#i'd love for them to talk about graveyards and like

[brucewaynehater101]

Look maybe it’s just me but if I saw my little brother spiraling I wouldn’t just corner him in a graveyard once to talk about therapy then let him fuck off to go globe trotting

I mean... kind of I'm trying to be more canon accurate in my posts, so I apologize for correcting ya.

Cassie was the one to meet Tim in the graveyard. Dick met him at the city bounds.

Here's a funny pic of Dick as payment

Bruh. I'd either be so intimidated or so mad if Dick did this to me.

"We need to talk." After what Tim walked into of Damian wearing the Robin suit because Dick didn't talk to him until after the suit was made? I'd be mad (this is not an anti Dick. This is just how I would feel).

Anyways. Dick didn't let Tim go. Tim held him at staff point and guilt tripped the man into letting him go (not anti-Tim either).

Re-reading it again, I still think Tim is an unreliable narrator.

However, Tim is all like, "Hey, I know I sound nuts. I know how it looks, but I know I'm right." He provided examples of how he can, in fact, understand where Dick is coming from.

And then Dick is all like, "I know how you feel, but you need a therapist." Which... yes, but that's not the point. Tim is bringing up all this horrid shit in his life and acknowledging how he understands Dick's viewpoint (while also saying Dick is only there cause Cassie called him). Then Dick claims to understand Tim's perspective, but only from Dick's "Tim must be seeing things where isn't anything instead of grieving" viewpoint.

Basically, they aren't communicating with each other efficiently (they are also physically fighting each other while doing this too).

It's a mess. A hot mess.

Dick is trying:

But he's also just not listening to Tim. He's not giving Tim the benefit of the doubt. He's concerned af, but he's not listening or trusting Tim. He's just going at it from his own worried mentality that Tim's going down a conspiracy bender. I don't blame Dick for not communicating well (poor man is going through so much at this point [Damian, JLA, switching to Batman, etc]).

However, I also understand Tim's perspective. He doesn't trust Dick to actually listen to him. Dick wants to help Tim Dick's way and not what Tim believes he needs.

I personally get very very triggered if my boundaries are not met. If someone held on after I told them to let go? Yeah. Hands are being thrown. I also get triggered if people try to force me to do shit, don't listen to me, or try to do "what's best for me" when I've told them no. Real quick way to get cut off by me.

That's off topic, lmao.

Anyways, Dick kind of let Tim go, but that's because Tim forced him to. It wasn't because Dick didn't care, but he didn't care in the way Tim wanted him to (debatable if that's not how Tim needed either).

I'm curious. Are there any comics that cover that scene from Dick's POV? I'd appreciate it if anyone could let me know ^^

Also, I agree I would not do what Dick did here. On the other hand, my siblings and I have worked very very hard for the relationships we have. It's taken years of trial and error to get the boundaries and level of communication the way it is. We all agree to allow the others to make decisions for themselves and fight their own battles unless otherwise asked (I had a habit of trying to help and fix the situation for them when I was a teen. Now we just inform and offer help. Lots of acknowledgment for boundaries as well). If my siblings want to make dumb decisions, I let them. Just as they would for me. I might tell them I think that's dumb as hell, but it's their life.

If Tim was my sibling, I'd say something like, "I'm not sure I believe you, but I trust you. If this is what you need, if you think this is true, I'll support you. Would you like my direct assistance with this?"

If they say no, then I'll respond with, "Okay. I can handle Gotham as long as you keep me in the loop. If it's been 48 hours without contact, I will hunt you down. I love you."

Then we'd hug goodbye.

On the other other hand, there's not this age gap between us. Dick is 7 or so years older than Tim, and Tim is a teen. Dick may feel it's his responsibility to look after Tim and might be hitting the road bumps I did with my siblings (of giving them the respect and trust to handle their own issues as well as know what they need).

So, the situation is a hot mess :)

[madforhoran]

Astarion & the seductive vampire trope

"The whole idea of a bite on the neck may seem exciting to some audiences, and the dark, occult, and taboo concepts have helped keep vampires popular for so long." (x)

I'd like to bring up this banter between spawn!Astarion and Jaheira, specifically her emphasis on Astarion's non-vampiric charms.

Astarion presents himself as suave and mysterious at first, trying his seduction attempts once you reach a certain approval threshold.

The initial bite scene where Tav offers Astarion their neck is shown and described as being overtly sexual, playing heavily into “sexy vampire is sexy because he’s sexy and nothing more” fantasy. Even more so when Tav allows him to bite during sex. Astarion enjoys it, Tav enjoys it too, and it nets approval. After the sex scene he uses the cliche "I didn't want to go too far" formula, implying if he'd lose control, he could hurt you (pretty much like Edward in Twilight).

The facade cracks a bit when Tav discusses any future feeding. Even if the feeding was enjoyable on Tav’s end, he isn't very enthusiastic when Tav says "you can feed on me but let's talk about it first". Instead, he's happy and approves the suggestion of feeding on villains who are about to die anyway.

[However, you can RP this situation both ways, confirm you enjoyed it and keep the feeding option available by not going along with feeding on villains, or that it hurt and you only did it to make him stronger and agreeing with feeding on villains effectively removes "you can feed on me tonight" option from the dialogue.]

The same facade cracks fully in act 2 after the confrontation with Araj. It's an optional encounter and you don't get to experience it if you already had the confession after killing Yurgir, but it gives insight into how Astarion doesn't want to be seen as an object of someone's vampire fantasy.

"I'm sorry, you want to be bitten?"

"There's nothing more desirable than a vampire, is there?"

It’s also very obviously pointed out when Tav suggests he should be throwing himself at them as a thank you.

During the confession after Yurgir, there's a little bit more insight given how Astarion feels bad for treating Tav like one of Cazador's victims.

Act 3 is obviously the big choice where Astarion gets to decide if he remains a spawn or ascends.  Putting the morality of this aside, one choice follows and progresses Astarion's development while the other puts him back to square one.

We also need to take into account Cazador's abusive gaslighting which made Astarion think of himself as a prostitute and that he's only good for one thing - sex & luring victims.

Spawn!Astarion is the same man who in act 2 apologises for manipulating Tav and who doesn't want to use his body as a tool anymore. He professes his genuine love and suggests having sex freely without any sort of manipulative intent behind it. Tav has seen him for who he is and who he can be in the future. The graveyard scene symbolises his rebirth and a new journey.

"You believed I was enough, just the way I am."

Hence bringing up the banter with Jaheira and her mentioning “non-vampiric charms”. Tav loves the man, not the vampire. There’s no more need for performing.

ascendant!Astarion is the vampire reverted back to act 1 where his behaviour was originally just a front but has now been affirmed by ascension - that this is how he should be. He's over the top seductive, even luring Tav to become his spawn. He admits this is the game he knows how to play - luring someone with sweet words (that he continues to use after Tav becomes his spawn - lovers eternal, precious treasure, pet.)

When Tav helps Astarion ascend, what happened in act 2 doesn't matter anymore - not his personhood or boundaries. Hence dialogue options such as "I want you, I want your body" or "I want to be a vampire like you" are in there once Tav speaks to him and he asks what would they desire in return for granting him powers because he's only good for that one thing.

He becomes the vampire trope,

becomes what Cazador taught him to be.

[tomurakii]

My last post about bloodweave was pretty negative (though necessarily so imo) so I wanted to talk about the little things about the bloodweave dynamic that I DO like and want to see more of in fic (under the cut).

- the orb means Astarion can't start their relationship transactionally. Gale can't give Astarion blood, and also can't have sex with him (and presumably would refuse casual sex anyway). How would the relationship develop without Astarion being able to rely on the give-and-take, forced instead to just trust Gale will watch his back? Astarion isn't a plans guy, I imagine having to come up with something on the spot (considering none of the other companions are reeaaaally an option either) would lead to a lot more emotional vulnerability as he tries to take a route he has much less experience with. Not to mention that the flirty and standoffish front isn't exactly going to endear him to Gale, who approves of the capable, loyal, and righteous. How long can Astarion pretend to be invested in Gale's wellbeing before it becomes true?

- they both have bad ascension endings, but different natural outcomes. Gale is considered the more morally upstanding one, but in their solo states (without the player's influence) Gale will go through with ascension and Astarion won't. Would they goad each other on? Gale disapproves of Astarion's ascension, using arguments that could apply to himself about the personal sacrifice and loss of the soul. Would Astarion flip them around, become defensive? Their dynamic could mean the power hungry character ending up discouraging the pursuit of godhood, or the two of them hurtling over the edge together. Or, maybe, Astarion encouraging Gale to ascend and having to trust him to return.

