#just wholesale bad posting

[shvkespearc]

the political usa happenings rn turning Good Bloggers On My Dash into terfs. oh my god. blocked youre all blocked even you my brother in arms all these years now you're saying insane things. just think about it. maybe like think about the feminist gotcha post before hitting reblog. maybe its a weird thing to say actually

[xxxpu55yslay3rxxx]

Gonna kick at a hornet's nest here

I think these posts are counter-productive. You wont convince people by shouting at them. It just feels performative, and dare I say it virtue signalling. at best you are just shouting at people to change their mind, at worst you are just wasting your time.

It's funny people having this mindset of glaring at people not posting about the situation when some of these same people didn't give a shit back then in the 2000's or early 2010's. It feels surreal, because back then, the only 'hip and trendy' middle east topics to care about in the 00's and 10's were the arab spring, isis, gaddafi and Syria. Ask any of these people back then about Palestine and they didn't care and at worst, passively supported Israel because it was considered the default. I'm glad that more people are supporting palestine this time because it used to be rare outside of muslim, arab, or revolutionary circles but damn, there seems to be a lot of ineffectual shouting at people who "don't care".

You have to learn that in conflicts and criseses like these, there are gonna be people who simply don't care or show they're support in non-visible ways. There some people who aren't very emotional or straight up cold but will oppose Israel on principle without using a moralizing expression. There's some people who don't care either way but think what israel is doing is cruel. You have to learn that these people will be there in real life and social media; shouting at them wont do shit. Your main job is to convince the people who are already there in support and share sources and info; that's way more productive.

I will say one thing though, I'm so glad that people are sharing info and debunking israel shit, misinfo and vile propaganda. That shit would be unthinkable a few years back, because debunking smear shit on Palestinians wasn't a priority due to them being Arabs and brown; in other words "not very important or nice people".

Also it's so funny this post is focused on white people trying to not post about this. I've met global south people, hell even people from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon (regions directly affected by the conflict) not care about the issue. I didn't shout at these people nor did I even plan to. At least they accepted what Israel was doing was cruel so there was that. So, it's no just white people who might not care and shouting at people who say nothing is counter-productive

it is so disgusting watching other white people reassure each other about taking breaks from social media and "prioritizing your mental health" when literally the one thing Palestinians are asking for more than anything is that people do not look away from what is happening to them

[fremedon]

I'm not making this a reblog because there have been a lot of posts this applies to and I'm sure there will be more.

But if you ever do find that perfectly pure candidate that you feel can vote for without morally compromising yourself--that person with a completely stainless career and no blood on their hands--they will still step into the morass created by all their predecessors. They will have blood on their hands from the moment they take office. The blood comes with the office. There is no way to avoid that.

If they want to not execute the evil and unjust laws which they have just sworn to faithfully execute, they will have the choice of flouting the law or changing it. Both of these are difficult, take time, and cannot be done by one person's fiat.

Laws are made by Congress; changing a law--even the worst one on the books! even that one!--means getting a majority of both houses on board. This is drastically easier if the president's party has a majority in both houses, but still requires coordinating literally hundreds of people to do what you want; if the president's party does not have that trifecta, it may simply be impossible until after the next elections.

Flouting the law--just deciding to ignore it--sets a worrisome precedent: In general, we would like the executive branch to follow the laws of the country! But beyond that, it is also difficult and also requires coordinating with hundreds of other people. The administrative state is designed to run on rails. The administration can hand down guidance on the interpretation of laws--which often as not gets challenged legally and needs to be resolved by the courts, which is a whole other level of complication and, currently, a whole other level of fucked up--but ordering federal agencies to violate the law wholesale is usually going to be a non-starter. Even when the law is bad. Until the law is actually changed, which, see above, sometimes the most that can be done is harm reduction--delay implementation, narrow the scope, tie it up in red tape.

And. Look. I want you to find that perfect candidate. I long for the day that someone can make it all the way into the highest office without ever compromising their morals. But if they do, they will become complicit with all the horrors their predecessors left to us. There is no way to dismantle those horrors without taking on some degree of complicity.

When the machine is covered so thickly with blood, pulling the off switch still gets blood on your hands.

[galaxygolfergirl]

Mystery Inc. (2025) “We’ve got some work to do now”

Happy new year, y’all. Worked on this for the past few days and I’m glad that I got it done in time to ring in 2025 with a modern Scooby gang. And here, I’ve written out a few thoughts on how that might go. Those that know me and have seen my art before will see that I am repeating myself (or just ripping off another post I did wholesale), but I digress.

If and when Warner Bros. actually decides to do a more mature and darker tv adaptation, drawing from what Mystery Incorporated did before, I had the thought that the Scooby gang wouldn’t necessarily go the route of literal supernatural mysteries or investigations, or at least not the majority of the time. I never caught up with the second season of Mystery Incorporated, but I do like the idea that they eased into the more paranormal events rather than doing it up front. I think narratively in a newer adaptation, they would solve more serious crimes that had gone cold from police investigations, and that would just so happen to involve masked criminals or “paranormal” circumstances to be uncovered.

Say they solve mysteries such as murders, disappearances, kidnapping, or the like, and in essence the gang becomes a real service to their community in taking up cases that would have otherwise gone ignored and forgotten. That may sound dark, but if the 90s movies like On Zombie Island and Witch’s Ghost, or Mystery Incorporated taught us anything, is that under the right hand you can strike a balance between sincerity and intensity. The franchise itself has always had to strike a balance between fear and absurdity, and creators have gotten away with a lot more than what one would expect from something as goofy as Scooby Doo (they do often team up with Batman, after all).

The gang can still uncover other crimes, like robbery, smuggling, counterfeiting, all the usual Scooby crimes, of course, but underlining it with the consequences of those affected might give each case more depth. Conceptually, I think the driving purpose in the gang’s mission needs to emphasize a foundation of not only compassion, but also pursuing justice.

In the spirit of the Scooby gang, I guess, I’ll take with me the ideal of helping others against bad actors who use deceit and intimidation to disenfranchise and victimize others. Sticking close to my friends and figuring out what the real problem is, unmasking the real villains in our lives. Overall, if a new, more mature adaptation can teach us anything, is the importance of skepticism and never losing sight that the scariest monsters are the ones we create ourselves. That maybe we don’t always see the clear picture, and that sometimes, if not always, the explanation can be elusive, but it’s never non-existent.

Happy new year, auld lang syne, and I look forward to creating more art for you all. 🎆🍾🥂

@scoobydoominuscoobydoo @scrappedtogether @ilovefredjones @scoobysurfers @bookishdruid @thosemeddlingsims @ilovefredjones @frelmaa @light-miracles @cometcrystal @thescoobydooby

[adickaboutspoons]

So there's several posts going around lately that seem to be dancing around the same proposition - that being that Ed is violence-averse altogether, rather than specifically killing-averse. While it's important to always keep the fact that Ed is no more violent than any other character on the show (and a good deal less violent than some), and that his use of violence is extremely considered and not the result of uncontrolled rages, denying that he would, has, and does commit acts of violence, and willingly, and sometimes even enjoys it, is just demonstrably wrong and elides a significant part of his character. When Ed is discussing "packing it all in" with Stede in 1x4, the reasons he give have nothing to do with being weary of or uncomfortable with the expectation of violence demanded by his position as a pirate, but because he's bored because "it's not a challenge anymore" because people don't fight back once they see Blackbeard's flag. He "loves a good maim." He genuinely has a blast with Jack and all his Jackassery. He gleefully spoke about mugging a guy for a dinghy. He thought the Knife Parade was a fun game until Fang told him his experience was not universal. He hands over a big fuck-off knife with the treasure he gives to the urchins, so clearly doesn't have a problem with using violence to defend what's yours. When he says to Stede "I'm not sure I want to go back to the old days of getting drunk all day and biting heads off turtles and making some poor bloke eat his toes for a laugh" that's not the same thing as saying he's forsaking his piratically violent ways and doesn't want to use violence ever again. The specific mention of all-day drunkenness and turtles calls back to the kind of shenanigans he got up to while Jack was around - and thus is a rejection of that kind of mindless violence for violence's sake; a prospect we had already witnessed him expressing discomfort with when Jack brought up what a wild man Ed used to be at brekkie. After all, part of the "most fun [he's] had in ages, years... maybe ever" has involved showing Stede how to "use a little oomph" and flirtatiously swordfight (both moments included in Stede's "what does it feel like to fall in love" mental montage) - violence as a means to procure a desired outcome, and with as little actual bloodshed or permanent injury as possible, but by no means not none. The show is so careful to never condemn the use of violence wholesale - like, at no point is the message a facile "violence is never the answer". It condemns certain types of violence, usually specifically those enacted large-scale by oppressive, colonialist social structures, but also cruelty for cruelty's sake. Outside of that, though, violence is a tool, and thus is only as "good" or "useful" as the task to which it is being applied. Ed is a master craftsman - he will use the tools at his disposal deftly, and, yes sometimes take joy or pride in his work. And that's not a bad thing, nor does it make him a bad person.

[zmediaoutlet]

Hey Liz! Have you ready any good spn fic lately? :)

I have, and in fact I've been spite-reading. Have a curated wincest rec list you could share with anyone you like:

Bad Blood by astolat

Rating: E Word Count: 3,718 Summary: "Fuck me or I'm going to die isn't the world's best pickup line."  // "I've heard worse," Dean said. // "You've used worse," Sam said.

