#he's only human-adjacent in the same way a demon would be? just from the other direction

[tcfactory]

Dumb SVSSS thought of the day is Xuan Su being one breakthrough away from cultivating a human form and making its (his?) newfound ability to speak aloud to other people everybody's problem.

Unity of the Sword cultivators give more of themselves to their bonded blades than people cultivating other paths, because they have to cultivate together with the sword, as partners. It's both a blessing and a curse, making their swords more... aware. It's not unusual for Unity swords to ascend with their masters or to cultivate humanoid forms to become something like a platonic life partner.

Xuan Su is an old blade. A powerful one, expertly if eccentrically crafted (what kind of cultivator would choose a zhanmadao when a jian is so much more ethereal and versatile?) and wielded by dozens of prodigiously talented cultivators before.

Each one of them set it aside, finding it too heavy and unwieldy for their ambitions. Each and every one of them died for it. It could feel through the bond as they each fell, the lighter, sleeker blades they replaced it with crumbling like paper under the weight of the destinies they all bore.

If it stopped calling out to young prodigies after its history of losses things would have been... much the same, probably, because Yue Qi has heard about the power of Xuan Su before he stepped foot in the sword hall, but there might have been a chance that he might have heard the call of a sword more suited to his level of cultivation, one that could have grown organically along with him.

The problem is, Xuan Su keeps calling out to new wielders and no amount of warning from Wan Jian's masters could convince the ambitious prodigies to give up on the chance to be the one who carried the famed Xuan Su to ascension.

After losing too many of its people, however, Xuan Su no longer knows how to bond normally. It clings too hard, hooks its metaphorical claws into its cultivator's soul, crawls through their meridians until there's no boundary left between them.

The last three people who tried to take it up didn't live long enough to unsheathe it.

For good or ill, Yue Qingyuan will be the last one to ever wield Xuan Su. It will either ascend with him, die with him or Wei Qingwei will throw it in the Wan Jian forge where the cursed thing deserves to be if it manages to outlive zhangmen-shixiong.

The thing is, however, that an old sword doesn't necessarily mean a mature one. Xuan Su wasn't wielded enough for its spirit to have matured fully. The only cultivator who even entertained it past the first few months of realizing that fighting with a zhanmadao is an unwieldy affair, that they could never become the picture of divine grace hauling around a blade that gave some polearms a run for their money, has been Yue Qingyuan, so most of Xuan Su's personality comes from him.

A thousand years worth of guilt and abandonment issues mixed with whatever traits it borrowed from semi-feral ex-slave teenager Yue Qi when they bonded does not make for a pleasant personality. It would remind Yue Qingyuan of a young Xiao-Jiu, expect Xuan Su has a brand of unashamed bloodthirstiness that can't be replicated by anything that's not made of 5 feet of sharp-edged murder.

It's not all bad. Xuan Su mourned with him when they though Shen Jiu was dead and rejoiced when they found him again. It has been trying its best to help Yue Qingyuan fight his heart demons so he could confess to Shen Qingqiu, even when it has heart demons of its own. They are beyond compatible in the physical and spiritual sense, granting Yue Qi the almost inhuman strength he became famous for. The mental component of their cultivation stagnates, however, because they are trying to split their attention between dealing with Yue Qingyuan's guilt and Xuan Su's abandonment issues and they are getting nowhere.

It's Shang Qinghua who accidentally gives them the push to pick one or the other. ("All right, enough!" Shang Qinghua claps his hands and freezes the dozen frantic An Ding disciples almost coming to blows about which one of their three separate crises should get the most resources. "You," he points at a kid with a missing front tooth. "All resources to your problem. And when that's done, then to his,-" Points at another child. "- and then hers. This way all of them will get solved on time and they will get solved better because you don't spread yourself thin trying to do three different things requiring full focus at once.") They decide to address Xuan Su's bottleneck because it's easier: Yue Qingyuan has already proved that he would not abandon it. They will ascend or die together.

They don't expect the backlash from its breakthrough to knock Yue Qingyuan out for several weeks (it's the bond stabilizing, finally, but his body and core need time to grow accustomed to only having his qi and his life force, all contained neatly within him as it should have been all these years). Weeks while Xuan Su is left alone on the peaks, unsupervised and without anybody knowing that it currently wears the form of a fourteen-year-old boy.

So of course the first thing it (he?) does is slip away before anyone could identify him and goes to Shen Qingqiu. The plan is simple: chew the man out for making Yue Qi sad all these years and then tell him what went down in the caves so he forgives Xuan Su's human and they can all be a happy family together! (A lot of its previous wielders sought fame to be allowed to wed various people they would not be able to marry otherwise, so Xuan Su might have acquired a passing interest in romance. Xuan Su approves of Yue Qi's choice, Shen Qingqiu is a sharp, very sword-like human and Xiu Ya is a very nice, well-balanced sword, but they really keep dragging things out way too long.)

Except Shen Qingqiu doesn't believe that the suddenly appearing feral teenager on his peak is actually a sword spirit. Swords cultivating human form are the stuff of legends and Yue Qi is far too down-to-earth for any of that nonsense. So clearly this Xiao-Su is an orphan his idiot Qi-ge has adopted; he's certainly feral enough to be one. No idea where Yue Qingquan has hidden this child before, but he's not quite presentable enough to be among the Qiong Ding disciples, despite the wonderfully elaborate clothes he's wearing. He enjoys food like he's tasting decent cooking for the first time, so he must not have been here long. Shen Qingqiu remembers being much the same when he first got to eat regularly, but hiding it much better, thank you very much.

Shen Qingqiu decides that he's going to keep an eye on his shixiong's charge until the man wakes up, because it's obvious that the kid can't be allowed to wander the peaks unsupervised. This decision has obviously nothing to do with Xiao-Su's instant hatred towards the little beast. Nope. Nothing at all.

Xuan Su eventually does manage to tell Shen Qingqiu that Qi-ge came back for him. Yue Qingyuan wakes up and confirms that yes, that bratty rascal is the great and powerful Xuan Su. They eventually learn about Binghe's demonic heritage and go investigating how the hell that has happened. But not before a few weeks of shenanigans and Luo Binghe accidentally winning Xuan Su (and by proxy Shen Qingqiu, much to the man's annoyance) over by the wonders of his godly cooking skills.

[mayvnwrites]

Fox demon sy au, except more demon and less uwu.

After dying due to expired food, SY wakes up as a fox demon with a natural affinity to poisons and poisoning. He is unamused at the irony, thanks, but at the same time... he IS kind of in some chaotic demon realm adjacent like place and needs all the help he can get, so ... thanks?

His transmigration even came with a subspace for drying and preserving herbs and ingredients, and an encyclopedic manual of all the possible tinctures, ingredients, and handling procedures installed into his brain.

Pretty adequate, although the subspace can only take medicinal ingredients and can't be used for growing/raising ingredients, and the manual is so massive SY feels like it will take decades to read. (Spoilers: it does take decades to read)

Cool, SY thinks, I can be a wandering apothecary and stuff - but of course things don't turn out like that, because why wouldn't this world be full of poisonous plants that require... um ... *alternative* methods of healing.

After the fifth time someone tries to force SY to cure someone with papapa, he says fk it and, unable to escape in more conventional ways, he poisons his way out of the demon lord's castle.

SY is also beginning to understand which world he's been transmigrated to and is cursing a "Master Airplane" under his breath nonstop as he stomps angrily away from rando demon lord's territory, almost no guilt in his heart because the dude and his vassals eat people and are *assholes*.

SY starts using the direct method (aka poison) in refusing persistent inquisitors that want help he's unwilling to give (whether it's papapa or just a matter of principle) and slowly becomes known more for poisoning than cures. Doesn't help that SY has evolved from death-poisons to poisons that would make you wish you were dead.

Soon SY is known as a fox who would rather kill you than speak to you.

At first SY feels upset about this, because after all that work curing people, killing people is what he's known for? But eventually he's like, whatever gets people to stop bothering me~.

After decades, SY has embraced getting his way with his pretty face and poisonings, becoming a bit of a naughty foxy, and is enjoying his life away from the plot and with much less harrassment by the demons.

He's gained the title of Poisonous Shoutao (longevity peach), and his reputation as a venomous fox demon who could cure whatever ails you but would rather poison you has grown far and wide (as well as his foxy bewitching ways as he gloats over poisoning you).

SY has a long list of admirers and haters alike, including those grateful for his healing and those who want revenge for his poisonings, but what good demon *doesn't* have an enemy or 20?

And then one of his haters sets him up to be the scapegoat of a rash of poisonings in some human communities, and suddenly SY is the target of some pony-tailed pretty boy head disciple from Cang Qiong with a mole, who hasn't realized that the Poisonous Shoutao is outside of his capabilities... after paralyzing the boy, SY thinks about just ending the kid but... well, SY has used his pretty face to sway others before, but this is the first time he's been swayed by a pretty face.

B-besides, it's probably better to avoid making enemies of Cang Qiong, no matter where in the plot they are right now! So SY just teases the kid until the kid's practically steaming (out of anger? or...), reveals he's NOT the culprit, and disappears into the night with a faint scent of nightshade lingering behind.

Expecting it all to be done and dusted after that, SY is surprised to find out that the pretty boy now has a vendetta against him and has sworn to take him down.

Cue cat-and-mouse interactions all over the two realms with a poisonous (and slightly flirty) fox demon chased by a serious (but easily flustered - at least when it comes to a certain fox) young cultivator.

[larothoughts]

anti-ship adjacent ships: liujiu and qijiu

so there's this weird thing that's happening in svsss of all fandoms that reminds me a lot of voltron's klance and sheith fiasco AKA the formation of what i like to call anti-ship adjacent ships

basically, when someone's favorite ship is more indicative of them being an anti-shipper of another ship.

i've had to start excluding liujiu in my ao3 searches because more often than not, the fics that come up are yqy-bashing and what?? this is svsss, right? mxtx's trashiest, most problematic, harem-bicycle-shen-yuan svsss? what is this moral outrage doing in my degenerate danmei fic space, and why are you mischaracterizing yqy just to make an excuse to hate on him??

i've had a few thoughts on the rising dichotomy of shen jiu sympathizers both validating sj's bad behavior and hating yqy for enabling the same behavior. and then shipping him with lqg because liujiu is 'less toxic.' As an old lady fanfic reader who's trawled through all the godforsaken dead dove ships of the old livejournal kink_meme, i'm writing these out because making sense of things helps me cope and i am too old for this shit

(this is actually more 'why anti-qijiu' word vomit than liujiu specific--it just so happens that so many liujiu fics are bizarrely anti-qijiu.)

narrative reasons for anti-yqy liujiu fic:

aka why an author finds it easier for the plot to bash qi-ge

accepting either romantic or platonic qijiu means trying to fix qijiu. this is hard. yqy and sj already have a proven history of failure, while sj and lqg (aka author's ideal white-knight love interest) would be the perfect do-over. making yqy a clear abusive villain sj must cut off ties with 'for his mental health' solves the problem without having to fix things. it frees the author to write what they thought qi-ge should have done to 'save shen jiu right.'

on the same note, liujiu have nearly no canon crumbs. the author can write them however they want without being constrained by their canon relationship.

why lqg over other possible ships? other than yqy, lqg is one of the few characters with any sort of previous relationship with sj. lqg is canonically hot, has strong (even if negative) feelings towards sj, and has no textual or subtextual canon ship (beyond a one-sided crush on shen yuan, with lbh getting in his way lol.) he is also the same generation as sj and thus avoids any age gap squicks like with sj's other ship partners (looking at you tlj)

yqy is the only person in cang qiong with higher authority than shen jiu. while other peak lords are antagonistic, all are ranked lower and can't get in liujiu's way the same way as yqy can as a sect leader. not even the old palace master has the same power because he's the head of a different sect. so if you really want to write a villain abusing their (implicit) power over shen jiu, yqy is the only one that fits the bill.

lbh, as sj's disciple, does not fit the same abuse of power trope even if he becomes an op demon lord. as for bingjiu, lbh's brand of diabolical stalkerish yandere is so over-the-top it's hard to equate him to any real relationship. it's easier to twist yqy's passivity to villainy because it's closer to reasonable human behavior.

if one is coming from the tgcf fandom, yue qingyuan is the closest junwu-adjacent character in terms of personality and rank (on the surface.) so it's easy to transfer any junwu hate to yqy by giving him all of junwu's worst traits and making him 'junwu-lite'

same thing as above but with mdzs and the lan xichen hate for his inaction regarding his own little meowmeow (jgy).

personal author-reasons for anti-yqy liujiu fic:

aka when the character himself doesn't matter

let's get a silly one out of the way: maybe the author only headcanons top shen jiu and most qijiu has sj being a bottom. lqg gives off better hot twinky bottom energy than submissive-but-still-tops yqy. this does not explain the anti-shipping though.

less silly: an author is projecting either themselves or other people in their real life onto their fic, and changing the character's personalities to match their real life projected counterparts (even if ooc). sj is a clear abuse-survivor insert, which shoe-horns other characters into roles that real people in the author's lives have. i think yqy is often seen as the insert for someone who 'could have helped but didn't.' there are many valid reasons why someone would be more mad at the person who averted their gaze rather than their actual abuser, but that doesn't change the fact that qijiu's relationship in canon is so much more complicated.

