#idk ghost mechanics are like time travel mechanics to me

[jimmyandthegiraffes]

im losing my SHIT over the moments that are scattered throughout this show that show marty's incorporeality without spelling it out

like. the way when people move thigns hes leaning on, he doesnt lose balance bc hes not ACTUALLY leaning on them hes just maintaining an illusion of being one with the world of the living. or when the hypnotist psych guy puts his hand thru marty and marty is like Yeow That Was My Personal Space. or when marty tries to catch hold of bream at the same time jeff does and his hand catches nothing or when jeff is like help me up and marty goes to take his hand and then is like :/

i wanna add images to this but its late so i might do later

[sepublic]

Obviously it would be way too many villains to juggle and thus give justice but could you fucking imagine if they brought back ALL of the old villains for Crystalized, even the ones who were already brought back in Day of the Departed?

We know Traveler's Tea can bring back the dead from the Departed Realm. But instead of Morro, who has already proven himself to be chill, maybe the Preeminent could be brought back in his place, since she was the true villain of Possession. The Preeminent could take a smaller minifigure form, or even be a miniaturized Lego build. Her being a lot smaller is because she got weaker from being dead longer, and Pixal defeating her.

Nadakhan gets brought back and it turns out he remembers all of Skybound, just as Jay and Nya do! Or he doesn't. Jay and Nya explain to the others that there was a whole season that just got undone, and given their experiences with time travel, it's not entirely out of the question for them to accept this. Nadakhan can't grant wishes anymore because that's a huge can of worms from a writing standpoint... Maybe the Overlord used technology to limit him, knowing what he was getting into because he heard the stories of Nadakhan. Or maybe his wish-granting was lost due to Djinjago's destruction, which is what Dragons Rising did. Again this is inconsistent lore but it's Ninjago so whaddya expect.

Yang is still haunting the Temple of Airjitzu, but as a chill and reasonable ghost. Maybe he gets crystalized (can ghosts be crystalized???), brainwashing and forcing him to the Crystal King's council.

Acronix and Krux are easy to explain, in fact the way they were left in canon is just begging for them to make a comeback, because if Wu did, why not them? Tbh a part of me thinks Machia is, in some ways, a better fit for this role; She much better represents her villain faction than the Time Twins do, since she's an actual Vermillion. Maybe all three characters can represent Hands of Time; Machia was also there with the Time Twins as part of Iron Doom, so again, easy explanation. The Iron Doom falls out of the time vortex and idk gets obliterated by the impact, maybe it lands on some explosive stuff, so only the Time Twins and/or Machia make it out alive; So there's no Vermillion army or time machine to rely on.

Iron Baron somehow survived getting encased in molten metal; I dunno how but he just did. He somehow broke himself free. Maybe his mechanical arm was still functional.

Should the Omega Oni be included? It might seem redundant with the Overlord there, but he technically WAS a big arc villain. It was a very short arc by Ninjago standards but whatever. Maybe having the Omega there could be used to contrast his existence with the Overlord's, and/or explain what the Overlord's whole relation to the Dragon/Oni divide even is.

Vex is retrieved from the Never-Realm. He's probably the least justified of all the villains to bring back given he's canonically a wimp, but maybe the Overlord selects him specifically for the psychological torment it'd bring on Zane. I like to think that Zane unsettles the Overlord because while it makes sense for the First Spinjitzu Master, and later his grandson, to defeat him... By comparison, Zane is a nobody in the eyes of the Overlord, just a master of another regular element, no more special than the rest; And yet he still beat him, put the Overlord down longer than Lloyd even did. So he's scared of Zane deep down, and he's using Vex as a way to get back at him.

Unagami gets corrupted by an evil virus because the Overlord already has experience with hacking given his stint in Rebooted. Unagami might be a bit more problematic for censors because once the show starts depicting him as a literal child, it might make censors uncomfortable to have him getting beaten up under any context, even if he did re-assume his Prime Empire form.

Mammatus is... Well, he could easily be crystalized. But given how his character is a racial caricature, I wouldn't be surprised if Lego wanted to avoid touching his character anymore; I suspect he was written as an actually reasonable person to avoid unfortunate implications, even if Ninjago still ended up doing that in a different way. Tbh I wish Mammatus and the Keepers got better focus and writing, especially during Seabound, but I can understand why he'd be left out.

Kalmaar is dead, but so were the villains in Day of the Departed. To break off on a side tangent, I'm surprised the writers killed off Kalmaar, despite Crystalized and its villains-returning gimmick being right around the corner. Given Vangelis and Aspheera were merely imprisoned, it'd have been easy to just have him be imprisoned, but I guess they didn't want to bring him back? But yeah, if you can bring back the dead by opening a portal to the Departed Realm with Traveler's Tea, then that opens up for a lot of villains to come back pretty easily.

So with all of these explanations in mind, our list would include;

-Samukai

-Pythor

-Kozu

-Cryptor

-Chen

-The Preeminent

-Nadakhan

-Yang

-Acronix and Krux

-Harumi

-Iron Baron

-Omega

-Aspheera

-Vex

-Unagami

-Vangelis

-Mammatus

-Kalmaar

-The Overlord

Yeah, I left out the Mechanic and Mr. F. Mr. F was kind of a useless addition since he wasn't actually Mr. E, meaning the writers didn't bring back the dropped Echo Zane plotline. And unlike Mr. E, who had an actual presence and menace, I kinda forgot about Mr. F a lot of the time, and Harumi better represents the Sons of Garmadon. I also left out the Mechanic because he isn't really a major arc villain, just a recurring thug. Tbh I'd replace him with Soto, who could represent the first half of S2, and whose pirates are an actual existing faction with continued relevance, and even defeated Nadakhan!

Also, I’d like to think Zane’s Ice Emperor persona makes an actual dramatic return and not just as an ineffectual gag, like maybe he has to use the scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu to combat the Vengestone army, and seeing Vex again could trigger the past. It’s only for like one episode because we need Zane, but it’s a villain cameo for the arc where all the villains return.

But yeah, if we keep out Soto and Machia, that still brings us to 20 villains to juggle. Which is why this never could've happened. But I can dream, right? Writing a version of Crystalized that includes all of these characters and gives them some actual characterization and dynamics would be a Herculean feat.

(Now imagine a story that brings back all of these villains AND the ones from Dragons Rising…!)

[glamfellens]

hello! thank you for introducing me to PoE, i really enjoyed the story and also played a pale elf, a cipher, in fact, so i'm interested how u find playing as one bc i thought it was extra juicy to play story wise! Also, have u shared more details about Tarren? I'd love read more about her! <3 I'd never played this type of game b4 and it resulted in funny moments like not realising that looking at the map/inventory doesn't automatically pause the game until "aloth" rudely urged we get a move on(and we were in Dyrford - not exactly early on!!). So, it turns out I recruited Aloth after staring into space for days :)) My background was philosopher so it checks out i guess XD

im so glad you enjoyed it!! GLAMFELLEN NATION RISE... pale elves are so cool .... im really enjoying cipher!!!! i picked ranger for my first run because i thought it would be easier to ease myself into a new game with new mechanics with a more straight forward class. but now i have my head wrapped around the game as a whole i think cipher will be tarren's official class! idk how this will work with multi-classing as priest in deadfire but we'll see im still figuring things out for tarren but ive settled on a backstory :) she is from old vailia with the gentry background (thank u console commands lol) she isn't of noble stock herself but her mother worked as a land agent/steward/game warden for a minor landed vailian family and so as thanks for her hard work and dedication decided to take on the cost of tarren's education and general welfare as a ward of the family. but because it's old vailia there was some level of political intrigue that involved everything going to shit to the level that tarren had to escape to the dyrwood. i dont think her parents were alive when this happened for simplicity's sake (it wasnt tragic it was just like. old age . i think they had her pretty late but im not 100% on elven longevity in the eora setting.) LMFAO. okay but if this makes you feel better the first time i played i think it took me about 60 hours to realise that you could manage keep restoration from anywhere in the world by just clicking on the keep icon in the ui. i kept travelling back to caed nua to arrange everything with the steward 🧍 aloth has that big ass grimoire to read anyway idk why hes complaining. your watcher has plenty of things to think about, yknow? just little things like the souls and ghosts you can now interact with, the fact that your awakening is a race against time to keep ur sanity... just normal things. regular. yep but yeah im really glad you enjoyed it!! thank you for the ask :) deadfire is also a great time if you havent gotten there yet 👀

[spacerangersam]

Could you tell me more about some of your ocs???? (Only if you’re up for it tho)

I’m always down to gush about my ocs! But I do have a lot of them, especially with the story I'm currently working on, and I don’t always know what to say, so sorry if this is a bit all over the place. This isn’t even everyone, I left out a few like the main antagonist, Irene and a few other side characters for the sake of this not being essay length but yeah. Here are some of the main guys:

(also, unless otherwise specified, they're all welsh)

Simon Huw Taylor, 32, tenant of flat no. 6, he/they, bi and ace (maybe on the aro spectrum, but idk. It’s none of my business).

He’s the main character of my story, Where the Lost Souls Meet. He’s a pretty quiet guy who likes to keep to himself, much to his own detriment. He’s been travelling around all his life, never really interacting with people his own age, leaving him with mediocre socialising skills. He can see ghosts, has been able to since childhood, and is a mortician while doing psychic ghost stuff on the side. His mum could also see ghosts and she also did the ghost business, which is why he and his parents were moving around all the time, basically living in their van/hotels). To honour her, Simon uses her maiden name for ghost work (meaning his name is then Simon Huw Hughes, which I just thought was cute). She died a few years back, his father even earlier, leaving Simon the last of his family line and all alone in the world.

His whole life revolves around death, which isn’t healthy but Simon would rather die than go to therapy and actually address his problems, so it stays that way for a while. He does try to quit smoking though, so that’s something. He is also a liar. Dear god does he love to lie about everything and anything, to everyone. Well, I say loves to lie, he doesn’t really love it. He does it both to keep himself safe and to keep others from worrying about him. Honestly, he’s fine, he’s functional, and he definitely has family who loves him. Just don’t ask to meet his ‘sister’. He also tries to protect people by keeping a certain distance from them, not wanting to hurt them like he’s been hurt because of [REDACTED], which is why he kept moving around even after his mother died. But he desperately wanted top surgery and so stopped in this town with a well-known trans-safe doctor to get it done, and unfortunately for him landed in a manor turned flat filled with people who very much would like to be his friends, please.

He has no hope for the future, no plans, having a fairly pessimistic look on life because of [REDACTED], and is basically just waiting for the day he finally dies. Again, will he do anything about this? Maybe, eventually, at some point.

He doesn’t like / struggles to watch TV and movies, his ideal night involves doing puzzles and maybe a spot of reading, he loves puns and he’s a vegetarian. I love him and his terrible coping mechanism. Go king, communicate absolutely nothing and never let people share your burdens. 

Also, his neighbour dies in front of him during an argument one day, which isn't great, going on to haunt Simon in a distinctly violent fashion, which is the thing he's desperately trying to deal with in the story.

more losers under the cut

Charlie Tops, 35, tenant no. 5, he/him, trans bi+ace. He’s a very sweet guy, very open, with major himbo energy, just without the muscles. He makes the best tea and the worst coffee. He writes kid's books in the vein of Winnie the Pooh / Peter Rabbit, taking over the job after his grandfather passed, now writing them for his own daughter, Lottie. But Lottie’s getting older and losing interest in those types of books, and so he’s losing interest in writing them and having a mild panic over what he’ll do next. He’s kinda obsessed with taxidermies. His flat is quite literally filled with them and no one likes it, nobody wants to be in there, and the vibes are way off (except Will for, who thinks it’s very interesting, actually).

He’s deeply in love with Simon and they have a thing. An unexplained, deeply intimate thing that neither talk about, mostly because Simon can’t communicate for shit (which he feels deeply guilty about, and he keeps telling himself that he’ll break it off but can never quite work up to it), and Charlie’s worried if he asks, Simon will end it. He really struggles with Simon’s whole silent martyr ordeal even outside their thing because even if he doesn’t know the extent to which Simon is trying to hide his problems, he knows there is something being hidden, but again, is worried about pushing too hard and losing him completely. It’s messy, but they’ll work through it. 

He can’t see ghosts but does know about them, unlike the other Woodward tenants, and feels a bit left out /awkward about the whole thing. He had an amicable divorce from his wife Irene after he realised he was ace, she realised she was aro, and that they were both trans, the two staying friends and her staying on as the illustrator for his books. And as I mentioned earlier, he does have a daughter, Lottie.

William Isaiah Beaton, 30, tenant no. 7, he/him, gay, English. An archivist for the local museum who moves into the manor in chapter one, and comes off as a tough, rude ex-vet.  And that is true, to a certain extent. He is rude, and an ex-vet. But he wasn’t in the army for long, he got mowed down by a car on base like, two weeks after arriving, leaving him with a permanent injury to his leg. He feels he failed to live up to his father’s expectations, and in shame, never told the truth to his father about having to leave the forces. Will has… a lot of complicated feelings about that, and his relationship with his father, and his relationship with his religion. He works some of that last one out with help from Penny.

It’s a bit of a spoiler, but whatever- he can see ghosts. He doesn’t realise that’s what’s happening though and instead is fully convinced he’s just losing his mind, and that crash did irreparable damage to his head. Nah though, just ghosts. Has a guilty love of werewolf media and cake, and cares a lot about bugs and plants (he even ends up taking Simon’s plants off him, because Simon kills every plant he owns, without question). He has limited zero social skills and finds big groups overwhelming, but nevertheless, he will be dragged into this friendship group (if Penny has any say in it, at least). He came to Hangar for a reason, though he doesn’t say why.

He also definitely fancies Simon and has no idea how to handle that. It’s the first time he’s fancied a man (or at least, a man-adjecent person) who isn’t straight, and that coupled with the fatc Simon actually seems to like him is just a lot for him to process. The two of them bond over their shared loved of history / interest in the history of the manor.

I should make it clear: this isn’t a love triangle, this is poly thing.

The ghouls:

Florence Blossom (left), 40, and Gwenllian Baker (right), 42. Both were performers in a small acting trope who died in 1941 (though not at the same time or in the same way, funnily enough) in the manor Simon lives in. They love each other very much.

Florence is a bit judgy, loves a good moan, and is very anxious about everything and everyone, always. Her anxiety tends to make her come off as a bit snappy. She can control the lights.

Gwen is a bit vacant, with her head absolutely in the clouds at all times. She struggles a bit with empathy and reading the room, leading her to be mindlessly cruel sometimes. She never means it though and genuinely cares about Simon and Florence, and will look after them both in her own weird ways. she can lock, unlock, close and open doors

Now back to the living:

Agatha Jeorme, 55, tenant  no. 1. She’s kinda like if an angsty teen was stuck in the body of a middle-aged woman, and we love her for that. She’s the daughter of the landlord and hates it. If she had any other skills / if her father had helped her get a better opportunity elsewhere like he did with her brothers, she would have jumped on it. But instead, he gave her the job of looking after Woodward. She hates him, deeply. She often shovels off small jobs onto Simon because she knows he won’t say no, and is having an affair with the next-door neighbour’s wife. I kind of made her sound like a bastard, and she is kinda, but a fun one I hope, and she does learn to be less of a bastard as the story goes on. 

