#mostly wanted to do a dramatic water image

[salesart]

falon'din waking up from uthenera because his temple flooded or smth I dunno

[blue-jisungs]

sylvanian family

# author's note ... probably the cutest shit ive written in a while </3 the jiwoong brainrot was STRONG n also !! the acc i mentioned is real -- i love their recipes n calico critters:((( its in polish but i believe they do have some englih trans included !!

# word count ... 778

jiwoong watched you scroll through some person’s tiktok profile, peeking through your shoulder. you were laying in his arms, his chin resting on your shoulder. he treasured peaceful moments like these, knowing that not only his schedules make it hard for you to have a moment for yourself but also his menace gremlin members. despite having separate rooms they seemed to love bothering him. and you.

he was close to dozing off, something so comforting about being able to hold you in his arms. at times like these you reminded him of his favorite childhood teddy bear.

a soft huff left your lips and you scrolled down once more.

“that looks delicious” his hum startled you a bit but you nodded, your hair ruffling his cheek.

you were watching a profile of a person who was posting baking recipes. lemon cheesecake, matcha pancakes, strawberry tart… they all looked mouth watering and beyond cute.

however, what mostly caught your attention were the sylvanian family figurines in the background. the author of tiktok’s called them their little helpers and they were always featured in the videos.

“i always wanted to have one…” you mumbled and shifted a bit, so now your head was tucked underneath his chin. jiwoong put an arm around yours, still able to see your screen.

“lemon cheesecake?” he blinked, looking at the step by step recipe “no problem, we can make one…”

“no” you laughed, vibrations echoing through his body too. a smile bloomed upon the sound “i meant those calico critters!”

“calico… what…?” he repeated in a small voice.

you let out a dramatic, annoyed sigh and rolled off him. now laying beside him on your stomach, you typed something in your phone and turned the screen to him.

jiwoong put one of his - now free - hands behind head and the other reached for your phone to pull it closer. his hand stayed atop of yours, brushing your fingers gently.

in front of him there was an image of small figurines of plush animals. rabbits, squirrels, cats… every animal that he could name. they were dressed in sickeningly cute attire: from overalls to dresses, most of them in pastel colors. he even noticed a set of figurines consisting of a mom sheep and baby sheep triplets.

“i’ve always wanted them so, sooo badly. my childhood friend used to have a house! i was so jealous. she had a house and, and a car! like for the figurines” you rambled and his attention shifted to you, smiling subconsciously.

having the comparison of the small figurines and you, he noticed some similarities. the general cuteness and desire to caress gently.

“but i never had one. they were so expensive… well, they still are” you sighed and turned your phone “oh, there’s a blind box! awww look, there’s one with a mushroom hat nooooo i’m gonna cry”

jiwoong scoffed in amusement, poking your hand with his finger. you showed him the picture.

he smiled upon seeing the little guy you were talking about.

“c’mere my calico critter. you look like one, you know?” he hummed and gestured you to come closer. your face lit up, phone dropping somewhere on his bed.

scooting closer, you rested your head on your hand. faces inches away, he had to raise his chin slightly since he was laying down.

“yeah?” you grinned, tilting your head curiously.

ah, you were going to be the death of his.

“mhm. you’re so cute like them. and i get cuteness aggression as well” jiwoong explained and you rolled your eyes dramatically.

“i don’t get cuteness aggression from them. it’s just… ugh” you giggled and kicked your legs “you can’t just say that!”

“oh, i can. they’re called sylvanian families? we’d be kim families then. or l/n families?” jiwoong pondered out loud “we’d be the black cats. no, i’d be the black cat and you’d be…”

“the calico cat” you finished his sentence excitedly and something told jiwoong that this specific one might be your favorite.

“right. and then we’d have kitty triplets. that just makes sense, doesn’t it? they’d have all of our colors” your boyfriend’s voice was soft.

you pouted, heart swelling in your chest. jiwoong never judged your inner child’s dreams and never batted an eye.

“i love you” you hummed, climbing on top of him. you poked his chest “don’t get surprised if i become poor one day. poor but rich in calico critters”

jiwoong scoffed and just pulled you into a tender kiss, making a mental note to buy you the house and the figurines later as a present. after all, who was he not to fulfill his baby’s wishes?

masterlist <3

taglist. @slytherinshua ,, @weird-bookworm ,, @haecien ,, @stryroses

[reachexceedinggrasp]

I have a feeling you might relate to this or you might have even related this on your blog already, but I was just thinking of that Ghoul quotation water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

I think probably my favourite, maybe ever, quiet point of characterisation in a sort of villainous or Beast love interest is his or her having a poet's soul... whether that is conscious or unconscious romantic meditation. It's like Kylo musing to Rey when he says 'You have that look in your eyes. From the forest. When you called me a monster' I love that sort of wistful observation, especially because it evokes such potent imagery ('when we fought together in the forest and then you marked yourself on my face'). Or more literally something like Ghoul citing a line of literature, even when none around except for Lucy would know what he's referencing, it's for his own arrestment and amusement, this is how he sees/interacts with the world

I guess in that way, it reveals something new about their perspective on the world, even when they're somebody seemingly cut off from it - monstrous, othered, repellent, ugly - when they're able to articulate a certain beauty which other characters may not remark upon. It's sort of covetous in that sense, but I think it also sort of helps explain what might interest them about a Beauty, after all, there's something they long for and value (spiritual, aesthetic, existential beauty).

I thought you might be able to relate 🥰

Oh, totally. And with Cooper and Ben, specifically, which is a parallel I hadn't actually noticed until you've just pointed it out, we're being shown their sensitivity as characters. Not in the sense of being considerate, but that they're aware and alert to beauty and meaning in the world despite currently occupying a narrative role which might make us think they're simply destructive or nihilistic figures. And despite the cynicism they're both ostensibly espousing.

Cooper quotes or alludes to literature practically constantly relative to how little he speaks, forever knowing people almost certainly won't understand him, and that's especially fascinating because he didn't make those kinds of references in the flashbacks. We could take this in a whole direction about how he created the Ghoul as a character to shield himself from the things he had to do to survive and is living within a meta-narrative deconstructing the reactionary anti-hero who overtook the white hat sheriff he used to play in his movies. The anti-hero he never wanted to be. He makes allusions because his life has become a story he's telling himself to stay sane. He's his own wry Dickensian narrator making asides to an imagined audience about dramatic irony and social commentary.

And an important part of his presentation to others before the war was painting himself as not sophisticated. Just a cowboy and then just a guy who plays a cowboy in the movies. He wants nothing to do with politics either in an interpersonal or broader sense, and disclaims any pretensions to being savvy despite being in a theoretically powerful position as a rich, well-connected film star. I do think he was genuinely naive, but I also think he often played dumb to avoid social conflict. He was complacent and the image he cultivated helped him remain complacent. Obviously he was very willing to be confrontational when he saw wrong or injustice right in front of him (he goes after Bud Askins directly to his face about marines getting killed by shitty equipment, he challenges Moldaver when she calls him out), but pre-bombs he mostly uses his empathic perceptiveness and charisma to keep everyone around him happy.