(it's easier to hate enablers instead of abusers, because hating abusers and inviting confrontation is dangerous. most of the time, enablers won't hurt you directly. they are the safer person to hate.)

an author thinks they could have saved sj better, that qi-ge had more than enough time to fix things and his failure not to do so must be punished by taking away his sj-simp-card and throwing him into the villain bin. this is similar to the phenomenon where an author hates the wife of canon anime couples b/c the author could clearly wife him better. and then writes a fic bashing said wife.

an author sees a messy relationship and equates messy with abusive. in reality many relationships can be messy but not abusive, messy but still fixable, but due to their personal experiences they see any attempt to do so as toxic. in this scenario yqy is often the abuser-insert and his ooc characterization takes after the author's own abuser.

specifically in fics where lqg has the personality of a cardboard cut-out: using liujiu to tell others they are still pro-ship, when in reality they dislike qijiu for their own reasons (and can't help but write it in their fic). it really reminds me of middle school lol like kids trying to find their identity by hating another identity. the whole 'ew pink is overrated, i hate preps which means i must be a nerdy rebel' and then two years later you realize you're not a nerdy rebel after all, you just based your entire identity on what you thought was the opposite of what you hated.

why i try not to read anti-qijiu liujiu fics:

aka write whatever you want, but sometimes i have to choose not to read

authors can write whatever they want. we're all doing this for free, so it's expected that a lot of fanfic have venting and some self-imposing onto a fictional character. i don't expect authors to NOT put themselves in their fic in some way. at the same time, however, i hope authors are self-aware enough to not bash another character just because that character reminds them of someone irl.

aka i get uncomfortable when i read a fic that has an author's obvious real-person insert. i'm not reading svsss fic anymore, i'm reading the author's version of punishing their abuser using fiction. i love transformative media that adds onto the canon! i love different interpretations even! but i'm here to read svsss? where are the svsss characters??

i'm not into character-bashing in general. i think the point of svsss and all of bingqiu's misunderstandings is the fact that good/evil is not a binary. sy spent the whole series fearing the 'evil' binghe despite the fact that post-abyss binghe was a complex person, causing a chain reaction of disaster. hell, shen jiu is the king of gray characters! he is a scum villain, evil and misunderstood, to be a sj-fan means to understand that no one is entirely good or evil. so it's even more cognitively dissonant when a pro-sj fic is so categorically anti-qijiu, as this often paints sj as good/misunderstood and yqy as bad.

(the only character-bashing i don't care about is the old palace master mxtx clearly wrote him to be bashed so throw him in a fire)

i don't mind liujiu actually, i think the dynamic has potential (see all the sj harem fic i've read lol) but qi-ge is such a big part of sj's character that vilifying/getting rid of him does sj a disservice too? sj has a shit ton of bad coping mechanisms, these aren't going to be magically fixed if yqy gets his limbs chopped off as 'just punishment' (??) for not stopping sj from abusing his own students (????)

in conclusion

there is no point to this rambling, and you don't need to agree with me on anything. these are just thoughts i had when trying to figure out why anti-ship adjacent ships even exist. the moral outrage is giving me war flashbacks of anti-sheith klance fans using their age gap as justification for their own ship, rather than liking klance for... being klance.

(I briefly considered going over all liujiu vs qijiu morality arguments, but if you're an sj fan i feel like morality arguments are pointless. he is an angry feral scum kitten who hits kids, no sj-fan has the moral high ground here.)

it's always unfortunate to see so much anti-shipping spilling into fandom, since by default most of us are living in the fringe minority anyway. further dividing us is just going to sink the whole ocean ala the death of livejournal and chinese ban on ao3. there's no point in ships if there ain't an ocean to sail in! aren't we all here because we are fans of these stories???

bonus

to make up for what must feel like a huge anti liujiu wall of text, here are some of my general thoughts on how their relationship would work. i'm more familiar with sj so most of these are from his pov.

while sj often has schemes upon schemes upon schemes, when it comes to anger/criticism/negativity, he's scathingly honest. lqg, a fellow honest asshole, is often on the same wavelength. once misunderstandings are cleared up and lqg realizes sj will do whatever it takes to protect big bro yqy (and thus the sect), they're able to work together as a ruthless team against cang qiong's enemies.

let's also assume fixing sj's emotional issues stops him from the worst of his scumminess aka whipping his disciples half to death.

teamwork -> enemies to lovers -> only one bed trope???

sj needs someone who will overtly believe in his goodness, and lqg, once he realizes the mistakes in his assumptions, is a loyal wall of support. unlike qi-ge who must always play diplomat, lqg blazes over all social cues. who cares if this looks bad on cang qiong, he'll throw down with anyone if his boo is insulted.

lqg is upfront and honest. there are no hidden plots for sj to be paranoid about in lqg, he's a Good Man through-and-through. if lqg has problems, he'll tell him. if he needs to apologize and sj tells him why, he'll do so. and if sj asks him a question, he'll always do his best to answer.

while lqg knows sj has trauma and a dark past, he will never truly understand what it was like. and that's exactly what sj wants. he likes how lqg knows him more as he is now in the present vs. someone who has lived through the same past. being with him is a reminder that he is now a powerful peak lord, not the starving street rat he once was.

for lqg, sj is like a complex puzzle box. an enigma so outside of his understanding of how the world works, he can't help but be drawn to it. he used to equate scheming with evil, but once he realizes much of sj's scheming was for the good of the sect, he lets himself be impressed by sj's intelligence. the fact that sj became a peak lord from nothing shows a certain type of strength-- and lqg has always appreciated strength.

a big roadblock in their relationship was sj's antagonism towards yqy (their sect leader whom lqg respects.) once qijiu reconcile (or sj stops being so disrespectful to yqy in public) lqg is better able to see him as an ally vs. an enemy.

sj rewards this loyalty by taking care of lqg's hidden enemies, because straightforward brutes are especially susceptible to devious snakes like that. sj would know. whether or not he tells lqg can go either way. he tells lqg if only to stop lqg from hearing it elsewhere and assuming the worst; or he doesn't tell lqg because he knows lqg trusts him and confusing his mind with schemes would just make him grumpy for not understanding.

...even if he's cute when he's grumpy.

[koolades-world]

Hey! I'm sorry if your (inbox, is it called?" Is closed, I just read your little story on how the brothers would react to an MC with a British accent.I was wondering if you could do a reaction to a Puerto Rican MC? Again, I'm sorry if your inbox is closed.

OMG HI inbox is open no worries!

so excited for this!! had to do a double take at first. I'm actually half puerto rican half indian! weird combo i know BUT I absolutely love this request! sometimes it's hard for me to be positive about my background and who I am. usually any mention of my race or ethnicity feels like a knife to the back, but I'm so excited for my chance to be happy about who I am

I know it just came in but as soon as I saw this I knew I had to write it right away! this is something that has every puerto rican gene in my body infused into it and despite being so short, it probably has some of the most love i've probably ever put into a piece of writing

thank you :))) please enjoy

Puerto Rican Mc

Lucifer

at first, it doesn't mean a lot to him since you're not that close yet

but later on, he begins to understand why you're so proud of your background

he totally understands being loud and proud about who you are and not being afraid to shy away from others about it

any demon who comments on this negatively vanishes mysteriously

Mammon

bonding over being poc and being able to share the struggle with each other

you understand each other and he knows what it feel like to look around and realize you're the only poc in the room. you're not alone with him by your side

lots of sweet moments and tears shared together and an inseparable bond

at the end of the day, you have each other <3

Levi

once you get close, he introduces you to all of his favorite puerto rican characters

admires how protective and loyal you are of those you're close to

values you so dearly

he doesn't regret opening up to you because it was the best choice he ever made

Satan

he begins to collect books he'd think you'd like written by puerto rican authors or have puerto rican characters because he knows how excited you'll get

he goes out of his way to introduce you to his favorite puerto rican adjacent restaurant in the devildom

takes you on plenty of trips to the human world to experience home again if you need it or just to eat good food

could listen to you talk for hours about why being puerto rican is great

Asmo

think the fact that you speak spanish (or some) is so hot (a/n: I myself speak very little haha)

immediately asks you to teach him some and to say something that sounds sexy even if it's not actually

gifts you all sorts of things that either have the puerto rican flag or have the same colors as the puerto rican flag, like clothes or little trinkets

acts as your personal cheerleader whenever you need it

Beel

loves the culinary journey you take him on through your culture

he especially loves coquito and limber (a/n: my personal favs)

asks you to teach him how to make several puerto rican dishes that practically makes your heart explode with joy

he knows food is always a huge part of the culture and in honored you showed him all the ins and outs

Belphie

likes to poke fun at you from time to time to see how defensive you'll get

you poke fun at him right back with lots of cow jokes

you two playfight a lot, usually with you being victorious maybe because he let you

however, there's always room for you under his covers where ever he might be

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 13 Part 2

Welcome back! Things are about to get crazy, so let's dive right in!

Is it any wonder the community unanimously decided this was Marcille's chimera-sona? She's cute, she's sky-fish adjacent, she has a flower crown (A hallmark of only the most mentally stable characters). What's not to love? And as Mithrun will agree, snake women are sexy.

Later, Kabru suspects Laios stumbled into saving the world, but my man was seriously planning six steps ahead. He came up with the ultimate plan to kill the ultimate monster.

Marcille is understandably upset that the lion stole her cool outfit. She wanted to show that to Falin later!

Nothing personal kid.

The demon isn't malevolent my ass. It knows what Mithrun wants. It just can't be assed to bother.

I know the right page is the important one, but oh my god. Laios, did you seriously doodle blueprints of your stupid "Falin lives in a hole now" plan? Did you seriously doodle your "female faligon" idea?

Anyway, as is tradition with ultimate chimera appearances, here is another one of my creatures!

I'll leave it to the viewer to try and figure out what inspired this freak.

Of course Laios' takeaway from the succubus was that Scyllas are cool. Fun fact, some of these details are actually relevant. The ability to change shape is apparently how he managed to return to human form, and the poop thing explains why New Melini is forested despite being underwater for 1000 years.

Marcille isn't even surprised at this point. Just deeply disappointed.

Toshiro, why are you smiling? Kabru, that looks more like awe than fear.

Bitch, I'm fabulous.

Marcille, you're the one who created the monster that vores people, that's it's whole job.

Don't worry Marcille. This disaster is due to an incredibly complex confluence of unpredictable events. In other words, it's everybody's fault! Hooray!

God, this is so funny.

Leave my boy alone! At least we can all agree the collar is cool.

Oh, that's a neat detail. Time is stopped for all the humans, but the monsters can still move.

When I first read this, I thought the plan was that now that the lion is in a finite body, we can eat it. Like, I thought that was how it was going to end as soon as they swapped. But Laios is way ahead of me.

Good to see the rest of the party came to the same conclusion I did. And Marcille's eyes are still on the prize.

Famous last words.

Rude.

Yeah, but we're expressing a desire regarding his treatment you raging douche-muffin. You're freaking infinite. We've seen you have the power to pacify monsters peacefully.

It's so fitting, that Laios, our favorite dog, saved the world by eating something he really shouldn't have.

👏Full Circle!👏

Oh Marcille. I'd have thought you'd have learned by now to have a little more faith in your brother-in-law.

Ah, dungeon food. To eat is the privilege of the living. There is no hierarchy.

That sounds like the words of a loser to me.

And that's it for volume 13! Didn't have as much to say as I thought I might. Guess this climax speaks for itself. What a powerful and thematic ending to the demon. See why I'm having trouble figuring out what direction to take my AU? Figuring out the changes to monster of the week chapters is easy. Figuring out how to do the big thematic battles against Thistle and the Demon are hard. It's hard to imagine anyone but Laios prevailing against such opponents.

Anyway, see you next time for the finale! Here, have a couple of extra Marcilles. I thought I would need more of them.

Cannibalism?

A precious image.

[ticklishfiend]

A Joint Effort (Good Omens)

(lee!crowley / ler!aziraphale)

Summary : in which aziraphale and crowley created tickling together many years ago (alt. and reminisce on it many years later)

a/n : lowkey this is very conversational abt tickling but i do (personally) love a fic that discusses the topic :D there is tickling tho dw LOL i just wanted to write some tickly dialogue

word count : 4065

hope u enjoy! pls consider giving a reblog if u liked it <33

. . .

