#its rex isn't it

[ducky-died-inside]

idk if youve gotten one of these already but uhh guess who i am?? /nf

Ur mom

[transformer-hardlyknowher]

saw that asks are open, Soundwave! opinions on Shockwave? and where did you get your sparklings Rumble and Frenzy, also have a #1 dad mug since you have so many kids. :)

The cassettes and Soundwave have a complicated relationship.

Shockwave and Soundwave on the other hand? A very simple relationship, neither care much for the other.

[viviraptor-art]

who needs therapy when you can draw your fav ship being uncharacteristically cute with each other?

[alicepao13]

Well, it's like I knew. Not hard to guess, really.

Gather round, Citytv (for this exercise we are pretending that they want to learn) and Hudson and Rex folks, because I'm about to tell you what you need to show in a season premiere. Now, you may think that because I've never done tv in my life I'm not qualified to give that advice, but as an audience I've consumed tons of it, and sadly for you, 90% of it were crime shows. And since I don't see anyone from either Citytv or Hudson and Rex knowing what you need to show in a premiere either (like, in any season), let me be the one to tell you.

DO:

Have action packed episodes. Chases, runs, car chases, fires, shootings, terrorists (in St. John's? Well, people are crazy), general mayhem and chaos. It's a crime show. I mean, I don't expect them to happen all at the same time, but from what I saw in the season promo, some of these do happen in later episodes. Were there any shots from the premiere included in the season promo, by the way? Because that was actually action packed.

Have your characters display emotions! Which also makes your actors show that they are indeed actors. These are the kind of episodes that make me reconsider my entire stance on AI.

Set up a season arc. Plant tidbits that will lead somewhere eventually. Revolutionary idea, I know.

Show character bonds. It doesn't have to be Charah. Charlie's "Here comes the team" or something like that is followed by an episode of how much not like a team they operate. Singular and isolated. Absurd. And while in the final scene, they seem to be all boarding the ship, in the end we only see Charlie and Rex in the shot?

DO NOT:

Make the episode a "Visit Newfoundland" spot. No one cares to see that in the season premiere. It's a nice place and if I could throw that much money on a single trip, I'd be there in an instant, but put it somewhere other than the premiere that we've been expecting for more than five months.

Make your episode vastly different from what the rest of the season is going to be like. Unless this is meant to warn me that we're going to spend the rest of the season on a boat searching for missing people. That's a general issue with this show's premiere episodes, and I'm struggling to understand why they do it. It sets up false expectations for the entire season.

Neglect your characters in the first fucking episode of the season. I think the whales had more sreentime than Sarah. Also, I'd love to know what happened to Karma, although understandably, that wasn't an episode where you had to involved a coroner.

Now, I'm unsure of this, so I apologize if I'm wrong, but I think they even used shots of Charlie from S3 for the shots where he comes out of the water. If you have him wearing the diver suit, have him dive. If he doesn't want to dive or the water is like five degrees, don't replace that with old shots. Just do something different.

Anyway, I feel that while a lot of things they did fell flat, that doesn't really discourage me from watching the rest of the season because they've always pulled this kind of shit in the premiere. In a show like Hudson and Rex, you just have to weigh the good and bad episodes in the end and only from that you can conclude whether it was a good or bad season. They are all single episodes after all, it's not like you can judge whether an arc is good or bad because there's usually no arc.

Biggest win: I spent a bit of time whining about it, so I'll just say that Charlie's hair is fine. For now lol. I still don't get what the hell they did to him in the promo photos. Citytv, I've got a few upscalers and editing software to recommend to you.

[emilnikos]

going in the morbius tag is like ahh my beloved mutual with a wonderful post as always and then right below it is the most unfunny person you have ever seen in your entire life

[yuelun]

This young man displayed the true prowess of alchemy to all, bringing with him a massive corpus of wisdom that even the Sumeru Akademiya did not possess. "The universe is heaven reversed, and the earth is a dream lost to time. This is dust, the most basic form of complex life." As if to provide evidence for this claim, Albedo lifted the burnt ash of the flower that once grew atop a Dendro Slime's head. Seconds later, a Cecilia sprouted forth from the ash in his hand. "And this… is new birth." (Albedo: Character Story)

When I've been wrecking my brain over whether or not Genshin draws the correlation between dust and ashes, and I happen to look into Albedo because of his tie (we can... call it that) to alchemy, and even the art of Khemia specifically which is the much more ancient form of it, and there it is. Now excuse me as I go ramble in my tags a little incoherently...

[kraftykelpie]

Originally a concept from "after the war" where Cody and Obi-Wan are discussing their long-term future goals, but it fits @codywancomfort as well!

I wrote fanfic in the tags so I had to rewrite it all here, below the cut! <3

“I've been thinking about what you said-” Cody makes an inquisitive noise in response, his eyes shut in bliss, rubbing circles into Obi-Wan's hip, his other hand playing with russet strands “-about children.”

Cody's eyes shoot open and his left hand stops in its motions, albeit briefly.

“I thought I wanted to take on another Padawan after Anakin, but I wonder if that emptiness was something I hadn't felt since Korkie, and-” he takes a breath. “- I miss that. I missed that with Korkie. That growth, watching that life form and become something of your own to watch grow into a fully recognized being of their own right.”

Cody takes a deep breath to avoid accidentally inhaling too sharply and choking on spit. He did that once after Obi-Wan winked at him on the bridge of the Negotiator. It was embarrassing.

He looks imploringly at Obi-Wan, letting Obi-Wan take his time getting his thoughts out. Cody doesn't need to add anything, Obi-Wan already knows about his ruminations about little cadets and wanting to raise one, no need to beat crumpled clankers about it.

