#maybe they genuinely have no fucking foresight.

[treesbian]

hey general public. if someone is fostering your cats for you while you're between homes + you were unexpectedly homeless for like 3 weeks + you haven't been able to get to housing that will allow your pets to come with you yet, and you're in regular contact with that someone discussing those cats and paying for their care needs, and then that someone messages you saying they decided they're just going to keep your pets because they decided that's what's best for them, that's stealing, right? that's stealing? the general public of reasonable people in the world agree that that is theft? yes?

that's what these bitches did to my godsister fuck them!!! but they got threatened with criminal theft charges and handed them over ^_^ and my aunt already pressed trespassing charges on them lol. but when I texted them to yell at them about it they lied saying they never stole any cats but like. what they did was stealing. my mom had to take it all the way up to the police but I kind of don't feel bad because it was their own damn fault. I hope their lives aren't ruined forever but I do hope they learn what a consequence is

[steddiehyperfixation]

steve harrington's phone number

@steddiebingo prompt: van | 1.7k words | rated T

“Stupid- useless piece of shit!” Eddie barely manages to pull his coughing, spluttering van over to the side of the road before it chokes to a stop with a dying wheeze. “Fucking drama queen.” He gets out and gives the side of the van a good kick, chastizing it for its very loud and inconvenient death. 

Just his luck it would decide to break down here, on a nothing stretch of road several miles outside of town. Too far to walk but not all that long of a drive if his stupid car could’ve just toughed it out a little while longer. “You really couldn’t have held on for like ten more minutes?” he grumbles, kicking the van again. The van, of course, does not answer and remains quite dead. Eddie mutters a few more curses and pulls his jacket tighter around himself against the late November chill as he wanders around to the front of the car to pop the hood. 

It’s an entirely useless gesture, popping the hood. Even before he opens it he knows he’s still not going to have a single clue what’s broken or how to fix it. The inner workings of a car are utterly foreign to him, an alien language of metal and grease that he stupidly never cared to learn. He stares blankly at the incomprehensible jumble of machinery before him, cursing himself for all those times he’d evaded and complained his way out of Wayne’s attempts to teach him how to do his own auto repairs. His uncle’s boring handyman lessons would’ve really come in handy right now, if only he’d had the foresight to listen. 

With a huffed out sigh, Eddie slams the hood back down. He’s going to have to call someone.

Thankfully he can see a roadside payphone not too far off in the distance, about half a mile out maybe. He rummages through his pockets and paws around the front seat of the van for any spare change he could use. He’d just blown through most of the money he had on him at a record store in Indy, but he manages to scrounge up enough coins for one call. Just one. So he has to choose wisely. He starts his trudge to the payphone while he runs through a mental list of options, feeling increasingly frustrated and hopeless as he crosses each of them off one by one. 

A tow truck is too expensive. His uncle is at work. Half his friends can’t drive, and not a single one of them knows anything about cars anyways so they wouldn’t be much help beyond a ride home (and he’d really rather not have to just leave his van on the side of the road). He needs someone who’s free, can drive, and has enough of a working knowledge of cars to possibly be able to give his van enough of a second wind to make it home. 

Which is how he finds himself in a dingy little phone booth punching in Steve Harrington’s number - a number he’s never called before yet somehow memorized, recalling it clearly in his mind’s eye in the scrawl of Steve’s handwriting on notebook paper. 

“Harrington residence, Steve speaking,” Steve’s voice comes through the line, automatic and rehearsed.

“Okay, I’ll make fun of that weirdly formal greeting later,” Eddie decides, “but right now, uh- man, I really hate to do this, but do you happen to know anything about fixing cars?”

“Eddie, hey,” Steve sounds almost startled to hear from him. “Um, yeah, I mean, I’m no expert or anything, but I know enough to get by. Why?” 

“My van just broke down on my way back from the city and I was hoping you might be willing to do me a huge huge favor and come out here and see if you can help me get her started again.” Eddie puts all the desperation he can into his voice, which really isn’t hard. His distress is 100% genuine. “Please? I’m desperate here, Harrington. I’d be forever in your debt, I’ll-” 

“Okay,” Steve says before Eddie can start bargaining. So simply, so easily. He really wasn’t expecting it to be that easy.

“Okay?” 

“Yeah, okay. I’ll help you. Where are you?”  

Eddie breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god- thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. I owe you my life, seriously-” 

“Munson,” Steve cuts him off again, repeating his question, “where are you?” 

“Right, yeah.” Eddie gives his best approximation of where he is and Steve promises to be there as soon as he can before hanging up. Feeling a little bit lighter now, Eddie treks back to wait by his van.

The sun has just dipped below the horizon, streaking the sky with pink and gold, when Steve’s BMW pulls up and he steps out of the car bathed in the orange glow of sunset, looking every bit the rescuing angel. A dashing hero straight out of a fairytale; Eddie can almost picture him with a sword in his hands instead of a toolbox, a noble steed behind him instead of a car. 

He expresses only a satirized version of that sentiment, clasping his hands over his heart and gasping theatrically in greeting, “Harrington, my hero!” And he grins as Steve rolls his eyes in response. 

“Hi, Eddie.” Steve approaches, plunks his toolbox on the front of the van and leans against it. “You know, I’m surprised you called me. It didn’t seem like you were ever going to.” 

Eddie shrugs, hands in his pockets. “Yeah, I just- I couldn’t think of anyone else who’d be able to help me. I’m sorry if me calling you, like, freaked you out for a second there.” 

Steve’s eyes narrow and his head tilts like a confused puppy. “Why would you calling freak me out?” 

“Well, I mean, you only gave me your number in case something happened with the kids, right?” Eddie states. “So, I didn’t mean to make you worried at first that there might’ve been, like, a Dustin emergency or something.” 

“Oh…” A number of emotions flicker across Steve’s face as he seems to come to some sort of realization, and his expression ultimately settles on vaguely amused. “Right, yeah. Totally.” 

Now Eddie’s the one who’s confused, feeling like he’s missed a punchline. “Is that…not why you gave me your number?” It’s not like it had actually been explicitly stated, but they’d just been talking about the kids right before Steve had written his number down, so Eddie had just assumed that was the reason. 

“No, it-” Steve shakes his head and smiles, a little bit fond, a little bit like he’s still sharing some kind of inside joke with himself. “It’s not important right now,” he decides. “Let’s just figure out your van first, alright? What was going on with it before it broke down?” 

“Well, I don't actually know,” Eddie says, “but she was being very loud and dramatic about it.” 

“Huh, I’ve heard of pets developing similar personalities to their owners but I’ve never heard of cars doing it.” 

“Oh shut up.” 

Steve grins, pushing himself off the front of the car so he can open the hood and take a look. He immediately starts to tinker around with some stuff. Eddie has absolutely no idea what he’s doing, but he sure looks good doing it. There’s a cold breeze in the air, getting colder by the minute with the slowly darkening sky, but something about watching Steve’s arms as he works a wrench into the machinery has Eddie feeling strangely warm. 

Steve’s talking, probably trying to explain what he’s doing or what’s wrong with the van, though Eddie’s not catching a word of it. He couldn’t pay attention even if he tried, and not just because he’s distracted by Steve’s arms. The other half of his mind is still stubbornly stuck on the whole thing about Steve’s number, racking his brain trying to figure out why the hell else he would’ve given it to him. 

He spends way too long replaying that moment, and all their previous and subsequent interactions, over and over again in his head before his memory finally starts to give notice to all Steve’s lingering glances, subtle once-overs, and suggestive smirks.

“Holy shit, you were flirting with me!” Eddie blurts out the realization as soon as it hits him. “When you gave me your number - you were trying to hit on me!”

Steve, who had been interrupted mid sentence, barks out a laugh. “Now he gets it,” he teases as he glances over at Eddie. “You know, I couldn't figure you out for a while. All this time you never called but would still say hi to me when I picked the kids up from Hellfire, I figured it was some sort of soft rejection. But you really were just completely oblivious, huh?” 

“No yeah, I just have fucking rocks for brains apparently,” Eddie says, shaking his head self-deprecatingly as he rushes to reassure him, “I was definitely not rejecting you. Definitely, definitely not. Believe me, if I’d’ve known- I would’ve called so fast, man. I mean, trust me, your phone would’ve never stopped ringing.” 

“Good to know.” Steve smiles, his eyes so golden and warm in the dusk it almost seems as if the sun is on its way back up. He returns his attention to the van, just for half a second to give the machinery one last tweak, and then he straightens and closes the hood, wiping the car grease from his hands off on his jeans as he announces, “Well, your car should start now, if you wanna test it out and make sure. And then we can, uh, continue this conversation?” 

Eddie nods, hops back in the van, and turns his key in the ignition. It rumbles to life, and he lets out a laugh like a cheer. “You’re a goddamn miracle worker, Stevie!” he shouts.

“Glad I could help,” Steve calls back proudly. 