A lot of things went through Crowley’s mind as he gazed at that all too familiar lake. Mainly all the times he and Aziraphale met here to discuss their “private affairs,” a secret team-up only one angel, one demon, and dozens of ducks could know about.

More recently it was all that dreary “end of the world” business he’d quite frankly prefer to Men In Black himself out of remembering (by the way, what a fantastic film that one was, the humans couldn’t have been both more far off and somehow right on the nose with it). The lake was lucky it was still so pretty after all these years, otherwise he’d have stopped visiting after everything resolved itself some time ago.

Humans had a phrase for what he tended to do alone on the bench. “People-watching,” they call it. Such a funny phrase considering it’s technically been his job since the creation of man itself. Maybe that’s why he enjoyed doing it so much. Technically, it’s kinda what he was made for.

He listened as a man adjacent to him across the lake was thinking and thinking his little head off. The man pondered over a woman, a lover Crowley presumed, and apparently how good their date had gone last night. Crowley noticed him fiddling with something in his pocket. Oh yes, a ring. What a disgustingly adorable tradition.

Crowley tapped his ring finger against the bench with an unknown impatience.

He saw that close by, a woman made her way towards the man (ah wait, it’s the woman, he could hear the man’s heart rate pick up and blood sloshing towards his cheeks, kinda gross how their bodies betray them), her hand finding his as she laid her head down on his shoulder. Crowley’s throat made a funny sound as he crossed his arms.

Crowley didn’t care much for the conversation, much more of an observer than a listener. Out of habit, he almost sent an evil little miracle their way, a “no” from the woman catching at his fingertips and becoming clenched in his fist. Actually…this might be the first successful proposal he’ll ever witness. He can hear the yes before she’s even said it, so much love radiating between them it's like radiation to his skin.

But he wants to see this play out. Just because he actually can now. Yeah…trying new things and all.

So it plays out just like the movies. He gets down on one knee, she cries, yadayadayada, blahblahblah. But this time, Crowley can actually feel it. This isn’t like seeing it through the screen. Those emotions become one with the air, making the whole park’s atmosphere thick and sugar-scented. It makes his skin crawl. Or he got goosebumps. He can't tell for sure, maybe it’s all one and the same.

He keeps watching the couple, telling himself he’s invested like one would stare at a car crash (even though nothing about this is a wreck at all, it’s a tad beautiful and Crowley knows this, but there’s still something so wretched about how his eyes stay glued to that spot across the lake).

They keep giggling and kissing, snapping a few photos of the moment and basking in each other. The man lifts the woman and twirls her around, her sun dress twirling with her and making the scene look so…ugh, romantic.

Or…just romantic. Maybe there’s no need to groan so hard at that.

Then the woman does something that snaps Crowley out of his little haze (call it jealousy and Crowley will treat your legs like snap peas). She pokes and squishes around her new fiancés sides, and said fiancé begins to giggle. The woman gave the man a tickle.

Tickling is far from a new concept to Crowley. Actually, he may have had a little hand in creating it. It wasn’t his idea exactly, he didn’t sign off on the paperwork or anything, but let’s just say laughter wasn’t the first possible noise option. He thought it’d be a bit more creative if there was less screaming in hell from time to time.

Most people would probably assume tickling came straight down from above, a place of innocence and love and, yeah, laughter. Others may even say it’s a hellish creation, but those tended to be the ones that drew the short end of the ticklish stick (that is to say, they’re probably really fucking ticklish).

But honestly, this one was kind of a joint effort. Is the paperwork technically written on a heavenly scroll? Sure, yeah. But who was the one that signed off on that scroll in the first place?

Well, Aziraphale did always have such an obnoxiously perfect signature.

Near the beginning, Crowley had overheard some demons discussing new torture methods for the humans to use on each other, something easy that required less machinery on their part. One brainstorm talked of the humans being able to do nothing but poke at their enemy to get them howling in pain.

And, well, Crowley thought that sounded laughably absurd.

So the next time he saw Aziraphale on Earth, he gossiped like usual. Talked of how stupid it sounded, how the humans would get so out of hand using it they’d never get anything productive done. And of course, Aziraphale agreed (though he was at first quite shocked a demon was against any brainstormed torture method, no matter how ridiculous).

Together they devised a little scheme. Nothing major, just something to beat the demons to the race. They had to though, right? It’d just be stupid to ruin something as precious as humanity over a few pokes.

So, instead of screaming in pain, the humans would scream in laughter. It wouldn’t hurt, unless the human was too rough of course, and really the worst it could do was embarrass the victim (except when Crowley snuck in that sometimes they may wet themselves, as a silly little gag. Aziraphale may have been too distracted trying to find a mysterious, strangely itchy dark feather in his garments when he wrote that one). It was such a silly invention, and Aziraphale even felt a little embarrassed bringing it to Gabriel, but oh how the other angels adored it. It was a new game for their humans to play, to occupy and fill the time of their short useless existences. It was a perfect time-waster.

And so became tickling. A joint project created by Crowley and Aziraphale, one of the first little schemes they pulled together that only dipped their toes into everything that came after. And now Crowley got to watch as his invention created a positive memory for some random romantics at his favorite park.

It was weird. He’s never felt funny about tickling before, but since he and Aziraphale have gotten rather…um, close recently, seeing this couple be all flirty and affectionate and tickly was making him feel funny feelings about it he’s never felt before.

He’s not blushing. That’s a human thing. He’s just…warm.

Crowley shakes his head, emptying his mind of all that weird mushy shite. He brings his eyes back to the couple, seeing them kiss and talk and bask in each other’s otherness. Part of him made that happen, in some cosmic butterfly effect sort of way.

Maybe everything is a circle, just as they say. Like it’s all meant to be. One particular word stings at his tongue, he’s heard it a thousand times before out of Aziraphale’s mouth when the subject of a great plan is brought up. He’ll just have to save it for when his angel comes back around.

…

—( alt : s2 ending never happened and crowley goes back to the bookshop afterward and everything is fine and dandy and happy :D )

…

The bell above the bookshop’s door rang a familiar chime when Crowley stepped through, announcing his presence to the one and only being it should matter to. He practically beelined for the drapes, figuring it far too bright for a cozy bookshop even with his sunglasses on.

Crowley heard behind him the soft angelic clunk of each foot making their way down the staircase, the room brightening on its own as Aziraphale made his way down.

“Well that wasn’t a very long outing,” Aziraphale rounded into the main area, cup of tea in hand. “Did something happen?”

Crowley dusted the drapes with his hands, “Such a worrywart, you are,” spinning around and brushing his hands as he met eyes with the one on his mind all afternoon. “The park just got boring, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

Aziraphale rolled his eyes, “Excuse me for noticing that you’re home earlier than usual,” he muttered, taking his next sip with attitude. “But since you’re back so soon, maybe we could…hang out, as the youth say,” he smiled that thin-lipped smile, and Crowley groaned in the back of his throat, following Aziraphale towards the back room (yknow, the one with the couch that Crowley can stretch his legs on as long as he needs and nothing ever feels uncomfortable).

“Grahk, angel, there’s a reason that only the youth should be saying these things. Sounds…unnatural, on your tongue,” Crowley plopped down on his favorite couch, his hand in Aziraphale’s (he’s not even sure when that happened, but who is he to complain?) leading him down to the spot next to his. Aziraphale did a wiggle as he sat, like getting the cushion ready for him.

“I like integrating new shortened language into my vocabulary,” Aziraphale pouted behind his cup.

“Helps me understand everyone better.”

Crowley tutted, “Okay, well, one: it’s not called “shortened language” anymore, you boob. They say slang now. If you don’t even know the word slang, you definitely shouldn’t be using it in the first place,” Crowley propped his feet up on Aziraphale’s lap, the only acknowledgment of his position being Aziraphale’s zero hesitation in using his shins as an armrest. “And two: you already have the most extensive vocabulary on the planet. You can know all the words and phrases you like, but I doubt you’re in dire need of any new ones to use.”

Aziraphale sat his glass down on the coffee table, leaning against Crowley’s legs. “I think you’re just jealous. Envy is one of the seven sins, correct?”

Crowley merely huffed, throwing an arm against the couch’s own and propping his cheek against his hand. He gazed a bit longingly at the angel, who seemed more interested in picking lint off his trousers at the moment. “Saw something at the park I thought you’d like.”

Aziraphale’s ears perked, but more or less remained focused on grooming Crowley’s pants. “Oh?”

“Want you to guess.”

That caught his attention, an annoyed glare thrown Crowley’s way. “I hate this game.”

“Naaaah you love it. Cmon, guess.”

“I’ll at least need a hint, Crowley. It could literally be an infinite number of things,” Aziraphale sat back against the couch now, finally interested in the conversation even if he continued with the annoyed charade, hands folded on Crowley’s shins. “At least tell me if it’s good or bad. You know how I hate bad surprises.”

“It’s good, trust me,” Crowley grinned. “Has to do with something we created a looong time ago. I’m talkin’ B.C, baby.”

Aziraphale’s eyebrows raised, really curious now.

“We created it?”

“That we did, angel.”

Aziraphale hummed, fingers fidgeting with the fabric, before gasping in excitement, “Was it a chihuahua?”

Crowley’s own eyebrows shot up at that, nearly having forgotten they created that wretched animal.

“Oh but they’re so cute, Crowley, look at how tiny!”

“Fine, but that thing’s gonna be a beast, I don’t care how little it is.”

“Heheh, no but good guess,” He chuckled, sliding his glasses off and tucking them into his front pocket. His hands mimicked Aziraphale’s, fingers crossed but against his chest. “One more hint: I saw some very…giggly humans.”

It took him a moment, but finally Aziraphale grinned, giving Crowley’s knee a few squeezes and delighting in the squeak and kick against the other arm of the couch. He giggled as he watched Crowley turn pink and grumble. “That may be one of my favorite things we created together.”

Crowley shoved his glasses back on as if hiding, more embarrassed than he’d like to admit. “You’re ridiculous for miracling that shit into me all those years ago.”

“I only did it because you did the same to me!”

Crowley chuckled, regaining his confidence to reach over and squeeze at Aziraphale’s side, relishing in the angelic giggles.

“Well obviously. I’m a demon. Had to mess with my angel somehow.”

Aziraphale pushed his hand away, his smile remaining with pink cheeks. “Yes, but an angel is nothing without an even better miracle than yours. We both know you got the worst of it,” Aziraphale said, throwing wiggly fingers in Crowley’s direction when he tried to argue, “Don’t make me tickle your ribs and prove it, Crowley. We don’t want a repeat of—“

“Say it and I’ll pluck each feather off your back and go to town on those ears of yours.”

Aziraphale just grinned, retracting his fingers and letting his demon relax as he held his hands up in defeat. Aziraphale sort of has the high ground here anyway, considering their differing levels of sensitivities; he’ll just bring it up later.

“So you saw some people in a tickle fight, then?” Aziraphale tipped the conversation away from them, a little wary of the threat. “Quite a public spot for something we made to be so embarrassing, don’t you think?”

Crowley waved a hand, “Aaaaah they don’t all find it embarrassing. The guy seemed too happy to care, anyways,” he said, scrunching his nose. “He had just proposed.” Crowley said the word like there were worms crawling under his clothes.

Aziraphale gasped, “Oh how lovely! You should’ve congratulated them, Crowley!” He whined, knowing Crowley too well, sensing there was no way he had given them a proper congratulations. Aziraphale hated missing out on precious human moments like that.

Crowley smiled at his enthusiasm, “Don’t worry, angel. They’ve got each other for that sappy shite.”

Aziraphale huffed out a happy giggle, giving Crowley’s leg a little shake and pat. Crowley always found it gross how giddy the angel got over others happiness. It made his heart and belly feel funny, maybe he was going into cardiac arrest or something. Well, not literally of course, but maybe like metaphorically.

“So the newlyweds had a little tickle tussle in the park? Oh that’s just precious,” Aziraphale held his hands close to his chest. “Thank you for letting them have their moment, dear.”

“Whatever, just didn’t feel like working too hard today,” Crowley sniffed, leaning back against his arms. “Yknow, the guy seemed to be loaded with those tickly nerves. I don’t blame that girl one bit for going at ‘em. Kept making these funny noises and wigglin’ like a worm. It was honestly very amusing to watch.”

Aziraphale grinned all smug. “Weeelll…”

Crowley frowned. “Well…what?” Aziraphale just shrugged, giving Crowley a quick up and down. Crowley shot up, pointing a finger, “No. That is not how I am.”

“All I’m saying is, if you can’t blame her for tickling her husband because of his funny reactions…weeeelll…” Aziraphale giggled, throwing shaky arms up in defense when Crowley leaned forward.