“Darling, if you'll have me-”

He's cut off my Cody, honest to Karl, giggling and pulling Obi-Wan close. He buries his head in the crook of Obi-Wan's shoulder, while muffled, going,

“It'd be more strategically sound if we got married first though, don't y’think?” He presses a kiss into Obi-Wan's shoulder. Obi-Wan chuckles at the phrasing as Cody moves to sit up.

It's spur of the moment, really. Anakin won't be pleased with his former master exchanging mandalorian marriage vows post-coitus; though Anakin isn't really allowed to judge is he? He got secretly married and didn't invite his master, so fair's fair, really.

The vows had been a long time coming, and it was a wonder that they hadn't said them sooner. Though, the ongoings of a Republic changed by war and internal corruption had made it difficult to get married, between one half of the pair working hard with the Jedi Order to try and restructure systems that should have been in place a long-time ago, and the other off championing Vodé rights delegations alongside Rex (who's leading the charge).

Now's as good a time as any.

Obi-Wan smiles up at Cody, and dryly posits “ suppose we should make it official before we go announcing pregnancies, hm?”

Cody, lit by the artificial Sun of Coruscant, looks down at Obi-Wan with all the reverence and heartfelt adoration of a patron to their god.

“That'd be a good idea”.

[elixrr]

“I might be in love with you.”

How they realized they were in love.

ft. Xiao, Wanderer

Xiao：

When you held him amidst his karma.

The most interesting part of the tale? You weren't there. But he saw you. Even through the fights with himself and the surrounding darkness, he saw you— the way your sleeves fell loose on your shoulders, the way your feet glided along a garden of lilies and the way the silk and linen of your clothes weaved around your body. Even when he felt his body shatter in vigorous pain, Xiao saw the luminous glow of the moonlight reflecting off of your skin. The scenery of the dark, star-filled sky with the vibrant glaze lilies surrounding you had crafted such a beautiful picture in Xiao's head that, when he snapped back to reality, he could no longer feel the hurt. There was simply you. He couldn't see you, but he thought of you, and, even with his loyalty to Rex Lapis, he still smiled, thanking you for saving him from his karmic outburst.

But, wait a minute.

You weren't even there? How did you save him? Xiao pondered back on the image he created in his mind. It definitely wasn't something he saw, and it definitely isn't something happening now. It is night, but it is far too dark. The vibrancy of the moonlight is not present, and the bright, shining stars are instead clouded by fog and translucent mist. He definitely couldn't picture you outside right now, especially at this hour.

Hold on. What if you really were out? He is on Wuwang Hill, so of course it's foggy. What if it was brighter for you? What if the moonlight found its way to you instead?

What if that vision of you was real?

Without a second thought or consideration for his duties, he teleported to the balcony of Wangshu Inn, where he could have the possibility of seeing you, and indeed, he did see you. He teleported to a tree that stood by you, leaning on it. The remaining pain of the karma seemed to whisk away, yet his heart beat hastened. Something about how you brushed your finger against the bulb of a sweet flower made him smile.

“Xiao?” You whispered, and he swore he could feel the sun rioting the moon and rising amidst the darkness of the night.

“You called?”

“Oh!” You nearly jumped out of your skin. “That was unexpected. You actually came!”

“Of course I did. I made a promise to you, and I will honor it.”

A smile fell upon your face, and Xiao froze in place.

“Especially because it's me, I presume?”

“Wh—” Roses blossomed on his cheeks, and his heart exploded into petals.

“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to walk home with me? I haven't seen you in a while, so maybe we could catch up?”

“Uh–m, I— Sure. That would be... Quite nice.”

“Oh, wow, you actually said yes!” You cheered, and Xiao's eyes glistened. It was perfect, this moment, because the clouds dispersed, and the stars and moon finally found themselves visible, shining through the clouds. You've conquered the spotlight tonight, and you've conquered Xiao's world, even if he couldn't tell.

But, you extended your hand to Xiao. This was just like his illustration of you from earlier, but he was now included. The moonlight reflected on your skin, your clothes weaved magically across your body, and surrounding the two of you were a field of flowers.

Xiao, without much thinking, grasped your hand tight, and you held it, too.

He felt a bloom in his heart, and the world around him brightened. Even as you were talking, he couldn’t pay attention to a word you said. You were graceful, and he felt the strangeness in the way your fingers interlocked with his.

You weren't holding him, really, but you held him somehow. In fact, you stole him away from the old world he lived in, introducing him to something new, something unique.

And in that moment, somewhere in the combination of his mind and heart swelled, sweeping in to tell him and make him realize that he was in love.

That he was in love with you.

Wanderer：

When you fell ill for the sake of him.

Kuni remembers it. His birthday came soon, and because it never snowed in Sumeru, the flowers still found themselves vibrant. Though, something in him found you to be more colorful and much more appealing to look at than a few colored petals and a stem, yet he could never bring himself to admit it; his pride would shatter and you would become giddy, and— if there was finally a heart to replace his hollow body— he would feel a twinge in his chest and an ache in the hollow shell of himself. Kuni figures that, because he has no heart, he is therefore heartless, meaning that this twinge in his chest can not be love like Nahida had suggested time and time again. Rather, this ache symbolized a feel of annoyance. After all, if he did have a heart, how would he be able to mercilessly kill so many people and commit so many sins?

Yet, he would catch you again and again, plucking the most beautiful, rare, and exotic flowers in Sumeru. Many of which were far too dangerous to even obtain, and that was something he realized far too late. He trusted you slightly. Actually, he didn't trust you. Kuni trusted Tighnari because you have consulted the expert many times about the flowers you picked.

But, one day, you fell ill. It wasn't due to the flowers or anything similar, but due to the weather. Kuni had been coincidentally passing by for a research project, and he stumbled upon you by a hillside, unconscious, bleeding, and sickly. You were lucky enough to forget your basket of flowers, meaning you hadn't lost any of your previously collected ones, but you were still quite unlucky. It was pouring, and atop a hill was a beautiful kalpalata lotus flower. It wasn't a terrible walk, except you were sick, and you ended up slipping and falling to what could've been your doom.

