#it's just literally been one thing after another in a nearly year long succession

[cold-neon-ocean]

short-ish vent/explanation as to why things have been so slow sobs

I don’t really feel the passage of time anymore but it’s crazy how much time I’ve lost just since February to just one after another dealing with the house pets. First our puppy’s neuter, then my sister bringing her cats into the house, her cats tearing things up and needing to be watched constantly (by me of course bc I’m the only one here), her cats then giving everyone ringworm which was a nearly 2 month ordeal that we’re still recovering from physically and financially, and now both puppies (one has seemed to recover now) are having some sort of intestinal issue the vets don’t know the cause of, but I’m just cleaning bloody diarrhea (its not parvo, the vet tested) and doing laundry all day.

I never really got the chance to recover from the introduction of the puppies back in September last year. I feel like my life has been overtaken by all these animals completely against my will and out of my control. Mom is just hemorrhaging money from all these obligations and vet bills she never planned/asked for, and I’m trying to help (despite none of these pets being mine) while also barely having the time to work that I used to. I used to be able to sit at my desk nearly all day without being interrupted but now dealing with all these animals by the time I get to sit at my desk I’m exhausted and it’s like 7pm but I gotta get up at 6am to give out medications and make breakfast for 5 pets.

Its starting to calm down but I’m just really upset over how all this affected my ability to work since these extended wait times reflects on my business very poorly and it’s just been killing me because this is not how I normally conduct things but I just had the rug completely snatched from under me and haven’t really been able to get back up. 

I also want to make clear that none of these animals are mine, nor did I have anything to do with the decision making to get them. I was told by my fam that it was expressly kept secret from me- literally until the animals came through the front door, because they knew I’d be upset because I’d have to watch them since I’m the only one home. The only pet that belongs to me is my leopard gecko who is a perfect angel boy who I’ve had not one issue with since getting him (he just turned 2 last month). 

Things are (hopefully) starting to stabilize, I’m praying that we can have just a little time without an animal having some sort of health crisis. I’m really sorry this has been such a long running thing, I never could have anticipated for any of it. I’m so grateful for the patience of my commissioners and am especially sorry to them, this isn’t normally how my business handles and I’m really ashamed of it.

[l-in-the-light]

Why is Law more stressed, more serious and often grumpy and annoyed in Wano? Thought he would be relieved after Luffy defeated Deflamingo 🤔he couldn't even relax at the banquet 😑

Broody Law is actually my favourite Law, which means I enjoyed him so much in Wano ❤ But why is he delivering behaving like that, indeed? Let's summarize the Wano experience from his side, shall we?

his alliance with Strawhats gets sidetracked because Luffy went to Big Mom to retrieve Sanji. He barely avoided a conflict (not really)

he's stuck at Wano, worrying his ass off for Luffy, hoping he's not left with half of Strawhats crew to take care for forever now

everyone is dying of hunger and getting sick in Wano, because they can't stop drinking water from the polluted river

Luffy finally arrives, Bepo gets sick, Luffy in the meantime does The Worst Thing Possible and Law's efforts to patch up the situation do not work out

Luffy snaps and runs off to fight Kaido

Kaido bombs away Strawhats and Hearts crews while Luffy and Law are already near town and can't do shit about it

he fails to stop Luffy from fighting Kaido

he fails to stop Kaido from putting Luffy in prison

freaking Hawkins getting in his way

crews turn out to be fine, but freaking Kinemon soon leaves to find remaining Akazaya samurais. Now the whole raid plan and making sure it's not exposed is Law's job. On top of that, he needs to take care not only of his Heart Pirates, but also Strawhats, because their captain is in jail. Two crews, a raid plan and the weight of 20 years of revenge is all hanging on Law's neck.

freaking Germa (he's a Sora follower, ok)

he almost throws it all away when Hearts get put in prison

he's got accussed that his crew is crap and he should just kill them off, all that coming from his very own allies he's been taking care of for last couple of weeks!

freaking Hawkins again

getting tortured (just another monday morning amirite)

finding traitor and making sure the raid doesn't fail in the process. Is Luffy finally out of that prison, what is he doing there? Or maybe, that's for the best, he can't make the situation even worse...

Luffy arrives late to the raid and late to the rooftop battle

Luffy brought freaking Eustass Kid to the raid

Luffy is ordering him around in front of freaking Eustass Kid

Luffy tells him to get along with freaking Eustass Kid

Zoro-ya almost died on his watch

Kurashi-ya (literally) caught him in a middle of an embarrassing blunder

Eustass Kid is behaving like a newborn baby and Law has to babysit him

LUFFY BROUGHT FREAKING BIG MOM TOGETHER WITH HIM

now it's Law's job to fight Big Mom. He didn't sign up for this!

Luffy nearly drowned in the sea while fighting Kaido

Luffy lost and died while fighting Kaido

Luffy got revived and won against Kaido

Law had to make bigass room, bigger than anything he made in Dressrosa, probably cutting down on his lifespan in the process

Law has to take care of stuff no one cares about after the raid succeeds, which is taking care of the ships, searching for the poneglyphs (no one but him cared for that in the middle of the raid!) and probably patching many, many people up

he ends up stranded with Robin in some moldy underground chamber for hours, while being seriously exhausted, sleep deprived and in the middle of recovery from his injuries

he doesn't join in the banquet out of spite (no one told him about Jimbei joining the Strawhats. Is Law a joke to them?!), besides just in case a certain Luffy would assault him there, make him go all night long eating and playing around and celebrating, all the while probably bugging him to become a 100% part of the Strawhat crew or at least extend their alliance to together forever status.

And that's just the major things listed! I'm sure I missed some details here and there.

Overall, I think he was stressed and exhausted, because he was carrying a lot of responsibility (and the stakes were extremely high!), at certain points almost the whole raid plan's success was depending solely on him, while others merrily ignored the dangers. He also had two crews to take care of for the whole arc, constantly worried himself over Luffy, got pissed at Eustass Kid and had to cooperate with him (he hates that dude!), and at the end of it his world got almost turned upside down in worst possible way (Luffy dying and raid failing as the result, and the vision of all of them dying flashed before his eyes).

As Bepo reveals to us in the midst of Winner Island escape, Law wants to stay behind with his crew even if it kills him and needs to be reassured that no one is dying there. That suggests Law doesn't deal well with people close to him dying, which shouldn't surprise us after what happened in Flevance and later also to Cora-san. I'm sure Wano hit Law harder than we expect, because there he was, finally believing in people again (Luffy), only for Luffy to die on him as well. Old issues must have resurfaced and his fear of losing people worsened as the result.

I think we should cut him some slack, shouldn't we? Wano was definitely not a walk in the park for Law, especially psychologically-wise. Though to be fair, he could relax and laze around a bit, we see it happen, right before Strawhat Luffy waltzes into the country. That was the last time we saw him actually calm and resting, so I guess that alone gives us another answer to your question as well ;)

And then his alliance ended, and we know Law doesn't like dramatic things, which also means overly emotional goodbyes. It was probably pretty difficult for him to part ways and maybe he thought it would be easier if he avoided Luffy for most of the time after the raid finished. And then Chopper went and almost blew all his efforts up with his warm send-off! Law owes a lot to Strawhats and his debt is only getting bigger, but it won't change his withholding personality.

Did Law find peace after Mingo was defeated? Not exactly, because I don't believe Doflamingo was Law's end goal. Just take a look at his reaction when Luffy finally wins:

Everyone is crying and celebrating, but Law's face looks like this instead. Does this look like a face of a person who finally got rid of his demons and is set free? What about Flevance, are we forgetting that? Law has a lot on his plate, Mingo was simply one of the obstacles in his way (but an important one!). If you want to know more about what I think about Law's end goals, I wrote about it here: https://www.tumblr.com/l-in-the-light/761556630027616256 (the topic starts somewhere around the second picture). That's why I don't think he is at peace or that his revenge is over and we shouldn't expect him to completely "move on" or reach perfect closure just because Mingo is now out of the picture.

There's one exception though. I do believe Law is showing his emotions more openly after Dressrosa. And I think it's actually a sign of him healing and partially moving on.

Because just look at this. Law was always annoyed with his beloved Cora-san as well, and yet we never doubt he loved him dearly. In Wano Law is acting the same way towards the Strawhats, openly showing when he's annoyed and angry. That's how he shows affection and worry. Compare it to Punk Hazard, when he's always holding back, stoic and cold, keeping his comments and reactions to bare minimum. Dressrosa changed everything in Law's emotional department. And the result is that he did open up to his allies.

Also I feel like it's my duty to remind the world about this, often overlooked, fact: so far Law celebrated in the feast exactly one time, in Dressrosa. He didn't join in on Punk Hazard, Zou or Wano. So it's not really a "Wano thing", but more like Law almost always choosing other things over feasting ;) personally, I think it's because of that "30 minutes on festival" rule he had in his household as a child. He's probably not used to just playing around for hours. Besides, we should never underestimate Law's pettiness. Not joining the celebration might have been as well just a petty payback of his, for every offense that happened to him in Wano, lol.

I'm not sure if you liked my answer, anon, but I hope you at least smiled a bit when I tried to mimick Law's grumpiness in this post :D

[sgiandubh]

C might mean well, but I find businesses using charity to sell suspicious.

