#how it's the responsibility of each generation

[perdvivly]

Not waiting for chance or fate to dictate the terms of how annoying I’m allowed to be on the internet. I am choosing to answer them all now, unasked as I am.

1) This is mildly variable depending on the amount of effort I’m willing to expend. Typically the common theme is no adulterants. No sugar, no milk, no queen of England. If I’m getting fancy with it I’ll make an effort to time the brewing duration, 3mins for a black tea, 5mins for a green tea, 7mins for a herbal tea. But honestly the sort of depression chic I’ve been serving lately has been leaving the bag in and drinking it straight, tannins be damned.

2) Mandarin. Just seems like it’d be the most useful innit. Also, relatively harder to pick up non-magically given my native Englishhood.

3) God. I try not to honestly. No, but seriously, my sleep schedule has been all sorts of out of shape recently. I should work on that. At the moment it varies wildly day to day and depends on my responsibilities the days before and after the sleep. I’ve pulled a couple of all nighters recently and it gets screwy.

4) Maybe atla? I remember really liking it when it came out but not fully understanding the whole plot because I didn’t see it serialised until later. Maybe the simpsons? There’s something to say here about the earnestness of the earlier seasons and seeing a deeply dysfunctional family care about each other in ways they struggle to express—that gets glossed out as the production value rises in the later seasons—that’s like heroin to someone trapped in an irony poisoned world. But maybe that’s cope? Maybe it’s just the show I had the easiest access to as a kid. I guess I didn’t watch a whole bunch of tv or at least not a whole bunch that stuck with me.

5) Summer ez. (Have you seen her baphomet pics? 🥵)

6) In general, I doubt very much that either the optimist or the pessimist considers themselves such. It’s not really the sort of thing that admits of self-diagnosis in that way… Philosophically, the broader question is what? Do I align with Schopenhauer, Voltaire’s Leibniz, or Russel’s Leibniz? I’m not sure the tumblrinas care about the history of philosophy. I guess I’ll say to the extent that Schopenhauer relies on Indian mysticism, which I think is typically underrated, he’s simply mistaken about the world as will and representation. I’ll say that, I’m *not* a Buddhist. I think the doctrine of dukkha misses fundamental aspects of human existence. I’ll say that people have richer inner lives, deeper felt internal experiences, than you might assume from reading their little words on the internet. And that, on the whole, these are good things.

7) I mean, both ideally. Variety is the spice of life. If I had to choose I suppose it would be sunshine. But I’m terribly glad I don’t live in a world where I have to choose.

8) I have the cutest little book marks. My primary two at the moment are the sun and the moon, which I use for main text and end notes respectively. Though, I have been known to dog-ear in my time. I once got yelled at by my aunt for turning the corner of the page on my copy of Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix because it was a first edition and she was under the impression that it may be valuable some day. I was like, come on man, I’m 7. Don’t even piss. <- I didn’t say these things, but I was *like* that.

9) For the longest time I *only* wore steel toe capped boots because I ran myself over with an electric pallet stacker and tore my toenail off and decided I didn’t want that to happen again. I don’t do that anymore because I interact with heavy machinery less than I used to. Now all that matters to me is that they’re waterproof.

10) *My* signature scent like, I produce it? Or like I like it? I guess one of my favourite scents is lavender. But I've been told... Okay, it's important you guys know I do *not* have a yeast infection... I've been told some parts of my body naturally smell like bread, like, that sort of doughy yeasty (I s2g I do *not* (I did not hit her. I did not! oh hi mark)) smell that you get with bread sometimes. Is that what the question was asking?

11) I mean... That's broadly not for me to decide right? Unless the sort of dragons you're imagining have some sort of glamoury illusion magic, which seems plausible. Anyway, do you guys remember in Moby Dick when he goes on this wild tangent about how St. George and The Dragon was acutally about whales? And St. George's horse was actually a walrus or something. What was that about??

Okay, author's note, there's a time skip here. I've been scrolling through lists of dragons in popular culture for a while now and there are a pretty neat and widely varied selection of designs. I'll get back to you on this one.

12) It depends on why I'm writing! If it's a quick note to myself for future reference it'll generally be cursive, if it's an important document that will be read by other people generally it'll be print. If it's time-sensitive it'll be cursive. I remember writing essays for undergrad that I'm sure were totally illegible by the end of them, I think literally just a line on a page with occasional lifts and dips.

13) There is more information on wookieepedia than existed in my philosophy but a few minutes ago. The typology I've discerned is thus: blue - jock, green - nerd, yellow - geek, red - edgelord. And I'm a little bit of all of these, so I think any would be fine. Realistically though, I'm not sure a lightsaber is the best weapon in fantasy space-past-future where spaceships and lasers are common. Like, I'll let it slide because the original trilogy was doing a kirkegaardian faith thing and the prequels were doing a logic doesn't matter it's cool thing, and those are both respectable motivations to leave logistics aside for a bit.

14) Sad

15) Ice skates! I love ice skating!

16) I'm a youngest. I have an older sister, I think I talk about her here from time to time.

17) Well, how I would use it would depend massively on what it was. If the question is which superpower I think is the best then why not ask that? Which superpower would I have has a faint ring of incomprehensibility about it. It's really not clear which counterfactual is under consideration. *If* what?

Anyway, I think time control powers are up there right? Top five at least, easy. Imagine what you could do if you could stop time and sleep whenever you felt like it. I feel King Leerish about the ability to just be well rested. I would do such things, what they are yet I know not.

18) The problem with romantic relationships is that eventually, all of your most interesting clothing will end up in someone else's closet. I think my day-to-day wear tends to be mostly blues, blacks and whites. Not hugely interesting colourwise.

19) Snake, I think, they have fewer demands and I can't really handle any more pressure in my life than I already have. I would hate to be a bad bird mom... I would hate to be a bad snake mom too, but I think it's easier. Typically regarded as easier. I don't know.

20) Okay, so, it's like this right: medieval battle = will probably die. And it's also like this: behind city walls = safe, my friend and lover and confidant. And so, for very obvious reasons, it's gotta be a bow right? Like, I'm standing way out of the action and I'll shoot some arrows long range. But if that's against the spirit of the ask then it's gotta be some kind of polearm, like a halberd or something. Not even close. The advantage you get from distance is hard to overstate. Yeah, polearm for sure.

21) Mint choc chip, it's just such a classic. But also, I had a "london fog" flavour recently that was really compelling. It's just earl grey and vanilla but it's so good.

22) I'm more of a herbs person than a spices person. Like, hmm, I do really enjoy paprika and ginger and stuff like that, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't really hold a candle to the sheer universality of parsley or basil or oregano or mint. Herbs stay winning.

23) These days it's aptos because I am the worlds most basic bitch. And yes, I do still have a fondness for arial.

ask game that tells a lot about you.

how do you take your tea / coffee?

if you could be fluent in any language at the snap of your fingers, which one and why?

when do you wake up?

what was your favourite tv show as a kid?

summer or winter?

realist, optimist, or pessimist?

rain or sunshine?

how do you mark your spot in a book?

what are your favourite shoes like?

what would your non-perfume/cologne signature scent be?

if you were a dragon, what would you look like?

is your handwriting more print, cursive, or a mix?

what colour would your lightsaber be?

what is your defining personality trait?

roller skates or rollerblades or ice skates?

are you an only child? oldest / middle / youngest?

what would your superpower be? how would you use it?

what’s your clothing colour palette?

pet snake or pet bird?

weapon of choice in a medieval battle

the best ice cream flavour

what spices do you always use when cooking?

default font when typing?

[ineedmojoe]

i’m not sure but i get the sense that lizzie’s article really got in people’s heads and set the tone for bucktommy fandom a bit recently. everyone sounds so negative, but yesterday we heard oliver talk about the breakup for the first time where we heard the full question from the interviewer and saw his whole response. and it was very neutral and open-ended… he even reminded everyone that the season isn’t over yet, hint hint a bucktommy reunion is still possible. this is exactly the type of interview response i expected after seeing a breakup makeup on my screen in 8x06 — something vague that didn’t confirm he was coming back, because that would ruin the will they won’t they tension, but that was a bit like “ooh not sure, better tune in and see!”

but instead we got an article from lizzie, who had just said she dislikes “tommy fans,” that painted the breakup as Final and almost like lou was fired from the set (she called it an “exit interview” but you only do an exit interview if you’re leaving a job!) there are numerous issues with lizzie’s reporting and she’s simply not credible.

so, what do we actually have going on here in terms of this bucktommy story and its PR? we have a breakup that was written in such a will they won’t they fashion that it’s almost cliche. then we got an episode of them pining for each other. there’s not even much ambiguity there. when we hear from tim and oliver (in full, from them directly!) about what’s next, they leave it open.

was the breakup and its build up rushed and confusingly written? yes, but i don’t think that’s unique to bucktommy. just look at how poor eddie’s storyline was written last season. sometimes they flop on the details, pacing, and/or execution, but i’m not sure that means they’re going to veer left from a classic breakup makeup if at all possible.

it sounds like lou wants to come back, he dictates his own schedule. so unless he’s offered something way more amazing than 911 at the same time, i think we are generally on track for this breakup makeup to proceed in classic fashion. and i think everyone should just try to wipe the doomy, biased buddie articles from their minds. i think we can have reasons to be negative (anything could happen before filming) but i just don’t want those articles to influence our analysis or feelings about how things are going to go.