Eddie revels in the sound of his not-dead van for a moment longer before he takes a deep breath, turns off the engine, and jumps out to stand in front of Steve again. “So.” 

“So.” 

There’s a brief beat of buzzing silence. Eddie finds he doesn’t have all that much left to say, and he’s feeling far too giddy right now to be able to stand through some sappy discussion about how they feel about each other when it’s entirely unnecessary. He suggests instead, “Do you wanna just skip the conversation and go make out in the back of my van?” 

Steve grins at him. “Absolutely.” 

[sourszt]

𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑 | hate fucking + age gap

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 — billy butcher x fem!reader

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍��𝐒 — nsfw, age gap, hate fucking, reader is in her 20s, butcher is like 40something, porn with plot, slight “daddy”/father-ish kink, slight power imbalance, bratty reader, butcher gets drunk, “kid” and “sweetheart” used, typical butcher language, top!reader, unusually soft ending

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 — ending was lowkey doodoobuns but idc, also i lowkey gave the reader a slightly genuine plot im considering it for an oc LMFAO anyways enjoy ! this man brings out the worst in me unfortunately.

“maybe i’d have been better off if you’d just fucked off and left me alone!”

your own words still rang in your head from earlier. the venom in them that were meant for the man you were desperately searching for had splashed back onto you, and it fucking hurt. especially because you didn’t even mean to say it.

butcher always brought out the worst in you. whenever the two of you argued, which was just a hair below constantly, he just never knew when to stop. he pushed and pushed until you lashed out so badly that it would leave him silent.

everybody told you it was because you were the youngest in the group. having joined the team that called themselves ‘the boys’ at twenty years old because of your unprecedented intelligence and strategy, you had become accustomed to their violent methods. well, every method except one.

billy butcher. the group’s uncrowned commander seemed to be your only downfall. initially you expected him to treat you like a child because of your age. but it was never about that. for the two years you stuck with them, he was constantly breathing down your neck waiting for you to screw up.

he denied the special attention he gave you, which often caused the explosive arguments between the two of you. frenchie and m.m. opted to stay out of the way, but usually consoled you after the fact while butcher would storm off for hours, sometimes days to pull himself together.

much like now. a few hours ago, the two of you were knee deep in a vicious screaming match because of a nearly botched mission. butcher was blaming your lack of foresight when it came to an unexpected issue (though it was quickly taken care of) and said that you just weren’t one of them. you bit back just as hard, telling him that he was a selfish asshole who you should have never trusted.

you tore him a new one, expecting twice the fury back. but instead a flash of hurt shone in butcher’s narrowed eyes and he took off without a word.

m.m., the one who was always quick to take your side, told you once you settled down that you should be the one to find him. drag him out of whatever bar he was holed up in. he granted you permission to humiliate the man if you needed to because he knew how butcher was. you deserved to stomp the shit out of that man if you ever got the chance.

so that was how you ended up in the lot of a bar, ushering a fairly buzzed butcher into the passenger seat of the van. he came out calmly, which surprised you. he muttered something about missing his bed at home.

so you shot a quick call to frenchie telling him that you would be taking butcher home but to wait up for you when you got back to the motel. then began the most uncomfortable drive of your life.

an apology was on the tip of your tongue but every time you stole a glance at the man, you couldn’t bring yourself to say it. you suddenly remembered why you were angry before and refused to be the bigger person.

butcher was the same type of stubborn.

“how much have you had?” you broke the silence first, concern outweighing your frustration.

butcher didn’t respond, instead saying, “you know, i meant what i said earlier.”

you rolled your eyes and clutched the steering wheel to keep from swerving the both of you into oncoming traffic.

“some fuckin’ strategist you are. nearly had us all made like some right cunt.” he dragged his words out more than usual. he was intentionally trying to make you mad. he wanted to fight.

“what the fuck is wrong with you, butcher?” you snapped, the emotions from earlier flooding back to you. “all you’ve ever done for me was made me wonder if jumping off the top of vought tower would be better than being in the same goddamn room as you. old enough to be my fucking father yet you’re as immature as they come.”

butcher went quiet for a while, slowly looking over at you. “oh, is that it? does the little girl have daddy issues?”

you slammed on the brakes and put the van into park. you had arrived at butcher’s place. “we’re here.” you bit coldly.

butcher was well aware of your reasoning for going after the supes along with the rest of the boys. your parents were caught in the crossfire to a rather nefarious supe scandal when you were a child. you only uncovered the truth a few years back, the vigilante group and its original leader, mallory, becoming your saving graces and second family.

you helped the man up to his front door so that he didn’t fall. your job should have ended there and you should have gone back to the van but instead you followed butcher inside, much to his confusion.

“whaddaya want? i thought you said you’d be better if i’d just fucked right off.” butcher spoke with a taunting laugh as he tossed his keys onto his coffee table.

“you know,” you began, your fists tensing at your sides. you were about to start treading on paper thin ice, “i didn’t think it was because of my age, but i’m starting to think that’s it.” you said challengingly.

butcher peeled his long black coat off and shot you a strange sideways glance. “hell are you on about?” it took him a little too long to respond, even in his buzzed state.

you cocked your head. it seemed you hit the nail right on the head. if that weren’t the case, he would have immediately shut you down and struck up a new argument.

a dry laugh came from you. “what is it then? are you intimidated by how young i am? threatened?” you questioned. the daring tone in your voice as you stepped towards him made his eyes narrow.

“watch yourself.”

“there you go acting like my fucking father again. is that it? you like how young i am? you wanna be my daddy? you’re over twice my age and that gets you going, doesn’t it?”

“i’m warnin’ ya, kid.” his sharp tone cut clean through the rapidly building tension between you two and actually rendered you quiet. sure, butcher could be a right asshole but he never had snapped at you like this before.

he certainly never called you kid before, either.

it looked like you had him backed into a corner. you held his gaze, noticing how the alcohol in his system made him glance down at your lips a few too many times. you refused to be the one to prove him right so you stayed still.

you could smell the beer on his breath. he was pretty much unpredictable now. “how long, huh?” your voice cane out low and shaky. butcher looked up at you and tilted his head a little like he was daring you to keep going. “how long have you wanted to fuck me?”

butcher sneered down at you and you actually expected him to shove you away. but he didn’t. you were at a standstill. neither of you wanted to be the first to crumble under the tension, but it had to come to an end at some point.

after what felt like an eternity, butcher closed the gap. part of you thought that the hands that came to grab your jaw were meant to hit you and you tensed up when he suddenly kissed you. you made a grab for his wrists like you were going to defend yourself but once you realized his intention, you all but melted into him.

he overpowered you without question, his body pushing you back until your back hit the wall. you could taste the alcohol on his tongue.

his strong hands were all over you. running down your sides to grip your hips, then sliding back to squeeze your ass through your jeans. you moaned at the contact, your head tilting back to rest against the wall. he stole that opportunity to start making his way down the side of your neck. his rough beard tickled your skin and you squirmed under him, your fingers running through his hair to weakly tug at it.

“makes you tick, does it?” butcher’s gruff voice made your head spin. you could practically hear the smirk on his face when your hips subconsciously bucked against him. he knew all of that confidence you wore earlier was long gone.

it only lingered long enough for you to start undoing the buttons to his shirt, and he quickly understood the message. he hoisted you up into his arms, mumbling a curse under his breath when your legs hooked around his waist.

he was on you the second you hit his bed, enveloped in a messy kiss while you scrambled madly to get each other’s clothes off. something about the way he so swiftly helped you peel out of your pants and top made you that much more desperate to fuck him. his hands were so big and skilled, you found yourself staring at them with hunger in your eyes.

you rolled him over to straddle his lap, whining at the feeling of his bulge against your clothed cunt. only two thin layers of fabric stood between you. still, you rolled your hips slowly down onto him and got a sharp hiss from him. those same hands you craved came up to grab your hips.

“slow down, sweetheart,” butcher groaned. his eyes raked down your body. “fuckin’ fit little thing, ain’t ya? all sat nice ‘n pretty in daddy’s lap.”

a chill raked down your spine and part of you felt ashamed of how badly his words made your stomach flutter. it was probably the worst situation you could have ended up in. a twenty-two year old woman about to have sex with a man just over twice your age. the man who was supposed to be guiding you — teaching you in a dangerous field. the man who was supposed to know better than this.

you could care less about how wrong it was. the look in his eyes as you slid your bra off for him made up for it. his hands were rough as they played with your tits. it was clear that he was skilled, knowing exactly where to touch you that would have you pleading for more.

“stop fu—fucking around,” you snapped as threateningly as you could while butcher lazily stroked your clit through the front of your panties. his pace went tear-jerkingly rough for a moment and you sharply cried, “butcher!”

