#hope this brings the two folks who wanted it a world of joy

[avephelis]

highly requested

[aesethewitch]

October 2024 Collective Tarot Reading (public special!)

This reading is being made fully public as a special spooky season treat! These are usually only for monthly members over on Ko-Fi at the $5 tier (Silver) or higher, so if you enjoy this reading and want one on the first of every month, check out my supporter options. (: I hope you enjoy!

Happy spooky season! It’s my favorite time of year. Where I live, the world is growing chillier, and the hills are turning a beautiful gold. To all the folks getting into witchcraft for the first time, and to those returning to it in the spirit of the season, welcome and good luck! May Fate’s hand usher you along a path that is straight and wide.

As usual, this collective reading has been done with a five-card hand. I've used the Alleyman's Tarot for the draws, and the cards will be read as a cohesive whole for the entire month of October. There may be additional cards, depending on what's jumped out and if I needed to draw companion cards.

Keep in mind that collective readings aren’t going to be as accurate as a personalized divination done for you as an individual. They’re intended to take stock of overall outcomes and energy going into the month. As the saying goes, take what resonates with you and leave the rest behind.

The Cards:

Dagaz

The Sun (Sigil)

The Hierophant (Arrow)

The Masterless Knight

The Boogeyman

The Reading:

In this hand, I see two pairs separated and defined by the Hierophant card.

In our first pair, Dagaz and the Sun — rejoice! It’s a new dawn, ripe with fresh hope and joy. Awaken from this long dormancy and allow the warmth of the Sun’s rays to thaw the ice in your heart.

This is a time to choose the things that make you happiest. Invest yourself in the things that bring you to life. Be intentional in your decisions, and absorb as much light as you can. The Sun will set again, but not for a good long while.

In particular, I see this month being a very powerful spiritual moment. The rituals you know and the spirits who guide you are going to define this month’s trajectory. Fitting, since this is the month when all eyes turn to the shadows in anticipation of Halloween and all that goes with it. Anticipate a good amount of very direct spiritual activity. This is lasting wisdom, if you know how to listen.

But in our second pair, we have a warning: Beware the rogue element. It may be a person, a spirit, an impulse, or just the ambient energy changing radically this month, but there will be an element of unpredictability in the mix. It will offer information or insight to you that challenges your views, your beliefs, your norms, and the very foundations of your spirituality.

Accept this unexpected wisdom with caution. Not all messages are given free of self-interest. Not all intuitive feelings are wise to believe.

And yet, there is no real danger. Whether you choose to absorb this information or simply discard it, there is no threat. You may be afraid in the moment, but this cannot hurt you. Fear, in fact, may be the thing that hurts you — rather than the thing you recoil from. Lean on what you know to defeat the fear.

Accept nuance. Act accordingly.

My Reasoning:

I delineated these cards into two pairs and a single defining card because of the way they fell from the deck.

Dagaz and the Sun flipped first and together. Dagaz is the rune of dawn (or daylight), and the Sun is… well, it’s the Sun! Even more reason for them to be paired. Together, they denote a time of growing light and happiness.

This particular Sun card is the Sigil Sun, indicating happiness and acts of joy that are intentionally chosen. It’s happiness constructed by someone wishing for a better life.

The other pair, the Masterless Knight and the Boogeyman, also flew out of the deck together. The Knight is rogue. It serves no master, by definition, and cannot be commanded. Its arrival is unexpected, and its motives shrouded in mystery. Not always bad, but always unpredictable.

The Boogeyman is fear, but it’s the kind of fear that’s unfounded. It’s the coat in the closet that looks like a monstrous arm in the night, but in the light of day, it’s just a sleeve. Thus, this fear can be conquered with a healthy amount of skepticism, practicality, and knowledge.

Together, these cards clearly identify a rogue element that appears like a jump scare: sudden, unwelcome, and unpleasant… but ultimately harmless.

And our defining card, the Hierophant. This particular Hierophant denotes religious or spiritual structure, wisdom, and leadership. As the only card without a pair, and particularly because it fell on its own at the center, the Hierophant sets the theme for each side of the hand. Hence why our overarching theme in this reading has been in the spiritual and religious realm.

One further note for the folks who have been keeping up with these monthly readings: Note the absence of the Black Moon and its messaging. The extended period of change and exploration has concluded. Now, it’s time to indulge, open up the windows, and let the fresh breeze stir the air. A sweet change of pace, even if it does invite in new challenges. Onward, no?

You can also read this post over on Ko-Fi!:

[oubliette-odette]

The Reluctance of Love, Pt. 5

Orc Male x Half-Elf Male, Fated Mates, Forbidden Love, Slow Burn Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Word Count: 2,724 (average 16 min read) Content Warnings: mention of mating, nothing happens....yet ;) All orcish is from orcishdictionary.com, created by Matt Vancil. Not beta-read. Criticism is welcome, but be sure to distinguish criticism from hate.

I tried to pretend that the sweat dripping off of my body was because of physical exertion walking, but the pain in the pit of my stomach and the tightness of my muscles as I held back the incessant urges inside was a constant reminder that my symptoms were only getting worse.

I had hoped with distance, the urge to mate would diminish, but I found that walking away from Altan grew more difficult with each step. The thought kept passing that Altan was likely experiencing the same thing, and I felt even more sorry that my legs couldn’t walk me faster.

The travel to the outerlands was less than a week’s travel. I would sometimes be offered a ride to the next town, which would help me in getting there faster, but my body would seize as I sat on the back of the wagon, and my fists would be clenched and my jaw tight as I muscled through polite conversation. I’m sure they all found me mad or intimidating, but it was taking everything to keep myself in control. 

The only comfort I had was at night, sleeping under the stars and returning to that space in my dreams where Altan would wait for me. He never complained about the situation, but would instead ask me how I was faring and tell me stories.

I was able to make a living with my forge creating tools and instruments for the local folk to purchase and I took great pride that my work was not only sturdy, but it was also pleasant to look at, even though I never considered myself an artist. 

Altan, however, was an artist. The way he told stories, recited poetry and sang - it was all art. He carried so much grace and confident motion within him, even the way his fingers danced upon the air as he elaborated his story, I could never look away from those slender fingers and the control they had with each subtle brush and wave. His torso would sway, and I found myself frequently bound to staring at his waist and the slight curve there. He was as much a masterpiece of art. He was music, he was poetry, he was…magnificent. In the quiet of our own special dreamspace he would weave tales that his mother passed down to him - of the ancient days when his elven ancestors fought to defend their lands from a long dead evil. 

He soothed much of my worry for him with his honey-silver tongue, but it created a deeper, more permanent ache inside me that I recognized never left in our dream world. A want to be near him, a want to see him and be seen by him. I struggled to say words around him, but he always cleverly and patiently wheedled answers out of me. 

I learned that Altan had always dreamed of running away to be an artist and bring people joy.

He learned that I had always dreamed of traveling to new places, even across the sea if I ever got lucky. 

I learned that Altan was the oldest with two siblings, and his mother was a high-born elf who left her people to be with Altan’s father. He seemed to clam up when it came to his father.

He learned that I had four broodmothers, and one very larger-than-life father who led our orc clan through countless raids and sired more siblings than I could count but yet he somehow remembered all of our names.

Altan liked rainy days, sweet food especially when it had cinnamon, and he often got in trouble as a child for rescuing animals off the sides of the roads.

I liked sunny days, spicy food that burned my face off, and often dazed off thinking about things and could go days without talking to a soul.

Altan loved people, and I was scared of most people. We both enjoyed sleeping in late, and didn’t enjoy following rules when they could be avoided. And we both felt like disappointments to our family, despite how hard we both worked for an otherwise more positive reaction. 

We were both each other’s first friend.

I found each night as our conversation ended and our dreams pulled us back to the waking world, that I found great comfort in Altan’s presence and a remorse at having to say goodbye. He seemed to enjoy my company in return and I wondered if this is what it felt like to have a friend. A real friend. 

I pondered it as I gritted my teeth and trudged through the misery of my days. I cursed Gruumsh for my misery and I prayed to any other god who would listen to watch out for Altan.

When I reached the border of my family’s land, I sniffed the air and followed the trail of smoke that wafted in the air. Orc tribes travel through the seasons and live in a shared commune that reminded me of an elaborate camp. There was always food on the fire, furs to nestle in and a sibling or mate to keep you company. As a child I remembered having no privacy in my home. There was always one of my mothers, or a sibling around to watch my every move. It was anxiety-inducing and I recognized that my body was holding a pit of dread alongside my need to mate. 

I knew who I would need to see once I arrived, and I hoped that I could slip through without much notice.

But I would not be so lucky.

A horn blew as I stepped into outer circle of the commune. I saw orcs all around raise their heads from their work and turn to find me slowly approaching. It took some of them a few moments before they recognized me. I held my breath and waited for the loud and violent impact of my family.

“Drunrag!” They exclaimed, and some raced over to my side. My shoulders, arms, back, chest, and backside were all slapped - there was no such thing as hugging in my family - and loud obnoxious comments made about how slim I was. None of them seemed to notice that I swayed under their slaps as the pull of lordhovid pulled me back to wherever Altan was.

“Drunni!” I recognized my broodsister, Orga, as she clapped her hands on both my shoulders and knocked her forehead against mine. “We have missed you so much!” She grimaced as she pulled her hands back, damp with my sweat, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I need to see Nezda.” I managed. “Now.”

Nezda was one of our oldest she-orcs in our commune. All of her mates had since passed on and she alone was the one teaching the young ones our history. I remembered her as old when I was but a young pup, and I wondered how old she was then. 

Orga led me with the rest of my family following behind begging for questions from me. Orga and I had often fought as we grew, she always pushed me harder than any of my other siblings, but when I looked over at her then, I saw only a passive look on her face. I didn’t know what that meant.

“Nezda!” She called, her hands was on my bicep as she practically dragged me into the tent that Nezda stayed in. It looked exactly as I remembered it. Layers of furs on the ground, stools and cushions to sit against and a burning hearth that kept the room stifling with heat. I groaned at the amount of heat inside and outside of me. It was getting to be too much. 

