#ill add more as i speak to him more

[bedforddanes75]

list of things pretty boy has said (some to me) that are just a little bit odd (dreamy)

. i have a theory about you. you like...GIRLS

. did your hair change "yes" it looks weird (he clarified he meant Different not Weird but. autism)

. you are so autistic

. your hair looks like...something out of the 80s... (said this while sounding like. actually high)

. so are you bi then. since youre obsessed with... *JUDGILY gestures to computer screen showing george daniel* ...all these...

. youre like a teacher but if like they were a model but like couldnt (WHAT)

. yeah. you look like youd use tumblr (stop)

. wilbur soot

. EUREKA! THATS IT! (like horrid henry)

. men are nice. but theyre just like...knobs (he knows whats up hes like george daniel)

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

new comic is taking me awhile since i have to actually draw now, have a heisenberg while u wait

[ohgreat-moretapes]

Tim I noticed a lot of indigenous patches on your jacket, are you Native?

Idk what my dad was 'cause I never knew him, but yeah my mom is (or... Was.. I guess..) Muscogee, the tribe native to the part of Alabama I'm in.

If I remember correctly she came to Alabama from Oklahoma (where a lot of Natives were displaced to in the 1800s) to "get back to her roots."

But yknow, I was separated from her in childhood (which tbh is upsettingly common for Native families) and I was raised in a very white very Catholic asylum so I'm not as connected to the culture as I'd like to be.

-Tim

[st4rstudent]

people seemed to like the last design so here's another drawing. this time featuring a surprise guest. haha wow whos that guy...

no dialogue ver

[sluckythewizard]

'I wont cry for you, I wont crucify the things you do. I wont cry for you, see, when you're gone, I'll still be BLOODY MARY'

[ghost-proofbaby]

so who’s gonna write a quiet place au with eddie

[dexaroth]

hiii hi :3 hellooo

[memeticsdivision]

a while back, i did the oc duo ask game in my friend discord server, so i thought i’d post them here since the answers are interesting and gives a better look into the moratorium crews dynamics and characterization . enjoy

CERNUNNOS ABOUT FENRIS

What's their best trait?

"HIS ABILITY TO DIE."

What's their worst trait?

“DO YOU WANT ME TO BE HERE FOR HOURS? BECAUSE I'D LOVE TO GO DOWN THE LIST, BUT I HAVE THINGS TO DO. SO LETS JUST KEEP IT AT THIS; HIS INABILITY TO DIE."

Are they a good person?

"HA. HAHA. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU'RE ASKING ME THAT? LOOK IN THE MIRROR ONCE AND A WHILE, IF THE PERSON LOOKING BACK AT YOU IS ME, THEN CHANCES ARE YOU'RE THE REAL MONSTER."

Do you really know them?

"BETTER THAN HE KNOWS HIMSELF, I'LL TELL YOU THAT."

What are they to you?

"A REMINDER OF MY PERSISTENT TORMENT." (translation: “Possibly the only person who could ever understand me, but he created me out of loathing of the idea of me, wanting me dead but forcing me to live anyway. That first part is therefore muddled by bitterness and I refuse to ever admit it.”

What are you to them?

"BY DEFINITION? A SHADOW. IN REALITY? HIS WORST NIGHTMARE."

What animal do they most remind you of?

"A SHITTY LITTLE COCKROACH WHO GOT RUN OVER AND IS DRAGGING ITS GUTS ALONG THE ROAD TOO STUBBORN TO LAY DOWN AND ROT."

Are they your type?

"OH, YOU THINK YOU’RE FUNNY, DON’T YOU."

What's their greatest fear?

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? LOOK AROUND; LOOK AT ME! THE FEAR IS THE LIE. THE FEAR IS THE TRUTH OF EXISTING IN A WORLD SURROUNDED BY SHIT HE NEEDS TO DO. HIS LAZY ASS WOULD RATHER RUIN LIVES THAN FACE THE FACT HIS LIFE IS SAD AND PATHETIC AND THAT HE MADE IT THAT WAY."

What's your best memory with them? Worst?

"MY BEST MEMORY WAS GUTTING HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME. MY WORST IS EVERYTHING ELSE."

How long have you known each other?