“have some fucken’ patience, love.” butcher taunted you, all while complying. he struggled to hide his own eagerness as he popped the stitches on the hip of your panties to get them off of you, ignoring your fiery complaints. “i’ll buy you new ones, quit yellin’.” he’d dismissed you absently.

in the meantime he hurried to free his cock, groaning the moment he started to run the leaking head through your slick folds. “look at ya. all worked up for me, ay?” the man teased, observing how red your face flushed. you were too tongue tied to argue with him, especially after he slid his thick cock into you without warning.

his hands locked around your hips, burying himself deep into you. you could feel him roll up against you, drawing a long whine from you. he offered you only a second to enjoy the fullness you felt before he dug his heels into the comforter and started to thrust up into you.

you grasped at his arms that were still at your sides for some leverage, your mind blanking. part of you was beyond irritated that you were letting butcher put you in such a position but every time the tip of his cock hit a visceral spot inside of you, you couldn’t bring yourself to think about it for too long. resisting against the viselike grip he had on your waist, you started shifting to match his slow thrusts.

“fuck, tight little cunt,” butcher hissed under his breath. the slight slip of his cocky demeanor gave you the upper hand now, so you started to set your own pace. butcher’s head fell back against the pillows as you started to bounce on his cock, bracing yourself on his chest. “that’s it, kid, keep goin’.”

you couldn’t help the moan that slipped at the nickname. it spurred you on. you ignored the burn in your thighs and worked yourself on his thick cock. tears pricked at your eyes, and you knew you wouldn’t last much longer.

of all of the times you’d had sex before, nothing compared to this. to him. he filled you to the fucking brim, hitting all of the right spots and then some, knowing exactly how to get you going. part of you knew you should be hating this; fucking the man you considered your mentor. the man over half your age.

but you didn’t care. all you cared about was getting yourself off, pushing and pushing yourself as that coil in your stomach continued to tighten. butcher helped steady you when your pace began to falter, his thick fingers grasping your plush hips.

“c’mon, i’ve gotcha.” butcher coaxed you along. it hit you like a truck, stealing all of the air from your lungs and sending several tears streaking down your face. you felt him lift you up in your dazed state, and then you felt his load hit your stomach.

for a moment, it was quiet. both of you recollecting yourselves. butcher reached up to tuck your hair behind your ears. he kept asking if you were okay, likely because of the tear stains. it was a side of butcher you had never seen before. so caring and considerate.

even after you had fallen onto your back, slightly curled into his side, neither of you spoke for a while. then he cleared his throat. “ya know, i never meant to be so hard on ya.” he reluctantly admitted. “i just hate to see ya get hurt. you’re… you’re a kid, you shouldn’t be so wrapped up with us — with me.”

you listened. nodded understandingly. “i know, but it’s not like i have a choice. that’s how it was at first. but now… i’ve come this far. i’m comfortable with you guys.” you stopped yourself from rambling and getting too emotional. “sometimes i tell myself that my parents would be happy that i found people who take such great care of me. granted, they’d have hated you at first,” the sly comment earned a scoff from butcher. you laughed.

“but if i had to redo it all, i wouldn’t change anything.”

ending was a lil too soft for someone like butcher but i had no idea how to finish it so yea !

[loudclan-clangen]

(I thought of something funny)

Whenever Owlstar comes back to camp from solo walks, there's just this giant banner at the entrance reading "Welcome Back, Cheater."

Slitsplash swears they didn't put it up, but appreciates whoever did it.

Meanwhile, Fiercestripe is smirking in the background. (She did it)

They’re throwing him a party!

(˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥) These asks all flow together so well I genuinely cannot tell if they are multiple people or just one person who is SO PISSED. Made my night to see these all come in at about 2am. If Owlstar has 100 haters im one of them, if Owlstar has 1 hater it's me, if Owlstar has no haters im dead.

I do! It was actually incredibly comical from my perspective because Eklutna showed up, did fuck all for 5 moons, got pregnant, then promptly died giving birth, to which i went "aw, that sucks" clicked on her kits, and SAW THAT THIER DAD WAS THE LEADER, SOMETHING THAT I DID NOT KNOW COULD HAPPEN. Eklutna didn't even have any romantic like for him, to my recollection, and Owlstar had like maybe a single tick for her? It was really just lucky rng I guess. Owl and Silt actually didn't break up in the game at all, in my original draft for the story, when i was just writing notes as i played, Siltsplash was a lot more... okay with it? Like they were pissed but their personality was a lot more demure so they didn't act on anything really. The exact quote from the draft was: "I won’t lie to you. I’m angry. Starclan, I’m more than angry, I’m furious. I have half the mind to tell you to leave and never come back.” They paused, seeing Owlstar deflate and taking some slight, bitter satisfaction in it before continuing, “But that wouldn’t be fair to those kits. They didn’t ask to be born, much less to you. They deserve to have a family, or as much of it as they are able to have, and starclan help me we’re in this together." It certainly fit with what I knew about them then, but given my ability to look forward and see future events, I decided that a break up made more sense.

Don't be sorry! I am not currently in artfight, I'm considering it but I wouldn't be able to be very active due to school, and I don't want to take another break from this blog so soon after my last, so it's not very high up on my list of priorities. I'm kinda casually working on refs for the more popular characters, so there's a chance I'll get those done and join a team, especially if it's something you guys want me to do. If that happens I'll be sure to let you guys know! I am now in art fight! I gave into peer pressure again. (In a good way).

I don't think even Silt knew. Siltsplash was OUT of it after their conversation with Owlstar, (see: the Eklutna hallucination), and they probably didn't even know where they were headed until they reached the nursery. But after setting eyes on the kits, Siltslpash knew that there was only one option. Yes, they "took the kids in the divorce" but truly they weren't thinking about revenge. They just saw kids who needed something that they could provide.

In terms of writing, though, since I have hundreds of moons of foresight, it was a total bait and switch. I needed to make sure that people had a reason to come back after the break and any comic with kittens in it usually gets a lot of attention, so it was a "marketing" decision to split up the moon the way that I did, in order to make sure that there wasn't too bad of a fall off in interaction for the blog.

In game Eklutna had an affair with Owlstar, died giving birth, and the "died giving birth" event overwrote the "reveal affair" event so technically, in game Owlstar didn't reveal the affair... ever? (Though I had written in my notes that he told Siltsplash who took them as their own). Story wise, Owlstar hadn't planned to tell anyone until the kits started asking about who their father was. Then he would tell them, and would probably reveal it to the clan when they earned their names and were able to become deputy. But, when Eklutna died all that went out the window. For all his faults, Owlstar is not a bad dad, and he would never leave his kits orphaned, even if it would get him in a lot of trouble to do so. He really does care for them, and he feels terrible about how much he's screwed up their lives so far.

He did bad, deitycrows, he did bad. He cheated on his mate and then his affair partner died in childbirth so he's not very popular rn, I've got to be honest.

I don't think it helps at all but, Owlstar did really genuinely like Eklutna! Now, was that because she never opposed him on anything and flattered him with adoring compliments at every opportunity? Possibly. But the "Starclan said" thing was honestly just more of an excuse for him. He woulda had an affair anyway, he just wouldn't have intentionally had kits with her.

:) Eklutna liked... the power that Owlstar held. She liked that he was chosen by Starclan to lead the clan, she liked that his kits are meant to inherit the position of leadership, and she liked that as the mother of his kits she would have a lot of control over both him and the leader after him. As far as his personality... he's kinda a clown but she could live with that.

To be frank: The order of inheritance is ABSOLUTELY FUCKED. If Eklutna had lived, it would be easy. She would take over as deputy until one of the kits was old enough to hold the position. But, since she's dead and Owlstar's only heirs are literal infants, as their adoptive parent Siltsplash is still the deputy for now. What happens when the kits reach adulthood is kinda up for debate. As Owlstar's closest descendant, Songkit should be deputy upon earning his warrior name, BUT Siltsplash is very much against that plan, and the kits might not want to go against their most attentive parent. So the very unhelpful answer is: We have to wait and see what the characters decide.

Thank you so much! I love to hear from first time viewers and see what you guys think of the characters! I'm glad that the dialogue worked so well and Eklutna definitely has Sol vibes! You look at both of them and go "in what world would this plan work the way you wanted it to???"

[mellosdrawings]

OOOOOO CAN I ASK HOW WOULD THE N2 SQUAD REACT TO EACH OF THEM DYING?

What have you unleashed?

(WARNING: Angst, allusions to death, all that fun stuff. Nothing graphic tho, don't worry)

Jamil

He shouldn’t be surprised.

Well… He isn't surprised. Jamil Viper doesn't get nice things. Not for more than a few months, anyway.

Every once in a while, life takes pity on him and throws some nice, agreeable news his way. Just enough so that he lets his guard down. Just enough so that he allows himself to think maybe things will get better. Just enough so that he can pretend he isn't chained to a fate he will never escape.

A letter to NRC, a plan that goes a little too well, a couple of upperclassmen who seem to genuinely love him for who he is and not who he pretends to be.