“The quiet one has returned, I see.” Nezda’s voice rasped as she came from behind a curtain. Her violent green eyes locked onto mine. She had never liked me, told my father that I was too quiet, asked too many questions and didn’t think fast enough to be a warrior. She had been the first to call me broken when I was the last one of my brood to be unmated. I saw how she looked at me then, and I felt the same chilling shame that I did as a child and I averted my gaze from her.

Orga went about shooing the other siblings away from Nezda’s tent, eventually leaving only Orga and Nezda inside me. Two of the women I feared the most in all of my life, cornering me. 

“What is this, Drunrag?” Orga’s voice was expectant and harsh. “Where is she?”

“Who?” I asked.

“Your raebukan!” Orga yelled. “You think I don’t know what you’re feeling?”

I shook my head, “There is no mate, I need this to go away.” I looked to Nezda. “Help me. Please.”

“Lordhovid does not manifest without a mate, shakedul.”

I felt so small with Nezda referencing me as a child, nothing more than just a boy in her eyes. While most of my siblings were probably having their third or fourth child, maybe even starting clans of their own…I was nothing more than a child to them. I hated how I felt here.

“You dukitod.” Orga continued the trail of insults, forcing my eyes away from her judgemental stare. “Why would you resist this? You’re finally one of us.” 

I shook my head, “No. You must listen. There is no mate.”

Nezda narrowed her eyes at me. “You are speaking half truth, shakedul. Where is she?”

I looked at her, my face intent and pleading. Please. I begged in my head. Just listen. “Revered one, I will not lie to you. There is no woman for me to mate with.”

She narrowed her eyes further and a long, drawn out groan escaped her lips. She shook her head and walked towards me. Her long, bony fingers came up to my forehead and grasped each side of my temple. I closed my eyes and clenched.

I could hear her heavy breathing as she poured herself into my mind. She would see Altan, she would see he is not my mate. I was relieved to be seen as telling the truth. I dreaded my family knowing about Altan. He was mine to know, not theirs.

“Hmmmm” Nezda pulled back and her green eyes were on me like spotlights. “You do not lie. You do not speak truth. There is a mate. But a man.”

“What?” Orga exclaimed. She broke into an ugly fit of laughter and she slapped her hand on me. “You really are broken, brother.”

I ignored her and looked up to Nezda. “Will you help me?”

“You have not mated with him?” She asked.

I looked at her aghast, as if my crumbling composure wasn’t enough to show her. “No. I would not touch him.” 

She didn’t speak, but only continued to study me. I finally broke her silence. “Please tell me you know of a way to reverse lordhovid.”

“Sacrilege” Orga breathed. “To mate is an honor.”

I resisted shaking my head at her and screaming to her the nightmare it was to be forced to mate. I hated the idea of all of this happening without my permission. I did not feel honored looking at Altan’s perfect body and desiring it without even knowing him. 

“Hush.” Nezda hissed. “Leave, kristifam.”

Orga looked like she wanted to protest, but she quietly bowed her head before making her way out of the tent. I caught the whispered curses under her breath as she passed me. 

“You…feel nothing for your raebukan?” She asked.

It was an unfair question. All of this, I realized, was because I cared for Altan. I think I was suddenly feeling more for him than I was prepared for, and most of it was happening even when I was in our dreams where lordhovid didn’t affect me. I wanted to end lordhovid now because I wanted to feel something for him without my body hurting us, hurting him. 

Nezda didn’t wait for my answer, she sniffed. “Does he feel nothing for you?”

I didn’t really know that. I knew he wasn’t afraid of me. I knew he saw me as a friend. He certainly thought good of me. But I assumed there wasn’t much more than that. I could see that he would likely be that way with anyone if given the chance. I shook my head at her. 

She hummed, her eyes piercing. “Mating in our clan is considered an honor above death in battle, you understand?”

I nodded.

“Would you choose to be dishonored by your own blood?”

“I will not do something that would dishonor him.” I affirmed.

She nodded once and bowed her head. “You will feel worse before you feel better.” She said. “Are you prepared?”

I spoke gravely, “I am, yes. Tell me what to do.”

[staytinyville]

Felix

PLEASE REFER TO MASTERLIST TO GET FULL TAROT READING EXPERIENCE

↣ Summary: You lived in a village that were not strangers to the magic of the world. Half of them were magical creatures themselves. However they all kept to themselves and to their own kind. But seeing as you are one of the kindest humans of all you couldn’t help but to get the attention of a certain fairy. 

↣ Characters/Pairing: Lee Felix x gn!reader

↣ Genre: fluff

↣ AU/Trope info: human!reader, fairy!felix, meadow!au

↣ Word Count: 1.1k

↣ Warnings: None

↣ A/N: The sun card is a card largely associated with your inner child. I really loved that Felix got this card honestly. TBH each member who got like the big three (The Sun, The Moon, and The Star) are all the members who are considered sunshines of the groups. The ones who make people smile a lot. 

THE SUN

Positivisty, Warmth, Fun, Success, Vitality

The Sun is a card that tells you that you are a sunshine to the world. Wherever it is you go, the sun is sure to follow. It is also meant to help you through tough times. The joy you bring for others is you greatest strength.

If things are tough right now, the Sun is here to tell you that the night will end and the day will come. Your tough times are coming to an end that's all you need to know.

Use your emphatic abilities to instill hope and joy in others that flock around you. Be sure to keep some for yourself though. Burning out from having to cater to others is a thing.

XIX THE SUN

You had always enjoyed the small things in life. Like how the flowers bloomed in the mornings or how the hummingbirds would come around in the evening for a sip of their nectar. You would spend your entire time outside of the house so long as the sun allowed you. Because of this the creatures that surrounded you were always at your doorsteps waiting for you to give them something. 

Your favorite were the fairies that would come to your garden and leave gifts for you. There was one though that you seemed to fall in love with. It was how they always gave you poems or flowers you liked so much. It was with their words and actions that you found yourself wanting to speak with them everyday. 

How do you know all my favorite things? 

You had written to them, it being the only way the both of you communicated.

You must be watching me. I wish to meet you. If that is alright.

He would send you a letter back and hide it between your rose bushes, keeping it safe from intruding animals that might take it before you had the chance of finding it. 

I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that. What I would give to be able to see you in person.

He wrote back to you one day. Your shoulders had sagged and it seemed as though you were upset with the whole ordeal. But you knew there were rules to follow–especially for a fairy. So you continued sending letters, happy with each piece of paper that you would find. 

Then you will be my secret to have. 

My fairy in the garden. 

By the time you had realized it, you had been sending letters to your garden fairy for two months. In that time there was this group of boys that you had met in the village. They weren’t always there when you would go down but when they were it was always a great time to spend with them. 

You had clicked with one of them, calling him sunshine. His friends would tease him but you would always reassure him that it made him all that more adorable. It fit his character and you enjoyed that so much about him. He brought out something in you that made you enjoy your time spent in the sun all that much more. 

You realized that you were growing feelings for him, feeling a bit worried about your garden fairy. There wasn’t much you knew about fae folk but you still couldn’t help but enjoy your little secret with one. 

I met this boy. His name is Felix. 

You wrote to your garden fairy. 

He is so kind and generous. 

He gave me the same flowers you have. 

He says he has a garden full of them.

The letter you got back made you smile and feel a bit better. You didn’t want to forget about them, enjoying them too much to just give them up. You loved their gifts and their attention. They made you find your inner child that made you realize how beautiful things were when you knew where to look. 

You are a sunshine to be with my love. 

Any boy would be lucky to be with you. 

I'm sure this Felix cares deeply.

They gave you no reason to think that they weren’t happy for you. In fact they tried to tell you that whatever it was you chose it would be the right one. You were happy to know they supported what you wanted. It made you a bit sad to know they would probably never show themselves to you. But that was a part of life. Moving on to the next chapter. 

I don't want to forget about you. 

You are my first love.

“Hi, Felix.” You smiled brightly as you saw the boy looking over your garden. “What are you doing?”

His smile brought a warm feeling into your chest. He was someone who just brought so much joy to the people around him it was hard not to smile back. He was someone who was beautiful inside and out. He was truly a lucky person to have as a friend. 

“I'm just looking at your garden.” He giggled, gesturing to your roses where you had the gift boxes for the fairies. “It's so lovely.” He looked down at it, a small smile on his face as he seemed to be reminiscing. 

“It's my fairy garden.” You exclaimed, moving to brush some of the brushes to the side to show him the small homes you had put out for them. 

You didn’t know if they used them or not but with the gifts most of them left you, you figured they knew all about your little set up. 

“Fairy?” He asked, watching over your shoulder. 

“It's where I give to all the fairies in the area.” You explained. “They come and take. Sometimes they leave things for me.” 

His eyes were gleaming in the sun as you watched him. A blush seemed to overtake your cheeks the more you took him in. And the small smile he gave you as you explained your small space made your heart flutter. 

Glancing down to his hand you noticed that he had an envelope in his hand. “Do you need to take that somewhere?” You asked him. 

“Not at all.” He softly told you, holding it out to you. “It's—it's for you.”

You looked at him confused for a moment, before taking a hold of the paper. You could easily figure out where the paper had come from. And the handwriting was one you knew all too well. Reading over the one simple sentence that was written neatly in the middle of the page, your breath got caught in your throat. 

“Felix?” Your lips trembled, looking up at him with watering eyes as your emotions overcame you. “You're my fairy in the garden?” You asked him softly. 

“I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier.” He smiled, his own eyes shining with tears as he was finally happy to get the chance to tell you in person. “You know how my kind can be. But my coven mates told me to take the chance. So I wanted to finally tell you.”

You laughed, letting the paper fall to the ground as you giggled into Felix’s ear from where you had pulled him into a hug. His deep laugh rang through your head, making you even more happier. He quickly wrapped his arms around your waist and twirled you around in a circle. 

Hopefully you first and last.

