#like 'oh it's a normal ocean there's stuff living here'

[thecraftgremlin]

I hate to say it but I watched a playthrough of Iron Lung a little while ago and like. I respect what it’s doing but the “It was a big scary monster all along aaaaaaa!” reveal at the end kinda cheapens it.

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Mr. Right Now

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.3k

Warnings: angst, past trauma of not feeling good enough, it's better off being alone angst, minor fluff at the end

Summary: As a divorcee with three kids, it’s hard to open up to men and allow them into your children’s lives. You’re a single mother who is just trying to get through each day until you meet Bucky. He might be the one you’ve been searching for all this time. Can you put aside your fears enough to let him in?

Squares Filled: band (2021) for @buckybarnesbingo

Author’s Note: any and all comments are greatly appreciated <3

x

The only time you’re able to go to the grocery store in the summertime is when you don’t have your kids hanging off your every limb. Your oldest daughter and son are at a summer camp you were able to get them into while your youngest daughter is being watched by your mother who had some time for you to get errands done.

Whoever said parenting was the best thing in the world was lying because you want to cry most days. It’s not that you don’t love your children, you absolutely love them with all your heart. You want nothing more in the world than to be their mom but it’s hard some days. You’re a single mom to three kids which takes a lot out of you. You have no time to do anything for yourself. Whenever they’re at school, you spend your days taking care of your baby girl and cleaning the house only for them to return and mess it up all over again.

Being a mom is one of the hardest jobs in the world and it’s not for everyone. However, when you had your kids, you weren't alone. You had a husband who you thought would be with you forever. Then, you caught him with a twenty-year-old in your bed and that set you back decades. It took you a long time to find someone else after him, which you did, and you thought you had gotten your second chance at love.

He was a breath of fresh air after struggling for years. You only had two kids at the time but it was still a handful since they were both so young. You and your second husband had a daughter together, and you thought this was it. This is your family.

Then, he left without warning. He told you that he didn’t love you anymore and wanted nothing to do with you or your kids. He threatened to take Abby but you fought him through a lawsuit. He was bouncing between homes and didn’t have a steady income, all of which you had. If you thought your first husband was bad, your second husband broke you completely.

You swore off men after that. All you want to do is take care of your kids and live life on your own. It’s hard but you know you can do it. Your mother has been very supportive of you and helps out when she can but she’s much older and can’t do stuff like she normally could. Your father passed a decade ago so neither of you have him to fall back on. Your brother and sister moved out of the country when they turned eighteen and haven’t looked back since.

You’re truly on your own which you never minded until now.

You fill your shopping cart as you go down the list you made before leaving the house, and you look at the next item on your list. You’re not looking where you’re going and almost run into someone.

“I’m so sorry,” you gasp and look up.

You gasp again but it’s not from the shock of running into him. This man is… You don’t think you ever saw a more handsome man in your life. He’s tall, like a whole foot taller than you, and has dark hair that is not too long. His eyes are bright blue oceans and he is very muscular.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s mine. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry,” you mutter.

You’re about to move around him to continue your shopping when he stops you.

“I haven’t seen you around here and I come here every week.”

“Oh, yeah. I usually get my groceries delivered but I had some time today to do it myself.”

“I’m Bucky,” he smiles.

Damn, he has such a great smile, too.

“Y/N.”

“Do you care for some company while you finish?”

“Sure,” you smile. “So, Bucky, have you lived in Washington D.C. for long?”

“On and off. I used to live here years ago. I just recently came back and am now living with my two best friends. You?”

“I just moved here a year ago. I had to get away from… stuff… I used to live in Nevada and thought a change would do me good.”

“Lucky me that you did,” he flirts.

You can’t help the blush that forms on your face. You’re not used to compliments. You finish the rest of your shopping quickly but you don’t want to stop talking to Bucky. He’s the first man you have had such an easy conversation with in a long time. Your mom wants you to put yourself out there again and try dating but you can’t think of anything worse than that. Dating means bringing a new man into your kids’ lives who will probably leave you. You’re not going to do that to them again so you’ll settle for stolen conversations in the grocery store.

Still, you find yourself not wanting to leave the store because then you’ll have to stop talking to Bucky. However, when your mom calls about Abby crying because she’s hungry and you haven’t pumped a bottle for her. She can eat solid food but she loves your milk more. You’re trying to transition her into solid foods but it’s a work in progress.

“Sorry. I have to get back home.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“It was really nice to talk to you, though. Maybe I’ll see you back here again.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he nods.

You’re gone before he can ask you for your number. You can’t stop thinking about Bucky. You never met a man who could invade all your senses. Your mother left after you got back and you spent the next hour feeding your daughter and putting the groceries away. You put your daughter down for a nap when your phone rings. You take the call when you get to the kitchen to finish with the groceries.

“Hey, Emma.”

“Y/N! You know that band that Leslie goes on and on about?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re playing a gig at The Twisted Bar this weekend. You gotta come with us!”

“I don’t know. I have Abby and I don’t have a sitter.”

“Bring her here. My husband would love to watch her. He’s been so tied with the boys that it’d be nice to watch a girl.”

“Are you sure? What if she gets hungry? She only seems to want my milk.”

“Then pump before coming here. It’s been such a long time since we all went out. Just once stop worrying about your kids. Jace and Lizzy are at camp and it’s likely Abby will sleep the whole night.”

You’re still not sure. Going out with your friends usually ends in one of two ways: either you end up going home early because your kids need you or you end up going home early because all the girls want to do is flirt with men. They’d never cheat on their husbands and they never take it past the occasional flirty comment. When they get like this, guys love to flirt with you and that’s when you call it a night.

You’re not some horny teenager looking for a fun time. You have kids and if these men knew about it, they’d never flirt with you. It’s tiring to go to bars and reject every man because you know what it’s going to lead to.

Still, it’d be nice to go out with your friends since it’s been so long.

“Fine,” you sigh, “but I’m not going there to take some man home.”

“Got it. This is going to be so much fun! Want me to pick you up?”

“No, I’ll meet you there. What time?”

“Six.”

“I’ll bring Abby over at five, then. We can leave together but I’ll need my car just in case.”

You and Emma talk for a little while longer until you hang up. Friday comes quicker than you’d like, and you had just dropped Abby off at Emma’s house. You’re nervous to leave her alone but you’ve been friends with Emma and Robert for decades so you figure you’d trust them with your kids sooner or later.

You and Emma arrive at The Twisted Bar right after Leslie, Jackie, and April get there. It’s a reunion of the decade since you haven’t seen April in years and Jackie for longer. It’s been hard finding time away from your kids.

“Y/N! I’m so glad you finally made it!” Leslie squeals and pulls you into a hug.

“Eh, I figure it’s time to see my girls.”

“It has been a long time,” April comments.

Leslie grabs drinks while you sit at a table that’s near the band that’s setting up. Leslie has been in love with them ever since she saw them opening for Bon Jovi a few years ago. They’ve been slowly rising to fame but they love playing in small bars to stay connected to their fans. Leslie comes back with the drinks and you sip yours leisurely while your friends down theirs quickly. It’s dangerous when you don’t taste the alcohol; that’s how you get drunk quickly.

“Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m going to get some water.”

Your friends wave you off, too invested in the music to listen. You shake your head with a smile and make your way to the bar counter. You look away for a second and run into someone seconds later.

“Hey, Y/N!” You look at the person and see Bucky standing there. “We can’t keep meeting like this.”

“Bucky, what are you doing here?” You pause after hearing how that sounds. “Sorry, that sounds weird. I mean, hi.”

“Hi,” he laughs. “I’m with my roommates. They’re here to see the band. They wanted me to come out.”

“Same.”

“I was hoping to see you. I really liked talking to you the other day.”

“Same here.”

“Can I get you a drink?”

“Sure.”

Bucky gets you and himself a drink before escorting you to one of the back tables. Most everyone is up front listening to the band so the back is clear of crowds. It’s easier to hear him, too.

“So, I know I’ve said this but you… Okay, I’m not very good at this. My friend, Steve, says I need to get out more but I actually like staying in and being alone. I don’t normally do this but I really enjoyed talking to you. Can I have your number?”

Just like that, your entire world shatters. You like Bucky but now that he wants to take the next step, he’s becoming a real person instead. A real person who you might have to take home to your kids. A real person who will just leave you like everyone else. You don’t want to do this to Bucky but you scoff in annoyance.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine, Bucky. Look, I gotta get back to my friends.”

“Wait, is it something I said? You don’t have to give me your number if you don’t want to. I just… You’re beautiful and funny. I had a great time with you at the grocery store.”

You don’t mean to be rude or snappy with Bucky but you’re sick and tired of men feigning interest in you only to leave you and your kids. You’re not going to put them through all that trouble if the man isn’t going to stay. If you don’t give men the light of day, then they can’t leave you.

“You want my number?”

“I do.”

“Which number do you want, Bucky?”

