#instead of the rule of perpetuity xD

[hoboblaidd]

@martyrmarked

The journey to Skyhold was a long and arduous one, but as with most refugees fleeing the destruction of their home, the conversations were focused on their immediate needs: food, protection from the cold, and fatigue from hiking through the Frostbacks. There was no time for discussions of the destruction of Haven itself, or willingness to unpack the sheer losses they'd suffered until their feet were on safer ground.

This reaction was nothing new, and certainly not one to criticize. Shock and collective trauma had always been dear friends with repression.

Skyhold was...not as he'd last seen it, but it was salvageable. He set up at the base of the rotunda, and busied himself with helping the servants clear up the rubble and refuse around the fortress proper. 

His sleeves were rolled up as he moved a chunk of debris with magic in front of the door to the war table. The door swung open on loose hinges. Solas frowned. Those would need to be tightened and greased. But it afforded him a view of Josephine handing a stack of papers to Sidri. He could guess their contents from the heavy look on both their brows.

He waited for the newly minted Inquisitor to leave Josephine’s study before approaching. “We have lost much,” he said, though it was empathy that colored his words more than caution. “But saved all that we could. You have built a refuge here. Your people feel safe. I hope you know their gratitude.”

[countlessrealities]

Send 💖 and I’ll tell you what a relationship would be like with my character || Accepting !

@dynamoprotocol sent: 💖 Since it's their "fresh start" in a lot of ways.....gimme Rick and Chance

How likely they are to enter a relationship with them: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 [[ It's more due to Rick being insecure and also afraid that they might crash and burn like they did the first time around. He knows that they are both different people and that the circumstances have changed, but it's hard for him to shake off those feelings and memories. ]]

Would they…

Make the first move? Yes | No [[ After how it ended with Clarissa, even once their relationship has started to get better, Rick would be hesitant to start something between himself and Chance. He'd rather leave Chance the choice, because he wants to make sure that the other really wants to be back with him, in spite of everything. ]]

Say “I love you” first? Yes | No [[ This is something I can see Rick being undecided on. On one hand, as a rule, he almost never says it first, because of his commitment issues. On the other, however, he feels like he owes it to Chance, because it would because it would be a way to show him that he is serious. So, watch him trying several time just to chicken out at the last moment x'D ]]

Cheat on them? Yes | No [[ Rick is not a cheater when it comes to relationships, under any circumstances. He can break your heart in a thousand different ways, but you can be 100% certain that he will stay faithful. ]]

Be the jealous type? Yes | No [[ Personality wise, Rick tends to be the jealous type, even if he tries not to make it too bothersome for the other person. With Chance, he wouldn't feel like he has the right to be, since it's already a miracle that he's getting another opportunity to be with him. So, if he does get jealous, he'll hide and then brood when he is alone or with Morty xD ]]

Plan the dates? Yes | No [[ Dates are one of Rick's love languages, as quality time. He's going to try and bring Chance on the best and most fun days, but also to gorgeous little corners of the multiverse he has discovered (especially when he wants to be romantic) and to places where Chance can nerd away like there's no tomorrow x3 ]]

Initiate the first kiss? Yes | No [[ He wouldn't start things, he would have trouble saying "I love you" first, but the moment Chance confirms that he does want to give them another try, Rick will probably throw himself at him and kiss the hell out of him. So much pent-up romantic tension right there. ]]

Remember anniversaries? Yes | No [[ Rick's memory can be...really shitty. Both because his brain rushes too fast for him to keep up fully and because he always has a thousand things on his mind. So remembering dates and anniversaries and the likes is really NOT his forte. However, he does know it, so he's likely going to have his AI remind him instead. ]]

BOLD WHAT APPLIES:

Their Relationship Is:

friends to lovers | rivals to lovers | enemies to lovers | still just enemies | mutual pining | star crossed lovers | old married couple | perpetual honeymoon phase | stable and boring | stable but not boring | secret lovers | best friends hiding their feelings | and they were roommates | friends with benefits | coworkers avoiding HR | one-sided affection | weird sexual tension | it’s complicated | toxic relationship | a secret affair | an actual dumpster fire | other [[ If we wanted to be precise is a "pair of walking disasters to fuck buddies to lovers to bitter exes to reluctant acquaintances to friends to lovers" xD I picked the "enemies to lovers" because yes, Chance and Rick start off as friends, but till not much before he and Clarissa were still clashing pretty badly. It's complicated and will always been and I do think that it would be a bit of a dumpster on fire at first...even if not as much as the first time around xD they'll need to find a new balance and also to resist the temptation of falling back into some of their old patterns. ]]

PUBLIC Displays of Affection:

hand holding | kiss on the hand | kiss on the cheek | kiss on the forehead | kiss on the lips |  cuddling | hugging | affectionate messages or comments | pet names | pictures together | no displays of affection [[ I'm not saying that Rick would be shy in public, but he would be hesitant at first. Paranoid about accidentally crossing the wrong lines. He'd most likely let Chance take the lead when it comes to choose what they can and can't do in public, and he'd personally stick to the less intimate stuff. ]]

PRIVATE Displays of Affection:

hand holding | kiss on the hand | kiss on the cheek | kiss on the forehead | kiss on the lips |  cuddling | hugging | affectionate messages or comments | pet names | pictures together | no displays of affection [[ When it's just them (or them and Rin's Rick), he'd be bolder and do also all the stuff he's hesitant to do in public. ]]

Do they stay together?

yes, this is endgame | yes but someone is gonna die tragically | something is keeping them apart | they part ways as friends | they part ways as enemies | they’re on-again-off-again | they have a super messy breakup | it was just a fling | other [[ This is supposed to be part of Clarissa's Good Ending, so I'm game for making them endgame, also because they are such a great ship!! Though, it's also true that you can never say never when Rick Sanchez is involved x'D In any case, the relationship will have its ups and downs, but I'm positive that they can make it work if they both try hard and make amends when something goes wrong! I want to see them thriving >.< ]]

BONUS

What terrible pet names would they give each other? [[ Since Rick can be very often an idiot, he's going to come up with stupid pet names related to Chance's chosen name. So watch up calling the poor man "sec-op" (second opportunity), "my fated life sentence", "my destiny", "there again" and so on. Chance is very much allowed to slap him on the back of his head every time, of course xD

[mushroom-winners-proof]

God your art now has me thinking about demyx and luxord in this au… i replied with a bunch of my thoughts for luxord on the art but also. Corporate Espionage duo.

Demyx is a disgraced business mogul, one of the original investors in the master of masters shady corporation, however due to arguing with the plan of the school and being suspected of being the mole that got the feds on moms back he got exiled and blacklisted from the world of business, only keeping his many connections and instead making a living as a busker living under the radar, and due to his discretion and connections, he became a sort of messenger across shell companies and partners of Darkness Inc since he could talk to whoever without affecting their stock prices too much.

Luxord as someone who has a job in every place, always at the right time taking a shift (i put a bunch of my thoughts under the art so i won’t repeat myself lmao) but who was similarly involved with the Master of Master’s company, maybe the bar the higher ups frequent for unsavory deals, but went in with Demyx to break into the corporate worlds more official side, still hearing the secrets locked away under three stiff whiskeys.

They live together as roommates and are perpetual gossips, but no one can quite place any of the gossip as real except one time, where an intern Roxas over heard them gossiping about Xion and talking about how the incident was Riku’s fault, and that being the moment when Roxas went feral.

i remember a bit ago someone proposed axel and xigbar also dabbling in espionage and those two make sense ngl but now im just thinking of all the snakes in these damn companies like yall need pest control fr fr

demyx needa look into a Wilson Wilson Utopia approach and just wipe himself from the internet

@kitkat-the-muffin: "I imagine Luxord just swaps between buildings instantly, like Larry from TAWOG (if you don't know, Larry has 1000 jobs and is that one character who works everywhere as an excuse to not have to invent more characters for other job occupations)"

"In the comic with Riku using Ansem's cape as a blanket you had heartless using dark passages (probably artificial heartless based on the AU rules) so I'd imagine buildings and every one in a while he wears the wrong uniform and shows up to Darkness Inc in his Nobody Uniform lol Maybe that's what Darkness Inc does, make Dark Passages XD"

big fan of the consensus that luxord IS a wild card and he's just. EVERYWHERE doing his own thing trying to make bank i love characters who do just has a roulette of jobs for no explicable reason. speaking of Inexplicable Things ansem just got portals and demon kids, totally normal thing for a CEO to have innit

[corpsentry]

allahrakhii (dot) tumblr (dot) com/post/148596180152/honestly-the-depths-of-ignorance-of-white-people

this is a really good post for those who want to learn more about the harmful portrayal of brown women in the legend of zelda series. theres a bunch of helpful links that direct to articles throughout the post as well. if you scroll through a bit youll find the section that covers why the gerudo outfit is racist.