"A LONG, LONG TIME. LONGER THAN I'VE EVEN BEEN A PERSON. I'VE EXISTED IN THAT MORONS BRAIN SINCE THE FIRST MOMENT HE EVER HATED HIMSELF, SINCE HIS FIRST BAD MEMORY. I WAS JUST THE FIRST TO REALIZE IT."

How has your relationship changed recently?

"CHANGED? NOTHING'S CHANGED. I'M SURE ANY MINUTE NOW HE'LL FIRE THAT LAST SHOT INTO HIS THICK SKULL, AND IF NOT I'LL DO IT MYSELF. AFTER I'VE HAD SOME FUN."

Are they a good leader?

"OH SURE. IF YOU NEED A GUIDE ON HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE AS A SAD AND PATHETIC LITTLE EXISTENCE, OR NOT LIVE A LIFE AT ALL. HE WOULD BE A GREAT TEACHER IF YOU WANT AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO BE A TERRIBLE PERSON."

——————

FENRIS ABOUT CERNUNNOS

What's their best trait?

"Do I have to answer that?"

What's their worst trait?

"I don't like anything of what I see in them." (translation: "I don't like that they remind me of myself.")

Are they a good person?

"No—I mean, I don't know? No. No they aren't." (translation: “I cannot answer this question truthfully because I doubt if I’m a good person, and if they are me and are bad, then I don’t know what that says about me. Maybe they are better than I am, because they chose a way to live. I didn’t.”)

Do you really know them?

"...No, but they get very predictable at some point."

What are they to you?

"An accident." (translation: “An ugly reminder of parts of myself I hate, that I try to pretend doesn’t exist, but Cernunnos’ existence is a rather direct reminder of it. To cope with that I assign cernunnos the role of the monster, despite what that says about me in return, one who’s existence is a mistake, because if they are a mistake and accident then they could not possibly reflect on me, and I have to kill them.” …which is exactly why he can’t.)

What are you to them?

"An easy scapegoat for all of their problems, I guess."

What animal do they most remind you of?

"To me, they are an animal."

Are they your type?

"I... what?”

What's their greatest fear?

"I guess... living? But they're based on me, so... we'd probably fear the same things."

What's your best memory with them? Worst?

"...I don't think I have any good memories with them. When we met was probably the worst. When they killed me is the second option.”

How long have you known each other?

"I couldn't tell you." (translation: “Cernunnos told me they existed long before they had a body, and they were only made real because of my self hatred that has existed my whole life. I don’t know if we have known each other forever, or from the moment they first showed up in my dreams.”)

How has your relationship changed recently?

"I'm not as scared of them as I used to be. The tricks got old the second I stopped caring."

Are they a good leader?

"...No. I think they’d try, to prove a point, but fail.”

——————

MOR ABOUT FENRIS

What's their best trait?

"Oh, what isn’t? He’s wonderful, really. I’m so proud that he exists at all.”

What's their worst trait?

"Hmm. I do wish he wouldn’t push me away. He needs me, after all, he just doesn’t like to admit it sometimes.”

Are they a good person?

“Hmph. The need to push moral definitions onto people is such a tediously useless endeavor. He’s doing his best, he just doesn’t know what that really means, and so he makes countless mistakes that really, get him nowhere. Thankfully, I know whats best. For him and us.”

Do you really know them?

"Very much so! I’m his mother, I made and raised him, nobody knows him better than me, which is why I know what is best for him, because he doesn’t."

What are they to you?

"Fenris is my son, my greatest joy and achievement. I love him very, very much.”

What are you to them?

"I’m his mother, can’t you tell? I’m someone he can always rely on for love and support. I wasn’t then, but I certainly am now. I’ve worked hard to be that, and I need to keep things that way.”

What animal do they most remind you of?

"Whatever animal he would want to be compared to!"

Are they your type?

"That is my child."

What's their greatest fear?

"Being alone, being the monster Cernunnos claims he is, being abandoned. He fears many things, the poor boy. He fears the way reality is constantly all around him, and how at any moment, he might change something and do something bad. He doesn’t want to be hurt, and he doesn’t want to be responsible for hurting someone again. But most of all, he’s afraid that it’ll be confirmed that he doesn’t deserve to exist, that the world would be better off without him, and that he’s been wasting his time trying to live in it. Sad, but sometimes, our greatest fears are of the truth.”

