#but it's their choice and they have to live with the consequences

[sillysiluriforme]

I love how your Adrien in la terreur is so gnc/nonbinary coded, like even amongst the rest of the sentimonsters he's somehow even more of a creature than them. I'll see your drawings of him with a shaved head and then him with luscious long locks of beautiful hair like Rapunzel and I'm like "Emilie and Gabriel just wanted the perfect child huh. They just didn't specify gender in whatever way." He's like a creature roaming in the forests stealing everyone's gender, or lack there of. He gives off Puck/Peter Pan vibes as well with the forever engrained Pinocchio life he shall live.

If someone’s gender’s been stolen it’s his like im sorry he’s not non binary he’s castrated 😭

No hate though ! ​you definitely picked up on the link between his androgyny (and consequent neoteny) and his lack of personhood.

He doesn’t get to have secondary sexual characteristics because that’d mean puberty, ergo adulthood, ergo autonomy. Growing up being gnc is never a choice for him so he grows to resent it. His story would be very different if he had been a girl.

I fear I may soon have to drop the adrien misogyny comic…

[luvmanifesting]

PERMASHIFTING SOON

haiiiii :3 okay so guys im scripting out this new world i’m creating, like a whole different planet entirely. ill be taking everything i’ve manifested here and bring it over to my new world im creating let me give you all a bit of fun facts about my planet/world im creating and some other stuff!

everyone who lives on that planet is automatically considered immortal

“human” race does not exist we can still obviously have human bodies but instead of “race” people will be categorized by rank in civilization (i have to figure out what our species would be called)

7 continents will exist

war will absolutely never exist

languages will be completely different the only language i might bring over is japanese which is my native language

before meeting anyone in that planet you will get a 10 second little mini-movie” of how a person acts and the experiences you will make with them

every choice you make will affect your life (butterfly affect) and you’ll know because everyone on the planet is given a little cute watch that monitors their decisions and warns them of the consequences it’ll have

this planet is absolutely and forever healthy, animals will never go extinct (im not bringing back the dinosaurs or whatever lol. maybeee idk)

everyone in this planet experiences has very strict morals they follow (crime doesn’t exist here)

wealth doesn’t exist and currency doesn’t exist (no, nobody steals everyone here shops normally and peacefully)

social media does not exist here (because there will always be something amazing and fun to do in this world, and people love creating memories with people in this world on polaroids instead of phones)

romance is genuine romance here none of that corny/harsh stuff people here know how to love

mermaids exist (friendly ones only), unicorns exist, Atlantis exists, cute fairies exist (but they only exist on a special continent and everyone respects the continent)

history in this world is completely different and rewritten

schools are immune to stressing anyone out and are always fun and the students here love coming to school

this planet is located in a different universe and different timeline

every continent respects each other (no racism here)

both genders are treated equally

religion does not exist (don’t come for me)

yeah lol this is just a slightly small but big preview after i finish this lol im perm shifting, so i won’t have any memory of this account!! i’ll miss you guys though 🤍

[halorvic]

December 30, 2024

Arijit Chakravarty: “Learn to live with it,” for other diseases doesn’t mean the same thing as we have applied to COVID. When we say we must learn to live with leprosy, we don’t mean let’s make sure everybody has leprosy. When we say we must learn to live with malaria, we don’t mean let’s make sure everyone gets malaria as often as possible, let’s keep mosquitoes lurking in our tanks outside our house. No one says you must learn to live with tuberculosis. Let’s let it spread as much as possible and see how that goes. No, we suppress those diseases every step along the way. We suppress dengue. We suppress tuberculosis. This whole idea that learning to live with the disease means permitting and encouraging its rampant spread and rapid evolution is just so many levels of stupidity that I don’t have a word for it.

Benjamin Mateus: I’d like to know your thoughts on Trump and RFK Jr., his choice for secretary of health? RFK Jr. has been at the head of vaccine disinformation and anti-public health policies. They are calling for ending any cooperation with the World Health Organization. These will have immense consequences for public health globally. These are political questions, but often I hear scientists do not want to engage in political questions and feel uncomfortable about it. Can we avoid the political implications?

