#but she's had some bangers and i mourn for them

[cyborgrhodey]

regina spektor is a violent zionist, but i don't think it's constructive or honest at all for people to be like "well her art was always bad anyway." some terrible people have made great art. This idea that artists with unsavory morals can't make good art (1) only feeds into some people's mindset that if they dislike something, that MUST mean there is something ideologically wrong with it, and (2) some people then take longer to realize the true colors of their favorite artists because... good artists can't be ethically bad right?? and so they hang on to their faves and pretend they are so righteous and defend their every move when sometimes. sometimes you just gotta accept that your favorite art was made by somebody you don't agree with, and you have to identify how much you are willing to support someone like that and what lines you have that can't be crossed

[chaosherald]

Thursday bangers 5/8

Lyric prompt game started by @woundedsoul12

Thank you @blackwall-my-tiny-husband for the tag!

Rules: Free form a blurb or drawing based on the weekly lyrics prompt. It doesn't have to include the prompt just whatever you're inspired to write, write it! Then tag some friends so they can play as well. It doesn't have to be finished on Thursday just post it whenever you can (you have a whole week between Thursdays)

This week's prompt is :: taylor swift’s Lover - I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

(Post game Rookanis. This one absolutely got away from me and will need some polishing, but it was definitely fun ^_^ )

My Dear Readers, society's salacious soirees are in full swing as the spring social season has started! For this week’s column, I invite you to look back with me over a lesson hard learned by two of our favorites - the soon to be Lord and Lady Dellamorte of Treviso. Once, our intrepid god slayers attempted the impossible, to keep their torrid love affair behind closed doors. Let this little retrospective be a warning to any other aspiring lovers: be forthright with your passions less you find yourself mistaken for easy prey by those on the hunt for love.

((“We can’t keep doing this,” Rook said, tossing another unsolicited bouquet of flowers into the trash bin of her assigned room at the Starkhaven Keep. There was a note, a profession of love and desire from a local minor noble. It was not the first she had received since arriving for the tourney yesterday and she had already lost count of how many would be companions had approached her in person.

Lucanis was fastidiously pulling perfumed and embroidered scarves from where they had been stuffed into his pockets. Favors from various admirers. They joined the flowers and love note in the trash. He had just arrived this morning and already looked exhausted. “Agreed.”))

To set the scene, dear readers, we must go back to the first social season after the Final Blight. The social calendar of the First Talon of the Antivan Crows was always demanding. The social calendar of the newly appointed Champion of the Veil, Hero of the Final Blight, Savior of Thedas, was even worse. Our beloved Rook, humble Mourn Watcher turned unexpected diplomatic darling of the north, was wholly unused to the scene but found herself the recipient of countless cannot refuse invitations.

We know now they did their best to coordinate, making the rounds together as much as possible, providing support for one another’s agendas and providing cover when one or the other of them needed to make a graceful exit.

But these appearances were all treated as obligations where our lovers were forced to be on display and accessible as Symbols and Policy Makers and Deal Brokers and other dull things. Rumor also has it both also fastidiously intentionally hoarded their true selves for private moments. So while they attended the balls and dinners and endless meetings together, some started to question if they were anything more than politically convenient allies.

I assume you see where this is going, Dear Readers? If one does not make it clear they are spoken for, they are inviting others to try speaking up!

That first season went smoothly enough. Many of the attendees at the glittering galas of the northern kingdoms knew the truth of their relationship and were able to dissuade their companions from attempting anything foolish.

And yes, I hear you Readers. Many in Tevinter knew. Enough of Archon Pavus’ inner circle had seen the lovers clinging to each other after the Battle of Minrathous to remove any question as to the nature of their relationship.

Arlathan knew. Many had shared camps with our heroes, broken bread with them, and saw them without the careful facades.

The Wardens told stories in the Anderfels. The Lords of Fortune in Rivain. 

And of course Antiva knew. Antivans love a dramatic love story and we love them for it. The First Talon and the Champion of the Veil, killing gods to keep each other safe. And we all know there are eyes everywhere in Treviso and they often spied stolen kisses at the cafes, held hands at the markets, and acts of immediate and unforgiving violence against any who dared threaten our trying-to-stay-hidden lovers. Antiva had front row seats and it was better than the opera and I might be a little jealous.

Nevarra was where the first hint of trouble came to be, where dear Rook and Lucanis had a preview of what keeping their private lives private actually meant. One of the many would be heirs of King Markus attempted to woo Lady Rook over the course of a multiday diplomatic summit. Lavish gifts and a surprise private banquet and a dramatic public proposal on the dance floor almost came to blows when he was unwilling to gracefully accept the lady’s refusal. And that was but the beginning.

((After divesting themselves of the unwanted presents, they sprawled on her bed.  Lucanis had his own assigned room at the keep, in a different wing, and should have been heading there to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Another annoyance to add to the list. Lucanis rested his head on her shoulder while Rook threaded her fingers through his hair. “I think it needs to be tonight,” Rook said. “If we don't deal with it now, one of us is going to kill someone and cause a diplomatic incident.”

Lucanis grinned, kissing her collarbone. “I am not adverse to killing people. Especially for you.”

Rook smiled, turning her face to rest on the top of his head. “I know, but it would be terribly unprofessional.”

“Ah, that we cannot have. Tonight then, at the ball. If you are sure?”

“I’m sure.”))

As you can imagine, and as you might have heard, the second social season after the final blight was dramatically worse. The south had stabilized enough that there were more players on the field and more social obligations beyond the Waking Sea and more people who only saw the publicly polite sides of our hidden lovers and firmly rejected any rumors of them being involved with one another.

The attempts at their attentions and affections grew bolder, or so we have heard. After a ball in Val Royeaux, the First Talon found an Orlesian Bard in his room, wearing nothing but a mask and a smile.

A festival in Halamshiral fell to chaos when an elven hunter from the Dales attempted to kidnap Rook, convinced she would only find true love amongst her own.

The tale has also spread that Master Dellamorte had to duel a minor Ferelden noble who called Lady Rook a knife ear when she refused his invitation to dance and later at that same event, Rook had to curse a Templar who had tried to take on the “Crow Abomination” after his daughter’s flirting was rebuffed.

Doesn’t it all just sound exhausting, readers? One can appreciate a desire for privacy, but this is a truth nonnegotiable: one mustn’t hide. Not from us! Not from themselves! A little bird told me that at the end of the season our poor beleaguered lovers turned to their friends for suggestions on how best to stop the insanity. The consensus was simple - as much as they wanted to keep things private, that wasn’t an option. They had to show the world what they were to each other. Dramatically and decisively. And how lucky for us that they did.

((Lucanis helped Rook sneak out the window of her room in Starkhaven and she led them to the nearest active Eluvian. Their friends had been delighted to help them plan their grand debut as an official couple. Too delighted, in some cases. But everything they needed was at the Lighthouse, waiting to be fetched when they decided circumstances warranted it. It seemed counter to who they were, preparing to flaunt the private truths they had forged between them, but inevitable too. And if it meant they could get back to business without the endless distractions, it would be worth it.))

Last season had many memorable moments. Of particular interest to this gossip rag and scandal spreader was of course the behavior of First Talon Lucanis Dellamorte and his now officially intended, the Lady Rook, at the grand ball of the Starkhaven Tourney. They arrived together, fashionably late. He wore Watcher green and plum, Rook’s personal sigil embroidered on a scarf wrapped around his arm. Lady Rook was in a gown of Antivan design, done in the colors of House Dellamorte, a fancy crow blade at her side and a fancier opal ring on her finger. The crowd was stunned to see the normally professional, approachable, boring are-they-aren’t-they couple shut out the rest of the world and have eyes only for each other. They refused to talk business, fed each other canapes, chased with not so chaste kisses, and danced the night away. One of my lovely sources described their final turn of the dance floor as scandalously indecent, practically intercourse with their clothing on, and the couple made no secret of their intention to retire to the same room once the evening concluded.

Delightful, isn’t it readers? May we all be so open with our love! And may we all learn the lesson they did: trying to hide the truth does you no favors.

((Rook kept her eyes stubbornly closed, trying to shut out the light shining through the window. Last night had certainly been something.  Terrifying, at first. Putting themselves on display. By the end of the night, however, dancing with Lucanis, she had genuinely stopped caring about what everyone else thought. “How long do you think we have before Caterina and Teia start planning the wedding?”

Lucanis pulled her closer, his breath tickling her ear. “I’m sure they’ve already started.”))

Of course, that brings us back to the now. The highlight of the social scene this week is expected to be our lovers' grand wedding in Treviso. We wish them joy, a fabulous party, and just a little bit of drama and scandal.