Tags : @cultofdionysusnet , @sandsofire , @k-vanity

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello, again :D

I recently saw an add-on for DnD that included guides on a bunch of domestic activities, such as buying a house or store, getting married and having a family. I really liked the idea of a game where you still go on adventures but with that element of domesticity. I guess my question was, can you think of any ttrpgs (or add-ons) that include domestic pursuits within an adventure game?

THEME: Domestic Games

Hello there! I've got a few games for you to check out that might give you what you're looking for!

Merchants and Monsters, by Andie Sanade.

In a world of magic, monsters, and brave intrepid adventurers, you are a merchant! An ordinary honest, as far as everyone knows, merchant. Life’s hard out there for the Non-Perilous Crowd, but you live in this world just as much as any sellsword or sorcerer. So grab your wares, straighten your clothes, and open up shop because you’re gonna make it big or die trying!

Merchants and Monsters is a roleplaying game that can be played by 2 or more people and uses a set of the following dice: 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided, and 20-sided.

This is a stand-alone game that you could probably also insert into another fantasy game of your choice! Because other players have the option of roleplaying customers, they could potentially embody their own characters going shopping, or perhaps this game happens after a long campaign, and you want to role-play a retired character doing their best to make a sale! While much of the art in this book indicates a fantasy world, there’s nothing stopping you from turning those gold pieces into credits, bits of salvage, or whatever currency you use in your game. 

MELWAFF - My Exciting Life with a Fantasy Foreigner!, by Julian Kay.

They came from another world, but it's not an invasion, it's an immigration.

Dragons, devils, and druids live among us, just trying to get by. Holy swords are put to use chopping carrots instead of slicing skeletons. The Mystery Integration Bureau oversees the the newcomers' introduction to modern Earth society, while ordinary people acclimate to the strangers. And not everything is going to go smoothly... where does a witch park her walking hut? What's it like having an unicorn for a roommate?

MELWAFF: My Exciting Life With a Fantasy Foreigner is a tabletop storytelling RPG dramedy where everyday people meet fantasy folk and anime-styled hijinks result. Play an Earth native, a fantasy "newcomer", or a M.I.B. agent and tell a story of what happens when the magical and bombastic meets the modern world. Seek your dreams either mystical or mundane, as your friends join in with shenanigans. Enjoy legitimate surprise mechanics as the "Fate Deck" introduces new twists and hopes throughout every episode of play!

This game uses a Tarot Deck, split into three groups, used to establish connections, determine who will become the central character of an episode, introduce twists, and more. Players will take turns occupying the spotlight over a number of episodes, attempting to achieve goals such as getting a job, throwing a party, hiding a pet monster from the landlord, etc. 

If you want to combine this game with others, you might bring characters from past games into this world as inter-dimensional travellers struggling to make sense of a modern world. This is a great option if your friends have favourite characters from a bunch of different games! The game itself a beautiful mix of the fantastic and the mundane, and I heavily recommend that you go and check it out! 

Lesbians Built This Farm, by che.

LESBIANS BUILT THIS FARM is a gmless table top role-playing game about queer joy and resistance for 2-4 players,  written by che for the TRANS JOY JAM. 

this is a game about the places we build and the things we need to build them. it uses a simple two-part system which ties a joyful "no dice no masters"-style homelife to the grueling game of odds and effort that is ""being queer in the work place.""

this pdf contains all the rules you need to play this game, including four playbooks. if you'd like, any of the playbooks from stargazersasha's girlfriend of my girlfriend is my friend should also be (mostly) compatible. 

This game uses inspiration from Belonging Outside Belonging in that it sets up moves for each playbook that your characters can always do. There are two phases of play. The first is a home phase that allows you to cultivate the home you’ve always wanted. The second is a work phase that uses a deck of cards and d10s to determine what kind of day you had at work, and how much stress it gives you. As you play, you will check boxes attached to your character sheet - fill all of them and you get to decide how your character grows into themself.

If you want to combine this game with a game that carries more adventure and excitement, you might be able to do that with Thirsty Sword Lesbians! I'd recommend picking a playbook from each and adjusting the jobs from Lesbians Built This Farm to match the kinds of jobs your characters might have in-universe. Perhaps those jobs are things your characters pick up in between adventures, perhaps this game works as a prequel to something bigger, or maybe your Thirsty Sword Lesbian campaign happens on in-universe weekends!

The best part is that both of these games are available in the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Florida bundle, so you can get both of them (and many many more) for only $5! Both games can be used for a multitude of genres so the possibilities are endless!

Games I’ve recommended in the past 

(All sci-fi, to make up for the lack of it above!)

Xenopolitan, by Willy Elektrix.

The Long Shift, by Caro Asercion.

Poutine: Deep Dish Nine, by The Kinematic Cafe.

[billboard-hotties-tourney]

I just wanted to reassure people about the stress around moral superiority around autism, cos it seemed like some people were feeling genuinely bad

the only propaganda that was submitted in the OP for that individual was literally the word autism so i think ppl prolly felt like they were playing into a joke that op made?

like, obvi the submission for the other person was more passionate and included more details - and this is out of your hands as the person who's taking submissions, putting them in a randomizer and doing hard work compiling, tracking and posting everything - but the contrast between the two becomes funny

referring to this individual as a funky autistic man is a pretty common meme in the autism and new wave communities (and the considerable ven diagram overlap therein), and it's likely the submission was made by an autistic person - but at the same time part of what makes that individual attractive is the way he's so unapologetically himself, and the way that manifests is in how he dances, moves, talks and sings - in a way that people call weird but in a way that a lot of autistic people have done in the privacy of our own spaces - even been shamed for if we do it publically. some of the ways he sings is really reminiscent of a lot of vocal stimming for a lot of folks, for example, and his more jittery movements are very relatable so the autism is both a bit of a meme, but also a way that we feel seen - and that individual being (almost certainly) autistic and mainsteam people knowing about it and valuing him and finding him attractive and talented is a source of pride/hope in a lot of ways. There's many musicians, especially in alternate scenes like postpunk/new wave who seem pretty autistic to a practiced eye, but this individual has actually discussed the way he relates to that experience. i understand how, without that context, one could be genuinely worried that people believed that if you didn't vote for him you're abelist - but i really think that it's more of a lack of communication/understanding about how this is joked about in the relevant community, if that makes sense like, no-ones genuinally tracking down who voted for what and taking u to task for it. it's fundamentally a contest about who's hotter, and for some people this particular individual being [likely] autistic is relevant and makes him hotter - in the same way one might find an individual hotter if you enjoy or relate to their music, even if the person they're versed up against is objectively more attractive (if attraction can even be measured objectively, free of social practices/norms!) - and the fact that the only piece of propaganda was the word autism means that if you don't vote for him it must be because you hate the only thing that was mentioned about him is funny because it's so ott, but also cathartic for autistic people to joke about because so many of us have experienced hatred due to having autism. it's nice for that to be something funny and relevant in a real but also absurdist sort of way its very liberating, honestly, for an autistic person to be considered hot (being so often infantilised), so its this sense of pride in it too i guess - it can be okay to move in the world in a way that doesnt hurt and isnt tiring and brings you joy, and not only okay and normal but even desirable i hope this makes sense, i just wanted to reassure people that no-ones actually making a moral judgement, it is a meme but there's also something serious there too and it just seems like a joke that's not translating between communities i appreciate all the work that you've put into this tourney!!!! it's been very fun and i'm excited to keep on voting!

I was so worried when I saw such a long ask, but honestly, very well-put. Glad you're excited to participate!

[rubykgrant]

(I'm still try to gather my thoughts and write everything together in a way that works, but I'm hoping to continue my RVB Interviews again soon! For now, I'm sharing the beginning of Sarge's segment again; after all, it's called RED vs Blue, we gotta start with RED, and that means the REDDEST RED TO EVER RED~)

He was already in his chair, more than eager to share his thoughts and what was certain to be a “colorful history” regarding himself.

Andrews rolled her eyes, but also smiled; considering Sarge’s reputation, it would be more concerning if he was acting “timid”.

“I see you’ve decided not to wait,” she commented, taking her own seat.

“A-course! Save the BEST for FIRST!” he answered proudly. “Besides, listening to everybody else babble for too long might put ‘ya to sleep, and we can’t have that. They’re so easily distracted. Going off on tangents of unrelated topics and what-not,”

“Well, I’m not sure where you want to start-”

“I WAS BORN 29 YEARS AGO! I’VE BEEN THE PROUD LEADER OF RED TEAM FOR 20 YEARS! I CAME INTO THIS WORLD WEARING RED ARMOR, AND I’LL GO OUT OF THIS WORLD WEARING RED ARMOR!”

“Now, now…” Andrews said, her voice both amused and patient. “I won’t be exposing any secrets you want to keep, you’ll have the final word on what information I share publicly, but between the two of us? Let’s try to keep things simple, and honest. After all, we ARE on a first-name basis!”

The old soldier was quiet for a moment. A short moment, but for Sarge, being silent was about as rare as hen’s teeth.

“Fair enough, Dylan…” he answered at last. “But the name is one of the things we keep quiet about, understand?”

“Absolutely… can I ask one question, though? Just for my own curiosity,” her curiosity often got the best of her, and certainly created problems occasionally… but that was why she was a reporter. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but satisfaction is what kept bringing her back.

“Hmph. Fine. Shoot,”

“I’ve never heard a name like yours before. Just what was the inspiration when it was chosen for you?”

Another quiet moment. Andrews was beginning to think he was simply going to ignore the question, and if that was the case, she would move on rather than press the subject. However-

“When I was born, which was MORE than 29 years ago, I ADMIT IT… m’family didn’t name me right away. Not too many infants survived their first few weeks at the time… it was a different world back then, see- you’re too young, you never lived in a war-zone, but that’s what it was like. So, they waited to see if… well, you know how you’re not supposed to name anything, or else you’ll get attached? ‘Folks were worried about getting attached to ME, because maybe I wasn’t even gonna live too long… but a few weeks went by, then a couple months, and I was still breathin’!” he chuckled a bit to himself before continuing.