- they're the party members with the most life experience, and they're also both pretty well-educated (even if Astarion's law qualifications may well have expired by the events of the game). He spent his time under Cazador sewing (like Gale in his Baldur's Gate epilogue) and learning languages (of which Gale knows four). They have enduring common interests beyond their circumstances. Gale can help Astarion rediscover the latent nerd potential he lost when he died, and lord knows he would love to pick his brain for a first hand account of the mid-to-late 12th century.

- Astarion recently regained hope for his future when the tadpole freed him, Gale recently lost all of it. While act 1 is a continuous series of positive discoveries for Astarion (tadpole frees him from cazador -> ceremorphosis is held off by the dream visitor -> tadpole can be controlled), Gale's life gets worse with time as his treatment stops working. It's a dynamic that could give Gale hope, force Astarion to practise empathy, or put them completely at odds.

- Astarion's all-encompassing desire to reclaim his life could be inspiring to Gale. Moreover, I imagine seeing just how passive Gale is about his death would infuriate him. To have so little regard for his real, mortal, free life? It's a great source of angst, and also a great starting point for Gale to start wanting to live again. Because after learning about Astarion's past he would agree, he'd recognise how much value a mortal life was supposed to have. He'd think himself ungrateful or impolite for entertaining the idea of throwing it away when Astarion would give anything to have what he had. This would lead to guilt, and potentially self-loathing, unless someone was there to help pick up the pieces.

- If Astarion meets Oblodra before Gale's act 2 romance scene, (or for a fanfic plot, just before Gale is confident enough to confess) they most likely won't have sex until the graveyard scene in late act 3 (or the post-ascension equivalent). It means that rather than the fuckfest we so often see from bloodweave fics, the relationship is almost entirely a slow-burning, emotionally intimate affair. I'd really love to see that play out, the progression from semi-horny yearning on both parts as the orb keeps them apart, to two love confessions that are followed by the both of them experiencing non-sexual intimacy for the first time in years. I doubt Mystra was one to hug her chosen, after all, or hold their hands.

I just love a bg3 ship that forces the characters to take different actions than they do in canon. It makes me feel like I'm developing a broader understanding of the characters, you know?

[thesmpisonfire]

Okay so, I wanna talk about my sonboy Richas, my guy Felps, their relationship, and everything about yesterday as well

So, lets go :D

First thing, Felps actually really don't like taking care of Richas when he's without his armor

Felps has the terrible memory of being the one (together with Cellbit) to watch Richas first death. The three were at a cave and Felps and Cellbit were taken down first and had to watch Richas getting swarmed and die far from their grasp

The death was reverted, but still, when Felps logged in next time, Richas had JUST died to the bull again, so he already had 1 life. It was the very same day, just a couple hours after. Felps always reinforced about the armor, to the point he didn't let Richas take it off even when safe at Foolishs place when he could see Leo didn't wear it

Felps fucking loves that kid, he's just the quieter dad. He won't scream that much, when he panics, he shuts down and focus on the problem. He's the best dad to talk about feelings and often is the one who talks Richas out of his spiraling self deprecating thoughts, while other dads don't have the same touch

Felps has the patience to talk with Richas and hear Richas points. He always is the one talking him into a shower even if it takes a whole trip beforehand so Richas can have fun before it. He sings a lil song to get him through a shower. Ever since he came back from the lab, he trusts Richas a lot with his own strength, he knows Richas can defend himself even better than Felps can defend himself

It means a lot that Felps is the only dad Richas will listen to more easily, even if sometimes it takes a lot of talk and bargain to do so. Richas is a difficult kid, he channels all his sadness and pain into being silly and overly courageous, which means he will be a disobedient kid, he will put himself in danger, he won't listen to his dads if he can make a joke about it and it has been getting worse lately

Richas is Not doing okay, he's constantly scared of losing the ones he love, he feels easily replaceable which makes him panic and act out in 'jealousy'. He has said before he fears his siblings don't really like him and it's why he always wants to have family around, he knows he's a problem and has even apologized to Bad about it once. He thinks he can't express his love through words when he has written so many beautiful things, he paints bc its how he thinks he can better translate his care

Yesterday, after Bad took him and Felps to the graveyard and out of it, Richas went back with Felps and put some flowers around their graves. A small talk started when Felps wondered if the dead eggs were looking down at them, but also couldn't really believe it because they'd be too far up there to actually see anything. Richas then said how people used to tell him Bobby was up in between the stars, but they stopped telling him that 'story'. Then, this talk happened

"Do you think they'd [Dead eggs Richas never met] like me?"

"Ofc they would! Everyone loves you! They'd love you, Richas"

"If I had died today, would I meet them?"

Felps goes quiet for a couple seconds here, then goes back to talking

"Maybe, maybe not. We can never be sure, Richas. What if you died and it's just nothing after, huh? It's a big bet. You can't keep thinking like that and then go throw yourself in front of a zombie horse to find out if they're at the other side"

"Yeah, I wouldn't be able to annoy all the dads, it wouldn't be worth it... I'd miss you all so much" (He used the word saudade)

"Awwn... But you would be dead, Richas. We would be the ones missing you, we would be the ones staying behind"

And to me this is a very telling moment. Because Richas didn't realize people would miss him as well, he just thought about how he'd miss being with the others. He also says how he'd be in hell, missing his family but also laughing at tragedy. When Felps asks why hell, Richas goes "You really think I'd end up in heaven? With the way I am?"

Felps spends the rest of the stream hyping Richas up, telling him how much he's loved and how much everyone cares for him. Felps manages to get through Richas after a while, and they have a nice moment together. Richas already arrived to the square without armor, after having recently argued with Forever about it, and Felps didn't mind bc that area was all lightened up so less mobs were spawning, plus the aforementioned trusts he has on Richas

No one expected the horse because it came from outside the square, right out the border, and literally fell on top of them. Felps was quick to go after it, and Richas was caught out of surprise and got height damage as well, eating through 2 totems (and also having to switch out the other ones from his hand due to the rule)

Felps was smart about the horse, he always hit up high so there wouldn't be any risk of a misclick, he hit crit after crit pushing the horse away so he could better kill it without risking Richas, and he did it! I understand BBHs scare but everything was already solved and Richas was halfway being revived already

If anything, the trip to the cemetery scared Felps more than it did Richas. Richas is well used to the threat of death, he plays with it by jumping into mines and purposefully walking without armor around Forever. But Felps isn't. He wants his kid safe, he wants him alive. Felps was willing to never come back if it meant Richas could have an extra life, he would die over and over for that kid

After everything, he talked with Richas, and the kid didn't rlly need to be convinced to wear his armor now that he knew how the square can be tricky. Felps didn't need to yell, or compare Richas to anyone, or play lil games. Just a talk, and Felps' trust that Richa would now do his part, and he did!

Each mob they encountered next, Richas and Felps stayed side by side. Felps let Richas kill them first bc he knows Richas likes it, but always helping and telling him how he was doing it well. When they were rowing around later in the boat, music playing, Felps went on about how it was all that mattered

Richas was alive, Felps was alive, they got a scare but they were okay now. And it was all worth it for these calm, happy moments. These were the ones that should be remembered, the ones that made it all worth it

[goodmode]

This sounds stupid but if ants had swear words what would they be about

I LOVE THIS QUESTION i get to use it for worldbuilding while i have fun with it. here

ant poop is called "frass". which is a great word because it's short and snappy and begins with F and has ass in it and a nice sharp sound. you bet they are saying this word in every context. this is the go-to curse word

corpse pheromones. there's a scent ants give off when they die that tells other ants to pick them up and take them to the trash/graveyard, for good housekeeping. if a live ant gets the smell on them they'll go hang out in the trash because they're like well i smell like a dead ant so i guess i belong in the trash. i think it's probably common to slander things by saying something that literally means "covered in corpse smell" and figuratively means it belongs far away from the colony/is undesirable. that or to call someone out for being deliberately useless/unhelpful/lazy by saying "do you smell [dead ants] on yourself or something"

death spirals/ant mills. (link has a gif of real ants doing this, fair warning for anyone reading this who doesn't wanna see bugs). can be co-opted to talk in angry or hushed tones about anything that's badly informed, unwise, or crazy. but it's considered kind of crass and insensitive to use the word that way. i.e. "her plan is stupid. if you ask me she's leading a mill" "omg you can't say that...."

when it's alate season, male ants will apparently often mount the female in the air and then they'll finish that business on the ground. i bet you £50 there are words for skyfucking (kinky) and groundfucking (ordinary)

trophallaxis (the sharing of food/pheromones/etc via the mouth) is a normal thing they do every day all the time so i also think it would be funny if you could say "wouldn't kiss him if he was starving" and have other ants clutch their pearls at the insensitivity because it implies "wouldnt care if he dies lol". (and bonus points if "kiss" has absolutely no romantic connotations)

i'm at work or i'd keep going. maybe i will later. also please take my ant facts with a pinch of salt because there are a zillion types of ants and not all of them have the same ecology etc

