#like there’s no way this man is actually a real human being

[cryptwrites]

It started as a joke.

A few of us, sitting around a cheap card table in my crumbling apartment, brainstorming ways to pay rent without actually working. The scam was simple: create a fake religion, prey on the gullible, and rake in some easy cash.

We called it The Order of Cythra, a name pulled out of thin air by my roommate, Toby, who thought it sounded “cryptic and legit.” We scribbled down some nonsense about Cythra being the god of renewal and hidden wisdom, created a website, and bought some dollar-store candles for the “rituals.”

At first, it was harmless fun. A few Reddit posts here, some vague TikToks there, and suddenly we had people donating. Not much—just twenty bucks here and there—but enough to cover bills and groceries.

Then things got... strange.

It started with the emails. Testimonials flooded our inbox from people claiming Cythra had spoken to them in dreams. A woman wrote about how her chronic migraines disappeared after chanting one of our made-up prayers. Another claimed their barren garden had suddenly burst into bloom.

We laughed it off at first. Toby even joked that we should hire a PR agent.

But then the dreams started.

It was always the same. I stood in a vast, desolate wasteland beneath a broiling, blood-red sky. A towering figure loomed in the distance, its body shifting between forms—human, deer, shadow. Its voice echoed in my head, not in words, but in feelings: hunger, anger, and something worse.

One night, I woke up to find the word Cythra carved into my arm, not by my own hand but by something else. I confronted Toby and the others, but their faces were pale. They were worried, like I had done something to them.

We tried to shut it down. Deleted the website, pulled down the TikToks, and stopped all donations. But the followers didn’t go away. If anything, they grew more fervent. They showed up at my apartment, chanting in unison, their eyes glassy and strange. They called me High Priest.

Then the first miracle happened.

One of the followers, a man in his sixties, collapsed on my doorstep during one of their late-night vigils. His heart had stopped. I panicked and reached out to him instinctively, yelling for someone to call 911. The moment my hand touched his chest, I felt a searing heat shoot through my arm. His body jolted, and his eyes snapped open.

The followers fell to their knees.

I slammed the door, trembling, my palm still burning. When I looked, there was a black symbol etched into my skin—a sigil I’d never seen before but somehow understood.

Cythra was real.

The days that followed were a blur. The followers proclaimed me as their leader, and no matter how much I tried to resist, they wouldn’t leave me alone. More people came to me for healing, and each time, the sigil on my palm burned brighter. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it always worked. Broken bones knit together. Tumors withered away. One woman even claimed her blind son could see again.

But with every miracle, I felt a piece of myself slipping away.

The dreams became more vivid. Cythra spoke now, its voice a low rumble that made my teeth ache. It demanded more worshippers, more faith, more sacrifices.

One night, I woke to find Toby standing over my bed, a knife in his hand and a vacant look in his eyes. He muttered something about “offering blood to Cythra.” I fought him off, but he slit his own throat before I could stop him. The followers found his body the next morning and cheered.

They said his death would “bring Cythra fully into our world.”

I tried to run. Packed a bag and fled to the nearest bus station. But as soon as I stepped outside, I saw them— hundreds of followers, all chanting in unison, their faces lit by the flickering of candles. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur.

The ground beneath their feet began to crack.

The last thing I remember before everything went black was the sky splitting open, and a monstrous, shifting form descending from the heavens.

Now I sit on a blackened throne in a temple I never built, my body barely my own. The sigil on my palm has spread, covering my arms, chest, and face. I can no longer close my eyes without seeing its form, nor speak without its words spilling from my mouth like black, molded bile.

I am the High Priest of Cythra, a forgotten god reborn through my foolishness.

And I know, deep down, that when it is finished with this world, it will consume me too.

You started a scam religion for a quick buck. You begin to panic when your fake god was actually a real forgotten one awakened from new worshippers, declared you it's high priest, and granted you the power of healing.

[lostinlovingrevery]

Just a thought and no offense but I think Logan just wants to be in love and feel loved in return.

(This isnt proofread and came out as rambling so have fun trying to read it and decipher it! 😅)

So WE ALL know that Logan can be flirty, and that he may have had a period where he was a bit of a manwhore (*cough* 70s Logan *cough*)

I feel like that period though, and any other flings, one night stands, etc whatever was less out of lust and more of a desperation to feel SOME kind of human connection bc the mans so lonely and has been treated like a soldier, a weapon for so long that hes desperate for human connection, even if it makes him end up feeling depraved afterwards. Post-nut clarity wakes him up next to some girl he met at a bar, and guilt sinks its teeth into him because he doesnt even know her name, much less actually LIKE her. The man was born in the 1800s, he may have grown with time but you cannot tell me theres not some inkling of being a gentleman- and wanting to find someone you truly love, hidden in there somewhere. I think overtime he may fall into this routine, believing he needed to be a walking sex magnet, gruff, cocky, whatever have you because hes convinced its the only way he can have a connection with someone, even if its for a few passionate moments under bedsheets, and an awkward "that was nice. Bye"

It only fuels his self hatred, convincing him that he really his just an animal, looking to get his sick desires out, eat, fuck, sleep, survive.

When we see him in the X movies, as a cage fighter he is brutal and rough and he doesnt seem to have a caring bone in his body yet he still manages to find himself caring about this young girl who stowawayed in his trailer, and does help her, even if he acts like this version of logan he created. Someone who doesnt care. But he cares. A lot.

Its not until he meets YOU, that he starts to wonder if he got it all wrong. Kind, beautiful, smart YOU.