“Uh, well, how many numbers do you have?”

You laugh bitterly. “Oh, I have numbers coming out of my ears. For instance, ten.”

“Ten?”

“Yeah. That’s how many months old my baby girl is.”

Bucky’s face doesn’t fall in disgust but he’s not jumping for joy either. Tears prick your eyes but you won’t let them fall.

“You have a baby girl?”

“Yeah. Yeah, sexy, huh? How about this for a number? Six. That’s how old my other daughter is. Eight is the age of my son. Two is how many times I’ve been married and divorced. Sixteen is the number of dollars I have in my bank account. 480-555-0199. That’s my phone number, and with all the numbers I just gave you, I’m guessing zero is the number of times you’re gonna call it. You’re nice, Bucky, but I’ve been down this road too many times. I will not allow my children to meet a man I know won’t stay in my life. Really, it was nice talking to you but no man wants a woman with three children.”

You grab your drink and leave the table but stop when you hear your phone ringing. You take out your phone and notice a number you don’t recognize. Knowing your daughter is with someone else who’s not your mother, you answer it thinking Leslie’s kids are using their phones to call you.

“Hello?”

“For the life of me, I can’t figure out why anyone would leave you. I understand the walls you’ve put up. I understand why you don’t date or don’t trust men, especially around your kids. I understand that you had to put yourself back together multiple times. I’m not dismissing that, but I can promise you that I am not like other men. I don’t abandon people and I happen to love kids. If you give me a chance, I would love to show you that you’re not a piece of ass. You’re not a notch on someone’s belt. You’re a woman who I would love to get to know.”

You turn to face Bucky who has his phone to his ear. The tears are already coming down whether you want them to or not.

“All I ask for is a chance.”

“Okay,” you whisper.

Maybe it’s you who needs to give him a chance. Then maybe, you’ll finally find the one person you’ve been looking for.

x

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[peachesofteal]

John Price/female reader The Ocean Anthology

It’s a hollow knock that pulls you from sleep.

The Ranger is standing on the slanted slats of your front porch, Aly in his arms, cradled to his chest. Her too long legs hang over in a heap, face sweet and soft, spun in the silken bliss of sleep.

“John.” His name is a croak, a splinter of confusion on your tongue. It’s four in the morning.

“Sorry to wake you,” he shifts his daughter’s weight, and you shake your head wordlessly, “there’s a problem, up at the forestry camp. Normally Mari would…” his mouth twitches, trailing off, sequencing into a helpless, silent request.

“Of course.” Frigid air spills around his shoulders, curling into your living room, and you press the door firm after him, turning to where he lowers Aly onto the couch, broad palm sweeping over forehead and tucking her in her blanket, plus yours.

“She’ll be no trouble.” He murmurs, shoulders rolled back.

“Sure, yeah. It’s fine.” You whisper, following his lead to the door, standing in his shadow.

“I’ll be back, before it’s time for her to start school. And she can handle herself for breakfast.” Rough hands cradle your elbows, cracked callouses and torn skin snagging on the flimsy cotton of your long sleeve t shirt.

Aly truly is, no trouble. Once she's up, rubs the crystal sleep from her eyes and orients, she hops off your couch and into the kitchen where you're at the table with a hot mug.

"Breakfast?" Hopeful eyes glance at your pantry. "Got stuff to make pancakes in there?" You laugh.

"You want pancakes?" She shifts her weight, bashful.

"Dad doesn't let me have them much."

"Alrighty. Let's make some pancakes then."

You manage a too tall stack of fluffy pancakes before there's a knock at your front door. Aly, like any child, wanted chocolate chips in hers, but she settled for blueberry, and just as she's about to have her first bite, cold wind whips through the house like a lash.

"Hi." Fuck. Is he going to be mad you made his kid pancakes? He evaluates the table, sweeping gaze traveling from Aly back to you, leisurely rolling up from your toes.

You ignore the clench in your stomach.

"Those look good."

"Oh, uh... you want-"

"Blueberry?" At this, Aly's fork freezes, eyes darting from her plate to her father before turning back to breakfast.

"Y-yeah. Didn't have chocolate chips, and plain pancakes are kind of boring." His mouth twitches, sloping to one side with a furrow of his brow, chord of sadness striking his irises. There one second, then gone. A warm breeze of the cusp of summer’s end, something you can’t quite catch. You think he’s going to ignore you, the moment suspended in the void of your kitchen, batter caked bowl and whisk shuffled haphazardly towards the sink, splatters of it on the tile. He hums.

“Good choice.” The flannel is nearly too small for him, clinging to his shoulder, the breadth of his body, thick forearms stretching the buttons where the cuffs are rolled up to the elbows. You're tongue-tied in the passing silence, before he puts you out of your misery. "You've got something," a thumb to the corner of his own mouth, rubbing against something that isn't there, as you stand, lost in a moment of desiderium that slams into you with full force, "here."

He licks his thumb, then he reaches.

He rubs your skin, instead. The corner of your lips. Pasty batter splattered and dried, now gone beneath his circling touch. It's... fatherly, in passing. A short glimpse into the moment would convince you he's being kind, helpful, but the way his venetus gaze lingers on your lips, and rolls up to your eyes... it's more than patriarchal. It's heated, and dark, flashes of secrets and songs you've never heard.

"T-thank you."

"Will you go out today?"

"Oh, uh... yeah I had hoped to."

"In the kayak?" You nod. His lips twitch.

"I'll take you, in the boat." The words he gave you the first time you looked for the Orcas ring in your ears.

"I thought I had to earn it?" A sliver of possession gleams in his eyes.

"You will."

[circeyoru]

Darkest Confession _ Part 2

[Human!Alastor x Serial Killer Enthusiast!Reader]

Part 1

Part 2 (here)

You’d say that it was a joke if you didn’t see those eyes and that smile. You’re not obsessed and addicted to serial killers without knowledge. No. You could only keep this self of you that hidden because you adapted some skills these serial killers use to blend in and be ‘normal’ like theyy haven’t killed, only you use it to hide your interest

You were attracted to serial killers, now there’s one that was holding you, presumably in his hunting and killing ground, confessing his love(?) to you and wanted to court you. Though the biggest question you had was, “Why did you confess?”

“My dear dear unusual soul, my feelings for you are like a raging ocean. What started as mere interest became fondness. Even now,” Alastor’s grin widened as his eyes narrowed to make way, “You have that spark in your eyes instead of fear. I love that about you. I love you.”

Was it Christmas or your birthday? Or was this April Fool’s? All in one? It was no sick joke. Alastor jokes and all, but this was a serious matter

This had to be your luck all put into one. Not only was he the serial killer that held your interest the longest, but you also cared for his civilian self. The previous killers that held your interest was over once the case was over or once you had figured them out from every perspective. Maybe it was because Alastor was the one killer that you connected as a person?

The tightened hold of your smaller hands brought you back to reality, your killer was waiting for your response. “My darling, your answer? May I court you? Will you be mine and in turn I yours?”

“Yes, you may.” Your voice came out firmer than your current rush of emotions. You hardly caught yourself when Alastor got up in the blink of an eye and twirled you around, dancing with you under the moonlight as he sang you a train of petnames and how he was glad there’d be no drastic measures taken to receive your interest

Changes were made, namely you had Alastor’s attention a lot more than the unspoken meet-ups you two shared. He’d be at your place, waiting for you by the door with a bouque of flowers and a poem to woo you, he’d back you home when you were done with work, all that romantic stuff. It had the jealous fans at a frenzy as they watched from somewhere or happened to see it

Though, you weren’t complaining

“Filthy thing, you better say away from Alastor! We’re destined for each other! You break of with him if you know what’s good for you! I’d kill you for him!” You merely keep your face neutral as you listened to the death threats, please, words are cheap and actions. Actions speak louder than words

“Darling! Sorry to kept you waiting!” Alastor burst through the front door with a smile, beaming happily like always, but more. You waved it off, saying you didn’t wait long. You had been sitting in the living room enjoying tea with a book on dissection, you recall Jack the Ripper had those skills. “Come, dear, I have something to show you.”

He’d lead you down a well hidden staircase to a soundproof basement, holding your hand like a gentleman so you wouldn’t trip from the darkness. He playfully covered your eyes, saying it was s surprise gift. You half joked if he was leading you to a room prepared to be your torture chamber to which he replied, “Oh heavens no! I wouldn’t even dream of it, dear. Your beauty is not to be locked up in this dingy place.”