What's your best memory with them? Worst?

"Oh, all of them are dear to me. But the moment he was born is especially close to me. It was the first moment I loved him, and the moment I was so happy to be his mother. But… I do regret the night I died. Very much so. I said so many awful things to him, and they were the last things he ever heard from me. I hurt him so deeply that night, and it was the culmination of all of the terrible things I’d done to him over the years. Sometimes, that guilt overwhelms me. But I’ll be better this time.”

How long have you known each other?

"His whole life, of course! I’m his mother after all. I wish I didn’t have to be separated from him for five years, but we’re together again now. And I won’t let anything take him away from me.”

How has your relationship changed recently?

"It’s certainly more positive than my previous incarnation. He’s more willing to open up to me, and comes to me more often for safety. I’m relieved my efforts have paid off.”

Are they a good leader?

"I would say yes, but I don’t think he’d be comfortable, and he shouldn’t have to do things he wouldn’t be comfortable doing. Besides, I don’t trust anyone not to just be using him."

[disabled-dragoon]

Hey hey hey if you're like me and you struggle to/can't use keyboard and mouse when gaming and prefer controller, I've found this excellent little video that explains how to connect a PS4 controller to your Steam.

On her channel she also details how to add a Switch controller and a Gamecube controller as well. (No Xbox I think, but I shall look for others)

Personally I found this incredibly helpful and easy to follow. I haven't tried it on other games besides Stardew Valley yet but I shall let you know when I do!

[flovverworks]

(person back from ship tags) the way its literally why the hell is nero the bus driver all of a suddenly in every other work is SO funny to me. nero universally loved no wonder ure going thro hell in pt2

[oletus-manors-log]

what do you think about the new hunter? are you considering making content about him?

The new hunter? 🤔 I hadn't actually seen the new hunter after Frederick, but!! I am considering on making content about him.

The only concerns I do have is how he'd be like in game, his lore, and... Y'know. His age. I don't plan making romance hcs or anything like that if he's NOT legally above 18, thanks.

I will say, though— he does look pretty with the mask. Makes me think of Robbie but older...

Maybe it'd be fun to hc their bond like they're siblings of sort— at least in the manor haha

[fire-emblem-drabbles]

Im on my way to work again but I am having thoughts again (dangerous i know).

When I orginally went out to write my part 3 SI fic I was like, fuck it reverse harem for ME I deserve it. And while everyone has definitely had doki doki with Syd, I feel like I've been sleeping a little on Kakyoin.

He really was the first one to really trust her! Syd joins the gang right after Steely Dan/The Lovers, and the sun is like... not even a real fight, so the first stand user that shes really there for is Manish Boy and Death 13.

Death 13's gimmic doesn't really work on her, because Love Club is out litterally all the time (rip pur girl who has poor control of her stand 😔). Dio has already sent the message out to explicitly not kill her (and to do as little harm as possible), so he ends up silencing her.

Its a frustrating spot to be in, knowing exactly who the stand user is but being unable to convey that because you 1) cant speak and 2) no one really trusts you yet (or worse, just dont belive/think you don't understand.)

So the relief Syd felt when Kakyoin believed her-- mostly, because he mutilated himself, but-- still, he believed her even when she had nothing to prove her claims besides her lack of voice.

Its just really important to me... to be thrust into a world of stand battles and running, wondering what use you can bring to this group when you can't even fight yourself-- and be presented with the perfect opportunity to help, only to be shot down. Its just makes me AAA you know???

Even if only she and Kak remember, its important to me :)

[punctuationbreakdown]

About that Scientology connection...

One of the details that came to light this week in the latest article detailing the horrific allegations against Neil Gaiman (which I believe are true, to be clear, but not the primary focus of what I'm writing about here) is the extent of his ties to the Church of Scientology. I was most engaged with Neil's work as a teenager and in my early 20s, and I didn't recall seeing mention of the connection at the time (granted, that was more than a few years ago!). I couldn't let it go after reading the Vulture article, so I started to dig a bit and found a lot of information being shared on Reddit and even further digging uncovered archived forum posts from over a decade ago by former CoS members.