The moment Kuni saw you, he paid no mind to the flowers, nor did he care at all about his research. He needed to help you, and he, as quickly as he could, flew you over to Gandharva Ville, where he almost screamed for forest rangers to come and help you.

As you laid on the bed unconscious, Kuni stayed with you. He never left your side once.

And then you woke up.

“...What?” The pain in your head wrung from side to side, front and back. Your nose was significantly stuffier. Kuni, happy and terrified, immediately rushed over to you.

“Idiot! What were you doing out there?” He yelled, holding back the urge to punch himself for not finding you sooner, “You could've died from that sort'a height!”

“Sir, please, lower your voice. Y/N's healing process could falter if you don't shut up.” Tighnari hissed, and the two glared at each other.

“Fine, sorry. But still, what were you thinking? My birthday or whatever isn't that big a deal, and it's really not worth your damn life.” Kuni sat down on the stool next to the bed, and you looked down at the provided blankets.

“I mean, I'm not dead,” you conjure up a smile and hold in a cough, “but yeah. That was sort of stupid, but it would've been worth it if I did get you the flower.”

“What? You're mentally insane.”

“I could be.”

“That's— That's so stupid!” Why do all of that... for me? Kuni feels his chest ache again.

“Oh, it was. But hey, I'm really stupid when it comes to you.”

“What?” Kuni's eyes furrow, and Tighnari almost slams his head into the desk after hearing that.

“I mean that I'm literally stupid for you. Why else would I leave and get flowers when it's raining and when I'm sick?”

Something clicks in Kuni's head. He saw some of his peers in class talk about this phrase and suddenly connect it to some girl who was in love with a guy and...

Wait.

“I'm leaving. I'll be back— you'd better be conscious!”

“I can't guarantee that, but I'll try.”

Kuni leaves the room, frustrated. Nahida has said that he likes you, his peers have said the same thing, and maybe...

“I'm literally stupid for you.”

“That idiot..” He smiles, looking through the window to see you talking to Tighnari, who appears to be scolding you for being so careless with your health. Kuni holds in a chuckle and turns around. His ache resurfaces in his chest, and he grips the part of his top that covers his 'heart'.

Maybe, just maybe—

“I'm making a bouqet for you on your birthday!”

—maybe he is in love with you.

y/n's real name is robloxnation3000 /j

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

hii can you write about bale!bruce being an ass guy and just constantly grabbing and squeezing your ass whenever you’re on his lap and especially during sex, he would be doing all that and slapping it a lot? thank you sm i hope this isn’t too weird to ask!! 😭🫶

That's not too weird at all!! 🩷

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but the horny part of my brain took over, and there was no stopping it lol

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ────── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Sweet as a Peach 🍑

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ────── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Okay, but imagine this...

You're laying on your bed, turned on your stomach while reading a book or looking through your phone. It's late already, only the faint glow of the lamp on your bedside table illuminating the room.

Your legs are bare, as your usual sleep attire consisted of a top of some sort short and a pair of panties. Sleep is tugging at your limbs, your eyelids begin to droop, and your head feels heavy.

In comes Bruce, your husband, dressed in a pair of pajama pants and, fortunately for you, no shirt. He takes a moment to admire your form.

The curve of your back and your shoulders, your hips that look so soft and comfortable to grab and your legs, moving around a bit as you adjust your position.

And then, his favorite part. Your ass that looks like it was crafted by the gods. At least in his eyes. It's so perfect. He can't find a single flaw. It fades into your thighs so nicely, and the shimmering stretch marks accentuate its form even better.

Next thing he knows, he's staring at your behind with dilated pupils and a slack jaw. He's itching to take a handful, wanting to feel the supple flesh spill between his fingers. Bruce steps closer, the mattress dipping under his weight.

The tips of his fingers ghost over the curve of your ass, making a shiver run up your spine. You giggle, knowing exactly what's about to happen. As ridiculous as it sounds, Bruce was almost hypnotized, completely focused on your rear. His feather light touches turn into a gentle kneading of the fat, to digging his hands into the flesh.

You wiggle your hips from side to side with a cheeky smile, watching as he shot you a look before his lips were pressed to the backs of your thighs, trailing sloppy kisses up your leg. The soft hum that falls from your lips turns into a gasp when Bruce nips at your cheek, soothing it with a soft kiss.

He sucks hickeys and gently bites at your ass and thighs, covering them in various blooming shades of purple and blue. You could swear he spent hours worshipping your behind to his heart's content.

He hums against your skin, running his tongue up the inside of your thigh, nudging your legs to open wider. Bruce gently rubs his hands over the many marks, leaning forward to press a kiss to your shoulder before he settles back into his favorite place.

He noses the gusset of your underwear, making you instinctively arch your back, which in turn makes a wicked grin spread over his face.

He ended up eating you out until the sun rose, reveling in the beautiful sounds you made and how your body reacted to his tongue running along the seam of your cunt.

Whenever your hips would flinch away from his mouth, he'd deliver firm spanks to your ass, scolding you for interrupting his meal. He's obsessed. Your thighs clenched around his head, his cheek resting agaisnt your rear as he lazily licked and flicked his tongue over your clit.

He made you come undone so many times that you had to fend him off with a stick by the end.

Bruce loves to use your ass as a pillow. He'll collapse on top of you and use your cheeks as cloudy head support while he knocks out for a good few hours. Mainly after patrol.

Because where you see your ass, Bruce sees two perfectly good clouds to take a nap on.

<3

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ────── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

I hope it was satisfactory nonetheless!!