[bumblebeehug]

When do u think Natsu actually realized that he fell for Lucy and i know he treats her differently but can u give moments where it's initiated from his side?

This is going to be a long post so buckle up!

Okay, first of all: the Phantom Lord arc. Though I don't think he fell in love with her at that point of time, I think it was the events that seriously solidified his partialness to her. I'd go into detail but I can already feel a long post incoming, so I'll keep it short: Lucy telling Natsu that she loves being a Fairy Tail wizard, while crying over the fact that she didn't want to leave ↓

After just trusting her life in Natsu, jumping from an insanely high tower, with a mere belief that maybe she had heard him in the distance – I think it struck a chord with Natsu. Like, it would be normal to cry after a fall like that, but Lucy wasn't concerned about that aspect. Her head and heart was all about the guild, how she didn't want to go, and that resonates with Natsu. Natsu's entire life at that point is 1) Finding Igneel, and 2) being with/protecting the guild.

Then I'd say it's a pretty gradual build in their relationship. They go on a lot of missions, hang out together, and just in general spend a lot of time connecting. There's some Natsu-saves-Lucy, some Lucy-saves-Natsu, some hand holding (tenrou arc I won't forget about that, thank you anime team for adding that scene), and then comes the next pivotal moment. GMG arc and the dragon festival that follows.

By then I'd say Natsu and Lucy are very much in this friends-with-emotional-benefit zone: much more than friends, absolutely not yet lovers. But with Lucy's near-death experiences in her battles, Natsu has to refrain himself from getting involved each time Lucy gets beaten up - he becomes helpless, and the worry that's sowed inside of him gets watered each time Lucy still puts his faith in him, still trusts him to come out a winner. That entire section when Lucy's in the infirmary and she tells Natsu that her entire being trusts that Natsu can do anything, I think that's when Natsu falls in love.

Now wait!! He still doesn't quite understand that he loves her. But he understands that his feelings for Lucy are more tender than any other feelings he's ever had. He treasures her in a new, heavier way. She's become precious to him.

Precious. Where have we heard that... oh >:) ↓

Now the Dragon Festival was LETHAL in a trillion ways, but especially for nalu fans. The whole Future Lucy plot and the forehead touches and the Future Natsu and Future Lucy fighting in a wasteland moments and the Natsu skipping the final GMG match to save Lucy. And of course. Future Lucy dying. It's not the first time we see Natsu get so heavily affected - it happened in the tower of heaven, when Erza was ready to give her life up. But it is the first time we see Natsu see a friend die. Like, a team mate, someone who he's responsible for bringing to the guild. And after the whole GMG conundrum? Had a single more bad thing happened Lucy during the dragon festival, he’d probably turn into a demon right there and then. Dare I even say: their relationship was the strongest at this point in time.

After the GMG and the Dragon Festival, we get the Sun Village arc (I don’t like the Eclipse celestial spirit arc so I’m not counting it, same with Key of the Starry Sky arc — technically some nalu moments but not exactly building imo) and then another big one: Tartaros. Ooooh brother, THE best arc of all times, wish Mashima knew how to replicate it. But alas, he doesn’t.

The Tartaros arc isn’t exactly a pivotal moment where Natsu “falls in love” but rather an important aspect to understand his later actions. Like this guy goes through some pretty grusome stuff, learns a lot of complicated, bad things about himself, and finishes off the arc with losing Igneel — his father that he's spent ages searching for. Natsu's entire life is turned upside down, so he decides that he has to become stronger: cue, he heads off for a year to train.

His time away isn't very elaborated on — not from Natsu's viewpoint or Lucy's. But I think it's understood that he chose not to bring along Lucy because she could be put into danger too much for him to be able to concentrate on building his strength: he knew his training would be dangerous. During this time we also have the Gildarts-scene in chapter (idk i can't be bothered to look it up but y'all know the one ↓) which is kinda debated on — who was Natsu talking about here?

I'm still not certain on if it was a heart to heart on the Igneel-matter, or if it was about his guilt of leaving Lucy behind, like many theorise. I'm not even certain that it's limited to one of them — he could be talking about both. But at the very least, this entire year was one of those "distance makes the heart grow fonder" moments for him. He wanted to get back to his normal life with Lucy so bad. After all, it wasn't like him showing up at the GMG was in order to meet Lucy — had he wanted more training after that, he'd head off again, but I don't think he could physically bring himself to do it, even if it hadn't turned out that the guild had disbanded. Though that's just me speculating a bit.

And about the guild disbandment: oh jolly, he was not happy. He had finally taken the step to grow stronger to protect everyone in his beloved guild, and here Makarov went and disbanded it? Leaving Lucy completely alone? Lucy, who once jumped from a hella high tower because she was just so devoted to stay in the Fairy Tail guild? Yeah, I think that broke him a little. At this point there was just so much guilt involved around his whole relationship with Lucy, because now he had put her through so much pain only because he brought her to Fairy Tail that day in Hargeon.

The next arcs I'd say Natsu's trying to spend his time redeeming himself for the countless things he's done bad (getting the guild back together, just generally staying by Lucy's side as much as possible). And naturally he keeps getting hit by challenge after challenge (it's not easy to be a book written by his immortal brother, yk?). And it's even harder to watch Lucy die again, this time for real (he thinks bc he's stupid and also has a tumour that's nothing less than a ticking bomb) (give this guy a break lol).

Anyways: Lucy's death nr2. Natsu can't live a life without her. Now I know — he still doesn't quite understand that it's romantic love, but I think he does understand that it's pure love. No matter if kissing and reproducing was involved, all he knew was that a life without Lucy is completely unimaginable, so blinded by rage he becomes and decides to decapitate everyone in his way (sorry about that Gray).

The last couple of moments I'll go out of my way to mention as signs of love is 1. when he's won over Acnologia and falls towards Lucy, crazy relieved, saying "I'm home", 2. Gajeel pointing out Natsu's crush on Anna, Natsu basically saying "oh that's why I like Lucy so much" (I embellished it lol) and 3. "We're still gonna be together from here on out, right?" yeah that man won't ever leave her. Ever. It's just not an option.

Now since I've only talked about specific moments, here's what I have to say about his relationship with her in general:

Throughout the main plot line, we also see a shift in Natsu's behaviour. Someone here on Tumblr pointed out that Natsu always finds a way to shield Lucy if something unexpected happens, after not being able to shield her from Future Rogue. There's also the small detail of the order he calls out to people - it goes from being pretty random, to Lucy almost alwyas being on the top of the list: likely because she's always on the top of his head. And in general I'd say that Natsu initiates (i'm adding this entire paragraph bc i realised that you asked about when Natsu initiated stuff, more than when he fell in love lol) almost all of their interractions. It's Natsu who wants Lucy to join Fairy Tail, to form a team, he's the one who enters her apartment constantly, he's always searching her out - his interest in her is at a constant high so we never feel like we get "moments" that he's paying her extra attention. He has one setting, and it's "Lucy" cranked to the max. Lol.

I could also add some HYQ moments to the mix here, but they've been few and far inbetween, and also mostly played off as jokes, so I can't really consider them as moments when Natsu initiates his love. I guess his jealousy can be considered a sign? And when (spoilers from the manga) he runs around to protect her/save her from creepy-freaky-jail (the only one who made it freaky was him, with those wild fantasies lol). Maybe I need to jog my memory a bit, but so far there hasn't been any non-pervy nalu moments initiated by Natsu in the HYQ, aside from jealousy-chap. Sadly.

Hope this gave you the answer you were hoping for! Sorry it took so long, I started writing on it and realised it would be a bible so I put it in my drafts to fetch some pics to make it less wordy, and then I forgot about it, lol. But here it is!

[ceratedfish24]

Your takes on c!Scott and flower husbands have honestly been so refreshing that its reignited my old Hot Takes on c!Jimmy bc I detest the way people characterize him.

I feel like so many people portray Jimmy as this dejected downtrodden victim of bullying, which feeds into a narrative that Scott was cruel and abusive and awful or whatever, and tends to act like Jimmy doesn't have any agency ever. But IN REALITY??? Jimmy is not downtrodden and dejected and sad!!!!! In my opinion, Jimmy's defining character trait is his unshakable TENACITY! Ppl never want to admit that Jimmy is a little shit! That he acts out of spite, that his friends' teasing only tends to motivate him!! He *thrives* in environments that challenge him! AND to be so for real, he is a grown man with agency and decision-making skills and I'm tired of people acting like he isn't.

