#if you're equating fighting for someone as being their dog

[potatopassenger]

Zoro's trash talk is as insane as he is

[bitin-and-barkin]

Dying Desires

Thinking about replacing Arthur as "The Bodyguard" of the gang.

Warnings: Very horny Arthur, Arthur Morgan x Reader, Dom Reader, Sub Arthur, Buff Reader, Religious + Dog symbolism, Probably out of character, mentions of shooting + being shot, mentions of needles, Gender Neutral Reader, Smut but nothing actually happens between you + Arthur, just daydreams, degradation + cigarettes being put out on people

READ MORE UNDER THE CUT

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Imagine; Dutch or Hosea are talking up someone new they met, who they think might be a nice "addition" to their little family.

People are hesitant at best. After the shit that went down in blackwater, they're already looking for new recruits?

But they claim you're reliable. During a job gone wrong, you helped them. And when they asked why? You just did it because you thought they needed it. No ill intent, no other reason in sight. The best part is, you obviously have no clue who they are.

Not only that, but you're smart and charming and agree with them on their views on the civilized world. You're a criminal too in the law's eyes, but in reality, you're just the modern-day Robin Hood they always tried to be.

And so, they bring by a couple of members to meet you. To get some other people's point of view before they come to an agreement.

It's simple. A quick get together in a saloon. If they smell something fishy, they can easily just leave and forget about you.

Arthur agrees to come along, and when he meets you,

Goddamn.

You aren't an addition. You're the whole damn equation.

Think Abby from TLOU2 or Koing from COD or any other jacked characters. Either way, female, male, or anything in-between, you're 6 foot something and over 180 pounds of pure fucking muscle.

Armed to the teeth with one hell of a quick draw and a right hook strong enough to even make god flinch.

For once in his life, even he feels intimidated.

And when Dutch comes up to greet you?

Good God, you're sweet.

And charming too.

Your bark isn't anything like your bite, or at the very least the bite you could give.

You're kind, selfless, generous, and well-read. Confident, too. It feels like they're talking to a saint half your size.

You even cover all their drinks despite just meeting them.

He can tell it's not naivety. Scars cover your body, and you got a certain look in your eyes that just shows that you know what the world can be like.

You're just choosing to be kind. For no reason at all.

Even when later that evening somebody attempts to start a fight with you, despite you being able to drag them across the floor, you keep it civil and keep your cool.

At least at first.

The second the guy tries to throw a punch, you're off. You grab his arm, curl up your fist, and deck him with one hit.

As soon as the fight started, it was over, as the man was already knocked out on the floor with a nosebleed to match.

Then, like clockwork, you sat down and asked Arthur to continue talking with that sweet-as-honey, smooth, and lazy look in your eyes.

As you chatted with Hosea about some crime novel, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to kiss the blood off your knuckles.

The day turned to night, and you guys got ready to part ways.

You happily waved goodbye, saying you had a good time.

But by the end of the night? It was already settled.

You were joining them alright.

And now, it has been a couple of months since you joined.

And it was hard to ignore the problem you've been causing for Arthur.

You weren't doing anything wrong, in fact, you were doing everything right.

Sweet with the gals, even getting in Grimshaw's favor.

Surprisingly tolerant with the guys, oddly kind with them, even down to the goddamn O'Driscoll.

But now they're asking you to do jobs.

Intimidation? They're calling for you.

Need a guard? They're yelling your name.

Want backup? Well, you're coming along, obviously.

You've been taking John's title as the "prize pony." Considering how far you've fallen in Dutch's favor.

And you're taking Arthur's title as the brute.

But that wasn't the problem.

He didn't care about Dutch's favor or random titles.

It was the fact that your title was correct.

You were a brute.

Standing next to him in jobs, you just towered over him.

You towered over him. Him. You towered over him like he was a little boy.

He was out hunting with you once and his aim was getting wonky with his bow.

You came over, trying to show him how he needed to grip it.

But when you put your hands over his, he realized how much bigger yours were.

Putting your hands palm to palm, making jokes about how small he was compared to you, he was starting to understand why women preferred rugged men.

Another time, he got shot in the calf during a job and couldn't walk.

He said it was fine and put out his hand for you to help him up so he could limp back to his horse.

But instead? You picked him up. Bridal style and everything, not even breaking a sweat. Carrying him to your horse and placing him on the back, saying he was in no state to be riding alone.

And as he pressed his chest up against your back as you rode, wrapping his arms around your stomach for balance, he felt a newfound heat in his.

Your stomach rising as you breathed in and out, telling him in a firm voice to stay put and that you'd get them back to camp. Whistling for his horse to follow you.

With the way you were talking, Arthur wasn't sure if he'd be able to stop himself from heeling and barking and rolling over if you asked.

Your last job was the last straw. You two were clearing out an O'Driscoll camp together.

One was left and the man was shooting you a sharp gaze, swearing he was gonna kill you as your gun stared at him just as kindly.

Watching the muscles in your forearms move as you pulled the trigger,

he couldn't stop himself from begging the lord for you to one day turn your aim to his lips,

so he could taste something that was yours and holy before he died.

He has never met anybody bigger than him.

And it was causing problems.

As now, he couldn't stop thinking about you.

Thrashing in his cot that night, he kept imagining you putting him on his knees like a sinner.

Making him suck on the barrel of your gun as his hands claw at your belt, with the weight of something else in his mouth being the only thing able to satiate him.

You grabbing a fistful of his hair, pulling his head away from your hips as cum seeped down his lips.

Tilting his head back, making sure he swallowed every ounce as he rutted his aching dick between your closed calves.

Manhandling him into position like livestock as you threw his legs up onto your shoulders, biting down on his neck and making him yours as you unzipped his pants and-

He stood up and started walking, unsure where he was going.

Just anywhere that would get him away from his own thoughts.

While wandering around camp, he looked over and saw you. Smoking at the campfire, stitching up a wound on your thigh.

Against his better judgment, he went down there and struck up some conversation.

Laughing and talking with you into the night.

Hoping that you sharing the thoughts of your mind would be able to erase his thoughts of your body.

But as you talked and talked and brought your cigarette up to your lips,

blowing the smoke out of your nose as your hands smoothly pulled the needle in and out.

He couldn't stop thinking about how much better your lips would look shotgunning him smoke,

how much better that cigarette would burn if you put it out on his neck in front of everybody,

And how much better your hands would feel wrapped around his waist as you pulled him in tight and called him your whore.

He pulled off his hat and dipped his face into his hands, his cheeks heating up as he stole a look from the cracks between his fingers.

And seeing you sprawled back, hearing your breathy gasps when the needle hit especially deep was driving him crazy.

Taking a bottle of whiskey in hand, he cracked it open and took a small sip before your voice piped up.

Asking him for some, saying it was to "take the edge off", and make the pain of stitching your wounds easier.

He walked over to you and you took the bottle, thanking him before drinking some down, and then handing it back to him.

And watching him later take a sip,

quietly eyeing your half-unbuttoned shirt as he rubbed his thighs together,

it seemed like it wasn't the alcohol he was trying to savor.

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Made Arthur horny like a teenager lmao + I have a thing for cigarettes and smoke, okay? Leave me alone about it.

Anyways, ya'll want more? Also I'll write a pt 2 to that sub Dutch story soon, dw.

[glitchinginthegarden]

I'm slowly starting to compile tidbits of lore for Vince. He's been around since Vaye came into being, but I never took as much time to flesh him out as I have for her.

Rambles under the cut.

His backstory is still the same.

His parents were Nomads and close friends with Vaye's parents. (If you didn't know they aren't blood siblings, now you do.) The kids grew up together even before his folks and her mom died. So adopting Vince was a no-brainer for her dad.

Vince is 31 at the start of Vaye's canon 2077 timeline.

He's always been the quiet one. The observer. The guy everyone thinks is well adjusted and just vibing but really it's that he's good at hiding his issues.

Vince took a shine to the medical field young and never wavered from it. I consider him the group's field medic to a degree. He may not be carrying around an emergency kit but his apartment is as close to a clinic as you can get without having all the fancy equipment. He's training under Viktor to be a ripperdoc one day (and he eventually does take over Vik's clinic when the old man retires - no, we aren't looking at PL endings here). He considered Trauma Team for a while but ultimately decided he didn't want to be bound to helping only the upper echelon with their fancy trauma cards. Why should he dedicate his life to helping the people who shit on his?