When he finally removed his hand, he showed you with jazz hands at your gift

Alastor watched like a hawk. He debetted whether or not he should show something like this to you. But your case files you stored like precious family heirloom proved him otherwise. You weren’t afraid of blood and gore. He even once tested it when he brought you back into the forest, showing you how he hunted his favourite prey, deers. You were watching intensely as he cut the shot deer up, even whispering if that was how he did with his other prey

Your keen and observant eyes would catch onto details like no other. A skill even he couldn’t match to your degree and he considered and was praised for his preciseness. It was a skill you kept to yourself, you explained that’s why you’d return to previous crime scenes or where the bodies were found, because you’d find some clues that were missed

“Why didn’t you tip the authorities?” He remember asking when you added that you never phone the police even when finding something very very incrimadating. You answer saying you didn’t want to, you knew good and bad, right and wrong. It was right to tell the police, but it felt wrong for you to betray your interest, that being serial killers and their art. He fell for you all over again

However, he didn’t like that you gave so much of your time and energy to other serial killers. Sure now he had you, what if there was someone more interesting and you turn to that instead of him like you are doing now? He was lucky that he was the first serial killer you met during active moments. Hell, you were lucky you were never preyed upon

“There was one time where I tracked an active serial killer to his place. I was knocked out before I could investigate more. When I woke up, I was tied up and he wanted my eyes, wanted me to feel the pain and agony while I was tortured.” Oh how furious when he hear that but continued to listen. “As much as it’s a dream to be killed by a serial killer, I wasn’t feeling that ‘spark’ with that one and I escaped. After that, I phoned the authorities anonymously.”

“Why was he different? Won’t you feel like a betrayal?”

That look in your eyes when you remarked, it sent him a shiver while his smile widened at your words. “He wasn’t ‘the one’ and I didn’t like him. I look into every serial killer and he falls short. Can’t let him dirty my collection, so I had to put him out of his work.” When your eyes met him, there was interest and something more, “Have I told you your case is the most interesting and loving by far. There’s actually that ‘spark’ that I never felt before.”

That was it. He knew you were the one. The one for him. And him the one for you

Oh, how his blood boiled when some fan of his threatened for you to leave him. “This piece of flesh had the audacity to threaten the love of my life. My dear, my gift for you, is her life.”

You feel your face heat up as Alastor smiled brightly at you. As morbid as it was, you, a normal person off the streets, caught the attention of a serial killer that just so happened to hold your obsession and addiction for the longest time. Even having you to care and love him like a lover. Well, your family would be happy you have a lover, just not one they wanted you to have

Alastor hated physical touches unless he initiated it, but you were his exception to a lot of things. You ran up and hugged him, planting a kiss on his lips, a gesture he melted into and returned ten fold as the seconds passed

So this was love? A twisted and dark love

As Alastor got to work, you stood at a safe and suitable distance away to observe and note down everything. You wanted Alastor to be in his serial killer zone without outside interruptions. You wanted him to be in his element without a worry

This was the change you love and wouldn’t complain. You merely wish you met him sooner, so you didn’t have to waste your time and energy, as Alastor would phase it, on other unworthy serial killers

But all good things must come to an end. You were diagnosed with an incurable disease. Alastor used his fame and wealth to find you the best doctors and gave you the best treatment, yet you were getting no better with time. You didn’t have long to live and both of you can’t stand for that. The two of you were about to get married and everything would be all the more better!

“Love.” Alastor held your hand, the other held his signature weapon. “My Muse, are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” You smiled up at him innocently. It was a request before you were killed by something you’d regret and detest. No way were you dying from that. “Please, show me your first hunt.”

Out of nowhere, Alastor took out a hunting knife and jabbed it into the side of your stomach, it didn’t hit any major organs or blood vessels. You instantly fell back, immediately gripping onto your side to keep the blood loss at a minimum. You looked up to Alastor, the loving look changed

“My father was my first prey. I stabbed him like so.” Alastor explained, then he pointed his shotgun in your face, “And then I gave him hope that he can escape.”

You kicked the gun out of his hold and got up, running deeper into the forest. A gunfire rang behind you and pain came to your left shoulder. You hit into a tree when your right ankle was shot through. Stumbling into the ground as everything became blurry. When you came too, the barrel of the gun was once again in your face

“I caught up to him and I did to you now.” Alastor narrated. “And fired.”

“And that was our love story.” You sighed dreamily as you finished the last of your tea, putting it down on your saucer. “Married and happy~”

The members of the hotel all stared at you with horrided looks, save for Niffty as she seemed to be taking notes for her own bad boy catching.

“But he killed you!” Vaggie exclaimed.

“I asked him too! He rejected it so many times that I loss count! Well, not really, but you get the idea.” You mused as you snapped your fingers, making a tea pot appear and refill your cup. Sipping it with grace and a small smile. “It’s my dream to be killed by a serial killer, you see, but none gave me that spark like Alastor. Honestly,” You lowered your tea, staring into the surface of the liquid to see your own reflection, you don’t understand what ‘look in your eye’ you got like Alastor does, “I’m forever grateful that Alastor made the first move to confess. Else I’d never have such a fulfilling life!”

Angel gave you a disgusted look, “That’s messed up on so many levels.”

Static came as pressure built in the room, while you sat comfortably in your seat, drinking your tea. The shadows twisted and rose to form your darling husbands enraged with radio dials for eyes and voodoo symbols around him. “Dear Angel, what did you say about my darling wife’s words?”

Angel hide behind Charlie and Vaggie as he peeked his head out, looking into your direction as if to beg for your help. 

You smiled, “He means messed up in a good way. You need to keep up with the modern terms, love.”

Alastor snapped to you, his demonic aura all gone as he took your hand and kissed it like it would break with the slightest force. “And forget the wonderful time when we met? Never.”

Note: Hehe, added a bit of more formal writing for the ending. That's what I usually write in, this bullet-point format is new to me but very fast to write everything I want with limited time~ (⚈ᴥ⚈)

Circe Y.

MASTERLIST

Taglist: (the people who wanted a part 2 for this)

@suya-x-syx

@speedycoffeedelight

@just-here-reading

[mariacallous]

There was a moment that struck me, and I think it would strike you too: Donald Trump openly praised Viktor Orbán, as he has done repeatedly in the past. But he said, explicitly, Orbán is a good guy because he’s a “strongman,” which is a word that he clearly takes to be a compliment, not derogatory. You’ve written about the strongman fantasy in your Substack, so I’m curious: What do you think Trump is appealing to here?

Well, I’m going to answer it in a slightly different way, and then I’ll go back to the way you mean it. I think he’s tapping into one of his own inner fantasies. I think he looks around the world and he sees that there’s a person like Orbán, who’s taken a constitutional system and climbed out of it and has managed to go from being a normal prime minister to essentially being an extraconstitutional figure. And I think that’s what Trump wants for himself. And then, of course, the next step is a Putin-type figure, where he’s now an unquestioned dictator.

For the rest of us, I think he’s tapping—in a minor key—into inexperience, and that was my strongman piece that you kindly mentioned. Americans don’t really think through what it would mean to have a government without the rule of law and the possibility of throwing the bums out. I think we just haven’t thought that through in all of its banality: the neighbors denouncing you, your kids not having social mobility because you maybe did something wrong, having to be afraid all the damn time. African Americans and some immigrants have a sense of this, but in general, Americans don’t get that. They don’t get what that would be like.

So that’s a minor key. The major key, though, is the 20% or so of Americans who really, I think, authentically do want an authoritarian regime, because they would prefer to identify personally with a leader figure and feel good about it rather than enjoy freedom.

You mentioned the word banality, which makes me think of Hannah Arendt’s theory of the “banality of evil.” What would the banality of authoritarianism look like in America?

So let me first talk about the nonbanality of evil, because our version of evil is something like, and I don’t want to be too mean, but it’s something like this: A giant monster rises out of the ocean and then we get it with our F-16s or F-35s or whatever. That’s our version of evil. It’s corporeal, it’s obviously bad, and it can be defeated by dramatic acts of violence.

And we apply that to figures like Hitler or Stalin, and we think, Okay, what happened with Hitler was that he was suddenly defeated by a war. Of course he was defeated by a war, but he did some dramatic and violent things to come to power, but his coming to power also involved a million banalities. It involved a million assimilations, a million changes of what we think of as normal. And it’s our ability to make things normal and abnormal which is so terrifying. It’s like an animal instinct on our part: We can tell what the power wants us to do, and if we don’t think about it, we then do it. In authoritarian conditions, this means that we realize, Oh, the law doesn’t really apply anymore. That means my neighbor could have denounced me for anything, and so I better denounce my neighbor first. And before you know it, you’re in a completely different society, and the banality here is that instead of just walking down the street thinking about your own stuff, you’re thinking, Wait a minute, which of my neighbors is going to denounce me?

Americans think all the time about getting their kids into the right school. What happens in an authoritarian country is that all of that access to social mobility becomes determined by obedience. And as a parent, suddenly you realize you have to be publicly loyal all the time, because one little black mark against you ruins your child’s future. And that’s the banality right there. In Russia, everybody lives like that, because any little thing you do wrong, and your kid has no chance. They get thrown out of school; they can’t go to university.

