#even when the person has said they've ruled out those things being the cause

[thethingything]

okay yeah it does at least seem to be a thing that some people are fine with some sources of caffeine, but feel really ill or get migraines after drinking others.

I've seen a bunch of people describing the opposite of what we have going on though, where for them it's that instant coffee fucks them up but espresso is fine. I also found some people saying that for them it's specific brands or specific types of coffee bean that cause issues regardless of how they're prepared.

so I guess at least it is a thing other people experience even if I can't work out why the fuck it's an issue

[superectojazzmage]

I really dig Qimir's characterization. He's a Sith and a lot of the brutality of Sith culture is on full display, but he doesn't really come off as necessarily evil or even especially malicious, at the very least no the in the typical way Sith villains are portrayed.

Mae's hunting of the Brendok Jedi seems to have been more of a personal thing for her that he reluctantly went along with as part of her training, and Qimir himself is evidently more concerned with keeping his culture alive than perpetuating old grudges. He hates Jedi because of all the bad blood between them and Sith and the ideological differences and has no issue with killing them, but also mostly just wants to be left alone to practice his faith, use his powers, and rear his own students/children as he sees fit rather than being forced to follow the laws of the nation that destroyed his own.

He bears no delusions about the Sith's current predicament as a tiny husk of it's former self hiding in the cracks of a society dominated by ancestral enemies, like many of the Baneite Sith do. He isn't interested in fantasies of revenge and conquest. As he says to Sol, the only reason he kills the hunting party is because Mae has caused them all to discover the Sith, and if the Jedi Council and Republic learn about Sith still existing they'll default to slaughtering or depowering them all for being "tainted by darkness", the exact same way they've done after every prior conflict with the Sith.

And while he disagrees with the Jedi Code, he also despises when Jedi fail to follow their own stated principles and gladly points out when they're being hypocrites (like how he mocks Sol for being upset over Jecki's death because she's "a child", as if he didn't personally lead said child into lethal combat after rearing her as a warrior and as if the Jedi in general don't use their padawans as child soldiers as a rule). His obvious disdain Sol and the Brendok Jedi specifically over even the other Jedi seems less motivated by the Jedi-Sith feud and more by him knowing about the very bad thing they almost assuredly did on Brendok and being livid about them continuing to act like they have the moral high ground despite it.

In a lot of ways, he's in the same position as the Brendok Coven, someone who wants to be free to live their own way and not be bashed into line by the Jedi and Republic, which would certainly explain why he and Mae gravitated to working together. They see each other as kindred spirits, both people left alone and in hiding by the imperialism of the Republic and the Jedi's refusal to let anyone who challenges their view of the Force exist in the long term, if at all. And that also adds to his anger with Mae when she turns on him; she was trying to throw him under the bus so she can ingratiate herself with the people who killed both her and his people. Even in a culture that values cunning and deceit, that sort of betrayal would probably be seen as unimaginable, the kind of dishonor that can never be atoned for.

All in all, the show is such a nice throwback to the more morally nuanced and even-handed works you used to see more of during the Legends EU days, showing the flaws and issues with all the involved groups while not coming down too hard and deeming any one pure evil, as well as treating the individual characters within those groups as varied in nature but usually sympathetic or at least understandable. The Jedi as an institution and a part of the governmental system are deeply flawed at even the best of times, but most of the Jedi come off as decent folk who are genuinely just trying to do the right thing. The Brendok Witches had their issues, but also justified reasons for everything they did and at the end of the day they just wanted to be allowed to live their lives without fear of outsiders storming in to take their children away and forbid them from passing their ways on. And now, with Qimir, yeah, the Sith culture is shown to be very harsh, ruthless, or even downright savage by the standards of the Jedi (and our own real world values), but they're still people at the end of the day.

[aethelwyneleigh27]

Knight!Ellie x Princess!Reader

Drabbles and imagines through a headcanon format

My rules for requests and characters I can write for

TLOU Masterlist

Ellie Williams dating playlist made by yours truly (Modern)

Enjoy this official playlist as a sneak peek of a fanfic I'm currently working on (This post was highly inspired by it)

ꕥ HOPE YOU ENJOY! ꕥ

A/n: Thinking about Knight!Ellie x Princess!Reader because I just love this trope so much. It's literally a fave of mine along with grumpy x sunshine ("I hate everyone but you") and enemies to lovers. This'll be constantly edited because it isn't proofread and more ideas will come to me soon.

Disclaimers/warnings: OOC?, I'm so sorry but English is not my first language so please don't come after me.

Tiny sidenote: Implied chubby reader???

♡ Knight!Ellie who literally was just stuttering and speechless when she first saw and met you. Your parents kept you face hidden from the public, of course that being done maids who are not one of your personal maids gossip about how you are more likely to be ugly, must be why your parents kept you.

Of course rumours spread like wildfire in the castle and the maiden who said such things lost her job and Ellie being a new knight, she's heard of said rumors but she didn't care nonetheless because she was getting paid worth at least two chests filled with gold coins to protect you.

♡ Knight!Ellie who became attached to you because you're so beautiful, how could she not? Although there were downsides to this, Ellie realized that the first time your parents had you meet a suitor.

♡ Knight!Ellie who had to stand there and watch on the side as you danced with a suitor, his hands on your body in such a way that made you so uncomfortable. Ellie watched as your face contorted a bit wondering what kind of a daft oblivious idiot won't notice it.

She saw the way you squinted your eyes in pain everytime when the suitor hastily steps on your foot. The little whimper that came out of your mouth because of how much weight the suitor stepped on you with, he didn't even apologize, not after he did it every 3 minutes.

♡ Knight!Ellie who was incredibly livid, the fact that he didn't take you into consideration, so mad that she was clenching her fists that she swore it would bleed if she doesn't cut her finger nails regularly. (We all know why she does)

♡ Knight!Ellie who always pays attention even when you think she's not, whenever you sneak out into town even when she's surveillancing around for anything that might cause you danger she'd know when a puddle is there and would either lay her coat down so you can step on it and continue walking or carry you and put you down when you passed the puddle.

♡ Knight!Ellie who saw how you interacted with the town's folk despite how none of them knew who you truly are. How the kids adored you, giving you wild flowers they've picked. The kids noticed how you took one of those flowers and poked it through her hair in between her ear, the look Ellie gave you of pure love being overlooked by the oblivious darling that you are.

A little girl called her out on it saying that she doesn't blame Ellie, only a fool would be stupid enough not to love you. Said little girl was told by Ellie to keep the secret of the little crush and you turn back to both of them with a confused look as to what they're talking about but the little girl just giggles and Ellie shrugs and smiles innocently at you.

♡ Knight!Ellie who finds so many different ways to touch you and any excuse to do so. She'd help you up a carriage by holding your hand even though she knows you can get up by yourself. She'd have her hand on the small of your back, the other on your hand again whenever guiding you to a rocky or unstable platform.

♡ Knight!Ellie who faced a lot of criticism for being female and has been through a lot during her training because other knights treated her differently but now that she's with you, she think it's worth it and is most certainly cocky to her colleagues about it and shoving it into their mean faces.

♡ Knight!Ellie who would rather die than face her own blade towards you in any way possible, she'd even go as far as you beg you if you accidentally point her sword/dagger towards yourself asking you "Princess please, don't ever do that again".

♡ Knight!Ellie who pleasures you in the way others have failed, she makes you feel loved, protected and cared for. She never half-asses anything that has to do with you because no matter what, she knows you deserve only the best.

♡ Knight!Ellie who worships the ground you walk on, every single thing that you do makes her fall in love with you even more. She'd defend your honor as if her life depended on it.

♡ Knight!Ellie who is always at your beck and call, even if you don't even ask her to help you with anything. Something as simple as helping you dress and being able to kiss skin on your shoulder in which she revealed by moving your chamise and putting it back in place when she's done. Most definitely loves helping you with your clothing, so much so that she goes down on her knees just to help you slip on you shoes.

♡ Knight!Ellie who smokes but when you caught her, she promised you she would quit and she did. But relentlessly teased you saying you just wanted to keep her alive longer for yourself, not that it isn't true but you'd never tell her that right?

♡ Knight!Ellie noticing the little things about you, how strands of your hair make their way in front of your face and how you huff in annoyance because it disrupts you of whatever you are doing so you blow it back. She finds herself tucking the strand behind your ear for you.

♡ Knight!Ellie who loves it when you read to her, how you so comfortably ask a commoner like her to be in your bed chambers and to make her lay in your bed as you read to her.

Her heart beats faster, her breath hitches the moment you thank her for providing you protection, safety and care. The young knight butting in saying that you deserve nothing less, looking up at you with those beautiful sage green eyes of hers.

♡ Knight!Ellie caring more about your well being than her own, constantly forgetting to eat meals, losing sleep and not giving herself enough time to heal when injured so you just had to sit her down. You took care of her, fed her and changed her bandages when you was too stubborn to do so, to say that Ellie knew in that moment, she just couldn't help herself. That was the first time she kissed you.