[yuri-is-online]

Hi Yuri! I hope you are doing well<333 I really enjoy reading your writing and I am always more fond of reading the little octatrio fish gang! I dont really know how this usually works because I never send in any asks at all nor do I see your rules list or anything but if you dont mind I would like to make a request<3

A mc who finds an out of tune and old piano and fondly remembers that they used to play piano back in their world. And perhaps Azul hears in on this and despite the piano being old and out of tune, it is rather beautiful how you play it because of how imperfect the notes are being played out. (SORRY I WAS LISTENING TO FALLEN DOWN AND THE FEELINGS WERE JUST SURGING AND THE BRAINROT WAS TOO MUCH)

You dont have to force yourself or anything! Please take care and dont feel too pressured! <3

The Most Romantic of All Arts (Azul Ashengrotto x Yuu)

Hello dear friend and I am doing quite well thank you! I'm pleased you like my writing; the octotrio is what finally cracked my resolve to check out Twisted Wonderland and put FGO on the back burner so I suppose I shouldn't beat myself up too much for writing about them so much. I am sorry I caused you stress with my lack of rules, I don't usually send requests or asks myself, so I felt really bad to have frightened you. Not too sure if this will end up being what you had in mind, it got away from me a bit.

Also when you say Fallen Down, you do mean the Undertale soundtrack piece right? It's a soothing song I listened to it while I was plotting this to try and get into a similar headspace.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, header taken from the painting Spirit by George Roux (1885) which I found on this wordpres blog article I took the title from, it's a neat painting, Azul learning to find beauty and love in imperfections is important to me ok? Other works can be found on my masterlist here.

Sometimes you wonder if Ramshakle is sentient. The old building has more rooms than you know what to do with, and lovely as the ghosts are they don't fully remember what they were used for, if they remembered in the first place. But still there was something about those rooms that seemed to love you; he guest room almost built itself up around you, the kitchen had only needed some basic repairs before it was ready to help play host again, and no matter where a fire place was found it was always eager to burst to life and warm you and Grim.

It does not have the same love for Azul, he'd complained as much when you talked about just what it was he wanted with the building after the events of his overblot had cooled between you.

"It's got a graveyard in front of it, though?" That really had been the crux of your whole argument. It was hard to be annoyed with his laugh when it sounded so nice, the genuine amusement a refreshing difference to his previous performitive indifference.

"Yes," he muses, sipping at his real before he continues, "I'm not bothered by that much, ghosts and grave ships aren't uncommon sights under the sea, but I always forget how unusual humans think they are."

"There's a lot of superstitions about places where people are buried." You mean it as an explanation, but it brings an odd look to Azul's face, like there's an emotion bubbling beneath his surface he doesn't want to acknowledge but is too strong to suppress. It settles over you both, as you try to focus on drinking your tea while your host seems content to let his grow cold.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing that ruin isn't really sentient." He sounds almost bitter, disappointed in how long he has let his drink cool you decide as he reaches for the pot and warms it with some fresh tea. "Otherwise, I'd accuse it of trying to keep you."

It's a silly thought, but the sight of this latest discovery really does have you wondering. You are supposed to be in that wonderfully accommodating kitchen making snacks for when Azul decides to "coincidentally drop by" later this evening to "go over the Lounge's expenses" in your guest room. On a Tuesday. When it was almost guaranteed business would be slow enough to keep anyone from wondering too hard about where he'd gone or the twins from being too upset about running things. But instead of "just wanting to try" a new recipe, you are here, tucked in a room just a bit further down the hall from the guest room watching Grim give his best impression of Ace after completing a magic trick. Because stars know he has never seen any other magicians.

"TA-DA!" He puts both of his paws out to really sell the piano at the window. "See, I told you I had a great surprise!"

"I'm sorry for not believing you." You say and try not to laugh with just how much more proud that seems to make him. "But where did you find this? Or how I guess, unless you moved it?"

"Nah." He shakes his head before remembering he's supposed to be the "great" Grim. "I mean I could have! But I'm just so cool I managed to find a piano here already, so all I had to do was clean it up instead! You're welcome henchuman." You scratch just behind his ears and politely ignore his purrs as you examine the piano and its bench. They're old, likely just as ancient as everything else in the dormitory and likely extremely, achingly out of tune. But the mere sight of it makes your fingers itch, and Grim barely has to whine "Well ain't you gonna play somethin'?" Before you're at the bench, experimentally pressing the keys to try and sound out something.

Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are-

You hum it rather than sing, irrationally worried Grim will somehow figure out it's a lullaby and complain that you're babying him instead of cutely dancing along with the music like it's one of the cassettes Deuce let you borrow. He cheers for another, and you oblige, letting your muscle memory carry you as far as it can as you try searching your brain for just what it was you wanted most to hear from yourself after all this time being unable to play.

And missing the click of a heavy door down the hall in the effort.

Azul hears nothing at first, and though it does disappoint, it does not bother him. He's had a long day, one about to be made longer still by the grey zone already draping itself around his thoughts as he shrugs his blazer off to his shoulders while en route to the Ramshackle guest room. He pauses, for what he tells himself is only going to be second, at the kitchen door and is left unrewarded for his detour.

You aren't there: and that does bother him somewhat, even if it should not if his pretext is to be believed. These visits were too commonplace to be random, but maybe you'd made plans, deciding not to look past his excuses for the evening. Maybe you were asleep, tired of the day or just plain tired of him. But there is a kettle sat on it's base, mercifully not on just yet, but two mugs and the pour over cone set next to as if it was expecting company. The nerves remain knotted in his stomach, though the cause shifts towards something more welcome.

So you do have a mug purposefully set aside and designated just for him, and is that a little recpie card with notes on coffee taped to that tin? These things should worry him, the picture he snaps and immediately hides in a folder should be for a purpose. But it's separate from those ones, labeled something inane and barely full with how careful he is to have his longing remain unseen. He wonders, briefly if it would be an intrusion to make the drinks himself. If it would reveal to much to show outright he knows the way you take yours instead of just saying it in time with your order, but knows that would not be the exact issue here. He is a guest, and guests limit themselves to the halls and that room he forces himself, with haste that would be noticeable if you were there to see it, back down the hall and back towards the guest room. Azul has work to do, he can content himself with the warmth the mental image the cups on the counter produces until something forces him to pause at a door once more. The piano is old, droning out a tune that is unpolished and rusty from the player's lack of practice but filled with such a specific sort of joy it has him actually running towards it.

You sit at the bench, a serious look of determination on your face so unlike the usual Yuu it can't help but be cute. Grim sleeps contentedly on your lap as you continue searching for the threads of melody still trapped inside your head from years of only occasionally reluctant practice. It's an unfamiliar tune in composition, but not in feel. There's words to this song, maybe not in the form of lyrics, but there all the same for him to stumble even closer to as he comes to a halting stop just behind you and the music ends in a surprised crash as you whip your head around to see him.

"Azul!"

"Very sorry to interrupt." He holds up both hands in surrender, composure only just maintained as you check to see Grim still asleep and laugh nervously. "I didn't know you could play."

"Can't really." You say somewhat bitterly and more confidence comes to Azul as a slight plan froms in his mind. "I'm really out of practice ugh. I know it shouldn't annoy me! But with how everything's been since I showed up, it's just not been on my mi- Oh hello?"

Azul fully removes his jacket and sets it on a side table close to where he had been satanding, moving to sit on the bench next to you. He has enough mercy not to loosen his tie or do anything else scandalous, but the close examination he gives to the keys could have fooled you. "Pity it's so out of tune, this is a nice piano."

"I know right! I'm really happy Grim found it." You resist the urge to poke his cheeks some and Azul lightly, trying not to too openly relish in your surprise reaches one arm around your back to place his hands into a similar position as you had been earlier, tucking you close to his side.

"May I?" He's smug. Too smug it's robbing you of sanity.

"What's it going to cost?" You try too hard not to sound like you're flailing as you look to see your question hasn't even phased him at all.

"Oh normally I wouldn't dream of charging for a performance," he clearly lies "but it's been such a long day I wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee." And he's off, music only marred by the off key of the piano in a clearly purposeful display of talent meant to sear itself into your mind enough that you don't think about his request too long. You and he are from two different worlds, but he knows that music has a way of gapping that if the stories of the mermaid princess told him anything at all. So when he purposefully slows the song at its end, he knows you know, that tricky smile he swore once he'd always hate kicking his heartbeat up again as you lean fully against his shoulder.

"Beautiful." You say, not bothering to give the compliment direction as he can't help but agree. "We should play together next time."