AC: Look, it’s not that I don’t want to get political. It’s that if I was going to get political, I don’t know who to hold up as an example. There’s not a government in the world that has handled this correctly. There’s not a party in this world that’s handled it correctly. It’s all different flavors of stupid. Pick your poison. The Democrats went out of their way to normalize mass infection. They went out of their way to lie about the vaccines and say, “If you’re vaccinated, the pandemic was over.” That was completely unnecessary. It was completely at odds with science. Then you have Trump in the first Trump administration saying, “Why don’t you drink some bleach?” It would be a comedy if the consequences weren’t so grave. Frankly, wherever you go it’s like this. You look at Canada’s Bonnie Henry (Canadian epidemiologist and physician) in British Columbia. On day one she insisted that the kids wouldn’t get infected. Then she went and published a paper, put her own name on it, bragging about how herd immunity has been achieved because 90 percent of Canadian kids have been infected. In the UK you had the hearings on the public health response by the UK government. They noted that the government failed to act quickly. There was no clear policy approach, and they even abandoned contact tracing in mid-March of 2020. They even said that masks don’t help stop the spread and the virus wasn’t airborne. It’s a disgrace. Politicians worldwide have decided that they can brazen out their way through this. And the reason for this is they’ve been advised by a certain set of scientists, a relatively small number of scientists, who have essentially sold out. There are tens of thousands of papers, if not hundreds of thousands of papers, on the risks of COVID. You could literally find thousands of scientists who would be willing to go up in front of the House of Representatives and testify that getting COVID repeatedly is bad for you. Where are those scientists? Nobody’s listening to them. They’re listening to the scientists who whisper in their ears and say that everything will be okay. Ryan Gregory and I wrote a Substack blog post a while back called Calm Mongering where we talk about this—that people have weaponized the logic of science in the service of propaganda by saying, “that’s just a hypothesis.” As soon as you bring up a risk, these “experts” shut down the conversation about the risk by saying we’re not sure that’ll happen. But in fact, that’s an inversion of the precautionary principle. And it’s a lot of the tactics that were used by the merchants of doubt during the tobacco era. The merchants of doubt were a subset of a very small number of corrupt, well-connected and well-funded scientists who went out of their way to make public statements that were at odds with the body of literature that was coming out on lung cancer and tobacco. And we are seeing the exact same thing again. Big tobacco sponsored a bunch of corrupt scientists to create a counter-narrative to reality. This time around, who’s playing the role of big tobacco? It’s the politicians and governments. But the exact same thing is playing out. That nexus between this group of corrupt scientists and politicians who are actively funding their work is a global phenomenon. Unfortunately, I hate to say this, but it’s going to take reality breaking through to solve this. They’ve been very effective at convincing people that this is not a problem you need to worry about.

[danyseastar]

this is an INCREDIBLY disingenuous take, which doesn’t shock me in the slightest despite season two utterly destroying the fanon perception of alicent many have made up in their minds.

rhaenyra did not want to marry laenor, book or show. it is a direct consequence of viserys’ inability to be anything other than a complacent door mat, and daemon attempting to sully rhaenyra’s reputation in the hopes that viserys will marry her to him. the only husband she chooses is daemon.

the show did her far less justice in that it created a storyline of rhaenyra being given a ‘choice’ or at the very least the ‘illusion of choice’ before being forced to marry. the situation leading up to it is roughly the same minus that aspect is the book. i have no doubt in my mind that viserys would have concocted some scheme to bring the velaryon’s back into the fold regardless of rhaenyra’s reputation being put into question, but i digress. i’m not here to talk about hypotheticals.

rhaenyra has no intentions of not ‘doing her duty’ or ‘not sacrificing herself enough’ in this endeavor. this person is purposely misleading with their usage of only part of the quote (the one that fits the narrative they want to push). below is the dialogue for the scene this person is talking about:

the conversation, as this person so eloquently put, is not about rhaenyra wanting to ‘fuck whoever she pleases.’ it’s two teenagers put into a predicament they don’t want to be in; one because she both does not want to marry and wishes to find love with someone else, and the other a closeted gay man with no interest in women. the full quote is, “that we perform our DUTIES to our fathers, then each of us dines as we see fit.” rhaenyra had no initial interest in not having trueborn children with her husband. this is further proven with the season one episode seven line, “i had hoped to bear your [laenor’s] children.”

another point i’d like to make is WHY exactly is it seen as such a character flaw to not want to be looked down upon, or taken advantage of? to want freedom and flights of fancy and the ability to be happy? a certain someone DID her duty, and she wasn’t happy. she SACRIFICED everything, and she still wasn’t happy. she ultimately decides to gift her sons on a silver platter to the enemy in her pursuit of protecting her daughter and granddaughter; after a conversation where she admits that she was jealous of rhaenyra, for finding that happiness she herself was unable to grasp. this is not a moral failing on rhaenyra’s part. i don’t care what the in world ethics are of any given situation, i’m not going to sit back and look at a system meant to hurt women and root for it, whether my favorite character supports it or not. whether i deem it the ‘safest’ option (it isn’t) for my favorites lives to continue. how is anyone meant to break the wheel if they continuously allow themselves to be stepped on, or god forbid uphold it for their own personal gain?

‘i’m supposed to root* for her?’ you don’t have to root for her. you’re not obliged to. you’re not going to be burned at the stake. you’re not special for siding with overt female subjugation because the only women you deem to deserve better are those who perform their duties unwillingly and sacrifice their bodies and minds in the process. those who don’t fit into mold of the patriarchy be damned, the imperfect victims that they are, the ‘bad’ women of society.

