her, but that aside…)

(.....)

(Why do I become such a fool as soon as that woman is involved?)

Kamal: Ah, as I thought...

Kamal: God doesn't know, does he?

Azel: Know what?

Kamal: That emotion you're holding in your chest right now...

Kamal: That's from a human heart.

At my brother's words, I unknowingly gasp.

If this murky, muddled, irritating discomfort is called having a "human heart" ---

(Being an ordinary person isn't easy.)

.

.

.

Chapter 19

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to leave me a tip here or buy me a coffee through the "Leave a Tip" button on my navigation bar!

[calissarowan]

Bloom: Sky and I are not currently on speaking terms.

Stella: I know his new hair is bad, but you gotta push through for love! Whatever happened, you can forgive each other.

Bloom: Oh, no, I’m not involved in this at all.

Stella: Eh?

Bloom: You know when I get really bad PMS every month? Well, Sky came in on one of my evenings where I was gonna eat all the ice cream and watch something I’m not really watching to remind me we had dinner reservations.

Stella: Oh, honey, I get it, you snapped, that’s okay, he’ll forgive you!

Bloom: No…you know how I’m connected to the Great Dragon, the most powerful force in all the universe that I sometimes invoke in a giant vortex of flames and power?

Stella: …Yes?

Bloom: Well, it was also on my hormone train, and very emotionally delicate, and since it is very powerful and flammable, it snapping at Sky to leave us and the ice cream alone…

Stella: Oh no.

Bloom: …The good news is we no longer have to try and pretend we like Sky’s new haircut…

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

Speaking of how Odysseus sees Eurylochus (could be seen as a part two to this post), I often think about this video Jorge made about Eurylochus where he talks about how Eury almost seems lost and like he can’t find his way due to how inconsistent his instrumental is.

I think it also implies something super interesting from Odysseus’ perspective too.

Eurylochus, as far as I can tell, only really has his Luck Runs Out motif that we almost exclusively hear paired with the rest of the crew. It’s something that he leads on, yes, but there is a moment where the crew uses it on their own (in Mutiny, when Perimedes stabs Odysseus) and therefore it feels like something much more dedicated to the crew as a whole. This could be something showing how much Eurylochus puts into the crew and how much of his life is dedicated to them, or it could also be something that shows how much more similar he is to the crew than to Odysseus (lumping himself in with them and further leading to the separation between Ody and the crew that I talk about in this post— can you tell I yap a lot about Eurylochus?).

But I think it’s interesting to look at it in a more meta way. EPIC is primarily told from Odysseus’ point of view, only changing after Eurylochus dies. So, every moment we have with him is strictly from Odysseus’ perspective and, therefore, the lack of distinction in Eurylochus’ music could easily be attributed to that.

Most of Eurylochus’ arc is implied— specifically when it comes to how he changes from Circe’s island to Mutiny and that’s led to a lot of interpretations from people that aren’t necessarily wrong due to the fact that nothing about him is very clear. And I don’t just mean people who view him as a selfish hypocrite, I also mean opinions that I hold too.

I, for example, strongly believe that there’s a real possibility Eurylochus wasn’t the only one who opened the windbag. He was definitely there and probably apart of it, but there are real implications in the show that he might not have done it alone and simply took responsibility out of guilt. It doesn’t absolve him of all wrongdoing, but it is something to consider when it comes to the discussions about his self-preserving nature versus how he prioritizes the wellbeing of the crew. That being said, these implications aren’t what’s directly in the text, through lyrics or music, so I could be totally wrong.

And that’s exactly my point; there isn’t a whole lot to Eurylochus to decipher, musically. Jorge likes to use the music to give the audience background information on characters (like how he uses Athena’s ensemble in Warrior of the Mind to tell us that Athena is amused by Odysseus fangirling over her or how we can sometimes hear Circe’s motif in regards to Scylla, both things he’s revealed on TikTok). This is the type of information that Odysseus might not necessarily know but that we get told through the music.

Eurylochus doesn’t seem to have anything like that.

Unlike pretty much every other character that has some level of distinction to them and how they interact with our primary perspective, Odysseus doesn’t have anything to connect with Eurylochus other than the rest of the crew. There’s nothing that is specifically tied to him and this carries on throughout the entire show, where he takes on other melodies and instruments depending on the context. While perhaps not intentional, Eurylochus being musically lost not only leaves a lot of his actions and motivations up to interpretation for the audience, but it also highlights just how out of sync he is with Odysseus.

Their primary conflict revolves around their inability to understand one another and it’s very clear that they both have views on the other that is incorrect. Odysseus believes Eurylochus to be too ruthless and yet too cautious to actually effectively use the philosophy and Eurylochus sees Odysseus as too arrogant, playing foolish games with the gods that will only get the crew killed. They’re both right, to a degree, but their inability to understand or even empathize with the other’s position is really what destroys them— something we see even in the very beginning. There is no musical tie to them and nothing musically surrounding Eurylochus to signal any other meanings to the audience— Eurylochus is just his Luck Runs Out melody, that again is intrinsically tied to the rest of the crew which makes it less distinctive to him as a character than, say, Open Arms for Polites.

And then comes Mutiny— where Eurylochus is the most musically distinct and yet, none of it is truly his. In the beginning, he hijacks Odysseus’ electric guitar (possibly a hint that he understands Odysseus more than Odysseus has, thus far, understood him) and, in the second half, the melody he sings is that of Survive— which was potentially the first time he truly doubted his captain in ten years— to a beat of The Horse and The Infant (that’s what my friend and I hear, anyways)— which is mostly just a tool used for foreshadowing Thunder Bringer. Then, the script flips and Odysseus is in Eurylochus’ position for the Luck Runs Out melody, possibly signaling that he’s finally beginning to understand Eurylochus for the first time since the start of the story. And, instead of going back to the lyrics of Luck Runs Out, Eurylochus turns to the specific use of the word ‘suffering’.

Because Eurylochus is so vague in his instrumentals, prioritizing the crew over his own well-being and identity, the times where he does falter into other melodies, particularly ones involving Odysseus, are very loaded with implications that you can interpret— like how Odysseus uses the concept of suffering as a motivator, associating it with Penelope and her ability to make everything worth it. Eurylochus, on the other hand, associates it with his loss of the will to survive, which is why I think it follows that song’s melody too.

But even then, Eurylochus is still followed by the voices of the crew with a melody that has never been his alone because Eurylochus, as a character, is defined by what he does for other people and, since Odysseus simply cannot understand being in that position, Eury’s music reflects that.

I just find it interesting that the character with the second most screen time has little to show for it musically, and I think that’s a good thing for showing Odysseus’ inability to see things outside of his perspective (or outside of a magical perspective; as in, he can’t relate to regular men), especially given that this is a flaw Eurylochus has as well. It could’ve been really easy to give Eurylochus a bass— which is known for being paired with guitars— or maybe a specific drum and call it a day, symbolically, but Jorge chose to keep him as only the voice of the crew with one mention of a bass and snare in Luck Runs Out.

Something about that intrigues me idk