Original post date, 02/22/2007

Reccing because: No wincest primer would be complete without an astolat rec. You probably get fined by the Wincest FCC, otherwise. The flaw in astolat’s wincest, if we’re allowed to say such things about our saint and founder, is that Sam and Dean would sometimes fall into the whole thing super easily — this fic dispenses with that problem with a good ol’ classic dose of evil sex pollen, and if magic makes them do it then it could be a hell of a lot worse than how delightfully they do it here. I’m laughing out loud just remembering one of the scenes. Joys.

Coast On Through by philalethia

Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 7,857 Summary: A post-first-time fic. With a lot of sex.

Original post date, 12/22/2007

Reccing because: This is a true all-timer wincest fic. Though the characterization is of its 2007 time, the Winchesters still feel like themselves, and more important feel like adults who are trying to navigate their very odd circumstances. A real classic of the brothers-with-benefits genre.

Keep Our Minds on the Sum of Each Other by lazy_daze

Rating: E Word Count: 9,593 Summary: N/A; provided tags are Bodyswap

Original post date, 12/26/2007

Reccing because: What a cheerful fuckin’ fic this is, for a fic about incestuous fuckin’. This takes the apocalyptic stakes and reels them back to a just deeply entertaining romp. Not too worried about the plot and much more worried about how hot these two are when they slam together, it’s a refreshingly non-angsty take on what it means that you just want to slurp on your brother wholesale.

Filthy Mind by rivkat

Rating: E Word Count: 26,384 Summary: Dean acquires unwelcome nightly visitors. Set post-Hell, without details as to how that happens.

Original post date, 10/07/2008

Reccing because: RivkaT is perhaps the all-time understander of the Weird Affect of Dean Winchester (As Played By Jensen Ackles) and the entirely destabilizing effect that affect has on the world. A real reality-warper. This fic deals with non-con and dub-con and who-knows-what-con and everything in between in a way that is more thoughtful than tawdry (although you can certainly enjoy the tawdriness as presented and the fic does not judge you for that). It also, thrillingly, deals with Sam’s alarm about the whole thing in a way which is fairly unflinching: he wants and does not want to want and also just really, really desperately wants-- Fans of Sheila’s analysis will probably enjoy this one. 

seeing double by candle_beck

Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 5,127 Summary: Dean has a concussion and his better senses come and go.

Original post date, 04/24/2009

Reccing because: I know there are more famous and more favored c_b fics, but this one is such a supremely perfect scene that it should be at the top of all c_b rec lists. It isn’t the catastrophic misery or assholery or intensity of some of the other big hitters but this just has this searingly true and singular experience coursing through it: to wit, that Dean is hurt and Sam is upset and then sorry and then in love. Which isn’t a half-bad summary of Supernatural itself, really. 

The incestuous courtship of the antichrist’s bride by fleshflutter

Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 48,000 Summary: Sam is trying to become the Antichrist in order to save the world. He has a small army of angels and demons, he has an adoring cult, he has a work of prophecy by Jack Kerouac, and he has Dean. Things are going pretty well until he accidentally signs Dean up as his Beloved Consort, a role that requires sex with the Antichrist on an altar. And that's when things stop going pretty well. Also, the soundtrack to the Apocalypse sucks.

Original post date, 06/08/2009

Reccing because: It is so, so rare to find crack fics that work. This is crack treated like crack and also taken entirely seriously, which is a rare balance to find. When it needs to be horror it works, when it needs to be ridiculous it works, when it needs to be hot as fuck it works, and never has the phrase ‘apocalyptic cock’ been so appropriate and so wonderful in context. 

I’ve Got A Hand For You by Edwardina

Rating: E Word Count: 14,938 Summary: Sam's inexperience is showing, and Dean helps the best way he knows how.

Original post date, 03/12/2010

Reccing because: This is underage par excellence, as wonderfully weird and vaguely creepy and hot and alarming as it should always be. Dean’s 19 and Sam’s 14 and they should not but they are, and if that isn’t just a summary of Supernatural as a whole I don’t know what is. On the face of it this is a vaguely gnasty first time fic, but what sets this one apart is how earnestly real it is — the grimy-but-not-OTT reality of the details, Sam’s goofy kiddishness being complicated by the reality of what hormones are and do, Dean’s too-cool-ness alleviated by the fact that he’s nineteen and therefore still an idiot, trying earnestly to help and getting it wrong and getting it very right, all at the same time. The attention to detail here just knocks me over with a feather. Gorgeous work.

Two Part Invention by De_Nugis

Rating: T Word Count: 6,938 Summary: Dean settles down, Sam finds him, they settle some things.

Original post date, 12/25/2010

Reccing because: I very much appreciate a fic that, on the face of it, seems like an OOC premise, and then as soon as you think about it for fifteen seconds you realize — oh, of course, of course that’s how it should be and how it would go. This fic delivers on that feeling in spades. There’s a deep appreciation here for how complicated Sam Winchester is and how strange and hard it would be to have his life, and zero judgment, really, for what he and Dean have to do to make that life tenable. I appreciate the subtlety here so much.

Top This by leonidaslion

Rating: E Word Count: 4,076 Summary: Dean's sure he's a top. Only problem is, Sam's pretty sure that's his job …

Original post date, 04/10/2011

Reccing because: Is this crack? It surely is. Is it PWP? You bet. Is it in character? To be honest it hardly matters, but despite the context and conceit it does manage, somehow, to kinda feel like Sam and Dean Winchester from the canon of the show Supernatural, and that is a trick that earns it a spot on this list. Especially the way Sam goes slightly smug there at the end. Delights.

It’s the Blueprint of Your Life by queenklu

Rating: E Word Count: 38,400 Summary: Sam jerks awake in the middle of the night and everything goes to hell. Well, not literally, though Dean is staring down the barrel of less than a year before his deal comes due. In the midst of dealing (or not dealing) with his impending death, a killer ghost ship, and Bela showing up out of the blue, Dean also has to figure out what’s going on in Sam’s head to make him so twitchy, why he’s suddenly breezing through this case while writing endless notes in a notebook he won’t let Dean see. Damn it, Dean thinks, This is gonna take a lot of chickflick moments.

Original post date, 10/09/2011

Reccing because: Time travel fic is fun as hell, and time travel fic that just soaks you in dramatic irony is even more fun, and more importantly time travel fic where the time traveler doesn’t have all the answers is best of all. Very little is better than Dean being somewhat at sea and Sam loving him fiercely and this fic delivers that in spades. I could only wish it were a little longer, which is a very, very rare statement from me.

The Fall Will Probably Kill You by killabeez

Rating: M Word Count: 6,773 Summary: Set between 7.04 and the aftermath of 7.07. Dean is not as okay as he'd like you to think. Neither is Sam.

Original post date, 11/06/2011

Reccing because: This fic is thoroughly in and of and intensely about season 7, which I adored and which doesn’t get enough credit from the fandom. It deals with the Sam’s Insanity arc in a way that’s angstier and ficcier than the show itself but it does so in this stupendous and murderously flat way. Dean is at his wit’s end and Sam is, too, but Sam’s finding a way to deal with it, and Sam will not compromise on what dealing with it means, and we’re all just forced to live with it. Fantastic reading experience, especially for the almost literal jumpscare you get about 2/3s through.

The Hunter Games by theproblematique

Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 92,601 Summary: When the infamous Winchester bad luck strikes twice in quick succession Sam and Dean are forced to compete in the most brutal reality TV show ever created. It’s impossible to escape the battlefield, hiding can only be temporary, and alliances inside those dark, bloodstained woods last about as long as it takes for the other Hunter to figure out how to use your weapons. And then kill you with them.

Original post date, 06/22/2012

Reccing because: This is a true all-timer wincest AU fic. We’re mostly all familiar with the source material, but this work blends the universe of the Hunger Games with the characterization & destiny of the Winchester boys in a way that’s extremely satisfying. The author’s other works are recced more often, but this piece is more deserving of a place as One Of Those Reclist Fics.

Kevin Tran for President by glovered

Rating: T Word Count: 11,714 Summary: Dean comes back from Purgatory to find Sam working as a barista at a coffee shop near Princeton, watching over Kevin Tran.

Original post date, 10/04/2012

Reccing because: Sometimes you just need a post-Purgatory fic that isn’t brutal. This story’s a light-hearted trip-along froth like most of glovered’s work, but there’s something in specific about this unfraught coming-together that makes it incredibly readable. Dean and Sam aren’t entirely on the same page but the relief of reunion makes everything else fade a little into the distance, and the charming little job they find themselves on here gives enough of an excuse for them to figure some things out. Also probably the best Cas & Meg side characters in a fic, so there’s that too.

Clear and simple and plain by Trojie

Rating: E Word Count: 1,893 Summary: After Sam gives up the Trials, things start getting better.

Original post date, 10/26/2013

Reccing because: This is a post-Trials fic where things don’t go incredibly wrong, which is a nice AU to sit in for a while. What’s impressive about this story, written in the time it was, is that it manages to presage the ~s11 era marriage very well indeed, in tone and vibe and even some content. They’re in the bunker and things aren’t perfect, but they’re together, and that’s a kind of perfection of its own. It isn’t sugary but it’s the kind of adult complex sweetness that makes one feel better, anyway.

hello by allwellandgood (formerly askance)

Rating: T Word Count: 4,128 Summary: There's a woman at the grocery store named Evelyn who always rings him up on the days he ventures out for food and she knows him, or likes to think she does. I hope you're not too lonely, she'll say. He chooses not to tell her that his dead brother sleeps at his feet every night. He'd rather not be the cause of her inevitable heart attack.