“Keep at it,” Crowley warned, throwing his legs off Aziraphale so he could corner the tittering angel into the couch, “And I swear, I will have jars of ticklish angel tears to display on my shelf,” he poked Aziraphale in the chest, awfully close now. “I’ll make sure you discorporate with a smile.”

Aziraphale gulped on a giggle.“I-I was merely…Crowley, come on now, I’m teasing,” he stuttered out. Crowley was right up in his face now, a smile that may as well be fanged making Aziraphale’s voice quiver. Crowley was eating up the sight.

“Yeah? Well so am I,” Crowley grinned in his face, glasses falling to the tip of his nose so Aziraphale could see the endearment in his yellow eyes. Aziraphale sighed, bringing a hand to the demon's chest. Crowley leaned into the touch, humming contentedly as he started relaxing against Aziraphale’s form.

He curled up against the angel’s side, Aziraphale’s fingers playing at his cheek. Crowley pressed his face into Aziraphale’s shoulder, mumbling, “It’s not my fault you’re a literal God-gifted tickler.”

“Mm, well it isn’t my fault you’re ticklish enough to break my vessel’s nose—“

“Okay, fuuuck you, I thought we weren’t bringing that up, you twit,” Crowley flicked Aziraphale in the temple, “Also, it quite literally is your fault I’m this ticklish. Prick.”

Aziraphale kept a frown after having his face assaulted like that, “I feel like you’re just asking for it now. Insulting and flicking me as we talk about how horribly ticklish you are. Yes, quite a wise decision on your part, Anthony.”

Crowley pressed his face further into Aziraphale, mumbling something incoherent that probably made no sense anyways. Something like, “your mum’s horribly ticklish…” but who's to say. Aziraphale caught on with a giggle.

“Oh is that it?” Aziraphale asked, squeezing Crowley’s shoulder.

“Is what it?”

“Do you want me to-“

“No. Fuck you.”

“Are you sure? Because it sure seems like-“

“Noooo.”

Aziraphale held back a laugh, trying not to embarrass Crowley so much he fled from the scene. Instead, he just slid a hand up Crowley’s side, decidedly not tickling. Crowley tensed under him, his hand squeezing tighter on Aziraphale’s lapels, but made no move to leave.

“I used a word before,” Aziraphale tapped one finger against the clothed side, not ticklish but definitely threatening. “Envy. Is that what you’re experiencing, Crowley?”

Crowley tried to grumble, but it sounded more like a whine with his face smushed into Aziraphale’s coat.“Wha’ would I even be…envious of,” Crowley muttered. “S’all stupid. Not the proposal, that’s for damn certain.”

“Oh no, surely not the proposal,” Aziraphale used his one finger to scritch gently. Crowley tittered in his throat. “I wonder what else I could be talking about, hm?”

Crowley was vibrating. He could feel how warm his face had gotten against the coat, hating himself for it but refusing to leave. This was…this was something. “Beats me,” he shrugged, but quickly brought his arms back down when he felt Aziraphale’s hand trail up even further, fuck. He growled, “Sssstop.”

“Stop what?” Aziraphale pinched once, and Crowley growled. “If there’s something on your mind, I’d love to hear it.”

“Hhmmhhmmhehehmm,” Crowley hummed a whine, squirming in Aziraphale’s hold. Part of him desperately wanted to sprawl out onto his partner's lap and let the angel have his ticklish way with him. The other part of him was screaming to push Aziraphale away, tell him off for being so silly and stupid. He didn’t actually think Aziraphale was stupid in the slightest, but fuck he couldn’t really think of anything worthwhile to say with Aziraphale’s fingers doing that to his lower ribs.

He didn’t do either of those things, though. Instead, he stayed curled into Aziraphale’s side with fingers also curled right on that spot that made Crowley feel all…all squirmy.

“Crooowleyy~,” Aziraphale sang into his ear, smiling against the shell of it as Crowley jerked and snickered in giggly fluster.

“What do you waaaant??”

“Did that couple make you think some…” Aziraphale pinched a quick line from Crowley’s ribs down to his hips. Crowley choked out a surprised giggle, body arching with a flinch. “…ticklish thoughts?”

“You’re such a dihick,” Crowley slapped Aziraphale’s hand, barking a laugh when he just squeezed his hip in response.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“…mmmmm no.”

“Crowley. You’re pushing into my fingers.”

“Shhhut up!”

“Admit it and I’ll get this over with,” Aziraphale said, abandoning his fear of embarrassing Crowley too much as it seems he was actually enjoying that part of it now. Who knew demons were so fond of being a little flustered?

Well, probably not most demons. But, come to think of it, when has Crowley ever been like “most demons”?

“I can’t, angel,” he whined, words a bit breathy as Aziraphale has switched to gently, slowly clawing at the clothed skin. It wasn’t enough to make him laugh, but damn if it still didn’t tickle like hell. If anything, this was probably worse. He can’t use the excuse of, “well I can’t talk when you’re tickling me!” because really, Aziraphale wasn’t. Not yet at least. Now they both knew he just can’t talk because he’s too flustered, and isn’t that a horrifying thought in itself.

“I never realized you actually liked it,” Aziraphale said genuinely, but his tone really made it sound like a tease.

Crowley shook his head, “I d—“ he bit down on his rebuttal with a growl, the word ��don't’ falling down his throat. By now, they both knew that wasn’t true. No sense in fighting it, he guessed. “I didn’t know.”

Aziraphale made a surprised sound. “Really?” He gave a scribble to Crowley’s side, longer than the usual ones, and Crowley whined through a giggle.

“Uuugh maybe. Just when…whehen the couple—when they wehehere—Angehel I can’t speheheak when you’re—!” Crowley squeaked when Aziraphale started pinching up and down, giving focus to that little spot below his ribs. He couldn’t keep his giggles down, falling into breathless, flustered laughter as Aziraphale actually, finally started to tickle him.

“Too ticklish for words, Crowley?” Aziraphale teased on purpose this time, bringing his hand up, up, up to tickle a single finger in the hollow under Crowley’s arm. Crowley spasmed, choking out high pitched giggles as he squirmed and tried hiding his face even more into Aziraphale.

Aziraphale merely brought his other hand in to play with his exposed ear, bringing Crowley’s smiling face out as he jerked his head around to defend.

“Nohoho! This can’t be fffffuhucking fahahair-!” Crowley agonized, his laughter all over the place in pitch.

“I suppose not, considering I have quite the advantage here. More ticklish and enjoyable for you? What a pickle, my dear,” Aziraphale said, giggling as he heard the words come out of his mouth. “Aha! A tickly pickle! Isn’t that funny, Crowley?”

Crowley cackled as he shook his head around madly. Words weren’t easy when Aziraphale’s hand moved from his ear to his previously untouched side, pinching and squishing at the devastatingly sensitive hip bone.

“Refute it all you want, but with how hard you’re laughing you must think I’m very funny,” Aziraphale said, digging both hands into Crowley’s hips while dodging a headbutt to the nose.

Crowley’s mind felt like tangled wire. The tickling, the teasing, the knowing that he’s enjoying every second of it (and tickling and teasing him for exactly that). He’s been tickled before, been tickled by Aziraphale a few times in the past, but this was…it’s different.

They’re closer now, closer than they’ve ever been before. They know each other so intrinsically and still manage to learn new things about each other every day. Today’s discovery just happens to be Crowley’s apparent love for being tickled silly by his favorite angel, and he’s having trouble coping with the embarrassment of that when Aziraphale’s hands won’t leave his fucking hips alone.

“Yohohou-! AHA—! You’re diabohoholical! Ffffuhuhucking wanker!” Crowley insulted through hysterical giggling, squirming and kicking as his hips were tickled to the nub.

“Oh? Does someone want me to go back up to the ribs?~” Aziraphale’s hands finally left his hips, but slowly scribbled their way back towards his awful rib cage. Crowley thrashed with a cackle, it doesn’t even tickle that much on his sides but even the thought of those fingers back on his ribs has his stomach feeling ticklish on the inside.

“You dohohon’t—! Dohon’t have tohoho—ahAHAha nohohoho-!” Once those fingers found his ribs on both sides, Crowley gave up all the fight he had in him. He melted into Aziraphale’s side, merely squirming and twitching as he let his ribs be plucked by angelic hands. It was a torturous bliss he never expected himself to be found in.

“A ticklish demon,” Aziraphale cooed, leaning down to press his nose into Crowley’s hair. When Aziraphale talked now, it felt like the words went straight to Crowley’s brain, vibrating through the skull and making his neck scrunch. Crowley wanted nothing more than to let his angel play with him, and Aziraphale loved doing just that. “My proudest creation.”

. . .

a/n : hope u enjoyeddd it was very fun to write lol. pls consider liking and reblogging!! happy holidays <33

[sloppyneedybmxboy]

why supernatural 4x16 is the best episode (so farrr in my rewatch)

sickly&tired, pale looking cas concerned and covered in raindrops at the beginning "goodbye sister", he looks heavy, i feel so sorry for him

dean "im tired of burying friends sam" he's so done with angels and demons and walking into yet another crappy motel they'll have to leave in the morning someone needs to give this man a break! someone give him a break!

"cas you remember pamela right? you burned her eyes out?" cas looking horrified and concerned 4 dean's sake is so sweet like my human seems to be having a mental break down ….. what do I do in this situation …. dean … dean please …..

HE LOOKS SO TORN between his duty as an angel and dean winchester oh my god I forgot the homosexuality of this show truly it's rewiring my synpases

everytime cas and dean speak or even look at each other or are in the same room there's like there's this unspoken push and pull going on between them with cas torn between his father/faith and .. homosexuality and dean torn between obeying the angels aka being daddy's good little soldier again/breaking free like a spooked wild HORSE

Like dean is noting that cas has been demoted/punished/answers to uriel now and of course he is, he's daddy's perfect little soldier hasn't he had this all so deeply ingrained in him since he was just a child, he sees cas being put down and he doesn't like it one bit u can see him champing the bit and looking concerned for cas. Like even though dean outwardly is pissed off by cas' inconsistency and lack of answers and um soldier-like mentality at this point in their story and is quite often hostile adjacent towards him, you can tell he has a soft spot for cas already and is like eyeing him up like bbz you ok, bbz who got you down. bbz do you need me to step in and save u

like you have cas' struggle with faith, cas having been punished for his developing feelings for dean, cas taking orders (sexy), dean angsting, dean having to torture his torture-daddy from hell, deans daddy issues and machismo exposed, the beginning whispers of cas' fall from heaven foreshadowed because of all the sillly obsessed feelings he's started to develop towards an actual human, all the intricate power struggles going on in this episode and it's so cas centred that it's really sexy and hot. so much angst. cas hasn't had a feeling in millions of years and now he's starting to feel and he's terrified

ahh what I find so hot and gleeful is how you can see dean absorbing the whole situation. and castiel's position. castiel compromised in his position (as an angel and a soldier of god) because of his feelings for DEAN WINCHESTER. everytime the angels are in the room (ie uriel and cas, and sam and dean) there's this power struggle going on between the secret intimacy/sleep paralysis demon/night visits weird boy bestfriends shit those two got going on between them contrasted with cas' position as an actual ANGEL and it's like deans seeming him erring and questioning his orders and having DOUBTS and he's absorbing it ALL and it's like a blast from the past in a way for dean because wasn't god and castiel like him and John? didn't he follow daddy's every order without a thought of his own? didn't he try so hard to bend himself into whatever shape john needed him to be? and he can see castiel going thru the same motions and having the same problems and deans like how can I exploit this situation. and make you my boyfriend at the same time.

"you can't ask me to do this cas. not this" UHHHHMMMMMM the hitch in his voice, the rage in his eyes, the angstttt. his trust in cas hurting dean so bad. he would do a lot for castiel already and they've only met 7 times. but not this. this is too far. the sexiness of saying no to the angel that pulled you out of hell idk

the framing of the shots between them and when they are both in frame is really interesting too, like cas positioned just behind dean, almost like he's sitting on his shoulder or whispering into his ear, positioning cas as his guide, his confidante,

they're still figuring out the dynamic between the two, who calls the shots, he orders who around, who can say no and when

"you can't make me do this" dean saying NO to heaven the loudest he ever has . why should he retraumatise himself for heaven. why should he step into that room. dean ANGST

something like a plea in castiel's eyes the whole episode, torn between his orders and his feelings for dean, hesitant about the whole thing like no he doesn't want his poor human going in there and torturing alistair actually because it will put him in harms way and the lack of agency cas has over their orders now and the struggle ooo the struggle ! "this is too much to ask. I know. but we have to ask it" AND THEN LOOKING SO FRIGHTENED, looking frightened that they have to ask it. I castiel have to ask this of you, not because I want to but because I've been ordered to by my father god and I have never questioned him not once in millions of years. And now you. And now this. And now this opening to fear, doubt

and DEAN seeing through the facade and being like. I need to talk to castiel alone actually. like he's confused and he can't completely read cas but he sees that he's frightened, like his angel is actually frightened by what he's been asked to do and he can recognise that

as soon as uriel leaves and its just the two of them alone dean is completely different with cas, so much more personal

"uriels the funniest angel in the garrison. ask anyone" dean looking like he's reconsidering all his feelings for cas like why this angel . why him. jesus christ

his slutty little walk up to castiel why does he always do that flirty walk towards him! what hte fuck is up with that!