In general I feel like people just have the wrong outlook on him as a character. Maybe they've just collectively misunderstood him, or a Helpless Miserable Victim is easier to write about in fic, or they just want to project their own bullying-related trauma onto him or whatever. (People do similar things to Scar when talking about desert duo, which I understand even less). IDK. These are just my thoughtssssss sorry for rambling :P

No because you’re literally so real for this. Jimmy is SUCH a little shit. His response to Joel being mad at Jimmy for trying to kill him was to SHAKE HIS ASS AT JOEL. He taunted Joel because Jimmy successfully used Lizzie to bait Joel out. He tried to guilt trip Scott into giving him time. These aren’t negative qualities. This is a guy being silly with his friends. Embrace them when writing c!Jimmy. These are wonderful and realistic qualities.

Jimmy’s tenacity is so remarkable. He gets knocked down and all of his friends tease him about it, and he stands right back up with pep in his step. A lot of people treat Pearl the same way. Like, guys, these people are adults who make their own choices, and, often times, people who are given free will are not going to make the responsible choice most of the time when there are no real world consequences to their actions other than maybe “I might not get to be in the finale of this Minecraft series”.

There is SO much favoritism in the Life Series. Jimmy and Pearl are always reduced to their greatest tragedies, while Scott and Cleo are reduced to their most selfish moments, even though everyone else is equally selfish because IT IS A DEATH GAME. IT IS A COMPETITION. THAT IS THE POINT.

A lot of Jimmy’s deaths tend to be his own doing. Whether he unnecessarily made an enemy or just wasn’t being careful, a lot of Jimmy’s deaths are his fault, and that’s fine. He likes to play into bits. He’s not that serious about winning as opposed to making fun content. Pearl has made her fair share of mistakes and enemies, and that adds plot and drama to her content. That’s how she plays it, and it’s fine! Don’t infantilize them for dealing with the consequences of their actions just like everybody else!

Scott was widowed, and he had to watch his allies die before he did for seasons. Nobody ever comforts him about it. Nobody says “oh this man is so sad he’s just doing his best but he can’t keep his friends alive and it’s eating him up and everyone should baby him”.

Nobody even calls Joel toxic for constantly targeting Scott, but somehow Scott is toxic for teasing Jimmy now and then? (Which is not to say that Joel is toxic. He just finds it fun to target his good friend and knows where Scott’s limits are. It’s actually a sign of how close they are in real life). Nobody calls Etho and Bdubs toxic for being so mean to each other. Nobody calls Impulse manipulative when his whole thing in Third Life was betraying people. Nobody says Ren is controlling for taking the lead in Dogwarts or calling the Renwood Mound the Ren Mound. Scar is a liar and a scammer and no one thinks less of him for it.

Do you wanna know why? Because they’re friends having fun. Scott and Scott’s character should be treated with that same respect given to everyone else. Also, people need to keep in mind that Scott is not actively playing a character. Scott is just playing the game the way that cc!Scott wants to play the game, so any in depth analysis of Scott’s “character”? That’s an over analysis of cc!Scott in a competitive environment, and that man is literally on this site, people. He knows about Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss, Girldad. I’ve seen him reply to analysis posts on why Scott is manipulative. He’s literally just a guy playing a game for fun.

Imagine if someone accused you of playing an evil and selfish character because you asked your friend to give you the monopoly money they owe you. Or, worse imagine if someone accused you of playing a manipulative character because you let your friend land on your monopoly property without paying you????? Because you love your friend??????? Like, excuse me????????

Thank you for the ask!!!!!! 🩵🩵🩵 It’s always flattering when someone calls my posts “refreshing”💕💕💕(also I see you all the time and I love seeing your additions to my posts💖)

[bitethedemon]

(NSFW) A Helping Hand (Lucanis x Reader x Spite)

Tags and Warnings: NSFW, Dub-con (sort of. It's complicated), Choking, Possession, Soft!Lucanis, Possessive!Spite

Summary: Reader is into the rougher stuff, but Lucanis isn't. Spite feels like it's his responsibility to help out.

(Smut under the cut)

He was a vision like this. His breathing was still a bit labored, and his cheeks were ever so slightly flushed. You watched as his chest moved up and down while he caught his breath. You absentmindedly trailed your hand over the path of dark hair that started at his chest and ended at his spent cock that was still glistening with your combined fluids.

He watched you with a content half-lidded gaze. His hand was gently tracing patterns over your collarbone as he let his eyes rove over you. He suddenly paused and his eyes lingered on your hip. His eyebrows knitted together in a worried expression. Your eyes followed his hand when it went to gently trace some faint bruises on your hip.

“When did this happen?” he asked softly.

“Hm?” you said and looked at it. “Oh. Don’t worry about.”

Lucanis had strong hands, and you had overly dramatic skin. It was bound to happen that you would get a few bruises while you were both lost in pleasure. You didn’t mind in the least, in fact you rather liked it, as you had often pointed out to him. He did not feel the same way.

He tutted softly and moved down to place a kiss on each of the five bruises that marked where he had dug his fingers into your hips. You smiled.

“I am so sorry,” he said and looked up at you.

“Lucanis, you need to stop,” you said with a chuckle. “It’s fine. I seriously don’t mind it.”

He moved up a bit so that he was laying on top of you, careful not to touch the ‘terrible injury’ he had caused you. He placed a kiss between your breasts.

“I mind,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

You smiled and ran your fingers through his hair, which earned you a small content sound that rumbled through his chest.

“Seriously,” you said. “You know I don’t have a problem with it. In fact, I wouldn’t mind if you were rougher with me in general. I can take it. I like it.”

He gave a small dramatic groan and leaned his forehead against your chest. You had had this conversation before.

“Yes. You like the hair pulling and the choking,” he said with a small frown as if the concept was either confusing or distasteful to him. “It’s not love, my love. I don’t get it. Why would I want to hurt you?”

“It’s not really about that,” you tried to explain once again. “The point isn’t to want to hurt the other person, it’s— well…I mean…It’s difficult to explain. Pain heightens the other feelings, you know?”

He shook his head.

“No. I don’t know,” he said with a faint smile, clearly teasing you a little bit.

“You like it when I tug on your hair,” you countered. “And when I dig my nails into your back.”

“That is different,” he said. “You can hurt me as much as you want to. Until I’m blue and purple all over.”

You sighed in defeat. He smiled and kissed your lips, before moving to lay beside you. He moved his arm in an invitation for you to lay your head on his chest. You did, and he rested his cheek against the top of your head.

“I’m sorry, love,” he mumbled into your hair. “I can’t do it.”

You smiled. You would never pressure him into anything he didn’t want to do. It was also sweet, in a way, how he was so against the idea of causing you any discomfort.

“It’s fine,” you said and placed a soft kiss on his chest. “Don’t worry about.”

He kissed the top of your head and shortly after you both fell asleep.

Lucanis always got up at an ungodly hour in the morning, but normally he always managed to sneak out of bed without waking you. This time was different. You stirred awake when you felt a hand move over your bare hip. He was pressed up against your back, and you could feel his erection against your ass.

You forced your eyes open a little bit. The sun had not even risen yet. It was pitch dark in your bedroom. You gave a small groan of discontent at being woken up at this hour. This wasn’t like him.

However, your tired body was already reacting to his touches. He had that effect on you. His hand pushed your hip a little forward, and he started kneading your ass. You could feel that familiar stir of arousal growing in your stomach.

He flipped you over onto your stomach, which wasn’t at all like him either. Usually, he always wanted to see your face. You felt yourself wake up a little more. You didn’t protest though. You thought that perhaps he had simply decided to try something else, like you had spoken about the night before. You were intrigued.

He straddled the back of your thighs. His hands went to you ass again, kneading your cheeks, pulling them apart. The feeling of your holes being exposed to the air felt delicious and made you even wetter. Your pussy was starting to make a sinful wet noises as he played with your ass and spread you open.

He was being surprisingly quiet though, you noticed. Usually, he gave you sweet and praising comments while he touched you, but this time he was dead quiet. Even his breathing was different. As if he was truly concentrated on the task of playing with your ass or just fascinated. It was a bit odd, but you didn’t comment.

You needed more. You arched your back against his hands to see if he would get the hint. His hands paused their movements for a moment. You heard a deep, almost purring sound come from him, before his fingers found your slit. You let out a soft moan as he ran his fingers over your wetness.

He didn’t linger long before he stuffed two fingers inside of you. You let out a startled sound before it turned into a moan. He started moving his fingers, slowly, but deep. You moved your hands down to spread yourself more open for him, but he caught your hands in one quick movement and held them behind your back.