Gwynfor Geraint Jones, 34, tenant no. 2, he/she, bigender, aroace. Just a chill guy who loves rock music and slasher movies. She’s in a QPR with Adam, them being the first two to move into Woodward. this isn't entirely related to his character, but he's called gwynfor geraint after two twins i went to primary school with. their names always stuck in my head, in so i thought i'd put them to good use.

Adam Diana Keats, 36 tenant tenant, no.3, she/her, aroace trans woman, Scottish. She’s a librarian with a love of reading, especially poetry, and a bit pushy, a bit bossy, but ultimately well-meaning. She’ll drag Simon out of his room but with the intent to encourage him to mingle and hang out with the Woodward crew, you know. She hates Will on sight. There’s more I could say, but that would be spoilers. also, despite her dark academic vibes, she does love a good animal print

Penny Sion Seagrove, 29, no.4, she/her, lesbian. A tired, friendly gardener who would love it if everyone would get along and be friendly. She sometimes sticks her nose in places she shouldn’t to figure out people’s beef with each other (cough, Adam and Will, cough) to see if she can find a way to squash it for them, which doesn’t usually work. She tries anyway. She’s Catholic, shares Simon’s love of puns, and is dating Alice.

Alice Rhodri Blackwood, 30, she/her, trans lesbian. She lives in town with her best mate Mickey. She’s a loud, cheery, extroverted goth with an interest in witchcraft who can also see ghosts. She has slightly different opinions about ghosts and how they work from Simon, but she’s still his go-to when he’s having ghost issues. 

Mickey Dolores Palmer, 29, she/her, English (Yorkshire). Idk what her deal is, and she just is, you know. A very nervous, clumsy, mousy person who works at the local museum. She tends to jump to conclusions and is not a fan of ghosts. Unfortunately, she can also see ghosts, so that’s not great for her. She's doing her best.

god i wrote way too much for this, sorry asdfghj. but uh, also, i did a voice claim video for some of these losers, if you're interested. also,t hank you so much for asking. i do love talking about these idiots

[sapphosdickandballs]

iiiii feel like ive been sending you too many asks as of late but i just am starting something to talk about. its due tomorrow so uhhh im gonna binge read it. ive got several things to read lol.

i didnt want to start another book right away cause id finished pride and prejudice and pittsburgh yesterday-ish after reading the majority during my shift- and OH YEAH.

i was so- stand offish at first about it because i thought it was so... goofy how the timetravel mechanic worked but literallyyyyy- stick it out. ugh it was so good???? i loved it. IT WAS GREAT. literally is everything. AND i think its a def rec. im not gonna spoil much but yeahhhhh lol.

is it better than she gets the girl? no not imo but like they're both rly good books.

i was listening to it during work and audrey had mentioned phoebe bridgers and my voice cracked bc i deadass gasped and shouted "PHOEBE???" making like two ppl look at me very confused 💀😭. "moon song" mention !!!! 🗣🔥🔥🔥🎶 . i love audrey for that. why am i always so shocked when someone mentions her in wlw books- anygays... proud!!! good choice. im in love with books that name drop music like that *looks at ols <3* i love punisher as an album sm ughh so that makes me 10x happier.

uhh- low key?? side note. after i sent you the previous ask abt books ghost LITERALLY sent me an epub of the falling in love montage without me asking or anything- like straight up just sent it to me 🫡. HAVEN'T READ IT YET BUT I HAVE AQUIRED IT.

oh and another thing.. i know what i said about not liking delilah green doesn't care and you taking it off of your tbr. i wanted to say- i think you should read it anyway. i would like to see you disagree with me not liking it or have a conversation about it and your thoughts. because- EVEN if i don't like it- i think you should have your own say on if you want or should read it. and like- i think itd be interesting to get your perspective or thoughts?? i wouldn't bump it high on the list or anything but i do think you should read it anyway. what i may not like, you could. i don't want you to miss out on that lol. hope that makes sense?? i can go into explanation on why i didn't like it then too. i went on a 15 min deep dive through voice notes with ghost after i finished it so 😭.

ghost managed to get me another wlw book i look forward to reading soon but i feel like this might be getting too long. i saw some art and i was sold. its like- enemies to lovers during the apocalypse?? it gives me tlou energy w the premise and thats speaking to me w my ellabs hyperfixation 🫡. obv not tlou but yeah. HAVEN'T EVEN PLAYED TLOU EITHER UGH BUT I WANT TO. anygays that tis all.

ifffff and when u finish kiss her once for me dooooo lmk. ik u said you had uni stuff and might be busy so obviously no rush or pressure but do lmk whenever that is!! i would love to infodump more but idk what else to say atm lol but i hope this isn't too annoying <3. i like sending u reading asks n stuff!!

you are not sending me too many at all! Your asks have been making my day every time I get them <3 and I’ll add that to my list! I love time travel stories so imma eat it up. I haven’t read in like 2 weeks 😭 and unis starting soon😭😭😭 but the second I can muster up reading energy I’ll finish kiss her once for me :]

[fantasticcloudcreation]

Lil rant about goals and future plans 😇

Ok so I've been here for a week and it's been a really nice time visiting family and I'm grateful to be living this life that gives me all this free time and opportunity to do whatever I want, back when I had an apartment and a "real job" I could only visit my family for holidays and it never felt like enough, but now I get like any significant time off work and I feel guilty if I'm not spending it with my family, even though there's other things I want to be doing... (Like what? Camping alone in the woods? /Kinda but there's always time for that between gigs etc) - enjoy this time and relax about it. Just feeling antsy bc I've been here a week and I'm kinda feeling like I might need to get out and go somewhere, but where, idk. I still need to visit my brother and my grandparents, I desperately need to clean the van, gotta make a mechanic appointment for next week, etc.

Also feeling antsy about going back to work which is hilarious bc like March, April, May, had barely any days off work besides driving all day traveling between gigs; was begging the universe to give me some time off to relax and vibe and whatever and now here I am with 2 months straight which was unexpected and I'm still kinda salty about it haha. But I'm one month down, one month to go, maybe I should be using the time a little better... I mean I'm working on projects which are mostly done, and I think next week I'll take care of the van things (cleaning, organizing, mechanic) and then D will be coming to visit so I'll either be here where he can meet my dad or I'll be at my brother's where we'll have more space/privacy to ourselves; we'll see!

I think the main thing is, I gotta get focused on my goals. What exactly are my goals?? I'm feeling a super lack of confidence lately and it's hard to know how to direct my energy right now. (I say that as if it's ever been different in my entire life lmao.) Usually I just focus on losing weight as if that'll somehow magically get my life in order Oh Yeah I'm Doing That Right Now 😅

Thinking ahead: July is free. August should be at least half filled if all goes well, and then some time to explore/camp in the northeast where it hopefully won't be too hot. September?? Who knows, but making my way towards Texas. October will have work in Texas, November December January should be full of work in Florida. So this is like my last solid free month and I should be getting my van situated, getting my business off the ground, working on my confidence and organization and planning and whatnot. I've been dilly dallying on that bc I lack the confidence and it's easier to avoid everything than to try something new, but it feels so good once you get past that and get started !!!

Maybe I'll lose 10 pounds and cut my hair and start wearing makeup again and get my clothes worked out where they all look cool/good/not like a hobo dad lolol. Maybe that'll give me confidence. Maybe it's time to reinvent my image and personality and break up with this guy I've been low-key ghosting and start putting effort into myself again. Maybe I need to focus on spirituality and prioritize wellness (how boring). Maybe I need to dive into a new skill and get really good at it over the next couple years. Who knows!!!!

I want to build things and paint things and make fun wearable crafts and make YouTube videos with my own music and vibes. I have enough work to pay the bills, if a side business can make enough money just to buy supplies to keep itself going, that's all I need. I want to go out west again, maybe I'll do that in February. Maybe I'll upgrade to an RV. The point: I have ideas and dreams and goals and this is my time to start working on them while I have the space. I have 4 weeks left....... I have money in the bank to get these things started. Make a plan, one step at a time, check things off the list. Clean the van and get it back in shape to start fresh this season. Call that guy and tell him it's not working right now. Stop avoiding. Relax and enjoy the ride!!!! Be grateful for this space and time with my dad. Use this time to your advantage, ask for help with business planning.

Tomorrow I'm going to paint my lil pottery pieces from the garden clay, they didn't turn out great but I have another batch that I'm trying a different process and we'll see how it goes, it's a fun experiment and at the very least I'm gonna make some decorative charms for myself to remind myself that it's fun to make things and try new things just for the heck of it :)

Priorities: exercise, taking care of the van, getting the business first steps rolling. 4 weeks left until the next chapter launches! Stop wasting days! (No days have been wasted but you know what I mean). Stop avoiding and start living.

Above all: life is really good!!! I'm so glad and grateful that I created this life for myself, imagine 3 years from now when my business is rolling and work is flowing and things are just like this except 10 steps better! Plant the seeds now and let the trees grow and in 5 years we'll have plenty of shade!!! Reminding myself that I've been dreaming about all these things for years and it's time to start working towards them. Reminding myself of where I was 3 years ago and how far I've come. Everything is working out, literally, and this is just the next step. What's the motivation? (PLJBF). Living a full and fun life. Feeling good about myself when people ask "what do you do"/"where do you live" ; offering gifts to the world for the sake of the process. Embracing the challenge, trying something new, giving myself the space to see what happens when I actually put myself out there. Is it an ego thing? Maybe. Is it for the sake of the challenge? A little bit. Is it just another girl in pursuit of happiness and a life on her own terms? Absolutely. There are many ways to show up in the world and I'm ready to be a confident independent strong smart capable leader. I'm ready to actually try and succeed. I am good enough and I know I can do it, getting started is the hardest part, staying focused and organized is the second hardest part, I know I can work with those challenges and make something happen. Let it flow. Relax. First: I'm here and I'm grateful and I'm ready to make the most of it.

Thank you, I love you ❤️

[purplerose244]

My thoughts on Seabound!!! 🌊🌊🌊 (1/4)

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Finally Nya's season! Our queen, our water goddess, our amazing girl gets what she deserves! 😍😍😍

What I know about the season beforehand is that Nya's powers apparently are getting problematic for some reasons? Which is a pretty common topic in other shows but it's a first in Ninjago, usually the elemental powers don't have focus and I LOVE that we now get to see stuff like that 💕💕💕

I know there should be Wojira involved, trusting The Island to deliver that little foreshadowing at the end of the episode 🤷‍♀️ Also Maya is back... MAYA IS FINALLY BACK AFTER SEVEN SEASONS YES!!! 😭😭😭

I have nothing else to say, I have no idea what this will bring, hopefully something as good as Master of the Mountain! 🖤

Alright, here we go!

GENERAL THOUGHTS

Warning reader, I might be fangirling to an extreme because I love mah girl Nya and I've been wanting Kai and Nya's parents to be back ever since Hands of Time ended. So yeah... screaming alert 😅

At this point I don't doubt that the intro is great, we reached such a level of animation and we got The Fold 😍😍 Love the marine vibe and how it's similar to The Island, because it's a great intro 👌

NOW I like the writing! Maybe they rushed the dialogue's quality for The Island to get here? It's just fun and in character, maybe it's just me but I'm enjoying it a lot for now

How many episodes are in this? Wiki says ten, then I checked again and it's sixteen like with Master of Mountain... eh, it looks good so far so it's fine whatever happens 🤷‍♀️

A BIG SPLASH

Oohhh, new villain! One that uses... flames... huh, does she know there's literally a master of fire in the ninja team? Eh whatever she looks cute, give it up for Miss Demeanor!! 👏👏

Wait... OMG IS THAT ERIN MATTHEWS??? WE GOT MACY!! ❤❤❤

Whoa, we're finding out where did the order of the vengestone from season 13 come from?? YAS! CONTINUITY!

Yep, there it is, Nya lost control... her attacks look so cool 😍

Lol that kid trying to be a nindroid and Zane being offended 😂😂 Sorry hun, you're that popular

Aaahhh, thank you Ninjago! You gave me back Nya the perfectionist 😂 I was worried her reaction to her powers wasn't going to be in character but it looks fair so far. Brings me back to Possession, my favorite season 💙💙💙

WE GOT BACK THE FACT THAT SHE CAN MAKE IT RAIN!!! YAS!!! I might be easy to please but I love these details 🤩

🤯🤯🤯 Okay they are definitely going somewhere this time and I LOVE IT, because wow. WOW. Are we actually addressing the forever questioned fact that wind and water weren't elements that Chen needed at the Tournament? Are we giving a reason for them to exist outside the main set of elements and the elemental masters?? Duuuude, season 15 don't let me stop you, keep going 😍

Mm, so water and wind are connected to Wojira (now I see the connection with the special). Are we setting the ground for a new master of wind? 😏😏 It's risky going for a Morro replacement but it's a super intriguing idea! Oooor Edgy Boy TM might come back? WHO KNOWS I'M CURIOUS ANYWAY 🤩

Love how it is universal knowledge that Nya is super indipendent 👌

YES YES FINALLY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MAYA!!! 😍😍😍 Is it too much hoping into a Ray cameo as well?? Pleaaaase? Also addressing Krux after so many seasons, this feels exciting!! 😊

This is what I'm talking about, training, fighting scenes, show me everything that water goddess can do! 🌊🌊🌊

Aaahhh, Nya flexing her mightiness through anger, just to remind us that she is the descendant of a water master as much as of a fire master 😅

YES YES YES YES IT'S HAPPENING FINALLY AFTER SEVEN SEASON THE FIRE WATER PARENTS ARE FINALLY BACK!!! 🔥🌊🔥🌊🔥🌊 I'M SO HAPPY I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG!!! 😭

RAY IS THERE TOO HECK YES!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 I shouldn't get this excited at only the first episode... WHO CARES RAY IS BAAAAACK!!! ❤❤❤

Omg Maya is definitely different from what I expected, turns out Kai's enthusiasm came from her 😂

Oh look at my flame babe 😍

He's so happy his parents are here, he's a total family man ❤❤❤

Nya is maaaaad... 😅

THERE SHE IS

WELCOME BACK JILLIAN I MISSED YOU 💚💚💚 Would it be too much having a "Your voice sounds familiar" moment with Maya and Lloyd? 😂

I'm so stoked for this! I want all the interactions I've missed for all of this time, asap!! HECK yes!! 😍😍😍😍

Oh, are we looking over the Miss Demeanor, vengestone situation? Mm... for now at least... WHO CARES FIRE WATER PARENTS!! 🔥🌊🔥🌊🔥🌊

THE CALL OF THE DEEP

Imma just slow clap for The Fold because this is another amazing intro, one of those things in this show that stays awesome no matter what happens 👍👍

So Maya gave Nya her discipline and perfectionism, but not the passion behind it 😂 I like this, it's not your conventional master of water, although I'd say it's different from the impression she gave me back in HoT. Maybe this is how she is when she's not trapped for fifty years? 😅😅

Is it too much asking for Kai and Ray bonding while the water women get the work done? 😅😅

Is this the sequel of Green Eggs and Ham?