We don’t imagine how a regime change is going to be at the dinner table. The regime change is going to be on the sidewalk. It’s going to be in your whole life. It’s not going to be some external thing. It’s not like this strongman is just going to be some bad person in the White House, and then eventually the good guys will come and knock him out. When the regime changes, you change and you adapt, and you look around as everyone else is adapting and you realize, Well, everyone else adapting is a new reality for me, and I’m probably going to have to adapt too. Trump wants to be a strongman. He’s already tried a ​​ coup d’état. He makes it clear that he wants to be a different regime. And so if you vote him in, you’re basically saying, “Okay, strongman, tell me how to adapt.”

Yeah, we could talk about Project 2025 all day. This new effort to bureaucratize tyranny—which was not in place in 2020—could really make the banal aspect a reality because it’s enforced by the administrative state, which is going to be felt by Americans at a quotidian level.

I agree with what you say. If I were in business, I would be terrified of Project 2025 because what it’s going to lead to is favoritism. You’re never going to get approvals for your stuff unless you’re politically close to administration. It’s going to push us toward a more Hungary-like situation, where the president’s pals’ or Jared Kushner’s pals’ companies are going to do fine. But everybody else is going to have to pay bribes. Everyone else is going to have to make friends.

It’s anticompetitive.

Yeah, it’s going to generate a very, very uneven playing field where certain people are going to be favored and become oligarchs. And most of the rest of us are going to have a hard time. Also, the 40,000 [loyalists Trump wants to replace the administrative state with] are going to be completely incompetent. When people stop getting their Social Security checks, they’re going to realize that the federal government—which they’ve been told is so dysfunctional—actually did do some things. It’s going to be chaos. The only way to get anything done is to have a phone number where you can call somebody at someplace in the government and say, “Make my thing a priority.” The chaos of the administration state feeds into the strongman thing. And since that’s true, the strongman view starts to become natural for you because it’s the only way to get anything done.

Timothy Snyder Explains How Americans Might Adapt to Fascism Under Trump

[talesfrommedinastation]

My Redneck Neighbor Doug has watched The Bad Batch Season 3 opener:

LEEEEET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

This is more pithy than normal: Doug's been busy with work, as have I. But I'm determined to hear his thoughts on The Daddy Warcrimes 'n Company so here we go!

These were all via text messages, btw.

CW: Doug Doug's as you know Doug will do. Away!

---------------------------------------------------

Episode 1: 'Little Orphan Blondie's Shit Internship at The Museum of Science and Industry'

Poor Little Orphan Blondie, stuck in The Museum of Science and Industry in a shit summer job because they got bills to pay. Except they got rid of the dinosaurs and walk in heart and filled it with gross shit.

Hey look, they still got the coal mine exhibit! Man I miss Chicago.

(Doug, that museum has never had dinosaurs. “What, since when?”)

MUTANT JIMMERS EVERYWHERE! Aw, Little Orphan Blondie gave one her chicken nuggets! And it’s shy, aw, I hope it’s okay.

Poor Mutant Jimmers…she named her?! Swear to Christ Almighty if that dog gets Old Yeller’d I’ll just lose it. 

That freaky alien thing that ran the mall on the ocean looks sad, I bet she wishes she fell into the water and got eaten by a shark or something. I wish you did too, lady. 

The Sons of Robocop really are everywhere, they must be a cult or something. They look cool, I’d join, why not. Think they get 401ks?

Oh man, Daddy Warcrimes is down bad. Poor Daddy Warcrimes. Man, all my clone boys are stooped and sad…this ain’t good. 

At least Little Orphan Blondie can craft! Man, she should start selling those at the Museum of Science and Industry’s gift shop. Maybe Tarkin can bring one back for the grandchildren he’s not allowed to talk to since the restraining order was put in.

Oh, there’s Stepsister Beth, she seems on edge. Must’ve gotten divorced recently, don’t blame her ex, I bet she screamed at him for leaving cabinets open who knows. How do her eyeballs not hurt after wearing those dumb glasses all day?

Episode 2: 'Night Elves and Neverland Ranch'

The night elves from Warcraft invaded Star Wars and got horns or something and now they have a castle that looks like a boss level in Diablo IV or V or how many Diablo games they got now.

Now they yelling at people and throwing them in the basement today. Makes sense, gotta fight the orcs and stuff. Think they fight the orcs in the basement?

The Night Elf Horned Queen hired Daddy Rambo and Julio to get people, I guess they’re turning into Boba Fett or something. They got her son's horn back, guess that's good. Oh they need new paint jobs on their armor.

Do they end up in the basement in the Diablo Boss Level? No? And off they go! 

Daddy Rambo and Julio are in their homeland of FLORIDA! Hell yeah, SPACE FLORIDA! And they’re bringing the talking trashcan with them using straps! Go Julio go!  Yeah, boa vines, this is TOTALLY the Everglades! 

Escaped clone boys! Oh man! Shit, is Neverland Ranch in the jungle? Oh man–oh, they know what they’re doing. Good kids. Real good kids. Oh what happened to the rest of them? Oh Meat Muffin, this ain't good :(.

You know what? Them clone boys are smart, take it back, this ain’t Space Florida, this is Space Louisiana! Them baby boys gone get feral and run off into the bayou and live in the caves and now you know my origin story, Meat Muffin! 

If this was Florida they'd just end up working the late shift at Zaxby's and smoking rocks in the parking lot. We know better, we French and all.

I bet they’ve been living on nutria and half-empty chicken boxes from behind the gas stations. Resourceful scrappy kids and I can tell its making Daddy Rambo proud.

Oh holy SHIT, there go them vines! It's like the kudzu all over again, maybe this is LaFourche Parish?

See, them boys are definitely white trash, Mandalorian rednecks. Look at em, living in the woods and hijacking a plane, but they good kids, saving their brothers. Even saved the robot too. 

Man, all the feels, them poor little boys. What will they do now?  Oh, they're going to Space Daytona! Good, wait, I saw the trailer, doesn't the Empire invade it? THIS AIN'T GOOD MEAT MUFFIN!!!

Wait...where's Toaster Strudel and Rex?

Episode 3: 'Blondie Got a Gun'

Well here's the Emperor. He wants to be immortal. Gotta make that other movie make sense or something.

Where's Darth Vader? Is he running the government when the Emperor is running around giggling?

Don’t you DARE kill Mutant Jimmers, you damn droid. I hate that ugly assed stupid thing. It looks like its scarecrow daddy fucked a microwave and then left it enough money to go to Planned Parenthood but instead spent it on crack and there ya go.  

Oh shut your goddamned yap, Jimmy the Scientist. I bet he gloves that hand up because he keeps shoving it up his own ass and that's why he walks funny all the damn time.

The Emperor also has a Diablo IV or VIII boss level all to himself too at the Museum of Science and Industry. How many Diablo games are there, Meat Muffin?

YEAH, LITTLE ORPHAN BLONDIE! GIT ER DONE!!! They're out! Oh wow! There she goes with Daddy Warcrimes! Kill em all and let GOD SORT THEM OUT! That's my GIRL!!!!

Blondie’s got a gun 

Blondie’s got a gun

Her whole world's come undone

Shooting droids is FUN!

GO MUTANT JIMMERS GO!!!! 

YEAH BLONDIE DADDY WARCRIMES AND MUTANT JIMMERS!!!!!!

I AIN'T A BULLS FAN BUT REPEAT THE THREE PEAT! YEAH!!!!!!

....so when we gonna get Toaster Strudel and Rex? Next one? Where's my reg boys?!

-----------------

Tagging those who missed my Cajun neighbor. LOOKS LIKE REDNECK DOUG IS BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS!

@skellymom @amalthiaph @eyecandyeoz @cdblake1565 @sued134 @merkitty49 @supremechancellorrex @yeehawgeek @wrenkenstein @techs-stitches @deezlees @autistic-artistech @perfectlywingedcrusade @auntie-venom @megmca @thecoffeelorian

[ellsieee]

Stay With Me didn't let us down! 😭 We got kisses and a confession. There is no way anyone can say it's not a BL now. 🙄 Not that there was any doubt even before that. The subtext was just too obvious.

I can't believe they went there. Super sleuths have already found that it really is just lip balm, but the implication is clearly that Wu Bi's dad found his lube. Wu Bi why did you do your dad dirty like that? Don't smear your lube on his mouth! 🤣

Wu Bi was about to confess but he chickened out. 😅 Shy Wu Bi is so cute. Wu Bi really can't live without Su Yu. He had never been that bitchy and rude to Mo Yi before, but now there's someone at home he wants to be with and has no time for Mo Yi's shit.

First almost caught by Wu Bi's dad and now Mao Chong. Su Yu's nervous shifty eyes cracked me up. We all know he and Wu Bi have been doing something something in his room.

They are so happy to see each other!😭Their smiles. Really, I can't. I love how much they love each other. I could not stop smiling watching them hug.

Oh how I squealed. THEY ARE SO FRIGGIN CUTE!!! AHHHHHHH! This might literally be my favorite moment in the entire series.