Your eyes widened slightly. This was intriguing, indeed. His grip was firm. You were at his mercy. He started moving his fingers faster, seemingly intrigued by the sounds that were coming out of your mouth. He added a third finger and started fingering you at an almost punishing pace.

It almost hurt, but it hurt so good. You bit into the pillow not to scream. The wet sounds coming from his fingers continuously plunging into your pussy were almost embarrassing. You were dripping. You instinctively squirmed at all the sensations but there was no where to go. Your hands were held behind your back, and he was sitting on your legs.

After a long while, he abruptly pulled his fingers out of you. Your whole body was on fire, and you were shaking slightly. He didn’t let go of your hands. You felt him move over your legs. You felt him rub the head of his cock up and down over your slit before slowly sinking into you. You moaned and arched your back for him, needing him as deep inside you as possible. He let out a sound that sounded like a deep growl as he bottomed out.

His free hand found your hip and held you firmly against him as he slowly started moving inside you. He gave you a few moments to adjust to the sensation before he leaned over your back. He shoved one arm under you and the other loosely around your neck. He held you completely up against him as he started moving faster.

It didn’t take long before his hips were snapping against you to a point where you found it hard to breathe from just how good it felt. He had never taken you like this, and it was slowly making your brain turn into mush. One of his hands found its way around your neck. The grip was firm enough to make you gasp slightly, but not enough to hurt. You were beginning to see stars.

The noises he was making was about to send you over the edge in itself. He was practically growling into your ear. Your ears were filled with his harsh, almost feral sounds as he pounded you into the mattress. You let out a pathetic whimper as he bit into your shoulder. It was hard enough that it would definitely leave a mark. His hot tongue licked over it after.

“Lucanis, I…” you managed to breathe out before another moan ate up your words.

He flipped you over to lay on your back. He shoved his cock inside you again and moved his head down to your chest to suck and lick at your tits with a feral intensity. Your eyes fluttered shut. You were so close. He bit into the soft flesh of your tits, leaving a trail of marks up your chest and neck too. He dug his fingers into your cheeks and then shoved his tongue inside your mouth.

You were so so so very close.

When he let go of the kiss, you opened your eyes to look at him. Your eyes widened and you squirmed as you saw two glowing purple eyes stare back at you.

“Spite—”

You didn’t get to protest before he clasped a hand over your mouth.

“Keep mouth shut,” Spite hissed. “Lucanis. Won’t. Know…”

You squirmed, trying to grab him or stop the situation in some way. Your resolve disappeared when he moved his other hand down to your clit. He was playing dirty. It felt too good. He rubbed circles around your clit as he kept fucking you.

“He cares too MUCH,” Spite growled and thrusted into you harder, determined to push you over the edge. “Won’t give you…what you need. You. Need to stay. With him.”

You fell over that edge hard. You practically screamed into his hand and then you saw stars. Lucanis, or, well, Spite, came inside you seconds after. You were both breathing hard. The post-orgasm clarity was setting in quick. What the fuck had you just done? He pulled out and sat down beside you in the bed.

“Shhh,” he hushed before removing his hand from your mouth.

“Spite, what the fuck,” you said sharply in a hushed tone. “Never do that again.”

He looked almost confused at your reaction.

“Never leave,” he countered in the same tone as you.

“I wasn’t going to,” you said. “I would never…”

You realized what all of this most likely had been about. Spite had felt some sort of insecurity from Lucanis and acted on it, afraid that you would leave. Spite narrowed his eyes at you and looked over your face skeptically.

“Hmm,”he growled in a frustrated tone. “We keep this. Secret.”

You shook your head.

“Nooo,” you said sharply. “We don’t. We can’t do that to him. This was messed up, Spite. Despite your good intentions. We come clean.”

He let out another frustrated hum. He looked at you out of the corner of his eye with a slight frown. You sighed and covered yourself up a bit. You were all over the place and your legs were still shaking a bit.

“Ours,” Spite said. “You. Will. Never. Leave us...Never. Leave. Him…Promise!”

“I promise, Spite,” you said with a sigh. “But you will never do this again, understand? Not without Lucanis’ consent at least...”

A small devious smile spread on his when you made your last comment. You only realized what you had said when you saw his reaction. You shook your head.

“IF he would even consent,” you said in a hushed tone. “I sure as hell won’t bring it up to him.”

“Yes. Fun…” Spite purred.

“Watch it,” you warned with a raised finger.

He put his frown back on and gave you a nod. He looked just about as apologetic as a demon were capable of looking. He seemed aware that he had done something wrong, which was an odd expression on him.

“We. Love you…” Spite said and looked up at you.

You rolled your eyes at his attempt to get out of this, but it was hard not to smile at the surprisingly genuine attempt. You sighed.

“Just let me speak to Lucanis, please,” you said with a sigh and braced yourself.

[brutalfantasytarot]

PAC TAROT READING: DYNAMIC BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE 🖤

study the images. which one are you drawn to most?

[left to right]

ko-fi.com/brutalfantasytarot - for personal readings 🤍

ko-fi.com/brutalfantasytarot - for personal readings 🤍

ko-fi.com/brutalfantasytarot - for personal readings 🤍

PILE ONE: king of pentacles, eight of swords, three of cups 🖤

you will absolutely not be in control in this relationship. like...at all. this is one of those relationships where you turn your brain off when you're together because daddy's got you 💕 he's going to make sure you're safe and taken care of when you're outside together. i see lots of time spent with friends and loved ones. he's a social butterfly. and i see you're more quiet and shy and introverted. he's not super loud or obnoxious or anything, but he's charming with people and he loves meeting new people and growing his friend circle. and he's going to be taking you to all the events and stuff. they'll definitely like you. you all feel like family to each other. your future spouse is very generous, especially with his resources. he's also loyal to those he loves. and he wants to make everyone's dreams come true. he's a fantastic communicator. if there's a disagreement, he's quick to take accountability and understand where you're coming from. he expects the same from you. he will not be playing any games. he wants a mature partner who is willing to put in the work like he is. expect to be blindfolded in the bedroom. i see hot wax as well hehe 💘

PILE TWO: the empress, knight of cups, the lovers, two of cups

this is the soulmate pile! they're a gemini, libra, or aquarius. blue eyes and dark hair for some of you. and brown eyes and dark hair for others. they've got a solid build. and they're tall. 6' and above. you are their divine feminine. you wreak of luxury and grace and fertility. it's very likely you really want kids, and don't you worry. you and this person will have a family. i see one child made from pure love. i see you're a lot more inexperienced than your future spouse, but they will help you become more mature. they will show you how to be more responsible in a gentle way. this is the kind of relationship where you grow together. this person is going to give you the friendship and romance you've longed for your entire life. you simply were tired of hurt people hurting you. "don't disturb my peace if you're at war with yourself". you are done with chaos and your soulmate is only going to bring you peace of mind 💓

[thydungeongal]

My experience with playing ttrpgs is that the role of the "game master" in modern ttrpg culture often has the expectation of being something like a blackjack dealer or a parent hiding the eggs for the easter egg hunt. Playing strictly non-hierarchical skirmish combat games really opened my eyes to how much more fun it is when everyone at the table is just *a player* and nobody has a disproportionate responsibility to craft a satisfying play experience for everyone else. I haven't read much of the AD&D rules but I get the impression that at the genre's roots this wasn't always as significant an issue. Do you think rulebooks in the future can do more to roll back this assumption??

So, to my understanding older editions of D&D specifically inherited the idea of the referee as an impartial arbiter of the rules from wargames, so while in many ways the early days of the hobby were all about putting a huge party of disposable freaks up against a gauntlet of challenges, the DM's purpose wasn't to leer at you from behind the screen and go hoo hoo hee hee at each PC that died.

Now, these toxic memes about GMs and players basically being in a constant competition of one-upmanship have been around for a long time and I don't think we'll ever be completely rid of them, but they tend to come in waves. And there are people trying to actively improve upon the culture: my personal contributions mostly amount to reminding people that, hey, the GM isn't a special guy you can just saddle with all the work of learning a game, the other players at the table should also make an effort; the people at @anim-ttrpgs just made a post about what the role of the Narrator is in their game, Eureka (and why they picked the specific term Narrator); and at least on the indie side of things there is generally a better culture of treating the facilitator/referee/MC as another player who is there to bring the game and work together with the others to make a cool story happen.

This also means that it is our moral imperative to go "That doesn't sound fun at all, why would you do that?" whenever people tell us their stories of just shitting all over their GM's prep or punishing their fellow players for perceived infractions.

[writingpoorly]

Jaster absolutely has a Tumblr

Ever since he’d been kicked out of the Journeymen protectors Jaster has been drunk. Drunk and furious. He'd been in the right! Since when was killing a deal breaker for a Mando'ade?

The priorities of the Mando’ade have been misplaced for generations. At that thought, Jaster goes back to his private documents folder and opens the Ori’ramikad’nare document he had been working on since his buir’s death.