In the wasteland we often see him doing the opposite and deliberately riling people up in order to gather information and assess or eliminate them as threats, but he's also only gotten better at disarming people when he wants to. As a handsome charming film star he pretended not to know anything, as a scary intimidating monster he pretends he knows everything.

What I'm wondering about here is whether Cooper always had a secret nerdy side and read all the classics as a teenager or perhaps while waiting on sets when he was working as a stuntman, or whether he wanted to fit in when he started to make it in Hollywood and so tried to become cultured before realising that wasn't what anyone wanted from him. Or if he just spent 200 years alone and read anything he could find as a way to cling to his humanity. We know he was at least a bit intellectually curious before the war, because of his reading and retaining some article about studies on torture.

But YES, him quoting poetry and being so interested and insightful about Lucy, specifically is a huge part of how he's framed as a romantic figure. And he's already by far the most romantic figure in the show. If it were solely about his tragedy, you'd think they would emphasise the contrast between his pre-fallen and post-fallen state by stripping him of his heroic trappings, but they don't. He's actually more romantic post-'curse'.

It also gets me because he's an extremely smart, socially adept person who doesn't let others see him for who he really is both consciously and unconsciously on multiple levels and that layers of identity shit is my crack. He was a profoundly honest man who thought he was simple, but actually he was a glorious maze of contradiction and complexity waiting to happen who has now come into his own as a master manipulator.

[enbypotat53]

OKAY so I just spent an hour collecting screenshots, time for the analysis!

(AS ALWAYS, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR INANIMATE INSANITY EPISODE 18 UNDER CUT!!!)

So I'll be tackling this like the episode 17 analysis, breaking it up into parts (except probably many, MANY more parts), but I'll start with Inanimate Island! (This won't be chronological, mostly just a by-area thing!)

And by god, do we start off strong. AN ANTHONY KOS SONG RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE?? HOLY SHIT.

Mephone thinking back on everything, his regrets about how he treated the contestants, his fears.. just. Wow. STRONG opening. (Also his little infodump to Mepad whilst they're still asleep/booting up, me too bud. Me too.)

Gotta admit I got choked up as soon as we started, both from built-up emotions whilst waiting, and just.. how powerful this was?? He cares SO damn much about the contestants, and Cobs destroyed EVERYTHING. This was his life, his escape (and we'll get to that later). Jesus, dude.

SPEAKING OF.

FUCK THIS GUY.

Holy SHIT did Joshua Waters do a phenominal job voicing him. I don't know if I've said it before but the II crew did SO good when they recast Cobs. Genuinely I don't think I could've asked for anyone better - you KNOW a VA is great when they can make you feel PHYSICAL RAGE just by saying their lines, y'know? When I first saw the trailer I had to actually take a break because I felt sick to my stomach just HEARING how this fuckass corn cob speaks to Mephone. His frequent infantalisation (both of Mephone, the contestants, the creatorbots, AND the viewers), and his manipulation, just.. eugh. He's probably the most well-written villain I've seen in a WHILE. AND HE'S SO PATHETIC?? He's a disgusting manchild who abuses his creations because it's the only semblance of power he'll get, and IT'S GREAT. I HATE HIM (/POS).

And ngl the self aware "it's good, just don't watch S1" gag made me choke on my lucozade, so thanks AE.

AND HOLY SHIT?? MEPHONE ACTUALLY FINDS HIS VOICE AND REBELS?? I'M SO PROUD OF HIM 😭💙

Again, more of Cobs being an asshole, but bless the Shimmers - they were so damn naïve, I'm glad they were warned and managed to get away, they just wanted their child back, man :(

NOW ONTO THE SCENE THAT MADE ME AUDIBLY SCREAM AND PUNCH MY BEDROOM WALL.

THEY KILLED MY BOY. MY BABY BOY.

Fun fact: I sent this message to a friend 2 hours before the episode dropped

Yeah I'm not okay.

Not gonna lie, I had a feeling it might've gone this way but I was PRAYING it didn't. Fuck, man.. Mepad is one of my absolute favourites for a multitude of reasons - he loves the contestants with all his heart, he'd do ANYTHING to protect them, and even though we could see how angry he was at Mephone in episode 17, he still gave his life to save him (and by extension, everyone else). He's a goddamn hero, but I wish he didn't have to die (and yes, I will be drawing fanart to cope). Glad he had a moment to be a badass though, Mepad is the living equivalent of "when the calm one gets mad, you know shit's about to hit the fan" and I love him for that 💙

ALSO LOOK HOW DISTRAUGHT TACO LOOKS?? MY BABY GIRL NO 😭😭😭

You could tell how much she cared about Mepad, and their friendship was SO important to me. I'll touch on this later but end song hurt my soul, ngl

AND WE OF COURSE HAVE COBS' DEATH.

So 10 image per post limit on the app fucked me over yet again, but I wanted to also briefly talk about Toilet so no popcorn image :(

I honestly think this death was so damn fitting for Cobs. It simultaneously feels dramatic, yet so utterly pathetic. It doesn't take itself too seriously, yet it's so built up and suspenseful - this is the moment we've ALL been waiting for. Seeing this bastard get his comeuppance. And to see his demise be a consequence of his vanity? He believed himself to be above everyone - he placed himself on a golden pedestal, thinking himself to be untouchable; he never would've believed he'd fall for such a simple illusion from "feeble minds", yet he did. He's a washed up old hack, through and through. All that grandeur? Just a façade. And honestly? The popcorn scene was so damn funny. Suitcase just casually offering Mephone a part of his father's cooked corpse had me cackling like a madman, it makes Cobs seem even more pathetic than he already was; reduced to a soft, delicate, utterly flavourless food that (if we're thinking about real-life movie theatres and how much popcorn people leave on the floor) is commonly stepped all over by everyone around. He remains in death how he always was in life.

(As always this'll be part one of the analysis, so strap in, folks! This'll be a long one!)

[pumpkinmetaphor]

opinions on tamakao? :P (through and through kyokao shipper here but im curious)

I'm a middle school crush Kaoru -> Tamaki truther

Actually, have this snippet from a draft of a fic I wrote and never finished/posted in March 2022

―

“I think,” Kyoya says, “we have things to reconsider.”

Hikaru and Kaoru both look over. They’ve become accustomed to Tamaki’s bouts of depression, dramatic flairs and posturing, but usually they intend to cause it for humorous effect. Today’s episode, causing him to cultivate a woodlouse farm amongst the sheets of piano music in the back cupboard, was entirely unintentional. 

