#lydia fu

[thebutcher-5]

Tremors 4 - Alle origini della leggenda

Benvenuti o bentornati sul nostro blog. Nello scorso articolo abbiamo continuato con l’animazione, portando avanti un’altra piccola maratona che trovo alquanto divertente e simpatica, arrivando al suo secondo capitolo, Hotel Transylvania 2. Il Conte Dracula ha aperto il suo hotel agli umani e Mavis e Jonathan si sono sposati. Poco tempo dopo Mavis dà alla luce il piccolo Dennis e, quando si…

[vanbredevoort]

Anonymous asked: Mistress van Bredevoort, Imagine there's a terrible fire in the building, and you have enough time to save only one thing or one person. What would you choose - your master or an original of "The Starry Night Over the Pontar"? unprompted / always accepting!

“The world’s most beautiful painting could be turned to dust and I wouldn’t care. Every piece of art in this reality and others can be torched into nothingness and I still wouldn’t move a muscle. The greatest book. The most impressive sculpture. A mastercrafted building. The most heartfelt love letter. Nothing.”

There was no shame as she spoke. No second guessing, no doubts, no internal turmoil of guilt gripping at her throat. Her eyes said nothing, but the void there in itself was enough to tell a story.

“But it’s not just art. Flames could kiss the continent and burn everything in its walk and I still wouldn’t give a damn. Everyone could perish, suffer and wail in pain—it’s not them per se, I have no hatred for the world. I would rip myself apart into pieces with my own hands and sew myself back together, if it is what it took”, taking a deep breath, she spoke then without pausing between words, “Cattle, crops, humans, elves, monsters, art, nature, houses, civilization, kings, beggars, warriors, heroes, villains, cures, diseases, knowledge, beauty, mountains, destiny, life. Deserving and undeserving, the guilty and the innocent, sentient or not, willing or unwilling, it doesn’t matter. At all. There is no such thing as a price I’m not willing to pay. There is nothing I wouldn’t be willing to do. Nothing.”

A smile. A broken one. An honest one.

“I would kill everything to see him smile. I’d taint everything that is sacred if it meant his safety. I would set myself on fire should he need a light, feed his demons with my own flesh for him to have peace. Had I the power to do so, I would destroy the whole world to make him happy”, she meant it, every single word, “If everything must suffer and perish for him to be safe, then so be it. Anything else is… inconsequential. When compared to HIM— everything means nothing.”

[incorrect-teenwolf-quotes]

Jackson: So… I’ve seen you’ve been spending a lot of time with Allison recently.

Lydia: No, Jackson, it's not what it looks like, I swear.

Jackson: Oh really? So no reason for me to be jealous?

Lydia: No! You’re the only one for me.

Jackson: Is that so?

Lydia: I promise! Allison and I are just dating, okay? She's just my girlfriend.

Jackson: So there are no best-friends-feelings involved?

Lydia: You are still my one and only best friend! She's just the love of my life, nothing more!

Jackson: But I’m still the platonic love of your life, right?

Lydia: Of course bro!

Jackson *tearing up*: Bro...

Allison: What the fu-

[christinesficrecs]

Lost fics. Any help would be appreciated! ❤️

...

Hi! I'm looking for a fic that was based on Léon The Professional, though Stiles was older than Mathilda. Derek was the hitman, and Stiles's family had been murdered. If I remember correctly, Isaac and Scott had been his little brothers.

Would you be able to put your finger on this fic? "stiles has magic and he made a deal with a powerful witch to protect beacon hills, but it supposedly took away his love for derek in the process (or maybe Derek made the deal), except that he's growing a garden to break the spell" My google-fu is failing me. I know I've read it before, but going through my history is a month-long endeavor! I think Derek is a deputy and he keeps running into Stiles and it's not clear what has happened between them at first. I think Stiles is referred to as a hedge witch at some point? que tu m’aimais encore by magneticwave | 19.9K Wolves mate for life, don’t they?

I think this fic has been deleted off ao3 and I'm very sad. De-aged Derek. He and Stiles become a couple. Stiles ends up a human alpha of the entire pack. (TBH it's rather porny and there's voyeur/exhibition) and there's a lake house or beach house. Eventually Derek goes back to regular Derek.

Hi! Bit of a long one: there's this fanfic that is uncompleted, where Stiles was in the Hale House when he saw a crystal ball (??) on the floor, got down low to grab it and fell through the floor, waking up in the past. He met teenage Derek in a diner with Laura, started talking to them, and decided to protect Derek from Kate before he ever met her. Derek is a lifeguard at the lake where Stiles goes to monitor him and there was a scene where Derek lapped the lake to impress Stiles. Stiles also squats in the Stilinski House to survive and Sheriff doesn't know who he is. Do you know the fic? I've been looking for it for forever

Hi! I have been trying to find a teen wolf and marvel cross over fic. It’s where I believ Tony stark and Claudia where best friend growing up and fell in love. And then she gets pregnant with his baby(aka stiles). Stiles finds out from a bunch of letters but keeps it to himself until I believe Tony get captured and goes missing for months.( iron man 1). Then he goes into a depression and won’t eat or anything until the day Tony is found. Also involves when aliens attack and stiles freaks out again and makes it his mission to go to New York and meet him. Hidden Truths by Harmonious113 | 212.4K | WIP Claudia Stilinkski always did her best to hide the truth from her family-her past, her family, the boy she couldn’t quite seem to let go of- to spare John and Stiles from the heartbreak. Stiles finds a trunk of letters and pictures unearthing the truth. His father is Tony Stark.

It was a Teen Wolf Sterek fic, an au with magic. Claudia either adopted stiles or was his bio mom and pretended to adopt him, but stiles had a familiar who constantly turned into dead grotesque bodies and the only person who accepted them fully (and laughed at the familiar being gruesome) was laura. laura dies somehow and derek comes in. I think laura and stiles were partners for the magic things law enforcement? I remember that they thought stiles might have killed laura/tried to pin it on him, but after lauras death derek takes over as stiles' partner. I remember one scene with lydia and maybe heather and stiles with candles? I'm pretty sure both lyds and stiles lived with claudia. by the end of the fic the familiar sacrifices itself to save stiles and his friends from the argents, and I'm pretty sure there's a scene where ally defects from her aunt/grandpa. (There's) Sulphur in Our Blood by WonderWolf | 210.9K | Explicit | WIP Secret Agent AU where Derek blames Stiles for his sister’s death and Stiles is pretty sure that Derek’s going to murder him. As if that weren’t enough to deal with, Stiles’ familiar keeps having public breakdowns

Hi Team! Hoping the community can come through on finding two fics... First one - Stiles gets a stressful job in IT (poss in San Fran?) and starts hallucinating rich Derek drinking posh coffee in NYC. After several hallucinations of Derek being all "you really need a new job," it turns out that Derek is real, is an alpha, and Stiles is fated to be his emissary. The Sun to Rise by andavs | 7.5K Stiles has an imaginary friend. He's kind of a dick.