Dear Provocative Anon,

What you say deserves an audio (there have been two of them two weeks ago, compensating for last week's silence). I have many things to tell you and please excuse the delay:

They really can't win, with people like you, can they? And that goes for both C and S, mind you. No matter what they do and try to promote as a side project, there is always going to be someone unhappy and vocal about it. When it's not you complaining 'business using charity to sell' is 'suspicious', there's the other fuckwit asking recently why S hasn't given all MPC's profit to charity, as Paul Newman did with Newman's Own.

So, I will be brutally honest with you, Anon. I have thoughts and questions about your own point of view and this is partially why it took me so long to answer you. It would seem you are not familiar at all with what is called 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR), since at least the Sixties. Which means, in a nutshell, companies who choose to focus part of their activity and dedicate part of their profits to charitable projects. It is done with various degrees of ethics, success and bona fides all around the world, and it is often used as a strong marketing and sales argument.

Think about these people, whose brand is probably immediately recognizable wherever you go, spare perhaps Pyongyang:

I just picked this Coca Cola Foundation recent CSR project in Brazil totally randomly, using Google. Some might think it's just another cynical diversion: one of the world's biggest corporate profiteers, happily contributing to the current obesity pandemic (including in Latin America), suddenly showing one of its biggest markets they do have a conscience, after all, and a social one to boot. And addressing, at the same time, one of the continent's post-colonial bleeding wounds, which is to say, the organic imbalance between rich and poor, as far as access to means of production, land ownership and use and sales opportunities go. 480 farmers benefitting from Coca Cola's magnanimity is probably but a tiny drop of hope in an ocean of dour social injustice, but the truth is, Anon, if nobody does anything good, then nothing good will happen at all. It is as simple as that, and while their modus operandi is probably not exactly my cup of tea, you will have to admit it works, at least to some extent and for some people. Plus it greatly enhances the company's do-good, sensible and reliable global image, because of course, what happens right now in the state of Minas Gerais is but a tiny part of a bigger strategy.

Might I add that even those robber barons, à la Cornelius Vanderbilt or Jay Gould, who made their ruthless fortunes building the railroads of a still very young United States of America, ended up giving a very small part of their same fortune to various charities. It wasn't nearly enough what we would consider as 'reasonable', in 2024, but it did start a philanthropic trend, that took considerable speed after the 1919 Boston Molasses Disaster. The Sixties have just added more pragmatism and gave a name to what was, at its very start, quite an opportunistic endeavor.

Even so, Vanderbilt and Gould themselves did not invent anything, really. One should look to good old Europe to find what is probably the first big CSR project in human history, still going strong since 1521. May I introduce you to the Augsburg Fuggerei:

[for even more pious charity: https://www.fugger.de/en/fuggerei]

Renting one of those wonderful Hansel and Gretel houses for less than one euro/year, plus three daily Hail Mary is something to behold, right? Jakob Fugger the Young, the guy who had this brilliant idea (which, might I add, is still run and operated by the Fugger banker family, even nowadays) was literally a ruthless kingmaker, a colonial trade and exploration pioneer, but also a religious bigot who flatly refused to extend his charity to Protestant families. Still, his pious dream goes on - the Fugger Family Foundation even actively plans its next 500 years. This is Germany, after all 😉.

Those people’s money stinks more of corruption and crime than S or C’s ever could, Anon. Still, they are remembered as benefactors, by many. History is seldom cruel to those who are willing to pay for their posterity.

But you know what, Anon? Compared to the Fuggers and the Vanderbilts and the Goulds, S and C are really small fish in an even smaller, fickler pond. I think they are doing it out of their good heart and I think they are honestly, genuinely responsive to the idea of giving a chance to young, struggling artists. But, in the process, are they also trying to market themselves as more approachable and less controversial, considering the (oh, I shall never tire to repeat this, with gusto) cosmic amount of bullshit plaguing their respective public images? My somewhat cynical answer is also yes, Anon. To which may I immediately add that it's not even important: all that counts are the tangible results of whatever good things they do with their booze and/or fitness profits.

Results and helping trigger a change in one's life is all that really interests me, Anon. It seems to bother you, though, so I will cheekily end this long rant with a couple of questions: do you have a problem with poverty? do you believe in giving people a (second) chance, or do you think only the rich are worth considering and valuable?

If so, I honestly pity you, girl. For the real indigent in all this might be you.

[honeybewrites]

Writeblr Intro!!

Figured I should do an introduction for my little crevice of the internet! 

I go by HoneyBe, or just Honey, or just Be, or really any other name you feel like! I mostly use she/her, they/them pronouns, but feel free to use whatever. I’m in my 20s and on the AroAce spectrum. I’ve been writing on and off since middle school and I’m hoping to get better at improving my skills, because 12 year old me didn’t care about that but 20 year old me does. I’m hoping to find (or build) a little community to support and help each other with all the writing things. Mostly though, this is just me gaslighting and guilt tripping myself into thinking that by not writing and posting, I will disappoint a nonexistent audience on the internet and not just myself, because apparently that’s the only way my brain will cooperate with me. 

Couple other little tidbits about me:

Big fan of the found family trope. Literally will make me squeal at a highly obnoxious volume.

LOVE extensive world building. I want to know every detail of a magic system and how a planet operates. I will listen to you rant about lore for hours, just please let me do the same every once in a while. I am begging, please, I want to tell you all the things.

I’m a little funky photographer trying to start her own little funky photography business, mostly to give myself more time to travel and write and also to get out of my full-time retail job (it’s pure hell and I hate it with an unholy, unmatchable heat of a thousand suns).

I love flowers. They’re just so pretty and as a little honeybee myself, it’s part of my job.

If you mention dragons, you will summon me. I have an obsession with the magical creatures and it knows no bounds.

My Main WIP, or I guess world, is what got me into writing in the first place, and I’ve been messing with it for years. You’d think that would mean I have it decently fleshed out, right? Nope. Unfortunately, The Plot keeps escaping my basement and causing a train wreck. If anyone has better restraint suggestions, let me know. My neighbors are starting to get concerned.

Anywho! The whole world is called The Seven Realms, or as my docs are titled, 7R. I know, so original. She wants to grow up and be a series with little series siblings, all connected in one Big Family. Seriously, I have OCs all over this world’s history and very vague vibes, aka, The Plot, to go along with them. Here are my two main ones.

Eclipse of War Chronicles (EoWC)

Colliding Stars (supposedly book 1)

The Realms are in chaos. A war started nearly a hundred years ago, still raging today, has wrecked both sides. The original intent of the war has long left everyone’s mind; it’s now a fight over territory and unification. The Realms border on complete and totally collapse from the strain of this ongoing blood bath and neither side refuses to admit defeat.

Project Viall, created during the hight of the war, was set on creating superior fighters. After many failed attempts, two successful subjects were created from the genetic experiments.Trained side by side to be flawless and merciless loyal weapons of death, they end up on opposite sides of this vicious war. Both intent on destroying the other, while their partner and closest friend hides behind the mask. Bonds are tested. Secrets revealed. Loyalties made and destroyed as two partners threaten to destroy the entirety of the Realms in their hunt for blood.

Legend of the Ancients (LotA)

The Fallen Dragons (supposedly book 1 of another series)

A brutal war has left the dragons all but extinct. To preserve the species, the remaining dragons have gone into hiding, leaving behind a subspecies borne through the war to fend for themselves: the Tanimoriem. Generations later, no one has seen or heard of a dragon, leaving the Tanimoriem as their only remains to once was. Knowing little of their history and being hunted simply for being kin to dragons, the Tanimoriem learned how to fight viciously and keep to themselves, earning a reputation as vile, unfeeling demons.

Accepting a bounty mission, Ryuk, a seasoned Tanimoriem, gets more than he bargained for. He had been told this was another monster that needed killing. A dangerous beast. Instead he’s met with a child who finds his horns and wings fascinating. Ryuk is forced to look after the child until he can figure out what secretive plot is brewing, because it might just involved the Tanimoriem.

Of course, my goblin brain has given me plenty more snippets and random characters in different times in this world that I have yet to do much with. The world of the Seven Realms has consumed me for years and I have been shown no mercy. I’m planning to do a proper intro post to each WIP and their characters at some point… *puts twenty reminders in phone to write intro posts*

Also!! I will take all asks, tags, and DMs you can throw at me. Literally. Ask me about anything. Books, WIPs, OCs, hell, even ask about my least favorite color or my favorite bread. I do not care. I will answer. I want to be friends will all of you!! I don’t sting! I promise!!

[hannahmanderr]

🎉 PLEASE FAMILY BREAKFAST WHATS THE DATE

🎉- What was the date?

Maddie enlists a few of her friends in the same karate class as her to help her quite literally run into Vlad and Jack's dorm room, tie him up, and drag him out to the car where Jack is waiting. Maddie throws Vlad into the car and the three of them are off

Vlad of course thinks the two of them have finally inhaled too many ectoplasmic fumes bc hello they have just literally kidnapped him and they are both giggling like idiots about it and he would like to be let out of this car right this minute thank you very much

They just keep giggling and tell him they promise he'll like it

After a while, they pull up outside this old building downtown, and Vlad recognizes it immediately.