And for the record, a little bird told me Lord and Lady Dellamorte already shared private vows in front of their inner circle, so maybe they did find a way to keep some parts of their lives to themselves. Dear Readers, we may never know for sure.

Until next week!

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

We are heading into a bit of a quieter period for QL corner, with two shows ending now and another next week. At least we still have a true banger airing to sustain us through the drought. Smells Like Green Spirit is also now airing in Japan but has not yet been picked up for international distribution (pray for it to get to us soon). These shows are available for weekly streaming on Gaga unless otherwise noted.

Happy of the End

CWs: Blood and gore, child abandonment, child molestation, childhood sexual slavery, death, family rejection, heavy scarring, human trafficking, rape, sexual coercion and exploitation, suicidal ideation, suicide mention

This week was relatively lighter compared to last week's very rough episodes, but still so laced with sadness even in its happy moments. Haoren mourned his mother, and finally admitted to himself, and to Chihiro, that she was never protecting him. The show dug deeper into how this bond between them is giving them both a reason to shake off their apathy about survival, though that is definitely touch and go for both of them. The way Haoren experienced a few moments of happiness and immediately jumped to the conclusion that he would like to die now because he'll never top this feeling was telling, as was Chihiro casually laying down in the street and not moving until Haoren dragged him away. They don't have any real hope for a better life, but they each seem more invested in the other's survival than their own, and that is giving them something to cling to. It was nice to see them have some moments of trust and connection between them, and for Haoren to finally feel safe enough to strip himself bare, physically and emotionally. I'm bracing for a rough final week, with Haoren's former enslaver coming after Chihiro in a bid to destroy the source of Haoren's new happiness. I don't really know what to hope for in terms of an ending for these characters; I just hope the show can leave us with the sense that their relationship mattered and gave them something they can each hold onto.

Love is Like a Poison

This episode had me screaming with laughter and delight. Haruto can read his Ryo-kun like a book, and Shiba can't seem to figure out which way is up. I don't even want to describe all the hilarious gags and sexy tension and extremely unsubtle metaphors in this episode; I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Go watch!

Chaser Game W 2

Of all the great JQL we've gotten in the last year, why this one got picked up for a second season I could not tell you. I was less than impressed with season 1, and I don't have high hopes this next go round will be any better. Especially after watching the first ep of this new season, in which they unceremoniously undid the ending of the last in a laughably silly way only to introduce a new, more annoying conflict. They could have made something of a story about Fuyu trying to work out a way to manage her family life to be with Itsuki, but they'd rather hand wave that away via gay penguins in favor of a new love triangle. Whatever, show. Here we go again, I guess! I’ll be watching this one mostly to support the ratings.

Tagging @bengiyo to do our last anime update for the next little while, as Twilight Out of Focus has officially ended its run and there is no new animated ql on the horizon.

[thievinghippo]

So I promised a postmortem and it’s finally time! Here’s the TL:DR. I loved it. I can already tell I’ll probably have more played hours in this game than Inquisition, and I fucking loved Inquisition! Good, bad, and ugly beneath the cut and there will be heavy spoilers for the entire game, so read at your own risk. (This is also long, because I have a lot to say!)

THE GOOD

Rook. Once I let go of my preconceived notion of how Rook was (mid-40s and serious but kind) and accepted Rook for the young, sarcastic character they are, I fell in love. Edda is going to be an A possibly even S tier OC for me

The dwarves. We were fed so well, y’all. So much lore and dialogue choices. There was even a Grey Warden dwarf specific dialogue choice. I love the confirmation of what we all suspected with the Titans. I just wish that a dwarf Rook had the opportunity to confront Solas. He apparently apologizes to Harding. But what about a dwarf Rook?

Exploration. I’m an idiot when it comes to figuring out in-game puzzles and such. I’ve read some complaints that everything was far too easy, but for one of the first times I remember, I could do a vast majority of puzzles and finding treasures without consulting a game guide. And I was actually proud when I figured things out. When I play Edda again, I’m going to 100% the world and I cannot wait

The Companions. Bonus points for Emmrich Volkarin. I ended up loving all of them. Even the ones I was very ‘meh’ on before playing the game. Like Bellara. She was on my list to romance second to last. And she has moved up to third, after Emmrich and Davrin. 

Emmrich Volkarin. Yes, he gets his own special mention. I love him so much that I created a second Rook to romance him. That way I have one Emmrich that is not a lich (Edda’s choices) and one Emmrich that is a lich (Sonnet’s choice). I love his compassion, his kindness, his reverence of the dead. I adore his romance and how clear it is that Rook has bewitched him, body and soul. The fact that they lean into the age gap and it becomes entwined with his own fears of death. He has my favorite personal quest. I loved the music, the atmosphere. How it pertains to his own journey, facing his mortality (plus Johanna Hezenkoss can get it). Plus it has the banger line of ‘Show them what a real necromancer can do!’ I even can’t wait not to romance him and see what the friendship is like and encourage him to hook up with Strife

The backgrounds. Granted, I’ve only played through the game 1.5 times, but there have been so many background mentions. Especially for the Grey Wardens. Mourn Watch has some great ones too. I mean, there was Grey Warden romance banter during a fight. In a side quest! I can’t wait to discover more

The character creator. I love how inclusive it is, especially when you compare it to previous Dragon Age games. The hair is beautiful (but where is my braid crown! my kingdom for a braid crown!) and I have overweight OCs, which make me very happy. Varric's shaving mirror is also amazing, and because I want EA to know that people are using these options, Sonnet is a trans woman who will save Thedas

THE BAD

Weird tonal switches. Emmrich and Harding are going to Ferelden so she can show him around but the South is being razed by darkspawn. Harding’s mom sends her back with pie and gives great hugs. How in the world are they getting to Ferelden? Rook was amazed to see the Inquisitor in the North so why would the members of the Veilguard be able to go to the South? Some of the codex entries are so dark and yet everyone is happy in the Lighthouse 

Give Rook a problem, please! I kept waiting for Rook’s LI to go up to her and ask if there’s anything distracting her. If there’s any problem they could solve together. But that never came and Rook is apparently the only person on the team that can’t be distracted by their own problems. How amazing would it have been if Rook had some sort of personal quest. Maybe based on lineage. Or background. Something that shows that she matters as much to her companions and they mean to her

The Act One Choice. Still mad about it. Are you telling me that two extra people would have saved Minrathous? That a city full of the most powerful mages in the known world couldn’t take down a fucking dragon? It didn’t feel earned and it did annoy me a great deal

Let. Rook. Mourn. While I appreciate that Rook was able to mourn Varric and Davrin (in my playthrough) privately, the fact that it immediately jumps to a sex scene sort of bothered me. Especially Emmrich’s taking them to the Necropolis so they can bang in a coffin. This was not the time to leave the Lighthouse, Emmrich! The rest of the team got to mourn Davrin and worry about Neve together. I wish Rook could have been a part of that too. 

Let’s talk Varric’s death. I didn’t see it coming. I actually ranted to a friend before I knew what happened that they should have killed him in the prologue if this was how they were going to use him. Oops. I hate how callous the truth about his death makes Rook look. I hate that Harding and Neve didn’t even really seem to mourn. Hate how the Inquisitor or Dorian or Isabela don’t mention him at all. I hate how obvious his death is in my second playthrough. I will have to fix this all in fanfic

THE UGLY

Assuming there is another DA game, where do we go from here? I really dislike the concept of the Executors in the secret ending. One thing I’m optimistic about is that by basically wiping the south off the map, we might be able to have more games there. Because everything will have been reset, so to speak. How does the South deal with the mages when they’ve all been fighting darkspawn for their lives? Put them back into Circles? I think not

I’m also not sure about what choices would move forward into a new DA game. Not talking companion choices, but choices that actually affect the world. No matter what we do, the Blight is over and the Veil is safe. If BioWare couldn’t be bothered to have the Well of Sorrows choice matter, I can’t imagine they’ll care how Solas was bound to the Veil, whether it be by choice, trickery, or force. Minrathous or Treviso is the only other non-companion choice I can think of that might possibly matter

But honestly, it doesn’t matter, because who knows if we’ll ever get another Dragon Age game? I know I would love one, but I have this sinking feeling there won’t be (please let me be wrong!)