On that note: he's staunchly anti-corp just like Vaye.

He comes off as prickly and detached at first; often considered cold, blunt, and a stick in the mud. It's all armor. He keeps himself guarded. It allows him to keep a distance between his work and his feelings, and he also just does not care what people think of him. He's very much an actions over words kinda of guy. Don't talk about it if you aren't going to back it up.

Outside of ripper training, he earns income via street fights and the occasional smash and grab gig.

Fighting is both income and "free therapy" for him. In the same vein as Gil, Vince likes the adrenaline rush. And it doesn't hurt that it helps him stay fit.

When it comes to merc work, he tends to avoid hit jobs. He would rather help sabotage someone or steal valuables. It's not that he has qualms about taking lives, he doesn't, it's that he's of the mindset that doing so rarely pushes anything toward a resolution. Kill one roach, one more will take it's place mentality. That said, if someone gets in his way during a gig and poses a risk to the operation, he won't hesitate to remove the problem. He's very good at boiling things down to equations. Turning people and situations into a game of odds allows him that detachment he so prefers.

Beneath the crunchy outside, though, he's all heart.

He cares deeply. Maybe too much sometimes. And getting him to show that can be like pulling teeth.

Vince does not open up easily. He's like a shelter dog.

You have to earn his trust over time before he'll show his vulnerable parts and if you break that trust, especially early on, it's incredibly difficult to get it back. He is not a three strikes you're out man, he's a two if you're lucky.

Combat style:

Brute force. Vince thrives up close and personal with his enemies.

He can manage a modicum of stealth, but he's not out there using throwing knives or silenced anything.

He likes shotguns and revolvers. Power weapons > Tech weapons > Smart weapons.

He can't netrun but he does have a nugget of techie know-how and can hack his way past most locks. That's where it ends though.

He has a reputation with fixers for being ruthless. Ironic for someone they also enlist to patch up their solos from time to time.

Regarding his cyberware (bear with me this is all loose and not following canon anything really):

In game, he's got the mantis blades but that's really just for aesthetics. His forearms/wrists/hands are actually chipped with hydraulics. Think impact wrenches in his arms (ugga dugga).

To compensate for that, his rotator cuffs/shoulder sockets are reinforced with synth tendons and buffers.

EMP threading on the right side of his face feeds into his Kiroshis for more in-depth scans. He used to have threading on both sides, but the implant on the left was damaged in a nasty scuffle while on a job in his younger years and he opted to just have it removed.

He has synth-lungs specifically meant to filter not only NC's nasty air, but also a slew of aerosolized chemicals such as anesthetic agents and toxins (like gas grenades).

His other basic chrome includes: reinforced joints, a biomonitor, standard holo and interface ports, synthetic intercostal webbing (the muscles between your ribs), and an inner-ear gyroscope because he got tired of having motion sickness in cars or on the metro (yes, baby boy gets upset tummy).

Okay... that's all I have for now. I think. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. I'm sure I'll have more to dump later... he's brewing.

[crossovernonshipstournament]

Propaganda

Mario and Sonic:

People who pit these two against each other are WRONG. They both regularly meet up for the Olympics and they're great friends. Mario and Sonic probably get competitive when facing each other in sports but would definitely compliment each other afterwards and then go and get chilli dogs and spaghetti or something. They would bond over suggesting platforming tequiques to each other (where do you think Mario got his rolling ability from?), and they probably have a group chat with the other characters where they all talk about their adventures!

Tim Stoker, Lup, and Taako:

I have so many thoughts built up from drafting a TMA + TAZ crossover fic which I will hopefully one day post, specifically season three of TMA and the Stolen Century arc of Balance (and this is going to be incomprehensible if you haven't listened to both podcasts, sorry op). I just feel like both of the twins would get along with Tim so well on a base level, but especially a combination of the traumatized and depressed Tim of season three and the post-Legato deep into the cycles Lup and Taako of the Stolen Century arc. In my AU the TMA world is just one of the many that the Starblaster crew encountered during the century. As far as Lup goes, I feel like she would be able to connect with Tim's grief over Danny and Sasha (but especially Danny) and help him find a way to get revenge against the Circus that doesn't end in his death. Because of the mechanics of the cycles Lup's probably lost Taako early in a year at least once or twice, so she knows the grief of losing a brother, and whether you see Tim and Sasha's relationship as romantic or platonic (I personally headcanon them as a QPR but that's neither here nor there) she's got experience with that sort of grief as well through Barry and the rest of the crew. More than that, she has experience finding perspective and reasons to keep living beyond that loss and beyond the need to avenge it that Tim desperately needs. Above all, though, Tim really needed someone in his corner during season three to side with him about how utterly fucked and unfair the entire situation with the Archives and the Unknowing and help him figure out a solution to work towards, and Lup, being the magical powerhouse that she is, would be absolutely delighted to help him torch the Circus to the ground from a safe distance. On the Taako side of the equation, I feel like Taako's characterization during Stolen Century is simultaneously a good mirror and a good opposite to Tim in terms of their attitudes versus their circumstances. On the one hand both of them theoretically share the motivation of fighting to save the world for the people they care about, only Taako has already lost his home world to the Hunger and Tim has already lost his two most important people to the Stranger. On the other hand you have Tim's whole "you're the only one I can trust is still you" dealio with Jon from MAG 114 and Taako's "everyone aside from the six of you are dust" speech from the last part of Stolen Century, both of them clinging to people they feel they can trust in response to growing despair. While Lup would help channel Tim's anger into something productive and cathartic, Taako would help by just letting him sit with his feelings for a bit, not pressuring him to get over it or rush into forgiveness. And finally from Tim's perspective, I feel like it would be such a comfort to him to have the support of two powerful people who feel just as strongly about the situation as he does. Lup is an immensely powerful evocation wizard and Taako is a talented and skilled transmutation wizard, both of them are incredibly intelligent scientists and arcane scholars in their own right, and both of them are used to dealing with end of the world level threats on the regular. Knowing that both of them are on his side and are actively working with him to fix a situation he's otherwise felt utterly powerless within for a long time would be such an emotional thing for him. On top of all that, beyond just helping take down the Unknowing and deal with his grief, Lup and Taako are two fantastically funny and goof-loving personalities who could help bring out more of the old playfulness and lightheartedness that Tim had before things got so bad just by interacting with him. Anyways, thank you for coming to my TED talk op, hope you enjoy my 700+ word essay on why being adopted by the Tacco twins would fix Tim Stoker's mental health :)

[honestmagpie]

I'm not even started on my morning tea yet so I can only pray I have coherency, but a thought has struck me this morning.

I remember the early days of my fanfic writing. Of writing some of the most deranged things, things I would most certainly get 'canceled' for (and god are we not tired of this term?) in this day and age, and which I don't write anymore simply because my tastes have changed.

But you know, I don't remember my fanfics or fandom being some kind of lawless hellscape. I don't recall ever finding out that my writing had inspired someone to do something dreadful, or that we had become desensitized to something uncouth.

Now, in this current day, I am constantly looking over my writing, just to make sure no-one can possibly intuit something dreadful that was unintended in my work, yet even in my most benign writing I carry this fear that somewhere, there will be a pocket of discourse I had never heard of that will suddenly announce itself, or someone will misinterpret something I wrote and leap straight to the most damning possibility.

Basically what i'm saying is, morality police have not improved the fanfiction or fanart scene in any fashion. It's fine if you think some things go against your morals. Blacklist them, and we shall tag them accordingly as we always have. Complain if things are not properly tagged, that is utterly valid.

But when the morality police begin to chastise writers for the implied, do realize that when you call writers monsters, some may be more inclined to lean into the fangs and claws. If we cannot please you, perhaps we will infuriate you and you will leave our land, and let us curl up in our dens with the things that comfort us. A warning shot and a kill shot echo the same.

"Oh but we weren't talking about YOU just those OTHER ones--"

Wolves of brown or wolves of grey, it doesn't matter. You evolved from us, but dulled your teeth and begged for treats.

"Get X out of our fandom spaces!" sounds exactly the same to me as "We just don't want to see it in schools".