I fully believe that logan just wants a partner. One night stands, flings, what have you, were just him lying to himself, desperate to feel something other than hate. After he lost his memories, and he began just wandering, the concept of love was lost on him. And lust wasnt there anymore either. He was approached by women, perfectly fine, pretty women, all the time during his time cage fighting, bars, etc. He turned them all away- completely opposite of logan 30-40 years ago (my timing probs not right on xmen lol) who was convinced the only way he was living was if he had ass next to him every night he went to sleep because he was lonely. This version of logan, lost, angry, wanted nothing to do with people. Some of it the repressed feelings coming out from his past that he doesnt even remember. He was convinced then that he had to be alone. Becoming a lone wolf that bared his teeth at anyone who tried to pet it. Secretly though, deep down although he wouldnt admit it, there was that deep desire, that he always felt in his 200 years, that he just wanted to find his mate. He'd call soulmates bullshit if you asked him, but the moment he meets you, hed know that it was real, and that maybe god cursed (gifted) him the ability of healing and practical immortality just so he could find you. And hed do it over and over again, the pain and suffering and loneliness, if it meant you would be the endgoal.

Logan is a pack animal. He needed a family, to protect, and cherish. When he meets and ends up at the x-men, his demeanor and attitude changes quickly to something similar to a dog that snaps at you when you pet it only for it to whine and whimper "im sorry, please dont hate me, i just dont know how to accept love.". Hes still wary, because hed never KNOWN a family before. Put aside his memory loss, the closest things he had to a family was a creep of a brother, and a woman who said she loved him under false pretenses (i still dont like you kayla even if you say it was real). He barely knew his parents, and even then that was a lie because his father wasnt even his biological father. Yeah, Logans life was pretty damn lonely, so its no wonder the man is cautious of anybody and anything.

The moment you come into his life though, that bitterness, anger, and meaningless flirting goes right out the window. Hes serious about you. Hes usually cautious, nervous around people but he meets you and its almost like he threw all those imaginary rules he has for himself out of the window.

Look at how he was with Jean in the movies. He barely knew the woman, they barely shared ANY lines in the movie yet he was almost completely devoted (dont get me started on that storyline). Trust didnt come easy to the wolverine. And Kayla- their relationship just shows how much he wants love and to be loved. I never seen origins but a lot of gifsets and read the synopsis of the plot, but i think he had a feeling with Kayla he couldnt trust (remember how he says hell never go against his gut again?) But he so badly just wanted that connection he ignored all the warning signs and did everything to build a life with this woman who not only tricked him, but put him through unimaginable pain both physically and mentally. (Look I REALLY dont like kayla but i do feel bad for her because stryker did have her sister captive). I know stryker is the evil mastermind here, but god imagine trying to find love with someone, only for it all to be a farce, even if they claimed they did love you the entire time- the intentions from the very beginning was far from love.

Oh but when he is in love with you. From the moment he met you, it wasnt love at first sight exactly, more like a feeling that you were it. Hes all about you. He sticks around, under the pretense that he just needed to make some money first, doing some missions for charles, keep an eye on rogue. He cant admit its because he wants to stay close to you. Hes like a feral cat taking shelter in your shed. Stays away at first, cautious of your spspspsp, but curious nonetheless. Completely ignores the first bowl of food you put down for it- or so you thought because when you came back it was completely devoured. It takes weeks of food and spspsps before it finally warms up to you, but after that first contact with your hand and its head- good luck ever getting rid of it. Not that youd want to 😊

Logan becomes a shadow to you, once you become something akin to friends. (Its really more than that but no ones addressed it). He teases you and flirts with you, and its something you think he does with everyone, until Ororo tells you that he only does it to you. Sometimes he just sits in your company, other times hes curious about what youre working on, not wanting to start the convo, but does things like leering over your shoulder (which he may or may not be doing just to he close to you and get a good whiff of the smell of your hair). He stresses when you go on missions without him. He slowly opens up about his past to you when he begins to get his memories back. Trusting only you (and maybe charles) with the truth ablut the man he used to be, and still is.

When your feelings finally do come out in the open though, however it happens, that first kiss, the first time you make love, etc etc. Logans a different man. I mean, hes still that cocky, grumpy person we all know and love. But he carried himself differently. Hes confident and wiser, hes comfortable, and hes happy. He found a home, his pack. And maybe after countless conversations about his past, the things hes done, and the comforting words and understandings you give him, he starts to learn that he isnt so bad, because if you love him, YOU, the most wonderful person hes ever known in 200 years, love him despite all of his violence and hatred and slight whoreish tendecies back in the 70s...then he must be alright.

He doesnt need to worry about his past anymore, when hes got you, right there with him, promising a loving future together.

[vrystalius]

hii!! do you think you could write douma (+ other uppermoons if youre up for it) with a s/o that is very physically strong and could pick them up easily :o thank you in advance!!

Douma’s strong darling

How will Douma react to having such a powerful S/O like you?

Note: If I ever show my face in any way I need someone to make some sort of art of me chewing on him like a squeaky toy. I love him, your honor.

Pairing: Douma x gn!reader

˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ

Adoration and admiration

Douma adores watching you demonstrate your strength over and over to him. Some may think he could get bored from watching you lift something heavy so effortlessly, making the cultists a little bashful at how attractive it seemed to them, but no!

He often pretended to be utterly starstruck or be swooned by your display of strength, slapping his hand over his chest dramatically to show just how much you make his dead heart race.

“Oh my, how utterly marvellous you are! You could crush me like a delicate flower if you wanted!”

Please crush his head between your thighs, Douma has been staring at them for minutes on end, trying to hint at that he wants his skull and brain to be mushed together between those delicious muscles. He can get on his hands and knees if you like?

˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ

Testing your strength and limits

Douma would whine and pout at the heavy box of ceremonial beads he has to drag from one temple to the other, purposely trying to lure you in with his damsel in distress act to test how far your limits, when it comes to strength, go.

He of course can lift the box easily on his own, but watching you do it is so much better! Besides, less work for him to do.

“Oh, don’t mind me! I just love watching you!”

Once, he glued a jar shut and handed it to you with an innocent smile, asking you to open it. Douma watched as you struggled with the jar but found himself completely dumbfounded when you actually managed to open it without breaking it, handing the jar and lid back to him with a sweet smile on your own.

˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ

Teasing you

As mentioned before, Douma loves testing your limits, but he also loves teasing you for your strength. That way, if he eggs you far enough, you may demonstrate your strength on him. The thought of you overpowering him in bed makes him giddy, although your idea of using your strength on him is different than his.