♡ Knight!Ellie who can't get enough of your kisses, your soft lips hitting her chapped ones, giving it warmth and life. She pull you in, arms wrapped around your body and hands rested on you back. You cupped her face continuing to share your warmth with her. That cemented it for Ellie, she just had to have you no matter how guilty and selfish she felt about it.

♡ Knight!Ellie who lays awake at night dreaming what it would be like if she was able to express her love for you in public, let the world know that you belong to each other.

♡ Knight!Ellie who used to use sweet nicknames as a tease and now using it as a term of endearment putting the word "my" before each one whenever in the privacy of four walls.

♡ Knight!Ellie who makes anytime with you feel domestic, just makes her want to take you with her and run away to a small cottage near a field where you two could happily live the life of a married couple, maybe even adopt a child.

♡ Should I do Knight!Abby x Princess!Reader or Knight!Abby x Maiden!Reader next? Both? Honestly I need more Abby content. (Maiden = Commoner)

[possiblylando]

Chainsaw Man Chapter 131 'Early' Analysis.

Bit later than usual with this one cause- I didn't feel like writing it earlier- Feels like a cheep excuse but whatever.

It's really interesting seeing the contrast between the two confirmed Primordials. Darkness doesn't speak a language we can understand but it still speaks. It seemed like a hyper intelligent beast which acted on a type of intelligent impulse almost like majin buu. Who I could make an entire post talking about the intelligence and mentality of because of how people misunderstand him. But I'll not do that for now since this is about Chainsaw Man. However Falling completely juxtaposes Darkness because she's basically it's polar opposite. Not fear wise but personality and the way she conducts herself. This panel is the one that really cemented it in my mind because this is her showing the ability to reason. It's weird- She's weird right? She's brutal but not cruel. She's willing to let her previous rule slide because the situation has changed. She doesn't immediately kill the devil (WHO'S NAME WE NEVER LEARN GOD DAMN IT FUJIMOTO) because it didn't finish it's meal. Also their designs which I feel I've pointed out before but I don't wanna look back for if I did or if it was in a specific post.

They're completely different but they share motifs between eachother. I'll go through some of those cause I didn't actually put them together until I was writing this so I feel it's an observation that you guys also might want to hear. 1. They both have several extra arms. 2. They both have dismembered heads as apart of their body. 3. Their arms are double jointed. (Shown Below)

I feel these are going to be reoccurring themes throughout most (maybe even all) of the primordial devils we see. Additionally this isn't a full on pattern but it seems like a Primordial appears roughly every 60 chapters. Darkness first appeared in 65, Falling first appeared in 122 (Full appearance in 123). Back to the chapter itself.

I find it interesting that Falling begins to bleed more profusely when she gets upset. Based on what I've previously said and what we saw at the end of the chapter it's possible her degree over this overworld vessel lessens and thus it's bleeding begins to worsen when she grows upset. Like it requires a degree of concentration to keep together. Which I think is interesting but will likely not be the key to winning any singular fight. Falling nukes the UNNAMED DEVIL and we get the weirdest scene in awhile.

This scene answers 1 question. Yet it raises several more. So let's lightning round it. 1. Why did falling take orders from Famine? 2. Why did her vessel turn into a weird shrunken doll? 3. Uh- Actually no thats- Thats it. Huh. So less questions than I thought and more like just one question. Huh. well key things. I think this is what Falling's truest hell form (Like Darkness) looks like.

It would fit more with the primordial sort of warped appearance we've seen before. It's also the form she appeared in 122 and the beginning of 123 as. So I feel pretty confident in that assumption.

The silly girl is back.

Fucking smugass dickhead smirk she's so fucking good

So this is- Weird right? Nayuta definitely has the ability to identify other Horsemen since she was able to sniff out Famine instantly. So she must know about Asa and Yoru in some vague sense. I guess having that confirmation also sorta shifts that end of chapter reveal. Yeah remember "Thief." it probably wasn't just about Denji having a girlfriend but Nayuta not wanting another Horseman to steal Denji from her. Also it's interesting that aside from War (Maybe), All the horsemen we've seen up until this point have been somewhat benevolent. Ah- Maybe not- Okay lemme rephrase. They've been on the side of humanity. Makima despite being- Makima, She was still trying to aid humanity in her own twisted way. Now Famine is trying to save humanity from the apocalypse in her own twisted way. It's possible that Yoru wants nuclear weapons so she can save humanity from destruction- In her own twisted way. And lemme also make this prediction now. The final horseman will also be trying to save humanity in their own twisted way. (I'm still not making a claim on what the final horseman could be I've elaborated on it in the past if you're a true fan of these you'll know the basic gist Tl;Dr there have been several 4th horsemen in history depending on the source).

This was pretty funny honestly. Nayuta's arm is drawn sorta weird which is abit distracting cause it's the only thing I can stare at now that I've seen it. It doesn't really detract and it's a weekly manga so I can't really complain that much either. Also that girl in the back the one with white hair reminds me of Snake Girl from part 1.

No shot they're actually related in anyway tho- This chapter actually only has low quality faces in the final school drawing so no need to compile them this week. So instead Nayuta silly compilation.

She really is just Power if she wasn't Racist. Okay- Listen- We don't have confirmation that Nayuta isn't racist. But she would have to pick that up herself since I doubt Denji would teach her to be racist because Denji isn't racist.

[terrence-silver]

what would terry's reaction be to beloved refusing to cry or be vulnerable with him? we know he lives by showing no weakness, even in front of beloved, but would it change if beloved also refused to? would it be different if beloved was a woman/man?

Ironically, he would feel bereft.

And make no mistake, beloved will cry.

Why? Because Terry will make them cry.

They won't even know he has an premeditated agenda as it happens.

He'll make them cry because he artificiated a situation that'll upset them so much they'll sob up and he can watch and then swoop in and be the big damn hero as he comforts them and fixes whatever it was he himself caused purely to see those beautiful, delectable tears. He'll make them cry as he fucks them because of how good and orgasmic it feels when he edges them and pounds into them while they beg him to cum and he denies them the release some more just on the off chance he gets to witness those shiny, sad, pleading eyes. He'll make them cry in sheer joy due to how happy he's made them about something and they get emotional, unable to contain themselves. He'll make them cry in every way possible and it will happen and he'll be there to relish every moment of it, because those tears? Much like everything else about beloved? Those tears, they belong to him. He feels entitled to seeing them. Experiencing them. Controlling the narrative of how and when they take place. Whenever and however he wants to. Drawing them out of beloved bit by bit whether they want to or not and whether they're even aware it is happening as it is happening. He feels it is his ultimate right to being the only one who causes them, sees them, wipes them away, savors them --- licks them. You name it. He might just say how they should be open with each other, always, giving beloved a sense of safety so they could laugh, giggle, scream or cry in front of him of their own volition without inhibitions, because he's here for them, for whatever they need. Oh, yes. Cry. How delightful. How perfect.

One set of rules for Terry, another set of rules for beloved entirely.

Because there's an explanation as to why Terry Silver lives by a 'no weakness, no mercy' mantra and he very firmly, to the very core of his being, believes he's justified in certain things the way others might not be. Life has taught him these lessons for a reason and then he taught himself how to embody them fully. He became hardened and tough for a reason as well. He didn't do it just for show. His reason is the war. Vietnam. His career in the military. His own personal worldviews. The martial arts style he lives by as a result of that, which is infinitely more than just a way of fighting --- it's a way of life. With an almost cult-like connotation. If he doesn't cry openly, it's because men, or rather, men like him in particular, don't cry. Not anymore anyway.

Again, he understands it's hypocritical and doesn't particularly care.

When beloved does the same, yeah, he feels he's denied a very crucial access to them and that won't do. That just won't do. He views it as direct challenge fuel. He feels he has to reprogram them until they're sobbing putty in his hands. He feels there's a wall up that he must demolish. Demolish it he does, brick by brick and nobody discovers just how sinister the connotation of what he's done really is; beloved might just be there, getting all misty eyed because Terry's bought and remembered some very special gift they've always said they wanted, not even realizing that the only gift Terry craves for here like a starving animal is the sight of their tears as they unbox the present. By the end of it all? Beloved will be so vulnerable in front of them they'll feel this is precisely the way things should be, feeling infinitely glad they've Terry there to understand their sensibilities (never opening their eyes to the fact he's caused, fueled and cultivated all of them).