《tag list》: @allysunny @arkhamknightscxnt @gaozorous-rex-blog @hellonheels-x

(Lmk if you want to be added! Currently writing for Bale!Bruce, Jason Todd and Dick Grayson!)

[fridayth13]

Could I request Zhongli reuniting with his wife after the two had a falling out 500 years ago?

crushed cor lapis.

↳ zhongli × gn!immortal!artist!reader

↳ part one, part two

↳ genre: soft angst at the beginning, but it's mostly bittersweet | wordcount: 1.6k | warnings: none

↳ notes: i ended up with less angst than i thought i would have. but i did want to explore the thought of time passage and fighting for people who are going to live forever, even if it's subtle; reader is immortal and implied to be an adeptus or a god, but the kind isn't very important; ive had an idea for zhongli and an artist reader for a long time so i tried to combine it i hope you don't mind; as with the gender. i did write with a fem!reader in mind as per the request but in the end, the gender didn't need to be specified for anything so i left it gender neutral; i tried to give reader a more divine disposition about them so the writing ended up really flowery, but in any case i hope you enjoy! i really did have fun writing this one

You were a painter.

In your old life, as you liked to call it, however, you were a god. Your domain of influence laid in artistry and beauty.

Or rather, that was what Morax used to tell you. Archons like him were the only beings in Teyvat with real domains of influence. But you wouldn't really stop him if that was his way of calling you pretty.

That was about five hundred years ago. Nowadays was a very different story.

You crushed the yellow berries in your mortar and pestle to turn into paint for tomorrow's commission.

You liked your job in Liyue Harbor. As quaint and.. human as it was, you thought there was divinity to be found in the painstaking recreation of the things around you. Though a painting couldn't rival a Kamera in terms of accuracy, you were certain it completely surpassed the device in most other things.

You slowed your movements, surveying the consistency of the paint and the color. That would probably do. You'd collected quite a lot, so you supposed it was time to head back. All you were really lacking earlier was yellow.

And so you trekked on home from the terraces, skipping over stumps of cor lapis and sunset-painted grass along your way.

As you finally reached your home in the harbor, the sun had fully gone down. The lanterns lit, casting the entire city in a soft, warm glow. The neighboring waters reflected the deep blue of the sky and the speckles of rust and gold adorning every building in sight.

You opened your door and you thought of Morax, wondering if he knew five hundred years ago what beauty would settle upon his previously war torn nation. Leaning on the doorframe, you watched over it for a while. Children playing, kites flying, dinner being prepared, laughter and joy running amok.

You don't like to think about him too much, or how his silence is present in every part of the city that was all him, despite having nothing to do with him any longer. No matter how much time had passed, you seemed stuck in the first night he decided not to apologize.

Still, five hundred years was a long time. Although it felt like the blink of an eye, even immortals had to move on eventually.

You gathered your materials inside and closed the door behind you.

—

The mountains may erode, but they will always be mountains.

You recalled his own words as you saw him again for the first time in five hundred years.

A human-sized Rex Lapis stood before you, hands behind his back, dressed to the nines, pristine, and put together, and perfect, and not at all like he ought to have seemed like at your first meeting in several centuries. Though at the very same time, you couldn't imagine him looking any other way.

You bitterly savored the way he avoided your eyes in front of his boss.

"So this is him!" She said. The lively Director Hu Tao of the local funeral parlor was Rex Lapis's boss. You tried not to laugh. "Our new consultant, Mr. Zhongli."

You set your canvas down onto its easel, then the bulk of your dyes and paints on the floor. You did this without averting your eyes, as if trying to burn him if he ever had the nerve to look back at you.

He did not. And to her credit, it seemed Hu Tao noticed it as well. So as not to make your client too uncomfortable, you decided to take a step towards them.

"Mr. Zhongli." You said. With the proximity you put between you, he had no choice but to look back at you. Not a lot changed about him in human form, but by far, his eyes were the most the same. Down to the hard, intense stare, and the set of his brows. You wondered how many other people in Liyue he'd enchanted with them while he was busy avoiding you.

"Mr. Zhongli?" You repeated, a little less amused. Though you somewhat enjoyed how stupefied he looked at your appearance, you'd endured his silence long enough. "My name is Y/N. It's an honor to meet you here."

This seemed to regain him his senses. That, or Hu Tao's suspicious back and forth glances between the two of you.

Zhongli cleared his throat.

"..The honor is mine."

Hu Tao nodded, seeming satisfied for now. She clapped her hands together in excitement, turning to you.

"Alright! I suppose I'll leave you to it then. I have complete faith that you'll be able to depict the poise and elegance of my esteemed consultant."

You gave her your best half smile.

"Well, I'll try."

"No need to be modest! I've seen your work before. You're one of, if not the best, painter in Liyue. Just ask Mr. Zhongli! He's been very taken with your paintings even before we first met. He speaks very highly of you."

You crossed your arms. "You don't say?"

Five hundred years or the blink of an eye, you could still see his embarrassment without him having to say a word.

—

Director Hu Tao had business to take care of for the funeral parlor, and so left with a flourish, and a "Make sure to get his good side!" as she ran off.

You both continued to speak as civilians for a little while. He sat down at a table on the porch, a steaming pot of tea on said table between you. Your face was obscured to him through the thick white canvas.

Avoiding conversation was easy, but not. Comfortable, but not. Natural, but not. It shouldn't have been. As such was the nature of a marriage to the Geo Archon, you supposed. Or rather, the current lack thereof. But even that was up in airs.

"How.. How have you been?"

Your responding glare was unseen to him, but he heard it in the vitreous tone of your reply.

"Fine." You said. "Something must've happened to you though. Your eloquence seems to have disappeared into thin air."

"..You are still upset. I see."

"In what world would I be upset, Mr. Zhongli?" Your use of his mortal name created a crease in his brow. You gently brushed over it on his painting.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me."