You thought about picking your darling up and tossing him around the room like you once read in a very fluffy romance novel, while Douma’s wettest dreams consist of you using him, holding him down with your arms while you do whatever you want with him.

˚✧₊⁎❝᷀ົཽ

A sense of security

Although Douma is the Upper Moon Two, third strongest demon there is, your power and strength makes him feel safer. Whenever you wrap your arms around his waist for a hug or hold him close to your chest, he feels like he is being held by a true soulmate, not just a random human he keeps around to entertain himself like he initially thought.

Your bodies fit together like the perfect puzzle, his heart above your heart, his face buried in your neck, his hands gripping onto the fabric of your nightgown as if fearing you’d leave or disintegrate.

But Douma plays this off as some silly moment of weakness, not a real emotion he is feeling.

“You cute little human, making me feel so stupid and silly. Do it again.”

💠

Anon, thank you for requesting for my man ‼️ Fun fact, “House of Vry” was inspired by the Eternal Paradise Cult. Also, the banner on my blog is the area where Akaza travelled through during the Upper Moon Meeting Episode to reach the meeting place and is also the area where the final fight of Douma will be! I wonder if anyone every noticed?

Make sure to EAT, SLEEP and DRINK enough!!

Take care of yourselves <33

[elodieunderglass]

“Eohippus,” I say to the Doctor.

The Doctor is an ageless, genderless, timeless being: an unstoppable force. I have unlimited amounts of horsegirlness and am something of an immovable object. They look incredibly shifty.

“Eohippus,” I say again, menacingly.

“Merychippus?” They’re a man at the moment, and he tries this with a placating smile.

I know what he’s up to. He thinks there’s significantly more chance of human-related bullshit, and alien fuckery, and all the other bullshit he actually likes if we go see Merychippus, the first of the grazing horses. It’s basically just a horse, though. You can see those anywhere. And I know that the minute we step off the TARDIS it’s going to be a series of bullshit escalations leading up to the Doctor saving something in front of an adoring audience. I distinctly recall not fucking stuttering and I said I wanted Eohippus. I want the ancestral form. Strange, elusive, tiny; poised like a dancer on hard little many-toed paws.

You’ll never meet a unicorn in your life, but if you crack spacetime in just the right way, you could meet something better: the strange alien wild seed of something your species has chased for all of history. Before you were you and they were horses. Who’d want to waste spacetime on anything else?

“Do you only take people along with you just to convince yourself that you’re not selfish?” I ask, interested. “Or do you normally take children - no, not children, children would argue - but fuckable young people, I bet. Girls, mostly. In their twenties, I bet. Because they’ll just smile and agree and compromise.”

“That’s very rude,” the Doctor says, startled. “Like. Wow. Seriously?”

“Is it true? Eohippus.”

“Not true at all. Pliohippus.”

“Pliohippus comes just before Equus, you quack.”

“Why do you even care? They’re not like they’re real horses. Just a generic beetlin’-around, weird little spotty beastie paddin’ around like a long-legged boring badger. D’yiu want to see some real proper horses, alien ones? I know a race of them with blue shiny wing cases and six genders. Caste system based entirely on the production and rating of poetry - ”

“Oh, they’re spotted?” I cry happily. “Wait, you’ve seen them?”

“All they do is run about on the forest floor, eatin’… fruit.”

“Fruit?”

“I don’t know. Boring things. They don’t even neigh. Just trundle around like guinea pigs.”

“Doctor,” I say eventually, pondering this, “you like horses, don’t you.”

“Absolutely not,” the Doctor says. “I only humour you to keep the peace. And it isn’t bloody working.”

“You like horses. Let’s meet the first ones. Again. And do it properly. Look them in the eye and see the spark of the kinship - see if we can feel the deep emotional connection of the bond-”

“What bond is that?” The Doctor says, but - hahahaha. I’ve got him. The Doctor is such a horse girl.

“The deep emotional connection of the kinship between horses - well, horse-shaped things - and humans. Well. Human-shaped things. Is it still there? Did it start there? When you look in the eyes of Eohippus, will you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“The thing you feel when you look at horses,” I say. “Excitement and adventure and potential and wonder, the desire to love and be loved by it, a thousand wishes, and the feeling of being there at the dawn of the world.”

“We could just go to the Big Bang -”

“I didn’t say the Big Bang. I said the dawn of the world. It’s different. Are they horses? Will you feel the same way with Eohippus? Is the feeling there?”

“Rubbish!” says the Doctor, looking hot and bothered, and setting the coordinates.

Of course it does escalate from there, with running and shouting and aliens (seeking to stripmine the earth’s resources before there were humans to defend it; quite a good plan honestly; genuinely can’t work out why they aren’t all trying that?) but I don’t care; I’m sitting on the forest floor with Eohippus in my arms, having decided that there’s nothing stopping me from doing so; at the dawn of the world.

“NOT the Big Bang,” I say again, as the Doctor squats down beside me. “The dawn of the world.”

And we are quiet for a while.

“Wow,” the Doctor says eventually.

“Yeah.”

“They really are all in there. All the horses that ever were and will be. In that little eye. It’s a kind eye,” he announces, as horse girls do when they mean to compliment a horse with few other notable positives. “And that’s where it all starts.”

“Yeah.”

“Bellerophon and Secretariat and Arthur - I had a horse called Arthur.”

“What happened to him?”

“Gave him back. Can’t keep a horse in the TARDIS.”

“Keep this one,” I say impulsively.

“You know we can’t.”

“… can we clone it?”

Something Doctor Who misses out on is how none of the companions are extremely interested with any one thing. All the companions are all “idk, I have a few ideas of stuff that’d be cool to see, but I’m up for whatever! All of space and time, woohoo! :)”

And that’s great for them and I know it makes for a better show overall but I think it would be more realistic for someone to say “I want to see every historically significant moment for my special interest, and then I want to double back for mundane bits too.”

I, for example, would be an insufferable companion.