[barbierpt]

the thing is with that rp it isn’t a ‘oh we trust our members to be diverse’ or try and encourage diversity because they let one person play four cis white women of the same age group and they’re not diverse in any other way such as a disability.

i don’t think diversity rules are just ‘fulfilling a quota’ because i think they actually help people branch out to find other fcs you might not have thought about before. most diversity rules are tailored around fcs yes because the rpc is notorious for ignoring poc or not playing bipoc. gender and disability diversity is harder to do because like mentioned, you don’t want those characters to be portrayed wrong, even with an experienced writer but for a lot (of course not all) of ocs and even canon characters, race isn’t important to their story so why shouldn’t a fcoc be played?

i hate the ‘play what you’re comfortable with’ mentality because it just feels like an excuse not to use poc when like i said, their race doesn’t always have to be important to their story

i totally agree about the rp, anon, but for the sake of no longer dragging their name i'm going to leave mention of them there.

i also agree with your point too despite me also agreeing that sometimes the phrasing of diversity rules can come off as trying to fulfill a quota and might not be genuine. because i also agree with that "play what you're comfortable with" mentality causing that feeling. basically i agree with a lot of what you're saying as well as what others and this conversation is something i've had a lot of time to think on so i'm glad others have thought about it too!

i'll admit that being in an rp or two with a diversity rule has had that effect on me in terms of branching out with my fc list for my own cast of characters. this is me speaking from my own experience being here ten years and may or may not apply to anyone else. like i've admitted i started out here on tumblr in 2013 so my list of fcs included the cast of pretty little liars, the vampire diaries, one direction, teen wolf... primarily the white fcs from those fandoms. those fcs were so popular back in the day and got attention easier than others and i really liked them/found them fitting for my characters back then and still today. those characters are so established in my arsenal, but they've evolved over the years to include different ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, backgrounds, some have mental health issues. but yep as i've been in rps with diversity rules it has helped me branch out to find fcoc for new characters and i personally believe i have a good mixed cast because of it. there have been rps that don't have stricter diversity rules where i've wound up with maybe 3 white characters, but they're not all the same. different gender identities, backgrounds, ages, sexual orientations. for me, it's not because i favor playing white characters, those were just the ones that i felt strongest muses for in that particular setting. i've also been in groups where i've not played a single white character because of who i felt from my end best fit in with the story.

anyways, what i'm trying to get at in my rambling is that your feelings are totally valid on this subject, anon! i don't think every instance of what you mentioned is intentionally that way but i also can see how those conclusions would be drawn there in others.

[slytherin-girl-thoughts]

The Enemy of Human Relationships

With everything that has been happening, I find myself bit challenged in traversing each day. Nobody has a blinking sign above their faces saying ‘This person wants to be your friend’ — no, they never do. And the only way to know is to take the risk and plunge. I just wished I didn't plunged this deep.

In all my self-reliant diaries, I have always thought of what my mother told me the day I had to leave house for college. “Make everyone your friend. Be kind.”, she said. So each new face I get to be a roommate, I start good. I let their personalities and impressions bloom before me and then I show mine. This way, I will have lesser problems dealing with such people. Oh how I deluded myself thinking this is a golden rule of life and adulthood.

I let my guards down and told myself to trust people who I get to see everyday. It is inevitable. I laid my emotions, trusting them to not judge me based on what I felt — and frankly, my time with them was spent obsessing about my love life. See, I have a habit of storytelling to people. I find it hard to articulate my own feelings so I opt for the talkative route. My averagely wide knowledge in vocabulary fails me everytime I have to say my thoughts out loud. I often find myself confused as to how to speak the right words in order for the other person to understand my point of view.

Most people aim for the kill — listening intently and entertaining interesting stories so they would have rich material to talk with their diaper friends. It's no big deal and I don't mind that. Those diaper friends do not know me after all. A good decade of the typical rite of passage to adulthood, we foster bonds with people and learn valuable lessons from each we make. People can form their own opinions about me and I still get to breathe oxygen. I wouldn't die from their presumptuous thoughts. And frankly, sometimes I love the attention. It's nice to know you're some kind of good gossip material. In a twisted way, it makes me feel important like the uppermost members of the echelon. People either hate you or wish to be you.

My tendency to over-intellectualize my emotions and say them out loud has been my signature. I had known myself to feel validated when I speak my feelings, even at times when I am alone. It might sound absurd to talk alone but come on, we all do that sometimes.

Friendships are fucking difficult. The people who know me allow me to intectualize my feelings until things become clear to me. Sadly, everyone is not like that. It's the nature of humans to be different from one another and you cannot expect people to understand you. In all my defense, I know how to handle criticism if communicated properly — you know, like a normal person. My friends sometimes do not respond to my messages and I don't hold that against them. We all have our own races after all. Our communication has always been a two-way. At times, they would tell me that they've reached the limit for the day, and it would take them time before responding. We don't hold that against each other.

In my life, that doesn't work out all the time. More often than not, people would refuse to communicate their boundaries. Not everyone has learned the lesson yet. But as stupid as this might sound, it irates me to know when people suddenly stop talking to you then alienate you from everyone in the room. And the cause of this spark? They chose not to assert boundaries and held that against me.. and so resentment grew each day. Nothing in life is ever fair. But as human beings, it is our responsibility to know our limits and communicate them with the people around us—

Oh, no. That only applies if we want to keep the relationship, right? If we think that this human bond is something we want to have when we're older, we do the work. We communicate... which isn't the easiest of tasks, by the way. However, if we choose not to, I do think it would be wrong for us to put blame on the other person who hadn't been informed. It is not their burden to carry alone, as we are the only ones responsible of ourselves.

Jumping into conclusions without opening the matter for discussion... ah, that's one of the most problematic things we do. We fear confrontation, so we push it down until we are but a ticking time bomb ready to explode in the face of the enemy we labelled for our own benefit. Are they really the enemy... or is it actually our own selves that prevent us from having long lasting friendships? So tell me, how do you conclude that someone did not ever treat you like a friend? Does this presumptuous thought only occur when we are already ticking against time? Tick, tock, tick, tock. Then, boom. We finally managed to drove ammunitions down our enemies' throat. Maybe this way they would suffer, as well — in the same way we did when we jumped into conclusions.

It is such a pity that human relationships seem to be fleeting. We focus on things that we could actually control while refusing to take action. Our minds tell us, "Oh, but this is justice for us." And so I ask you once again...

Who is your real enemy?

[rescuefield-a]

THE PARENTIFICATION OF CLAIRE REDFIELD.

in re2r we get a moment between claire and sherry when the first asks "what do you want to do when we get out of here?" to which the second replies "i want to see where you live", and claire plays along, even jokes about needing a shower once they get there thus implying that sherry was gonna be her responsibility from now on regardless of the situation she's in - aka having to find chris in europe.

it's interesting how claire doesn't think twice about it, and i'm leaning to think that it might be because of chris himself. now bear with me - it's said that the car crash was so bad the police had to identify the redfields from their teeth; we can assume from her conversation with sherry in the lab that claire was pretty young when this happened, and chris took over as her guardian even though we can assume he was barely legal to join the army / possibly still a late teenager himself.

claire is very much aware of the fact that chris sacrificed a lot and bore the weight of that traumatic event so that she wouldn't - she just had to show up to the funeral, be good and not cause too much trouble while living on base and successively barry burton's house when chris got relocated to raccoon city - which she did until she left for college. claire was allegedly a party girl and had many boyfriends in her time before the outbreak, but i have the feeling it was greatly exaggerated; she probably had more freedom to make new experiences in that one month of college, but at the same time i think she secretly had to level with the fact that staying out of trouble was always the top rule simply because she didn't want to add more on chris' plate.

at the same time, the little voice yelling 'let me live' was probably always screaming at the back of her mind, so i'm sure that claire being the person she is, absolutely has a lot of wild stories to tell about that time anyway.

claire and sherry's relationship mirrors claire and chris' and definitely helps her understand better her brother's reasoning, even the one from times where claire was against his decisions. claire is essentially a college student who's randomly found herself with a 12yo girl who already feels so familiar to her due to the night they've been through - she's seen the way sherry's family treated her, how resilient sherry has been despite irons' scheming, and what is the first thing claire decides to do? take care of her.

she didn't actively choose to become this kid's sole lifeline when she's still out there needing one through her brother, yet claire pushes forward throughout the night, fights against sherry's parents and bears the weight so she doesn't have to. claire became sherry's guardian that night regardless of what papers say, and even though the month spent together after the outbreak wasn't enough for claire to decide to stop looking for chris, we know she was granted permission to see sherry whenever she wanted and those moments were formative for sherry's personality development - the only reason she stopped going was literally because simmons realised claire cared so much about this little girl she would have planned her escape soon enough and took away her visit rights.

the bottom line is that claire and chris are more similar than she'd like to admit, but she will deny until the end. at least they both did a somewhat good job.

[artistic-m3nace]

"Who Do You Think...?," Nov. 2021

Now that "The Fall" (the painting series I've been sharing over the past couple days) is over, allowed me to formally introduce Nathan Shasear, the background/overarching antagonist of "Broken Dimensions!"