“I guess I was the only baby that made it, and the group of survivors my family stayed with- they all supported each other. A whole bunch of people took turns watching over this little bundle of joy! Everybody had a different name they liked to call me, and when it was time to give me a REAL name… it all got combined together. One big name, from more than a dozen different people, who all came from different places, and spoke different languages… I was the only baby any of them had, so I suppose they gave me all the names of… their own kids who couldn’t be with them…”

“That’s… oh, Sarge, I don’t know what to say, that’s INCREDIBLE. It might be the sweetest thing’ I’ve ever heard-” it was true, Andrews didn’t know what it was like to be born directly into a war-zone; and at the time the man sitting in front of her was a child, the Earth had been under attack by enemies from outer space… not to mention all the never-ending fights between humans who decided they hated other humans enough to kill each other. No, she hadn’t lived through that, but she had seen documents and footage.

Many towns and cities were destroyed, and groups of people would try to band together; they formed new little communities, some traveling like nomads, others attempting to stay in one place, but all generally learning to rely on one another for safety and survival. Generations of children were lost during this time… from injury, illness, or lack of food. To think that she was now speaking to somebody who had grown up in that world, protected and nurtured by an extended-family of people who had been brought together by necessity, but stayed together by choice. That choice had, in fact, been to make sure a child could LIVE.

“I know, I know! Tragic and heart-warming… it’s practically Oscar-bait! But remember what we agreed on, not a word to anybody else! Bad enough that whipper-snapper apple-Jax knows…” he grumbled.

“Yes, I understand…” she couldn’t help but get a little choked-up, though.

“And, for the record- I mean, this is OFF the record, make sure to keep it that way! But just so YOU know, I’m not a bit embarrassed about my name! That’s not why I don’t wanna share it… it’s just…” Sarge seemed to struggle to find the words. “The people who named me are gone. All of them. And this wasn’t just my name, it was the name I shared with the all the children they lost… someday, I’m probably going to die on a battlefield, being taken out by an enemy, and God-willing, I’ll be wearing my RED ARMOR, going out with my boots on- but when that happens, whoever kills me… I don’t wanna hear them saying that name. It was good name that good people gave me, so…”

“So, you don’t want somebody who hates you to use the name that was made by people who loved you,” Andrews finished.

“Hurrrgh- if you WANT to read into it like that and add lots of mushy, emotional subtext, sure!” Sarge made several grunts and groans, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his helmet away to avoid looking at her.

“You are a surprisingly deep and sensitive individual, Sarge…” Andrews marveled.

“NO I AIN’T! YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! I AM A ONE-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTER, A FLAT STEREO-TYPE OF ALL GRUFF MILITARY MEN, AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT!” The man now stood up, striking a heroic pose, raising one knee to place a foot upon his now empty chair, both hands clenched into fists and resting against his hips, the visor of his helmet pointed upward.

“I’VE NEVER HAD AN OUNCE OF PERSONAL GROWTH, AND I NEVER WILL! OTHER SOLDIERS WEAR THEIR ARMOR, BUT I AM THE ARMOR! I AM THE BACK-BONE OF RED TEAM! AND THE BRAINS! AND THE FISTS! ALSO, THE WEAPONS IN THE FISTS! IF YOU SAY MY NAME THREE TIMES AFTER SUMMONING BLOODY MARY, I SHOW UP AND SCARE HER OFF! FREDDY KRUEGER HAS NIGHTMARES ABOUT ME! I AM-”

“You are the Reddest Red to ever Red, yes, I know. I’ll be sure to keep that for the interview. That way, everybody will know the REAL you!” Andrews promised. Sarge gave a single nod of his approval, and quickly sat back down, as if nothing had happened.. “But, just in case…”

Sarge made a cartoonishly over-the-top growling noise at this. Andrews ignored that, and pushed on.

“If there is possibly some hidden layers, maybe some insight or… the method to your madness? I do still have a few more questions. As I said before, you’re free to skip anything you don’t want to answer. What do you say, Sarge?”

“Alright. Fine. Hurry up ‘n ask, before I change my mind!” that was settled, it seemed.

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

RWRB - thoughts

Already did this on the bird, so might as well retype it here:

Some thoughts on Red White and Royal Blue, and why I feel a little disappointed in some of the reactions I've seen because I need to caffeinate and also type this out into the void.

I want to preface this by saying that obviously we all consume and experience media in a vast myriad of unique and different ways, and my opinions aren't stated for the purpose of diminishing or belittling anyone else's. If you read this & disagree that's your right!

I went into RWRB expecting it to be NOTHING like the book (for ex I was aware major characters had been cut and some exposition revised). Also, the book is generally better than the adaptation - that's my mantra (w exception of Good Omens and Sandman; the Neil Gaiman effect is strong).

What I did NOT expect was how MONUMENTALLY touched I would be by such open, romantic, and intimate representation of a m/m love story on my screen. There are multiple scenes between Alex & Henry in RWRB that I have never seen so touchingly depicted before (and perhaps I'm missing other movies that do it! Drop them in the replies!) RWRB earns that R rating but it does so in such a gorgeous way - it show cases the love of these two men as a beautiful, NORMALIZED thing.

I know, you're saying - that's the bare minimum!

And it is. But, the state of our world, especially when it comes to the representation and the rights of our community - is such that I feel the need to take joy in even what is the bare minimum for people like us. (Speaking of people like us - the B in LGBTQ plus is not a silent letter!!) You can read about the importance both Casey and the director of RWRB placed on bi rep in this film in this piece.

A very important example is the sex scene in the movie, which is likely the most explicit m/m sex scene I've seen in a mass distributed highly promoted film since - ever? This is important because it's done ROMANTICALLY. And mind you - it's still leaps and bounds from explicit sex scenes in a het rom com film, which is why it's so important that we have this.

Normalizing intimate contact between couples other than those who are heterosexual is monumentally important. I for one would hate to see any negativity leveled at this film due to the (fair & justified!) disappointment folks may be having because it's different from the books take away from that very important aspect. (Also why aren't we talking about the trans rep?! Aneesh Sheth stole the show for me as Amy).

I think that's where my feelings of sadness ab some of the reactions are stemming from. I had similar thoughts when folks were upset over S&B not being identical to the books as well, but it feels even more vital for us to celebrate RWRB for everything it brings to the table and to our community instead of focusing on what its missing from the books.

I am very grateful to have a story like RWRB in existence, and I hope it leads to many more, because queer love is beautiful in all aspects, and it deserves to be seen and celebrated in ALL mediums.

[putschki1969]

“Sono Saki e” Promotion

Wakana visited the Tower Recrods Shibuya store to promote her newly released album! Tweet 1 | Tweet 2

Digital Album (Purchase/Stream): https://jvcmusic.lnk.to/wakana_sonosakie

Oricon Entry Position

“Sono Saki e” made it to #14 on its first day in the Daily Oricon Charts. That’s honestly lower than I expected, really not the best entry position (especially compared to Keiko who managed to reach #8 on the first day). This doesn’t bode well for the overall performance.

Uta-Net Lyric Essay Part 2

In commemoration of the release of her 3rd original studio album “Sono Saki e”, Wakana has been invited to write three lyric essays for the song column of “Uta-Net”. Part 1 can be found HERE. Part 2 was posted today. You can read the essay on the website. There’s also an audio recording provided, be sure to check it out! This installment is dedicated to “KEMONO feat. Shin'ya Kiyozuka”. Speaking of which, an animated music video for the track was posted on Wakana’s Official YouTube Channel last night. If you haven’t yet, be sure to watch it!

Interview with Real Sound

Source: https://realsound.jp/2023/05/post-1338130.html

We get another longer interview with some interesting insight regarding “Sono Saki e”. Here are some of the highlights┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―→

With this album, Wakana wants to provide solace for people who are in a dark place right now. Music should always bring light into your world.

Both “Asu wo Yume Mite Utau” as well as “Flag” contain the image of looking towards the future and hoping for a brighter tomorrow. Even though those songs were written long before her and Takebe came up with the final album concept, they fit perfectly into it. 

The album contains a transition between a strong sense of loneliness and slowly gaining hope, realising that you are not alone.

It was actually Takebe who suggested to add some darker elements to “Butterfly Dream”. It turned into a dark fantasy. Hidden withing the cute melody, there’s a muddy desire to possess something that is important to you. The point of view is quite delusional, borderline crazy

Wakana loves the “folk” and rock-ish sound of “Rapa Nui” and she had a blast singing in the language of Easter Island even though she wasn’t really sure how to pronounce most of the words. She tried to listen to more recent recordings of the language but it was still difficult to figure out the best way to sing those lines. The song is about facing your own weaknesses. It’s not always a bad thing to be by yourself. You can find strength in being alone.

“Shirushi” has a strong message of knowing that you always have someone by your side even if they are not physically there with you. Your very existence is proof that someone else has been there and touched your life. Just this thought can be reassurance enough. 

“Kibou” and “Kara” are both about finding light and hope within a dark world. You can be sure that the sun will rise again no matter what. 

Wakana would like us to compare “Tsubasa” and “Kara” since “Kara” is pretty much a sequel. It tell a story of how time has passed between those two songs. She talked with the lyricist about being afraid to trust people. The song is about having been betrayed and hurt in the past which makes you want to hide away and not interact with people anymore. You start to feel like you are completely alone but there comes a time when you realise that no, you are not in fact alone. You always have your friends and family by your side. With their support you have the strength to move forward. 

“KEMONO” is about not being afraid to be different in today’s world and to live your truth with pride. Wakana enjoys the jazzy feel of the piano, she thinks her singing and the piano playing almost sounds like an elaborate game of ping-pong.

“Sono Saki e” actually has the same message as “Ato Hitotsu”, just a little more profound. Finding joy in the small things in our daily lives

Interview with USEN Encore

Source: https://e.usen.com/interview/interview-original/wakana-sonosakihe.html

2023/05/30 Instagram post by Wakana

Finally, my 3rd album "Sono Saki e" will be released!! ️🥳🎉 The day has finally come...✨Can't wait for tomorrow!! ️🤩I’d like to make a little announcement of a program that will be on air the night before the release 🤗 Tonight at around midnight, I will have an appearance on "Artist Voice" on ABC TV📺 I got to shoot in a very nice space🌟 Please take a look ✨You can watch the broadcast on TV or an archived version on Abema ☺️(Source) [Note: Hopefully someone will upload this appearance]

[antiqua-lugar]

tagged by @invinciblerodent and thank you so much for the tag, it was super fun and a great break for today!

tagging @margridarnauds, as I think pairing songs with kissy-picrew (using this one) sounds right up your alley!

also all under the cut, because. well.