So there you have it. I really love this game, good, bad, and ugly. And I found so much more to love than to dislike. I have a feeling I will be yelling about this game (and Emmrich!) for a long, long time

[evergreenalice]

having finally beaten ToTK awhile ago, I feel I can give some thoughts, I have many, but I'll focus on the story right now

my main feeling towards the game is frustration

this game had some of the best scenes in any Zelda game, full stop

Ganondorf's unsealing, fucking banger

the dragon scene? fucking AMAZING

drawing the master sword high up above the clouds? Beautiful

"Remember this name" as the main theme plays in the background, FUCK man

and that was possibly the coolest final boss of any video game I've ever played

but everything else is just... meh

and it's really frustrating, I feel like if given more time to cook, they could've made something really fucking cool

the story was really disorganized, and frankly, I got tired hearing the same thing 4 times, not skipping any of the sage cutscenes in hopes something, ANYTHING, would be different, but they weren't, I was fed the same thing four times!

and ultimately... I wasn't that invested in the story

some say that Zelda has always had bad stories, and this is just false

Zelda has always had relatively simple stories

but I was invested in stopping Ganon in OoT, I saw his impact on the world, and I saw how it impacted characters I'd grown to love!

I was really invested in the story of Link's Awakening, I didn't want the island to disappear, but it had to as sad it was

I think I cried the first time I beat LA as a child

but... here? Meh, I didn't feel the stakes, they were certainly there, but I mean, when it came to viewing the past, I cared about Zelda I guess, I like her, and I mean, the really fucking good scenes in the past are centered around her

I somewhat cared about Rauru and Sonia, but I mean, that was several millennia ago, I don't mourn dead people from the 2nd century much, of course they're dead, it was long ago, perhaps their death was tragic in some way, but, I don't feel that upset at it

and for the ancient sages... not even the writers cared about them! They don't even have names! WE DON'T EVEN SEE THEIR FACES!

and in the end, the most powerful part of the story, a beautiful scene of sacrifice... was just undone

and I'm not saying that Zelda shouldn't have been saved

BUT

let there be consequences

say that perhaps, she is very negatively impacted by her experience, it may take years for her to get over what has transpired. Which isn't impossible, and is still a hopeful note... but there were consequences, ones that will be overcome with great effort, and community, and support

but instead we are left with Zelda as she was... prior to her sacrifice, she doesn't remember it

I'm not saying happy endings are bad, but, a happy ending out of nowhere with no consequences? I don't like that

I grew up playing Zelda, and often these games had a sense of melancholy to them

Link saved the wind fish... and in the process lost that entire island of people, and Marin in particular

Link sealed away Ganondorf, and went back in time to warn the kingdom, and live out his childhood that was stolen to him... but he knows he's not a Kokiri, his identity was false, and he fundamentally, as Saria said, is of a different world from her, there is an innate barrier that will only grow between him and his former home, and in the end he will eventually become the Hero's Shade

Breath of the Wild did this well, it is a game about the aftermath of your failure, Zelda and Link have both lost their past, they can't return to it, they've failed, and time only moves forward, and they do

in all of these cases, it's not entirely negative, there is hope, there is a future

but there's also melancholy, there is loss, and I think that's something that ToTK just couldn't do

[utilitycaster]

Didn't get a chance to update my progress last night before CR started but. many things have happened:

Did Davrin's companion quest. I must say. Davrin is a fucking INTENSE person. He wants to talk all the time back at the lighthouse. He uses the most wild hunting metaphors. He is single-minded and arrogant. It is a vibe and he is fun to talk to but he is So Much (I say, known Paladin enjoyer). I also need to level him and the other new companions up more (I am NOT playing favorites even though I have them) but the thing is also, I play a warrior so I was doing pretty good with my initial crew of rogues and mages. The quest was great though, Assan is adorable and I did like learning about Davrin's past (which he's really forthcoming about). You get the sense this man hasn't had anyone to talk to in a while but unlike Neve or Lucanis he's like "and I'm going to do so IN ABUNDANCE." (Bellara and Harding and Emmrich seem to have had more people to talk to; Lucanis would have but for the year in the Ossuary; hard to read Taash).

I have picked up Emmrich! there was a weird crossroads thing where I could eavesdrop on the elven gods whose names I can't spell reliably due to the apostrophes. I love the crossroads by the way. I am trying to balance out my impatience with doing quests (including sidequests) and hanging out at the lighthouse watching Lucanis explain cacio e pepe to Bellara (real thing that happens and it's glorious; it's a way for you to also catch that Lucanis is buying nice coffee for when Neve comes back, pardon me while I lie face down on the floor) with the fact that I would LOVE to explore things forever with the fact that I can't read a fucking map apparently. ANYWAY brought Bellara there and she and Emmrich are pen pals, so this was fun. I fucking love the Necropolis, which is good because I do play a Mourn Watcher and it would be weird if I didn't, but I must admit Emmrich's recruitment quest is like "kill six billion demons while I do a ritual for a bell" and it's like professor you must be shitting me. Then again I play a Mourn Watch warrior (I have heard this is weird within canon lore, to which I say fuck you I'm a cavalier, also clearly SOMEONE needs to kill venatori and ferry around wisps and slay demons and these mages sure aren't doing it, AND the reaper specialty fucks hard AND I get to say goth things that Neve and Emmrich like and Myrna needs SOME boots on the ground to boss around, so there) so it would be kind of weird if I hated it. Anyway Emmrich is great.

Harding is like, a sleeper character; I like her a lot but as a person with no emotional attachment to Inquisition I'm more drawn to the other three starter companions, and she's solid in combat but not flashy for the most part. However I perked the fuck up when she said she felt sorry for Solas and thinks he's deeply lonely; that was a banger conversation and I do think loneliness and not knowing where you fit into the world is very much a theme of this story.

Neve sent a letter saying Rana, Elek (Threads paper seller) and Hal (street fish merchant) were alive but she needs to stay there. This is honestly the best news; if Hal had died I would have never forgiven myself.

Went to do one Mourn Watch quest and was immediately given two more Myrna is my boss and she's like I know we sent you away for "going against the nobility" even though it was "baller" but now that you have a reason to be back temporarily, please do 3 quests now. And I did, and it was pretty great, although the wisp-ferrying stresses me the fuck out.

Decided that before I seek out the trillion other sidequests that suddenly popped up I should grab Taash, because i kept getting "Tab" pop-ups because I have my game on "I don't know what the fuck I am doing mode" to light Necropolis braziers and then they were like "haha no one can do this, Rook, you dumb bitch". There's also Gaatlok somewhere in Minrathous that I couldn't do shit with. So I did that. Taash fucking rules. I was expecting to not necessarily like them not because of their vibes, but because in real life when I encounter 23 year olds I'm like you're baby. And they are, sort of, baby, but they're also hilarious and blunt and a lot of fun. The surliness towards their mom is great; the fire breathing rules; I finally understand the Antaam's deal. I will say I need to go back to the Appearance Mirror because I picked up a really sick shield that does NOT go with my aesthetic. I respect you slutty pirates, but I am a goth. This also ngl makes me wonder what I would do on a replay because Lords of Fortune are not my personal vibe, though Isabela seems great. Probably Veil Jumper honestly. or a mage crow, which would also probably not work with the lore? really my issue is I love the shadow dragons and also probably will always save Treviso so I can never play it because I am if nothing else loyal. Point being, Taash is here and I'm excited.

Neve is back and she's colder than ever towards me! I don't care, she's back and I re-statted her, time to take her out into the field and destroy shit. This does mean I will probably need to, for the first time, make Lucanis heal me. I don't usually need much healing because Story Mode but I'm very slowly learning combat and one day perhaps might inch up to a higher combat level and then I will. Also the champion fights and the dragon fights. I'm just really terrible at avoiding AOE. Also maybe I'll finally use her time slow stuff. I haven't been doing much with the buff abilities because I am a melee/tank/shield-throwing beast but Davrin's taunts were actually very useful.

I have so many side quests and also some main quests so I have no idea what to do. Might check out Morrigan in fallen Minrathous; might do the veil jumpers quests though. There's also some quest in Treviso I haven't pursued and something I picked up in Taash's room. Everyone's back so might as well!

I haven't been talking a ton about all the little codex bits but they are great, and specifically it is important you know that the first book club occurs AFTER everyone is recruited, which is to say, Taash, Davrin, and Lucanis do not attend for whatever reason but Neve, who is grieving and angry, does. This is hilarious.

Manfred and I are tied 1-1 on Rock Paper Scissors; I have been petting Assan every time I go check on the unhinged pantry conversations or go talk to Davrin.