( this got long so click to read under the cut)

Nathan has got to be one of my favorite characters that I've written. He started out as a weird little side character in the original take of Prophecy Lost (think The Ambiguous Mentor Figure That Dies archetype in consideration of "the hero's journey" story arc trope), and now he's this!! All fucked up with religious trauma just like me /j

No but really, Nathan's story starts and ends with Hekata, the god of Magic. He starts out as a lowly half-Svarenic apprentice practicing magic in secret in pre-Revival Era 3, is groomed into becoming the new High Mage (essentially Hekata's right hand man, yes there were some one-sided romantic complications on Nathan's side and it was held over his head by Hekata, who is a dick), and then just... stays the High Mage of Hekata. Otensibly forever, but in reality he keeps the title right up until the gods disown him after he causes Crisis 8, the time anomaly in "Ultimatum." He's always striving to be what Hekata wanted him to be, trying to follow all the rules, do everything right, atone for every misdeed. It breeds resentment, living like that. Loathing (or yourself and of others).

The funny thing about Nathan, though, is that he's right. The gods leave in Era 5 for one of two reasons, varying depending on the individual:

they're Fading (dying) because they've lost faith in themselves and their ability to do good in the world, and want to either die in peace or go find themselves again. Morsanna leaves for a little while in Era 4 after her Death Mage Order falls to ruin, but she comes back. When the gods who leave like this in Era 5 go, most of them don't.

OR they're done being in charge. They don't care anymore, the mortals are too challenging/complex/entropic or they think the mortals are doing just fine on their own and genuinely believe the Pantheon only served as training wheels, so to speak.

Most of them left because of the latter, and most of them chose to keep believing it right up until Crisis 8. They ignored mortality, deserted even their own followers - who were actively crying for their help! - and ignored Nathan when he tried to tell them something was really wrong (which they asked him to do).

In Broken Dimensions, the gods fail. And they do so deliberately.

The consequences aren't that mortality (humans, the Shades, the Tartaruns, everyone else) goes off the rails with no supervision and everyone is bad and evil and it's all Mad Max: Fury Road meets The Last of Us out there. That's not the moral here. The consequences were that there was no one to stop the bad guys from taking control. People like Phantasma, singular individuals who form Creeds or Orders or Guilds of other people who loathe their fellow sentient beings and think their way of existing is the only right way to exist. The gods weren't a moral buffer against people "giving into the darkside," they were the last defense between the people who chose to be terrible and those who didn't.

( Someone I follow somewhere or another once said that if you need religion to stay moral (i.e. "I don't understand how atheists can resist raping people! They don't believe in god, so they don't have morals!" which implies that the only thing keeping you from being a terrible person is your belief in gods/a God, not a fundamental belief that BEING BAD SUCKS AND HURTS OTHER PEOPLE )

Nathan hates that the gods didn't step in to help when things got out of hand an expected him, one singular, non-deity, to intervene instead. He can't be everywhere at once! Most of the gods can be at least in like, two places at once!! And it was their job to keep bad people from doing bad things, not his!!

(NOTE though: the BrDim gods are not (in most cases) omniscient, or all-knowing. The came be multi-present and omnipotent in their attributed field, but not omniscient. Nathan's REAL job was to be one of their eyes and ears out in the multiverse, reporting danger when and where he could, and intervening when he could).

But yeah after all that, it is fairly understandable that he'd want the gods dead like Serra.

Now, what Nathan gets up to after deciding he wants the gods dead is another story. One that involves the New Aetheria Empire, checking out what Phantasma was onto with control magic, and agonizing moral decay - not because his "religion" was the only thing holding him back, but rather because he'd do anything (including kill some mortals he doesn't even know, or control them, or worse) to put an end to the gods' unjust tyranny.

( And (maybe, like this totally isn't his plan here) install someone better. Revert things a little. Bring back balance. Maikoa tried it once, maybe they'd do it again. Maybe, if the multiverse wants to be dark, they'll like The Dark. )

[kedreeva]

What do you think are Eddie & Steve's flaws? Fandom always either talks about how wholly soft and sweet they are (which is true on a fundamental basis but robs them of flaws every person has) or that Steve is a bitch and Eddie is arrogant (which I both absolutely don't agree with), but it's either "he's a saint" or "he's the devil". Both are canonically written to be fundamentally good, to be lovable, so I think that rules out Steve as a bitch an Eddie as arrogant. But I mean the flaws that just make them persons?

Okay there's a lot to unpack here.

Let's... let's start with Steve since that's easier. Up front, Steve absolutely is a bitch. That's a feature, not a bug, and it doesn't rule out Steve being fundamentally good OR being lovable. It doesn't even rule out him being sweet and soft. LET ME EXPLAIN.

Due to Circumstances I'm not going to explain in depth, I grew up in a decently similar situation to Steve. Absent asshole father, at the least, mom was doing her best, we weren't Rich but we didn't want for things that I knew about. I was, for a while in younger school times, one of the Popular kids. I was, bluntly put, a bully. It didn't take me until high school to turn around, but the catalyst which caused the turn around was VERY similar- my friends were assholes who went after someone I cared about that wasn't Popular and I realized oh, I'm an ASSHOLE and have spent my life since working on correcting those instincts. It's been like.... two and a half decades and I still have those instincts.

I say all of this so that you'll believe me when I say: There's no way Steve is over those instincts in 2-3 years. And we SEE he's not- we see him overstep into asshole territory in the car with Dustin, with his remark about Dustin's teeth. But the important thing is that when it's pointed out, he immediately curbs himself and apologizes.

There's a post somewhere on this hellsite where someone said something along the lines of "your first thought is how you were raised, your second thought is who you are/want to be." THAT is what Steve is going through. His first instinct, I can guarantee you, is to be that bitch from HS. He's spent the vast majority of his life so far being that person. Shit like that doesn't go away overnight. Hell, maybe it never does. But the important thing isn't that he has that instinct, but that he chooses to work against it. But it's ALSO important that he HAS that instinct, to pull out when he needs it, because it's that instinct that allows him to take a nailbat to a 8 foot tall monster like he's gonna win. The ability to think "oh, I'm an ASSHOLE" and take a swing because whatever they've got, you're worse. You may not be 8 feet tall, your fingers may end soft and round, your teeth are blunt, but by GOD you're the bigger bitch and you're not gonna take this shit from anything.

So in that respect, it's definitely a trait; the flaw part is subjective. If it's a flaw, it's not the major driving force behind the character. Neither side of it; the being a bitch or the trying not to be a bitch.

Any GOOD character is going to have a core character trait and any good writer will know that this will be the character's major flaw and major strength. This trait is the one that drives literally everything else they do- and Steve being a bitch AND trying not to be is absolutely driven by a singular other trait that drives everything else he does: loyalty. That's his biggest flaw AND his biggest strength and it is beautiful.

Look back at season 1- Steve's major problem he's dealing with isn't whether to be mean or not- it is choosing where his loyalties lie. With his current friends? With his new girlfriend? Steve arguably does not even join the plot until he chooses, and shows up at Jonathan's house to say "I choose you two." And really, he doesn't truly join (as opposed to being exposed to) the plot until he stands next to his car and decides "I choose my loyalty to them over my own safety and possibly life" and returns to take on the demogorgon.

And his loyalty continues to be a conflict for him throughout the series! It continues to be the choice he has to make to stay, and we see it shift at least once more after shifting to Nancy from Tommy and Carol, because it moves to the Kids, mainly Dustin. The next time he gets dragged into the plot is in Season 2, when he's trying to maintain what he has chosen with Nancy, and encounters Dustin. He spends the day (2 days?) with Dustin and later Lucas and Max, and later still Mike and Will, and when they encounter Nancy again, he chooses loyalty to the children. She's going stay with him and the kids, and he tells her to go. He assures her he has the kids. And he gets beat within an inch of his life for it!!! And when he wakes up and the kids say they're gonna go fight monsters, suit up, he twists and screams about it, but he will not abandon them. Knowing full well it may end his life, he chooses to be loyal and go with them. This is good and bad! Going into the tunnels endangers all of them. But it ultimately does save the others.

Season 3? Dude's again trying to keep his nose out of it. Dustin arrives to, again, drag him into and he goes because loyalty. When the Russians are coming and he has to make that split second decision, when it's "all of us or just me" Steve chooses Dustin's safety, and gets captured. And here's something important- Loyalty being Steve's deepest trait? also means it's the thing he values the most as well. Why Dustin? Why this little nerd? Because "if you die, I die" isn't a line, from Dustin. Because Dustin is ALSO fiercely loyal, from day (episode) 1. So when Robin, in that moment, chooses Steve AND chooses Dustin by choosing Steve, she's his now. He, once again, gets himself beat to hell moments later for choosing Dustin, and worse by then also choosing Robin and!!! god, the bathroom floor scene, where Steve once again has to choose where his loyalties lie. To his old life? To the boy who shoved Jonathan and slurred "always figured you for a queer" or to the girl in front of him who followed him into hell and would have died for it if they'd all been a little less clever and lucky? And we know what he chooses.

i could go on but this is getting long and you get the point and I would encourage you to look for examples on your own now that you know! Hone those critical thinking skillz.