Second one - (which may have been deleted from AO3) is a canon divergent S1 AU. It hits the beats of S1 but instead Scott doesn't hesitate when Derek offers him the chance to kill Peter and possibly reverse the bite. Scott kills Peter and is human again. The main thing I remember is after the fact, Stiles visits Derek at the burned down Hale house and says something like "it's like none of it really happened." And Derek levels him with a sour wolf look and says "it happened." Timshel by jsea | 12.5K Derek lets Scott kill Peter for the cure at the end of S1. This is the story of how that choice changes everyone's fate. "Sir, you should know..." Derek starts to say, then snaps his mouth closed when the Sheriff takes one hand off the steering wheel, and holds it up in a halting gesture. "You're not a bad kid, Derek." "I'm a werewolf," Derek says, before he can think about it. For the first time in his life the word feels dirty, like something to be ashamed of. It makes him feel like a little kid again, using a curse word without understanding what it means.

I can't remember if it was a steter or sterek fic. It's a short humourous fic where Stiles has an injury but he was adamant that bandaids could fix it and it was at least a six inch long-ass gash or something. If this sounds familiar to anyone? Thanks!

Looking for a fic where I don’t remember much just Isaac coming home to Derek trashing the loft and saying something like “I just saw stiles, he reeks of sex” then it cut scene to something else. I don’t think it was a king fic but I could be wrong. Thank you so much in advance Noticed by forestofbabel | 35.1K Stiles left on a Tuesday. Nobody Noticed.

[thevegandarkelf]

Finding Myself, Finding You: Chapter Twenty-Three

Masterlist

AO3 link

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist <3 (18+ only, MDNI)

Story is 18+ for mature content/themes, minors do not interact please

TW/CWs for this story--implied/referenced past rape, canonical violence, non-canonical violence, blood, gore, referenced past suicide, swearing, surgery, excessive drinking, nightmares, panic attacks, mention of scars, vomiting, amputation, medical procedures, non-con medical procedures, referenced past medical torture, referenced past drugging, attempted sexual assault, panic attacks, mental health struggles, referenced sibling death, referenced parent death, PTSD

Each chapter will have its own TW/CWs listed

This story, Lydia Vector, her family, her bestie, and Jake (c) me, TheVeganDarkElf

TWD & its characters (c) AMC & Robert Kirkman, the writer of the comic series

TW/CWs for this chapter--swearing, aftermath of attempted sexual assault, an absolute POS making asinine and untrue claims about Daryl, discussion of nightmares

Word count: 2.6k

I pulled my shirt off over my head and balled it up, holding it to my nose and tilting my head forward. Sure, I could've looked for a towel so I wouldn't be essentially topless, but I didn't care. I was already out in front of nearly the whole community with my shirt open. What else did I have to lose?

It was just me alone in that infirmary for what felt like ages. I could hear a myriad of different voices outside, yelling changing from Rick's voice to Daryl's to Maggie's. It sounded like there was a physical altercation, which if my guess was correct, was Rick having to restrain Daryl from going down to the cell and opening a can of whoop-ass on Jake. Rick said he would tell Daryl what happened, but Rick only knew so much. I was going to have to be the one to tell Daryl what Jake was saying about him.

The sound of the infirmary door opening startled me and nearly had me jumping out of my chair.

"Hey." The soft sound of Daryl's voice graced my ears once again, and my body almost immediately started to relax. It had only been three days, but in my mind, it had been years since I'd heard that sweet Southern accent. "Ya ok?" I didn't look up right away, but I could hear him pulling another chair up across from me and taking a seat. He pulled himself forward so his legs were on either side of mine. He took my hand, which wasn't holding my shirt to my face, and interlocked it with his, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. I didn't even care that I was shirtless. I needed this human with me, and there he was.

"It's good to hear your voice," I said through shaky sobs.

"The hell happened?"

"Rick said he'd tell you," I explained, my voice muffled through the crop top against my mouth, "did he not do that?"

"Wanna hear it from ya," he said, "figure there's gotta be more."

I took a deep breath and adjusted the shirt on my nose before I continued. It felt like the bleeding was finally starting to let up. I lifted my head a little and peered up over the shirt to meet his gaze.

"Y'know that blonde who always does gate duty? Jake?" He nodded, and I could see the vein in his neck starting to protrude, like just the mention of Jake's name was sending him into a fit of rage. "Well, he came in when I was alone, claimed he had some medical question to ask me about, but only after he..." I hesitated, debating whether or not I wanted to tell Daryl what Jake said about him because I knew it would make him feel awful. “He said some terrible things about you, Daryl. Terrible lies. I kept telling him to leave, but he just wouldn't." I lowered my gaze, unable to meet Daryl's eye contact as shame flooded my body. "Then he said he was having a "dysfunction" that he needed my help with and started grabbing his junk. I held my knife at him, told him he had one chance to walk out, and I thought he was going to, until—"

My voice caught in my throat, a sob escaping instead. Daryl's hand squeezed mine. "He fucking lunged at me and tore my shirt. I pinned him against the wall with a scalpel, threatened to cut his spinal cord so he'd never be able to walk again. He finally left after I threatened him, but then he pulled me outside and punched me in the nose. Shit was bleeding all over the place. Hurts like a bitch, but it's not broken." I raised my eyes again to meet Daryl's. "Don't worry though. I broke his."

"Atta girl," Daryl praised, raising his other hand to the one on my face, "lemme see." I sat up straight and gently lifted my shirt from my nose, wincing a bit in pain as the shirt separated from some of the dried blood. "Vec, how come ya don't got a shirt on?" he asked, sounding worried as he immediately took off his jacket and handed it to me to put on. I un-balled the crop top in my hands and held it out to him, revealing how bad the tear was.

"He nearly tore it in half," I choked out as tears threatened to make their way down my face again. Daryl averted his eyes as I slipped his jacket on and zipped it nearly all the way up, not all the way so that I could clean the blood on my chest and collarbone. I tossed my shirt to the ground, not caring where it landed. It was a biohazard now as far as I was concerned. "He fucking tried to..." My voice was trailing off. I couldn't form the words.