[violettathepiratequeen]

The Writers of BtVS

So because I'm a nerd, and because I was curious, I compiled a list of the credited Buffy writers and their episodes, mostly to check for their own consistency, haha. And because I thought it was interesting enough to share:

WRITERS:

Joss Whedon

Welcome to the Hellmouth

The Harvest

Nightmares (with David Greenwalt)

Out of Mind, Out of Sight (with Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden)

Prophecy Girl

When She Was Bad

School Hard (with David Greenwalt)

Lie to Me

Ted (with David Greenwalt)

Innocence

Becoming, Part 1

Becoming, Part 2

Anne

Amends

Doppelgangland

Graduation Day, Part 1

Graduation Day, Part 2

The Freshman

Hush

Who Are You?

Restless

Family

The Body

The Gift

Once More With Feeling

Lessons

Chosen

Dana Reston

Witch

David Greenwalt

Teacher’s Pet

Angel

Nightmares (with Joss Whedon)

School Hard (with Joss Whedon)

Reptile Boy

Ted (with Joss Whedon)

Faith, Hope, and Trick

Homecoming

Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali

Never Kill a Boy on the First Date 

The Puppet Show 

The Dark Age 

Phases 

Killed By Death 

Matt Kiene

The Pack

Inca Mummy Girl (with Joe Reinkemeyer)

Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden

I, Robot… You, Jane

Out of Mind, Out of Sight (with Joss Whedon)

Ty King

Some Assembly Required

Passion

Joe Reinkemeyer

Inca Mummy Girl (with Matt Kiene)

Carl Ellsworth

Halloween

Howard Gordon

What’s My Line? Part 1 (with Marti Noxon)

Marti Noxon

What’s My Line? Part 1 (with Howard Gordon)

What’s My Line? Part 2

Bad Eggs

Surprise

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

I Only Have Eyes For You

Dead Man’s Party

Beauty and the Beasts

The Wish

Consequences

The Prom

Living Conditions

Wild at Heart

Doomed (with David Fury and Jane Espenson)

Goodbye Iowa

New Moon Rising

Buffy vs. Dracula

Into the Woods

Forever

Bargaining, Part 1

Wrecked

Villains

Bring on the Night (with Douglas Petrie)

Elin Hampton

Go Fish (with David Fury)

David Fury

Go Fish (with Elin Hampton)

Helpless

Choices

Fear Itself

Doomed (with Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson)

The I in Team

Primeval

Real Me

Shadow

Crush

Bargaining, Part 2

Life Serial (with Jane Espenson)

Gone

Grave

Sleeper (with Jane Espenson)

Showtime

Lies My Parents Told Me (with Drew Goddard)

Thania St. John

Gingerbread (with Jane Espenson)

Jane Espenson

Band Candy

Gingerbread (with Thania St. John)

Earshot

The Harsh Light of Day

Pangs

Doomed (with David Fury and Marti Noxon)

A New Man

Superstar

The Replacement

Triangle

Checkpoint (with Douglas Petrie)

I Was Made to Love You

Intervention

After Life

Flooded (with Douglas Petrie)

Life Serial (with David Fury)

Doublemeat Palace

Same Time, Same Place

Conversations with Dead People (with Drew Goddard)

Sleeper (with David Fury)

First Date

Storyteller

End of Days (with Douglas Petrie)

Douglas Petrie

Revelations

Bad Girls

Enemies

The Initiative

This Year’s Girl

The Yoko Factor

No Place Like Home

Fool For Love

Checkpoint (with Jane Espenson)

The Weight of the World

Flooded (with Jane Espenson)

As You Were

Two to Go

Beneath You

Bring on the Night (with Marti Noxon)

Get it Done

End of Days (with Jane Espenson)

Dan Vebber

Lovers Walk

The Zeppo

Tracey Forbes

Beer Bad

Something Blue

Rebecca Rand Kirshner

Out of My Mind

Listening to Fear

Tough Love

Tabula Rasa

Hell’s Bells

Help

Potential

Touched

Steven S. DeKnight

Blood Ties

Spiral

All the Way

Dead Things

Seeing Red

Drew Z. Greenberg

Smashed

Older and Far Away

Entropy

Him

The Killer in Me

Empty Places

Diego Gutierrez

Normal Again

Drew Goddard

Selfless

Conversations with Dead People (with Jane Espenson) 

Never Leave Me

Lies My Parents Told Me (with David Fury)

Dirty Girls

So the conclusion I've come to is... in my own fanfic writing projects, I sometimes have works that I know are very good and are received well. And there are some that I know just stink, and the lower interaction reflects it. It's pretty comforting to know that for professional writers, the same thing is true.

Jane Espenson, for instance, beloved by Spuffies everywhere for being our man on the inside, ALSO co-wrote "Gingerbread," my least favorite ep ever.

Douglas Petrie is, in my opinion, absolutely an undercover Spuffy, or at least understood the assignment well enough to fake it. And I love him for being the first to write Wesley, for breaking Bangel up one of the times in S3, for writing "Fool for Love," for strengthening Spike's character in every ep that included him.