I’d be like, “okay now take me to the place and time where they first used stirrups for the whole ride instead of just using them as a foothold to mount the horse. Then I want to watch Ray Hunt put a first ride on a colt. After that we’ll take a nap, and then let’s sneak onto set of the Return of the King to be extras in the Ride of the Rohirrim”

The Doctor would be all “please. This is the twentieth horse-centric stop in a row. We have all of space available to us. Can we leave Earth this time I’m begging you”

And my annoying ass would go “not unless there’s horses in space” roll credits

[metis-iphigenia]

As someone who has been a fan of The Odyssey, being inside the Epic: The Musical fandom has been absolutely so amazing. Every Saga that has happened up to the Ithaca Saga was just so,,, great that I can't find words😭😭 Not only that it has been amazing to read other peoples interpretion of the Gods, Myths, Monsters and Heroes alike.

Anyway, I can't get over the Ithaca Saga and how beautiful every song sounds. So have some of my favourite moments in this Saga.

1- The Challenge

In the past Sagas, I have already been too in love with the violin playing whenever Penelope was mentioned etc, not only that I already knew the singer of Penelope had an amazing voice. BUT OH MY LOVE DID THE VOICE CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD./pos

Sirens are real guys and she is one of them(real information)

I don't have a significant favourite part in this song because honestly Anna Lea's voice is so captivating that the entire song passes in a very fun way. Just a very beautiful, sorrowful song overall.

2- Hold Them Down

I already knew this song from the snippets released before but hearing it from Ayron's voice was a whole different experience. He was SO good. Again, the whole song was amazing.

"Can't you guys see we're being played? This is how they hold us down while the throne gets colder. Hold us down while we slowly age. Hold us down while the boy gets bolder. Where in the hell is our pride and our rage?"

One of my favourite moments in this song was this probably. While listening, I actually got the feeling that the suitors were fed up from waiting for Penelope to choose a king. I think Ayron did a wonderful job in not only singing a villainous song but also making us feel how entitled the suitors are actually are.

I especially loved the moment where Antinous gets hit with an arrow by Odysseus and him encouraging the others about their plan is cut off. I will admit, I did audibly laughed at that.

3- Odysseus

I literally can't think of words to describe the emotions I was feeling while listening to this song. I think this is my favourite song alongside of "Would You Fall in Love with Me Again".

The electric guitar playing in the start, again the symbol of him becoming a monster and leaving his humanity(the acoustic guitar) MAN I LOVED THIS SONG.

Him aiming for the torches just like Scylla has done was a great add to that too. Bunch of people has already pointed out this before but it can never be too many amiright? But yeah he really is using every trick in his domain just like Hermes told him to and I love it.

"Somewhere in the shadows lurks an agile, deadly foe..."

(...)

"He's using the darkness to hide his approaches!"

The image of Odysseus as Batman popped up in my head after these lines and I can't get it out😭(That au would be so amazing though, especially Talia as Penelope and Damian as Telemachus.)

"You don't think I know my own palace? I built it."

I was already smiling during this whole song and I screamed when he said this. like okay king you go slay I am right behind you

"Old king, our leader is dead. You've destroyed the serpent's head, now the rest of us are no longer a threat.

Old king, forgive us instead, so that no more blood is shed. Let's have open arms instead."

Well It is not a Saga if it doesn't have an "open arms" comeback I guess. Though I did cackle when Odysseus said "No" and killed the guy.

Honestly, deserved. I might be remembering it wrong but I think Eurymachus also asks for forgiveness in The Odyssey? Really glad Odysseus didn't grant it in The Odyssey and in The Epic because from what I remember in The Odyssey, Eurymachus was Antinous' right-hand man and just as bad as him. (Correct me if I am wrong please, It has been a while since the last time I read The Odyssey)

I have no idea who sings Eurymachus in Epic but this whole part was just enough for me to want to learn who it is.

TELEMACHUS' PART! Mico's voice is already beautiful to listen to and it became way more beautiful with the backround music. His own theme music, violin symbolising all that he has learned from his mother. Those sounds just went really well against eachother in my opinion.

"Brothers, we have company, and he's made a grave mistake."

The way this guy sang the sentence, especially "grave mistake" was so satisfying. Absolutely so satisfying I love it.

Also, I heard somewhere that the "Odysseus" repeating in the backround was how the name was pronounced and I love that detail. I loved whenever his name was said in the backround and it is also very interesting how every monsters song is named after them, just like this song.

The screams of the suitors after the whole slaughter is over was a really nice touch, I love it when Jorge adds screams into his songs.

The speech Odysseus gives is also worth to mention.

Mercy? Mercy? My mercy has long since drowned, It died to bring me home. And as long as you're around, my family's fate is left unknown.

You plotted to kill my son, you planned to rape my wife! All of you are going to die!

I also love how it doesn't beat it around the bush about what the suitors were planning to do to Penelope. It should be said as it is, they were planning to rape her which is so vile and awful. Which what made their deaths so satisfying exactly.

Overall, Odysseus was an amazing song. So amazing that I will be going insane about it to my friends for the next 2 months probably.

4- I Can't Help but Wonder

I was crying by the end of this song. Seeing them FINALLY reunite was so 😭😭😭 ALSO THEIR HUG. ☹️☹️☹️/pos

Oh my son, look how much you've grown. Oh my boy, the sweetest joy I've known. Twenty years ago I held you in my arms, how time has flown.

Used to say I'd make the storm clouds cry for you, used to say I'd capture wind and sky for you. Held you in my arms prepared to die for you, oh how times has flown.

Hi, so this should be illegal! All I want to say about this song is how emotional and beautiful it was. And I love how it reminded me of "Dear Theodosia" in Hamilton.

THE WARRIOR OF THE MIND COMEBACK. DEAD AND BURIED. I am not well after that ☹️☹️ Also Odysseus putting everything behind for his family,,, falls to knees with my hands ripping my hair... I am so happy for them.

5- Would You Fall in Love with Me Again?

Finally, we are onto the song that made me shit tears. The OdyPen reunion we all were waiting for just like they were.