The heat from the fury radiating off of Daryl's body was palpable. He was doing his best to keep his voice and demeanor soft, like he wasn't nearly foaming at the mouth in anger. He knew that's what I needed. He placed a hand under my chin, tilting my head up and back, then side-to-side, examining my injury.

"Looks like it stopped bleedin'," he said. He got up and grabbed a small towel from somewhere in the room before pulling me back in my chair to the sink. He grabbed his own chair and did the same, pulling it around to my side. "Let's get ya cleaned up."

"I can do it," I protested as he ran the towel under warm water and started working at my chin with it.

"I know ya can," he agreed, "but I want to."

"Probably gonna need more than one towel," I said, feeling the dried blood cracking when I stretched my mouth, "feels like there's a lot."

Daryl worked at my chin, mouth, and cheeks with the towel, pressing as gently as he could while still using enough pressure to get the blood off. I winced a couple of times when he got a little too close to my nose, and he looked like he felt awful for even a small accident like that. I know I said that I could get myself cleaned up, but I loved Daryl doting on me like this. His thumb running across my bottom lip, though separated by a towel, felt nice, I won't lie. I just wished it was in a different context.

Once he got my face, Daryl looked at me, as if he was asking permission to move to my neck. I nodded and tilted my head to make my skin taut. The tears were escaping once again, burning my skin as they cascaded down.

"I'm such an idiot," I said under my breath, hoping Daryl wouldn't notice. But he did. He always did.

"Why ya say that?" he questioned, continuing to work at my skin with the utmost care.

"Because—" my voice caught in my throat again, "because I knew something would happen. I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach from the moment he walked in the room. I should've just left, but I didn't." Stills from my nightmares flashed through my mind like a flip book. "I know better than to ignore a gut feeling."

"Ain't your fault what happened," Daryl reassured, taking one of my hands in his free one and giving it a light squeeze, "I know that's how it feels, and I know it was real scary. But don't go blamin' yaself for it. Ain't your fault some jackass can't keep his hands to 'imself."

I stifled another sob. "I feel gross. Like I wanna peel my skin off."

"Anything that'd help that don't involve mutilatin' yaself?"

"Taking a shower in bleach."

"We'll get ya a shower when we're home. But no bleach," Daryl insisted. There were a few beats of silence before Daryl asked his next question. The question I'd been dreading. "What'd that asshole say 'bout me?"

I bit the inside of my bottom lip and scratched at my thumb with my index finger. I debated whether or not I would actually tell him what Jake said. "Lies. Accused you of something awful."

"How come ya won't just say what he said?" he asked.

"He said horrible things about you, Daryl," I reiterated, "tried to get me to question my trust in you."

"Goddamnit Vec, what'd he say?" The immediate regret set in on his face as I flinched slightly, his tone catching me by surprise. This was the first time Daryl had ever raised his voice at me, ever spoken to me with anything less than the most sweet and tender tone. While it did sting, I understood.

"I can't...l can't say it," I said. The words tasted bitter, sour, and I couldn't bring myself to say them out loud.

"Can ya write it?" Daryl asked. He took my notebook and pen off the infirmary table beside him and handed them to me.

"Just know I never believed him for a second," I emphasized.

I hesitantly nodded and flipped to a random blank page somewhere in the back. I spelled out the words, slowly and with a shaky hand as I feared what would happen next. Mostly, I feared how it would make him feel, how it would hurt him. I handed the book back to him slowly, twirling my pen in my fingers in anticipation. I watched his eyes scan over the words, the vile accusation.

He said you've been bragging to people about sleeping with me when I was passed out drunk.

I could see the hurt spreading across his face. The corners of his mouth dropped, and there was a sadness in his eyes I'd never seen before. That sadness quickly turned to anger. His fingers curled around the edges of my notebook like he was balling his hands into fists. It shook ever so slightly in his hands before his fingers uncurled, and he set my notebook back on the table. I could see him swallowing his rage, suppressing it because he knew, in that moment, that I needed him, and he needed to contain his anger for the time being.

Once I was ok though, I knew Jake would be in for a whirlwind of pain. Poor bastard had no idea what was coming.

"Vec..." His voice was somber, and I could hear the hurt dripping off it, "I'd never do anythin' that would hurt ya. Nothin' with even a chance of that." He went quiet for a moment. "I care 'bout ya too much."

"I know that. He was just trying to get to me," I assured, "I told you, I never believed him for a second. Just got really angry that he would try to tarnish your name like that. Jesus, I'm so sorry."

"Why ya apologizin' to me?" He had taken another towel and soaked it with warm water, and he was continuing to clean the dried blood off my neck.

"For telling you. I mean, it's about you, so you have the right to know, but I knew it would be painful, and I'm sorry for that," I said.

"You're all I'm worried 'bout," he reassured, "'ll deal with that prick later."

"If Rick lets you anywhere near the building, that is," I said. He got the last of the blood off my neck and rang the towel out in the sink.

"Would ya be uncomfortable if I got ya collarbone?" he asked, and I shook my head. I popped the collar of his jacket back a bit for easier access.

"Real sorry for raisin' my voice at ya," Daryl said as he continued to clean me off, "feel bad 'bout that."

"It's alright. I understand," I replied before a small smirk crossed my lips, "just don't make a habit of it. I'll bite back if I have to."

"Feel bad for leavin' too."

"You don't have to be sorry for that. You were just doing your job."

He shifted his chair back in front of me, working on the other side of my collarbone. "Feel bad cause ya clearly didn't sleep much while I's gone."

It had been almost impossible to sleep while Daryl was away. Knowing I would fall asleep only to wake up on the floor, scared and alone and having to deal with the aftermath of my crystal-clear nightmares by myself...I couldn't handle it. I saw his fucking face every time I closed my eyes. It was only when I hit the point of unimaginable exhaustion that I was able to sleep, and even then, it never went undisturbed. I knew the dark circles under my eyes were intense, and they were only being emphasized more by the bruising from my injury.

"I guess the dark circles are more obvious than I thought," I sighed, "I slept like twice maybe, one of which was a nap in the middle of the day. I can't even think about that right now."

"We can talk 'bout that later," he replied, "we got an ice pack at home?"

"I don't think so," I said, "I thought I saw some around here. They're these instant packs that you break and they get cold."

Daryl finished cleaning off my collarbone and handed the towel to me. "Probably wanna get the rest yaself." I got up and stood in front of the sink, standing a bit on my tiptoes to get my chest in view of the mirror. I unzipped the jacket a bit more, just enough to get the blood off. Daryl started rummaging around for some ice packs.

"So how was your trip?" I asked as I started to clean myself off.

"Fine, I guess. Dunno why they keep sendin' that one guy. Always damn near gettin' 'imself killed," he explained. He rifled through another drawer before slamming it closed.