Original post date, 08/11/2014

Reccing because: So Dean’s dead. Everyone dies at some point. This fic is a beautifully soft and tender and bitterly kind way to deal with that. You feel Sam’s loss deep in your chest but it’s okay, because this is the world of Supernatural and there are options, and the relief he gets pours over like cool water. Not enough, and it’s not fixed, but it’s not as much of a misery as it was.

The Time Traveler’s Brother by amypond45

Rating: R Word Count: 55,458 Summary: Dean's life is turned upside down the night his mother dies. But that's also the night a mysterious grown-up version of Dean's brother first appears in his life. While Dean grows up, "Old Sam" is often there, especially when Dean's father isn't, and as Dean learns what the future holds, he begins to question everything his father has taught him about who he is and what he is supposed to become. Can Dean find a way to save his little brother from his own future? This pre-series AU follows Dean from age four to eighteen.

Original post date, 02/26/2015

Reccing because: It’s rare to have an AU so thoroughly engage with what the alternate universe it constructs means for characterization and plot. This does something outstanding with the Sam and Dean (and Deans) created by the conceit, but also uses that conceit to do something entirely new with the canon plot that just flips me over every time I remember it. There are some fantastic character insights here, both complimentary and not, but I’ll never be over the specific scene of young!Dean looking up at older!Dean and being disappointed. That’s him, that’s our little angst machine.

The King of Imperfections Takes Back the Prince of Mistakes: a fairy tale by britomart_is

Rating: E Word Count: 4,822 Summary: And they lived happily ever after.

Original post date, 06/06/2016

Reccing because: The summary is pretty much the summary and that’s such a relief, sometimes. They’re awful and stupid and they’re in love and love isn’t enough except it is, and they’re so friggin’ MARRIED in the most wonderful and dorky way. They have good-bad sex and they have idiot arguments and they’ve made it. Back in 2016 this seemed like the best possible option. Reading this story feels like reading 4800 words of relief.

Raw Food Diet by themegalosaurus

Rating: E Word Count: 2,959 Summary: Sam has one more meeting today. This one isn’t in his diary; not the public calendar everyone at the firm can access, nor the private one on his cell.

Original post date, 02/14/2019

Reccing because: If you were looking for depressing and almost revolting Lebanon AU, you’re in luck. This is serial killer!Dean at his worst and Sam Jobs at his (still slightly martyred) almost-worst and it’s the frankly gross and logical conclusion to: what would it mean, if those two horrible shitheads were still together, somehow or some way? It’s always almost a relief when fic manages to do a not-happy ending and this definitely does that. Refreshing, in its way, though you might want a shower after.

Ions in the Ether by nigeltde

Rating: E Word Count: 10,860 Summary: When was the last time you trusted happy.

Original post date, 03/12/2019

Reccing because: For any s2 obsessives as our author here is, this is a deep and alarming and inside-out dive into the obsession with a brother and with monstrousness and with what’s true and what’s not and also can you tell the difference, after all. A murky swirl through a shithole town, this fic picks and pries at wincest-as-concept in a way that’s somewhat achy and alarming and is overall delightful, if you’re willing to take the time to think about it. Plus Sam’s hot, which is of course a bonus.

there will be better days by deadlybride

Rating: E Word Count: 9,430 Summary: Sam and Dean settle into their heaven.

Original post date, 11/24/2020

Reccing because: I’m crass. But also I can’t think of another fic that feels as much like heaven as this one and I wanted heaven on the list.

[hollowtones]

ALL UNITED STATES LOVERS OF MY HAMBURGER STORE POSTS will be happy to know I have tried "IN AND OUT HAMBURGERS" for the first time tonight. What follows is a detailing of my thoughts.

THE BURGER

I got a two-by-two in animal mode. This sounds like a plank of wood, which I guess is how eating a large hamburger can make you feel on a bad day.

It was pretty good.

It was VERY salty.

I seen people talk about them cooking the patties on the flat-top with mustard smeared on 'em. I like the way it seasons the meat, but I wish they either used more mustard or put mustard on the sandwich.

The special secret animal sauce is just fry sauce. It's good.

The onions were really nice.

The bun was noticeably good. I feel like some greasy spoons and hamburger stores, the bun's completely unremarkable. This one I noticed the presence and taste of the bread and it was good. Good ratio of bread to everything else.

I think I've had better burgers before, but it was a damn fine hamburger all the same.

THE FRIES

My fries were from the animal zone.

They just slapped a slice of American cheese on there!! I didn't realize it would have cheese. It was pretty good as far as American cheese goes.

The sauce is still just fry sauce. Still good. I suppose there's a reason why every hamburger shop's Special Sauce is just some variant of this same thing.

The onions went really good with the fries. I was surprised. I thought it'd be kind of "whatever" but I really liked the combo of everything together overall. Whole feels greater than the sum of its parts.

The fries themselves were the weakest link. I'm told I can get them "well done", but I wanted to try them the "default" way. I think next time I will ask for them to be cooked more.

THE MILKSHAKE

Thick as fuck!!!!

I want her to call me.

OVERALL: Was pretty good. If I was a person that was into cars and driving and American driving culture I probably would have liked it more as a wholesale experience. But the hamburgers they stock are pretty good.

[klausysworld]

Firstly I wanna say your stories are amazing, thank u very much for posting ♡♡♡ Well I ve been thinking about a smut with klaus

Reader and him have been dating for long time but they never had sex and she is virgin and really innocent and fears she won't be enough for him, she just guess it would be rough and painful but but he surprises her with so much tenderness

And then maybe a good aftercare if u want to?

Ready

Y/n was beyond nervous.

She knew Klaus, she knew he wouldn’t purposefully harm her or force her into anything but she also knew he was rough by nature.

She knew he had been with thousands of other women and she knew she wouldn’t compare to those of his past.

She didn’t know how to do all the things he probably wanted to do but she also didn’t want to disappoint him.

That was one of her flaws, she never wanted to disappoint anyone and especially not Klaus. He loved her more than she had ever been loved and he had killed for her, protected her wholesale and provided for her like no other. She couldn’t imagine taking this away from him, and she didn’t want him to get bored and find someone else.

Last time they were going to have sex, she panicked at the last second and couldn’t do it. Not that it upset him, he was so very understanding and that almost made it worse because she didn’t know why she was so scared. If not of his disappointment then what?

So she tried to force herself to do it, she figuratively and literally threw herself at him. Eyes closed as she pulled her top off and kissed down his neck while he groaned softly and touched her hair. But the smell of worry rolled off her in waves and he ended up with her curled to his side while he kissed her forehead and put on a movie.

Klaus could see straight through her, she was like glass and he knew it. He knew how easy it would be to break her, scare her and hurt her. But for once in his immortal life, he had no desire to make someone’s life a misery, not her.

So he stopped her going through with something he so desperately wanted, because he knew she wasn’t ready and he wanted her to be comfortable and safe when he took her purity away.

Not that she would ever be anything less than perfect in his eyes, an innocent doe, his angel.

His siblings had made many jokes to him about his lack of sex life, he kept his love away from his family. She knew he was a hybrid and that he had done some truly awful things but he didn’t want them to share the details, he didn’t want to haunt her or terrify her sweet mind. He didn’t want to ruin her positive outlook on the world. But he also wouldn’t take anyone saying a bad word about her so when Kol made a joke that he would warm her up before Klaus could have her, well Kol ended up on the other side of the country. Rebekah asked if this girl was a nun, to which Klaus snapped back at and Elijah brought out the stronger alcohol.

If y/n wanted to wait till marriage then perhaps he would marry her. Yes, after a thousand years settling down with someone as pristine as her would be a dream come true for even the darkest of hearts.

And he told her that, which made her cry but not in disparity of sadness, in disbelief and love. It wasn’t hard for him to decide that she would never see an ounce of pain in her life.

But deep down she didn’t want to wait anymore. She didn’t want to wait until after marriage. What if she was no good for him and he was stuck with her forever? What if he didn’t want to teach her and instead wanted rid of her existence?

She loved him, she knew that. And she knew that he loved her. That should be enough, right? Love is a very powerful emotion and it’s enough to drive a person to do almost anything.

So she told him he was ready, and although he was skeptical, seeing her determined face, he wanted to make her happy. Even if she decided she couldn’t do it again and he was left with a painfully hard cock which he would sort out later.

———————————————————————

Klaus could feel how tense show was beneath him, his mouth was on hers moving quickly as she roughened the kiss. He knew she didn’t really want to kiss him like that but felt she had to, so he pulled away a moment and just cupped her face. Her legs were around his waist as she lay back and he had one hand helping to keep him just above her.

He could feel her shifting against him, her hands pulling him down but not in the need that he wanted her to have.

“Love, it’s okay if you’re not ready” he told her gently but she shook her head

“I am, I promise” she smiled faintly and he sighed softly

“Okay…okay just close your eyes” he instructed and she did.

He pressed his lips to her softly, stopping her from trying to rush it and instead barely moving his mouth against hers. His lips parted and so did hers, their movements getting a little bigger before his tongue slowly slid into her mouth. His hand brushed over her cheek lightly and her hands held onto his neck as she wrapped her tongue around his. Wet sounds filled the air between them as they moved their head more to taste as much of each other as they could.