"Go cough somewhere else" lol. Poor Mo Yi. Right in front of his salad.

Su Yu's little smile is EVERYTHING. I feel like we're missing a scene before this though. It just seems a bit out of place that Wu Bi would run up to kiss Su Yu at school and for Su Yu to not be surprised or embarrassed. I'm counting on that uncut release later. Actually I felt like the editing for these two eps was a bit choppy. I'm going to guess it's because they cut a bunch of stuff because it was too gay.

I love all the subtle ways they show us they're boyfriends. Su Yu casually using Wu Bi as a leg rest, Wu Bi teasing Su Yu about him not knowing he's Wu Bi's most important person, Su Yu taking care of Wu Bi, and Wu Bi making not so subtle hints about their relationship in front of everyone. Why always in front of Doudou? Always! 😅

The normally aloof Su Yu kissed Wu Bi! Again it's Su Yu's little smile after the kiss that makes it so sweet. The spoilers were actually true! I didn't think this would happen because in the behind the scenes Jiongmin had said there was no scene where he kisses Xu Bin, but here we are! Xu Bin's dream has finally come true. 🤭

I was not expecting such an explicit confession! They tried to hide the gay a little by having Su Yu add the ocean part, but Wu Bi's qq screen name is 我想我是海 (I wish I am the sea) and so when Su Yu shouts 我爱你, 大海 (I love you sea), he is not so subtly telling Wu Bi that he loves him. Awwwww. ​​​🥹

But also, I have to drag production a bit on the terrible green screen CGI here. It looks so fake! Did they run out of money? How hard is it to film a sunset at a beach?

No. Don't you dare Mo Yi. Fuck off. If the last two eps break my heart I'm going to consider SWM as having only 22 episodes where the boys are together and happy.

The girls on weibo only went a little crazy. I didn't see SWM on the main hot search but they were trending for a little while. Hopefully it was short enough where it didn't draw too much attention. 😅

[fakescenariosbeforesleepblog]

Will I ever see you again?

Captain John Price x Fem Reader.

You met the captain in a fancy bar in town, you had a terrible date and Price took good care of your broken heart, now you wonder if you will have the chance to see him again.

Remember to give me a ♥️ if you like the story.

Warning: nothing important, just spelling and grammatical errors.

📢 Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used nor do I claim to own them.

You were sitting close to the bar, with puffy eyes, your lips pumped more than usual, you cried a lot, you were wearing a beautiful red dress, your hair in soft curls and there was a martini In front of you, you wondered why you asked for that, you needed something stronger to drown your sadness.

A man took a seat beside you, you tried to look normal but your face betrayed you.

- Hey Darling, Are you alright?

You looked in his direction and you were amazed, was very handsome, his beard already had some grey hair, but his eyes, blue as the ocean were beautiful, a very muscular body, he was older than you for sure, but that didn't matter, he was so attractive, you smiled at him and nodded.

- I'm fine, sorry, just a bad date.

- Oh sorry about that, if it helps, I bet that guy is an idiot for leaving a beautiful lady like you crying in a bar.

You didn't know if it was the drink giving you bravery or was your broken heart trying to find a way to heal.

- don't be, if it hadn't been a mess I wouldn't be here talking with a handsome man like you.

He chuckled and nodded, you left your sad mood behind, not every day you find a man like him, you batted your eyes coquettishly.

- So, What's your name stranger?

- I'm John, nice to meet you, what about you? What's the name of the beautiful lady I have in front of me?

He kissed your hand and you blushed.

- I'm (y/n).

You and John talked for hours, he invited more drinks then both decided to take a walk, you discovered that you and him have a lot in common, he told you a bit about his work and you told him about yours, then, still with the bravery to flower of skin, you kissed him, he instantly returned the kiss, was good, no one ever kissed you in that way, eagerly, hungry, desperate, but at the same time, soft, sweet and full of desire and love, after that kiss you definitely were sure all your life you had been kissing toads.

The sexual tension increased, you could feel the urgency to be with him, skin to skin. John was more than ready to continue but as the gentleman he was, he asked you for your permission.

- You're so pretty, call me old school, but I won't do anything, until I have your permission.

- I want this John, I want you.

He kissed you one more time and then he took you to his apartment, which was elegant, a mix between industrial and minimalist decorations, the smell of cigar and oak had you on pure ecstasy, John and you didn't waste time, clothes were scattered around the apartment, hands marks in every mirror, glass, furniture, moans were the melody filling the place, sweat, caresses and kisses, was a magical night, unfortunately all the good things have an end.

The next morning you woke up with a thousand calls of your friends and the guy who dated you, then you found yourself alone In the bed, you took all your clothes and stuff and ran. You didn't read the note John left you «Morning Beautiful, I went to buy something for breakfast, brb».

When John went back, you weren't there anymore, he was sad, but just like you, he thought it was just one night's love.

For months you tried to continue with your life, but the flashbacks of Price invaded you, you weren't dating no one anymore, no one was like John. You visited the bar where you met him a couple times waiting to find him, but it was a waste of time, he wasn't there. You didn't remember the way to his house, you were desperate, Where was he? Was he even real?.

You were walking around, you lived in a small town but with every step you gave the town looked more and more bigger, it was starting to rain but you didn't care, a taxi passed by your side but you didn't even try to look at it, until you heard the car stopped and a voice calling your name caught your attention.

- Y/N!?

You turned your head and there he was, those blue eyes, brown hair, beard with some gray hair, tall and muscular.

- John!

You jumped into his arms, you kissed him, you had him once again.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

Does it make any sense to have a world that is entirely vegan because other animals are actually all extinct. You might think with no other animals, this be a world where cannibalistic practices occur more. Well, I never really thought of it because it's that's just nasty. But what would be realistic here? Sure, it may occur as an extreme survival method. But it shouldn't be a normal practice and condemned in every other way. But does make actually make sense in this world with animals going extinct? They do have excellent crops and plenty of ways of getting food. There is no issue with having adequate food supply except for impoverished places. And just like impoverished places in real life, people aren't just resorting to cannibalism as normal. Alright so... for a world with no more animals in its ecosystem... well, how is that even like?? Actually, why is this world even restricted to a planet? There would probably be a lot of people living on moons with no native life and space stations.

Addy: I'm in the middle of finals right now (is it okay to include that? Idk), so you're getting some straight-from-the-tap unpolished thoughts.

Are there insects? 'Cause if this is a post-extinction event, then you've got a whole issue of like... plants that used to be pollinated by insects (beetles, bees, moths, butterflies, ants, etc), birds, etc but now have to be pollinated by wind (which is way less efficient, so you'd probably get stuff that's like cedars or oak trees, where there's just pollen *everywhere*, and other stuff would at least have more difficulty surviving). And then there's... everything. The balance between plants, insects, etc, *everything* is very nuanced. This feels like it'd become the lawn garden equivalent of an ecosystem - alive, but not thriving. Like a garden laden with pesticides, you just... wouldn't get good growth, and that'd spur on its own set of issues.

Plus like. Grazing. Grazing is a huuuuge influence on grasslands, etc, so the removal of all herbivores would... man. That'd do a lot. I don't know if you could even *have* a grassland under this system. Like without grazing, the accumulation of plant matter + wildfire ecology (lightning strikes and all that) would mean huge blazes that would sterilize the soil. Instead of grassland growing back, you'd get like saplings driven on the wind or whatever. Probably.

(Something something Yellowstone when they brought the wolves back, every piece has a role to play)

If there *are* insects, then that'd have its own set of massive issues. Great Famine of China/Great Leap Forward kinds of issues. Like wow. Also insect predation on trees, that'd spur another wave of problems.... everything would be effected. Everything.

If you're on a space station, it's generally assumed that plants are being grown in a tightly controlled artificial environment. Humidity, "rain," light, nutrients, all of that under human (or at least sentient/sophont) control. It isn't expected to be a natural, thriving environment, and it's fairly small-scale. If you have some sort of space garden, it's generally either only plants or plants + some insects + small wildlife. A whole planet... man. Honestly a terrifying thought.

(You thought Silent Spring was bad)

(This is so much worse)

Also, what about fish? Is the whole ocean totally sterile? Are there even krill (or local equivalent)? Phytoplankton, I assume, would be around (also there's a scary thought about like the whole oxygen cycle wow), but... this is just a terrifying prospect for a world.

Oh, and coral! That's an animal, technically. Not really an edible one, but an animal nonetheless. Snails? Jellyfish? Detritivores? Anything to filter the water?

We have no reference for what this would look like. If they want to make a world like this, I'd say the best bet would be to imagine a world sanitized by fire and war and death and ecological omnicide and who-knows-what. Then, on the barren remains of the world-that-was, put a sentient/sophont species with a seed bank. Fern spores. Pollen and sprouts. Some great record of a sliver of the majesty that once was.