He was no lawyer or politician and didn’t specialize in legal documents, but he thinks he’s done a pretty thorough job with it. Granted Mando’a was a straightforward language, unlike Basic. He’d broken down each tenant of the Resol’nare and expanded on how a modern Mando’ade should be expected to responsibly and ethically adhere to the six tenants.

With a reckless, drunken thought, Jaster decides to post it. Being hundreds of pages he didn’t expect any of his followers to actually read the thing, but it didn’t do any good sitting in his files. He’d cited everything so no one could accuse him of plagiarism or anything ridiculous like that.

Nodding to himself he uploads a link to it ensuring that no one should be able to edit it before giving a toast to his buir’s memory and promptly passing out.

-

Jaster wakes up past noon the next day with a pounding headache and an annoying dinging coming from somewhere near him. Ignoring the lesser issue for now, he gets up to relieve himself and take pain meds before slumping on the ratty couch set into the wall of his ship. He sets a glass of water down on his sorry excuse for a caf table and hope by the time he empties it he'll feel more human.

It takes a few long moments to realize that the dinging sound is still coming from somewhere. Eventually he finds a discarded pad and opens it to discover that the sound had been notifications on his blog. The simple tone he had programmed as the notification sound had turned into a droning noise with the excessive amount of comments and reblogs he was getting on something.

With dread he clicks into it expecting a drunk him to have posted some embarrassing picture or error ridden text post, he’s embarrassed to discover that drunk him had instead posted the ori’ramikad’nare last night. What makes him almost drop his pad though, is the steadily growing number of notifications in his ask-box, dms, and on the post itself.

Jaster quickly turns off his asks and privates his account so that hopefully less dms will come in. He has easily gotten thousands of notifications in the relatively few hours between passing out last night and now.

His comm unit on the table buzzes and Jaster looks at it warily. It buzzes again, somehow sounding like a reprimand and Jaster picks it up cautiously.

[Skirata: Mereel you kriffing dikut!]

[Skirata: What did you do?!?!]

[Skirata: Why is your blog all over the Mando’web?]

[Skirata: You better not be drunk again]

[Skirata: I swear to the Manda I will end you!]

[Mereel: Kal I don’t know what happened]

[Mereel: I posted the ori’ramikad’nare]

[Mereel: Now I have thousands of notifications]

[Skirata: Check the news pages on Mando’web]

[Mereel: I’m not sure I want to]

[Skirata: I will end you, don’t test me]

Deciding to do as he’s told, for a completely unrelated reason to Kal threatening him, Jaster grabs his pad. Ignoring the continuing notifications he opens up his preferred new channel.

‘Breaking News: Anonymous Source Posts Codex Challenging Current thoughts on Mando’ade Culture- Could this verde be trying to gather supporters to become the next Mand’alor?’

Horrified he opens a different news channel.

‘New Mand’alor Posts Manifisto Detailing How They’ll Change Our Culture- Page 234 will shock you’

How is it getting worse? Jaster snatches up his comm again.

[Skirata: You better be checking the news]

[Mereel: Kal what do I do?!??!]

[Mereel: They’re saying I’m trying to be Mand’alor]

[Mereel: I’m not qualified for that??]

[Mereel; I don’t even have a job anymore]

[Skirata: Jaster calm down. Go make shig]

[Skirata: I’m already on my way to you]

[Skirata; We’ll figure out how to get you out of this]

They did not in fact figure out a way to get him out of it. Turns out when you start a cultural revolution in a group largely made up of Bounty Hunters it’s difficult to hide from the people who want to follow you.

Go figure.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Plagiarism

Most students know it’s not okay to copy and paste someone else’s writing into a document and pass it off as their own. However, there are times when students are trying to paraphrase or are quoting a source where things are less black and white, and the concept of plagiarism can become unclear.

In most of your college writing assignments, you’ll be asked to use information from outside sources. Therefore, it is essential you know how to avoid plagiarism and why writers should properly give credit to the authors of those sources.

What is Plagiarism?

The use of someone else’s ideas as your own.

If you take someone else’s ideas and use them in your paper without giving proper credit, you are plagiarizing.

Although, most of the time, plagiarism is unintentional, it is still each student’s responsibility to learn how to properly attribute material to the original author/s.

Citing Correctly

A common mistaken belief is that citations are only needed for direct quotes, but this is not the case.

Generally, you should provide a citation for any information that is not common knowledge or your own ideas.

Example: You wouldn’t need a citation to write that the sky is blue because that is common knowledge.

However, if you write that the sky is blue because blue light is reflected by particles in the atmosphere more than other colors, your reader may expect you to provide a citation.

Can’t I Just Paraphrase?

Another possible misconception regarding plagiarism is that paraphrasing means taking a sentence from a source, changing a couple words, and providing a citation.

However, paraphrasing is more than just changing a word or two.

Rather, it is taking another person’s ideas and putting them in your own unique words.

Still, any lengthy series of words taken verbatim from a source need to be placed in quotation marks.

A rule to keep in mind is when four or more consecutive, verbatim words are used from a source, place them in quotes.

Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism

When in Doubt, Cite

Many students worry that too many citations makes it appear that they are relying too heavily on source material and not thinking for themselves.

While some assignments will require you to use more of your own words and ideas, if you are in doubt about whether to cite something, it is wise to go ahead and cite it.

This way, you do not have to worry about being accused of plagiarism if the sentence in question reads more similarly to an idea taken from one of your sources than to your own ideas.

Because plagiarism is considered a fairly serious offense in academia, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Take Notes

When conducting research, it’s a good idea to write down the bibliographic information for your sources in addition to what you plan to use from those sources.

Make sure you have, at the very least, the author’s name and title of the work to help you cite your source material later.

In addition, be sure to place appropriate quotation marks around material taken directly from your sources so you do not confuse it with your own thoughts.

Otherwise, you might forget where you got a particular piece of information and/or whether or not it is in your own words.

It can be anxiety-inducing to be nearing a deadline but unable to find the citation details for a source.

To avoid this stress, record bibliographic information as you research.

It is also helpful to think of this notetaking as a halfway point between initial research and writing the paper.

Breaking down your source material by putting the author’s argument and main points into your own words helps you to better understand the sources with which you are working.

Moreover, active notetaking is good practice for putting the author’s ideas into your own words.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Basics & Refreshers

[inksandpensblog]

Yes, King’s arc is over…but imo it doesn’t have to be, because he is still in Purple’s life. His character doesn’t have to stagnate after one arc.

Some of my friends in the Enthusiasts server (as well as some others here on Tumblr or elsewhere on Discord) have mentioned that, realistically, King’s and Purple’s reconciliation at the end of episode 30 would only be the start of their new relationship. The end of King’s arc marks what many of us believe should be the beginning of a new arc, one shared by King and Purple. It doesn’t have to be an arc with a season’s focus, and it doesn’t have to involve King on his own with the color gang (though I’m sure some would make a case for Yellow); a few Actual Shorts or background details here and there showing how they’ve both changed together would be enough.

We want to see the evolution, the development, the growth, both jointly and responsively. What we’ve gotten feels, to me, like a skip to the end of that supposed journey. The good part, but without all the hard work to get there.

I won’t deny that this leaves a lot of room for fan interpretation, which I don’t have a problem with in itself; generally I appreciate how much liberty Alan gives fans to fill in the blanks however they wish, and some of my friends are creating amazing works to fill in that blank in their own ways.

But even if the series doesn’t give definite answers as far as how King’s and Purple’s relationship develops, or go as far as directly showing us key developments, it can still offer evidence that their relationship is developing, and I feel like it hasn’t done that. Instead they just hug it out once and suddenly have an ideal bond.

I will also acknowledge that it’s perfectly normal in this series for oppositional characters to be completely cool with each other after just hugging it out, no matter how much or how hard or why they’d been fighting up until then. But unlike King, those other characters (unless they’re one-offs, which King isn’t) continue to appear and interact after hugging it out, and we get to see how their relationships continue to evolve and how the individuals in them continue to change.

With King, it feels like we’re just getting the Purple-centric highlights.

Yes, King’s arc is over. I think that’s part of the problem.

Sometimes I think about the fact that we’ve seen Purple seven times since episode 30 but we’ve only seen King three times.

Sometimes I think about the fact that every time we’ve seen King since episode 30 he’s in a context he’d have no reason to be in if not for Purple also being there.

Sometimes I think about the fact that since episode 30 we’ve seen Purple without King but we’ve yet to see King without Purple.