I think cas is pleasantly surprised at how quickly dean can see through the shitshow that is going on in heaven (and also himself) rn, like oh. yes. I chose him for a reason. He's shocked that dean has seen thru him just like cas has seen right through dean's facade in the past, but also proud. "Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?" OKKKKK PUPPY CAS

"My superiors have begun to question my sympathies - I was getting too close to the humans in my charge" looks down, looks up "- you." SCREAMINGGGG why does he say it like that? only he could say it like that I swear tofuck. dean not quite believing his ears or knowing what to make of it all. he's looking at cas' lips AGAIN and seems amused for the first time the whole episode. Personally I think he's blushing inside.

is this the moment when dean starts to accept that he will torture alistair? he seems to start softening from this convo with cas onwards, is he doing this FOR cas????! does he think it will help cas? or is he just like buttered up by this whole speech because tbh it is really so sweet it hurts and I think the autistic rizz is really starting to work its wonders on him . like how many times has dean been told that someone cares about him without an ulterior motive (maybe just by sam, and even then)? cas has no ulterior motive, no manipulation under what he's saying, he's just saying it bluntly like. yeah. they've begun to have doubts about me in general even though I've been in this position since the beginning of creation and whatnot. because I have begun to develop feelings for the first time ever. for YOU specifically. HELLO????? Who wouldn't be charmed by that? Oh dean u eternal 14 year old who just wants someone to love him

I think he's too scared it might disappear or not turn out to be true so he doesn't push it, he just absorbs everything cas is saying and is like. ok, time to cover that one moment of exposed vulnerability back up with XTRA machismo now.oh dean.

"You ask me to walk through that door and do this, you will not like who walks back out" "For what it's worth, I would give anything not to have you do this". CUT TO DEAN CLOSING HIS EYES. TAKING IT IN. UGHH

ok so why was this whole scene like so sweet and angsty. gosh these two. dean knows now that he's cared for, and by all people, an ANGEL. his angel, the one who pulled him out of hell and who has seen right through his facade since the very beginning. and in the same moment that care does come with a price, whether cas means it to or not, because in accepting cas' care he also has to accept what cas wants him to do, right?? right? I feel like love for dean has always come with price, could he ever get any care from john without having to sacrifice ridiculous things to earn it? so it hurts because. Dean you should really say no to this actually. You should trust your gut. But he trusts castiel instead and it hurtsssss. Because cas doesn't know any better at this point, and hasn't started to act for himself. I think it would've benefited castiel too if dean had said NO WAY because cas doesn't want this to happen either, he senses it is all wrong, and in the end we find out the orders were made up by uriel or whatever so weren't even legit orders from heaven. idk its all a mess up there rn. oh baby dean. oh baby cas. dean sees love as coming with the price of pain cut to roman roy having his stitches burst open by kendall when they hug each other so its totally natural he would accept that he has to torture alistair now after cas reveals his emotions? for dean? JESUS

castiel (Angel of the lord) (didn't feel anything for 4 billion years) (feels things now)

castiel this whole ep is just like 🕴️ dean … I am conflicted ….

anna has cas' feelings for dean so clocked she's just like "cas baby, the father you love would never ask this if YOU specifically" specifically you. he would never put u through watching the man u have feelings for hurting like this! Cas is just like .. oh….

cas closing his eyes because he can hear alistair screaming and he knows dean is hurting and he cant take it my poor baby

cas looking like a lost little boy in his sad man trenchcoat. there's something so fragile about him this episode

bloody resigned dean getting beaten within an inch of is life by alistair is so inexplicably hot

YES castiel stepping in and saving him just in time, his dean's in danger radar was going off!

cas' little cunty walk in the hospital when he's talking to sam lmao he's so overdramatic no one's doing it like him

cas realising the whole thing was POINTLESS & the fact that dean of all people was so endangered by his 'orders' …. he's having feelings ….. waging a war against god in his head …. oh poor cas

cas being like 🧎 ANNA? ANNA!!! HELP "I'm considering -disobedience" hahahahaha

I don't think even cas knows exactly what he feels, just that he does feel and it terrifies him

YES anna my queen, force him to think for himself for once YESSS

Uriel made such a huge mistake when he told cas his plan was for alistair to escape and KILL dean like that's cas' baby. That was the last straw for cas I think this episode no wonder he went at uriel like that

BLOODY CAS ON HIS KNEES BLOODY CAS ON HIS KNEES. DONT YOU UNDERSTAND?

Anna's so iconic for killing Uriel when he says there's no god left and saying "maybe. maybe not. but there's still ME" such a queen

CASTIEL AT DEANS BEDSIDE OH LORD. "Are you alright?" He cares so deeply. "No thanks to you", he feels the weight of letting Dean down so heavily on his shouldersss. Why does Cas tell him he needs to be more careful here, I never really got that? What's he trying to warn him about?

Dean asking Cas if it's true what alistair said, was dean responsible for breaking the first seal, and Cas saying yes and dean breaking down and Cas looking upwards because god help him what can he say to this man he feels so strongly about who is so broken and beat up and tired. yes, you started the apocalypse dean. he just looks so regretful that this ever happened to him, that he was too late to save dean, he looks repentent for so much that he's got wrong this ep at the cost of dean. oh cas. oh cas. you can tell her bares the weight of being too late to save dean on his shoulders.

Cas telling dean he is also the one who will be responsabile for stopping the apocalypse like leave this damn man alone he has enough on his plate. "Don't you go disappearing on me you son of a bitch, what does that mean?" dean still sounding like he's going to SOB and telling cas dont u dare abandon me you bitch

"I can't do it Cas, it's too big" Cas chewing his lip and looking so upset that dean has to take this all on himself like yes, it is too much, he knows it

"I'm not strong enough" whispering it his voice breaking oh my god dean :( Cas looking at him with such concern it's making my heart hurt ache. Dean looking away as he cries because he can't bare to show weakness infront of another man even his angel

"I guess I'm not the man either of our dads wanted me to be" IT HURTS BECAUSE he believes he's letting castiel down somehow in this moment by not being strong enough but castiel also believes he's letting dean down by placing this burden on him when's he's clearly broken THEY BOTH THINK THEY'RE LETTING THE OTHER ONE DOWN (miscommunication between super masc human and autistic angel)

dean thinks he has to WORK to be worthy of Cas, worthy of love and care, and he can't work right now, he's too beat up and tired and he's in hospital and he can't move and he's worn down, he can't take anymore, and that is so deeply shameful to him. He hates to feel helpless but it's all he's ever felt. Little does he know cas is head over heels for him anyway and doesn't give af what he can or can't do.

[dextixer]

What Vtuber Ruby and Miles cameos say, matter (kinda).

So, a day or so ago we have had people discuss about Rubys Vtubing appearances and the things she has said on video. People have had mixed opinions on what was said, some people think its not a problem, others think its a problem, some others dont care. So, i wanted to chime in on this entire discussion and why in my opinion this, and the cameos that Miles makes matter and are not "irrelevant".

Disclaimer

Before i start, i will note. I dont really think that these things are HUGE problems and "OH NO, THIS RUINS THE SHOW" or any other nonsense. Some people have seen these things way too negatively. But i also think that people who say that it doesnt matter at all are taking 2 way too extreme positions.

Lore Swiss Cheese

One of the main problems of RWBY has, for a long time, been the very vague concepts of what is canon and the in-show lore. From the very start of the show, it had commentary tracks, the creators talking about the show etc. Despite not being in the show itself, we have had many tidbits of information (such as Rubys favourite food) and the like given to us in outside of canon content. And it has not just been some minor things either. Ironwoods semblance basically does not exist in the show, and yet it seems to exist in lore, and it was shared with us from outside the show.

And later on, after V3, RWBY has received a lot of different media that expands on its lore and are considered canonical, despite sometimes never appearing on the show, or even creating very weird situations where something is conspicuous by absence in the show itself. For example, we have a very often discussed topics of V7-8 of the defense of Mantle/Atlas. One of the discussion points have always been how weirdly weak the defenses of the kingdom are. While one could chalk that up to people having an "inflated" view of Atlas military, but we have been canonically told and shown a lot of Atlas tech that is conspicuous by absence in the show.

Automated turrets, different versions of Atlesian Knights etc, which were said to be canonical in Amity:Arena. Or for example stealth tech. Yea, Atlas has stealth tech, like, genuine stealth. Its in one of the books. And yet nowhere in the show.

We have two canonical games, Grimm Eclipse and Arrowfell, with characters and concepts in them that have never been seen in the show. Has anyone ever seen team BRIR in the show? Heard of them? Maybe the tech from Arrowfell would kinda be useful, even if outdated against the Grimm invasion? What about the outlying Atlesian villages? Are they just dead at this point? Where the heck is Thornmane? He gets captured and hes nowhere in jail even as a cameo? And why does noone talk about Grimm Eclipse? Tech enchanced Grimm seem like a bit of a topic that kinda should be discussed sometime, no!?

We also have the comic books with various questionable canonical decisions including Raven turning into a bird to fuck with child Ruby. Blakes involvement with Adam which is somewhat weird because the comic books try to humanize Adam while the show demonizes him.

And let us not forget the whole "Canon Adjacent" nonsense where RT cant even come out and say that its obviously non-canon stories like Ice Queendom and even crossovers with DC are not canon. They cant even come out and say that!

Oh, and of course, i just remembered, the Grimm DnD campaign which is also apparently canon!

The reason i am listing all of these summarized versions of the multiple lore issues that the show has is that the lore of RWBY, is swiss cheese. It has lore that is given partially in so many different places, including in out of universe that its almost impposible to follow it properly, and if you do try, you are only going to get more confused because the main show feels like completely separate from it all, despite being in the same lore.

Vtubing and Cameos matter

And this brings me to of course the very simple claim, that due to the fact that the lore is already swiss cheese, these statements made in Vtubing and Cameos actually matter. Because even if they are not stated to be directly canonical, the lore is already so incredibly fucked and unclear (To the point that some people cant even decide if DC RWBY comics are even canon or not!) that adding these examples to the mix? Its just bad practice. Because at the end of the day, Vtubing Ruby, IS Ruby. She is played as in-universe Ruby, by the same Voice Actress, hosted by the SAME company.

And it matters especially because these things DO affect the FNDM. People who say that these things should be easily ignored are missing one key aspect. A lot of the FNDM are affected by these. BB being a key example. No, im not going to argue that the FNDM forced RT to make it canon. What i WILL argue is that the toxicity of BB community and its rabidness was intentionally cultivated AND enabled by RT. Does it matter that the BB song is not canon? No, it did not. Its not canon in the show and yet it made pro-BB and anti-BB crowds hysterical. Same for the song that was made for Blacksun. These songs directly contributed to the shipping wars. The various moments of people like Barbara also indulging the shippers just further fueled that entire movement.

Hell, the same can be said for Qrow x Winter shippers. While it was never a big thing one of the main "fuels" it had for a long time was because Vic and the VA for Winter interacted in a single panel. Or lets remember the whole "Vibrator function" which is OBVIOUSLY not canon, yet has become a part of often referenced and established fanon.

RWBY does not have a stable FNDM, i know, im a part of it. It does not matter if something is or is not canonical when not only are the lines of canon/noncanon blurred to barely existing, but the FNDM can often take things very far to fuel their expectations, wishes, and behaviour.

Especially when it can fuel what i will refer to as simply exploitative behaviour.

Cameos. Cameos, in my opinion are a fine way for VA's to make money. Such as many other things like, for example, music producers reviewing songs, voice coaches evaluating singing etc. Such content has cropped up maybe 4-5 years ago now and imo, is a fine thing.

But like any thing, imo, there are good and bad ways to do this kind of content. When for 40 bucks, one can ask one of the main WRITERS of the show questions about the shows world and opinions about things like ships. That is, imo, a bit far. Not only does that give an incentive for people to pay money for extra snippets of lore, but also, a way for people to validate their beliefs of ships and other such things. Because that is what his Cameo is all about. Its not VA work, its his words, in relation to his work as a writer for the show. And considering the earliest cameos and Ironwood discussions, that in my opnion is NOT a good thing.