And David Fury... look, I know he gets a lot of flack, but I think he doesn't actually hate Spike as much as it seems. Looking at his list of episodes and the messages I know to be in them, I think he's just VERY pro-soul, and can't wrap his head around a vampire being good without one. But once Spike does get his soul... well, we need look no further than "Showtime."

But really, let's all bow down to Rebecca Rand Kirshner. For "Out of My Mind." For "Tabula Rasa." For "Help." For "Touched." For some of the sweetest Spuffy moments in all her other eps.

[velvet4510]

Magda Should’ve Been Peter’s Mother in the Fox X-Men Movies

Think of how much better the X-Men prequels would’ve been if they’d just stuck with the comics and written Magda as Peter’s mom instead.

Apocalypse could’ve opened with flashbacks of Erik and Magda’s happy few months (maybe even years) together in the 1950s - with Erik living with her under an alias, probably Max or Magnus Eisenhardt - before he suddenly gets an unexpected lead on Shaw and realizes he can’t live in peace while Shaw is still out there, so he reluctantly leaves Magda. The very next day poor Magda wakes up to find him gone and is despondent. Then she suddenly pales and goes running into the bathroom. Cut to her in the doctor’s office, finding out she’s pregnant and bursting into tears.

That would’ve enabled Magda to be in the films, without being fridged.

That would’ve given Magda some real characterization, showing that despite being abandoned, she managed to successfully raise a mutant child all by herself in an era long before the world knew about mutants, let alone an era that was rather unforgiving toward unmarried mothers. (Technically she raised two mutant children, of course, but let’s assume the films still would’ve been legally unable to mention Wanda.) Then we could’ve seen her reaction in the present day to finding out her lost love and father of her son is actually Magneto, the international fugitive.

That would’ve shown that after emigrating to America, Erik understandably figured he’d never see Shaw or any Nazis again, and he did make an effort to move on with his life peacefully before he quite accidentally found out where Shaw was and started chasing him.

That would’ve shown that long before becoming Magneto, Erik did try to have a normal life among humans, but ultimately chose to let it go.

That would’ve shown that instead of being the product of a random fling or one-night stand, Peter was born from love - Erik and Magda were genuinely in love, but ultimately, he couldn’t prioritize her over his personal demons, so he left.

That would’ve given even more depth to Erik’s decision to devote his life to chasing Shaw, revealing that in doing so, he gave up on love and a chance of watching his son grow up.

That would’ve avoided the stupid character-arc whiplash that is Erik settling down among humans long after becoming Magneto and the events of DOFP, events which should’ve only reinforced his commitment to being Magneto regardless of legal consequences.

That would’ve avoided the stupid misogynistic writing that is Erik meeting Magda and having a child ONLY for the narrative purpose of Magda and the child getting immediately fridged.

That would’ve added depth to his relationship with Charles - instead of Charles simply being his first love, Charles actually opened his heart to love again after he’d long ago decided that pursuing Shaw was more important than love. And while Magda knew him under an alias, Charles immediately knew his real name and everything about him.

That would’ve given an even deeper explanation as to why Peter wants to know Erik. He doesn’t just want to meet his dad. He also wants to know why his dad ever left them, if his dad loved his mom as much as she thought he did. Thus later on in the films he would’ve learned about his dad’s past, about his own family roots in the Holocaust.

That would’ve forced Erik to be confronted with the consequences of his choice in the rest of the movie, finding out that he chose hate and revenge over love and fatherhood. Which would’ve led to massive character growth on his part.

And it would’ve led to a natural, inevitable focus on Erik’s relationship with Peter for the rest of the movie, and the series overall.

[zalia]

And this is why I had to delete my Reddit account to stop myself getting into fights about lore because the lack of understanding (and interest in) about how story *works* and about characters etc. was just... infuriating.

In the wider lore community, it does feel like there's a lot of people who see the narrative as a puzzle to be solved which has an objectively correct 'answer'. Or perhaps more, they see the narrative as a set of objective 'facts' that are stated clearly and can be learned so that they can list them off (as well as a perspective that they are the main character, so *obviously* the world must conform to their views and anything else is bad story). I think this is why you also get a lot of people who complain when characters aren't 'logical' or choosing the most objectively correct course of action 100% of the time. To this brand of fan, the story is a puzzle and *they* have solved it (while sitting at home on their computer in relative safety and comfort, with a surplus of time to spend thinking and dissecting every bit of info) and they don't get why the characters haven't (y'know, because of the trauma, living in a high stress situation under threat of apocalypse, where there are actual consequences for their choices - in the case of Eramis specifically... the Vanguard executing Eramis while leaving, say, Saint-14 alive, would really make it clear that the Eliksni in the City are second-class citizens who can expect harsher treatment legally, which doesn't really look great from the standpoint of ending violence). It's really frustrating to deal with, especially when it leads to 'loremasters' putting out information that is wrong or misleading, because they cannot do anything but the most surface level reading of a text - for example, one specific loremaster having a short video about how incredible Lord Shaxx is and how he's the strongest and best because he defeated Felwinter easily so many times! Ignoring that the lore is pretty clear that Felwinter was not trying to win. He was not there with the purpose of winning a fight. He was buying time and working to get Shaxx to trust him enough to side with the Iron Lords (and get access to the Seraph Bunker beneath his fortress). (I love Lord Shaxx, he is great, but we do not know how he would fare in a fair fight against Felwinter). It does feel like anything that isn't spelled out in block caps in a way a 3-year old could easily understand gets ignored or just... not understood. So I am absolutely unsurprised that Eramis and her story is being misunderstood so badly. (apologies for the rant, it is something that has been bugging me basically since I got into Destiny).