[chaoortu]

listen i know i yap a lot about nick and neurodiversity in my fics but it's like. every time i reread heartstopper it really jumps out at me and i'll probably reblog this again with more thoughts as i continue my reread but like.

it strikes me as interesting that despite the fact that nick gets called a chav pretty early on by tao, we never actually see nick acting that way on page. i think the show does a good job at showing how nick has sort of chameleoned himself and stuffed his real personality down but the show is a topic for a different post. in the webcomic we see it once when charlie is teasing him about being laddish and nick decides to act that way for a laugh. on one hand, i chalk this up to most of the early webcomic/heartstopper in general being in Charlie's pov. he wouldn't have noticed these things about Nick because they didn't really notice each other until their meet cute, which is realistic. I think it also speaks well to Charlie's character that he takes who Nick is at face value and challenges Tao's opinion of him. but what jumps out at me is that in harry's birthday party we sort of see the first instance of nick's "meaner" side and it's in the context of defending Charlie. Still! The first instance of this really sunshiney character taking quite a big turn!

But notice how the dig isn't personal? These are all observations about Harry that can be deduced in the context of the material before it. That is to say, despite being friends with Harry since he was like 11, Nick keeps it simple. It reminds me a lot of how you correct a dog's behavior in the moment and I can go on for ages about Nick and dogs but again-- that'll be another post. What follows this really intense moment is another really intense moment when he and Charlie are alone and like yeah, they're teenagers, being teenaged is intense enough. But after their kiss, we have this panel and my God is it one of my favs:

I really love how Nick is framed with flowers in this scene because it really feels like it's him blossoming into himself in this moment where it's just him and Charlie. Charlie is shown over and over again to be Nick's safe person in comic and while they are obviously falling in love way before this, I still feel like this is the moment where Nick decides it's safe to love Charlie (I mean duh, they kiss a LOT in this episode), or rather, to hand Charlie his emotions and feel like they won't be fucked with or used against him. And that's huge! Nick wears all his feelings on his sleeves, he's not even slick about it either-- the fact that Christian, Sai, and Otis pick up on the fact that Nick has a thing for Charlie before he does speaks a lot to the fact that Nick doesn't seem very aware of how much of himself he gives away on the regular. Which again, in juxtaposition with the fact that he's perceived as a judgmental rugby lad by Tao (which, grain of salt here. I love Tao a lot but he's also quite judgmental in his own ways so this is a pot and kettle situation), and the fact that his own mother comments on the fact that he's much more himself since befriending Charlie? That's MASSIVE. I dunno. I could be projecting here but as an autistic teenager who did everything in my power to be like my peers and lowkey hated myself for it, I find this incredibly relatable. We see Nick starting to realize that a lot of his friends are dicks several times before he and Charlie kiss for the first time, and that's also relatable. It took me so long and still takes me so long to realize that people I thought were friends are actually quite shit. Again, I could be projecting but it reads very neurodivergent to me that it takes Nick being exposed to someone who is actually kind to him (Charlie) to realize that his friends aren't kind people. Insane tbh! Something else that got me is that we see Nick struggle with the fact that he really likes Charlie and wants to stay with him vs. the responsibility he feels to regroup with his friends. I don't actually think it's responsibility. I read it as Nick putting his mask back on and resuming the expectations he's been bearing since before he met Charlie and it's a visible struggle for him.

Nick, while pretty unaware of the fact that he can be read like a book, is also incredibly aware of the role he plays in his own friend group and the ways in which he has to perform. But he doesn't like it now. His early love for Charlie really puts things in perspective for him that he doesn't have to accept where he's at currently if he's unhappy and we get that moment of regret where we see that he knows he fucked up by leaving Charlie.

It looks like he's disassociating here. That, or his mind is still in that room with Charlie. It's a battle of expectations vs. what Nick wants. And Nick's wants are never Nick's first priority. He's a pathological people pleaser after all. And despite the fact that he just fully made out with another boy despite barely having figured out that he likes guys and the ethics on Charlie kissing him without asking (teenage stuff, I'm not arguing about it rn especially because this doesn't bother Nick in canon. idk why this discourse exists but maybe i was just making out too much as a teenager) The next day, Nick clears the air. Literally runs to Charlie's in the rain so they can talk it out and so he can be understood properly. He's desperate to make things right with him because 1) he's in love and 2) he cares a lot about Charlie's feelings to the point of putting them above his own later in the story. But the way he does it and the way he sort of overexplains his feelings almost constantly really strike me as neurodivergent. Nick goes above and beyond explaining how he feels to make sure nothing can be misconstrued and that really gives me the sense that Nick is... somewhat aware of the fact that people assume how he feels? Granted, this is coming off the heels of everyone saying he was in love with Tara, so maybe he felt the need to explain himself more since some people think one pre-teen kiss = fairytale love. (ignore the fact that Nick's fairytale kiss with the flowers totally equaled fairytale levels of love for him, lol.)

He literally explodes! Charlie is physically taken aback by his words. This happens right after Charlie has his big "I shouldn't have kissed you this was all my fault" etc. explosion. Which! The fact that Charlie explains how he feels down to feeling at fault and sharing that with Nick, who is very much like no.. no nO WAIT. I LIKED IT. (so much that he kisses Charlie to get him to understand that pre-explosion). And again, we sort of see Nick trying to bottle and be a bit more normal about it immediately before when Charlie tells him he's getting mixed-signals. Nick's response was to unmix the signal and then cry about it because THIS. IS. A . LOT.

For a cis-male character who is involved in a very masculine sport, surrounded by masculine people who are not nearly as emotional as he is(on page at least) the fact that Nick goes above and beyond in this moment where he's so vulnerable to ensure Charlie understands him is hugely neurodivergent to me. He's making sure Charlie gets that Nick loves him, he's making sure he gets that he's not mad about the kiss, and he makes sure Charlie knows he feels bad for leaving him behind. His bases are covered! There's no room to make assumptions about how he feels and I imagine for Charlie, a chronic overthinker, the fact that Nick is so blunt about his feelings all the time must be fucking incredible. He can actually take Nick at face value (at least at this point in the story ). But especially after Ben's gaslighting shit? Like fuck! I'd want to jump into a relationship too if the guy I've been crushing on for like two months ran to me house in the rain, kissed me, cleared the air, and then cried in my arms. I love emotional honesty! It's also interesting to me that it seems like his confusion towards his sexuality bothers him a LOT more than his feelings for Charlie do. He likes being in love with Charlie, that much obvious, but it's this conflict within himself that bugs him. And idk, I could be projecting again but I just can't see a neurotypical teenager reacting like that. To me, it really reads as Nick going. "Okay, I like kissing Charlie and being around Charlie. I'm in love, this is good. Check." but then his sexuality is a huge gray area until he does more research on bisexuality and decides that's the label he wants to use and I think the not knowing is what really bothers him. There's a lot of pressure in queer spaces especially nowadays to be labeled and for Nick, a character who buried his personality to be accepted by others, to specifically be upset at being confused about his identity reads as neurodivergent to me. Nick, by all accounts, doesn't seem to really care about his sexuality except for the way it challenges who he believed himself to be up until this point and what that means to the people around him who think he's just some straight laddish dude, you know? Largely, he also seems rather apathetic towards sexuality and gender in general except when he has to confront his sexuality and how other people will perceive him if they knew what his sexuality is-- hence keeping things between him and Charlie a secret despite the fact that he's never ever been shown to be ashamed of the fact that he loves Charlie.

Anyway, this post got way too long. Enjoy one of my favorite OCD/AUDHD moments between Nick and Charlie. THEY LITERALLY KISSED LIKE TEN MINUTES BEFORE THIS MOMENT... INSANE BEHAVIOR... I love them. The sillies.

[mariacallous]

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed on Nov. 18 that a riot control agent known as CS has been used in Ukraine, as evidence mounts that Russia has scaled up its attacks using chemical weapons in recent months.

The United Nations watchdog OPCW's first confirmation about the tear gas usage comes as Russia has intensified its use of chemical agents since the beginning of the year to advance forward across Ukraine's front line.

Russian drones throw gas grenades into dugouts or trenches in an attempt to force Ukrainian soldiers out into the open field, making them easy prey for drone or artillery attacks.

The U.S. and the U.K. have confirmed Russia's deployment of chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers, slapping sanctions on Russia's troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense, their chief, Russian Defense Ministry scientific centers, and companies involved.

The Ukrainian military has reported that it recorded over 4,600 cases of Russia using gas attacks on the battlefield since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, including 323 incidents in November.

Without naming Russia nor directly confronting Moscow for violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW said that samples from both the grenade and the soil sample retrieved from a September incident at a specific trench "contained the riot control agent 2-Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile, known as CS."

While often used to disperse riots and considered nonlethal, the OPCW says that tear gas, including CS, is "considered chemical weapons if used as a method of warfare."

The samples — which underwent separate testing in two OPCW-designated laboratories — were collected from a trench "located along the confrontation lines with the opposing troops" in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, according to the report.

The OPCW said in the Nov. 18 report that the watchdog's Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, "expressed grave concern over the findings."