THE VIOLIN IN THE START. It is so beautiful just like Penelope, I can't get over it.

Again, Anna Lea's voice make me want to just drop everything I have and listen to it until I start to lose the ability to hear. It is so amazing.

Love how whenever someone uses the word "Waiting" in the song, Its volume and impact raises more than the last one. I especially loved Penelope ending it with "for you." saying that it was him she was waiting for, not love itself because to her, he is her love. I don' know if that made sense but hope I was able to explain it.

The part where Penelope asks Odysseus to carry their wedding bed away from here was such a beautiful moment becasue Anna Lea just sang it very beautifully(as she does as always) It was so emotional and so beautiful.

How could you say this?

I had built that wedding bed with my blood and sweat, carved it into the olive tree where we first met. A symbol of my love everlasting...

Do you realize what you have asked me? The only way to move it is to it cut from its roots!

I just find their Tree Bed very sweet that is all. And a lot of people have pointed out how in The Odyssey, Penelope asked her husband this to prove to herself that this is her husband, while in Epic she asked this to prove to him that he is her husband. I find that change very sweet.

I will fall in love with you over and over again. I don’t care how, where, or when, no matter how long it’s been you're mine.

Don’t tell me you’re not the same person! You’re always my husband and I’ve been waiting, waiting.

The emotion in her voice OHHHH I AM NOT SURVIVING THIS SAGA.

Never getting over the fact that Epic The Musical ended with Odysseus and Penelope saying "I love you." to eachother. NEVER.

There are so much more things I want to say about this banger of a Saga. But for now, I will just congratulate them all on their beautiful voices(EVERY single person who sang in this musical has amazing voice, counting other Sagas too. Holy damn, y'all are amazing.)

The fandom has been an AWESOME one to be in too! Everyone is such amazing people and not only that all of you are very talented. So congratulations to every and each one of you who have done fanarts, fanfictions, animations, fan songs, analysis and so so much more about the Musical, all of you are amazing. <33

[larathia]

Dragon Prince thoughts - no really, Magic = Love

You hear the phrase within the series now and again - usually repeated in the same platitudinous way you'd hear "friendship is magic" on My Little Pony episodes. It's treated as a kind of optimistic affirmation, not something literally real.

But I think the real secret to the magic in this setting is it is, in fact, actually literally the case that Magic and Love are very deeply intertwined, and I think that's the secret of Dark Magic too. Because, as Pratchett once observed, hate and love are very nearly the same thing, emotionally. It's the same focus, the same passion, just hate has its back turned.

I think, too, that the majority of people in the setting therefore have it backwards. It's not that "humans have no magic". Everything that lives has the potential for magic. It's that humans have traded an 'in' on one type of magic for being generally capable of doing any and ALL types of magic, as a species.

...Oh...I've probably got to explain this. Lemme put a cut here before I go breaking people's dashes.

Mmmk. Let me take this in ...more or less order.

Humans aren't WITHOUT magic - they're highly GIFTED at magic.

That's nonsensical on the face of it, but really think about it in a big-picture way. Elves, all the elves, are born with one kind of magic. They don't get to choose it. It defines their culture, their tribe, their worldview. Regardless of whether an individual elf is suited to any of that.

Consider, as a really quick and obvious example, Rayla. Rayla the moon elf, who almost never uses illusions, who's typically highly honest and straightforward, an assassin who really sucks at being an assassin. Yes, she has access to Moon arcana, but not much, and she's not suited to it. The moon elves that are most connected to their arcana ARE secretive, prone to obfuscation, mystery, subterfuge. Personality meshing with the arcana they're born to, creating a powerful mage.

Consider the sun elf Karim, stated in canon to be the strongest sunfire mage bar none. He's direct. Bold. Strong physically and mentally. Ambitious, and unbending. These are all traits of the Sun arcana, and he shares them to an actually detrimental degree - but it makes him one hell of a sunfire mage. Who he is meshes with the arcana he's born with.

Consider, too, that every elf being born connected to an Arcana means every elf - however weakly - is directly bound to some aspect of the natural world, meaning there's a background drive to preserve and protect that aspect. They care, and caring is sort of like Stage 1 Love.

Now...let's consider how they almost HAVE to view humans. Pitiful, short-lived creatures, born without any connection to the arcana. How do you teach a blind man about colors? How do you explain sounds to the deaf? Elves are at a disadvantage trying to teach humans about magic because 1) any given elf knows only one arcana, and 2) they've had it their whole lives. Teaching someone how to sense it is a huge hurdle, and that's just the teacher. Tack on that every human's different and no wonder elves think teaching a human magic would take most of a human's lifespan just for basic spells.

Elves think of humans as...well, magically handicapped. Which makes humans angry and envious and...hateful. And because a lot of humans are approaching elves to learn magic because magic has power, they're...well. Firstly, not in the right mindset even at the start, and secondly, it's going to make the consumptive, destructive aspect of Dark magic look that much more attractive because fuck you, elves, fuck you.

The history of human magecraft is that of power-seeking. Of course it went wrong. But it didn't have to.

Look at Callum. He's done Dark magic, now and then, but never really took to it. To him, magic is beautiful. Creative. Wonderful. He's not in it for the power. He's in it because he loves it (LOVE) and because he wants to help his friends (CARE). He's not in this for glory or might, and even when he gets authority and title he has no problem handing both of them back. His most useful power, flight, was gained while trying to save someone else's life. Most of his magic is like that; something he works out when he needs to help someone else. It's very rare for him to play the badass, and when he does it's against another mage...and again, to save his companions.

He learns magic out of love. He practices it out of love. He mastered the Air arcana first, probably because it's very liberating and he's always kind of been bound, his whole life, to the royal family and its duty. But he can dip into other arcana when he needs to - something that stuns everyone else - because he's not treating it like Power to be grabbed. He tries his best to understand the natural forces around him, and when he taps into them, it's out of love. It's not that he's a natural genius (although the photographic memory and art training help a LOT) but simply that he approaches the entire situation differently than humans typically do.