[officialdaydreamer00]

some lore crumbs and silly rambles about irene lovejoy's family history and powers (which will be more detailed and fleshed out when i write 'the House of Engelika' and 'DOOMSDAY DEVICE')

FAMILY

the house of engelika had a long history with mixed origins, a few of which were recorded from southern europe during the 1600s

their family tree used to have so many branches for siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces, but a lot of them got struck out as either disowned, unrecorded, or dead

their family name changed from engelika to angelis to lovejoy when irene's great-great-grandmother married a man with that surname

irene's middle name is angelika, in honour of their original family name

irene has four younger sisters named after the muses

POWERS

initially, i gave her technology related powers since her og lore had her created a soon-to-be popular video game (*cough* minecraft) and thus born birb child erin

later on, i thought "owls and crows are cool birbs and i like them *gasp :O* maybe,,, i can recycle erin's idea and turn that into her powers instead!!" ,,,,,and then percy jackson came roundhouse kicking me in the face :'D so i made her a child of athena bc it kinda fits her vibes and personality. but that's another au and i digress ^-^

then my irl and i, we goofed around with our ocs' dorm outfit, and i threw in a variant of victorian mourning dress for shits and giggles. I DID NOT THINK WE'D RENOVATE RAMSHACKLE INTO A FUNERAL HOUSE— :'D

and after that, derivakat made her grand comeback with her dsmp bangers, aka doomsday (especially doomsday), and that got me thinking "dark irene??" and whipped out a design for her dorm uniform, with braincells losing sessions with my irl :D

so now, her current power is: dark arts with a huge side of crow summoning :D she can (kinda) manipulate dark matter and/or shadows, and can summon a murder of crows from inside her cloak to do her biddings. she can also talk to crows (and, to an extent, owls) as a result, like philza minecraft and his chat :D

tagging people in lore to confuse them: @identity-theft-101 @thehollowwriter @xen-blank @taruruchi @axvwriter @cookiesandbiscuits @azulashengrottospiano @ferris-the-wheel @dove-da-birb @siren-serenity @edith-is-a-cat @escha-evenstar @ameleii @loser-jpg

[the1975attheirverybest]

Impressions of ttpd under the cut.

Okay, I’m writing my thoughts down as I listen so I don’t lose track.

Songs I’ve listened to : Fortnight, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, Fresh Out The Slammer, Florida, Guilty As Sin, I Can Fix Him, loml, How Did It End?, The Prophecy, I Look In Peoples Windows, The Bolter, Peter.

Songs I liked: The Bolter, I Look In People’s Windows, The Prophecy, Peter.

KEEP IN MIND: I only listened to the above mentioned songs. Albums are usually meant to be consumed as albums. So if I’m missing certain pieces of he puzzle because I skipped around, lmk/ remember that as you read this.

General note/ TLDR: there are moments of strength on the album. It’s not all bad. In the songs I liked most you can even see the signature strengths of TS, story telling being one of them. But the album feels too bloated and might be her weakest work imo.

The aesthetic: confusing! She oscillates between the asylum and the poet motifs. I understand why. I think a perfect combo for this would’ve been the dark academia trope. She should have embraced that fully. Madness/ darkness as a result of love and creativity is a huge theme in dark academia and in the 18th century poetry that it comes from. She seems to be circle those vibes. But the whole asylum, craziness, poetry, creativity, childhood innocence, corruption and sex, end up confusing the message when they all could have fit coherently together if she did the academia thing.

Positives: the album is hella relatable. The type of love that she describes (setting aside who it’s about) is something I’ve definitely experienced and it’s definitely stuff that people in love will do. Justify acting stupid even when deep down they know what they’re doing will only harm them/ the other person doesn’t see or appreciate it. Building a grandness around the feelings you have for the other person the deeper you fall for them, looking back and mourning that version of yourself as much as you’re mourning the relationship / losing someone. Or like realizing that the greatness that you saw in someone was due to the respect you had for them and goodness you imbued them with not because they were actually worthy of those things…that’s a big ass feeling to accept. Super real. Been there. It stingssss lmao. So I appreciate the honesty.

She’s always known how to tell a story! The Bolter and Peter are great examples of this but it’s in all the songs that I liked. And this has been true since day one. Her classic bangers like “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” all the way down to Folklore and Evermore. In fact, I think that’s why when Red initially came out in 2010 people found it confusing. She herself always says it’s part of the country music genre that she took with her. Red did that in pop form and purists didn’t enjoy it. She does it on ttpd as well. In some songs it works, in others not so much.

Which brings me to the negatives: when it doesn’t work, it REALLLLY doesn’t work. Like in Guilty As Sin and How Did It End? Which for me are the lowest points form the collection of songs that I listened to. There’s some reality in there I’m sure, but it gets lost under all the bloated metaphors. I don’t think there’s a single line in either of those songs that isn’t supposed to be metaphorical and fake deep. It’s too much! She should’ve stripped it back / edited herself heavily in those songs. The result is she sounds ….idk empty?? Trying too hard. Like straining to really convince you that she’s devastated for real. I’d believe her more if she didn’t feel like she had to prove to me how much pain she’s in and just laid it out as it is.

The album sounds like too much of the same thing? I say this and I didn’t listen to the whole thing. Like the whole breathy/ broody sound and production is the same throughout. Sometimes, artists will do this on purpose to give the album a cohesive identity or to suggest that it’s one story unfolding over time. Like in AM’s 2014 album. That’s not the vibe I got here. Then again, see my disclaimer about not listening to the whole album maybe if I had listened to it from beginning to end I would feel differently. But the vibe I currently get is that some songs might have been recorded in the same writing session so they were too close to each other artistically cuz that’s the idea that was in her head at the time. Or like some songs were made from scraps leftover from another song that came before it. You know what I mean? It’s hard to kill your darlings, as creative writing teachers always say, but sometimes you really should, lol.

General frustration: this album doesn’t have a signature Taylor Swift song that I can sink my teeth into or play in the car, or on the radio and I genuinely don’t think there has ever been a Taylor Swift album where at least one song didn’t go viral/ become a likeable hit.

Overall not as trash as some takes have made me think however nowhere near as good as a TS album should be. Yeah. That’s all I’ve got.

[rediimere]

bit of a veilguard ramble, bear with me. i want to preface this also by saying i do enjoy veilguard for what we got and there are moments of brilliance, and i do love the characters.

buuut.

i think on my bellara-romance playthrough that i’m currently on (i’m making a rook for all the companions, this is #5, don’t judge me) i finally found the words to what’s bothering me about rook specifically. and i like rook. i know you can customize them re: age in design but writing-wise and performance-wise, they do come off as younger and less experienced, much like ryder in mass effect: andromeda. i don’t mind that!

we’re told that rook is someone “solas doesn’t see coming,” that they’re a bit of a narrative foil for him. rook’s faction backstory is always a scenario where they’re entrusted with leadership and have to make a very difficult decision, so varric choosing them to lead later is justified.

and i like rook. but more and more i feel like rook is the nepo baby of the group. they were promoted because of varric’s favouritism more than anything else. and i don’t think i would feel this way if every single companion didn’t have some unique element to them. spoilers ahead, proceed with caution if you haven’t played.

neve is an incredibly powerful mage. the first time we meet her she has a huge ice shield around herself after solo’ing venatori. we see displays of her power frequently throughout the plot (protecting rook in fire & ice, then from aelia, taking down aelia’s blood shield, etc.).

bellara is also skilled with artifacts beyond the abilities of veil jumper!rook. she’s also more powerful than she would have us believe. during blood of arlathan, it’s bellara who first recognises elgar’nan’s magic controlling the team. she is first able to shake his hold, then neve joins to break it over the team. emmrich, with decades of experience, can do nothing, and neither can mage!rook.

it’s also not lost on me that those two are the ones who have the opportunity to be blighted, and then are powerful enough mages to fight off blight tentacles and save solas. now i will say that being part of the blight probably enhanced their abilities (i think elgar’nan even says something to this effect when neve/bellara sit in his throne), but even so, that takes a tremendous amount of power.

to round off our mage companions, emmrich can speak with the dead—an ability special to him, not even available to mourn watch!rook. and depending on what choice you make in his loyalty mission, he can become an undead immortal being with lichdom.

harding receives her stone magic during game plot (i haven’t played a dwarf rook yet, so not sure how that impacts their interactions).

taash breathes fire (currently playing a qunari rook for the first time, so not sure if there is commentary on this further on. so far not much?).

lucanis has spite giving him abilities beyond what he’d normally be capable of. he later kills ghilan’nain, and until rook later kills elgar’nan, he’s the first mortal we know of to kill a god.

davrin has his partnership with assan to help in battle and traversal, and after weisshaupt, he has to live with the fact that he killed an archdemon and lived to tell the tale.

and i love each and every one of these elements to these characters.

what i don’t love is that rook has… nothing? i mean, i initially loved their theme song is called “not the chosen one.” (that song is also a banger and if it had released earlier in 2024 definitely would have made my spotify wrapped.) i get that rook isn’t supposed to be anyone special. but by surrounding rook with companions who all are special, it just kinda… hammered home how ordinary rook is.

and maybe that’s the point, but… it’s a little like… “oh. okay then.”

i guess what might have been a twist on this is rook’s connection to solas. other than their conversations in the fade prison and arlathan, we don’t really know what their connection can do. solas is “in rook’s head” — but what if bits of solas leaked through their connection and into rook? instead of runes for the lyrium dagger, what if it served as a conduit for solas’s magic, but was connected to rook’s emotions and a little unpredictable?

idk. i really like rook, but they often feel like a passenger along for the ride in everyone else’s car. even if rook isn’t a mage, for example, i think they should have been the one who was able to shake elgar’nan’s hold in arlathan, and “wake up” bellara and neve to work their disentangling enchantments.

maybe rook isn’t the chosen one, but i just wish they had a little something more unique to them, idk.