"Jack. Maddie," he says, with as much patience as he can muster (which, granted, is not a lot), "why the hell have you kidnapped me just to take me to the bar?"

But it's not just any old bar. This is a locally owned sports bar that's been around for as long as Vlad can remember. Sure, they might not have had fancy big screens like they do these days (this was the 80s, after all), but it was still as good a place as any to catch a game and a beer with a few friends. The food is honestly pretty mediocre, nothing to write home about, and it's a little dingier than some other bars, but it does the job.

And the reason why it's not just any old bar is because this is the bar Vlad's father would take him to every Sunday in the fall to watch the Packers game (or at least listen to it, if it wasn't on TV) when he was a boy. Vlad's father would always get whiskey, and Vlad himself would guzzle down Shirley Temples. They'd share a plate of nachos and cheer the Packers on to victory as best they could, and they'd go home happy and Vlad's mother would scold him for drinking so much sugar, but she would always smile at her two boys having fun.

Those were some of the happiest moments of his life up to this point. They'd even kept with the tradition through elementary school, junior high, and into high school. Too bad those happy times ended his sophomore year of high school when his parents got killed in that car crash. Needless to say, he hadn't returned to the bar after that.

Until this night, where Jack and Maddie have kidnapped him. And they just keep smiling at him. Well, more so they seem to be having a silent conversation with one another, until Maddie reaches down to dig something out of her bag, and Jack grins at Vlad.

"I, uh, heard this place was a great bar to catch the Packers game," Jack says shyly. "And I overheard a group of the guys from Organic Chem saying they'd be here to cheer on the Bears."

Maddie interrupts now. "We thought you'd like to help us drown them out," she says with a mischievous grin, waggling the cans of body paint and the garish green and gold paraphernalia.

Of course, Vlad's first instinct is to say "no, absolutely not," but he can't exactly do much except watch as Jack and Maddie deck themselves in head to toe green and gold, then proceed to do the same for him. Finally, once he's all gussied up, they untie him and push him into the bar, loudly.

Things are definitely awkward at first. The Bears fans are looking at them like they want to vaporize them where they stand, and other patrons are simply looking at them like they're crazy. Jack and Maddie couldn't care less what everyone else thinks - they're hooting and hollering and Jack is beginning to get just a bit tipsy (Maddie is the DD) and they're having the time of their life.

Vlad never thought he could return to this place and enjoy himself, but he finally starts to loosen up a bit and remember just how much he loved spending time here somewhere around his second Heineken (or is it his third) and suddenly he's finding himself hooting and hollering right alongside those two, cheering oh so loudly for the Packers and driving the Bears fans so insane they leave the bar. Major success.

The Packers lose by nearly 3 touchdowns that night

The trio doesn't care at all though. At this point, Vlad and Jack are fairly wasted, and Maddie, while not drinking herself, is somewhat deliriously drunk on how much fun they're having together. Really, if any of them could seize a moment in time and immortalize it, it would be this one.

Wait - except that changes once the karaoke system gets rolled out. Then the iconic moment would be Vlad and Jack stumbling up onto the karaoke stage, belting out a Dead or Alive song and then, in their drunkenness, sharing an admittedly sloppy kiss in front of the whole bar, much to Maddie's delight (the only disappointment is that they will most definitely forget it ever happened, on account of how wasted they are).

The three of them leave shortly after that, having been kicked out of the bar by the bouncer.

No matter. They're still very much high on life in all the good ways, so Maddie drives them out to the park, grabs one of the old emergency blankets from her trunk, and drags her two boys out into the grassy lawn to lay down and look up at the stars, Vlad sandwiched between her and Jack.

Jack falls asleep immediately, hugging into Vlad so deeply that his hand is reaching all the way across him and holding onto Maddie too.

Vlad, still very much drunk, marvels at how different it felt to be in that bar again, and Maddie looks at him in surprise as he proceeds to spill the story about the little tradition between him and his father and how his parents got taken from him too early.

She's honestly stunned to hear about this - it's the first she's ever heard of it, really. But then she remembers something:

"Jack's the one who wanted to bring you there to have a good time," she tells him, even though she knows he probably won't remember once he's sobered up. "All he told me was that you mentioned that place once or twice and that you seemed to like it, so that's where he wanted to take you. Where we wanted to take you."

Vlad considers this information before promptly falling asleep as well.

He's the first to wake of the three of them in the morning, and God does his head hurt, and why on earth are they sleeping on a blanket in the middle of the park?

Fragments of memories come crashing back to him, but one thing he definitely remembers is going to that bar last night. And something about telling Jack... something. Maybe that he'd been there before.

Except no, he realizes that unless if Jack somehow remembered the single time he ever mentioned the bar and his connection to it, then it was all just a big coincidence. Nothing special about it, really. Which is kind of a disappointment, for some reason he can't identify.

He doesn't think of it again until a week later, when Jack is asking what he thought of that night (and of course it was wonderful and wild and freeing and he loved to just have the chance to exist with the two people closest to him), and he realizes that yes, somehow Jack did remember that single time the backstory had been even partially explained to him. It had only been in passing, he didn't even know if he'd ever mentioned the name, but somehow, Jack remembered and wanted to take him there - no, though Jack may have remembered, both of them wanted to take him there - and make new, happy memories there with him.

It's only the first of many spontaneous excursions between the three of them. Jack and Maddie quickly learn that Vlad secretly enjoys being "kidnapped" away to hang out with them, especially if they have a way that actually involves him in the hangout and doesn't leave him as a third wheel.

It isn't until the seventh or eighth excursion that Maddie has finally had enough and explains that duh, there's a reason the two of them keep taking him out like this! Was he really that clueless? (the answer is yes, yes he was)

Anyway Tumblr is yelling at me about character limit but yeah, that's a little bit how it goes hehe

[existentialcrisis-24-7]

Specialists vs Paladins

This post is kinda long and if I wasn’t on mobile I would’ve hidden it under a cut, but anyway, Enjoy :)

Specialists

Specialists in the modern day are sort of like specialised, highly skilled soldiers that nearly every Royal Family or Government will want employed in a variety of positions. They’re supposed to be the best of the best when it comes to combat and it can take years of training to achieve such skill. An important rule about being a specialist is that one doesn’t use magic or magic weapons (phantablades are considered a loophole to the rule).

There are a few schools set up around the Magic Dimension that train Specialists. The first and the most notable is Red Fountain on Magix, though there is a school to train Specialists on nearly every influential/powerful planet. The schools serve as sort of a home base for Specialists on that world, though if one is employed on a world that doesn’t have a school, they will have to travel to go to one. There aren’t many occasions they have to meet but it happens at least once a year. Every school has the same training uniform, though graduate uniforms can vary depending on the school and every Specialist has a Badge of Honour which is literally just the Triquetra (a three-pointed Celtic knot).

The original Specialists were the Saladin family, a family so dedicated to cultivating their combat skills that they ended up with a huge reputation and a lot of secret tricks. They also ended up with a lot of pride in their skills, resulting in a family-wide ban on using magic as it was considered to be devaluing to their skills. For many years the Saladins operated out of a fortress they had built, Red Fountain, and “rented” themselves out (so to speak) for militaries and protection. Eventually, when a man named Warrick Saladin took over as the head of the family, he began a program to train others outside of the family in their secrets.

A lot of the Saladins disapproved of this, especially as time went on and Red Fountain evolved into more of a school than a fortress. That being said, worlds jumped at the opportunity to have their soldiers trained and so it ended up a very successful venture. The popularity meant it had to change some of its curriculum to suit the fact that people were just sending their kids their to learn how to fight, so instead the course now offers basic “high school” education with a huge emphasis on physical training and combat that will give you a leg up in any military and a “college” course to become a full fledged Specialists.

Dagda Saladin is the current head of the Saladins, though that doesn’t mean a whole lot anymore. What does mean a lot though is that he’s the headmaster of Red Fountain and the first Saladin ever to use magic, though that’s a topic for another time. He has been the headmaster for longer than any other Saladin and has made a lot of changes to the school, including introducing phantablades and technological advancements to the building and equipment. There’s a lot of questions and worries at the moment though, as he announced a while ago (about 2 years before season 1) that he would be planning to retire given his old age and would be passing everything on to his grandson, but afterwards his grandson quit Red Fountain and while Saladin didn’t go back on his statement of retiring, he didn’t give a clear answer as to who would take over afterwards.

Paladins

The Paladins of Light Rock were officially created in the year 289 (289 years after Domino fell) by two ex specialists, Avalon and Ambien Malacoy, with the help of the new headmaster of Red Fountain, Dagda Saladin.

Paladins are like freelance specialists, though they are still an organisation of sorts. They have a home base at Light Rock, a basic armoured uniform (though unlike Specialists they can customise it), and a seal that they have to wear visibly at all times. There’s a few other rules since things are a lot more lax than specialists, but the most important thing to remember about Paladins is that they can fight with magic.

The origin of Paladins is on Coria where many of the Saladins moved to after the family began splitting apart. Coria was known for its dedicated warriors, but it was also known for its warrior magic, leading to the integration of Specialist techniques into traditional Corian fighting styles. This was the original style that most Paladins base their fighting around.