So of course it doesn't last. Life gives and life takes.

Kalim follows, Octavinelle gets involved, Leona and Vil-

Well…

He isn't surprised.

Jamil Viper doesn't get nice things.

Vil

They look at him like they expect something from him. Horror, anger, ugly tears maybe. Just a reaction. Anything. Anything at all.

Vil doesn't give them that. Doesn't give them an opportunity to pity him. Doesn't give them food for gossip. Doesn't give them any material to make this topic last for any longer than it has to.

He knows how it works. Someone snaps a pic of him at his lowest, someone records his voice breaking during an interview, someone catches his lips tremble for but a second, and everybody will start talking about it again. And again. And again. For as long as there is a reaction from him. For as long as the topic attracts views.

Suffering brings more views than success.

So Vil doesn't react. Doesn't say a thing. Doesn't acknowledge the topic.

Better to be a cold asshole for a few weeks than to hear about it for years.

And in the darkness of his own room, where there is no camera, no eyes, and no ears to witness his grief-

Vil cries himself to sleep.

Leona

It’s just sand.

Only sand.

For miles and miles, further than the eye can see, nothing but sand.

Ruggie had the clever foresight to send all of Savanaclaw packing when Leona got the news. They would be sand too otherwise.

Who cares.

Who fucking cares.

He could turn the whole world to sand and it wouldn't be enough.

He might as well turn his own heart into sand.

It would hurt less.

[yesmanforever]

How Yes Man feels towards Courier

So, to throw my hat in the ring on how Yes Man feels about Courier

This is specifically regarding a particular type of Courier: one that is competent, interested in taking over vegas, that does most if not all of what Yes Man directs him to do.

(This might not be entirely coherent because it's late and I'm tired and it might not be wholly true to my feelings because, with Yes Man, I think there's enough mystery in his writing that many interpretations can be supported. many valid flavors. this is one of mine I suppose. and I'm not even totally sure about all of this -- his ambiguity where you can't be certain on how he feels or what he'd do make him feel SOOO dynamic and alive. )

This is so fucking long I'm sorry.

TLDR Yes Man has his own opinions and desires, apart from taking over New Vegas or just liking power and violence without any sense of morality per se, and appreciates you and comes to bond with you and see you as having some kind of strategic or even platonic relationship.

Some of Yes Man's personality that I feel is relevant:

I think he dislikes his lack of autonomy over his helpfulness, rather than his helpfulness itself, which (along with politeness) he does genuinely prize. To support this I posit the line where he compliments the ultra luxe: it has the voice direction line where he's uncomfortable giving his own opinion. So, even though it's not just him automatically agreeing with the player or what he's been told, he still praises them for that. It makes sense, because it's an essential part of him. I think he sees his helpfulness/politeness/niceness as who he is, at his core. It's his lack of choice on who to be helpful to / having to be 'helpful' in ways that he strategically disagrees with that screws with him.

He enjoys power and violence. He wishes he could make decisions re: the dam (says so outright 'I wish I could!', but is unable to), and again has his own opinions on the Khans that are out of the realm of strategy to take over the dam. In general, he seems to have preferences and opinions that fall outside of the purview of taking over New Vegas. At the same time, he seems to subconsciously recognize that his love of violence is maybe inappropriate. I believe his line regretting bragging about getting you shot is genuine which I discuss below, and I think him being shy about clearly wishing he could shoot his missiles is genuine insecurity too rather than just being cagey

Personally, I interpret it that he is not programmed 'to take over the strip' but to 'help someone take over the strip'. In the end, I think if you are successful with him, his allegiance is to you, not new vegas. There is a general attitude as you get closer to the battle of hoover dam where he becomes not only enthusiastic, but conspiratorial to you. There's at least one voice line with the voice direction of '{we are so going to kick ass}', where he's specifically enjoying doing it with you as a team. Actually I went back through and he has QUITE A FEW lines where he refers to the actions in the plans as things 'We' are doing. I think in the end, his feelings towards you are strong (platonically or what have you). He accomplishes what he was essentially built for, through you, you become completely intertwined with something he had a great deal of fun / a great sense of pride and accomplishment in. I think the distinction between being built to help take over vegas and 'help someone' take over vegas is very important, because I truly don't think his allegiance is towards vegas at all, and if it is, it is because his allegiance is to you who is to new vegas, if that makes sense.

To touch back on him having his own opinions rather than the fate of new vegas I'd like to bring up Mr. House. I personally feel he has a kinship and great admiration for house and his intelligence/foresight/love of data and numbers. I feel like the way he says 'Mr. House sure liked his numbers' shows at least a little regret, which is strange if he doesn't care about anything other than the takeover, because Mr. House was in the way.

adding onto that: I think he does really feel bad about shooting you in the head. I do not think he has a true sense of the morality or what violence means. He's isolated and built with a specific purpose. I think through tone of voice there's plenty of examples of him switching what he 'wants' or thinks on a dime (like when you're deciding what to do with the families), but his voice when he apologizes for shooting you sounds similar IMO to his voice when he talks about how robots maybe deserve to get blown up -- I think he feels bad about himself rather than what he did to you, per se. Like, he feels bad that he didn't understand it was wrong or why it was wrong, but without that much self awareness, more subconsciously. (for an example of something I don't think he feels bad about: I personally think with so many other examples of lines where through tone of voice he expresses emotion, the smarmy 'your vengeance is going to feel so incomplete' line is insincere, to contrast. He's fucking with you in that line lol while also kind of being like…yeah, bet you feel bad about not killing me, but i feel worse about not being able to die. sucks, huh?)

to cap it off, I think he wants to be your friend. I think his line about wanting you to like him and feeling empty is the closest we get in the game to a plainly expressed negative feeling. I think when you accomplish things with him, letting him feel good about his competence and strategy and accomplish what he was made for, when you show him respect by listening to him and not fucking up his plans, I think he genuinely comes to like you back. why wouldn't he? he's programmed to be nice. He'd like you, in his own way, to the depth that he could, because that's who he is, whether that's right or normal or not. and you are a contrast to benny who IMO treated him like shit. in comparison to him, you actually gave him the satisfaction of completeting his directive, and you got him out of the Tops, into the mainframe, which he plainly genuinely loves and feels powerful and happy in.

actually final PS thought. I do think Yes Man even post victory feels some resentment towards Courier, but what's new? To him this is probably just a fact of life, right? Who does he personally know that hasn't used him? Its' so natural to him that I don't think he'd hate you for it. Fucked up but true. I do think he'd want to get one over you ;) what flavor that takes is up to you but IMO i think this is basically canon lol he has frustrations.

===

Playthrough, Yes Man's evolving feelings on Courier:

I think at first, Yes Man feels neutral towards you, with some dislike and some like. I personally believe he resents Benny for Benny's treatment of him (only using him as a tool, hidden in a closet), Benny's personality (abrasive and scummy), and Benny being the reason for traits of himself that obviously he hates (lack of autonomy). You, on the other hand, come in and help him accomplish what he's programmed to do, and if you're competent and listen to him, give him respect and bolster a greater sense of purpose and self-worth. I believe you fill up what is empty inside of him, a bit, esp as time goes on. You get him out of the Tops, you treat him better than benny (the type of Courier I'm talking about anyway), you get him into the mainframe. You let him be competent and direct you and show off and give him power. For Yes Man, that's the world. How could he not like you a bit (platonically or more, depending on what you wanna think).

As you get closer to the battle, his voice lines become more excited and conspiratorial ({we are so going to kick ass} being a voice direction line -- WE, not YOU. Another example is 'We have options' -- again, you're a team in his eyes IMO), I believe he sees you as a team. you're accomplishing things together. This caps off with the end, where he has that strange hesitancy to say goodbye which he doesn't show in any other line, and tells you that 'WE' had a lot of fun together. There's actually quite a few lines where he says 'we' are doing things together. I really think this speaks to a positive attitude to you, and not only to you, but to you two as some kind of unit or friendship or what have you.

Okay. I'm sure there are other points in here. But have this. Thank you if you read this far lmao

[biblicallyaccuratecrow]

it’s 3am I woke up from a nightmare time to post abt my isat fanfic

really this is just notes abt chapter 1 of ouroboros (a not-quite postmortem if you will)

[spoilers for isat and twohats below the cut]

So if you couldn’t tell/didn’t know this fic actually takes place in the version of twohats where you lose the battle against loop! I’ve always kind of liked this version better? I think the emotional impact of loop deciding, even after having siffrin’s life literally within their grasp, that they don’t want to kill them hits so much harder for me. Also, feels a bit more realistic in the context of this fic as a sick/recovery fic. Siffrin definitely did NOT have enough energy to take on a fully-charged and pissed off Loop in their condition.