(and once again disclaimer that i do like rook and even tho i have criticisms of veilguard i overall enjoy it etc.)

[margoblack]

2. Favorite author in current fandom

My current fandom is Law and Order SVU and there are some seriously some amazing writers within it. I have a huge, huge rec list that I can send if you DM me but here's a super short one! (Not in order, working through my bookmarks!)

GenuineSnoof. They are hilarious, and moving, and write such deeply endearing characterisations.  But my main love for their work, is that they remind me of Frank Capra. Frank Capra films -especially the early ones- could cover suicide (he loved a suicide), political unrest, poverty, corruption but as the story grows - this emotion grows inside you too, and it's hope. It's joy. It bubbles over and over in your stomach and you find yourself smiling into a screen like an idiot. And when you reach the end, you leave the story better than when you found it. That is such an unbelievably rare gift.

Basically, all of her stories make me feel like the last five minutes of Mr Smith Goes to Washington.  Specific Rec: The Gift 

ficexperiments to me is much like the Savage Garden lyric (yes, I know, I know) "I think I dreamed you into life."  If God had sat down with me and asked me- after double checking several times that world peace wasn't my answer -what I wanted more than anything. This would be it. Darkness, humour, fantastic characterisation. Just brilliant, brilliant writing. I am not normal about this story in anyway. Specific Rec: Good Intentions Pave The Way 

LeslieLol is both hilarious and also so sophisticated in their writing that I feel like I should be wearing a smoking jacket and smoking a pipe as I read it. I just spend all of their work choosing quotes to go mention in the comments and then by the time I get to the end, it's just the whole page highlighted. If it was normal to print, bind and put an AO3 fic on the shelf, their work is the one I would be like "first edition, you know" to any guests who dared go near the book case. Specific rec: Mourning, Morning 

adrianna_m_scovill has such a range of talent in her writing that it's staggering. Every single one is a banger. Every character she writes feels like a real person, full of contradictions, desires, and flaws. They are immensely relatable and you hate finishing because you have to leave them behind in the story. Also, she enabled my Barba/Stabler hankering which is -- oh, yes. Specific rec: Truth in Deception 

iridiumflower writes whump, romantic comedy and horror and it's all so very perfect. Their pacing is flawless, expertly building tension and emotions at just the very right moments until you are tryng to get to the next page before you've read the last sentence. Specific rec: Misery Loves Company 

Kaye_21 wrote one of the very first stories I read in the fandom and it was basically like if you asked someone to paint a picture and they handed over Chalk Cliffs on Rügen. This is another author that has such joy in their writing and really makes you like and care for the characters in a brand new way. Specific rec: Good Morning 

BarisiStill is so skilled that they can literally put their hand to anything and write it like they have been writing in that genre since the cradle.  Zombies- yes, Black Mirror style technology and the salf sabotaging search for perfection?- of course,  Love reaching across the English class system - absolutely, stalker with a list fetish?- bring it on. Their imagination doesn’t just create worlds—it brings them to life in ways that makes you feel as though you’re living inside them. I also really enjoy that they see tropes coming and are like, nope, and subvert them so it always feels like a completely new take. Specific rec: The Weight of Gentle Things 

And lastly, my favourite story in the fandom -- but the writer orphaned the work. If you are out there mysterious masked writer - this was just ace:

You and Me Both by orphan_account

[h-doodles]

hi, can I ask for your top ten favorite fics ? :)

Hi anon hiiiiiiii welcome!!! u caught me at a good time, ur soooo lucky bc i just glanced at my notifs and saw this ask get sent <3 KDBDKDKK its been literal years since i checked my ask box 👉🏻👈🏻

BUT ANYWAY! top 10 of all time???? be warned that while i am currently enchanted with ONE (1) 6 ft 3 in actress, I still do consider myself a girlie with varied tastes so. my old & other fandoms are mixed in my current list!

without further ado:

#10: knowledge for knowledge's sake by tigriswolf (ao3) || quite an old piece detailing how a change in the personality of one Hermione Granger could have had a massive impact to the story— and while I don't fuck with JKTerfling, the fics I've read from the old fans in the HP fandom are still honestly, some of the BEST I have EVER read. This one in particular irrevocably changed me as a teen, and is one story that I continue to draw inspiration upon when I create dark!AUs for my SI/OCs.

#9: Zutopia by itslivybear (ao3) || the fluff, the worldbuilding, an AU where Izuku is mentored by our beloved Rat God & together, they fix the world problems? GIRLIES catch me forever LOVING this concept like you could NEVER believe <3

#8: (not so) Bad Idea by @sarahpaulsonsoftie (tumblr post) || HEE HEE ITS LIVING IN MY MIND RENT FREE LIKE HELP THESE BITCHES GAY!!!!!! GOOD FOR THEM!!!!!!! ft a meddling plantita who really mothered; Marilyn Thornhill <3

#7: Hold my Soul by connyhascontrol (ao3) || I got into Trixie/Katya completely by one @montaguehphm introducing me to UNHhhh (HIIIIIII bestie I hope everything is going good and that ur gay keeps slay <3) and I haven't recovered ever since— reading the fics by writers on AO3 was a happy little accident, but one i will FOREVER love, nonetheless. Anyway, this particular fic was SO brilliantly original and YET so entrenched in the personalities between T&K that it ABSOLUTELY just wrecks me everytime I reread it. anyways hi @connyhascontrol pls know ur brilliant <3

#6: I think I'm gonna call him out by hellelf (ao3, users only) || again, another AU for Hermione fic, that's chockfull of world building and interesting relationships! It's been unupdated from its 5 chapters since 2021, but I still LOVE to look back at it from time to time 💖

#5: The Confectionary Chronicles series by cheshire_caroll (ao3); Into the Black series by angelholme (ao3); Hermione Granger & the Serpent's Renaissance series by epsi1on (ao3) AND New Blood by artemisgirl (ff.net) || if it's not evident, i am an absolute slut for fics ft. Hermione being badass & put into a v cool plot w/ insane amounts of world building, so yeah, def a top 5 most contender <3

#4: The Infinitely Curious Woman by chararii (ao3) || literally ALL of their fics are absolute bangers, and while I forever mourn their decision to stop all Naruto fics thanks to the great harddrive incident of 2022, I have nonetheless the GREATEST respect to their skill & talent to bring SUCH LIFE to their stories. In particular, I chose this particular fic of theirs because the premise of Sakura making her own way by shedding off her morality the more she learned & got influenced by her 2 greatest teachers was absolutely nothing short of DIVINE. It was and IS such an inspiration to read, reread & explore, and I will forever love @chararii for this brilliant piece of a fic

#3: The Endgame that never was series by @heleneplays aka me (tumblr masterlist) || ok I know this seems self-absorbed but DEAR MOTHER OF CHRISTIE i literally WENT OFF for a whole ass day and a half going feral for the Relics of the Lost Age series book 3 finale (hi @jamesshawgames pls know im still here and STILL simping even tho i am currently having a brainrot for a different thing on main sjdhdkdk i hope ur doing well dearest mr. chief author sir!!!!) and created this series from my dreams + nonstop ben&ben playlist— and honestly, I think it's VERY sexy of me <3 bc I rarely like things that I do after a while, but THIS— alongside Universal Constant (ao3) are truly my BEST work <3

#2: Across the Stars by nomisunrider (ao3) || I CAN NEVER STRESS THIS ENOUGH, HOW MUCH THIS FIC ALTERED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY LIKE. its been 4 YEARS since it was completed but HOLY. MOTHERFUCKING. GOD. The story between Michael & Philippa persisting beyond the odds, in a twist of the canon happenings in Star Trek: Discovery is FOREVER ingrained in my heart and soul and honestly once again THANK YOU @nomi--sunrider for SUCH a beautiful story 🥺🥺🥺

and drum roll please!!!