Eramis Executors are up in arms that our favorite, bitter, lesbian crab didn’t receive a bullet to her head to no one’s surprise. What happened to the overarching themes involving forgiveness and mending the wounds of the past to build a better future for everyone resonating with people? Does the Traveler and what it has been representing for 10 years mean nothing when it comes to Eramis? Were we supposed to abandon the power of friendship? Is punishment with no consideration the only way of dealing with those who have committed wrong acts that people know of?

[areyoudoingthis]

i love talking to my friends who also have shitty parents cause they immediately understand the situation without me needing to explain and it's like "one of those conversations?" "yeah"

[mamawasatesttube]

peak timsteph to me is like, some situation where they are in the heights of their divorce era, but something happens that gets steph real rattled, and tim doesn't want to comfort her himself but he doesn't want her to be completely alone with it either. so she hears a knock at the door and opens it to find a plate full of steaming hot mashed potatoes. he's nowhere to be found but she knows no one else would've known what her number one comfort food is. the presence of the potatoes means something. so does his absence. who else knows her like he does? it haunts her every time she sees the scars on the nape of his neck. (not that she sees those often. there's a reason he keeps the cowl up and his hair long, these days.)

[crabsnpersimmons]

swapping Y/N's with @starriegalaxy!!

i'm still learning magma, so starrie and i decided to draw our moons swapping Y/Ns from our AUs!

if you haven't yet, check out Starrie's Fear Factor AU: https://www.tumblr.com/starriegalaxy/739357795303014400/dca-x-scared-of-animatronics-mascotsreader-au she's got lovely sketches and drabbles and her DCA designs are so huggable!

[plotdesigner]

slides in because this au is so cool!!! so here's an adar scene after this one?? @greenleaf4stuff

Adar waited until he was back in the shed he'd transformed into both storage and his sleeping quarters, waited until his guards were dismissed, waited until he was before the box he kept Morgoth's crown in -

Only then did he finally let his knees go weak. He did not so much kneel as falter before the box, using it to steady himself as relief surged through him.

He had come to the land of Eragion believing he'd face an alliance between Mairon and the elves. He'd called in decades worth of favors to have enough troops, enough war machines, enough food. If Mairon had managed to obtain elves as allies, by trickery or by greed - either way, they'd both want the nascent Mordor annihilated. Adar would have to nip their power in the bud.

(He couldn't have even a season of peace! Two months after Mordor had been founded and Mairon came sauntering back - as if Adar would not recognize him, as if Adar hadn't known him the second he'd felt his boot in his ribs - but they both knew that Adar knew the explosive consequences of attacking Mairon in the heart of his city. Dared him to chase him to Eragion despite it being an obvious trap. Of course it was a trap. But what choice did Adar have? Should he simply let the threat to his children build until they were all crushed?)

A risky battle was better than to wait for death, but now there might not even be a battle at all. The odds were still good he'd need the numbers of all the Uruk gathered, not just those who had followed him to Oroduin, but now -

An elf lord asking him for help. Mairon's current identity and location, decent odds of cooperation within the city, and the sheen of legitimacy for Mordor, all offered up on a platter.

Adar didn't need an entire elf city. He just needed it to not fight him long enough to find and destroy Mairon. (And if that meant the risk of the Maia exploding happened far away from Mordor? So much the better.) But the elves would assume he craved it as Morgoth and Mairon had craved to control and destroy the cities of the first age. If he took control of it and then gave it back intact, it would at minimum buy time from the elves to retreat. Maybe leniency. Maybe legitimacy.

No, legitimacy was the most valuable thing an alliance and a political marriage offered. The dwarves had spent over a thousand years getting stomped upon by the elves before they'd managed to work out something like a peace; Men had an easier time of it, but their lives were so ephemeral - easy enough to barter land and acceptance when they lived and died in a blink. The Uruk were the hands of the enemy, a warped mirror; they were everything the elves feared about themselves, and that was before getting into the thousands of years of killing each other. It would be no easy task to surpass that past.