One person who trained in those ways was Avalon. He greatly enjoyed magic fighting and wanted to pursue it further so he went to Red Fountain. He hated it. Didn’t like the lack of magic and thought everything was just too proper, so he and a friend he had made there named Ambien left and set up a new group using the techniques Avalon learned on his home world. Saladin liked the two and thought they had a good idea so he helped them set it up. In return, the two named the new group “Paladin” though it was mostly just an inside joke between the three.

The group caught on though thanks to the promise of fighters trained in magic, and the name Paladin ended up sticking.

Most end up employed in some way at Light Rock since they needed magically trained fighters and eventually it became their home base, though the building they use is separate to where the monks stay. Theres 4 schools in the magic dimension that train Paladins, the first and most popular being Malacoy Academy on Coria. Avalon was Headmaster originally but only for a few years before he left and did his own thing, returning a long time later to teach a bit more before moving to Magix to teach at Alfea at the special request of its headmistress, Faragonda.

And there you have it! Specialists and Paladins! Feel free to ask questions because I’m not 100% happy with how the information was given here

[superbdragoncollection-stuff]

Amphibia Contradicts Itself

To be clear, I love the girls so much. I just don't understand why the show doesn't.

The ending actively harms every other theme in the show, it feels as if it implies their friendship is actively harmful to their development as people. And it implies found family is fake, temporary, and to be abandoned as part of growing up.

It completely defeats the purpose of everything it set up with a little sentence. "Ten years later". The girls have never spoken. They never saw their frog families again. And Matt Braly thinks this is "sweet".

When talking about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, My Little Pony at least shows how beneficial being friends can be. It literally can change the world. They're nice to each other, they're kind, and they love each other. They actively make one another's lives easier.

Through Amphibia the girls are shown to have various influences on one another. They needed some time apart, before they came back together to improve. Okay, that's good. That's nice.

Then they separate and never speak for ten years. What was the point of the show then? "Your friends will still be your friends ten years later". Okay?? So?? WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE?! Is this really the conclusion? After everything they've been through, they're supposed to separate?! That's it?! How is that good?! How does this mean anything?!

They spent all this time building up relationships that improve mental health... that's all they do? Sure that's good, but at what cost? They lost EVERYTHING. They lost their frog families, they lost each other. But it's okay. They're slightly less mean.

They lost their found families and never felt upset. For a story that talks about the concept, it feels like it implies found family is fake, temporary, and to be abandoned as a part of growing up. That's agreeing with the villains! "Don't you think it's time to leave those childhood friends behind?"

The show feels as if it prioritizes biological family over found family. A cruel and heartless monster forced them to choose which family members they loved the most. Who does that?! And why was it treated as a POSITIVE?! And the creature only did it because their awful and cruel plan to get an intern failed.

The show feels like it agrees with the villains. Amphibia was emphasized to be a real world not a fantasy in True Colors, but then the show turns around and goes "time to grow up now!" So that means that the Amphibians are childhood things. To be abandoned.

One of the biggest contradictions though is the Calamity Trio are never shown to improve one another's lives when they are all together. Even when they seemingly improve, like Sasha defends them from bullies, that is all undermined by the show's ultimate conclusion: the girls must never be together again.

When Sasha teamed up with Anne and Marcy in season 1, it was a manipulative relationship.

Season 2 it was a lie. Sasha only was friends to control them. When they finally genuinely joined up, they failed so miserably Marcy was nearly killed.

Season 3? They are only ever successful when they are apart. Sasha wins with the help of Grime. Anne wins without any assistance aside from a joke about kpop. Marcy doesn't win. She doesn't get to win.

They finally win BECAUSE Sasha and Marcy retreat, not in spite of it. Anne must do it alone. Notice a pattern? It feels like we never see any benefit to them that's long term. Love and affection? At what cost?

Sasha's lessons? "Don't be a bully" Anne's lessons? "Stand up for yourself" Marcy's lessons? "Never under any circumstances do anything for yourself. You will hurt your friends. Always obey your parents, NEVER, EVER disobey them."

I don't give a crap what Matt Braly tweeted. I should not need social media posts to determine what is canon and what is not! This "typo" or "mistake" actively harms the show to a level it can't recover. The girls NEVER spoke for ten years. THAT'S WHAT THE SHOW IMPLIES.

And the show actively implies that the girls would be better off if they never met. Remember that pattern? We never see their friendships actually improving anything in a way that didn't blow up in their faces. It was their relationship with other people that made the difference.

They might be in a slightly better place mentally, yet they've lost everything else. The show feels like it is implying if they never met, they'd be better off. Nothing between them improved their lives. True Colors and All In show that when they work together, PEOPLE DIE. Anne won only because the other girls LEFT her.

They only ever improved by being apart. So what was the point of being in Amphibia then? If they had never met, nothing in the show would have happened.

The show directly contradicts itself. Matt supposedly didn't want to put Sasha's parents in the show so she wouldn't have someone to blame. If that's true, then that means that this is all Sasha's fault. Same with Marcy. By refusing to expand on the implications of child abuse, or any outside factors at all, the show concludes that the girls would be better off alone. Without anyone to slow them down.

And worse? Matt said in 2023, "It wouldn't be realistic, I didn't want them going on adventures ad nauseum". So why do ALL the frogs get to stay together? Sprig and Ivy GET to do that! Why must the girls be separated permanently, while the frogs get to live together? Why do they get to stay together while the girls are forced apart?

The ending, trying to be sweet, feels as if it directly agrees with the villains.

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE ENTIRE SERIES? If them being apart was what made them grow, shouldn't the end be them reuniting at the end of the show instead of separating for a decade, never even seeing one another, and then reuniting? How is this positive? Why SHOULD they even reunite? What's the point of anything if it's all going to get taken away? That's what Andrias believed, and it feels like the show agrees with it.

What's the point of these relationships if they're all going to get taken away? What's the point of ANYTHING? That is how the show makes me feel.

For a conclusion about how you never know how things will come back, it does a GREAT job of making sure NOTHING comes back. There are no plot threads.

What was the point of any of this? It doesn't feel like things will come back. It doesn't make me feel warm and snuggly. It makes me feel angry, sad, and bitter. It makes me wonder what the point of anything is.

[bellascarousel]

Next up on Bella Talks Writing is Tangled Webs. This one has two summaries because the first one I wrote was too long for AO3, LOL.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to decieve — Sir Walter Scott

When Anthony Bridgerton's latest affair turns out to be a LITERAL affair with a married woman, Daphne's Political career is threatened before it even begins.

When Edwina Sharma gets a job at a PR firm in another country, her over-protective big sister Kate decides to go with her to look after her.

When Agatha Danbury's most problematic client and her newest intern have problems that just might be each others' solutions, she jumps at this chance to help both of them.

When Kate Sharma follows her baby sister to England, the last thing she planned on was falling for Edwina's boyfriend.

OR The fake dating AU that nobody asked for

OR A modern take on the show's plotline

Anthony Bridgerton has been at the center of scandal before. It’s never really bothered him. But, this time, it’s not just about him. When his latest bed partner turns out to not only be married, but to be married to Daphne’s political rival, he could end up taking her down with him. The only way to fix it now, is the one thing he absolutely does not want: a perfectly respectable relationship with a perfectly respectable woman. If it was just about him, he would tell both his publicist and his mother to shove it. But, this time, his hedonistic ways could end up ruining Daphne, too. He’s spent nearly half his life sacrificing himself for his siblings. He’s not about to stop now. Like it or not, it’s time to grow up - or at least pretend to.

Eight years ago, Kathani Sharma sacrificed everything for her family. Turning down both an acceptance to Oxford and a marriage proposal from the English exchange student she had been dating in high school, she used what was supposed to be her college tuition money to help keep her family afloat. Now a successful romance novelist writing under the name Katharine Sheffield, there is one major advantage to the career path she never would have chosen back when she still had choices — she can write from anywhere. So, when Edwina moves to England, Kate decides she’s going with, whether her little sister wants her to, or not.

Edwina Sharma has spent her entire life doing whatever her older sister Kate told her to do. And watching as Kate retreated further and further behind the mask that she had worn for so long that even she had come to believe it. When her mother’s best friend offers her an internship at her PR company, Edwina jumps at it, thinking that a move to England could be just what she needs to get out from under Kate’s thumb — and to force Kate out of her shell.

Agatha Danbury has always had her hands full as the Bridgertons’ publicist. But this time Anthony has really outdone himself. When he comes to her begging for a way to save Daphne from his latest screw-up, she comes up with a plan. Show the world that he has changed by inventing a perfect girlfriend that he’s head over heels in love with. Make it so that even if the journalists blackmailing him were to go forward with the story of him and Siena Rosso, nobody would believe it. When Edwina lashes out about Kate’s overprotectiveness, Agatha realizes that her new intern and her most problematic client could be the solutions to each others’ problems.

A fake relationship. Pretend to be madly in love long enough for Daphne to no longer be in the line of fire. And with Edwina seemingly taken care of, maybe Kate will finally let her walls down and start living her own life. Especially since being in London means reuniting with the man she once thought she would marry, someday.