"Which guy?"

"Don't care to know his name. Nearly stepped into traps twice this time. Gonna get killed if he don't watch out."

I giggled a little and examined my chest, making sure I got all the dried blood off before zipping the jacket back up. I turned to face Daryl. "Well, I'm glad you're back. I missed you."

He turned to me, and a small smile tugged at the corners of his stoic mouth. "Missed ya too."

After another minute of searching, Daryl pulled something out of a cabinet. "These what we lookin' for?" he asked, giving a gentle underhand throw to send one of them my way. I caught the pack in my hand and examined it.

"Yeah, these are it. A couple should be fine. Just be careful not to break them yet," I instructed. I grabbed my notebook and pen off the table and followed Daryl outside, the sound of his crossbow clattering against the door echoing in the small room.

It was dark now, and it appeared people had started going to sleep given that many houses were dark. I looked up at the sky, which didn't have a single cloud in it, giving the stars a chance to really shine. Looking up at the stars always reminded me of my dad. I hoped that wherever he was, whether that be up in space or somewhere on Earth, he was ok.

Daryl's arm bumped me lightly, and his hand interlocked with mine. "This good?" he asked, stroking my thumb with his. My heartbeat was picking up, and my knees felt weak in the best way.

"Yeah. Real good," I responded. We walked back home like that, hand-in-hand. Yet another moment that would've been more romantic had the evening's earlier events not happened and I not felt like such garbage.

Taglist: @raddydaddydude @lovenormandixon

[potatoidunno]

gojo when he games with you: skyrim edition

let's be clear, it's his save file and you don't get to play without him there

main questline avoidant

civil war questline avoidant

...generally quest avoidant???

yells "FUS RO DAH" when he uses limitless irl

offs lydia on sight

shameless sneak archer abuse

quotes "honest pay for honest work" as an excuse to eat the food he 'helps' you make

thinks it's hilarious to loot (i.e. strip) all the corpses and fling them around like ragdolls

sometimes wakes you up in the morning so, so sweetly, whispering "do you get to the cloud district very often?"

dark brotherhood is his favourite faction to play through

him 🤝 cicero

ABSOLUTELY WOULD DO THE CANNIBAL QUEST

thinks it's the funniest shit when the shopkeepers come running and looking for him if he crouches out of sight

doesn't blink an eye if nonessential followers die

doesn't save often and sulks when he dies to a giant and loses 45 minutes of progress

would rather spend 15 minutes slowly climbing a mountain (ahem glitching up the wall) than to go around and take the path (he's stubborn)

ridiculously high bounty in windhelm (specifically...?)

banished to the couch for two nights after (jokingly) killing paarthurnax (he reloaded a save but you're still mad)

always 1 item away from max carry weight

keeps the skeleton key

72 cheese wheel hoarder

looks into mods that let him attack children after being insulted one too many times

[some-stars]

i have my askbox closed rn bc of the scam spam so @petralemaitre sent me this meme directly:

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love 💞

i have 62 to choose from but honestly i already know what my favorite 2 things i've ever written are so this will be fairly quick.

A quite unlosable game (dark angel, alec/max, alec/various): this is it! this is the favorite! it's my most beloved show of all time and i had Things to Say and it took me ten years (off and on) but i did say them! very well! i started it in 2008 so my memories are vague but i wrote it pretty much in order--the first idea i had was the almost-pubescent X5s being lectured on how their hormones were going to be manipulated. it was a science fiction story for me, before anything else, because it's a science fiction show that didn't get a chance to explore SO much of the juiciest most interesting concepts it put forth. and it was also me thinking about how the show at first fumbled, then did SO right by the eye-rollable "max goes into heat" concept. like when it comes up in the second episode it's treated completely as a joke, but when it happens again at the end of the first season--when we've bought in to the basic premise and established trust--it's treated as the terrible, sad violation that it is. so i thought, well, how could i pursue that thread further? and. so. yeah. love this story forever, best thing i ever wrote, does exactly what i wanted it to do and does it almost perfectly.

The absolute absurdity of end-series items (house of leaves): my other favorite thing i've ever written! i don't think this is quite as perfectly executed, but it's pretty close, and certainly no one else has done it better so that makes it successful by default. house of leaves is one of my favorite books of all time and i have SO many thoughts about it and all the things that it DOES. some of which the culture at large has acknowledged and much of which i've never seen anyone else talk about, the latter specifically being how rich and welcoming it is to feminist interpretations. which i could never manage to write the essay about that i wanted to, but it's all just in this fic instead.

children's work (the witcher, geraskefer): gonna cheat and put the whole series. it's kind of hard for me to love this one because i can see ALL the seams, especially in the second and third stories where i was trying so many new things as a writer and flailing around so much. but taken as a whole it's the longest single work i've ever created, and the response to it utterly blew me away. people loved this series, so so so much, it's been four years and i kind of still can't process it. this is the story that i think about when i feel like i've never had any kind of effect on the world and nothing i've ever done mattered to anyone. because this series made a lot of people very happy, and that's nice. (also i LOVE when i can come into a fandom and write something that nobody's done before. it boosts my ego like crazy. not that the concept of the fic itself is original--i lifted a LOT of the emotional beats from an extremely good SPN fic i read way back in the day--but no one had done a serious take on it in witcher fandom yet.)

felt it in my fists (teen wolf, allison/lydia): i was Deep into this show for like half of one summer, but i hated (and continue to hate) sterek so there was not a lot on offer for me. but there was femslash! idk, i just really like this story and it's special to me for reasons i can't really identify.

put on the red light (deadpool & wolverine): i don't necessarily like this MORE than my other fics in the fandom but i do feel like it's different and therefore special. it's very rare for me to write explicit high-key emotional conflict and fighting, bc it tends to give me bad anxiety, but MAN i loved writing the big screaming fight in this one. they both fully believe they're breaking up because the other one betrayed them in the most painful way imaginable, and it's awful, and i love it.

im not gonna send the meme to anyone else but if you are reading this please consider yourself tagged!

[hungwy]

A little etymology journey starting from Bugaeva's Handbook of the Ainu Language:

Inasa ([Japanese place name]) < Ainu inaw-san ‘the place where inaw [are offered]’. Attested in: MYS 14.3429.

She further describes it:

Direction of borrowing: Ikegami (1980) has made a detailed investigation of inaw (SA) ‘shaved wooden offering’. The inaw is the most fully developed in the Ainu culture. Among the Nivkh and the Tungus ethnic groups, only the shaved portion without a shaft is used. In the Uilta culture and the Nivkh culture in the southern areas, inaw with a wooden shaft are used, but considering the distribution, this is under influence from the Ainu culture.

I looked up what inaw/inau are, because clearly this is an Ainu religious concept, which Wikipedia has a page on. The page gives the following etymology from Toshirou's 「サハリンの言語世界 :　 単語借用から見る」:

The word inau appears to be a loanword from other languages in the region, probably the Orok language of Sakhalin (cf. Orok illau &lt; *ilawun). It is most likely ultimately related to Manchu ila-l ᡳᠯᠠᠮᠪᡳ (ila-mbi) "to blossom" and ilhal ᡳᠯᡥᠠ "flower." The Nivkh word inau ~ nau is most likely a loanword from the same Manchu-Tungus source via Ainu [...] ."

According to Ikegami's "Remarks on the origin of the Ainu word inaw", the Orok/Uilta word illau is likely derived from *ilawun -- a verb stem *ila- and a "substantive-forming suffix *-wun which means instrument, etc." Supposedly *ilawun refers to "a stick which puts forth flowers" (weird translation), and it would make sense for *ila- to be similar to Manchu ila-l "to blossom" -- or a "blooming stick" in reference to the long shavings that hang off the tip of the stick/staff. Whenever the ritual wood-shaving stick was loaned(?) into Ainu culture the term for it came along bearing that exact meaning. I'd be interested to see some comparative religion stuff between Orok/Uilta and Ainu use of the inau.

And while Japanese Shinto has similar 'stick with droopy things on top' things going on (the oonusa and the gohei) -- an interesting question arises about how Shinto might relate to Ainu religion in that way -- it seems at least according to Bugaeva that the Ainu concept of the inaw only survives in Japanese as the place-name Inasa. My Google-fu only leads me to Inasa, Shizuoka and Mount Inasa in Nagasaki. There are several mid-Honshu locations with suspected Ainu placenames so Shizuoka's Inasa makes sense as an Ainu etymology. However, Mount Inasa (稲佐山) is probably just from some relation to rice (稲 ine), and I don't think there's any evidence the Ainu ever went as far South as Nagasaki.

The more interesting direction to me is Ainu into Nivkh. Proto-Nivkh borrowed the Ainu word *inaw as "ritual staff" (sourced from Wiktionary but ultimately from Fortescue's Comparative Nivkh Dictionary). I'm not sure if that is supposed to be a specific ritual staff (in this case an inaw-shaped one) or just any staff used in a ritual. Fortescue lists *inaw as "ritual staff (shaman's) [made of a bunch of wood shavings, an Ainu word -- cf. Black 1973: 12]".

That citation by Fortescue is Lydia Black's "The Nivkh ("Gilyak") of Sakhalin and the Lower Amur" in Arctic Anthropology Vol. 10, No. 1 (1973). A short excerpt from that chapter, though it mentions "inau" in different rituals no less than 25 times:

When a Nivkh cuts down a tree, on the stump he reverently places inau - a small wooden stick cut into strips of shavings at least at one end. Inau is believed to preserve the soul of a thing, animal or person. It is a symbol of lifegiving (Shternberg, 1904b:20).

Keeping that description in mind with all the other uses of inau which Black describes, it seems there is simply a wealth of (comparative AND specific) religious thought to dive into. Consider this description of Ainu inaw practice from the Inau Wikipedia page:

With the exception of funerals, for which they were never made, inau were an important part of rituals involving kamuy. Because only men were permitted to participate in religious rituals besides the bear ceremony, only men could make inau. Before building a house, four inau and one chiahorokakepe were placed where the hearth was to be built.

Now consider this excerpt from Black:

Construction of a new winter dwelling was a cooperative enterprise, concerning all resident lineage members and even af fines. […] Such construction, representing commencement of a new life, so to speak, was an important event fraught with symbolic significance and was accompanied by a variety of complex rituals. Construction at every step required ritual action (Shternberg, 1933:314; Taksami, 1961:159-164). Some of these rituals were conceived as "strengthening the house." An example of this type of ritual was the final act of the construction: the placement of two poles decorated with carvings of symbolic significance, one at each end of the house along the longitudinal axis. The poles were joined by a string on which were hung representations of the sun (female, in Nivkh world view), the moon (male), and bunches of wood shavings called tsakh or chakh and often referred to in Russian literature by their Ainu name inau, which were used in all Nivkh rituals. This "strengthening of the house" was believed to lessen the danger of penetration by dangerous or hostile spirits (Shternberg, 1893:20; 1933: 317; Taksami, 1961:163). This contraption with all the emblems was never removed, but was left in place until it deteriorated from natural causes.

Interesting correlations between inau, housing, and gender, and actually correlates with the use of male pronouns in my first quote from the paper -- I didn't read the whole thing but it seems inau are specifically associated with men in both Ainu and Nivkh culture. However it seems the Nivkh eschewed the Ainu's negative association of inau and funerals:

The Nivkh are not afraid of the dead or dying. […] On the second day [of funeral preparations] all men prepare wood for the funeral pyre. […] [After preparation of the logs,] all is ready for the final act in which the transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead will be accomplished. All those present eat, and, when the meal is finished, a sled is brought into the house and the corpse lashed onto it. Four men carry the sled with the body to the burial ground. In carrying this bier they use one hand only, as in the other they hold the ritual sticks, inau. A dog, the pryski, who has been selected either because it was the person's favorite dog or had a ritual association with him or her, and in whom for a while the small soul of the deceased will find abode, is either placed on the chest of the corpse or tied to the bier and led along (Shternberg 1933:327; Kreinovich, 1930a:105). After the cremation, this dog will occupy a place of honor in the house, be treated with special kindness and after a certain specified time span will be given to the lineage of wife-takers.

Anyway, the rabbit hole stops there. Black's is an interesting chapter, but it's very long and I'm not reading all that -- I hope I'll finish it someday! Comparative Ainu and Nivkh religion is certainly another journey to make later, too. Seems like a small but passionate research community.

[paleshelter29]

Benjamin: ... I have a crush on Carl.

Enid: Same.

Ron: Me too.

Benjamin: ...

Benjamin: ... What?

Lydia: Get with the times, Ben. Everybody has a crush on Carl.

Benjamin: So... We all have a crush on Carl?

Henry: Yup.

Gage: Yeah

Sophia: Definitely.

Benjamin: Well — fu-ck.

[rotnread]

BEACON HILLS EXPOSED

Beacon Hills Exposed

Summary: After the exposure of the supernatural world comes to light you and your camera crew go to Beacon Hills to interview our favorite pack and extended persons.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The camera pans in on Coach Bobby Finstock. He's sitting at his desk in his office, leaning back in his chair.