He kept their faces attached as he began to roll his hips to hers slowly, happy to hear a genuine moan out of her and feel her breathe him in. He pushed her dress up a little so it wasn’t in the way and rubbed himself at her panties, careful not to overwhelm her too soon.

Klaus pulled back from her mouth a moment just to look at her eyes, checking for that fear that usually rest within them. It was still their but much less than normal, lust covering it and love overpowering them both. A soft kiss was given to her again as she moaned for him once more.

He moved backwards a little to look down where he was moving against, pleased with the growing wet patch along her panties which rubbed onto his sweatpants easily.

“See? Feel nice love?” He asked quietly and she nodded with a whine. “Good girl…you just keep relaxing, I’ll take care of you” he murmured softly. He kissed her lips lightly before trailing his way down her neck and back up again. His hands gently pushed her legs back down and had them lay open for him to rest between.

His mouth went back to hers as he tore her panties off of her in one swift movement. She barely noticed the material missing as she eagerly welcomed his tongue back into her mouth, enjoying the dominance he had over her movements. She assumed it was his crotch rubbing against her again when his fingers slipped along her now soaking pussy. He groaned softly into her mouth at the feel of it and couldn’t help but get a finger inside her to feel how tight she would be on his cock.

Klaus wasn’t sure how he would be able to do this without hurting her, but he would sure as he’ll try.

He had only dreamed of her being this tight, her silky walls had such a good hold on his finger as he slowly moved it back and forth. Her back arched and her mouth left his as she moaned out and ground her hips to his hand.

Klaus often wondered what she did usually after they got this far. Did you have to finish herself off like he did? He wasn’t sure anything had been inside her, not even her own fingers, based off of how much she was squeezing him as he pushed another one inside. A little whimper leaving her as her face scrunched at the stretch sting that rippled through her for a moment.

His thumb pressed to her clit and he rubbed slowly, matching the pace with the thrusts of his fingers and watching her cunt tighten around him. The amount of wetness that was dripping from his hand was ridiculous, the sounds produced when he sped up his actions was more than pornographic and her moans only added to it.

He groaned to himself as he took notice of her clit swelling as he rubbed quicker, listening as she called his name and her hands gripped the sheets harshly.

His fingers curled and the cry she let out told him everything he needed to know before he continued the action over and over until she was trembling and shaking with need. A burst of fluid was squirt up at him as she moaned so loud that her throat went sore. His lips pulled into a smirk and and he didn’t hesitate in licking his fingers clean. His eyes rolling closed as he leaned down to press his open mouth to her wetness.

Her hips jolted and legs clamped around his head making him grunt and bury between her thighs in determination. Her hands were straight in his hair, pulling and tugging as his tongue rolled against her and inside her.

“Nik!” She cried over and over making him smirk and suck at her harder, she had only ever called him Klaus so hearing her moan his name which was reserved for certain people made him all that more happier and sure that she was in fact ready.

Her hips ground desperately to his face, her fingers clinging to his curls and tears in her eyes as he devoured her within seconds.

It barely took another minute before her taste was exploding all over his tongue again and he was moaning with her as she filled his every sense.

“Nik” she panted, barely able to focus on anything as he continued to hold her thighs tightly and pull her puffy clit into his hot mouth. Her hands couldn’t let go of his hair, she couldn’t help but keep pulling him closer. No matter how sensitive she felt, how many nerves he was playing with, god she just needed more, “more! Oh more!” She cried and he would never deny her of this, never. He would beg for this to be his last meal, and he treated her as though it was.

After leaving her hanging on the edge of her fifth orgasm, he finally pulled away. Both of them breathing heavily and still moaning or groaning softly.

He crawled back up her now sweaty body and had his lips on hers, tongue fucking her mouth and sharing her delightful taste. At some point during his feast klaus had managed to shred her dress into pieces and had to get his own clothes off to stop them feeling so tight against his poor, aching cock.

He moaned outright when it felt the wet lips of her pussy and his hips moved to rub between them. Her breathing grew more erratic as she grabbed the back of his hair and pulled him back down, kissing him with need.

“I’m ready, please Klaus, I’m ready” she whispered and he let out a breath

“Nik” he uttered “you call me Nik” he ordered and she nodded

“Please Nik” she moaned and he thrust himself along her, his dick sliding over her clit many times over.

He had to stabilise his breathing and thoughts before he did this. He knew she had been so worried, so scared before and nothing could ruin this, not now. He couldn’t let her slip through his fingers now. He would be the softest, most gentle man on the planet if she would let him fill her with his cock, let him pump her full of his seed.

Fuck. The thought alone had him rubbing against her faster, but shit, he needed to be slow. Come on Klaus, slow.

He took a long breath before taking his heavy cock into his hand and pressing his tip to her dripping cunt. Her heart sped and he glanced up to find her watching his tip with anticipation, teeth on her bottom lip and a moan threatening to leave any second. It was all the confirmation he needed before finally, at last, getting inside her.

Klaus was 90% sure he was louder than she was when her soft, soaked walls sucked him inside. Just his tip to begin with, he slid it in and out of her carefully, lightly tapping it against her clit a couple more times before going further. He got a couple inches in before she made a whine of discomfort and he stopped, his hand found hers and he held it firmly but gently while his other kept a hold of his cock as though if he didn’t then it would do as it pleased and fuck her into oblivion.

“It’s okay my love” he whispered, his hand squeezing hers lightly in reassurance. “You don’t have to take it all” he told her as she shut her eyes so he couldn’t see the twinge of pain inside them.

He let the first few inches thrust in and out of her, allowing her tightly wound body to stretch at its own pace. When her hips moved by themselves against him and her mouth involuntarily opened, he knew she could take more. And more he gave her, a good two thirds in and his breathing so ragged that he wasn’t sure how he wasn’t passing out.

Her pleas were getting more common now and he obliged to every one, keeping each movement calculated and soft. His thrusts, although relatively slow, still reached all those places inside her which she had only dreamed about and she couldn’t have asked for anything better.

She had always worried he would treat her like she were a toy or a slut but he touched her like she was glass, like she were his priceless diamond and she adored it. Craved it.

He was perfect.

Any doubts were chucked out the window as he checked on how she felt time and time again, even though her constant call of his name told everyone in a 5 mile radius that he was giving her the time of her life.

“Nik-“ she moaned and he grunted, his face just above hers and a little further forward as she was leaving kisses and disappearing marks in his neck. He placed a wet kiss to her forehead and struggled to keep his pace steady. “Can- oh- can you go faster Nik?!” She pleaded and he nodded without an ounce of control. Completely following what she needed, his mind was locked on hers and he just wanted her to feel as good as he did.

His body moved to hers faster but still not roughly, not bruisingly or harshly. Just quicker to rub against her spongey spot, to have her back curved off the bed and legs shaking.

His body faltered above her as he felt his balls go tight, the same balls that had repeatedly slapped against her and were ready to empty inside her.

“Y/n” he panted and she moaned. “Gonna- cum- inside- you-“ he panted and she cried out pleasantly

“Please Nik, please please” she begged and he held her hand so tightly, he feared he’d broken it as she screamed and cried.

The sound registered minutes later, him having already overfilled her three times over with the amount of cum he had for her.

His head shot up and he grabbed ahold of her face with his hands

“Love? Did I hurt you? Oh god-“ he started but her hand cupped the side of his neck and she smiled weakly

“God no Nik, no you were- wonderful, unbelievable” she whispered breathlessly and he sighed in relief, his head drooping to kiss her cheek softly.

“Are you tired love?” He asked and she laughed

“Yeah, I’m tired. Are..are you? Do you need more or-“

“I would love as much as you could let me have but for tonight, believe me when I promise you that I am beyond satisfied. You were…” he leaned down to her ear and nipped the lobe gently, “quite frankly, the best I’ve ever had” he whispered and she blushed darkly

“Over a thousand years I do doubt that-“

“You have the softest, hottest, wettest, tightest little pussy I have ever had, the most delicious, most beautiful-“

“Nik” she cut him off, embarrassment colouring her red as she looked up at him shyly.

“Believe me sweetheart, I would never lie to you” he told her softly as he leaned back down to kiss her lips. “The best” he whispered again and she let out a happy breath before a yawn forced through her and he smiled

“Tell me if anything hurts okay? I’m gonna clean you up, I’ll be gentle” he murmured as he pulled out of her and lifted her off of the ruined sheets. She groaned at the empty feeling and held onto his hand with her own as he brought her to the bathroom. “Bath?” He questioned and she shook her head.

“Sleep” she mumbled and he nodded. He grabbed the wipes and got her as clean as he could before doing himself, not once putting her down.

He paused at the state of his bed and instead carried her to the guest room next door. He kept her right against his bare chest as he laid with her beneath the covers and kissed her head so much his lips hurt.

Her eyes had closed earlier than he realised as he held her dearly and whispered to her resting body. Just sweet nothings and true promises. Things she would hear many times over and experience in the future.

[troywagner]

Hi Troy! I recently rewatched all the DVD commentaries as I do embarrassingly often, and it got me wondering: does anybody keep in touch with Jessica or know what she’s been up to since MH? Everyone else has been pretty well documented after the end of the series (go nurse Brain!!), but I don’t recall ever really hearing anything about her after she finished filming. I know she was an actor that auditioned and not a friend brought on like the rest, so it makes sense if there hasn’t been much contact. Just curious try on my end! Thanks for everything <3

Jessica is in LA now and has a hugely successful greeting card business!

https://www.fivedotpost.com/

[max1461]

I will reiterate again my views on private property, for those who have not heard them:

Property is a legal construct, by which an individual is recognized by the state as having essentially unilateral authority over some bundle of resources, and whereby this control is enforced by the state at the behest of the individual using the state's monopoly on violence.