I still haven't found the perfect song for them as a couple but I have found the perfect song for when gale tried to blow himself up, and then to achieve goodhood and then TRIED TO BLOW HIMSELF UP THREE MORE TIMES, LOVE OF MY LIFE YOU GOTTA STOP DOING THAT

The perfect song for two men riddled by insecurity issues who just need to fully believe each others' Anywhere you go, let me go too / Love me, that's all I ask of you

(And the lines Let me lead you from your solitude and Say the word and I will follow you are a nice bonus. If Caradoc being Raoul and Gale being Christine means that the Phantom is Mystra, then so be it).

I have actually a whole folk song playlist for the two of them, especially because there are so many folk songs about someone called William, like SO MANY and some of them are SO appropriate but I have a soft spot for this one which is a version of the beauty and the beast (or the loathly lady) trope. tl;dr monstrous lady comes in his house and because King Henry is *that *noble and good he lets her eat all his favourite animals *and *sleeps with her, she becomes a beautiful maiden and in some versions also brings all the animals back to life

Also I like the ambiguity of the ending where imho it's not exactly clear how the curse broke BUT IT DID and now King Henry has the world most beautiful woman as a reward for being so good and noble.

Wyll gets a redeemed Bhaalspawn instead but that's probably how Mister Wylliam "I wanna get married and have children. Let's get engaged and then go to the Hells to slay demons together for the foreseeable future" Ravengard likes it.

Aaaand it's this one:

Now that Patch 6 lets them be together even if she wants to fly away on a dragon it's less tragic for me to figure out their ending but the way the male singer is hoping she'll live another day and he will be by her side (And if she doesn't have the will/But it seems the whole world does I'll stay because/ *I will be the man my father never was) while she tells the gods that if they touch him they WILL pay (But to a woman by the end you'll kneel and plead/'Cause I'm more than what my mum told me to be*)...

So the main problem with these two is that Elendris' doesn't really care about anything except the ones he loves and Astarion really should NOT be trusted with that influence on him until his character development kicks in *and they are both painfully self aware of it but *also don't really know how to stop it before it goes too far. And that's why they sent themselves to the Underdark so they can figure it out while helping people. And maybe develop some morals.

I assume some level of this will always exist in their relationship and for some reason this is the song to express it:

I like the self awareness of the couple in the song, the joy in love and being loved in this way and also we're like an odd pair of shoes / One slightly stylish and one slightly plain / One for the nightlife and one for the rain does sound like something Mister Astarion "UGH" Ancunín would say.

Last but not least, for my old veterans with trauma:

There is a version with English lyrics here, it's a love song about how the other person is the only one who truly understood them and I love that the chorus says "By looking for you in this world, I got to know it and I gave it to you". It truly fits Ves'i'ran background of having being promoted/kicked out of gythianki society due to how obviously "sentimental" he is and having spent decades as a ranger in Faerun, learning to love it while being unable to just stop being loyal to an absent queen because otherwise what's the point of everything.

Halsin instead gets "In recent years I have lost more than one friend / I lost myself plus a few lighters / Life gives and then it takes/ That's why I'm afraid to be near you"

There was probably something more thematically appropriate but I like italian rap. Sue me.

[greenmansgrove]

Rowan: My Guide to/through Druidry

I've mentioned I only started studying druidry a little over a year ago. I knew for many years before that point how desperate I was for ritual and/or to "believe in" something again after estranging myself from Catholocism in my late teens, when even my parents drifted away from practicing Christianity. During grad school, I had friends who practiced various folk religions as well as Wicca, but even then, I struggled to find a connection to those practices, other than the joy of standing in my at-the-time metamour's overgrown backyard for a ritual of thanks at the polycule's Samhain party. That was my first time celebrating any of the high days, despite a childhood curiosity in pagan spirituality. I'd made soul cakes to share, too. But as time passed, relationships ended, and grad school became busier, my spiritual care fell by the wayside.

Then, roughly five years later, having recovered from homelessness thanks to a careless landlord, graduated grad school, survived a year as an adjunct (a job I promptly lost during the pandemic), moved to an entirely new state, all while nursing a broken heart and beginning my medical transition... I felt the need again. I had hopes that it, too, might help me through both the heartbreak and my declining mental health.

All the events of the past several years had left me feeling alone and vulnerable. I felt like I had no sense of self and no life of my own. I was also anticipating some painful future events, and I really didn't know how to emotionally prepare myself. On a whim, I asked someone to do an ogham reading. My question(s) were wild and unfocused, representative of my conflicted and pained emotional state, and I'm thankful for the reader's patience. I've always found humor in things like tarot and horoscopes, considering them nothing more than just for-fun or aids in guiding intuition. The results of this reading were as generic as any other, offering the same wisdom I'd heard elsewhere. But the final ogham the reader drew was none other than Luis, or rowan/mountain ash, which is the second few in the ogham alphabet (after birch) with two lines pointed towards the right. And so, when the reader drew this ogham, as if in perfect answer to the deepest fears I was anticipating, came the message, "You are protected."

It is difficult for me to describe what I felt when I received this message. I felt relief, though a cautious relief, at best, given that I take these readings with a grain of salt, but it was enough to bring me to tears. I have largely felt "unprotected" since moving out on my own and experiencing all I had in the last handful of years. It'd been one thing after another in my life with very little rest, peace, and joy. I wanted to believe that it were true. I wanted to believe after so many years of struggling to find faith in something, to cling to hope, to feel like I belonged anywhere, that I would be okay. It most definitely felt like grasping at straws to try believe in this reading. I've always been one of those people who wanted proof and to whom divine experiences never came. But it was enough for me at the time to open myself up a bit.

Rowan is one of the most sacred woods to the druids, and it is associated with protection thanks to folklore and mythology the world over. It also has associations with the fey. I read somewhere that, because of its associations with the fey, the divine, or the other world, it protects because of its chaotic nature. It "disrupts" whatever dangers or energies that are directed towards it. Again, as an atheist, I respect these interpretations. I find the symbolism to be helpful for finding connection to the world and to my ancestors (both those of blood and of covenant--another post in the making) who had their own ties to and stories of the lands in which they lived. Rowan has thus acted as a focus for me over the past year. It was my starting point, because I needed that one little push to act and move through the coming difficulty rather than dwell on the tragedy for which I'd been bracing myself. I am incredibly thankful for that message, because, as an act of reciprocity, which is concept important not just in spiritual practices but useful in developing deeper relationships with the land and community at large, I committed myself to trying out this druidry thing, at least for a year. And now I'm beginning year two.

In another occurrence of synchronicity in my life, I began practicing druidry in a place where not only the RDNA formed, but where rowan/mountain ash grows abundantly. One of the projects I created for myself (finding passions are good at forcing you to do that), I wanted to find harvest from various trees which I could give as offerings at RDNA rituals. UMN-Saint Paul has a self-guided tree tour, which was initially helpful in being able to visit some pre-identified examples, including rowan, to aid me in learning to identify the trees out in the wild. I've since found rowan trees closer to my home, with which I'm beginning to foster a relationship. I keep some rowan wood on my altar, I carry a piece of rowan wood on my keyfob and/or some berries in a little wooden locket, I had some rowan carved and painted onto my walking cane, and I regularly offer rowan berries at my RDNA grove's rituals.

More recently, I participated in a guided meditation on the rowan tree. Meditation can be especially helpful in aiding one listen to their intuition, and my question or focus of my meditation at the time was, "Should I join the priesthood of the RDNA?" The answer I "received" was flippant, but in tune with how I would answer myself or anyone looking for wisdom: "Follow what path you will. Even if that path is paved, it is still new to you." Another oddly perfect answer, thanks to rowan. I have a lot of anxiety about "going my own way" and "taking the road less traveled by" out of fear I am ill-prepared or will hurt myself. Hell, I've gone hiking so many time and gotten lost or fallen off/into things and needed to call park rangers, all because I didn't espouse as much caution as I should have. Part of my efforts over the past year to be more physically active and to be in nature has been to find places with paved hiking paths so I can just enjoy myself and build confidence instead of trying to hold myself to some ideal that I'm not ready to be just yet. So, "receiving" this answer really put me at ease and told me that I'm doing what I need to. I can go at the pace that I need and use what tools and aids are helpful to me because comparing myself to others isn't all that helpful. It may even be ableist to assume that a druid needs to be able to rough-it and hike unafraid and unfettered through the wilderness. It's more about the journey and forging my own personal relationship with nature in the quest for spiritual awareness. Maybe I will join the higher orders, or maybe I won't and I'll give up on druidry altogether. Either way, that's my path and no one can take it from me or judge me for it.

I finally feel like I do have a life, and I'm doing my best to enjoy it. I now feel that my daily experiences out in nature are divine in and of themselves, and I've become more skilled at "reading signs" that I might use to guide my intuition or view simply as poetic coincidences that enhance my enjoyment of a brief moment in time. I'm thankful for it all.

[ogdoadfates]

Something in the water: Ch #1 Strangers

Gods I am excited and anxious! First chapter of ‘Something in the water’ Is out!!! Here is the AO3 link for those interested!! I hope you enjoy this first chapter!!

These lands used to be lush and green

This world use to be less mean

Crops wither and die most often

Animals flee and run full of disease

Entire forests dead in just days

The trees turned from healthy light

To the baron ribs of long gone life

Down in the river lay a body

Decaying by unwilling elements

The fish in the river keep their distance

Not from fear or hate

But from sadness and respect

This is the body of a life cut short

Of a life that healed their world

That cherished their shared home

One who could have made the green return

One who could have pushed the disease out

The river is the next to grow unwell with this next fallen life

The towns and cities do not talk of the body in the river

All they will say when asked is

There is something in the water

Something in the water

With every year that passes by Vax swears it gets easier and easier to escape their father’s castle. With just a few more silent steps they're free, venturing into the night life that the everyday people indulge themselves in. A place that feels more fitting, freeing, alive then the suffocating walls that surround them in their daily lives.