Coach: Did I know? Of course I knew. I really just didn't give a flying fu—

Cut to

Title on screen: BEACON HILLS EXPOSED

Fade out

There are several exterior shots of Beacon Hills including the sign when you enter, the school, the woods, the lacrosse field and other places of interested.

The camera cuts to Scott McCall who is seated in a chair. The backdrop behind him is black.

You: State your name and species

Scott beams a goofy smile at the camera.

Scott: Scott McCall! Werewolf!

Cut to Stiles

Stiles: Stiles Stilinski! Human but I was once possessed by an evil spirit so that counts for something.

You: Your parents named you Stiles Stilinski?

Stiles: No, I like to be called Stiles.

You: What's your real name?

Cut to Lydia

Lydia: Lydia Martin. Banshee.

Cut to Allison

Allison: Allison Argent. Human but I'm a hunter.

Cut to Isaac

Isaac: Isaac Lahey. Werewolf.

Cut to an empty chair.

The camera pans off screen to Scott and Derek in a heated discussion off camera. There's a lot of big hand gestures involved in the heated argument but it ends when Scott's eyes glow red.

Cut to Derek sitting in the chair.

Derek: Derek…Hale. Werewolf.

[emilyskinners]

update of characters i headcanon as a lesbian that no one asked for in honor of pride month (and if you don't agree then just don't say anything, it's my opinion after all)

amber kippen - andi mack

jackie taylor - yellowjackets

annie edison - community

el hopper - stranger things

enid sinclair - wednesday

wednesday addams - wednesday

lizzie saltzman - legacies

rachel roth - titans

donna troy - titans

lottie matthews - yellowjackets

misty quigley - yellowjackets

laura lee - yellowjackets

amy pond - doctor who

lydia martin - teen wolf

hayden romero - teen wolf

rachel berry - glee

quinn fabray - glee

lucy pevensie - narnia

lana lang - smallville

cher horowitz - clueless

regina george - mean girls

kiara carrera - outer banks

nini salazar roberts - hsmtmts

paris geller - gilmore girls

sam larusso - cobra kai

cassie howard - euphoria

tabitha haworthe - pllos

alyssa chang - legacies

kristy thomas - the babysitters club

gina linetti - brooklyn nine nine

abby littman - ginny and georgia

taylor jewel - the summer i turned pretty

mia yang - kung fu

lexy cross - chucky

carrie wilson - julie and the phantoms

callie sadecki - yellowjackets

alex dunphy - modern family

[shieldsnspears]

9 People You Want to Know Better

Hey, thanks for tagging me @cawyden! Here's some personal info (which should've been some nice RT fanart instead but I've been slacking off, I'm sorry!)

Three Ships: Tough. To be frank I mostly obsess over particular characters but not so much ship anyone. I often really love frenemy-type dynamics or unlikely-work-partners situationships more than anything though, but I don’t see them romantically most of the time unless it’s explicitly canon. Still may be worth listing some of my faves since there’s heavy chemistry involved: Phoenix Wright / Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney), Harrier / Kim (Disco Elysium) — I'd bite off my leg if I must to not disappoint Kim. Zagreus / Thanatos (Hades) — this one I ship in every sense alongside the other two available ships from Hades.

First Ship: The first one I was legit getting weak in the knees over was Hibari Kyouya / Rokudou Mukuro from Katekyo Hitman Reborn (I feel old)

Last Movie: I believe it was “Kung Fu Hustle” that was leaving Netflix a couple of weeks ago and it was stupidly hilarious

Last Song: I’ve been weirdly obsessed with “Herald of Darkness” from Alan Wake 2, I’ve rewatched the music video waaay more times than I deem healthy

Currently Reading: “Quackery” by Lydia Kang & Nate Pedersen and “Eloquent JavaScript” by Marijn Haverbeke (boy I’m so bad at finding time for books you could probably ask me again in a couple of years and I would still be reading these exact same ones)

Currently Watching: Dungeon Meshi, Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up, my regular true crime fix, and soothing ASMR item restoration videos

Currently Eating: just having a cup of mint tea

Currently Craving: To pet some cats 🥺

Tagging:  I’m so sorry for breaking the rules but I’ll pass on tagging by name this time, I’m pretty sure everyone I know has been tagged already and I get really socially anxious thinking about this too hard! If you’re seeing this and want to have a go you’re absolutely welcome!!

[upgradcd]

#𝚄𝙿𝙶𝚁𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙳 : dependent original character, 𝚕𝚞𝚔𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚑𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒, for lawlessfm.

pinterest. connections. playlist.

𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 lukas kaito ohtani.

𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞(𝐬) luke.

𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 august 29th.

𝐚𝐠𝐞 thirty-eight.

𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡​ manhattan, new york city, new york.

𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 lower manhattan, soho, new york city.

𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 heterosexual.

𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 the dead hand.

𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 dead hand capo / card shark at old world casino.

𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜𝚑𝚒 𝚘𝚑𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒. 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚑𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒, deceased.

𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 an only child.

𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝚕𝚢𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚢𝚊𝚘-𝚘𝚑𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 a son, 𝚛𝚎𝚗, deceased.

𝐳𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜 virgo sun, scorpio moon, scorpio rising.

𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭 death, the tower, three of swords.

𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 english / japanese.

𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 protective, vengeful, impulsive, resilient, cunning, compassionate, adaptable, sardonic, overly suspicious.

𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 hand-to-hand combat. classically trained in martial arts, taekwondo and kung fu. expert card player. decent marksman.

𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 6'3.

𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 muscular. lean.

𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 has a prominent scar under his right eye and scattered scarring on his back, upper arms, legs, and chest from the car crash that killed his son. walks with a somewhat noticeable limp ( also from the accident ).

𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 grey trace ( upgrade ), frank castle ( marvel ), kimura ( bullet train ), ah sahm ( warrior ), the narrator ( fight club ), jason todd ( dc ), a.i. artificial intelligence.

tw: parental death, child death.

in the heart of gritty new york, you are born in the ebb and flow of the city’s pulse in 1993, emerging from a turbulent childhood marked by the harsh realities of life. your early years were a precarious balance between navigating the chaotic streets and finding solace in the city’s underbelly. your parents, immigrants seeking a better life, struggling to make ends meet, instill in you a resilience forged in the face of adversity. a rebellious teen, you frequently clash with your father, who harbored dreams of a better life for you. enticed by the allure of rebellion, you veered off course and fell in with what he deemed the wrong crowd…

the dead hand. the rain-slicked streets of the city became your playground, and within the shadowy folds of this clandestine faction, you discovered a new kind of family. as your ties with the dead hand strengthen, the relationship with your father continues to deteriorate. the fractures deepen, reaching a critical point when your mother unexpectedly passes. in the wake of this loss, you find solace and escape in the electrifying realm of high-stakes card games at the old world casino, further widening the chasm between you and your father. the neon-lit nights become a refuge, a place where the shuffle of cards is a welcomed relief to the strained silences at home.

within the shimmering lights of the old world casino, you encounter lydia yao. your complete opposite. the magnetic pull between you was undeniable. a romance, rich and poignant, blossoms, sweeping you into a whirlwind and exchanging of vows. in lydia, you found an ethereal connection, a kind of love that etched itself into the very fabric of your being and only deepens with the arrival of your little boy, ren. with your son’s birth, a shadow lifted, and even your strained relationship with your father seemed to mend… for a time.

in the quiet recesses of your mind, the night six-year-old ren was violently snatched from you echoes, relentlessly. the details blur as grief intensifies, and the pain becomes a relentless tide. the accident, the fatal crash that spared you and lydia while claiming the life of your son — it’s a festering wound that refuses to heal. life spirals, you descend into a drunken mess, and the marriage that once held the promise of forever is now at its breaking point. a sinister suspicion gnaws at you, an eerie feeling that this tragedy was not a mere twist of fate. something doesn’t sit right, and a determination, fueled by grief and desperation, grips your splintered resolve.

as the weeks morph into months, you become a relentless hunter consumed by the quest to unveil the truth behind the accident. your father’s words about a man’s duty to protect his family haunt you each night. was it an act of retaliation? retribution for one of the many evenings at the old world casino you caught desperate patrons in your web of cards? the nights are spent in pursuit, the neon glow of the city mirroring the burning intensity of your heart as you attempt to piece together the fragments of a shattered existence.

connections.

lukas has been incessantly pursuing what happened to his son, so any muse in law enforcement has probably seen his face enough times to want to yeet him into orbit.

any other dead hand members or old world casino colleagues. he's been in and out the past few months and acting chaotic so lukas has no doubt been A Problem as of late.

friends, acquaintances, anything really! my brain is fried so i'll have to come back to this.

[genderenvyelimination]

First Round Masterlist

3/12/2023:

Zuko | Avatar: The Last Airbender vs. Red | Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Asmodeus | Obey Me! vs Garry | Ib

Spencer Reid | Criminal Minds vs. ENA | ENA

John Doe | Malevolent vs Lyfrassir Edda | The Bifrost Incident

Blackbeard | Our Flag Means Death vs. Percy Jackson | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Otachi | Pacific Rim vs. Kurama | Naruto

Thanatos | Hades vs. Obito | Naruto

Lydia Deetz | Beetlejuice vs. John Mitchell | Being Human UK

Milo Thatch | Atlantis vs. Hiccup | How to Train Your Dragon

Loki | Norse Mythology vs. Kaworu | Neon Genesis Evangelion

Chat Noir | Miraculous Ladybug vs. Stevonnie | Steven Universe

3/14/2023:

Byleth | Fire Emblem vs. Fiver | Watership Down

Toruk Makto | Avatar: Way of Water vs. Aragorn | LOTR

Alma Winograd-Diaz | Undone vs. Jennifer Check | Jennifer's Body

Meta Knight | Kirby vs. Anakin Skywalker | Star Wars

Sylvester Ashling | Epithet Erased vs. Emmet | Pokemon

Thursday Plurbonym Boyporridge | Strange Aeons vs. Wizard | wizardisananimal

Bears in Trees | Band vs. 4th Phase Ghouls | Ghost BC

Electra | Starlight Express vs. Gerard Way | MCR

Hare | Tales from EarthSea vs. Sonic | Sonic the Hedgehg

Hero Killer Stain vs. Hawks | BNHA

Ekko | Arcane vs. Papa Emeritus IV/Copia | Ghost Band

Will Wood | Will Wood and the Tapeworms vs. The Toy Soldier | The Mechanisms

3/15/2023:

Lewis Pepper | Mystery Skulls vs. The Curious | Creeped Out

Raine Whispers | The Owl House vs. El-Ahrairah | Watership Down

Kris Dreemur | Deltarune vs. Doug Eiffel | Wolf 359

Elias | Ancient Magnus Bride vs. Ash Crimson | King of Fighters

Testament | Guilty Gear vs. Megamind | Megamind

Undertaker | Black Butler vs. Cure Chocolat | Kira Kira Precure a la Mode

Young Tim Curry Characters | Clue vs. Rumi | Just Roll With It

Richard III | Requiem of the Rose King vs. Simon Petrikov |Adventure Time

Denji | Chainsaw Man vs. Sasori | Naruto

Hunter | Rain World vs. Sam Winchester | Supernatural

Eddie Munson | Stranger Things vs. Magnus Chase | Magnus Chase

3/16/2023:

Hiei | Yu Yu Hakusho vs. Kaname Date | Ai: the Somnium Files

Bold and Brash | Spongebob Squarepants vs. Lucienne | Sandman (THEY BOTH WON?)

E-boy Wojak | Meme culture vs. Cal Kestis | Jedi: Fallen Order

Team Rocket | Pokemon vs. Nico de Angelo | Percy Jackson/ Riordanverse

Ludwig Von Drake | Disney vs. Red Lizard | Rain World

Julian Devorak | Arcana vs. Professor Venomous | OKKO

Giovanni Potage | Epithet Erased vs. Ryuko | Kill La Kill

Mr. Fox | Fantastic Mr. Fox vs. Zim | Invader Zim

Dio Brando | Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vs. Sasuke Uchiha | Naruto

Yamato | One Piece vs. Roy Mustang | Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood

Lemon Grab | Adventure Time vs. Fujimoto | Ponyo

Mizuki | Project Sekai vs. Gomez Addams | Addams Family

3/17/2023:

Arven | Pokemon Scarlet and Violet vs. Reigen | Mob Psycho 100

Pure Vessel | Hollow Knight vs. Lord Shen | Kung Fu Panda 2

Trunks | Dragon Ball vs. Dr. Robotnik | Sonic

Five Pebbles | Rain World vs. The Goblin King | Labyrinth

Turrican OST | Turrican Game vs. Ganon's Corpse | Breath of the Wild 2

Edgar Allen Poe | Bungo Stray Dogs vs. Mollymauk Tealeaf | Critical Role

Dwight Enys | Poldark vs. Will Graham | Hannibal

Scrooge McDuck | Ducktales 2017 vs. Dr. Emmett Brown | Back to the Future

Rohan Kishibe | Jojo's Bizarre Adventure vs. Bilbo Baggins | Hobbit

Micheal Afton | Five Nights At Freddy's vs. Cecil Palmer | Welcome To Nightvale

Carla | Dumbing of Age vs. Larry | Pokemon

Tragedians | Pathologic vs. Zagreus | Hades

Alucard | Castlevania vs. Robin | One Piece

[sylvienerevarine]

[What follows is a transcript of the Dragonborn's second-most- important peace conference]

Sophrine: All right, ladies, I've called this meeting here in beautiful Blackreach because we've been having some conflicts in the Girl Squad, and I want us to handle them peacefully. Sophrine: Seriously, if I see anyone pulling out her sword, I will Fus Ro Dah you. Serana: We're really high up right now. Sophrine: Exactly. Who wants to go first?

Lydia: (raising hand) Um, I have something. Serana, before you start throwing ice spikes, can you make sure none of us are in front of you? It's hard to wield a sword with an icicle stuck in your elbow. Serana: If you and Mjoll didn't just charge in with your swords every time we see a problem, you wouldn't be getting icicles in your arm. If Soph and I can handle it from a distance with arrows and magic, you don't need to slash and smash. Sophrine: Lyd, remember the no-swords-at-meetings rule. I propose we always try to kill things from a distance first, and if that doesn't work, we slash and smash. Deal? Mjoll and Lydia: (mumbling) Deal. Sophrine: Great. Who's next? Mjoll: I'm still pretty sure that at some point, Ronnie is going to snap and drink all of our blood. Serana: If I do snap, it'll be because you tell the same 5 stories over and over, usually when we're trying to be stealthy. Mjoll: Well, excuse me for trying to entertain everyone! Serana: Not excused. Sophrine: Mother Mara, you people are worse than Tullius and Ulfric. Mjoll, we love your stories, just not when we're sneaking. Serana, don't snap and drink our blood. Anything else? Serana: Well, I would complain about how much time we spend outdoors during the day, but I know you mortal types need that so whatever. My complaint is that Sophrine's husband is still really weird around me whenever I come over, even though he knows I'm not going to kill him. Sophrine: (sighing) Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Roggi's a small-town guy and the only vampires he met before you were the really murderous ones. I'm working on him, I promise. But hey, at least the kids love you! Serana: (muttering) Kids are sticky. Sophrine: Okay, we've aired out a lot of complaints here, and I think we can figure out solutions to pretty much all of them. Now I think we should end this by saying something nice about another member of the squad. End on a high note, you know. Sophrine: I'll start. Lydia, you're amazingly organized and I appreciate that you still hang out with us even though we're ridiculous. Lydia: Um... Serana, thanks for resurrecting mudcrab zombies sometimes. It's hilarious. Serana: You're welcome. Mjoll, I really respect how you called Maven Black-Briar a bitch right to her face. I've always wanted to do that. Mjoll: Thanks. And Soph, thank you for killing Alduin and saving the universe last month. Sophrine: My pleasure. Great meeting, girls.

[thequeenofthewinter]

Fic Friday

Hello fine gentlepeople of TESblr! 'tis I, Winter, peddling off my fic again as it is Friday, and I have updated.

In a review by the lovely @oblivions-dawn it is: "Excellent . . . Emotional . . . Effervescent . . . . . . Yes"

The author herself describes it as, "Politics, some boats, emotions, and metaphors. Please someone take this chapter away from me so I don't add any more to it."

A random person I found on the street has said, "Eh? Who are you, and why are you bothering me while I am eating my lunch?"

So, there you have it! Reviews are generally positive! Go read it now!

Rating: E (canon-typical violence, explicit content, check the tags)

Genre: Romance, action, adventure, drama

Pairing: Dahlia Wintersnow (OC Dragonborn)/Ulfric Stormcloak

Link to AO3: An Invincible Summer

Snippet:

While the news is no surprise to Lydia, this is the first time Dahlia has opened up to her personally. It is only logical for gossip like this to spread quickly, especially with Dahlia and Ulfric’s frequent visits to a small grave which bears no name—only a sad inscription. Loose tongues and morbid curiosity did the rest of the work to assure that it has been publicized across the population. How else would Elisif been able to hit Dahlia where it hurts the most?

Both Dahlia and Ulfric had expected it to catch up to them at some point in time; however, at least on her part, Dahlia did not expect the cruelty which came with it—the speculations, the rumors, and the pointed digging. For the most part, she has tried to ignore it as best she can while finding solace in Ulfric’s arms. But, no matter how much she runs and tries and ignore it, it always come back to her, haunting her like the hazy nightmares which leave mentally and physically tired, even if she refuses to show it. 

Slowly, Dahlia is learning better than to expect kindness from any but those who are closest to her. She’ll shut herself away and patch up all the exposed holes on her leaking ship if she must to preserve herself.

Lydia smiles at her sadly as Dahlia looks at her with uncertainty in her gaze. She isn’t sure what hurts her more: the fact that her friends has been suffering with this information and the weight of it for weeks or that she thinks that she would judge her for it. 

“It’s okay, Dahlia.” Her housecarl sighs, “I mean—no, it isn’t okay. That isn’t what I meant. What I mean is that you’re safe here, and I know you wouldn’t ever intentionally do anything to hurt anyone, and it’s not your fault and—“

Tears make their way down Dahlia’s face. How long had it been since she had spoken to Lydia? And how long has she been holding this in and putting on a brave face for the rest of the world?

“I—if we are talking about technical blame, it is my fault. I was the one who—”

Lydia stops her yet again. She has heard so many versions of what had happened: Dahlia sacrificed their child to Sithis to bring Ulfric back, she dabbles in necromancy, she speaks to Talos directly—that she can make a pretty good guess at what actually happened, but with better results. “You didn’t know, and you had a choice. One that is unspeakable, impossible, and one that no one should ever have to make. They don’t understand you, and they are not you. Only Akatosh can judge you, and it seems to me he has deemed you worthy, so you should forgive yourself.”

For a moment, all she does is blink. Dahlia isn’t sure what she expected, but it should not have been anything less than this. Lydia’s own thoughts echo Ulfric’s.

I cannot pretend to know what you felt, and I was not the one in your shoes. I cannot tell you what was right and wrong, and while it hurts me just as much as it hurts you, I would have made the exact same choice if I had been in your situation. We can try again when you’re ready.

And isn’t that what life is all about? There is pain, but there is joy. Darkness and light. Winter and Summer. You cannot have balance without both. Fus ro dah. You will push the world harder than it pushes back. Now is when she should push because after the rain is when the plants start their new growth.