"All 193 OPCW Member States, including the Russian Federation and Ukraine, have committed never to develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, transfer or use chemical weapons," Arias said.

He stressed that the parties have declared that "any use of chemical weapons is totally unacceptable and would violate the legal norms and standards of the international community."

Earlier in May, OPCW said that Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of deploying chemical weapons, but "the information provided to the Organization so far by both sides, together with the information available to the Secretariat, is insufficiently substantiated."

Kyiv's rising concerns over unidentified gas

While Russia's usage of chemical agents has slightly decreased since August, when 447 cases were recorded by the Ukrainian military within a month, Kyiv has been concerned about unidentified gas being deployed against its soldiers.

Lacking "hundreds" of complex detectors that cost $100,000 to $600,000 to identify the chemicals used by Russian troops, the Ukrainian military has struggled to name the new or mixed types of gas to find a solution on how to protect its personnel, Ukrainian Colonel Artem Vlasiuk told the Kyiv Independent in October.

Of the 323 recorded cases of Russia's chemical attacks in October, all except 15 incidents were "unidentified," according to Vlasiuk from the Support Forces' Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Command, a branch of the army responsible for inspecting chemical warfare.

The officer said that Ukraine struggled to identify the new types of gas because it lacked sophisticated high-end detector technology to diagnose beyond the few prototypes in its library — which includes CS, CN, chloropicrin, and ammonia.

It is often very difficult to send specialists to the front line for evidence collection, as it would mean risking their lives by having them walk kilometers to reach the positions. And when soldiers come under gas attacks, gathering the remains of the grenades used is usually not the priority.

The concerns over the unidentified gas come as dozens of Ukrainian soldiers interviewed by the Kyiv Independent across the front over the summer acknowledged their lack of preparedness to face chemical warfare. Many said they were only given the poor quality Soviet-era gas masks and that they do not take it to positions because they are skeptical of its effectiveness.

Often, comparing the danger of chemical agents to KAB guided-aerial bombs, artillery, and precise FPV drones, the infantrymen interviewed often downplayed the threat of gas — arguing that they had more chance of being killed or wounded by conventional arms.

At least three Ukrainian soldiers died from Russia's gas attacks, and almost 2,100 soldiers sought medical care after such incidents, according to the Support Forces. Many more could have gone unrecorded.

[crownedwithstars]

The idea that only Ulmo or Nienna care about Middle-earth and do anything to help Eruhini is a strange misconception because Tolkien pretty clearly shows that at least Manwë is watching very closely what's going on and sometimes even interferes? It's just that the Valar mostly seem to work through the elements they represent, which if you think about it is pretty neat.

Like there are various instances where the wind acts up suddenly, causing storms or rising in just the right moment (as in ROTK, clearing the air for the Rohirrim and speeding Aragorn's journey as he sails for Minas Tirith)

And even more obviously, the Eagles. Tolkien specifically says that the Eagles are Manwë's advocates in Middle-earth, providing miraculous aid when all else fails. Without the Eagles, Beren and Lúthien's quest would have failed and Huor would not have got to Gondolin (which then would have prevented Eärendil's success or even meant he was never born). They give crucial aid to Gandalf more than once. The Eagles also help Fingon to save Maedhros, because Manwë "would not wholly abandon the Noldor". Tolkien recognises that the Eagles are "deus ex machina", and in this case, the meaning is quite literal.

Then there are the Istari, envoys of the Valar: while there is proof of only Gandalf's success, even just the efforts of one of the Wizards was enough to bring down Sauron.

As for Ulmo, you could argue that he is responsible for the whole Eärendil and Elwing arc - and that it was a job between him and Manwë. It's Manwë's Eagles that bring Huor to Gondolin, and Ulmo later sends Huor's son Tuor into the hidden city. Tuor and Eärendil both get sea-longing in their hearts. During the flight of the survivors of Gondolin, Eagles are again present and bring up the body of Glorfindel, making you wonder whether they would have interfered more in the Balrog fight if Glorfindel had not stepped up to protect the refugees - and Eärendil, the fated saviour of Middle-earth. Also, Ulmo rescues Elwing when she casts herself into the sea, turning her into a bird so that she can fly to find Eärendil. Water and air and birds keep showing up in the stories of Eärendil and Elwing and if that's not proof of Manwë and Ulmo's plotting, I don't know what is. I mean, it's even said in the first pages of the Silmarillion that they are fast friends and closely allied from the beginning! Eärendil becoming a star also in a weird way even combines the elements of Ulmo, Manwë, and Varda: bearing the Silmaril, Eärendil sails an immortal ship in the sea of heaven and stars, forever as a sign of hope to the Children of Ilúvatar.

What about the other Valar? If we keep in mind that they chiefly work through the elements they represent, their abilities to interfere are limited (and this is a self-imposed limitation clearly). Yavanna's creation of the Ents proves to be a pretty great one in The Two Towers, although you can argue to what degree she is influencing the events. More obviously In Shelob's lair, Sam calls for Varda, and the light of the phial of Galadriel comes alive in his hand and smites the great spider, helping Sam to defeat the monster. Also, during Sam and Frodo's desperate march through the hellscape that is Mordor, Sam yearns for a little bit of light and water to hearten him - and lo and behold, he gets these exact things as if Varda and Ulmo personally delivered.

In other words, the Valar are a lot more active in Middle-earth than they get credit for, and they work in subtle and indirect ways because only then can they make sure they don't accidentally kill a lot of the Children.

[lilithofpenandbook]

Sometimes Severus comes up to Minerva. Right up behind her when she's busy. He'll stand there for a good minute as she works on marking assignments and cursing the boy's youthful energy and brilliant eyes- both of which directly responsible for his finishing his work in half the time it takes her.

"What is it, Severus?" Minerva sighs. Might as well get the obligatory nonsense over and done with, she was due a dose of Severus's antics by now (Merlin forbid he go more than three days without bothering her with nonsensical questions or infuriating wit).

"Am I ugly, Minerva?" he asked. Never there was a being with such innocence in their voice.

Minerva took a moment to take in a breath and silently call on all her patience and all her strength. "Yes, very." Her tone was blunter than the knives used to decorate at Halloween- an incident with some particularly idiotic third years had them ban anything sharper than the corners of a book during the Halloween celebrations.

Severus gasped as if stabbed. "What? Minerva, I thought we were friends!"

Minerva snorted. "Any time we interact, it's completely against my will."

"Minerva! you lie so shamelessly it shocks me." Severus made as if to swoon, a hand clutching the right of his chest.

"You must be shocked; your heart isn't where it should be."

Honestly, Minerva had to admire the fact that the insolent little kitten did not falter in his dramatics with her pointing out the key flaw in his act. If anything, he seemed to be encouraged.

"Ay! The pain of the shock, it has spread throughout my chest! Ah, I cannot breathe!" Severus swayed on his feet, leaning against the chair that Minerva was sitting in. "Oh, how your lie shocks me!"

"Well, then, you had better tell me what exactly I lied about," Minerva said briskly, "before you gasp all the air out of your skinny little lungs, laddie."

"You said," the boy said, a sudden glint in his eye and none of the apparent weakness, standing to face her and one of those long, delicate fingers pointed straight at her, "you said, that our interactions are without your will."

"That is no lie, what part of this looks like it's my will?" Minerva replied, knowing full well she wasn't going to appreciate the cheeky answer Severus had prepared for her.

"Why, the part where you remain for my company, mother," Severus replied, his voice light. "Surely, if you didn't want this, you would have, in your infinite wisdom, simply have employed your great power and assumed your famous feline form and just walked away from me."

Minerva fought her smile. His cheek was infuriating while his logic impeccable. "Perhaps I am simply conversing my energy, you arrogant wee rascal."

"You? Too lazy to avoid a nuisance?" Severus scoffed. "Minerva, you wound me. Don't you know how I know you? You've done much more to avoid the mildest of annoyances, do you truly think I believe that you are here against your will merely to converse your energy?"

Minerva let him see the flicker of a smile disgusted as a smirk, letting the bothersome raven have a little treat for his cleverness, hinting to him that he had essentially won this particular argument. "At my age you no longer have the patience to waste on annoyances. You learn to value your peace. You will understand that some day, I hope, little one."

"And if I die, my hair still black and my skin still smooth?"

Merlin, did the child have a turn towards the morbid. Minerva ignored the voice in her that told her that this would have been a retort of her own had she been in a similar conversation.

"Then you'll die a fool."

"A fool, perhaps, but my funeral will be the biggest," he replied, moving to sit on her desk and grabbing the biscuit jar. Minerva intercepted, lifting it from his grip and replacing it with a towel. His protests died in his confusion at the towel, and Minerva huffed and began to wipe his hands as if he was a child. She did not trust him to correctly clean his hands after handling goodness knows what when experimenting with his potions and she didn't care if he knew it.

"Aye, and how did you figure that?" she asked.