There’s just one problem: It’s Kate that Anthony dreams about at night. And falling in love is definitely not on his to-do list.

This is obviously a modern AU, and will mostly follow the show's plotline. With a few differences. Edwina feels absolutely nothing beyond friendship for Anthony. In fact, he is... very much not her type, actually. But, he is one of VERY few people who know that - and big sister Kate is not one of the others. She is also a much better sister to Kate than she was in the show - despite her keeping one Hell of a secret for like half her life. I have a fairly good idea where I'm going with this, with whole scenes already planned out. I think it's going to be quite interesting once I get it really going. (I just hope that readers agree, LOL.)

Anyway, the plan once I finish Let's Run Away Together is to alternate between this, Ruined, What Might Have Been, and The Doctor Who Loved Me. So, I should be updating again, soonish. (It will go faster if LRAT will stop being a goddamn hydra and spawning more chapters...)

[significant-narratives]

Ok but consider: the splash bros as a narrative foil to austonmitchy ... nearly 10 years of losing in the most heartbreakingly almost fashion and yet you still choose to stay and go back home to each other vs. being undisputably the best and coming back from the dead time after time after years of waiting and longing and reminding the world that you're unstoppable together even if the clock seems to have other plans.

That and klay is the most recent victim of mitchsogyny which is when uber-entitled fans of a team with a Best Guy Ever want to kick said Guy's work wife off of the only one he's ever known because of (1) bad playoff performance that somehow overshadows several good ones !! Men are watching sports for the wrong reasons just enjoy the gay love story and be grateful ugh !!! Ok sorry for ranting ive just been thinking abt both of them a lot and luv ur blog and need them all to stay married forever or i will do something Drastic etc ok that's all bye have a lovely day <333

oh my god anon... your mind... i had never connected those two dots but yes absolutely!! as always i am prone to rambling so i'm sticking the rest of my reply under the cut.

i think you nailed it re: how despite the different trajectory each pairing has taken (years of coming close but not close enough vs literal dynastic success) the enduring love is still there!

i also think the way these two pairings came to be is interesting to compare. auston and mitch written in the stars (auston shattering the glass of the rink off a mitch assist in their first practice together, fast friends since they were rookies etc) vs steph and klay having a slower burn and only really bonding a couple years in (the barcelona trip).

and then, like. auston and mitch sitting in the locker room together, united in their grief and heartbreak in the amazon doc... the effervescent joy that klay and steph take in succeeding together but also watching each other succeed, even all these years later!! both pairs always speaking highly of one another, understanding that they make each other better, and most importantly wanting to climb the metaphorical mountain together. and needing each other in order to do so.

less important but amusing to me: one half getting married and settling down (steph, mitch) and the other still (presumably) happily living that bachelor life (klay, auston)

have to take a quick second to highlight this part of your ask because it made me feel so weepy in wake of Recent Events (which i will circle back to):

being undisputably the best and coming back from the dead time after time after years of waiting and longing and reminding the world that you're unstoppable together even if the clock seems to have other plans

LIKE.... LET'S TALK ABOUT IT FOR REAL... steph is a generational talent, an all time great, changed the way the game is played etc etc BUT. everything he has won at an nba level has been with klay by his side. the warriors were a lottery team for two seasons, everyone said they'd never win again in the 1130 era... and then klay came back and they won again! when steph was out last season, klay played a huge part in keeping the time afloat! i repeat that through the power of true love all things are possible and i think that's beautiful.

and of course, klay as the most recent victim of mitchsogyny is just incredible scholarship, truly. i've been avoiding all warriors-related news/spaces this offseason because people are being so fucking miserable, it's painful to see.

like, with the faction of leafs fans who want mitch gone, i can almost understand why they feel that way (note: that doesn't mean i approve or agree lol). and that's because in the same way that winning cures all, losing poisons everything.

but with warriors fans and klay, it's like? was four championships and coming back from two potentially career-ending injuries not enough for you people? did you guys forget a decade plus of incredible performances that quickly? where is your sense of loyalty! <- this circles back to your point abt how the average sportsfan engages with team sports. they care about the logo, the team as a concept, and maybeee one or two superstar players. but for me personally, and i think for many people on sports tumblr, what good is rooting for a team if the team is completely unrecognizable? i don't want to see nameless players win a title, i want to watch my guys win! i want to get invested in their journeys and their accomplishments and watch them grow together! sports are just stories about people at the end of the day!

please don't apologize anon, i too have been in the trenches with the news that klay is likely to leave as a FA and just... everything... about the mitch situation. i think the most important thing to remember is that no matter what happens, the love will always be there. and when we look back, their names will always be said together.

[xtrablak674]

"I love you, but I don't like you."

Listening to The Heart's first episode of a limited series called Dad, had me thinking about my own father on this father's day, a holiday I hadn't even acknowledged less celebrated in well over thirty years. I love you, but I don't like you, is one of the lingering memories I have for this man who has been dead nearly longer than I have been alive. Its the reason I try to choose my words carefully with the children, I don't want them to have this kind of feeling lingering about, long after I am gone.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I don't like to disagree with Ms. Angelou, but I remember what he said, and in his defense it may have just been a well-intentioned joke, it had a lasting effect that may not have been understood or realized at the time.

Ray didn't take into consideration, that as a small child I literally felt he placed the moon in the sky and only became disillusioned with who he was as I began to develop my own agency, one separate from my parents. This can be the hardest part of growing up in my opinion, coming to the realization that your parents like yourself, are only human.

As intelligent, well-spoken, well-read and seeming to ooze coolness, my father was a man with low self-esteem, low self-worth, suffering not only from PTSD and depression but also dying from his exposure to Agent Orange. He was a boy who had so much potential and never met even a quarter of that as an adult. Who would spend his entire adult life under-employed or on either public assistance, disability or both.

The thing that disappointed me is I felt he could have done better, albeit I have never faced the trauma of being in a war that no one had love for, but I have faced life in a place where no one has love for me. I choose not to let what I was being shown and told about myself define who I was and what my life could be. I felt very strongly that he could have done the same, not just become a victim of his circumstances...

He may not have liked me, but I have surpassed any successes he had in his short time on this earth. I have accomplished more in my careers, made more income than he ever did, and have had a sense of stability that seemed very elusive to him.

The bunk beds, it was one of the only memories outside of the Harlem apartment he would share with my future "step-mother", I remember how much I loved the apartment with the bunk beds and I don't recall much beyond them. I just knew I wanted to sleep in the top bunk. My avid television watching had me thinking of myself as one of the Brady boys who had bunk beds, and I just thought there was something amazing about sleeping so high up.

Beyond that my later feelings of him are wrapped up in disappointment and unfulfilled promises, another thing I made sure I didn't do with the children, ever tell them I would do something that I didn't do. I am still waiting for that word processor.

To be frank this 'holiday' as do most of them really hold little to nothing for me, because the people who make them celebrations have all abandoned me usually to death and most times to other things. It will be a day that is just another Sunday for me. No cards, not ties, and seriously no love lost.

[Photo by Brown Estate]

[bellaleigh1975]

Next up on Bella Talks Writing is Tangled Webs. This one has two summaries because the first one I wrote was too long for AO3, LOL.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to decieve — Sir Walter Scott

When Anthony Bridgerton's latest affair turns out to be a LITERAL affair with a married woman, Daphne's Political career is threatened before it even begins.

When Edwina Sharma gets a job at a PR firm in another country, her over-protective big sister Kate decides to go with her to look after her.

When Agatha Danbury's most problematic client and her newest intern have problems that just might be each others' solutions, she jumps at this chance to help both of them.

When Kate Sharma follows her baby sister to England, the last thing she planned on was falling for Edwina's boyfriend.

OR The fake dating AU that nobody asked for

OR A modern take on the show's plotline

Anthony Bridgerton has been at the center of scandal before. It’s never really bothered him. But, this time, it’s not just about him. When his latest bed partner turns out to not only be married, but to be married to Daphne’s political rival, he could end up taking her down with him. The only way to fix it now, is the one thing he absolutely does not want: a perfectly respectable relationship with a perfectly respectable woman. If it was just about him, he would tell both his publicist and his mother to shove it. But, this time, his hedonistic ways could end up ruining Daphne, too. He’s spent nearly half his life sacrificing himself for his siblings. He’s not about to stop now. Like it or not, it’s time to grow up - or at least pretend to.

Eight years ago, Kathani Sharma sacrificed everything for her family. Turning down both an acceptance to Oxford and a marriage proposal from the English exchange student she had been dating in high school, she used what was supposed to be her college tuition money to help keep her family afloat. Now a successful romance novelist writing under the name Katharine Sheffield, there is one major advantage to the career path she never would have chosen back when she still had choices — she can write from anywhere. So, when Edwina moves to England, Kate decides she’s going with, whether her little sister wants her to, or not.

Edwina Sharma has spent her entire life doing whatever her older sister Kate told her to do. And watching as Kate retreated further and further behind the mask that she had worn for so long that even she had come to believe it. When her mother’s best friend offers her an internship at her PR company, Edwina jumps at it, thinking that a move to England could be just what she needs to get out from under Kate’s thumb — and to force Kate out of her shell.