I understand the need to hide from the abhorrent, or to fight it. Truly, I do. But if you hide from the things in the dark, you will never learn the size of the problem. You will never learn how sharp or dull the teeth are, how bloodthirsty the beast, or how benign it may actually be.

And by god, do not equate learning about the beast with supporting it. When the monsters come to hunt your children I will be there to defend your home too. But, if you kill the wolves instead of feeding them, how will they evolve into your hunting dogs?

Do you understand me? Do you see what I mean?

Maybe you don't. But one day, you might find your leg caught in a trap, and you will wonder-- what did you do to deserve this?

The answer is, of course, nothing. Nobody deserves it. But you're still going to have to chew your leg off if you want to get out.

Do you see what I mean?

[pitch-and-moan]

i feel like i've found gold with this blog. how is this not one of those tumblr iconic blogs

Probably because I use is just a dumping ground for bad ideas (mostly puns). I have nothing to promote here, or really anywhere. Unsolicited advice (please feel free to ignore it, or at least take it with a massive grain of salt): Unless you've got something specific to flack- either to sell or because you just desperately think that people need to be aware of it, treat the internet and any social media apps as a passive outlet. I dump bad ideas for movies here. I put up pictures of dogs from farmers markets, food, and street are up on Instagram. Otherwise, keep your input from social as minimal as possible, and curate the hell out of what you see. Break the YouTube algorithm in creative ways (do I want to follow a video of an octogenarian taking apart a 150 year old handgun with a makeup tutorial, followed by socioeconomic analysis of a music trend from the 1980s, followed by someone trying to make a cheeseburger from scratch including forging their own spatula? Yes, yes I do.) I'm on Tiktok to interact with book people. I'm on Twitter to interact with people who do interesting things with clothes (either upcycling or designing their own). Passively output things that would connect you to other people because your interests align (and when I say interests, I mean more than just the media you consume. It's a good start, but TV show fandom is not everything no matter how much it might feel like it.) Be receptive to connecting with people who share mutual interests. AND be receptive to things adjacent to your interests. (Like carpentry? Check out someone doing some welding or fabricating. You don't exist to be one thing, or to do only one thing. Robert Heinlein put it best, "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” NOTICE HE SAID "SHOULD", NOT "HAVE TO". You don't have to be able to do all the things, just that you're open to the possibility of, and are willing to learn to try new things.) Finally, don't get into fights with people on the internet. It's not worth it. Oh, wait, one more- ask questions even if you think it's a dumb question and give compliments freely. Use the internet like a tool for connecting to people regarding information, rather than just contributing to the noise, and you'll be fine.

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Good morning why are you waiting outside of my house, i've been in the walls of your room for two weeks and i'm just starting to run out of cookies and black tea—

jokes aside though, oh look it's my favourite song. Personally to me it's hard to map out Bruce's personality and preferences on a molecular (!) level because listen– this guy is a shithead intellectual. He wakes up 5 in the morning and he intellectualises and justfies and rearranges his thoughts and emotions 55 times per second till he goes to bed at 1AM. He lives in a world of concepts and idealogies, to a great degree he's less of a human being himself and more of an idea, the idea of Batman. That, to me, is why his body is merely a vessel to him, why he and everything that he is comes second to his idealogy and The Mission, why he has such an easy time surpassing himself and doesn't register emotional and physical pain (and in extension of that, pleasure) when it happens. He has basically suppressed his emotions and his humanity, banishing it all to his subconscious where they take on very fucked up weird shapes and haunt him, internally or externally *cough*joker*cough* AND. He's got a good reason for this— his most painfully human moment was the night his parents died in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it. So in a way, Bruce Wayne's humanity is the first enemy he tries to kill, and he can't.

His emotional preferences like sadism and masochism are a part of his humanity— nobody knows what the hell goes on downstairs in the locked up basement of Bruce's personality, least of all himself. He doesn't think about pain or pleasure on a conscious level, we as the audience only get to hear the rattles of the door to the basement where he keeps the monsters. (and if you got reminded of Batcave with that wording it's because you're right and there's a direct allegorical link between the Batcave and Bruce Wayne's subconscious but that's a different talk for another day.)

On the subject of Bruce's relationship with pain though— i threw the concept of Batman's painplay kink at @fanworldbuildingfun and she said "that's a pavlovian response" which broke my spine in half because it's true. Bruce arranges his entire life around subconscious associations and equations, he associates love with pain and loss so when pain arrives, love is nearby; the moment he's about to lose something and someone dear is the moment he feels so much love, he re-enacts this association in nearly every aspect of his life.

But he also associates love with feelings of helplessness —he could've saved his parents if he wasn't so weak, he thinks— so he immediately starts fighting. The more love he feels, the more he fights and struggles against, and that fighting creates hope, hope that this time he'll win and he'll fix what went so awfully wrong. It's a chain reaction of interconnected unfortunate needs and he doesn't break the cycle because the goal, the endgame, the love, is his only remaining connection to himself and his humanity, everything else has become a protocol and a script he plays out day in and day out at this point, but the pain and the love? they're the only parts of him that remain unscripted and spontaneous and real.

so, long story not-really-short-i'm-sorry, emotionally Bruce Wayne is a runaway dog and sexually he's a pavlovian response, depending on which association he responds to in the moment his reaction can completely change direction and fall off a cliff, you can't even call him consistently sadist because he pulls punches in contexts where he could deliver, and then he turns around and tries to kill the very person he saved three pages ago. And besides accounting for the writers' inconsistencies, what you can ask of the context is, which bell is ringing just around the corner?

Bruce is emotionally a masochist and sexually a sadist comfirmed 🤑😨😱????? Or both, hes batman he can do anything (except therapy)

Lol. You could put it that way, though I think it's a lot more complicated, and at the end of the day, ambiguous. There's multiple ways to interpret this side of Bruce, but while I agree that sadism is easy to see in his actions, masochism is more complicated. Thing is, if Bruce liked pain (emotional or otherwise)... he would probably avoid it.

To Bruce it isn't about what makes him happy, or feel good. The things he puts himself through, the pain he seeks out, are a form of self-punishment (a major function of being Batman in and of itself). The reasons are easily apparent: survivor's guilt, being helpless and unable to save his parents from being killed, thinking of himself as never enough and his body as an instrument only. As Batman, Bruce doesn't even register pain as a limitation or an obstacle, so a lot of the time it isn't that he looks for it... it's just that he doesn't care if it hurts, as long as he achieves his goals. After all, why would it matter that he's hurting, when he doesn't matter as much as the Mission? His Vow, saving others and forever compensating for a loss he couldn't stop, is more important than his own wellbeing and comfort, both on a physical and emotional level.

Put simply, pain is something he feels he deserves for failing. And in so many ways, pain is what fuels Batman; to quote King, he's an "engine that turns pain into hope". But the issue is that, to maintain the status quo, he cannot be anything else, and the engine needs feeding. It needs fresh pain, which is what Bruce keeps providing.

However, it's really hard to draw the line. If you do something like this for so long, if you make doling out pain and suffering pain an integral part of your life and identity, if it's so familiar it becomes a comfort... is that enjoyment? Is that emotional masochism? I just remembered I had a similar discussion before (link here), with some people making very valid and interesting points-- both about Bruce being masochistic, and not. And recently, @psalmsofpsychosis posted a fascinating meta and then web weave about Bruce's relationship to pain (and Joker, who tortures him the most) that got me thinking and rethinking these aspects again (link here). She pointed out that emotionally, Bruce might equate love to pain because the moment he felt the most love was also the moment he was destroyed by grief; when he lost his parents, the people he loved most. God, do check out the post because it does drive me crazy. "Whenever he experiences pain he feels capable of love." @psalmsofpsychosis I'm outside your house, come out, I just wanna talk--

[whateverthedragonswant]

TW: 1x07 "Reflections"

Disclaimer: It goes without saying, if you don’t like, don’t read. And as I always say, criticism of a show does not equate to criticism of actors (or executive producers) as people so if you choose to continue, please leave all stanage (in particular, AA baggage) at the door.

Written by: David H. Goodman & Robbie Thompson

Directed by: Richard Speight, Jr.