There are a lot of details in this article by Mikey Crotty, who appears to be an independent comics journalist, which was published by Mike Rinder on his blog in 2023. Rinder was famously an executive in the "church" in Australia and ran SeaOrg (the elite force of CoS, essentially, and responsible for internal discipline within the broader org) before ultimately leaving the organization and speaking out as loudly as he could about the abuses he had been complicit in as a member (at great personal risk, as anyone who is familiar with the tactics used against former CoS members will know).

The piece was written as an exposé about Gaiman's novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was semi-autobiographical. Crotty discusses details about Gaiman's family, Gaiman's participation in CoS, and the coverup his father orchestrated for an apparent suicide of a student of Scientology who had immigrated to the UK and was living with the Gaimans at the time. This suicide is written into The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Neil's father, David Gaiman, was head of worldwide communications for the Church of Scientology in the 60s, and was leading the PR spin to protect the organization from increasing legal scrutiny in the UK at the time. Around the same time, a suicide occurred while a young man, Johannes Scheepers, was living with them (the Gaiman's took in CoS students as lodgers at their home on a regular basis, apparently). The Gaiman family launched a campaign to depict him as a broken down gambler to avoid further scandal for the organization. The logic doesn't quite add up, and it's more likely that Johannes was a new adherent who had been badly taken advantage of. You can read more details in the article I linked. Crotty makes the case that not only were the Gaimans lying about the death of the student, even going so far as to claim he wasn't actually lodging with them, but that Neil then went further to spread these lies in the form of fiction decades later (we now know this book was written as a result of the prompting of Amanda Palmer, who was encouraging him to confront his childhood experiences with CoS per the article in Vulture).

The article also points out evidence of Neil's continued involvement with Scientology:

Neil Gaiman’s history with Scientology is very murky; deliberately so. His family are practically Scientology royalty in the UK, he met his first wife Mary McGrath while she was studying Scientology and lodging at Harrow House and he himself worked as a Scientology Auditor for several years in the Eighties and was a Director of a Scientologist’s property company ‘Centrepoint’ until 1999.  He now won’t discuss his own Scientology connections and states, without any details, that he’s no longer a member of the Cult that supported Apartheid up until the mid eighties, believes homosexuals are deviants and mental illness is a manifestation of personal failure in the sufferer’s current or past life; beliefs which are anathema to most of Neil’s adoring audience. His connection to Scientology and apparent departure from the cult first went public as part of a court case in 2002 where when asked “Are you still involved with the Church of Scientology?” Neil said “I don’t understand the question”, subsequently asked “Are you still a member of the Church of Scientology?” he replied “I don’t consider myself as such”. Even then his admission that he worked for the Church for 3 years is somewhat confusing: “I worked for a 3 year period after getting out of school as a ‘Counsellor’ for the Church of Scientology”; in fact he actually worked as an ‘Auditor’ in a process made famous in the award winning 2015 Documentary ‘Going Clear’ which explains how officials in the Church of Scientology keep in-depth records on everything its members say during private ‘auditing’ sessions and then use their secrets against them. Renowned Journalist and author on Scientology Tony Ortega says that Gaiman “became a Class VIII auditor, and even ran the Birmingham “org” as its ED, executive director. “. While there is no contradiction in Neil’s actual admission of working for Scientology up till the late Nineties and subsequently leaving the cult and its beliefs sometime in the early Noughties, conflicting details arise in the period since, when Neil has insisted he’s not a Scientologist. According to public records he was a shareholder in the family firm G&G Foods, which produces the vitamins used in Scientology’s highly criticized Narconon and De-Tox practices, since 2011. He transferred approximately a quarter of a million shares to Scientologist shareholders in 2013. There’s the book ‘Ocean’ also from 2013 and then there’s also his production company ‘The Blank Corporation’. ‘The Blank Corporation’ is Neil’s production company which works on all his adaptations such as ‘Sandman’, ‘Anansi Boys’, ‘Good Omens’ and the upcoming ‘Ocean at the End of the Lane’ in partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros, the BBC and others. According to the website and any interviews, Neil founded ‘The Blank Corporation’ in 2016 with his Vice President and former P.A. Cat Mihos. According to the official Companies registration however, the company was actually set up by Neil and then wife (and still devout Scientologist) Mary McGrath in 2000. The company is still registered to a Scientologist’s P.O Box in Wisconsin, where Mary McGrath still works for the Church of Scientology. One company; two very different stories, it’s just another mystery, like what really happened to cause Johannes Scheepers to take his own life in 1968.