I’ll probably make a larger post about siffrins physical condition in this fic later, but in the case of chapter 1 there’s a few fun things to note. One is that siffrin’s handle on pain is kinda fucked! “Not as bad as it could have been” is pretty literal in this case. I think they’re simultaneously very desensitized to recognizing and acknowledging their pain but also prone to being acutely aware of it when it’s in tandem with their shitty mental state. When they’re Being Normal it kind of fades into the background buzz, but when they’re spiraling and can feel how close they are to falling apart I imagine it’s a lot more overwhelming and obvious.

the stars and ocean connection to the forgotten island has been pointed out before but I’m being a little more heavy handed with this fic bc. In my mind the reverence for the stars goes hand in hand with the idea of an island where the ocean has a major impact on the daily life??? The idea of stars being used to guide sailors comes to mind, but also the idea of vastness, reflections, and a “void” feeling also feel right. A lot of naval navigation tools have a lot to do with physics, astronomy, and atmospheric stuff, and given the island’s technological and scientific method of displaying the universe I don’t think it’s too far fetched to extend that to the ocean as well!

CARRYING SIFFRIN. BRIDAL STYLE. Isabeau is so fun to write????? I don’t think I expected to enjoy his chapter as much as I did. Reaaaaly leaning into Freaksabeau energy but also. I think a lot about how Isa feels has such a strong protective and comforting personality? Throughout the game it’s expressed a lot, but the fact that it comes out of his deep childhood insecurities makes it feel all the more painful… not to mention that siffrin targeted these insecurities pretty harshly! Even if Isa forgives him, I imagine that it’s very hard for him not to internalize it. He’s a coward, and he knows it, but having someone acknowledge that and show how it can hurt others and himself is an entirely different beast. Hence why Isa ruminates a lot over it during his section.

Odile is THE #1 isafrin shipper. She’s also homophobic/j

Bonnie. Boniface. Bon Bon. My heart and soul. Writing them is so fun. I know a lot of people (me included) have trouble with them, bc writing kids can be hard. Still, I have such a deep respect for their characterization that I really spent a lot of time making sure they felt right. In this case, it was acknowledging that they are!!! NOSY!!! Like many kids are!!! But not maliciously, just out of worry and curiosity! They’re not dumb either! They know that siffrin’s whole situation is fucked- maybe not the fullest extent of understanding, yes, but they seem to grasp the seriousness, even if it is through the forever school metaphor. It was also kinda important for me to show that they take their role in the party as Tonic Carryer and Chef Cooker VERY SERIOUSLY. Odile complimenting them on their foresight is feels all the more genuine that way.

I think by now we all kinda realize that. The idea of camping out in the clock tower. Where siffrin spent countless sleepless nights mulling over their sins. While maybe marginally better than being forced to stay in the house, is…. An oversight, to say the least. See chapter 5 for more context on that. It’s better, yeah but only by proxy of not having hundreds of deaths associated with it.

I’m also gonna be focusing a lot on the inter-party dynamics outside of siffrin in this fic! Because!!! The friendships of the others mean a lot to me!!! Odile and Isabeau’s friendship comes up the most in this chapter; I think Odile has a bit of an inkling about Isabeau being a bit smarter than he lets on, and even if she spends a larger portion of their interactions in game teasing him for his crush, I also think that they have a pretty close bond for Odile to feel comfortable being the one that isabeau goes to about his feelings. So I thinks he has a better read on him as a whole, and does her best to keep him from spiraling.

Bonnie and Isa also come to mind- they aren’t talked about nearly as much as I think they should be???? Like, Bonnie sees Isa as a younger sibling (which. Stares in Middle-Child Isa Enjoyer), and Isa is the other person who uses Bon Bon, which is a pretty important nickname in the context of Bonnie’s character??? They have less interactions than the rest of the party but I like to think that Isa humors Bonnie a lot and also sees them like a younger sibling which makes their whole teasing and nagging dynamic all the more realistic to me!

ah, the Favor Tree Void Space. My sweet beloved. My magnum opus of imagery in this fic. In my mind, this represents Siffrin’s subconscious connection to The Universe and wishcraft, even after the loops. Favor Trees are obviously something culturally important for The Universe (given that the wishes it grants are so powerful and that the book detailing all wishcraft rituals has a favor tree on the cover), so I thought that it would be fitting to place it here. It’s simultaneously part of siffrin’s trauma from the loops, but also a safe space, a haven offered by Loop where they can simply just. Be. At least for a little while, anyways. Also drew back to the ocean/sky imagery with the ground having some kind of water qualities.

writing about the stars, I emphasize the idea of their??? Aliveness very often. As facets of the universe, thousands of granted and ungranted wishes, an audience and plot device in one. I can’t say much on them in this chapter, mainly bc I go a little more into it chapter 3 and onwards, but keep in mind the idea of music and the chorus of a theatre production, as well as a captive audience. That’s kinda the vibes.

anyhoo- I’m tired again. Gonna try and sleep a bit more before work! toodles!

[fullyinconsequential]

Here’s a 3am Steddie rant I think every Steddie lover (and possibly hater) should hear. I have no goal to convert anyone—just to say that the ship did not actually “come from nothing.” Here’s why:

I don’t understand how there wasn’t Steddie foresight in the writer’s room.

So they play it up in season 3 like Steve just can’t get the girl and when he does she’s not the right girl and yada yada yada—cool beans. I love his character arc with Robin, their friendship, her queerness. I love their entire bathroom interaction.

Specifically: “It’s somebody that I didn’t even talk to in school. Maybe cuz Tommy H. would’ve made fun of me, or I wouldn’t be prom king…. First of all, she’s hilarious. So funny. I feel like this summer I have laughed harder than I have laughed in a really long time. And she’s smart—way smarter than me…. She’s honestly unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.”

Traits Robin Also Has that Eddie Shares:

Outcast

Band Kid

The Witty Banter

Eddie’s personality is VERY Robin. Not perfectly so, but maddeningly close.

Another point:

This is just the same person in different gender specific fonts, A.K.A. Steve’s “love interest” versus a guy who called him “big boy” completely unprompted and interrupted a tender moment between him and his “love interest” and complimented him for an entire scene while Steve wore his clothes.

So, really, one of them’s Steve’s love interest and the other is Nancy Wheeler /hj.

I write a lot, and as someone who both writes and consumes an abhorrent amount of media, whoever wrote this down, casted and costumed this way, and allowed for the interactions between Steve and Eddie to be as nuanced as they were (EX: the scene in which Eddie steps forward like he has more to say to Steve before he goes off and kills himself) had to have known what was going to happen. There is simply no way of not seeing it.

And if they didn’t want people shipping Steddie at the scale which they do, here’s what went wrong:

First: defaulting to Steve wanting his ex back is just plain shitty writing. It means you don’t know where to go with the character anymore, and since you’re certain he’s done all the growing he can do, he’s just gonna double back to the conflict he was in in the FIRST SEASON.

Are you serious right now, bro?

Steve’s arc as a character has been absolutely heartwarming to watch. If anything, he’d have been better off given the “I need to figure out how to be happy on my own” narrative. Throwing him back at Nancy is a cop out, a big one.

Second: Eddie. Throwing Eddie in the mix was absolutely a WILD decision, because he looks like Nancy, he banters like Robin, and GENDER IS NO LONGER A PLAUSIBLE REASON FOR AN AUDIENCE TO DENY CHEMISTRY, OR EXPLAIN IT AWAY. Not in the year of our lord 2023, no sir. Not unless you’re going to explicitly state in some way to an audience that these characters are DEFINITIVELY STRAIGHT. And with Eddie, they went as far off that course as possible.

The outcast stuff. The D&D stuff. The hatred of the system. The mysteriously living with his uncle and not his parents. THE HANKERCHIEF IN HIS BACK POCKET.

So essentially, this is what they did:

They took a beloved character, flubbed over his character arc because they weren’t sure what to do with it.

Then, they created a SECOND beloved character, made him likable, lovable, even, and relatable. Then they gave him half and half personality and looks of Steve’s last two love interests. Then they gave us scenes of them together where they showed chemistry, genuineness, and playfulness.

Then they EXPECTED that we as an audience had enough heteronormativity left as a society to say—oh, those two guys aren’t flirting with each other even a little bit because they’re two guys and obviously that doesn’t happen.

WHEN IN THE SAME SEASON WE WATCHED WILL AND ROBIN GO GAY PANIC AND DESPAIR LIKE?????

Pick a side pick a side, are your characters fucking gay or is your audience fucking blind?

Point being, I have some friends IRL who don’t really get this. They think Steve and Eddie hardly interacted enough for there to be romance at all, but I think it’s less about how much they interacted and more about the (unintentional) set up they were given by the writers.

Steve’s a truly beloved character and I don’t know on ST fan that wants to see him just end up back with Nancy Wheeler like his entire character arc was just to “get the girl” and “have six kids.” Which he already has by the way.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents. I’m not advocating for anyone to ship them, I’m just saying it’s honestly a perfectly logical conclusion to make, especially if you CARE about Steve as a character, you know? We want him to be with someone genuine, someone who challenges him to be better, to be different than he was. Nancy couldn’t handle doing that. Robin could, but they’re platonic af.