----

As for Eddie, arrogance implies an amount of insecurity I don't think Eddie has and definitely doesn't start out with. Hear me out, but like, an arrogant person, when made to feel more insecure, responds by becoming more arrogant. We see him become insecure through what happens to him with watching Chrissy die- and it IS becoming, because we see him struggle with it as if he's not encountered feeling this way before. And what we don't see is Eddie responding to that sudden realization of insecurity by doubling down. The opposite, in fact; we see him humbling himself in front of Steve, we see him being vulnerable about how he wants Dustin's approval. When Chrissy asks him if he ever feels like he's going crazy, we don't see him crow about no way he's fine he's always good, we see him belly up and get playful with her to show her he's a little weird and harmless. Arrogance is a defense mechanism, and we should have seen that engage on multiple occasions, and we didn't. Billy- BILLY was the arrogant one.

So if not arrogance, then what?

Well.... it's close. It's pride. And that's probably why people go for the arrogance aspect, because pride can include arrogance but... it's firstly not the defining trait of pride, secondly not integral to pride's existence, and thirdly a character can express arrogance conditionally without Being Arrogant as a personality trait (and I think there probably are instances where Eddie experiences arrogance but I don't think it at all defines him). A character can be proud without being arrogant. He can roll belly up and play sweet with Chrissy because that doesn't damage pride- he's proud he can make a popular, beautiful girl smile, however he's got to get there. He's proud of his ability to chameleon his way into trust (which I've talked about before) because he is 'outsmarting' people. This is not, to be clear, malicious. It's just... it plays into his inability to let people get actually close (which I've talked about before) for a variety of reasons, one of which is "I'm smart so I don't need others."

In Eddie's case, pride is (again) a strength and a flaw. It leads him to believe that he's a leader because he knows the most/best. He leads the D&D group as DM, he (likely) leads the band as guitarist (possibly vocals), and sees himself as "leading" in society by being unconventional, leading by not conforming. He is proud to be different than others, sees himself as blazing his own trail etc. He is proud of his bravery, both actual and perceived. He takes in Dustin and Mike and Lucas because it is a chance to preen, to show off, be looked up to. It was, as he states himself to them, a chance to mold the youngins in his own image. Leave a mark he can be proud of behind him when he goes.

And unfortunately for him, the way he responds to his reaction regarding Chrissy's death is precisely the way damaged pride as a character flaw looks. He is faced with trying to understand why he did what he did and instead of concluding he's a normal person who reacted the way any normal person ignorant of the supernatural would react, he decides that since he is different, since he should be able to be brave about this the way he's perceived himself being brave about other things, and that if he was brave he'd act different, that his reaction means he's NOT brave then, and he swings hard in the opposite direction into "I ran away which means I'm a coward."

And because he suffers pride as a character flaw he sees as a character strength, holy shit does that swing crash him hard. It crashes him so hard that he literally dies trying to prove to himself that it's not true. This kid has got no ability to do things by halves because he's spent so long taking pride in being different and smart and leading with his whole heart. He's also running aground of what I mentioned earlier with "I'm so smart I don't need others," because he suddenly finds himself desperately in need of others, and still tries to hide in a boathouse alone because he doesn't need (can't bring himself to ask for) help. He can't (in his mind at least) go to an authority because he's rejected authority for too long. He doesn't go to his band mates even though they should be some of his best friends. He doesn't go to Dustin and the others.

And what we see, once Dustin and the others find him, is him struggling with pride and being humbled. With needing (and learning) to ask for help; they take a proud character and stick him in what is arguably the least dignified position (in his eyes, to be clear; asking for or needing help are not undignified, but we're talking about how he sees himself) they can to see what he'll do (put the proud little gremlin into the CENTRIFUGE of SHAME and turn it on HIGH to see what plot spins out). He makes things as simple as radioing Dustin/Nancy to ask for something from their grocery run for him look physically painful to him. And he DOES struggle; we see him try to tell Steve that he'd run away, and Steve trying to tell him to give himself a break (which he does Not). We see him blithely tell the group at Skull Rock that he did what he apparently does now, he ran away. He is judging himself very harshly because he is so fucking used to being proud of himself.

And... in the end, his flaw gets him. Eddie is convinced, still, that he's right. That the decision he made about himself, the conclusion that he must be a coward who runs away actually, is what ultimately drives him to his death in an attempt to disprove to himself that no, actually he's NOT, he was right the first time. He turns around because he wants to be proud of his actions, and his pride in himself is literally, in that moment, more important than his own life. That's too much pride. That's a flaw.

anyway. Yeah. loyalty and pride to the point of self-endangerment; Eddie's flaw got him killed and I'm like 85% sure Steve's will get him killed, too.

And one last point I want to reiterate- none of these things excludes them from being fundamentally good, or sweet, or kind. Sweetness/Kindness is a choice. Doing good is an action. These are things that must be continually done and repeated, they are not core attributes. A person who chooses kindness can choose meanness still. A mean person can choose kindness. A villain can choose to do something good without stopping being a villain. A hero can do terrible things in the name of the greater good, and still be considered a hero. It's not black and white, and being "fundamentally good" doesn't ever rule out having nasty side effects. Any good quality, pushed to an extreme, can become a flaw. Can become something terrible. And the best stories, imo, come from doing exactly that.

[wheresmulder]

New Spring: The lesbian wizard graduation ceremony gets it's own post let's go

Moiraine's anxiety disorder has been in full force while waiting for Siuan's results. And moiraine ain't the only one who wants to know what Siuan is blushing for 👀👀👀 I'm sure it's gay whatever it is

"We'll be raised together Moiraine🥰"

Straight outta ff.net 🥺 Robert Jordan writes fluff

I was not prepared for how gay this is and neither was Tamra.

"Perhaps they had never expected the two of them to march this far in complete lockstep." PERHAPS?

They won't stop holding hands. They are speaking in unison. You have got to be fucking kidding me. I feel like this is a fever dream. I am literally as stunned as the sisters at this point.

MoiraineTV: when have we ever followed the rules LITERALLY NEVER I GUESS???????

"we're holding hands until you physically rip us apart 👭 propriety get fucked 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩"

I am going to rip all of my hair out.

Moiraine is a fucking gentleman ok she said ladies first no exceptions no excuses

Without even opening her mouth just 👀 bc they're so in love they're telepathic

Girl. This is borderline absurd. Moiraine could not be more dramatic if it were a legal requirement. She's so upset at the thought of going before Siuan. I love this SO much.

Alright so by now ✨️Everyone✨️ in this room knows our girls are hopelessly in love.

And not only do they allow them to literally 🌈hold hands🌈 the entire time and say their fancy lines simultaneously despite it being FUCKING UNPRECEDENTED??????(MOIRAINE AND SIUAN ARE THE GAYEST THING THEY'VE SEEN IN A THOUSAND YEARS) (also probably the cutest) not only do they allow it but The Amyrlin Seat Watcher of the Seals the Fucking Flame of Tar Valon herself is an ally AND ACCOMPLICE to their gay shenanigans here. She knows exactly what they're doing and she's here for it apparently. It's giving aiding and abetting. Idfk what else to say about it other than their love is actually legendary. what the FUCK

And Siuan has the heart of a lion. I'm not crying you're crying don't fucking look at me

💙Seekers after Causes💙

Ughhhhhh they've been grinning the entire time. Above moiraine "fights down a smile" no she didn't. She tried and failed. Siuan isn't even trying. And the sisters just let these babies have their joy 🥲 I can't take much more of this

I love everything about this. PIE. what in the actual literal fuck. Also mid conversation with another person it is 100% imperative that Moiraine hugs Siuan.

THEY HAD COME HOME🌈👭💕😭

"We thought you'd like to be close together" REALLY. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE 🙉 🤣🤣

For the 50th time in this book I cannot believe what I'm reading. The blues gave them adjacent rooms.

They now know (if they didn't already) that our girls are Together and they're One of Those Couples so it's only right the blues save them the many thousands of trips back and forth down the hallway 😅😅😅😅 I wonder if there are any books on codependency in the tower library

[gentil-minou]

Reading your sentiadrien post, I just have to say that as a person who really hates this theory, I found this explanation to be comforting to my increasing anxiety over him being a sentimonster. You addressed a lot of the problems I have with this theory but I also think that the fear that some people have for it has a lot to do with the precarious and sensitive position it puts Adrien in. He now has an achilles heel if you will, an area of him that if successfully attacked could result in his demise. There’s also the fact that Adrien is a character a lot of people identify with, and him being a sentimonster in some people’s eyes makes him purposeless. Most individuals want to feel as though they contribute something to the world, that they mattered in some capacity, but if Adrien is a sentimonster he was only created to fulfill the purpose of being perfect in the eyes of his parents. In other words, he has no ulterior purpose, no worthy cause, no free choice. I really liked how you showed the dislike of this theory through the lens of fear, it made me realize that perhaps there’s a more internal reason for me not liking the senti-Adrien theory. This post is really beautiful and perfectly encapsulates what is so special about Adrien’s story!

Anon, first off THANK YOU for asking the question I most wanted to answer:

Does Adrien being a senti-being invalidate his existence, since this means he was created "for someone else"?