I want to note that based on what I've read, being a Class VIII auditor is the highest level you can go as an auditor in CoS without becoming a member of SeaOrg. Auditors are individuals who are key to the brainwashing process members of CoS undergo; they utilize the org's "technology" to identify past sins by doing intensive interrogation sessions with members. This means Neil was well trained in how to psychologically interrogate org members and held a position of relative power over them as he documented their dearest secrets for the org (primarily to blackmail them with should they ever want to leave, based on CoS records and former members' experiences).

I found forum posts where others reviewed public records that confirmed the majority of these claims, although unable to confirm the PO Box in Wisconsin. His sister, Lizzy Calcioli, is the current company director of G&G, which supplies pseudoscientific vitamin treatments to drug rehabilitation seekers that are horribly abused by Narconon (CoS does not allow actual medical intervention or medical practices in its org). According to public filings, Neil still owns shares in G&G.

There is also this interview from 2010 with the New Yorker, in which Neil claims he is no longer a member of CoS, but expresses sympathy with them:

These days, Gaiman tends to avoid questions about his faith, but says he is not a Scientologist. Like Judaism, Scientology is the religion of his family, and he feels some solidarity with them. “I will stand with groups when I feel like they’re being properly persecuted,” he told me.

It is also well known that celebrity members of CoS are encouraged/allowed to lie about their connection to it in order to support their monetary success. Because of course they're going to contribute back to the organization through that success, which it appears Neil has done.

Additionally, we know from public accounts of CoS's practices and leaked documents that once someone leaves the organization, they are not allowed to continue to associate with anyone within the cult. Isolation of former victims is one of the many tools used against them. The fact that Neil maintained a marriage for decades to an active member who still works for CoS, as well as relationships with his family members who are leaders in CoS, indicates he is either still on the books as a member or is contributing to CoS in order to avoid alienation from his family. Any sympathy a desire to remain connected with his family might conjure is misguided in my opinion, because we know that he's likely profiting off of shares in a company that takes advantage of and contributes to the traumatization of vulnerable patients as a CoS affiliated business.

Had I known Neil Gaiman was so closely connected to the "church" sooner (one degree away from L. Ron Hubbard himself as a child!), I would not have supported his work in the way that I did in the past. And I think he knew that a significant portion of his audience would respond the same way, which is why he obfuscated and downplayed those connections.

His alleged ongoing involvement also changes the way I perceive his actions - Deception and manipulation is, by former member's accounts, standard procedure for leaders within Scientology. It should come as no surprise that he will continue to deny any evidence, attempt to blame his victims, and lie lie lie to avoid potential consequences. It is, after all, the example he was given and trained in as an active participant in a destructive cult that he has never publicly disavowed and that he appears to continue to support.

I think this information should be taken into account as former (hopefully) fans react to his responses to these accusations. I wish for peace for the victims who are now speaking out, and I hope they are able to reach the resolution they deserve.

[maybanksprincess]

seven minutes in heaven

warnings: suggestive but no actual smut, mature themes, dry humping, tongue kissing.

summary: a game of seven minutes in heaven leads to reader and jj stuck in a closet together.

pairings: childhood!bsf!jj x childhood!bsf!reader

requested by this ask (thank you anon!) i dont know much about the game, so if i got one of the steps wrong, im sorry in advance.

you and the rest of the pogues gathered together on a saturday night to drink beers, smoke weed, and play spin the bottle. typical pogue shit.

all of you were sat in a circle on the carpet in the living room floor of the chateau. there was a glass beer bottle in the middle of all seven of you.

for a half hour, the game was spin the bottle. everyone's facial expressions quickly grew bored. John B, and Sarah were talking about something totally different, Pope and Cleo gone to grab a new crate of beers.