i would appreciate if you post this and not simply brush it aside! this message isnt intended to be hostile or offensive, but rather it is an opportunity for learning and discussion. thank you.

i find the insinuation that i might brush this aside rather ominous anon! first of all, thank you for sharing this post. as someone vaguely from southeast asia i uncovered another facet of the fuckcluster of internalized racism in my system while reading it and will be thinking about it for a while to come. the post is well-written and thoughtfully phrased, plus op provides links to several other resources that i’ll be checking out in my free time too so i’d recommend anyone passing by here give it a read. i also want to apologize for responding to the earlier ask (now deleted) where op was like ‘how is the gerudo outfit racist’ and i was like ‘fuck all if i know’. i was talking out of my ass and failed to consider alternate perspectives. i retract that statement and replace it with this much longer and much more eloquent one.

now everything from here on is frankly quite unrelated to this ask so to the person who sent it please feel free to stop reading right here right now from high school musical as i want to talk about the previous anon message i received and some general stuff regarding fandom and none of that has anything to do with you (you are lovely and the rest of the world is a shithole).

i don’t know if the original anon who sent the ‘i like your art but the gerudo outfit racist :(’ is gonna see this but let’s take a moment to unpack it. i’m not quite sure what anon was going for with this ask. what did they want from me? did they want me to apologize for drawing and posting it? did they want me to delete the post? did they expect me to say oh thank you so much!!! sorry about the racism xd or did they want me to call up shigeru miyamoto and be like ‘hey dude your shit’s racist’ and then take down the entire nintendo corporation in one fell swoop like i was somehow implicated in either the development process or the game by pure merit of drawing fanart of it(????). this was the shit running through my head when i woke up at 6 am this morning because jetlag and opened tumblr and there was this Person sitting there trying to :( me. what’s up with the :(. why are you :(. what do you want from me.

this is where the second anon above comes in. relative to this ask, if the first anon had so much as dropped one (1) link to one (1) post explaining how the outfit might be racist (and taken out the :(, which is lame) then instead of being like ‘which reaction image should i use for this’ i would’ve been like ‘oh here’s something i didn’t know about the world and here’s how i can learn more’. ‘your art great but this racist u___u’ reads like someone trying to guilt-trip someone for shits and giggles. a B grade on a paper is useless unless your prof tells you where you went wrong and before anyone Calls Me Out i’m going to acknowledge that there is a broader issue with marginalized groups having to bear the burden of ‘explaining themselves’ to privileged people who aren’t willing to go and seek information on their own, but let’s just look at this ask for a moment.

what the fuck is this??? what am i even supposed to do with a statement that not only tells me nothing but also seems to have no clear purpose? i am sitting here drawing video game fanart in a college dorm in pennsylvania and i know like 3 things about western media because i don’t like live-action film. if you want to have a conversation please give me something to work with instead of trying to sound sad in my askbox. i can’t turn your :( into a :) because i have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about because i am not god (yet) (although i am trying to).

but let’s talk bigger. racist stereotypes are a huge fucking problem in everything the ideological west gets its hands on. i promise you i know this because i grew up in singapore where the racism was directed towards everyone including ourselves because sir dickbag raffles stuck a flag in the ground and then ruined everything. i can see how nintendo has replicated those racist stereotypes, especially given that east asian countries generally have a long history of racism towards black and brown people. singapore fucks with it too because we’re majority chinese-singaporean and majority lighter-skinned (relatively speaking). op makes a lot of excellent points. perpetuating stereotypes in popular media serves to reinforce racist ideas and further entrench discriminatory beliefs. it’s a chicken egg chicken egg thing. people are socialized into racist beliefs. they create media with racist depictions. young people consume said media and are socialized into racist beliefs. and so on. egg chicken egg chicken.

so, question: where does fanwork figure into all of this? is that 5k ganlink (is this the ship name lol idk if it’s wrong feel free to take me out with a bazooka) e-rated smutfic the egg or the chicken? who is it socializing? who’s writing it? what kind of audience is it reaching? and, more broadly speaking, what is fandom here for, and what does fandom want to achieve?

here we’re going to take a huge detour into another very popular disco horse (at least on twitter i have fuckall clue what’s going on on tumblr at all times) of the present times: the wmulti level wmarketing (wlw) discussion. it is statistically true that there are far less f/f fics on ao3 than m/m fics and f/m fics. this clearly reflects something about fandom’s habits, but the floor is divided. in fact, the floor is on fucking fire all the time. several arguments have been made over the years, of which 1) media creates less-nuanced female characters which makes them harder to connect to (mass media’s fault) and 2) everyone is a gay fetishizer (the individual’s fault) are, arguably, the most popular.

as a head ass philosophy student i’m going to pick the option no one likes and say that i think it’s a combination of all of these factors. and i’m going to step out further and say that people are so inseparable from our communities and societies that it’s impossible to tell where external influence ends and personal preference begins. what this means, more simply, is i think that both individual arguments are insufficient. media is fucking complicated and so are people so imagine when you put all of this shit together on one webpage and then you light a match. tell me, bethany, can you truly say that you like twinkies because You Like Twinkies or was it that advertisement you saw at the bus stop every day for eight years that finally got to you? are you trying to rebel against society’s fear of fatness? are you depressed? do you just like sweet things, and anyway, can anyone “just like” something?

now let’s transplant this issue of societal/self influence (a fandom friendly version of the nature/nurture argument, if you will) onto fandom. so okay, there aren’t a lot of f/f fics. what do?

some popular options i’ve seen are: 1) make angry posts/tweets about how everyone sleeps on f/f relationships in fandom and we’re all secretly lesbophobic 2) call everyone a gay fetishizer 3) write f/f fic

and so here is the other (other? i don’t remember how many problems i’ve listed lol i’m trying here guys) problem: fandom doesn’t have a single cohesive goal. like people don’t come to fandom and then sign a 5 page contract at the end of which is the company vision. everyone comes here to do their own shit. some people use fandom as a means of escape. some people are trying to spread a message (like the evangelists) or educate the youth. some people fuck around and find out.

concept: if the goal of fandom was social activism, then the argument could be made that We Should Write More f/f fics. that make sense to you? because there’s something we’re all striving towards, we can agree that we have an obligation to our community to do something. but the goal of fandom isn’t social activism, is it? maybe it is for you. but it isn’t for everyone here including the 14 year old kid in chinese orchestra and the 56 year old who just wants to read some good werewolf smut. and because we’re all different people who do different things and fandom is not and cannot be your entire life, we can’t make these prescriptive statements. we can’t tell people what to do. ‘people should write more f/f fics because there are very few right now’ that is a valid statement and observation. now will you write those fics? because you’re the only person whose fandom life you can control. because the point of fandom is we’re away from the rules and regulations of Society. because when people are told they can do what they want they will do what they want and if you tell them to do something else, it’s hard to fault them for not taking kindly to it. i’ve written 5k character studies. it’s work. not everyone wants to do that work. that’s why i do it.

detour end and now we return to the chicken egg problem. in my opinion, the shit we create in fandom isn’t the chicken or the egg. it’s the onsen egg that’s been placed on top of your ramen. it’s a product of several complex societal processes, but now it’s here you and maybe the dude sitting across from you are the only ones, by and large, that it’s going to affect. this onsen egg isn’t for the children of the world (broadcast via disney+). this onsen egg isn’t for the politicians who’ll decide on the policy of your country for the next hundred years. they’re not even going to see it because it’s a fucking onsen egg now and no one has taste anymore these days except for yourself, which is why this onsen egg is just for you. put in clearer terms, i agree with op that people in fandom often replicate societal bias in their work (people are copy machines, bethany), but i don’t think most fanfiction has the power to influence society the way that popular media can (see: marvel movies, i dunno, fucking, like, austin powers?), and to critique it with the same mindset we use to critique tony stark is to say that we earnestly think every 15k smutfic is going to be read by millions of people of all ages from across the world. which is not the case. ao3 has a thing you have to click if you’re not logged in you know where you have to agree that you’re 18 or older o read adult stuff. if you lie about that that’s your own goddamn problem. they asked.

and now, part 2, we come around to several interesting points made in the post. op mentioned that ganon is often portrayed as hypersexual (which is fascinating to me i don’t read e rated fic I See What Zelda Fandom Is Doing) or just fucks a lot in general. since i don’t go here i will take op’s word and roll with it, but i have my own word to add: so ganon fucks- what do we do? do we tell people to stop writing fics where ganon fucks? do we force them? do we tell people to write more gen rated character studies (please join me i sit here alone and i (pensive homo stare))?