Agatha Danbury has always had her hands full as the Bridgertons’ publicist. But this time Anthony has really outdone himself. When he comes to her begging for a way to save Daphne from his latest screw-up, she comes up with a plan. Show the world that he has changed by inventing a perfect girlfriend that he’s head over heels in love with. Make it so that even if the journalists blackmailing him were to go forward with the story of him and Siena Rosso, nobody would believe it. When Edwina lashes out about Kate’s overprotectiveness, Agatha realizes that her new intern and her most problematic client could be the solutions to each others’ problems.

A fake relationship. Pretend to be madly in love long enough for Daphne to no longer be in the line of fire. And with Edwina seemingly taken care of, maybe Kate will finally let her walls down and start living her own life. Especially since being in London means reuniting with the man she once thought she would marry, someday.

There’s just one problem: It’s Kate that Anthony dreams about at night. And falling in love is definitely not on his to-do list.

This is obviously a modern AU, and will mostly follow the show's plotline. With a few differences. Edwina feels absolutely nothing beyond friendship for Anthony. In fact, he is... very much not her type, actually. But, he is one of VERY few people who know that - and big sister Kate is not one of the others. She is also a much better sister to Kate than she was in the show - despite her keeping one Hell of a secret for like half her life. I have a fairly good idea where I'm going with this, with whole scenes already planned out. I think it's going to be quite interesting once I get it really going. (I just hope that readers agree, LOL.)

Anyway, the plan once I finish Let's Run Away Together is to alternate between this, Ruined, What Might Have Been, and The Doctor Who Loved Me. So, I should be updating again, soonish. (It will go faster if LRAT will stop being a goddamn hydra and spawning more chapters...)

[ladylvck]

PIN THE FOX WOMAN || @flarefeu

Once again their visits to the Kalos Lady Luck Lounge coincided. What were the chances? Even for someone so heavily intertwined with the threads of fate, the statistical chance of them meeting nearly every single time she came to Kalos was very slim. At that point, it was no longer coincidence and more like calculated planning.

Was it hopeful for her to think that he wanted to see her? Sure as Hell itself, Lucia had grown to enjoy their routine dance -- their complicated Viennese waltz that had them whirling around each other, close, but then at arm's length at a moments notice. Elegant and subtly teasing for those who knew how to look past the surface steps that they took around each other.

After all, a successful Viennese waltz can only be done by keeping your eye on your partner and never letting them go.

It was one of the themed nights at the Lounge.

The whole place was always awash with glitz and glamour and class, but tonight was a bit more classier than normal. The tables relegated to the side so patrons could still sit, but now the main floor of the Lounge was wide open for couples to dance together. People in long time relationships, or those meeting for the first time and trying things out....the dance floor was awhirl with swirling silks and satins. Tonight there was ballroom music playing to match the elegant theme of a Masquerade.

They had been hand in hand for almost the whole night.

In between sips of fine wine, a few breathers, his hand sought hers every time, barring her from dancing with anyone else. His form was both impressive and imposing, and it kept away other possible partners claiming what was his. Or that was the impression she was getting as they truly danced, sweeping together across the floor, dominating it. It wasn't wrong to say the two caught the eyes of everyone there that night.

Like her, Lysandre did not choose to wear his mask after he met her. The suit he wore meant to emulate the Red Death, she recognized it as being similar to the costumes worn by the main actor of a certain show she used to love as a young woman. She'd jokingly called him her 'Phantom' all night long; his steps haunted hers and yet she was comforted rather than frightened.

She probably should be. Such an intense man would have had anyone younger and less experienced swooning or running off. Good thing she was such used to the dance, both figuratively and literally. Her hand did not dare leave his once he'd caught it, her golden eyes which matched her dress, never strayed far from his form, only flicking in worry for bumping into others. Although after some time, even that stopped and she just kept looking at him. Heart soaring and enjoying itself for once. No games. No political intrigue or worry of what people saw.

Just pure enjoyment and she treated him with a genuine, almost girlish smile after yet another dizzying whirl on the dance floor.

The midnight dance was meant to be a special dance, where you would be asked by the Master of Ceremonies (Puck happily talking away on the microphone onstage, a small glee at separating the couples there that night) to find someone new to dance with. However, when Lucia moved to seek another, again, her hand was grasped, taken hold of. But instead of heading out with the others, as the new song was being struck up, she was brought to the side and kept there.

Lucia rarely ever registered just how intimidating he was, probably due to needing to be on alert for such dangerous situations. Always having to remain cool and collected and it was thanks to years of conditioning that she did not panic, did not accuse or scream or react negatively.

She merely tilted her head up to meet his gaze as he kept her pinned to the wall.

All was silent as of a sudden, as if everything happening around them was on mute. In those scant milliseconds of realizing she was well and truly trapped, Lucia collected her thoughts, piecing together what this moment could mean in their endless waltz. Another turn? Another dip? Or...?

All night long, she could have escaped any time she wanted. There was no keeping her there if she did not want it. Lysandre was nothing, if a gentleman, and if she chose to slip out from his grasp she probably could have gotten away this night. But she remained, lowering her guard more and more and more and then....

Her hand came up and hovered near his cheek a moment, her eyes searching for something from him, any hint...

And then she cupped his cheek, sealing this moment. A thumb caressing along the line of his cheeks. The first contact she dared to do outside of her practiced motions of being a good host, a good lounge singer, a good businesswoman. She was just....well and truly trapped as a desired woman and she was okay with it.

"...You caught me," she announced, quietly.

[geejaysmith]

Hibiki:

Likely received some counselling after the Zwei Wing concert attack in addition to physical therapy/rehab but definitely did not continue after the harassment against her and her family for surviving said attack started escalating and convinced herself she's totally fine now!! It's fine!! Everything's fine! (/unlocks Berserker Mode that literally just straight-up references EVA Unit-01 losing its shit.) It's fine!!

However, would probably be the easiest to convince to try it again, especially if Miku was the one suggesting it. 

Somebody also please tell Miku to suggest her gf's parents go to couples therapy instead of letting their teenage daughter do the heavy lifting there.

Chris:

Probably, maybe, hopefully (Sweet Jesus Christ I hope somebody got this girl some help) was referred to a specialist after season 1 as a part of helping her readjust to everyday life. I mean, she only spent, what, about 7 years total being held captive across two consecutive instances of kidnapping?

Might not have continued past a Section 2-mandated number of sessions but found motivation to try again after the Frontier incident and/or trying to use the Ignite Module with Tsubasa ("Hey Tsubasa-senpai, do you want to go to therapy with me? The whole 'holding hands while we each face down our inner darkness and come out stronger for it' gave me an idea. Hey. Hey senpai. Hey-").

Tsubasa:

(/bass-boosted sitcom laugh track that becomes increasingly distorted while zooming in on Tsubasa's face that time she used her Superb song and nearly died)

(/tfw that was only halfway through season 1.)

Tsubasa having career that let her express herself through her music and not be anywhere near her dad for like a decade was probably the best thing to happen to her mental health outside of Kanade, which, considering how stressful the music industry can be, is maybe fucking saying something? This is the closest thing to professional mental help she has had success with.

The entire Kazanari clan should have been in family counselling a long, long time ago. I am also absolutely positive her granddad would've disowned anybody who even thought about suggesting it.

Props to Maria for being the Loud American and pointing out a few of the maladaptive thought patterns Tsubasa's background has left her with, kind of, but considering neither of them come from functional families and were also raised as glorified child soldiers........???

If Genjuro didn't suggest Tsubasa take a break to unpack and process Literally Everything In XV, if for no other reason than to avoid another situation where she flips the fuck out and destroys a city block, so help me God I will isekai myself into the SZS universe for the sole purpose of kicking his ass.

Bonus: Kanade

“I understand she been unstable since the Noise attack that killed her entire family, but really? Did you try anything else before putting a freshly-orphaned 14-year-old girl in a straitjacket?”  “We did, Commander, but there’s only so much you can do when an anime teenager with nothing more to lose declares an all-encompassing vengeance quest.”  “Well, if that’s the only outlet she'll consider… we do have a relic that needs a wielder…”  “Just be careful when you meet her, sir. She bites.” 

Symphogear-wielding may have its advantages as an avante-garde form of anime therapy but at what cost.

Developing extensive headcanons about whether or not any the Symphogear wielders have ever sought counseling for the </gestures at all of their backstories and also the events of the plot> and if so, who has and when/if not, how long it takes post-finale for their loved ones to gently but firmly suggest they should really, really go to therapy.

[maxwell-grant]

Excuse Me what is pulp and why is it importan?

Good question! And probably one I should have answered sooner. Time to put on the historian hat for this one.

"Pulp" is a term used mainly to describe forms of storytelling that sprang out or were dominant in 20th century cheap all-fiction American magazines from the 1900s to the 1950s. The pulp magazine began in 1896, when Frank Munsey's Argosy magazine, in order to cut costs, dropped the non-fiction articles and photographs and switched from glossy paper to the much less expensive wood pulp paper, hence the name. The pulp magazines would mainly take off as a distinct market and format in 1904, when Street & Smith learned that Popular Magazine, despite being marketed towards boys, was being consumed by men of all ages, so they increased page count and started putting popular authors on the issues.