In the dust-filled deathworld, this remnant husk of what was once an emerald jewel, there is a structure, and in that structure, there is a person. They have a plot, they have nitrates, they have ammonium, they have potassium, they have phosphorus. They may have mycorrhize, if they're lucky. In that plot, they have a plant. Maybe a few. They save it all for replanting and propagation, and subsist off of freeze-dried rations made before the Happening. They are lucky to be alive.

The world outside is barren. There is nothing to hold together the topsoil. Anything that once was there has rotted and blown away (yay bacteria)(unless those are dead too). The Dust Bowl, on a scale of a world. The Sahara, in comparison, would be a fertile haven of life.

Recovery is slow. Plants, as they grow under the sheltered eye of humanity, decompose once again, cycling through generations as they build up organic matter, thick and lush and *whole*(it can never be whole, too much has been lost, the world will never, ever be the same). The structure expands. Nothing built before the Happening is sealed tightly enough to keep out the dust, microscopic in size as it is.

Coastal regions get some amount of moisture, from the fetid winds that blow off the heaving corpse-lungs of the ocean. Without zooplankton and other organisms to manage the growth of phytoplankton and algae, it is trapped in a cycle of explosion and eutrophication. Life survives in the deepest depths of the oceans, some think, though it, too, may be dead, suffocated by lack of oxygen. Without mollusks or corals or jellyfish or anything to filter the water, the upper layers are thick with rotting plant matter. Some of it sinks, some of it floats. It becomes nutritional matter for the next growth explosion, and that, too, will rot.

A garden is made, sheltered to the extent that it can be. Carefully-selected plants take root in the mulch of their ancestors. Rain is strange and violent, heaved against mountains by wind currents, which themselves are driven by the vast temperature differences of the unevenly-heated planet. There is no friction upon the ground to slow it down, excepting the husks of once-grand cities and their slowly-falling towers. Floods are frequent, in the places that do get rain. Drought prevails elsewhere. Even when rain falls, there is nothing to receive it but silt and clay and stone (and a few spare bacteria). Murky streams of water wind their way to the ocean. Inch by inch, plants come back. Nature will not return for a hundred million years. Until then, until some random quirk of genetics pushes organisms from microbial to sizable, who knows what will happen? If we are lucky, lichens and mosses remain in the great vault of humanity. If we are unlucky, every inch of un-desertification will take holes and effort and windbreaks and labor.

Basically the world kinda needs animals, at least through our understanding of it. Continents are big, and life as we know it has evolved in a web of give and take, push and pull, supply and demand. Without one half of that equation, it is a fundamentally different setup. Maybe algaes can be stable. Maybe they can't. I don't really know. I'd recommend looking into the hows-and-whys-and-whats of various extinction periods in Earth's history to get a better idea of how things happen. It won't capture a picture of what life without animals could look like, but hey, it's something.

Also, cannibalism (at least in humans) is generally only seen as a desperate measure for survival. Prion diseases are a genuine risk, along with whatever else may have killed the person. With how many plagues (and other afflictions) humans can carry, eating a dead person generally isn't worth the risk. Also also, human brains take a lot of protein. That can be obtained through non-animal needs, but it's less efficient (in terms of digestibility and protein density, not in terms of overall energy transformation efficiency of sunshine -> meal). If famine ever hits, a plant-only diet is far more vulnerable to starvation (in times of famine, fish have saved lives).

[xaeyrnofnbe]

been thinking reaaally hard about the tritons on mana. i’m making things up as i go but damnit this is fun (yes they’re naked. i didn’t want to bother covering them up with clothes. and i wanted to show off the markings n stuff. but realistically they would wear clothes.)

BASICALLY the idea i have is that a very long time ago tritons were split up into three main groups, the ones who live in the shallows, the ones who live in the open ocean, and the ones that live in the deepest depths available. (details, of which there are many, under the cut. oh and additional versions of the drawing) (do take a look if you can, i wrote a lot)

the shallows variant, living near islands in shallow kelp forests and in coral reefs (sometimes even inland lakes and rivers), were the smallest. a bit shorter than the average human, in fact. they came in bright green-blue colors with a vibrant and diverse array of brightly colored fins, webbing, and gills. they were also the most humanoid.

those in the open ocean lived just about wherever as long as it wasn’t too deep or too near the oversea, and were bigger than humans. averaging well over ten feet in height, and nearly double that if you include the tail. they came in darker blues accented with green, often mirroring the deep blues of their environment. they are most defined, however, by their slightly uncanny features. they lean a bit more towards fishiness than their little cousins.

and in the deepest, furthest reaches of the ocean, where hardly any sunlight reaches at all, are the biggest, and least humanoid breed of triton. they’ve gone by many names, colossals, poseidons, leviathan tritons, you get the idea. coming in dull blues and purples, but with dazzling displays in the form of bioluminescent markings, along with coral-like horns or antlers growing from their heads, suggesting draconic influence in centuries past. they are enormous, so big in fact, that because i’m not great at eyeballing measurements i’m leaving it up to the concept art i’ve done to show off just how big they are. once upon a time, they lived among the leviathans, oceanic gods of their time, truly colossal in nature. but they were just as advanced and intelligent as their relatives. they were also the earliest tritons, from which the rest are descended.

now, the leviathan tritons are gone. whether something killed them or if they simply vanished, it’s impossible to know for certain. but the two surviving variants put aside their differences and became one, and now modern tritons sit comfortably between the appearances of both their ancestors. and as for what remains of the leviathan variant? well, it’s less obvious, but some bloodlines of modern tritons still carry those magnificent flashing spots and stripes, and on occasion, an infant is born with budding, brightly colored horns that grow with them as they develop and age.

these horns are generally thought of as a sign of powerful magic, or of godly influence. it can skip generations, but is passed down nonetheless.

here are the unshaded version, and the sketch, of the drawing seen above (oh and. i completely forgot to give the Big Tritons hair. as an excuse let’s say this is a bald one, but they’d normally also have hair.)

[kuni-kuun]

hey uh, consider:

Dazai was an immortal. He thought that if lost the one he loved, he'd never be sworn to another and grieve for the rest of his life and yet- Over and over again, he'd keep finding reincarnations. Again and again, he experienced love and heartbreak. Painful, so incredibly painful, but he loved them. He did it anyways.

They could never remember him. Only a warm sense of familiarity, bits and pieces of past lives and fleeting memories. And yet, they'd always fall in love. Always.

The blond haired man with golden grey eyes, who loved to wear dark shirts and enjoyed the sunlight on his skin, and how he liked tea over coffee. Dazai knew him in and out, countless years of living with reincarnation after reincarnation, many many lives. He looked the same, every life. But his name would change, sometimes he had a beauty mark, sometimes he had teeth a little sharper than normal

Dazai found him again. The man was walking somewhere, a bag packed full of files sat on his shoulder.

In this life, he was wearing glasses. His golden hair was tied into a low ponytail, just like he always did. Dazai knew that this was him. Another lifetime, another him. The name was different, but the personality was the same.

The files on his shoulder were an indication of his job, he obviously worked for some kind of office. (sorry for the long post/ask lmao) also: some past life ideas? idk [a photographer named Masaru (last life)] He took each picture from his partner- his past lover, and looked them over. Each one was beautiful. He had never been to these places in this life, but he felt a strange pang of nostalgia. Pictures of the landscapes, of the mountains and oceans, of the fields and cities, of the shrines and the docks. Some of them had Dazai in them. Smiling, laughing, posing. Some were at his house. Not this life- but the past. He couldn't remember it at all, but it felt right at home. A longing for a home he never lived in.

[a band singer/guitarist (bcs band au rocks, last last last? life) named Kazuya] He flipped one of the photographs. The date was scrawled in pencil on the back. 1947. The photo was of Kunikida's birthday. The name on the cake read 'Kazuya'.

"A while back too..." "This must be from a second, maybe third lifetime ago." He looked closer at the background. A guitar lay in the corner, a drumset glimmered in the dim lighting. "A band?"

"You were quite the charmer, weren't you?" Dazai chuckles, thinking of how often Kazuya charmed his audiences with his music, voice and stage presence.