"I-" You pick yourself up and what he wants to say slows when you pick up his jacket for him and hold out a hand. Later, he all to easily decides. Later, without Grim and with specific time set purposefully aside so you know just how much it matters. "I would like that. You'll have to show me the songs that you can remember from your world." And he takes your hand just to soothe some of the ache, trying and failing not to show just how happy he is when you keep it.

[neechees]

Do you know if there are more places to research the Rossdale powerplant in Edmonton? The city website just says "oh we reburied the remains so it's all good now lmao" which I don't believe. I tried looking at the Papaschase Band website too but their history page didn't get very much into it

Oh ill tell you about it right now in addition to getting you more sources lmfao

According to this, some of the more recent graves that they found at Rossdale plant were reburied in 2016 at the Fort Edmonton Traditional Burial Site. However, i think there was more graves than this, and wouldn't be surprised if there were more under the current plant location even now rather than just around it. According to my Kohkum, there was also more graves around the bridge that sits directly across the plant and leads to the other end of the River Valley.

The whole River Valley area was traditionally Blackfoot land first, but eventually other tribes would come in to trade and host various ceremonies together, particularly near where the river is (which is also where Rossdale plant is), and that's also where a lot of our dead are buried. So for hundreds of years, what is now called "Edmonton" was essentially a Native city & gathering place, and the reason this area was turned INTO a (colonized) city of Edmonton is because the settlers saw that a lot of Natives were here, and they thought it would be convenient to settle the area so they could convert us to Christianity, and/or replace the Indigenous population. This is true for a lot of other cities across Canada, such as Wetaskiwin, Heart Lake (which is where Native couples often got married). Edmonton also has a terrible history of VERY bad racism & segregation, land theft, and displacement.

I mention all this because the trouble is, this place has been occupied by Natives for thousands of years, and so there's graveyards & sacred spaces everywhere, especially near the river valley, and they would have started construction during the time they didn't give a shit if they were disturbing our dead OR living. I could believe they potentially moved the bones and reburied them when they were first building the plant, but I don't know WHERE or when they did it.

The land where Rossdale Plant is located now was traditionally called Pêhonân which means "waiting place" in Cree (this coincidentally is also the name for what is now Fort Carlton, Saskatchewan). All that I've just talked about in this video here under the section "Rossdale Flats" starting at 7:23. Below is an old photo of the Rossdale Flatts where Natives were still camping out

The Cree band Nêhiyawak has a band called "Pehonan" that did the score for the documentary Ôtênaw, and their cover for this album features the memorial statue that's there, but this is from a bottom view with the camera looking up. When upright, the memorial looks like a four poled tipi sitting atop a circle, which I've added as the right photo. I think the plant also thinks this memorial makes up for the colonization and such but obviously, it doesn't.

Now some lovely sources for you:

If you have a vimeo account, there's an oral history documentary called Ôtênaw about the city of Edmonton and the River Valley that iirc also talks about the Rossdale Plant (but again, the surrounding River Valley is also relevant to the plant) that you can watch here. I had the pleasure of meeting the person who narrates the video (Dwayne Donald) & learning from him directly.

Here's a video with a teensy bit of info

Here's a free PDF that talks about Edmonton & Rossdale plant

Here is a paper that talks about the history of the Rossdale Plant as well as mentioning the graveyards during the construction of the plant.

The last paper I linked, in my opinion, still reads from a more settler Canadian point of view and doesn't really take the Indigenous history of Edmonton there seriously, and so I'd say read it critically. One thing is that I find it interesting that in this paper while it does the bare minimum of mentioning its important history with First Nations, later it reverts to saying the area was a "wilderness" & "naturally shaped" & disregards the history once more to justify the construction of the plant (despite archeology in the River Valley finds that FN have been there for 12,000+ years). This paper also includes maps of the history of the plant's construction throughout the years, and includes a blank area that reads "no permanent human settlement, only First Nations camps" meaning, this paper doesn't take Indigenous people living at this site (or potential graveyards near there) as valid enough to call it our land, and once again, justifies the construction of the plant because no White people were there. Perhaps not out of malice, but it still very White centered and ignorant

So while several of these sources do say "we reburied the remains" (which I don't necessarily think they're lying, there were remains that were buried), I also don't think they're completely off the hook because it looks like the plant can barely stand to mention it's still on Native land at the end of the day.

[fangirlingnuisance]

"Goodbyes are bittersweet. But it's not the end, I'll see your face again."

- Walking In The Wind, One Direction

I never thought I would be 25 and writing about someone from One Direction's passing. The way I imagined it in my head, I'd be in a home with my teenage kids and they'd be the ones to tell me about it. Never in my wildest dreams would I think I'd get the news from my brother who just came home from his graveyard shift, waking me up at 8 in the morning, delivering the news that One Direction will never be complete again.

I admit, this has been a rollercoaster of emotions. I'm not even sure if it had completely sunken in. Having someone you grew up loving and who was vital to your formative years -- grow up to be someone you dislike, his passing has come with a wave of confusing emotions. It's been some time since I supported Liam the way I liked the career of the other boys. When his ex-fiancée Maya shared her traumatic experiences with him, I felt myself growing farther from him. This then made me question why in the wake of his death, my heart was broken into pieces.

That thought was answered through my tears and constant scrolling through social media in search of comfort and reassurance that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. Then I came across this tweet:

It all became so clear to me. I am grieving for the teenager who stayed up late, cried, laughed, cheered, screamed, and did everything because of One Direction. I grieve for that little girl in me who clung to them when I was going through some of the darkest days of my life. I am grieving the boy I grew up watching, the one I first loved in 1D. I was grieving the version of him I remember, not the version I barely knew. Call it parasocial, it is. But it's awfully difficult to detach when he was part of something that played such a big role in the way I am, the friends I have today, and the journey I had to go through to get where I am.

The ache I feel when people I used to constantly watch/listen to resurface and talk about him. It was like I was transported back to a time when everything felt easier in life but this one -- this is one of the most tragic ways to relive that feeling. Photos of him and the boys I lived through, lyrics of them plastered on different social media pages, the voice I used to hear when I wanted something comforting; they all have different meanings now.

I was silently rooting for him to get the proper help. I wanted him to realize his mistakes, learn from them, make amends, reap what he sewed, and go get better. He just needed a little more time.

But it's too late now. Wow, I can't even believe that this is real. Heavy is the weight of the news that came today and I still can't seem to really wrap my head around it. I find myself staring at the wall or at my phone screen, trying to make sense of it all. I don't even know why I decided to write this and post it here. I think maybe because this place was one of those places I frequented during those times, or maybe I wanted somewhere where I felt I could freely express this. I don't know. I just know I wanted to pay tribute to the boy I once knew, the boy I grew up with.

I am heartbroken, Liam. You will be missed, especially by those who loved you. I pray for your family, your parents, and your son. May they find light in such a dark time. 🤍🪽

Liam James Payne 1993-2024

[xx-midnight-candy-goblin-xx]

INTRO POST!! :D

[This will update over time]

Old blog: @midnight-candy-goblin (I can't access it anymore)

I'm taking drawing requests!! :)

The fandoms I'm in are;

TV show/movie/indie animation fandoms:

Helluva Boss

Hazbin Hotel

The Owl House

Heartstopper

The Amazing Digital Circus

Nimona

She Ra

Gravity Falls

Monkey Wrench

Death Note

The Hollow

RAMSHACKLE

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous

Jurassic World Chaos Theory

The Music Freaks

Carmen Sandiego 2019

Wild Kratts

How to Train Your Dragon

Rise of the Guardians

Coraline

Octonauts

Book fandoms:

Wings of Fire

Nimona

The Land of Stories

The Hunger Games

Loveless

Solitaire

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Heartstopper

Coraline

The Reappearance of Rachel Price

Webcomic fandoms:

Jackson's Diary

Castle Swimmer

School Bus Graveyard

Heartstopper

High Class Homos

Love Me to Death

Spicy Mints

Verses:

Hellaverse

Osemanverse

I post my art sometimes and make my own posts, but I mostly reblog things

He/they/it, chaotic bisexual, call me Goblin or Ado or Avocado (long story) (or any masculine name that starts with the letter A, really)

I live in Japan currently, but was raised in Washington State and Peru. I'm Peruvian-Japanese-American 🫡 Kuzco is my cousin btw (The Emporor's New Groove)

I speak English, Spanish, some German, and I'm learning Japanese. I also know Morse code ...././._../._../___ :)) (my Morse is a bit rusty though) I also know the runic alphabet and a code called Atbash.

Pfp art is NOT mine!!

Hola, me llamo Goblin. Hablo inglés, español, un poco de alemán y un poquitito de japonés.

Hallo, ich heiße Goblin, ich spreche Englisch, Spanisch, etwas Deutsch, und ein bisschen Japanisch.