#1 (current): I literally cannot pick between Better than Gold + Little Cat by @lady-dimimi / @azu-zu (tumblr post for BtG | LC ao3); How to woo a Hot Principal by @softshrimpy (ao3); and Lipstick Stains by @weemssapphic (ao3) || LIKE HOLY SHIT THE FUCKING AMOUNT OF TALENT, PLOT, FLUFF, DRAMA AND UTTER GAYNESS THESE FICS BRING ME— its SOOOOO insanity inducing in the best of ways <3 also, i really count myself lucky to get into a very active (x reader) sphere LIKE ITS SOOOOO INSANE i get to consume CONTENT daily for such wonderful characters and these special morsels be like. authors, I am sending you all a MWAH from me

[suzakushimon]

Thoughts on Jing Liu quest?

AHAHAHAHA (negative connotation)

u came to the right person anon, i have a lot to say...

IT WASNT THAT GREAT..... at first i spent a whole night convincing myself it was a reasonable way for the story to go but they did dan heng WAY too dirty. idk why luofu writing is so SHIT but if the current scandal is true and an employee rly has been messing w the story just to mess w the female fans, it explains a lot 💀

there were parts i liked: the art + the fight scene was a banger + how jingliu points out dan heng fights exactly like dan feng. it emphasizes how, whether he likes it or not, there are some things dh has inherited from df and he cant escape that. his appearance, his spear, his bracer, the ribbon, his vidyadhara powers, etc etc... if it wasnt for df, dh wouldnt be who he is today-- thats the truth, and its something dh can grow to accept.

but holy FUCK. the way they handled everything else. dan heng's memories. jingliu's introduction and her motives. blade's characterization. THE PLOTHOLES. just....ITS KINDA ALL WRONG!!!!!

IN MY OPINION. dan heng's whole POINT is that he doesnt remember his past life/his "past". he considers those memories as "not his", and asserts himself as his own individual person without them. its IMPORTANT he doesnt remember anything + that he doesnt NEED to bc this way he contrasts march 7th and the trailblazer, who also dont have their past memories-- but those 2 WANT to remember, are actively trying to, and they DO consider their past memories/past life as part of "themselves". whereas dan heng runs from his past and tries to find his "true self" without it, march and trailblazer run towards theirs, trying to catch glimpses of their "true selves" through it.

SO THERE'S LITERALLY NO REASON HE HAS TO REMEMBER DAN FENG'S PAST. it completely messes up his character arc/the message his character is trying to send!! they backpedaled so hard on their stance towards dan heng... first it was "only u can determine who u are, no one else; the expectations others hold for u dont matter" and now its "u are him no matter what u do, these sins are yours". like WHAT???? jingliu's quest just made more people equate dan heng with dan feng when the story is SUPPOSED to emphasize that they r DIFFERENT PEOPLE💀💀💀💀

dan heng did decide to face dan feng's sins, but he's NOT a part of the quintet. he's a WHOLE NEW PERSON. so why was he invited as a part of the quintet, but bailu wasn't?? its like theyre saying bailu is a whole new person, but dan heng is still dan feng, WHICH GOES AGAINST HIS CHARACTER THEMES(i am silenced and forced to sit down) anyways imo if bailu didn't have to attend the worlds worst high school reunion, dan heng shouldn't have had to attend either!!!! THIS AINT HIS PROBLEM. DAN HENG GET BEHIND ME!!!!!!!!!

his convo with blade at the end was so ooc it killed me. like, a little walk with his past life's old friend, and suddenly he's willing to forgive blade's literal years of stalking and attacking him??? now hes willing to play along with the vengeance he spent his whole life insisting was directed at the wrong person???????? i only chose that option bc the one on top sounded so wimpy/out of place it also felt ooc to me 💀 he wouldnt show weakness to blade, but there's no way he'd be that accepting either. maybe 3 years later and x patches in, but not NOW...

and jingliu. ooooh girlie. JINGLIU. THEY DID HER SOOOO FUCKING DIRTY. she's a new character. casuals/people who dont dig through lore don't know anything abt her except that shes jingyuans teacher. so why is her INTRODUCTION a fucking CONCLUSION TO HER CHARACTER ARC???? shes already DONE wandering and finding an answer in her heart. shes already DONE deciding whether or not to keep running or face her past. now shes mourning for a PERSON WE DONT EVEN KNOW. we watch her get closure for her dead girlfriend. BUT SO WHAT??? WE DONT EVEN KNOW EITHER OF THEM!!! SEEING HER GET CLOSURE MEANS NOTHING TO US. ITS JUST AWKWARD. why was her INTRO her fucking CHARACTER ARC'S CONCLUSION!!!!!!! they should've made her quest like luocha's, where all we did was speculate and her real motives remained a mystery. then we couldve been spared from this shitfest!!!!

the difference in quality between belobog story and luofu story is insane!!!! like, just compare luka's quest to jinglius....hello??? its crazy how unsympathetic they made her. it was literally "tell not show" instead of "show not tell".

anyways im just upset at dan heng's treatment. like, this character has a clear message/direction they were going for, but jinglius quest kind of stomps all over it, and her quest was supposed to introduce her but her introduction flopped hard. she was so much cooler when we saw her during yanqings quest and she was half insane. its awkward to mourn for someone we dont even know and its awkward to watch someone we dont know mourn. and, ngl, it rly felt like they only added dan heng in there bc they want more ppl to care abt the quintet. that whole quest couldve been through jingliu's pov where the reunion only happened between blade, jingliu, and jingyuan, so why wasn't it??? as opposed to those three, dan heng already moved on from the past. it was awkward for dan heng and for the audience💀

tldr i had high expectations bc i thought hoyo cared abt the quintet but not only did it flop it also dragged dan heng's characterization through the mud

[philzasjuicyass]

Like I had a dream of Season 2 last night, and weirdly it seemed exactly like what Season 2 might actually be like in terms of reveals. Like it turned out Alastor was actually a fraud, he didn’t kill all those overlords when he first got to Hell, but rather lied and said he did, and began attaining some power over the years with that rep, never a lot but enough to beat out smaller names, that being why he was so dependent on smaller deals like those he had Rosie keep an eye out for. He wasn’t pacing himself but desperately trying to live up to the myth of the Radio Demon. And it turned out Husk had been more powerful than Alastor when he acquired his soul, and the day he did was just as stressful for Alastor as it was for Husk. Then Vox tried to have him join the Vees, Alastor turned him down since he didn’t want to truth of his power being much lower than thought being found out, they got in a fight, and Alastor was legitimately hurt but managed to hide it and leave before Vox realised, just as he did with Adam. Alastor then encountered the real force responsible for those overlords going missing: Eve, the first woman. Basically in the world of ‘Hazbin’, before Heaven and Hell, there was simply Good and Evil, literal personifications, concepts given awareness. Good was the first to gain mass, becoming God, creating the angels and then Earth, Adam, Lilith, Eve, while Evil was left a simple force, until Lilith formed the apple of free will and gave it to Eve, infecting her with Evil, and so she became its embodiment, God’s counterpart in evil. Who could be seen in the opening storybook in the first episode, Go(o)d a closed eye amongst clouds, Evil a red eye(s) and smile amongst darkness, I checked once I woke up to ensure that shot was real. So basically all descendants of hers, humanity, would have both good and evil within them: the reason Adam was in Heaven was that in spite of being a jerk, he never had Evil as a concept within him. So what neither Alastor or Eve would have known was that because of this, he was among the few that could ever kill her (Evil), and now that Niffty took him out of the picture, the only ones left who could do so are Lilith and Charlie, the only ones of human descent not to be infected with Evil on some level (angels not having the right stuff to make it work). Anyway my dream had it that Alastor and Lilith hadn’t really met, but once Alastor made his deal with Eve, and she got herself a representative, Lilith felt it, and immediately fled to Heaven. And we would find this out since in Season 2, overlords started to go missing again as they once did before, only this time Alastor couldn’t really claim credit. My dream ended before it was clear who had killed them, whether it was Eve trying to find a new rep (the process having dissolved the souls of most whose wills were not powerful enough to escape her, before she had found Alastor, who would have spent the seven years he was gone attempting to escape her mass, regain corporeality to act on Eve’s behalf), or whether it was Lilith trying to figure out which overlord was Eve’s rep and wipe them out, but it did feature Vox be killed later on in the season, and Valentino and Velvette had a beautiful mournful ballad in response to this, like with her being the source of all Evil in this world I could have seen Val apologists in real life saying all he did wasn’t his fault because of her, what her influence did, which wouldn’t be great, but the scene my mind came up with was (great). So anyway Alastor’s purpose would have been to prevent redemption within Hell from being possible, since it would ruin Eve. It seemed surprisingly plausible to canon as we know it: I was thoroughly impressed with my subconscious mind on waking up.

i love hearing about other people's dreams. banger subconscious storytime, anon

[drabbles-mc]

gettin' the whole reyes fam together!!! let's get into it!!!!