The BB Onlyfans thing is ALSO an example of that, that i think was bad. Once again, disclaimer. I think that OF is fine, you want to do it? Go ahead, i paid for Markipliers photos, i aint ashamed, hes hot. I think it becomes at least slightly concerning however, when the VA's of a controversial ship decide to do an underwear photoshoot together with the same theme as their character in-show relationship.

Because...

Parasociality

A parasocial relationship is feeling a connection with a persona/thing that does not know of your existance or only humours you. Celebrities, sports teams etc.

RT has, for a long time cultivated a STRONG parasocial relationship with the FNDM. There is a reason why they pretend to be down to earth, why they pretend that they are not a corporation and why even to this day, some RT fans STILL believe that RT is some kind of "indie company". There is nothing inherently wrong with having it. Its kind of even unavoidable.

But what RT does is Cynically abuse that relationship. Just like any other corporation. Overworking animators for example? Part of that has been parasociality, people willing to work for their "loved" company etc.

Things like Miles Cameo, the BB photoshoot? The Vtuber Ruby? They are meant to encourage parasociality. To make it seem like the people, the watchers are "closer" to people performing or related to the show. Its all a cynical ploy to get people to pay money, to watch RWBY etc.

There is a reason why even after the RT expose not too long ago, people just went ahead and forgot about it. There is a reason why RWBYTubers that have previously condemned RT for their BS are now shouting at people to support RWBY, supressing those who criticized V9 and are encouraging people to buy merch.

Its all parasocial BS. BS that leads to extreme behaviours.

Such as, but not limited to - Biphobia, Homophobia, calling people facists for liking characters, calling people abuse apologist, groomers, Stalking. Just to name a few.

Also... On an ending note

Its just shit Vtubing

Consider this an unrelated tangent. I watch Vtubers relatively often, usually clips but sometimes i catch streams. Vtuber lore is usually irrelevant even in corporate settings. What people come to watch are the streamers themselves who usually partially play a character but mostly just act like themselves. Not really being lore accurate is not really of importance.

The thing is, those Vtubers usually dont have really established settings and they stream Multiple hours a day, so it all makes sense.

Why in the fuck is the Vtuber Ruby Rose, not acting like Remnant Ruby Rose!? Im not expecting deep lore drops here. But for crying out loud, why make statements that Rabbits or magic dont exist? Ruby Rose being visiting Earth is an AMAZING roleplaying set-up!

There is no dust, no aura, no Grimm! So many differences between the worlds that Ruby Rose can notice and act out! "Oh anime? We have our own version of that! One of the most watched shows is Sailor Sun! (Because the moon is broken)".

Its just a concept that can pay-off so much! Its an isekai in Vtubing form! As far as im aware Vtuber Ruby Rose doesnt even stream daily so its even easier to stay in character! So why in the bloody hell are we getting Dora of Explorer levels of childishness?

Anyway... Here are my thoughts. Peace out.

[ysabelmystic]

PLEASE tell us about the shadow boi

Thank you to the at least four people who humored me on this one.

(Using it/he pronouns for the shadow in a gender neutral way)

This took place during my freshman year of high school. I was living in a newly built tract home at the time. This is the last place you'd expect a haunting to occur, but in my experience, California is funny like that. Despite the southern US seeming far more likely to actually be haunted, most of my and my family's experiences have all taken place within the California central valley. This was just the craziest and most undeniable of those experiences.

One morning around the start of the school year, I woke up at exactly 4:15am. My alarm wasn't due to go off until 5:30. Catercorner from my bed was a tall, vaguely human-shaped shadow. And by shadow I mean a dark blob that hovered in the corner rather than being attached to the wall.

Now, this was almost immediately at the start of my Exvangelical era. My parents and I were wading into deep edgy atheist territory. "Facts and logic" and all that. Instead of freaking out, I decided that I was probably hallucinating and went back to sleep. After getting home from school, I rearranged some of my furniture and put my violin stand (I was forced to play against my will but I digress...) in the shadow's corner.

This did not work, because the next morning, at exactly 4:15am, I woke up to the same shadowy blob in the corner, now covering my violin stand. This time, I turned on my phone light and shined it in the corner. The shadow didn't disappear like a normal shadow would. Instead, it seemed to rapidly melt into the adjacent closet.

I might've been an "atheist", but I couldn't completely commit myself to the idea that the supernatural was a creation of human ignorance and imagination. What I was committed to was the belief that the vast majority of "evil" and "demonic" beings were deeply misjudged and at worst just needed a friend. I did some research on shadowy beings and creatures, and found that this thing most resembled "the hat man" (despite being hatless). And since "the hat man" was "evil", surely, it either neutral or friendly. I would treat this thing with respect, and if it was just a hallucination, then wasn't it better to make friends with my hallucinations instead of demonizing them?

This was my train of thought for the next several days, as every other day or so, I was woken up at a 15 minute increment between 3:45am and 5:00am to this shadow in my room. Usually, it was in the corner, but some days it edged closer and closer to the center of the room.

About a month in, one morning, I woke up to the feeling of pressure on my legs. The shadow wasn't in the corner, but at the foot of my bed was the obvious indent in my mattress that could only come from a person sitting there.

Instead of panicking (probably because I was fucking tired), I said something along the lines of, "I don't care if you're in my room, but you have to stay in the corner".

The indent vanished and the pressure disappeared.

Nothing notable would happen for the rest of the school year. As annoyed as I was to be woken up early, in some ways, I started to appreciate the shadow in the corner. I would say good morning to him or gripe about being woken up early. I asked it for its name a few times, but I never got anything. He was just a nameless entity who lived in the corner of my room.

Sometime around February, I went off of my mood stabilizers cold-turkey. I didn't sleep for three days, and when I finally did start sleeping again, I was afraid that the change in my brain chemistry would mean that I'd never see the shadow again, and when I did, I told him that I missed him. The fact that nothing changed in the pattern of appearances is part of what convinced me that it was real.

The final time I saw it though, things changed.

It was either late May or early June. My family was about to move, and it was my final night in the house. The only things in my room were my mattress and blankets, my art desk, a couple of art supplies, and a wooden stick in my windowsill that kept it from being opened. And that final night, I said something to the effect of, "You're free now. Have fun haunting the new family," and went to sleep.

I woke up at exactly 6am. There was no shadow in my room. Instead, what I saw was the stick in my windowsill levitating in the air. It lingered for a few seconds and then fell to the ground. My window slid open, and the bag of colored pencils in the middle of my desk was knocked to the floor.

I was a little shaken, but I was more exhausted and in total disbelief than anything else, so I went back to sleep.

Later that morning, I woke up to my mom opening my door and scolding me for not being awake and for opening the window when it was so damn hot outside. The stick and pencils were also still on the floor. I asked if she had opened it, and she said that she absolutely had not.

I have no other explanation other than that it was the shadow, and that I had somehow set it free. When we moved across the country, I was actually upset with myself that I hadn't invited him along, and tried a few [failed] demon-summonings to see if I could fill the void. I don't know where he come from or why he was there, but it happened. It was weird, but given that I never felt outright afraid (and with some entities, I have), I assume he was friendly. Given that I spent most of that year being actively suicidal, he was one of the few things that brought me any joy, and was probably one of the reasons that I bothered staying alive at all. Regardless of who it was or what he was, I hope that he's dong okay.

But yeah. That's the shadow boi, and he is my number 1 reason as to why I believe in ghosts.

[greatwyrmgold]

I remember watching maybe two-thirds of the first episode of Misfit of Demon King Academy back in 2020, deciding it was garbage, and moving on. It seemed like another dumb isekai-adjacent power-fantasy action/harem light novel adaptation.

The next month, Geoff Thew published a video about how MoDKA is a great action-comedy, a parody in the same vein as One Punch Man, if OPM tried to pretend it was an ordinary superhero comic. A month ago, seeing that MoDKA was getting a second season, I decided to give it a second chance...

...and it's amazing what a change of perspective can do. MoDKA isn't high art, but it's a lot of fun if you don't think you're supposed to take it seriously. I'd compare it to Looney Toons before One Punch Man, specifically the parts where Bugs Bunny pulls one over on Elmer Fudd or Daffy Duck or whatever jerk deserves to be shamed this week.

There are a few things that I think make it work, beyond the simple absurdity of what Anos does.

Anos isn't a show-offy prick. He doesn't mind showing off, but he doesn't go out of his way to do so and often lets others take center stage when they can handle it. Anos is unflappably confident, but he's not arrogant—certainly not when compared to most of the purebloods and heroes he clashes with.

The central conflicts of the show are ones that Anos being super-strong doesn't trivialize. Sure, he could beat up everyone who disagrees with him, but that's clearly not enough to make royal-blooded demons stop believing in Avos Delhevia or treat half-demons any better (or make humans). It's easy for Anos to pick up a castle, spin it like a basketball, and chuck it across the woods, but that alone doesn't accomplish anything.

Anos isn't the only guy who does cool stuff; the supporting characters get their moments to shine. Part of this comes down to Anos encouraging his comrades' growth, but a lot of it comes down to the fact that characters other than Anos are allowed to have cool stuff. His closest friends could even surpass Anos in their respective specialties, with a bit more training. Everyone gets a chance to shine, even Anos's dorky dad and the technically-not-nameless students in the Unitarian political movement/Anos fanclub. (It makes sense in context. And isn't as dumb as it sounds.) Some of the biggest things Anos does are just him supporting his friends.

The characters are surprisingly detailed. Not incredibly so, but it's obvious that the author put a lot of thought into why the secondary cast is the way they are. Sasha and Misha Necron are absolutely a tsundere and a kuudere, but their backstory does a pretty good job of explaining why they treat each other and the people around them the way they do, and they have character traits outside their archetypes. Hardly anyone has the depth of an average Wildbow tertiary character, but plenty have more depth than the average isekai hero, or even the not-harem member who everyone agrees would make a better protagonist.

The series has thematic ambition beyond just making Anos look cool. The main villains, aside from the enigmatic Avos Delhevia, are demon institutions prejudiced against half-breeds and the legacy of one long-dead human who spent his life making sure humans would never let go of his hatred for demonkind. "Racism is bad" isn't the most sophisticated message, and it's not delivered in the most sophisticated manner, but it's also not delivered in the most basic manner. It doesn't make racism a matter of a few bad eggs, but of worldviews that the powerful use to justify fucking with the weak—worldviews that don't go away just because they're demonstrably, empirically wrong. It has its flaws*, but it has fewer flaws than ~90% of stories that try to tackle this subject.

So yeah. It's not a masterpiece, but if you want a dumb fun show to watch, you could certainly do worse.

*Like how the main reason that humans hate demons is a spell one dude cast that projects his angry Alex Jones rants into every human's mind for two thousand years. This could be turned into something that works without much effort, and if someone said that plot point wasn't so blunt and braindead in the light novel, I would probably believe them.

[hollers-and-holmes]

This might not be controversial in your circles, I don't know; it certainly has been in my life.

Your take on miracles seen as 'supernatural' still happening in this day and age? Such as healing someone 'stand up and walk' style or transforming substances? Adjacently, interacting with the unseen things - not only the demons we rebuke but the angels that are our allies?

Alright, this one could get proof-texty if I let it and that would be not so much a take as an essay, so I’m going to splatter up a handful of short bullets instead and you guys can poke me for further clarification or to object if you want.

👻 I’m a cessationist, which is a schmancy term to describe what I believe about the miraculous gifts of the Spirit we see in the New Testament accounts, namely healing, prophesy, and speaking in tongues.

👻 Definitions matter. We are talking here of the ways these gifts manifested themselves to members of the early church. I am not saying that God does not still heal people or that no one has ever miraculously understood a language not their own.

👻 I am saying that these gifts are no longer dispensed as gifts, that is, as abilities that the gifted person can wield at will. If you have the gift of teaching, you carry it around in your pocket and can apply it whenever you like all your life without a special zap from the Holy Spirit to kick it off. If there were still members of the Body who could do this with healing cancer or raising the dead, we would have records of it.

👻 But the main reason I believe this is not evidential, but theological. In Scritpure, miraculous abilities were given to men who were speaking with the authority of God Himself. Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Christ, the Apostles… “The God of Abraham has told me to tell you…” The fact that reality itself obeyed them was was meant as an evidence to the fact that God had chosen them to speak His word to the people.

👻 We no longer need men like this. Why? Because we have a perfect spoken Word. Hebrews 1 says:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

God has spoken to us with authority and finality in the revealing of Christ, and this speaking needs no improvement. The apostles were writing Holy Scripture and so the miraculous gifts they wielded (at will—Paul could heal anyone he pleased, but even this gift shows evidence of decline in his later writings as the completion of the written canon approaches) gave credence to their words, in a similar way to Moses who came before Pharaoh, spoke the words God had given him to speak, and then backed them up with real physics-breaking miracles.