Green Pancakes and Ham? 😂

Oh it's seaweed nevermind... at breakfast? I'm all for sushi rolls but this is a little 😅 Although since Maya missed their childhood she probably never cooked meals for them... how did I get myself sad 😢

Whoa, Maya is a strict teacher! I got flashbacks from my first and only dance lesson, teachers nitpicking every single pose, uuurrrggg I feel ya waterlily 😡

Again, not a fan of Misako, but coming from her the whole speech about wanting to be there for her child makes a lot of sense

Yes. YES.

YEEEEESSSS KAI AND RAY FAMILY BONDING THIS IS EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED I'M GETTING ALL OF MY WISHES GRANTED FOR THIS ONE ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤

AND MY FLAME BABE IS SO GLAD HE GOT HIS PARENTS!!! 😭😭😭

Lol with Kai's new hair they look even more related 🤣

Ray also sounds so happy he gets to have his moment with his son 😢 I feel so blessed in this moment 👍

Also this scene makes a lot of sense. Nya grew up to be indipendent, one that succeed in most of stuff without problems, she built her life without any help and doesn't look for it. Kai grew up more insecure, he got some walls up but loves to take care of others and be taken care of. With a childhood lost he looks forward to a bit of softness ❤❤

Did Maya make real bacon for that sandwich? Do I smell some favoritism? 😅 Or maybe she really wants Nya to get onto the water mind setting idk 🤷‍♀️

Little tiny complain, why isn't Jay doing the fixing? Did he give up mechanics completely? It feels like we haven't seen him do tech stuff in so long, I miss techy boy in action 😞

And no, having to check on the bathroom doesn't count 😅

Aww robot date 💜🤍💜🤍

AAAHH ROBOT DISASTER 😱😱😱 ZANE DANG IT YOU WERE DOING SO GOOD NOT TRYING TO DIE IN THE LAST TWO SEASONS!!

Oh that was weird, weird magic purple wave thingie?

I DID NOT ASK FOR A SEASON WITH A BEST GIRL AT THE EXPENCE OF ANOTHER BEST GIRL PIX DON'T YOU DARE DO THIS TO ME 😱😱😱😱😱

"Well this is troubling." I love this samurai so freaking much 💜💜💜

GUYS THIS IS ONLY THE SECOND EPISODE, I'M A LITTLE SCARED NOW 😢

Okay Nya admitting that something's wrong looking so apologetic, girl you don't need to do that you already own my heart 😭

Alright, I'm guessing this is Wojira's power or something, and they will have to go down below and find out why... just throwing this in, maybe Maya did something? Because she wanted to finally be with her family and needed an excuse? JUST A THEORY WITH NO BASE I REALLY HOPE I'M WRONG!!!

Okay, two episodes and I'm BEYOND engaged, let's keep it up! 😍

UNSINKABLE

Getting an idea how this episode might end already 😂😂

Look, I love best girl Pixal, but I'm kinda sad that she seems to be the only one tinkering at this point. Like, I saw Nya fix little stuff, while Jay dropped engineering altogether, I miss my engineers team 😭

Aww, the guys didn't want to crush Pixal's dream of an unsinkable boat 💜 But honestly yeah, I agree with Cole, this might end badly 😅😅

Thank goodness

I was worried they forgot about Jaya ❤💙❤💙 Jay is such a cutie omg

Nya: Mm, going on a potentially dangerous mission with unstable powers in the heart of my element or... mom's tofu pancakes... *yeets herself over the ship*

I'm making too many screenshots of the Smith family... WHO CARES THEY ARE BACK AND THEY ALL LOOK SO GOOD!!! 😍😍😍😍

Aww Ray wants to play with his son and his friends so CUTE ❤❤❤ Still can't believe they play Prime Empire after everything that went down 😂😂

Whoa whoa whoa, Kai and Cole are sitting this one out? That's actually interesting, I'm pretty sure I saw Cole's scuba suit in the sets though so I didn't expect it... lol it's actually kinda fair that the two that used to be afraid of water aren't going 😂😂

Bet Kai is happy to stay behind because he gets to spend time with his dad 😭

Also studying the fire elementals?? Uhm, yes please?? TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT MY FLAME BABE!!! 😍😍😍😍

I'm sure this one scene...

... made so many lavashippers happy ❤🖤❤🖤 Cole you got Ray's blessing

Ninja team acting cool while Jay is being Jay, it's how it always goes, it's the entire show's description and I absolutely love it 😂 That wink though 💙

PIRATE ZANE IS BACK 😂😂😂 Haven't seen him since Possession, and this time he's not even malfunctioning 👌 Pixal is so done with his dorky boyfriend 😝

Of course Jay already has a ghost butler theory going on 😂

OF COURSE IT'S MAYA 😂😂

To be honest muffins would sold me too 😅 Not sure if she will make them out of tofu again though...

It's actually really interesting that we still haven't met the actual enemies, it does build up excitment! Very curious about these squid guys 👍

Well what do you know, the Unsinkable sank. Who would have thought?

... yeah same, sorry Pix 😅

FIVE THOUSANDS FATHOMS DOWN

Aaaahhh, Nya fixing stuff! That's more like it!! 😍😍

Oww, that one speech, I've been waiting for so long for that! Maya just wants to catch up with her daughter and it's not her fault she was separated from her children, but Nya did everything on her own with Kai. Only fair she isn't seeking for her help right now... still sad 😢

Pff, with this ninja team there's not a moment of privacy 😂😂

Maya cleaning his future son-in-law's laundry what the HECK 😂😂😂 To be fair Jay has a bit of a history of having to change underwears during sea travels 😝

Zane was attached to a battery? When?... are you talking about that one scene in Prime Empire? Cause that's not really a flashback I wanna ha- whoops never mind got the flashback 😱

Maya looks more calm now, I think she's trying to act more reasonable and she's got good points 👍 I know people were a little weirded out by how more cheerful she looks in comparison to Hands of Time, but I think she gets the most serious and rational when time needs. That's actually fascinating of her 🤔

CALLING OUT AN ATTEMPTED MURDER

THIS GIRL IS TOO GORGEOUS MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT 🤩🤩🤩 Like my gosh that smirk, what the heck Pix 💜💜💜

Okay but Jay looking at Nya until the doors are completely closed?? CAN YOU FEEL MY JAYA HEART BEATING?? ❤💙❤💙

Whoa green gas I thought this was Nya's season 😂

MAYA WHY ARE YOU SAYING THIS STUFF YOU'RE SCARING ME 😱😱😱 I SWEAR LEGO IF YOU BROUGHT BACK WATER MOM JUST TO KILL HER OFF I'M GONNA SUE YOU 😭😭😭

I really REALLY like the atmosphere of the entrante of the temple! Super sealike and ancient! 🌊🌊🌊

Maya: off we go, into the spooky old temple! (Why does it feel like something Kai would say? 😂)

Oh gee, someone sleeping in the deep, who could that be? Coff Wojira coff

Whoa the jellyfishes look pretty lifelike!

HERE HE COMES

WELCOME BACK GILES!!! ONCE AGAIN ON A LEGO SHOW I MISSED YOU SO MUCH YOU AND YOUR GODLIKE VOICE!!! 😍😍😍😍 Gosh he's a villain but he's got Clay's voice, how can I even try to hate him?? 😅

Alright, knocking down my water girls, that is pretty hateful material... BUT CLAAAYYY 💙💙💙

So they need the two amulets to wake up Wojira? Isn't one on the island? Fire dad and son coming to the rescue? WHO KNOWS BUT I'M ENJOYING THIS A LOT SO FAR KEEP GOING SEABOUND 😍😍😍

[aerynwrites]

Protector - Din Djarin x Reader

Author’s Note: I loved writing this so much, ngl, however i feel like i may have lost my edge when it comes to angst. Idk it’s probably me just being overly critical of myself as usual...but anyways i hope you guys enjoy this! It’s kinda darker than my more recent stuff but I freaking love angst so, here ya go lol. Enjoy and as always I love to hear from you all! <3

Requested? Yes! based on: Could you possibly do an angsty/little fluffy Mando x reader where their ship is attacked unexpectedly and Mando does everything he can to protect the reader but they both end up being taken and she's going to get tortured but he offers to get tortured instead to save her? Possibly loss of limb if you're up to it? Reader blames herself for what happened to him but he would rather he be hurt instead of her. (requested by anon).

Word count: 2.5k

Warnings: ANGST, mentions of death, fear of death, blood, mentions of torture (not descriptive really), injuries, kidnapping, and fluff.

////

You had been traveling with the Mandalorian for almost two years now. You had been with him since before the child, and you were still with him now. As expected, the Mandalorian didn’t take to you at first. He kept his distance, only talked when necessary, and was very short with you when he did speak. However, after finding the child, his walls seemed to come down little by little and eventually you both wormed your way into each other’s hearts.

Starting a relationship with the Mandalorian was a learning curve for both of you. You had to do things a little differently than usual, but you made it work, and you had never been happier. Then the day came when Din had completed his mission of finding the child’s species, and he did the right thing, no matter how much it hurt him. After leaving the child with his people, he was once again closed off, but he told you many times that having you there made the ordeal and heartbreak much easier than if he was alone. He rested his helmet against your forehead and for the first time, told you how much he loved you, and he truly meant it. He had never felt this deep and unyielding love for anyone since his parents died, not even the child. But he loved everything about you: your smile, your hair, the way you poked your tongue out when your concentrated on something. But most of all, he loves the fact that you have never once asked him what was under his helmet. Once he had explained what it meant to remove it and why he couldn’t you immediately accepted it and continued on, no matter how curious you may be. You accepted him for who he was, not what he looked like or any other physical aspects of him. And he knew that he would do anything in the galaxy to protect you and keep you safe.

Until he couldn’t.

It had all happened to fast. The two of you were docked on a planet to get fuel and supplies, a regular routine for the both of you, when a group of storm troopers and other humans stormed the mechanical bay you had landed the ship in. You had been outside speaking with the mechanic when it happened, and before Din could even get a shot off one of the troopers had you locked in his grasp, a blaster held to you head while the others all had their weapons aimed at him.

“You shoot us, we shoot the girl,” one of the men said, “We have you severely out numbered, and all we want is information. Just come with us, tell us what we need to know, and you will be on your merry way.”

Obviously neither you or Din believed a word out of his mouth, but as Din looked at the ten men surrounding him and the one trooper holding onto you, he for once, didn’t see another way out. Not a way where you survive anyway, and he couldn’t risk that. So, Din cautiously lowered his weapon and nodded at them, causing your eyes to widen.

“Din no! What are you-“ but before you could finish, another trooper standing next to you roughly rammed the but of his rifle into the side of your head, rendering you unconscious.

Din felt his blood boil and he immediately raised his blaster to retaliate, but a quick shot and a mean pinch to his upper arm stopped him in his tracks. He quickly looked down to his right arm and saw a small feathered canister lodged into his arm.

A tranquilizer. before he could take another step or rip the device from his arm the world around him went black and the last thing he saw was your limp body being hoisted into the arms of one of the imps.

* * *

Din woke with a start, the first thing he noticed was that he was in a cell, and the second being your small form curled into his side, asleep. His sudden movement at waking must have disturbed you because you peeled your eyes open and bolted upright when you saw him move.

“Oh my stars, Din!” you cried wrapping your arms around his neck in a vice grip, “I didn’t think you were gonna wake up, I was so scared.” By now you were crying again, fresh tears covering the old ones that had dried on your face.

“I’m not going anywhere, I’m fine,” he gently placed his gloved hands on the side of your face and he finally saw the damage they caused.

Your hair was caked in dry blood, most likely from the earlier blow, but you also had new injuries. A busted lip and a darkening bruise over your left cheek.

“What did they do?” Din seethed, finger ghosting over the bruise.

You shook your head, “They want to know where we took the kid Din, they came in here to take you but-“ you paused holding back more tears, as your voice cracked, “but I wouldn’t let them. I couldn’t let them take you.” you were sobbing now, as you rested your face in the space between his helmet and shoulder.

“They’re going to kill us Din, we’re going to die.” You whimpered, voice thick with tears.

Din’s heart sunk as he listened to your words. He could hear the fear, the sadness, and for the first time since he was a child, he too felt a twinge of fear wash over his very soul. As he looked down at your shaking form he felt the fear weigh down his every limb at the thought of losing you. The thought of dying without getting to live his life with you, without getting to marry you and start a family with you…it made Din hold you tighter against him as the reality of the situation sunk in. They had stripped him of his weapons and armor, save his helmet, and locked you both in a cell. Din had never felt so helpless.

“We’re not-“ Din paused, debating on if he should make a promise he can’t keep, “We’re not going to die, I promise.”

His modulated voice, the voice you had grown so familiar with and attached too, somewhat eased your fears, but you knew his words were empty. Despair had settled itself in your mind and you were not hopeful of a happy outcome. The only way out of the cell was by force, which neither of you possessed without Din’s weapons, or a key card that only the guards had. You clung tighter to the him, and buried your face deeper into him, as if trying to hide from the terrible future that awaited you both.

Neither of you spoke for the next few moments. Opting instead for the comfort of silence and each others breathing. Din was absentmindedly running his hand up and down your back in some attempt to comfort you, while you were toying with the hair peaking from under his helmet at the nape of his neck. Your small moment of peace was interrupted by the hiss of the cell door opening, and you buried your head as far as it would go into Din’s neck, terrified to look at the two people who entered the room. You felt Din’s arms tighten around you protectively and you heard the voices chuckle before two rough hands grabbed your arms ripping you from Din’s grasp.

“No, no, no – please! Din!” new tears were pouring down your face as you fought against the troopers grasp, flailing your limps in a vain attempt to escape them. Fear gripping your heart at the thought of what awaited you outside of that cell door. In between your panicked movements you saw Din jump from his seated position and quickly lunge at one of the troopers. A well aimed hit to the exposed area of his neck had the trooper stumbling backwards but he was quick to regain his feet and kick Din behind the knee, dropping him to one knee and pointing his blaster at his chest.

“Not so tough without your armor and weapons are you?” the trooper seethed before jerking his head towards the door, telling the one holding you it was time to go.

“Stop – Wait!” Din’s voice stopped the troopers in their spot as well as caused you to cease your struggle against them once more.

“Take me.” He said firmly standing to his feet once more, “She doesn’t know anything, just please-“ his voice cracked slightly as he looked from you to the two troopers, “take me.”

Your breathing was erratic from the struggle and the panic still coursing through you as you watched the two troopers look at one another momentarily before roughly shoving you back into the cell. You stumbled into Din and he steadied you with his hands on your upper arms, you looked up at him giving him a fearful gaze.

“Please don’t go Din,” you beg quietly.

Din just gives your arm a light squeeze and pressed his helmet against your forehead, “I’ll be back,”  his hands fall down to yours and you faintly feel him place a small cool object in your hand, “I love you.”

You couldn’t even respond before the troopers were yanking Din out of the room, the door closing with a final clang. The moment their footsteps faded from your earshot you collapsed to the floor in a heap. You had stayed there for several minutes just crying and trying to push the horrible images of your imagination from your mind when you remembered the object still clutched in your hand. Your tears had finally ceased, most likely because you had no more tears to shed, and you sniffled quietly as you opened your hand. You had to hold back the sob from ripping from your throat as you looked down at the familiar necklace in your hand. It was the necklace he received from the Mandalorians, their crest. You knew the finality behind his action of giving this to you, and it just made you shake harder as you curled into a ball and fell into an exhausted fitful sleep.

* * *

A commotion of yelling and various grunts and exclamations startled you awake, it seemed to be a habit now, startling awake that is. You quickly sat up, pulling you knees to your chest as you heard what sounded like a fight or struggle outside the door, before they hissed open and a strange man was shoved into your cell. He fell to his hands and knees at the force the troopers used and you just sat in the corner casting a bewildered stare from the stranger to the now closing cell door. The man in the room didn’t say anything and you took the moment to take in his appearance. He had dark hair that was obviously disheveled by whatever had happened to him. He only wore pants, everything else having been stripped from him including his shirt. Your eyes then immediately fell to the angry red and scabbed over gashes on his back and arms, and your heart sunk at the realization of what had happened to this man.

Din, that happened to Din? Who was this?

You quickly stood from your place and ran to the cell doors banging on them frantically. It had been hours, possibly even days since the troopers took Din from your cell and now they just throw this stranger in here?

“Where is he?” you call, tears threatening to fall once more, “Where is Din, what did you do to him?” you cry, fist still banging against the door.

“Hey!” one of the guards bark, “Shut up. We just put him back in there. Won’t be long before you’re next.”

Your eyes widen at the Storm troopers words, and you slowly turned to face the man behind you, still on his knees and head bent in shame. You felt like you were paralyzed to the spot, unable to will your legs to carry you over to Din, the man you loved, who you were so sure was dead. Then you felt relief flood through your veins as you rush over and fall on your knees in front of him, hands grasping desperately at his neck and shoulders.

“Din?” you gasp.

The man doesn’t speak he just nods his head, avoiding your gaze as he looks down at the floor beneath you. You then feel tears fall from your eyes once more as you realize that you caused this. His mutilation, his pain, his dignity and his very way of life being stripped away from him.

They took off his helmet.

You instantly rest your head in the crook of his neck and let your hands fall to his hips, the only place not covered in whip lashes and cuts.

“I’m so sorry Din, this is all my fault,” you say tears falling onto his tanned skin, “Why did you do that? Why?” you pulled away from him now hands finally coming to rest on the sides of his face.

And even though you know you shouldn’t be seeing him, you are instantly aware of just how handsome and beautiful Din is under the helmet.

But you shake your head, “I’m so sorry they did this to you, I wish they would have taken me.”

At this comment his eyes finally looked up from the floor and his gaze met yours for the first time. And the look of anguish and shame in his eyes melted away as he looked into your misty (E/C) eyes. Then he brought his hands up to cup your cheeks and brought you in for a gentle yet fierce kiss. The first one you two had ever shared.

He pulled away what felt like too quickly as he pulled you into an even fiercer hug, ignoring the injuries on his arms and back, “I couldn’t let them take you. Not since I knew what they could do to you,” he pulls away and grasps your face in his hands once more pressing his forehead against yours, skin to skin, “My job is to protect you, no matter the cost.”

Your lip wobbled at his heartfelt words and you had to stop more tears from falling as your eyes fell shut, “I love you so much,” you say for what felt like the millionth time, “I just wish we could’ve had a life, a true and long life, together.” You admitted.

“Hey,” his voice along with his face pulling away from yours made you open your eyes, “We can still do that,” he assured reaching into the waist band of his pants and pulling out the all familiar key card to the cell.

Your eyes widened as you looked at the card then back up to his face, his eyes filled with determination, and you felt a smile creep onto your lips.

“I told you we weren’t going to die, didn’t I?” he whispered.

He did indeed.

And you knew the minute you saw that card that he would keep his promise

////

Permanent tags: @maryan028​ @lord-wolfgen @petalduck​

[pi-cat000]

MSA: Take Back The Future (part 3)

Summary: Vivi and Arthur travel back in time to the beginning of Hellbent. Neither of them are okay. 

(Part 1) (Part 2)

.

Mystery, instead of answering Vivi’s questions, leaps over the seat dividing the front and back areas of the van, exiting out the back doors.

“Wait, ” Vivi yells after Mystery, “get to back here and explain what happened to my memories.”

/It is not a tale that can be simply told. Not right now when we may be in danger/

Arthur thinks kitsune turned dog sounds slightly strained but it’s hard to really tell with Mystery’s weird telepathy. When the meaning of words are projected right into your brain some of the nuance is lost.

“Who is Shiromori? Why is she attacking us?” Vivi tries, following to glare at Mystery who circles the van, barely paying attention to the two of them. “Just answer one question!”

His mechanical arm twitches of its own accord and he eyes it nervously.  To hell with it. Arthur frees his hand and begins to feel about for the quick release lever hidden under a panel on his upper arm. After the van crash and almost getting thrown to his death, the arm had been too banged up to safely remove, jamming in place.  Best to be rid of it now, before everything when to shit all over again.

The sound of his heavy metal arm hitting the ashfelt draws Vivi’s attention and she turns to give him a quizzical expression.

“Better off then on,” He explains, “Wasn’t really working that well anyway. Hopefully, that’ll get rid of the curse as well.” Honestly, this cruse is the least of his worries.

Vivi exhales and Arthur can see the stress pinching her mouth, pulling it down into an uncharacteristic frown, “If the curse is specifically attached to your arm then removing it might work. On the other hand, if it’s anything like the one that got my memories then who the hell knows what will work. I certainly don’t. Apparently, I don’t know a lot of things.”

The last sentence is louder, directed at Mystery. There is no response from the dog who is staring off into the middle distance, head to one side like he is listening intently for something.  Arthur offers Vivj an uneasy shrug. He has his own questions for Mystery regarding Vivi’s memories, his arm, and the night they both went missing. However, his most recent run-in with dead-Lewis has him quickly reordering his priorities. None of the answers are going to mean much if he’s dead. Again…

Speaking of which… On the horizon, a purple light flares, glowing brightly against the dark backdrop. Arthur’s mouth goes suddenly dry and limbs feel very cold. Yeah, that seamed about right…

/You called this spirit Lewis?/ Mystery turns his head to examine him, expression troubled. /Are you sure?/  

He gives a short nod, eyes darting from Mystery then back to the road. It looks like Mystery is planning something based on how his fur is glowing red. He’d seen a similar red glow on the night of Lewis’s disappearance and during the confrontation outside his Uncle’s workshop. How much did Mystery know about Lewis? The question sticks in his mind, painfully heavy.

“Lewis? You mean the purple fire ghost? The one that caused the van crash?” Vivi steps up next to him, eyes locked onto the truck which grows quickly larger, “How are we going to stop it from running us all over?”

It’s too late to try a drive or run away now. Even if he decides to run there is a steep rocky slope on one side and a sharp climb on the other. If he did make it down by some miracle there was just flat desert and no cover for miles. Arthur doesn’t voice this observation instead commenting in a voice several octaves higher than normal, “I don’t think you need to worry about the ghost running you over. I’m pretty sure he’s only after me. So…ah…maybe don’t stand near me?”

Why? Why was Lewis trying to hurt him? In his mind’s eye, Lewis and Mystery meld together into a nightmare inferno of fire, teeth and death.

“I don’t want you to get run over either.” Vivi’s voice sounds faint, coming to him like it has travelled a great distance. Too much fear packed into too short a timeframe is making it harder and harder to concentrate. The ice at her feet thickens into long sheets, which creep out over the road, freezing it solid. He is probably lucky his remaining arm hasn’t frozen off with how tight Vivi had been holding it. Maybe if he turns into a giant Arthur icicle and he can sit this whole thing out. The hysterical thought momentarily breaks through his mounting panic.  

/Wait./

Arthur can almost hear the crackle of fire and the hum of the truck's engine.

/ You should not be drawing on so much of this power at once! You’ll damage the seal further!/

“I’m not letting Arthur die again. Anything comes near us and I’ll make whoever it is, regret it… that includes you.”

Vivi steps out so she is positioned in the centre of the road.

/I can handle this confrontation. There are still many aspects to the situation that you remain unaware of./

“And how am I supposed to fix that if you won’t tell me anything.”

/ I swear I will explain when there is more time. I only ever wanted to protect you./

“I don’t believe you.”

Vivi snaps the final sentence and punctuates it with a sharp hand gesture aimed at the oncoming truck. Several lines of ice stretch out and down the road, racing away from Vivi to meet the oncoming vehicle. Shining an ethereal blue, the frost coats the road’s surface, smoothing it over. Arthur catches the briefest glimpse of skeletal Lewis before the truck hits the ice sheets and the wheels suddenly lose traction.  The sound of metal crunching is deafening, accompanied by the hiss of water abruptly vaporising. Heat and cold collide in a cacophony cracking ice and explosion of steam.

A flash of bright purple fire. Mystery disappears, obscured by the thick columns of steam. He finds himself being yanked to the side by Vivi just in time to watch the purple truck careen past in a shower of sparks and groaning metal. At such high speeds, it rams straight into and through the guardrails separating the road from the rocky slope. Stunned, Arthur watches it disappear over the edge. If Lewis hadn’t already been dead then Arthur might have been worried. The sound of banging and crashing, as the truck presumably roles several times, has him physically wincing. Scratch that, he was worried. Very worried. Worried enough that it overtakes his mental panic and replaces it with deep concern. How durable were ghosts? He doesn’t know and that scares him. 

“Vivi! What the hell,” He finally manages to spit out, breaking his panic-induced stupor. He tries to rush past her, intent on checking for any signs of Lewis. He promptly slips. The combination of ice and his lack of a second arm throws off his balance and he ends up falling backward. He is saved from a collision with the ground by Vivi who seemed to now have supernatural levels of balance and was unaffected by the slippery surface.

“I …wow. That was… something.” Vivi breaths, examining the road still covered in planes of ice as if not quite believing it.

“Help me to the edge,” He interrupts, trying and failing to stand straight collapsing back on her, “I need to see if he’s okay,”

“Who’s okay? The ghost?"

“Yes.”

"You want to see if the ghost is okay? You said it was trying to hurt you?”

Arthur can practically see the concern and confusion now hanging over Vivi as she looks down from where she's holding him up by his one good arm.

“It’s just…a misunderstanding or something. I…we…might know this ghost.”

“What?”

“Just help me check.” He motions with his remaining arm. Visible through the plums of steam are thicker lines of darkened smoke coming from the space where the truck had disappeared.

....

Note: I’m Sorry to everyone who’s showed interest in this AU but i’m not sure if i’ll continue this since i’ve lost motivation.  Here are some of the more coherent plot notes if people are interested in this AU. Feel free to ask questions if u have any :) . 

...

-   Shiromori shows up directly after Lewis’s crash, distracting Mystery. With all the steam obscuring their vision Arthur and Vivi don’t realise that Shiromori has arrived immediately, and there is enough time to briefly look for Lewis. 

- Lewis makes it out of the truck crash only slightly worse for wear and tries to attack Arthur. Vivi moves to defend Arthur, then Arthur has to defend Lewis and it’s all very awkward for everyone. 

- Lewis sees how scared Arthur is a reconsiders his revenge plot, hesitating long enough to get some dialogue in. 

 - Arthur finally gives Vivi a brief Lewis overview (sans the whole ‘he almost threw me off a fake cliff thing’). Vivi is suspicious and somewhat unconvinced. Lewis is slightly confused when Vivi starts referring to the alternate time line. 

- Not time for further discussion because Mystery is fighting Shiromori and, since he had warning this time, he’s winning. 

(fight scene stuff. Vivi rushes in to do something idk this part is not planned.) 

Vivi overused ice abilities. 

Lewis and Arthur have a moment alone. 

Vivi, slightly untrusting of Mystery, ends up stepping to stop the two from fighting. (Vivi ends up saving  Shiromori maybe??? a parallel  to the original timeline). A dramatic moment where Vivi rushes in ( maybe takes a blow for Shiromori idk would depend on Shiromori’s backstory) and ends up injured. 

- ??? makes an appearance, takes over Vivi instead of Mystery. 

Some background world building stuff

- Vivi’s ice powers might become unsealed and she is vulnerable to ??? (spiritual energy is damaging to humans if too much is used at once or if is not used correctly)

- Yukino family are spiritual channels making them both more powerful and more vulnerable. Mystery holds a seal to the ability and it eats up a tails worth of power to maintain. Same deal with Shiromori, Mystery holds a seal to keep her fully realised abilities in check which also eats up a lot of power.

- The seal is damaged when Mystery is hurt

- Arthur is unaffected by the ice because he’s got some odd time based supernatural power which has bonded to vivi spiritual signtaure as well. This is the reason ??? want to possess Arthur. One possible resolution was for Arthur to figure out how to rewind time to the seconds before Vivi gets possessed, giving her a chance to defeat ???. It takes a lot of power which Lewis ends up giving to him. 

[gregorygrim]

Dragon Prince Hot Takes

!!! Full Spoiler For “The Dragon Prince” Seasons 1-3!!!

So I finally got around to watching The Dragon Prince. Timely, I know, but better late than never i guess. I’m not completely caught up yet as I only got as far as S3E7 “Hearts of Cinder” in this first sitting. Considering I haven’t binged any series in almost two years, I think that’s pretty respectable. This means I won’t discuss the last few episodes here, except for a couple of things I was unfortunately spoiled for already, hence full spoilers.

These are basically my first thoughts and opinions after the binge and a good night’s sleep. It’s gonna be a lot so if you don’t care or don’t want spoilers…

TL;DR: 7½/10. Generally enjoyable, there are some aspects I’m not exactly fan of, but no dealbreakers

Firstly to everyone who told me that this was the new ATLA: you all need to rewatch Avatar stat! Like seriously. There are definitely parallels and given the cast and crew I think that’s what they were going for too (which is why I think it’s fair to compare the two), but still, no.

Secondly I love most of the worldbuilding and love that the series at least tries to give it to us in a bit of a non-linear fashion, even if it is kind of clumsy at times. I know some people are put off by expository dialogue and flashbacks, but I’m an epic fantasy nerd, I need that sweet, sweet lore to live as much as you mortals need food.

I like that there was clearly an effort made to integrate the worldbuilding in more subtle ways. For example you may initially find it kind of weird that all these different human ethnicities are existing perfectly integrated in what looks like a medieval society, until you remember from the opening monologue that the Human Kingdoms are the result of a massive diaspora following the human exodus from Xadia, so obviously people got all mixed up everywhere. It’s representation with an excellent in-world reason and that just brings me joy.

I also love the magic system(s) even though we haven’t really gone into that just yet. it really feels like there was a genuine effort made to create underlying mechanics for the magic rather than just making each spell a vaguely elemental themed ability. I really hope we’ll dive deeper into that in coming seasons.

I also like the little nods to other works of fantasy: Ezran’s ability to talk with animals is a reference to Tolkien’s world where some royal bloodlines had the ability to speak with animals, specifically birds; Primal Magic and its spells being cast with Ancient Draconic runes and words might be reminiscent of the Ancient Language from the Inheritance Cycle etc.

Thirdly the main cast is great. Callum, Ezran and Rayla are all interesting and relatable characters in their own right and as a group. I’m not going into each of them individually here, but while I think the series as a whole falls short of ATLA, as protagonist parties go I dare say this one is nearly on nearly on par with the gAang.¹

And yes, I love Bait, which I really did not expect following the first few episodes. I love his weird pug-toad-chameleon design, I love that he works like a flashbang whenever somebody says a quote from Scarface (I wish they hadn’t dropped that later on) and I love how done he is with everything and everyone at all times. I’ve only had him for 25 episodes, but if anything happened to him I would kill all of my followers and then myself.

On top of that, and speaking as someone who god knows is really not into shipping, I love Rayla and Callum’s relationship. It’s believable, it’s refreshing and it brings out the best in both characters without changing basically anything about them. Just two good friends who fell in love. A++, maybe even S tier.

Unfortunately though I can’t sing the same kind of praises about the villains. None of them are terrible (as in terribly written, most of them are pretty awful people), but with one exception they just don’t stand up to the protagonists in quality.

I could simply not take Viren seriously. Even now that is probably the single most powerful magic user in the world, he just has such strong Karen energy, every time he finishes a speech I am overcome with the urge to say “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” and it does not help the mood. I’m not even sure why. It might’ve been the voice because the guy who did Viren (Jason Simpson) also does a lot of kinda slimy characters in various anime dubs, it might be that over-the-top walking stick, idk.

What I’m saying is that as a primary antagonist he simply did not work for me. Which is doubly a shame because this kind of tarnishes the real “Big Bad” of this story by proxy. Aaravos, even as an invisible ghost, with his voice coming out of a caterpillar and next to no info on his backstory, has more style and gravity than all the human antagonists combined. It helps that he is by far the best designed character and Erik Dellums has the voice of a young god, but I’d argue even without that unfair advantage he has the potential to be a top tier villain. While he is stuck as Viren’s “little bug-pal” though he is just being dragged down.

(I’m aware that as of the final episode the caterpillar familiar is undergoing metamorphosis, probably to create a new body for Aaravos’ spirit to inhabit outside of the magic mirror, so I’m definitely hyped for more of him in the coming seasons.)

As for Soren and Claudia, I’ve got mixed feelings. This was one more aspect of the show that a lot of people compared to Avatar and while I see the parallels to Zuko & Azula, they are still very different, at least where Claudia is concerned. I’d also just like to mention that a lot of people told me that they thought the direction in which their storylines went were really surprising and I can’t disagree more. I predicted that Soren would defect to the protagonists on episode 5 right after Viren told him to kill the princes and I knew Claudia was going to stick with her father from episode 12 onward. My point is, it didn’t feel like some kind of plot twist, the way some people made it out to be, and which I don’t think was the intent.

I definitely got the sense that Soren was at least a Zuko-type character, though still not a Zuko clone, and as with Zuko I was consistently able to empathise and sympathise with him and his predicaments. I also appreciated that his dilemma is the result of his convictions and not him being kind of dense, which would’ve been all to easy and probably would’ve ruined his character for me. As it stands he is extremely milktoast, but perfectly functional for his purpose in the story and I can definitely see him evolving further and getting more interesting as we go on.

Claudia is where it gets complicated. Again, I can see the Azula parallels. But unlike that character, who is her father’s animal 110%, Claudia doesn’t strike me as a victim of Viren’s manipulation the way Soren undoubtably is. The way she talks about and uses Dark Magic, how she talks down to Soren and how even Viren finds it difficult to communicate with her, tells me as an audience member that she is an independent person. Which tells me that the cruelty and enthusiasm for causing harm she regularly displays is her own will. And that was before she straight up leads Callum on to manipulate him.

On the other hand I can absolutely relate to her devotion to her family, her big sister role (even though she is younger than Soren) and the way both the separation of her parents before the story and Soren’s injury in episode 16 must’ve affected her because of this. I know that, if my brother had become paralysed from the neck down and I knew a way to heal him, I would not have hesitated to kill that fawn either. Then again her relationship with her father is very different from parental relationships I am familiar with, so I can’t really say I see why she is so devoted to him, other than she promised her mother to stay with him years ago? ¯\(o_Ō)/¯

So basically Claudia falls into an emotional grey space for me. I can’t really tell how to feel about her either way and I’ll just have to see where she goes from here, which, while fine, isn’t necessarily great for an end of season cliffhanger imo.

Seeing as I’ve already talked about some of the show’s shortcomings, I think it’s time to dive into some of the what I would consider flaws.

Firstly this show needed at least 12 episode seasons. I have never made a secret out of my dislike for the modern short seasons and while I recognise that in the current climate in the industry giving everything full 25 episode seasons isn’t really doable, the pacing of this show, especially for the first season is just outright bad at times. It works as of the second season, but the first season alternately feels like it’s either rushing through or crawling along the whole way through.

The believability of Rayla’s and the princes’ relationship really suffers from this the most. It comes a bit out of nowhere on the boat ride and is then taken for granted way to quickly. Like Callum, seriously, this girl tried to kill you and your brother not even a day ago and you are currently cut off from all allies you have ever had until now. A little skepticism isn’t misplaced here. I also wold’ve liked if we’d just gotten a bit more of a sense of movement with the characters. I get that this is not the kind of show where we can just make an entire episode about the characters travelling and camping, intercut with plots centred around a more expansive supporting cast, but still I really would’ve preferred if Xadia didn’t feel quite so around the corner.

Another issue is with setup and payoff, which I think is partially a consequence of the pacing as well. A lot of smaller plot points are set up within the same episode as the payoff just wreak havoc on the narrative structure. A good example is the episode where they ride down the river in a boat and Bait tires to go into the water, but is saved by Ezran, who then explains the story behind Glowtoads and how they are pefect bait for large water predators. Then Bait falls into the water and is attacked by a massive water monster. This happens within five minutes of one episode and never comes up again. To me that looks like sign of rushed editing, which is probably not entirely the crew’s fault, given that they are on a schedule from Netflix, but it’s still a point of critique.

It unfortunately also manifests in the occasional line of horribly forced dialogue, often for things we can literally see happening on screen. Again, this is mostly the case in the earlier episodes, but it never completely goes away.

Finally, and this is where i get into serious issues that made me want to write this, we gotta talk about representation in this show.

First: disabled representation, meaning Amaya. Why is Amaya deaf? Because it’s good to have disabled representation.

Why is Amaya deaf and a high-ranking military officer? Because they didn’t think it through.

I know this may be a contentious opinion, but it is my belief that the purpose of representation, particularly of disabilities characters may suffer from, in fiction is to, y’know, represent people as they are in life. That includes especially the struggles they face and have to overcome, sometimes their whole life. This is not just me talking out of my ass either. A couple years ago I discussed this with several people that are disabled, specifically blind or otherwise severely visually impaired, in a different context obviously, and the general consensus was that it’s better to have representation that shows their life and their abilities as they are, rather than how they might wish they could be.

A mute or deaf person cannot be a medieval fantasy army general, no matter how good they might be in melee combat or who’s sister they are, because at the end of the day, they’re not able to give commands while they are holding a sword and shield. That such a massive logical oversight, especially in comparison to the extremely well done example of representation I mentioned above, and has so little impact on the plot that it leads me to believe, this aspect of Amaya’s character was tacked on in the last minute without being given any thought for the sole reason of the story having a disabled person in it. All this does is necessitate the existence of two otherwise entirely unnecessary characters, Gren and Kazi, both of which achieve nothing, aside from sometimes being literal set dressing.

That is where representation ends and tokenism begins.

And unfortunately this generally lacklustre attitude also extends to the LGBT+ representation on the show.

As of S3E7 “Hearts of Cinder” we have had two onscreen gay couples on the show (onscreen in the sense that both partners were onscreen and they were somehow confirmed to be in a relationship on the show). One of these, the queens of Duren, literally die in the same flashback they are introduced in, which incidentally also features them invading a foreign nation to poach a rare animal and subsequently starting the conflict at the series’ core. Not a great look.

Aside from serving as a tragic backstory for their daughter, the most impact they had on my viewing experience was that they made wonder how the fuck royal succession works in Duren. (People who know me are rolling their eyes right now because I’m bringing anarchism into this Dragon Prince review, but I’m telling you, this why fantasy monarchies aren’t compatible with LGBT+ politics in the same setting. Dynastic governments are inherently bigoted, you can’t have it both ways.)

The other couple are Runaan and Ethari, Rayla’s caretakers, although if I’m being honest you wouldn’t be able tell based on Runaan’s treatment of Rayla in the first episode. By the time we actually meet Ethari and find out about their relationship with Rayla, Runaan is suffering “a fate worse than death” (direct quote from the show) trapped in a gold coin.

I mean come on. That’s about as “technically not ‘bury your gays’” as it gets.

I think I need to reiterate here that my point is not that this show or its creators are somehow malicious. As i stated in the TL;DR: I don’t think this is a dealbreaker for liking this show. But it does demonstrate that they are prone to slipping to some potentially harmful tropes and this needs to be criticised and pointed out to them.

In conclusion, I really love this show. It’s not ATLA, it never will be, nothing else will ever be ATLA no matter how badly (and terribly) Netflix tries. But it does and should not have to be.

What it has to do though is improve. A lot of the building blocks are already there, such as Aaravos or Claudia’s development, Callum’s father, the origin of Ezran’s ability, the purpose of the “Key of Aaravos”, the true fate of King Harrow (we all know his soul is in the bird, right?) etc. Some things like the treatment of Amaya’s disability unfortunately won’t be fixable as far as I can tell, but if they at least manage to fix the gay representation I can make my peace with that.

¹ I know I said I wouldn’t go into each of the characters individually, but a) you should never trust a stranger on the internet and b) I really want to talk a bit about Callum. Specifically the “mystery” of why the hell he is connected to the Sky Primal. I write “mystery” because I think it’s fairly obvious from whence this talent came: there is only one humanoid species we know of with innate access to the Sky Arcanum and one of Callum’s parent’s is unidentified, presumed dead. 2+2=4. Callum’s father was a Skywing Elf. That’s why he recognised Nyx’s boomerang weapon. He remembered one like it either from his very early childhood (remember that he has photographic memory) or Sarai kept one and he found it at some point.

On top of that the name “Callum” or at least the pronunciation is clearly derived from Latin “caelum” meaning “sky” or “weather” and I already mentioned that Ancient Draconic is just bad Latin. It’s not very subtle. Unless they pull a complete 180 concerning the lore about Primal Magic he’s definitely going to be a half-elf, which would also just so happen to make him the perfect mediator between the Human Kingdoms and Xadia. Hmm, it’s almost as if they are planning ahead.

My question: How the fuck did that happen? Or rather: how did that fuck happen? I don’t think even Harrow knew or he probably would’ve a) paid more attention when Sarai advised against poaching the Magma Titan, because obviously she’s gotten around Xadia more than him, if y’know what i’m sayin’ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) or at least b) put it in his final letter to Callum. Unfortunately we know basically nothing about Sarai except that she was a soldier alongside Amaya and already had Callum before marrying Harrow. So does Amaya know? This is probably the most interesting plot thread in the whole story and as far as my friends told me it’s not going to be touched on anymore in the last two episodes than it already has thus far, which is basically not at all.

[intermundia]

Hello, I was reading your meta about how Darth Vader is a lich (it’s excellent btw) and I was wondering if you could expand more on the classical meaning and uses of the terms “phylactery” and “lich.” I know that phylactery has long refered to the boxes attached to tefilum used in jewish prayer (I’m jewish) and I know the root of the word is derived from Ancient Greek but prior to reading your meta I had heard that the modern use of the “phylactery”/“lich” mythology came from D&D in the 70s. Is there an earlier record of this mythology? Thank you.

The paired terminology lich and phylactery absolutely did enter the modern popular imagination through DnD and other fantasy literature in the middle of the 20th century. I think it’s modern mythology, using extant archetypes to create something new.

The pairing of an undead magician and an object containing their soul/anchor to life are both evocative of earlier mythological elements but not identical. It draws on the ancient idea of magic being a kind of binding and the very ancient concept of the soul. BUT, the words were not linked before the 20th century, and come from distinct heritages.

In DnD, a lich is corporeal, gaunt and skeletal, with points of light burning in place of decomposed eyes. Their soul (life-force? identity?) is stored in an object that binds the soul to the mortal world and prevents it from traveling to the Outer Planes after death. The phylactery itself is usually an amulet in the shape of a small box, but it can take the form of any object with an interior space in which arcane sigils of naming, binding, immortality, and dark magic are scribed in silver. The magician’s soul persists inside the box.

Since about the Middle Ages, the word phylactery’s meaning was specifically fixed to tefilum (small boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses of the Torah), but before that, back in antiquity, it meant something more general like amulet or charm—small objects worn for magical/supernatural protective power.

The word comes from the verb φῠλᾰ́σσω (phulássō, “to protect”), and meant a fortified garrison, and then over time the meaning was adopted and changed into a protective amulet. The Jewish usage is a specific continuation of a long-standing tradition, one that Christians (I think) moved away from as ‘superstition’ and a legacy of paganism.

In antiquity, phylacteries were created using binding spells, engraving, and inscription (spells/magic words, invocations of supernatural beings like minor gods, naming, etc). They were usually tied around the body, either strings/bands, or strips of metal/papyrus was inscribed and then rolled up or folded and carried in a pouch or tubular container. The container itself was not the φυλακτήριον, the inscribed/magical contents provided the power. They were thus not conceptually hollow and did not provide a vessel for a soul or anything like that.

There was no specific association between φυλακτήριον and preservation from death. They affected things like social relationships, brought prosperity, warded off the evil eye, that sort of thing. There was a great deal of paranoia in antiquity about binding spells/curses like defixiones cast by other people, and amulets/phylacteries were more about that and general protection from them and other misfortune than preservation of the life force.

I know that by the Middle Ages, Christians had phylacteries that contained relics (e.g. the finger of Marie of Oignies in the 13th century was placed in a phylactery). So, what was contained inside the phylactery and powered the protection was no longer something inscribed, but a magical token related to death. Christians, though, did not have any desire to keep their souls alive and away from God (based on my understanding of Christian doctrine, the idea of trying to bind the soul to keep it away from God is incredibly deeply sinful?). Those phylacteries then were also good luck charms within the context of having a good, safe, and happy life.

Why then did 20th century fantasy writers decide to use the word phylactery to describe a magic vessel protecting the soul? I hope the lingering Christian fingers-in-a-box and general magical-safekeeping-amulet meanings of phylactery were in the minds when they paired the term with lich, but it may very well have been a direct appropriation of the Jewish (common, modern, recognized) meaning of the word, I honestly do not know.

In terms of the vocabulary, lich (from Old English lic, corpse), is borrowing resonance from something called a ‘lich gate’ which stood at the lowest end of the cemetery where the coffin and funerary procession usually entered. Fantasy authors were probably trying to draw both on the corporeal/physical (i.e. not a ghost) undead figure, and the idea of transition and liminality that the lich exists inside, both dead and alive. Liches refuse the final transition, essentially, to go through the gate.

I think it’s a mash up of ancient ideas—by pairing these words, the writers in the 20th century created a modern sort of undead creature. There is no history of lich/phylactery before the 20th century, but both words are very evocative and conceptually related to magic (phylactery) and the narrative undead villains in stories (lich) through the ages, which is perfect for fantasy stories and games that tell stories in those worlds. I think the use of Old English too evokes Tolkien’s contributions to the fantasy genre. 

By making it specifically a magician (intellectual) who chooses this transformation for themselves, as opposed to a creature animated by something else’s power, it is reminiscent of the concept hubris, especially nerds who seek to know too much and have too much power through technology/human knowledge. Naming it after something Greek also seems to evoke that it is esoteric and something learned from study, while lich is very idk Anglo-Saxon and old in a primeval way.

The whole concept seems very modern to me also to externalize and concretize a soul into something that can be stored like an object (is it from external memory—computers?). It’s a very secular and materialist appropriation of a magic/sacred concept, aka the bread and butter of fantasy lit.

Corpses reanimated by supernatural forces are present in almost every belief system in the world, as well as the idea of souls (ghosts) that persist without bodies. What is interesting is the mechanics of how these creatures are reanimated, how they stay reanimated, and how they are destroyed. That is a whole other subject tbh, a whole book could be written about this.

Tl;dr—the combo of lich/phylactery is modern, but evocative of older things both through name and through mechanics.

[mylittleredgirl]

trekathon: disco 1x11

“the wolf inside”:

pretty impressive that an episode can start with a man cradling his dead husband’s body and then get more distressing from there

it’s worth it to me though, personally, because mirror sarek is a prophet and it’s really working for me

the opening credits come a full 14 minutes into the episode. six teasers before breakfast and discovery laughs in the face of god

not like a Prophet™️ prophet:

the regular kind

or actually maybe he just mind-melds with people sometimes and then wows them with his psychic knowledge of their inner selves idk

i also really loved mirror!soval beyond all reason. apparently all i need is an older vulcan man who’s anti-fascist and pro-goatee 

sarek’s confused math lady face as he tries to process finding his own katra inside michael’s head

michael has longed her whole life to hear sarek say something that nice about her and she only had to travel outside her quantum universe to do it

the i.s.s. suffering:

michael’s narrated slow-motion existential crisis feat. sexy nightwear

there’s a shot in the unsettling bath scene with steam curling around michael’s face that’s pure cinematic art

michael and prime!saru both lying to each other in this episode to spare the other’s feelings

also the “i will call you saru after a respected friend” parallel with the emperor telling mirror!saru about “a starship captain named saru” 🥺

i don’t think i mentioned last time how much i enjoyed seeing the iconic shenzhou transporter room again and really wish i had done so before it turned into the iconic shenzhou execution chamber

i LOVE that keyla gets to stand up! and walk around! and contribute to the plot!! and the continuity between this and “terra firma” of her being michael’s right hand

“terrans don’t apologize” but keyla DOES apologize to michael. you know i don’t like going extra curricular for info but emily coutts said in a ready room episode that she thinks their mirror universe selves may have impulses to Be Good that they have to suppress the way that we have to reject our evil impulses

anyway, i assume we’re all here for shipping mirror captain burnham/commander detmer

michael insisting she’s still starfleet so she has to foster this coalition of species... that fire of federation optimism....... we love to see it 💗

and also voq is there:

i can’t tell you how much i secretly hoped that THIS TIME ash tyler would manage not be voq after all

the reveal coming because he heard part of the activation phrase in his own voice is inspired though

he TRIED to stay HUMAN for MICHAEL how am i supposed to just LIVE WITH THIS

michael and tyler’s lovely scene in bed together made me think about how this is michael at her most traumatized, and tyler of course is traumatized in ways that literally defy understanding, so it’s this beautiful broken thing

and holding that up against season 3 michael who has moved through so much of her trauma and is ready for a sweet and loving relationship with a dude who rescues animals and loves her almost a full 90% as much as he loves his cat

like obviously, given the secret klingon agent of it all, it’s not exactly “falling in love with the right man for the right time,” but i like the way discovery challenges the draw of OTP and instead gives us “people can love deeply for a time and then can love someone else just as much later, because all of us grow and change and seek different things at different times to help us do that”

i don’t understand how any of this works:

really thought i was hanging on to the mechanical theory of How Spores Work as presented until now, but tilly said “neuronal link” like i should understand it and the whole house of cards came down

still not sure how hugh becomes a spore ghost. “fungi have the biological aptitude to link death with life” and “wherever you are, i hope he’s with you” sets it up, so i EXPECT that paul in the mycelial network will meet hugh, but instead it’s mirror paul in a sexy leather uniform

actually i don’t understand transporters anymore either. where is the discovery when they beam tylervoq aboard? is this like in aos where sometimes transporters just work over enormous distances? did they jam some spores into the transporter buffers?? 

EvilWatch 2255:

“i feel that your suffering has influenced your judgment”

really love lorca and all the mirror universe characters turning away from the explosion while michael stares directly at it

EMPEROR. PHILIPPA. GEORGIOU.

now that she’s a character i Know And Love rather than the standard cartoon villain one expects from the mirror universe i cannot WAIT for this.

[deathlcss]

( brad pitt & cis male ) + you know holden price, the 30 year-old recluse that has lived in eldstead since the storm? i heard he has a tendency to be calm, honest, detached & brazen. the aquarius has equipped death in time for the full moon + ( admin mia & 23 & pst & she/they. )

hey !! i’m mia <3 hnstly do not know how to talk about myself so i will simply proceed with the intro... but like this or mssg me if you’d like to plot ! i’m SO excited for this rp omg it’s been like a hundred years since i was in a supernatural / horror group ( thank u to jinx for their Vision )

trigger warnings for murder, gun violence, drug & alcohol use, & death.

LIFE ;

Holden grows up in Nevada in the ‘60s and he’s adopted by his uncle, Jack, and Jack’s wife, Eileen. Holden’s parents are gone – nobody knows where. He sees pictures of his mother. She was from England, but that’s about all Jack and Eileen can tell Holden. He sees far more photos of his father, a tall blond man who was a pilot in the war and met his mother that way. Holden pretends that his parents are together in England, and that they’ll come get him. Maybe when he’s older. Maybe they’re waiting for him to grow up, so that he can travel with them properly. But he’s seven, he’s ten, he’s thirteen, he’s fifteen, he’s nineteen, and they still haven’t shown their faces.

Holden is twenty-three and he’s moving from place to place. His best friend, Charlie, is by his side. The two of them are not entirely honest, but they are not entirely reprehensible either. Sometimes they find a town they like and they stick around for a while. They spend a year in a small town in rural California. Holden works as a mechanic while Charlie tends bar. They live in what is essentially a shack, but which has two bedrooms and a stove that heats the place to an unbearable degree and a reliable bathroom. Charlie meets a woman and for a little while Holden thinks he might settle down but that doesn’t end up happening – her parents hate Charlie, say he’s just a no-good drifter, and Charlie can’t really argue the point. He and Holden leave the day after they break up. Holden’s sorry to go, but he gets used to the road again quickly enough.

Holden is twenty-five and Charlie’s gone back to California without him. Holden is in Detroit, working on an assembly line. He’s married to a woman he doesn’t particularly love. She’s got a strange name – Calliope – which was the first thing he liked about her. He still likes it about her. The truth is that he does like her, which is why it frustrates him that he doesn’t feel in love with her. He wonders, on occasion, if his parents ever felt like they were really in love. Callie and him talk about having children, but they haven’t yet. Callie notices Holden aiming long looks at one of her friends. The rift between Callie and Holden grows until something breaks and Holden bids her farewell, apologizing for any trouble. She doesn’t seem too broken up about it. She tells him it was a long time coming and he can’t help but agree. They say they’ll stay in touch. It’s much to his surprise that they actually do.

Holden is twenty-seven and he’s in Los Angeles, living with a woman named Lydia he met when they were both fired from the same job at the same time. He has a job as a mechanic but at night he and Lydia take long drives outside of town. Holden finds Charlie’s obituary in the paper. He tells Lydia about Charlie and Lydia says lets go for a drive and she packs an overnight bag for herself and he grabs all he owns, which isn’t really much – he’s not that into material things so long as he’s comfortable – and the two of them decide they’re going to drive up to Alaska.

Holden is twenty-nine and he and Lydia are in Seattle. They have a kid now. The kid is Lydia’s, but Holden feels a certain sense of responsibility. He helped pick a name and everything – Charlotte, after Charlie, and her middle name is Celeste. He and Lydia are just friends, which works out for the best – they agree that if they were ever anything more, they’d probably kill each other. Holden is still a mechanic. He still drives too quickly, especially on long open roads at night. Lydia doesn’t come with him much anymore.

Holden is thirty and he gets into a bar fight in Eldstead. It’s 1993 and he’s a little drunk and the guy he fights is a little high and when he wakes up dead years later Holden will be unable to recall why the two of them fought. In 1993 Holden leaves the bar alive, if a little bloody, having gotten away with a warning from the law, and in 1993 he receives one shot to the back of the head as he’s getting into his car. And then there’s a storm, and Holden wakes up.

DEATH ;

Holden isn’t pleased about his inability to leave Eldstead. He’s got no attachment to the town whatsoever. He loves the city and he loves barren landscapes and he misses nightlife and the desert that he knows he’ll never see again. He feels as if he’s been trapped in some strange parallel universe. He’s not unfriendly. He’s not friendly either. He’s reclusive. He haunts the bar he died beside, and sometimes he lets himself be seen in it. He has trouble with reality. He didn’t when he was alive – he was grounded. Now he wonders if anything is real. He supposes it makes no difference. He misses Lydia, and Charlie II. He misses his dog. He misses taking long drives at night. He misses working on cars.

PERSONALITY ;

Holden is laid back, at least up to a point. He was accused in life of being a little too go with the flow, and tended to be able to talk to just about anyone because he wasn’t really doing the talking – he was more of a listener. That’s still true in death, although the experience has shaken something loose in him. He’s more cynical now than he ever was while he was alive, and he fears consequences far less, which isn’t great, considering he was already a bit reckless. It takes a lot to get him shaken up, and if he thinks something, and he wants to say it, he’s gonna say it – he doesn’t believe in brutal honesty if it’s pointless, but if he believes someone’s gotta know something he’s not going to hold it in.

WANTED CONNECTIONS ;

friendships. he’s pretty easygoing, despite being reclusive. he might know people who spend a lot of time at the bar, and anyone who works around cars.

they have a dog and he thinks the dog is cute but . can he even go near dogs?? feel like dogs don’t vibe w the dead. idk !

someone more modern who will explain technology to him. i can’t promise he’ll understand or listen but like... he’s not Fully out of it. he vaguely remembers the internet. it just wasn’t that much of a thing while he was alive.

someone he’s had perfectly normal interactions with but for whatever reason they get like . ghost vibes. a chill goes up their spine. but they’re like ??? this guy seems more or less normal ????

people who know about ghosts . he’d love to pick their brains

enemies, hook ups, etcetera...

honestly . anything !

[plasticbullet]

BET YOU WON'T ANSWER THEM ALL

1: Full name

I've gotten creepy messages on here so I'm gonna keep that private lol

2: Age

27

3: 3 Fears

Abandonment, driving by semi-trucks, bugs

4: 3 things I love

Music, coffee, nature

5: 4 turn ons

Sense of humor, intelligence, height, big hands.. happy trails are sexy

6: 4 turn offs

If they're rude, judgy, closed-minded, or act fake

7: My best friend

Tammy

8: Sexual orientation

Straight

9: My best first date

I have no idea honestly. First dates are always weird

10: How tall am I

5′5″

11: What do I miss

Not having anxiety, traveling, when my boobs were bigger

12: What time was I born

11:30 pm

13: Favourite color

Yellow, green, blue

14: Do I have a crush

It’s more than a crush, but yes

15: Favourite quote

"This is cracking me out" - my kid

16: Favourite place

The forest, Havasupai, California

17: Favourite food

Just about anything Italian. Or with a lot of cheese

18: Do I use sarcasm

Pretty often

19: What am I listening to right now

Wind blowing through the window. It’s like 65 degrees here I love it

20: First thing I notice in a new person

If they seem nice or not

21: Shoe size

7 or 7.5 depending on the shoes

22: Eye color

Blue

23: Hair color

Reddish dark blonde

24: Favourite style of clothing

Grungy but hot

25: Ever done a prank call? Yes

27: Meaning behind my URL

I’ve answered this a couple times before, I’m too lazy

28: Favourite movie

Peanut Butter Falcon

29: Favourite song

All the ones that make me feel things the most

30: Favourite band

A Day to Remember, Brand New

31: How I feel right now

Relaxed

32: Someone I love

My son

33: My current relationship status

In something

34: My relationship with my parents

They’re cool

35: Favourite holiday

Christmas

36: Tattoos and piercing I have

Treble clef on the back of my neck, pierced ears

37: Tattoos and piercing I want

I’m good for now! Maybe more one day

38: The reason I joined Tumblr

I don’t even know, I’ve used this shit off and on since I was 16

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other? Nope!

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? Yep

41: Have you ever kissed the last person you texted?

Nope

42: When did I last hold hands?

Held hands with my son today

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? Like 20 minutes

44: Have you shaved your legs in the past three days? Yes

45: Where am I right now? In my room

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me?

Probably one of my friends lol

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level?

Loud unless I’m sleepyy

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? No

49: Am I excited for anything? 🎄🎄🎄

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?

Yepp I think so

51: How often do I wear a fake smile?

Sometimes if I don't want my kid to sense my stress. Or during boring conversations

52: When was the last time I hugged someone?

Today

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me?

🤷🤷🤷

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not?

I don’t think so

55: What is something I disliked about today?

I was super sleepy, slept until some stressy dreams woke me up, and can't go back to sleep 🙃

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

That guy from My Octopus Teacher

57: What do I think about most?

People I love, things I have to do, and the randomest shit imaginable

58: What’s my strangest talent?

I barely have any normal talents

59: Do I have any strange phobias? No

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? Behind it unless I feel cute

61: What was the last lie I told?

Something about Santa to my kid

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? Depends!

