#it goes pretty well all things considered

[aviyx]

Discussing Caitlyn Kiramman

Caitlyn, especially in the second season, reminds me of Macbeth in all the worst and most concerning ways.

At the start of Macbeth, Macdonwald is a character who had committed treason and was killed by Macbeth, as at that point he still had his morality.

This is similar to how at the start of Arcane, Caitlyn was an enforcer who did her job, and did it well without engaging in any of the corruption that seemed pretty rampant at this point.

Later, Macbeth's wife Lady Macbeth, in a self serving manner, manipulates Macbeth into committing regicide by killing the king. He's obviously hesitant to do this as it goes against his morals, but with the encouragement, he does go through with it on his own accord. Despite having the power of being the Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, he still does this in attempt to get more power. After this, he successfully becomes king.

Now, I don't think Caitlyn is acting how she is in attempt of power, however thats definitely one of the outcomes of her actions. Ambessa, who is who I see in Lady Macbeth's role in this analogy, is also manipulating Caitlyn in order to gain personally, and to encourage war so that hextech weapons are made and she can use them to fight her own battles. Caitlyn has a moral code, yet despite this she does do bad things. She uses the grey as a tool to clear out the streets, when that is a literal war crime. She knows this is wrong, emphasised by her mothers words that go starkly against her actions playing right before the scene. She also takes the position of power Ambessa presents her with despite her in earlier episodes likely being against Ambessa's whole cause, and the war that she's about to start.

Macbeth, before this, has a friend called Banquo, who suspects that he killed Duncan for the throne and power. Macbeth then gets him assassinated.

This is, albeit less so, reminiscent of Vi, and how after being called out on her actions, Caitlyn hits her and leaves.

Considering we only have 3 episodes of season 2, I cant be sure whether this continues progressing, but if it does, there are a few things I am assuming will happen in arc 2 and 3.

I think Caitlyn is going to start hallucinating more. The hallucinations might be of Vi, as Macbeth hallucinates seeing Banquo after causing his death, but they could also be of her mother, Jinx or even Isha, as she could've easily killed either of them had Vi not stopped her.

Now if you have read Macbeth, you'll realize i haven't mentioned one of the main reasons Macbeth turns into a usurper. The witches and their prophecy. And this is honestly because I'm not sure.

I think its entirely possible that the witches could be symbolised through the hextech, as we know the hextech weapons act up sometimes, as shown in episode 3. Its possible they may lead to hallucinations, similar to that of Victor, if they're used repeatedly while acting up, which I can imagine Caitlyn doing.

Otherwise, I think the witches could be symbolised through Jinx, and possibly Sevika and Isha to maintain the symbolism of threes. This is because the 3 of them represent the power Caitlyn wishes she has- the power to avenge her mother.

Either way, I'm hoping that Caitlyn doesn't stay on this path, as Macbeth is a tragedy for a reason.

[titans-thoughts]

We can't know if Wallace would drop the bomb. Pacifism being a leftist value is an artifact of the Cold War; if anything, it was the fascists playing at pacifism ("Hitler didn't attack us, so why attack Hitler?") during World War II; even in my lifetime, Pat Buchanan made that argument, and Trump is definitely playing at pacifism with Putin.

Remember, the Republican Party was on its deathbed during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Eisenhower only chose to run as a Republican because the consequences of one-party rule are that much worse. (Looking at a Hitler or a Stalin in such a case.)

However, Truman desegregating the military, and a young Hubert Humphrey putting desegregation in the 1948 Democratic platform, led to a mass exodus of Southern Democrats, forming the States' Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats). They were actually about as successful as a third party can be, winning states.

Then came 1964. LBJ may be on the ballot, but it may as well be Kennedy's ghost. And on the Republican side? Barry Goldwater. Now, I want to get things straight here: Goldwater hated what would become his base: The racists, the Ayn Rand cultists, the John Birchers...The conservatives of the 50s and early 60s considered them an embarrassment. Goldwater actually had voted for prior civil rights acts, just not for the 1964 one. That was one thing that attracted Southerners to him. Another thing was the fact that, while everyone knew his policies would be a disaster (Among other things, he thought Americans had "a craven fear of dying" in a nuclear war. Again, LBJ was no pacifist either, but he was more into proxy wars rather than a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union or the PRC.) but these same policies would hurt black people more.

Goldwater...won six states. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and his home state of Arizona. So far, the center is pretty much in the same spot as the FDR years, maybe even farther left in some ways.

Then came Nixon. While Goldwater did not embrace the racists so much as they just sorta latched onto him, Nixon would weaponize that racism. He still didn't win most of the South; George Wallace's American Independent Party (another racist third party) won much of the South. Embracing the racists won Nixon not one but two elections; in fact, the only reason Carter won was Watergate. (You know that scene in That 70s Show where Red asks Gerald Ford point-blank "How the hell could you pardon Nixon?" That was actually the question on everybody's lips in 1976.) What's interesting is how quickly the Right changed their minds; they picked Goldwater in 1964 because he was scandal-free (Nelson Rockefeller, the also-ran of the 1964 GOP primary, had remarried within a year of divorcing his first wife.), while Nixon was, well, not.

But one thing was certain: The center had shifted rightward.

Then came Reagan, and now Republicans would not compromise. Which wouldn't be a problem, except politics is all about compromise. But these new Moral Majority religious fanatics, for them, each disagreement was essentially the Apocalypse.

So the center had shifted farther right.

Then came Clinton. Bill Clinton is an amorphous figure, to say the least. In 1992, he belonged to an all-white country club, and it no doubt boosted his Southern bona fides; in 2016, the Clintons would invert this and cosplay as lions of the civil rights movement.

But what's more relevant about Clinton is his connection to the Koch brothers. People forget that Third Way was paid for by the Koch brothers, who are, wait for it, Libertarians. This entryist strategy was successful, and the center shifted farther right. This is actually about as far to the right it goes; it stayed there for the Bush years, but people were at least willing to admit we were in a recession after that.

Ever since then, the centrists have been gaslighting.

"imagine how much better things would have been if Clinton won" "oh many things would on such a better path if Gore had won"

I spend half of my time day dreaming about if Henry Wallace had become president after FDR died instead of Truman.

I think FDR's second biggest mistake was caving to conservative, capitalist, and racist forces in the Democratic party to oust his very popular VP (and close friend) because Wallace was too much of a social progressive and socialist.

I fully believe Wallace doesn't drop the bomb. I think he doesn't get us into the Vietnam war. There would have been no Truman doctrine. We would likely have some form of universal healthcare or at least expanded Medicare to cover significantly more people since he would have still had FDR's Congress. Civil rights probably takes major steps decades sooner.

Truman started out our path of shifting the Overton window to the right. Reagan might have been too extreme in 1980. Nixon might never have been elevated to VP and opened his path to the presidency in the 70's.

That decision to ratfuck Henry Wallace probably set this country back decades.

[malk1ns]

november 11 2024 vs stars, 7-1 loss

yikes!

no soulbond verse for this game because like. what even. tw for breakups because they pissed me off and i'm taking it out on them this way.

Zhenya goes through the Dallas game in a haze.

They’re losing badly. He tries on the ice, but he’s distracted. He flubs shots and mistimes passes, and in between shifts he sits at the end of the bench and stares down at nothing, shrugging off teammates and coaches alike.

Sid keeps looking at him, peering around whoever is serving as a buffer between them to try and catch Zhenya’s eye, calling their line in before faceoffs when Sully sends them out together, but for all Zhenya listens to his plays and nods along, he won’t look directly at Sid.

He doesn’t know how he’d react right now, if Sid tried to talk to him like he had after practice yesterday, catching him right when Zhenya was about to make his escape to the locker rooms and talking earnestly at him about acting normal and making sure the team isn’t impacted.

Fuck the team, and fuck Sidney Crosby too. Right now, Zhenya couldn’t possibly care less.

He lets off some steam in the third, going after someone in a green and white jersey and cussing out the ref who leads him to the box, but by the time the final buzzer mercifully sounds even that fit of temper has passed, plunging him back into the hazy malaise he’s worn since Sid broke up with him after they landed in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Zhenya had been exhausted after a long road trip, looking forward to bundling Sid back to his house and installing them both on his enormous bed to cuddle and watch TV until they wound down enough to sleep. Instead, Sid had paused by Zhenya’s car, taken his elbow, and earnestly told him that he felt like what they were doing, what they’d started up last spring after what felt like over a decade of slow-burn pining, was a distraction. Was a bad idea. Was bad for their hockey.

Well, Zhenya hopes Sid’s happy. His grand plan sure did a lot for the team and their hockey tonight.

Sully talks at them in the room after the game, voice raised and urgent. Zhenya tunes him out, wonders if he’ll be fired soon. Zhenya hasn’t talked much to Kyle, whose focus since he got hired has been pretty much exclusively on Sid, but surely after a game like this the front office is considering making moves.

Losing is one thing. Embarrassing themselves like that at home is another. 

Zhenya wonders vaguely what Sid’s parents will have to say. They’ve been trailing the Penguins practically the whole season, waiting for Sid to hit his milestones, and Zhenya’s spent a lot of time with them as a result. He’s not entirely sure what Sid’s told them, but Trina’s been kind, caring in a way that made Zhenya miss his own mama fiercely, and Troy liked to bend Zhenya’s ear about international hockey. They’ve been around when Zhenya’s shown up after bad losses, late at night and seeking comfort from his boyfriend.

Sid will have to come up with some explanation for why Zhenya’s suddenly dropped out of their lives. Between that and this loss, Zhenya imagines it won’t be a pleasant conversation. He can’t even find joy in that.

At least Zhenya’s parents will only want to talk to him about that penalty he took in the third. He hasn’t breathed a word about Sid to them, not even when they were in almost constant contact all summer. He’d been scared, little-boy frightened of making his parents angry, and while at the time he’d felt guilty, like he was treating Sid like something shameful, he can’t help but be grateful for it now.

When Sully leaves, Zhenya stands and mechanically strips off his baselayers. The sooner he can get home, the better.

“G.” Sid’s suddenly standing next to him, clutching a towel and looking worried. “Bud, hey, can we talk?”