Right-libertarians view the right to private property as a fundamental individual liberty that must be respected any just state, akin to freedom of speech. However, I believe this view is incorrect. At the most basic level, the difference is that freedom of speech puts restrictions on what the state may do—it may not arrest us for what we say. On the other hand, the "right to property" demands an enormous amount of active interference by the state in everyday life—to decide who is the legitimate owner of what, and thereby who may use what and step where, what is trespassing or copyright infringement and what is not. It demands that if you use the wrong resources in the wrong way, resources not recognized as yours, you must be jailed. It demands a constant management by the state of exactly who is using what where. Far from being the actions of a "small government", a pervasive system of private property is a status quo that can only be maintained by an extraordinarily large and everywhere-reaching government.

This difference needn't mean that private property is bad. In fact, I don't think it is in general bad! But I also don't think it is in general good, or in general conducive to the ideal of individual liberty and autonomy.

In our present society, private property serves a variety of social functions that I think are very positive. For instance, private ownership (or something basically akin to private ownership) of one's home provides them with certain guarantees of privacy and autonomy within their own living space that I think are vital in any free society. At the same time, when a home's resident is not its owner, as in the case where a home is owned by a landlord, the right to property is instead an obstacle to these basic individual liberties.

Furthermore, I think that owning a very large amount of property makes one a kind of de facto autocrat, backed by state force in the exercise of their own private whims. As goes the old quip: who has more control over your life, the president, or your boss? And which one is democratically elected?

The truth is that we almost all spend the majority of our waking lives within the workplace, a domain ruled autocratically by an unelected, unaccountable authority. Yes, we each have the meager freedom to choose which autocratic authority to submit to, or to submit to none and starve on the street. But this is not freedom in any sane sense. And I think the notion that we live in a free society when the majority of most of our lives are spent in submission to the arbitrary whims of state backed authority is ridiculous.

Does this mean that I think private property should be replaced with nothing? That all rivalrous resources should be allocated by first-come first-serve, or according to who can guard them by exercise of the most individual force? No, of course not! Rather, I merely think property as it exists today is something of an arbitrary system, an accretion of history, steered at every turn by the powerful to guard their own interests. I would like to see a wholesale reworking of the way that resources and their use are coordinated by society—this time, engineered from the ground up specifically to empower the greatest number of people with the greatest amount of personal autonomy. I think anyone who defends the present system of property against such efforts has no business calling themselves "libertarian".

This is no simple project, and though I have many ideas (which you can find by perusing my posts), I am almost certainly not equipped with the full set of skills necessary to envision an ideal system. This is a project which must be approached at the same time with a technical eye towards economic issues and a humanistic eye towards the broader effects of the new system on people and their wellbeing. I am, as always, interested in talking with anyone who can contribute towards a vision of better system.

[lakesbian]

it's the moment like 4 of you have been waiting for:

i finally rotated pact creature design in my brain enough to post about it. to all the people who sent me asks wanting to hear my thoughts explaining Why Pact Creatures Are So Good this ones for you.

the core of pact's monster design boils down to one very good fact about pact's worldbuilding: in the world of pact, the universe canonically loves a good story. magic literally runs on themes and ideas. subsequently, strong themes aren't the end result of pact's monster design so much as they are the most fundamental aspect of it--meaningful themes and narratives are such a textually important part of how pact monsters work that one bogeyman outright tries to start a conversation with blake by, upon noticing the birdhouse in his soul (tm), asking if birds are important to him.

what really seals the deal on this being fascinating is that pact monsters aren't invented wholesale--a lot of the book hinges on offering its own explanations for preexisting folklore or urban legend. pact takes a variety of common threads in the way cultural myths & monsters are presented, picks out the conceptions with compelling implications, and distills them into one design so thematically coherent and clarifying that it makes you go "ohhh, why aren't All ghosts/dragons/fae like this? this is Exactly What They're Supposed To Be."

like, we all know that ghosts are dead people, and oftentimes the appearance and/or behavior they're written as having is either implicitly or explicitly based on reenactments of their past life/how they died, and sometimes they're depicted as lucid but more often than not they're depicted more like broken or warped remnants of a person, and sometimes they make things colder/give off Bad Emotional Vibes/etc. those are generally true assertions about how ghosts are often culturally presented.

pact takes that and explicitly declares that ghosts are what happens when something so bad happens that an imprint of the resultant misery is left on the fabric of the universe. some ghosts appear horrifying because their appearance is warped and exaggerated beyond what's realistically possible to match how awful whatever happened to them felt. some ghosts are more lucid because their imprint is more recent, or has been strengthened and fed by human attention instead of left to decay. some ghosts are less lucid because they were forgotten. when ghosts make the atmosphere feel awful to be in, that's because the ghost isn't just the imprint of the person, it's an imprint of the awful thing itself. incredibly interesting! it feels so very much like the absolute heart of what ghost stories are about--about the grief and horror of being impacted by the ever-present echo of something terrible, about something so viscerally wretched happening that reality itself cannot forget it, about the emotionally powerful interactions between someone still-living and the memory of someone already long gone.

(pact also gives an aside that, in very rare scenarios, neutral or arguably even positive occasions which leave a sufficiently strong enough impression can also become ghosts. genuinely fascinating expansion.)

& the thing here is that pact does this for creatures like ghosts that are already richly thematic and iconic, but it Also does it for creatures with less obvious theming. how do dragons work? what's pact's underlying explanation for their position as immortal, powerful, regal, fire-breathing* fantasy monsters?

*&, depending on the media, sometimes ice-breathing or poisonous or whatever else

well, you see, dragons are recursive loops. "dragons are recursive loops" is perhaps one of the Top All Time sentences in the entire book, and the delightful thing is that, in addition to sounding excellent, it makes sense.

that's how they generate and spit out so much of whatever their element is. they're snarls. they're ouroboroses. they're something feeding into itself, self-sustaining for thousands of years, drowning anything which threatens it in torrents of whatever the self-feeding element is--fire, sometimes, but it could be poison, or ice, or whatever else, and that's why you've probably heard of ice dragons in addition to classic fire dragons. Dragons Are Recursive Loops. recursiveness is, after all, a form of immortality.

or, like, fae? we all know that faeries are incomprehensibly old/outright immortal Tricky Little Bitches who like to manipulate people while posing in an inhumanly/horrifically beautiful fashion and going "teehee." pact takes that to a fantastically surreal level of extreme artifice, one that's almost grotesque in its dreamlike nature--they have all lived for so very long that, to them, boredom is worse than death, and so they have complicated social games spanning centuries, and speak in the most practiced of misleading wordplay, and perfectly curate their forests so that even the smallest pebble is an intentionally-chosen setpiece for their play. they graduated from handjobs a couple dozens of millennia ago--now they're more into erotic-poetic descriptions of full-body degloving. you will not notice when a faerie steals and replaces your child, because you are very young and stupid compared to them, and playing-pretend at being your child is only the briefest of trifles in their unfathomably long lifespan.

the other good bit is that pact explicitly acknowledges that faeries run on what is colloquially deemed Bullshit--the universe likes a good story, and faeries have gotten very good at telling it a moving story. if a faerie tells a good enough story about having a sword that breaks the laws of physics, then that is what their sword will do. and so the way to combat faeries is not to out-bullshit them--because no one is out-bullshitting a being with thousands of years of bullshitting practice--but to say "no, that's fucking stupid and made up" until their implausibly long sword acts like a sword of that size actually should and shatters on the spot.

& all of these writing decisions feel so naturally truthful to what these creatures are Supposed to be--they're really not wholly new takes, they're a presentation of preexisting ideas in a way that gets why those ideas appeal to people and goes full-throttle on all the most thematically rich or otherwise narratively interesting parts. It's Good Writing. I Like It. you could spend an entire essay breaking down the presentation of literally any single one of pact's creatures, it's that compelling in its reflection and organization of Ideas About Creatures.

[veilantares]

Arachne Centaur

Spider, spider crawl around, skitter, scatter then leap and bound, in a web they stay and glare, eight shining eyes are over there

In my sketches these kinds of weird centaur things tend to be my compromise  between making more humanoid sketches against maing more monstery designs - that way I still get practice at drawing monsters and vehicles even though I mostly post person shaped designs online. That being said I hardly ever take any of them to completion, which I dont feel too bad about since theyre kinda simple.

This one in particular came about from me wholesale ripping some organic jet and tank sketches I made and just mashing them in for a character I only drew the upper torso of. Initially it had two extra set of legs, but I couldnt figure out a way to make them look good while overlapping the ones in the sketch.

To compromise so I could still say it had eight limbs (even though spiders have more than eight), I added those clawed tendrils to the back - the idea is that they can grab things more easily while suspended above them with those than the “regular” arms.

I think that the silhouette looks incredibly striking as a result but to me its noticeable I took a lot of shortcuts, and this one feels somewhat unfinished compared to my other completed pieces...