On the other hand, elves loved hierarchies, and order, and saying they hated kinslaying. If Adar married an elf, he would be kin to elves; if Adar married an elf lord, he would be like a lord; things like kin and elf and lord rarely stopped elves from killing each other, but it lowered the odds.

It was risky and desperate, but worse plans had succeeded. He'd split Mairon open, and he'd made Oroduin erupt; successfully marrying an elf lord to kill Mairon again, negotiating a truce with the elves, and getting home without someone killing him sounded like a third feat to match those two.

Now he simply had to make sure the marriage went through. He'd vowed to keep it purely political, and that suited him; elves had plenty of rumors about the appetites of orcs, and he had little interest in feeding any of them. His husband would be safe with him, would work with him, and that was all that would be needed.

It was all the other Moriandor had asked of him.

Adar opened the box. Morgoth's crown rested within, of course, but Adar pulled out the box's other precious cargo: ancient braids tied with ribbon. Foxfur brown, spiderweb blonde, sunset orange, fire red -

There was no marriage in Angband. Loyalty was to Morgoth and his lieutenant alone. But even Mairon's all seeing eye missed some things, and those who had forged the Uruk from their own flesh had knit themselves together, once.

"Another shall join you soon," he told them, the last remnants of his old life. "We will be free of Mairon's influence, and our children will be saved."

And if his heart beat a little faster at the sight of the elf -

(The one who'd braved a battlefield to barter with him. The one who had offered himself up body and soul for his city. The one who had stood before him, fear in his eyes, and had faced Adar anyway.)

He had always had a weakness for pretty things. He had always had a soft spot for those dumped in the hell that was Mairon's playground. It was simply the logic of the body to feel excited.

"...I don't know where we'll find an elf efficient," he said, half to himself, half to the braids. He hung them all delicately back in the box before running a hand through his hair. "If we cannot marry as elves, then we will trade hair. If he wants this alliance, he will understand."

Of Convenience

(Adar x Celebrimbor, some hinted Annatar/Celebrimbor in the background. Celebrimbor is in Adar's camp but the uruk have not started attacking Eregion yet - he discovered Anntar's deception early and got out of the city. And straight into Adar's arms, er, camp.)

Welp, got inspired by my own "marriage of convenience/political marriage" idea and silverscars edit and wrote a short snippet. Enjoy everyone!

“Give me your city,” Adar proposed – or rather, demanded. Celebrimbor felt himself freeze up at the other’s intent gaze. “Surrender it. Put your city into my hands, and I will spare your subjects.”

Celebrimbor swallowed. He felt as if he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Every minute he hesitated, the orcs were readying their weapons and advancing on his beloved Ost-In-Edhil, bringing with them the promise of death and destruction.

And on the other hand, there was he, and the danger he posed to everything the smith loved and held dear.

But he couldn’t just lay the keys to the city at Adar’s feet, could he?

“What guarantee do I have?” Celebrimbor replied, refusing to be cowed. “That you will not just take my surrender and do with it as you please?”

Adar stepped closer towards him – the smith tried to hold himself up straight, shoulders squared back, the very picture of the lord of Eregion, but he knew his own worry and desperation must show on his face clear as day.

He swallowed as Adar came to a stop directly in front of him.

“I have a proposition,” the orc stated, as if that were an answer to Celebrimbor’s question. The smith was about to ask what one had to do with the other, but Adar continued to speak and almost made Celebrimbor choke on his own spit. “A marriage.”

The smith blinked in disbelief. He must have misheard that. “What?”

“I propose a marriage – purely political, of course,” the orc stated, and began to round Celebrimbor, like a hunter circling its prey. “It’s an unconventional but sound solution – it would guarantee both our safety, and that of our people. A foundation for a peace, if we are lucky enough.”

Celebrimbor felt blood rush in his ears and he desperately wanted to grab something to steady himself. His day had gotten progressively more strange and distressing, and the marriage proposal he’d just heard was just the cherry on top of everything; of having discovered the enemy he’d invited into his own city, fleeing it, and then landing himself in the midst of an approaching army that was set on a path of destruction.

Destruction of a mutual enemy, but at the expense of all that Celebrimbor had ever built and worked towards.

“You cannot be serious,” Celebrimbor tried to declare. To his own ears, it came out as a question instead.

“Is the thought really so absurd?” Adar asked. He had now circled behind Celebrimbor’s back, which caused the smith to shiver and look over his shoulder cautiously. The orc soon stepped into his line of sight again. He seemed more curious than intimidating, despite how he stalked around the smith. “Think it through to the end. You will find there is nothing better I can offer as reassurance. Nothing that you would believe to be true, anyways.”

The smith sucked in a breath and just about kept himself from wringing his hands. He really just wanted to be petulant, to scream and angrily throw Adar’s offer back in his face, but-

But he had to think of his people. Who were in danger from not one, but two threats at the moment. If he could take care of one for certain, and use that chance to eliminate the other as well…

There was a long sigh, and the smith visibly deflated. He hated to admit it, but the other was right. They had few options, especially since there was scarcely any trust between them.