Kaoru doesn’t really feel it’s their fault. Hikaru didn’t mean to spill the coffee, after all. He hadn’t carried a tray before. And the girl he splashed made an awful lot of noise about the bottom hem of her dress being marked by the spillage. If she’d been paying more attention to her surroundings and less to insulting his brother, she would have seen Kaoru pick the pitcher up before he doused her in lemon water. And after all, how else did she expect to clean her dress? And if her friend paid more attention to where she was going instead of trying to grab the front of Kaoru’s uniform, then she would have seen Hikaru’s foot shoot out before he kicked the legs of her chair out from under her. And really, if the girls wanted to be treated like princesses, they surely shouldn’t have picked the hosts whose whole selling point is their mischievous, boyish charm.

That’s what Hikaru said, and Kaoru copied, anyway. Kaoru does a very good job at mimicking Hikaru’s unaffected cadence even as the guilt gnaws away at him. He’s not guilty about the girls, not in the slightest, but he can’t help continually glancing over to the cupboard. This was not behaviour that Tamaki was proud of.

“It wasn’t very nice,” Hani says. He makes the bunny toy do an approximation of an apologetic gesture, which they both cringe at. 

“They were regulars,” Kyoya says, making another note, “Were, being the operative word. They’re unlikely to return.”

“What a loss,” the twins sound, sardonically. Kaoru comes in a beat late and Hikaru gives him a look. 

“So, your sole achievement here has been delivering us a net loss of customers,” Kyoya responds, sharply. “If sabotage is your new USP, you’re welcome to leave. I can personally escort you back to the middle school building.”

Kaoru feels the guilt rise sickly in his throat again. He looks towards the cupboard once more, before looking down at Hikaru’s clenched fist. This is how it’s always going to end with them, after all. They both know that. Kaoru knows he wasn’t the only one lulled into the false sense of security that having friends for once gave them, and it betrays him more to see betrayal written on his mirror image than to feel it on his own face. Hikaru’s eyes flash towards him, and the feeling is mutual. 

“Well, yeah?” Hikaru stands sharply. Kaoru joins, in belated unison. “So what? This is a bore anyway. We’ve better things to do than sit around here and be lectured. We're leaving."

“No, no, no!” Tamaki all but tumbles out of the closet, hands waving. Woodlice are displaced in a frenzy and Hani yelps, covering his plate with his hands. He points, dramatically, at the twins. Hikaru sighs and sits back down, preparing for a sermon. “I simply won’t have it! Mommy, Mommy! Are you going to let them leave??”

Kyoya looks mostly nonplussed, but visibly relents. “I was considering writing them out of the will.”

“And you!” Tamaki jabs Hikaru in the chest before then, for equality’s sake, jabbing Kaoru as well. Both frown and sit, rubbing the forming bruises. “I will not have you two walking out on this family!”

This posturing isn’t uncommon either. The first time he heard Kyoya referred to as “Mommy,” Kaoru watched his brother almost swallow his teeth. Kaoru had a similar reaction the first time Tamaki pinched his cheek and called him his “son.” He seems to be under the impression that the club is a makeshift family, like those off American sitcoms Kaoru and his brother think are inconceivable, obviously some cultural abnormality. They’d been happy just to have a few friends who were, for the most part, worthy of their time. Family hadn’t really been on their radar, and yet they appear to have got it nonetheless.

However, both he and Hikaru make the same face when Tamaki calls them his “sons,” so Kaoru knows it must be for the same reason. Whatever that is.

“No, I won’t have this! I didn’t raise you two to be such ungentlemanly devil children!”

“You didn’t raise us at all,” both retort.

Tamaki continues, unperturbed. “I’ll just have to teach you! We’ll change direction! If you can’t be nice to girls then we’ll have to make use of who you can be nice to!”

Kaoru’s brain immediately goes to the only other gender he can think of on the fly. “Hah?”

There’s a finger flying and pointing in his face. Tamaki looks gleeful, grin spreading from ear to ear. “You can be nice to each other!”

Ah, Kaoru thinks. That makes more sense. 

“Great plan. How does that help us host?” Hikaru asks sardonically. Kaoru second-guesses himself. Actually, this doesn’t make much sense either now that he thinks about it but it makes decidedly more sense to him than flirting with boys. That would make them gay, from what limited knowledge Kaoru has researched on the subject. 

“Ye of little faith,” Tamaki simpers, hand to heart. It’s comical, really. “You have so much to learn about women.” Kaoru is with him there. He’s researched girls even less. “Women like a man who’s in touch with his own emotions. Women especially like men who are in touch with each other’s emotions, if you catch my drift. And the fact that you’re identical– that just means you have an advantage over the competition!”

“The competition of other guys pretending to be gay, you mean,” Hikaru says, drolly, at the same time Kaoru says, “That’s what girls like?” because, really, you learn something new every day. 

Hikaru looks at Kaoru. Kaoru looks at Hikaru. “Hard pass,” they both say, deadpan.

Tamaki tosses his arms in the air and wails, wails, before falling to his knees. This is extra comical, and the two stare at each other, lips pursed as they try to restrain themselves from bursting out laughing. After all, this is a serious subject. It’s a serious request. One that they have no intentions of honouring.

Kyoya clicks his pen. “Tamaki forgot to mention how funny it would be.”

Tamaki stops, mid wail, and gives Kyoya a curious look. The twins stop tittering. Many unspoken words are exchanged through a series of covert glances between people for whom telepathy is genetic and between those for whom it’s contagious.

“On second thoughts,” Tamaki says, tearing his gaze away from Kyoya’s to look back at the twins. He wipes his eyes. “Maybe that’s not a good idea. After all, it would be rather mean to take such advantage of the girls like that. It just wouldn’t be honest. The worst sort of prank really.”

“Prank,” Hikaru and Kaoru repeat, cautiously. 

“Well, yes, I suppose that’s how you could describe it.” Tamaki sighs, dramatically, before shooting them the most obvious look they’ve ever seen. “It would really involve tricking these poor girls. They’re just, hm, too gullible for that. It wouldn’t be nice.”

It’s obvious. It’s painfully obvious. They both lean in further. “Okay. We’re listening.”

“No no, it just wouldn’t be right. I’ll come up with something else. Something so very boring, something that isn’t a fun game at all.” Tamaki turns away, the back of his hand resting wearily against his forehead. He cracks an eye open and looks over his shoulder, instantly giving the act away. 

“Besides,” Kyoya supplies, smiling almost menacingly, “You wouldn’t be able to do it.”

They’re being wound up. They’re being baited. It’s reverse psychology 101. They fall for it, hook, line, and sinker. “What? Yes we could!” Kaoru insists. 

“It couldn’t be that hard,” Hikaru continues.

“Bet we could do it in our sleep,” Kaoru adds. 

Tamaki barks a laugh. “I don’t think we need to hear about what you do in your sleep,” he says slyly, and Kaoru for a sinking moment thinks that he knows before coming to his senses and realising that, unlike Hikaru, Tamaki cannot read his mind and cannot know about the carriages. Which brings Kaoru up at a loss for what he could actually be referring to. 