👻 As for the question regarding the angelic realm, I’ll quote Jack regarding the dark side:

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

And regarding the light side I’ll say that we have zero scriptural evidence of human people being the ones to initiate angelic contact (I mean this like—no one summoned a “good” angel at will, as far as I know—they arrive on the scene at God’s bidding and not man’s). We have no instructions from the authors on how to lawfully interact with angels besides being hospitable to strangers, because we might be unknowingly entertaining a messenger of God.

I grew up in charismatic circles and learned many unscriptural things regarding the supernatural and the ways Christians should interact with it, so it’s very possible I am overcautious now to compensate for that. God seems to wish for us to let Him worry about the heavenly hosts and their fallen counterparts, because there just isn’t a lot of solid teaching on our relationship with them. We’re to be obedient: this causes the devil to flee and causes the angels to rejoice. But still our orientation is toward Christ.

[parttimepuff]

(kxllerclaws)

[ You are by far one of the most confounding creatures I am required to examine for my cause. ]

Hello, Gremlin. You good? Because there was a strange voice speaking to you out of nowhere, with no source in sight. Strangely, it sounded unstable, phasing at different frequencies. Why would be anyone’s guess, but it would be difficult to pinpoint what exactly it was supposed to sound like normally because of this.

[ To deliberately disregard your own moral code for the sake of camaraderie is absurd. If you truly detested the slaughtering of the living, you would not associate yourself with one who so revels in the act. ] Vague as it was being, there was only one person it could have been referring to. Who else was the fear demon close to who committed homicide on the regular?

[ Respecting him will not prevent the inevitable. One mere mishap and he shall betray you, unable to distinguish friend from foe under a beastly haze. ] Whether or not Gremlin noticed it, the temperature significantly dropped. [ I would suggest reevaluating who you trust. Time can only do so much to secure your safety. ]

The atmosphere began to ease. [ And if you insist on remaining at his side, warnings notwithstanding… so be it. You were never a threat to begin with. ]

A single rumble shook the area, and as it died down, so did the voice, invading no longer.

Ah, there you are. Honestly, at first, Gremlin assumed that one of the anons was doing some kind of bit. He rolled his eyes, turning around to face the voice, only to find no one there. It took him a moment to register that the voice was only in his head, which was unsettling when it wasn't his niece or nibling. The voice was very horror movie adjacent. Well, it was that time of year.

Before he could say anything, the voice dug into him. Frankly, they could be talking about a handful of people he knew, but he had a pretty damn good guess as to who it meant. A scowl formed on his face. "He doesn't revel in it. He doesn't have a choice." Gremlin argued, not sure where to aim his glare with no one around. Did the fact that Chimizo had to kill to survive bother him? Obviously. It was why he'd hated him initially. The situation was a hell of a lot more complex than the stupid voice made it out to be.

They were talking about his 'auto-pilot'. Did they assume he didn't know about it? It was how he'd met him. "That's not gonna happen. He's careful about it." Gremlin defended, balling his fists. It wasn't as though he'd forgotten what his friend's body on its own was capable of, but... Chimizo was smart. He made extra sure he wouldn't lose control like that. And if he did... It wasn't going to happen again. His lack of feeling made the temperature drop hard to notice and he was too angry with the accusations to make any note of it.

A part of him wanted to shout back that he didn't want to be a threat, he'd been working really hard to be less of one. But he would rather this smug prick be scared of him. "Do you really think you can make me turn on him like that?? Where the hell are you, you slimy-" Gremlin paused at the rumble and the eerie silence that followed. Was that an earthquake?? He wasn't on the ground, so he couldn't really tell. Somehow, the voice seemed to be gone with it.

"...what the hell was that about?" The Dream Demon muttered to himself. Had that ominous voice seen so little of their friendship that it didn't make sense that he'd like him? Why did it know any of that? He'd already gone over all his feelings about Chimizo and had come to terms with things before he even knew he and Charles were the same person. The voice was years too late to change his mind now.

To him, he and Chimizo were very alike. Human, but not human. Forced to survive by hurting others. Yes, his way of survival was more extreme, but he had no alternatives. Stopping just meant going out of control. Gremlin didn't have to like it and he was positive that Chimizo didn't, either. No one could force a wedge into their friendship by bringing all that up again.

Gremlin huffed, his anger dissipating. After a moment, something occurred to him. He whipped out his cellphone, scrolling for a moment before landing on the right contact.

'Hey, Chimizo. Listen, do you have some time to talk? I got a really weird visitor who doesn't seem to like you.' Aaand send.

[zhantilniiraala]

ok so i gotta ramble for a moment about the dnd game i'm in with my husband and my brothers- and sister-in-law bc this is the only safe zone i have to do so

big big spoilers for Dragon Heist i guess

so brief dragon heist backstory for the unfamiliar: a major quest goal is to find the magical macguffin (stone of golorr) and its three Eyes which make it work to do its magical thing. each piece of this silver monkey statue is held by a different set of baddies and there's various factions all trying to get the assembled stone for various reasons (wealth, power, saving their children from demons, etc). our party has gathered the stone and one eye, and we know where the other two are. one is with the faction we've chosen to aid, who have promised to pay us handsomely for the rest of the assembled macguffin. we may or may not have been planning to betray them (party is a nice mix of good/evil/neutral) but that part's not important right now.

the last eye is with an ultra powerful bbeg wizard who is the founder/leader of a cult/gang. he also caused a war a long time ago by making a shit ton of clones who all believed themself to be the Real Slim Shady and nobody's seen him for a billion years because he fucked off to an extradimensional sanctum so the whole world thinks he died in the Clone Wars but that's ALSO NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.

we (level 5) managed to infiltrate the aforementioned sanctum, face off against a deadly level fight with a bbeg simulacrum and manage to barely survive. we heal up and start cautiously exploring.

somehow we manage to beeline straight to the bbeg's goddamn bedroom where he was taking a lovely nap.

he is not worried about us in the slightest and intimidates the party into "agreeing" to take down his biggest rival (ie. the evil character agrees, my cowardly kitty cat wizard who has the macguffin in their pocket is RUNNING THE HELL AWAY, the others stay wisely silent) by promising power in his new world order, yadda yadda yadda. he also pw:kills one of his own minions who tries to tell him we're planning on betraying him for being a weakling just to fucking intimidate us further.

note: my character is running the fuck away (bbeg is so confident that this is pointless that he lets it happen). I, the actual human behind the tabaxi, biggest monster- and/or villainfucker this side of the milky way, is already about to swear eternal fucking fealty if this asshole is dtf.

needless to say, after "agreeing" to exterminate his rival bbeg, the party decides to long rest in the servant's chambers adjacent to wizard bbeg's room in preparation for a stealthy attempt to take the eye. this will become important later.

we send the owlfolk druid in, invisible and pass without traced, to scope out bbeg's private study beyond his bedroom. so far so good. druid finds a locked desk... but also bbeg's spellbook just sitting out in the open. she takes the spellbook (ooc i am making excited noises, my bibliophile wizard would LOVE to have this) aaaand a helmed horror pops in to say hi. she manages to abscond with the book but bbeg definitely Notices that his spellbook is gone and we flee like the cowards we are.

we reconvene back at our base, do some maintenance shit (including drooling over this 20lb spellbook that has wish and pw:kill in it) and long rest again, and decide to give the same strategy another try. almost worked the first time, right? druid makes it in without a problem (27 stealth roll will do that), doesn't see bbeg on the way in, and investigates the locked desk she didn't have a chance to check the first time.

she fails the lockpick check. of course. wild shapes into a bear and crit fails the athletics check to break the damn thing.

so she decides to drop 30lb worth of junk (rope, rations, etc lol) behind one of the chaise lounges so that she has enough carrying capacity to pick up the whole desk, then wild shapes into a spider so that the desk is just.. part of the spider, and starts to scuttle back out.

she runs into a wall of force halfway up the stairs.

bbeg comes down the stairs, sees nobody in the room but does see that the desk is gone, pulls out an hourglass and sits down to wait for invisibility to run out.

dm gives the party waiting outside the prompting of hey, it's been almost an hour and invisibility is wearing off soon. you've heard nothing. what do?

i decide to do a sending to check on our druid and get the gist of the situation. only metagaming a little bit to avoid losing a pc, i decide to heroically go in after her, leaving the macguffin with our good-aligned barbarian since she has been the most trustworthy one in the party thus far, just in case i don't make it out.

with invisibility and a decent stealth roll (druid has hidden as a spider so she doesn't need my concentration), i make it past the minions to the sanctum. two rooms away from the action, i set off a wand of pyrotechnics to draw bbeg's attention and hurry to hide in his bedroom, waiting for him to pass me on the stairs to check out the disturbance. when he does, i rush to set off my last lv3 spell slot to try and dispel the wall of force.

i miss the dc by 1.

having lost invisibility with the spellcast, i give our druid a sad look and re-invis myself with my last spell slot, hiding in the bedroom again. i did my best and failed.

bbeg passes back down the stairs shortly, not noticing me again since i crit my second stealth roll. i decide to stick around to see what happens even though i have only lv1 spells left, just in case there's SOMETHING i can do. while i'm there...

OUR BARBARIAN COMES DOWN THE STAIRS A FEW MINUTES LATER.

i hear her triumphantly hand over the macguffin to the bbeg. my wizard flees, completely demoralized by the apparent betrayal. the druid sees our barbarian dissolve into mist, and i put it together when i run into our barbarian in the hallway out of the sanctum.

when we long rested here earlier (not setting a watch, like idiots), bbeg kidnapped the barbarian and made a simulacrum of her. it had been the simulacrum with us for the past ~24h and i just HANDED THE THING OVER TO HER BECAUSE I TRUSTED HER THE MOST.

we make it outside to the rest of the party and i convey the bad news. a few minutes later, wildshape wears off and our druid pops back into existence (along with the locked desk) right in front of the bbeg.

he smiles and gently strokes her feathers before speaking the pw:kill.

grabbing her corpse, he teleports right in front of the party and throws it at our feet. then he rummages in his pocket and tosses a flawless diamond atop her still form.

"A valiant effort, but useless in the end. I expect to hear of results from you...Very soon."

he turns to me and reaches out a metal hand (DID I MENTION HE HAS ONE MAGIC METAL PROSTHETIC HAND BECAUSE OF COURSE HE FUCKING DOES).

"I'll be taking my spellbook back."

FUCK.

(I'LL BE IN MY FUCKING BUNK)

needless to say my spineless wizard hands it over promptly and he teleports away.

(and then we rez our druid)

at least i got tenser's floating disk out of it.

our DM is fucking amazing and he must never know of my thing for the big bads lest it change how he does things

[orbital-inclination]

Hello, what is the story of molten dreamtale?

Ok so, answering this took a lot of words.  So I've hidden the great wall of text under the cut! I apologize in advance for the sheer length. 

Molten!Dreamtale Summarized:

The Story of Molten!Dreamtale begins similarly to Dreamtale with a slight twist. Instead of one of the Negative Apples being corrupted, the positive side of the tree is cursed. (the events leading to this will be expanded on at a later date.) Dream and Nightmare’s childhood follows the events of Dreamtale closely. Dream’s kindness is taken advantage of while Nightmare is relentlessly bullied and shunned by the village. Gradually, Dream finds it harder to say no to what is asked of him. He spends less and less time guarding the tree with his brother. They grow distant and frustrated with each other. 

One day, while Dream is sent away on an errand outside the villager, a group of humans and monsters approach the tree and demand apples from it. Their village had been suffering from a drought for months, and the Tree of Emotions, sacred as it may be, was the only thing bearing fruit. When Nightmare refuses, they turn violent.

To defend himself and the tree, Nightmare consumes one black apple but in the end he’s not able to protect himself in time. Dream returns just in time to take a blow that would have severely injured his brother. Barely clinging to consciousness, Dream bites into a golden apple for the same reason his brother had, unaware that side of the tree had been infected by a curse born of greed. The act of consuming the apple brands the curse onto Dream’s soul. He consumes more than one after that, unable to stop himself.

The bulk of the Story takes place centuries later, as Nightmare and Dream travel from au to au. Driven by guilt and a sense of responsibility, Nightmare is determined to find a way to get rid of the goop that Dream is covered in. Dream struggles with and attempts to hide his own demons. In the meantime, the pair work to archive balance in a multiverse that is over-saturated with positivity. The brothers are often viewed with ambivalence and sometimes outright hostility, both by the inhabitants of local AUs and sometimes by fellow outcodes.