After a few more moments of all of you staring at the wall blankly, Kiara's the first to break the awkward silence. "hey what's that game we all used to play when we were sophmores?" she asks, twirling a piece of her curly hair around her pointer finger.

after kiara speaks, jjs facial expression changes to one of interest. he thinks for a moment and then speaks, "the one where you get locked in a closet for like ten minutes?" he asks

Pope rounds the corner with a few beers tucked in his arm. Cleo not far behind him "seven minutes." he corrects, pointing a finger at him.

jj rolls his eyes at the correction and mimics a mouth with his hand, mocking his words "seven minutes" he says, trying his best to sound as much like pope as possible.

you flick the back of jjs neck, mumbling a shut up to him. he lets out a high pitched ow and rolls his eyes, but ultimately he stops his mocking.

John b turns back towards the group at the mention of the new game. "are we finally gonna play something other than spin the bottle? im kinda tired of landing on Sarah." he teases

Sarah shoves him playfully, and then turns back to the topic of conversation. "Yeah we should play, it sounds fun. how does it work?" she asks, tilting her head slightly.

Pope speaks up this time, "we spin a bottle for two people, whichever two people it lands on, they go in a closet together for seven minutes to do whatever they want." he adds with a hint of suggestion at the end of his sentence.

jj smirks and turns to look at you, memories of the last time you two played this game when you were fifteen, when you shared your first kiss.

it was the first kiss for both of you, so it was sloppy and had a lot of teeth and tongue, it was sickening to think about, but never forgotten.

jj pipes up next, "yup we can play. this games borin' anyways." he says with a shrug.

everyone else agrees and shifts themselves back into a circle on the carpet. Pope places the bottle in the middle, then darting his eyes from one pogue to another.

"so whos first?" pope speaks

jj doesn't waste a second in volunteering to go first. "me! uh- ill spin first." he says, clearing his throat. everyones eyes fly to jj, giving him a questioning look.

"dude you answered that way too fast." john b says with a growing smirk on his face, his eyes now flickering between me and jj sitting beside one another.

"dude shut up!" jj says, before reaching forward and spinning the glass bottle, he crosses his arms and sneakily crosses his fingers hoping, praying, that it lands on you.

everyones eyes are glued intensely to the bottle, the tension in the small room palpable.

eventually the bottle comes to a stop, the tip of it pointing right to your knee. jj has to hold back from jumping up and saying something like hell yeah!

he instantly stands up, holding his hand out for you to take. "cmon m'lady." he teases, and looks at you with his typical shit eating grin.

you roll your eyes and take his hand, standing up and walking to the closed closet with him.

"i bet everyone can guess what they're gonna do in that closet." john b says with a smirk, as he watches jj open the closet door and enter.

"gross! i dont even wanna think about it." kie adds on, then everyone starts to whisper about both of you in the open circle.

as you both get in the cramped closet, jj takes a seat on stacked boxes that clearly say "fragile" but he obviously doesn't seem to mind. he looks up at you still standing there awkwardly in the dimly lit space.

"seems oddly familiar, doesn't it?" he teases. your brain floods with memories of you and jj in the same situation back in sophomore year.

you both had been in this exact crammed closet, deciding you could both share you first kiss together. it was sloppy, uncoordinated, and you both were trying to figure out a comfortable spot to place your hands. it was an awkward and uncomfortable kiss, but it was stuck in your brain nonetheless.

"yeah, really familiar." you chuckle nervously, looking around, and tapping your foot on the ground. you avoid eye contact with the blonde, hoping this seven minutes would pass by quickly.

he notices your shift in mood, and he smirks. he spreads his legs and moves his arms behind his head as he speaks.