we could. but we can’t make them. and we also can’t tell them where their ideas are coming from. i don’t, like, read a lot of smutfic but i sure know that shit exists because half my friends are horny as shit and can we all agree that fandom as a whole is just super fucking horny. like yes if ganon as a whole is portrayed more often in sexual situations than the other characters in the franchise, it’s a good and fair observation that Something’s Up Here. but can we really point to individual authors? the premises mentioned in the post by op are premises i’ve seen for haikyuu fanfiction. multiple times. tens of hundreds of times. what if someone’s just really fucking horny? what if they’re replicating racist ideas taught to them by mass media? can we tell? can THEY tell?

the answer is no because humans are black boxes that can’t be opened up even if we drop into the pacific ocean and instead screech helplessly at walls all our lives. the answer is these are complex issues and i don’t think prescriptive ‘Never Write Sexy Ganon’ statements or pointing fingers at random 30 year old smutfic authors will improve the situation. the answer, or at least my answer, is that we should consume media with a critical eye and be aware of potential biases perpetuated by the authors/creators, but striving towards ideological purity is impossible on principle (i promise you everyone on this planet is problematic in some way or another because this purity thing from christianity is fucking lame and also completely fake) and so we should all give that up. my personal answer is i’ve learned a lot about stereotypes about middle eastern and south asian people and i’ll take all this info with me moving forward, but i honestly and earnestly do not think me drawing link and zelda in dumbass princess jasmine outfits is going to directly correlate with an increase in racism as observed in the island city-state of singapore. i am aware now. that’s a good thing. but just like how the h*rry potter fandom has completely detached itself from its horrible creator and now fucks around in its own space doing its own thing, i think it’s fully possible to engage with flawed media because, surprise surprise, all the media in the world is flawed.

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 5x12 Souls of the Departed

Currently reading (well, listening) to The School for Good and Evil Series. It’s so good! It’s basically Wicked the Musical and has a fairy tale element like OUAT. Can’t recommend enough!

I had the weirdest dream last night that Ouat’s Gothel was hiding behind my bed at my old house trying to scare me. She stayed up all night with some blankets, waiting to pounce. Also, she was naked. Jesus Christ, wtf is wrong with my dreams?! I do not see Gothel in that way at all!! I was so freaking disturbed! @fairytalepsuedonym​ this is all your fault for putting that dirty hippie witch bitch on my mind lol xD! /jk

Also guys, we’re getting Disney+ today. I’m so excited! Let me know if anyone has any recommendations.

And you know what I just thought of? It looked like they were implying that Merida and Lord Macintosh were gonna be a thing (possibly? I think it’s up for interpretation) but he outright shot an arrow at one of her brothers and wanted the others dead too. Merida would never! Her brothers mean too much to her to forgive such a thing. Also, she gives me gay vibes. I don’t make the rules. Alistair makes all the rules. 

Back to the rewatch.

Oh yeah! This is the 100th episode! The compilation for 100 episodes was so freaking epic!

Neal! Is that really him though?

She’s staring at his lips lol!

Omg! Emma would have come back for Neal if she could. That means she believes they were true love, and she could have split her heart with him, right?

So, he appeared to her? 

Omg! The way Emma is stroking his face and is staring at him, you’d never know she was working on saving her boyfriend lol.

You know what would have been so much better? If the underworld was perpetually dark and foggy (within reason) like the sims 4 Forgotten Hollow. That would have looked so much cooler!

Here comes the red filter. As a gifmaker and even as a viewer I wanna scream every time I see it but at least it’s not the Dark Swan arc.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: they should have let Regina’s and maybe even Rumple’s victims confront them! That would have been interesting to watch play out. I know we got Regina’s dad and Peter Pan but give me a family of Regina’s slaughtered villagers. What would their reaction be to seeing her?

Eww. I hate the way she dips her finger in that pie.

Guys. It doesn’t matter that you have Regina surrounded, she has pyrokinesis and telekinesis! Y’all are screwed! She blew the flames out? She had the advantage! I’m glad she didn’t hurt them of course, but as someone writing a book that consists of characters with magic abilities, you’ve gotta know when a powerful character has the advantage and when to use it. Where was Snow dodging a fireball as one of her arrows flies at Regina and it pauses in mid air only to sore back at Snowing and their friends, but they manage to outsmart her somehow? 

Woah. This is the boldest Henry Sr. has ever been. He’s really trying to help Regina out here. 

Cora!! My love!! I missed you!!

I love the Blind Witch. Does she have a name? I enjoyed her in ‘Regina Rising.’ I remember she’s quite a bit older than Regina

The Blind Witch: “What can I get you? Do you like gingerbread or children?” Omg Snow’s like “what the actual f**k??”

James, why are you like this?? Get off her, dude.

Those key rings are cool.

Why the hell didn’t Emma just tell Henry she saw his dad? I can think of absolutely no reason why she would keep that from him.

Lately all Robin has done is make random comments pointing out the obvious. “It’s uncanny. It’s so similar yet so off.” Yes, Robin we established that 9 minutes ago. His next line will be, “Goodness, is that a tree over there?” or “Regina, you were the Evil Queen”, mark my words. Where has his personality gone? I was never a big fan but at least he was kinda arrogant and cheeky before, at least in season 2 and 3. Now he’s just a dude that points on the ground and tells you there’s a stone. And they have the chemistry of a banana and a cheese cracker.

“Her puny army of sweaty little child beasts.”

Are those black roses? 

I may be wrong but wasn’t Cora trying to get Regina to stop hunting Snow White and find true love instead in 4x20 or am I making things up? And I wonder if this is before or after she appeared in 4x20. 

I just love Cora so much.

Is that how she got to the EF in 4x20? Through a looking glass?

The fact that she could so easily cross realms suggests that she willingly gave Regina her space. Which is something! But it feels like she’d have ulterior motives for that. Also Jefferson and Rumple would be screaming if they knew it was that easy to cross realms.

Regina: “are you threatening me?” Cora: “No. Of course not, never.” But you literally are though.

Peter Pan! He was under-utilised this season. Come on! They could have done so much with him! I’m glad at least Cora and Cruella got decent screen time.

Imagine watching OUAT for the first time with this episode and you see this full-grown man refer to a teenage boy as is father. I would be so confused lol.

I wonder if Rumple / Rumple’s father hail from Dunbroch originally. You know, with the Scottish accent. I’m kinda thinking about headcanoning that now. At least, I think Malcolm had a Scottish accent?

That got me! I forgot Cora had glamoured into Henry Sr.! I thought Cora had shapeshifted into Snow to trick Henry.

Oh, so Henry Sr. contacting her was the reason Cora could walk through the looking glass. If only someone had contacted Jefferson. And I’ve just remembered that in 4x20, she said a white rabbit brought her to the EF.

Killian looks creepy as hell here!

Lol Cora, you let Henry wrap the heart? What did you expect to happen!

Why did Regina need Snow’s heart to kill her? She could have easily killed her without even touching her. 

What the hell does Snow think is in there? She looks terrified.

Archie, wtf were you doing between Snow’s titties?! And what were you doing with a match? Gonna set some titties on fire xD? I bet she could never look at him the same again. 

He doesn’t want Regina to kill Snow because he thinks it will make her dark forever? What about all the other people she’s killed?! That makes no sense!

Okay, given that Grace didn’t seem to physically age much between the flashbacks in 1x17 and the present day in 1x17, this probably happened after the flashback’s events in 4x20. 

According to wiki, Regina’s birthday is February 1st. I’m only learning this now.

I’ve never seen Henry Sr. so bold and Adam end to help Regina.

Okay, so Regina shrunk Henry with her magic but she needed a mushroom to return him to his normal size?

Don’t lock him in that box omg!!

Cora: “when are you gonna get it in that thick head...” she’s so casually abusive.

Random thought but why is Henry’s surname Mills? It just seems like it’d be Cora’s surname. Maybe he took hers on but that seems strange for a Prince to do.

Cora, don’t!

Henry’s alright!

Aww. Henry got to meet his 3rd Grandpa! He’s so happy she named him after him. 

I’m tearing up.

“Remember who you are, Regina.”

Henry, honey, you need to go home.

Is that Persephone?

Oh my God! I’m so excited for the Cora and Zelena stuff!! By far my favourite thing of the season! To hear Cora say Zelena’s name- the fact she knows her name- I’d waited for so long for this! It left open so many questions!

And Hades infuriated with Cora on the love of his life Zelena’s behalf!! He loved her so much and would do anything for her. I don’t ship it as much as I initially did because of how it ended but that man freaking loved and cherished Zelena. He wanted everything for her. She desperately needed that and it was an emotional experience to see her get it.

That’s like her worst nightmare, being a peasant again. 