“Well my mom’s dead and my dad is depressed in bed mourning the death of my mother so you got me.” <- setting the scene with this absolute BANGER of a line!!!!!! honestly there is something that just hits such a right tone with me when it comes to characters being blunt and honest like this. especially in reference to grief. is it me projecting onto The Characters?? perhaps!!! but i still love it and i will keep doing it lmao

“You don’t have any ground to be giving me the fuckin’ attitude like that.” <- ohhh she ANGYYY ANGY!!!! i love it!!!! i love her!!!!

“It’s not a gang, and I’m not a part of their crew, my roommate’s cool with them, that’s it.” <- OHHHH OKAY!!!! THIS????? this is the typa au/pre-canon shit i fuck with HEAVYYYYYYYY. i love this so much omg. angel bro she knows you she knows that you are Not Immune

“They charged us for vandalism because I went back and tagged the car with a sharpie I had. I knew it’d knock the charge down.” <- obsessed with the fact that even when they're being absolute idiots, EZ still somehow manages to be a liiiiiiiittle bit smart 😂

“Plus I knew we’d need a bailout.” Angel chimed in which earned him a look from both of his siblings. <- anj you do this thing where you write these lines that i can SOOOOOO clearly hear in the character's voices. like. angel is IN MY HEAD saying this. and i can picture the smug little look on his face about it too. he's thinking he's having his Sharpie moment. bless him. i wanna smack him on the back of the head lmao

okay i LOOOOOOOOOVE the different beat of sibling you're going with in this. i feel like she's got a very unique vibe about her compared to some of the other sibling ocs we've talked about in the past and I'm obsessed with her. i love to see an angry woman i can't lie

Bail Out

Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & Felipe Reyes & OFC Rosario Reyes

30 Day Fic Challenge

Word Count: 1.6k A/N: I have an obsession with Reyes sisters and the endless possibilities of what could have been.

Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content. Mayans Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics @narcolini @danzer8705 @keyweegirlie

“I’m here for Angel and Ezekiel Reyes.” Ro was visibly annoyed but she kept her voice level. 

“They’re being processed, in the meantime, can I see some ID?” The cop spoke without looking at Rosario. 

She handed over her I.D, not making much of it until the cop let out a question. 

“You their mom?” 

Rosario snapped her head to frown at the cop with disgust. 

“Do I look like their mother?” 

“We called for a parent or guardian.” 

“Well my mom’s dead and my dad is depressed in bed mourning the death of my mother so you got me.” 

“And you are?” The attitude of the cop was growing. 

“Their older sister. Whose 22 and fully capable of taking them home and punishing them for whatever stupid shit they got into.” 

“Vandalism.” The cop looked away and kept writing things down. Not losing the attitude but seemingly accepting that this was the best case scenario. 

“That ain’t a citation? You gotta book ‘em for that?” Ro’s arms were crossed, despite her anger at this whole situation, they were her brother’s she was going to defend them. 

“No, it ain’t.” The cop mocked how she said it. “They’ll be out soon, you can take a seat.” The cop pointed to the waiting room behind her and then closed the window to ensure Ro wasn’t going to continue talking. 

Ro scoffed, and rolled her eyes before taking a step back into the waiting room. It was a mix of being petty and also being anxious but she didn’t take a seat, she kept pacing 5 steps one way and 5 steps the other until the buzzing sound forced her legs to stop. 

She looked up and Angel was the first one to walk into the room. His hand was tight on the plastic bag that held his rings, wallet, phone, and chain. He looked a little tired but overall his expression was mad. Ro knew the feeling well and knew how it presented on both of her brothers. Which is why when EZ came out with a similar bag of personal items, she could see his face wasn’t angry, but disappointed. 

“You I expect this from, but you.” She pointed at EZ. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Angel gave her a look of annoyance. 

“You don’t have any ground to be giving me the fuckin’ attitude like that.” Ro practically barked at him. 

She didn’t notice it but the cop behind the window smirked at her comment. 

“Can we just go home.” EZ interrupted her. 

“When you tell me what the fuck happened.” She kept the same tone with EZ as she did with Angel. 

“Not here.” Angel looked over his shoulder at the cop behind them. 

As much as Ro wanted to argue and prove Angel and EZ wrong in everything coming out of their mouths, she had to agree, she wasn’t going to incriminate them. 

“Let’s go.” 

As the three siblings made their way through the dark parking lot and into Ro’s car, none of them spoke. The only noise was the street lamp buzzing in and out and the sound of her car engine sputtering an extra time as it struggled to turn on. 

As they drove and got to a red light, Angel was lifting up an apron. “What the fuck is this?” The black waist apron was littered at his feet, clearly discarded by the driver of the car earlier. The embroidered words Rivershack Tavern were sewed in an orange thread on the apron. 

“It’s called a job.” Ro leaned over and snatched it from Angel’s hands and threw it in the backseat where EZ looked at it. 

“The Riverside Dive Bar?” EZ’s voice from the backseat seemed confused. 

“That place is nasty, Ro.” Angel added on to his little brother’s confusion. 

“Yea, you know that because you go with all your little biker gang crew.” Her knuckles got tight against the wheel as her feelings started to bubble in her gut. 

“It’s not a gang, and I’m not a part of their crew, my roommate’s cool with them, that’s it.” Angel got defensive. 

“Riverside is dangerous.” EZ wasn’t going to let this conversation die just yet. 

“Yea? Lotta vandalizers out there? Wouldn’t wanna get too close to them.” She was ready to go to bat for herself, always. 

“He’s right, it’s scummy there, fuck you workin’ in a bar for?” Angel’s face was twisted up as he pulled his rings out of the plastic bag and started putting them back on his hands. 

“I’m trying to get the fuck out of here, and to do that, one needs a little thing called money. And to get money, Angel, people usually get a job, I know the concept of holding down employment seems foreign to you but to some of us it’s a means to live.” Her words were harsh, but she had enough of him ragging on her when she was the one who came down to pick them up. 

“You can’t work anywhere else?” It was a question EZ usually would have asked, the way it was said also. More serene, more understanding. 

“Well I might have to because I had to leave halfway through my shift to pick you bozos up.” Her eyes moved to the rearview mirror to look at EZ who was just staring out the window now. “Wanna tell me what the fuck happened?” She asked as the light turned green and she began driving again. “And no bullshit the real deal.” 

Angel got quiet which was very out of character for him, she was expecting some rant about how the police in this town have nothing better to do than stop two brown kids from walking around but it was silent. 

“Any acknowledgement that I’m not talking to a wall would be appreciated.” Ro continued waving her hand. 

“E?” Angel spoke up now, leaning his head back against the seat rest. 

That shocked Rosario. She was expecting Angel to own up to whatever it was and leave it at that but for him to shift the conversation to their littest brother was not expected. 

Ez’s mouth got tight as the anger coursed through him and he punched the seat in front of him which happened to be where Angel was sitting. 

“The fuck?” Angel sat up and turned around just as quickly as the punch to the seat happened. 

“You had to break the fuckin’ window and make the alarm go off.” EZ was now yelling. 

“I was trying to get in the car like you fuckin’ wanted!” Angel argued back. 

“I’m sorry, you were breaking and entering into a vehicle? You’re lucky they only charged you for fuckin’ vandalism.”

“They charged us for vandalism because I went back and tagged the car with a sharpie I had. I knew it’d knock the charge down.” EZ said it so matter of factly. 

Ro looked at Angel as if she was looking for confirmation and he just waved her off which was his way of agreeing. 

“So you wanna tell me why you were breaking into a car?” Ro’s eyes were glued to EZ in the mirror when she asked until she placed them back on the road. 

“Why you lookin’ at him.” Angel smirked. 

“Because if it was on you, you woulda brought your dumb ass biker club hangin’ roommate.” Ro was starting to piece some of the puzzle together. 

Angel laughed at that. “Tell her, E, tell her what we were doing.” 

“It was the car that was at the Pop’s shop.” EZ spoke. “I wanted to find out what was inside, clues or something.” 

Ro was lucky they were approaching a stop sign because otherwise she would have pulled over. She turned her body and looked at him. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” EZ said like he was a child again. 