Zhenya, for the first time in his tenure on the Pittsburgh Penguins, shoulders past Sid without a single word or acknowledgement. 

Sid can take his fake concern and shove it up his ass. It’s not his business anymore, how Zhenya’s feeling.

He’ll handle it on his own.

[ma1dmer]

Warhammer - Tarik Torgaddon NSFW

feel like pure shit just want him back x

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex): always keeps some point of contact with you if you aren't straight up cuddling, his head on your lap or his hand on your back as you sleep on your front etc etc he is always touching you. if you need something he'll do it, but you definitely have to ask him several times to actually convince him to get up.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s): he loves your voice, everything else too obviously, he'll rush to tell you, but there is something about the way you speak, the way you use his name, the way you laugh or yell or moan or whimper. he doesn't like it when you stay silent during the deed, he is loud therefore you have to be louder. if he isn't getting concerned looks after he leaves your room when you two are done, he knows he hasn't done his job right.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically): he is filthy, he likes the mess, he likes to let it get everywhere, on your body, on his body, on your face, in your mouth, on the floor, he is not ashamed about it, the messier the better, he loves fucking your thighs for this reason as well.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs): is it a secret if he has joked about it? probably not. he absolutely has thought about sharing you with loken. he'll ask you first, ask how you feel about loken making you almost worried that you overstepped perhaps by ogling his battle brother that one time or something, he asks for you to be honest with him, his expression grim and then just as you are about to apologise, he'll grin, immediately telling you to relax and that he was just curious. he'll start bringing loken up while he fucks you, asking what you'd do or what you think his reactions would be like, almost getting off to the idea of loken as much as the idea of you with him.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?): not as much as he is pretending he has, at the end of the day he is part of the mournival, his work within the legion takes priority above all else. and even so ,if you pry and ask what type of experience he has it's all mostly one sided, letting someone use his mouth or using his hands on someone else, more often than not choosing a quickie that just didn't work out for him, considering size and prep required.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying): he likes to have you ride him, he sits back to enjoy the show, his big hands on your hips urging you to grind down against him every time he bottoms out, he'll also fuck your thighs this way, have you hold on as he pushes your legs together just to bounce you up and down on his lap.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.): he loves to joke around with you, you bet your ass he has tried telling you that damned bear story mid thrust.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.): he keeps it natural because there isn't much there to begin with, it's all very soft and the same brown of his hair.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect): even if he is more laid back than his brothers he is still equally as emotionally stunted as them, he just does a good job of hiding it all behind teasing smiles and jokes, but he has his moments, when he's been gone for a long time, when something is troubling him, when a mission went wrong etc. he's holding you a bit tighter, mumbling things into your hair as he pins your down, urging you to hold him as well, he won't tell you what is bothering him, so he hopes this makes up for it. hopes this is enough for you to understand.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon): be puts on a show, slowly spreading his thighs, leaning back on the bed, uses both hands, one to cup his balls or run up and down his toned body, the other working on his cock, his hold loose enough that you know for a fact he isn't really getting off to it, it's mostly done to goad you into action, throwing his head back moaning loudly. once he figures out he can have a warm body to satisfy his needs he finds jacking off so boring and pointless, he'll do it just to tease you or if you ask him to.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks): threesomes, oral fixation, cum/spitplay etc

L = Location (favorite places to do the do): if he knows he can get away with it, and trust that he will, he'll try just about anywhere. he finds he really enjoys places where there is the possibility of getting caught by another astartes, not so much by serfs, or other baseline humans.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going): he is totally the, you look so hot when you are angry guy and it's something you sadly have to deal with.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs): there isn't much out there he would be against at least trying once, especially if he sees they get a rise out of you, he is very very giving.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.): ride his face, he doesn't even need to get out of his armor for this. set your own pace and don't hold back. if he thinks you are going easy on him he'll grab you to grind you on his face himself.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.): fast, he isnt rough, but he is overwhelming and relentless, once he finds what spot that makes you tick he is on it with a fervor that makes you shake, he'll have you scrambling for purchase on the sheets and trying to both push off and pull his hands on you, in seconds.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.): he knows they aren't convenient for multiple reasons, but he tries ,he really tries to sneak them in every so often, it's almost like a game to him. it's enough if you get off, your back against the wall, one leg thrown over his shoulder, on his knees in his armor bent awkwardly to take you in his mouth before he has to leave for a mission, it's difficult to deny him when he makes such a convincing argument.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.): he is game for almost everything, it's almost a test, he wants to see what you are capable of throwing at him and what he can handle.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?): he has the energy to go for a long long time but he prefers to keep your meet ups short (for him) and sweet, he claims it's to make sure you don't get tired of him and bed someone else while he is gone, you aren't sure if he is joking or not.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?): not a fan of them, it comes with that space marine pride that gets oh so easily wounded at the idea of not being enough, which is frankly an insane thought.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease): a big fucking tease and unrelenting at that, he'll deny you your release a million times and still remain simply unmovable and amused at your squirming, he'll keep going until you are begging or yelling at him. he'll take either option.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.): he talks, from filthy comments about how well you are taking him, how he is probably ruining you for any other baseline man, to fuelling your shared fantasies, to simply bringing up a story so he can watch you grow frustrated and try to struggle against him, this man does not shut up, but he loves to have you shut him up, put your hands over his mouth, pull him in for a kiss, anything like that and he throbs inside of you.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character): he is definitely the one to go for if you are interested in exploring some different power dynamics with a very large very strong man. he might make fun of you at first, how many people would love to be ravaged by the strong and heroic astartes and yet you are here asking him to kneel and beg for you...he will definitely think about it and when he agrees, boy does he beg prettily, he seemingly gets off to his own submission more than you do.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes): long and it curves up towards his stomach a bit, paler than the rest of him, more of a shower rather than a grower.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?): he is not as direct as his brothers surprisingly enough, he teases you from the get go, the second you have his attention he is flirting and joking around with you and you are never quite sure if he means it or not. he actually wants to be the one to be approached by you and that little dynamic stays even as your relationship progresses. he wants you to be the one to seek him out most of the time. it really strokes his ego.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards): he has no qualms about falling asleep before you, he only has a few hours to properly rest, he'll enjoy them to their fullest even if you are next to him still wide awake. he is very clingy too, get's genuinely irritated with you if you move away while he is asleep.

[kurigohan0909]

Rewatching Link Click: Easter eggs in your noodle soup?

So I've just finished watching both seasons of Link Click/Shíguāng Dàilǐ-rén, which means that obviously I'm watching it all over again. What did you expect me to do, sit around waiting for Bridon arc while the Bilibili official account taunts us with replays??

Besides, Link Click is one of those dishes that is best served twice. The early episodes are packed with hints and foreshadowing that only become clear once you've gotten up to date, so I've made it my mission to catch 'em all.

You don't say.

It's well known that certain early mini-arcs (for instance Chen Xiao's basketball match, and Doudou's kidnapping) have implications for the larger plotline or at least contain important exposition/character insights that the story would not feel complete without. There are also several that get written off as filler, or are generally considered to not have any purpose beyond familiarising the audience with the characters and setup, and lulling you into a false sense of comfort before everything goes to shit. Episode 2: Secret Recipe, AKA the Noodle Lesbians episode, beloved as it is, tends to fall into the second category.

Or does it?

On a rewatch, I still don't think it does anything to advance the main plot. We don't even really know where it fits into the timeline, because we're never told what day it is and Lu Guang's watch is never shown on screen (I'll get around to a longer analysis of this another day). However, I'm instead inclined to believe that it's one of the most important episodes in the show - if not THE most important - because it's essentially an allegory for the story of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, and gives you a bird's eye view of how the relationship between them is going to develop - which, as you know, is what the show is all about. And the fact that it's not situated in a specific time, in a show that cares heavily about timeline construction, makes it better.

The episode starts with this quote from German photographer August Sander, who believed that, through photography, he could reveal the characteristic traits of people. "The portrait is your mirror. It's you." It's pretty explicit, when you think about it. This episode is a mirror of the entire series, specifically of its protagonists.

Moving on. The episode's storyline is quite simple: two college "roommates" start a noodle shop together, and as time passes, they drift apart and eventually fall out as their priorities change. Yu Xia, the business-oriented one between them, wants to get hold of the secret ingredient used by Lin Zhen, to whose cooking the shop attributes its success. Does Yu Xia really want to steal the secret recipe? Or is it just one of the many things that the quieter Lin Zhen keeps hidden from her that she desperately wants to know, along with everything that went wrong between them? Your guess is as good as mine. Either way, there are lots of indirect parallels between Xialin of the noodle shop and Shiguang of the photo studio, even if for now they're very distinct individuals with their own personalities and struggles. It does, however, give some indication of what's to come.

This question isn't purely rhetorical, as we find out in the very next arc, where Cheng Xiaoshi has a fight with Lu Guang over letting his client's loved ones perish in the Wenchuan earthquake. Even if they eventually come to a consensus, they have fundamentally different life philosophies and approach their missions in very different ways. Cheng Xiaoshi is a hyperempathetic idealist who keeps trying to use his forays back into the past to fix his clients' personal problems, while Lu Guang remains utterly indifferent and staunchly against interfering, even in life-or-death situations. Which turns out to be a facade, because we later learn that he's just as much of a meddler as Cheng Xiaoshi - except he's focused on a singular, selfish goal, which is to keep Cheng Xiaoshi alive at any cost.

Let's go back to the noodle shop. After ten years of running the business together, it becomes clear that the ladies' aspirations are no longer compatible. Yu Xia has big plans for the shop. She wants to broaden their customer base - for profit, of course, but also so that more people can be made happy by the chance to taste their noodles. Lin Zhen's dreams, however, are on a smaller scale - perhaps only on a personal scale. Throughout the episode, it seems that she only really cares about making noodles for one person.

Sound familiar?

At the risk of digressing, it needs to be said that Yu Xia and Lin Zhen are absolutely very much a WLW couple. This isn't bait, it's elegant and really quite unsubtle queercoding that says 'to hell with censorship' loud and clear. Honeymoon jokes, the taxi driver assuming Lin Zhen had fought with her husband, and Lin Zhen's very bold attempts at flirting... we see you.

More to the point of this post, I think it's important to point out that Lin Zhen does not actually care for too many people other than Yu Xia. She's all worn out from making noodles for customers, but she forgets all about that when it's time to make a bowl for Yu Xia. She also keeps her special ingredient - which is one of the secrets she shares with Yu Xia, as we find out - highly guarded. She's never going to let these pesky reporters in on something so intimate.

Why is this important? Because, as it turns out, the episode's storyline - and Lin Zhen's motives - are all about saving Yu Xia.

We learn that the secret ingredient is a local specialty from Yu Xia's hometown. Lin Zhen has been using it for years, keeping the taste of home alive while Yu Xia's drifted further and further from home to the point where she can no longer remember where the ingredient came from. At the end of it all, when Yu Xia returns home, she finds Lin Zhen there waiting for her. Lin Zhen, mind you, does not hail from the same town. The girls met in college. It's home to her simply because it's Yu Xia's home.

This comes directly after a pilot episode that establishes the contrast between urban isolation and rural/familial warmth, through Emma's eyes, and in a show that continually reinforces the concept of longing for home and loved ones. By forcing Yu Xia to reevaluate her priorities, Lin Zhen manages to bring her back home - which is a place that includes herself.

Perhaps it's too early to say. But to me, it's a pretty neat thematic parallel of Lu Guang's solo quest to save Cheng Xiaoshi from death; which is intertwined with a greater goal of giving Cheng Xiaoshi a home, one that is safe and secure and surrounds him with those that love him and are there to stay.

But in the process of achieving this, one of his biggest obstacles is Cheng Xiaoshi himself - his insistence on interfering with the timeline so that Lu Guang can't predict events with certainty, his objections to the way Lu Guang does things, and the definite resistance Lu Guang will come up against if Cheng Xiaoshi learns about his plan. Pretty much every minor mission they undertake is a rehash of the same argument; Cheng Xiaoshi wants to use their combined powers to make a difference to other people's lives, and Lu Guang just has one goal in mind which means that he's going to ignore absolutely everyone else.

Notice how Yu Xia's looking to the future, while Lin Zhen's dream is to go back to a point in the past? Neat.

And when they finally part ways because it's clear Yu Xia is not going to support Lin Zhen's goal? Yu Xia asks her where she's going to go after they part ways, and Lin Zhen says:

I wonder where we've heard that before.

And if you need any more proof that this episode is in fact intended to be a mirror, do consider:

Their seating positions are mirrored too. Yeeeeaaaaaahhhh.

In conclusion: if this allegory is to be believed, then trust that Lu Guang will eventually succeed in his mission and Cheng Xiaoshi will find his way home to him. It'll happen, guys. In the meantime, at least our beloved noodle ladies will be living a peaceful life out in the countryside.

Since I don't know how to shut up and this website seems to be giving me infinite space to yap, let me include some more details about this episode that I found cool. There are so many.

Lin Zhen and Lu Guang are both shown while this line is being said. What with all that the fragrant flowers represent, it makes you think about what these characters' best memories might be and how much they treasure them.

This is such a tiny detail that you'd almost definitely miss it on the first watch, and it seems insignificant - until it isn't. When Cheng Xiaoshi hops into the girls' picture taken during their college days, he screws up and suggests they'd be better off dabbling in tech stuff like apps or intelligent management than running a noodle shop. Lu Guang makes him quickly eat his words, but they seem to have still struck a chord with Yu Xia - because later we see that she works over years to integrate an intelligent supply chain management system into their business. In fact, one of the reasons for Lin Zhen to alienate herself from the business is because she feels like it's gotten too techy and lost its human touch. Not really fair considering it was her own idea, is it?

I mean. This is probably a stretch. Digitization is pretty inevitable for big businesses nowadays, so Yu Xia, being as enterprising as she is, might have gone for it whether Lin Zhen suggested it or not. But it's interesting to think that it might be Cheng Xiaoshi's tiny alteration of the past that unfurled outwards like a hurricane from the beating of a butterfly's wing and catalysed their falling out. Especially because these kinds of bootstrap phenomena very much occur in later episodes and are a core feature of Link Click's time travel model.

Some suspicious behaviour on Lu Guang's part. He's quite certain there are no useful clues in the last picture Yu Xia and Lin Zhen took in front of their shop, despite it being the only one taken by Lin Zhen (seriously! you could go to her house, look through her phone, the possibilities are endless!) and the fact that this is the photo Cheng Xiaoshi did end up solving the mystery in, thanks to the ticket stubs he found in her purse (see?) Secondly, they outright miss a picture in the envelope - the most important picture of all which would have given them the answer right away, since this was when the fragrant flowers were first used. Not your best work, Lu Guang.

...or is it? Lu Guang is pretty meticulous, and it's unlike him to slip up in such obvious ways. He's also skilled at slipping things back into envelopes when he doesn't want them to be seen, as we know. Could it be that he didn't want Cheng Xiaoshi to solve the mystery? But why? Maybe it's metaphorical, like so much else of this episode: he doesn't want Cheng Xiaoshi to uncover his true intentions. The fact that all this is ultimately for his sake.

Interestingly, Lu Guang was very dejected at the idea of them seemingly being out of luck - they'd tried so many times and failed to fulfill the mission. Was he, perhaps, thinking about another mission he'd hate to fail? Anyway, it falls to Cheng Xiaoshi to cheer him up and give him hope for another try, which he accepts, with a small but genuine smile. My heart.

If you've scrolled this far, I'm glad you enjoyed my ramblings! I must say I don't know much about how Tumblr works so apologies if I mess up on formatting or tags, but I'll probably get the hang of it soon enough. I'll also probably end up enjoying Tumblr more than Twitter since it allows me unfettered yap space and won't feed my writing to the machine (yet). It's late and I should probably stop stop thinking bout it around now... but look forward to more random ramblings and thank you for reading!

[maleyanderecafe]

Dear Villainous Husband , the One to be Obsessed with is Over There (Webcomic)

Created by: Menanic

Genre: Isekai

I wish the translation for this one was a bit better, but I do think that there are a lot of fun things that I haven't seen as much in other isekai such as a tyrant that actually does seem fairly scary, another person besides the main character who has been isekaied into this world and the plot of trying to get back to the original body. The empress can also be sinister as the tyrant, though sadly it's not utilized as much as I would have hoped. As of writing this there are about 40 chapters out right now, and the yandere takes a while for him to kick in (like a long while).

The story starts out with the male lead, Lanius pretty much killing all of his sibling and his father from a young age because he was bored and wanted the title of king. Angelica, or Angie is chosen to be Lanius's empress, with Angie crying as she doesn't want to be killed considering she read the book before she isekaied. She wants to do her best to survive and run away. Angie asks Lanius why he chose to marry her of all people, with Lanius recounting that he had a whole wall of marriage candidates in which (to his eyes) looked the same, so he ended up throwing a knife, which landed in the portrait of Angie's eye. Initially, Angie is kind of bullied by the maids until she decides to bring in one of her own from her old hometown. The head maid, Jacques gets majorly angry after Angie tries to defend herself from the bullying, with us seeing that she's also the mother of the main love interest in the story, Sylvia, who is also being abused by Jacques. Afraid of what Lanius will do if he's too bored, Angie proposes a manhunt to sate Lanius's bloodlust, which works well, however Lanius states he will only do it if Angie participates as well. Angie agrees and starts training. While she prefers a bow and arrow as to not get to close to the opponent, Lanius also trains her on sword fighting as he wants her to survive. On the day of the manhunt, Lanius feeds Angie some sort of drug that makes her much more fearless and ruthless. She is able to finally kill the maid that bullied her thus ending the man hunt once and for all and bring Sylvia to work for her. Angie gets nightmares after about this event.

After a banquet where she flexes her authority as the empress, Angie decides to go to Tunia to find the original male lead, Eden a knight for the Templar. She does find him there and finds that he too is a transgressor, isekaing into the world similar to how she has. The two of them discusses the possibility of trying to go back to their original world before having to disperse as to not cause Lanius suspicions. Lanius does seem to catch on, visibly being more jealous when Angie and Eden talk, which forces to the two to send secret messages with each other. Angie and Eden discuss their escape plans together, with Angie preparing for escaping Lanius while the romance between Angie and Lanius grows stronger to the point where Lanius actually seems to like her instead of having her be just an interesting toy to him, with him bringing her to different places as sort of dates. Angie is starting to waver at the idea of going back home though as she feels there's nothing to go back to and that she is actually falling for Lanius as well. Lanius goes on a mission to kill a bunch of monsters, finding out that feeding the offspring their mother's corpse actually makes them loyal to him, and Eden during the fight also finds a special door that could relate to getting them back to their world, something that it seems only he can see. With Angie, she finds a book that is similar, with details that only she can read. Eden also decides to disguise himself as a butler at Angie's estate to gain more information and be able to communicate with Angie more easily. We learn that Sylvia still has a vendetta against Lanius, that the only way to get back to their old world is that Lanius has to die, something that Angie seems to struggle with coming to terms with. Angie ends up trying to start her escape plan by refusing to go with Lanius to the war and buying up an inn area to live in.

Like I said before, there are a lot of good concepts in this webcomic that are pretty interesting and well utilized (if only the translation weren't so bad). I feel with a lot of isekai plotlines, the villain characters or tyrant characters are not... that evil? They can be of course, and it can serve its purpose in the story, but I feel like with Lanius I can actually see why Angie would be so scared of him. His intro of killing his siblings and his father to attain the crown was really brutal, and the scenes after when trying to explain why he chose Angie in the first place and how he slyly threatens her does make me understand why Angie would be really wary around him. I do wish it continued to show more of it, maybe like killing off some employee he didn't like, but we do see him basically take control of an entire monster army and run like two man hunts, so there is at least something to it. I think it's also interesting that he's not a yandere right away, with him being more like a threatening psychopath instead. While I do like yanderes that are more upfront about their yandereness (just mostly because it's easier for me to write a recommendation on) I do think that waiting for the eventual development of feelings does help with Angie's dilemma of staying with him versus going back home, as his death is what will allow her and Eden to eventually go back. Speaking of Eden, it's very astonishing to me that there is so little isekai that have more than one character isekai into the same world. I feel like that has a lot of potential for good team ups, rivalries and various other arcs that I guess nobody wants to actually write about for isekais. I also think that the premise of Angie actually slowly developing some of Lanius's traits of being intimidating and seemingly heartless in some scenes (namely the witch hunt, the banquet and the inn at the end) were really fun too, even if the first time was induced by drugs. I really wished that it was something that showed up more often since I really do like that side of her and is a good corruption arc type thing when hanging out with Lanius.

Lanius starts out as a typical psychopath who only cares about what sick things entertain him, but it's done pretty well to showcase how terrifying he actually is. Besides the initial backstory of how he was able to rise to the throne, the fact that Angie was pretty much chosen out of chance and the fact that he is basically implies through the fact that he finds them so uninteresting that he can't recognize their faces that if she does something that he considers boring, he could just kill her. I'm not sure why he tries to help her out by feeding her the drug to make her more fearless, or even tries to train her but maybe it's to heighten his enjoyment (?) of watching the manhunt? I have no idea. I do think that Lanius eventually getting pretty possessive over Angie (especially when Eden shows up in the picture) and apparently in the webnovel, Lanius goes pretty yandere stockholm after he finds out that Angie tries to escape and pretty much confines her, which does sound very in character for someone like him. I also think it's a good way to drive tension when Angie does start falling for him and then finds out that the only way to really go back home is to have Lanius die. I feel kind of bad for Eden though since he does actually seem like he wants to go back, so that's going to be an issue for Angie even if she does want to stay.

I do think that this webcomic has a lot of good ideas, and it executes them at least somewhat decently. The only real problem I have with it is that I think Lanius could go even farther with being ruthless to his people and that the translation just isn't that good. If it follow the plot of the webnovel with Angie basically being imprisoned by Lanius, I think that would be really great too.

[abbysbodybag]

Campus Secrets

abby anderson x reader

(first post as well) COLLEGE AU

description : you and abby are paired together as college roommates / FLUFF

part two? 🔞

Your bag is heavy, but the excitement of finally being on your own keeps your steps light as you make your way to your new dorm room. You reach the door, room 402, and take a deep breath before turning the handle, preparing to meet the stranger you’ll be living with for the next year.

But as you walk in, you’re met by the sight of a tall, muscular woman pulling a shirt over her head, revealing toned arms and a faint smile as she catches your wide-eyed look.

“Hey, you must be my roommate.” She grins, hand outstretched. “I’m Abby.”

For a second, you forget what words are, she’s gorgeous. Her blonde braid rests over one shoulder, her smile a bit too flashy and charming, and the way she’s looking at you is already making your cheeks heat up.

You clear your throat, setting your bag down to shake her hand. “Y/N,” you manage to say. Her hand is warm and firm, and it’s hard not to notice how she looks at you, a bit too knowingly, like she’s already read every flustered thought in your mind.

“So,” Abby says, crossing her arms and leaning against the bed, “you’re okay with bunk beds, right? Or should we just flip a coin and see who gets the top?”

You shrug, trying to play it cool. “I mean, unless you’re scared of heights,” you tease.

She laughs, her eyes lighting up. “Scared of heights? Not exactly. I think I’ll be fine as long as my pretty new roommate doesn’t snore.”

You scoff, rolling your eyes. “Pretty bold assumption, considering we just met.”

Abby tilts her head, her grin widening as her gaze drops to your bags. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough, huh?”

You feel your pulse race as you realize how close she’s standing. “Yeah, guess we will.”

The rest of the afternoon goes by with a surprising ease, the two of you unpacking, sharing stories about hometowns, and trading jokes. Each time her shoulder brushes yours or she throws you a sly smile, you feel that blush creeping back. It’s almost too comfortable.

Later, as the sun sets, she stretches, yawning. “You up for grabbing a coffee? You know, to celebrate surviving move-in day?”

You nod, grabbing your keys. “ready when you are.”

As you walk through campus together, you realize that maybe, just maybe, this year with Abby might be a lot more interesting than you’d expected.

The coffee shop is buzzing with the usual college crowd, but with Abby by your side, it feels like the two of you are in your own little world. You grab a cozy corner table, and as she stirs sugar into her coffee, you catch her glancing at you, one brow raised.

“So, Y/N,” she says, leaning forward with that same mischievous glint in her eyes, “what’s the most rebellious thing you’ve ever done?”

You smirk, taking a sip of your drink to buy a moment. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe this.” You hold her gaze and casually reach over to steal a sugar packet from her side of the table.

Abby laughs, a deep, genuine sound that draws a few curious looks from nearby tables. “Oh, risky. I better watch out for you, huh?”

“Hey, don’t judge me. I’m new here. Maybe I just haven’t had the chance to get into trouble yet,” you shoot back.

She tilts her head, pretending to consider. “Well, I’m sure we can fix that. I’ve been here a year already. Got all the shortcuts, best spots, even know where to sneak into the field house after hours.”

“After hours?” you echo, eyes widening. “Are you always this much of a rule-breaker?”

Abby shrugs, looking unbothered, but there’s a flicker of excitement in her eyes. “Life’s too short to follow all the rules, don’t you think?”

You roll your eyes, trying to mask the way her confidence makes your heart beat a little faster. “Big words from someone who looks like they were probably on the varsity team in high school.”

“Guilty,” she admits, smirking. “I played soccer. What about you? Any sports?”

You laugh. “I don’t think binge-watching counts as a sport.”

“Not officially, but I’m sure you’d make it competitive,” she says, grinning. “How about this—since you’re new and all, I’ll show you around campus tomorrow. A private tour, Abby-style.”

“A private tour, huh?” You raise an eyebrow, trying to sound casual as your stomach does a little flip.

She leans back, that playful spark still in her gaze. “Yeah. The kind where we hit all the best spots… and maybe skip a few of the official ones.”

You try not to smile too wide. “Guess I can’t turn down a tour from someone who knows all the secrets.”

“Smart choice.” Abby reaches across the table, tapping your hand. “Prepare yourself, Y/N. I’m about to make this the best college experience you could imagine.”

She smiles at you with a sparkle behind her eye. You couldn’t help but notice the fidgeting she does with her hands when she speaks to you, and how It stops whenever you look down.

[carelisswriting]

Vectors

Hey y'all, this is one of my fics for ecto-implosion this year!

My partner this time is @blobghost, and I really enjoyed working with them! The art they made that inspired this fic is amazing, please check it out!!

Hope y'all enjoy the fic!!

***

“Do I really have to wear this? It’s so stuffy.” Danny complained, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

Clockwork hummed lightly, smoothing down the vest that kept getting bunched up no matter what Danny did “It is traditional for the King to wear clothing befitting their station.”

“Okay, but, counterpoint, I really think my normal suit would be fine-“

“Daniel. We have been over this.” Clockwork said with a sigh.

Danny rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue anymore.

They had, in fact, been over this. They didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to dispute his claim to the throne, or start a stupid fight about him being a bad choice for King.

That last bit was most likely to happen because of the Observants, which Clockwork had told Danny would be ‘an annoyance’. Considering that was strong wording for Clockwork, and weirdly straightforward as well, Danny was taking him pretty seriously about it.

Anyway, what it meant was, unfortunately, Danny was stuck wearing the stuffy formal clothes.

Okay, to be fair, they weren’t that stuffy. They just weren’t as casual as he would’ve liked them to be. For that, he’d need to be in jeans and a t-shirt, or his suit.

At least the belt had a pocket for his thermos.

Danny turned, grabbing the notecards for his speech. He’d spent the last few days trying to come up with something that didn’t completely suck, and hopefully he’d managed to do it.

He was not that confident, however. Clockwork had refused to help him with it, stating that “A King’s words must be their own, whether or not they are.”

“Tell me again why I have to do this? I really think I could get away with not doing it.” He said, stuffing the notecards in the same pocket as his thermos.

Clockwork did not sigh, but Danny could tell he wanted to.

“You need to announce your intentions as King, as well as formally swear to uphold the mantle of the Ghost King and protect the Realms. You cannot ‘get away with not doing it’.”

Danny floated off the ground, flipping onto his stomach so he could prop his head up on his hands “Okay, yeah all that is important, but like, I really think I could just not do it and everything would be fine. There’s no way Pariah did it-“

“Pariah Dark did, in fact, have a formal speech, swear-in, and coronation.” Clockwork said, cutting him off.

Well damn, there goes his best argument. Wait-

“You’re telling me Pariah Dark, as in the same Pariah Dark who was completely insane, made a speech about how he was going to ‘protect the Realms’ and be a good King?” Danny asked, bewilderment in his voice.

Clockwork sighed, an amused tone to it.

“Well, no. His speech was much more focused on ‘crushing his enemies’ and being ‘the most powerful ghost’. However, he still made one.”

Danny sighed, before lowering himself back onto the ground “Fine, fine, I guess I do have to make the stupid speech. Would’ve been more convenient if I could’ve done the coronation at the same time.”

He was being a little bit petty with that. But, to be fair, Clockwork had literally just shown up in his room, in the middle of the night, with the Crown and Ring and crowned him right then and there. Well, not quite then, seeing as time had been frozen. Regardless, the entire thing had been weird.

“You had to be crowned then, Daniel. Just as you have to make this speech now.”

Vague, and unhelpful. Just like Clockwork usually was.

Clockwork reached out to smooth out the vest again, since Danny twisting in the air had messed it up.

…Okay, maybe he wasn’t usually unhelpful. At least when he wasn’t trying to be.

Ancients, everything about Clockwork was so confusing-

“Are you ready, Daniel?”

Danny shook his head slightly, focusing back on Clockwork.

“Ready as I can be, I guess.”

Clockwork nodded, before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

Danny followed after him, not bothering to close the door behind him. Technically, the Keep was his now, so it didn’t matter.

He was not actually planning to spend time here, but it was the principle of the thing.

As they walked through the Keep, Danny could see the finishing touches on the renovation being completed, ghosts floating around and carefully reshaping the architecture. The renovation was mostly for the ghosts that actually enjoyed the Keep, but Danny had been the one to start it.

The whole point was to make the castle not quite as crumbly, and not as gloomy. He’d wanted to make it nice, since it was technically his. He’d also wanted to make it better for the ghosts who liked it and wanted to live there.

Already, it was looking a heck of lot better with repaired walls and more color. Though, since he’d put other ghosts in charge of the actual decoration, a lot of the decoration was in ‘his colors’, which everyone seemed to define as black, white, and a bit of green. At least it was better than the grey and blacks of the Keep previously. The white brought at least some brightness into the long hallways.

Clockwork stopped outside the door to the throne room, turning back to Danny.

He inclined his head, gesturing for Danny to step into the room ahead of him.

Which, for the record, Danny did not want to do.

But unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid this.

He sighed, before stepping in front of Clockwork and through the door.

Oh that was entirely too many ghosts. There had to be at least three hundred crammed in the throne room, waiting for his speech. They were stretching the limits of how many of them could fit in here comfortably.

Danny had a feeling the only reason there weren’t any more was because a bunch of the Realms had sent representatives, as opposed to multiple of their denizens coming.

He knew there were representatives because of the fact that a ton of them sent letters ahead, giving him their regards and generally sucking up to him.

He was not a fan of that part of being king. He was literally a random teenager, why were these people trying so hard to get his favor?

He knew why, obviously, but it was still a valid question. He couldn’t even drive! Though ghosts probably didn’t care about that, actually.

He finally looked away from the crowd, seeing the raised dais where the throne sat, as well as the ghosts on it. Clockwork had made his way over at some point, and-

Ugh. Great. The Observants were here. Or at least one of them was. Probably to ‘keep an eye on things’.

It was fine, he had the notecards. He wasn’t going to give them an excuse to yell at him. Or Clockwork. Ancients, did he hate the amount of control the stupid eyeballs had over him-

“King Phantom!”

Danny froze as he realized he’d been spotted by the crowd. The door had let out just next to the dais, slightly out of sight, so he hadn’t caught their attention immediately, but now that one of them had noticed him, they all noticed him. He quickly stopped being able to recognize his name in the cacophony that followed.

Danny winced, before floating up onto the dais. As he did, the crowd quieted, all of them waiting for him to speak.

No pressure, or anything.

At least he remembered how he was supposed to start his speech.

“Greetings, Dead and Neverborn of the Infinite Realms. Thank you for attending to this speech, as it was not ordered of you.” As he spoke, Danny carefully pulled out his notecards and hid them behind his back. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to use them, but he didn’t want to fumble them if he did.

The crowd cheered, some of them looking at him with expressions that bordered on mania. He’d realized, in all the preparation for this speech and fixing up the Keep, that a few of the ghosts were desperate for a ruler. That wasn’t, y’know, Pariah Dark.

It was really weird to think they saw him as the solution to their problems.

“In this speech, my intentions as ruler will be formerly declared, as well as illustrated through the taking of vows-“

Danny froze, feeling something. It felt almost like his ghost sense, but different. A sense that the area in front of him was warping-

The crowd in front of him shifted nervously-

He heard the Observant mutter-

And then the something snapped.

Hovering in front of him was a staff, horizontal and roughly level with his waist. On one end, a black hole lay, drawing some of the ambient ectoplasm into it. On the other, a white hole, small shapes that almost looked like birds flying out. Connecting them, a thin bridge of bright green rods, mimicking the way that space-time was shown in every textbook he’d seen.

Danny took a breath, feeling the powercoming off the staff in waves.

-Child king, betwixt realms you lie.-

Danny startled at the voice, seeming to come from every corner of the room and yet not reaching more than him.

-In this, you are unique. In this, your potential is revealed. In this, your responsibility.-

Danny felt frozen, held in place by the voice and the staff.

-Reach out to Space, child king. To the Space between stars. Reach out and hold your fate.-

Danny shuddered, feeling the voice retreat, the staff floating in front of him folding back into itself. He could tell that no one else had heard it, the crowd’s faces uneasy and full of confusion.

He stared at the staff, seeing the twin spaces at the ends swirl, shine, reach out and touch the world around them.

He- The staff felt right, somehow. The idea of taking it up, holding it for the rest of his afterlife. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever felt.

The Crown and Ring were a burden, one forced on him by circumstances and Vlad’s rash actions.

Even other artifacts, like the Infini-Map, were neutral presences on his senses.

The staff felt like coming home.

He held out a hand to it, dropping the notecards.

They fluttered to the ground as he reached out to grab it.

His fingers barely an inch away as the Observant screeched “No!”

Grazing the staff, the buzzing of the black and white holes overtaking him, as he faintly heard Clockwork declare “A master of Space has been chosen.”

His hand wrapped around the staff, and pain surged into him.

Cold and burning and tearing his very atoms apart-

Fractals of ice surged out from him, Danny just barely able to see the crowd flinch away and panic through the tears in his eyes.

He dropped to his knees, no longer able to hold himself up in the face of the pain coursing through his entire body. The staff was still gripped in his hand, his muscles locking around it as it threw all its power into him.

He could feel it as parts of him changed, as parts of him broke and reformed in the wake of the staff’s power, of Space, pouring into him.

He wasn’t big enough, he couldn’t contain it, Space was too large-

Space was infinity, Space was miniscule, Space was shredding him-

Danny’s vision blurred, and he listed to the side as the pain reached a crescendo.

He caught a hint of purple in the corner of his view as he screamed, as he fell to pieces, as he-

As he passed out, mercifully feeling nothing.

***

He woke up slowly, blinking up at the unfamiliar ceiling for a while.

He’d been about to give his speech, but he’d only gotten through some of it before-

His hand flexed around the staff, still clutched in his grip.

 Right. He’d passed out.

Danny blinked again. Wait, he’d passed out cause of the pain. But.

He felt fine. Better than fine, really. He felt like he’d gotten a normal amount of sleep for once, on top of having more energy than he’d had since the ghost attacks started.

He also felt…different.

He frowned, sitting up.

He glanced down at the staff, hearing it hum as he moved it around. It looked the same, other than-

Huh. In the center of the green links, there were black and white ribbons of ectoplasm twining around each other, shifting and changing before his eyes.

Had that happened because of him grabbing the staff?

It must have.

Danny glanced around the room, at the gears and clocks on the walls. Clockwork must’ve taken him back to Long Now after he passed out. Which, thank the Ancients for that. The other options would’ve been staying at the Keep, which, no thank you, or trying to get Danny back to the human realm while he was passed out, which would’ve gone even worse than staying at the Keep.

He looked at the room for a moment longer, and became aware of something.

The room wasn’t real. Well, it was real, of course it was. But it wasn’t really a room.

It was just measures of space, of objects in space and measures of their own space.

Easily manipulated with just a moment of effort-

Danny twitched the hand holding the staff, not even thinking as he did it, and found himself by the far wall. It wasn’t teleportation, it wasn’t even moving. It was just changing how he viewed the space. There was no difference between him sitting on the bed and him standing by the wall, not really, not from his point of view-

Danny shook his head, snapping himself out of the trance he’d gone into when he’d realized the room wasn’t real. Okay, that was weird. He could still see, or sense, the way that the Space in the room had no fundamental difference between it. He could definitely pull the little trick of moving Space around him again, if he wanted to.

This was really weird. And not normal, even for ghosts. They teleported, yeah, but not like that. He should be freaking out.

But the staff still felt like home, felt safe, felt right.

And the way that Space folded around him at the slightest desire from himself felt right, too. Like it was meant to be this way.

…He should find Clockwork.

He’d know what was happening, why this staff had appeared in front of Danny. Why it seemed to have been waiting for him.

He opened the door with the hand that wasn’t holding the staff. Briefly, he wondered if he could set it down. The amount of wrongness that hit him at the thought of doing that confirmed he couldn’t, at least for now.

That really should’ve sent him into a panic attack or something. It didn’t.

Instead, he felt calm, even giddy. The staff was so cool!

The concept of having a black hole so neatly contained was already insane, and he really wanted to know how it worked but had an unfortunate feeling that the answer was magic, or at least close to it-

But having a white hole, of all things! It proved that they existed, even if just on the end of an impossible staff. Danny was the first human to see one! It proved the theory that they were the inverse of black holes as well, since it was on the opposite end-

Danny blinked, stopping in his tracks in the hallway. Huh.

Were the holes connected? If he sucked something into the black hole, would it appear out of the white hole?

Earlier it had just been pulling in ambient ectoplasm, though it strangely wasn’t doing that anymore, and putting out the bird-lookalike energy, but now that he had claimed it, would something different happen?

Logically, it should be more controlled. That was probably why it wasn’t pulling in ambient ectoplasm, and why it hadn’t sucked up the bed he had been in.

Danny looked down at the staff, watching the black and white energy twine together inside the staff.

On one hand, he really should go find Clockwork.

On the other hand, it couldn’t hurt if he played around with the staff a bit first, right?

He was pretty sure it was connected to him, and did what he wanted, so it wasn’t like he was accidentally going to cause a Space-Time anomaly or anything.

Unless he wanted to. He probably could if he wanted to.

But Danny was not going to do that, especially not in the middle of Clockwork’s lair.

That would just be rude.

Though, he really didn’t think Clockwork would care that much what he did as long as there wasn’t too much damage to be easily repairable. The ghost had always been nice to Danny, and accommodating, excluding their first meeting.

Their first meeting was a disaster. And also one that was not going to be repeated, ever, for multiple reasons.

Anyway! The point is he really wanted to mess around with the staff.

So, he was gonna mess around with the staff.

Danny grinned, holding the staff out in front of him like he’d seen his sister do with her bo staff.

He…was probably going to have to bother her for lessons if this turned out to be a staff he could actually fight with.

Danny shook his head, concentrating on the staff. He might as well test out the black hole first, since that fed into the white hole.

He glanced around, looking for something he could destroy without it being too much of a problem, or too annoying for Clockwork. He zeroed in on a small vase, one without any of the clock or gear imagery Clockwork was fond of. Instead, it had what looked like fish swimming through seaweed, though they weren’t like any fish Danny had ever seen, fins branching off fins.

Either way, not something Clockwork was likely to care if Danny destroyed. It was probably something he’d picked up or been given, and shoved in the hallway so he wouldn’t have to see it.

Danny knew for a fact that Clockwork spent most of his time in his viewing room, or the garden. Well, and the living room, but he was pretty sure that had only started after Danny started coming around.

He was pretty sure the living room hadn’t even existed before he’d started coming around.

It was nice, that Clockwork had made such a comfy space for him.

Danny shook his head again. He needed to stop getting off track. Thinking about feelings and stuff later, testing cool new staff now.

He braced himself, before sweeping the staff out at the vase. He made contact with it, the black hole dragging and distorting the vase as it pulled it in. That’s so cool-

Danny, unfortunately, had overestimated the amount of force he should put behind his swing. He realized this as the black hole kept moving forward, and made contact with one of the many clocks on the walls.

The brass machinery was sucked into the black hole, a shrieking sound following as it was ripped off the wall. Danny winced, hastily pulling back the staff.

Okay, noted. This thing was a lot lighter than it looked. Or it just felt lighter to him. Either way, hopefully Clockwork would forgive him about the clock.

Though, Danny wasn’t going to tell him if he could avoid it. It was more a hope that Clockwork would forgive him when he inevitably found out on his own.

He glanced back at the wall, seeing that despite the horrible noise it had made, pulling the clock off it hadn’t damaged it all that much. At least he’d gotten rid of the vase.

Danny started to float down the hall. He probably needed to head to the viewing room, he’d bet that’s where Clockwork was.

It took him a minute or so of floating through the halls to remember the original reason he’d been experimenting with the staff.

He wanted to figure out if something would come out of the white hole after being sucked into the black hole. He glanced around, seeing that the hallway he was in now didn’t have anything he was likely to destroy if he messed up again. The walls were full of interlocking gears, and Danny knew from experience they were not easily destroyed.

He may or may not have accidentally hit one of them with an ectoblast. And some of his ice. And also himself. He’d been running on an hour of sleep and three ghost fights, it really wasn’t his fault. Clockwork had barely managed to avoid laughing, Danny could just tell. He’d let him take a nap outside of time after that though, so that made up for it.

Anyway, the gears were not likely to get messed up, was his point.

Danny looked at the staff for a moment, before holding it out in front of himself again.

Okay, how was he gonna do this? It had seemed pretty obvious that the black hole had to touch things, though technically he bet that wasn’t so much a restriction of the staff as it was a restriction he was putting on the staff-

He needed to focus.

Danny tilted his head. Well, a bit of that ramble probably was useful. If the staff responded to him, which he was sure it did, it just hadn’t really sunk in yet- The staff responded to him.

So, he could do whatever and have the staff do what he wanted.

Danny grinned, before pulling back the staff and making a motion with it as if he was hurling an ectoblast at someone.

A burst of white light shot out of the staff, heading directly towards the gears on the wall, and it was then that Danny realized two things.

One, it looked like whatever went in the black hole got turned into energy, which made sense, at least a little bit-

And two, he hadn’t considered the fact that the staff was quite a bit more powerful than one of his ectoblasts.

The energy blast hit one of the gears, shattering it and stopping the spinning of the gears around it as they lost connection with each other.

Danny grimaced, looking at the remnants of the gear on the floor. That…was not going to be fun to fix. And he did not doubt that he would be the one fixing it, when Clockwork found out. At the very least, he’d be made to help.

He was gonna put off Clockwork finding out about this for as long as he could.

It wasn’t like the damage was in an area of Long Now he went through that often, and he’d told Danny that it often took him months to realize if something had gone awry with his lair, just due to how big it was and his own distorted sense of time.

So, if luck was on Danny’s side, which it almost never was, he wouldn’t have to fix the wall for a few months.

Danny sighed.

Yeah, he was fixing it before he left today, wasn’t he?

Unless something distracted Clockwork enough.

The staff in Danny’s hand hummed, and he realized that Clockwork probably was pretty distracted. He’d seemed to know what was going on with the whole ‘Master of Space’ thing, anyway.

Danny should probably find him, instead of destroying more stuff.

Accidentally destroying more stuff.

Danny shook his head, before flying down the hallway. The viewing room was usually close-ish to the living room and the garden, just cause Clockwork didn’t want to have to go that far if Danny visited or he needed to check on the time screens.

All Danny had to do was find one of the three rooms, and he was sure to find Clockwork.

Who would hopefully have some explanations.

***

In the end, it took about twenty minutes for Danny to find his way to the viewing room.

Long Now was big, and also Danny had spent perhaps too long wandering and thinking about the staff.

It turned out that the room he woke up in was pretty close to the living room, if he’d gone the other way in the hallway.

Which was a bit frustrating, but fine. He’d gotten to mess around with his cool new staff, anyway.

He opened the door to the viewing room, seeing Clockwork floating in front of the time screens, his back to Danny. Each screen showed a different era, from regency London to 80’s Japan. Danny had gotten a lot better at identifying time periods after he’d started hanging out at Long Now more, but it was weird that he could tell where the screens were showing. None of the scenes had specific landmarks, or people. He just…knew.

Probably due to his new staff, and title, now that he thought about it.

Clockwork turned, a small smile on his face as he faced Danny.

“I trust you’re satisfied with your staff and new powers, then?”

He sounded fond, exactly like he did when Danny managed to finish a homework problem he’d been struggling with, or like he did when Danny showed up to vent after a long day.

It became very clear, in that moment, that Clockwork knew everything. And that he had known this would happen for a while, maybe even since- since their first meeting.

He was the Master of Time, after all.

Danny drifted closer, watching Clockwork carefully.

“Why?”

He figured Clockwork had more than enough context to work out what he meant.

Clockwork hummed slightly “You’ve already worked out you are the Master of Space, yes?”

Danny nodded, before adding “I don’t know what it means, though. I know you’re the Master of Time-“

Danny cut himself off, a realization hovering at the edges of his thoughts.

The Master of Time. And the Master of Space.

Space-Time.

“I see you’ve figured it out, Daniel. The Realms needs both a Master of Space and a Master of Time, to be truly stable.” Clockwork said, turning back to his time screens.

Danny floated over to stand next to him.

“As you’ve seen, and participated in, my duty is to keep the Timeline running in the correct way, and to make sure things work out as they’re supposed to. But I am limited in directly interacting with the events I see, and limited in my abilities to intervene in any that need to change.”

Danny frowned. He’d thought that was all due to the Observants, but the way Clockwork was talking-

“The Realms choose the Masters, and I was chosen due to already having a strong connection to time, the ability to see the past and future. Though, I must admit, much of my current powers are due to my staff.” Clockwork continued, gesturing vaguely at the time screens.

Danny tilted his head slightly. The traveling in time, and stopping it, were because of the staff? He’d assumed that the staff was an extension of Clockwork’s powers, rather than the source-

Though, of course, his own staff was the source of his new powers.

“So, why was I chosen? I don’t really have any ‘Space-y’ powers, not without the staff.” Danny asked, shifting so he could see Clockwork’s face.

Clockwork smiled “I am getting to that, Daniel. The point is that it was simple, comparatively, for the Realms to choose me. Choosing the Master of Space is, was, much harder.”

Clockwork turned, floating over to be closer to one of the time screens, which shifted as Danny watched.

He flinched as it resolved into an image of the beginning of the portal accident, Sam and Tucker watching as Danny stepped into the portal. The scene stayed frozen, thank the Ancients.

Danny hesitantly came closer. Clockwork wouldn’t bring this up if it wasn’t important.

“The Master of Space must have a strong connection to both the Infinite Realms, and the Mortal one. Most ghosts are connected to the Infinite Realms just by virtue of their nature, but for a ghost to be truly connected to the Mortal Realm, and not just lingering behind? It takes something special, miraculous.”

Clockwork turned to Danny, a serious look on his face “It takes a halfa.”

Danny blinked, processing that.

“But, wait, if it only takes a halfa-“ Danny cringed, unable to finish his sentence. He did not relish the idea of Vlad having the amount of power that Clockwork did, even if it was Space instead of Time.

The amount of power that Danny now had.

Clockwork chuckled, a fond look on his face.

“It’s not quite that simple, Daniel. There is one other requirement, that is the reason that none of the other halfas before you were chosen.”

Danny gave Clockwork a questioning look, receiving a smile in return.

“I was chosen first. The Master of Space, then, must be able to work with me, and I them. None of the other candidates before you were capable of that. But you were.” Clockwork said, no small amount of awe in his voice.

Danny shifted uncomfortably. It was really weird, having Clockwork be amazed by him. He didn’t like it. He preferred it when Clockwork was being cryptic and annoying, actually.

Or soft and fond, like he was sometimes.

Either of them was better than this.

Clockwork drew back, his face going back to a blank, knowing look.

“The two Masters work together to protect the Realms, Daniel. Time to guide, monitor, and correct the Timeline, and Space to correct the Realms themselves. Closing dangerous natural portals, fixing fractured lands, and manipulating any psychical aspects of Timeline maintenance.”

He let out an unneeded breath, one likely entirely for show and Danny’s benefit.

“The Realms need both of us, Daniel.” There was a desperation in his voice, one very close to the awe from earlier, if slightly bent out of shape.

Danny backed up a little, Clockwork’s intensity scaring him slightly.

This was really weird, seeing Clockwork anything but perfectly in control.

And this was a lot, but-

But.

He looked down at the staff, still clutched in his hand.

The staff felt right. The title of ‘Master of Space’ felt right. What Clockwork was saying, under the desperation, felt right.

Danny had to do it. It was his responsibility, his fate. Just like the voice, which he guessed had been the Realms, had said.

“I wouldn’t need to give up my life in Amity Park, right?” he asked, nervousness in his voice.

The look of relief on Clockwork’s face, undercut by fondness and love, is what cemented Danny’s decision.

 “Of course not, Daniel. It would help, in fact. Maintaining a strong connection to both planes is needed. All you would need to do is work with me.”