I can’t with the flame hair.

I forgot this episode was pretty good. I didn’t remember liking it but Cora saved it for me. I forgot she was in it because I have probably watch season 5 the least as I try to avoid it lol. 

[secret-engima]

*raises hand and waves it madly* I WANNA HEAR BOUT THE OG NOCTIS TIME TRAVEL VERSE!!! You've got /seven chapters/ completed already?! Can we get snips of them, pretty pretty pretty please?

SNIPS!!!! Gladly. :D Have a sneak peak at some of the time-travelers waking up in the past rather- abruptly. >:DD

...

     He pulled instinctively on air even though he knew nothing would happen —the Crystal was gone and magic no longer existed— and was astonished when he felt a familiar dagger hilt materialize in his left palm. What in the name of the Astrals? That … should not have worked. It hadn’t worked for the past two weeks, so why was he able to call one of his lost daggers now when all of the weapons he had sheathed on his body —and his original clothes too— were missing?

     He was beginning to think that he was missing a very large and very important chunk of time in his memories. Though why an enemy would change him into silk pajamas —he was surprised silk even existed anymore, it was so fragile and easily degraded— was beyond his understanding at the moment.

     Ignis managed to find his way to the door, nearly stumbling several times as he misjudged his legs’ capabilities and overbalanced, which almost caused him to knock into the other obstructions in the room —a chair with a fully functional cushion, a low coffee table, and the edge of a carpet—. Silently cursing his loss of soundless movement —or competent, well-balanced movement at all— he managed to locate the doorknob and test it. 

     It was locked, but only by a simple doorknob latch, which he promptly turned. Testing the knob again to confirm it was now unlocked, Ignis listened hard for sounds of anyone nearby and —after determining that his section of whatever-this-building-was was otherwise unoccupied— he yanked open the door.

     He promptly screamed in shock and fell back, hyperventilating in renewed panic as he scrambled to make sense of the sudden, agonizing assault to his senses. His eyelids screwed shut and his right arm flew up to cover the lids, granting merciful darkness that was only interrupted by dancing, flickering spots of color that he knew weren’t real. It was only after he had realized what he had just thought that he stopped breathing entirely and went deathly still.

     There had been something other than darkness. Something noticeably different from the darkness that had been his companion and enemy and ally all at once for ten years.

     He lowered his arm and cautiously slitted his eyelids. He swallowed back another cry and slammed them shut again when he was assaulted a second time by the brilliant light spilling in from the doorway. His breathing had restarted, but he had to struggle to keep it even marginally steady as realization and disbelief warred in his mind.

     Light. The pain had come from his eyes —eyes that shouldn’t feel anything anymore, hadn’t for years because the nerves were too damaged— because of too bright a light. Even pointing his face directly at the sunrise with his glasses off did not garner that kind of reaction. Nothing did. Except now.

     Ignis attempted to open his eyes for a third time and managed to keep them open again despite the stabbing pain it caused in the back of his head. He stumbled out into the light, eyes flicking back and forth as he tried and failed to process the fact that there were now colors to the shapes he sensed in front and around him. There were shadows and contrast and detailed shapes and pinpoint locations despite the fact that he hadn’t touched anything other than the wall —the only thing keeping him upright now— and- and-

   �� By the Astrals he could see.

...

     Pain in his entire body, but mostly in his left shoulder and arm. It throbbed and pulsed and in general felt like a voretooth pack had just used him as a chew toy. It was bad, but not as bad as before, when the fire of those ancient smug sons of- —no, better not finish that thought, they might be listening in somehow and decide to finish cooking him for his impudence— had burned up his arm and body and-

     Wait a second.

     Someone was grabbing him, shaking his shoulder —not the broken one thankfully, but it still hurt like blazes— and shouting at him from far away. Concussed then. Really concussed. I should probably stay awake then. Except he couldn’t stay awake because he was dead, wasn’t he?

     He had to be. He remembered dying. So why-?

     He cracked open his eyes and stared dazedly at the figures crowding around him, shouting and shaking and gesturing at each other in clear confusion and concern. He recognized most of the faces as people who were dead too. Which meant he was dead, but for some reason arriving in the afterlife felt like being run over by a behemoth or falling from several stories up after a failed warp.

     Not fair. He groused mentally. He’d had enough concussions and broken bones and throbbing body-sized bruises in life thank-you-very-much, he really didn’t think he deserved them in death. Especially after how he’d died. Someone slapped his cheek and he hazily opened his eyes again —when had he closed them?— and tried to focus on the face of his best friend directly above him. He felt a swoop of dread upon seeing that face, because that particular friend wasn’t supposed to be dead, he had an important mission to complete and couldn’t afford to be dead.

     He was fairly certain he must have whined something along those lines through clenched teeth, because the face above his turned incredulous, then absolutely terrified. He wanted to protest that the expression on his friend’s face really wasn’t helping his case, but then blackness encroached his vision and he realized that passing out from pain was apparently a thing in the afterlife as much as normal life.

     His final thought was that if this was the afterlife, he would like a refund to go be a disembodied ghost instead please. You couldn’t hurt if you didn’t have a body, right?

     Though, knowing his luck, ghosts probably had perpetual motion sickness from floating all the time. Which would explain the moaning…

     Then blackness finally won out over the frantic yelling and painful shaking of his shoulders and cut off his thoughts before they could get any more nonsensical.

... (and another snip of Nyx and the holy puppy for good measure XD)

     “Who is Pryna anyway?”

     “She should still be at your location, she is the one who gave you the letter.”

     “Sorry, Princess, but I found the letter wrapped up in a silk bracelet tied to a puppy’s leg.”

     “I know, the puppy of which you speak is Pryna.”

     Nyx looked incredulously at the white pup he had been absently petting, “You’re joking.”

     “I am not. Pryna may look and act like a dog, but she is actually a Messenger, one of the first with which I ever formed a covenant. She is far more intelligent than she looks, and she is able to discern between those who hold future memories and those who do not.”

     Nyx stared down for a long time at the dog he’d just been scratching the ears of. The dog —Messenger? Pryna?— looked back up at him and barked softly, “A Messenger.”

     “Yes.”

     “A magical being sent specifically to bear messages from the Astrals themselves to humans.”

     “That is one of a Messenger’s primary duties, yes. Though Pryna and her brother Umbra are of a … lower rank, I suppose you could say, of Messenger. That is why her form is animal rather than human. As such, her duties are not so much to bear messages from the Astrals as is it is to aid me in my duties as I require. That includes delivering important messages to other humans when I cannot contact them via conventional means. Her magic is how she found you.”

     Nyx very carefully closed his eyes, counted to ten, opened them and took a quick swallow from his shot glass, “You had a magical being break into my apartment to give me a letter. In the form of a puppy.”

     “Did she? My apologies. Messengers sometimes have trouble recalling the rules of human privacy when they are given a task, and Pryna is very young by their standards.”

     Nyx debated asking what the age standards of Messengers were, then decided that he was better off not knowing, “I pet her.”

     The princess sounded amused, “That is alright. She has the form of a dog, that includes several of their instincts and the things they find pleasurable. You may continue to pet her if you wish, she will not mind.”

     Nyx held a staring contest with the magical dog that had broken into his apartment before he sighed and resumed scratching her ears.

[canarycontessa]

alexandrasgirlytalk, feminine essence and the perpetual complainers

So I follow Alexandrasgirlytalk on YouTube. I adore her channel, her voice, her style and, most of all, the sheer megaton of invaluable substance she packs into EVERY video. She’s been really stepping it up lately with her Womanly series (which she gives to us FOR FREE, I might add). And because I’m a sucker for pain, I tend to read the comments on these videos.

Without fail, on every single one, there’s the same complaints, gripes and not-quite-jokes:

“If I were rich, I would do this“

“Step 1: Have a perfect body“

“This is impossible without a thigh gap“

It’s annoying, but it doesn’t affect my viewing experience, so who cares?

Today, Alex premiered this video about how to carry a look beyond the makeup, hair and clothes and into the realm of posture, demeanor and the overall vibe. She talked about how to embody a feminine archetype, or what she called an “essence” (one of many <---- remember this because it’ll be relevant later) Personal branding is one of my favorite things to talk about and learn about. So, of course I’m on board and totally excited. Today she focused on “The Angel” and what sort of behaviors and vibes don’t mesh well with this portrayal. I thought it was very clear that a) this is one mode of expression and b) she’s going to cover many others.