Rating: 6/10

Pros: decent mid-season finale; A+ usage of 15x18 theme for John and Henry's scene & the usage of the Winchester theme; I have decided to adopt an alien-spider dog & I'm starting a group for all alien spider-dog moms on Facebook so let me know if you want to join (Roxy would join but she's, ya know, floating in a dimension somewhere that doesn't have decent Wifi); Samuel's entrance; the Jary kiss felt earned; Speight directing (yes, you could definitely feel it); music choices are starting to be more on point for the time period and the overall vibe of the show

Cons: The Akrida obviously being a copy of SPN demons (which is why we haven't seen too many demons thus far btw) & just the SPN copying in general, I thought this show was supposed to expand the universe, not clone every single facet of it; Bridget's own Party City wig; rather than ADR, they kept Meg's cracking loss of voice in; Dean's voiceover

Dean voiceover: “There comes a time in every hunt when the fighting starts. And the difference between winning and losing isn't whether you have the holy water, the wooden stake, or the silver bullet. It's whether you got the grit to get the job done.” - Still not quite Dean (too much of a bit of an accent present) but closer - you're getting warmer, Jensen

Isn’t Mary concerned they might hear her or John’s voice? If there was someone in there?

Oh boy, Samuel’s bag covered in blood, not good

So in SPN the MoL bunker in Lebanon was empty because of Abbadon, right? Idr that storyline too well, did Abbadon and all of the demons/Hell Knights wipe out all MoL? I wonder if we’ll get the answer later since I see Gil is in this episode

A werewolf, another supernatural guard, just like Mrs. Butters

“Me being in here cooked right through him” - I’m sorry, I’m just going to say it, the Akrida idea and execution is stupid - I seriously feel like this was their response to copy the demons that Dean and Sam came up against in season 1 (with YED leading to Lillith then leading to Lucifer)

Are those 3 spikes on the ground next to Akrida!Hector?

OMG SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WITH THAT HAIR??? Did they shop at the same wig store they got Sam’s wig from in the SPN series finale? That is genuinely terrible - why not just curl Bridget’s actual hair at that point? - there’s a difference between 70’s style hair and a mop head that’s been in a violent windstorm only to then be turned into a wannabe shag carpet

So if she’s the queen of the Akrida, why use a scalpel to threaten this guy? Doesn’t she have the alien spider-dog hanging around at her beck and call? Was he not able to come through the alien spider-doggie door?

Ah, there he is! (love how the guy barely spares him a glance btw)

The Ostium…interesting name...I'm not going to say what it makes me think of, I'm not going to...nope...mm-mmm...lips zipped

And just like that he knows his dad’s handwriting? - I mean, I get that he’s probably read and reread Henry’s letter hundreds of times by now but that seems rather impossible to tell that quickly? Especially not using the letter to reference?

Awww Carlos 🥺 

I’m glad they brought Millie in, it feels more like a mid-season finale episode now

Of course Carlos and Mary get pulled over by Mop Head--sorry, I mean Roxy

Ooo Meg, a little bad acting here

The best thing about this scene? Bridget - no surprise there, she always plays a wickedly entertaining bad guy

Nice move, Carlos

Meg sounded sick in this scene, like she was losing her voice a bit - girl, get you some Ricola drops or something. How horrible they made her shoot dialogue when she's literally lost her voice (yes, I know, that's the industry, but still, how does that work in the episode's favor?)

That was a nice scene between Millie and Ada

Good song choice

Awww Carlos doesn’t want to lose Mary or the group, understandable

I love Ada’s magic so far in this show - if they do bring some SPN originals to cross over, I really hope Rowena is one of them, I’d love for her and Ada to cross paths

Oh yeah, Meg is definitely losing her voice *goes all mom and picks up phone to leave Robbie another voicemail; ignores his greeting telling me specifically not to leave another message*

Ah, the infamous Dean/Winchester theme coming into play when John brings the object - this is going to be important for John’s character I’m assuming

So, Henry showed up after all (also love how they had Mary have the lighted up halo as being John’s “saving grace” in the beginning of that scene)

Wow, are they playing the confession scene music during this scene???? W O W - this is obviously very important for John (and this reiterates how important that 15x18 scene was for Dean's character)

And the Winchester/Dean theme comes back into play - wow, they’re really going all out for this one

So I’m confused or maybe I’m just not remembering, do they know Henry died before this moment or how? Or no? If not, neither John nor Millie asked him? And they suddenly knew they needed to do a seance? Or maybe it was in Henry's letter and I'm just not remembering? Like a "if you're reading this, I'm dead" kind of thing?

I think Drake did a great job in this scene

And just like that, Roxy is gone? Bridget did a whole whopping 3 episodes this season? How was she not the queen? Bridget, don't worry, you'll always be my queen, just not of a weird alien bug species - don't worry, girl, I've got you

They sure have a lot of monster essence when they only dealt with 1, 2, 3 tops so far this season?

The first kiss and a callback to the first episode - I wouldn’t say this moment was overflowing with chemistry but it sort of felt earned? Way more than another couple in another show of Jensen's that shall remain nameless *cough* Big Sky *cough cough*

I couldn't help but laugh when the door broke open and their kiss got interrupted only because it was like 'did you guys really forget that a rabid pack of weird alien spider-dogs are trying to break down the door to kill y'all?'

The Samuel save was a good one - I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the scene - not gonna lie, I expected Clark Kent's laser eyes to come into play but Tom/Samuel wielding the Akrida-sucking-ghost-trap-thing was pretty good, too...now he just has to put that thing into the Containment Unit & we're golden, then they can go to that Big Kennel in a random dimension

Gotta say, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Tom as Samuel but I’ve never been so relieved to see anyone in this show as much as I was with him

So, the monster essences are going to wake the queen, I take it? *thinks about this* Is Mary going to be in a mecha-suit soon doing battle with a huge alien spider-dog/wolf thing? Because I gotta admit, that kinda feels like where this is heading with the whole Alien queen thing (I'm not thinking Aliens, you are) - either that or a huge fucking wasp creature thing

As always, Speight delivers

Episode theme: you have to have the will to get the job done, to keep pushing forward

Monsters: The alien spider-dogs were a bit creepy when there was more than 2 of them - *writes note to self*: do not get more than 2 for the house, keep them out in the yard (good luck, mail person!), do not install any doggie doors, check out alien spider-dog obedience school, tell your neighbors not to let their kids or cats within 500 ft of the property, keep a mop head wig close by and only break out for emergencies, no bath time, and definitely do not feed these little shits after midnight

Chemistry: Mary and Carlos; Ada and Millie; Carlos and Latika; John and Mary

Ending Thoughts: Not bad for a mid-season finale for this show. I think it's starting to make its way, slowly but surely. I’m curious to see how the father/daughter scenes between Samuel and Mary play out when the show returns. I have to say, there were times I had no desire to continue this show due to the writing, the lazy-not-even-hiding-it outright copying of everything SPN, the overall mess, but it’s gotten somewhat better as it’s progressed so depending on how the mid-season premiere goes on January 24th, that will determine if I continue with the series or not (something tells me I will but because I like to be all mysterious and shit so I don't want to give the game away too soon... *whispers* I'll probably continue watching it)

[eclectic-soulss]

How to become the better version of yourself, using the "opposite action" DBT technique.

There's something called The Opposite Action technique in DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy). Which basic premise is that by acting opposite to our emotional urges we can rewire, the already existing, neural pathways in our brains. Changing with this, that way in which we react and process things.

In a way (but not quite, and I'll explain why). I think one could compare it to affirmations, but affirmations in the way that the Law of Assumption uses them. Meaning, affirming opposite to the limiting beliefs, the old story, the negative thoughts, and what the 3d shows us. In an attempt to change it, shift it or replace it. Now, I've talked about that before, I'm not a big fan of that approach, because I feel like it can cause a lot of distress in some people (myself included). So, while being in essence pretty much the same, I find they have a few differences.

I feel like the opposite action technique can be a lot more forgiving than affirming the opposite. One, because "action" (more like being tho, but anyway) is needed in the process of manifesting, and because adding up action to the equation can be extra reassuring, further aligning us to that which we want. Two because it relies on momentum rather than on trying to bury and replace one specific emotion or thought.

And what I mean by this? I mean that sometimes affirming opposite can feel like a fight like you have to win against the negative or unwanted thought, emotion, or situation. Like somehow that positive thought has to be stronger than the negative, so It can bury it and take its place. And that, I've found, can create a lot of resistance and self-doubt.