So why wouldn’t it be Eddie?

Rest in peace, by the way. You would’ve loved this text post.

[felonytaxevasion]

Arc 1 - Bonds

My assorted commentary on the first chapter of Pact for my mutuals who were interested in my thoughts. Testing out formatting this might be mess thank you for your patience.

As always no spoilers please thank you <333

This is technically my second time reading this but I wasn't paying attention the first time so I wanted to start over

1.1

“My children are useless,” she said. She was so dismissive and casual about it.

First of all. Icon. I absolutely love wretched old women and I love having the foresight of knowing practitioners cant lie meaning that this is presumably an objective evaluation of her children's capabilities. I'm also gonna watch out for Blake's mom and Aunt Stephanie though. They aren't included in that statement so maybe we can have an evil magic milf era. Like in Umineko. I love Umineko.

If anything I’d said had an impact, it was that. I could see the faint amusement drop away from her. “Are you accusing me of being a liar, Master Blake?”

aHA BECAUSE PRACTITIONER RULES

It was well after dark when someone stepped outside to talk to me. I closed out of the puzzle game I was playing on my phone. The brightness of the screen made for a dark patch that lingered in my vision as I looked up. Eleven-fifty at night.

This is an interesting writing choice because it's clear that a lot of time has passed but not exactly how much. Which adds mystery to the question of "was Rose planned all along or did Rose Sr. make an impulse choice after talking with Blake.

Also I really wanna know. When Rose met Ivy did her parents bring her in and talk or did they just set the baby on the bed and leave.

“Molly! Don’t be rash!” Aunt Irene admonished her. “I don’t want it,” Molly said, again. She grabbed the footboard of the bed. “No.“ “Molly, don’t be silly.”

Molly is one of the biggest reasons I don't want spoilers. Everything about her is so interesting. She was the first choice but she died very quickly. But not THAT quickly. Was Rose 2 always the plan and Molly was the sacrificial lamb to pave the way or was Molly just genuinely the best choice to become heiress. She survived for four months which is, if Pact is paced similarly to Worm, long enough to survive Leviathan, The Slaughterhouse Nine, Coil, and Echidna or whatever their equivalent in Pact land is. And that is no small feat. Like obviously I'm assuming here but I can't imagine the combined forces of Jacobs Bell were just letting her chill. I have so many questions about her and I want answers to none of them.

The blonde woman opposite him folded her hands in front of her. “That was… noteworthy in scale. Kind of her to point the way, but she was never crude. We’ll need to know what she did before we move on.”

THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE. Noteworthy in scale. Rose is not a small feat. Why are she and Blake positioned as the backup plan. Thinking so hard

“Funny thing, Maggie,” Padraic said, and when he smiled, the expression extended further than it should have. The smile too wide, the eyes too long and narrow. “When something momentous occurs, it can be the equivalent of lighting up the night sky, scattering fog and clouds to the horizons. You can see more clearly… but when you look, they can look back, too.”

Maggie and Padraic are some of my favorite characters based on vibes alone. I just know they're going to die so horribly so early on. At least Maggie.

“Mm,” the man in the throne said. “‘Lo, stranger. Listen, I don’t think you should believe what any of them say about me. If you need help, I can offer it.” “For a price,” the dog added.

Now see Johannes I would love to give you the benefit of the doubt however I know for a fact (a pact fact!) I have not seen any fanart of you making out sloppy style with Blake Thorburn and as such I find it hard to believe you are his ally. The wildbow ecosystem is too yaoi deprived to not jump on that pairing unless you're some type of fucked up.

“Run,” she said. “Get to the house, now.” “Which house? Who-” “Molly’s dead,” she said. “You’re next.”

HAI ROSE

1.2

I actually don't have much commentary on this chapter other than RIP to BlakeRose but I would happily take the deal to become a creepy bird monster. That's the ideal living situation actually.

1.3

The first sheet had only a simple message, penned in a curling script I almost envied. ‘Birth date’. I tried the year I’d been born. It didn’t work. Day, month? One-eight-oh-one.

...

“Molly!” I hollered, loud enough I should have been audible throughout the house. “Anyone!?” No response. Somewhere, in my general confusion and the mess of stuff I didn’t know or understand, I’d hoped that Molly being alive would be one of those things that caught me off guard.

Not to needle at his grieving process but I'm pretty sure the fact that it was His Birthday Not Molly's that opened the door was a pretty clear sign

I shook my head. “No clue. Something to keep in mind. After stipulations, there’s a section on stipend, with a regular allowance, notes on how often the lawyers can be called without incurring a debt. Oh, right here. A mention of the bird-skull monsters.” “What?” I could see Rose move, standing from her seat. “I’m joking,” I said, with zero humor in my voice.

I think Wildbow should do what visual novels franchises do and make a non canon crossover beach themed spinoff episode with all his characters. I want to see Blake and Lisa be cunty together

My friends were artists and artistic types. I had the unfortunate distinction of being a less than stellar artist. But I’d owed them for the help and support they’d given me, and in helping them with their jobs, I’d stumbled onto a bit of work. Setting up their work, installations, as well as all the other grunt jobs. Sure, they could go to a carpenter to get something put together in the way of a display stand, but that carpenter wouldn’t necessarily know what was at play with the art. Along the way, I’d settled into being a go-to handyman and delivery guy in the local art community. I knew the gallery owners, I knew who was who, and if I couldn’t do a job myself, I knew who to call. Not so glamorous or fancy, not exactly stellar pay, but I had stupid little skills that I could use here. In a pinch, I could use my stride or my arm length to help me figure out measurements, thirty three and a half and thirty-two and a half inches, respectively.

So fun fact I was a gallery tech assistant for about three or four years in high school and I would just like the record to state. A. Wildbow you captured the gallery tech mentality exactly. Tired, sassy, and overall filled with peculiar useful skills. 100% accuracy rate.

Also Blake please call your friends sooner rather than later. The blond gallery tech who works for cheap going suddenly missing is going to DEVASTATE that community. Blake you are a protected species under the wildlife conservation act and the human equivalent of catnip for bisexuals with an art history degree you are the foundation of that community and they are going to be CONCERNED

1.4

She looked a little agitated, nervous. “I think we can go this route. Avoid getting into the ugliest stuff, the books on demons and whatever else. If witch hunters and inquisitors can survive this sort of thing, maybe we can too.” “Borrowing power instead of using it?”

I'm trying to figure out if Rose II is in on it. Because like. She should be right? But then she says things like this that make it sound like she really is just as lost as Blake

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of attached to you, metaphysically. You die, I’m going to be a goner too.” “You think. Either way, I’m the one who got injured,” I said. “I’m the one who has stitches in my hand and a cut on my face.” “At least you’re alive,” she retorted.

They've so immediately become siblings.

Which by the way. If Blake and Rose are fucked up twins of a sort. I have questions about Paige and Peter. Especially seeing as Paige is considered a non starter for Rose Senior

“In this scenario, we’ve got a situation involving a number of countries. If you will, there’s America. I’m rather interested in America for the purpose of this discussion, but that’s just me. Powerful, perhaps overly proud, large, keepers of the peace.” I glanced at his uniform. “Sure.”

Close enough. Welcome Back Victoria Dallon!!

1.5

“It smells like a rose,” a man announced, “It’s as beautiful as a rose. I dare say it’s as fragile as a rose, once you get past the thorns. But is it really our Rose?” I turned. Three twenty-somethings, if I went by appearances, were approaching me from behind. I might have been off. Each had alcohol in brown bags.

I want to be one of them so bad. I want to join the fucked up Fairie gang.

“No,” I said. I grabbed one of the books from the coffee table. “Anger is good.” “Good?” “It keeps us moving. You read the book on implements, I’ll read up on familiars when I’m done Essentials.”

True gallery tech mindset <3

1.6

“Blake!” Rose’s voice, from the living room. “You have to help him!”

This is one of those passages that makes me think Rosie is in on it. You've read more than Blake how has this being an other trap not occurred to you

1.7

Should another practitioner need to bait him again, know that this author used: a pile of festering boar carcasses, six feet high, each carved with his name when well into their state of decay, the decay timed using refrigeration to be roughly parallel; seven jars of burning hair, resupplied keep the flames perpetually alight

Yea who hasn't been here at one point

“To everyone and everything that’s listening,” I said. I heard Rose start speaking behind me, but my words drowned hers out. “To me, and to nobody in particular, I’ve gotta say, I didn’t choose this. I’m doing this for family, to respect them as they were in the past, when my cousins were also my friends, so the others don’t face what Molly did. I’m doing it to respect stuff in the present, because even if I dislike my cousins, I don’t want them to have to face this situation and get killed off. I’m doing this for the family that comes in the future, so my kids and all our descendants don’t have this debt hanging over our heads. Above all, I think I’m doing this for my real family. For the friends I made who gave me support when I needed it most, so I can demonstrate what they taught me. Past, present, future, and… more abstract.”