"... You had the crowd eating out of your hands at your concerts- they loved you."

anyways i am dumping stuff on you now (you don't have to do anything, i just like talking) (sorry again for bothering you) (there's so much text here you get a stroke) (i suffer from 'won't shut up' syndrome and i think that's why i have no friends) (i understand if you literally don't want to read this lmao)

OKAY the REAL reason why i havent gotten around to posting this ask is because I WANTED TO DRAW SOMETHING FOR IT 😭😭 BUT I NEVER GOT AROUND TO... I was so shocked whilw reading it i wanted to make something for it so badly but now it got buried ... ueueue im sorry

BUT ANYWAYS oh my GOODNESS ur writing. Im so. Woahf..the descriptions and the scenes you set up is so good wosg.. i have a bad track record w reincarnation aus bro the past ones i read made me CRY and break down anrd roll around i cant survive thjs one too . Whatevr . Im normal i

[disorganised-bagel]

hi, hello, i am very not normal, so here's which madilyn mei song(s) i think fit each rtc character the most

colour coded for your convenience :) and also i thought it looked pretty

constance - partner in crime. i think it very much gives pre-character-development ocean and constance vibes; "you do the talking, sew up my mouth if i can't keep it closed."

sheep in wolf's clothing could also fit, maybe? potentially?

noel - never the muse. "always the poet, never the poetry", etc etc, he longs to be tragic and stuff. i think it fits?

some lines from little long legs also work; "i wouldn't mind rain, or to only speak solely in poetry quotes or a dance, or a ticket to france"

jane - flesh and bone. i will never shut up about her with this song istg, it fits her so well!! "i wish to live outside this hollowed head of mine, did i exist if i was only ever thoughts?" it just!!

some lines from the chapel could also fit her potentially? "i'm missing a time that i've never known" and "i remember a song, i sung along, but how did it go?" kinda give me jane vibes, idk

ricky - dress like a pirate. instinct was to say the milk carton, because. cats. but i think this works too? the whole escapism/imagining sailing away from your life thing? as well as "don't wanna spread any hate or do much plundering to ya", because he's a lover not a fighter? idk

ocean - one man circus. it's currently unreleased, but i thought the snippet here fit her well enough? (that link doesn't really work but just click through the 'wips' highlights until you see the one that says 'one man circus' at the top)

i was honestly stumped for this one tbh. the hare verse of tho i'm a tortoise could also maybe work? idk. she was the hardest lol

edit: i think good ol' hollywood could also maybe fit her? it's also unreleased, but you can listen here. i feel like the "i had dreams of being something" and just. the whole vibe i think fits ocean? idk

misha - the milk carton. i was struggling to think of one for him, and also ik i said this one for ricky too, but i think this fits? "my brain is still at home, home's far away" and "i had it good, and yet i've left and can't retrace my steps" feel fitting enough? like, about how he left ukraine? idk

oh, oh, also let's be friends (reimagined) maybe? "we know we don't fit, but the screen seems like it could be home" kinda fits?? maybe?? idk please help me lol

[melaniedragon]

Idk why are people trying to make doing coke seem cool????

Anyways here are a list of things that happens to you while on coke :)

Do you want a cool septum piercing? Without infection? Well you can’t for long since your septum will rot away from it. Do you like the smell of nice candles? Fresh coffee? Bacon? Clean laundry? The air after it rains? The ocean? The smell of your newborn baby’s head or your grandmother’s last batch of cookies? Well, idk what to tell you. Because if you’re snorting up coke your sense of smell might go away eventually.

Do you like your teeth? Thats a damn shame. Because teeth falling out is one of the biggest side effects.

Do you want friends and family to trust you? Well too fucking bad because you been so into hard drugs you been stealing shit and frankly nobody wants to hangout with someone who steals shit for drugs.

Do you like having a sense of peace and not feel like someone is watching you 24/7? Welp that sucks for you. Paranoia is a huge side effect. And it doesn’t go away. You will need professional help with this.

Do you like feeling safe and not get beat up? Well idk what to tell you but coke can make you violent and you will get into fights. You will lose these fights.

Do you like the idea of being in jail? Oh you don’t like that idea? Well, that really is gonna suck for you. Because yeah, lots of people who do hard drugs get jail time for a number of reasons. It can because of having possession of drugs, it can also be because your paranoia got the best of you and you punched someone at walmart. It could be because your own best friend got sick of you stealing their stuff for drug money. Either way, there is a chance of you spending time in jail.

Do you want a job or go to school and actually succeed in life???? Too bad because you been too high to even go to school or work. And when you do get a job, you realize that stealing will actually give you more money so you end up getting fired for stealing.

Do you want to be able to quit? Thats a damn shame because if you don’t have the right resources and extensive therapy and a support system, then it’s going to be nearly impossible to get better. You can’t change over night. And when you do try to change for the better, it is going to be incredibly difficult.

Do you like having a roof over your head? Well that sucks because if you are using all of your money on coke, then you can’t pay rent. Your parents and your friends don’t want a cokehead in their home and they are afraid of you. You are very likely to become homeless.

Do you want to keep your asshole to yourself???? And not be passed around like a blunt to ugly disease infested men? And not become a victim to the horrors of trafficking? Well, I am sorry but people will sell your body around for coke.

Do you like being STD free? And free of blood borne illnesses? Well that sucks for you. Lots of people who are on hard drugs will get an STD of some sort. Especially if you become a victim of trafficking. If you inject drugs into yourself, you will probably get a blood borne illness.

Do you want to have kids? And kids without trauma? Well that sucks for you. Because yeah, nobody wants you to keep your children if you do coke. Actually knowing how desperate coke addicts get, your kid’s lives would be at risk. So no. Your kids won’t even remember your name by the time they hit adulthood. Or the ones that stayed with your coked up ass long enough will hate you and everything about you. You will never meet your grandchildren.

Do you want to live a long and healthy life full of good memories and surrounded by loved ones? That sucks man, because the life expectancy for a coke head is about 50.

Do you want a normal life? Well thats too bad because being addicted to hard drugs will literally ruin every single aspect of your life. Both physically and emotionally and financially.

You will lose the people who actually care about you.

You will get health issues that may not be reservable.

You will get used and abused by people who call themselves your friends. You this can be trafficking, it can be them making you sell it, it can be a lot of stuff. But your friends and romantic partners who allow this without any concern regarding your addiction do not care about you and will use this for their own benefit at some point.

Hard drugs are not a fun cute thing you just do on the weekends. It ruins lives. I’ve seen what it’s done to people with my own two eyes. It’s ugly and it is literally poison.

Please take care of yourself. Please seek help if you are struggling. This is not the life you want. This is not the life your loved ones want. This isn’t a life, this is going to be a nonstop struggle all the way to the end and frankly I don’t want this to happen to anybody at all.

[philosophiums]

I love violence and rage give me 6, 7, 24 and 25 fr jjk <333

hiiiiiiiiiiiii hina !! <3 i also love violence and rage!!

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

hhhhhh self shippers real answer though i don't think there's a specific ship that has really annoying fans? like are there ships i don't really care for yeah and therefore by default do i find those shippers annoying yeah but i have cultivated my online experience and therefore i don't see them JAHSVHSDV

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

gojo. good lord, gojo. i've been in a lot of fandoms and i've never seen fans hold the amount of unfiltered lust for a character as some (not a small number) jjk fans have for gojo. like.... an overwhelming amount of gojo art is a thirst trap or just straight up porn. and beyond that (worse than that, imo) the rabid gojo fans don't even care about like,,, his characterization.. what he means to the story.... anything like that. and it's such a wild swing from people who view him as a little princess twink or a fucking. yolked 6'4 dom top but like oh my goddddddd they're both wrong in such violently different and yet similar ways. and don't even get me started on the annoying ass mfers who spam the chapter tag on leak nights about him. christ. anyway. i don't truly hate gojo but the way fandom treats him and acts about him puts such a bad taste in my mouth that i've started to strongly dislike him as a pavlovian response

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

god i think just like. anything involving megumi is bound to bring up a whole ocean's worth of bad vibes. everyone has their own opinions on him and how the narrative handles him and despite those opinions varying from "he's worthless and stupid" to "he's amazing and should have been given more room to do stuff" everyone always ends up in such a pissy fucking mood when talking about him; the only difference is whether that negativity is directed at megumi himself or at gege. regardless, i am Tired Of It. i love megumi to death and the last thing i want is for him to turn into gojo junior wherein i start to hate him bc the fandom can't be fucking normal

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

god just everything about the last few chapters. like... we know. we know. everyone has said everything there is to say at least five times over and at this point it's just like...... if you are dissatisfied, write a fic. "i can't write" do it anyway. daydream. fucking. commission a fic writer. idk what else to tell you. this is not the first manga/anime/show to like... leave characters behind or leave areas of plot unexplored. that's where the fandom is meant to thrive. but jjk fandom hates being a community almost as much as it hates canon. i just don't understand the thought process here i really don't. imo, the more holes canon has, the more fics can be written, and the longer the fandom can continue to live and cultivate and thrive after canon ends. but this is straight up the worst fandom i've ever been in as far as community goes. the amount of attention fics get is horrifically low, and such a high percentage of art consumption seems to be based around sex appeal or like. weird self-shipping stuff. idk man i just Don't Get It and it's annoying. ...that veered hard to the left. anyway yeah all of the complaints about the last few chapters when there's literally only one chapter left. wait until it's don't before you bring out the guillotine. christ

hater hours ask game

[minecraftbookshelf]

ok so I know you’re writing and probably already thought of this but I’m case you didn’t: the differences in elven courting rituals and oceanic courting rituals, specifically when it comes to wedding gifts. if you have thought about this feel free to ignore but the way I see it

elves live a while,and probably know about the arranged marriages a decent amount of time before they happen, so in between wedding planning and normal life each half of the marriage is planning some extravagant amazing wedding gift like gardens of gold or giant tapestries and stuff like that

meanwhile ocean/swamp folk who don’t live as long probably have more personal gifts, even in arraigned marriages bc they’re still getting to know each other! but either way the gifts are more personal and specifically tailored to the other half

so keeping track we have Scott, panicking bc he has like zero time to plan a wedding and learn a language and make a wedding gift and so the necessary things for life in however little time he has, Jimmy, panicking bc he doesn’t know anything about scott, no one he knows knows anything about scott, and even when they finally meet scott isn’t exactly an open book! so Jimmy is trying to do the same things as scott (tjough his doesn’t need to be as extravagant) in addition to finding out who the hell he’s getting married to and also ruling a kingdom

AND (you thought I was done NO the adhdemons love this concept and filled the no-box fan void with fictional politics) you have Lizzie, Joel, Xornoth, and Iona, who also had to get gifts for each other

first I need you to know that I saw your url and had the immediate gut reaction of "oh same hat!" XD

Anywho

So courting traditions in general:

I don't have too much set in stone currently, lots of ideas and concepts though, because I'm half shaping the story around it and half shaping it around the story, because writing be like that (rip) but I do have a few things.