"Surely if I die young, I shall be the first. Therefore you all will be part of the funeral-"

"What makes you think I would want to attend your funeral, you little rascal?" She let go of his hands, almost satisfied that they weren't contaminated.

Severus ignored her and instead took a biscuit from the jar. "You will all be there, therefore I will have the biggest funeral. If I die old, you all shall be gone, so my funeral will be the smallest."

Minerva tried not to think of how depressing that sounded, how lonely it seemed. For a brief moment she felt guilty for being so old and he so young. She involuntarily could see him in her mind's eye, going through their funerals until he stood alone. She and the others- Rolanda, Pomona, Poppy, even Fillus and Hagrid- they were all of an age, weren't they? They could expect their lives to reach the end around the same time, surely? Severus was but a child next to them, he'd stand alone one day.

Minerva tried to ignore the ache in her chest at the thought of him standing alone. Merlin, no. He was far too young. No.

"You truly are besotted with the morbid and the miserable, you melanchonic masochist," she said, her tone just a trifle too sharp to be a simple retort.

Severus paused, swallowing the biscuit. Then he answered. "Ah, but the morbid is much more fascinating, the forbidden has a certain thrill, dear mother." His voice was a little softer, and his fingers, slightly coated in crumbs, were gentle when he tapped her forehead. He was sorry he upset her.

"You and your thrills," Minerva scolded, "yet you cannot even eat a biscuit without making a mess of yourself." Yet even as she spoke, the hand that she used to swipe the crumbs away, was gentle, almost tender, in its movement. She had quite forgiven him.

How could she remain angry? At this boy who looked at her with a scowl of indignation yet whose deep, dark eyes twinkled with mischief and cleverness and brilliance, who stood taller than her, yes, yet was far more delicate in his build than she had ever been, whose hair was as dark as hers had been in her youth, carelessly falling across his forehead. No, she could not remain angry.

If only he had been in Gryffindor, perhaps then she would have noticed him sooner. Or rather, if only her eyes didn't only open for her Gryffindors. How this boy could ever look at her without resentment and anger, she didn't know. Then again, he had been so incredibly isolated and lonely, was it any wonder he let go of his rightful grudges and instead accepted her friendship?

Minerva blinked as if soot from the fireplace got in her eyes. She didn't want him to notice the tears that almost inevitably formed whenever she thought about him. Who would have thought that she'd cry so much for the little devil?

"I'll leave you to your work, dear mother," Severus said cheerfully, hopping off her desk.

"Aye, after you've cleared out my biscuit jar, you villain" Minerva grumbled, looking into the empty jar. Severus shrugged.

"You ought to see it as a compliment towards your taste, really," Severus said. "But I see I have taken the last of your patience"- for indeed, Minerva looked ready to strangle him- "so I shall take my leave. Good night, my good Headmistress, and may you have peace in the silver embrace of the moon!"

And with a laughing twinkle in his eye and a boyish bow, Severus Snape left the room.

Minerva sighed. She wasn't sure if it was out of relief, or because she may have felt some sorrow at his departure.

The door opened again, and a rather meek Severus poked his head in.

"Er, Minerva?" he asked.

"Yes, Severus?"

"Er." Severus stepped in, looking away from her, walking with the awkward gait of a newborn foal, and the nervousness of a deer. "Er, Minerva?"

"Yes, Severus?"

"Am I really ugly, mother?" His voice was a whisper. His raven hair curtained his face, hiding his shame at asking such a pathetic question, and his fingers picked at one of the cuticles of a nail.

Minerva smiled, and walked to him. Softly she brushed the boy's hair out of his face and gently tucked it behind his ear.

"Only as long as you let yourself believe it, dear heart."

[isfjmel-phleg]

Despite his short tenure and the relatively small impact that the narrative allowed him to have, Ray was in fact a "real" member of YJ, not just a temp, and here's why.

He is specifically recruited as a replacement for two full-fledged members who recently left. This is a major plot of an entire issue, and his addition was significant enough to be the focal point of the cover. No one makes any suggestion that this is meant to be a temporary appointment (although Cassie does intend to try to use him to lure Bart back).

(Young Justice 1998 #41)

Once Tim returns, the team tries to dismiss Ray. He seems insulted by this and makes it clear that his understanding was that the position was a long-term one.

(#46)

There's a whole argument about this. The original members are suddenly less keen on adding new people (this wasn't a problem for them when Anita or Lobo came on board, though) and try to dismiss Ray as too old. He argues that they need him more than he needs them. Tim tries to offer putting him on reserve.

But after Ray intervenes in a fight between Kon and Cassie and puts Kon in his place, there's no further question of his belonging on the team, and he runs in the election for team leader alongside the others.

This is all very different from, say, the team that fills in for Young Justice when they briefly take a hiatus during #24 (Batgirl, CM3, Lagoon Boy, Flamebird, and Beast Boy). There's no storyline about seeking these people out, they stick around for only one issue, and there's no expectation from either them or the regular team that they will do more than fill in. These characters are definitely temps. So is the large crowd that comes to help out Anita invade a country in #49-51.

But Ray continues with the team even after Bart and Tim return, and there's no further discussion of dismissing him. When the whole team is pictured together, he's there. When Greta polls her teammates about helping her break her father out of prison, she asks Ray too. He's involved in all major missions, and although he's not very developed or prominently featured, he does have his moments to shine (...often literally. sorry).

(#47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)

He is among the team in the climactic battle with Secret and pictured in the panel in which the team welcomes her back when she is restored to life. He is standing some distance away watching, but so is Anita. They're both on this team, but they don't have the long-standing friendship with Greta that the original team does.

(#55)

Is Ray particularly significant to the narrative as a whole? No.

Did he get to establish meaningful bonds with the others? No.

Was he a good fit for the team overall? Also no. (I maintain that they should have brought in someone like Grant Emerson, who is closer in age to the others, has previous experience working with Bart and with other teenagers, and would have been unaffiliated by that time, rather than nineteen-year-old JLA-er Ray, who has much less in common with these kids.)

But as weird and random as his addition was, he absolutely was a full-fledged member of Young Justice. And come on...have you read his series? There's so much that could have been made of his working with this new team. Why don't we play with that more?

[starshower1215]

Beware of my own rant, because this post reached back into my mind and pulled out my adoration for Blitzstone and my own viewpoint as an avid supporter of Blitzstone's ambiguous nature.

Reading Blitzstone content like this always gets me trembling with some deep feeling of internal satisfaction. You have it completely correct, Aestophobia (or Summer, I mean). I recall an analysis post I had made about them, I believe making a connection between the fandom's desire for Riordan's confirmation of Blitzstone as romantic and a need for external validation of something (in a sense, that isn't articulated as well as I'd like it to be). I had detailed all about how there was no need for a kissing scene or a confession scene, or even any explicit scene which marks the two as "canon." For multiple reasons. For one, what if the nature of their relationship isn't romantic? Or what if it is romantic, but they don't prefer kissing or such? That exists as a romantic relationship, it's just on the asexual spectrum. A lack of kissing doesn't invalidate the romance. Or another, why do we even need such scenes to confirm someone's love for someone else, when it is so clearly shown, as Summer said?

I never cease to get frustrated when I remember how somebody responded to that post, in the most point-missing manner, saying that "kisses are fun to read." It makes me want to tear myself apart every time I think of it, because that wasn't the damn point. From my perspective, just that sentence had cheapened my analysis, and my entire viewpoint, to such a shallow response. If you like romantic Blitzstone, that's fantastic. I do, too, I think it's a really fun thing to explore. But there's so much to be learned from the fact that they aren't confirmed to be romantic in nature. There's so much room for so much else, and in reality, "romantic" is merely a label, and while labels clear things up for sure, they also limit. I really believe we all should be more open-minded towards how the author has truly portrayed them, and really, a lot of characters in general by a lot of authors, instead of viewing them through our biased lenses. That's completely fine to do so, but it has to be kept within fanon territory. Blitzen and Hearth canonically love each other any way, it's incredibly apparent. The only thing we're really searching for here is the label, which isn't necessary.

And then on top of that, I just want to add that a romantic relationship is built off of the foundation of a friendship. This is why romance is something "more than friends." But that also means that a lot of the love in romance is really just pure love you find in a friendship, too. Hearth and Blitz have a lot of chemistry, but they could, literally, be friends. Not "just friends," as they obviously have a deeper connection, but truly, romance isn't the only incredibly intimate connection out there.

ngl one of Rick Riordan's weirdest choices was not having Blitz and Hearth be married. like Richard they're married, they have more chemistry and are more natural and at ease with each other than almost any other Riordanverse characters, they're not made for each other's environments but they both have ways to get around it when they need to and they're both more comfortable mentally in Midgard's middle ground anyway, they're outcasts in their societies, they see the strengths and beauties in each other that nobody else does

literally in every way they're the couple ever