[just-hyde]

AI is theft.

Character.Ai still uses **stolen** data. Support real artists and writers. RP with real people.

IAMREALpleasegimmeahotchocotugmeinandgimmeasinglegoodreasontoliiiveeeeaaaaAAAAAAA

*Breakdown joins the chat*

An anon? How courageous of you. /lh

Actually right now you did what many chatbot users do— hide behind Persona just in case people don't accept your writing/rp style. But it's easier to play safe, I give you that. Your mental health should be your first priority no matter what people say

I do my art, write snippets of text, develop OCs and RP with people, but still make chatbots on different platforms

Why?

For shits and giggles

But no, friends, seriously

We already live with that and apparently are gonna continue to, unless the authorities decide to step in

For me cai was a tool to improve my vocabulary since 1) not so many native speakers were willing/had time to help, 2) even if they did, we had jobs and damn timezones which made our coordination harder, 3) I found out that ppl were simply too shy to play

Recently I've learned the term "Cringe culture" which is cringe itself and hella annoying at that— some writers are fucking scared to post, to be met with toxicity instead of actually useful critique

Anywho, the topic is controversial af.

On one hand, it did writers dirty. Well, fuck. On the other hand, your T9 was also trained on something and I deem LLM no much smarter than a huge T9 [a predictive text technology which almost every keyboard for phones and tablets has]

The problem I see is that the ai developers didn't ask for any data

How much easier everything would go if they had manners and/or paid for some materials? I usually don't mind lending a pen if someone asks, but can bite one's hand off if they grab it

As you might've noticed, I wanna use this ask to bring up some other interesting topics

My man, I've heard enough of "Why trying if ai renders better than me/uses better words"

Anxiety.

That's what makes me sad

If we ever manage to change that, to make people realise that human-made art is a freaking precious treasure with hours of effort spent on it, maybe earth heals and unicorns return

You buy funny one-nickel-worth stuff from Aliexpress, no? That's AI. As well as a half-gnawled pencil one finds in their old school backpack to write down an anecdote they've just heard

It's easy to focus on the bad side

If fish is ill in a dirty tank, are you gonna add more sand? Pfftt. I assume you gonna change filters, scrub that bastard clean and add more lil fishies to make others feel less lonely, instead of rumbling that you shouldn't have gotten any new weeds for the the bowl in the first place, because, who would've guessed, fish eat that. And poop. —a process natural as breathing

My suggestion is that we try to create a safe space which would encourage writing outside of roleplay, make young artists feel safe regardless of their level of skill

Or maybe I'm too far from the Internet in general and don't understand why writing example messages for a silly toy is suddenly a bad thing when it encourages kids to try themselves in text RPGs without any risk of being judged for that

An interesting topic you gave me, really, I've spent some time contemplating about it

Feel free to suggest things that we, as a community, can do right here and right now, because, gods know, I'm personally unable to atta-ta a corporation for "using language we all speak", especially when chatbots have some features which would be a damn shame not to use in language learning since it's so engaging and teaches kids new words in a forgiving game-like way

Though I hope there will be some law regulating ai and the use of ai-made products soon. Let's give it some time

[whumpbby]

Some people seem to believe in the "true nature" the same way others swear up and down that horoscopes are true, that personality types are true, that blood-type can decide one's personality...

It's the same unacknowledged yet desperate need for finding a "key" to human condition that will lead us true. That will justify our snap judgements.

It's the "before you date someone get them drunk, then you'll see who they really are!" advice that won't tell you anything worthwhile except on how someone acts when micro-dosed with a poisonous substance - may as well drug them or give them some arsenic, or punch them out of nowhere, see how they deal with that.

You are absolutely right, a person is not a singular core sorrounded by fake faces forced on us by the society.

The issue I have people that believe in these "true self" ideas - and something that really concerns me when it comes to them - is that the base "true self" depends solely on the level of charity the person in question is afforded.

Because it's easy to say JC's Moment of Truth is the strangling scene if you already don't like him.

But, actually, what says this Moment can't be JC instinctively turning his back in WLJ when his mother is in danger? Why can't it be him sacrificing himself for WWX? Why can't it be the moment he jumps between Wangxian and a blade in Guanyin temple? All of these are a speck-of-a-moment decisions made without conscious thought -why not choose these?

Cause if I follow that tune, - why can't Wei Wuxian's Moment of Truth be the one where he viciously tortures Wen Chao and horrifically murders his girlfriend? When all chips are down, no consequences await, he is drunk on his own power and there's no one to stop him, no Madame Yu to slap his hands - isn't this who Wei Wuxian really is? Nothing more than a hateful monster that will attack a man in front of his dead family, for the sole sin of being rude to a guy he likes?

Why Wangji's defining moment isn't the one where he casts a silencing spell on a kid he has no authority over? Or the one where he attacks and wounds 30 members of his own family that raised and loved, and enabled him his whole life, for a guy he wanted to fuck? Or the one where he turns away from a brother that raised, loved and enabled him his whole life, when said brother needs him most? With no one to judge him, and no one to slap his hands, LWJ is a real POS.

I mean, we're leaving the grace and context out of this, so why not?

there is no such thing as a singular "true nature"

recently saw a (or rather, yet another) post dunking on jiang cheng for blaming wei wuxian and trying to strangle him after the fall of lotus pier. which is fair, because that honestly was rather terrible of him.

however, one specific aside in that post stood out to me:

as i saw in the post i'm now being a hater about, antis have the tendency of boiling down an entire character to just their worst moments. but the section i highlighted above interests me precisely because i think it sheds light on what logical fallacy causes the anti tendency towards this boiling-down.

one common thread i've seen across antis of all sorts of characters - whether the characters they're bashing be jiang cheng, jin guangyao, su minshan, or wei wuxian himself - is this idea of a singular "true nature." the idea is that people have a "true nature," which is typically hidden by polite manners and civilized society, but may then be exposed during moments of stress in which those manners are stripped away.