While opposite action feels more like a transmutation, like some type of mental alchemy. You are taking one specific trigger and using the momentum it creates in the form of negative thoughts or feelings, to do something completely different, opposite to that emotion. But this opposite action does not have to be stronger, because you are not fighting, there's nothing to fight against. You are simply transmuting that energy. Because energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. So, there is no resistance in this technique. Because, again, you're just transforming, not replacing.

But still, that doesn't mean that by doing this technique, you don't get to change and replace your beliefs or emotions, because you do, over time. It is just that this technique is almost unnoticeable. You may not feel the change right away, but over time you will notice how differently you think, feel and act, without you even trying, without you even being able to recall when this shift happened in the first place.

So, there are a few examples that I want to give you. Two come from my personal experience using this technique.

The first time I used this technique, It was a day I was feeling very low, my mood was a complete mess, so much anxiety, so many negative thoughts, every single part of me wanted to just lay down in bed and watch some youtube videos, even though I had stuff to do. But then, I caught myself in that moment, took a deep breath, and went straight to the kitchen to wash some dishes. And I know, it doesn't sound like a lot, but it was an action opposite to what my negative emotions were suggesting me to do. Instead of ignoring my responsibilities by laying in bed, and very probably going into an infinite spiral of negative thoughts, I took control of the situation and acted opposite to that.

Another time I made use of this technique, was very recently. I was on the street, walking my dog. We were on the way home when I saw a neighbour in the distance outside a store, in a street I had to walk by. My first thought was to take another road, so I wouldn't have to face this person and talk to them. And that may sound like nothing for some people, but for someone that has struggled with social anxiety before, It is a living hell. So, I was there, sweaty palms, racing heart, about to take another road. But then I stopped, I noticed how that thought came from nothing but fear. So, I took that anxiety I felt and used it to push myself to keep walking in the same direction. So I did, and I even ended up saying good morning to this person. When I got home I noticed how that anxiety wasn't even there anymore. It was amazing and I felt so empowered afterwards.

And I am aware, that I will have to keep doing it until I reach a point in which I just act, feel and think in a better way because that's what I've become. Because after repetition It became normal to me. Because it now is just who I am. But while that moment comes, I will keep on acting opposite to what my old negative, anxious self would have wanted.

And you can too, deep down you already know how the better version of you looks like, how they feel, how they act, what they do. So instead of repeating the same actions over and over again, recognise when they come from that old accustomed self and act opposite to that. Use the fear, anger, sadness, anxiety that old self feels to push yourself to act opposite. And again, the opposite action does not have to be stronger, a simple act of washing your face when you feel depressed and like doing nothing is more than enough. the simple act of putting your phone away, when all you want to do is listen to some sad music, that will take you into a negative spiral is more than enough. The simple act of staying silent and walking away when the rage within, only wants to scream at someone is more than enough.

Because by acting opposite to what does not align with the highest version of you, is how you become it.

Eclectic Souls

#ConsciousSouls

[frankiensteinsmonster]

^^ Important context that isn't talked about enough anywhere!!!!

Ignorance moment on my part my bad 🖐🏼 I should've stayed in my lane. I use multiple MAs but I main cane and wheelchair so that's my experience, and we don't have the same body and I haven't even gotten my own crutches yet so it's one of the few mobility aids I don't have personal experience with--thank you for bringing this to our attention and for also acknowledging the impact your accessibility needs have on other people bc sometimes those things just don't line up for lack of better word and I think that's important to talk about (ie. You Need to press the button with the end of your crutch while at the same time a wheelchair user would need to press the button with their hands) someone also mentioned their service dog pressing the button as well as concern for their hands being dirty due to use of their wheelchair in their area which was Also important to learn about and to be aware of both for compassion + solidarity reasons but also for personal safety! Thank you also for taking me and my post in good faith and for taking the time to educate-- I'm sorry people have been coming at you in person with wild behavior also,,,cause like... "Useless"???? That ain't correctional behavior. That is Only Ableism 😭 who says that??/rhetorical

We all share the world so tbh I do think it's just more responsible for everyone to just assume someone's touched the button with something that touches the ground regardless bc I feel like we're all painfully aware of the Pandemic Button Stomp™ (you know, when COVID first broke out and people who normally wouldn't even use the button were stamping it with their shoes to avoid getting COVID germs on their hands), but also now we know there's also people like you who aren't doing it out of ignorance or bc they don't care, but out of necessity! I think the answer is hand sanitizer and better automatic doors bc. Them shits do be closing fast as fuck for no reason AND there's obviously a flaw that needs fixing because the button is only accessible to the bottom of your cane and we have the means to not have that be a problem for you and others (apparently there's sensor ones?? But double apparently they don't work super well. My personal favorites are the kind of automatic doors they have at stores like walmart where you just walk in front of them and they open and Stay open until you are through bc then it takes opening the door yourself totally out of the equation, and you don't have to worry about the door closing on you as much, which for me, as someone who is notably impacted by the germs on the button, and for you, who isn't adequately accommodated by THE accomodation button; seems like the most inclusive way to grant people access through a threshold)

So yeah! It wasn't my intention at all to imply y'all were bad, but that's kinda what happened anyways by a total oversight on my end. I really think y'all get left out of conversations surrounding button etiquette bc honestly the only other time I've seen people talk about the button has been in regard to the COVID Stomp mentioned earlier and I think that's proven itself to be a harmful thing to y'all because you weren't represented during that conversation and now people think it's appropriate to hunt you down with a knife with no nuance

No ideas about you and your body also-- I trust you because you're talking about your own experience as a disabled person and as another disabled person,,,, if someone did that to me I would [insert physical violence of your chosing] them but I ain't here to fight I just didn't know better (I thought I ate and was starting a new conversation about being aware of the germs that can be present on our button bc this is an entirely new behavior to me that I was only recently exposed to with no context so I found it shocking that I haven't seen anyone mention it before but I'm even more surprised that I haven't come across people talking about experiences like yours bc you are literally just existing and I feel like no one realizes we're being dicks when we say stuff like that so instead of eating I actually starved bc I inadvertently mistreated an entire swath of the disabled community 💀 sorry y'all I'll do better)

so thanks again for that, I wish you weren't placed in a position where you felt the need to educate bc I always find the white hot rage annoying bc it's distressing and it doesn't stop until you finish your response and it pops back up whenever someone responds too so I apologize that I made you feel that way cause it was radiating through your words 😩🙌🏼 how'd you get your text so small btw?

[lilly-and-alice]

OC Interview

As with Alice's, I was tagged by the lovely @lusus--naturae & @r0xy-w0lf.

I'm not tagging anybody for this one - but please feel free to join in if you want to.

Date of Interview: 1914

Name: "Elizabeth Mae James, but I go by Lilly"

Are you single: *Smiling as she looks over at Charles who's sitting across from her "No, I'm very happily married thank you"

Are you happy: *Hands resting on her baby bump while still grinning at Charles and their four children sitting around him* "I'd say this is the happiest I've ever been"

Are your parents still married: "No, Mama died when I was 4. As for my father? I last saw him when I was 14 "

Are you angry: "Not so much nowadays, but I'll admit, in the past I was a bit of a hothead"

Facts

Birthplace: "I was born out in the midwest somewhere. We moved around a lot so I don't actually know where exactly"

Hair color: "Red"

Eye color: ''Green''

Birth date: ''6th Dec 1873"

Current Mood: "Well as happy as I am to be carrying my 5th child, I'm so uncomfortable right now. I can't wait to be not pregnant again"

*Charles laughing* "I'll remind you of that when you tell me you're desperate to start trying for number 6.