"you know, were in here for a whole seven minutes. we should put it to good use, right?" he was enjoying making you nervous, and teasing you.

when he doesn't get a response, he gently pulls you onto his lap so your straddling him. he looks up into your eyes in the dimly lit closet, with something you cant quite describe.

before you know it, your both leaning in slowly, jj is the one to connect his lips with yours. the kiss was gentle and chaste at first, your mouths moving passionately against one another.

jjs hands find their way to your waist, gently caressing the flesh. you take that as a sign to move your hands up his torso, then settling your arms around his neck, all while continuing to kiss him passionately.

the kiss grows more intense over time, your tongues fighting for dominance against one another. eventually you catch yourself grinding your hips against his, as you both makeout.

minutes go by, and he finds himself lost in your kisses and the way your grinding your hips against his. his cock doesn't take long to stir in his cargo shorts.

when you feel his buldge press up against you, your hips move a little faster, the kisses becoming more desperate. before you know it, a light is shining in the closet and the sound of the door creaking fills your ears.

you pull away from jjs lips briefly to look at who opened the door.

"seven minutes are up, lovebirds." john b says with a jerk of his head, motioning for you two to get out the closet with a smirk.

[beloveds-embrace]

Hello! Thank you for feeding us the angstier timeline of the dukedom au!! I live for angst

You don’t have to entertain this thought ofc, the angst and how good you write for my brain worms worming. I just can’t stop thinking about what would’ve happened if König wasn’t there and instead the duchess had to suffer all on her own

(Or better yet, if he was there but ended up also leaving the duchess for someone else or was killed protecting the duchess)

Reader having to endure everything on her own which eventually leads her to falling terribly ill and in the olden times we all know how a simple cold could turn into more and yield deadly results

The stress combined with the overall lack of appetite (and the food not cooked well at times to add to that… more angst (: ) as well as other factors rendered the reader terribly ill

Maybe she fell into a body of water and had to save herself, or maybe she was caught up in a rainy storm on a walk with no one offering her warm clothing or a cover up until she eventually managed to get back that leads to pneumonia

Maybe she gets injured but hides it until the blood loss gets to her and infection sets in

Just so many options and flavours of angst

Anyway, thank you for sharing your writing with us! Agin, you don’t have to engage with this, so please don’t feel pressured!! I’m just having many thoughts and am currently going feral /pos

WAITTT WAIT I LOVE THIS

Because imagine clinging to König, to your one singular source of comfort in a manor that has no room for you, and in the end, he leaves as well.

You had been telling yourself that you had been simply more imaginative lately; König was simply busy, he wasn’t growing more and more distant! The way he looks at you now compard to before hasn’t changed. At all. His responses were in hums and nods, noncommittal but that’s okay, sometimes you did not feel like speaking- like existing- either.

Until he stands in your office, the light from the windows reflecting off his armour. You had been happy to see him, a smile on your lips to be in the company of the only one who didn’t seem to despise you.

When he tells you that he will not be doing this anymore, it feels, for a very split second, like your heart shatters into a thousand tiny pieces. You can feel the shattering of each, single piece.

Better place. He says, pity in his eyes but no regret. He pauses for a second. I wish… the best for you.

König leaves you like that; staring after his back in abject horror. Every step he takes echoes in your ears, until you are left alone in your office, hands trembling, and your ears ringing.

After that day, everything practically crumbled. You crumbled.

Without him, the weight of your isolation became unbearable. The disdain of the household grew sharper once it became known your only solace was no longer there, the whispers more cutting. Meals came cold, uneaten. Sleep eluded you, and the constant stress gnawed away at your strength.

One fateful day, you went outside in a desperate bid to escape the suffocation. The air was crisp, the sky gray with the promise of rain, and yet you still did not turn back. You wandered farther than you intended, your steps aimless even as the first drops began to fall.

The storm came quickly afterwards, drenching you to the bone. Your thin cloak offered little protection, and the chill seeped deep into your skin. By the time you returned, trembling and soaked, no one was waiting to help you. No fire had been lit in your chambers; no warm blanket was offered, and no company was given.

The fever began that very night, burning through you with a strength that left you bedridden. Days passed in a haze of pain and delirium. The wound you had hidden- an injury from your fall in the storm- festered, the infection spreading rapidly through your weakened body. You hadn’t the strength to call for help, nor the faith that anyone would come even if you did hoarse out your voice in your attempts.

Only when your condition worsened and you really, truly disappeared out of view, the household finally took notice. Whispers swirled, faint echoes beyond the fog of your fading consciousness, and everyone became alert of your absence, meals returned untouched and maids reporting it’s weeks since they’d helped you with anything.