For starters, let's highlight what you said here: "Most individuals want to feel as though they contribute something to the world, that they mattered"

Before we talk about how this applies to Adrien, let's first discuss how this might apply to someone more like you or me...

A person is born. They're parents have expectations and beliefs about who they brought into the world ("created" if you will). They see a beautiful little girl, who they picture will one day get married to a lovely man and have a family of her own. They see her growing up to be an amazing housewife, so as they raise her they teach her all the values that they thing matter most to that goal.

They teach her to walk carefully, cross her legs when she sits, speak kindly and with manners. They buy her barbies and dollhouse and pink dresses and chastise her when she reaches for her brother's Legos and superman costume. They enroll her in ballet and gymnastics, even when she cries that she wants to play soccer with her brother and his friends and get muddy. Mom teaches her how to cook and clean and serve guests, so she can be the perfect housewife like she is.

This person grows up to be 13, a developmental age where children begin to develop independence and self identity. Where they take the rules they've learned and see how it applies to them, if it does. The age where they start to question their place in the world, and what freedom means to them.

This person realizes..."I don't feel like a girl." This person cuts their hair really short one night, just to see how it feels (magical). For Halloween they dress up as a boy as a "joke" (they feel amazing). This person realizes they've never liked a guy or girl, that sex and having a family isn't as important to them as being happy and having a fulfilling passion. This person starts going by he/him.

Of course his parents are against it, they even refuse. Throw him out of the house..."You're not who we wanted to bring into the world." And it hurts, he hurts so much. But he also has amazing friends and a supporting community. He leaves the house, but he feels more like a person than he's ever felt in his life. He gets therapy, a name change, surgery, etc and he feels like himself, a person.

Now, anon, because this person didn't turn out like his parents expected him to, does that make him any less valid? Does that negate any of his life experiences? Does this mean his future is not bright?

Going back to Adrien, he is literally a hero. He saves the day. But he's also intelligent, really funny. Cares for his friends. He likes fencing and playing piano with those he cares about. He loves sweets. He has a personality, he even rebels sometimes. He's kind and loving, he wears his heart on his sleeve and lives with every bit of it. He is Chat Noir, 1/2 of Paris' crime fighting duo.

Who cares what he was made for? My parents wanted me to get married and have kids and be a doctor. I haven't done any of that. Does that make me purposeless? Not at all.

I have a purpose, one I found and made for myself (and it was really freaking hard to get this far).

Sure Adrien might have been created to be a certain ay, but as we've seen in the show he has FOUND his own purpose. He chose his own destiny, and he rocks at it.

He does have free choice, he makes it everyday. And since we are still learning the rules of this universe, who can say he won't be able to get his freedom back himself and be truly free?

Saying he has no purpose, no free choice. No reason for existence means nothing because every episode PROVES that he has a purpose, he's doing something no one else can. He's so much more than we think he is. More than what his parents or friends or anyone expect him to be. He's more than what he thinks.

He's himself, he's Adrien, senti or not. And that's all he needs to have a purpose.

[whaleofatjme1920]

This is for the request lmao

Headcanons for the doctors and what the shenanigans they pull in site 19! (If you wish, you can put anyone from whatever series or mini movie or oc's : dr. Miller, stan, sora for example)

General Site 19 Thoughts

[Warnings: Like, none?]

[AN: Yes ofc you may. ALSO this ends up becoming like,,, just whatever I view Site 19 as?? Very campy. I put my worldbuilding in here lmfao. However, for the Foundation Squad, feel free to send this as a separate ask because I have a lot of thoughts abt what my OCs, other characters that aren't as well known like Miller, and Quill, Sora, Icarus and Tjme would get up to separate from this-]

The break rooms are treated as holy places. You ever see those posts that are like "drop down your weapons and rest by the fire for a moment before traveling further"? Yeah that's how they view the break rooms. You do not mess with the break rooms.

Still, this gets broken from time to time by everyone and for the most BS reasons.

One time, Iceberg bit a pen and sent ink everywhere. It's still staining the linoleum.

Gears is immune to all the BS people throw at him. It just doesn't bother him. He does a curt "hm" and tells you to clean up your mess. Though, his attempts at humor aren't awful.

Bright will get things he shouldn't from 294 and will switch out the contents of drinks just to liven up the site.

Because most of the doctors I'm talking about surpass clearance levels that they shouldn't even be at, they're breaking rules CONSTANTLY and no one says anything. Who's gonna tell on them?? The level one who got introduced last week? Absolutely not.

Agent Strelnikov is not allowed to haze the new researchers. He makes them fear for their lives.

He's not allowed to hold any seat of power during faculty events either. The last time they let him in charge of the annual Halloween haunted house... Let's just say the janitors were NOT pleased.

Bright will join Strelnikov and often. And then Clef gets involved.

It is absolute hell to be in the same room as the three of them because they fuel each other's awful-ness lmfao.

Rights and Moose have a running joke where they "co parent" everyone of site 19. If you have any emotional problems or are neglecting yourself and don't want to talk about it to Glass, go to them. They're always there to take care of you

We all miss Dr. Hamm.

I like to think that even though the 0-5's frown greatly upon personal ties, they let certain wings of staff leave little "shrines" to the staff they've lost and were near and dear over the years. Dr. Hamm's is a special one.

Yes, Clef and Bright poke the bear when it pertains to him when grilling 049.

It's always disrespect 049 hours.

Arguing with 035 about classical music is a right of passage because Clef said so.

There's certain hazing processes that the senior staff might pull on newer members that involve poking SCPs or other doctors. It's entertaining. Never enough to cause an incident, but enough for the person getting pranked to say "oh really?? This again? Grow up."

Honestly, everyone knows each other a tad too personally. When you're working at the foundation, and specifically a site like 19 (or any site that's known for it's high activity due to said anomalies), you kinda become a family in your own right. Do they all love each other? Absolutely not, but ribbing and taking the piss is a normal thing because what else are you going to do than scrutinize an anomaly??

Kondraki's photography is highly sought out for personal and professional reasons. If you ask him to take a selfie, he might fight you.

Being at site 19 is jarring and everyone knows it.

Crow will act like a legit dog if he doesn't want to associate with you for whatever reason. He might growl at you.

Inside jokes vary by site and 19 has tons of them!

There's some office spaces that are considered more rambunctious than others. Guess who I'm referring to.

Cimmerian is often heard whistling around the halls and that's a bit of a joke in itself.

There are regular bids about MTF groups. What the topic is changes, but there is a pool for it.

There are incidents that aren't recorded because it's almost embarrassing that it happened. Has nothing to do with the SCPs, just the dumbass researchers.

The medical wing is really tired of seeing Gerald, but like, they take care of him regardless until he reties. Clef and Kondraki got Gerald a punch card.

I can't actually recall if Mann is here but if he is just know he's a local boogeyman(n).

People get lost in there and the staff we're used to will either help you or get you even more lost. That's the rule if you make it to your destination depends on who you run into.

It's a different society, and functions in a different moral area as well. It's simultaneously more crude and prudish than anywhere else.

They're still people of science, so while the shenanigans isn't to the level of leaving a classroom of freshmen unattended for like 4 minutes, it's still a much more relaxed area as the people you're around most often get weirdly used to you. It's a good balance.

[emojifarm]

If it even matters, we're the Villain System.

One of our friends told us that Sail Emotes (who has us blocked so I don't even know why they did this) made a DNI post about us, for some reason, and addressed it to us as if we'd be able see it. I don't know. They've been really weird about us recently to a creepily obsessive and uncomfortable point at this point. I really don't want this drama. I've been trying to remain peaceful about all this but they keep pushing things and blowing them out of proportion for seemingly no reason. At least not for any reason that I can understand. And I'm not making excuses. I just genuinely don't know what's going on with them and it worries me a bit, but this seems to be a fairly common cycle with them from what I understand, unfortunately.

To clear things up and give my perspective on things: We were friends. We were a mod in their server. The modding thing didn't work out since we have different methods and didn't always understand their perspective on things and asked questions pretty consistently to attempt to understand their perspective. We, admittedly, may have overstepped boundaries unknowingly when trying to calm them down a few times. We have apologized to them for this already. One day after I had a panic attack in the modding channels because I was overwhelmed for multiple reasons, they decided to just remove my modding position. When we opened a ticket to question things, they gave very vague and confusing answers which lead to us having severe social anxiety with them in another server during a discussion in which I was asking clarifying questions. I didn't know where boundaries were with them when it came to asking questions because of how they had phrased things in the ticket and I did clarify that in one of my messages in said discussion. They aggressively pushed me away for even clarifying that and left me even more distressed and confused. Not long after that is when we made the "we will no longer be reblogging stuff from Sail Emotes post". It was genuinely a physical impossibility. That post was not made out of malice, though. It was just a piece of information I needed to share with my followers. That's all. Anyways, a few days later, if my perception of time is correct, one of my headmates did the last resort and DMed them to try and finally clear things up so I would understand the social rule that I had broken so I could either better communicate with them or at least know how to better communicate with others later down the line (I'm autistic, in case that wasn't known). They never answered and blocked me on Discord after that as well as banned me from their server and blocked me on Tumblr. I still don't understand, but I'm trying to move on. Yes, we DMed them when they have a set boundary not to, but they were refusing to communicate with us otherwise and Rumple (the headmate who DMed them) had the thought that maybe they'd be willing to talk if it was private. He skipped the step of asking to DM first because he just didn't think to, admittedly. We understand that that wasn't right to do in retrospect, but we were desperate and spiralling at the time because of the anxiety and confusion they had left us with. We weren't thinking. That's not an excuse. Just an explanation.