Gender: ''Female''

Summer or winter: "Summer. The winters here in Canada can be too cold for my liking"

Morning or afternoon: "I've never been a morning person, but nothing better than a lazy afternoon"

Eight things about your love life

Are you in love: "With all my heart"

Do you believe in love at first sight: “No” *leans in and whispers while Charles is distracted by one of the kids* "I remember Dutch introducing Charles to the camp, but I didn't really pay much attention to him at first. I do remember him being around, but he never really spoke with anybody. It wasn't the gang started falling apart that I took the time to get to know him and honestly? It wasn't until he left the gang to help Rains Falls & the Wapiti that I realised I was falling in love with him"

Who ended your last relationship: “I did, it had gotten complicated and as much as me and John wanted it to work between us, I knew I had to remove myself from the equation so he could make his own decision about whether he wanted to try make it work with Abigail & Jack”

Have you ever broken someone's heart?: "You know, John later admitted to me that it almost killed him when I told him it was over, but he also told me thank you for making him see sense when it came to his family"

Are you afraid of commitment: "Not at all" 

Have you hugged someone in the last week: “Each of the kids and my handsome husband of course”

Have you ever had a secret admirer: *Charles butts in before Lilly even has chance to speak* "I was so nervous to speak to Lilly in those early days, I'd just find a quiet spot and watch her get on with her day. I do wish I'd had the courage to tell her sooner though"

"Me too...though just imagine how many more kids we'd have then"

Have you ever broken your own heart: “Making the decision to leave John was tough, but even tougher was the mistake I made, which caused the only real argument me & Charles ever really had and actually made us split up for a while..."

*Charles reaches her hand* "That's all in the past now Flower. We eventually got past it and we don't need to dwell on it"

Six Choices

Love or Lust: “Love - I mean the sex is incredible, but I'm happy just being in Charles' company”

Lemonade or Iced Tea: “Iced Tea? I'd rather have a hot tea to warm me up thank you ”

Cats or Dogs: “Dogs” 

A few Best friends or Regular Friends: “I still write to the likes of Tilly, Mary-Beth & Abigail. But honestly - I'd be lost without my best friend Allie constantly by myside"

Wild night out or romantic night in: “Oh my nights of getting drunk with Allie & starting a bar fight or two are well and truly behind me. Much prefer to be snuggled up in front if the fire "

Day or night: ’'Night, I like the quietness of the world”

Have You Evers

Been caught sneaking out: “Grimshaw used to have a habit of catching me in the act, trying to escape doing chores”

Fallen Down/Up the Stairs: “All the time, I'm quite possibly the clumsy person alive”

Wanted someone/something so badly it hurt: “I got everything I need right here”

Wanted to disappear: “You know, during my time in camp and everything that was going on between John & Abigail, I managed to persuade Hosea to let me travel around on my own for a while, to help clear my head and work out what I wanted from life. I'm glad I did or otherwise I'd never have met Allie”

Four preferences

Smile or eyes: “A good smile draws me in, but I feel you can see the real person by looking into their eyes”

Shorter or taller: “Preferably taller, but it doesn't matter either way”

Intelligence or Attraction: “I'm lucky I guess - I have a handsome husband who also happens to be incredibly intelligent.”

Hook up or Relationship: “I never was one for hooking up with random people, I'd much rather be in a relationship ”

Family

Do you and your family get along: “Me, Charles & the kids are quite content together. 

As for my other family members? Well, I have no idea where my father is these days, if he's still alive. And Alice? For the longest time I wanted nothing to do with this random girl turning up, claiming she's my sister. But fate had a strange way of pulling us closer together and now we keep in regular contact"

Would you say you have a messed up life: "Let me give you a list:

Was it messed up to lose my mother & brother when I was only 4 and then find myself travelling around the country with my father, sleeping in the back of a wagon most nights as he prepared for his next con?

Or what about being sold to my own grandmother when daddy felt he was unable to look after me?

Or when Grandmama passed away, her husband was considering carting me off to the nearest brothel because the cheap bastard didn't want the added expense of caring for me?

There's also the man who I thought I loved, leaving me to get attacked while he went off to spend the night with a whore..."

*sighs before a huge smile appears on her face as she casts an eye over at Charles, who's now reading a story to the kids*

"But you know? Each of those moments brought me one step closer to this wonderful life with Charles and our children"

Have you ever ran away from home: “It never felt like home, but leaving my step grandfathers house & running away with Van der Linde gang was best thing I ever did"

Have you ever got kicked out: “Like I said, back in the day, it was a mutual decision between me & Hosea to leave camp before I did something stupid."

Friends

Do you secretly hate one of your friends: “Why would I? Though Mary-Beth is a bit full of herself nowadays with her being a famous author and all”

Do you consider all of your friends good friends: “Of course I do. We might have done some questionable things in the past, but we had our reasons”

Who is your best friend: "I swear if you don't say my name right now" *Allie laughing from across the room*

"I guess there's your answer - my best friend is Allie Foster. Always been right by myside through thick & thin and most probably always will be”

Who knows everything about you: “Allie knows most things. But I don't hide anything from Charles either"

[legend-of-zelda-voices]

"Okkime Dori Imu" and "One da ara n do" from Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Translated title: "Surveillance Mission" or "Decision Dream" (?) and "Wonderland"

LoZ: Linkle

LU: Linkle

Not exactly sure what she's saying at some parts?

Translated English Lyrics:

Yume from Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

We're in this together.

If we go, we'll get there someday, right?

In this world where there's nothing

So many sad things

So many things happen

Sometimes we blame someone else, sometimes we're not so cute

A little, flat courage

With my heart full of pride

Breathe in the joy of being alive and take a deep breath

I'm okay with it

I just want to be strong

After I cried so hard

I laughed so hard

As if it were natural

Dreams...

You can only see them when you're alive

Sparkling, dazzling, shining

Grab it, grab it

If things don't go well, I'll hug you

In this world where there's nothing

Even if I've made a mistake

I want to believe in you again

A promise that will never go away

Come on, headwind

Hey, you're not big enough

It's a little hurtful, isn't it?

We talked a lot

We'll fight a lot

Let's get along

The sky...

Connects us to all kinds of places

Giving us all kinds of scenery

Deliver it loudly.

Because you can't lie to your heart

Even if you can't see today

But you can dream

You can only see them when you're alive

The sparkle, the dazzle

Seize it, seize it

When I can't stop crying, I'll hug you

In this world where there's nothing

In this world where I'm with everyone

AND

Let's look forward and walk on

Even if I suck at it, in my own way

I'm not alone. Isn't that the strongest thing?

What's the matter with me now?

Like a lazy arrow that doesn't hit the target.

Pieces that don't mesh. Oh, no, not the pace.

If you're having a bad day, just shoo, shoo, shoo.

I'll shoot an arrow at the wall in front of me.

For example, there's one guy who's really good at something.

I'll forgive you if you think you've beaten him to a pulp.

At any rate, we're friends.

But she's a girl, so don't say "too big" or "too small"

Let's look forward and walk on

Every three steps, even if you fall down twice

I'll get up. It's all right. It's all right.

I'll get up every three steps, even if I fall down twice.

I'm keeping a wolf dog in my pocket.

I'm not gonna let you pet him or anything.

For example, because of one girl with a bad mouth.

I don't know why it bothers me

I wonder why it bothers me.

It's all over!　　

Let's go, let's go, let's go somewhere!

Words are only 1% of the equation

The other 99, we'll talk with our hearts

I've told you a million times to shut up! What's the point?

What do you mean?

Let's look forward and walk on.

Even if I'm lousy at it, in my own way

I'm not alone. Isn't that the strongest thing?

What's the matter with me?

We don't even know why we were born

We're running through the battlefield of everyday life

The fact that you're working so hard, the fact that you're so active

I think it's amazing, don't you?

Even if I'm a girl, it's a small chest

I'll give you at least one.

The other 99 are X's...

I don't know how to say it

Hey, so!　　But...　　It's hard...

Let's look forward and walk on.

Every three steps, even if I fall down twice

I'll get up. It's all right. It's all right.

Wait a minute, what's going on?

What's wrong with this day?

(Kanji from Myjpop translated with DeepL Translator; there are likely some errors. Please tell me if you have a better translation.)

[jiemba]

Could you write something about Maggie watching Alex work in the lab, if you're taking prompts? Your fics are freaking amazing, I enjoy reading everything you write!

