#it's also why I absolutely refuse to trade either of them!

[aetherphobia]

That moment when you have to force a cursed halo combo to work simply because they are the only halos you own and you wanna have an excuse to wear them.

(Hal18 + Glitterfrost23)

[captain-mj]

Can we have eboy ghost and jock soap??? Pls???????? I have your thigh bone and I will beat the shit out you with them.

Yes you absolutely can!! Also, they're college age in this because I refuse to write high schoolers. They meet at a party.

Soap had no idea why he decided to go to this concert. He had never heard of the band, but he had needed to get drunk and this seemed like a good idea.

The place was packed.

Lot of people wearing dark clothing and sunglasses. Several of them had tons of gothic makeup on that made them look earie in the flashing lights. Soap had worn a jacket that he kept zipped up and jeans.

This was a bad idea. He felt like he stood out and not in a fun way.

Whatever. Just find where the alcohol is. Just find where the alcohol is and get wasted.

Soap notice a man with a skull mask. It was plastic and only covered the top part of his face, the bottom half exposed to show where they used black makeup to make it look like his mouth stretched to his ears.

His eyes caught Soap, a stunning green and Soap could see the flash of teeth when he grinned.

"Need something?" Accent was clearly from Manchester, but there was something in it. An underlying current of cold.

"What are you offering?" Soap tried to seem confident, still working to blend in.

The masked man tilted his head a little before laughing. "You're new. Can tell. You reek of fucking poser. And what's with the accent?"

Soap paused, getting whiplash. "Uh..." A hand fell on his shoulder and he almost jumped out of his skin.

Tall. This guy was fucking tall. "Tommy, stop being a dick. And you look like a loser wearing that mask."

"Get fucked, Simon." The guy hissed and stalked off.

Soap quickly pulled away and looked up. Shaggy dark hair, earrings and thick makeup around his eyes. The black shirt he wore hung tight to him and the rings he had on looked rather nice next to his tattooed arms. "Don't let him be mean to you. He's a pain in the ass." Same accent.

"You know him?"

"Unfortunately," Simon said it with the biggest fucking sigh, "he's my little brother. So don't be mean to him either. Hate to have kick your ass." He was smoking something and it definitely did not smell like a cigarette.

Soap was standing in front of one of the hottest guys he ever met after getting insulted and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. "Thanks for helping me out."

Simon shrugged, like this was something fun for him. If he was anything like Soap's older sisters, it might be. They made eye contact and Soap's stomach flipped.

"He was right though. You clearly don't really come to scenes very often. What brings you here tonight?"

Soap hesitated before sighing. "Had a break up recently. Wanted to get my mind off of it."

"Ah." Simon took a drag again before smiling. "Don't take anything else here. Mostly cheap party drugs that barely do anything." He said that while offering the joint to him.

Soap really shouldn't. It's not that he was above occasionally smoking weed or anything, but he didn't know this guy and had no clue if it was laced.

"Sure." He took it from him anyway though he kept it light, his eyes flicking over to see if there was some trick

Simon just took it back and they traded it back and forth before he eventually led Soap away from where they were as it got packed. His hand ended up on Soap's lower back somehow.

"So. When you're not trying to get over a break up and going to parties, what do you do?" Simon looked so genuinely curious and Soap liked the attention.

"Promise not to call you a poser?"

"Love. You are a poser." Simon laughed. "Won't hold it against you though."

Love? Love?

"I'm a football player. In college. The local one."

"Oh. I go there."

"I wonder how we've never met."

"I don't hang out with football players and I definitely don't dress like this. I also don't talk to strangers." Simon rather obviously looked him up and down. "Makes sense. You have a football player build."

"You're pretty fit yourself..." Soap decided to skip over the comment about not hanging out with football players.

Simon stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowing and Soap stared back. Such dark eyes. It felt like he got lost in them.

"Ever heard of shotgunning?"

"No. Can't say I have." Soap blinked up at him and Simon grinned.

"Want me to show you?"

Soap nodded before really thinking about it. Simon took a drag and then kissed him. Soap froze up but opened his mouth, feeling the smoke fill his lungs. Simon kissed him for way longer than necessary.

"Fun?"

"Y-yeah. Think we can do this again sometime?"

"Hmmm.... Still don't hang out with football players... But I guess I can make an exception for you." Simon had barely pulled away. Their noses were still touching.

"Maybe I can convince you to come to one of my games?"

"A bunch of guys throwing themselves at each other and kicking a ball around...." Simon said it so disparagingly, but that wasn't a no. Soap kept smiling at him and he sighed. "Maybe. You're lucky you're pretty." He pulled away.

Pretty?

"Forget about who you came here to forget?"

"Yeah. I think I did."

[toushindai]

Hello, it is me again with a question for you regarding your Ganrauru series 😁

I was just thinking about how you have framed Rauru's relationship to power, that there is a part of him that does seek the sort of friendship and genuine connection it brings while also bristling at the idea of someone opposing him and discarding his attempts at making said peace and friendship. That being said I was wondering, given Rauru's very complex feelings and mental gymnastics around Ganondorf and his refusal to submit, in your opinion what would have Rauru felt compelled to do had Ganondorf refused his advances? What if he had continued to refuse his invitations to Hyrule? How about in the case where Ganondorf does give his false vow of fealty, but refuses Rauru's more sexual advances, seeing them for what they are? How do you think Rauru would handle this situation, and how would he justify himself in the sort of framework he has set for himself as a just king? (For the record I don't think for a second that Ganondorf would have refused, just because I see him as an opportunist and he would absolutely take the opportunity to exercise some form of power over this so-called king in his mind, even if he is deluding himself in the process and choosing to forget that Rauru is essentially keeping him like a prisoner and objectifying him. But, it is something I do think about, even in the context of canon itself. What would Rauru do if Ganondorf and the Gerudo dug their heels in and refused allegiance with Hyrule?)

Ooooh this is such a great question. Consent issues ahoy, let's get into it

I was thinking about something similar the other day from a slightly different angle; if I argue that the Gerudo's previous chieftain was leading Rauru on, maintaining diplomatic relations and humoring his overtures, what would have happened if she had eventually said "No, actually"? And I think with either negotiating partner, Rauru's first emotional response is a petty, confused indignation. Excuse me I am benevolent and my rule is beneficial, why are you not responding to me accordingly?. We see this kind of pettiness canonically, I think--Zelda introduces herself and his response can be interpreted as "No, I'm king here, you want to try that again?"; Mineru tells him he can't defeat the Demon King alone and he gives her such a look. My guy, what is going on with you.

How this plays out with Ganondorf and a protracted refusal from the Gerudo to join up is of course a slightly different question of course, and I can't really see any answer to it other than that Rauru just... will not hear a no. Hyrule just keeps pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with. The shrines are already in place on Gerudo land but what if there were, you know, a military outpost or two as well. How much control over trade does Hyrule have, and how do they exercise it? Is there eventually an attitude of, well, if the Gerudo want nothing to do with Hyrule, then Hylians shouldn't be marrying Gerudo? I'm spitballing here, but a lot of this has an air of punishment to it, yknow? Retaliating against the Gerudo for not responding positively to Hyrule's invitations/incursions, for not playing into Rauru's self-conception and thus revealing the ways in which it's not fully true. Wow, so benevolent.

I don't see any world in which Rauru escalates to armed conflict first but I see many, many worlds in which he escalates to a point that armed conflict is an understandable response from the Gerudo. I mean. Is not "I have decided I'm gonna be king of this new kingdom I just made up :) You're invited!" already pretty close to that point? If we're being honest? I do feel like it is. (And I wonder if there's any world in which he loses the support of the allied tribes, if this pressure ever could have been perceived as the imperialism it was.)

How does Rauru justify this to himself, this refusal to acknowledge the Gerudo's no, this inch-by-inch encroachment? By conflating, I think, his personal sense of injury with the threat of harm. Ganondorf does not want the Gerudo to become part of Hyrule is shrunk down to the petty, personal terms of Ganondorf thinks of me as an enemy and then expanded again into Ganondorf is an enemy of Hyrule. He's right about that last one because Nintendo is so very boring about this, but he's making a series of logical fallacies without realizing it. I don't see a lot of propensity towards self-reflection in Rauru. Not without Very Bad Things Happening to Him first. So he trusts his own feelings without questioning them.

As for what would have happened if Ganondorf had turned down his sexual advances... oh that would just be awkward for everyone, wouldn't it? In the sense that: I think that part of what keeps Ganondorf from pushing back when Rauru is being petty and imperious is Ganondorf's own recognition--conscious or not--that Rauru will not necessarily listen to a no. This is his experience of Rauru thus far, of someone who receives an implicit no and rather than respect it simply keeps asking and thinks himself right to do so (canonicallyyyyyyy). And so there is a risk for Ganondorf in saying "no": that of winding up in a situation where he has drawn a line in the sand that he cannot defend. One that Rauru will coldly step over. Rauru doesn't want to be in this situation, either: he doesn't want to see that he is a person who will only accept a "no" if he thinks it's justified. His mind squirms around admitting how coercive he's being, even to himself. But on some level he does know what sort of position he's putting Ganondorf in. He knows that Ganondorf is not in a position to say no, and that's a balm on the ego-wound that Ganondorf's political refusals have inflicted. One that reveals that the true nature of the ego-wound is not he does not think I am good but he does not acknowledge my power. (Again I gesture towards "I'm the only king Hyrule's got, who r u" and "excuse u, wat do u mean I can't defeat the Demon King")

So if Ganondorf did actually say no? In ACNOC, after that first kiss, a cold, "I don't want this, Your Majesty"? There is a part of Rauru that flares with the desire to take anyway, to say have you not come to offer me your submission?, but so early in the situationship maybe he is able to recognize that desire for the cruelty it is. ...Maybe. But god, can he afford to? Can he afford to apologize to Ganondorf for overreaching? Mm, absolutely not. Even if he ceases to try to goad Ganondorf into a sexual relationship, I think the answering dialogue is along the lines of "Then what makes you think you have the right to invade my personal space like this? Your actions belie your claim that you have come to offer submission to Hyrule." There's still very much a need to put Ganondorf in his place--an increased need, even, having just lost a bit of face by allowing Ganondorf to refuse him something.

(consent issues get louder)

At the end of UAWTATR, though, hhhhhhhh. Many times I have turned this thought over in my head. At that point. I think there might be some phrasing of the sentiment I don't want this that would stop Rauru in his tracks with the realization that hey this is WAY rape-ier than I wanna be, but I'll be honest. I haven't figured out yet what phrasing would do it. I think most protests that Ganondorf could have offered would have been met with something that boiled down to I know you don't want this, but your position relative to mine means you're going to do it anyway.

How he justifies that to himself later, I don't know. Ganondorf did try to assault him just the night before so that comes into it, probably. That Ganondorf immediately tries really hard to kill him keeps him from having to look to closely at it, either. He's still left with a feeling of nauseated shame and horror but he's got other things on his mind.

God. Nintendo cannot possibly have meant to make Rauru like this but then why did they make Rauru sO CONSISTENTLY LIKE THIS. I know I am expanding things. But I am expanding things that DO exist. Why is he like this.

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Hello moon I love your fanfictions in Destiny 2. Here's some qna...

1. What made you love the Destiny franchise?

2. Why do you love the the Drifteris ship so much?

3. Do you think their(Drifter and Eris) story would still be explored especially now that the franchise is in a bad shape.

4. Any future stories that you would write in Ao3 for the following years.

I am delighted you like my stories and happy to answer your qna any time you like although some answers take longer than others (especially if they end up being stories) and there are some that are still waiting for me finish their replies. (I have not forgotten! They just require more attention.)

This I can answer right away, though. So I shall.

1.

Eris. Eris made me love Destiny. After her, the Drifter. After him, the stories of several other characters. But Eris has forever transformed how I write my non-fanfiction writing. I'd never found hopeful endings of recovery done in a way that was actually inspiring before. That sort of thing always seemed either false, tacky and trite or exploitative trauma-gore with a pretty bow on the end.

Eris is different. Full balls-to-the-walls horror but with a genuine ending that makes sense and isn't either cherry-lipstick on a corpose or abyssmal nihilism is extremely hard to pull off. I have been studying Eris, how she is written, how her narrative functions.

As a child, the house I grew up in was toxic and awful but it was also full of books, most of which were the golden-age SF&Fantasy that Destiny is based on. Child-me found them an escape but adult-me couldn't connect with those stories any more when I grew older. Those endings were too easy and simple, the villains too beatable, the misogyny and homophobia too pervasive, the imperialism gross and unaware. Those stories no longer provided me with escape or comfort. They just made me sad. Eric John Stark, Outlaw of Mars and the Stainless Steel Rat were traded in for Cthulhu and Molly Millions and I found solace in the gothic, the cyberpunk and the weird because at least they weren't filled with abusive lies.

Destiny has changed that. Destiny has shown me I can have my Stainless Steel Rat and my Molly Millions and they can have strong narrative arcs with good endings that ring true and, sometimes, even love each other.

2.

I've gone into detail regarding Eris and the Drifter in other posts but, at its core, the relationship is very well summarized (by someone else) as "He gives her trust. She gives him hope." I find their helping each other to heal to be very beautiful.

But my love of their relationship goes beyond that. It reaches back to my love of the X-Files. It reaches back to badass female characters like Ripley from Alien and Trinity from the Matrix. It reaches back to badass male characters (there is absolutely more than a little bit of Conan the Barbarian in Eris). And I cannot overstate my delight when I discovered my childhood beloved intergalactic thief and conman, the Stainless Steel Rat, reincarnated without the misogyny and trite shallowness, as gritty, always-hungry, deeply-hurt-but-learning-how-to-heal Drifter.

I have, in fact, always loved badass punks who keep a core sense of self and love through the horrors, standing up for what matters when no one else can, refusing to die because they have a job to do dammit and they will not lie down. I have always loved shifty lying untrustworthy-yet-ultimately-reliable stray-cat-meretricious-charisma-rogues who, after so much betrayal and pain, finally find something worth fighting for. I love them when they appear in any gender or orientation, separate or together, but especially, especially together.

Eris and the Drifter have existed in the past and will in future, in various forms of literature and media. I love them wherever I find them. I always have. I always will.

3.

As for what will happen to them within D2, both Eris and the Drifter have a history of existing in shadows, in the spaces inbetween. I am heartbroken at the loss of writers who clearly cared about giving them attention, but the groundwork for them to be close to each other, to find comfort and understanding together, has been laid.

Short of one or both of them being killed off in the main narrative, that relationship has room to continue its quiet gentle growth on its own, out of the spotlight.

It is far more important to me that they be written well and true to who they are than that we get any large focus on them. And if that means their relationship (whatever form it takes) ends up only existing in tiny obscure scraps on item descriptions or small sections of lore books I will not be ungrateful.

Those tiny spaces, after all, are where the writers are given the most creative freedom, where so much of the good writing is able to flourish, becase it is not a major narrative and therefore is given less meddling from external forces like marketing or game mechanics or seasonal/episode content requirements.

It is so easy to ruin something as beautiful as Eris and the Drifter. I feel as though the writing team up until now has treated the relationship between these two broken and healing people with reverence, gentleness, and care.

The writers who remain are from that same team.

As long as the writers continue to treat these characters with that same care, no matter how small the tidbits we might get about them may be, I will be happy and it will be enough.

4.

Regarding future stories: I uh... write a lot.

Road Trip is an ongoing series I keep adding sections to which has several potential endings and many story beats which are sketched out in point form (or less) but not yet fully written. That one is being written nanowrimo-style, straight from the hip, and I only post a new section once the next one is completed (so there is one completed chapter right now, waiting to be published until I finish writing the next one).

Mottephobia has an ending, but I am at war with @redbutterflies-blueeyes and chapters of Mottephobia are being held for ransom until they update their fantastic Drifteris story, Inspiral.

I have two fic exchange stories that will be completed (I hope) soon, and a handful of nearly-ready-to-be-posted stories which will go up once I've done more edits and rewriting. One involves the bog slug. One is a post TFS celebration story inspired by this specific piece art by @haykebyr . One is a request which came in through my ask box for something on Europa that has gone completely off the rails and will likely be long and far more involved than what was requested.

I've also completed and submitted things to a soon-to-be released D2 fanzine and I am hoping they will be accepted. I look forward to sharing more about that once the zine goes live (either from within the zine or on their own if they end up not fitting with everything else) but I'm not allowed to talk about that in any detail until after the zine is published. I will say that one of them is sad but sweet, and another one is just sweet and involves rain.

<3

Thank you again for reading my things. It means the world to me when people tell me they liked something I wrote.

[snifflesthemouse]

WHY DOESN’T HARRY WANT HIS CHILDREN TO PAY FEALTY TO HIS FATHER, THE KING? WHY ARE THEY ‘PRINCE’ AND ‘PRINCESS’, BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE TO SWEAR AN OATH TO THEIR MONARCH?

Hello to all You Lovely Readers!

Before we begin, I just wanted to thank all of you for your love, support, and comments! I may not get the chance to reply to all of them, but I cherish every single one. Time is the most valuable resource, and readers are the most valued asset to a writer! This author has by far the BEST READERS!

Now, let’s begin with something that has been on my mind lately.

Why wouldn’t Harry and Meghan want their children to pay fealty to their grandfather, the King? I understand Meghan not doing it, as she is an American citizen and never became a dual citizen. But her children are, from my understanding. They want the children to use those monetary – oops, I meant hereditary- titles… but they don’t want them there? This tells me everything about this whole fiasco regarding the invitations.

People like Harry and Meghan can’t help themselves. There is absolutely no situation where a narcissistic psychopath (or sociopath) would pass up an opportunity like this… UNLESS they got something more valuable in return for staying home. Especially since it’s their “first child’s birthday” the same day.

The media suggests that Harry will be in and out and home by dinner. Then why go? He went because there was a trade-off most likely. Neither would ever desire the time away from one another for fear of weakening the control links. She let him go over there to try and face-to-face pressure him a couple weeks ago when he showed up for a court case he didn’t need to be there for. Her kids on the balcony was worth more to her than him potentially cheating on her with an ex or getting de-programmed.

ANY TIME a narcissistic psychopath or sociopath risks the deprogramming of their mark from an outside source, they either will benefit more from the risk, or they are making moves to move on.

The CDAN blinds suggest he spent an hour talking to an ex on another person’s phone. Why? They also suggest a half-in-half-out scenario where Harry will work alone as a half-timer for the Royal Family… I don’t buy that, and it would shock me. I’m not bashing CDAN, as I read them often. I am questioning the intel sources.

Here’s what everyone forgets. A narcissistic psychopath will believe in himself regardless. I appreciate some media personalities saying Meghan has a fear of being irrelevant, but that is not how these minds work. They have no fears or shame. They believe they are above it and everyone else is beneath them. They won’t cave like you think.

Meghan most likely wasn’t ever invited to the Coronation. The media suggests she refused the invite, but she’s only pushing that via PR to save face with the Sussex Squaddies. Remember, she keeps the Squaddies in the divorce. They are already talking mad crap about Harry right now. Everyone says a divorce will take a while, and it may. BUT…

People like Harry and Meghan are irrational thinkers who are inherently impulsive. We saw this with Megxit. They could’ve probably had their cake and eaten it, too, had they been patient with Her Majesty. But Her Majesty wasn’t afforded the luxury of compromise, was she?

The Royal Family has been planning these upcoming changes for a while now, and Harry could’ve been the perfect guinea pig to see how people would accept a half-in scenario for other working royals one day who may be children now. He could’ve been an asset, but the impulsivity ruined his chances. Not his wife. She just exacerbated them.

With Meghan now in California, she has an absolute zero chance of changing minds or whittling away at anything. Robert Johnson tells us that the Queen was so concerned about leaking because of Meghan and Harry, that she had the Sandringham library swept for bugs. Meghan couldn’t attend via Zoom because they didn’t trust the line. Charles and William made a pact to never speak to Harry alone.

DO YOU REALLY THINK THESE PEOPLE WILL EVER BE ALLOWED BACK INTO ANY PALACE TOGETHER? WITHOUT the Palace taking an offensive approach to stop leaks? They aren’t trusted. They aren’t wanted. I bet Harry agreed to go and she stayed in exchange for saving face because she was never really invited anyway, that the invite only extended to him either way.

So if that is true, why wouldn’t the King want his grandchildren to come with Harry? It would suggest that they either had no choice, or they knew something that would make that decision less hard to make (i.e. why invite a stranger with no blood ties to a wedding?) Yeah, they are too young to be apart of the TV nonsense and behavior plays a roll and all that. But for them to not come at all? His birthday would be the best day to see his grandfather.

It makes the rumors regarding Meghan photographing Catherine and William’s home (and children) seem even more true. Which brings me to this thought…

What if the whole ordeal of Megxit was a culmination of several events, with the straw-breaking moment being the pregnancy announcement? Think about it. We all know the oddities surrounding the pregnancy. Meghan probably planned to do it that way so she could sow an excuse out of the clues. She planned to create strife to excuse their presence so she could hide the truth in America. Claim racism, run to the US, and nobody is reminded of the oddities. That’s definitely one theory…

Or, they found them out and told them that they would be phased out if they didn’t take full responsibility. When they refused, they decided to try to get ahead of it all by launching that now-worthless website, Sussex Royal. The Royal Family will NEVER allow them to look compliant if there were shenanigans regarding those children. They’d be just as responsible.

Meghan let Harry go alone so she could start the next phase of her own plan. He’s probably double-crossing planning, too. They are two sides of the same coin. Harry could easily go back to his family and say, “Let’s throw her under the bus. Let me expose her for who she is. People already believe that she’s to blame. Let her be.” The Firm could work with that, for a way back for Harry alone. But…

I don’t believe these excuses they paint that Harry was lovestruck and besotted to stupidity. Yes, it is possible. I know firsthand, everyone. FIRST HAND. At the same time, people miss things because they excuse them. If we stop excusing Harry’s actions and start looking at them, we see his MO.

He cares more about destroying the Monarchy because he feels wronged. Remember, psychopathic/sociopathic narcissists don’t find fault or fear in anything regarding themselves. They aren’t scared of not being loved or in power because they assume it is already theirs. They assume everyone else is just slow to come around, and they just need to be shown the way, the truth.

If it sounds cultish, it is because it is. These two deserve each other, and they will only self-implode. Deepak Chopra already revealed that Harry and Meghan are struggling. Meghan has aligned herself with people that could care less about right or wrong if they see a way to monetize the drama or interest. These people want Harry, not her. But if he is not willing to play the role or walk back some of the statements made… they will ensure he is part of the problem instead of part of the victim gang.

EVERYTHING Meghan leaks to the US press is used to stage her next moves and plans. Awards stroke the ego and keep her in the press. Conflict keeps her in the press. Anything to keep her name on the lips of all of us.

If we really really wanted to end them, we’d abandon them both and never mention their names again. We would pick up on other noteworthy Royals and talk about them instead. They need us. Remember, the majority of the Squad are paid influencers. They get no money, they have no reason to stick around. Only the fanatic die-hards will stay put.

If I were Meghan, I would turn this into a phoenix rising moment. She has to stick to her guns and lies about the racism and drama, or she loses what little credibility she has left. She could catapult into stardom by taking a “stand” if she really wanted to convince people.

Sorry this is long and a little uneditied, as I am packing a suitcase in between thoughts. Don’t buy into this narrative that she refused the invite. Those chances are slim. Cons always work best in person. It takes skills she is lacking to be successful virtually. They are both lacking those skills, best believe that.

ALL OF THIS IS MY OWN OPINIONS AND SPECULATIVE BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCES. I’M NOT A PROFESSIONAL, AND I DON’T MIND IF YOU THINK I’M FULL OF IT. DON’T TAKE WHAT I SAY FOR GOSPEL. DON’T TAKE WHAT ANYONE SAYS FOR GOSPEL.

I love you all, and I will be writing again soon!

[minalblood]

And finally , long awaited ep 12. Sorry guys !!!

- We start off with one of the characters not wanting to deal with whatever they're dealing with. That's not gonna be relevant throughout I'm sure...

- Have I mentioned that I hate clowns? Cuz hate clowns

- Ah yes! Dean discussing lying to yourself, also gonna be relevant. But I'm even more intrigued that he ties this need for dishonesty intrinsically to hunting.

- John is completely lying to himself and projecting hard on Mary. Not that Mary isn't also lying to herself. Interestingly, John and Mary are the most evenly split here between Sam or Dean coding.

- ok, as someone who has a veritable collection of tarot decks that I also use, I'm so fucking happy to see the Minor Arcana mentioned in fiction. Especially since most just add in Major Arcana cards with little to no relevance or meaning as to why those cards drawn are Majors. And yeah, the witches here aren't doing a reading, but I still love to see Swords and Pentacles mentioned! Might even be a cheeky hint as to how the main witch operates since swords are commonly related to the mental aspect and pentacles to the material/monetary (Known in some decks as coins even). And what is she doing if not playing a mind game in order to win the game and gain the reward for it.

-God, she's an asshole to Ada! No one is an asshole to Ada!

- Well, Limbo def is an apt name. He def acts like a type of inbetween state where you're not dead but you sure aren't living either. I also find it fascinating in the context of Purgatory. Because to Dean Purgatory was pure (or better put for our purposes here, was unfiltered truth) whereas Limbo here is pure avoidance. Essentially ,if Purgatory worked as a place where Dean could be as uncomplicated and true as he could (which yes, that's very much an oversimplification) then Limbo is pure pretending/fake.

- And Mary is once again trying to take command, only here John is refusing, is pushing back against it, where before he'd have gone along or even tried to get the others to fall in line acting as mediator.

- The misdirect of the brother is hilarious in hindsight, they gave him such menacing music as background.

- Love that we have clear signs that if at all possible witches will try to hide.

- ROWEEEEENNNNAAAAA!!!!!

-John & Lata, hell yeah! Love that she's checking in with him and that she makes sure to clarify that she's the one asking. And gives him the space he's clearly asking for, not pushing against his lie.

- Meanwhile, Mary& Carlos have a much more direct convo but no less empathetic though still focused on John interestingly enough.

- Adore that Carlos was so so shocked by her outburst and then again that she was faking.

- Love a soul trade that is basically a trap

- The way Carlos just forgot their cover. Hahahahaha OMG!!! I love them!

- And the echoes of Sam begin in earnest - parents dead, older brother trying to parent but not having the tools to do so, younger brother running away...

- It's interesting that Limbo was trying to remain in a perpetually happy state (and targetted those he saw as needing the same) but Clarence ended up essentially in a state of perpetual grief. He says he wishes he'd helped Roger through his grief but he himself just traded the grief of his parents death with that of Roger's being taken. An interesting contrast between Limbo & Clarence, and a clear echo of SPN!John there also - mild but present.

- Oh, Carlos,you absolute sweetheart! And no argument against the "you were just a kid too" statement, love to see it!

- OK, now comes me trying to argue that this Rowena is our Rowena. Exhibit A: she was so clearly lying about the Grimoire and not the fact that the MOL stole it - her facial expressions to me read very much like she just made up an excuse to be there and help Ada. We've seen how Romena acts when she's actually trying to get a powerful Grimoire, this was not it. at all. This felt more like her keeping appearences than actually working an angle.

- Neverming, forgot she literally spells it out for us. In other words though, I was right.

-I choose to believe that the demon trapped in the plant is somehow, someway related to her getting Crowley back. I love Crowley so I will not accept any other meaning here. I'd have loved to see what they wanted to do with Rowena later on. Ugh every day I mourn that we didn't get more of this show.

- I take back John projecting. I would actually like to formally apologize to John here cuz Mary is doing the tried and true "dealing with emotions" approach that Sam uses everytime aka she is trying to dictate how John should be reacting to kyle's murder just because he isn't reacting like how she thinks he should be. I do love seeing them fight here, It's a whole mess they've found themselves in and haven't dealt with it at all so far. Make sense it'll all come to a head in this away. John is actually our Dean-mirror here. This fight also echoes the fight between Sam & Dean at Mia Vallens place (word for word even, in some places).

- Also love that John pushes back. And especially that he puts to words what I think a lot of the fandom has said some variation of. That as long as there's one more hunt, a world to save, people in danger then considering an alternate future

becomes that much harder to go towards... And that's not to say this applies 1 to 1 to Sam and Dean, because they quite literally didn't have a choice, but it does speak to the fact that you can't really move forward until you let go of the past that's holding you back or more so even -  though we're moving away from what this ep has to say with this - that you can't really heal from trauma til you're out of the traumatizing situation.

- And continuing our Sam echoes here, it's in fact Mary who's 1st approached by Limbo, Mary who's pain calls out while all the eyes were on John (and once more I'm reminded of the

Werther Box and how it was Sam who nearly killed himself due to a Rowena hallucination via the Box that got so much worryingly closer than Dean who we saw from the start got hit by the spell)

"John: Mary wait for me

Mary: Nope! I do what I want (proceeds to get taken by monster) " oh how the turn tables...

- I gotta say, this wasn't John's fault here. Mary wasn't ok far before their fight and if it had just beenmthe fight then John would've been taken too then. I actually think Limbo might've been honing into people who were, yes in crisis, but refusing to deal with it just like he had been, people looking to bargain away the negativity in their life for even a false sense of happiness.

- I also gotta mention this is the...2nd monster who's source of power is a mirror (Loki/Gabe being the 1st) Are there others that I'm missing? Is this a pattern?? I don’t remember, pls lemme know.

- Carlos you absolute king! Once more being the one to offer the practical solution, Lata is our theoretical queen though, let it be known,

- FFS! Rowena literally says she's looking for info ABOUT CROWLEY! Is my memory so bad or is my subconscious so active?

-Oh Rowena, there was no need to hurt Ada. Why must two bad bitches fight eachother?!

- Ah John, there you are, stumbling straight into danger. Couldn't let Mary have this one, could you?

- Hate clowns!

- Don't mind Limbo that much right now.

- Wait!!!. John cheated his way here... like he cheated his way into the army, like he, technically, cheated his way to hunting (he's MOL legacy afterall)

- "We never have to fight again about my future or your anger" jesus christ, skinning me alive would hurt less than this line. After all, what causes the whole fight in SPN to occur if not Mary's lack of a future and John's resulting anger (spurned by grief) My god, this fucking line from Mary.

- John is truly our Dean mirror here "it wouldn't be real" echoes so much Dean's feelings about heaven

- Also the pain in John's eyes, even as he is forced to smile might haunt me almost as much as Dean faking a smile in season 7. And I legit cannot look at that scene with Dean.

- Nooo, not the clowns ...

- Carlos and that big heart of theirs saves the day. I love it.

- Lata is however absolutely hilarious here though.

- l love Rowena so much. And she's gorgeous as always!

- Of course we'll be dealing with souls being used up, tiny Jack and Lily Sunder echo, nice!

- Exhibit B for Rowena, she just vanishes into thin air, not her usual way of leaving prior to Queen of Hell status

- Ugh, the "it's been 30 years" since Clarence has seen his brother. The Mary resurection of it all. And John with the "better than never seeing them again" hits hard man!

- Oh Mary, sweetheart.

- I like their resolution a lot. And Millie just giving them all the good news

- Yes Lala you figured it out baby!

- And Ada, I know she ends up telling them, but god when this first aired the Winchester stupidity was fresh to mind so I was soooo concerned for her.

Just the finale left now, I am sad 😔 but excited!

See y'all then!

@noybusiness - thank you for the encouragements! Its finally here!

@shallowseeker - I love reading your thoughts on SPN and had a fantastic time beta reading for you so here's something for u to hoefully enjoy! Hope you feel better soon!

[scoobydoodean]

i think it’s kinda funny how you don’t have some sort of online handle except your urls, so i can only ever address you as like dftsam. anyway i saw a take that said cas “learned” to feel unloved from dean, from the way dean treated him basically - an example they gave was dean looking away when cas said I love you as he was dying in s12 - and it seemed there were a lot of people agreeing with it. i’m not one of them, but if you were interested (only if you’d wanna talk about it, I’d get it if you didn’t) I’d love to get you thoughts on this idea?

So I read this at like 1-2 AM lying in bed and I was like this:

I find it so fucking funny when people start in on this shit, because Dean girls and Cas girls can do this to each other all day long. “Dean made Cas feel unloved” “Cas made Dean feel unloved”. You can build a framework for either (BOTH) by cherrypicking scenes to suit a narrative. Like. I can easily say that Cas repeatedly sent a message, regardless of his intentions, that Dean’s feelings don’t mean jack shit to him. I prefer to take things with humor and just understand where Cas’s issues are coming from (just like Dean—who makes his best effort to understand Cas; just like Cas makes his best effort to understand Dean) rather than get mad and demonize him so I can be angsty about Dean always feeling "unloved"… but the guy… look—making no effort to explain why he is like this at this moment (because Cas apologism is absolutely not the point of this ask) Cas is known to do the following:

Control the means of communication. You will pretty much never see Dean ghost Cas. Even when Dean was forced to kick him out, he checked up on him to make sure he was okay. But Cas will knowingly and intentionally ghost Dean’s prayers and calls for days and weeks at a time on repeat through their ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP. Dean has expressed that this upsets him more than once, but Cas continues to do it. Every once in a while he’ll throw in a half-assed apology sure—but it doesn’t mean anything. He’s going to do the thing he’s apologizing for again as soon as he’s decided he doesn’t want to face Dean’s questions or doesn’t want him involved yet again. Which means 1) he isn't actually sorry 2) how it makes Dean feel is not important to him or else he'd stop doing it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Keep secrets about bad things going on CONSTANTLY. Over and over and over and over… then Dean is still the one who ends up apologizing for getting mad about it. Rinse, repeat.

(Often) Refuse to be a team player in an effort to keep Sam and Dean out of harms way over the things he has personally decided are too dangerous for them, without ever letting them have a say, because he has unilaterally decided they are too tiny and soft and he needs to fall on a sword when no one asked him to and no one WANTS HIM TO. A lot of people want to turn this into bemoaning Castiel's constant unappreciated sacrifices, but this is so unbelievably shortsighted of a take. He is attempting to relate to Dean, a person who believes he is poison and that loving him gets people killed, by attempting to fucking martyr himself over and over and OVER. Dean doesn't WANT it, and it isn't NECESSARY 99% of the time if Cas would just WORK AS A TEAM.

Urges Dean to co-parent children who he feels he has personal obligations to twice.

Who does that remind you of? Because I know who it reminds me of, but people don’t want to read that meta—or about how Cas traded out his car for a truck (who else did that?), or about how your last words before a sacrifice can haunt a person and rip them open in ways you never intended. Of course Cas isn’t that guy… but I bet my ass Dean sure as hell sees the shades of him.. I do think it is an intentional decision to frame Cas in the late seasons after another person who also made Dean feel very unloved and unwanted—not in the big things like big grand sacrifices—but in the small things—the day to day things that slowly strangle a relationship to death—like making unilateral decisions for everyone and not answering the goddamn phone. (Edit here: I do NOT mean that Cas is intentionally being framed as CRUEL and EVIL. I only mean that he is intentionally being paralleled with John. Dean and Sam are also paralleled with John in different ways at various points and it doesn't mean any of them are evil irredeemable villains. They just have some obvious hangups and the way this particular one for Cas ends up manifesting is probably pretty difficult for Dean and probably makes him think of John behaved and how it made him feel).

Dean didn’t react right when Cas said I love you in season 12? Well. That’s debatable. But going on the offensive first before the defensive: Cas only wants to say this on his deathbed when Dean has no chance to respond.

Dean, on the other hand, has expressed his care for Cas MULTIPLE TIMES. He didn't say the words, "I love you" (he doesn't even say that to SAM) but he said "We're family" "You're the closest thing I have to family—you're like a brother to me" and "I need you" and "I'm not leaving without you" and "Being with you today is the most I've laughed in years" and "I'd rather have you, cursed or not" and "It's a gift. You keep those. Let's work as a team. We're better together."

And what does Cas do after every single one of these expressions of Dean's love?

He L E A V E S!!!!

He fucking leaves, and Cas girls want to talk about Dean making a face? And cry that Dean makes Cas feel unloved? Forgive me if that makes me fucking CACKLE at the AUDACITY.

I think one thing people tend to do, is they frame everything as if Cas is oblivious to Dean loving him, but Dean has to know or SHOULD know how Cas feels about him. This is why we get rancid takes like "DeAn nEedS tO pUll hIS hEaD oUt of HiS asS". Oh shut up. Castiel canonically can SENSE DEAN'S LONGING. If Dean's head is up his ass, Castiel's is shoved so fucking far up his sphincter it's coming out of his mouth.

Yet still—Dean recognizes, in season 11, that Cas is struggling—that Cas feels down on himself and unloved (and I DO NOT think Cas BLAMES Dean for that at all—it takes a lot of willful ignorance about everything going on with his biological family to come to that conclusion) and Dean tries to FIX IT. He once again reiterates to Cas how much he cares about him—that he's family. He has NO IDEA that the words intended to make Cas feel better are going to send him down one of the most deranged spirals of unhinged decision-making ever (the Kelly shenanigans are WILD). I actually have a slightly different take on this, from the typical " it sent him off the deep end because he got 'brother-zoned'". I think it sent him off the deep end because it was the final *nail in the coffin in what Cas saw as a reversal of their relationship—where he isn't the guy who protects everyone anymore with his grace and his grand wings... that's Dean now, and Dean is saying that Cas, like Sam, is under his protection... and Castiel absolutely could not STAND that. He didn't need his romantic affections to be returned. What he wanted, more than anything—what he saw (in a rough draft of the script) when Jack showed him paradise, was Dean thanking him, and his powers returned to their former glory. Because Cas has unilaterally decided Dean's feelings, he chooses to love him like a saint, laying down his life, instead of being in a partnership, because he doesn't want to be someone Dean protects—not even in a partnership where they protect each other. He wants to be the sole protector.

All of that to say: Cas didn't learn how to feel unloved from Dean. TEXTUALLY. It is ON THE TIN. Saying that is literally the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Cas SAYS about Dean. He says he cared about the whole world because of DEAN. He cared because Dean's love was so captivatingly beautiful and inspiring and transcendent that it changed who Cas was inside to the core, and he fell fucking head over heels. "You changed me".

[ghostiegamer]

Had a Steven Universe AU bounce around my brain a little bit so here's what I have so far of it

PD- Queen of a very prosperous and peaceful kingdom. Lush and beautiful. Refugees come to her kingdom to thrive. Gained the nickname Rose Queen from her subjects because of how kind and beautiful she is. Throws lavish balls as an excuse to hire refugees for new jobs within her kingdom. Her kingdom is mainly fields, forests, and mountains. Lots of farmland and mines. Main export is food and gems.

WP- Head of PD royal guard. Is PD personal knight. Used to work for WD as a part of her royal guard but WD traded her for PP. Is extremely loyal to PD. Is very good with all kinds of weapons. Also has a green thumb and if not by her queens side or training, she can usually be found in the garden tending to her roses and medicinal herbs. Is also pretty good at alchemy. Is an orphan.

BD- Is generally considered a pretty merciful Queen. Will swoop in to kingdoms that desperately need help and offer to help in exchange for them joining her kingdom and acknowledging her as their queen. If they refuse, then she doesn't mind going to war. Kingdom is fairly big. A lot of her kingdom is coastal. Main export is fish.

BP- Is BD lady in waiting/heir. Very knowledgeable in other kingdoms culture and goods. Personally attends to all of BD needs. Knows how to make other kingdoms rulers lower their guard so BD can try to sway them into giving up their crown. Knows all the stuff about kingdom relations and is very knowledgeable about trade and commonly sits in and helps lead meeting about what to do with new territory's goods. Loves painting in her free time.

YD- A war queen. She tears through kingdoms either taking them for herself or leaving them for Blue or Pink to swoop in and pick up the pieces. Her kingdom is mainly mountainous. Main export is metal. Is extremely smart and very determined. Is very good at navigating a battlefield but not so much at navigating the workings of her court.

YP- Is YD lady in waiting/advisor/heir. Knows her way around a battlefield just as well as a ballroom. Tells YD everything that goes on with the commoners and nobles of the land. Is very devious and cunning. Often sits in on war meetings offering advice. Runs the court whenever YD is away at war, which is a fair amount of the time. Is very good with handling conflict and solving disputes. Often models for BP when the diamonds get together.

WD- A distant Queen. Her kingdom is very prosperous and large. She does not make many public appearances. Her pearl makes them for her. Her kingdom has several different biomes within it but it's mainly forest. Main export is lumber and weaponry. Does not often go to war, but when she does, she decimates whatever kingdom she goes against. Very few survivors. She's very blunt and tends to not waste time dancing around a subject when she can just get straight to the point. This has earned her a reputation for being cold from those who have met her. Secretly is a big softie for the other diamonds and their pearls. PD pearl use to be apart of her royal guard. Knows that she's the reason why PP is an orphan and has a disability and that's part of the reason why she adopted PP. Feels guilty for hurting a child like that.

PP- Use to be a royal jester in PD court. WD saw her at one of PD balls and thought she looked absolutely stunning. WD traded her pearl in the royal guard to PD for PP. Is an orphan. Now is WD lady in waiting and heir. Makes public appearances for WD and handles most of the ongoings of court and day to day life. Is a very skilled blacksmith and enjoys experimenting in her forge. Is also a very good dancer. Doesn't speak much when she doesn't have to. Parents were killed in an attack on PP kingdom of birth when she was a baby. This left her with a big scar across one of her eyes and partial blindess in it. Kingdom was attacked by WD forces. She is one of few survivors. Despite her scar, she's widely regarded as one of the most beautiful women in WD kingdom. Is extremely kind.

The Diamonds and Pearls travel between the kingdoms often and the 4 Diamonds are often referred to as The Sister Queens even though they're not really related. They did all grow up together though as their parents were close friends. Their parents all died due to a mysterious illness that plagued their land long ago. They're all unmarried. Most of the world is run by them with a few small countries still existing, mainly due to treaties with one of the Diamonds kingdoms.

If anyone wants to know more, please ask. I would love to talk about this and flesh it out a bit more.

[sabakos]

I was trying to model your thoughts in a conversation and I said “it’s not a parents responsibility to get their child to eat dinner”. This was challenged, and I’d like to know what your thoughts on the matter of dinner time are.

Well, I think it *is* a parent's responsibility to get their children to eat dinner, assuming that there are parents and that they're in a society where they're expected to provide food and other resources for their children instead of everything being provided by the state or the local community. If the kid isn't eating, there's probably a decently good reason why - probably either they aren't hungry at that time or the food the parent is offering for dinner is bad, but maybe something else is going on in their life that their parents could help them with.

In practice I think most parents know all of this, but many of them often don't feel they have the time or energy to investigate why their kid won't eat dinner. So instead they try to use their parental authority to force the issue, by finding ways to "punish" their children for being difficult, usually by taking away their "privileges" like video games or time with their friends if they won't comply, or just sending them to bed without any dinner and only offering them the cold meal they refused when they're hungry later. These are the kids that grow up to be picky eaters, because they associate familiar, "childish" foods like burgers and pizza with freedom and comfort, so this is in some sense trading short-term gain for long-term damage.

But in addition to being ineffective in the long run, I feel that the sort of general approach outlined above is monstrous, and only exists in a society that treats parents' authority over their children as absolute, that grants free reign to the parents to overrule their kids' preferences instead of rightfully treating that approach as a form of psychological abuse. In the long run it will only lead to the children trusting their parents less, and in time the window of opportunity to becoming a better parent will close forever, as a child will soon learn that their parent is another threat to be dealt with diplomatically rather than a caregiver, and they will shut their true selves off from the parent completely.

Just make the kid a PB&J or microwave them some chicken nuggets instead. If they still won't eat foods they normally eat, there's probably something actually wrong. And though most parents don't seem to agree, I think that's also the parents' responsibility to figure out what that is.

[astral-from-afar]

sad yuki headcanon! because i read your happy ones and i cant go 10 seconds without my favorite characters being in pain (exception being that i refuse to acknowledge ch 208) 😍 the only reason she travels and goes around so much is because shes got this "irrational" or pervasive fear in the back of her mind that her life could end at any moment (spv trauma?????? riko dying made her survivors guilt even worse) so she tries to fill it up with as many things as possible, sort of in a live life to the fullest way? i also think she absolutely HATES her birthday. since getting older for a very long time, meant that shed be a year closer to getting merged with tengen. so that day doesn't hold a lot of positive feelings for her. i still can't really wrap my head around her being stressed out by missions? i get her disliking them but cause of stress? im intrigued!

on a lighthearted hc, shes veryyy messy and disorganized especially because she had to learn everything about surviving outside from scratch so the first time she'd gone outside of japan was obviouslt tough but she wouldnt trade it for anything because that ended up being a catalyst for her love for travelling.

Its ok anon, I too like my favourite characters to be in pain.

I also don’t know why her stress would be by doing missions but I would see it as more as grief for her peers back when she was a student.

Yuki was obviously a special grade before even Gojo was born so she would have been considered the ‘strongest’ at the time. I would imagine that her attending Jujutsu Tech or Kyoto school (I’m inclined to believe the former because the higher ups would probably want to keep a close eye on her which would explain why she would want Todo to go to Kyoto).

She would have had some peers her age but she wouldn’t be able to connect with them as they would see her as either a traitor or a saviour. Now Gojo’s birth caused a spike in cursed spirits which meant that students like Yuki who were obviously unprepared would have either been slaughtered or left the field like Nanami did. This meant Yuki would have had to carry the load by herself until Gojo and Geto would become students. Maybe the increase in curses thanks to the Night of a Hundred Demons causes her to think back to the previous time it happened, to those around her being killed on the battlefield.

It’s funny to think that Yuki never got a partner or someone to confide in until Todo came into the picture. And even then it was more of a older sibling-younger sibling dynamic. Whereas Gojo had Geto and vice versa. And Yuta had Rika then when she left he had the second years. Yet Yuki in most of her adolescence had no one. A lone star one would say.

Also your light hearted headcannon is SO TRUE. I think her first trip was more of a necessity to get away from Tengen but then she started liking it more and more until she travels constantly around the world. She hates staying put in one area (contrasting Tengen staying put in the basement) so she makes an effort to visit everywhere she can

[vyrim]

Some talk about the the current story, pretty spoilery so Ill put it under readmore but tldr is I really like it (it got kinda long so sorry in advance if you click on it). Also this is just how I absorbed the story so if theres stuff I interpreted wrong dont yell at me.

So I think the first thing that has to be noted is that the sinners are the absolute epitome of losers. You've got a mishmash of people that couldnt be more different from eachother stuck in a bus together and forced to fight for the Limbus Company to ultimately reach their own goals (whatever those might be).

They all suck together, the only reason most of them arent repeatedly trying/succeeding to kill eachother is because your grumpy ass chaperone is actually a color, and will not hesitate to bring them as close to the brink of death in the most painful way possible for making the job harder for no reason. Hell we almost see this with Don, who I love very much, who manages not to cause serious problems once but three whole times and her getting beat to the ground was a the idea of a warning.

Its made even worse by the fact that Dante as a character also sucks as the manager up until the third chapter's end. Theyre indecisive, cowardly, and the few people who have anything resembling respect towards them as the manager only do so with either the bare minimum or for their own gain. They outright lose all trust from Ishmael the moment we become an accomplice to one of Don's screwups, accidental or not.

Not only do these guys suck as people, they suck as a team. These guys arent just dying to pros like the trio at the beginning, theyre dying to everything. We are constantly told about how the consequences of their actions lead them to getting butchered, and the only reason theyre not losing most of the fights is because they can fight like their lives dont matter. Why worry about trading mortal blows when the guy with a clock for a face can just writhe on the floor for a bit and put you back together after you win? The first floor of the casino is a chaotic nightmare where someone drops a chandelier for artistic purposes and another destroys a months work of wishes meant to be a contingency plan. Its a mess, and nothing states that they have any semblance of teamwork, its all just a mindless brawl where anything goes so long as Dante is alive in the end.

The thing is its great writing, its a beautiful in between from the previous games. Lobotomy Corp sits on side where nothing about your employees ultimately matters. They will die, you will lose, and the clock will rewind again. Library of Ruina is the exact opposite. You cant lose, to the librarians its nothing more than a simulation to crack, and the guests are ultimately doomed to lose after finally being countered by the right setups. Even if the ending didnt go as planned for Angela, she wouldve otherwise succeeded in getting that perfect book because their was no chance of actually losing.

Limbus is directly in the middle where dying appears to have no consequences, just forcing Dante to take indescribable suffering, but its also extremely dangerous. The team dying at key moments is bad, real bad. When Gregoir pulls his bloody ass towards us in the dungeon all the sinners are already dead or close to it. The consequences of throwing themselves at the enemy has now come back to bite them, and defeat is only avoided because Effie saves them. The final boss is a complete loss this time, were saved by some spooky wonder boy with a weird obsession with Sinclair and Dante is almost melted beyond saving and is only saved because Vergil was smart enough to send in a recovery team. The sinners are constantly losing because they refuse to be anything like a team and are too reliant on the idea that theyll come back. The only reason Limbus Company hasnt sent a proper, specialized team seems to be because they cant resonate with Dante's ability.

Its a beautiful way of showing just how brutal the world is outside of a corporation's protection or the power of the library itself. The color we were comfortable having on our side is now our shitty babysitter who could care less because we cant even wipe our own asses let alone secure the boughs without help from outside parties. All we do is cause unnecessary problems despite being handed plans and strategies that are designed to just work.

The end of chapter 3 is a wonderful sign though. Despite getting constantly ass kicked, despite the sinners treating them as nothing more than a fancy checkpoint with a clock for a face, Dante watched as Sinclair tried his best and MADE the decision to want to be a proper manager. Obviously the heartfelt little speech at the end isnt what saved the day, but the fact that Dante wants to make the Sinners into a proper team should lead to some really tasty storytelling in the future.

The later half of the story will likely be where the Sinners come to terms with all the stuff thats happened to them too so that should be really fun, and I really wanna see Dante get back into good terms with Ishmael cause really theyre just trying their best.

[lykegenia]

I keep meaning to send you those twc asks but I cannot find them!

HOWEVER. Do you want to answer number 2 all across the board, for each ship? :)

I can't find them either, I just keep going back to the link I put in discord ;D But I absolutely WILL answer all of these

We have been told a little about N’s overprotectiveness. What are your detective’s feelings on it? Leah 'Independence or Death' Kingston gets very frustrated at the idea of being babysat or considered like she can't take care ore herself. She's been looking after herself for most of her life, and even if she now has to worry about supernaturals, she's competent, and she wants to pull her weight. I don't think she quite realises the reason why Nate is so overprotective is that he's more serious about her than any other relationship he's had before - she can't quite conceive (yet) that she means that much to him - but she does understand that it comes from a place of care so she swallows her anger as best she can and tries to be reassuring instead. If he ever tries to lock her in some sort of ivory tower, however, there's going to be Words.

Though this has not been mentioned in a bit, how do you think the detective’s reaction to M’s pheromones will come into play? Since Rhi is so against having feelings for Mason, she actually finds it reassuring that he can't use them on her without causing her pain. It means he's not manipulating her autonomic responses to get her into bed (which does mean that her feelings for him are entirely her own fault and it infuriates her). But then there's also the moment where he refuses to use pheremones on other people when she's around, because it might hurt her, and that throws her. He's rarely shown any consideration for anyone else, and the fact he would actively make fighting off bad guys harder for himself because of her isn't something she knows how to interpret. I think in the end, once they're deep in the romance, Mason will find it painful if Rhi is in a situation where pheremones wold usually help (like a panic attack or a nightmare), but he can't use them. It means he's going to have to learn other ways of offering comfort, and that's going to be a fun journey for them to go on together.

(and just for fun, the BFF questions) If your detective had a board game night with the team, what is one game your detective would like to play with the others? Leah would break out the Scrabble board, for sure. Chaos would ensue, first with Felix demanding that Echolian words be accepted, and then Adam would get picky about hyphenisation and slang that "shouldn't be allowed". It would probably end up with a "weirdly intense" (Mason's words) head-to-head between Leah and Nate long after the others have gotten bored, but really, what is competitive wordplay if not flirting for nerds?

Rhi is bringing Catan, complete with expansion packs. She's merciless. Mason prefers to watch her destroy the others than play himself (he likes seeing her so calculating and focused), but the fun really starts once Adam starts losing. He grumbles that the game rules don't reflect how real life military strategy and that that knights should be much more expensive (because Felix ends up with the largest army). Nate spends ages on his turn and doesn't quite get the hang of the trading aspect because he always accepts terrible deals. Rhi and Felix end up teaming up in mutual love of chaos to take down Adam.

[gimmethatagustd]

I don’t know what the spoon thing means but it’s a 100% a thing that my mom does for which she has absolutely no logical explanation

like, we have two sets of cutlery, one fairly modern, possibly bought in an ikea or some other similar place and it’s our everyday set

we also have a set of very old cutlery that my grandmother brought from Ukraine in the 60s or 70s. to explain: I’m from Poland and while I myself was born in 1994, my parents grew up in the communist era Poland and my grandparents were either born right before WWII or right after WWII. For those of you who don’t know, the world behind the iron curtain was very different than what the western world accepted as normal. For instance, international travel (particularly to the west) was not available as citizens were not allowed to have passports, because, marks and engels forbid, they would try and escape the sad, poor reality of their own country (some did escape- hats off to them). Traveling within the ussr satellite states tho was perfectly fine. So a lot of people (including my grandma) grasped at the opportunity to go to Ukraine, see our distant family and trade some goods for something else - like, for instance, the cutlery set.

The cutlery set itself is not that bad, but it is quite heavy - due to the material it was made from and the design implemented. It was designed to resemble an ornamental set of cutlery that would likely be seen in the 1930s or 40s in the region, to give it more pizzazz and for some delulu housewives to try and pretend it’s family heirloom.

For some reason, my mom hates that set with passion, refuses to use it even for some menial tasks (like, scooping cat food from the can to the bowl) but it never occurred to her to just… pack it up?? Get rid of it? Because it was handed down from her mother in law and is therefore considered a gift, and so the cursed cutlery will be with us until our dying days. And yes, it has its own drawer in the kitchen. It could’ve been locked up in cabinet but no.