“It’s not easy,” Hani comments, “You’ll have to keep it up for nearly four years! It’s a toughie to keep an act going that long.” He sounds like he’s talking from experience, and the twins share a look. Perhaps this whole cute shtick is just a creepy cover. Hani proceeds to shovel a forkful of cake at the toy rabbit’s mouth and they determine that no one could be that good at acting. Except maybe themselves.

“We can do it,” they say, in unison. 

“Excellent! Superb!” Tamaki cheers, twirling once before plonking down between them. They were sitting thigh to thigh, so he mostly lands on their laps and both grimace as they’re forced to scooch to make room for him. 

“Now, the first trick is to perfect the physicalities of the move. The context will change depending on the conversation, but the move– the move has to be a signature.” Tamaki snaps his fingers in Hikaru’s face and Hikaru looks like he might bite them if they were any closer. “Watch and learn, my protégé.”

He turns to Kaoru and presses his thumb to the dent of his chin. Kaoru, in turn, swallows hard and goes cross-eyed staring down at the imposing digit. “Eyes up,” Tamaki coaxes, quietly, and Kaoru obeys. “You have to be able to look at each other like there’s no one else in the room.”

Tamaki leans in and, he’s right, there’s no one else in the room. It’s just Tamaki and Kaoru. And Hikaru, of course, but always Hikaru. This close, Kaoru can count every one of his eyelashes if he had the time. They’re blonder up close, and he has three sunspots under the bottom eyelid of one eye. Tamaki’s eyes are so blue, not sea colour so he may drown in them but verging on violet so as they may prove detrimental to his overall health this close. His focus isn’t on lip reading, instead honing in on the cupid’s bow arch of his upper lip, barely moving as he speaks so softly that Kaoru can’t hear it over the blood rushing to his face.

He understands then, with complete clarity, why girls choose Tamaki and choose for him to look at them like this, even with insincerity, every day, time and time again. It’s overwhelming to feel, even momentarily, this entertaining.

The girls have better impulse control and Kaoru’s never wanted anything he couldn’t take. Before he can remember to breathe, he closes the gap between their lips and kisses Tamaki, square on the mouth. 

There’s dead silence. 

Kaoru moves back.

Tamaki looks stunned, speechless for probably the first time in his life. Over his shoulder, the telltale vein is throbbing in Hikaru’s temple and he’s fisting his hand in his uniform trousers. Kaoru doesn’t look around, doesn’t care to see what anyone else’s reaction is. There’s only two people in the room that he cares about, and the sickly, guilty feeling starts threatening to gain legs and crawl its way out of his throat, regurgitate on the floor in front of them as an apology because he’s never had to apologise for anything before in his life and doesn’t know if his mouth is physically able to form the words. 

Tamaki stutters, once. That’s all he has time for before Hikaru reaches around, grabs him by the tie, and yanks him around to kiss him on the mouth too. 

Hikaru pulls back quicker, or at least seemingly so. Kaoru felt like his lips were joined with Tamaki’s for an eternity, but watching it happen in his reflection appears less cinematic, more grade school monkey bars. Tamaki looks like he’s going to short circuit, staring at Hikaru in grey-faced, stunned silence. 

Hani giggles sharply in the background. 

Slowly, Hikaru’s face spreads into an almost menacing grin and, slower, Kaoru’s face lifts to match it. Tamaki’s gaze flits between them, index finger hovering mid-air, halfway between accusatory and revelatory. He sputters, and their faces light up in synchronised entertainment.

“They can’t do that,” Kyoya says. He hasn’t even looked up from his clipboard. “The board will complain.”

[quazardrawing]

Now for Emmett's stars as part of my 'Ingo reunites with his pokemon' Eelektross and Archeops!

[ Image description: Ingo, pictured from the waist up holds Eelektross who is warped around him twice in one hand and has Archeops who sits on his shoulder, flaps her wings and nuzzling her face on his cheek. Ingo is almost not visible under these Pokémon, regardless all three are smiling ]

Fun fact is Eelektross is about 2 seconds before squeezing the stuffing out of Ingo, benefits of being a almost boneless eel I guess

More headcanons below the readmore

- Eelektross is named Third Rail, I've already mentioned that Chandelure and Eelektross were traded between Emmett and Ingo, as they caught the two thinking they would match the twin dragons typing but ended up liking the other more, but that means that it was baby Ingo that named them!

- When Ingo and Emmett went apartment/ house shopping two of their important factors were having water/ pond access for Third Rail and ground access for their ground and rock types, I personally headcanon that they retrofit a old unused werehouse/ train yard on the harbor, which gives them not only plenty of room for all their larger Pokémon but also has a local battling ring (more of a feild of dirt but still rated for 'will not destroy the local buildings' ) This is pretty normal since Professional battlers are known to be space hogs (due to having a full team of 6 all of whom need enough room to live comfortable and since each different typing has different needs) Luckily if you make it big in the Pokémon battling scene you get pretty rich, and being the Subway Bosses they are pretty much rolling in it (not that they do much with it besides reinvest it into the subway system, or help out other regions public transit )

- Third Rail does have a special always filled kiddie pool indoors, the funniest use for which is as a dramatic feinting couch for Third Rail only, Third Rail is also very protective of the pool, mostly because they have caught some of the other Pokémon either drinking () out of it or risnsing off the stupid amount of dirt (Excadrill) that gets on them off into the pool making it pretty dirty or full of crumbs, Third Rail will shock anyone who enters the pool if they see them, but will allow Ingo and Emmett to put their feet in to cool off if they ask first (both because they will clean the water after and because Third Rail loves them)

- Third Rail also prefers They/Them pronouns, why? They insist having no gender helps them slip into tighter spaces and smaller holes, which is something Third Rail prides themself in, Which is wierd seem they do not need any help with this as they have a clear advantage when compared to any of Ingo and Emmett's other Pokémon due to having no exoskeleton (Haxorus, Crustle, Durant ) and having less bones than even mammalian Pokémon ( Gurdurr, Excadrill ) due to being inspired by the lamprey or leach, which I imagine makes they a bit like an vampire octopus

- Third Rail and Archeops love flying up into small holes together and sticking themselves in them, they insist that this is an important Hide and Seek tactic, (it is not) dispite hide and seek not being played at all between the trainer's and/or Pokémon (due to the drastic size difference between the Pokémon) it either frustrates or amuses their trainers depending on how long it takes to find the two when inevitably fall sleep and stop responding to calls

- Archeops is named Express! He wasn't part of Ingo and Emmett original team plan but was found as a fossil when they were digging out the battle subway tunnels, Emmett maintains that it was Fate and that the original Archeops wanted to join the battle subway and Express was destined to joined the team. This also makes Express the baby of the group since he is by far the youngest, although he wasn't the last to join the team, that was a trade

[jacenbren]

Apologies for yet another nonsensical insomnia rant but the fact that Legato Bluesummers a) has never truly been a free man and b) cannot fathom ever living outside of servitude. really hurts man. Like ohhhhhh boy.