First prompt - yay! Thanks anon, hope I did OK : )

In between getting her stitches done and signing her discharge forms, there’s not a whole lot to do but wait.She remembers being shot how an ocean remembers a tempest – complete upheaval in the moment, but now everything’s stilling, quieting, in a way that’s almost as dizzying as the original chaos, and the floor tilts when she tries to rise to meet it, and her elbow buckles against the bed, and every light in the room is suddenly too much to bear.“Woah, easy…” she hears Alex murmur, gently pushing her down by her uninjured shoulder. “Those painkillers can knock you around a bit.”“No kidding,” Maggie groans, wincing a little. She glances down at her shoulder, the place where moments earlier Alex had done tender violence to her skin, sewing together ripped flesh with the precision of a scientist, the care of an friend. It seems, with work and with women, Alex Danvers is nothing if not exact.

She’s glad, at least, that she had been lucid for that part. To feel the pride when Alex spoke about coming out to her mom. To feel the warmth of her fingertips, a mirage upon the desert of her skin.“Just stay a little longer, so I know you aren’t having a bad reaction. I promise you’ll be home with a pile of tiramisu and re-runs of The Wire in no time.” She tries to settle, hearing Alex continue to scribble notes at her desk. Even with her eyes closed, the room somehow keeps spinning, spinning. “What do you think, Doc?” she teases. “Do I at least get a cookie for being a good patient?”“Good patients don’t usually try to get out of bed when they’re told to rest.” The scratchy pen sound is replaced by a pattering of keys, the sound doubly irritating. “Do you have someone I can call, to watch you at home?”“Don’t worry about it,” Maggie mutters. “It would have been my ex, but you know, since I’m a sociopath and all…” She cracks open an eyelid to glance at her bandage, her marked shoulder somewhere beneath, and chuckles. “Guess I look like one now, fresh scar and everything.”“Maggie…”“It’s fine. She never did like my scars anyway.”She hears Alex sigh over her typing. “Well you already know I think she’s an idiot.”Maggie smirks, squints at the back of Alex’s head as she keeps working. “You are getting soft on me, Danvers.”The next while passes in a haze, a buzz through Maggie’s brain humming like a baseline as she pretends to rest, sneaking glances at Alex. She’s never really sat back and watched her like this before, never seen how subtly yet powerfully she runs the room with command and respect. How she’s somehow soft and hard in equal measure. How she stands a little taller, her voice a little stronger, her hands on her hips, directing agents, mapping out plans of defence. How she always makes sure the intern isn’t just photocopying. How she thanks everyone from the Director to the cleaners for their work. How she’s clearly always the first to arrive and the last to leave, working that little bit extra so everyone can get home to their partners, their kids, their dogs.Alex probably doesn’t even go home to a goldfish, and it’s been a while since a thought’s made Maggie as sad, or as confused. It strikes her that Alex doesn’t know that she’s beautiful, or brave, or a good person - but she is. God, she is – and Maggie’s hands feel inexplicably empty, her body flushing with heat at the thought of giving her something to come home to, of feeling her moans roll into her mouth.  Of kissing her acid burns after long days in the lab, of waking to the smell of her hair on her pillow. Except that it’s all some painkiller pipe dream. She knows she’s entirely unworthy of her. Alex, who bites her lip and runs a hand through her hair when she can’t quite make sense of an equation, when the chemical composition of a substance just doesn’t add up. Alex, who treats her lab like it’s the house she grew up in, who doesn’t just leave her test tubes in the sink for some lowly assistant to clean. Alex, who’s currently counselling an exhausted junior agent in the corner, assuring him that he performed well under pressure - that he’s still learning, just like she’s always still learning. That it’s not that he’s weak, it’s just supposed to be hard. That she’s scared all the time too. That nobody gets better by running away. Maggie watches her tell him to take all the time he needs, sending him down to collect a self-care allowance from accounting, so he can properly look after himself. Sights like that are worth the nausea of keeping her eyes open. Yes, she feels unworthy. Yes, it’s all too good to be true.But a part of her, the innermost part, wonders. Soon enough, even the sound of her own breath echoes with her longing, screams with a quiet desperation, and everything inside her – all fear, all want - is fighting for escape, for her, knocking incessantly at a door that’s coming loose at the hinges. It’s been far too long since she’s let herself feel a thing, too long since she’s loved, that her chest is tight with the fear of it. Cowardice doesn’t come naturally to her. Pain, yes. But not the fear. If she lets herself love Alex Danvers, she wants to feel it everywhere. She wants her to kiss her lips bloody, to grip her hard and prove that she’s alive. If Alex loves her back, she wants to burn alive in that white heat, wants the light of it to blind her.Because eventually, Alex would see beneath the shine, see the guts of her, and never forgive her for it. But the dulled sting in her shoulder reminds her of how close she came to never kissing another girl again, to never seeing the sky again, to never feeling Alex’s hands cradling her face again, and for a moment she actually deludes herself into thinking it’s something she could deserve. Maybe. Maybe. Nothing like getting shot to change your perspective. Her hands shake. She needs a fucking scotch. “Danvers, I feel fine,” she mutters, slowly pushing herself up by her good arm. “I should get out of your hair.”“Hold on,” she insists. “Any dizziness? Nausea? Rashes?”Her voice wears the shade of her concern, and Maggie has to turn her face away. “Good as new.”“I know you probably want a drink when you get home, but you might want to take it easy on those meds.”“Gee, you’re no fun, Danvers.”When Alex smirks, Maggie senses it rather than sees it. She’s still trying to slip her jacket on. Slowly. Slowly. “Are you sure there’s no one I can call? Wouldn’t kill you to let someone look after you for a change, Sawyer.”For a moment, Maggie holds the fragile gaze between them like a newborn. But she shakes her head anyway. “Better on my own.”A young agent interrupts to hand Alex a report, and she turns to Maggie before she’s pulled away again. “As soon as Pam brings your discharge papers, I promise I’ll get one of the agents to take you home. I’d drive you myself, but -”“I know. You’re needed here.”Alex pauses a little to glance around the lab, still a little shaken by how much she has to do if she wants to get out before morning. “I’m sorry. I -”“Don’t be. It’s… impressive.”And then she’s smiling, because in the middle of the workplace she commands, Alex Danvers blushes – she goddamn blushes – and all Maggie can feel is the heady rush of her own blood under her skin.That familiar inertia, the feverish pre-trembling before she falls. Even painkillers can’t fake that. So she nods and sits back, hoping Pam takes her time with those forms. Just so she can watch Alex a little longer. To imagine interrupting her paperwork to bring her coffee. Even better, to imagine interrupting her paperwork to bring her home.

[dxsole]

Love was a sticky thing that Lawrence had gotten his hands into at a young age. And with each passing lover and obsession, he left his mark on them, a residue they can't wash off.

Some had been killed for their hysterics. It had been sad but true to form, once removed from the equation, Lawrence bounced back rather quickly. Some had lost their eyes...and sometimes more, a part of them carved out and removed and cared for by Lawrence with more tenderness he showed them when they were kicked out in front of their homes with a reminder that he knew where they were. And that there was no corner of this Earth that he could not find them and their families. So it's best they go about their business...and try to forget all about Lawrence Valdis and what he did to you.

Victor, may have the least amount of wounds, but he probably lost the most to Valdis' obsession.

And Lawrence hadn't wasted much time trying to replace Roman, had he? He had been at the ceremonial funeral, Roman's body eventually found in that shipping container all those weeks later. Oh, it was only one small errand he had to run, and Victor, you need not come along.

Victor had Lawrence's sympathy and the assurance that he'd do all he could to help. To find out who did it. Who brought upon the fall of the Roman empire— he should have known it would have been a monster from the same era. It was Argus, Victor. It was always Argus.

And it was Argus that watched him in his cage, fighting against it, fighting against him. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't drink. He wouldn't sleep— and Lawrence was miserable out here without him, watching him waste away, his strength deteriorating. It showed in the bags beneath the glasses and the beginnings of stubble on his chin— he's always so clean-cut, but this had been too much for him.

He hasn't killed anyone since Victor has been inside. He hasn't even looked at his monitors aside from the ones aimed at Victor's enclosure. "I saved you." It's said through gritted teeth. "I fuckin'— A hand runs through his already disheveled hair. "You're being so ungrateful— you were pathetic under him. Pitiful— you wasted your potential being his little fucking lap dog."

Fighting wouldn't solve anything, but God it felt good to say that out loud. He adored Victor and worshipped the ground he walked on, but dammit if watching him fawn over Roman wasn't grating. And even more offensive was seeing how Roman strung him along.

Lawrence would never do that to him. He'd give Victor anything he wanted.