But lo and behold there’s all sorts of comments to the effect of:

“There’s more than one way to be a woman, this is very limiting“

“Don’t listen to her, you can be sarcastic and masculine and still be a woman!“

“This isn’t natural! Just be yourself!“

Look .... I’m somewhat androgynous, I’m plus size, and I’m not rich, though I have come into more money recently. If I had seen any sign that she was being gender essentialist or anything like it, I would have chucked the deuces and been out of there. If any one one of her regular viewers were at all entitled to this kind of criticism, it would be yours truly. 

And YET all that being said: I get so much value from her work and she never makes me feel like I’m being talked down to or harangued into some unrealistic standard of femininity. I’ve applied so much of her advice to my life and, honey, let me tell you that shit pays dividends! She’s the reason I’m reading more deeply about fast fashion and committing to building a capsule wardrobe. She’s the reason I put my toner on with my hands and haven’t bought cotton pads in like a year. She’s the catalyst I needed to finally make the switch from disposable to reusable and all-natural menstrual products. She’s the reason i bought my FIRST EVER bath bombs. And I’m not the only one either, it’s not like I’m in some kind of fan minority. Read the comments under her video and they’re mostly to the effect of:

because she’s THAT GOOD.

So yeah, I’m a fan with a capital F, if not an outright stan. My only genuine criticism of the video is that poor Alex was in such a rush to get this out that she misspelled “demeanor” XD

But more to the point: I know defensiveness when I hear it. 

I think the reason this irks my spirit is because I’m in a place where I’m ruthlessly in charge of rooting out negativity in my home. Without going into too much detail, I’m in a position where I’m around other women in recovery and I’m responsible for keeping them and myself on track. It’s literally my job to spot stunted growth, defensiveness, deceptive behavior, circular reasoning and holding patterns.

I’ve been doing this for so long that I just don’t have any more patience when I see it. I called them complaints, but that’s not quite right. They’re excuses. Whenever someone’s not doing what they’re supposed to do, when they’re letting their life slip through their fingers, when they’re just dragging their heels instead of attacking life and I ask them why, I get the same answers again and again:

“I’m too busy, I didn’t have enough time, it’s not my fault!“

“I don’t have to change, the rules have to change“

“If I had more money, if my baby daddy were around, IF IF IF IF“

Sound familiar?

I can’t stand the people that show up to get mad at Alex and other content creators in the “level up genre” for some stuff that they were too lazy and defensive to do. For god’s sake it’s called alexandrasGIRLYtalk.

It’s girly, it’s high maintenance, it’s sometimes costly, it’s all about the glo up. It’s Womanly.

So now that that’s out of my system, I’ll just say that this type of response is just another sign that Alexandra has touched a few nerves and she’s making her presence known. I’m reminded of Estella Havisham in Great Expectations saying:

“Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?“

[kamari333]

I had to actually look back to see if I made any tumblr posts about these guys. I couldn’t find any??? So I guess this is my oppertunity to scream about these absolute fucking bastards.

Now. Um. Forewarning: I don’t actually know a lot about the original dreamtale. Or, I don’t keep up with it, at least. I read the first origin comic (and a bit of the cream ship comic) one time a while ago and... i dunno. found it lacking? I liked the premise but there was something distinctly missing in it for me. So these headcanons are more like an AU (an AU of an AU, surprise surprise, I’m on my shit again XD) that I thought up to help me enjoy the concept more when writing it. I’ve been calling it ‘Dr33mtal3’ in my head, but a friend named it ‘Dryad Dreamtale’ so either of those names work.

So. Dream and Night are tree spirits shaped like skeletons, born of the tree of duality to be its guardians. They were made to be more like monsters to better protect the tree and put its power to use.

Now, plants and gods (and especially god-plants) have very different ideals, morals, and expectations than mortals and humans and monsters. Dream and Night are half plant/god, but they are also half monster/mortal, so they cannot relate entirely to their tree mom or completely understand her. Likewise, she could not completely understand them. Thus, the twins understandably had a stressful, dysfunctional childhood and have long lasting mommy/daddy issues.

They also suffer from significant other kinds of trauma inflicted on them by their villager guardians.

So they are both psychologically fucked up.

They both have “wings” and “tentacles” but Night hides his wings and Dream hides his tentacles. Night’s wings are smaller than Dreams.

they aren’t actually tentacles though. they are roots and vines. because they are tree spirits. using those roots/vines, they can directly soak up energy and water. likewise, the “feathers” on their wings are actually leaves (except near the base and ridges, which are more like flower petals). they use these leaves to breathe in ambient emotions.

when injured, they bleed resin. that goop on nightmare? excess sap/resin he’s overgenerating thanks to consuming so many apples.

usually only strong internal emotions would make them do that. its only because of such strong internal emotions that nightmare continues to do that even after a thousand years.

i think that, being plants (which are terribly spiteful and innovative creatures) night and dream can control the consistency and nature of their sap and resin. dream keeps his sweet and sugary at all times, but nightmare switxhes between spicy-like-ghost-pepper-in-the-face caustic and rubber, and mild maple syrup, depending on his mood and how much he wants the person he is touching to hurt.

i think that dream is both terribly selfish and painfully selfless all at once, both kind and cruel. i think he is a very seelie fae who will never break a promise, but will not let you go unpunished for breaking yours. i think he has no problem breaking your legs if it means saving you from something else. dream will happily beat someone within an inch of their life, then nurse them back to health, if he thinks for a moment it is for the greater good.

nightmare goes to great lengths to make people hate him. at the end of the day he is as disgusted with himself as anyone else, but he does it and will keep doing it because if no one fears him, they will destroy him. nightmare is a terrible unseelie fae, but he will never speak an untrue word or break an oath once struck. it is not in his nature. he will rule with an iron fist, but he is just as capable of selflessness as he is of cruelty.

i think dream is so concerned with the big picture he sometimes forgets little details. i think he is the type to take in strays before he has a home to keep them in. he befriends ink and ink makes him a multiverse home to keep his people safe in. dream then takes it upon himself to make sure it stays operational, despite eventually accumulating a city’s worth of people in what was originally a 4 bedroom townhouse. lucky him that ink has his back, continually expanding as needed.

i think nightmare is far more artistic and clever than folks give him credit for. i think he enjoys making things. i think he is the type of man to take great pride in building everything he has himself. his castle is made out of his own power: stone made of his own resin, hardened into amber; wood grown from his own bones; tapestries woven of textiles made from his own leaves, pets, and processed wood. his castle of black amber is constructed of his own blood, sweat, and tears, lovingly handcrafted art for him to live in. all natural. all his. (such a shame he never got around to furnishing all of it, having only enough time and drive to do the first floor with how long handweaving the carpets took; such a shame no one noticed or cared because the fear for their lives overshadowed any awe they could have had upon seeing the delicate craftsmanship of the arching ceilings and looming statues).

i think dream and night both love fresh water and sunlight. they get incredibly sleepy if its too hot or too cold. they are terrified of fire, squirrels, fungi, and insects. they dont like birds much either. they easily get jealous of other plants (comically so, to the point of sassing or threatening or passive-aggressively insulting non-sapient rose bushes or fica or succulents they come into contact with). they are scared of mistletoe (being a plant that eats other plants, kinda).

i hc that dream with faint dead on his feet if he gets too scared, and nightmare screams like a white girl in a horror movie.

i like to think that because they are trees, they have a “season” (like heat, but for trees) where they are very pro-affection. their leaves turn pink and they involuntarily cover themselves in pink pollen that drives nearby creatures’ libido into overdrive. neither brother likes this, so when their season hits they hide away so nobody notices (night because he does not want to seem weak, dream because he does not want to inconvenience anyone else).

i like to headcanon that a holdover from their human attributes means each brother can only formulate one set of sex organs. i’ll give you a hint: nightmare is trans in my hc (be gay do crime). he takes great pains to make sure nobody knows this.

i like to think that both brothers hide all of this, hide all of their tree-ness as best they can, and instead hide behind the aspects of being an angel and a tentacle abomination in order to throw off anyone who might look for weaknesses. so nobody knows what they really are.

These are all superficial HCs of course. The big thing is that i wanted their natures to be... more complicated than simply good and evil. They believe and say that they are guardians of positivity and negativity (and in a way thats true), but only in its most simplistic of forms.

Dream is the aspect of Giving: he radiates pollen and magical influence to embue those around him with his power. He can give them emotions. He eats positivity, thats what sustains him, but his power is to give. He could just as easily give his people bad feelings as good ones (not that he knows this). However, Dream only knows and cares about giving positivity. So he does. He leaves his magic and influence on the souls of anyone who will give him the oppertunity, and once the door is open, he will continually feed them his power to make them happy. He will eat/breathe that happiness, converting it to energy, perpetuating the cycle.

But unmitigated mania has its drawbacks. There is a price to be paid in the end.