Morality:

I know I’ve answered this before and I can’t find the post rn but I would define Molt as somewhere on the chaotic good-to-neutral scale. He will not hurt you unless he believes he has good reason to. (which is a rare situation. he will only do so as a last resort.) and when given the choice, he will pick the option he believes will benefit the most people in the long run. A more specific line of questioning would be: 

“Does he have bad intentions?” No. “Will his actions occasionally cause conflict for others?” Yes. “Can Molt be viewed as the antagonist in someone else’s story?” Yes. “Can Molt also be viewed as heroic though? Isn't he a good guy in this AU?” Of course! It all depends on your perspective, but again, I consider Molt to be much closer to the Good side of the spectrum than Evil.

Keep in mind too, that like his counterpart, Molt can feel what you're feeling. It’s in his best interest to keep his company content. He has the power set of a temptress without the motivation behind it. He does not WANT you to fall victim to your vices but believes you will if he sticks around for too long.

But he is more selfish than canonical!Dream. His priorities are as follows: his brother’s extended family, himself, and the multiverse last. In his mind, the last dark apple is perfectly safe where it is. It's the rest of the multiverse that has problems.

On the Subject of Endings:

I don’t have a set of endings in mind right now. I’m still in the “build-up, flesh out, play around and find out” phase of the creative process but for the sake of this ask, I will throw a tart at the wall to give you an idea of what these endings could potentially look like. Consider these, dubiously canon, or canon adjacent.

Bad Ending 1: Consumed by the weight of corruption in the multiverse, Molt becomes delusional and loses his sense of self. He fatally wounds his brother during a heated argument (read: battle.) Once Molt comes back to himself and realizes what he’s done, he’s inconsolable. He refuses to take the dark apple for himself (and thus refuses to assume guardianship of both dark and light). Instead, he plants it in a desolate AU where he tasks the remaining “bad sanses” with guarding it. 

Killer leaves the group and refuses to associate with Molt again.

Molt never forgives himself. 

Bad Ending 2: Plays out like the first bad ending, but it’s Rem who fatally wounds his brother. Rem assumes guardianship of both aspects and plants the last golden apple in the courtyard of the AU he’s chosen to reside in. He carefully monitors the sapling and hopes that one day, Molt might reform under it. He waits for a long, long time.

Cross and Blue leave the group. They don’t come back.

Bad Ending 3: Ink teams up with Error to stop Molt for good. Molt is defeated, unable to defend himself against Ink and Error combined. Ink gives the last golden apple to Error to hold. He trusts no one else with it. Rem swears revenge.

Neutral Ending 1: Balance is achieved at a great cost. Molt’s body is shattered by a powerful enemy, but as a piece of him remains, he lives trapped in a state of limbo. His slayer traps his soul in a lantern and keeps it in a hidden place. Molt sleeps eternally. Aware, yet not aware of time passing.

Rem never gives up searching for him. 

Bad Ending 4: Neutral Ending 1, but Rem is shattered instead. Molt has better luck finding his brother’s trapped soul. Overcome by the selfish desire to see those responsible suffer, he encourages them to fall victim to their own vices, one by one. 

When Rem reforms, he almost doesn’t recognize his brother, so twisted Molt’s heart has become.

This is the closest we will get to an “Evil Molten!Dream”

Good Ending 1: Molt and Rem are able to achieve perfect balance in the multiverse. As a result, Molt regains his sight but is never cured of the goop. He learns to control it and he is happy. Rem decides to build his own library. Good Ending 2: Molt and Rem are able to achieve perfect balance in the multiverse. A cure for the goop is found at a price: Molt will never regain his sight. The brothers find peace and Molt takes up baking as a hobby.

Secret Comedic Ending: Rem dies so Molt begs Error for help. Error pulls a few strings and teams up with Geno to tag team Reaper. Paralyzed by the Bad Bitch Energy TM of Geno and Error combined, Reaper is helplessly unaware of the theft taking place. It’s only after Molt has successfully stolen back his brother’s soul and revived him, that Reaper realizes he’s been had but by then it’s too late. In a scene straight out of Mean Girls, Geno and Error mock him into submission while the brothers make their escape.

[isbergillustration]

Inktober day 13: Follow up to this post.

It glows faintly in the dark. Several of its eyes blink, a continuous flowing motion that makes him oddly seasick. It looms. It’s quite good at looming, his angel. Well, angel adjacent. Right now it’s acting more like a sleep paralysis demon. He would call it a ghost if it were not so very obvious that this creature was never human. It is a person, though. Has to be, even if every word it says sounds more like rehearsed parroted lines than actual organic responses to what he says to it.

“What?” he demands.

DANGER

“Is it,” he replies flatly, and yawns.

Only slivers of orange light from the street creep in between the curtain edges. His alarm clock tells him it’s just past one in the morning.

DANGER

Exact same tone, exact same everything. Like a recording. Its hands, dark and skeletal, twist uncomfortably. It gets these strange human moments, sometimes. He finds himself resenting its presence. It has become such a large part, literally and otherwise, of his life, and there is no one he can tell without sounding like a lunatic. For ages he thought it might be a hallucination or prolonged delusion of some kind, but it showed up in a photo, and apparently hallucinations don’t. That’s what the fora for people with variants of schizophrenia said, anyway. A Polaroid, of course. He doesn’t want any digital traces. No way for others to prove he’s crazy. Not again.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes he sits up in bed. The thing still stares at him. All eyes, now, wavering very slightly as if seen on an old TV screen.

COME it tells him, PLEASE

That’s new. That’s personal.

He gets out of bed, throwing the blanket to the side, and shivers at the sensation of cold night air through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. There is something funny in the air, an off smell.

“Why?”

He gets right up in its- is face the right term? Its head area filled with eyes? All the pupils narrow in on him, and the sensation is unpleasant, but less so than it used to be. Bony blue black hands hover centimetres from his chest.

DANGER

It sounds almost uncertain, now. Odd. The sight of it is starting to give him a migraine, pain radiating dully out from his left eye socket. He rubs at his forehead, looking at the thing expectantly. Several eyes blink at him. He feels fingers on his arm and he flinches, stepping back. Its hands are cold, unpleasant things. The sort of hands you worry about grabbing your ankle when your foot dangles over the edge of your bed. The sort of fingers creeping in from the edges of posters in black and red.

“Fine, danger. What do you want me to do about it?”

COME

He groans, toeing on a pair of fluffy pink slippers with bunny ears, a gift from his sister before they lost contact. Well, before she cut contact, anyway. He spreads his arms expectantly, and slowly the thing glides towards the door. From somewhere in the building he can hear the muted beep of an alarm.

Grabbing his phone and keys from the table, he follows it as it glides towards the door. It hovers there, expectantly. Does it need him to unlock the door? This magic haunted creature who just shows up?

“Fine,” he mutters, flicking open the lock and holding the door as the thing glides out.

He follows it, turning for a moment to lock it behind him.

“Don’t bother, they will need to get in.”

He freezes. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck what is happening, are they seeing the creature, can they-

“It’s a gas leak thing,” the neighbour across the hall continues, unfazed.

The creature is nowhere to be seen, though he can feel the faintest cold shiver down his back.

“You’re John, right?”

They haven’t been introduced. They have exchanged brief nods and smiles and complaints about the lift never working, though, as neighbours do. He hasn’t lived there long.

He nods.

“Got your mail by accident once,” she says with a shrug, “I’m River.”

She has a thin and bony sort of face, with a long nose that might uncharitably be described as beak-like, an impression only furthered by the silver feather earrings she wears. But it suits her. Long dark hair falls in messy waves almost to her waist. He runs a hand through his own sleep messed hair self-consciously. Should he have gotten dressed?

“I just got home when my alarm started. Did you manage to turn yours off? Mine won’t fucking stop.”

She heads towards the stairs, and he follows her. Elsewhere in the building he can hear the sounds of confused muffled conversations. River digs a cigarette pack from her pocket and offers him one. He shakes his head.

“No thanks. And no, my alarm never went off. Are we meant to have a system for this?”

Her dark lined eyes widen.

“Yeah, by law.”

“Right. My, uh, my landlord doesn’t give a shit.”

“You should complain.”

“Oh, I have, believe me.”

They emerge together into a confused and largely pyjama-clad crowd milling about outside the door. An old lady struggles to hold a small dog of indeterminate breed as it tries to escape. Another has two cats peeking out from a cloth bag, squirming helplessly. Somewhere someone is on the phone with whoever one speaks to about these things. The janitor type lady? She lives in the cellar apartment, he thinks. He has only spoken to her once.

A small child, maybe seven or so, has sat down on the pavement, leaning against the wall. A man in his thirties is trying to convince her to stand up because the pavement is dirty, there might be broken glass, dog leavings. John zones out, staring up at his third floor window. Something glitters faintly for a moment.

Is this what the creature is here for? Making sure he doesn’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning or whatever? Does that mean it’s going to leave him alone from now on?

-

As it turns out, the thing does not leave him alone. It stayed away for a few days, but the next weekend it is there again, waiting for him as he gets back from work. He stares at the thing, defeated.

“Here,” he says, setting the bag of groceries on the floor next to it, “if you’re gonna keep coming here you might as well make yourself useful.”

The creature looks at him, and he nods at the fridge, then goes to lock the door behind him. When he turns back a few seconds later, the bag lies deflated on the floor, and his groceries are gone. He narrows his eyes at the creature, and checks the fridge, in case it had somehow teleported his things away, but no, it’s all there. Granted he wouldn’t personally feel the need to refrigerate shampoo and fabric softener, but his instructions were admittedly not specific.

“Thanks?”

It comes out more like a question than he intends for it to. It watches him without expression.

“Do you want-” he begins, but bites off the question.

Does it want coffee? Why would it want coffee, the thing hasn’t got a mouth. It’s not a person, it’s a- a thing. A monster or angel. The two are synonyms to him lately.

He makes himself a cup, then sits down across from it at the small kitchen table. It stares. Although, to be fair, how could it not stare? Its whole face is all eyes. It keeps its hands folded neatly on the kitchen table. He wonders what it is expecting of him.

Its hard not to resent the thing. The mere presence of it is fucking his life up, and even though it sort of saved him, he can’t help but feel like it imposes itself on him unnecessarily. Surely he would have woken up, or the people they sent to fix it would have found him before he died. It’s not like it pulled him out of a fire or anything. He swallows the itch of guilt with bitter coffee.

[separatist-apologist]

Sjm move in Jurian narratives is the same as Stephenie Meyer in her narratives about humans. Meyer makes humans really seem small, fragile and weak whereas she has a character like Charlie Swan who is putting up with her daughter shit. And meyer really had bella 'i was born to be a vampire and all weak human narratives, tf" . Sjm had Jurian and sent in demonic narratives to him to hype fae. No offends but no need to scrutinize human like that

I think, without saying anything nice about SM, the difference is that SJM makes humanity slaves or slave adjacent. I'm not saying humanity can't be weaker than their supernatural counterpart or even that there shouldn't be tension/conflict over this.

I'm saying that if you're going to write lore in which one of your groups enslaved the other, making the enslaved group the bad guys in your narrative framing is a problem. I forget who is telling the story of Drakon and Myriam (Rhys? Amren?), but Jurian seducing Clythia is very much written as a, "and he was a dick for this- he kills her and its brutal and unnecessary because men who kill women are bad" which, okay, usually thats true but Clythia is also AS terrible as her sister and if she learned to love a human at the last minute (literally HOW is this EVEN POSSIBLE? I have so many questions like why didn't she just kill him on sight?), we shouldn't be asked to sympathize.

And it's done to prop up Myriam and her choice to leave with Drakon and make Drakon seem better by comparison. Well, Drakon would nEVER have done that and like, yeah. Obviously. He only got involved when he found out he had a human mate. There were 0 stakes in it for Drakon.

And say what you want about Rhysand but like, he was in seemingly from the beginning despite nothing tying him to the humans. If SJM wants us to think Drakon is a good guy, she could have written a similar narrative. he joined, realized the healer is his mate, but his primary objective was always ending the slavery. But it's the other way around and he seemingly attempts to undermine Jurian over a woman and idk that feels fucking gross and weird.

Anyway I have a lot of Jurian thoughts but primarily my issue is with SJM and her framing of issues. Good guys = don't like slavery, okay very low bar. But then she'll WRITE it in and you're like...am I being asked to identify with the oppressors? Feeling sympathy for Rhys being kidnapped is one thing. Being asked to think Jurian is the villain because Drakon was horny is another .And like she did in Crescent City, if Jurian dares to have a low opinion of the fae, well he's the bad guy.

It's not about being weak, it's this very odd "humans are lesser" narrative that is ribboned through all over her works. She's making choices in her writing, words don't show up on the page. It's worth examining why she makes these choices. I think for ACOTAR it was all just an afterthought so the Drakon army could come at the last minute and save the day but I don't want to see them again. I hope if we do Rhysand hits him in the face for being a coward. I feel like only Rhys could get away with it.