The two of them slow down their pace once they get into the city proper, making sure that their hoods are firmly in place, even if they aren’t recognizable. Not many folks like the mixed blood of half elves. 

Vex’s gaze lingering on a few of the open stores and late night workers stalls as Vax keeps his gaze upon the folks walking around them, smiling at a few children playing in the street. They make sure to not dally too long, they’re too meet their friends at the groups favorite tavern, The Nesting Tempest, tonight thanks to Scanlan having had a great work week and wanting to have a treat.

It takes a while and they might’ve had a few stops to grab a few trinkets here and there but eventually they are greeted by the glorious and well crafted sign of The Nesting Tempest, Vax has always been intrigued by the woodwork of the sign. The title of the tavern being swallowed by a bird of the sea with intercity carved storm clouds above it and crashing waves below. 

As they press open the doors, they are greeted by the merry cheers of overjoyous drunkards and the smell of well cooked food and alcohol. A particular shout carries over the ruckus of the crowd, booming and familiar. Vax smiles as he sees Grog and the others waving them over, the goliath sporting a wide boisterous grin as he gives the half elven man a playful punch to his shoulder, neary toppling the poor man over causing the others to laugh. Once Vax regains his footing he takes a seat next to the man of the hour, Scanlan Shorthalt.

“Jobs still coming in?” He asks his gnome friend, this event had been planned in advance so he was slightly concerned that circumstances for his friend might’ve changed, hence Vax secretly bringing his own money just in case his friend didn’t have enough. Scanlan mocks a gasp at him.

“Oh, Vax. Vax, Vax, Vax. Look at me! Who could resist hiring me with my talents and good looks?” He says boisterously. Vax couldn’t help but laugh, Scanlan joining him. “But yeah, I am fully booked for the next few weeks.” And Vax couldn’t contain his joy for his friend.

“That’s amazing! You’re going to have to tell us if you perform any nights, me and Vex can see if we can make it to some of them!” Vax exclaims and from there the conversations blur.

He’d been laughing with the other while Grog was drinking another patron, who challenged him to a drinking contest, under the table when two individuals caught his eye.

The first thing he notices is the man with pure white hair, he walks with purpose but also in such a way to not purposely drag attention, the man's companion on the other hand Vax could just make out that she had red hair, with her hood up, not enough to cover her face but in a way Vax recognizes well. Shaking eyes and hands near her hood to constantly make sure it stays in place, not hiding an identity but rather what she is. Him and his sister do much the same to make sure no one sees their ears.

He’s never seen them before. The odd individuals take a seat only a little ways away from their group. He continues to stare till he gets an elbow to the rib cage, the assailant being no other but his sister. She lifts up a single eyebrow in question, to which he subtly jerked his head to the newcomers.

Her brow furrows, she taps on Pike’s shoulder to get the short gnome's attention and points out the two to her. “Who’re they?” Vex says just loud enough for only their party to hear, Pike looks to the strangers for a second before shrugging.

“No clue, haven’t seen them around before.”  Pike says with a curious glint in her eyes. Now that perks the twins' interest, Pike knows just about everyone in town or coming to town, same with Scanlan but with the look he gives them when they turn to him it seems he’s in the dark as much as the rest of them.

Vax takes another glance at the pair, the man was wearing a long almost fancy if it weren’t worn and torn coat while the woman wore her greenish brown cloak worn and what almost looks like moss growing at the bottom of it. These two must have been traveling for a long time, Vax guesses. Which is even more strange as syngorn isn’t really a place travelers stop to visit considering it doesn’t particularly cater to them and is a bit more expensive than most other places, even here in what is basically considered the slums it isn’t particularly cheap.

Percival was starving, so was Keyleth from what he could tell. It’d been a long while since they'd had a proper meal, having been run out of their previous hideout. It’d left them with very little supplies this time but luckily they never took off their coin purses. So once they came to this new city their first stop was a tavern to get a good hot meal.

Keyleth keeps to his side, even silently moving her chair a little closer to him which he’s grateful for. They both don’t care much for crowds and if anything goes awry he wants to be able to grab her quickly to make their escape.

They quietly order their meals, Percy inwardly cringing a bit at the prices but it’s what he’d expect from a capital city. 

Keyleth turns a bit more towards him, her eyes shifting about and her voice just barely loud enough for him and him alone to hear. “I know it’s been a while since we’ve stayed in a place for the night but to be honest Percy, I kind of would prefer it if we just found a place to camp out in the woods.” He understands her worry, they get found out a lot faster when they stay in inns then they do when they decide to just camp out, his back won’t agree with him but he is oh so tired of running. The last two places they’ve stayed at had found them out relatively fast, meaning that though they have enough money for these current meals they wouldn’t have even been able to stay in an inn even if they’d wanted to. 

Camping gives them much more freedom than that of a small confined room too, not to mention a lot less prying eyes and ears when one of them has a slip up. No questions about black smoke, the sound of hooves or why plants are suddenly growing out of the floorboards. Percy takes a deep breath in and releases it with a sigh.

“I’m inclined to agree with you, Keyleth. We’ll look around after getting a lay of the town.” Percy says, giving her a small smile that she returns with a nod. “We’re going to have to look for work soon so keep an eye out for that when we make our rounds.” She gives him a worried look but nods non the less, her hands coming up to mess with the edges of her hood pulling at a few loose threads. They're going to have to get her a new one soon or at least find a way to repair it either by magic or by hand.

Soon enough their food arrives and Percy can’t help but let his shoulders relax a little while he eats. Like always Keyleth finishes eating long before him, it’s probably not healthy for her to eat that fast but what is he to tell the ever anxious woman to slow down.

She goes back to fiddling with her hood. As Percy finishes his meal he decides to have a look around at the other patrons. See if anyones giving them odd looks or heavens forbid recognize them considering they don’t do too much, if anything at all, to hide their appearances.

For the most part it seems like they are just ghosts, nameless faces, within the crowd till he locked eyes with a long haired hooded man only a couple seats away from him and Keyleth. The two men freeze when their gazes meet, the two just stare at each other for a while. Percy can feel the anxiety coming off Keyleth in waves till one of the man’s friends notices. 

The white haired gnome smiles at them, giving them a kind wave before hopping off her stool and coming over to them.

“Hi! I’m Pike and the hooded fellow is my friend Vax!” She says lifting her hand up to him. Percy gives a side eye to both the man or Vax as Pike tells him and to Keyleth before taking and shaking the gnome’s hand.

“Percival and this is my friend Keyleth, pleasure to meet you.” He says, Keyleth giving Pike a small smile and wave.

“You two new to town?” Pike asks them but before Percy could answer a large goliath man has walked over to them as well as the rest of Pike and Vax’s group it seems. He can feel Keyleth edging just a little closer to him. Gods are they lucky they aren’t even having little flare ups today.

“Who’re they, Pike?” The large man asks the small gnome. Pike looks up to him and then the rest of her group with a smile.

“Oh! This is Percival and Keyleth, I was just asking them if they’re new to here!” She tells them before turning back to the two of them and Percy can tell she’s noticed Keyleth’s unease by how her smile turns from bright and happy to apologetic.

“Here, let me introduce you to everyone!” And so Pike proceeded to introduce him and Keyleth to the rest of her ragtag group. The large goliath man’s name is Grog, though intimidating to look at, Percy quickly learns the man is the equivalent to that of a giant teddy bear. Scanlan Shorthalt, another gnome and the reason for their party’s outing this night, the man loves his crude humor. Vax was reintroduced, the man choosing to stay close to his twin Vex. Vex a woman with the eyes of a hunter, calculating yet sure.

He also can’t help but notice how like Keyleth the twins keep their hoods up and particularly their ears covered. This slightly relieves him because if his hunch is right at least Keyleth will be safe in that sense from any nasty looks, at least from this group.

From there he can’t help but get wrapped up in conversation with this odd group, particularly Vex. The woman knew much about the city he and Keyleth found themselves in, in particular she knew about the nightlife. What places to avoid and what places to explore, he quickly discovers she’s a lady who likes both the rustic power of a bow and the beauty of fine jewels which quickly devolves the conversation into talks of bows and other similar weapons.

Percy is just barely aware of how Pike and Vax conversing with Keyleth, the man's face in particular looking almost bewitched by whatever Keyleth is saying. He makes a mental note to keep an eye on him.

[ashcroft-writes]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @bluedaddysgirl! Thank you; this fits well into my master plan of attempting to be more alive online hahaha @unmarked-credits @xinambercladx @sinisterexaggerator Not obligated to do this, I'm just trying to be social and thought it may be fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 5 🥹 I am baby compared to some people I see answering these

2. What's your total A03 word count? 512943 words!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Actively, right this second, Star Wars! I do have a huge Fallout 4 WIP that hasn’t been updated in a hot second, but I love it dearly and do wish to finish it one day.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Idiot’s Array

Rot, Dust, and Steel

Strong Hands

Homeworld Elegy

We can pretend this last one doesn’t exist lolololol (It’s the .hack Penguin Fic of DOOM, a reposting of my very first fic from the twee LULZ SO RANDOM era of my high school days. I like to have my history all together, and I own it, but goodness no one should read that.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Oh I desperately wish I still was. I used to, every last one, and I still read and treasure all the ones I do receive. Over the last couple years, my life kept getting quite… upended, however… and I my well of communication energy just… died… and this is also partially because I find it physically impossible to just say “wow thank u <3” in a few seconds; I usually get really into it! Still, the kindness and joy folks have left for me has been so deeply appreciated and cherished. I can’t help but want to go back and respond eventually (“Hi! I know this was left like, two years ago, but you pretty much gave me the gift of sunshine then, sorry this is so late <3”) Hopefully it won’t be weird.

(If you’re reading this and you are, in fact one of those whose delightful comment I have not responded to, hi, I see you, and thank you so much for the gift of sunshine)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Ooo. So though my stories definitely contain some angst, they usually end in very hopeful ways. Even the one about the collective grief for a destroyed planet 😆 Especially that one!! The future yet contains light! So perhaps the answer’s actually in a story that I never finished and isn’t available anymore.

I had this series I was writing when I was a lot younger set in Sonic the Hedgehog. It has this character who had been a villain switching sides and helping the Sonic group win their fight, and thusly secure his own pardon and freedom, a redemption sort of story. And it ended pretty sunshine and roses for most! But for the POV character, he never really would belong among the victors. They gave him a ship and his freedom in payment, and he took it and left for a world he didn’t know, off to try and find some new life on horizons where he would be either at best a stranger, and at worst hated for what he’d done in the past. I suppose there is still some hope in all that! New chances, new beginnings. Like I said, I’m a hopeful writer. But it was the most uncertain and melancholy of the lot, for sure.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? HA, almost certainly The Idiot’s Array; there’s a frickin’ romantic poem, a hopeful promise to see each other again, healing and reconciliation, and a man who flings himself out of the window dramatically in lieu of saying goodbye. What more could you want, I ask you.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Fortunately, no!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Sure have! The Gunslinger’s Paean series has been my first public work with a couple hot and heavy sort of scenes, mostly because at the time I was dying to write Cad Bane, who is an extremely blunt and direct character, told initially from the POV of someone bringing what he feels are shameful parts of himself into the light. Thematically, it just didn’t feel the sort of story in which smut should be anything less than on the page in every last detail where it had to be unpacked. I guess you could say they were the sort of scenes meant to reveal the changes in the characters because smut scenes are vulnerable scenes.

But judging how I’m talking about it, you might detect I’m running some obscure ace algorithm in my internal software that demands a very particular ratio of what it deems smut too unprompted 😆 AND THAT WOULD BE RIGHT AHHHH. I don’t write a lot of pwp, though I’m known to partake (and I hope this even answers the question lmao)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not really my thing, but it sure is a valid lifestyle!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge, unless you count the LLM-training data scraping of Ao3, which I suppose doesn’t precisely qualify as theft in the classical sense 😅 I do wonder if a shard of my characterizations will some day jump out at people using those chatbots. Weird to think about.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have not. I think I’d like to try some day, however, if I vibed with someone hard enough on an idea!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Hilariously, I don’t even write for this fandom I'm about to name. I HAVE NOT READ A SINGLE FIC AND THE FANART ARRIVES ON MY DASH WITH NO ACTIVE SEEKING. But Good Omens really went off with Crowley/Aziraphale! Gives me SO many warm fuzzies. What a great queer yearning story.

And I know, I know, that’s weird, someone probably expected me to say something I read/write for at the very least, but the character ships I adore exploring creatively genuinely exist on such a different brain circuit for me than the “fave ship I cheer for like a sports team” heh, though they are in no way lesser.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? You know that Sonic the Hedgehog series I mentioned earlier? That. My remaining mojo-energy in the Sonic-verse is just not powerful enough to overcome the inertia of revisiting something YEARS AND YEARS gone, and I have too many works other works open and waiting, but I’ll always look on that unfinished beast with affection. Yes that means all other stories I haven’t updated in a long time I still intend to finish 🥺 Please don’t throw rocks 🥺

16. What are your writing strengths? I’ve been told it’s my worldbuilding and characterization! And boy howdy do I love doing those things, so I’m really happy I’m doing it well!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I get real maudlin sometimes in my early drafts! A LOT of characters on my pages work through a complex array of feelings and internal monologues before I can wrest a moving story from their emotional morass. You would not believe how much I tone down in editing. And oh god I write a lot of words. Somehow my chapters are now often 9-12k words and I just can’t stop myself; they feel complete when they’re complete 😭

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I dislike it usually, because in my work I’m often trying to immerse my (sometimes monolingual) reader in the headspace of another person… and if that’s the case, and my character runs into someone speaking a different language than the story's overall text, there’s usually three outcomes:

The POV character understands the other language fully. In that case, the reader should likewise feel the understanding is effortless, or they might get jarred out of the flow of words and character headspace. So I just write the translation of the words, i.e.

“I really wish I had a pet raccoon,” said Talky McTalkerson in soft-spoken French.

The POV character does not understand the other language at all. In that case, why would they mentally be able to give us a perfect transcription of the foreign words for readers? In that case, the character experience really is:

The man was saying something in a bashful sort of French—at least I think it was French. But I didn’t understand.

The POV character partially understands the other language. In that case, the translation struggle might even be part of the reader experience, and remains immersive, i.e.

“I really wish I had a…” Talky McTalkerson was saying in his quiet French, my poor student-learner brain straining to pick apart the mumbled crumbs. Something about… laveur? Washing? “I really wish I had a new washer too,” I tried in solidarity, and he looked at me as if I was an idiot.

(Note, I do not speak French and picked it out of a hat for examples <3)

Anyway, I think some exceptions can be made for words that don’t have precise translations! I like to do that with some of my alien language stuff if talking about the words deepens some understanding about the culture and people who speak them.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Pokemon, when I was a wee sprout in elementary school. It was never published lol but it was so incredibly dramatic and terrible. And it rocked

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? I will never get over Homeworld Elegy. It gets a little less attention than its predecessor—ah, such is the fate of all sequels, especially when it's not quite the same sort of story! But it means just as much to me. I don’t know how I pulled it out of my brain in six months, though I think I was processing a lot at the time, and looking back at the themes, hoo, it makes sense. I’ve never written something quite that complex before, the multiple POVs, all the wholesale alien culture invention, the making use of a past and present timeline, and the endless little circles connecting the two right up until the end. That and bringing in a stable of OCs and hoping people would like them… and I think it all worked even better than I’d hoped. I had no idea if I could stick the landing writing it, but I’m so proud of how it turned out and the things it’s inspired in some of my readers since.

Here’s hoping the next thing I publish will continue the trend of being my new favorite thing!! I’m really excited about literally everything I’m working on!!!

[myriamas]

who: @joymanwoody​ where: the thermal baths of sunspear, the old palace, dorne

The return of the fighting force following the final defeat of the bandits had left somewhat of a sour taste upon her tongue; for whilst they had returned from the frontlines and managed to survive conflict on two fronts in both the North and the West of their realm, she wondered what would the cost be. There was something about the way in which oral stories seemed to shape history itself within their realm, as seen within the legends and myths of Heer and Ranjha, or Sahiba and Mirza, to the point history becomes mere myth. A part of her wondered how the smaller folk would have taken their victory in the face of the bandits, and whether there was any scope for it to be twisted into something else someday, some narrative that be used against them.

"Over here, Joy!" Her voice called the heated thermal pools, her legs remaining dipping within the water as she called toward the Lady of Kingsgrave who had agreed to meet her here.  Her position of Ruling Lady was a recent, following the assassination of her father; though she had fought with every bit of her to ensure the lands were cleared of a widespread bandit issue. The woman who had spent the last weeks with her little brother, and perhaps she wished to ask her how he was; or perhaps she hoped Joy would merely tell her regardless, for she could not bring herself to ask.

It had been two weeks since they had all returned, and she had meaning to see the lady for some time; only wished to give her time to readjust and be back within court, start a healing process for wounds both physical and emotional considering it all seemed to be over. They could focus on uniting their people, for if there was anything that was the most distressing regarding the conflict, it was the cracks it appeared to show that had already been stemming within their people.

There was no denying that her initial response to such a tense situation would be to seek out her only brother in the world to look upon him, to speak to him about whatever atrocity would have no doubt disturbed him; the man had a heart of gold, and to witness such bloodshed and have to put down their own would no doubt have left some impact upon him. And yet, it was her own blindness and her own pride that stopped her from even looking upon the face of the man who also had the grace of the Gods; perhaps because he represented such a visual reminder of betrayal and pain. 

The entire Court seemed to know of the fact the Princess Consort had disowned her blood, for a matter of pride, for something that was so utterly unacceptable to her. And to those that took their customs as seriously as she did.

"Thank you for coming to sit with me. Mainne socha tha ki aap thodee der ke lie mahal chhodana chaahenge." Questions, curious looks, wanting to know what had happened; some looking in curiosity, some in pity, some in disappointment for how the matter had been handled. Some whispers of how long it had taken; it was all too harsh for her to hear.

As important as Dastan was to her, their culture, heritage and traditions were even more important to her - and it were those she dedicated and lived her own life by. To betray them would be to betray herself; to live according to those traditions was to live a moral life blessed by the Gods, in communal harmony. There was a reason things were done, and a reason lines had been drawn; something even Myriam Allyrion had accepted despite her hedonistic and impulsive nature. "Aao mere saath baitho. Kya aapane abhee tak apanee maan ko dekha hai?”

[never-rpg]

Welcome to NEVER RPG! Please send in your url within 48 hours. Be sure to look over our checklist, this, & this. We hope you enjoy, or at least survive, your time on the island!

Welcome to the island, LANCE! You’ve been accepted as SAWYER with the faceclaim of Froy Gutierrez.

You had me sold the moment I read that Sawyer tries to see Pan as an eldritch being! And, honestly, that’s a pretty accurate comparison. I love your interpretation of Sawyer and the through-line of apprehension and cautious optimism in them that runs throughout your app! ‘The ocean mimics their voice, reminding them that they were not happy in the Other World- although wrong, here they had a family’. Also, I’m glad to report that your proposed connection with Cecco and the use of he/they pronouns for Sawyer have both been approved!

Welcome to the island, LEO! You’ve been accepted as NIN with the faceclaim of Piploy Kanyarat.

Leo over here bringing us bits of Thai folklore goodness! Having come from a more isolated and sheltered sort of environment, Nin has such a unique view of Neverland. ‘Amongst other mermaid communities, she was only vaguely aware that [legged folks] even existed, so she’s very wary of getting too close to anyone right now. Behaving a bit like a wild animal, she’ll find someone she’s interested by, inch closer, and the second they seem to notice her she’ll scuttle away’. I'm so excited to find out what sort of effect the island’s inhabitants will have on Nin!