In the ‘98 anime (due to trimax being incomplete at the time), we never really got to see the real dark and nasty bits of Legato’s story, and trigun stampede hasn’t yet gotten a chance to really delve into his character. While Legato still served the same purpose as he did in the manga with similar events playing out, I think a lot of his character’s depth was missing in tri98—we never really learn why it is that Legato is so deeply devoted to Knives, and he’s portrayed as a lot more… theatrical?? than he is in the manga?? anyway. Tri98 Legato serves his narrative purpose and is a great villain, but he seems a bit shallow, for lack of a better word, mostly because we don’t actually get to learn a lot about him.

In comparison to his counterparts, trimax Legato is… kinda a loser. The second we meet Knives, Legato gets crumpled like a soda can and spends the majority of the series as a quadriplegic who sits menacingly in the shadows in his body brace/coffin thing (which I affectionately like to call his Bitch Cocoon). He spends his time being very weird and unlikeable and tormenting Vash in various ways, all while dramatically singing Knives’s praises, despite him being the guy who quite literally rearranged all of Legato’s limbs and permanently crippled him. All in all, despite being an absolute menace in combat and just a generally fucking unsettling guy, Legato’s kind of pathetic and really easy to dunk on at first. Just ask Elendira, who roasts the shit out of him on a daily basis because she’s bored and even “accidentally” chucks a glass of water at him! He’s an easy target!

However, I think this makes the absolute gut punch that is finding out why Legato is the way he is infinitely worse, which I absolutely adore from a narrative and storytelling standpoint.

Legato has been a slave since he was a child, in every way but name—well, he was literally a slave as a child, and more specifically, a sex slave. He grew up knowing nothing other than the absolute worst of humanity, instilling a hatred towards his own kind that would last his entire life. It’s made abundantly clear that Legato doesn’t value himself in the slightest, because he grew up as little more than a commodity, to use and dispose. When Knives razes the city Legato’s being held captive in, and goes to kill him, this is the first act of kindness he has ever received, and yet also the greatest unkindness—Knives has destroyed Legato’s life, no matter how abhorrently shitty it was. Legato has never lived a life outside slavery, so he has no idea what to do with himself.

So he turns to Knives. Millions Knives, whose goal is to eradicate the humans who have done nothing but make Legato suffer. Knives, who seems all too willing to put him out of his misery should he turn down Legato’s offer to serve him.

Legato cannot fathom a life without a master, without pain and suffering and servitude. He cannot comprehend the idea of freedom, and most of all, he can’t understand Vash. He can’t understand that someone whose kind has been used and abused by humans for centuries, who’s suffered for decades alone in the desert, could find it in himself to forgive and love the ones who hurt him so unconditionally. Vash’s very existence infuriates Legato, because Vash is a mirror image of him—a mirror image whose trauma didn’t swallow him whole and turn him into something despicable. Sure, Knives might’ve saved him, but he’s just another master to serve. Knives broke every bone in his body as punishment for disobedience, and yet somehow, Knives still favors his brother—who keeps running, who keeps refusing, who keeps avoiding his past—over Legato, who’s sworn to never disobey his orders again.

Vash is what Legato could’ve been. Vash is what Legato desperately wants to be. The problem is, Legato refuses to heal, and he doesn’t want to be fixed, either.

[stargazer-sims]

The Art of Redemption

(part 9)

previous // next // story index

—————

"You would've made a great parent," Stan says.

Stan and Beth-Anne are sitting at a table by the window in their favourite waterfront café. From their spot, they can see the wide wooden boardwalk and the grey expanse of the mist-veiled harbour beyond it.

The pewter coloured sky is promising more snow, but Beth-Anne doesn't mind. Winter is her favourite season. She loves how soft and harmless everything looks when covered by a fresh snowfall. The snow creates a dreamlike image with no deep shadows or sharp edges, and nothing that hints at the harshness of the real world.

At this time of year, the boardwalk is quiet and mostly deserted, and that's how Beth-Anne likes it best. She prefers an uninterrupted view of the sea, and it's much easier to gather her thoughts when there isn't a crowd. Even from behind a window, the sight of the empty boardwalk and the slowly undulating ocean water helps to settle her.

She's not entirely calm, but she reflects that she's certainly felt worse.

She has just finished pouring her heart out to Stan about the metaphorical roller coaster she's been on. She told him all about the confrontation between Brett and Nikolai, her chat with Brett afterwards and her misgivings about the stability of his home life, and her persistent worry that Nikolai isn't showing much progress in recovering from the incident, even after several days.

To add to her troubles, Eden's parents seem to have developed a sudden and deep-seated fear that their child will get seriously hurt at the rink, and informed her this morning that they want to pull him out of both group classes and individual training.

Although they didn't come out and say it directly, Beth-Anne suspects this has to do with Nikolai and his injury. The Seong family doesn't know Nikolai. He and Eden are definitely aware of each other, but they've never met. Still, if Evie and George Seong are even half as tuned-in to the skating world as their son, she doesn't doubt they know all about what happened at the Four Continents.

Predictably, Eden didn't take his parents' expression of their concerns very well. The skating-obsessed little boy had reacted by creating the most dramatic scene possible; refusing to take his skates off, throwing himself to the ice and howling for all he was worth when his mother and father came to pick him up.

Beth-Anne sighs. All she needs now is for something to happen to make Mariah cry, and her students will have completed a streak.

"I'd be a shit parent," she says to Stan. "I can barely cope with the six kids I've got, and they're not even mine. Well, five I guess, since Nikolai is hardly a kid. Four, if I lose little Eden."

"You're not going to lose him," Stan predicts. "Kid with that much talent? Christ, from what I've seen, some day he might even be better than Nikolai. His parents would be out of their minds to make him quit."

"Tell that to them."

"I won't have to. If he can't make it clear to them himself, what's gonna happen if they pull him off the ice will do the job. I've watched him skate, and I swear to God... that child's entire body language shouts pure joy when he's out there. What do you think would happen if they took that away from him?"

"I don't want to think about that," she says. "I can't think about another one of my boys fading away." Her throat hurts, and the half-eaten slice of raspberry cheesecake on the plate in front of her no longer looks appetizing. Her stomach clenches as if she might be sick. "Everything's so fucked up right now, and I don't know what to do."

"Beth, look at me." Stan reaches across the small table and covers her hand with his. "Take a deep breath, and then tell me how much of the shit that's going on right now is actually something you can control."

She tries to meet his gaze, but her eyes start to sting and she lowers her head so he won't have a full view of her if she starts crying. "I... I don't know."

"Yes, you do." Stan's tone is firm, but not unkind. "You have no control over other people's choices. You have no control over how they act or what they feel. The only person you have control over is you, and when shit gets bad, the only feelings and actions you're responsible for are yours."