"You still could've asked." You muttered, momentarily leaning sideways to look him in the eye. "For someone so revered for his wisdom, your brain still seems to be as hard as rocks."

You caught his surprised expression as you turned back to the canvas. You didn't allow him another word.

"Honestly, who ghosts their own spouse after an argument like that? You'd think the best time would be after.. five hours. Five days. Maybe five weeks after. Not five centuries—"

You caught him mumble, "Well, it's not as if you tried to talk to me either."

"I didn't think I needed to. You made it very clear you wanted me to leave you to die in the Archon War all on your heroic lonesome."

When he didn't respond, you snuck a glance.

The sun's rays were at the precipice of turning gold in its descent into the sea. The glow smeared his porcelain cheeks in amber, his eyes in glitter, the metallic components of his suit in light. He looked like a monument. Tall, statuesque, and lonely. Almost like his mountainous true form. More beautiful than even his numerous statues across Liyue could capture. More than you could capture. Though you did certainly try.

Annoyed and angrily pining as you were, you still tried to get his eyes right. The little flecks of rust against gold. Like cuts of cor lapis crushed to shimmering powder in the Archon's hand. A man of his own making.

You looked at Zhongli as the golden hour faded, slowly turning dusky pink. His eyes swam in wistfulness as he stared out at the harbor. You couldn't help the dull twinge of sorrow deep in the pit of your stomach.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

You didn't know how to follow up. You weren't entirely sure what you were apologizing for. But it felt nice to hear it back from him.

When he finally looked back at you, you were tracing the rich scarlet of his eyeliner onto the canvas.

At some point, he turned on the lamp and set it down beside you while you worked on the finishing touches.

"You're better than I remember." He whispered like he thought you couldn't hear him.

You weren't sure what to say to that either. You just kept painting.

—

"This doesn't change anything. I'm still angry with you."

"Of course."

Zhongli never seemed to run out of tea. Despite not having brewed a new pot throughout your stay, the one on the table continued to steam, its aroma wafting leisurely throughout the room. When he offered you a cup after you left the canvas out to dry, you let yourself take it. You allowed him a calmer response when he spoke.

"This may upset you a bit more, but I am also somewhat bothered you never tried to talk to me."

"So we are at an impasse."

Of course, it did occur to you that you were both being hardheaded and moronic. But you were comforted by a few things.

"It would seem so." Zhongli nodded.

"Or maybe not." You quipped, glancing pointedly at an old painting on the wall. "You seem to have been stalking me, Mr. Zhongli."

"I think stalking might be a slight exaggeration."

"Oh, really."

Even as the mountains erode over the centuries, from the dust, they are fated to reform anew.

dividers from @clutteredfun

[kradogsrats]

Why, Exactly, Did Aaravos's Prison Fail?

Okay, so in order to understand the answer to that question, we first need to understand why it was expected to succeed. For that, we need to rewind a bit and examine the actual design and setup of the prison and its secrets.

When Aaravos was imprisoned, the Jailer split up necessary information about her design between "all" the archdragons, by which we mean it was split three ways, between Rex Igneous, Domina Profundis, and Avizandum/Zubeia:

Except... Avizandum wasn't actually given information about the prison, he was given a way to verify that Aaravos was still inside it:

So there are really only two clues about the prison: it's location (the center of the Sea of the Castout) and it's nature (a pearl).

That wouldn't exactly be a very complicated puzzle, except it takes into account the archdragons' natures and their dynamic with each other. The prison doesn't need to be opened in order to check whether Aaravos is still there, so the archdragons as a whole can't be tricked into opening the prison by making them doubt whether or not he's still safely confined. However, with the mirror as the only way Aaravos could conceivably communicate with the outside world, it's also the main weak point. If Avizandum or Zubeia were somehow compromised by his manipulations, they could conceivably get the other parts of the puzzle and open the prison—except for the fact that (even if they weren't all rivals for the same throne) Avizandum and Rex Igneous have beef, and Zubeia and Domina Profundis have (a much smaller amount) of beef. The trust isn't there for either of them to just hand their key over.

Additionally, it's set up so Rex Igneous physically has the information, but doesn't know it in a way that he can divulge it, and Domina Profundis knows the information, but doesn't have it in a way that can be taken from her. Rex Igneous is a beefy hothead susceptible to manipulation, but he can't tell you the prison's location. You have to kill/incapacitate him and find it. Domina Profundis appears to be more of a talker and is probably a good bit less powerful outside of her element, but killing or incapacitating her means she can't tell you the prison's nature. She has to be convinced.

Then, they erased Aaravos from history, meaning that once he's forgotten, no one can just stumble upon his story and decide to free him. The only way he's getting out is if he can convince and instruct someone through the mirror.

This was actually a pretty dang good plan. It just... didn't work.

Both teams wind up with two of the three clues: Team Stop Aaravos (Callum, Rayla, Ezran, etc.) has the mirror (with Aaravos helpfully confirming for them that he's actively on his way to escape) and the prison's nature. Team Free Aaravos (Claudia, Terry, Viren) has the mirror (and Aaravos's instructions) and the prison's location. Team Stop Aaravos gets the prison's location thanks to Akiyu's security breach, but Team Free Aaravos is able to go straight for the finish line.

Why does Sir Sparklepuff go straight from "lizard in a hat" to "blood of child," with no stop at "lizard with a party tooter"? Well, because there has been a second security breach, all along:

At the time Aaravos was imprisoned, no one knew he was connected to dark mages.

Yes, mages were his prey... but everything Zubeia describes is in terms of psychological manipulation. Despite having "strong minds and strong hearts":

Not "particularly dark mages," or even "particularly humans." Zubeia never even suggests that Aaravos wasn't working both sides of the Border at once (he was).