Nightmare is the aspect of Taking. He takes and takes, taking the emotions and energy of others for himself. He can even take the entropy out of an injury to heal a wound. Nightmare can take positivd feelings out of others, but for some reason his body doesn’t like him doing that and makes him sick/hurt. He has a much easier time taking negativity, draining away the hurt and fear and exhaustion, leaving a calming emptiness behind. Nightmare cannot process or use everything he takes for himself, needing to expell it as a waste product. He converts negative feelings (and the wasted energy disipated through entropy) into energy, which lets him continue his taking.

You cannot fill a hole that is already filled, after all. You must empty it first.

These two aspects are neither good nor evil in and of themselves. There are good and bad things about them. But these aspects have been oversimplified and misinterpreted by those around the twins that even they themselves do not fully understand what it is that they are.

and i think a story about them coming to understand themselves would be so much more interesting than a simple story of good vs evil.

[worangetraveler-multiverseguide]

Here, have a Komi-san that wanted to play a game but the chapter was too long so Worange fell sleep before starting it :P

So yeah we stopping day 8 sadly with just two short chapters... but but chapters were tons of fun! Komi-san has become the goddess my silly gag predicted 100% and had another cute moment with Tadano and her cellphone (that Cellphone is now the shipping cellphone, I dont make the rules... oh wait I do! xD)

Thanks very much to all that check my stuff whenever I do it, I’m really happy to be back to liveblogging Komi-san tbh and thanks to the scheduling I made for the last stretch of Yuri Camp, we all gonna get a ton oh communication shennanigans... actually while I didnt read ahead I DID see some chapters names ahead...  and there seems to be a 4 parter with a new character... interesting... but im getting ahead of myself.

Hearts and reblogs Patreons: @cxsaltwater, @sinorfen, @witlessjester, @mainpowerupblog, @kiwiberrysnaps, @pendragonqueen09, @hh-ms-nm, @tobemadeofglass, @homemouse, @noodie-chan, @00x7, @akishirakami, @defensegenji, @injaa, @letssnowstreamwings, @fairytail1945, @cartoonfanorwhatever, @ephemeral-dreamer, @tetracineon, @pristinepastel, @jinglejangleurshitupbro, @ana-the-unknown, @mechekin, @bread-senpai, @perpetually-grumpy, @gbinwi, @watchingwyvernswalk, @queenodreams AND extra thanks for @sonicboomguile for knowledging Ninja Guy!

To end the session... sadly I already used the Nyan Cat for Komi-san’s ringtone... so have this instead :D

See you later tonight in my timezone where we get to check some more Komi-san (unless I’m too tired, hopefully I wont be)

[sl-walker]

@shadowmaat: Something from GoT:A I’ve been picking at.  Figured I’d share it. XD  Timeline is during the Acendency Contention.

His mother found him sitting on the commons balcony, contemplating the colors of sunset against the mountains.

Queen Mazicia Organa, now; as per tradition, House Organa would officially move into the palace, and the estate would be maintained in perpetuity until such time as the crown passed to another noble family.  Then they would return.

Nothing would strictly stop them coming back to the estate to stay here or there in the meantime, and Bail thought likely his father would spend most of his time here, but it was still quite an upheaval.  Even if it was expected and planned for.

All of this was.

"You would think that you had been sentenced to death, rather than the future position of Viceroy," she observed, stepping over and drawing her weathered fingers through his hair, as she had done all his life.

Bail tipped his head back to look at her; he favored his father's coloring and build, but at his heart, he was his mother's child.  He understood why House Organa had maneuvered to take the monarchy; power could be used to great good or terrible evil, but to use it at all, one had to have it.  Alderaan as a world was peaceful, beautiful and politically quite honorable; a Queen could not only safeguard that, but plan for its continued future.  And it was not a case where other bloodlines weren't involved; ever since the civil war, the Queen was the ruler.  Sometimes that would be an Organa by blood, but just as often that would be whoever married into the family, too; it helped keep other Houses in the loop and therefore less contentious.

When Bail's mother died or stepped down, it would be Breha Antilles, who would be Bail's wife by then.

"I'm all right," Bail answered, forcing a smile more for her benefit than his own, before going back to watching mountains. "Just-- processing."

And worrying.  Because Bail had been raised his whole life to aspire and serve both; to acquire power enough to then use it in service to this House, this world, this system, this Republic.  Marriage to further that had always been in his cards.  He was honestly surprised that he had gotten to stay a bachelor this long, though when he really thought about it, he could see where his mother may well have seen this coming from some time back and just waited until she could make the best possible match.

Bail had been raised to do this.

Maul had not.

He didn't get possessive or mean about it; had not turned to jealousy or temper.  Instead, Bail's lover had somewhat darted back into the shell he'd been in when he arrived here years ago; had gotten quiet and withdrawn and distracted.  He still slept with Bail every night, but he was restless in bed and woke up more than once from nightmares.  When they were holding each other, Maul held on tighter than usual; when they kissed, there was a sense of desperation now that there hadn't been.

Bail was going to meet the woman he was supposed to be marrying tomorrow -- formally, as he remembered running into her occasionally when they were much younger -- and yet, all he could do was worry that this might ruin the life of someone he loved.

Not very service-minded of him.  But it was hard to be, when he could remember the way Maul held onto him like he might turn to smoke and drift away forever.

His mother didn't say anything for a long time; she just stroked his hair, both affectionate and soothing.  When she did speak, it was considered. "I couldn't have picked better for you, in terms of a wife.  I think you'll find her understanding, if not forgiving, should you decide to tell her about your affair with Maul."

It took several seconds more than it should have for that to properly sink in; when it did, it felt like Bail's entire circulatory system had been flooded with ice water.  He froze, looking back up at his mother, and he didn't even have it in him to deny it.  When she just looked back at him, mild as a fine summer day, he managed to choke out, "How long have you known?"

"That you two have been together?  Since your sisters all asked me within the same day -- independently -- if you were seeing anyone, and I saw that the way you looked at him had changed.  I was young once, dear-heart."  Bail's mother quirked an eyebrow at him. "Unless you're asking how long I've known that he was in love with you, in which case the answer is since he was eighteen and had a hard time looking at anyone else anytime you happened to be in the room."

Bail's mouth worked without any thought attached to it, as he gaped.  When he did manage to say something, it was breathless. "I didn't know until he kissed me."   Two years?! he thought, knocked on his rear.

"I wasn't sure if he would ever work up the nerve to do something about it."  She shrugged, then went back to stroking Bail's hair.  "He was beautiful and artless in his innocence; scandalous or not, I wasn't going to be the one to destroy that.  Your father never noticed, of course.  Your sisters might have had inkling, but I think they mistook it as more-- platonic adoration."

Given that his world's foundations had been rocked repeatedly over to past couple of months, Bail probably could have been forgiven for his continued gaping.  He blinked once or twice more, then looked back out over the mountains, now colored in twilight, the last of the sun's light gone.  His mother had known for the past two years that they were together.  Kriff, she knew how Maul felt two years before Bail did!

Bail tried, half-heartedly, to scramble and figure out where he had given it all away, where he had been that obvious, but he gave that up within short order.

"I don't know how to do this," he finally admitted, throat tightening.  "How to-- get this to work out so no one gets hurt."

"I wish I knew what to tell you."  His mother moved, finally, to sit on the other bench, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders.  "I'm not going to ask this engagement be broken.  Breha will be a good queen, when it comes her time to rule.  She was teaching in the Outer Rim before she was called home; she isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty, which is no small thing.  I think that if you approach her honestly and with an open heart, you'll work this out."

Bail couldn't imagine doing so; he was by no means the first man to be arranged into a marriage while already having a lover, but it was definitely scandalous for the fact that he and Maul were of the same house.  And there were still older elements on Alderaan who had a xenophobia problem, which could compound it, if word became common knowledge.  The thought of just coming clean to Breha Antilles meant taking an extraordinary leap of faith on a woman he didn't know, and more, putting his lover's reputation at risk.

But the alternatives were no better.  Even if their relationship had been conducted in private, it had never been treated as shameful, and Bail didn't want to start treating it that way now.  The effect that would have on Maul would be devastating; he didn't need to try it to know that.

"Okay," Bail breathed out, rubbing over his face, ignoring the faint tremor in his hand.  "I guess I better go talk this over with him."

His mother nodded, giving him a soft sort of smile. "Good idea.  And good luck."

[readysetjo]

PS/ SS - Chapter 5 - Diagon Alley

@alluringcliche @feelsandotps @wearywanderer @xingshining

I’m wondering what personal story I’m going to share today!

Also, I’m sleepy I hope that doesn’t affect (?)/ effect (?)/ change/ manipulate/ twist/ adjust (I am avoiding looking up the difference between the words “affect” and “effect” for the 100th time in my life) my normal chapter liveblog. I was dedicated to writing this tonight, tho. 