"Yeah, but—"

"No 'buts'. You know I'm right."

"I guess."

"No 'guess', either."

"Sorry."

"Tell me something," Stan says. "Are you being kind and fair? Are you really listening to your kids and doing your best to understand what they need?"

"Yeah."

"And are you helping them get what they need?"

"Of course," she says. "As best as I'm able to."

"Then, you're doing fine." Stan squeezes her hand lightly. "Those three boys and Mariah, Katie and Ruby, they love you. Anyone can see that, and anyone can see how much you love them. You don't need to be able to fix everything. You just need to be present for them, and it sounds like you are, so how about you stop beating yourself up, yeah?"

"I want them to be happy. I hate it when they're hurting."

"I know." Stan still hasn't let go of her hand. He grips it a little tighter and adds softly. "Just like I hate it when you're hurting. You think I don't wish I could wave a magic wand and take all the pain away from you? If I could do that, I would, but I can't."

She turns her hand so she can finally grasp his fingers in return. "This is enough," she says. "You being here with me. Being my friend and listening to all my problems."

"It's enough for your students too," he tells her. "Most people aren't looking for miracles."

"Is it going to get better?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

"Yeah, but... can you just tell me, please? I need to hear somebody say it."

"It'll get better. It always does." He smiles. "Your boys will be fine. Little Eden will get to keep skating, and Brett will grow out of needing to be constantly reassured, and Nikolai won't grieve forever."

"And what about me?" she asks.

Stan's gaze on her is steady. "There's more on your mind than all the stuff with your boys."

It's not a question. He knows her well enough that he doesn't need confirmation. What he's really doing is offering her an easy entry into talking about it. Stan is good at that, getting people to open up to him.

She closes her eyes and concentrates on the warmth of his hand. Stan isn't a physically affectionate person, but he knows when she needs grounding and he knows how to do it.

He'd sat with her and held her hand for hours when she'd been recovering in the hospital after her accident. He'd read books to her, some in English and some in his native Czech, so that she could hear his voice without having to say anything in reply. He'd dried her tears like no one else in her life had ever done. Stan has never been repulsed by her scars, never been afraid of her past.

Stan Kovac loves her like her parents should have. There's never been any question in her mind about that. He's not her real father, but he's the father she needs.

"It's the nightmares," she practically whispers. "The nightmares are back. Flashbacks too."

"How long?" Stan asks.

"I've been having nightmares since Four Continents. The flashbacks... they started up again a few days ago."

"And the drinking?" he probes gently. "That too?"

She shakes her head. "No. I promised you I wouldn't, and I meant it. I almost slipped up, but I got scared. Of what would happen, I mean. What I might do."

"You should've called me."

"I was scared."

Her voice is barely audible, but Stan still catches her words. "I wouldn't have judged you, little bee. You know that," he says. "Milena and I would've taken care of you. You and your Nikolai both."

"I'm sorry."

"No," he murmurs. "No, miláčku. You have nothing to apologize for. You're doing your best, and I know you've been trying very hard to manage everything. No one should expect more from you than that."

She tries to keep it together, but hearing him use the same term of endearment for her that he uses for Alžběta, his own daughter, causes something inside her to break. She's been holding so much in, fighting so damn hard to be strong for everyone, when all she really wants is to let go. She longs for somebody to take over the fight for her, just for a little while, so she can rest and not have to worry or be afraid. She wants someone to protect her like a parent protects their small child, to shield her from all the monsters waiting in dark closets, hungry to destroy her.

Without warning, an involuntary whimper escapes her. She pulls her hand away from Stan's and presses it over her trembling lips instead. Her eyes are streaming tears, blurring the world around her so that her surroundings no longer have meaning.

Stan doesn't say anything. He stands up, pulls some cash from his pocket and places it on the table between their two unfinished dessert plates. Then, he’s standing next to her chair, taking the hand that's not covering her mouth. He leads her toward the door, and then outside into the chilly February air.

Out on the boardwalk, Stanislav Kovac who rarely hugs anybody, pulls her into his arms and holds her tight. The last vestiges of her self-control disappear. She buries her face in the scratchy, vaguely peppermint-scented warmth of his old wool coat and lets out all her frustration, self-doubt, exhaustion, pain and fear in sobs that threaten to take her breath away.

She has no idea how long they stand there, but eventually her tears run out. She feels drained, and she doesn't want to move. In the back of her mind, she even wonders if she can. It would be nice to stay in the safety of Stan's embrace forever, as impossible as she knows it is.

"Let's go home, little bee," Stan says.

She tries to reply, but the only sound her aching throat produces is a tiny, pitiful squeak. She wants to tell him she likes hearing him call her 'little bee'. The pet name he gave her years ago is hers alone, and it speaks volumes to her desperate heart.

"We'll stop by your house first," he continues. "You'll need some things if Milena and I are going to keep you for the night."

"Wh-what... what about Nikolai?" she somehow manages to ask.

"We'll bring him as well, if he wants to come," says Stan. "There's plenty of room for both of you. He can have the downstairs guest room, and you can have Alžběta's old room. We've redecorated it. I think you'll like it."

She moves her head against his shoulder in her best version of a nod. "Okay."

"You can have a nice meal and a hot bath and a good long sleep. If you're feeling better in the morning, then we'll talk. Okay? And if you think you need a professional, I'll help you get in touch with somebody."

She sniffles. "No. I had my fill of shrinks a long time ago. I just... I need to tell somebody everything. And I need someone to tell me I'm going to be okay, that I'm not too fucked up to be normal. That I'm not broken."

Stan strokes the back of her head, just once, smoothing down her windblown hair. "We're all broken, Beth. Every one of us in our own way, and that's all right. It's okay to be broken. The important thing is not to let yourself believe you can never be mended."

[cosmicdust888]

Quick Portals

⭐ astrological magick 🪄

field notes ��

hm, okay. feeling compelled to share an experience i had &give it a name. i don't follow any one specific religious or spiritual system, but astrology functions on that level for me. this adherence to &respect for astrology gives me a lot of lee-way when it comes to making mundane, practical magick work for me.

i can easily choose a time to do something specific based on that day's planetary ruler, or create a quick spell using simple astrological correspondences. i.e. meditating on a tiger's eye crystal to give me a boost in confidence concerning my career because that crystal plays well with both Leo (my 🌞 sign) & Capricorn (my North Node & Midheaven sign)

i prefer my magick low-key &easy. i don’t like having to set up or purchase any physical items. visualization, breath, &my laptop/tablet are pretty much my only magickal tools.

yesterday, the Sun and Pluto met in Aquarius at 1 degree. a number &degree of fresh starts, which also happens to be conjunct my natal Saturn in Aquarius. emotionally, i was feeling like low-key shit most of the day, speedrunning through a lot of the recurring negative emotions i’ve been working thru during this sustained period of difficulty i’ve been having in my life for a while now.