It was specifically the 1905 reprint of H.Rider Haggard's Ayesha that not only put Street & Smith on the map as rivals to Argosy, but also inspired other companies to start publishing in the pulp format. Pulps encompassed literally everything that the authors felt like publishing. Westerns, romance, horror, sci-fi, railroad stories, war stories, war aviation stories. Zeppelins had a short-lived subgenre. Celebrities got their own magazines, it was really any genre or format they could pull off, anything they could get away with.

Nowadays, although they came quite late in it's history, the American pulps are most famous for it's "hero pulps", characters like The Shadow and Doc Savage that are viewed as a formative influence on comic book superheroes. The pulp magazines in America lasted until the 1950s, when cumulative factors such as paper shortages, diminishing audience returns and the closing of it's biggest publishers led to it dying off, although in the decades since there's always been publishers calling their magazines pulp. That's the American pulp history.

But pulps are a phenomenon that spans the entire world and has a much bigger history to it, because pulps have become synonymous with cheap fiction magazines and those have a much bigger history. In America, before the pulps, you had the dime novels, the direct predecessors of the pulps, as well as the novelettes. England had it's penny dreadfuls and story papers, and continued publishing pulp-format magazines past the American 1950s, and that's how we got Elric of Melniboné. France and Russia arguably got to it first with it's 1800s coulporters, chapbooks and particularly the feuilletons which lasted all the way to the 20th century and created characters such as Arsene Lupin, Fantomas and The Phantom of the Opera. The Germans published pulp under the name hefteromane. Japan also published pulp magazines both original as well as imported, and the current "light-novel" phenomenon started off as an equivalent of pulp magazines (it's even on the Wikipedia page). China has wuxia, Brazil has cordel, Italy has gialli. There were Indian, Persian, Ethiopian, Canadian, Australian pulps and much more. Look anywhere in the world and you'll find examples of "pulp" happening again and again, under different circumstances and time periods.

Even if we stick to American fiction, it's impossible to state that all pulp heroes must come from the 1900s-1950s pulp magazines, because that forces us to exclude some of the most popular pulp heroes like Indiana Jones, Green Hornet, Rocketeer and The Phantom. Pulp may have once been a term meant to refer to pulp magazines exclusively, but it's morphed and lost structure and it's become the closest thing we have to a general umbrella term that allows us to try and consolidate these under a shared history. It's a lot, as you can see, and it's why several pulp historians that broaden their scope outside of 1930s American fiction have adopted Roland Barthes's definition of pulp as "A Metaphor With No Brakes In It", which is still the closest thing to a true working definition we have.

Why is it important? You tell me. I don't like to stake claims about stuff being "important", everyone's got their own priorities in life. Surely a lot of people would scoff at the idea of old populist fiction published in what was functionally equivalent to toilet paper having any sort of "importance". On the other hand, some people definitely want to talk big about the pulps as a cultural bedrock of fiction, something that's baked into the lifeblood of all fiction as we currently know it. Which it is, mind you, but I don't like to talk about pulp fiction's value being derived mainly from merely the things it inspired.

There is definitely a historical importance to be had in cataloguing them. According to the US's foremost pulp researcher Jess Nevins, 38% of all American pulps no longer exist, and 14% of all American pulps survive in less than five copies. Many libraries have very scant, if any, records on them, many collectors are hard to locate and are uncooperative when it comes to sharing information and letting outsiders view their collections. A lot of them are bound up in legal complications that prevents them from taking off in the public domain, and a lot of them ARE public domain but are completely inacessible as research material. And that's the American pulps, foreign pulps have fared far worse in posterity, with records inaccessible to people unfamiliar with the language or locations, many existing merely in mentions on decades-old records, and hundreds if not thousands of them being completely gone beyond recovery or recall.

Gone, dead, wasted, destroyed. They can't be found in barbershops or warehouse or bookstores, not even in antique stores. Hundreds, thousands of characters, stories and creators, gone. Time and posterity have crushed them to dust, forgotten and ignored by their successors. Unfettered by pretenses of respectability that repressed their glossier counterparts, in packages meant to be destroyed after reading, proudly announcing itself as trash. Things that should have never even lasted as long as they did have died many times now. It's heroes peripherical shapeshifters, nearly all of whom seem dead, quite dead, as dead as fictional characters can possibly be.

But they do not die forever. Many of them have, maybe most of them have, but many of them linger on.

"The strange red flickering of 1930’s fiction seems distant now.  You hold in your hand the product of a time too remote to recall, and feel a slow stir of wonder.  The smell of pulp pages, an illustration, an advertisement, these fragile things mark the slow hammering of time and display what it has done.  About you are today’s machines, today’s shadows.

Outside the window, leaves hang against the sky, as did leaves during the 1930’s.  The sound of voices are no different then than now.  You hold the magazine and feel something quite delicate slipping past. These solid forms surrounding you are all insubstantial. Time’s hammer will also pass across them, leaving little enough behind." - Spider, by Robert Sampson

Many of the things people call dead are just things that have been sleeping for a while or haven't had the chance to be born. Pulp fiction is dead on the page, inert, unless your imagination breathes live to it, and every now and then, one way or another, these characters dig themselves out of dustbins. Maybe it's a brief revival, maybe it's a successful reboot. Maybe they find publishers, or maybe the public domain allows them to find new life. Maybe new creators do interesting things with them, and maybe, just maybe, they live again because some won't shut up about them online. Some curious impulse led you to me, did it not? 

We all have our Frankensteins to obsess over, and these are some of mine. As someone who's lived a life perpetually restless over pursuit of knowledge, pulp has lured me like a moth to flame, because I literally never run out of things to discover within it, I never run out of possibilities. As the years pass and the public domain starts being more and more open to the public, more and more narrative real state is brought forth for writers and artists and creators to play around.

Pulp is the dark matter of fiction, the uncatalogued depths of the ocean, the darkest recesses of space. It's the box of your grandfather's belongings, the treasure you find in an attic, a body part sticking out from an old playground. It's the things that don't work, don't succeed, the things that don't fit, that are out of place. That shouldn't live and succeed, and did so anyway. The things that slither in the cracks, the shadows behind the curtain.

Aren't you interested in peering on what's behind the curtain?

The exquisite workmanship of the head, of a pre-pyramidal age, and the hieroglyphics, symbols of a language that was forgotten when Rome was young–these, Kane sensed, were additions as modern to the antiquity of the staff itself as would be English words carved on the stone monoliths of Stonehenge.

As for the cat-head–looking at it sometimes Kane had a peculiar feeling of alteration; a faint sensing that once the pommel of the staff was carved with a different design. The dust-ancient Egyptian who had carved the head of Bast had merely altered the original figure, and what that figure had been, Kane had never tried to guess.

A close scrutiny of the staff always aroused a disquieting and almost dizzy suggestion of abysses of eons, unprovocative to further speculation. - The Footfalls Within, by Robert E Howard, quoted by Stuart Hopen’s The Mythic American Culture

[stardewsweethearts]

Could you maybe do a one shot of Shane x F!Farmer not long after the 6 star cliff scene where he's close to relapsing but goes to the Farmer instead of drinking and realises how much he cares about her?

I hope you enjoy!! I had a bit of difficulty with this one, but I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too!

Shane x Female Farmer

TW: mentions of the 6 heart event, mentions of alcoholism

Shane knew it would never be as easy as it sounded. Quitting cold turkey after years of drinking would be a struggle for him. His therapist- the one Harvey had helped him find- had prepared him for all the possible symptoms he would face- nausea, headaches, anxiety- they had listed off every possible symptom in preparation for this. He was ready, he could get through this just fine!

Or so he thought.

This past week at work had probably been the most stressful one in years. Morris had been worried about that abandoned community center again, and had decide to personally take it out on Shane, as usual. His workload had almost been doubled, and he had nearly missed his therapy appointment because of it. Everything was too much. His body felt like it was on fire, his head hurt- he couldn't help thinking a drink would've made it better. After work that day, his brain had turned on autopilot, and he didn't notice until he was standing in front of the saloon, one hand on the door handle. Yoba, it would've been so easy- and no one would have known any different. Maybe Gus, but the man wouldn't say anything.. It wouldn't matter to anyone if he just had one, no one but the farmer-

The farmer...

His shoulders slump, and he pulls his hand away from the door, stuffing both of them both in his pockets. She would've been so disappointed in him, if he came this far only to give up now, because of one shitty week... She had been the one to quite literally carry him off the cliffs that day, the one to push him in the right direction- it wouldn't be fair to her to push all of that away, now. He promised her he would take things seriously!

Maybe it was the thought of her that brought him all the way past his own home and instead to hers, taking in the familiar sight of the farm. It had only been a couple weeks ago that he had dragged himself up here to thank her for her help.. He debates back and forth in his head as he walks up the steps to her house- would he just be bothering her? Would she even want to see him? Maybe this was a bad idea, he should just turn around and-

"Hey, Shane!" The happy voice from behind him drags him out of his own head, and he turns to look. There's the farmer, smiling happily.

"Good timing, I was just finishing up with my chores for the day!" She pulls off her gardening gloves, wiping the sweat from her brow as she walks closer to him. "What brings you here today??"