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

I feel like ghosts are possible, our energy could keep existing in some ways after our body dies who knows. Aliens exist for sure. Just not anywhere near our planet imo

64: Do I believe in magic? No

65: Do I believe in luck? I believe in good karma

66: What’s the weather like right now?

Kinda chilly/breezy but nice

67: What was the last book I’ve read?

Read Fox in Socks to my kid

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline? No

69: Do I have any nicknames? Kind of

70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had?

One time a horse stepped on my foot and it was bruised for months lol

71: Do I spend money or save it? Both

72: Can I touch my nose with my tongue?

Noo! I just tried though hahah

73: Is there anything pink 10 feet from me?

A crayon

74: Favourite animal? Sloths but I love all animals

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM?

Sleeping surprisingly

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is?

I can't think of anyone I hate enough to make a good joke out of this

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it?

Colorado Symphony version of The Stable Song by Gregory Alan Isakov

78: How can you win my heart?

Good conversations, make me laugh, show me you care, show me good music, etc

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone?

Nice things, I don't know lol

80: What is my favorite word? Fuck

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr

I ♥️ all the ones I follow

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say?

Realistically I would have a panic attack and say something stupid 😂

83: Do I have any relatives in jail? Not that I know of!

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?

Maybe the power to pause time so I could sleep or do whatever for however long I want without wasting any time. Or maybe the ability to teleport

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on? Idk I can't think of one

86: What is my current desktop picture?

It’s the default one, I don’t go on it very often lol

87: Had sex? Yes

88: Bought condoms? No the guys always did that

89: Gotten pregnant? Yes

90: Failed a class? No

91: Kissed a boy? Yes

92: Kissed a girl? Yes

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? Yes

94: Had a job? Yes

95: Left the house without my wallet?

Yepp I used to forget it all the time

96: Bullied someone on the internet?

No I'm not a pussy ass bitch

97: Had sex in public?

If you count in a parked car, yes

98: Played on a sports team? Yes

99: Smoked weed? Yes

100: Did drugs? A while ago

101: Smoked cigarettes? Yes, quit a while ago

102: Drank alcohol? Yes

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan?

Nope! I tried one time just for fucks and it did not last long

104: Been overweight? No

105: Been underweight? Yes

106: Been to a wedding? Yes

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? Yes

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight?

Yes. Marathons and binge sessions

109: Been outside my home country? Yes, Mexico

110: Gotten my heart broken? Yes

111: Been to a professional sports game? Yes

112: Broken a bone? Nope

113: Cut myself? Yes

114: Been to prom? Yes

115: Been in an airplane? Lots of times

116: Fly by helicopter? No

117: What concerts have I been to?

Oh fuck I know I’ll leave some out. Kelly Clarkson (don’t judge me I was 12), All Time Low, Avenged Sevenfold, Papa Roach, Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Flogging Molly, Jason Mraz, Ed Sheeran, Atreyu, Escape the Fate, went to Warped Tour a couple times in high school so a bunch more emo bands

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex? No

119: Learned another language?

A decent amount of Spanish

120: Wore make up? Frequently

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18? Yes

122: Had oral sex? Yes

123: Dyed my hair? Yes

124: Voted in a presidential election? Yes

125: Rode in an ambulance? No those are expensive

126: Had a surgery?

Does getting my wisdom teeth removed count

127: Met someone famous?

Saw Alice Cooper at a Cheesecake Factory one time

128: Stalked someone on a social network?

Not stalked, more like checked up on lol

129: Peed outside? On camping trips

130: Been fishing? Yes

131: Helped with charity? Yes

132: Been rejected by a crush? Probably!

133: Broken a mirror? No

134: What do I want for my birthday?

Christmas is coming first idk

135: How many kids do I want and what will be their names?

I have one kid whose name I won’t be posting publicly, annnd I’m open to having another kid sometime in the future but not set on it. No names in mind for that lol

136: Was I named after anyone?

My parents are Catholic so they named me after St. Kieran

137: Do I like my handwriting? It’s alright idk

138: What was my favourite toy as a child?

I liked my toy horses and barbies the most probably

139: Favourite TV Show?

Idk I have lots of favorites. I've probably rewatched The Office the most out of all of them tho

140: Where do I want to live when older?

Somewhere chill, surrounded by lots of nature. Arizona doesn’t have much of that lol

141: Play any musical instrument?

I can play the piano but it’s been a while

142: One of my scars, how did I get it?

One on my knee from a car accident

143: Favourite pizza topping?

I love onions on my pizzaaaa

144: Am I afraid of the dark?

No, unless I watched a scary movie or something

145: Am I afraid of heights? No

146: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad?

Got caught sneaking out when I was 15. Countless other things I can’t remember

147: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? Yep!

148: What I’m really bad at

Doing things on time, paying attention when I’m not interested in something

149: What my greatest achievements are

Having an amazing kid, got first prize in the science fair in 6th grade for gluing a fucking key finder mechanism to the back of a shoe charm (shoe finder), was on time to something once

150: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me

Idkkk

151: What I’d do if I won in a lottery

Give a lot of it to some family, save a lot of it, get a new house, set aside a savings for my kid, buy a sloth or something

152: What do I like about myself

Fuck I don't know, I try my best hahah

153: My closest Tumblr friend

@spencerwithac

154: Something I fantasize about

Sex in public

155: Any question you’d like?

Nope this was plenty thank you

[xfanfics]

Destiel Fic Rec List Part 2

Last Updated in October 2014. Posted in May 2020 for posterity.  Listed in no particular order - the total rec list will have ~250 fics. Header graphic used with permission.

This part of the list contains: 35 fics.

Other Destiel Rec Lists: [1]. [2]. [3]. [4]. [5]. [6]. [7].

��–

Kiss and Make it Better by annehiggins E | 9k

Both the forces of Heaven and Hell are after Dean and Castiel, but sometimes a kiss really does make it all better.

Sweet little loving and bonding fic.    

Retreat into Silence by annehiggins E | 16k | Fluff,  Angst,  Alt!Canon

Written for this prompt by deceptivechasm on the no longer exists LJ simon_says_dean: “Something very traumatic happens to Dean while he's with Sam (or Sam was away) which causes him to stop talking, *again*. Sam didn't know about the first time, and has to ask Bobby (or John) about what happened after his mum died.”

Sweet, adorable, and really schmoopy with added angst.    

I Know What You Like by JinxedAmbitions E | 4k | Pornstar AU, Bottom!Cas

Castiel agrees to help Gabriel out by being a production assistant at his porn company. However, when porn star Dean Winchester comes onto him on set, who is Cas to say no, especially when Dean seems to know all the things that turn Cas on most?

Hnnnghgggg.    

Consort by Valyria E | 139k [WIP] | Angst,  Medieval AU, bottom!dean

When King John of the West Saxons forms an alliance with a neighboring Christian kingdom, his eldest son Dean ends up playing a role he never expected.

Valyria's fabulous (currently WIP) Medieval AU is a must-read. Definitely a slow burn fic--includes very bad/painful sex, but with a great payoff.

What Was Lost Still Leaves Its Mark by shieldmaiden_of_celestial_intent E | 4k | Hot, Alt!Canon, Sub!Cas, Demon!Dean, Dom!Dean, Praise Kink

Demon Dean captures Castiel and tries to force him to play out a few of his fantasies. Cas soon finds himself willing because Dean still retains some of the good qualities of his human life. It starts out with dubious consent but consent is given later. There is a confrontation where Dean makes Cas strip. If you love Dean's panty kink this figures prominently. This is from Cas' POV and gets romantic and hopeful toward the end. This is canon compliant up to the season 9 finale. Castiel is powered down and has human drives like sex and sleep. Dean dominates him but does not hurt him.

I'm not usually a huge fan of subby!cas because it usually feels ooc to me, but this is. I'm. This is just... Yes. Really hot. Warning for dubious consent at the beginning.    

Words with Friends by betty days E | 22k | Human AU, Sub!Dean, Dom!Cas, BDSM |

"Dean Winchester is as straight as an arrow. He’s a lady’s man of epic proportions: the king of the one night stand, the messiah of the friends with benefits paradigm, the emperor of perpetual bachelorhood. Except, apparently, when it comes to his best friend, Castiel Novak. Wherein a longstanding acquaintanceship leads to friendship, then best friendship, then sexting, then dirty talk, then mutual masturbation, then, inevitably, fucking.

Smoking hot and full of feels.  

Little Motels by Lovely_Phrase E | 238k | Human AU

After John's death, Dean must travel to California to find his estranged brother and deliver the bad news. He takes Castiel with him, despite the newness of their relationship, and finds himself falling in love while staying in a series of little motels. What he discovers after arriving at Stanford is enough to destroy what's left of him, but Dean isn't willing to give up what they have together that easily.

Wow. This was RIDICULOUSLY long and I can't really believe I finished it. Regardless of the intimidating length (heh), it was a captivating story. Though it edged near soap opera levels of drama at times, the plot was sure, the characters grew and developed, and the writing was excellent. Very good read--highly recommended. Perhaps not for the sensitive (in regards to Drugs or abuse). Also not for john!stans.  

Dragon Healing for Pleasure and Profit by whelvenwings G | 6K | Fluff, Wizarding World AU, wizard!dean

When Cas, a zoologist and aspiring author, moves into the house next door, Dean can't help but go over and say hi. He hadn't reckoned, however, on Cas' determination to discover whatever it is that's living in the nearby woods. Dean should follow his instructions and send the guy away, and yet there's always something stopping him. After all, whoever said a muggle couldn't heal a dragon?

OMG AMAZING!! Wizarding World AUs are the best, and this muggle/magical person romance is super sweet.  

A Fine Frenzy by the_gabih E | 8k | A/b/O AU, omega!dean, alpha!cas

The rest of Dean's family have these romantic, almost fairytale stories of how they first met their mates. Dean? Not so much. But he's okay with that.

Super hot. Apparently an abandoned WIP, but it's mostly porn so that doesn't really matter.    

The Vessel by chellefic E | 7k | Alt!canon, body sharing

When his vessel goes missing, Castiel turns to Dean for help.

I love this fic! Vessel fics/sharing bodies is always a fun and sometimes sexy trope. This definitely delivers on both of those fronts.    

There's Only One Sure Thing That I Know ❤ by leah k E | 20k | Fluff,  Alt!Canon

Dean doesn't even get halfway through explaining before Bobby starts laughing. When he lets himself think about it for more than five seconds, Dean can almost see Bobby's point: he's faced down demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, angels, and Satan himself and now he's been defeated by the God damn Midwest.

This fic was AMAZING. I want to wrap it up in a blanket and cuddle it. Maybe hump it or something. Idk, I'm flexible.    

Unusual by Yosei E | 12k | ABO AU, omega!dean

Now that Sam was in college half-way across the country, Dean needed a roommate in order to keep the spacious apartment (with his own room!) that he'd come to love and call home. With Sam's non-stop worrying, he finally convinces Dean to meet a possible roommate. Who knew that it would be the beautiful dark-winged archangel with a PhD., Castiel Novak?

Come a Little Undone by  FagurFiskur E | 3k | Fluff, Teacher AU, Bottom!Dean, Top!cas

"Well?" Cas prompted, turning his face to the side to look up at Dean. "Are you going to get started?    Something about the annoyed tone in Cas' voice, as if he were the one doing Dean a favor and not the other way around, pissed Dean off enough so that his better judgment took the backseat for just a moment. Unfortunately, that moment was long enough so that by the time it ended, Dean was already straddling Cas' thighs. Written for this prompt: Cas and Dean are teachers. It's the end of the year. Cas is stressed out with grading. How does Dean help?

Short, sweet, and hot. Pining!dean and massages yay.    

Sex 101 by betty days E | 50k | Hot, Dancer AU, Alt!Canon, Slow Burn

or: That Time Castiel Asked Dean to Teach Him How to Have Sex. "I want to have sex," Castiel announces suddenly. Dean chokes on his gulp of Baha Blast. Wherein Dean teaches Cas how to have sex, and Cas teaches Dean why to have sex. This fic is filled with music, literature, fluff, angst, smut, feels, and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

This AU will just suck you in. God, I love dancer!dean. It started out with some super hot vouyerism, and progressed to self discovery and more super hot things. Yay.    

Dean Winchester Is a Gay Virgin by betty days E | 79k | Hot,  Angst,  College AU, Mafia AU, Gay Panic

"Dean Winchester has a grand total of two big secrets: Secret #1 is that he’s a virgin. Secret #2 is that he’s gay. Dean Winchester is a college junior, a full-time mechanic, and a baseball superstar. He's so far in the closet, he can't find a way out. Then he meets Castiel Krushnic, the totally dreamy President of the LGBTQA Alliance at school, and finds out that Cas has some dark secrets of his own.

Wow. This is not what I thought I'd be getting into by the title. I was expecting a nice college AU and then there was unexpectedly the mafia, gritty angst, and family feels. What a ride. If this were a book, I would buy the fuck out of it.

Learning to Breathe by underneathitall E | 114k | Fluff,  Angst,  Hospital AU

Dean Winchester was just admitted to the Psychiatric Ward for minors at Lawrence Hospital after a car accident that killed his father but left him alive. When he finds out his roommate is a kid he used to go to school with, Castiel Novak, they start to make a hesitant friendship. At first, Dean's only focus is to get out as fast as he can without any attachments. Soon after that, he discovers that making friendships with other patients in the hospital and developing feelings for Cas might be what he really needed to get through this all along.

ahhsgahahhHhhh I loved this so much! It manages to be weirdly fluffy and feel-good even though it deals with majorly angsty stuff (mental ward, hello).    

Just Kisses by tiptoe39 E | 2k | Hot, PWP

Castiel's not ready for anything beyond kisses. So Dean just kisses him. Everywhere.

Hot and sweet.    

Tales from the Bunker of Domesticity by teaandjumpers M | 17k | Fluff,  Alt!Canon

Moments of domesticity between Dean and Cas (and occasionally Sam) in the Men of Letters bunker. Essentially, this is a story about the boys building a home together.

NnoOoOooOoOooo this was so domestic and lovely!    

The One With Dean's Anal Beads by triedunture E | 1k | | Hot,  PWP, bottom!dean

Complete PWP: anal beads, multiple, dry/painful orgasms, & dirty talk.

Nnnghhhh    

Landing by ladyzanra T | 3k Angst,  Canon!verse

“You think in terms of days, Castiel, but there are no days in Heaven,” Hannah tells him, before he leaves. This, Castiel understands, is the reason she does not stop him.

Fuck everything I'm in PAIN.  

Simple As That by ashwinchester4 M | 2k | Canon!verse, First Kiss, First Time

Dean Winchester is not very good at doing things in the proper order. That includes his relationship with Castiel. After Cas becomes human, things begin to change slowly, simply, easily. Until everything is different.

Gorgeous. Simple as that.  