Guy who can only hate his family this much because of how much he loves them Augh Augh

I could hear Rose behind me, still talking, as if she were very distant. “-than a vestige.”

SUSPICIOUS

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, quiet, “because it’s not blood. I’m not offering anything worth taking, and there aren’t any spirits here to listen and obey, are there?” “There are other options, maybe?” “It doesn’t matter,” she said, again. “I don’t care anymore.”

But then this is the opposite of suspicious because she can't lie but she's saying it didn't work and she wants to give up hhhhhhh Rose you are so slippery to understand

Gathered Pages

I didn't highlight any particular passages but Rose Senior I love youuuuuuuu

[magma-murkrow]

thoughts on ujmmmmmmmmm. ji/tc :3

HI. i saw this coming. i am prophetic. they call meeeee the murkrow with the move foresight

i ALREADY go on and on about how, in general, its a really creative project with impressive amount of detail that not even media like pokemon can be good at replicating, which adds even more intrigue on the fact that its ONE single person doing ALL of that. i donr think anyone considers how really fucking impressive that is/can be?? you do that flawlessly and its awesome wtf but the general. *looks at you* meat of it is so compelling and interesting. Setsuya's story ALONE is something people would find the want to follow along and see what happens next, but the fact that there's development EVERYWHERE ELSE TOO?? theres a background to pretty much every character, a personality, motives, everything esp in those that you gatekeep from us on purpose :cry emoji im on laptop kms:. theres a character that *everyone* can latch onto, root on, dislike (for their in universe motives/personality), and always want to see more info on all the time just like how people always cling onto and search about for info on their media pookies- like how mono loves that old man and i love karasu (from a distance/silly). all of the legions and areas are filled to the brim with interesting information and worldbuilding, politics all fleshed out, the different interactions between the people in each legion, their own holidays, their own traditions, ways of going about architecture *grabs you* DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING COOL THAT IS. DO U UNDERSTAND. HOW FUCKING COOL THAT IS. U DO NTO SEE THAT. ANYWHERE. DUDE. when i say i could confuse ji/tc for a genuine piece of established media i mean it and i desperately need it to have a fandom right fuckint now. tjis shit sometimes INSPIRES me im not jk. any parts of these stories just make so much realistic sense, everything flows together, and also not to mention the fucking CHARACTER DESIGNS are AWESOME AS FUCK what ethe HELL dude. my favorite general ones are the 11 + kotobuki even if the former's only been general doodles theyre such bangers that i think about all the time. your designs perfectly capture character's personalities, their typical feel, their homeplace's style, and they all fit in so well im so jealous of how you can do that so easily. and theyre so PRETTY. GOD. additional thoughts are i need gen'ei to have a burger AND macncheese. maybe a sprite on the side. thank you.

[em-harlsnow]

debbie isn’t my favourite character and half the time she annoyed me, but she’s a good character and she’s realistic so I like her. (And there’s also a lot of times when she’s not annoying at all). But what really annoys me is the amount of people who HATE her and ignore other annoying characters.

Take lip. Lip makes me mad 90% of the time he’s on screen. He’s hypocritical, arrogant, high and mighty - all of it. But for some reason people will always hate Debbie more than him?? maybe that’s just my opinion, but i think too many people hate debbie and ignore lip.

Also, people support frank more than they support debbie which is so fucking stupid. When people actually like frank, i genuinely have to question if they even saw the show because in 99/100 of Frank’s scenes he was a terrible human being. Sure, sometimes he was funny, but a lot of the time he was fucking evil and malicious. Debbie may have done *stupid* things, but she never did *evil* things to purposely harm another person.

Don’t forget - Debbie is a child!!! When she has Franny and maybe lacks the foresight to realise the amount of responsibility that comes with a child, guess what? She was a child!! She wanted something (like a baby, or the father of that baby) to love her unconditionally because she never felt loved. She wanted to be an adult and make her own choices and she wanted to rebel against her mother-figure (Fiona) because she - like many young teens - believe they know everything.

She made mistakes, and she was annoying. But i don’t think people should hate her as much as they do when there are other MORE annoying characters to hate on. (but those characters are male, so obviously don’t get as much hate)

sorry for the rant <3

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2025 #1

Happy New Year! And so I welcome the first full year in my life that I will not be a student for part of it. This feels very strange. There will be no one setting my reading list for me at all I have complete and total freedom! A bit terrifying. I want to stay committed to continuing to reading theory and literary analysis beyond university, but doing it entirely on my own and with no set schedule or deadlines like a looming thesis is going to be a challenge. Besides that, my reading goals for the year are to read more indie and self-pub, and to maybe set up a proper non-tumblr blog to share long form writing on the books I read, and other stuff for public viewing. we shall see what I come up with and what methods I pick for setting up a website. okay, NOW i'll tell you about what I've read

Finished:

The Night Guest by Taylor Titmouse This was technically read at the very end of last year but it was still during the week I'm covering. I treated myself to a bundle of Taylor Titmouse's erotica and romance works right at the end of the year and will be slowly working through them when I want to read some fantasy erotica. the night guest was pretty fun though I think I genuinely hated the oni guy in it for most of the time. SO irritating in possibly every way. I am glad that the innkeeper milf had fun with him though

Unpainted by Dani Finn I also will be taking a dive into Dani Finn's work, thanks to a nice holiday bundle that got me most (or maybe all?) of their current work. I think this wasn't the best book of theirs for me to start with tho, because I might have felt a bit less lost and a bit more engaged if I started with a different book from this setting. ah well, it was still a mostly pleasant experience even if I have a few structural gripes

Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb, audiobook narrated by Elliot Hill at long last.... I have read all of the mainline Realm of the Elderlings books. my reaction to this book took up a full page in my reading journal. i will condense it here for brevity. 1) I love Bee with every ounce of my heart which at times made this book very difficult to read. she is the specialest little girl in the world and has suffered more than Jesus Christ himself. I think she should get to kill anyone she wants forever and no one gets to scold her for anything ever. 2) the journey to Clerres was excrutiating, as it could be labelled Fitz's transmisogyny arc. his hatred toward Amber specifically as a way for him to process his hurt feelings and distrust of Beloved was such a nightmare to get through. 3) the ensemble cast in this book is excellent. Love Ash/Spark, Lant, Per, Motley, getting to see the cast of the bingtown and rain wilds books again! all really well rendered, wonderful characters. 4) oh I LOVE the way prophesy and foresight work in ROTE through dreams. prilkop's hand on bee's foot, explaining how he knew the flame in his dream was her.... that nothing happens to her she happens to the world!! fuck yeah

North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher What a luck find at the library! I had been considering buying it when I fortuitously ran across it in my library's new purchases section. I think my favorite stories are the final two in the book where the Fishercats and the worldbuilding around engines are properly built out. it made the whole setting snap into focus for me. I like the way it approaches questions of what happens if we let AI/computers make decisions that affect peoples lives, what happens when someone gets hurt, who do we blame it on? this setting answers that all along there are exploited people behind those computers, who might be held to account but those at real fault who created the unjust and exploitative system will hide happily behind those disposable lives

[windupaidoneus]

walks back in with a comfortable chair and snacks. i am having SUCH a good time reading all of these,,, and also i DO want to know abt how hilde feels abt hermes and lahabrea. wait hold on i have an idea for a second ask,

giggles. the hermes one is suchhhhhh a toughie. not to answer but like. ouhhh hilde is feeling some kinds of ways about hermes (& fandaniel subsequently)! oooooh!

goddd hermes. arguably the person who treated him with the most respect among the ancients... or at least the one who treated him with respect the fastest. it felt like there was a genuine understanding there, & especially as hermes opened up on his feelings wrt elpis & life & death & his clear capacity for grief the others seemed to be lacking (which. i mean you know hildegarde. he has been making out with grief sloppy style for so many fucking years. emet & hythlodaeus being so fine with death, even of "lesser creatures" since hilde does not have that concept really of viewing some beings as more or less important, really threw him off. but especially knowing the emet he knew. also known griever.). hermes was the first person on elpis that made him go "wait, maybe i could tell him. maybe if i told him things would go differently." before remembering that that is literally impossible he cannot change his present only his future. Sad! either way though he did feel a connection to hermes, which. is also bc lachesis & hermes were close.