the emotions felt heavy, like an onslaught. rage, regret, shame, rage, frustration, rage. mostly rage. a familiar emotional landscape for me lately. but it felt…different this time. like, i was reaching a…breaking point? but not in a dramatic, like dark way. but in a way that was like, a blade of grass breaking thru the surface of the soil after gestating in darkness for so long. or like a diver who had reached the brink of their lung capacity and gratefully rushes back up thru the surface of the water to take a much-needed breath of air.

something like that.

anyway.

around dinner time i wrote about what i was feeling as i was nearing this breaking point within myself. intuitively, i just knew that i wanted to reckon with what i was feeling because it was different even in it’s familiarity.

well, my words, which began as some sort of…confession almost, began transforming in front of my eyes as i wrote and poured forth my truth. the confession turned into a recognition or awareness of where i was at that specific point in time &space…and then transformed again, within that awareness, into a spell.

i am familiar with writing spells, certainly. but never have i really so viscerally felt in my body and known in my heart &mind that what i was writing was truly working at that second in real time.

if you’re familiar with Timeline Jumping, what i’m going to describe is the same concept. my brain, for some reason, cannot compute or utilize the phrase “timeline jump.” like it just doesn’t work for me, but i began using the word portal in a similar manner to mean the same thing. it’s all about the image &movement it conjures in my imagination. i literally cannot picture myself timeline jumping, but i can absolutely imagine myself creating &stepping thru a portal into another aspect of my psyche. so this is the imagery i use.

that said, here are some notes on utilizing the Quick Portal.

· · ────── ꒰ঌ · ✦ QUICK PORTAL FIELD NOTES ✦ · ໒꒱ ────── · ·

a Quick Portal is very temporary, &often time-sensitive, hence the name

Quick Portals work well with brief but powerful astrological transits. anything that is potent &lasts up to 3 days.

Quick Portals are useful in situations that are ongoing, that you would like to change, but feel that you have been dealing with for a long time with minimal external progress.

astrological QPs are most effective when the 3 following phenomena are present:

a faster moving planet or luminary (sun, moon, mercury, venus, mars, jupiter) aspects a slower moving outer planet (saturn, neptune, uranus, pluto)

one of these planets makes a major aspect to one of your natal planets

the degree of this energetic meeting between planets/placements holds significance to the topic/theme of the QP you would like to create

i like a QP when i’m exhausted &tired of thinking about a certain issue/state of being &am ready for a shift in a new direction.

i used writing as the main thrust of creating &using the portal, but i have a 6H Virgo stellium &writing is second-nature for me. a QP can work in any way you like, with visualization mediation, or any elemental magick (candles, water, speech/song, etc.). i think the easier &more minimal the better. QUICK is in the name for a reason

again, it’s a Timeline Jump, but if you find the idea of shifting/jumping to not really taste good in your specific brain soup, try Quick Portals &see how u like it

i will talk more about portals in the future. specifically a method i was shown by Lilith for choosing a new character you would like to “play” as in your reality

kbye!!

sorry if none of this makes any sense to you; these field notes are for me first and foremost, but i share them in case anyone else’s brain fuzzies would like to play with my brain fuzzies. this is just how my brain works and this language helps me do the magick i need to do. have fun!

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

YOU RESPONDED!!!!‼️!!!!‼️ yourespondedyourespondedyourespondedyourespondedyourespondedyouresponded!!!!!

Thank you so much for responding! And as the official new -🍄 anon, I wanted to share another tidbit of thought that has been itching my brain for the kaiju au.😄

So! We already know that, like in the monster au, humans are very good at mimicking sounds and some can even use false vocal cords, change range, inflection, etc. at will! Now, given this information, I was thinking about how Yuu could use this to be an Absolute Menace!😂 Could you imagine, once Yuu figures out some sounds that the others freak out once they hear i.e. distressed sounds, the call for danger approaching, sound of a hatchling whining/crying, etc. and I am LIVING for the mental image of Crowley constantly running around like a chicken without a head becAUSE HIS FREAKING CHILD WON’T STOP TELLING HIM THAT THEY’RE DYING FROM A FRUIT STUCK IN THEIR LEG!!!!!! Idk, I’m also kinda imagining that even though Yuu is good at mimicking most of the sounds, they still don’t know how to string them together correctly to make a sentence that makes sense. Thus, a lot of very weird warning calls take place!😂 Do with this thought what you will! I have been laughing heartily at the scenarios I keep imagining!😂

Drink water, and stay healthy please!! P.S. you are my most checked blog.🥰💙

-🍄

This has got to be the most enthusiastic response I’ve gotten to a response I made! 😂 I’m glad I made your day as much as you made mine, 🍄 anon! :D And aww, most checked blog? I’m honored! QvQ

Oooh, yes yes yes! I absolutely adore mimicking menace Yuu!

The first week or so that Yuu would be spending living with these kaiju, you can bet that they’d be trying to teach Yuu how to communicate with them. In fact, that’s literally what Crowley was trying to do on the first day after unceremoniously adopting the tiny hooman!

Oh how chaotic it will get once Yuu overhears one of the other kaiju (*cough*Leona*cough*) grumble what essentially translates to “fuck you Crowley” and repeats the sounds to Nevermore. Poor Yuu has never seen any creature alive react so dramatically as though someone fired an arrow point blank into his heart after their attempt, let alone how Pridefang seemed to be laughing up a storm shortly afterwards! Imagine how confused Yuu was as they tried to figure out what they’d said…though it apparently wasn’t good if the look Crewelfang was giving them was any indication, let alone how pitifully Nevermore was squawking.

Here's a perfect rendition of how this happened and a slight spoiler behind our favorite lil’ monster~!

“Talking”—Kaiju

[“Talking”]—Yuu

//

Crowley: “My child hates me!”

Crewel: “Calm down. They were only copying what they heard and didn’t even know what they were saying.”

Crowley: “After all the care and attention I gave them…I did everything right, and still they hate me!”

Crewel: “They’re human, Crowley—they understand us no better than we understand the squeaks and chitters they make.”

Crowley: “Ooh, the tragedy!”

Crewel: “Are you even listening to me?!”

Yuu: [“What the heck are they saying?”]

Grim: “Trust me, you’re better off not hearing this drama. It’s embarrassing!”

Yuu: [“Then again, it’s not like they even understand what I’m saying either, right?”]

Grim: “What am I, chopped liver?!”

Yuu: [“…if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you could understand me.”]

Grim: “What was your first clue? I’ve been talkin’ to ya the whole time, yer just not hearin’ what I’m sayin’!”

Crewel and Crowley: *stares*

Grim: “…what?”

Crewel: “…have you been able to understand what they’ve been saying this whole time?”

Grim: “Duh! Of course I have! Can’t you?”

Everyone else: “EH?!?”