Anyways. Some other stuff happened that doesn't involve me and isn't for me to share. Their behavior in said stuff lead to them being unpartnered and banned from all the servers my friend owns. Yes, I did celebrate a little because it was, honestly, a moment of relief. I don't hate them, but them even being in those servers was causing me and others a lot of unnecessary stress. So, yeah, I was a little glad they were no longer there. As for the muting them because they "deserved it" thing, I don't know what that's about, personally. It's possible someone in my system did it as a form of stress relief or just being petty. I wouldn't rule it out, but no one currently in front with me is confessing to it and I have no memory of it. All of this to say, make your own decisions here. If you feel you can no longer support me because of what happened there, fair enough. I'm only sharing my side since they chose to make this a public thing and have started a smear campaign and potentially a witch hunt against me. I think it'd be unfair for me to not be allowed to say my piece on the matter. Thank you for reading. Have a good night.

~ Isaac

[oswald-privileges]

ALL RIGHT BUT YOU ASKED FOR IT

Power of Three as a series is just. full of weaknesses, most of which come down to poor continuity and structure. I'm not gonna try and fix ALL of those, bc that'd be laborious as hell, but I will pick out things that I feel are the most egregious as case studies.

What Po3 does have, tho, is an absolutely shining strength in the concept of its three main characters. After twelve books of Blandly Heroic Protagonist Syndrome, Jayfeather is an absolute godsend. He's angry! He's rude! He's unhappy! He's not nice. I Love Him And He's My Son. Lionblaze has his invincible pride (hah) and emergent bloodlust, and Hollyleaf has her moral absolutism and certainty. These are good starting points for characters. Sadly, the lack of continuity undermines what could have been three really good character arcs.

So! I present to you:

HOW TO MAKE "WARRIORS: THE POWER OF THREE" NOT COMPLETELY SUCK ACCORDING TO MY PERSONAL TASTE; A NON-EXHAUSTIVE, NON-CONSECUTIVE LIST BY ME

ONE

- Have there be a persistant, overarching series threat. Sol is a character with amazing villain potential who does literally nothing except hang around, and do exactly 2 Bad Things completely off-screen. This Is Not Good.

- Instead, have him be present from the second book onwards- initially introduced as a friendly but enigmatic outsider who is slowly revealed across the series to be a complete black hole of a personality, a social parasite quietly rearranging whatever community he's a part of to just-so-happen to benefit him as much as humanly possible. His "preach individualism not starclan" methods are not so much values as one strategy out of many. (to those who know me- yes i have a type. no i will not apologise.)

- Maybe his ultimate goal is to dissolve and centralise the clans or something so that he can live out his life as a political puppetmaster in all the cat-luxury he likes. idk it's hard to imagine overall stakes for this rewrite BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL DOESN'T HAVE ANY

TWO

- For gods sake you don't have a series based on the premise of "the main characters develop super powers" and then only have the second power confirmed by the end of the fourth book. I understand the first book mostly focusing on Jayfeather- his powers are obvious from the start, he's got the strongest personality of the three, he gets access to most of the prophecy plot stuff because of them. But you NEED to have the other two show an interest in something concrete happening to them beyond that, and you need to at least hint towards the other two having something unique to them even if nobody clocks it yet.

- Have Jayfeather tell his siblings about the prophecy by the end of book two at the latest. The amount of time he spends noodling around not sharing it with them is inexcusable. It's not that it's out of character for him to hang onto a secret for a bit, it's just that there's no point and it slows everything down. It would be equally in character for him to go to his siblings and be like "look, i'm SPECIAL. well you as well but ALSO ME". Boy starts off as desperate for recognition, what can I say

THREE

- Have Jayfeather discover that StarClan don't withhold signs or information on purpose for the sake of "building courage and faith" or whatever nonsense. Seeing and communicating the future is metaphysically very difficult, so interpreting signs and messages is a genuine skill, or even an art. The cats of StarClan, however, really are just ghosts, much more similar to living cats than the currently living believe. This is the impotus for Jayfeather's discarding of his reverence for StarClan, which remains consistent throughout the series.

- Have Hollyleaf and Jayfeather both still change their cat careers in the first book, but put place more attention on the fact that they basically switched jobs. Have a scene where they end up yelling at each other, because can't the other see how lucky they have it? The tension breaks when they realise they've both lost something important to them- Jayfeather his chance to prove he's as capable as a sighted cat, and Hollyleaf her path to helping her clan in the way she thinks is best. They commiserate together, and reluctantly promise to do the best they can with their lots, so they don't waste the path the other wishes they'd taken. This closeness is eroded over the series as they disagree more and more on the subject of StarClan and its role in their moral choices and obligations.

FOUR

- Speaking of Hollyleaf! I nearly threw my phone across the room when the first Omen of the Stars book claimed that Hollyleaf "worked so hard to discover her power to help her clan". Where, Ms Erins??? I would have LOVED to have seen that!! Hollyleaf expresses absolutely no concern over the details of what power she has/will develop, and only has a couple of scenes even touching on her ambitions to help her clan. She has some vague ideas about becoming leader and like one scene where she gets to do some leadery things, but that never gets followed up on. What does happen is that the whole "warrior code" thing becomes more and more a part of her personality (for no clear reason) until she snaps.

- Hollyleaf going off the deep end is something I wanted so badly to get into and be moved by, because I could see where it comes from! Her moral certainty is fascinating, especially since it's based in something as abstract as the warrior code- which, when you think about it, isn't really... anything. There's no concrete set of rules that make it up, no traditional wording or cat philosophers, not even any fables. It's a handful of agreed-upon, common sense rules- don't cross boundaries, don't take prey that isn't yours, respect your ancestors, and don't murder. That's it!

- So, combining the above points, I think Hollyleaf not being one of the Three should stay, but both the audience and the characters are given good reason to believe she is. By around the third volume, make it so that Hollyleaf has found that her power is to get cats to "Do The Right Thing"- i.e. what she wants them to do. She sneaks off often to see Sol, who teachs her how to use this power. Her siblings are concerned about this new power, having already gotten a glimpse at what Sol can do, but she's confident that she can only use this power for good. Volume-specific plot happens, Sol manipulates her into causing him to win, she is shocked and horrified, and vows to stick ridgedly to what she knows is right i.e. The Warrior Code

- However, the more fervently she tries to stick to this abstract idea, the less it gives her results, the more her power seems to be failing. Believing that StarClan is taking her power away from her, she becomes caught up in a faith-guilt spiral that puts her in the position to snap at the end of the series. By that point it's clear to her siblings that Hollyleaf has no power- she was just very, very good at persuading people to do what she wanted.

FIVE

- Lionblaze is a girl now because I Said So. This Cat Is Trans And There's Nothing You Can Do About It.

- Her relationship with Heathertail stays the same- childhood sweethearts who are torn apart as they begin to understand the nature of the societal divides that exist between them.

- This can be used to contextualise the whole "half clan/outsider blood" thing as a cultural contradiction. In reality, inter- and outer- clan relationships aren't at all rare. They can't be, otherwise the whole society would be inbred out of existence in like five generations. But if at least one society of humans can spend a good 200 years pretending Sex Is Bad And Sinful Actually then cats can have persistant cat-racism in the face of all logic. Heathertail clocks this contradiction, Lionblaze doesn't.

- Her relationship-to-power arc doesn't need changing all that much either, other than starting much sooner and being more consistent. At first, she's completely overjoyed by her power, since unlike her siblings, it lines up so well with her ambition- become the finest warrior any of the clans have to offer. As the berserker rage aspect becomes more prevelent, she becomes more and more disturbed by the fact that she isn't disturbed by what she can do, and that she doesn't want the escalation of her power to stop.

- Tigerstar still does his thing, but Brambleclaw knows about it. He recognises the signs from when his father used to visit him, and tries to train Lionblaze in his own way. She ends up caught between wanting to be a good warrior, and testing the limits of her power.

SIX

- Jayfeather can stay basically the same because he's my perfect little angy boy and nothing needs to change. His arcs can be strengthened by having a more robust relationship with Yellowfang where they try to out-bitch each other, and coming to terms with his internalised ablism. Maybe he has a chat with Mothwing about faith a couple of times. Him furiously lashing out at being offered help transitions into an acceptence and understanding of his abilities more naturally. He never stops being A Grumpy Old Man.