I forget that they didn’t automatically leave after that tense evening discussion

I have a headcanon that the pouches on The Daily Prophet’s owls have a charm that vanishes the money and deposits it into a Gringotts bank account. Otherwise the birds would get so heavy-ladened after a while and I imagine that the Prophet’s bird’s would be frequently stolen from. Imagine working at the Prophet’s owlery. That would be a little fun for a time.

Hagrid just trusts Harry with rummaging through his coat to find his money. He’s either really sleepy or far too trusting. 

“yeh’d be mad ter try an’ rob [Gringotts].” /// lol Hagrid so had a chat with Harry about this memory later.

I’d like to see more of the tense dynamic between Fudge and Dumbledore. I bet Fudge would have been so funny to watch come undone under the weight of being Minister and slowly going from asking DD for help nearly every day to telling the reporters/ editors at the Prophet to slip in snide comments about DD. I want to watch that train wreck. 

Hagrid’s reasoning to why the Wizarding World is separate from the Muggle one is kind of odd to me. “everyone’d be wantin’ magic solutions to their problems.” Like honestly the actual result of that would probably be a capitalistic one in which the average magical person would be able to sell their magical “solutions to problems” for money. This would just lead to the magical community becoming very wealthy. That’s not really a bad thing (on the surface/ from a wizard’s POV). I think the most logical answer is: “Our community is so different from the Muggle one that creating rules to enforce for the two societies coinciding would be so difficult that we keep ourselves separate in order that we can both create individual systems that works for each society.Also, we are trying to avoid causing strain with a power imbalance.” 

“Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up” /// I grew up very short with a very tall dad, so I really can relate haha. I would have to occasionally remind him how my stride was two of his. 

I wonder what Hagrid was knitting. 

I feel like the HP fandom should have had a running joke by now that any deserted store in a strip mall was the entrance to a wizarding community. Tho it seems like the entrance was not visible or had a like “don’t look at me” charm on it rather than how St. Mungo’s was hidden behind a deserted shop. 

“Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry’s shoulder and making Harry’s knees buckle.” /// That I can’t relate to lol. 

“I’m all of a flutter.” /// What a funny and great way to put that lol.

Dedalussssssss!!! One of Harry’s first magical “acquaintances” XD and the truly brave soul who (along with Hestia Jones) watched the Dursley’s for nearly a year. I don’t usually make the joke but... “Rubeus Dedalus Potter you were named for-”

“’What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?’ [asked Harry] ‘D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts,’ muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he’s rather not think about it.’”/// 1. I died. I forgot about this line! 2. He went on a year-long break from work to do some research. That is so Ravenclaw. 3. What if Quirrell became known for wearing beanies instead of a turban? 4. I forgot how it was possible that Quirrell could shake Harry’s hand right now. 5. I forgot why Harry’s scar didn’t hurt right now. (I’ll probably remember soon enough, but I wouldn’t mind reminders if I don’t.)  6. You know those words that trip you up for no good reason? Yeah, well I’ve got quite the arsenal of those, but one of them happens to be “squirrel” (why? idk?) and this man helped me remember that the word has two “R”s in it.

“Harry wished he had about eight more eyes.” /// Harry Spider

I wonder what is the cool new broomstick model right now. 

Gringotts colors are scarlet and gold and I never noticed before. I think they wore black in the movies or just like nice work clothes. Also, I would like to go to Shell’s Cottage and hear Bill and Fleur tell me all about how Gringotts got started. I am fascinated. 

The poem on the door about stealing from Gringotts is so funny to me bc I am just thinking about how cabs have like signs that say that the driver doesn’t carry over a certain amount of money. These are two very different philosophies of deterring a thief. 

Three times JKR foreshadowed to us just how stupid it would be to try and rob Gringotts. 

Our Muggle banks and safety deposit boxes are so much more efficient and I am grateful. 

 Hey there Griphook! Well be seeing you again!

So Dumbledore would have told all the professors what they were hiding in Hogwarts, due to asking them for their help to do it right? But did they know why they were hiding the Sorcerer’s Stone? Did they too know that they were trying to suppress Voldemort’s return? I kinda hope they did. It seems to be that Hagrid did.

I like to imagine these seemingly perpetually grumpy goblins actually love their twisty roller coaster-ish cart rides under London. 

“Harry didn’t know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money.” /// So happy for him!!

Hagrid told him to get his uniform first almost like a parent haha. 

Reminder that Harry disliked Draco for his awful character right from the very beginning and that Draco set himself up for the foul life he ended up with by never seeing the goodness in others as something that he should want too. (I don’t say this to any of you four Questers bc I think you all would agree, but I just had to say it.)

I like how popular and big football is that even wizards know what it is and use it to compare to Quidditch. OMG I’m so stupid I’m just remembering one of the best eras in post-HP publishing history and getting emotional about it. Does anyone remember the 2014 Quidditch World Cup. I obsessed over it that summer and read every word that Ginny wrote and ahhhhh I miss it. I miss Quidditch and Pottermore publishing updates with chapter art and meta and character backgrounds. What a golden era post-DH. 

I like that Hagrid said that toads went “out of fashion years ago” so that means that, at one point, toads were vogue and that’s amazing by itself. I bet the professors hated that time. The constant low croaking coming from everyone’s pockets. 

“For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in [Ollivanders] seemed to tingle with some secret magic.” /// I love that feeling when it happens in real life. Like when you discover a cute little stream on a hike or a beautiful old library. 

I sometimes wish I had the memory of Ollivander. 

The second “you have your mother’s eyes” drink!

Ollivander had some personal space invading issues. (And it irks me.)

I know I already said that I want to know about like three things in this liveblog, but I’m desperate to know more about wandlore too. I want more facts.

I kind of like that the more difficult it was to find Harry a wand, the happier Ollivander got. That’s a good attitude to have right there. That’s how you know you love your job.

Voldemort’s wand was 13 inches and Harry’s was 11 inches. That means that there’s a chance that Voldemort’s phoenix’s core feather was longer than Harry’s and, therefore lower on Fawkes’ tail. 

Gosh wands are expensive. 

Goodbye, Ollie, see you later. 

Why did they not buy a trunk in Diagon Alley? Where did Harry even get a trunk that he carries around with him for 7 years? These are the real plot holes!  jkjkjk

That chapter was a little longer than usual. But since this one has less chapters in it, we are actually almost one third through with it. That’s wild!

[maxmiz]

I want to hear more about your Harry Potter/ beyblade headcannons tell me all 😘😍😍😍😍 (if you want to of course!!)

GLAD YOU ASKED *-*[Warning: Long Post Ahead. Ignore errors if any. I typed it out in a rush]

Of course, I would love to talk more about Harry Potter/Beyblade headcanons. Also, anon, since you do seem so interested in them, I suggest you check out @lucy-mac​‘s art and AU on her set of HP/Beyblade headcanons which you can find here. She really put some thought into it, so please do give it a read page. Anyway, coming to my own headcanons (I’ll use dub names)….

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #1

I want to first elaborate a little on the Blitzkrieg Boys. First of all, I want to talk about the Abbey. I have a headcanon that the Blitzkrieg Boys, in this alternate Potterverse, are all from pure blood families, with the exception of Kai. Kai’s father was a Muggle that his mother ensnared with a love potion (much like Merope Gaunt did to Tom Riddle Sr.). The other boys were offered by their parents to serve the Dark Lord, i.e. Voltaire, and Kai being his grandson, had no option but to serve him and do his bidding, especially since Kai’s father had abandoned him and Kai’s mother was killed off by a killing curse by Voltaire for being ‘weak’ (like Merope, her magical abilities were questionable) and for mingling with a Muggle.

So these children of Death Eaters (i.e., our boys and Kai) each were sent to this institution, where their memories were obliviated by the Death Eaters and they were conditioned to learn only one thing - they were trained to purge the world of Muggles and Muggle Born witches and wizards and the Dark Mark was seared into their skins. This institution, much like the abbey, was to raise an army for the Dark Lord. And it was led by the most loyal Death Eater, Boris Balkov. Notice the similarities between how the people in the abbey dress and the Death Eaters:

(Source: Pottermore)

Coming back to our Blitz boys,

So I headcanon that Tala’s mother was a Muggle born witch who was also a ballerina. She often danced ballet (while her husband was away) in front of Tala, as she loved to remember her Muggle roots. However, after she discovered that her husband had joined the Death Eaters and after suffering abuse from him, she left Tala. Tala, of course, after escaping from the institution, only remembered his mother - that memory of her dancing was the only thing that helped him maintain his sanity in that institution and it manifested itself in the form of his wolf-woman patronus, Wolborg. This is similar to my Tala/Wolborg headcanon over here.