Rivendell is basically just Tolkein's elves partly isekai-ed into minecraft, lets be real. So I've yoinked the tradition from there of the bride-to-be's family gifting a jewel (usually of magical or historical or familial importance) to the groom-to-be as a sort of pre-dowry. Only because heteronormativity does not exist here it is usually a mutual exchange of gifts. Tapestries and other labor and skill intensive textile arts also play a role because of the importance of textiles in Rivendell culture (see the ask that I'm answering after this one for more details on that) And there is also just a general idea of "a demonstration of what you are bringing to the table" for the actual wedding exchange. Like the most intense and stressful art show where both your entire extended family and also your significant other/others's extended family will be judging it. (Exact form of art varies depending on the skills and interests of the elf in question; culinary, poetry, musical, metal working...the list goes on)

The Swamp has fewer actual universal traditions. Due to their recent (past few centuries) history they are basically two nations that mixed and mingled and also include a few different diasporas interspersed within them. Jimmy himself tends towards more Oceanic traditions, which include things like feats of bravery and provision. This will go both exactly as well as you think it will and genuinely very well. (Oceanic traditions tend towards dramatic and grand gestures and statements. Ability to protect and provide is a huge thing both in the Ocean and the Swamp.)

Also Jimmy absolutely panics and ends up asking a good dozen random citizens for advice.

You also have the added layer of this specific instance being an arranged marriage (which isn't especially unusual) between two empires (which is wildly unusual at their social level) That custom is, in fact, purely an Oceanic one. (Which is why Joel and Lizzie were the previous example)

Most/all of the other Empires don't tend to intermarry their royals because enough Empires don't use familial succession models that it renders it fairly unstable as an alliance technique. There's more context for the Oceanic take on it but that is a whole nother post/will be in the fics explicitly.

The point of all this is that both parties are kind of stressed and trying to figure out how to compromise/accommodate while not really having a fully applicable framework for this situation (on Rivendell's part.)

Rivendell barely has interacted with the other empires for generations let alone married them.

Xornoth and Iona actually had it fairly easy, outside figuring out how to navigate the religious minefield that is Xornoth's entire existence. It was a very matter of fact, business like courtship that Scott and Iona ran with all the stringent focus of a military operation (which it basically was) and not even Xornoth's tendency towards chaos could really do much in the face of that.

In the context of like, personal gifts Joel and Lizzie actually got off really easy because by the time they got married-married they'd technically been married for several years already.

[hopusthechaosbun]

AU Time, AU Time!!

This AU has quite a few alterations! The main ones are included here, but there'll be more noticable ones that will come later!

- King Koopa has custody of his kids and isn't an asshole! (Wowie!)

- The Koopalings are MUUUUUCH younger and their age order is different

- SPECIES SHIFT, SPECIES SHIFT, SPECIES SHIFT-

- The Broodals live on Earth

- Peasley and Toadstool aren't avalailable for asks in this AU because their kingdoms don't like Koopas

And before I get to the juicy stuff, I'd like to provide inspo credit!!

Character designs:

@spontaneouskoopalingblog

@koopakidsandstuffs

Backstory:

@nrcy-d0-deactivated20231105

Okay, les gooooo!

Koopa Species & World Geography:

This map is a good reference point for where the countries are and the diversity of environments in this world. There are many species of Koopa depending on the environment:

Sky Koopas: High altitudes, in the sky (Sky Land, Cloud Kingdom, Mengeruine Clouds)

Sea Koopas: Warmer oceans / lakes (think near the islands, beaches, and Lake Kingdom)

Sand Koopas: Any desert (Layer Cake Desert, Sand Kingdom

Pirahna Koopas: Pipe Land

Snow Koopas: Very cold areas (Ice Land and Snow Kingdom)

Rock Koopas: Mountainous regions (Rock Candy Mines

Jungle Koopas: Soda Jungle

Grass Koopas: Standard, normal Koopas. Found just about everywhere

This guide also applies to the Koopa Kids, as they follow the Koopa species.

These species give each of the Koopalings (& Kids) quirks. (Except Cheatsy and Larry.)

Sky Koopas (Ludwig & Bully) have wings and hollow bones. As babies, Sky Koopas use a humming bird's wing pattern to fly.

Sea Koopas (Wendy & Kootie Pie) have gills and fins that make them EXCELLENT swimmers.

Jungle Koopas (Iggy) and climb and camoflauge, as well as easily tear through bark to eat tree bugs. (Iggy had to break a habbit of eating ants.)

Sand Koopas (Big Mouth and Roy) have many spikes to avoid being eaten. They also take on a reddish-brown colour to blend in with desert rocks when hunting. They have great digging ability, so they can chill under the sand during the scorching day. The varients of Sand Koopas have different tails, such as rattle snake (Big Mouth) and scorpion (Roy). Oh, also, they're venomous! And scorpion Sand Koopas can sting :3

Rock Koopas (Morton) are Desert Koopas evolved to climb mountains and fight others to become king of the hill to get the best (limited) vegetation. Their most notable feature is their horns.

Snow Koopas (Lemmy, Hip & Hop) are furry and get very weak in the heat. They also love fish. They tend to purr when happy, and often knead. Like cats, they have retractable claws.

Pirahna Koopas (Kooky) are known as the "freaks" of Koopas because they act the most feral. They bite, have cloroplast in their tail, have odd coloured eyes... The rumours have been that they're merges of Pirahna Plant and Koopa, but it was actually evolution slowly turning Pipeland Koopas into partial pirahna plants.

Koopalings

The koopalings JUST got adopted by Bowser. Their age order (oldest to youngest) goes Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy, Larry. (This is a reference.) They all have separate parents (except for Ludwig & Roy, as they're twins) that passed away in some horrific accident. (I love giving my characters trauma! <3) Their ages go as such:

Larry -> 4

Wendy -> 5

Roy & Ludwig -> 7

Lemmy -> 9

Morton -> 10

Iggy -> 12

They all take magic lessons from Kamek, and designed their wands to their liking. (Morton was TOLD to not make a hammer, but he didn't care.) Due to PTSD, they can be hostile, jittery or distressed at points for seemingly little or no reason. They try to adjust to their new life as royalty.

Koopa Kids

King Koopa keeps custody of his kids in this AU! Many koopas from all over the world volunteered to birth the king's children, but once they lounged around to get enough luxury items, they left. Bully was born paralysed from the waist down, but when unable to use his wheelchair, he gets around by flying. Also, Cheatsy is trans in this AU, but unlike the main world, King Koopa is fully supportive of his younger princess. (She dresses like Kootie Pie, but in hues of blue.) The only mother that still bothers to visit is Kooky's mother, who is much the opposite of Pirahna Koopa stereotypes and often comes to calm her son. The Koopa Kids age order is as follows:

Bully -> 14

Kootie Pie -> 11

Big Mouth -> 9

Kooky -> 7

Cheatsy -> 6

Hip & Hop -> 3

Broodals

The Broodals are a mafia gang! Madame Broode (called Mama Broode) is the mother figure and leader (as well as the birth mother of Hariet). Hariet is uninterested in joining the gang, and Mama Broode respected her wishes by getting an apartment near a wealthy school so Hariet could study and "become anything she wanted to make Mama proud". Meanwhile, Mama Broode took orphaned boys into her gang, including

Topper, an abandoned bun with a lazy eye and a stutter

Spewart, an aggressive and protective older brother mourning the recent death of his parents and coping with homelessness

Rango, a non verbal child trying to comprehend everything.

Their ages go:

Topper -> 8

Hariet -> 16

Spewart -> 12

Rango -> 3

And there you have it!!

Everyone I listed is open for asks!!

I waited so long for this, oh good golly-

It's 1am for me now though! Bedtime!