- All fucking past-lives unexplained time travel goes in the BIN. Doesn't fucking happen. You can have that lore dump sprinkled across the books, or come from going deep into the tunnels and having a surreal meeting. Make it properly eldritch-level scary, shake Jayfeather's confidence in the idea of them being just a bunch of ghosts.

SEVEN

- Have the way Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight present very clearly as parents to the Three be explicitly, textually unusual. One of the things I liked so much about the first series was an almost total lack of emphasis on who was mated with who, and who was related or not. It felt very real to how feral cat colonies form, where raising kittens is a communal job. This gets completely dropped the moment series 2 starts and now the cats have monogamy.

- This emphasis on the family unit and fostering close relationships between parents and kittens is deliberate on the part of both Leafpool and Squirrelflight. Their aim is to cover for Leafpool so she doesn't lose her role as medicine cat- something she already gave up Crowfeather for before she was pregnant.

- In that little bit of backstory, have a robust reason for both Leafpool and Squirrelflight to leave the camp while Leafpool is pregnant and giving birth, possibly one that ties into the present day story in some minor way. I don't know how, it would just make that element of the story a lot more ground than "we left, the kits were born, then we came back and everyone was cool with it"

- When it comes to the "I am Not your mother" reveal, Jayfeather and Lionblaze are confused and hurt that they were lied to, but come to the reasonable conclusion that well, since they were raised mostly by Squirrelflight, saw Leafpool often, and are loved by both, they don't hate her. Lionblaze has something of a crisis over being half-clan, possibly initiating an attempted reunion with Heathertail. Jayfeather is more concerned with how other cats will think it makes him lesser, something he's still sensitive too.

- Hollyleaf, meanwhile, completely fucking snaps at the way her mother Violated Part Of The Code. It's a completely irrational reaction, but expected because she's been growing more and more reliant on The Code for the whole series, and less and less stable in her attempts to aid her clan and train to be its new leader.

- Squirrelflight is the one to murder Ashfur. This is easy to work out while reading- she's literally the only one of the four with a motive who isn't a perspective character. The mystery is less around finding out who did it, and more about why she did it (it's very ambiguous as to whether it was an accident or not). The main tension comes from who finds out when.

- Lionblaze is shocked, awed by how far she'd go to protect the three of them, and reassures her she did the right thing (as a way to salve her own uncertainty over her own longing for violence). Jayfeather makes it all about himself because he's Jayfeather- upset that he didn't know immediately, instead of, you know, figuring it out in a few hours because he can basically read minds. They try their best to hide it from Hollyleaf, who is already rattling around the final volume as a full-on antagonist, but are unsuccessful. This almost costs them something incredibly important- possibly Squirrelflight's life.

EIGHT

- the whole plot with the Tribe Of Rushing Water is a MASSIVE can of worms that could be removed from the series without issue. As it is:

- Characterize the Tribe as uncertain of how to fight other cats, because yes, they haven't had to do this before. DON'T characterise them as pathetic, doing whatever their leader says without thinking, and with ancestors who have Given Up

- Have some of the Tribe be really good at the violence. Worryingly good. Have others be sickened by what they're being asked to do.

- Have some of the clan cats reflect on what they've done. Hollyleaf would be all for introducing this society to jesus The Code, but even she might be horrified at being thanked by a tribe cat who can't wait to get out there and win themselves glory, only to be killed a few hours later

- The Tribe begin a new tradition of marking the walls in the mud they use as camoflage in order to commemorate their battles, and memorialise the fallen. One of the characters reflects on the fact that in a generation or two, the Tribe will feel like it's always been this way. How many of their own traditions- those that feel almost like natural law- started out the same way?

- Have Sol as the leader of the invaders, or maybe having insinuated himself into the tribe as a "mediator" and doing his charismatic cult leader thing.

NINE

- Cinderheart isn't a reincarnation of Cinderpelt. She's just named after her bc Cinderpelt saved her mother from a badger. this is because I think the reincanation thing is stupid and I can't think of a way to make it good.

TEN

- No more using tails as hand gestures like covering people's mouths. Never. None of it. It's expunged from existence.

Disclaimer: I haven't read Omen of the Stars yet, so I can't account for anything that might happen in that series that's grounded in Po3. I'm like... two thirds of the way through the first volume. I'm Not Impressed.

[thatisaname]

You know those annoying 'actually everything is connected' theories ? Well, I've got one about The Mechanisms' albums

(Please hear me out I swear it's good)

The Bifrost Incident ends with a world-ending catastrophe. The Gods arrive into the world, dragged in by Odin's train, and they destroy it.

What's the first sign of their arrival ? Communications breaking down.

Civilization-ending catastrophes and communications mysteriously breaking down... Doesn't that remind you of something ?

Yep, that's it: the catastrophe mentioned in Holder of the Grail.

This unknown catastrophe that cuts Fort Galfridian from the rest of the world and destroys an entire civilization could very well be the one that starts in Terminus.

Meaning that the events in High Noon over Camelot could be the direct consequences of the events of The Bifrost Incident.

But it doesn't stop there.

Arthur survives. He is, as Mordred puts it, "the once and future king". To our knowledge, he was never officially called King of Camelot but sure enough, he kind of was the King of this place. But... what about after ? If we see Arthur again in the Mechs' canon, it means there's a strong chance he will wear the title of King.

And who is the only character in the Mechs' canon who ever wore the title of King ?

Now hear me out.

After the events of Ulysses dies at dawn, all hope seems to be gone. Ulysses dies in peace, but all hopes of revolution seem to have faded away. The Olympians' grasp on the City seems impossible to challenge in the slightest. But one day, a strange ship crashes in the middle of the darkest street of the City.

Out of the wreckage climbs a man, with a half-empty pistol. He takes a look at the strange new world around him, and nods gravely. He has a destiny to fulfill.

Arthur will be King. That's the lasts thing Mordred told him, and he won't let this last thread to his past disappear. So, he gets to work. In one month, the whole city has heard of him. In one year, even the Olympians fear him.

When people ask him if he's really going to fight the Olympians, the man who calls himself Cole laughs, and answers calmly that it's not the first time he takes over a planet.

The City learns to fear his name and his gun. To many, he's just another crime boss. Some rumors start to spread, saying that he is an Olympian, just like the others. And this gives Arthur an idea.

Arthur starts to take a stance against immortality and the Acheron. He uses his men to spread anti-Acheron propaganda, calls out the Olympians' corruption and even manages to expose the Sphinx scandale using Oedipus' old research. The oppressed people of the City follow him and many of the Olympians' men turn against their old masters. A year later, he launches the first world-wide rebellion the City has ever known.

General Cole utterly beats the Olympians, and executes them all - which takes a little longer than expected, but still, finally works. He seizes all of their research and locks them away. He is elected King of the city, now renamed New Constantinople.

(PS: Hades doesn't stop the rebellion and just escapes. Mainly because they've run the Acheron for so long they got a bit bored of it. Also, because Brian seems to really like Cole for whatever reason.)

At first Arthur's reign is calm and prosperous. King Cole grows old and stays merry. But eventually people start realizing that Cole's longevity might not be natural. His subjects, especially the older warriors who fought at his side during the Revolution, start to get a bit suspicious: what if Cole had used the Olympians' technology to extend his own life ? What if he had become an Olympian in the end ?

Arthur didn't become immortal, but he did use the Olympians' research to extend his life far beyond his normal lifespan. Now that he is King, he refuses to let death get in the way of his destiny.

You know the rest: King Cole turns into a bloodthirsty monster, and finally, General White's rebellion puts an end to his reign and his life.

Now you're going to say: "But Arthur and Cole are so different. How could Arthur become Cole ?"

So first of, Arthur turned evil only after almost a millenia of technology-expanded life which definitely caused damage to his mind. As Jonny says in Once: "the technology that had extended his life throughout the millennia had warped his mind as it had withered his body".

(Which, by the way, is also what seemed to happen to those who were "brought back" from the Acheron in Ulysses, cf Orpheus' backstory)

But Cole isn't that different from Arthur:

- Cole and Arthur both fight with a gun, and both seem very skilled at it.

- Cole is paranoid. Which would make a lot considering Arthur's backstory: just when he was about to save his world, Arthur saw his two lovers being shot in the back by his own son, who then proceeded to completely destroy the world, sparing no one but him. Nobody in the universe would be more afraid of betrayal than Arthur.

- Cole is driven by a thirst for conquest. Arthur was too: in the very beginning of HNOC, he takes over Camelot and establishes a personal rule on the city. With good intentions, sure, but still.

- They have the same outlook on fear.

Remember when Arthur said that ?

Well...

Yeah...

(Also the three little pigs could act as a sort of dark reflection of what Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot once were: three unbeatable warriors, matched by no one... except this time they're not united by love for the other two, but by fanatical devotion to a leader)

So, in this theory, the "ending" of the Mechs' universe would be pretty optimistic. No matter what insane authoritarian rulers will try to do to stay in power, justice, truth and love will win in the end - even if it requires a lot of suffering and death to get there. Or, as Arthur said: