#it’s probably cause it’s not as prominent as Hunter’s

[wisteria-lodge]

Oooooh that's some really clever worldbuilding. I LIKE that. It makes a lot of sense that historical anti-muggleborn sentiment would revolve around the perception that, in an anti-magic muggle world, magical children born to two muggle parents would have to be either witch-hunters loyal to the muggles... or obscurials. MUGGLES are not a threat. But a muggleborn can do magic, and is that is absolutely a threat.

(Maybe someone like Salazar Slytherin did have a run-in with someone like that, which would explain how he could have been so close with the other three founders... but still want to keep muggleborns/people with strong ties to the muggle world out of Hogwarts. That's basically the plot of Hotel Transylvania.)

Muggleborns are also just the right amount of rare to be good boogeyman. We know Hermione, Lily, Justin Finch-Fletchly, the Creevey brothers, and Ted Tonks. That's enough that you know they're around, but not enough that everyone can have strong social ties with one.

(and I don't think you can use the Basilisk's kill-list or the people targeted by the ministry in Book 5 as a way of confirming muggleborn status. In both cases, Voldemort was just using that as a convenient excuse to gain power/get rid of anyone who's causing a problem.)

I think that pre-Statute, you probably would have had the wizards who essentially want to integrate with Muggle society (like the Malfoys), and the ones who... honestly think of muggles as the equivalent of animals, a totally separate rung on the Great Chain of Being (since we're in the 1500s) and want to treat them accordingly.

If that's the case, the Statue of Secrecy, this dramatic third option, starts to make sense. Because the Ministry would be worried about a civil war, one where half the wizards are fighting *with the muggles.*

The Malfoys are treated as *remarkably* rich in the books, and this would be a nice way to explain that. If you were friendly enough/integrated enough with the muggle world pre-Statute that you were able to weather that transition... then you've got a *lot* of extra ways to pull in cash that other pureblood families don't have. The Blacks... I think it makes a lot of sense that they rose to prominence just after, or possibly because of the Statute of Secrecy. That's shipping money vibes. 100% they're not quite *as* old as Malfoys who (going by Pottermore) showed up with William the Conqueror.

The malfoys deal with muggles? I always thought they wouldn't with their blood supremacy ideals

The books don't give us any details, but when you fold in the Pottermore info that's their whole *deal.* They were in tight with the most influential muggle families during the 1600s, and Lucius Malfoy I tried very hard to marry Queen Elizabeth I. The Malfoys were extremely against the Statute of Secrecy, and I don't blame them. It would have taken away a TON of their power.

And considering how they don't exactly do what the Ministry wants them to do nOW (with all their hidden dark contraband...) I can't really imagine they fell perfectly in line back then either. If they were making money off the muggles... would they really stop? or would they just find ways to hide their activities? It probably wouldn't even be that hard, since Gringotts doesn't actually seem to recognize the Ministry's authority.

To me, always, the central metaphor of the Malfoys is that they're good at LOOKING the part. They pay lip service to the party line, but scratch the surface... and they don't really care. The Malfoys care about the Malfoys, everything else is secondary.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Pottermore writing and definitely consider it secondary canon at *best,* but the entry about the Malfoys does make sense, especially considering their relationship with Severus. Narcissa AND Sirius talk about how close Lucius and Severus are/were, and well, Severus "the halfblood prince" Snape is about as half-blood as they come.

[im-no-jedi]

the sad thing is that he had his tattoo in the sketch, I just forgot to ink it. I was debating about whether to make it transparent or something like that, and as a result, I missed it entirely. I’m never gonna let myself live it down now 🫠

[incesthemes]

dean's sexuality is an overwhelming recurring theme throughout the show: his fetishes are prominent, he flaunts his sexuality and sexual behavior freely, he's a relentless flirt, and he has the most sexual encounters in the show. what i want to briefly consider here is how his sexuality and, more importantly, his fetishes may symbolize a freudian eroticization of a fantasized domestic life, particularly in his fetishization of femininity.

so hear me out: dean subconsciously eroticizes his mundane desires because he can't externalize them in a safe or realistic way. the desires are, namely, a longing for a domestic, "apple pie" life, which is a desire that has been explored in the show multiple times. dean routinely covets domesticity, through his desire to raise a child (ben and lisa subplot), the djinn fantasy (2.20), his "nesting" in the bunker (8.14), and his displacement of that desire onto sam (who is the primary subject of his erotic fixation in general and a subconscious extension of himself—if sam acquires a happy domestic life, dean can live vicariously through it).

he also routinely denies himself this domesticity because he's given up on getting out of the hunter life. he was raised in a survival environment and never was given a real opportunity to escape (even sam had to fight tooth and nail to get out, and we all know where that got him). the one time he had a chance to reject john and embrace normality he returned smiling because of sam (9.07). he's the one that vehemently secludes himself (and sam, like in 1.06) from society because connections are a liability. he leaves potential long-term relationships preemptively, always choosing hunting (and sam) over them before anything "real" can happen (1.13, 6.01, 6.21, also consider 8.19, perhaps more abstractly). he's so broken inside that he lacks any real desire at all (5.14). et cetera, et cetera. he denies himself his domestic desires to the point that he lacks desire at all—he's a broken shell of a man.

so the violent repression of the id causes the secret desire to leak out through erotic fantasy, a playground of fiction that is used by, well, most if not all people to explore desire in a safe and controlled medium (see: how many women have rape fantasies, for example—the sexual fantasy is a constructed world for safe exploration of certain desires, often abstracted through erotic symbols).

dean is so repressed as an individual, likely by external pressure to conform and control himself via john, that dean could subconsciously transform his secret desire for domesticity, into an erotic fantasy. he displaces those unacceptable desires from the unattainable mundane onto the safer erotic and they eventually distort into fetishes. the fetishes themselves are then abstractions of the things he covets but can't obtain.

and i want to focus specifically on his desire for domesticity and make an argument for feminization as a fetish (thank you rhonda hurley for your contributions to society) and how that relates back to that base desire.

there are several episodes in the show which suggest that dean fetishizes femininity itself, or rather feminization as it pertains to him (4.07, 5.04, also consider 10.05 in a more abstract sense). in 4.07, dean openly fantasizes about living in a "hot cheerleader's" body (youthfully feminine). in 5.04, dean recounts the time rhonda hurley forced him into her pink, satiny panties, saying that he liked it. 10.05 is a meta episode which additionally posits a plotline where dean becomes a woman through supernatural means, suggesting that fans are invited to draw a connection between dean and feminization. (these are the episodes i can pull off the top of my head; it's probably not comprehensive but i can't remember others atm)

so let's consider this feminization kink: we have dean fantasizing about femininity, womanhood, and especially girlhood, which he notoriously eroticizes (again in 4.07 and also in 4.13 and 10.13, to name specific references, but there are so many examples of this) in relation to himself, specifically. you can layer this in the way his deeper desires are of domesticity, and the home is traditionally (importantly) the domain of the woman. if dean would come to associate domesticity with femininity, then he would subconsciously connect his desire for domesticity with a desire for femininity. therefore, this feminization kink can represent an eroticization of his own (perceived) femininity. dean craves domesticity, but the domestic can only be achieved through womanhood, and therefore his desire for the domestic manifests through femininity, and thus feminization.

this "perceived femininity" of the domestic is important because of how dean conceptualizes the world largely through his consumption of media (see also: his "wild west fetish" via 6.18), which enforces gender roles and the relegating of the woman to the domestic sphere. this additionally aligns with dean's lived experiences: he had a domestic life while mary was alive, and when mary died the domesticity died with her. his only personal experiences with a settled home life are inexorably tied to the presence of femininity (his other excursion is when he lives with lisa, strengthening this association), and the absence of it and subsequent domination of john (the masculine) also took with it that domestic life.

and then you could even go so far as to make the argument that his eroticization of girlhood and his fetish for barely legal girls is a symbol of the domestic life he didn't get to live himself. it can represent a longing for youth in an environment that was inaccessible to him, a stability and domesticity walled off by womanhood. his youth was masculine, and his desire is for the feminine. it would stand to reason that when he yearns for an idealized youth, it would be through the lens of the symbolically feminine. and so this desire manifests through a fetishization of youth (girlhood) and his subsequent creep behavior. it all comes back to the life dean didn't get to live, eroticized and represented through a sexual fantasy born of rigidly enforced gender roles and the loss of femininity in his home life.

[toxooz]

Do you have a backstory posted for ramsuse? I think he’s an interesting character and you’ve said he used to be human so I’m very curious 🙂

ROIGHT SO i gotta See it with my own eyes so i drew lil illustrations to go with it so letsa go buckle UP yall ALSO tw for like graphic gory description and suicide mention aaand i think thats it OK:

waay back arooound 1870's I'd say behold a man! Ramsuse was a very well distinguished hunter who also did bounty hunting. Being a big brawny man he had a big brawny horse as well who was named Appocolus, a shire draft horse (the Big Ol honses) and had a wife named Myrna:

They were happily married for about 5 years, owned a pretty small farm, and took a lot of hunting trips together (most likely sold the skins/ meat along with eggs ect.) but yeah huntin n fishin was one of their favorite activities to do together. They didn't live far from a small town where they did their trading and shopping from and Ramsuse was a pretty well known bounty hunter in the town and even had a small group of other bounty hunters that he would team up with occasionally. Back then, in most towns, it was still a Big Thing for monsters to exist and was often treated as a frankenstien event (light the pitchforks yada yada); but in this part of the overall timeline demons kind of infested some parts of the world (side note obv. that didn't last forever and the majority of demons and that of the like ended up being chased into caves and hidden crevices of the world which is maybe why Mogak had to go into a big ass demon cave community to get that demonic D.) some entire towns could become completely overrun with demons and many caused chaos and ruin among the land, which probably gave a lot of other unrelated monsters a bad rep. hence why they would be ridiculed as well. It was pretty common for demons to be outlaws and outliers, and it was also common practice for humans to capture demons (typically demons who were minding their own business (like Ollie in the cowboy au👀)) and sacrifice them in churches or do mass killings so it was kind of a back and forth rivalry between humans and demons during this time. Granted, while demons and humans were at war, naturally demons are more powerful than humans without any manmade advantage-so side backstory Myrna's parents got killed by a demon in their house when she was a child and she was orphaned for the rest of her adolescence, so she's carried a special kind of bitterness, fear, and hatred towards demons throughout her life.

As their town slowly starting having more and more demonic issues, a certain demon cowboy was a prominent culprit of the reoccurring destruction of the town:

he had the ability to transform people into demons and his "horse" is basically just another demon that tried to mimic a horse to be able to assist in the bidding of the outlaw (ie: it's ears are actually horns, it's neighs sound more like a donkey and hyena mixed together, ect) He too led a gang that tormented towns and cities, only they were damn near impossible to pin down. Ramsuse was the main tracker for trying to find him and every time he did, the outlaw would slip through the cracks of their dimension which would eventually drive Ramsuse to insanity and intense resentment towards demons and monsters trying to get the outlaw. It got to a point where that's all he wanted to do was try to find and catch the demon, even his own group of bounty hunters opted out and urged Ramsuse to do the same at least for a while, for it was eating away at his soul. Though it was out of love for his wife and their own town, he would leave for days and put off hunting trips that Myrna wanted to go on in order to attempt to capture the outlaw. Until one night he followed a seemingly deliberate trail of clues that led him to a run down cabin out in the middle of nowhere. The demon outlaw was patiently waiting for him when he barged in like a bat out of hell, however Ramuse was having none of it and went straight for his throat upon first look. He mopped the floor with him for a while until those eye flaps on the demons face latched onto the bounty hunters arms (kinda like venom slime stickin to shit) and started searing Ramsuse's flesh off to reveal his new demon skin. It eventually traveled through his entire body as he slowly burned to death, his horns erupting from his head probably feeling like his brains were being squeezed out of his skull, his old teeth being simultaneously pushed out by bigger lion-like teeth, his body getting bigger as his burnt dead skin fell off in bloody sheets to give way to the contorting muscles as the demon outlaw observed in deranged satisfaction

by the time Ramsuse could come to his senses, the outlaw was long gone. During the physical altercation, outside Appocolus and the demon horse got into it as well. When the draft horse saw that abomination of a horse, every red light went off in his sixth sense and he lunged for it, however it mauled him back and it's teeth essentially had the same burning effect in which Appocolus was doomed to the same fate as his rider.

Ramsuse spent several days trying to track any possible trace of the demon to see if he could somehow be changed back, but he was nowhere to be found. As time went on, desperately trying to find any way to change himself back at this point, dread began to seep into him like rot on a dead carcass as he realized he had no choice but to go back home and face Myrna with this new demonic vessel that he was cursed with.

As he reluctantly arrived at his house, he tried to talk to Myra through the door as a way to prepare her as much as he knew how. He attempted to stay behind the door as long as possible, beating around the bush as to what just happened, but she didn't understand why he was acting this way and only tolerated it so much before she opened the door and upon first glance immediately scrambled for a gun

Completely overrun with past memories, she refused to believe him and was convinced that a demon Actually killed him and took his form to get to her and was merely feigning his distress just to make her vulnerable. Ramsuse quickly saw her state and decided it was best to just do what she demanded and he fled after she shot at him.

After what happened, that was the final straw that broke the camels back and Myrna took to the town to try and tell people what happened to her husband. Nobody has witnessed anyone being turned into a demon and coming back ( they just knew people vanished or were just straight up dead) and with her being a woman back then, nobody believed her not even Ramsuse's former bounty hunter group. They drew the conclusion that Ramsuse merely found another woman and ran away with her, so Myrna was deemed mentally unstable and was locked up in a facility where she soon died of a fatal self inflicted wound. Ramsuse could only watch all of this happen from afar for he had no idea how to get through to her or to even show his face anywhere ever again as he drowned in grief and self hatred over time. He was cursed to be immortal as he became just a wandering cowboy, doing bounty work in passing towns. He took more heavily toward monster communities, however his bitterness and resentment toward the concept of life itself made both him and his horse extremely vicious and brutal to anyone around him. He would start bar fights regularly and kill more bounties that were strictly wanted alive and then he would kill lawmen if they so much as looked at him wrong he was just a whole ass mess. Appocolus was outcast as well by all horses, both feral and domesticated, so he too became very grudge driven and hostile. He would assist Ramsuse in tormenting and killing anyone they deemed deserving by biting and trampling as well. As the years flew by Ramsuse and Appocolus only had eachother in the world and now that the wild west is almost completely faded out he has a house and barn he made himself out in the middle of nowhere ( like somewhere around Montana or somethin if he was in this world I'd say) he owns thousands upon thousands of acres that he preserves and patrols( to make sure no bitch ass puts a gas station or mcdonalds anywhere PFFT) so theres pretty much a large chunk of the state that is untouched by modern life bc he Will destroy anything by any means necessary so nobody has successfully bought any land. so yeah now hes just a bitter old demon who refuses to move on from his timeline while desperately clings to whats left of his memories and avoids society except for an occasional bar run from a super old bar that's probably been around a while as well :') AIGHT i think i got everything abt his ass 😭 if u bothered to read this far HOPE U ENJOYED!!

[hyperactively-me]

on the run

“Ah, it's fine, I’ll just need some bacta patches and it’ll be fine. Besides, it's just a bruise” you say quietly, your face flushing. “I’m going to kill him” Din rasped, taking your hands in a movement to pull you to standing. 

just wanted to ask you guys to please read this

(asks are open)

happy reading

warnings: canon typical violence

You were uneasy about this job from when it was first proposed. You felt a pit in the depths of your stomach that signaled that something did not feel right. Although you understood why Din was so eager about accepting the job. He wanted more credits to upgrade parts of his ship and armor. You tried everything you could to push these feelings of doubt away but to no avail. Approaching Din about the job only turned into a heated argument about how it was necessary to ensure a few weeks worth of credits. 

Things got a little dicey. Okay, more than a little dicey. You were currently fending for yourself against two cronies employed by a prominent spice lord on Nar Shaddaa. Nar Shaddaa, of all places. Din could have picked any other planet, but no, there’s too many commissions on Nar Shaddaa to turn this down, besides, with this mission, I could earn a lot of credits. I’ll be fine, I’ve probably encountered worse before. 

Nar Shaddaa is a cosmopolitan planet practically owned by the Hutts, crime and lawlessness was bursting from every sidewalk, market, and building. An overabundance of illegal activity permeated the streets, every nook and cranny of the metropolitan planet corrupt. 

Din took on a job hunting down the leader of a high profile crime ring in the heart of the city. He took on the assignment knowing the risks and dangers, but, who was Din if he ever turned down an opportunity like this? An opportunity to return to the company after taking down a criminal that no one else could take down. Coming back to the guild and earning an even higher degree of respect? Oh, he said it was just too good to turn down, we’ll be fine, I can handle it. You decided to help him on his mission because the more muscle he had, the higher his chances of success were.

So of course, he managed to infiltrate the ring and blow it up from the inside out, creating pandemonium in the streets.

In the midst of the chaos that arose from the raid, you both managed to get separated, desperately fighting for each of your survival, focused on coming out alive. 

So here we are now, you’re shaken to your core as you play a lethal game of tag. Your heart threatens to beat out of its chest as you snap your head backwards only to see how hot on your tail the two bounty hunters were to you.

You touch your earpiece connecting you to Din and cry out “Din! I’m being tailed by two guys, where the kriff are you?”

A tall and burly Trandoshan was gaining on you whilst an orange-skinned Twi’lek dodged the crowded street. Deep and heavy breaths escape your dry throat as you focus all your brain power on formulating a plan and escaping without getting yourself killed, or worse, taken.  

“Din, I don’t know if you can hear me, but so help me Maker, I need a little assistance right now so it would be wonderful if you showed up.” You tried to make yourself sound angry and demanding, but in truth, you were scared for your life. 

Continuously dodging innocent bystanders and merchant stands take a toll on your stamina, slowing you down as you concentrate on where your feet are landing. The ringing noise of blaster shots rang out from behind you, causing you to duck your head in an attempt to protect yourself, just for precaution. You start heaving, trying to gulp air into your lungs like it's the last thing you can do to save yourself from collapsing from exhaustion. You look back once more and let out a loud yelp as the Trandoshan’s grubby hands were barely grazing the back of your shirt. You felt your blood run cold and your heart stopped beating for a split second, the adrenaline pumping through you fading. 

It was too late before you realized you lost sight of the Twi’lek when an orange blur came hurtling into your side, effectively ending the pursuit and toppling you over onto the uneven stones. 

Your vision goes hazy and you realize you can’t breathe. Your breaths are shallow and labored and your eyes struggle to focus. 

No no no please no I can’t stop now you panic, trying to set your brain straight after the impact.

A haze of orange and a mass of an alien face clouds your vision before you feel rough hands yanking your arms up in an attempt to set you up straight. Your head lurches forward and you screw your eyes shut in an attempt to focus your vision. The Trandoshan is manhandling you, and as a final attempt to break free, you resort to a classic self-defense trick. You knee him right in the groin.

He drops your arms quickly and doubles over, groaning in pain, and before he can stop you, you take off running. Or at least you think you’re running. Your head is pounding and your vision is streaked with black dots. You only get so far before the Twi’lek tackles you again, this time effectively taking you down. 

Everything is too much, the scene around you is too much. Everything hurts. Everything is too bright, too loud, too rough. The Twi’lek lets out a cruel snicker and slaps binders on your wrists before dragging you standing upwards. You falter, not capable of standing on your feet after the two collisions by two men who are much larger in stature than you. 

“Well well, you thought you could do that and just get away with it?” the Trandoshan sneers as he stalks over to you and the Twi’lek. As your vision begins to clear, you take note of the large, shiny knife in his possession. Your face pales a bit as you look up at the angry Trandoshan’s face. 

He raises his hand, and without hesitation, slaps you straight across the face. You falter from the contact as the Twi’lek catches you before you crumple over completely. He laughs maniacally before throwing your body over his shoulder. Tears flood your vision, your face stinging like a million wasps stung your face. 

Well that’s gonna leave a lovely mark. You winced at the thought of Din seeing the hand print on your face, not because you were scared of him, but because you were scared for the well-being of the Trandoshan. 

Your world bobs up and down as your two captors navigate back to their base. You catch bits of the mens’ conversation, trying your best to piece together any useful information you could. You send out a silent prayer that Din is alright, and that he’ll show up and you’ll both be fine, because right now, you were panicking. Usually you both had each other's backs in strenuous situations like this, and more often than not, you were both able to withstand more hits and blows. But being carried back to a now dead crime lord’s haven led by Maker knows who was a new low for you. 

You start to thrash in your captor’s grip, smacking your bound wrists against his stiff back with all your might. 

“What the- hey, cut that out” he grumbles, not amused with your poor attempts to stop him. 

“Kriff you” you bite out angrily, upset that you’re now their hostage, upset that you weren’t capable enough of defending yourself in this situation, and torn over the fact that you haven’t heard anything from Din in a while. You hadn’t heard anything from him in a while…

Maybe he was captured? you thought. Yeah, a guy like Din, a man notorious for his elusiveness and strategic logic is definitely captured right now. But he wouldn’t leave me, right? Right? Unless…he probably did leave you, like how everyone else you cared about in the past did. Maker, I really thought we had something. You hold back a sob as it builds up in your throat. You had hope that Din saw you as something more, after everything you’ve been through. Or maybe he was captured. Or even worse…don't even think about that. 

The side of your cheek where you were slapped begins to throb, swelling from the harsh impact of the greasy slimeball’s burly hand. A bruise was bound to erupt from the site of damage. 

All of a sudden you hear the Trandoshan scream out, followed by a crunch and a thud. The Twi’lek becomes rigid, fingernails digging harshly into the back of your knees as he slowly backs away from whatever or whoever attacked the Trandoshan. You tense under his grip, unaware of what is presenting the danger, and you begin to squirm under his grip. 

Next thing you know, the Twi’lek body slams you onto the cold ground, knocking the wind out of your lungs, leaving you dizzy and disoriented from the sudden aggression. He digs his steel-toed boot deep into your chest, pressing against your abdomen with enough force to cause potential bruising. You glance upward at the Twi’lek hovering over you and a glint of metal catches your eye. He has a blaster pointed right at your chest. Your breath catches in your throat and your mouth dries. 

“I suggest you don’t take another step towards me, otherwise I’ll shoot her” the Twi’lek calls out to the mystery person in front of you. 

Your heart halts in your chest, breath slows as you realize the gravity of the situation. You were practically helpless, incapable of making any move without potentially ending your life. You still under his boot, attempting to assess the situation. 

The air around you stills, a chill runs up your spine. 

“I think you’ve got someone that doesn’t belong to you. If you return her to me unharmed, I might just let you live” a gravelly and husky voice calls out lazily. That voice. Din’s voice. 

He came you practically cried out of desperation and relief. You strain your neck backwards to look at him. As soon as you make eye contact with his visor you flash him a weak smile to let him know that you’re relieved and glad to see him.

His form relaxes slightly as you hope you make eye contact with him through the dark visor of his helmet. Something seems to flash over his demeanor, but the moment is gone within a second. He turns back to the Twi’lek, who still has the blaster trained at your chest.

“Oh, you might just let me live. How wonderful. But I’m afraid I can’t let that happen, so either let me get through or the girl dies” the Twi’lek shouts out as he shoves the blaster closer to your chest. 

“Alright, fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you” Din calls out quickly before whipping out his own blaster. Before the Twi’lek can even register what’s happening, Din shoots the man straight in the chest. 

The Twi’lek crumples, folding in on himself before falling over onto his side, lifeless. You scramble on the stones, pushing yourself away from the body as fast as you can while still restrained.

You hear Din call out your name as he rushes to your side, dropping to his knees without hesitation.

“Are you hurt?” his hands roam up and down your body, assessing it for any damage before sighing with relief that there were no broken bones or blood. 

You let your head rest on the ground, taking gulps of air as your anxiety lessened. 

“I- I guess I’m fine. Just shaken up a bit” you croak out, pulling at the metal cuffs rubbing away at the skin around your wrists.

He gently grabs hold of your wrists, his eyes narrowing as he inspects the cuffs. 

“Give me a sec” he says distractedly, rummaging through his utility belt for a tool that could free you from your confinements. A moment goes by before he whips out a lock-picker of some sort. He slots the gadget into the small keyhole on your cuffs, jiggling it around before a small click rang through the air. The cuffs dropped to the ground and you let out a hiss at the raw skin. 

“Thanks” you whisper before gently sitting up, grimacing as you go.

“Your face…” Din points out, his voice hushed and severe. “What did they do to you?” He sounds ready to pounce, prepared to tear apart anyone who hurt you. 

His hand reaches up to touch the mark that’s now flourishing into a bruise on your cheek, and you wince as he applies a slight pressure to the mark. 

“Ah, it's fine, I’ll just need some bacta patches and it’ll be fine. Besides, it's just a bruise” you say  quietly, your face flushing.

“I’m going to kill him” Din rasped, taking your hands in a movement to pull you to standing. 

“I think you already did…” you grimace as you look over to the Trandoshan laying face down lifeless on the ground.

“Oh…less work for me then” he huffed out. 

You slightly falter when he pulls you completely up, head still spinning from the hits you took while trying to fight them off. Din catches you with a quick inhale, wrapping his strong arms around your back and under your arm to support you as you both walk back to the ship. 

As you continue to walk in silence, you can almost feel the anger rolling off Din, his helmet set straight ahead. 

As your adrenaline wears off from the scuffle, you remember how you even got in this situation to begin with: Din was nowhere to be found and unresponsive.

“Din, where the kriff were you? I needed you back there” you implored, your mind was racing and hot tears began to prick the corners of your eyes.

“I was-” he starts quietly before you relentlessly cut him off.

“Where? I really needed you back there, I was so scared and I thought you died! What happened?” you cry out, a wave of emotion crashing down on you. You try to pull yourself away from his grip, slightly thrashing in his arms. 

“Stop, you’re only going to worsen your injuries” he says slowly, eyes looking everywhere but yours. 

“No, I thought you left me. I really thought you felt nothing between us, thought you were using me for your own benefit! Don’t you understand?” you successfully free yourself from his stronghold on you and you begin hitting his chest with your hands fisted. 

Din stares you down, unmoving from his position. He sighs as he grabs hold of your fists, pulling them away and holding them to stop your attacks.

“Listen, I did what I had to do back there. If I hadn’t diverged from where you were going, neither of us would be alive” his jaw ticked as he seethed. 

You stopped and gazed up into the darkness of his visor, the strong grip he had on your fists loosen until he dropped them completely.

“Okay…but don’t pull stupid stunts like that without telling me first. I really thought you left me” a watery voice replaces your anger like whiplash.

Din relaxes, and pulls you tight against his chest in a reassuring hug.

“I would never leave you. Ever. I have a responsibility to protect you, and I didn’t fulfill that responsibility. I’m sorry” he reassured, arms tightening around your torso. 

Your arms wrap around his own torso, and you turn your un-bruised cheek against his chest, eyes overflowing with tears. 

His right hand comes up to rest in your hair, pressing his chest more firmly into it.

“You swear?” you question through a sniffle.

“I promise.”

[ladyloveandjustice]

Summer 2024 Anime Overview: Suicide Squad Isekai

The Suicide Squad from DC Comics meets isekai….as both a (former) DC Comics nerd and an anime fan, I’ve been training my whole life for this.

So…was this series good? I wouldn’t call it that. Was it accurate to it’s source material? Nope. No way in hell. Was it still pretty fun to watch? Yeah, it mostly is!

This is a series that embraces how goofy it is. Not all the humor hits, but much of it is at least endearing. It’s an anime about watching a bunch of assholes cause chaos and fail hard, and it shines at doing that.

Probably the character I’m most disappointed with, despite the fact she gets the most screentime and is clearly the main character, is Harley. It’s easy to tell this anime started production with only the first Suicide Squad to go off of, because Harley and the Joker’s relationship is framed as positive and not abusive at all. Also, hilariously, the Joker is now full bishonen with a seductive voice and Hot Topic aesthetic.

Rather the chaotic, cheerfully murderous, and full of uncontrollable rage guy from the comics, he’s like, a pretty laid back mall goth and talks a lot about how the world is filthy (dude since when do you care).

He also doesn’t mention Batman once, which might be a copyright thing but adds to it all. He's less like the Joker and more like one of the many Joker-alike characters in anime: Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter, that guy from Metallic Rouge, the way he’s played seems so familiar.

Making the relationship with Harley healthy actually flattens her a lot as a character. Now she really was saved from her dull life by a man, her obsession with him is just annoying rather than sad, and she isn’t struggling with anything. There’s no conflict withing her. What really doesn’t help is the show frames her as “SUPER EMPOWERED” and the empowering thing is that a man showed her how to “be herself” (aka be just like him) and now she can’t go five minutes without talking about him, and she gets almost every creative thought and good idea she has from him…girl power, y’all!

On the other hand, she is incredibly fun to watch, with her boldness, her love of violence, and carefree attitude. It’s cute to watch her slowly form friendships with the team (and always adorable how Harley forms a friendship with King Shark in every continuity. She calls him Nana-chan!) She does things like randomly adopt a dragon and team up with orcs. She has a wonderful moment when attacked with mind control. She’s a character I like outside the stuff with the Joker, even if she isn’t really Harley.

And speaking of female characters done dirty, Amanda Waller does a lot of bad things, but I really can’t picture her getting behind colonizing another world and taking their resources. Yet here we are. She also has very little screentime in this, despite being so famously prominent in the end credits.

All the other members of the Squad basically have one trait we return to again and again, but the one trait is usually pretty fun (except for Peacemaker, who’s one thing is mentioning PEACE and AMERICA and boy does it get old), their team dynamic is fun and boy are they causing carnage. Again, they lack the depth of their comic counterparts and just kind of feel like their own thing, but while they’re shallow as hell, that doesn’t make them boring. Especially when the commit so much bombastic animated violence. The show has a ton of fun with its fight animation, and the effort really shows.

The isekai world is fairly generic, which seems to be part of the point, and the plot is paper thin, and this includes a villain who’s introduced late in the story, with no explanation of where she came from, why she’s doing what she’s doing and one of the dumbest designs I’ve ever seen...and the whole climax is built around her. It then pulls off a plot twist so brazenly nonsensical that is wraps around to being kind of impressive in its ridiculousness.

There is an effort made at character development in one respect- there's this whole character arc with the Generic Isekai Princess where Harley inspires her to speak up for herself and she decides to become as much like Harley as she can. Soooo I think this show really does think “empowering yourself” is actually copying another person and trying to become them, but hey, at least that other person is a woman this time. And there were a couple shippy moments with her and Harley, so that’s something.

(oh and on the topic of unfortunate implications, at one point Clayface makes fun of Deadshot's short dreads, saying his hair looks like "broccoli" and I have no idea why anybody let that through, especially on the DC side).

But at the end of they day, the one thing I wanted to happen--everyone getting magical girl transformation sequences--did in fact happen and it was great, so I can’t complain.

So yeah, this is a fine show to watch if you want a shallow, utterly brainless good time. It’s here to be goofy and action packed and nothing else. But if you really need these characters to resemble the comic characters, it’s not gonna be for you.

[sgiandubh]

Jottings: Season 7, Episode 5. Dinna fash, we'll sort it out

The proof is in the pudding: we don't really need to see J&C/S&C all the time on screen, to know an episode is still consistently good, in an overall unexpectedly great season, so far.

Side note: just how hypnotic Bear McCreary's Dance of the Druids must be, to immediately cut all ties to the real world, as you settle on the couch, larva style, with your ice cream (yes! again! B&J's Karamel Sutra Core - more appropriate for last week, but nobody's perfect)?

It would seem this time speed gave precedence to density and even gravitas, because neither war, nor self-assertiveness are jokes. The main theme of the mysteriously named Singapore seems to be the obvious cause and effect relationship between prejudice and miscommunication, or even lack thereof. It doesn't really matter if the year is 1777 or 1979: men will be men, women will be women and idiots will be idiots, regardless of gender or nationality. Tonight, for instance, an accomplished French idiot, which is ironic and a tad unfair to watch, seconds after Bastille Day (this comes from a place of deep love, familiarity and appreciation). But almost all of them will face authoritarian idiocy in this episode: I will let you discover (remember: nothing but minimal spoilers).

Still embarrassed for SS, whose vital signs seem to be on display only when she is a) crying and b) pissed off because of someone or something. For the pub scene with the gang of morons from the plant, she could have borrowed a wealth of JAMMF's expression tricks (for which S is the absolute ace) and I suspect she tried but, yet again, failed to persuade: the only thing that she seems remotely acquainted with is the smirk. And I will not insist on the torturous rendering of maternal love or domestic bliss. I feel merciful tonight and sometimes mercy is just about the same as oblivion (not a word about that vanishing panties scene, do you hear me?). Maybe this is also why RR still seems more relaxed, but perhaps also totally resigned about a situation that must be dealt and be done with a stiff upper lip, for the cause.

Product placement alert, with the Barbour wax jackets and shirts (long time client, here) prominently featured at Lallybroch. Nothing magic. This is a long-term partnership, maybe also S's contribution. Yes, Mordor, that peasant did it again!

A propos of the plant inspection, the tunnel scene sent powerful The Man in the High Castle vibes, from the set to the running through well, something, for lack of a better word. For those who have not seen this excellent series, here's a good Droughtlander plan. It's all about Jude Law and the Japanese guy; and also Philip K. Dick, one of my beloved science-fiction writers, truly a genius.

Spoiler: "You can thank that rotten stew". Ohai, Vandervaart, sweet summer child. Too fleeting a presence on my screen, yet you nailed your scene with Rachel Hunter, which I proclaim my favorite of this episode. The scenery helps, that pre-dawn murky, metallic light is perfect and you found the right balance between disgust, horror, an adrenaline high, fear, uncertainty and yes, unspoken (maybe even unconscious) attraction. Also, a masterful use of voice, pitch and breathing techniques - what's not to like?

A close second but enthusiastic kudos for Young Ian. John Bell is wonderful in his scene with C. which, again, gave me life imitates art vibes. And even more moving is the dense moment with the Cherokee/Scottish son, for I believe that endearing boy with a Fraser smile is Young Ian's.

These jottings are unable and unwilling to ignore S, very busy shaping Jamie's hero stature in short, effective appearances. Something we will probably see in full force next week, when I shall be out of town and not watching. Still, rejoice: the Jottings will be making it a double in two weeks.

[lizardtheartist]

So I came up with a concept of my own multiverse night at the inventory thing, featuring ghost max….

We have 10 players in total: Sam, Demon Sam, Swap Sam, Samantha, Werewolf Sam, Max, Saint Max, Swap Max, Maxine, and our beloved Ghost Max.

The Sams and the Maxs both play at their own tables, talking to their own groups, like that extremely awesome Ao3 Fic, credit to the writer for coming up with that idea/srs.

Info about these certain multiverse sams and maxs:

Sam: just your average canon Sam, he’s been through all the stuff that happened in the games/cartoon/comics, he’s the Sam ever. Just this time, with a dead Max and an alive Max companions.

Demon Sam: After becoming the new ruler of the underworld, he’s decided to take it easy in life, or unlife? He doesn’t have as many Satan-y responsibilities as he thought he would, so he just hangs out with his very adorable angel husband. He has a more stern demeanor but he means well, I think? Him and Saint Max are called the Freelance Holy Ones. (Despite how unholy the two can really be)

Swap Sam: Sam but instead of being a more levelheaded detective, he’s almost just like normal Max in every way possible, yes, even height wise. Swap Sam is everything you could ever want in a rabid dog, he even probably has rabies. He loves to run around and cause trouble, he gets mistaken for a puppy sometimes due to his height and chubby physique. Him and Swap Max are still called the Freelance Police.

Samantha: Samantha (Sam for short but that gets confusing fast.) is literally just Sam but he’s wearing more feminine clothes. Honestly you could look at em and just assume it’s Sam in his drag persona. Samantha acts a bit more feminine than Sam as well, but not too much to make it obnoxious. I like to think she has a very nice and smooth middle age woman voice? I’m not sure how to explain it. Her and Maxine are still the Freelance Police as expected.

Werewolf Sam: This Sam has been a werewolf ever since he was little, inherited from his parents, he had the ability to transform into a werewolf during a classic full moon, but recently, as he’s gotten older, the werewolf part has since become more prominent and now he’s more werewolf than normal dog. He doesn’t entirely mind this, even though he has violent tendencies more often, he’s still a very wholesome and sweet guy, Max calls him his big ol’ dangerous teddy bear. Max is his werewolf caretaker, after formerly being a werewolf hunter, he decided to give up the job in order to support his Sam.

Max: Everyone’s favorite little lagomorph, he’s the same ol’ max from the ending of 305. We all know him, we all love him.

Saint Max: Saint Max is everything holy and good in the world, which is what he likes to think he is. Saint Max often acts nice and chipper, always seeing the best of EVERYTHING ever but underneath that thinly veiled self, there’s a thirsty little bastard gremlin who can be a brat sometimes. People think that some of Demon Sam had rubbed off on Saint Max, but no, that’s how he’s always been.

Swap Max: Swap Max is basically just Max but with Sam’s personality, but I made this personality slightly more edgy like Noir Sam. Why? Cus I thought it’d be interesting. Swap Max is still a rabbity thing, but he’s much taller now, he’s also bulked up slightly but not much. He still has a comedic side like Sam but it comes out a little less, but one thing I do know, is that he uses long winded words and sentences just like any normal Sam would.

Maxine: Maxine is EXACTLY like Max, in almost every way, she’s just Max with a bow around her neck and some yass queen earrings. Her voice is slightly raspier and her mannerisms have a touch of feminine traits, but she’s still just Max in a cute lil bow.

Ghost Max: Ghost Max is just Max before 305, coming back down from space, he hangs out with Sam and Max as their “ghost buddy” because they still haven’t gotten it through their thick skulls that the ghost is just Max. Ghost Max can play with both the Sams and the Maxs, because no one actually sees him, they just see floating cards that he’s holding. He’s equipped with a red marker, he can write simple words and drawings on a notepad or something. It’s supposed to look like blood but he didn’t have any spare blood on hand. Ghost Max has the ability to cheat and switch cards around. If this poker night game was a real thing, the player would probably be Ghost Max himself.

A quick look at the cast themselves:

(All credit for the multiverse poker idea goes to SofiaTheRandomDemon on Ao3, if you see this Sofia, your shit is written so well on GOD) (also credit to @impostorwhipplesshow for the insane idea of ghost max joining in on the poker stuff)

[tombfreak]

Hello, I’m really confused by some of the things you mentioned in your reply to that other person.

You described unconventional senses of remorse as driven by shame from, or occasionally fear of, getting caught, or fear of it causing you to lose something valuable. I thought that was prosocial? How would a prosocial feel remorse vs. an antisocial? Isn’t the whole point of feeling bad for hurting someone “oh no, I might hurt my relationship with them!!” Like, nobody genuinely feels bad when they hurt a stranger, right? It’s just “oh no, people will see me as bad!” and people get mad when you admit you didn’t really feel bad because people don’t actually value honesty.

And you mentioned keeping friendships purely for your entertainment value. Again, what’s the difference between that and a “prosocial” friendship? I’m asking since that describes most of my friendships. I don’t really bother to keep a friend if they aren’t entertaining somehow.

I’m probably going to be bombarding you with questions. Please take your time with them. I like how you link studies, it makes me more willing to trust what you say.

No worries at all, I love discussing these types of things

For further reading on ASPD and remorse and empathy, you can check out these studies; [1], [2]

To understand how remorse differs from those who are prosocial vs antisocial, we'll have to properly define the word.

Cambridge Dictionary defines the word "remorse" as "a strong feeling of guilt and regret about something you have done". Merriam-Webster defines it as "a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs". The description for remorse on Wikipedia is "remorse is a distressing emotion experienced by an individual who regrets actions which they have done in the past that they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or wrong."

They all describe remorse as feeling bad about what you have done, rather than what will be done to you. While a lot of prosocials do experience remorse out of a fear of consequences, they may also experience remorse simply due to empathy for the other person. If they only feared consequences, why would they feel bad about situations where there was no threat of punishment? Why do they feel bad after forgiveness was given? Why do they feel bad for hurting strangers they wont ever see again?

Humans are social creatures, which is why we have a label designed to categorize those who act against our natural social instincts. Back in hunter-gatherer times, we functioned in tribes. If we were shunned by the tribe, or left behind, our changes of survival would plummet exponentially, so our brains began to associate being left alone with high risks of death. This is why people typically get uncomfortable at rejection or at being left out, because it triggers this primal tribal urge in our brain.

This is also why we have remorse. Because if we fucked up, we needed to have some sort of safeguard in our brain to push us to fix the situation, or learn from it. Our brain uses good-feeling chemicals to tell us that we're doing something right, and bad-feeling chemicals to tell us that something is wrong.

Now, people with ASPD are still people. They aren't a different subset of person just because of this label. They are perfectly capable of experiencing prosocial things in prosocial ways (if they still meet the ASPD criteria in other ways).

So while it's true that remorse simply out of a fear of consequences is true for some prosocials, its not always the case, some people genuinely do feel bad simply for hurting another person. Meanwhile that fearing-consequence remorse is much more prominent with people with ASPD.

Yes, a lot of prosocials do keep people around simply because they're fun. The difference is that it's to a disordered extent with ASPD. Antisocial behaviours and mindsets are actually very common in regular people. Everyone lacks empathy and remorse sometimes, everyone thinks cruel or mean thoughts, everyone lies and manipulates others. The difference is that it is taken to an extreme and causes dysfunction is many areas of life in ASPD, and it is deeply ingrained into how they think and act.

So the difference between a prosocial friendship and an ASPD one, is that the prosocial would know more on how to make a friendship only based on entertainment work. Meanwhile someone with ASPD would go against the social rules of etiquette and just be a complete dick.

For me personally, I was always very open to my old friends on what I wanted from them. I always made it clear that the moment they stopped being entertaining to me, I would drop them, no matter what they had done for me, or how close we became. I have a history of dropping people who have given me tons of money, or have spent a lot of time and effort on our relationship, just because I didn't see them as worth my time anymore. It's a very dysfunctional way of doing things that causes issues in my interpersonal relationships. My disregard for their feelings and my callous selfishness in regards to my friendships back then was the difference between me being prosocial and antisocial.

I've noticed a lot of prosocial behaviour comes from people-pleasing and wanting to follow the social norms set in place, so while they might just use their friends for entertainment, they'd never admit it to them, or themselves.

Also, some prosocials are capable of forming relationships just on the basis of empathy, shared interests, admiration, or caring for the other person. My best friend gets absolutely no benefit from me, we rarely even talk, but he is always happy to help me out and hangout with me when I feel like it. He forms relationships based on simply liking a person and valuing the traits they have as a person, instead of if they give him entertainment, or money, or a rush.

Again, people with ASPD are still people, and its very common for a prosocial person to experience antisocial traits or mindsets to a functional extent. ASPD is a very complex disorder and differs greatly in presentation. Theres 7 symptoms from criteria A, and someone only needs to exhibit 3 of them in order to qualify for a diagnosis. The big difference in the ways prosocials and antisocials do things, is that antisocials have a complete disregard for the social norms, expectations, and others feelings, while prosocials try to cater to these things most of the time.

[kb1301]

MaxCayde Headcanons

My liking for Cayde never stops so have an idea of how MaxCayde works! Here’s some Max and Cayde headcanons for their dynamic as a duo/pair:

Partners-in-crime, specifically that of jokes and pranks and hijinks. Max was taught early on by Cayde in his ways of mischief and fun and it stuck on for a good while. They tend to get scolded when they get caught, but it's always a cause for laughter.

Max was informally trained by Cayde on how it is to be a Hunter, even despite being a Warlock. He picked up on certain Hunter traits, but the most prominent one is the need for adventure, to look beyond the walls of the City.

Cayde doesn't want to get burdened by paperwork that comes to his desk, while Max is just happy to help and do more than his normal workload. And thus Cayde would get Max to do some of his paperwork for him in exchange for some niceties that the Hunter Vanguard would provide (in the form of favors, or something sweet).

If the above is unavailable for Cayde to do, he'll invite Max to sneak out instead, begging for him to just escape work with him and relax or have fun. Max is typically an industrious and responsible person but he can't deny Cayde at all. Maybe it's the puppy eyes or the incessant pleading.

There are times where Max will get Cayde to stay and stick with his work though, and after that it's all fun for them both. Max is probably one of the only few people that could make him finish his work, with the right nudges.

A ride or die kind of friendship, one that stays long. Whatever Cayde wants to do, Max is very much inclined to do it with him. Cayde wants to launch their sparrows at some ogre's body? Max will do it. The Hunter wants to dabble with experimental ramen flavors with Max? He'll do it.

Strong, and I mean, strong mutual pining. Despite being such close friends, their attraction for each other wasn't exactly apparent too. It was entirely suppressed, at least on Cayde's side. Exacerbated though by the fact that these two had a very interesting moment together and without even knowing, Max had confessed his feelings at the heat of the moment. Cayde would have done something then and yet he pursued friendship still.

Lots of hugs and cuddles between the two. Cayde is very touchy with Max and would enjoy being close to his friend (or potential partner). You'll see Cayde running for Max's side to give him a big hug.

Height differences! Max is 5'10" and I headcanon Cayde to be around 6'1"-6'4" so there's a lot of teasing from this tall ass Hunter with the shorter Warlock. Max acquiesces from the teasing because he loves Cayde. Thinking of the amount of times that Cayde would put his head on Max's shoulders by leaning down or Max having to put his on Cayde's by reaching for it. It would be a lot.

Whenever Max and Cayde get ramen, Max will pay for them both. No questions asked. He has the glimmer.

The slightly quiet and talkative duo.

[aroaceleovaldez]

THE WINNER FOR WHAT I WILL BE INSANE ABOUT TODAY - cause jokes on you all i’m insane about this topic every day - DEMIGODS LIVING OUTSIDE THE CAMPS (suggested by @pjoandgreekthings)

Okay so canonically, we know of technically 4 established demigod “groups” outside of the camps - the Hunters of Artemis/Diana, the Amazons, the Waystation, and as of post-TOA, Meg’s little group. Former groups include the Titan Army, Giant Army, and Circe’s Island. Other than them we have the vague notion of “rogue” demigods, which all of the aforementioned groups are technically, at least categorically. “Rogue” demigods just refers to demigods who aren’t “campers” at either camp - Nico is probably the most prominent rogue demigod in the series, though recently he shifted more into being a proper camper. I say specifically “campers” because retired legionaries from Camp Jupiter who no longer live there are still considered members of Camp Jupiter, and we have quite a few examples of rogue demigods who are affiliated with either camp or Olympus in general.

We know very little of rogues, but what we do know is pretty interesting. There’s also some potential things we can infer - like, due to the presence of the Amazons, theoretically that implies the Gargareans are also somewhere. The existence of the Waystation also confirms that rogue demigods are fully capable of creating independent safehouses (and we also know Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia created safe campsites during their travels together) so the Waystation is most likely far from the only one (though possibly one of the few with a particular divine patron). We also have examples consistently throughout the series of monsters working alongside demigods peacefully, so there’s plenty of precedent for miscellaneous monster/rogue demigod alliances, which is a very fun potential dynamic.

The independent rogue demigods we know the most about are: Nico, Alabaster Torrington, Luke/Annabeth/Thalia from pre-CHB, Mimi (from Camp Jupiter Classified), Chris Rodriguez (though we don’t actually know much about Chris’ time as a rogue or in the Titan Army), and the presumably escaped sorceresses from Circe’s island. Based on Hylla and Reyna, we can presume most of the sorceresses who escaped either joined the Amazons with Hylla or ended up commandeering pirate ships to go do whatever. Between the Waystation and Alabaster, we have a pretty strong implication that Hecate/Trivia kids in particular are skilled at creating and maintaining demigod safehouses, though this skill isn’t exclusive to them (and also, magic isn’t exclusive to them either - since we know the sorceresses were learning magic). Because of Nico (and also the Hunters, and Reyna to a degree) we can also infer that most rogue demigods were actually fully aware of the Greek/Roman split, and particularly with the Waystation we know they’re also probably fully aware of there being non-Greco-Roman pantheons as well. In fact, it’s actually very possible that most rogue demigods are actually Norse, as there is no formal Norse demigod space - at least for the living - which means most Norse demigods would be forced to become rogues until they die and possibly end up in Valhalla. Grim!

We also know most rogue demigods are either non-Olympian demigods or Olympian demigods with very few if any powers, because of how monsters tracking demigods works. The less powerful a demigod is, the more they can avoid monsters. The more powerful a rogue is, the more difficult it is for them to survive due to being hunted down constantly. The only known exception to this is the Hunters of Artemis/Diana, with which it seems Artemis’ patronage overrides the aura of the demigod’s divine ancestor or something similar to protect them. Basically any other demigod is going to find it extremely difficult to survive. A lot of rogue demigods are also heavily implied or directed stated to be rogues because their respective camps didn’t respect their divine ancestors - Mimi and Alabaster are both examples of this - or because of some situation actively relating to their divine ancestor (such as is implied with Chris).

Anyways I have so many thoughts about rogue demigod groups.

[lutethebodies]

LTB Tav Tuesdays: Farago Heli, the Elven Exile

My fifth Tav is a work in progress, because unlike last week's ranger, this ranger has only existed in my homebrew 5e as an NPC, and in this case as the right-hand man of another more plot-important NPC at that. However, expanding on his backstory helped me worldbuild an entire conflict in which he was also a bit player, and I found that compelling to revisit if he were placed front and center. More so than that of the NPC he supported, even.

His name "Farago" (one R) is an obvious nod to the word "farrago" (two Rs): "a confused mixture, hodgepodge or medley." His background is a bit cliché—the taciturn ex-soldier who's "seen some shit"—but that also helps his personality suit his name: a farrago, as it were, of doubts, fears, hopes, and wishes. He's probably the most "man's man" type I'll ever play, but as a modest, competent expert instead of a beefy blowhard, because I have no time for macho crap (and neither does he). The "standard stoic Tav" expressions actually suit him well.

In 5e Farago is a Rogue Scout with the Soldier background, built that way to complement his party leader, a Hunter Ranger. His backstory was all about surviving a major regional conflict—the short but destructive Exiles' War where he'd joined the losing side as a picket—to become a freelance wilderness adventurer "exiled" from any official loyalties. He maintains a calm personality (not emotionless but not volatile) and is haunted by his battlefield experiences.

Farago is committed to people (friends and family, not nations or causes), and will never leave a comrade behind. He remembers every insult and nurses resentment against those who've wronged him, but he made a terrible battlefield mistake that cost many lives, which he cannot forget. Farago looks like an ordinary wood elf aside from his most prominent feature, a deep pink strawberry birthmark covering half his face, which he obscures behind greasy dark hair and wide-brimmed hats.

In BG3 (where of course Scout isn't a subclass) I went with Hunter Ranger with the Archery fighting style, which gets him close enough mechanically (though I do miss that ranged sneak attack). I'm not sure how that would square well with the BG3 story, but as a wood elf maybe he could have been part of the Grove's war against Thorm, and he simply doesn't talk about it much. Halsin is welcome to share those stories, but Farago ain't into it. His solo playthrough sits in Act 3 after finishing the House of Grief, but he's also part of my current multiplayer/multi-Tav current run—a "guys and dolls" raid-the-grove romp with only Cannor, Minthara, and Shadowheart.

Farago's romance is with Shadowheart, because he's patient and slow burns are worth it. In his solo run Minthara chased him at the end of Act 2, but he didn't forget the drow slurring him as "darthirr" during Act 1. Making sand castles with the charmingly awkward neo-Selunite Shadowheart (whom he suspects, but won't say out loud, sees her elven father in him) is much more his jam than any of the other companions. He's currently camped in the Lower City (a great source of new hats), so a big farm or small ranch with this young lady when all the tadpole shit is finished sounds just fine.

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V3 5

Vinland Saga S2 - A large chunk of this episode, I think the majority of it, was kept focused on Gardar's death as he was riding in the back of the wagon driven by his wife while slowly succumbing to a fatal wound Snake gave him, visions of his life and afterlife flashing before him the whole time. Watching it was one of the most surreal and discomforting experiences I've had in a while. I can't describe it all in words, it just left my heart feeling very heavy but at the same time I felt light, like I'd come out the other side of a spiritual ordeal. The man made some horrible mistakes and did not live his life in the best of ways, but watching his soul depart to the afterlife where he's reunited with his dead, still very young son was...it was something.

Hunter x Hunter - Meruem and Komugi playing their Gungi matches continues to steal the show, with Meruem this time attempting to intimidate Komugi with the prospect of betting her life against his body parts, only for what Komugi tells him that make the Ant King apologetic to the point where he just goes and maims himself anyway, so Neferpitou had to be called upon to use their powers to heal the king's wound. This allows for Knov to sneak inside the palace and make preparations for the hunters' attack. There's also this one guy who actually runs the nation who is a creepy, disgusting perv willingly working with the Ants in order to obtain women. Seems he's picked out Palm, who's all set for her own undercover mission.

SHUFFLE! - Kaede got more focus this time, and while she's still kind and sweet and wanting to make sure Rin and his friends are always well taken care of, the increasing presence of the other girls in Rin's life is clearly making her start to feel left out, and there are hints to some unpleasant childhood incident involving her and Rin that Rin probably still can't recall. Kaede catchess a cold but still tries to push herself to not be a burden, but thankfully Sia, Narine, and Asa come over to help her out...to some humorously mixed results.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - The epilogue episode for the series focuses on Shirou and Rin about a year later attending this elite academy for mages in London and we just get to see how much closer they've grown and how they're carrying on in their lives. We got two notable last minute introductions of characters who should go on to have prominence elsewhere in this franchise - Shirou's new wealthy benefactor and Rin's archrival, Luviagelita Edelfelt (voiced with a laughably bad and exaggerated sounding British accent by Lauren Landa) who's only here to fawn over Shirou and kick Rin's ass in a wresting fight, and more surprisingly, Lord El Melloi II, known previously as Waver Velvet! One of the best protagonists of Fate Zero grew up to be quite an important, serious-minded and devilishly handsome man and I was so not ready to see him but love that I did!

The ending caps off Shirou and Rin's shared stories, which is what this series was all about from the get-go, and the post-credits just as perfectly caps off Archer's story, as we see him fade away from the Unlimited Blade Works and be replaced by a different Future Shirou, suggesting that Shirou does indeed avoid that particular Bad End.

KonoSuba - How does this show and the antics of its main cast just keep getting funnier? I was floored so many times by this one, with Aqua, due to sheer greed, taking up a mission to purify a lake and ward off gator monsters while inside a cage, which ends up freaking her the fuck out and leaving her with trauma that causes a mental shutdown where she refuses to get out of the cage because the world outside it scares her, and even forgets she's a goddess! (Don't worry, it doesn't take much to snap her out of it!) Then this other Isekai'd hero named Kyouya (voiced by the late, great Billy Kametz) comes in and recognizes Aqua as the goddess who sent him to this world on his own heroic quest, and is completely aghast to see her hanging around the party of a lowlife like Kazuma. Kazuma being Kazuma brings out the worst in this guy, who ordinarily seems more like your traditional Isekai light novel fantasy hero, so he challenges him to a duel where Kazuma steals his sword, threatens his female traveling companions, and then sells the sword off-screen. Kyouya will have damn good reason to feel vengeful if he ever crosses the party again....vengeful like the Headless Horseman demon lord from the previous episode, who comes calling again at the end of this one!

Symphogear XV - Noble Red's attempt to activate the Bracelet of Shem-Ha doesn't go so well, leaving them without a hideout, so the three vampire chicks now need to lay low in a trailer. Yes, really. In another skirmish with S.O.N.G, they reveal they hope to regain their human bodies so that they don't have the constant need for blood to sustain them. Vanessa gets a tracking device planted on her during the battle, but when it's found, she and her friends decide to use it to their advantage, luring the Symphogear wielders to an impressively well-laid out trap battleground where they use their special combo ability to trap the girls in a pyramid-shaped labyrinth that's closing in on them from all sides. But who should pop up to help Hibiki but the spirit of Saint-Germain, still inside her and lending her additional strength! After breaking out, Hibiki extends a hand to reach out to Vanessa...and then the whole thing is revealed to be a triple-cross as Japanese government agents raid the area, set on stopping the missions of both Noble Red and S.O.N.G! Goddamn you, Fudou!

Eureka Seven - Renton re-boards the Gekko but makes it clear to Holland and the others that he's only there to see Eureka again. He picked the worst timing since Eureka's gone off in search of him, putting herself in front of the approaching state army being led to the Gekko by Ray and Charles. While Holland is still a monster and has yet to really come to terms with the harm he's done to both Renton and Eureka, the rest of Gekko State accepts that the two kids need each other and encourage Renton to bail Eureka out of the battle. In the midst of some awesome and intense air battle action, Renton and Eureka are reunited at last, using the Nirvash to create something even stronger than a Seventh Swell, forcing the enemy to retreat. We seem back in business as Renton and Eureka have begun a new relationship, Holland's having some ephiphany about all the things he now has to re-think, and Charles swears he's not keen on giving up.

Gintama - Following half an episode of Shinsengumi antics is a full episode story where one of Otae's colleagues runs into trouble with this bizarre cult run by a con man, so Otae enlists Odd Jobs to retrieve the money that the cult took. And we meet a new mainstay character here, the shaggy-haired, goateed ninja Zenzo Hattori.

[deepdarkdelights]

Another two down. I read Prey For Me and Pygmalion. I gotta say, I Iove how every story has been giving different vibes. Predator was more frightening and fearful, Purgatory was more emotional, and then we jump into Prey For Me, which was more sexual. I got sooooo pissed at her ex. And to find out that he cheated on her with her sister for 4 years??! WTF. I know each story is yandere, but yet I still gasped when Jimin revealed that he killed her ex haha. Caught me off guard. I really enjoyed Pygmalion. We get more into insecurity for the MC. It honestly made me so sad to read how insecure she is about herself. Just like Taehyung said, him and Jimin are very different so it was interesting to read those stories back to back. Also Taehyung said that each member of the family has a certain gift that they gained from their human lives. His is very good sight. I don't recall if the rest of the members said theirs. What are the rest of the members gifts and why is it those specific traits? Putting that aside, I'm still very curious about Namjoon's character. He doesn't make many appearances and they don't really talk about him until they bring up troubles going on. I can't wait to read Namjoon's story once you have it out. I wonder how the MC might be and what about her that causes Namjoon's attention. I'll probably have to re-read Perfection because of all the information I'm getting from the other stories.

Oooh you're making really good progress! And I am so glad you noticed the tonal difference between them! I really wanted to give each member their own story and their own vibes while still trying to connect them.

As for their enhancements, I have talked about them a little bit before. Basically, a prominent trait or experience from their human life could be enhanced or formed into a "gift" in their vampiric life. It can also be something that develops as a means of survival.

JK is exceptionally strong and a talented hunter but also fairly callous and unemotional. This comes from a human life where he felt weak and was bullied and abused. When he first turned he experienced immense rage but he later schooled it into apathy and just became bloodthirsty and ruthless. Still, he is physically enhanced (far stronger than anyone else) while also being emotionally affected.

Yoongi has a form of future sight, this developed due to his inability to foresee his incoming death in spite of the signs being there. Now, he gets intense feelings when something bad is about to happen.

Jimin has magnetism. In his human life, he was the casanova type and drew people towards him. Now as a vampire he can attract people towards him or choose to repel them away (this works more so on an attraction basis, becoming extremely seductive and compelling, or choosing to force people away from him - it's more emotional and mental rather than telekinetic lol)

Tae was an artist and that was a very prominent part of his life. As a vampire, he already has great eyesight, but his is far better than any other vampire he knows. It's extremely clear, he can see much farther (miles farther if he so chooses) and he has a much wider scope of peripheral vision. So he can oftentimes be the first warning system of danger alongside Yoongi.

Hoseok, much like Tae has an enhancement. He is far faster than any other vampire, so fast that when he moves it looks like he is teleporting. This was because, in his human life, he was unable to outrun his death. Much like Jungkook, he is also a very talented tracker/hunter.

Jin has compulsion, another enhancement. In his human life, he was very persuasive and was oftentimes able to get whatever he wanted in whatever deal he was making. As a vampire, he has the gift of being able to compel almost anyone to do exactly what he tells them. It's not something he enjoys using often as he still enjoys trying to use his "natural" skills, that and using this ability tends to take a lot out of him.

Joon...well Joon is still TBD 😂 As the leader of the coven and everyone's maker he does have control over them, he can instruct them to do anything and they will have to do it - there is no choice. That isn't his "gift" though, this is simply true for all maker-creation bonds.

Enjoy the last few fics! If you have any more questions I would be thrilled to answer 💜

[eneiryu]

down in the valley where the suns getting low was so good i loved it! that last scene where theo and liam run into each other at scott’s house was so vivid and perfect i could see it happening clearly in my head (and all of your fics are so easy to picture cause of the way you write they’re perfect) and i had to put my phone down and scream when i read it it was the perfect ending and perfect story. it was so sad and well written and i immediately read both sequels right after.

i love that you had Quentin in this fic as well it really makes the teen wolf multiverse so complete and the fact that liam kills him to protect theo was something i’ve been wanting to read forever lol (having one of them deal with quentin to protect the other)

i also read your ask about the s5 au and that is also one of my favorites it was so good and i looked forward to every chapter each week.

for the s6 potential continuation, maybe it could start with any of the storylines (ghost riders, anukite, or monroe). maybe the anukite was brought by something the dread doctors did and it could happen after a time skip so a fast forward to 6b except liam has this version of theo on his side? or maybe time skip s6 all together and make s6 take plave over a shorter time period so a potential continuation would just pick up with the pack hunting monroe and scott building his relations with other packs with this version of theo who isn’t really learning to be a good person and hasn’t changed all that much, he’s just shifted his goal from wanting a pack to just wanting to be with liam. i think that could be really interesting because liam still is very much a good person and an alpha in training and he doesn’t justify killing people but theo especially this version probably doesn’t care (especially if it meant choosing between liam and some hunter) and that seems like something that would change things a lot and be easily exploited by someone like monroe.

Thank you! I’m so glad I finally got down in the valley out. It was a story I wanted to write for a long time, but frankly struggled to write for a really long time—I think because I was so desperate to get it right—and I’m pretty darn happy with how it turned out. Glad folks seem to be enjoying.

And ha, yes: I think Quentin’s demise, even in a canon divergent AU, was something a lot of people have been wanting for a long time. 😂

On the S6 AU, I almost hesitate to admit this because—and I’m warning everyone now—it will be at least six months before anything even approaching an S6 AU is ready, but: I have the first and second scenes, and am starting to get the shape of the thing. It will involve a canon divergent take on S6A, partially because I am really taken with the idea of a Theo v. Douglas showdown, and also potentially how to give Kira a more prominent role? Another reader (I believe it was @equallyloyalandlethal , unless this is @equallyloyalandlethal ) reminded me that canonically, there’s a connection between Kira and the Wild Hunt, and I think that could be really fun to play with, especially in the context of Theo’s and Kira’s relationship (lack of skinwalker prison notwithstanding). So, we are making like, millimeters of progress towards potentially having an outline, which for me is the first step to writing a story.

Anyway! So glad you enjoyed down in the valley, I remain flattered as ever that there is such interest in a potential S6 continuation, and thanks for the ask. 😊

[maryacore]

okay would be too bad if i let this rot on pdb so longread on why emperor belos isn't an isfj (with some good old character analysis sprinkled in)

starting point here is that i type him as an istj sx1w2sp 146 but i'm too lazy to explain the sx1 part rn so let's focus on istj vs isfj. disclaimer everything i that say is my personal opinion and reading of the character.

first off i don't se him exhibiting aux fe at all as fe cares about the relationships and obligations, its main function being basically to pick up on the behaviours of people around and help dom si relate to them more effectively (to not get stuck up in the systems it builds). i agree that the "poor self-awareness" aspect that people usually attribute to fe is definitely there, but for me it's rather about the struggle of tert fi. aux te seems more probable to me because his general approach to life is less focused on people and more focused on plans, him openly admitting that he lied to people once his plan comes into the next stage where he doesn't need to uphold the lie anymore and failing to take into account how those people might react to having been deceived is one example of that. also te's quick spur of the moment actions and reactions in dealing with people (him to hunter in hollow mind and to collector+kikimora in king's tide as prominent examples), again - more concerned with the best outcome for the plan at all times and not hesitant to discard people he normally sees as valuable assets (and maybe, in case with hunter, even feels some emotional attachment towards) just for it to work in the long run, and fixation on long-term goals to an unhealthy extent where literally no hardship that the unfamiliar and hostile outside world poses and no inner emotional turmoil (of confusion, anger, spite, guilt, maybe something along the lines of bitter nostalgia as well) can stop him from pursuing them (him weaving for himself this net of delusion, hypocrisy and god complex, relying on si and te to develop it further through the survival- and goal-oriented routine and way of life, not giving himself a moment of time to assess how he really feels about all this, and fi getting squashed into the annoying voice in the back of the head, the one of little philip crying for his brother to come back).

and as for him "wanting to harmonize everyone/for everyone to share his values" take, i don't think this is a case at all due to the fact that him being a prophet was not the plan all along, he thrust himself in this position when he realized that this way he could achieve his goal of exterminating the realm (+ i feel like he enjoyed the aspect of it where he, an enlightened human being, ruled over this unholy savage mass and brought order into their wretched meaningless lives). and, surprise, te users can also feign being nice to people and read people's behaviour/soft spots to manipulate them, the absence of fe being evident especially as him "relating" to people always comes from a very personal place, he's chronically unable to see different perspectives rather than his own, and all his "what people want to hear" lies and almost-truths are pretty half-baked and fall apart the moment it stops being convenient for him to keep lying.

also, the way i see it, he doesn't actually want to "save humanity from evil" as much as to a) destroy the place that took his brother from him and b) prove himself/be seen as a hero and obtain some authority in an abusive environment he came from (which functioned in an "eat or be eaten" fashion), though this is one more of the lies he tells himself - that he fights for a cause, that there's a noble purpose to what he plans on doing, and that the whole thing doesn't stem from a place of him feeling deeply hurt and betrayed. the "can't reason with crazy" moment goes here as well btw - the way i see his character, it's less about him looking down on luz as she doesn't understand his logic and much more about him dismissing her point of view altogether, refusing to admit that he is, in fact, an evil monster, and that he did this to himself in the first place, turning himself into something even worse than a witch (which, the fact that he doesn't realize this and clings onto his humanity until the very end in itself is a very te-ish "us vs them" mindset, where "we" are inherently good and "they" are inherently evil, as opposed to fe that would try to understand the "enemy force" and get into the details of how their minds function and what they care about) as a consequence of him being unable to let go of what he sees as the boiling isles leading his brother astray and taking away the only family he had, indirectly leading to him killing caleb. basically tldr to that is deep down he doesn't actually believe that what he's doing has a noble purpose, so tert ti isn't really plausible either.

of course he's a multifaceted personality and i haven't even touched on the grimwalkers here but umm there's that.