私の名前はゴブリンです。 ごめんなさい英語を話せますか? (-_-;)

I'm a ✨minor✨

(but my doctor told me I have the maturity of a junior in college ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

If you ever want to talk about any of these fandoms 👏DON'T👏BE👏AFRAID👏TO👏ASK👏ME👏

I LOVE getting asks and messages, I want to get to know my mutuals and other followers better

Also if you have any recommendations (smth to watch/read) please tell me!! I won't get to it immediately, but (probably) at some point, so don't be afraid to recommend smth <3

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk :]

[Insta: xx_midnight_candy_goblin_xx

Pinterest (obviously I only post JD things, it has infested my mind): Ken Okamoto ]

I AM CRINGE BUT I AM FREE

Transphobes, racists, ableists, sexist, homophobes, pedophiles, zoophiles, DO NOT INTERACT.

Free Palestine. I will not be taking questions.

Time zones suck ass. Wdym you're eating lunch? It's midnight??

I am an atheist, but will say stuff like "Oh my god", "like god intended", "holy shit", etc

Yes, I write fics. No, I will not give you my ao3 acc. See if you can figure it out tho :)

I use Heelys still. Be more like me /hj

My favorite quote is "Suck it up, eat cookies." from my band teacher (9/9/22) However my head is FILLED with vine quotes

My art is (usually) tagged with #my art, my posts are tagged with #my post For reblogs regarding bigger fandoms, I probably won't tag them, but if it's a smaller fandom or something I want to find again then I usually will tag it properly

Rules for drawing requests: if you want something NSFW, it's an immediate no. However if it's something mildly explicit (some nudity, kissing, touching, etc) then ask through DMs. If it's something absolutely SFW then please use my asks! I'd like to make my art public. The drawing(s) most likely won't be fully finished drawings, but more like sketches or doodles. No OCs, only characters from the fandoms mentioned above. All drawing/sketches/doodles are COMPLETELY FREE!

I might take writing prompts soon, but we'll have to wait and see. . .

Thank you for reading!!

[jolyneart]

This'll be a long-ish post about my The Locked Tomb themed MTG deck and how I made like 20 versions of it before I decided to build it (and how I'm still working on it).

(I want to do legit art for this card)

If you are part of the Venn diagram of these two interests, or you want to see my slow descent into madness ovear a year of trying to put cardboard together, check the spoilers below.

So, I haven't been playing Magic for too long (a bit over a year). Weirdly I have owned cards since original Ixalan, but I never bothered learning to play until a friend invited me to play commander. I just wanted them for the pretty pictures, I have always admired Magic artists and they have been a huge inspiration on my art career.

Anyways, not too long after I started to play, I got this idea into my head that I should do a Locked Tomb commander deck.

"That'd be fun!" I thought

Well

All of these are over a year old (and are not my only first attempts, but I'll talk about those later).

I had two main issues when starting to build this deck:

1- I have never been interested into deck-building before in a card game

2- I have no fucking idea of what I'm doing

The first commander I chose to lead this deck, that I still think thematically fits within TLT universe, is Ratadrabik of Urborg

This Rat of a man has given me so many headaches, I'm sure that now I'd be able to do make a half-decent deck with him in the lead, hell I do have a black/white aristocrats deck that he could command just fine.

But my issue was that I had no idea how to balance his legends theme and zombie kindred theme at the same time, in the same deck. I was just incapable. And all of my results, budget or not, were jank piles that did very little or exploded into an infinite combo with cards like Boromir, Warden of the Tower or Nazgul. It just didn't feel right and the Locked Tomb theme was barely holding on by a thread with the things I was putting in there. There were barely ANY skeletons in any of these! (this will keep happening)

Anyways, after giving up on Ratadrabik (which btw I think would make for a great Ianthe proxy) I moved on to find some other commander and color combination that'd enable something else that wasn't a pile of legendary creatures.

Queue in Varina, Lich Queen

It's a Zombie Wizard! She cares about zombies, those are kind of early skeletons! She raises the undead herself!

Well, I do think Varina is great, and in other world where I knew how to build decks back then, she might just have been my Harrow commander deck

I don't even think the decks I made for her were that bad at all, just extremely expensive. And also the zombie theme, while much better supported mechanically, I didn't feel really represented the kind of necromantic powers we see in the books at all.

Shoutout to Mikaeus, he'd make for a great Jod if anyone wants to make a deck about our lord and savior the undying emperor.

Ok, now I'm going to take a bit of a detour to talk about what I actually like playing in mtg (not just commander). I predictably really enjoy playing black and graveyard strategies, but also really love putting big idiot beaters into the field with those strategies .I know, groundbreaking. But it is what it is, two of my favourite decks do this in one way or another.

God's perfect deck, my Sauron deck, was my first precon, that has left the lands of preconstruction long ago and is my dearest possession. Is it my most powerful deck? nope. Is it unbeatable? Not really, I almost never win with this deck.

What BIG Sauron does is, in an extremely thematic way, become a problem for everyone at the table, do evil things, and have everyone beat me down for my reanimation crimes.

If you are interested, you can check out that deck here.

Anyways sorry, back to the locked tomb, SO I like the graveyard right? Wouldn't it be nice that there'd be a famous woman necromancers in mtg? What if she leaded the deck?

Well, the most that I can say is that there really can be too much of a good thing. I'm talking about swamps.

Initially I had these two running around in the Ratadrabik deck. I still stand by the idea of having these flip walkers be young Harrow/Gideon and flip them into their "First House" versions. The Gideon/Kiriona and Kytheon/Gideon thing still drives me insane.

I was too sad discarding them, so I grabbed the Lilly card and tried to make it work, I really tried, I put on a lot of effort and care. But it didn't work, it wasn't her, it was me.

I built a pretty generic aristocrat shell, but I think that type of archetype really benefits of having more colors to work with (specially white).

So, with three commanders locked in the tomb (I also tried a Gut rakdos deck but I'm not even going to talk about it), what was next? I spent months on these and still had nothing to show for it. Was I the problem? Was I cursed with bad deck dissease?

No, that cannot be. I'm building other decks while this is going on and those are doing just fine. Lae'zel//Master Chef, Gandalf Big Artifacts. The issue might be that the head of the deck is always caring for just the one thing, there was not much diversity. I kept making Necromancers but had no Cavaliers to back them up.

If there could just be a way to have two little guys up there in the command zone. Wait a minute...

So, this was truly a jank fest. Partner is an extremely strong mechanic in commander, and Tymna is specially strong as a card to have access early. So I decided to justify using these to make the biggest pile of nonsense happen.

Equipment? check. Initiative? check. Skeletons? check. Zombies? check. Graveyard? check. Lifegain? check.

While goldfishing I realized that while the commanders do a great job to sustain the rest of the deck, the ammount of themes and archetypes made this a pile of cards that I can barely call a deck. And worst of all, they enabled two pretty strong commanders, and that didn't feel that'd be satisfactory at all in actual play.

I even prepared proxies for these! Feel free to use them if you want.

Also, I tried the whole partner thing swapping out Tymna for Ikra Shidiqi. Bringing out another whole color didn't help with the theme soup I was working with.

So I wholy abandoned the idea of both partners, and maybe even making this deck.

Maybe my hopes and dreams of having a functional silly lesbians and skeletons deck were doomed (yuri) from the beginning.

Months pass, I built 3 or 4 other decks in the meantime that work, can compete and be fun, sometimes all at the same time if you'd believe it. I had completely lost faith in this deck idea.

All until one day, were I was checking out a pile of cards I had pulled from the recent MH3 set to put them into my binder. And then I see it. There he was, this fucking guy with a shovel(?), looking at me.

I read again his fairly big wall of text, what does this guy do again?

Oh, he does necromancy stuff? attacks? wait wait, he draws POWER from the GRAVEYARD?? in JUND?

He really saved it. Not only I feel this perfectly represents the dynamics of Cavalier is in charge of creating enough thanergy for their necromancer, but ALSO does the necromancer thing, and ALSO loves having like 10 power and beating down face. This was a message, the dream was still alive.

So, I make a list, I order cards, I scrounge cards from my other black decks. And there it is. It's real

The Locked Tomb Griddlehark Commander Deck

But... that's not how my list looks right now. Yeah I know this deck is cursed into being always changing I think. But, the main issue here was what I said before. It had to pull cards from multiple decks to sustain itself. And I learned quickly that I don't like having my baby, my Sauron, being not functional, and that keeping track of what cards are where and swapping them out constantly sucks tremendously.

So, I pulled back most of the cards to their original decks. What was left was a corpse, a beautiful incomplete deck. So I selected cards from my collection, lower powered ones, niche ones, weird ones, and put them in for their more powerful counterparts.