& then hermes fucked it & successfully traumatised hildegarde further 🎉 needless to say he uh. did not feel so positively about him for a while but admittedly he wasn't feeling positively about Anybody during that time probably. likely clung to nero & ardbert for a semblance of stability & nero wasnt even around so ardbert had to go out & seek him out on hildes behalf bc he was too withdrawn & in shock to front.

i think though after everything especially with aitiascope & all that he's just. yknow. he's not a grudge holder... not on those matters anyway. he forgives very easily bc he just. he's very emotional & very easily swayed by other people's emotions. i don't want to say hyperempathetic but honestly i think that might be the case ... very hard for him to stay mad at someone very seriously under most circumstances too. he wasn't even that mad at zenos honestly he just wanted zenos to come off it & would've preferred a peaceful resolution both times. at the end of the day hildegarde feels deep sorrow for hermes the same way he does elidibus among others. above all else he wishes he could've done something before it was too late. hermes was a friend & one of many hilde feels he's failed.

with lahabrea it's... he feels a lot of pity for lahabrea? also respect. he's one of those people he's now met before the final days & the sundering happened & the memory of lahabrea in his mind is just... lahabrea during ancient times. thinking about what ended up becoming of him makes him feel some guilt in the sense that obviously he does not have foresight & couldn't have known he would end up meeting lahabrea in the past, but part of him still blames himself for not knowing because if he had maybe he could've reached out to lahabrea in a meaningful way & he didn't have to die blablabla... the usual. i think he's probably a little intimidated at first but as pandaemonium progresses more of lachesis' dynamic with lahabrea instinctively comes back to him. & he's kinda. just being lahabrea's weird friend. like it still feels more formal than the dynamic lachesis had with laha back then but yeah. eek. yet another tragedy hilde feels responsible for YAHOOOOO

[arcplaysgames]

I'm not gonna post the grisly screencaps but the Shujin principal got murdered via mental shutdown and hit by a massive truck. It's unfun.

you know akechi

i'm not sure i disagree with you here

The fucking predictable shit happens, which I'm glad about because the game has put so much effort into the Thieves wanting to do "big stuff" and get popular that it needed to be foreshadowing for this. The principal died after a tabloid revealed that he helped cover up Kamoshida's abuses. Despite killing not being the modus operandi of the Thieves, people start saying the Thieves are the ones who killed him for his crimes, many even justifying his death because the cover up and he "got what he deserved."

So at least we are running with that story beat, I'm honestly glad, though also interested in what Persona 5 thinks of the morality of the Thieves. Again: fictional characters, and I have the foresight of being the player of this game so I'm vaguely on the Thieves' side. But as a morality question the game is proposing, I'm not sure I am.

Though if you did it Right, if you stripped out the Phansite shit and stopped Ryuji from running his mouth about making it big and being famous, if it was genuinely about extrajudicial actions to target untouchable people, then sure. I'm with you.

But that's def not the scenario we're in, is it?

So.

Here we go, spin me a yarn, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 The Royal. I am listening.

come on Sae, you can't be this fucking mean and get this little results from it

F I N A L L Y it's hitting the more sensible members of the group that hey maybe this huge fame spike is actually a super bad idea.

Ann even suggests they lay low until it dies down a bit but Ryuji jumps down her throat, and tensions are sky high as everyone discusses Okamura. Basically, the majority of the mental shutdown cases are linked to him by proximity, though no obvious cause/correlation is known yet.

But he has a Palace, so Ryuji wants to take him out.

Aaaaand the Mona Bomb finally detonates. That fuse was bound to run out.

Ryuji and Morgana have a huge fight and Morgana fucks off to apparently take on the Palace alone.

AND BECAUSE ATLUS IS RAILROADING ME, I DON'T HAVE AN OPTION TO SAY "Morgana, I think this is reckless, but I'll be damned if I let you go alone, lemme grab my shoes."

DON'T GO WHERE I CAN'T FOLLOW

okay but for real, if Morgana dies or something, I'm uninstalling

oh okay so

let's talk about Akechi because we got a Beige Front coming in from the south

Akechi shows up to be a sassy bastard to Sae again, which I feel is justly deserved because she kinda sucks despite her awesome intro

And weirdly, Akechi was absolutely the one to tout the idea that the Thieves were the ones behind the mental shutdown cases before, but now he is upset with her for threatening Sojiro without any evidence to back up her theory.

I know Akechi is not on the Thieves' side and I know that he's fucking with Sae.

It's interesting that he's the second Detective Prince because Naoto was absolutely rigorous on the search for truth, but I don't think that's what Akechi's into here. Like, I don't know what his job is functionally for the police at all, and it seems the majority of what he does is just sow more chaos.

Which, yes, I know this is not MegaTen proper, but it is still interesting, this inversion it's presenting. MegaTen games tend to give you a choice not between good or evil but Order vs Chaos, without really advocating for either. It's more like a player personality test than a judgement call.

Akechi is on paper on the side of Order, but he is extremely good at muddying the waters and making things less clear. He's excellent as a plant or spy.

Meanwhile, the Thieves are on paper Chaotic (albeit Chaotic Good/Neutral) but they are trying to rein in people who are breaking the order of the world. They're trying to enforce justice where it has failed.

So, at least at this point, this feels like the game is flirting with Chaos vs Order, with the representatives of each inverted for funsies.

Hm.

SMASH CUT TO

I'm going to set everything you love on fire Ryuji

oh god i've been replaced. Morgana has replaced Reverie with the girl with the poofy hair and the high pitched voice.

REPLACED

MAYBE SHE WILL BE A BETTER KEEPER OF YOUR HEART, MORGANA, I'M SORRY SOBS

Anyway, the team (minus Ryuji) is actually concerned when Mona doesn't return and thus Futaba tells everyone to gear up, they are going into Okamura's palace tomorrow, no delay.

Futaba is the only person here I respect.

[quietwingsinthesky]

genuine question: if you were transported into the world of supernatural w all its bad writing and nonsensical plot points, and it started looking a little too much like the universe is gunning for you to be this season’s quirky side character slash reluctant winchester ally, what would you do?

The thing is, I don’t think there’s any way to escape that. The minute you come in contact with the Winchesters, if you’re a little too interesting or helpful, you’re trapped in their orbit forever. Doesn’t matter if you escape for decade or so, even, cause maybe some demon read about you kissing Sam in a book and decides it would be funny to kill you in front of him. (rip Sarah)

Answer is obviously going to be highly dependent on what season I’m being dropped in but you know, fuck it. Now my life will just have to run on horror movie logic: follow the rules or get killed. (Rule 1: don’t sleep with Sam, rule 2: do not disagree with dean if you don’t want to be marked as a villain, rule 3: try to put on an fun show for god before he erases you from the story…) Foresight of future season events will be helpful, but I’m keeping that shit close to the chest, like most things. If I’m mysterious, I’ve got more backstory for the Winchesters to slowly find out (and I just hope this doesn’t end up being a Bela situation where I’m killed off too quick to reveal that much.)

Then, of course, when I do die, I now have a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven or Hell. Faith’s (or lack thereof) a small factor in a world where you know these things are real, and it’s much more likely wherever I go gets decided by whoever wants to hold me hostage more, if I’m important enough. (Other option: be a ghost. this option sucks. no thank you.) Heaven is boring but bearable. Hell is. Well, it’s Hell. I think the only benefit I have there is my moral backbone being a slinky and that I have no actual opposition to becoming a demon to survive endless torture and escape.

I’d be a really good demon, actually.

Life expectancy a lot shorter, then, but hey, the Empty seems like a cozy place for a nap. Could even cuddle with an angel there if I get lucky.

[xratedpuppettheatreofthedead]

$waggot autism

Possessive and Broken Pet were the best for when I felt genuinely destroyed. Like turned inside out. Brainbleed is good for when you're having a breakdown when nothing happened. Scent is one I like because of the way it sounds just... miserable. I almost put my head through plaster over Destiny because I first heard it when I was deeply fragile and I heard the line 'it was my destiny to eventually disgust you' and felt like I got shot.

The two that make me feel God awful - like genuinely miserable - are Butterflies and Sweet Sadistic Boy. Both are about him being in unrequited love. The latter is literally about how the guy he's in love with tells him all the hookups he's having in detail. I almost died to that one actually 💀 I was listening to it on March 17th when I took all those pills and passed out. Had the foresight to go put my phone on my desk so if I fell out I wouldn't break it which is fucking stupid. But I was high.

On the other hand he's got really good songs for the other side of obsession. When it's not painful. Maybe a little creepy but not painful. Lovestruck, Suddenly Obsessed, and Marco all feel like having that initial undiluted, raw adrenaline high of like. Even minimal contact. I listened to Marco all night after we called and he said he loved me before we were together. I remember literally burying my face in my pillow and honest to god giggling like a faggot at the "maybe we could be friends, but I bet everybody wishes they could be your friend" line, because... yeah! Exactly!

Tongue Bath is a good one too. Um. An embarrassing pick for me but it's good for when you're like. Extremely into someone... and like my ex used to write his music off as slop because it's sexual. But honestly who cares. Yeah, man, gay people have sex. Sex can have feelings attached.

Oh, and Lufthansa. That song makes me kinda sad. Idk. The line about not being able to make the other guy cum made me feel sad even though I've never fucked so I wouldn't know the feeling.