"You're not gonna kill me." Palm pressed into the opposite side of the glass where blood and spit mingled. "Because you love me too. You know you do. These months meant something to you." It's said as firmly as he can, but a part of him needs to hear Victor say it too. You loved me. We were perfect together. I need you and you need me.

"I can get you someone to kill. For your tally— d'you see how generous I'm being? It's because I care about you. And I'll strap you down with an IV drip if you don't start takin' care of yourself. I'll take care of you the rest of my life if it means having you Victor— don't you get that? You are going to love me again and that is not up for negotiation." Because you know what will happen if you don't.

betrayal - victor & lawrence

[ganymedesclock]

Would you mind explaining the ships you mentioned you said you're into (Shiro/Allura, Keith/Lance, Coran/Alfor), and why you think they might be able to work?

Sure thing!

Shiro and Allura

I think they have a very charming dynamic with a couple of facets. First, they’re really both the main leader figures of the team, but they cohabitate and work with each other very well. Both of them are strong charismatic people but we very rarely see them argue, and when they do… s1e10 where they were arguing because neither of them wanted to get the other in danger, and s2e3 where despite strongly urging Allura to listen to Ulaz, he left the final say in her hands.

In general, they work well together and I also think it’s very sweet how there are a few times Shiro seems to be just kind of quietly floored by what Allura is capable of. There’s at least a few times- incidentally an incident each in the two episodes I’ve already mentioned- where Allura either moves past Shiro on her way to do something or had just done something and Shiro just sorta sits there for a moment like “whoa.”

I also think they could be very cute as a couple because like… you have Allura’s proper royal decorum (for the most part) and with Shiro, particularly when he likes someone in any context, he has a very gentle side of him that comes out so I just have the mental image of him trying very hard to be this absolute proper gentleman who’s charmed by Allura.

Also they make a good dynamic because both of them will kind of quietly overdo it or push themselves past what’s a good threshold or taking care of themselves, but neither of them would tolerate that in each other. I have the mental image of both of them being up late at night Not Sleeping when everyone else is and running into each other and both of them are immediately like “what the heck are you doing up, this is way too late, c’mon, you’re exhausted”

Keith and Lance

I think people way overplay their animosity or characterize it in a way different from how canon does. I’ve seen fanwork seriously suggesting “if Keith and Lance, left alone in a confined area/on a mission, can abide each others’ presence without killing each other” and it’s like... right up there with such riveting questions as could Shiro defeat a handcuffed eight-year-old in single combat or could Hunk identify a screwdriver.

They work together all the time. In fact Keith and Lance can generally be counted on to bicker only when the situation is safe enough for it- unless one of them is markedly and unusually stressed out, they can work very closely together to make things work, Keith will admit Lance’s accomplishments without prompting (“Oh, congratulations” when he hears Lance has made fighter class, “That... actually is a better plan” on the Balmera) and even when they’re arguing, neither of them goes for what we as an audience know are their sensitive spots.

The impression I’ve had is that Lance and Keith butt heads sometimes, but I think both of them would be at a loss if they said something that genuinely, deeply hurt the other person. The most pointed they get tends to be in exacerbated situations.

And when they do work together, I think they play off each other in an interesting and compelling manner. They’re both kind of uncertain people, but in different ways.

For Lance, the Garrison instructors basically always sold up Keith this, Keith that. Keith comes across as more or less just the most recent in a line of people Lance has felt overshadowed by and it feeds his own insecurity.

For Keith... one of the main things that drives Keith’s character is loneliness. Fear of losing people, and fear of not meaning as much to other people as they do to him. While I don’t think canon has obviously explored that, I think it’d be interesting to explore the idea that Keith might be jealous of Lance in some ways- how Lance can just effortlessly waltz into any situation and make some friends, how Lance has an incredible, strong sense of family and home- something Keith has always been trying to scrape together from tiny pieces that all too often threaten to fall away from him.

I like to imagine Lance and Keith not as either bitter rivals or perfect soulmates or whatever, but as awkward, kind of insecure, kind of nervous people in the process of figuring each other and themselves out, and somewhere in this equation there’s that they like each other- they like having the other person around, they like to compete a little bit, but there’s, you know, how the heck does this work. Do they even know what it is. Has Keith ever made a Romantic Gesture (tm) in his life and/or is Lance remotely prepared for the idea of someone actually taking his pickup lines seriously. 

I’ve seen a lot of people inject a kind of certainty into the situation that wouldn’t be there, often with everyone and their dog figuring it out before Keith and Lance as if it’s a singular obvious thing or if that’s something other people would just like... muscle in on and define.

Coran and Alfor

This is something I didn’t really consider until I saw content for it and it intrigued me, I guess. At this point I could probably take it or leave it but I think it’d be an interesting way to explore Alfor. Especially because we have evidence that Alfor wasn’t always the somber, introspective figure we see in his AI and in Allura’s memories in episode 1. 

Coran is interesting because he has a sense of proper court manners and calling Allura by her formal title, and this deep loyalty for the royal family in general that would seem to suggest he takes his job very seriously- but it’s mingled with what also seems to be an incredibly personal relationship with both Alfor and Allura. Allura explicitly says that Coran was basically another father to her; as early as the first episode we see Coran hugging her and comforting her in a very parental manner.

I was actually very surprised watching first Voltron Force and then Defender of the Universe by how distant those other incarnations of Coran are- compared to VLD’s Coran who is not only much livelier, but again, has this dead serious attitude towards Allura’s wellbeing and dignity. I’ve seen people gif him intercepting goo at the beginning of the food fight and going “how many times do you think he’s done that for something that isn’t food”

And yet, at the same time, his relationship with the royal family is clearly not pure duty. The way he interacts with Allura in the present, and how he talks about Alfor in the past mixes that unfaltering observation of proper respects with this incredibly personal relationship- consider how he was talking about going shopping with Alfor in the beginning of Space Mall. Coran’s downplaying it but I somehow don’t think a lot of Alteans could talk that way about their king.

So I guess what this comes back to is that Coran and Alfor clearly have some kind of connection that’s quite close, and it’d be interesting to see that explored. Because in most of the flashbacks we’ve seen with Alfor, Coran is not far behind- during the montage of the construction of the Black Lion, Coran is visible in the background. That episode one flashback? Alfor is basically alone, except for Allura and Coran, and Coran was the one with whom Alfor entrusted Allura’s safety and presumably launching the castle after Allura lost consciousness (which would explain also how Coran knew about Alfor’s AI)

So I’m interested in the ship mostly because I feel like whether it’s platonic or romantic there’s something there that’d be interesting to explore.

[thefirsthogokage]

I'm not going to respond anymore after this, and this really isn't for you.

This person came into my tags with were "anti radfem", "anti terf" "fuck terfs," and "fuck radfems" clearly with an attitude of someone looking for a fight.

Now, why would someone be looking at those tags?

"radfem" specifically is a known dog whistle of terfs. So, at most ignorant, this person hasn't been on the internet for years and doesn't know that.

Who wants to go into people's tags like that and look for a fight about the mental state of two different terms terfs use for themselves? TERFs.

Who also has been know to hide under the term Trans-Inclusive Radical Feminist while spreading terf ideology covertly and indoctrinating people into full TERF ideology that sounds like it's trans positive? TERFs.

Who gets combative and defensive in the very way this responder did when presented with the post I wrote? TERFs.

So, deliciousqueenbread is either TERF and knows it, or is being talked to by TERFs and doesn't know that.

There is zero chance she would be upset with what I said in the way I said it if she wasn't. And she would have talked a different path to try to tell me that, and not just come at me with the particular tone and attitude she displayed. 100% TERF attitude and behavior.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. But if you don't want people thinking you're a TERF, don't act like one and learn the dog whistle names and to not equate them with your own ideology so you won't be offended by people calling out said people who use those dog whistle terms.

Also don't go looking for a fight on anti-terf tags.

R*dfems and t*rfs are so far up the ass of the patriarchy they claim to hate, and don't even know it.

You lot only uphold the oppressors by tearing down others who want to fight them too.

Also, to hate feels awful, and you'll only continue hating yourself and feeling awful by trying to displace that hate onto others.

Go outside, touch grass, breathe in the air, seek therapy, and please start working on feeling better about yourselves.