Just like my grandfather’s military spoon (this one is an entirely different story tho) it’ll be there, locking the drawer from the inside and gathering dust until the sun implodes.

— b*rb*d d*ck anon

oh my god this is amazing. first of all, thank you for all the background/context explanation in the beginning. idk i'm really into history and although i haven't had the opportunity to really travel outside of the US, i've always wanted to go to other places. so i really enjoy learning about people's family history like that. (my family doesn't know anything about our history cuz of assimilation and also slavery 💀) so this was dope to learn about!!

i've got such a vivid image in my mind of that cutlery gathering dust. you describing it as something for delulu housewives as pretend heirlooms KILLED ME god that was too good. i can see it honestly. people want to be relevant hsdjfkhks

i am very interested in this military spoon 👀

it's funny how cutlery is so important to us. like ig it makes sense since eating is important jshdkjfs and sharing a meal has so many cultural significances depending on context, location, etc. i always thought it was weird how my mom kept nice dishes but never used them. like why !! what is the point !! i don't think they even had any sentimental meaning behind them

[where-skies-end]

sometimes i like to think about the contrast between cyrael and rysel. like physically i made them look really different, but also in personality and how they respond to everything their lives have thrown at them

like rysel was initially meant to be a one off character who only showed up a few sections but i liked the contrast with cyrael he brought to the story so i kept him in and eventually developed him more and more so the contrast is by design but i'm in the mood to ramble

she grew up with very little stability. her parents were adventurers by trade, constantly moving place to place, she was just enough younger than her older brothers that she couldn't quite do the things they could either so she was just kind of left to do her own thing a lot, aside from time to learn how to wield a sword and a bow, make traps and whatnot. it was this being left alone and brushed aside that made her feel the need to prove she could do something useful, and led to her getting attacked by the bear. her parents dropped her with her aunts, who while they cared for her were not prepared to have a gravely injured, emotionally unwell child dropped on them by some random relative who refused to settle down and actually take care of said child. she goes into everything expecting the worst and expecting a fight, she's operating under the assumption that nobody will like or trust her, and her reaction to pretty much any situation is to fight her way out, even when it probably shouldn't be

whereas rys grew up with pretty much every aspect of his life being controlled either directly or indirectly by his parents, especially his mother. he wasn't allowed to be anything, he was expected to be perfect, and his best efforts were never good enough to get him ranked any higher in line for the throne than his actual baby siblings. he's operating under the assumption everyone's going to be disappointed in him, and he's doing absolutely nothing to prove them wrong, because why bother when the effort gets you nowhere anyway? he expects everyone to want to hurt him and most of the time he's just going to sit there and take it, and his few attempts to stand up for himself at the start are largely misguided because he does Not know how the real world works and that trying to pull authority figure card doesn't work on cyrael, who isn't even tied to a single kingdom.

and these two who have pretty much no shared experience or personality compatibility have to work together, because cy has to or she ends up back in prison and rys is at a point where he's going to do one good thing (find and save his sister) or die trying, and without her he most definitely would have died because he has no practical skill surviving or fighting in the wild

and in return after they learn cy is the chosen one, he's got to help her navigate her life flipping over and going from being a nobody to being a "hero," when she's fully convinced she's undeserving of the title. she doesn't know how to handle attention, especially positive attention, because she doesn't really get any

[lis-likes-fics]

It's Time to Party!

Pairings: Carlisle Cullen x Reader Warnings: Excessive alcohol, drunkenness... idk what else. Have fun A/N: I just wanted to do one where reader gets super drunk and says a line that I absolutely adore. You'll know it when you see it...

~~~~~

As Y/N walked with a friend, Cameron, through the college halls, he jabbed her side. "Hey, you going to the party tonight? It's gonna be huge," he asked with a big smile.

She nodded with her own smile, "Yeah, my boyfriend is a little hesitant, but I can convince him."

He rolled his eyes, "Come on, it's a college party. Why would he get weird about it?"

She eyed him as she shook her head, "Exactly, it's a college party. To him, it's the equivalent to riot."

Cameron shrugged a shoulder, muttering something about that not being exactly wrong. "It'll be really fun though," he said. "Booze, boys, more booze, boob, boys." He wiggled his brows at the end and she smacked his side as she laughed.

"You, my friend, are a bachelor," she told him, shaking her head.

He laughed, "For the bachelors and the bachelorettes."

She patted his arm, "C'mon, let's go get lunch. I'm starving, and Carlisle will scold me if I miss a meal again." She chuckled at the end.

"Absolutely." He suddenly stopped her as he grabbed her arm, "Hey, I don't think I've ever met your boyfriend."

She smirked as she shot him finger guns and a wink, "And you never will."

"Aw, c'mon!" he complained, she grabbed his arm and dragged him away to get food. "I wanna see if he's hot!"

~

"But Carlisle, it'll be fun!" she whined as he refused her request.

He shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest as he faced her with soft eyes. "Absolutely not, I don't want you getting hurt."

She huffed. "I'll be safe, I can watch my intake. Besides, I have a friend who doesn't drink for this exact reason. I also have a ton of other friends so I won't be around strangers. Nothing will happen to me."

He sighed as he thought over her argument. He then gave another defeated sigh, but his face said otherwise. "Fine. You can go."

"Yes! Thank you," she smiled. She went to hug him before he said. "If you bring Jasper with you."

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"I can't go with you myself. So you'll take Jasper," he said.

She shook her head, smacking his chest with the back of her hand, "But Jasper is a buzz kill. I won't have any fun."

"Thanks, Y/N," Jasper shouted up the stairs for her to hear.

She gestured in the direction his voice came in, "See? He's thanking me because he doesn't want to go either."

Carlisle shook his head, a slow smile on his face, "Actually, I'm pretty sure it was a sarcastic thank you."

"Shh," she shook her head, "Don't worry about that."

He laughed. "Alice."

"Rosalie."

"Edward."

"Emmett, and that's my final offer," she stated. The both of them started trading names again, back and forth it was Emmett and Edward until, finally, Y/N got what she wanted.

"Fine! You can take Emmett with you," he huffed.

She smiled, "Thank you so much! I love you." She pressed her lips to his and left to go get herself and Emmett ready. Carlisle sighed, "What have I done?"

She knew Carlisle would try to seat her with a chaperone. She already had Emmett in mind. He would bargain for Edward or Alice or Jasper because of their gifts. Jasper could track her (he was literally the tracker of the family), Alice would be able to see what she was doing and stop her if she tried to sneak away, and Edward could see where she was through her mind and find her.

Rosalie would have been to insistent on watching her. She would not have been as lenient on letting her have fun. That would have been almost worse than Jasper. Almost.

Emmett, however, had no power and would have been easily swept away by the partying humans. Especially with Cameron around. He would definitely have to deal with getting hit on by him all night. But Emmett was also big and strong, and it would not be too strange if he randomly lifted something really heavy. He had a good cover. He could protect her, but she would not as much of a buzz kill as the others.

"Emmett, dress up," she called down the stairs. Emmett was at her door in no time, leaning on the frame. "You're dressing me? Who are you, Alice?"

She rolled her eyes, "Come on. You're not going looking like that."

"I look amazing," he said.

"You look like my dad. Let's go."

~

When the party came around, Y/N past by Carlisle with a kiss to his cheek and promised to see him later that night.

"Don't be out too late," he told her.

She nodded with a smile, grabbing Emmett's arm and pulling him away. She whispered to him, "We do not leave before 12:30."

"Gotcha."

They arrived to the party in no time. It was a house party, a big one that already had people surrounding and filling it. Emmett kept up with her as she went to go meet with Cameron.

"You made it!" he yelled.

He slung his arm around her shoulders and she laughed. "You're already wasted," she commented.

"I'm not wasted, I'm slightly buzzed. Take this, you will be too," he said as he handed her a drink. She took it gladly and fed Emmett to the very gay wolf.

"Oo, who's this hunk? Is it your boyfriend you keep talking about?" he asked.

She downed her drink and shook her head, "No, he's Emmett and he's taken."

"My eyes aren't," Cameron commented as he hung on Emmett's arm. He was only a couple inches shorter than the vampire. "How're you, lover boy?"

"Taken," he repeated as he smiled playfully. He made him stand, using his increased strength to lift him up.

"Oo, you're strong too," Cameron smirked. "Me likely."

Y/N put her arm around him and walked with him into the house. "C'mon."

"Is he drunk?" Emmett asked.

She shook her head, "No, he's always like this."

"Damn straight."

Emmett laughed, "I like your friend."

"I also like my friend."

"And her friend likes you," Cameron winked at him.

As they got into the party, drinks starting flowing and the party started going. After a while, she had to shake Emmett so she could have more drinks. She was having a lot of fun hitting on guys so she could reject them, dancing ridiculously and blaming it on the liquor, and passing around more drinks, and she would like that to continue.

It was not hard to shake Emmett. All she had to do was start arm wrestles in the lower level of the house that had a party raging on. He was immediately interested in proving to everyone he was stronger than them and everyone else was interested in proving him wrong.

With all the scents in the room, he would not be able to pull hers out from the crowd. For a while, she cheered him off before slipping away with Cameron to keep partying and drinking.

It was around twelve that night when Y/N realized her phone had died. It must have died hours ago. She managed to find a charger and get her hands to stop missing the input.

When it turned on again, she could hardly see the screen. Her vision was spinning. There had been roughly ten missed calls from Carlisle. Either that, or it was a hundred, she could not make it out.

Y/N was dizzily dancing around in the room with Cameron for a while before she heard the sirens. "Oh, fuck," she laughed. "Cam," she said as she went to pat his shoulder. "Cam. The fuck are you?" she asked as she looked around.

She tripped over something and laughed as she saw Cameron now under her. They both laughed, out of their minds drunk.

"The pops are here."

"Pops?"

"Poles."

"With strippers?"

"No," she sighed as she smacked his shoulder. "The police," she managed to slur. He made a loud "oh!" as he laughed and tried to stand.

"That's just the music. No police," he laughed.

"No, police," she corrected.

"That's what I said."

"No, you said 'no police'. I said 'no, police'."

"That's the same thing."

"Is not the same thing," she shook her head.

He finally got to his feet and pulled her up to hers. They had to poorly balance each other before they could end up falling to the floor again.

After a moment, they were both grabbed by big, strong arms and thrown over someone's shoulder.

"Emmy!" she yelled. "When'd you get so tall?"

He rolled his eyes, "Carlisle's gonna be pissed. He's going to go all dad mode on me and he'll kill you when he's done with me."

She hiccupped as she giggled, "He may be your dad, but he's my daddy."

"I did not need to hear that," Emmett mumbled.

"You're dating his dad?" Cameron laughed. "You slut!"

"How did you hear that? Who told you?" she accused, trying to smack him and smacking Emmett's back instead.

"Shut up. Both of you," Emmett grumbled.

"Yes, daddy," Cameron told him, going to wink but blinking both eyes instead.

"You're so stupid," she laughed.

"I must be, I'm your friend."

She gasped dramatically, "That's mean. You made me sad. Emmett, drop him."

"No, shut up," he said, rolling his eyes again as he continued to walk with them both thrown over his shoulder. As the police, who were very much there, went through the house, Emmett just stood there and dodged the police's attempts at checking them.

Charlie showed up, eyed Y/N and her company, and left to do his job with a roll of his eyes. He flipped open his phone to contact Carlisle, who was probably already on his way.

Some people had scattered and ran off before the police came storming in, some had tried and got caught, others decided to play it safe and stay behind, and some were passed out all over the house that was partly left in chaos with broken furniture in quite a few places.

When Carlisle came through the doors, he ignored everyone and went straight to Y/N. His eyes were worried as he saw her, still flung over Emmett's shoulder.

"They're both wasted," Emmett mumbled.

"You were supposed to make sure she didn't get wasted," Carlisle told him.

"She tricked me," he replied.

Carlisle sighed. She was very much capable of that. He examined them both, ignoring the way Cameron hit on him and Emmett. "Y/N," he said when he concluded that there was no real damage. She was just really, really drunk.

"What on Earth is wrong with you? You were supposed to be responsible," he scolded her.

"That's no fun," she slurred. "I wanna get wasted and get hangovers. I wanna make mistakes and live a little before it happens." Carlisle sighed. She probably would never had said this to him sober.

They had agreed that after getting through with college, she would turn so she could be with Carlisle. While there were a few things Carlisle did to try and change her mind, it was set in stone for her.

"Are you having second thoughts?" he spoke, keeping his voice down so Cameron would not hear, but a glance at him would see that he had already passed out.

She shook his head, trying to take his face in her hands but failing because she was seeing four of him. He took her hands with a breath of a laugh to place on his cheeks and she smiled.

"Of course not," she laughed. "I want to do this, I want to be with you. I just want to live a little before I can't do stuff that I can do now. Like getting blackout drunk."

He laughed, "You're never getting blackout drunk again."

"That's fair," she said, her eyes drooping.

"I've got to go do my job. Make sure she doesn't run off," he said as he looked at Emmett.

"On it," he replied, sighing as he made sure she was not falling off his shoulder.

"Bye, Daddy," she waved after him, a smirk on her face. He stopped and turned to see her, giving her a look that had her giggling again.

By the time he finished going around the house and making sure no one was injured and everyone was taken care of, he went back to them to make sure they were alright.

Carlisle had Emmett drive Cameron home and took Y/N back as well. She had long since passed out, and he got her safely to bed and past the group of vampires in the house.

When she woke the next morning, her hangover was the worst migraine she had ever had. She was lying in the bed for the longest time, her face shoved in a pillow with another pillow on her head.

"Hey," Carlisle's voice was soft as he re-entered the room. She grumbled, the sound almost seeming like she was crying.

He silently went to her side, kneeling by the bed and lifting the pillow to see her face. "Hey, sweetheart," he whispered.

She gave him a pained look, curling up in the bed with a pillow to her chest. He leaned forward and kissed her temple. "Everything hurts," she mewled.

"I know, baby," he spoke, his voice just as soft as ever. "I brought you water and painkillers."

She took them both quickly, shoving them under the covers to form a hoard of things. He had also brought her snacks, so she had wrappers and food also shoved under the blankets to keep to herself.

Carlisle laughed gently and she mumbled something about him finding her pain amusing. "Not amusing, you're just adorable," he told her. He managed to crack a smile from her and climbed in the bed, moving the snacks and wrappers out of the bed and pulling her to his chest for comfort.

"No more raves?" he asked hopefully as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. She nodded, but very slightly. "No more raves."

There were at least three more raves.