So this? Completely unanticipated:

Now, presumably that kind of direct, hostile-takeover possession is limited by, say... line-of-sight. (Unless there's an alternate connection, i.e. The Worm.) If Aaravos was able to possess any dark mage at any time, he would not have been in that prison for 300 years.

But there's also this:

and this:

and, of course, this:

Now, Aaravos can obviously also communicate with people within range who aren't dark mages, like Terry. However, because Aaravos himself doesn't know the nature of his prison, he still can't just tell them directly how to find it... except that with a dark mage, he can also sense and influence them. Claudia doesn't need to know the nature of the prison, she just has to get close enough to play Hot-and-Cold with Aaravos until he gets her hands on it.

The prison was, of course, designed by a human mage:

No one has ever said the Jailer was a dark mage, but come on. Presumably she also didn't know about Aaravos's connection to dark magic. Her designing the prison also didn't alert him to the betrayal, so she's unlikely to have been in league with or influenced by him at that point.

I do have to wonder if that's entirely accurate, though... because there's actually a a fourth piece of the puzzle, or at least an element considered as important as the others:

It's unclear exactly what role the staff is expected to play in Aaravos's return, beyond that it needs to be kept away from him and his followers. Presumably if it could be destroyed, it would have been... but given that it survived a direct hit of archdragon fire without even a scorch mark, it seems safe to say that there's no known way to get rid of it.

It's also unclear whether the staff was somehow at play in the events leading up to Aaravos's imprisonment, but where does it eventually turn up after his defeat and the Orphan Queen establishing a new royal line in Katolis? Somewhere that means it has been in the hands of Katolis's high mages for at least three generations, 300-odd years later.

After Viren is defeated at the Storm Spire, however, the staff doesn't go back to Katolis's new high mage—even though Callum is a primal mage, Ezran's brother, and a key participant in returning Zym and defending him and Zubeia. You'd think that, if there had ever been any intent to keep the staff in Katolis, he'd be considered pretty trustworthy. (Aside from being like... fourteen years old.) The Orphan Queen kept the Novablade, after all, and no one seems all that fussed about that. But instead, Zubeia secures the staff in her own hoard at the Storm Spire. This could be just a precaution, with the mirror's location unknown... but it could also be that the staff wasn't meant to stay in human hands.

(Though, I mean... you'd think it would be pretty easy to put together that whoever "killed" the dragon prince probably also took the mirror, and they already know enough about who killed Avizandum to target Harrow and Ezran. I really don't know why Zubeia wasn't like "hey, you don't happen to have recently acquired a weird mirror, have you?" at some point during those two years. Unless we're going to go the route that Ezran didn't realize Callum had the mirror, which would be... something.)

We've also seen that the staff may have an effect similar to, say, the One Ring—influencing whoever possesses it to keep and protect it, even kill and die for it. It does, after all, contain Aaravos's contingency plan (or one of them) for escaping a situation where his spirit is imprisoned in a way that prevents it from returning to the heavens for another alignment cycle. It makes sense that he'd find some way to keep it easily accessible if/when it's needed.

Whether this effect happens for all humans, only for dark mages, or under some other, even more specific criteria isn't totally clear. There are two instances where I think Viren is specifically influenced to take the staff—in Umber Tor, and when he decides to return to Katolis. However, he has to pick it up in Umber Tor because Claudia just kind of... left it? Possibly whatever is exerting the influence, whether it's Aaravos or something about the staff itself (or the quasar diamond), it's smart enough not to make Claudia and Viren go all Smeagol and Deagol on each other. Similarly, Claudia completely abandons the staff with Callum when she escapes after their fight—whether because the staff, without its quasar diamond and importance for freeing Aaravos from his prison, is no longer of particular use to Aaravos, or because he wants Callum to have it.

Anyway, with the Novablade going to Katolis with the Orphan Queen for safekeeping after Aaravos is imprisoned, it seems reasonable enough to assume that's also when the staff made its way there (if it wasn't there already, in the hands of the king or mages Aaravos was manipulating at the time). It also makes sense that if she trusted the Jailer, she would, y'know... let the mage handle the magic shit, like dealing with the staff. Meanwhile, if Aaravos was able to exert just the smallest amount of influence on the Jailer without being found out? Keep the staff would be a very good start to his eventual escape.

Keep it secret, keep it safe. All without realizing who you're keeping it safe for, rather than from. One day, he'll call.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

I know it's such a highly popular dinosaur but are they any interesting facts about the Tyrannosaurus Rex that isn't well known? I still love the Rexes wishing more dinosaur media treated it in the same way nature documentaries treat modern carnivores as animals just trying to surive and not just ripping up every living thing they encounter.

T. rex is actually one of the best studied (non-neornithine) dinosaurs ever, period. In fact, writing all the interesting facts we know about it is... more work than I particularly want to do right now, lol.

some things off the top of my head:

it wasn't built for moving fast in terms of miles per hour or whatever, but they were built for extreme cursoriality in other ways. Essentially, T. rex and its relatives were built for turning, quickly, on a dime. And they moved faster than the herbivores they were chasing. So these were animals built for short, surprise attacks on their prey. And ballet dancing

T. rex had the best sense of smell... ever. Like, ever ever. And its eyesight and hearing were good too. It had a fairly large brain for where it is in the dinosaur family tree, as well. Essentially, this was a dinosaur built to take in as much sensory info as possible, to pinpoint prey as quickly as possible.

T. rex aged kind of like people! IE, the process of going from infant -> sexually and skeletally mature adult takes about the same amount of time, with similar stages happening at similar times. So, T. rex had an awkward teenage phase! They were tall, but very skinny and lanky, and many researchers think that different ages of Tyrannosaurus filled different niches, with bigger rexes eating larger prey and the teens eating smaller faster dinosaurs.