Let Your Grace Guide You by angel_kink E | 24k | Alt!canon, wing!Kink,

After Castiel heals Dean at Stull, the hunter finds himself with unexpected abilities. He becomes determined to use his newfound powers, with Castiel’s guidance, to rescue Sam from the cage. In order to ensure that their venture to Hell is successful, they are forced to team up with Crowley, who has his own agenda regarding what’s locked up in the pits of Hell. During the course of their alliance, secrets come out, feelings bubble to the surface, and Dean finds himself once again facing an impossibly dangerous situation in an effort to save his brother.    

Napoleon in Rags by linzeestyle E | 42k | Alt!canon, fallen!castiel

“So,” Dean says eventually, breath ruffling Castiel’s hair. “You gonna tell us about this place? “I don’t have to,” Castiel says, pushing himself up on his elbows. “If I’m right, it’s nearby. Near something called Tucson.” Dean looks at him incredulously and Castiel scowls. “I was hiding an invaluable relic, not purchasing real estate. There's no such thing as a hunter retirement plan.

Amazing!! Canon compliant from 8x17 and diverges from there :D    

Kryptonite in Shades of Blue and Green by Annehiggins E | 12k | Superhero AU

Dean is the only member of the Winchester family without super-powers and has lived with the threat of being used against him all his life. When Dark Angel finally makes threat reality, Dean ends up trapping them together for two months. A lot can happen in two months. Written for this prompt on the spnkink_meme. Technically Dubcon.    

Chasing Cars ❤ by ratherbehere E | 45k | Fluff,  College AU, Stripper!dean, demisexuality, Slow Burn

After an awkward accidental encounter at a local strip club, Castiel discovers his college roommate, Dean, has a secret career as a stripper, and their relationship begins to change and a bond begins to form. They face the joys and challenges of life together and discover along the way how deeply they've come to care for each other.

THIS WAS AMAZING! So much UST, Demisexual Cas, which is my favorite, and a long, slow burn romance where they are best friends primarily. Love it.    

A Weekend Project by narrativeimperative E | 16k | Lawyer AU, a/b/o, Omega!cas, alpha!dean,

Castiel Novak is a lawyer for an important firm. He’s also, to his chagrin, an omega. With the help of heat suppressants and some serious denial, it’s not a problem ... until he meets Dean Winchester. And then it’s very definitely a problem.

Literally the best.    

Viva by crowleyo E | 38k | AU, Stripper!Dean, doctor!cas, accidental marriagE |

Dr. Castiel Novak swears he will never let his sister talk him into a surprise trip again. Now he has just woken up in Las Vegas with a hangover, an unknown ring on his finger and a beautiful man next to him. It gets even better, though, when Castiel's last memory from the night before is seeing this man up on a stage in a skimpy cowboy outfit. Now, Castiel has to learn to live a cliche.  

Hush by Braceyourself & dresden E | 105k | College AU

He'd heard all he needed to know about Dr. Novak, really. Straight-laced academic, prioritizes punctuality, favours the smartest students; it doesn't bode well for Dean.

Wow, so great! Dommy!Cas, teacher/student AU. There is rape in it, but not between Cas and Dean.    

The Seraph by Hywar E | 135k | Creature AU, Dub!con, Dom!cas, Sub!dean

Ever since the seraph were discovered, there's been one rule society has had to adapt to: stay out of open water. Powerful, determined and aggressive, the octopus-human creatures are in a league of their own and have no qualms with taking what they want and attacking what they don't. Now, children learn to swim in man-made lakes and beaches are deserted save for researches and the fool-hearted. Dean Winchester is neither of those things. But a hunt has brought him and Sam, his brother, to one of the many abandoned beaches, where Dean is left with no choice but to take refuge in the water. He should be safe, he thinks, he doesn't go too deep - just deep enough to hide himself and to deter his pursuer. He forgot just how fast the damn things could be, and how determined they were once they had their eyes on something.

AMAZING. Love love love! Dominant!Cas who just wants to take care of his willful, human mate. Also tentacle sex. Be warned for dubious consent (because Cas is very convinced he's doing what Dean wants/needs but Dean is not so sure).    

Contact by clotpoleofthelord E | 16k | Alien AU, Tentacles

When aliens land on Earth the first time, Dean ignores it. When they land a second time, he's a little curious. When the third landing happens in his back yard, his life gets very complicated, very fast.

Taking Wing by riseofthefallenone E | 44k

Dean frowns around the cave, his head spinning as he tries to make sense of what he’s seeing with his eyes and his echoes. The smell doesn’t hit him until he’s already staggered to his feet, claws clicking on the stone floor. It’s the scent of another bat; different than any kind he’s smelled before. It’s not exactly unpleasant, but it does strike home a realization that turns his stomach inside out. This place belongs to another bat and Dean has pretty much just basically invaded their home.

This is adorable. I didnt know I could get so attached to two gay anthropomorphic bat people.   

Rain by The MigratoryLane E | 2k | | Hot,  Canon!verse, PWP

The fact that Dean Winchester was a strikingly handsome man had not eluded him. But the low burn of arousal that now flowed through his veins was entirely foreign not a month ago. Where as an angel the mere sight of Dean’s neck elicited no greater response, now Castiel found that he wanted nothing more than to trace his lips across the stubbled flesh beneath his jaw—to lick and kiss and suck at it until Dean moaned with the sensation.

CASTURBATION!!    

Cheers, Angel Eyes by wannaliveindeansdimples E | 20k | AU, bartender Dean, Cop Castiel

Dean Winchester is a bartender. He's noticed a new semi-regular and even given him a nickname. Pretty soon he and "Angel Eyes" become friends. Dean wants more, but is secretive, awkward Castiel ready to give it?

As the author's tags say, no matter the universe or circumstance they always find each other and act all schmoopy.    

A Little Slice of heaven by authocracy E | 5k | AU, bottom!cas, wing!Kink

Welcome to A Little Slice of Heaven, where angels stationed on Earth can come, relax, and enjoy themselves. Dance your cares away at our nightclub, or treat yourself to our world-class spa treatments with staff specially trained in the art of wing maintenance. Let our experts turn your stress into pure pleasure. The War is over, and Castiel finds himself bored and lonely in Heaven. He runs into Gabriel, who remembers him from the battlefield and offers to give him a tour of the best places on Earth. The archangel introduces him to his friend Dean, a masseur with magic hands. Castiel, a little self-conscious and shy, doesn't know what Dean means by "extra services" but is eager to spend extra time with him regardless.

Long Time Coming by authocracy E | 13k | Hot, genderswap au

For the prompt: Okay, so in my head, girl!Dean likes her anonymous hookups, likes her slutty biker look and her oversized flannel shirts and skinny jeans. Granted, she's getting a little old for the club scene, but she's always been more of a bar girl. And maybe Sam kind of despairs of her because he's all "RESPECT YOUR BODY AND YOUR MIND DEAN(NA?)" but Dean's never really bought any of that - she likes feeling close to people, and it's hard to with her lifestyle. Plus, there's something powerful about being hot enough to attract as many guys as she does. Thing is, she's not that easy to get off. It takes her time and effort when she's on her own, let alone when there's some guy expecting things of her. And let's be real, a lot of guys in the kind of places she goes to don't really know how to get a girl off. Maybe she's never even come during sex with a guy. Enter Cas.

I love my genderswap fics, and this one is um... really hot.    

[zontiky]

Okay but au where they're not all related and five is a mysterious orphan Diego keeps running into at odd hours of the night and then him just being like "fuck it he's like 13 he can't be out alone at night" and then just takes him home like a godamn stray and five is THRIVING under the positive attention he never had I beg of you please feed my soul. Also sorry if this doesn't make sense I've had 2 hours of sleep and like 8 coffees today

i think i’ve read a fic similar to this but FUCK YEAH let’s do this (sorry im so late btw i havent been feeling bullet points lately fksjdfks) ALSO HEY OP PLEASE DON’T DIE I HOPE YOU’RE OK??? 

so diego is still a cop and he’s patrolling or doing whatever it is that cops do, and then he sees a kid sitting in an alley

obviously he pulls over like “hey kid you okay?” and the kid is like “shut up go away bootlicker” and diego is instantly “okay then come on im taking you to get food”

the kid doesn’t want to go but at the same time diego can tell he knows that there’s really no better options. this child looks hungry

so the kid and diego go to griddy’s and the kid says his name is five when asked

“that’s not a name”

“is too”

diego+fam have a long history of trauma and reginald called them by number which was their birth order or something? idk OH SHIT WAIT YOU SAID NOT ALL RELATED OK OK COOL SO

luther is a mechanic who diego knows because he’s the dude who’s often the one repairing his car, they’re on pretty good terms and go out for coffee sometimes because luther hates alcohol and diego’s body is a temple so he doesn’t drink

diego is diego he’s a cop but he’s highkey broke and i really don’t know how much cops get paid? hm

ok google says from 34.6k - 89.4k a year and numbers mean nothing to me so lets say he’s just a gremlin who lives in a boiler room because it’s efficient

OR he’s still dating eudora and lives with her

you know what that’s probably the better option i’m gonna go with that. they don’t have as much childhood trauma even though none of the “siblings” come from exactly good homes? but none of them were raised by reggie mcfuckface so it’s less like,,, bad even though they’re all fucked up

WAIT DO THEY HAVE THEIR POWERS

HELL YEAH THEY HAVE THEIR POWERS

ok ok so luther is a mechanic who uses his super strength and endurance to just fucking carry cars around his garage and i know NOTHING about mechanics as a profession but but but luther is good at what he does

diego is a cop who lives with eudora and throws knives like a boss. he also throws tennis balls really hard because stabbing people on duty isn’t advised

you know what? i’m gonna say allison ISNT a movie star, shes a smaller actress with minor roles here and there because she’s a mom and spends time with claire. she doesn’t use her rumor as much because honestly she doesn’t see a reason to? like sometimes she’ll go “i heard a rumor you gave me a free shot of coffee” and like,,, that’s it shfskd

her and patrick are still divorced but that’s because they did it the healthy way. they knew they were drifting apart but instead of rumoring him they broke it off mutually and they still meet up for coffee. they’re friends ok. claire loves her parents

klaus! klaus has problems but because im a soft bitch dave is here in 2019. he’s… also a mechanic…. they all know eachother but dave knows luther and diego pretty well. luther via work and diego via luther

yes klaus! so klaus has a history of drugs and addiction, because while he wasn’t shoved into a mausoleum ghosts screaming at you all the fucking time doesn’t help with staying sober

but because he has a support network he can fall back on he’s doing well, he’s a barista in a coffee shop that allison and patrick & diego and luther frequent

shoutout to klaus

five is an orphan he’s 13 and small and kind of a genius? fuck what if as a kid five accidentally time-traveled to 2019 and thaT’S HOW HE BECAME AN ORPHAN 

galaxy brain

so five is this kid in the wrong time living on the streets not knowing how things work

i mean he does obviously because he catches on quick and he’s smart but really he doesn’t know how some shit works ok. he’s clueless when it comes to technology and pop culture and shit

ben!! ben is alive!! he’s a part time writer and a full time librarian!! he knows klaus because during his homeless days klaus stuck around the library because free bathrooms and also reading to take his mind off the ghosts. they become really close and ben gets klaus to move in with him and then he’s trying to get sober and then ben’s car crashes and that’s how they meet luther and dave OHHHH

additionally: klaus illustrates some of ben’s books because he knows how to draw yay

vanya! she’s first chair in the orchestra and she’s dating helen cho because i say so

so vanya kicks ass at violin, she’s being gay teaching lessons all that good shit what more is there to say

harold isn’t here because there was never an umbrella academy

hmmm back to the,,, actual plot,,, im sorry sksfhdjsk

SO DIEGO FINDS FIVE RIGHT

AND HE’S LIKE “oh no this child is awakening my paternal instincts oh no i have to take him home with me now”

eudora opening the door to see her husband boyfriend with an angry looking teenager at his side: dear god what did you do this time

eudora instantly bonds with five and i mean INSTANTLY like she lays eyes on him and goes “child?? small?? looks lonely?? must protect” and five looks at her like “badass looking lady she probably knows what shes doing might as well ask for info and stuff” but hes actually thinking “oh dang she looks like she knows what she’s doing RESPECT” and yeah ksdjhsdkf

then five expects them to be mean or just get tired of him and kick him out but?? they dont??? wack

diego is instantly like “kid where do you live”

‘um’

“you live somewhere right???”

‘UM’

they find out he’s legally dead and thats another can of worms entirely

so they register and foster five

diego and eudora are registered foster parents you cannot change my mind alright

then five is introduced to luther and dave, and also ben and klaus because theyre hanging around the shop bc it’s their off day

so five instantly has 4 more people giving him instant love and validation and he’s like “woah”

THEN ALLISON AND PATRICK

claire too,, claire immediately adopts five as her older brother

this entire time five is like “i can’t stay im gonna leave soon you all know this right” and eveybody is “yep ok sure” but they all know hes gonna stay

hhHHHH GAME NIGHTS

five beats everybody at scrabble

diego beats everybody at darts, even though everybody calls him out for cheating

vanya beats everybody at musical chairs. she levitates the chairs so nobody can sit down

luther beats everybody at outdoor games. do not play tag with this man you might not make it out alive

allison is the QUEEN of blurt! 

ben is so good at charades it’s unfair

klaus honestly sucks at board games, but he always wins uno and nobody knows how (its the ghosts skfhsdkf)

five is so confused because its obvious all of them are cheating but??? nobody cares?? what

“it’s because it’s fun nobody is actually upset”

whaaaaaaat

so they have to explain to him that they dont play to win they play to have fun and its just a fun thing they do to spend time together and bond

five: mind blown

THEY TAKE HIM TO AN AQUARIUM

BEN JUST CHILLS WITH THE OCTOPI THE ENTIRE TIME

FIVE BONDS WITH CRABS

THEY ALL LOVE SEALS

five gets exposed to modern culture!! klaus and ben teach him memes is what i’m saying 

five goes to school!!! he makes friends!!!! they have nice sleepovers and diego and eudora make them cookies :’)

i want to say. okay so.

reginald exists and he had made grace eariler as preparation for the children he was going to adopt, but he died before he could buy any babies

so grace exists! and!! she knows the “siblings”!!!

so five has a grandma because im not going to lie grace is basically all of their’s mom

she lives in the mansion but she can go outside and DO THINGS and she makes them COOKIES and she LOVES HER KIDS and GRANDKIDS and five ADORES her ok

basically five is happy with his pseudo family that’s it thank you for your time

wait no actually he figures out how to time travel safely and he does go back and forth

sometimes he pops in and he’s like “hey we ran out of milk” and then a second later he’s like “for the love of god wait until tomorrow to get milk dont ask why you dont wanna know” and its obvious that he came back from the future and HHHHHH YES

the commission can’t do shit because found family love is simply too strong

hazel and agnes are the nice couple who run griddys and birdwatch

five is fond of them too honestly like he just loves going to griddys because it has so many happy memories for him and its where he met diego (sorta) and also yay hazel and agnes!!

SO YEAH BASICALLY: FIVE IS HAPPY AND THIS AU IS GOD TIER THANK YOU

THIS IS A GOOD ONE I LIKE THIS AU THANK YOU