It's function is extremely simple, it fills it's graveyard quickly, ramps, and with Coram on the battlefield, you turn that self-mill into card advantage, the graveyard into a power source and bring back powerful creatures like the Resurrection Beasts (Eldrazi)

There also are skeletons in there, of course.

This deck needed to die many deaths to exist. But isn't that the theme?

I'll make sure to put up the new decklist on my moxfield whenever I get a few upgrades.

[teniwohasuperfan]

hello tumblr you are getting a rant at 8am in english class || STOP DOWNGRADING FEMALE CHARACTERS

I cannot scroll 5 seconds on tiktok without getting horrendous mischaracterization of the school bus graveyard girls and oh my lord it's making me so unnecessarily mad (I have an ashlyn special interest, fucking sue me)

ASHLYN. IS NOT. JUST AIDENS LOVE INTEREST. TAYLOR. IS NOT. JUST TYLERS SISTER. Ashlyn in particular makes me mad because Aiden is the ONLY thing the fandom focuses on with her. Red herself has confirmed that she doesn't even know if Aiden loves Ashlyn romantically yet that is ALL her character is to the fandom. Can we talk about how she has been implied to be suicidal to some extent (not spoiling fastpass)? Maybe her fucking autism rep? Maybe talk about the bonds that she has with other characters? Like Logan?

This happens in like every fandom but it is PAINFUL to see women get degraded to just side characters of the men around them. I am saying this as a fucking DUDE too.

If I'm being so fucking honest, Aiden is overrated. Sometimes SBG fandom forgets the other characters exist and it's annoying!! Idc if this is woke bullshit I will forever hate Aiden and Ashlyn as a ship because Ashlyn gets her character watered down so much. The day someone writes Aidelyn like an actual relationship and not "Haha chaotic adhd boy gets silly! ..and ashlyns there ig" is the day I will live in peace!!

I'd go into the Ashlyn Aroace spec ramble but that would just be me ranting for 5 hours and i don't feel like writing allat

[ruthlesslistener]

Could you talk about the Shade Lord? Especially the apologist part, what needs apologising (genuine question)?

Oh the apologist part is just me joking about how I'd defend LOS no matter what they do, not necessarily because they actually did anything bad lol. And if they did, I'd fight for them all the same bc they're my little meow-meow and some murders are funny (there's a reason why my Destiny 2 sideblog is ahamkara-apologist, even though the Ahamkara as a race are vastly more problematic than the LOS- they're space dragons and I love them). Ofc, there's always those people who think that the Lord of Shades is some kind of evil entity unleashed by Ghost that'll bring about the ruin of Hallownest twice over (usually people who don't realize that the Lord of Shades is CONTROLLED by Ghost- it's the shades of all the dead vessels with Ghost as its Focus), but mostly its just bc I adore them. Though it does have the added bonus of pointing out that while I like the Pale King and the Radiance as characters, I'm ultimately sympathetic to the vessels the most, which is a core point in my ramblings that I fear often gets lost, especially when I get angry about the 'PK is a colonizer and the moth tribes/Radi were the natives he genocided take'- because idgaf about people hating PK, what I hate is how incorrect that was AS WELL AS how it ignores the fact that the Void Civilization came before the Radiance did, which always seems to be conveniently forgotten or brushed over in those arguments. The fact of the matter is that Radi and PK aren't the 'secret heroes' no matter how you spin it, they're monsters that abused, tortured, and manipulated the voidborn- aka Ghost, their siblings, and (maybe) those that used to worship their element. Sympathetic monsters, yes, monsters who are caught in a tragedy, but still monsters. It's the Void that's the victim, and I stand by that in its entirety. Every act of retribution was justified. Even them killing Godseeker- which is the argument some people use for them being evil- because why shouldn't they? She was awful to them, cruel and rude and scornful just like the Pale King was cruel and the Radiance was hateful. SHE was the reason why the Radiance grew in power to become Absolute Radiance. She deserved what she got, 100%. Ghost and their siblings endured a lifetime of torment from the moment they were hatched, they deserve EVERY little scrap of retribution they get- and they aren't monsters for lashing out at the ones who caused the pain in the first place. It's all justifiable

(Also, neither PK nor Radi are my favs. Hollow is, with their relationship to their siblings [specifically Hornet] being my fav dynamic. I only like to explore PK and Radi in depth because of their impact on Hollow's life. So needless to say I'm a void stan through and through, and since the Lord of Shades is all of them, it fits)

As for the Lord of Shades themselves! I think I already sort of covered why I love them so much just in the first two paragraphs- they are all the shades of the dead vessels poured into one entity, with Ghost as the Focus, and thus the Lord of Shades is in essence Ghost (and co, minus Hollow probably) in their ascendant form, as a true Higher Being. Which is in of itself a monumental feat for something that was hatched to die, a godling denied their deific status by beings who could not understand them as anything but death. They're vengence and defiance made manifest, and they were reformed into the shape they are now because they looked into the eyes of their creators and tormenters and said no more. The first step towards their creation, the catalyst for their metamorphasis, was turning the Kingsoul into the Voidheart- very literally rejecting the Pale King's edict and reforming it into a beacon of their own power, accepting their nature and defying their maker. They looked at the very soul of someone who had cast their eggs into the dark sea below, who hatched them into a graveyard and watched them die in the millions, who made them to be slaughtered for his own cause because he thought they as the voidborn were less than alive- and they said 'I reject you. I reject what you said to me. I reject what you represent. I reject your vision, the way you made me to be. I will forge my own path. I will make my own way. I will accept what I am and I will show you right now that I am alive, I am here, I am not heartless and I am not thoughtless. I am what I am. I am the Void. And I will do what I must to save the family that you left behind.'

AND THEY DID IT FOR THE LOVE OF THEIR SIBLING, they did it for the love of the Hollow Knight, who let them fall and left them to die when they were both just hatchlings, who they had no obligation to save and yet rushed back to do so anyways. And they soldiered on through impossible odds, through endless fights in life and dream all while a spiteful, hateful creature hissed at their worthlessness and empowered their worst enemy, so that they could destroy the Radiance in her entirety, before she could be brought back at the peak of her power. The entire REASON that they could become the Lord of Shades in the first place and WHY they achieved that metamorphasis was for the love of their family- and for a vengence long-overdue, to say 'enough, enough!' and end the torment that plagued their kind for so long for no other reason than the selfishness of other gods. Dream No More was a beautiful ending that encapsulated the vessels finally getting peace, but I love the Embrace the Void ending because to me it feels like Ghost (and the other vessels) are reclaiming what was rightfully theirs, by force, from the entities who subjugated them for so long, and taking their rightful place as the major god of Hallownest- a birthright stolen from them by the Radiance, and denied to them by the Pale Gods.

(Also you can very easily imagine the LOS as Ghost being essentially a streamer with the other vessels being their chat and I love that sm. The-Many-Who-Are-One. My beloveds)

So yeah, that's why I'm the Shade Lord apologist. I fucking love them. 1000000/10 god

[sexylazymess]

Dark!Elsa x fem Reader

Chapter 2

The wind blew relentlessly, making you clutch the cloak around your body even tighter in fear of it flying off and leaving you with nothing to protect yourself from the ongoing blizzard. The white coat of snow has already reached your knees, and in few hours, people might start getting burried alive. This is what became of Arendelle. A once thriving kingdom, with blossoming flowers and lush trees an entire year became an ugly land of mud and bare trees. Quite litrally a graveyard for the living. Once you were finally home, you pushed the door open to be met with welcoming warmth. 

"Auntie is here!" A (your hair colour) haired little girl shouted joyfully, earning her twin brother's attention who came running to hug you "Autie, you're back!" you smiled in return and ruffled his fluffy hair "Of course Jude, I told you I'd be back soon." It was like this everytime you left the house. The kids would wait for your return instead of going to bed and jump in delight as soon as you were home. It was heartwrenching, how at such young age they were aware of the callous weather behind many deaths, including their mother's. "and look what I got here with me." you pulled out two apples from the groceries bag for the twins, receiving simultaneous 'Apples!' and 'Thank you!'s.

"I love apples." came Flora's soft, tiny voice. 

"I'm glad you do, Flora" you went to put away the rest of the groceries. Luckily, you could get your hands on some fresh fruits and meat, otherwise the market in Arandelle was in a miserable state, the food production nearly non-existent. But how could one raise animals and plants in such climate. It was a risk not worth taking for farmers. You almost wanted to tear up when the shopkeeper told you that they don't have the medical herbs you requested since you ran out of them, so you bought meagre ones instead. "Grandpa was coughing a lot. like 13 times." your niece stood by your side, while you lit up a fire under a pot of water to brew a herbal drink "is that so?"