[autisticandroids]

Yeah re: soulless Sam I was always interested and a bit troubled by the way s6 handled it where like they presented soulless sam as the primary issue/threat yet I found deans controllingness and dislike towards soulless sam equally if not more threatening. Like it felt like soulless sam was Not The Problem- dean reacting very poorly to a sam he could neither control nor understand was the issue. Would you have handled it differently than the show and if so, how?

so i think this ask is a response to this post.

yeah i mean this is something that really bugs me in the show. so first of all, the writers don't really have a handle on what it means to be soulless - they never do, throughout the whole show.

this is firstly because the concept of soullessness is cribbed wholesale from buffy, where it is ALSO stupid and makes no sense. but in spn, it's worse, because spn already has its own interpretation of buffy's vampires - you can draw a pretty one to one line between how buffy uses vampires and how spn uses demons. except that demons are one of the things that spn actually does better than buffy - instead of being inherently evil in a way that's justified by nature, demons have two things going on. first, they are soldiers in an army - they have a reason to be evil and it's that that's what they're ordered to be. second, the difference between a demon and a human is that the demon has gone through centuries or millennia of torture to turn them into a new person. which is like... a comprehensible difference. the reason that all demons love violence and constantly commit it is a result of being intentionally shaped into being that way by the other demons who tortured them, who were also tortured in their turn, on and on all the way back to lucifer. this is to me more compelling and makes more narrative sense than "vampires don't have souls and so therefore they're inherently evil (so we can have lots of cool scenes of buffy killing them and not worry about it)."

so the concept of soulless sam is basically "hey let's crib one of buffy's stupidest worldbuilding elements for a second time, but this time we won't iterate on it until it's good." bad, broadly, i would say.

man. 3.5k words. the rest goes under a cut.

secondly i would say that the individual writers have totally different ideas about what a "soulless sam" should look like. this is partly just stupidity i think - ben edlund's* idea of what soulless sam is isn't that different from brett matthews', they both write him as an unemotional pragmatist who doesn't actually have bad intent. it's just that matthews is a bad writer, and he's also taking the directive from the top that sam should be "evil," which edlund clearly isn't listening to. whereas for example dabb and lofflin are writing soulless sam as an active monster. same with gamble i would say, though that's less clear cut.

now, there are people reading this right now who think that i'm about to say "we should throw out soulless sam" but i actually don't agree with that. i LIKE elements of soulless sam. i think at his best he makes a really great foil for like... where dean is at in season six. i think that his, like, existence is a great torture for dean, partly because he's such a fabulous foil. and frankly, i also think jared padalecki seems like he's having an absolute ball playing a cheerful bastard, and it makes soulless sam absolutely magnetic to watch. oh before you read any further you should probably read this post, it's really good.

anyway i'm going to take three episodes and compare them. we're gonna look at live free or twihard, clap your hands if you believe, and caged heat.

i'm also gonna talk a little about later handlings of soullessness.

but first i'm gonna say that the concept of soulless sam as "evil sam" is dumb. if he's evil sam then... do something else to him. but the premise of soulless sam is just that he lacks emotion and lacking emotion is not like.... Becoming Evil. that's so stupid it's unreal. and it doesn't lead to an interesting idea of the character of soulless sam!!! there's nothing to do with that except Bad Guy!!!!! stupid.

anyway, between twihard, clap your hands, and caged heat, i would say twihard is absolutely my least favorite, clap your hands is my most favorite, and caged heat is somewhere in the middle, at least in terms of handlings of soulless sam specifically.

so in twihard, sam lets dean get turned by a vampire. it's not malicious, he just wants to test the vampire cure on him. this is so fucking stupid it's unreal. brett matthews is going for "unfeeling pragmatist" here but he also clearly wrote backwards from the idea of sam as the antagonist who got dean turned. it makes very little sense for sam to have done this, it's not unfeelingly pragmatic, it's silly, and it exists purely to manufacture soulless-sam-as-antagonist. dumb and bad.

vs. clap your hands, where soulless sam isn't an antagonist. he's a foil, and he makes dean very upset, but he mostly acts both reasonably and in concert with dean. he's just offputting. like, dean gets abducted, and then sam does his best to get him back, but when he can't work anymore, he cheerfully has sex with the hippie girl. that is, genuinely, offputting to the point of a little disturbing. it very successfully shows us a man who is not feeling things the way most people do. but it's not evil. it's just weird. and it's really successful as a foil to dean's "feelings are king" shtick.

vs. caged heat, which has a little bit of both. i'm mostly going to look at the first scene with meg, which has both my favorite and least favorite moment.

my favorite moment is this:

SAM laughs. DEAN: Something funny, Sam? SAM: Yeah, Meg. DEAN: Really? ’Cause where I’m sitting… SAM: Don’t worry. She can’t do jack squat. She’s totally screwed. DEAN: Sam, not helping! SAM: Look at her, Dean. She’s furious. If she could kill you, she’d’ve done it by now. She’s running. MEG: Am I? SAM: Judging by the level of flop sweat on all of you, yeah. Which means you’re running from Crowley. Which makes sense. Crowley would want to hunt down all the Lucifer loyalists now that he’s the big man on campus.

so what's happening here is that dean is being very genuinely menaced. by meg. like he's in maybe some serious danger. and sam has been trying to protect him by talking to meg. but sam is also totally calm. because he doesn't care. he doesn't want meg to rape dean, to cut him up, to kill him. but he's not scared, and he's not empathizing with dean's fear, even though he knows it exists. in fact this fact allows him to notice that meg is scared, that she can't actually cut dean up. her threats are empty. i think this is a great use of soulless sam because, again, it's offputting, and it's obviously callous. dean would be totally within his rights to be pissed about this, like sam is out of pocket here. but he's not really doing anything bad.

and now my least favorite part: literally the next two lines.

MEG: How would you know? SAM: It’s what I’d do.

STUPID. STUPID STUPID STUPID. ooooooooooooh sam is soooooooooo evil he can obviously perfectly predict crowley DUMBBBBBBB. STUPID DUMB. sorry i get so mad when i hear this line. genuinely i kind of love caged heat there's a reason it's one of my most-watched eps but this line makes me SO mad.

like this is so clearly a finger on the scale to make him seem evil. it makes zero sense and is just... making the scene unwatchable.

for better ideas about soullessness, i actually think we should look to season eleven. in season six and season fourteen with soulless sam and soulless jack, things are kind of a clusterfuck. i talked about soulless jack here in preparation for making this post, but suffice to say that the soulless jack arc was even messier than the soulless sam arc - primarily because being soulless simply did not affect jack's characterization that much. the opposite problem to sam, who got his characterization fucked so he could say "muahaha look how evil i am" occasionally.

but in season eleven none of the main characters are soulless, so there's no need for a soulless person to be an "evil version" of a main character. instead, the soulless are amara's victims. they constitute problems, but are primarily indicative of a larger problem.

this is how the episode "thin lizzie" exists. that's my favorite soulless episode, because it tries to actually take seriously what having "no emotions" would mean for its characters. so you have soullessness as tragedy and as heroic trait. because len can no longer experience joy or fear, his life is empty, but he is also fearless and has nothing to lose.

or another interesting idea of soullessness is. deep sigh. jack in the box. because jack's emptiness leads him to be unable to understand the emotions of others, and therefore to be easily tricked because he can't empathize well enough to predict that salmondean are obviously lying to him.

both of these are concepts of "emotionlessness" that don't revolve around "you become an evil genius." which is just.... it's stupid. it's dumb.

anyway all this to say that a more coherent concept of soulless sam primarily modeled on clap your hands if you believe would really improve season six. for me.

anyway that's NOT really answering your question All That was like a prologue to answering your question which was actually about the character drama. anyway the thing about dean in season six is that i really like him. he's my special guy. he's melting down like a reactor core every moment of every day.

and soulless sam is perfect for this because he's making it so much worse.

the thing about dean is that he has just had one of the worst(?) years of his life. first of all sam was dead. for a year. sam was DEAD for a YEAR. dean winchester, noted soul seller, noted enmeshment enthusiast, noted identity lacker, his sam was DEAD!!!!!!! FOR A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't think people recognize how crazy it is that sam was dead for a year.

this is like the most important thing. but also: dean tried out being Normal. and he HATED it.

the thing about dean is that he doesn't really think normies are people. he thinks they're cardboard cutouts. sitcom characters. he thinks their life has laugh track and they stop existing when the camera stops rolling.

and dean desperately craves this. he wants it so bad. except then he tries it and. and he still exists. he still has to wake up every morning and put one foot in front of the other. still has to go to sleep and dream of alastair. every excruciating moment of "being dean winchester" still happens and he's still experiencing them. and that's the worst case scenario for dean: he doesn't want to exist. he doesn't want to experience "being dean winchester" because it's awful. being dean winchester is nothing but pain. but becoming a normie didn't actually make "being dean winchester" stop happening to him. he's still suffering. except now.... now his last comfort, the idea that maybe someday he could have a normal life and stop "being dean winchester" for good? that's gone. there's no hope. he's this or he's dead.

like, i made a joke about dean's breakdown in unity being kind of about this, dean being desperately hopeful that killing chuck will make "being dean winchester" stop happening to him. like dean's most desperate wish for his whole life has been to stop existing, in some way or another, death or identity destruction or mindlessness. and to take hope of that away, to ruin his chance to not exist anymore... well, that's going to have an impact. that's a big part of what's going on with dean in season six.