Welcome to the island, MARNIE! You’ve been accepted as ECHO with the faceclaim of Madelyn Cline.

You have given Echo such depth and provided some seriously compelling and wonderfully genre-aligned motives behind the edge that makes her the only girl who can truly call herself a Lost Boy! 'the stakes for echo are higher than they are for most people, and she’s determined not to lose her place in peter’s pantheon of immortal lost boys’. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll leave it to you to reveal the details, but I am beyond ecstatic about your interpretation of Echo and I can’t wait to see her in action!

ADMIN NOTE: Okay, okay, okay. So today could have been an incredibly hard decision for me. Two absolutely AMAZING writers put in phenomenal ocs for the one remaining small folk spot! However, I am a rebel, you all know this, and so I’ve decided to accept both because I truly think our island needs the both of them!!

Welcome to the island, HARPER! You’ve been accepted as OAK with the faceclaim of Kit Harington.

You brought me not only Celtic symbolism but also Shakespeare and for that I thank you! Oak’s devotion to the island and his distinctive perspective of how it all works together is such a joy! ‘After all, there’s no point in keeping the Island going if the core of it, its sense of vivacity and mischief, is lost with it. Oak loves to make people smile. It tickles the part of him buried beneath ash. The fact that a grimace and a scream were so close to a smile and a laugh really just makes Oak’s job easier’. The island quite literally needs this energy!!

Welcome to the island, MADS! You’ve been accepted as TICK-TOCK with the faceclaim of Jenna Ortega.

You have this wonderful way of digging your nails into the classic Neverland mythos and reshaping it into something lovely, gothic, and shades darker than it was first presented and I adore that about you! ‘Tick-tock goes the clock but the clock is a croc, counting down your days one by one. the reaper will come knocking with a leathery hand, claws outstretched & canines gleaming. time is death, & death is hungry’. Tick-tock’s connection with the larger-than-life croc is everything I never knew I needed!!

* Your trusty admin, Vada Ray, has also decided to take on a third character: a merfolk oc named Anouk who’s bio will be posted shortly along with the other oc bios that were accepted today! 🖤

[tacogoats]

I’m replaying Lightfall on Legendary, which is a first  for me because I’m dogshit at this game but I’m gonna put some thoughts below on what I think so far, along with some thoughts about posts I’m reading now that I’m not at risk of spoilers:

So honestly I gotta get this out of the way first but I thought Lightfall was kind of mid. Like, a 6.5/10 at best; I think the emphasis on Strand hurt the narrative a lot and it felt more like “Strand, the Campaign” rather than fighting off the forces of the Witness and saving Neomuna and all. It’s not an uncommon complaint either - I’m seeing tons of people complaining about Strand taking too much of a stage presence, and I kind of agree, but anyway...

Nimbus took some time to grow on me because I was expecting a much darker tone to the story and the ‘peppy rookie’ was irritating sometimes (particularly when I was mid-fighting), but I’m told the Exotic quest has some very insightful commentary from them, and it’s just how they cope with their loss and the pressure on them now that they aren’t ‘the rookie’ anymore. So, while I said that I was done with the campaign I still have the post-campaign to do, and knowing *that* bit of info I think a second look at Nimbus is actually putting them in a much better light to me now. I think they’re a good balance to cranky Osiris who is constantly yelling at the YW to push themselves harder and harder, and who isn’t taking any bullshit. I’ll get to Osiris in a bit too, but I am actually looking forward to how Nimbus evolves from here since we have them as basically representing Neptune now. I’ve just gotten to the ‘restoring the graves’ kind of thing for past Cloudstriders and it’s lovely to look at the legacy Nimbus is carrying. I hope we can bring them out into the world and show them places like the Dreaming City, or the Tower. I’ve heard some quips from them picking up bounties about their amazement of the outside world and I hope they get to see it and aren’t confined to their little bounty perch.

I really love the whole “everyone is standing together” part of the story with humanity, the Awoken, Eliksni and Cabal standing against a new Collapse, so I hope we see Neomuna stand with us sooner than later in physical presence, too. I screamed in joy when Caiatl showed up, and also want to kind of touch on those words of warning she gave us when she rescued us, because oh boy are we ever reckless... and so is someone else!

So... now Osiris.

Seen a lot of hate thrown his way, and I don’t understand any of it. I think people are mischaracterizing him and his behaviour is just going way over their heads. I DO think it’s a bit easy to miss conversations in this game though so I will throw some understanding to newer players who maybe didn’t see the little holo conversation Saint-14 had with him and who maybe don’t Know him, but still. He’s reckless, stubborn, and very, very driven to the point it teeters into obsession - and he’s living all that through the YW because he is no longer a Lightbearer and can’t throw himself at problems like he used to, so of course he comes off as pushy and mean, he *is*, but it’s because of what was stripped from him. Did people forget he’s spent years being a puppet, basically? He woke up to a changed world and lost his best friend, his Ghost, and now has to deal with an imminent Collapse 2.0 in a world he hardly recognizes with how fast things have changed (for the better, but it’s still a change!) And he was always a cranky old guy! Of course he’s gonna be cranky, but he’s not *stupid.* He reigns it in when called out on his bullshit. He is capable of stepping back and taking a moment to *think*, and he does it. He and Nimbus are excellent partners for that kind of thing too, and I look forward to seeing more of it from these two queer folk from different walks of life.

But uh, Caiatl’s warning? Yeah, I’m kind of hoping for a Real beatdown moment for us. That shit was ominous and Osiris has been kind of overbearing with his ordering us and pushing us more and more. I came from playing FFXIV where the PC, the Warrior of Light, is very much used as a tool for people - and a certain character calls it out to the person who does it the most, and it’s a wakeup call for them. I think the game does a decent job of having the characters acknowledge they push and shove us into danger constantly - because, unfortunately, we’re the only one who can meet the challenge and come out of it - but we’re a person at the end of the day, too. I think YW is in need of that moment where they have to lose, and the cast has to recognize they can’t rely on the YW for everything. I think we’ll be approaching that in the Seasonal story, (I hope), with how the civilians want to do their own part in the fight for Earth. I think the hesitancy to shoot our Ghost in that ending cinematic was fantastic, but Give Me More.

Disclaimer: I have only come back to D2 with the Witch Queen expansion, so if a moment like that has really happened already and I missed it - oops. I’m doing my best to keep up with the story but I do miss things, and I am not counting Forsaken for a plethora of reasons that kind of merits its own post.

So, now the Seasonal story which has some of my big gripes because I’m a little fucking creature who has latched on to Crow like a leech who won’t let go. :)

I came back to D2 after not having played since the Curse of Osiris expac, and I landed back in mid-Season of the Haunted. I had to do a lot of googling as to why Uldren Sov (I had seen the Forsaken cutscenes because an old friend was still playing during that, so I knew who him) was now going by the name Crow and was our buddy. I had to google what a ‘Savathun’ was lmao; I was a very casual player who’s first experience to D2 was the Red War - only picking it up because I could buy it with WoW tokens back when D2 was on the Battle.net App. (Yeah... so...I went crazy farming flowers in WoW, and bought D2...)

So, basically I didn’t know jack shit. I had landed in a Strike or something at one point and heard Amanda talking to Crow and totally thought they were cute as fuck and hoped it would go somewhere.

And then I landed in Season of the Haunted and she blasted him for being Uldren, and basically all of Uldren’s crimes. And I was kind of upset.

Aaannndd now we’re in Season of Defiance and that blowup is still definitely hanging between them and it sucks.

Now again I’m prefacing this with Crow is my special little blorbo whom I would like to lovingly chew on like a dog toy, and also as someone who loves toxic relationship dynamics - I am staring directly in all my horrible little men I ship - but wow. This ain’t the fun kind of toxic relationship. It’s just... sad.

Crow’s taken nothing but huge Ls since waking up as a Guardian and it’s not fun seeing him continue to take them into the mess of a love life attempt Bungie is wringing him through. I don’t think it’s cute how he’s basically on his knees groveling to Amanda while she is totally fine shooting the poor guy. It doesn’t matter that he can come back - she killed him, why is he still chasing her? Guy isn’t about to get a break either because Mara is Right There and is another character effectively haunting him, especially now that he has Uldren’s memories to boot. I am in absolute awe this poor man hasn’t snapped like a twig under all this mental hell he keeps enduring - most of his existence has been torture porn. I recently discovered how his time was spent before falling into Spider’s hell for him and just... wow.

I’m seeing a lot of people post about him ‘flirting’ with his ‘I’m so beefy’ joke and like. It didn’t clock as a joke to me, it’s that awkward ‘haha yeaaahh you totally shot me, I guess it was an accident, right?’ and her totally blowing that off - and then in the next battleground (which, I love the battlegrounds!) I did he makes a comment about how he hates dying to falling, and she snaps back at how she went to easy on him with the shotgun? Girl. What is wrong with you? Am I supposed to be cheering for these two to hook up eventually, Bungie? Because before this I had to listen to him groveling to her about how he could make things up to her - like he’s the problem here and not her seeing him as Uldren.

I LOVE the idea that some people can’t let it go but like we’re really doing this this late in the game with the Witness up in our asses? And then trying to have HIM chase her? Nooooo thank you. I kept wishing for Crow to appear in content again but now I’m regretting it lmao. It’s souring the seasonal story for me a bit, honestly. I’m not really looking forward to how this is gonna inevitably blow up, OR, worse: Amanda ‘takes him back’ after some more groveling on his end. It just isn’t fun to watch, at all.

On a more positive note I am elated Devrim is back and has a beautiful new title that keeps him relevant! Queensguard! I also found out he’s gay and it gives me life seeing all the queer folk in this game. :) I wish little babygay me knew how gay this game was going to be back when I had first bought it because I was still with my shit ex, I think it would’ve launched me out of the closet a bit faster lmao

I’m gonna probably add more later as I’m at work and have been darting between this and work for the past couple of hours. I want to add some more on Caiatl and the environmental storytelling of Neomuna.