John sat in his study, nursing a glass of whiskey as the fire crackled in the hearth. He told himself your absence didn’t matter- that you were retreating because you’d finally realized the truth. But when he closed his eyes, he saw your face as it had been on your wedding day- hopeful, trusting, and unaware of the coldness that would greet you.

Simon found himself pacing the halls around your room more often than usual. He would glance toward your chambers but never step inside, convincing himself it wasn’t his concern. And yet, something about the silence unsettled him.

Johnny had begun to notice the meals sent to your chambers were left untouched, the plates returned barely touched or sometimes not taken at all. He hadn’t cared at first, dismissing it as you sulking because no one was giving you attention. But now the thought lingered- had you even been eating at all?

Even Kyle, with his sharp tongue and sharper gaze, felt the unease creeping in. He found himself hesitating when passing your door, his usual indifference cracking as guilt gnawed at him.

In the end, it’s Kyle who couldn’t stand the silence anymore. He stepped into your room, telling himself it was simply to prove to himself that you were fine and just- sulking.

The sight stopped him cold.

The room was dim, the curtains drawn, and the air heavy with the faint, sour scent of illness. You lay motionless on the bed, your body shockingly frail, your skin damp with fever. Your hair clung to your forehead, and your breathing was shallow, each breath rattling in your chest.

You didn’t even notice him. Not even when he turned around and barked sharply for John, for a doctor now. You didn’t notice him at all. Not him, not John or Simon or Johnny when they appear while the maids run to get the doctor.

(Kyle will never tell anyone how utterly sick he felt upon seeing the dried tear-tracks on your face. The unfinished, rotten meals near the bed. The tear spots on your pillows. He will never, ever forget today. He doubts any of the others will be able to do so, either.)

[ilynpilled]

+ sighs…

i know people mostly take note of jaime being associated with the warrior & the maiden because of the whole huge gender extravaganza that is going on with j/c/b but i love how he also seems to be strongly connected to the stranger throughout the text. other than all this, he has the death motif (death of the boy, scythe sword chops hand/rebirth, aerys, ilyn the executioner, the bear, stoneheart, cersei, hooded figures in his dreams, the ghosts etc) along with the emphasized dance with death thing. when he refers to himself as “a stranger in my own house,” in the next few chapters he gifts oathkeeper to brienne and aids her in working against his family’s interests, the major color symbolism shift starts: crimson/gold vs white, and frees tyrion which leads to the death of his father and the head of his house (he told the corpse. “The blood on his hands as much as… Tyrion’s.” The blood on his hands as much as mine, he meant to say.) and i think we can all guess what else is coming when it concerns jaime embodying the stranger in the future. i like that cersei “all the time was the stranger” to jaime, and he comes to that epiphany and continues diverging from her, and he “has become” it for cersei, but she is not aware of it, like she doesn’t think he means her death. and i am sure it is meant to be loaded that the character who is the primary deconstruction of knighthood/the kingsguard in the series also embodies the stranger (he certainly fulfills the role of executioner & judgement in some form, and i do like these layers when it comes to the medieval narrative of “it is ‘god’ who shall judge tyrants, not anyone else” which can also serve as a tool for class stratification, and avoiding the precedent of sovereignty being challenged. it is touched on in different ways in the text) but i dont have my thoughts together enough about this lol. we do know george is an agnostic:

"I suppose l'm a lapsed Catholic. You would consider me an atheist or agnostic. I find religion and spirituality fascinating. I would like to believe this isn't the end and there's something more, but I can't convince the rational part of me that that makes any sense whatsoever. [...] And as for the gods, l've never been satisfied by any of the answers that are given. If there really is a benevolent loving god, why is the world full of rape and torture? Why do we even have pain?”

his view is verbatim jaime’s argument: “If there are gods, why is the world so full of pain and injustice?” and the whole conversation parallels brienne’s statement: “Jaime Lannister murdered the rightful king […] Where were the gods then? The gods don’t care about men…”

but george is absolutely not a nihilist in any way, so i think much of it is about placing human agency at the center of all this, and it is some kind of discussion when it comes to karmic or divine intervention. he is half a corpse too. a man is a man, not god. and a man is “whatever he chose.” it is man who acts, not gods.