and then there's the less world-endingly tragic element that he just... doesn't like being a normie. this is imo mostly just because he set himself up to fail. lisa is a stranger, she's very nice but she's basically just an idea to him when he moves in with her. it's not clear if they even like each other. he throws himself into this concept role of the Normal White Picket Fence Guy without asking himself if he enjoys any part of it. he keeps drinking - he was on fifty drinks a week in season five and even if he cut that way down, like in half or something, that's still potentially "at least impaired most of the time" levels of alcoholism. and again, sam is dead, but also dean cut himself off from everyone else he knows. he cut off bobby, most relevantly, but also cas, and he's certainly cut off any other hunting-related contacts given that he cut off bobby. he's totally stripped himself of his support network. he doesn't even let himself drive his fucking car. and then of course there's the fact that no matter how traumatizing and horrible hunting was, there were things about it that he was used to and would likely have missed. he didn't have to work a nine-to-five. he could go wherever he wanted. he in general had a kind of freedom that most people don't, even if it was more the "me and bobby mcgee" sort than anything else. and of course: hunting is exciting. it kept him stimulated. with nothing keeping him on his toes, the horror and trauma of the last twenty eight years of his life can hit full force. all he can do is wallow in it. there's no new horror to keep him focused. and also he's just..... used to living an exciting life. i'm sure that he finds normality just, deeply understimulating. which is its own sort of horror.

and in his mind there are only two options for him: be normal, in exactly the way he tried with lisa, or be a hunter, in exactly the way he always has. so when he realizes that being normal in that way is awful.... well. he settles in. this is another way in which his year with lisa strips him of hope for the future: he can no longer imagine any life other than his current one, because the one other option he thought he had turned out to kind of suck.

and then. i've said this before. but oh my god. everyone LIED to dean about sam being back!!!!! for a YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they lied to him for a YEAR! he grieved sam for a YEAR! and NO ONE told him. dean is surrounded by people who have betrayed him in this horrible way! everyone he loves INCLUDING SAM participated in this betrayal! wouldn't that make you crazy? wouldn't that make you insane? to live a year of life-destroying grief and then find out that that was basically orchestrated by the people you love most? no matter how good their reasons?

and then of course... of course there's the fact that sam is back. sam is back and he's... real. he exists in the world. he's not dean's sainted sammy who exists in his mind, dead and glorified. he's a real person who does things and makes choices. and that's... that's hard. this is once again fantasy bumping up against reality for dean. his relationship to sam has always been tortured but of course while grieving sam, sam exists only in his mind. and part of the problem is obviously that sam came back wrong but also, it's just that absence makes the heart grow fonder. even if sam hadn't been soulless dean just can't really cope with like. conflict in a way that doesn't make him crazy. and of course once again i must remind you that SAM LIED. SAM LIED TO DEAN ABOUT BEING ALIVE. FOR A YEAR. WHICH IS PRIMING DEAN FOR SOME FUCKING CONFLICT.

so you have all of this. and also when dean is like caaaaaaasssss come fix it for me cas is busy. and also dean's destructive anxiety over lisa and his resentment of her. and you put this all in a bottle and you shake it up. dean is NOT a happy camper. he's miserable and he just can't cope. but life keeps going on! things keep moving!

and i think soulless sam, as he is in clap your hands, is like this perfect foil for that. i wouldn't dream of getting rid of him.

but the thing is. that's all in 6x01-6x10. killer stuff, but it is absolutely wrecked by what comes after.

i fucking hate appointment in samarra. it's just not a good episode. even though tessa and death are there!! i love tessa! i love death! can't save appointment in samarra though.

like first of all. dean kills himself in it and it's not even fun. dean just kills himself. you will never be advanced thanatology. but second of all...

okay lets talk about other times dean has saved/fixed sam in some way at least somewhat against his will. i'm going to use three examples: selling his soul, the panic room, and the gadreel thing. the first two, gamble was intimately involved with writing (she wrote crossroad blues AND ahbl 1 AND when the levee breaks! come on) and the other is clearly an intentional retread of appointment in samarra.

in ahbl 2, dean sells his soul because... well because he can't cope without sam. because he has no identity outside of sam. because familial duty is the reason he's alive. because he wants to die. because a moment of loneliness is more terrifying to dean than eternity in hell.

and in season nine dean is in a similar place. obviously he's not killing himself, and he also is less like, absolutely codependent with sam because he has more people in his life now, but he still would have no idea who he is without "look out for your little brother, boy." he still can't imagine a life without sam.

with the panic room, dean is angry at sam, he's absolutely punishing him, but he's still.... there's still duty, there. "at least he dies human" is horrific, but it carries within it some twisted attempt to justify dean's decision with sam's wellbeing. and dean is punishing sam for like, betraying him. dean is deeply hurt because he LOVES sam and he wanted to slide right back into their old life together but little sammy grew up while he wasn't looking, and also REPLACED HIM with that DEMON SLUT. like dean is angry because he WANTS HIS SAMMY BACK.

whereas in appointment in samarra... it honestly mostly just reads like dean thinks soulless sam is a problem he needs to solve. it feels like he would be happy with either outcome (sam going back to normal or Just Straight Up Dying) not because he wants to save sam in any meaningful way but because he wants to get RID of soulless sam. this is the dean who feels like he needs to take a rape shower because he took orders from another man.** he's just sort of lovelessly grasping for control. which i guess you could say is a reasonable direction to take his character, he certainly felt like he was out of control in the first half of the season (hell. just twihard alone is like a massive loss of control for him and has echoing ramifications) and clawing to get it back i guess makes sense. and of course the other times he "saved" sam were also about control of COURSE they were. even ahbl a little. but it's so loveless in appointment in samarra/like a virgin. it creates a dean who is just... hard to like. not because he behaves badly but in a way that makes it just.... hard to care about him.

you could probably easily fix this by adding a theme of nostalgia for the "real sam" integrated throughout the preceding episodes. or like, there's a perfect scene that exists in my heart where immediately after dean beats sam to a bloody pulp in you can't handle the truth, he scoops him up in his arms and rushes him to the hospital because he saw gray matter on the last punch. that creates a kind of tension within dean that makes the horrible things he does to sam more charmingly tragic and less plain awful, even though they remain horrible. you can create a perfect pear wiggler for dean where he behaves monstrously and yet it's all shot through with twisted love. that's something i love to see from dean. the first half of season nine does this fabulously. but as it stands it's not there with soulless sam, and i wish it was. especially when dean is trying to fix him.

just in general broadly i think dean's characterization in the back half of season six is just. a clusterfuck. it makes sense in 6x06 that dean doesn't care about the angel war because he's having his little freakout about sam and nothing matters to him except that. but in 6x19? 6x20? what's the deal? why do sam and dean decide cas is their enemy for trying to save them? it's not like they have a plan. they certainly accepted the angel civil war mattered at the end of 6x10. they just backstab cas for no reason. broadly, the character conflict in the back half of s6 is just fucked. in the front half it makes sense because dean is having one long irrational but understandable temper tantrum due to the horrors already outlined in this post. but in the back half it's just. nothing. to have a good soulless sam arc i think you would have to just throw out the back half. get sam re-ensouled a different way. not have the godstiel arc be Like That. it just needs to go a totally different way, because s6 is a mess afer caged heat.

*although edlund isn't exactly without sin here. mr. Being Soulless Makes You Fuck Good

**and the thing is caged heat is doing something with that in the sense that caged heat is about how dean IS sexually vulnerable, you just Can't Show It On Television. meg is dean's proxy but we are meant to understand that all that Could happen to dean. dean saying he needs to take a rape shower after taking orders is underestimating his own vulnerability to sexual violence. it's notable that brett matthews only wrote two episodes and the other one was twihard. but i digress.

[lilllithdraagon]

PART 7: The upheaval of the past three games

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE THE VEILGUARD. READ AT OWN RISK.

Main Post Link

It doesn’t sit right with me. That the entire south fell.

Of course, it’s not supposed to. You are supposed to feel that gut punch. This is your fault. Or if you’re a blind fool (I’m not taking back what I just said) this is Solas’ fault. And the game wants you to feel the far reaching consequences.

But there’s a problem with this as a gamer.

It’s a problem Lunadys has with a lot of games that pull the ‘it was all a dream’ card.

Tell me.

What did our choices matter?

For three games, we played as characters fighting tooth and nail to protect the south.

It invalidates not only the effort but your enjoyment of those struggles and overcoming them. It erases any good you did along with the bad. It wholesale uproots the very foundations of Thedas and I can’t help but feel it’s a cold, calculated attempt to make a ‘clean slate’ for future games. That’s stupid. Just make a new world. Make your own. Why can’t corporate keep their grubby fingers off already existing stories without shredding the very things that made them loved in the first place?

Then there’s the Devouring Storm and the secret ending. Fuck that.

I was actually really excited by the prospect at first. They were only giving us little hints as to what it was in codex entries, and then in Taash’s personal quest. It sounded so cool, and terrifying.

....

Then we realized it just sounded like the reapers 2 electric boogaloo.

Except this time, they’ve been controlling prominent characters across the franchise into making the world as they want it. Oooooooo. FUCK OFF.

Are you saying those characters had no agency? Loghain? Bartrand? Are you saying that they were poor innocent souls being puppetted by the biggest of big bads? Or are they evil still, just not as evil? Either way it cheapens the characters. It cheapens the pain we’ve been through.

To make it so that you could revamp the series, you threw the old series under the bus. And we see what you’re doing.