The other boys find it difficult to produce a Patronus because of their unfortunate memories, but being together when they subsequently fled to Durmstrang, helped them finally find some happiness. When Kai escaped, though, he went to Hogwarts.

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #2

This one is my invention. Let me introduce you to the concept of a Reverse Patronus. Now, as you know, a patronus is cast based on a powerful, happy memory. Kai’s only happy memory from his childhood would be that of his loving mother before she was killed off. So his patronus would ideally be a Phoenix, ie, Dranzer. However, the abbey strips Kai of all his pleasant memories.

Kai is trained in the abbey very strictly in the Dark Arts. He is taught many things, including and especially the art of casting a Reverse Patronus. Casting a reverse patronus is strictly forbidden by the Ministry of Magic, mainly because it feeds on the darkness and negativity inside a person. Naturally, once Kai starts casting it, his Reverse Patronus takes the form of a Black Phoenix, ie, Black Dranzer.

Casting a reverse patronus can drive anyone crazy, since it feeds off the darkness inside people. I headcanon that during a particularly difficult Triwizard Tournament task, Kai faces multiple dementors which try to suck the soul out of him. Kai, however, doesn’t want his teammates to help him, because he is full of himself. He tells them to back off. He knows that he is more powerful with a Reverse Patronus than a regular patronus (since he has no happy memories) and casts it. However, it actually affects him more because he has tried to run away from it since childhood. It is then that his friends step in. While Kai feels himself drowning into darkness, his friends step up and draw their wands, determined to bring him back from the brink even if they get overwhelmed. Kai is moved and his dark patronus turns into a regular patronus. He finds that his teammates are there for him and the red phoenix, Dranzer, becomes his patronus :)

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #3

The Mirror of Erised headcanon. I think, despite his perpetual state of self-denial, Kai sees himself with his teammates Tyson, Max, Ray, Daichi, Kenny and Hilary in the Mirror of Erised. Judy sees herself reunited with her son. Tala sees himself with his mother. Brooklyn sees himself on a swing with friends around him, as a child.

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #4

Max is also the heir of Slytherin. Yes, you heard that right. I headcanon that he is Kai’s cousin, but neither of them is aware of the same since Judy did not raise Max (but merely visited him sometimes while he lived with his Muggle Born dad).

As I mentioned before, Max’s bit beast Draciel, in the Japanese version is Genbu. And Genbu is represented by a tortoise/serpent.

I headcanon that Max has always known that because of the necklace that his mother gave him as a symbol of his heritage - Slytherin’s locket which bears the mark of Draciel. (Matching this with canon a little).

However, with Max wanting to distance himself as much as he can from his lineage, he prayed to the Sorting Hat to place him in Ravenclaw where he could be with the smart ones in his class, rather than in Slytherin where people might discover who he is.

However, during the Triwizard Tournament he comes face to face once again with his mother, Judy, the Minister for Magic who conveniently keeps ignoring him until he emerges as a victor and proves to her that he is as good a wizard in Ravenclaw as he could have been in Slytherin.

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #5

Brooklyn is our fandom’s Credence as his loneliness and genius is taken advantage of and he is pushed over the edge, until he finally is calmed down. As I stated earlier, Mr. Dickenson is the fandom’s Dumbledore and Dr. Zaggart is Grindelwald in a way.

Hilary is Hermione for sure.

Jazzman is a bit of a Rita Skeeter.

Also, Wyatt is like Colin Creevey with his super fanboy-ism for Kai, the best seeker that Slytherin house has ever seen!

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #6

I should just write a fic called the Gift of the Animagi xD Bad literature pun? Never mind. So I headcanon that Ray and his tribe, ie, Mariah, Lee, Kevin and Gary are all animagi. Ray being the strongest sorcerer of the lot was allowed to turn into the prestigious white tiger - the symbol of their tribe. However, he chose not to train with them in their traditional, but instead went to Hogwarts to learn magic. As a result, they felt betrayed.

Beyblade/HP AU Headcanon #7

This headcanon pertains to the tasks for that each Bladebreaker faces in the Triwizard Tournament.

Keep in mind that Judy designed these tasks, so they are ruthless af. Also, Hiro is like Ludo Bagman, here. He sucks up to Judy (Percy-style) and tests his brother and his friends.

Tyson does the ‘catching the egg from the dragon’ task, because dragons are his thing and because he is a brilliant seeker (because he commands the wind in canon, catch my drift?)

Max saves his friend underwater in the lake fighting merpeople, because he’s our water baby. He faces off against Mystel and Mariam in this task.

Hilary is given a time turner and is asked to go back in time and save Tyson’s life in a specific situation faster than the other competitors.

Ray is challenged to enter into the forbidden forest and fight off the magical creatures inside and emerge out the other end. BUT WITHOUT A WAND. So Ray exploits the loophole and transforms into an animagus. He faces off against Mariah here.

Kai’s task is given above.

Daichi faces a lot of insecurity and a bit of an inferiority complex in canon as we know. So in his task, he faces an army of boggarts that turn into his dad, his teammates, his house-mates and, HIM, and tell him that he is a failure and will never be as good. According to the rules, he can use any spell except for ‘Riddikulus’. Daichi eventually conquers his fear, believes in himself and wins.

Kenny doesn’t compete. But he provides them with a lot of help

In the final task they collectively enter the maze.

Well, this is all for now xD I have a lot of headcanons overall, but I hope that this’ll suffice. Because I’ll never stop writing.

P.S. Don’t use my headcanons in your fanfiction as they’d coincide with a fanfiction I wrote. Thanks!

[Tagging my peeps who usually read my headcanons, in case you guys want to read it and chime in @lucy-mac (you already know these), @zadien, @falbcrg, @midnightstarr8, @beybladedigimonanime, @indigojupiterstuff, @vattallini, @bey-hunter, @wr3h, @obsessivefictiontrash, @littleshechan, @martyoshka @fyrua]

[strifification]

i’m kind of writing coya with this eccentric/”emphasized weird” to her but im trying not to do it in an ableist way like

she is weird?? she is outwardly unabashedly strange and likes making ppl uncomfortable. some of it is bc she’s got a bunch of stuff going on and she’s mentally ill, but thats not like, the main reason at all or even close to it. that just kind of happens on its own. like, having 89348939834 monsters connected with you, a majority of which who have their own MIs/ect, kind of affects u like that on top of her own strife kicking her ass so ‘- ‘

BUT MOST OF IT is bc she just likes being “weird” and making people uncomfortable and tries to push ppls buttons all the time. the times that overlaps w/ her mental stuff is most often a coincidence, but she is unashamed of it/doesn’t give a shit about abiding by human social “taboos/rules/ect” and whatnot so she just lets it happen and acts like its nbd and if some1 reacts? thats their issue and she’ll kick their ass if they try anything w her. otherwise she likes to observe who does and doesn’t respond and, like a kid, will keep doing it or change her tactic depending on the ultimate goal of her “test trials”/acting out was. she’s studious and is supposed to be learning how to fit in so she’s [eyes emoji] while also making minimal effort to fit in

i just hope im not making it like she’s “XD LAWL MENTAL ILLNESS” or that “haha shes MI so she’s fucking weird!!! Wow look at this weird shit!!” bc thats not my intention at all and i hate that trope so much!! she really just has no interest in living in human society and she’s kind of ?? immature?? like she’s not had a bunch of integration into human society before all this (she spent like a major portion of the x hundreds of thousands of years she’s been alive locked up with Abrayarmaa/the other viruses as her only source of the outside world so yea). she just kind of acts out and behaves like a child bc she is childish and she is, in a sense, a child ??? shes abrayarmaa’s spoiled ‘virus child’ so she acts out and thinks its fucking hilarious to do so

Abrayarmaa made 0 effort to raise her and teach her anything outside what/how SHE wanted Coya to believe/think/behave/ect so thats a major part of it. it’s not supposed 2 bc she’s mentally ill and “XD that’s quirky!” knkjndfb

so point of this embarrassingly long post is: if this is bothering any1 or any1 has any tips on this kind of thing id like 2 hear it bc im kind of scared/worried this is coming off as something I’m not trying 2 promote :’|;;; but if its not reading as that then good I AIM 2 KEEP IT THAT WAY...

tl;dr coya is ‘weird/quirky/ect’ not bc of her mental illnesses but bc of how she was (not) raised and her own affinity for making people uncomfortable as hell and pushing ppls buttons bc she thinks its fuckin hilarious and i just hope that comes across instead of the awful hollywood trope jknjkndfb. If it is that kinda tropey bs, I’m gonna try to fix it bc i’ll b damned if my oc is gonna become that kind of perpetuating gross shit :’|