Sure, Adar had been treating him rather well as of now, all things considered – he’d told the orcs to handle the elf with care, had given him food and water, had not even chained the smith (though that could be because he didn’t consider Celebrimbor a serious threat, the smith thought bitterly).

The...foundation was there. And the reasoning.

As if he’d heard his thoughts, Adar stepped closer to Celebrimbor. This time, his look was not one of a hunter, but one of sincerity. “I promise you, I’d not make any demands of you safe for upholding the marriage and the peace. I would not separate you from your people, I will not demand rulership over your city, and-” and he paused for additional emphasis at that point. “I will not ever force you into anything but civil, honest conversation with me.”

It was clear what he meant. It was a...strange thought. Celebrimbor had not even considered it but- well. He had to admit that aside from the company he kept, Adar was...almost beautiful. Despite the pale skin and the scars and the darkness he lived in, he cut a striking figure.

Where before, the thought had not even crossed his mind, he now found his belly quivering with it. Not in a fearful way, but instead with...intrigue?

He mentally shook himself. Gil-Galad was right, he did have terrible taste in what – who – he found desirable. (He did not think of the fiend that was hiding in his forge. He would not. He’d been tricked, deliberately tempted. It was hard to remind himself of that, but it was true.)

The smith exhaled a shaky breath. He should probably demand more time to think on this, but time was something he did not have – ironic that as an elf, he was running out of time now, he thought sardonically.

Instead, he rose up to his full height again, and faced Adar with a steady gaze. With a small start, he realized he was actually taller than the orc. (‚Uruk‘, the other had called himself, hadn’t he?)

“Promise me you will do everything in your power to protect my people. I do not care what happens to me, it is my fault this-” he stopped himself and felt his face pull into a grimace, but he pushed on. “As the lord of Eregion, I will take responsibility. Promise me you will help me fulfill my responsibility to my people, and I will...I will give myself to you. And my city into your hands, until it is freed.”

The look in Adar’s eyes was intense, as if he was trying to find any hidden loophole, any flaw, any lie in Celebrimbor’s words. After a moment that felt near suffocating, the other nodded.

“Very well. I will find someone to officiate,” he said, and made to turn to the entrance of his tent, undoubtably to give his men orders. He paused, however, and looked back at Celebrimbor.

The look in his eyes was softer than the smith had expected. “And I accept your demands. The city will be yours again, once I have rid it of our foe.”

A pause. “And while you would give yourself and your life away with no regards to your own safety, I will not demand you to do so. I will not touch you or mistreat you – you have my word.” And with that, the orc went outside as he gave orders while leaving Celebrimbor alone, his head spinning.

Why was this so important for the other?

Why did it put Celebrimbor at such ease?

And though Celebrimbor barely dared to even acknowledge it – why did the thought of Adar touching him not fill him with fear, but curiosity, instead?

[yappacadaver]

Crazy wild shit man

[fjordfolk]

My two greatest character flaws are that I'm cranky and lazy.

My third greatest character flaw is the acute lack of compassion for people who smuggle exotic animals (like a serval) into a country where they are illegal (like norway) because keeping one as a pet is 'their dream' and then throw a pity party when said animal is seized and at risk of euthanasia. I'm sorry pal but you did that.

[scootersscooter]

Hazel Wells I love you,,,,,

[swordduels]

She knew this would make a huge blow to Regalia’s ego.

This might not be a big win for Circe but at least it was a non violent solution with clear cut rules. Earn your stay or face the consequences and since Regalia acted like an unruly cat it would stand to reason to treat her like one. There didn’t seem to be any loopholes for Regalia to take advantage of seeing as she had nothing to counter with. A mischievous smile appeared as Circe gently let go of the silky locks to gently tap Regalia’s cheek. “We’ll see about that, darling.” Her voice purred as Regalia returned the phone. Even someone like her could see the reasoning behind Circe’s decision despite annoyed grumbling noises and angry stares. Circe followed Regalia like a shadow to see how she would handle each task. Chores had normally been performed by her many wives throughout the years so this experience must be even more humiliating than anything else Circe had nudged her to do. It all had started with their bedroom games. Small commands with promises of a delicious reward. Now it was time to master all chores with decent living conditions waiting. If everything turned out well she could offer another sweet reward or two. Of course it was something she decided to keep quiet about for the chores to be more unbearable. Though this punishment could have been far worse seeing as Regalia had not paid for every wrongdoing she had done through the centuries.  