"Oh, uh- I was just-" Shane rubs the back of his neck nervously, almost embarrassed of the answer. But he's honest with her- he owes her at least that. "I was... trying to stay away from the bar tonight... Wasn’t sure where else to go, I guess.."

"Oh, Shane...."

He stares at the ground, waiting for her to go off on him- about him being weak, or something like that.. But instead, he's pulled into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you for coming here instead of going to the bar, that must have taken a lot of strength!"

"I-" Whatever he expected her response to be, it sure as hell wasn't that. Then again, the farmer was always surprising him with just how kind she was. The fact that she had even stuck around him this long was insane. "...Thanks. I guess it was.."

She pulls away- almost too soon, he catches himself thinking- and pushes open the door to her home.

"Do you wanna come inside and hang out? I harvested some peppers today, so I could make us pepper poppers! And I picked up a case of sparkling water from Gus- he mentioned you've been drinking it recently!"

That pulls a smile from his face as he steps in, shutting the door behind them as she heads into the kitchen. God, he was glad he had such a sweet, kind woman. He took a moment to think back- he had done everything in his power to push her away when they had first met, and yet she had always stuck by him, giving gifts and making small talk until it had become just another part of his morning routine to chat with her as he passed by Pierre's on his way to work, as she was waiting to buy seeds. He almost laughs a bit to himself, thinking about how she had forced her way into his heart- and then it shocks him. Oh shit. It had been a long time since someone had tried to break down his walls, and even longer since someone was successful at it. As terrifying as it was.. he was glad he met her.

"Hey, do you wanna help me cook? It could take your mind off of everything!"

"Sounds like you're just trying to get free labor out of me!" He smiles when he hears her laugh, heading into the kitchen. It was tough, but with her, he was sure he'd be okay.

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Coffee Shop Kisses

Pairing: Yelena Belova x Female!Reader

Word Count: 1.5K

Request: something soft with Yelena from @bright-molina

Summary: After moving back to her small Ohio hometown, the reader bumps into an old friend at her favorite coffee shop.

Warnings: none ?

A/N: Happy incredibly belated Birthday Bianca!!! Sorry this took so long for me to write but I really hope you like it!! This fic has everything: the gays, some light pinning, and chai lattes !

Masterlist

___

You couldn’t believe you were back in your small Ohio hometown. When you moved away after high school it was never your intention to come back but clearly, fate didn’t have the same plans as you drove through your childhood neighborhood.

It was nostalgic, driving through the familiar streets despite the changes in the neighborhood since your childhood. While the houses had mostly remained the same, you knew many of their occupants had changed. The Browns no longer lived in the house two doors down from yours, having retired to Florida not long after their children had moved out, and many other family’s you’d known growing up had followed suit. Others had downsized to smaller houses in other parts of the city, no longer needing the extra space. Now the neighborhood was filled with new families, young parents taking advantage of the location to raise their children.

Still, the atmosphere was largely the same, and if you let yourself you could almost imagine that the kids playing in the front yards and the street or biking through the neighborhood, calling out to friends as they passed, were the kids you’d grown up with.

It was strange, being back home. It felt stranger still to call it “home.”

It didn’t take long for you to fall back into a routine, despite the lingering nostalgia. You woke up every morning with just enough time to get ready and drive downtown to work, if you were lucky you’d end up with a few extra minutes to stop into your favorite coffee shop from your teenage years, which was conveniently located a couple doors down from your office. It was simple, sure, but it worked for you.

On the weekends you always made a point to walk to that downtown coffee shop with a book or some other activity, preferring the ambiance and the subtle noise of the building and its other patrons over the still silence of your house. Plus they had amazing drinks so you really couldn’t lose.

Normally you enjoyed taking in the hustle and bustle of the small town around you as people completed their weekly errands, but that day you were lost in your head as you walked along the sidewalk. It wasn’t as if you were thinking about anything in particular (when reflecting back later you’d merely blame it on having had a long week at work), but rather than enjoy the people watching as you normally would, you let them all pass you by without a single glance, all the way down the street and into the line at your coffee shop. You ordered your usual without much fanfare, still having the presence of mind to drop your change into the tip jar on the counter. It wasn’t until you had gotten your drink that you were thrust out of your thoughts, quite literally.

You had only just turned around from the counter, about to start scanning the cafe for a seat when you were knocked to the ground, your drink spilling in your hands.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” Disoriented and still in a haze, the thick Russian accent of the woman who had spoken caught your attention.

A hand reached down into your line of sight and you took it gratefully, managing to keep the pitiful drops of unspilled chai latte in your cup as you were pulled to your feet.

“Let me buy you a new drink,” she offered though you barely heard her.

Now that you were back on your feet you got a better look at the woman who had bumped into you. She was of average height and had her blonde hair pulled into a double ponytail. You didn’t know any Russians but you could’ve sworn you’d met before.

“Do I know you?” You blurted out before you could think and the other woman blinked at you in surprise, brows lifting slightly.

“Perhaps,” she shrugged, “I used to live around here when I was younger.”

You narrowed your eyes at that, certain you would’ve remembered growing up alongside a Russian family, everyone you remembered was as American as they come. It was a small town in Ohio, after all.

“So did I,” you spoke slowly, still trying to ponder it out in your head. “Over on Brown.”

Her eyes narrowed at that, now scrutinizing you as well.

“I grew up on State Street.”

That’s when it clicked for you. You remembered them; family of four, two daughters. Natasha used to ride her bike down your street all the time which meant the woman in front of you must be…

“Yelena?”

“You remember me?”

“Yeah, holy shit! Your sister rode her bike through my mom’s flowers one time by accident, pissed her off for the whole summer. Plus, we went to preschool together.”

“Wait, Y/N Y/L/N?”

“In the flesh,” you replied, spreading your arms out dramatically.

Yelena took that as an invitation to really study you then, eyes flitting up and down as she fully took you in.

“You grew up quite nicely,” she spoke, tone appreciative and you found yourself blushing.

“I- I could say the same thing about you,” you stumbled over your words, feeling flustered. “I don’t remember you being Russian.”

You mentally cursed yourself for once again blurting something out before you could even think about it.

Yelena laughed at that and you couldn’t help but find yourself smiling at the sound. She had a cute laugh. It was fitting.

“Yes, well, my ‘family' and I were actually part of a Russian spy organization, sent to infiltrate a nearby SHIELD facility for some information, so,” she shrugged and you laughed at first, assuming she was joking before you realized she wasn’t laughing along.

“Wait, seriously?”

“Why would I lie?”

You fumbled around with your words at that, unable to come up with a proper response but feeling as though you needed to say something anyway.

“How about I buy you a drink and you tell me about it?” You finally settled on saying and Yelena’s brows lifted again in surprise.

“Sure, but I’m buying the drinks. I owe you for spilling your first one.”

You nodded in agreement, somehow having forgotten all about your spilled drink in the excitement of reconnecting with an old friend. An old friend who was very attractive, if you were being fully honest with yourself.

With new drinks ordered and retrieved, the two of you made your way to a small table by the front window of the cafe. True to your agreement, Yelena explained to you that her “family” when she’d lived in Ohio wasn’t actually her family at all, the entire thing fabricated for their mission, and that after their success she continued to work for the organization before finally getting out as an adult. She skimmed on a lot of the details but you got the sense that the entire ordeal was traumatic for her so you didn’t press. Though, you were quite amazed that the woman across from you (and the tiny blonde girl you’d played dolls with as a kid) was a former spy and assassin. In comparison, your own life story was much less exciting, though you guessed it also held much less trauma as well. Still, Yelena asked and she listened intently as you explained how you’d wound up back in your hometown all these years later.

After that, the conversation seemed to flow seamlessly from one topic to another, and it was so nice to talk to a friend and catch up that you didn’t even realize how much time had passed until you went to take a sip from your long-forgotten chai and found it ice cold. You checked your phone and were surprised to see that nearly two hours had passed and while you were planning on spending much longer at the cafe anyway, it still caught you off guard.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I keeping you from something?” Yelena asked, having noticed you checking the time.

“No!” You rushed to reassure her before flushing slightly at the knee-jerk reaction. “No, I just hadn’t realized how much time has passed. It’s been really nice to see you.”

“It’s been nice to see you too, perhaps we can do this again sometime?”

“I’d like that a lot.” You tried to fight the heat that you felt rushing to your cheeks once more. You weren’t sure if she meant it the same way you did.

“Me too,” she replied softly, ducking her head so that her face was out of view. “I actually do have to get going but maybe we can meet here again next week?”

“Absolutely!” You nodded, trying not to seem too eager and failing miserably. “It’s a date.”

Once again the words slipped out on their own accord and you were left scrambling to do damage control.

“I- I mean like, y’know-”

“A date is good,” Yelena cut you off with a smirk, though you could’ve sworn you could see your own nerves reflected in her eyes.

“A date then,” you agreed, flashing a nervous smile.

“Goodbye, Y/N.” She stood from her chair with a smile, pausing on her way to the door to press a quick peck to your cheek, and then she was gone.

You sat there, still as a statue, for quite some time afterward, your fingertips lightly grazing over where Yelena’s lips had been moments before. You really loved this coffee shop.