"Yes, I got worried. it means he's not getting better" your eyes met her own big ones, while Jude was highly optimistic, Flora was a realist. She doesn't accept something unless she sees it, but she looks up to you. She takes your words to heart. "Coughing means his body is fighting." you gave her a tiny, reassuring smile "and that's a good thing. every medication I give him will help him be stronger, but do you know what's the most important and efficient remedy?"

The girl scratched her head thoughtfully "uhm, sleeping well? I heard you talk about it last night."

"Well, that too, of course. there's also the state of the heart, our feelings affect our health. The happier one is, the higher the chances of recovery." Her eyes lit up in awe and wonder, and hope. "So...if we make him laugh, we're actually healing him? Like you do?" 

"Of course sweetie, you two have an important part as well." Once the drink was ready, you poured some in a mug and went to your father's room, the old man was laid in bed, looking sickly pale and tired. He saw what you were holding and groaned "Oh no, no more of that awful thing." 

"I added some honey this time. It should be bearable." You patiently said. In your many years of practicing medicine, you've encountered a good number of difficult, stubborn patients. Honesty, you cracked sometimes in the beginning, crying behind a big bush or in a brooms' closet, but you eventually learned to get your way and keep a clear conscious. "Come on, I didn't go all the way out there for nothing." 

"...Fine. but I'll drink it on my own pace!" you chuckled, partly satisfied with his response "As long as you do drink it, old man." you placed his mug on the bedside table and turned to leave when his voice spoke again "and (y/n), thank you... I saw the new clothes you got for the kiddos. they needed them for a while now...I couldn't-" 

"It's good." You couldn't let him loath himself further for not being able to provide for them as a parent should. As illness striked him, your father worked extra hard and past his limits, so much that when he got bedridden, he couldn't walk "It really is. Their happiness means the world to me." 

You knew he still blamed himself for that cursed day. The day your late sister offered to go get groceries instead of him. As soon as you received his letter, you gathered your belongings -eyes puffy from crying and lack of sleep- and took the earliest ship back to Arendelle. 

A rough knock on the door grabbed your attention, glancing one last time at the man "I'll go get it." the twins were peaking from behind the curtains of the kitchen's window and let out audible gasps "Oh my god, they carry swords, so cool!"

The visitors were no other than the royal guard, four men in significant greenish robes which had the kingdom's symbol the Crocus, and long columnar shaped hats. Swords safely and readily strapped to their hips. "We came to speak with Doctor Isaac Karlsen." the one at the front said. 

"Yes?" you said.

And he arched an eyebrow at you, sarcastically "You're Isaac Karlsen?"  

"I'm his daughter. Tell me what you want to say and I'll deliver it to him." you politely smiled, at such times, the royal guard was no good news. 

"Right." The guard faked a smile "Don't waste our time and bring him here. It doesn't concern you."

"It does, in fact. He's sleeping." 

"Oh I'm pretty sure He will want to wake up once he finds out it's an order from her majesty, queen Elsa." 

You internally cringed. Similar to your father, you disliked Queen Elsa. It's why he bought a house at the border of the capital after retirement, where life was peaceful and simple. He couldn't depart from Arendelle but preferred to be as far as possible from the icey palace and its surroundings. Serving poor people without charge until he fell sick. 

"What is the order and why involve my father?" 

You seemed to be getting on his nerves "It doesn't concern you." He firmly repeated, moving to walk past you but you blocked his way. His hand instantly flew to grip the hilt of his sword threateningly, and out of nowhere, the kids appeared behind you, eyes gleaming with excitement and admiration. "Hello guard sir good sir!" Jude blurted out. "you guys are awesome. I want to be like you one day!" Flora joined in "slashing enemies with your swords and protecting us!" 

"kids, go back inside. now." out of the corner of your eye, you spotted the guard hesitating at the sight of children and his hold on the weapon dropped with a sigh "An ill person in the palace is in need of a doctor, urgently." He plainly explained to which you nodded. 

"Very well, I'm doctor (Y/N) Karlsen. I've been working for a while. I'll be there first thing in the morning." you extended your hand for a shake and received none in return, just a bewildered and sceptical glare from the man. Another, friendlier looking guard stepped in to whisper something in his ear that he didn't like from his reaction, he replied with "Are you serious?" and slowly faced you again, both hands on his hips "Very well. pack as much clothes as you need, we will be waiting." 

He grinned at your dumbfounded expression "No occasional visits. the doctor is required to live in the palace and be by the patient's side 24/7. That includes not leaving the palace boundaries for uh weeks, perhaps months." 

"I can't." you shook your head "Impossible. I have kids to take care of and my father is old and bedridden. They have nobody else. I can't leave them for months at once!" 

"Auntie is leaving already?" A crestfallen Jude tugged at your dress and Flora tried to comfort him despite her own sadness. 

"We can't keep her majesty waiting." The guard spoke. "sir Erik, we have to tell her highness-" The other man went quiet when their lead guard, who's apparently called Erik, raised his hand "It seems you have to make a decision and quickly, miss (Y/N). We'll give you one day to think about it. but I suggest to start packing your things." With that, they left and you closed the door, still shaken from the encounter. 

"Aw you both..." you bent down to hug them "A hurricane won't separate me from you. So don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." 

"But the queen. she's powerful isn't she?" Flora whispered. It was true, in her few years of ruling, the young dictator has done terrible things to her enemies and opposers that made even the most fearless of men tremble and give in to her. She was a cruel and merciless tactician with a stone, cold heart. 

"And your auntie is smart and capable of handling herself." The girl was embarrassed that she doubted you for a second and nodded "She is." 

"Uhm, by the way auntie." Jude timidly interrupted your moment "Please don't get mad but..." 

"hm, what's wrong Jude?" 

"the tea you made was awfully bitter, it had veeery little honey." he put his index finger and thumb closely together "the more sweet, the better!" Flora snickered at him "It's called 'sweeter' Jude, not 'more sweet'". 

"Okay but where did you get that tea from? I didn't make any tea." you asked.

"Grandpa gave it to me." 

you were unimpressed, and highly disappointed with your father for giving his herbal medicine to the little boy so he wouldn't have to drink it. And for a moment there, you thought maybe you should've let those guards take him. 

[bittenrabbit]

Six Deck Tech :> Decklist can be found here: Six Baubles (now with six baubles!)

hello! I'd like to talk about one of my commanders, a card with a really unique effect from Modern Horizons 3 who has yet to see the variation in deck building that they probably should!

But before I get to that, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite decks from magic history, Eggs! Eggs is a deck that revolves around the same game pieces regardless of format: 1 and 0 mana artifacts that you can "crack" for a card and an effect of some kind. You win by using some kind of mana engine to draw your entire deck. one card at a time. Once you've thinned your deck, you can achieve a loop of some kind to end up winning the game. It's the ultimate power trip!!! Taking a ridiculous amount of game actions just to lose to not drawing the exact piece you need, choosing when/when to not shuffle becomes a game of percentages at the slot machine it's fantastic lol If you have yet to watch Pro Tour Return to Ravnica's finals, it's definitely worth a watch! The winning list ran Lotus Bloom as its mana engine of choice and won by cracking eggs (and lands through ghost quarter!) and then reanimating them + Lotus with Second Sunrise/Faith's Reward before cracking everything again to get ever closer to an empty deck and then win by looping a single Pyrite Spellbomb :>

So who's at the helm of my deck? As I went into MH3 spoiler season, Six really stood out to me! I love wide open cards that let you brew in a billion different ways :>

Six (of Wrenn and Six fame) is a 3 mana 2/4 Reach who reads:

Reach Whenever Six attacks, mill three cards. You may put a land card from among them into your hand. As long as it’s your turn, nonland permanent cards in your graveyard have retrace. (You may cast permanent cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.)

Most Six lists so far on EDHREC run stuff like Spore Frog and Sakura-Tribe Elder + Sacrifice effects to accrue value/discard lands and then end the game through cards like Avenger of Zendikar/landfall effects + mass land reanimation spells!

I took a bit of a different spin on Six, one that no one seems to have replicated yet (side tangent um. being the only deck running this stuff on EDHREC is so funny, you can literally see my deck on the website!) I made an eggs list! With Six out on the field, cards like Conjurer's Bauble and Mishra's/Urza's Bauble read "discard a land to draw a card" With any mana discount, Chromatic Star/Sphere and a bunch of other eggs read the same :D

My gameplan is to get Six out and protected and then draw a whole bunch of cards and gain a tooon of value with cards like Glaring Fleshraker, Turntimber Sower and Sarinth Steelseeker

If you can keep hitting lands off your eggs, your storm count'll go way up recasting your baubles which you can use to cast cards like Sprouting Vines to cast MORE BAUBLES!!!! Or win through typical storm payoffs like Aeve & Aetherflux Reservoir to blast em all for super lethal damage >:D (or you could just win by simply having more cards and tokens than opponents can handle!)