“Like what?” Ro nodded her head up. 

“Like I’m crazy.” EZ said it while looking directly at his sister’s eyes. 

“I’m not.” It was two words but spoken so firmly. 

All EZ did was raise his eyebrows. 

“I’m looking at you wondering why you didn’t come to me, too.” 

“Didn’t think you’d want in on the illegal activities.” He crossed his arms over his stanford sweatshirt. EZ had been wearing that sweatshirt since he was in middle school in anticipation of going away to college and that anticipation had never fallen to second place, until now it seems.

“Plus I knew we’d need a bailout.” Angel chimed in which earned him a look from both of his siblings. 

“She’s my mom too.” Ro spoke and moved back to looking straight ahead in her seat. “It was fucking stupid of you to do this.” The reprimanding was here and it was directly specifically at EZ, not Angel. 

“Didn’t find anything out either.” Angel added in not realizing his sister wasn’t exactly talking to him. 

“Dad know?” EZ asked, his head leaning against the window. 

“What do you think?” Rosario was back to pressing the gas. 

The three siblings sat in quiet for the rest of the ride home, not talking to one another. There wasn’t any tension in the air, though, just the heaviness of knowing there was really no solution in sight, just the sorrow and mourning of their mother, and the gnawing feeling of uneasiness and unanswered questions of what happened.

[tomboyyyaoi]

FUCKDUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKUFCKUFKCUFKCVUKV STANPEDEE STATURDAY THOUGHTSD I FUCKING GUESS OH MY GOD OH MY FUCKINGV GOD FUCKING TRIGUN FUCK

AAAAAAA

aaaahhAAAHHHHH

AAHH FCUKFUCKFUFUCK WHTFUCK??? FUCK

FUCK

SHIT

OH MY GOD

elendira is such a little drama queen bitch i love her, annoying little sister coded, can i get 5 more of these little blonde bitches

WE ALL FUCKING CALLED IT I WAS SUCH A PEDDLER OF THIS THEORY BUT I WASNT EXPECTING IT THIS EPISODE I REALLY LIKED HOW IT WAS DONE IM GOING NUTS A LITTLE BIT

MERYLLLL MERYL MERYL OH MY GOD the fact the derringer still has his blood on it makes it SO FUCKING GOOD her pressing the button to go back up w her red raw eyes and loading the derringer w shaky hands oh my god im going fucking nuts im obsessed

BANGER vashwood moments this ep how r u guys doin

SCARS SCARS SCARS SCARS SCARS

FUCK the fact conrad has just been using human kids as bases for clones of knives.... the extent of his experiments, absolutely fucking vicious i love how much they are pushing that he is truly a piece of shit

knives' little eye on his.. knife. epic swag begging for some more body horror

let us not forget roberto got merked by a little trans girl. i support trans rights and trans wrongs, rip bozo ill miss u

nick continuing to treat other eye of michael experiments like siblings he is their annoying big brother who they all hate♡

"wolfwood. thank you for everything" pff gay u'll see him tomorrow i bet

vashs smarmy lil wave at meryl and roberto while A) roberto was fucking dying (unbeknownst to him tbf) and B) meryl was screaming at him thru the glass not to go bc it was a trap. very vash of him.

VASH AND WOLFWOOD GETTING CAUGHT BY THE POLICE BC VASH FUCKING SNEEZED then wolfwood fucking punching him in the head for it which was the most vashwood moment ever THATS their dynamic... 2 me...

JULY LOOKS FUCKING AWESOME its like this super cool mix of steampunk and cyberpunk i really fuck w it, LOVE the culture in it too i love the idea of other cultures being alive on nomans land not just american

zazies lil "aw man. >:(" wen meryl n roberto just walked off with conrad THEY R SO PATHETIC i love them. best antagonist.

wolfwood getting the scar reveal scene instead of meryl is a little weird but oddly enough? i dont mind! ik im a stark mash head but im unbothetrd (looks like shes gnna go in to save him next ep anyway n im BUZZIN 4 that)

roberto sat FUCKING DYING in the elevator and just bein like "im 2 sober 4 this :/" bitch im gnna miss u

KNIVES SAYING HES GNNA REBUILD VASH THEN CHUCKING HIM IN A BIG PLANT VAT?????? RRRGGHEHFHFHGGRGFG GOING NUTS

we r gathered here 2day 2 mourn the loss of roberto deniro, we all knew u were gnna die, we all called it but man? u were great while we had u, bringing a certified smarmy depressed alcoholic uncle vibe to the group that was so much fun in contrast with the others, rip bozo, gnna miss u big boy

anyway fuck fuck man mother fucker fuck shit man shit fuck fuck motherfcukdf come back next week for more

[agentmmayy]

march + april rotation

it’s gonna be...... may finally posting the march + april rotation playlist. combining these two months since most of the music i listened to in march was off the previous rotation list!

flowers in my hair - calista garcia: sweet, slow, and syrupy. i love this song and how it feels like a breath of fresh air. it’s achingly romantic and has got me singing along and twirling my hair and kicking my feet. though, at the same time it’s so intimate i feel like i’m intruding 

back for more - nia hendricks: the usual type of slow groove beat i adore that makes me want to dance around with the love of my life. it’s just as sweet as the previous one but it feels... lonely. mournful. i’d be dancing but with a ghost

bodybag - charlotte lawrence: this song is so *clenches fist* i am obsessed with how the body bag fills in for the other person in the relationship and holds her when they can’t or refuse to! the relationship is already dead! she’s holding on! in that liminal space between resurrection and burial! also the vocals in this are insane. my favorite part is ‘she’s at the bowery bar, showed you her paper heart’ and then ‘help me hurt and then i’ll come back’ YEOW

gasp of air - lisa curtis: THIS SONG MAKES ME WANT TO SING AND SCREAM ALONG AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS!!!!!!!!! and then the lyrics slapped me across the face. ‘but i’ll stay and such ‘cause i think it’s love enough’ ‘i’m yours enough that i come back’ ‘some water if i’m lucky but i would never ask that much’ ‘what kind of person needs to breathe A HEALTHY ONE I’M SURE BUT THAT’S NOT ME’?????????? 

nothing left to give - BAILEN: ‘i wanna live i’m sick of just trying to survive’ *looks into the camera* anyway. obsessed with this band and how weird this song sounds 

kilimanjaro - dolores forever: this song and the next have me asking how songs can be this good. like. is it crack? is that what they put in these?? the music and the vocals are EVERYTHING it’s unlike anything i’ve heard recently and i’m digging it. then the harmonies?? and the lyrics???? ‘a thousand shards of glass from your silver tongue got me like a shot gun’ the way ‘i was young. you were pure ice and snow’ IS SUNG?????? WTF

labour - paris paloma: this has been my hype song for the past few weeks. the intensity of it still continues to blow my mind. it’s unapologetic and awful. it’s incredible. i felt every lyric in my gut. i don’t want to over explain it since i can’t do the song justice but it’s so brutally honest in describing and dismantling traditional roles placed upon women and girls. the entirety of it is like poking at a wound that never closes, a wound that’s been gaping and bleeding for centuries and it makes me so angry. the visceral reaction i had to the lyric ‘if we had a daughter’ girl i- ouuuuugh. i got sick to my stomach. i was screaming crying throwing up etc etc. anyway this song is a masterpiece. still haven’t recovered from it. also it’s a fucking bop. 

bad blood - trousdale: another banger for the books!! trousdale always delivers these perfect harmonies and this time it’s a fantastic, bitter song but that’s not the only element! there’s indifference and confusion and acceptance! there’s healing! and the repetition of anyway *patcha holding earbuds meme* perfection

all the love - katie gregson-macleod: katie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how am i supposed to live laugh love in these conditions!!!!!!!! this one is SO SAD. i ache each time i listen to it. it doesn’t apply to romantic love but all other types of love and what happens when you lose it and how you deal with that loss. the grief is so thick it’s almost suffocating but as always the way she sings is enough for it to not be overwhelming. every lyric hits but the combination of her voice with ‘but i’d rather do that in bed alone’ is my favorite  

BONUS: here are a few stray songs that didn’t quite fit in the narrative but i wanted to share them anyway :)

far and wide - WILDES: doesn’t quite fit the narrative, but it’s a good follow up to all the love. it’s toned down more and easier to get lost in, but still woven with the running strand of grief that makes it sorrowful. once again, back at it with the yearning 

ava - famy: this song had me by the throat the first time i heard it in teen wolf and it still does. chewing glass over the switch between ‘this world is primal’ + ‘this world is rabid’ to ‘this world is pure’ + ‘this world is learning’  and ‘my conscious burning, my beastly flaw’