Danny took a deep breath, before looking Clockwork in the eyes, a smile on his face.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

Clockwork returned the smile, and said “We have a lot of work to do, I admit.”

He waved a hand, shutting off the time screens.

“But we have Time.”

Danny couldn’t help himself.

 “And Space?” He asked.

Clockwork sighed, the smile still on his face.

“Yes, and Space.”

Danny grinned.

This was definitely one of the strangest things that had happened to him, including the whole Ghost King situation, but he had a feeling it was also going to be one of the best.

Clockwork opened the door out to the hallway, looking over at Danny as he did so.

“And Daniel? We will be starting with repairing that wall you broke.”

Danny groaned.

Of course they would be.

[queer-ragnelle]

@wixch-or-wizard Lavinia Collins was definitely intentional about these writing choices, I never considered it an accident to increase the misogyny or sexual assault et cetera. But I don’t respect the choice to do that because it wasn’t executed well at all…

Maybe that’s pretentious to say but it’s four books worth of these issues and it only got worse not better as the series went on from Guinevere to Morgan to Morgawse to Igraine. It felt gratuitous. Literally tragedy porn. Did anybody in the universe enjoy the Igraine book? If they say they did they may be lying.

There are plenty of series that explore how life sucks with a world full of cruelty and do it well but Collins went to such an extreme that it’s disingenuous to call the books “romance.” It’s pretty foul to write Lot as such an abhorrent, violent, rapist, and then turn around and write love making scenes with him. It’s not that those things don’t happen in real life, that women were never put into those positions by terrible husbands and the circumstances of their situations, but to frame those scenes positively and use them as justification to label the series “romance” is foul. And if the book is supposed to be labeled “romance” because of Morgawse’s relationships with Lamorak or others later in the book, well that’s also stupid because Lot was alive for a pretty long time in the book before any of that happened and Morgawse never loved any of the men she slept with after she was widowed.

What the author actually means when they label their books as “romance” is “erotica.” But chickenshit authors don’t use that word because the market softens the edges of the genre by calling it “romance.” It’s sex. Plenty of romance goes light on the sex if they include it at all. The correct term for frequent, hardcore, blatant, descriptive sex scenes is “erotica.” Imagine trying to make Collins’s series, of all books, more palatable, then you open it up and Igraine sold her eleven year old daughter Morgawse to Lot and sent her sister Enid back to wife-beater Geraint and never felt any remorse at all. Wow, romantic. I feel insane about it like what was Collins even thinking?

The added incest and racism and everything else in there pushes it over the edge. The series has problems on every axis it fails to address subtextually so it goes into the pile of other books that baffle me.

What’s worse is that I’ve encountered even more examples for the list on my original reply since I wrote that. The problem continues! Ick!!

So, there's a lot of books that you complain about being awful (most of which I haven't read), usually because of the interpretation of some character (or many characters).

Is the problem with most of these books:

1. That the character on question has been written as a bad person,

2. That the interpretation differs from the Vulgate Cycle,

3. or the specific combination of those two things?

Or have I completely misread this situation?

See the thing is, yes it has to do with interpretation of characters, but perhaps not as superficial as it sounds! While I do love the Vulgate and prefer a more nuanced Mordred, that’s not really the root of the issue. I want Mordred to topple Camelot. I don’t expect or want authors to follow the Vulgate exclusively, there’s plenty from Chrétien or SGATGK or Parzival or the Mabinogion I’d love to see incorporated and they often are! Yay!

The real answer is a complicated thing that can only be expressed through examples because citing “misogyny” or “racism” doesn’t convey the magnitude or severity of the problem. Medieval society was misogynistic and racist at times, I don’t think those things should go ignored in a retelling. It would cheapen the narrative to pretend Guinevere’s or Morgause’s situations weren’t brought about largely due to the patriarchal systems at play nor do I want to pretend everyone who met Palomides was race blind.

Here’s an exhaustive list of sourced examples to indicate what I’ve encountered that really turned my stomach in retellings…content warning for everything from animal abuse to rape to genocide. This is gonna be long….

Adding more/intentional incest.

Agravaine sexually attracted to his mother Morgause (The Once and Future King by T. H. White) or to his aunt Guinevere (Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger, The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf)

Gaheris sexually attracted to his mother Morgause (The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart)

Mordred sexually attracted to and raping his mother Morgause (Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Uther sexually attracted to his step-daughter Morgause (Igraine by Lavinia Collins)

Kay sexually involved with his uncle Lancelot (Guinevere and Morgan by Lavinia Collins)

Mordred sexually involved with his aunt Morgause (Guinevere Evermore by Sharan Newman)

Morgause attempting to seduce her teenage son Mordred (The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart)

Arthur marrying his sister Morgan (Bedivere by Wayne Wise)

A life-long sexual relationship between Arthur and his aunt Morgan (The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf)

Mordred and “auntie” Morgan having sex (Merlin and the Sword (1985))

Exceedingly graphic first-person rape of Guinevere by her cousin Maelgwn (Queen of the Summer Stars by Persia Woolley)

Mordred kidnaps and tries to rape his sister Avlynn (Merlin and the Book of the Beasts (2009))

Increased racism.

Using modern slurs like the N word against Palomides (The Once and Future King by T. H. White)

Aggressive and confrontational Safir “restrained” by white characters and called “homicidal Moor” by Kay (The Book of Gaheris by Kari Sperring)

Palomides speaking in broken English mentioned as a “turn-off” for Morgause (Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Palomides a former slave orphaned and raised culturally British instead of immigrating to Britain and constantly othered as “the Arab companion” when the others don’t have modifiers like that (Queen of the Summer Stars and Legend in Autumn by Persia Woolley)

Depicting Arab Bertilak as perpetrator of pederasty, random anti-black or anti-Asian allusions, random antisemitism, etc. (Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger)

Tristan wanting to put down “barbarian” Palomides and drives him to madness (The Enchanted Cup by Dorothy James Roberts)

Black face Palomides (The Black Knight (1954))

Adding pedophilia/child brides.

Girls including Morgaine forced into ritualistic sexual situations for “ceremonial” reasons (Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley)

Eleven year old Morgause given to Lot in marriage by her mother Igraine who lied about her age (Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Child bride Isolde (Legend in Autumn by Lavinia Collins, Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell)

Merlin sexually involved with fosterling Nimuë and later attracted to young Olwen (The Winter King and Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell)

Morgause preying on minors (The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart, The Book of Gaheris by Kari Sperring)

Pedophile/serial killers Kay and Mordred (Dragon’s Child and The Bloody Cup by M. K. Hume, The Queen’s Knight by Marvin Borowsky)

Morgause sexually abusing Agravaine (Queen of the Summer Stars by Lavinia Collins)

Pederast Arthur sleeping with young Peredur and Geraint (Arthur the King by Allan Massie)

Lancelot grooms young Mordred to be his lover (Mordred, Bastard Son by Douglas Clegg)

Bademagus raping 13yo Lynette (The King’s Damosel by Vera Chapman)

Warp a character into a rapist.

Morgause/Morgan tricking Arthur to sire Mordred (The Once and Future King by T. H White, Excalibur (1981), The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart, Bedivere by Wayne Wise, Morgan by Lavinia Collins, Guinevere by Sharan Newman, Camelot (2011))

Gawain threatening Guinevere with rape then eventually banished from court for raping someone else (Guinevere and Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Exceedingly graphic first-person rapes of Morgause by Lot and Mordred, Morgan by Urien (Morgawse and Morgan by Lavinia Collins)

Morgause laughing when she learns how traumatized Arthur is after her seduction of him (Queen of Summer Stars by Persia Woolley)

Agravaine threatening to rape Guinevere (The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf)

Perceval raping Layla and getting turned on watching the rape of someone else (A Knight’s Tale by Richard Monaco)

Lancelot forcing himself onto Guinevere (First Knight (1995))

Lancelot raping Galahad’s gf (The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell)

Bors tries to rig a dice game in which the prize is sex with Nimuë (Cursed (2020))

“He would not fucking say/do that.”

Arthur, Lot, Geraint, Urien, and Lancelot are wife beaters with minimal to no consequences (Warrior of the West by M. K. Hume, I Am Mordred by Nancy Springer, Igraine and Morgan by Lavinia Collins, Knight Life by Peter David)

Lancelot doesn’t rescue Guinevere leaving her to burn at the stake by Arthur (Fall of Knight by Peter David)

Lancelot used Guinevere for political gain (Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell, The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman)

Lancelot married to Elaine then cheats on her with Guinevere and causes his wife’s death leaving Galahad an orphan (Merlin (1998))

Agravaine skins Elaine’s cat and wears it (Queen of Summer Stars by Persia Woolley)

Gareth helps Gawain torture Pellinore to death (I Am Mordred by Nancy Springer)

Genocide.

Arthur picks up where Uther left off and continues to commit genocide against magic-users, Merlin helps (BBC Merlin (2008-2012)

The red paladins commit genocide against the fay, Lancelot helps (Cursed (2020))

Gawain uses sun powers to commit genocide in the holy land, other knights like Tristan, Mordred, and Agravaine help (F/GO Camelot Wandering (2020) and F/GO Camelot Paladin Agateram (2021))

Lancelot as high king of Britain commits genocide against allies of Arthur to stay in power, other knights like Dagonet, Lot, and Calogrenant help (Kaamelott: First Installment (2021))

So yeah. It isn’t ideal that Lamorak is old in Sword of Lancelot (1963) or Dagonet is stoic and boring in King Arthur (2004). But like, whatever! I like those films! Same goes for replacing Gaheris with Geraint in Sarah Zettel’s series or cutting Gareth out of Gillian Bradshaw’s trilogy. Kind of a bummer, lame even, but not a deal breaker. The things about these bad retellings that drive me mad are much more sinister than that, rooted in really detestable opinions about women and children and people of color.

Can’t Mordred, Agravaine, and Morgan be normal scheming/evil/power hungry like they were in BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979) or Howard Pyle’s books or Knights of the Round Table (1953) instead of whatever the above are doing? Not to mention the complete violation of Guinevere, Morgause, Lancelot, and Gawain as characters. I’m so tired, man.