the implied corollary to this idea of a singular "true nature" that is only revealed on occasion, then, is the existence of "false natures": if the self that is exposed during moments of high duress is one's "true nature," then the self that is seen during moments of normalcy is not one's "true nature." one's "true nature" is determined from solely these moments of high duress; the "nature" implied by one's actions during all other times does not count. if we follow this framework, then the you who goes apeshit after a bad day is closer to your "true nature" than the you who has a normal day of fun with your friends; the you who goes apeshit after a bad day is more real than the you who has a normal day with friends; the you who goes apeshit after a bad day matters more in the cumulative assessment of your existence than the you on every other day of your life.

as you might expect, i don't agree with this worldview. i don't condone boiling an entire person down to their single most extreme moments, not only because it is uncharitable, but also because i don't accept this idea of a "true nature" to begin with. to make such sweeping statements about an individual's "true nature" is overly simplistic and reductive of the full complexity of humanity. furthermore, in order for the idea of [a true nature that is only revealed in moments of duress] to work, one must rank all of the actions and behaviors of an individual from least to most "true," as described above - but, in fact, everything an individual does makes up who they are.

there is no such thing as a singular "true nature." you are not some fundamental "true nature" hidden away under layers and layers of pretense. everything you do - not just the things you do in moments of duress - makes up your character. you are the sum of all of your actions, both mundane and extreme: the you who has a normal day with friends is very bit as true, as real, as the you who reacts in extreme ways in extreme circumstances.

jiang cheng is the person who blamed wei wuxian for the fall of lotus pier and tried to strangle him for it. jiang cheng is also the person who spent his childhood shielding wei wuxian from dogs. jiang cheng is also the person who loves jiang yanli and sincerely wishes for her happiness. jiang cheng is the person who repeatedly tried to warn wei wuxian from messing with lan wangji and who carried wei wuxian after he got beaten by the lan. jiang cheng is the person who feels his father loves wei wuxian more than him. jiang cheng is the person who failed to stand up for mianmian out of concern for his own sect. jiang cheng is the person who ran restlessly for seven days to rescue wei wuxian (and lan wangji) from the xuanwu's cave; jiang cheng is also the person who resented not being thanked for his hard work. jiang cheng is the person who spent 3 months tirelessly looking for wei wuxian. jiang cheng is the person who allowed wei wuxian to secede from yunmeng jiang without any support in order to keep yunmeng jiang safe. jiang cheng is the person who helped jiang yanli sneak into the burial mounds so that wei wuxian could see her wedding clothes. jiang cheng is the person who blamed wei wuxian for jiang yanli's death. jiang cheng is the person who led the first siege of the burial mounds. jiang cheng is not the person who killed wei wuxian.

jiang cheng is the person who blamed wei wuxian for the downfall of lotus pier and then tried to strangle wei wuxian for it. jiang cheng is also the person who, barely a few hours later, sacrificed his everything in order to save wei wuxian from the wens.

both of these statements are true. all of these statements are true. the fact that one of these statements is true does not stop any of the others from being equally true. the reason why i dislike this "true nature" framework so much is that it cherrypicks certain moments as unique truths at the cost of all others - it centers one specific moment as indicative of an individual's entire nature, and in doing so discards all other moments as mattering less. in favor of a singular, easily digestible statement (eg. "jiang cheng's true nature is one of selfishness"), it erases the full complexities and contradictions true to humanity.

it is erroneous to say that "jiang cheng trying to strangle wei wuxian indicates his true nature," because of all the other shit that jiang cheng did. but it is ALSO erroneous to say that "jiang cheng sacrificing himself to save wei wuxian indicates his true nature," because of all the other fucking shit that jiang cheng did. the fact is that jiang cheng did both of those things and also a whole bunch of other shit, and we all just have to accept it.

what's funny here is that this same "true nature" thinking also gets applied to wei wuxian himself in-universe. to the general public in MDZS, wei wuxian is the guy who invented demonic cultivation, who created the weapon of mass destruction that was the yin tiger tally, who killed jin zixuan, who got jiang yanli killed, and who in a moment of extreme emotional distress killed over a thousand people at the nightless city pledge conference. in their discussions of wei wuxian, the public centers these specific acts as indicating wei wuxian's singular "true nature." everything else wei wuxian was - his inventiveness, his kindness, his selflessness, his playfulness, his genius - gets dismissed as "false natures" in comparison to the one "true nature."

but this isn't an accurate description of wei wuxian, because to take just wei wuxian's very worst moments and then make those moments his entire being is not fair. wei wuxian tortured countless wen cultivators during the sunshot campaign, wei wuxian killed jin zixuan and heavily injured jiang yanli before her death, wei wuxian killed over a thousand people at the nightless city pledge conference. wei wuxian also sacrificed his everything for jiang cheng, abandoned the easy way out in favor of protecting innocent people from suffering, and has repeatedly chosen to help others when he could have easily not done so. all of these statements are true. the fact that one of them is true does not prevent any of the others from being equally true. the wei wuxian who chose to help the wen remnants is every bit as real as the wei wuxian who killed over a thousand people at nightless city, and to take either of these moments and assert that it alone reveals a "true nature" while ignoring the other is to commit a logical fallacy.

tl;dr - people contain multitudes.

regarding what the op of the screenshot actually said: they are correct in that jiang cheng does display a repeated pattern of behavior in which he blames wei wuxian for his family's misfortunes and thus lashes out at wei wuxian. but the degree to which wei wuxian is actually blameless for this misfortune, i think, is much greyer than the op said.

[karinasbaby]

so jake is just walking around with a face like that like it’s just another regular tuesday evening.

[edwinisms]

it’s actually so wild to me that this fairly quirky YA type show gave both of its main characters deaths that can, in one way or another, solidly be considered hate crimes. they were both flat out murdered as a result of being A) gay and effeminate or B) brown (south asian, specifically) and you could argue whether or not those kids thought of it that way in the moment or whatever but the bottom line is that they would not have been in the situations that killed them if they weren’t of their respective minorities. like legitimately that is a ballsy choice for this kind of netflix show, let alone for the two Main Characters, and i respect it big time

[undead-moth]

I know I've been on about this for a while now and I'm being a hater but you're telling me SydCarmy was "always meant to be platonic" even though there are two seasons of writing making use of tried-and-true explicitly romantic tropes, themes and writing signals, and SydLuca is going to be romantic because...he was nice to her on screen for a few minutes?