~~~~~

Dr. Cullen taglist: @folkeverandalways @lukas-is-writting and anyone else who wants to be tagged!

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Air Nomad Culture Headcanons

Because if Bryke refuses to actually develop Aang’s culture I will do it my fucking self.

Not all Air Nomads were benders, or lived in the temples. Most of them lived in nomadic villages that migrated around different continents depending on the season, which is why they’re ‘Air Nomads’. The ones in the temples were either the children of former monks who had chosen to give up that lifestyle, orphans or abandoned kids, or the children of spiritual or intellectual leaders who had decided they wanted their kids educated in a more focused environment.

Everyone in the Air Temples was a bender due to how close the teachings got them to the Spirit World.

It was possible for Monks in the temples to give up that lifestyle and return to living in the villages, but it was a permanent decision, one they couldn’t come back from, so most didn’t ever do that.

The only time of the year all Air Nomads would be at one of the four temples was during a festival which coincided with the date that Sozin’s Comet would be appearing in the year Sozin chose to time his genocide. 

Not all Air Nomad’s were vegan. They did eat meat, but they used every part of the animal and had rituals they performed after animals were killed to ensure their safety in the Spirit realm after death. Aang is just vegan because he’s Like That.

Flying Bison shed a lot of their fur, like Appa did in that one episode, so they used it to weave clothing, blankets, and baskets a lot. The fur is really thick and sturdy and the cloth they spun was very valuable. After the genocide, upper elites in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation still kept old Air Bison cloth as a status symbol.

Most Air Nomad kids, both in the temples and in the villages, were taught to spin wool practically from birth. Making their own toys to play with was very common among Air Nomad kids.

Along those lines, Air Nomads were big traders and merchants due to how much they moved around. They would take goods from one area and distribute it across huge swathes of land. They didn’t use money as a concept; their entire economy was based on trade of goods.

They also kept aside a certain amount of whatever they got and sent it back to the temples regularly.

As a result, a lot of their culture developed around give and exchange. Exchanges of gifts, like a bison fur shawl for a reed basket, were shows of respect, and a favor taken was always expected to be given back. they had a dislike of owing people in general within the villages. In the temples, as they were monks, it was generally assumed that between Air Nomads what they were given would be exchanged for the Monks’s spiritual guidance, education for some children, and direction during global issues or conflicts.

Within the temples, it was considered impolite to accept gifts from non-Air Nomads, especially if you didn’t return it. In the villages, it was just a general trade.

As long as you lived in the villages, Air Nomads did not care who you fucked. Sexuality was fluid as hell and no one gave a damn. In the temples you fucked no one because monks took an oath of celibacy.

They also had a very fluid concept of gender with blurred lines and few gender norms. Literally no one cared aside from ‘ooo when you do this with this person it makes a baby’.

The Air Nomads in the villages had a much more relaxed and free culture than was there in the temples, where things were a lot more regimented. The villages were a lot more focused on arts as well - as well as weaving, all sorts of handcrafting was common, and oral arts, like storytelling and folk songs, were very popular as well.

In the temples things were a lot more focused on the spiritual side, but they still told a lot of folk tales and used weaving as a method of concentration.

A lot of those folk tales had heroic trickster characters who used their intelligence to outwit stronger opponents. As opposed to moral absolutes, a lot of the folk tales focused on making the best out of bad situations or on the value of being friendly and welcoming.

The Air Nomads believed in reincarnation, for everyone and not just the avatar, kind of like how Hinduism or Buddhism do, but without Moksha or Nirvana. They believed it was just a cycle of being reborn into either better or worse circumstances depending on how you had behaved in your previous life.

Karma was also a thing. If you gave bad to the world you would get bad back, and if you were generally helpful and kind you would get good things back as well.

Their food dishes had a lot of variations depending on where you learned to make it from. In the Western Air Temple for example there was more influence from Fire Nation spices, so the food was spicier. They used more fish in the Northern and Southern Air Temples + surrounding villages.