That said, there's lots of evidence for familial groups and social life in Tyrannosaurs, based on fossilization patterns and footprint records. So it's very likely they took care of their young, and hunted in groups.

did they have feathers? no idea. they're big enough to have lost them for thermoregulation like many other dinosaurs did. they are in a group that have some big feathered animals, though, like Yutyrannus. Maybe babies had feathers and adults lost them. Maybe adults kept them some places and not others. We do know that there are parts of the Tyrannosaurus adult body that had scales. Beyond that - whether feathers were present too, or not - we don't know.

it was not skeletally sexually dimorphic. however, we do know that some tyrannosaurs were female because the fossilized when they were in the process of making eggs. during this process, dinosaurs - including living birds - deposit extra tissue in their bones called medullary bone. This tissue stores calcium to make eggshells from later. It's only present in actively ovulating female dinosaurs. So, we know some of our fossils were making eggs when they died!

the arms were small, yeah, but they were VERY strong. these weren't vestigial organs, yet, though their shortness was mainly due to the strengthening of the neck muscles. T. rex interacted with the world primarily with its head and jaws. The arms would have been helpful with holding on during mating, or possibly for display.

it wasn't a scavenger. it was an opportunist. No predators today avoid easy meals - life is all about minimizing energy spent to get more energy. But obligate scavengers tend to be flying organisms, ones that can cover huge distances, in order to find enough carrion. T. rex was definitely a predator, and had to hunt occasionally, but wouldn't turn up its nose at an easy meal.

T. rex lived all over western north america, right at the end of the age of dinosaurs. It was one of the most successful nonavian dinosaurs, ever, and would probably not have gone extinct so quickly if there hadn't been an asteroid.

[book--wyrm]

I do love that Eve is like. The ultimate refutation of the way Oz chases his Rex Calabrese fantasy.

Because in a way, Eve really is the perfect recipient of this dynamic. She knows Oz and all his flaws so well—she knows he's a selfish, lying, backstabbing killer, she knows that he's fundamentally kind of an asshole, she knows that he is at minimum about 60% bullshit by volume at any given moment.

But she accepts him and his help, and offers her aid and advice in return, as little as he listens to it. She doesn't judge him, even defending him to Sofia after their breakup (we all got our shit, don't we?). She loves him, in her own way, enough to push back when Sofia derides the idea. She is loyal to him.

I cannot emphasize that last part enough. She is loyal to him. During her meeting with Sofia, Eve was fully, totally, a hundred percent prepared to take his location to her grave. She didn't choose not to go with him to save her own life, she chose not to go because she needed to stay to protect her girls.

And realistically that's really the best case scenario for the Rex fantasy, right? To be seen and known for all your scummy deeds and dark, vicious nature, and yet be loved and respected as a protector all the same? Maybe Eve wouldn't throw a parade for him if he died, but she'd pour one out for him with the girls and remember him fondly. We ate when he ate. He was a nasty sonuvabitch but he was ours.

And then.

Sofia comes. And all she has to do is tell the truth.

And the whole thing comes crumbling down.

Because Oz was never, and could never be the kind of man who deserves that respect and loyalty. Because it's only "we got each other's backs and don't screw each other over" as long as its convenient for him. Because Oz will do anything to have that Rex reputation, including undermining its very foundations.

Oz loved Eve, in his own way. Besides his mom and vic, Eve is the person he cares about the most. But he doesn't respect her. He doesn't value her priorities, only the affection she gives to him. So he screws over her girls, and hides it for a decade, and doesn't think a second about it because ultimately, he doesn't want to protect the people, he wants to be loved as a protector.

And once Eve, the person he has been the most Rex-like with for god knows how long, learns how deep the rot runs? She turns her back on him. Because as much as Oz wants to be loved like Rex, he can't help being anyone but The Penguin.

I also have to say, I absolutely adore that the person who does genuinely come closest to the fantasy Rex that realistically could never exist isn't Sofia—it's Eve herself.

For Oz, I eat you eat means sharing scraps off his plate with the people who fill it. For Eve, it means sharing in their meals. And when needed, sharing in the danger.

I think a worse, less thoughtful show would only really contrast Oz with his major rival, giving her the virtues he lacks and vice versa. And I have seen some reviewers and reactors talk as if like, Sofia sparing Eve earned her Eve's loyalty or something. Like Eve is switching from one mafia boss to another.

Nothing about that scene reads that way to me. Eve doesn't share Oz's location out of loyalty, or gratefulness. She doesn't owe anything to Sofia for not shooting her.

She tells Sofia because she gets it, gets how deeply Oz has fucked Sofia over. She tells her out of kindness, out of empathy, out of understanding.

And that is why she earns the Rex reputation, and Oz only borrows it.

[the-dragon-hearted]

It would be really funny if everyone in Liyue knew their god wasn't dead, but they literally could not prove it.

Listen, there's at least one alchemist who spent weeks fuming, because it makes no sense for mora to keep its divine transmutation powers if the divinity powering it is dead - unless of course mora is some sort of independent divine extension which would mean their god was capable of creating an independent medium free of ties to divinity - (that guy spends three weeks holed up in his house trying to rewrite transmutation logic from the ground up before giving up because his theorems aren't working).

So the alchemists assume Rex Lapis isn't dead, because mora still works. They have to. Nothing else makes sense. That logic works pretty well with businessmen too.

The historians are losing their goddamn minds because every mythos and legend is in here claiming that Rex Lapis was the undefeated do-not-fuck-with-under-any-circumstances archon so for him to just fall out of the fucking sky cannot be possible unless they have HUGE problems.