I don't even care if people ship SydLuca, or if they just prefer it, but you can't honestly tell me that you believe Carmy was always meant to be a friend but Luca is an obvious love interest.

Just because Syd and Carmy haven't kissed or confessed their love to each other doesn't mean that isn't very obviously the direction this show is going. The Bear has already shown you who is endgame. It has shown you every episode of the show so far.

Honestly I really don't think The Bear fanbase understands this show or cares about these characters or the story being told here, which is unfortunate because this show is shockingly well-written in comparison to most shows right now, and we should be so grateful for it but all we're doing is complaining that the writers led us on by not making a ship canon fast enough. It's just. Sad.

[flock-of-cassowaries]

The worst man.

…and I just realized something: By killing Marissa, Hannibal further alienated Abigail from any possible source of support.

Not that Marissa’s mother wanted her around Abigail anyway, but Ms. Schuur, far from being “rude” was fiercely loyal to Abigail - enough to reach out to her against the tides of public and parental opinion, and to defend her against Nick Boyle’s grief-fuelled confrontation.

I initially thought Hannibal killed Marissa primarily to frame Nick Boyle for Cassie Boyle’s murder, but now I think he was targeting Abigail almost from the jump.

I often see her role in the story reduced to that of “baby-trap baby”, but I think she was actually just as much of a target of Hannibal’s “I shall build myself a companion who understands and accepts my murdering!” fixation as was Will.

Like, from the way he seemingly casually slits her throat when Will rejects him, it’s easy to conclude that he never invested much in her.

…but it also seems possible that perhaps he thought she was just as much of a prospective companion as Will, albeit in a Father-Daughter Murder-Duo! way, rather than a “he ___ on my ___ until I ___ (and then we go murder some poor schmuck who didn’t smile at me while handing me my luxury goods purchase)” way.

I prefer this interpretation, personally, because it humanizes Hannibal just a little, while also allowing for the implication that perhaps he felt he was losing her just as much as he was on the cusp of losing Will at the end of s2.

I guess find it slightly less despicable to think that he killed at her because he knew that she would inevitably reject him now that he’d failed to get Will onboard (as opposed to reading it as purely a case where he could so easily reduce her to a means to do emotional violence to Will).

Like, ultimately, both are awful, because both fundamentally disrespect her as a person with agency, and abusive men who kill their partners and/or children rather than lose them are monsters.

But I think it’s a monstrousness I can almost understand as an extremely exaggerated, entitled, absolutely unforgivable version of something I have felt. Like, it’s not okay, I’m not making excuses for it at all, but at least I can kind of simulate the headspace?

If he’s just killing her to hurt Will, then… as a writer / audience member, I don’t know what to do with that. That’s an even further bridge for me, and I’m not trekking out there.

[ We probably all know this, but just for my peace of mind, Imma say it here:

Hannipologetics aside - anyone who ever threatens you, or your pets / loved ones should be excused from your life as quickly as you can manage while preserving your physical safety. Don’t fuck around.

Will may have been able to ‘change’ Hannibal, but Hannibal is a fictional character, vulnerable to the audience and author’s desire to write the story of a character who changes. Stories with no character arc are not terribly interesting.

In the real world, there is no such force compelling violent people to change, and they rarely do, especially in the context of relationships where they have previously been violent or threatening.

Also, the real-world levers we do have to pressure violent people to change - e.g. court-mandated treatment - are often woefully ineffective. ]

Honestly, I don't think we pay enough attention to how Hannibal "comforts" Marissa's mom after he kills her. It's so... cruel.

"Like a paternal shield" in regards of Abigail makes me feel so unwell.

[weaverofink]

Reading the archie sonic comics is such an Experience bc I'm always somewhere between "wow sally is such a cool character" and "girl you've GOT to put a shirt on"

[tautozhone]

standing on the corner of the street with a sign that says “ask me about how i think a vast majority of plastic surgeries can be considered gender affirming procedures” and on the back it says “trans people getting the surgery doesn’t make it trans surgery”

[s0fter-sin]

sometimes i think about how wild a mw2 movie would be if they just dropped soapghost right in the middle with no warning or marketing. like imagine it being beat for beat the exact same, it’s your typical military action movie, promoted as just another military action movie then after they get to the safe house, ghost has to patch up soap and he’s still out of it, overwhelmed by the betrayal and everything he’s seen and ghost needs to ground him and keep him in the present, to remind him that he’s alive and safe so he kisses him and they have sex. the tantrums and the rants and the “ReAl sOLdiErS aRen’t liKe ThAt”, god i can taste it and it’s delicious

[novella-november]

Is this fanfic friendly? I feel like an outlier.

I guess this is my sign it's time to throw together a FAQ post to link to lol.

Yes, every event for this blog is fanfic friendly :D

Though as I mentioned on my Ominous October post, for events that include multiple short stories, I encourage everyone to flex their creativity and take one of their planned short story fanfics, and at least *attempt* to turn one of them into something entirely original; rebuilding a character and story from the ground up to stand on its own two legs is no easy feat, and that is what makes it so fun!

It really gets your creative gears turning, to make an "au of an existing material" to be something entirely original, and you can be pleasantly surprised about the things you come up with!

As a few people say, its not just a matter of "filing the serial numbers off" -- you have to add in just as much *or more* as what you take out when you are turning a fanfiction into something that is original and completely divorced from its original source material / inspiration, and that is a hard, but very rewarding challenge!

Obviously, this is not a requirement (there's no hard requirements for any of the challenges, other than no cheating, including no using AI),

but if you would like an extra challenge for the short story events and you're planning on doing entirely fan-fiction, I highly recommend trying it out at least once, and seeing where it leads you--

you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you find down that rabbit hole!