Hope this clears things up. Sorry if you made it through that list. I’m sure you hated reading it as much as I hated writing it. But I think it makes it clear the problem here and that I’m not just being picky. The psychic damage is taking its toll.

[orcelito]

Considering the. Ahem. Ways this year has gone, I've not been thinking about it all that much, but. I did start this year with the motto of Year Of Unfucking My Life. With a few goals involved in that.

I got an official adhd diagnosis, as well as a diagnosis for PCOS. Other diagnoses in progress. Gotten adhd meds and birth control to regulate periods. I've gone back to school and I'm keeping up with it better than ever before. I've even been working on practicing driving, something I've been largely neglecting since I first got my driving permit, um... 11 years ago...

I just need to actually Get my license. And I need to get it before the end of the year. If I can accomplish that, then I'll say the Year Of Unfucking My Life was successful.

[longagoitwastuesday]

Kusakabe, dear, you're too beautiful to be saying that kind of stuff

[localguy2]

Suddenly got the craziest fucking idea I've thought of yet:

Zane was originally going to be made to help the elemental alliance in the serpentine wars, per the alliance requesting Julien for something so technologically advanced it'll end the war.

and so Julien started working on Zane during the conflict, and with the elemental alliance providing him with the necessary recourses to create Zane. (metal, wires, screws, schematics and blueprints and other small supplies, a suspiciously powerful and most definitely magical power source, etc).

But the war ends, and the serpentine are sealed away.

So now Julien is left with a half finished robot that wouldn't even have a purpose if it were to be alive, but Julien decides he's going to give it a new purpose.

"If it's not going to be a weapon of war, than it's going to be a weapon of peace."

So he stars reprogramming Zane, from "Mostly human machine designed to fight." to "Almost human machine made to protect those who cannot protect themselves".

He starts adding in extra features for Zane, stuff like breathing, blinking, eating, so he comes off as more human.

he codes in what would be the nindroid equivalent of someone developing a new hobby and getting good at it.

Such as cooking, or perhaps making ice sculptures or even learning how to ride a snowboard considering how he lives in a frozen forest (last one was from Quest For the Lost Powers book).

But he also adds in other stuff to help Zane out in his purpose of protecting, such as a battle ram mode to bust down doors, a lamp head mode to help light out dark areas, being able to shoot out cold air from his hands to cool stuff down without the usage of ice powers (last one was from the start of season 3).

And eventually, he gets so attached to this project of his, that he starts viewing it as more than a machine made to prolong the peace, and by the time he actives Zane for the first time ever, he can't feel but view Zane as a son.

Zane was Julien's life work, "Machine" doesn't do the nindroid enough justice, it doesn't feel right, and it isn't right.

So, even his plans of making Zane a weapon of peace change, and now he views Zane as a son, and as his own person.

Look, I don't care if this headcanon/idea breaks Canon, fuck if I care, but the opportunity is too great, it would would give us an answer to a good number of questions.

one of them being: What was Zane's old power source?

[stormbabylore]

Ooh, I have a few!

I've an AU in which Aeryn just stops after StB. She is shattered, exhausted, unable to cope, and truly convinced her closeness to the Scions causes them more harm than good. So she walks away. She returns to the Ruby Sea (the first and—at the time—only place she's experienced a true memory of her former life), where Tansui convinces her she is allowed to make selfish choices—she is allowed to stop. Even to stay. Despite never officially joining the Confederacy, Rasho makes an unspoken exception for Aeryn that no one seems to question, especially not considering how useful she makes herself. But emotionally, she is an utter wreck. She tosses her linkpearl into the ocean but frequently has nightmares about receiving desperate calls for help from the Scions. She is haunted by the voice of Hydaelyn and the fear that she has done the wrong thing, but she can't find the courage to abandon her perceived freedom from the bloody, ceaseless struggle she has left behind. She may not be happy, she reasons—she may never feel happy again. But everyone is safer without her, she is sure, and... And she is free.

(Two more "bad ends" behind the cut, but beware: they are EW spoiler-heavy!)

In canon, Aeryn begins losing herself to despair as the Scions, one by one, make their sacrifices in Ultima Thule. The breaking point for her is when Urianger chooses, willingly, to give up his life alongside Y'shtola. But at Urianger's parting behest, G'raha manages to pull Aeryn back from the brink and give her the hope she needs to press on; and when he, too, then goes, she is able to maintain her composure for the twins. That said... I could easily imagine G'raha failing to break through to her, resulting in a bad end. Aeryn would lose herself entirely, willingly releasing herself to Dyanmis to become a blasphemy. G'raha and the twins might try to get through to her, but I don't think she'd have the capacity to hear them any longer and would flee toward the Endsinger's song of despair. Meteion might take pity on her (given their past connection) and attempt to grant a swift end to her strife. But because Aeryn's inner power is so strong, it's more likely that they would fuse into something even stronger than the Endsinger. The sheer magnitude of all their suffering would trigger Aeryn's star magic, which she/they would unleash (as stars do) to bring an abrupt and explosive end to everything—even the Final Days.

Finally, my screenshots from this challenge really got me thinking about what Aeryn would be like as an Ascian. There are several ways she might have gotten to that point. Maybe post-HW, if she found herself in the position assumed in canon by Urianger... or perhaps in ShB, had she managed to manifest her past self's empathic abilities and forged a different connection with Emet-Selch. Truthfully, though, I'm kind of stuck on the idea of her offing Fandaniel (without truly killing the Ascian) and getting sort of possessed by Amon. It would be a split situation in which her soul (plus Azem power plus soul of a literal star) can't be fully controlled, even by the Ascian's methods, so she'd probably be a little bit bonkers. But I think her empathy for Hermes's situation would have made her uniquely suited to an odd kind of soul symbiosis with one of his shards, helping to subdue a little bit of Amon's madness, as well as his desperation to end. In that way it would be a bad end for the WoL, but perhaps not the worst end, story-wise. I could still see Ascian Aeryn working to avert the Final Days: reaching out to Meteion with both her own and Hermes's memories, pushing through the nest to find the Endsinger, even summoning Hades and Hythlodaeus… and possibly even some of the other Ascians? Defeating the Endsinger alongside both Ancients and Ascians would be pretty poetic, all things considered, and so delightfully circular thinking back on ARR. I'm not sure much about the fight itself would change, with Ascian Aeryn finding herself in the odd circumstance of being gifted strength beyond even her means by the prayers of the Scions who don't want to see their friend defeated, perhaps hoping they can somehow bring her back...

(Do I need another AU? No. But I'm a teensy bit obsessed with the notion of EW driving Aeryn to willingly play host to an Ascian... annnnnnd I'll probably end up writing some of this. Oops, I guess? Here we are.)

Bad endings? Bad endings anyone?

What if they got consumed by the light? What if they became a primal? Any and all bad endings!

I think mine most likely would've become a lightwarden because she didn't get to Emet-Selch fast enough. "Obsession" would be its name, due to the fact it would be obsessed with the idea of saving others and changing the world, probably leading to either the Scions killing her or to her consuming the First in Light.

.

[steelycunt]

an um. snippet. from me. for the first time since. july :-)

[quirkle2]

I was wondering if there are any rare happy ritsu moments in ur zombie au since hes always miserable I think,, like is he always miserable or is he happy/not miserable and feeling kinda good sometimes?

VWHDGDGD NO YEAH OFC HE'S HAPPY SOMETIMES im just horrible and enjoy putting him through misery

ive never been able to get a genuine smile to look right on his face in my art style either i think thats part of it. as ive said his face is just built to be mildly uncomfortable and bothered and i lean into it sm it's starting to get kinda funny

but yes ritsu is happy plenty! i think, canonically, he just seems like the type of person to me that tends to turn lemonade back into lemons. he's easy to scare and his first reaction to things is often Dread and Anxiety. he dwells on the negatives a lot and seems to be a "hope for the best, expect the worst," kinda guy, but there's a section in this post abt shigeo always loving the little things in life, and ritsu steadily learns throughout the journey on how to do that and how healing it can rly be. even if he had to grow up too fast during this whole thing and learn things a kid should never have to, the journey also gave him some good insight and lessons in other places! ritsu is smart, he figures it all out

in terms of little things here n there he's the happiest lil guy on the planet when he finds one of his favorite foods—swings his legs while he sits and munches on a kitkat bar like he's got absolutely nothin in the world to worry abt. sometimes mob does smth funny that he laughs at; for the longest time i've had this silly image in my head of mob accidentally knocking down a bucket from a store shelf and it lands on his head and he just kinda stands there and makes noises.when the noises continue out of pure curiosity about the weird echoey quality it's giving them ritsu cannot help but lose it

besides tiny things tho, when tome comes around ritsu in general is a lot happier, just cuz he has somebody to talk to that will actually respond in some way. they're sorta reluctant partners in crime at first (at least on ritsu's end) but over time and over bonding they grow to rly like each other's presence. they bicker constantly but it's almost always fond eventually, and they shove each other and playfight until mob gets antsy enough to get worked up about it. rly, tome is a godsend to ritsu's mental health—after months and months of being effectively alone with his thoughts, he finally has another person to converse with. a person His Age, too!

tome is rly good at knowing when ritsu is thinkin himself into oblivion and she's Also rly good at being the most annoying girl on the planet to yank him outta that and replace any misery with Oh My God Get Off Me You Freak. she doesn't even do this on purpose at first, but over time she learns how to tell when he's thinking too hard and, ofc, she's grown attached and she cares, so she's as obnoxious as possible to lighten the mood

when they find reigen n teru, ritsu gradually gets Much happier still. now that he knows they're safe and the gang is finally back together (and now that there's an Adult present and he can relax a lil and let himself be taken care of) his stress levels r exponentially lowered. having teru back is another instant lift to his mood—im always a big fan of teru and ritsu friendship, and i think adding tome to their dynamic simply makes it more chaotic. truly a trio of the 3 most normal teenagers in existence which will surely bring nothing but good (reigen sweats offscreen)

actually this makes me feel bad for forever torturing him im gonna go draw happy zau ritsus brb ,.,.ok imback <3

[gurenkurosen]

ohh i think im coming to a bit of a realization actually as to why mmos are so scary when im forced to party