50% lean towards a possible upcoming rapture (Because ain't no way the water dragon demon guy and his scorned wife were the killers of Rex Lapis. Nah it had to be something way worse) The other 50% just shrug and say it's impossible for their god to have been killed and Liyue to still be standing. And don't try to tell them he wasn't murdered because if he DID die, then he was 100%, absolutely, totally, without question murdered. He fell out of the sky like a dramatic bastard and everyone saw, that ain't how gods die peacefully, no matter WHAT those folks in the Jade Chamber say.

The conspiracy theorists go craaazy later in the evening when there's too much wine and someone brings it up. It can be impressive how deep their conspiracies though. Qiqi has repeated the strangest of them to Baizhu who's quite sick and tired of this thank you very much -

But you see, the local business owners, a few weeks into their mourning, started to notice something... odd.

It was a new regular. Nice guy. Pretty pleasant, and could be prone to rambling. He's ridiculously knowledgeable on... everything, especially relating to Liyue, and against all better judgment, plenty of business owners have asked him for advice.

There are the legends, of course. Morax would play the part of a passing merchant and peer into the common folk's lives, often visiting smaller businesses and gracing them with his patronage.

It's a crazy thought, and anyone who has it doesn't voice it, but... listen... at some point some things just make sense. And if they take down their memorials to their fallen god - if they snuff out the candles of mourning on their mantel - who could say?

They just smile and keep the best of their merchandise set aside, offering what they can in the quietest way possible.

It's the worst/best-kept secret because no one can outwardly say it. Lady Ningguang avoids it in conversation with a curt cough, the Traveler can be a bad liar (well, Paimon can be a bad liar), and the man himself is so obvious that the only reason he hasn't been outed is because his boss is too busy trying to sell people premium coffins.

I mean little Susy saw him standing on a ROOF with the last of the Yaksha's last Lantern Rite! No, she's not lying -

It's a gut feeling (It's denial, the merchants from Inazuma say). There's proof (there's not, the scholars from Sumeru sigh). He's literally right there! (That 'he' in question is currently short on mora - some god of commerce, c'mon give me a break!).

Liyue Harbor's secret is that their god isn't dead. But they can't prove it. Yes, he fell out of the sky and yes it was this whole thing and yes he's been MIA for a while now and yes the adepti all say he's dead -

BUT LISTEN, TRUST ME, HE'S NOT -

[rosizoitsa]

🎃 TAWOG Halloween Costume Challenge Day 22 🎃

Tell me cool vibration

Live your fantasy

Tell me who, tell me

surely, and the name

I'll be stunned, I'll be waiting

Ghosts of horror show, and I don't care

Just say ya love

Hellsing (2001) Opening Theme - A World Without Logos (mild blood and gore warning)

Originally I was pretty set on dressing up Rob as a cowboy, specifically the "Gay Young Cowboy" costume from a late 1940s catalog ⬇️ (Back when "gay" had its original and a very different meaning)

I've had this image saved for many years and was waiting for the opportunity to use that quaint costume as an inspiration. I just thought Rob would look endearingly dorky.

But as I proceeded through my TAWOG Halloween Costume Challenge, I realized both Rob and Tina Rex had very similar costumes. So I sort of scrambled and searched and searched for a suitable replacement. I eventually came across Alucard Hellsing. I hardly know anything about Hellsing (the original manga or one of its anime adaptions,) so I'm not sure if the costume fits Rob. But hey, at least he looks cool, right?

And sorry, "Gay Young Cowboy," it seems it isn't your time to shine yet. Hopefully one day!

[darth-kote]

How do the Clones respond to receiving a gift? (Pt. 1)

Rex: he is quick to accept the gift, even if he isn't sure exactly what it is or why he's receiving it. He understands natborns sometimes get the urge to give each other things as a form of bonding, and he's been given several flowers and letters from Ahsoka to know the actions he should take: offer thanks and find something to appreciate about the item, even if it won't realistically serve him. A flower? Rex will usually find something nice to say about the shape of its petals or the hue beginning to fade. A handmade drawing or letter? He likes to study the strokes left by the graphite or ink used in its inception.

Cody: Literally has no reference for how to react. He stares at whatever item is being held out to him with curiosity and confusion. You'll have to practically place it in his palm and say, "I wanted you to have this because I saw it and thought of you." He doesn't know what that means, especially when he looks down to see a small jar of yellow paint or another item that isn't issued by the GAR. Once it is made explicit that it's a gift, nothing more or less, he starts to think about the intentions behind it. He likes being thought of, and he'd like to try and return the generosity.

Echo: He can hardly hide the excitement at the gesture! He's all smiles even before he knows what it is he's being given; it's the act itself that makes the gift have value to him. If he's close enough to the person, he'll instantly offer a big hug until he can find something to gift to them. If not, he'll settle for lots and lots of eye contact as a way of trying to communicate how much he loves it.

Wolffe: spends a lot of time studying the item he's been given. A new attachment for his blaster gets held and turned around over and over again until it finally clicks that it's something he can use and isn't expected to return. If it's something less oriented towards his soldiering, such as a fuzzy blanket or a wool sweater, he lays it out on his bed and stares at it for quite literally hours. The closest thing he has to these items are flattened pillows and his blacks, so it's unprecedented and he can't quite figure out what to do with it. Eventually, he'll fall into his bunk and wrap the item around him, relaxing his body and purring like a loth cat until sleep claims him. (He doesn't consider getting the person something in exchange unless someone specifically explains that that's sort of part of the tradition.)

Hevy: treasures it no matter what it is. An acorn one of his brothers had brought back on account of it's never-before-seen shape? He keeps it in the small pouch on his utility belt. A crude drawing done of him by Cutup or Droidbait? He hangs it proudly on the wall of his bunk, and it's the last thing he sees each night before his eyes fall closed. It's the same when the gift has come from someone who isn't a brother; he makes sure to tell them he loves it and them, if appropriate, and he keeps it as close to his person as possible at all times.