I LOVE Dragon Age. It’s my favourite fucking game franchise ever. I will probably love it until the day I die. But here’s the thing.

Media is allowed to have an end. Everything ends eventually.

There isn’t much you can do to make the next bad guy more terrifying than Elgar’nan moving the fucking MOON. And that’s okay. Thedas doesn’t have to end. But our time in the world does.

It’s how I’ve been feeling about a lot of media lately. They’re kicking dead horses. And that hurts to watch.

[aheckinmess]

Heroism [Tamaki] (Angst)

(One-Shot 2/? in a collection of My Hero Academia Reader one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays - and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Tamaki x Reader, Amajiki x Reader, Tamaki Amajiki, Suneater, Boyfriend Tamaki, Female Reader, Reader Insert, Reader Is at UA, Reader is a Third Year with Tamaki, Reader Isn't Sure She Wants to Be a Hero, Worries Tamaki Will Leave if She Changes Courses, Of Course Tamaki Is a Supportive Boyfriend, He is Adorable and We Love Him, Being a Hero Isn't For Everyone, Just Because You Aren't a Pro Doesn't Mean You Aren't a Hero

Word Count: 977 words

Summary: After being at UA for two years feeling like you don’t belong, you confess to your boyfriend that you’re not so sure you want to be a hero.

Some days, the sunshine is easier to see than others. There are no clouds to shield the warmth of the sun from your skin. No obstacles to keep the dopamine from settling deep in your bones and allowing you peace.

Other days, the bad voices crawl into your head and shackle you with their lies, telling you that you should have never come to UA. Today, it seems like your only enemy is yourself.

“Good afternoon, (Name).” Tamaki beams at you as he meets you at the sakura tree outside of school. Self-doubt makes the security of his arms seem pale and fake today. You feel like he only tolerates you. “How was your day?”

“I lost a fight in a battle where I had the upper hand.” You state in a flat tone. “I’m not feeling  like a hero today. What’s wrong with me?”

When Tamaki abruptly lifts you into the air, you gasp and throw your arms around his neck. He grips you firmly as he manifests some vines to pull you both up into the branches of the trees. Soon enough, a sea of pink petals forms an umbrella around you both.

“Nothing is wrong with you, love.” He whispers in your ear, trailing his hand into your hair and twirling a lock between his fingers.

Logically, you know his words have some merit. But the loud, intrusive thoughts convince you not to accept such reassurance wholesale. If you were a real hero, shouldn’t you have been able to win that mock battle against Mineta? Especially when you had the advantage? 

“I just want to feel like a hero.” You choke out, wrapping your arms around him and tucking your face in his neck. “I feel like I don’t know why I’m here anymore…”

It was a dilemma you’d been facing for a while now. A dilemma that, if you really thought about it, you knew was because you didn’t want to be a pro hero anyway. Sure, it would be nice to prove to your parents that you weren’t the worthless scum they thought you were, but in reality? You’d much rather find a job doing something you enjoyed. And while you enjoyed helping others, you’d figured out since your first year at UA that you just weren’t cut out for being a pro. 

But how could you tell that to Tamaki? What would become of the two of you if you transferred to another course? Would he still love you? More importantly, wouldn’t that just prove to him and everyone else that you were never hero material to begin with?

Quitting seemed to cause more hassle than just forcing yourself to finish your final year with him. Not to mention, you’d convinced yourself if you did quit, everyone would glower at you every day thereafter. 

Tamaki cradles you for a bit as the sound of students filing out of the school echoes through the courtyard. He kisses your cheek.

“Do you mean you don’t know why you’re here because you don’t want to be here anymore? Or because you’re not feeling confident as a hero?” He asks.

“I…I don’t…” Your jaw tightens as you take a deep breath. “I don’t think I want to be here anymore. I want to be a hero but…I don’t want to do this. I guess I was never meant to be a hero.”

You wait for the disappointment to color his face. You wait for apologies and the suggestion that both of you should break up because it’ll be harder to keep contact when you choose another course. So, you’re utterly surprised when he does none of those things.

Instead, Tamaki takes your face in both of his hands, looking at you with those dazzling eyes of his.

“(Name),” He begins. “I’m so proud of you for having the courage to tell me that.”

How does he know you so well? Those words sink deep into your skin, drawing fresh tears and making you plant your face in his chest. An anchor in your turbulent sea of emotions, he grounds you and lets you ride the waves.

Once your tears subside, you sniff and ask the question burning in your chest.

“You aren’t disappointed in me, Maki-kun?” 

“Why would I be disappointed in you?” He smiles, and tilts his head. “You just saved yourself years of misery for the future. Being a pro isn’t for everyone.”

“But…I can’t be a hero anymore. I’ve proven that I’m incapable of being worth anything to anyone.”

Tamaki shakes his head and taps your nose.

“Just because you don’t want to be a pro hero, doesn’t mean you’re incapable of being a hero. It just means you have different honorable pursuits that you’re better suited for.” He hums for a moment and then continues. “Remember when you told me you’d like to travel the world and start a blog about your journeys? You can be a hero for other people who don’t have the ability to make those trips themselves. There’s an endless amount of opportunities to be heroic in other capacities.” 

His words hit you in a way you haven’t considered before. You turn them over in your mind and squeeze him as tight as you can, like it might help squeeze the broken pieces of you back together.

“And…and you won’t leave me?”

“Of course not. I didn’t fall in love with you just because you were a hero. I fell in love with you because you’re heroic.”

As you both sit under the falling cherry blossom petals, his lips find yours and remind you that you both belong together. And even though you still worry about the disappointed looks of your peers once you put in for a course change, it feels far more endurable knowing that Tamaki will still be by your side through it all.

[beyondmistland]

I read through all your posts about Alysanne Targaryen as Maegor's daughter and am now in a rabbit hole. Thank you. I've been thinking about Maegor's wives and which one of Henry VIII's wives they represent. Ceryse is Cathrine of Aragon and Alys is Anne Boleyn. The others are hard to pin for me since there isn't a lot. What do you think? Would Maegor's reign have been more interesting if his marriages had more similarities to those of Henry VIII?

I think this is where we run into a number of problems regarding the way GRRM wrote Fire & Blood specifically and the way he setup Westeros more generally.

For one, the fairly homogenized nature of southron culture as well as the oversimplification of religious institutions and history means you can't quite get the same dynamism as from real life European history, with its dizzying array of languages, cultures, cuisines, fashions, etc., to mention nothing of the then-ongoing Protestant Reformation. I suppose GRRM could have had Maegor convert to the Old Gods a la Julian (II) the Apostate or the Drowned God (you just know the Ironborn are the one race on the surface of Planetos that would say King Maegor the Good with a completely straight face) or even R'hllor, which would be the best choice in terms of worldbuilding opportunities in my opinion.

Moving on, we run into a handful of problems with Maegor specifically, one of them being the length of his reign. Look, while I can't deny Maegor ruling for 6 years and 66 days is incredibly cheeky, it also isn't anywhere close to Henry VIII's 36 years as king. With so little room timeline-wise, there isn't a lot of flexibility when it comes to telling new stories and fleshing out preexisting ones and all that is before you factor in Maegor himself.

I won't hold back. For all GRRM's talk of moral ambiguity, the human heart in conflict with itself, good men who were bad kings and bad men who were good kings, etc., his Targaryen monarchs are, for the most part, numbingly one-note. Aegon I is a literal enigma, Aenys is weak, Maegor cruel, Viserys I a party animal, Aegon II and Rhaenyra mirror-images of each other in their disqualifying vices, etc. As I've written before with my post reimagining Maegor as more of a Ivan (IV) the Terrible figure there was room to make him a genuinely controversial figure of historiography but instead GRRM doubled down on sensationalism and apathy-inducing slasher porn for lack of a better word. The fact Maegor is also the first and last of Visenya's line just adds more salt to the wound but that's part of GRRM's more general (and for me personally, vexing) habit of keeping family trees incredibly small.

(I do recall another alternative someone once brought up to the late Steven Attewell. Namely, turning Maegor into the Westerosi version of Macbeth by way of Der Untergang.)

This brings me to my semifinal point. GRRM didn't have to write Fire & Blood as Procopius' Secret History on steroids with a dash of Suetonius' Lives of Twelve Caesars and I, Claudius (the entire Saera episode is practically lifted wholesale from the scandal that envelops Augustus' daughter, Julia) but he did, which is doubly disappointing because not only does the final product suck quality-wise as a result but also because there were so many other avenues available to him.

He could have written Fire & Blood as a proper history (with less focus on the sex lives of teenage girls for one) or as a mirror for princes or as a dialogue between two characters or even as a character study. You can even see GRRM struggling with the constraints imposed by his use of Gyldayn in certain sections like the death of Maelor and the entire Hour of the Wolf episode, where you get reams of dialogue and characterization as well as more traditional narrative trappings like build-up, mood setting, etc.

Now, to answer your actual question (lol), I don't think any of Henry VIII's other wives map well onto Maegor's. Tyanna is, more or less, his female counterpart in terms of cruelty and zero redeeming features and entirely a fantasy construct. Elinor and Jeyne are both married to Maegor for only a year (with poor Jeyne dying in childbirth because Jeyne Westerlings, like the Brackens, Peakes, and Florents, cannot catch a break in Westeros) and before said marriage takes place neither appears on the page. As for Rhaena, well, credit where its due, she was a rare (and unexpected) highlight of Fire & Blood.

Thanks for the question, anon