Anywaays that's my deck tech i think! lmk if i missed anything maybe i'll rewrite this at some point and make a video? :>

[yunessa]

Owlcatober- "Home"

Reader (As KC or companion) x Yunessa

TW: Some mentions of self harm, but no actual acts take place.

"Ah, my lyre." Yunessa had turned to see your arrival, lips pulling into a smile that seemed far to brittle. "I knew I'd left it behind. I didn't know it'd bring you here, sorry." It was pouring sheets and buckets of rain as if the sky itself wanted to drown Drezen. Flashes of lightning spiked through the dark sky as thunder rumbled unhappily.

And in the middle of the storm, the elven bard was in the empty graveyard, standing in the pouring rain. "You'll want an explanation, I suppose. You always do. Be the more reasonable of the two of us and keep staying out of the rain. I can't stand touch or closeness right now." They take a slow breath. "I need to be in the rain and feel this. It's- Let me think about how to explain it a moment. I'm struggling."

They look up to the sky for a long moment. "Do you know what it means to call an elf Forlorn? They're those kinds of elves who live among the shorter lives races. They always have those romance stories where the elf marries the human and they live happily ever after- but they never cover the ever after part, do they? Outliving your spouse, adopted family, friends, your home- those are the forlorn. Hopeless, miserable, mournful... that's what they are."

"I know we've talked about my curse and problems that come from it. But even with the memories gone, the feelings remain. I hate roses, do you know that? I can't tell you why I hate them. I just do. The lack of memories is just... normal. But I still feel. I feel and that's the worst part. I see things that would trigger a memory and I feel. I want to laugh, to cry, to mourn, weep, rage, or avoid it."

"And I don't know why. I love foods with garlic. I don't like that buttered cake icing, but I like that little ah- what was it called? That sweet bar that looks like condensed coffee. " Yunessa goes silent as they hold their hands upwards as if in supplication. "Normally I can hide it. Nobody sees it, not really. But this month out of all the others... I want to mourn, I want to cry and I just-"

Yunessa breaks off and their shoulders shake as they hide their face. An ugly, broken noise escaping them as they sob. Ugly, sharp, and mingled with a tongue you've never heard the bard speak before. The language isn't recognizable, but the plea in them is evident and clear. Begging and desperate until they regain their composure. "Who was I? Who did I love so deeply to mourn even when their memory is gone? What did I love so deeply? Was I forlorn then? Or would I be now?"

"Romances between elves and humans are always happily ever after. But what if I'm the ever after and not the happily? What if the dead man I was mourns for what their future is now? Or does the dead man mourn for what was lost and forgotten? I don't know. But still these emotions grab me and I have no choice but to feel. That's why I'm here. The rain just keeps falling and the rain is here. it's now and it's on Yunessa's skin, soaking Yunessa's clothes and it keeps me here."

"I was fine earlier, but this crusade we're one, you and I- sometimes despite the hell we go through. The demons we face and our struggles, it- it almost feels like it's a home." The bard casts a sad smile your way as lightning strikes in the sky. "Strange isn't it? Deranged, another might call it. But somehow the word home just made me want to sob when the thought came to me earlier. Made me want to slam my fists against stone until these hands bled and I saw white and felt nothing but pain." "Does it mean anything? I know if I gave into it like I have in the past then I'd feel better. But that's temporary, isn't it? There's no point to it at all for me." Yunessa looks up to the sky. "I can already feel that I'll get sick from this. But I had to go somewhere that I could be here in the present, rather than stuck with the echoes of lost memories. This was better than hitting the stone." Yunessa takes a deep breath to look your way. "Did you ever think this stupid fortress could be anything but a fortress? The moment it felt like home, even for a second I couldn't stand being inside those walls." They shake their head, running a hand through their wet hair. "Are you cold? Come on, let's go back. You don't need to get sick to- we have a whole crusade ahead of us after all." The sorrow remained but they pushed it back, hidden behind that professional smile. "Let's get you somewhere dry and head back-" They break off and turn towards the citadel. "Home. If I keep saying that then maybe these new memories will rewrite the old ones. Home. Let's go home together."

[sunchaserwings]

Incoming rant about The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Herlock Sholmes from The Great Ace Attorney, and the BBC Sherlock (no major spoilers ahead I promise).

A preface before I begin; I was never a big fan of Sherlock Holmes or any adaptation of the stories. I've seen Elementary although I was very young so I only have the vaguest of memories of enjoying it, and my roommate had me watch a couple BBC Sherlock episodes when I was a tween/young teen. My mother claims she tried to get me into Sherlock Holmes but I'm rather skeptical. Anyhow, onto the story.

Back in March my boyfriend bought me the Ace Attorney games for my birthday which included the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (or Dai Gyakuten Saiban for those who are still stuck on the pre-localization names ;p). I was on my flight home from my birthday trip after I got the news my manager fired my brother while I was out of the state and figured why not, I'd start playing the first TGAA game on the flight. I'd probably enjoy myself and I couldn't sleep.

Second biggest mistake of the year (first biggest was trusting Les Schwab to do my brake job). I. Was. Hooked. I played the first case and fell in love with Kazuma instantly (he's so Zero shaped!). I played the second case and realized that calling him Zero shaped was way too accurate. We all know what happened there. Most important to this rant, I met Herlock Sholmes (more on my opinions on him later). I could barely put the game down but I had to take a break due to finding a new job and getting adjusted. I ended up finishing the game in June or July, one of the two. I finished the final case of the first game in one long 12 hour gaming session it was that good (my back didn't thank me though).

Now, the man of the hour: Herlock Sholmes. I didn't think much of him initially. He was simultaneously charming and annoying in the second case but as I played more he grew on me. I cried when the start of 1-5 happened. He clawed his way up into like the top 7 favorite characters at the time. The ending of the game with him playing his violin made me bawl my eyes out. I. Loved. This. Game.

It took a few more months to start and finish the second game. In between Adventures and Resolve I played Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, and some others so I had a healthy break. I came back to play Resolve and finished it like two months ago. It hit me in the gut just as hard as the first game did although there are a great many things I'd tweak and do differently. But Herlock Sholmes... man, he's not my favorite but he's up there underneath Kazuma and Van Zieks.

Anyhow, I finished the game but the hyperfixation had started and would not let me go. I've never been one to go out and seek fanfiction due to... personal stuff but I had a feeling I didn't want to go probe the depths of AO3 yet for fear of crying. I started a graveyard shift at my job which severely limited my ability to talk with people about stuff and also there's so many major spoilers but very few people I knew had played the game. A thought occurred to me, however. What about Sherlock Holmes audiobooks? I have an auditory processing issue which has made listening to audiobooks hard but I decided to give it a go. Perhaps it would satiate the TGAA hyperfixation hunger.

I found the ones produced by Magpie Audio, expertly narrated by Greg Wagland. Go check him out, he has over 77 videos of Sherlock Holmes audiobook recordings and all of them are a minimum of 40 minutes, often times far more. I went through over 30 hours of audiobook in a few weeks listening to these. Sherlock Holmes is such a good character and I can understand how and why he took late Victorian England by storm. And you know what the best part is?

Herlock Sholmes is the most faithful adaptation I have personally seen as a character of the original Sherlock Holmes.

They got so many of Sherlock's little idiosyncrasies right and you can tell the entire team were genuine fans of the books. I listened to Mr. Wagland's narration *and I saw 221B Baker of the games*. Especially the jack knife impaling the communications to the mantle being referenced in the game? The sheer mess of the flat? It's so good!

My roommate (whom is also a Sherlock Holmes fan) noticed my newest hyper fixation that spawned off of TGAA and that reignited his Sherlock Holmes obsession. He was a fan of the BBC Sherlock and now recognizes it was not a very great show but it's a comfort media for him nonetheless. He just dragged me into rewatching it and... okay, it's playing into a lot of inaccurate Sherlock tropes I don't like but goddamn Martin Freeman carries the whole show. I love his John Watson because it feels like a reasonable version of a modern, younger Watson. He feels real in a way. I do like the fact that even in the first episode, it's established that John and Sherlock can make each other laugh and smile just like in the books. I don't forgive them calling Sherlock a sociopath, however (speaking as someone with a brother that has been diagnosed with being a high-fuctioning sociopath). He's AuDHD to the max and deserves recognition in that department.

All of this to say, I can trace my current Sherlock hyperfixation back to Mega Man. Finding Mega Man in 4th grade led to watching the Ace Attorney anime in late 2021 which led to playing The Great Ace Attorney and that led to listening to Sherlock Holmes. I don't know why I decided to make this post but maybe I might start live blogging this shit? All in all, this is going to be a wild ride.