Oh how the great Regalia had fallen.  The bedroom was a nasty mess filled with traces of their untamed passion and it amused Circe to see Regalia’s growing frustration being signaled with stomping feet. She watched as Regalia moved about to collect foul smelling clothes, wrinkled bed sheets with wet stains and everything else that had to be placed in Circe’s laundry basket. For tomorrow she would make her do the laundry and potentially some more cleaning. The rewards would be even sweeter after slaving away for a long period of time. Her gaze shifted to watch as Regalia placed the dishes into a steep pile. “Hmm, you’ll have to be careful with my cutlery if you don’t want to pick up glass.” Circe kept smiling while taking small sips of her cold coffee and gently moving to let Regalia pass through. Once the cleaning was done she was pleased to see her make the bed with fresh bed sheets with a soft scent of lavender. “Good choice.” Even though Regalia had started off by being frustrated she could sense the cleaning wasn’t haphazardly done. All that frustration had turned into a purposeful need for some order and cleanliness. Wonderful. This was even better than she had expected.

Circe hummed while following her back to the kitchen where Regalia brought piles of cutlery, cups and glasses. The loud clinking of plates in soap water made her a bit weary but everything seemed to be under control despite how chaotic it seemed at first. Nothing was broken and Regalia seemed to get invested in having everything polished to perfection. After a short moment she simply placed her phone on the table and left to prepare a warm water bath. She left the toilet door wide open while dripping purple bath foam smelling of violets.  A tiny smile was visible as the clinking noise died down and Regalia declared herself done. “Come along, love.” @fallesto

She chewing slowed down as she eyed Circe with a mix of anger and annoyance. She knew she couldn’t refuse and it was clear that Circe was drawing a line in the sand. With a dramatic sigh, she swallowed her food and placed the phone in Circe’s hand. “Fine, but don’t think for a moment this means you have won anything.” She pushed herself up with a huff. She didn’t bother to hide her irritation as she stood up, her eyes narrowing into slits. The smell of greasy food lingered in the air as she stomped to the bedroom, her slippers echoing through the house. She heard the witch as she followed closely behind, sipping her now-cool coffee, watching the display of power dynamics with an amused glint in her eyes.

“Fucking hell.”

The bedroom was a disaster. Clothes were strewn everywhere, a mountain of dirty dishes teetered on the bedside table, and the bed was a wrinkled mess of discarded sheets and blankets. She rolled her eyes dramatically, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She knew this was Circe’s way of asserting control, making her clean up after their wild sessions. It was a small victory, but one Circe clearly enjoyed and one that she herself, loathed. With a huff, she began to pick up the clothes, tossing them into a nearby laundry basket. The scent of sweat and sex lingered on the fabric, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance that she was the one dealing with the aftermath. She had always been the one in charge, the one calling the shots. But Circe’s sudden stand had thrown her off balance, and she knew that for the time being, she had to play along.

The bed was next. She pulled the sheets with a grunt, the mattress protesting with a squeak. The sight of the stained pillows and sheets made her nose wrinkle in disgust then again it was a stark reminder of the squalor the witch had pulled her from. She threw the dirty linen into the basket, the thud echoing in the room. The new sheets smelled faintly of lavender, a scent she felt the witch favored, and she couldn’t help but feel a begrudging respect for the goddess’s ability to keep some semblance of order amidst the chaos she had created.

She stomped around the room, shoving dirty dishes onto the bedside table, piling them precariously high. The clinking of plates and the scraping of silverware against the wood was a small rebellion in the face of Circe’s newfound assertiveness. She didn’t bother to organize them neatly; she just wanted them out of her way. The bedroom was a sanctuary, the place where she drew her power from what she intended to do, and seeing it in such a state of disarray was unnerving. She knew it was petty, but the thought of Circe watching her clean brought a smug satisfaction.

As she bent down to grab the last of the scattered clothes, she noticed a glint of metal on the floor. It was a small knife from when the witch had cut the fruit hours before. She picked it up, twirling it in her fingers, the blade reflecting the harsh overhead light. A twisted smile curved her lips. Maybe this was the opportunity she needed to remind Circe of the fragility of their situation. She turned, hiding the knife in the pocket of her apron, and walked out of the room, leaving the mess behind her.

The kitchen was next, and she approached the pile of dishes with a renewed sense of purpose. She tossed them into the sink with enough force to make them clatter against each other. The sound was music to her ears, a symphony of chaos and disarray. As she scrubbed, she let her thoughts wander to the sweet taste of power, the way it pulsed through her veins with each new heart she consumed. It was intoxicating, and she had to resist the urge to reach for her phone, to bask in the digital worship of her followers.

As the dishes began to pile up in the sink, it dawned on her that she had missed a spot. A smudge of grease remained on one plate, a stubborn reminder of their earlier meal. With a growl of frustration, she grabbed the plate and scrubbed harder, her nails digging into the porcelain. The water grew murky and gray, filled with the detritus of their lives. The scent of soap was overpowered by the lingering odor of food, but she didn’t care. She needed to regain control, to show Circe that she wasn’t just a pawn in this twisted game.

“Finished!”

[biblically-accurate-dca]

KILL!!!!!!!!!