//

And thus, Grimfang became Yuu’s impromptu tutor on “Kaiju Language 101”! It was slow going as it took Yuu a bit to realize that he was trying to get them to copy him, but eventually they were able to mimic the sounds he made. It started off mostly basic given he wasn’t taking this as seriously…at first. But he eventually realized that this meant he was the “teacher” and—of course—got a little mischievous with some of the phrases he was teaching the newest member of the pack.

//

Crewel: “How is the teaching coming along?”

Grim: “Great! Why don’t you show him, lil’ hench-human?”

Yuu: *pausing for a moment before yowling* “HALP!! Keep safe! Fruit mean!” [“…okay, I think…I said ‘let me go, I need to find home’…right?”]

Grim: “See? Aren’t I a genius?”

Crewel: “…I’m going to have to monitor these lessons of yours from now on.”

//

Now of course, you’d think that with Crewel guiding the lessons that things would go more smoothly…right? Well, it would be, but when the first year/youngest kaiju start coming into the picture, Yuu starts getting mixed messages in trying to mimic the new sounds they’re hearing. Yuu has their work cut out for them just trying to survive, now they’re having to try and keep the monsters happy by copying what they’re saying?!

And then, of course, we also wind up with misunderstandings on the other end as well. What’s a human to do when they’re tiny and their voice is small compared to the earth-rumbling growls and chirps of the kaiju? Why, scream, of course! Even if we wind up sounding like a broken squeaky toy, what better way to get the point across?

//

Yuu: *thinks the kaiju can’t hear them properly and is trying to ask for help getting somewhere* “Help! Help! Help!”

Jack: “Why is the tiny human screaming? There’s no danger around here.”

Leona: “Someone get this little tick away from me. I’m tryin’ to sleep.”

Yuu: *looking frustrated* “Help help help! Big meanie jerk! Leave nest!” *thinking they’re asking Leona to go back to the nest and not realizing that they called Leona by Grim’s nickname for him and just told him to leave his territory*

Jack: “!!! Yuu, no!”

Leona: “Why you lil’-!"

Ruggie: *wheezing laughter* “Okay, I think someone’s a lil’ cranky. Come’er, kitten.”

Yuu: *climbs on top of Ruggie’s snout and yips again* “Nest! Home! Help home nest!”

Ruggie: “Hm…? Oh. Oh! You’re asking to go back to the nest where Crowley and Crewel are, aren’t you?”

Yuu: “Nest home! Leave for nest!”

Ruggie: “Ah, now I see! Shishishishi~! You need to work on your pronunciation there, squirt. You might just make the wrong lion grumpy!”

Leona: “Tell the teach to give the lil’ runt better lessons before someone squishes them. I’m goin’ back to sleep…”

//

These are just some of the silly things that came to mind, though I’d honestly be tickled pink to hear more silly shenanigans like this that come to mind from you guys! XDD And don’t worry, I’ll be drinking plenty of water and making sure I stay healthy, so please do the same, 🍄 anon! UvU Looking forward to seeing more from you and everyone else that wants to share silly ideas or scenarios!

[starryybugs]

(so first sorry this is so long)

i love that cellbit is just repeatedly pushed towards melissa

the perceived difference between roier and messisa being roier is a passifist and melissa is not and has torn a mans throat out is great (im sure cellbit would love to see roier tear a mans throat out despite not being able to imagine it)

i love that cellbit is assumed by a lot of the supernatual characters to be melissas trophy husband (its not technically wrong if you think about it for a moment as a reader) but like the whole idea that roier is so whipped regardless that people can see thst hes in love with cellbit (im sure cellbit would demand to keep up the ruse after he finds out roier is melissa because what would people think despite roier wanting to be dramatic and kiss him at an event to prove a point and im sure he would let roier do whatever he wants)

i love the idea of after finding out him just sitting there thinking over everything roier did as melissa and how hot it was because it was roier doing it and probably how much he wants roier to do all that stuff again as himself. (and how much he wants to see roier covered in blood too probably)

i know you said she hands him a thing of water and a rag but i love the image of roier coming home covered in blood and jaiden holding out a hose and telling him clean himself off and juat him having to mostly strip and hose himself off in the backyard before he enters the house

i think former canibal cellbit would love to be turned into a vampire to be with roier forever but also fear regressing back into his old ways because of it

i love the idea of roier seeing cellbit while he is kidnapped and immediatly just fussing over him in their normal way despite just having torn a mans arm off and being covered in blood

god i love not quite fledgeling cellbit and roier (im sure reluctantly) having to let the federation finish whatever the fuck they started to do to cellbit

its absolutely no problem how long it is, I love it hearing your thoughts! and I'll go in order under the cut

1. it starts out with her specifically seeking him out, just because roier wants to show off in front of his boyfriend. and when he realizes that cellbit doesn't know and also cellbit is possibly in danger, it's the perfect way to keep him safe without scaring him away.

2. cellbits views of melissa and roier are so different that he wonders how they're even related sometimes. melissa has and will kill a man just for making a comment about him, and roier cried because he accidentally killed a spider one time. a lot of his thoughts on melissas actions and seeing her face and the look in her eyes really boil down to, "she looks like roier, if roier did this I'd fall in love all over again."

3. cellbit is most commonly assumed to be her trophy husband, but some also think hes her thrall/blood bag. it's debated for awhile but eventually everyone can see how absolutely devoted to cellbit he is, so trophy husband is the consensus. either way, it works out because it gets other supernatural people off of him. because people don't want to mess with what's melissa's.

cellbit gets worried about what people would think if its public that melissa was a lie, because he knows by that point it was roier's way of having freedom. but roier tells him he doesn't care about that and wants cellbit to be able to be public about his relationship with roier as himself.

4. cellbit does, in fact, fall in love all over again and his reactions would be funny to roier if he wasn't so worried that cellbit was falling out of love with him. and cellbit does remember seeing roier covered in blood at his rescue, right after roier asks him if he's alright, and then of course he asks roier to marry him

5. jaiden has absolutely threatened to hose roier down on some of the worse nights, specifically during the week they and bobby are staying at foolish and vegetta's because cellbit is missing and roier is tearing the city apart trying to find him

6. cellbit does consider becoming a vampire once he knows roier is one. mostly because he can't imagine having to say goodbye to roier, or roier living forever without him. the cannibalism is mostly behind him by the time all of this takes place but he doesn't mind the taste of blood as much as he hates the feeling of flesh between his teeth

7. roier absolutely turns into a doting, concerned mess the moment he sees cellbit behind that door. he drops the arm he's literally still holding and immediately goes to check him over, not even processing that cellbit is asking him questions until they're out of that damned building and he knows they're safe

8. neither of them want to go to the federation, but cellbit knows that they're the only ones who can help him and roier isn't going to let him go alone. are you crazy? roier still doesn't like being there, or trust them but when they say that there's a possibility that cellbit could either die or go on a bloodthirsty killing spree if it's not completed, he really doesn't have a choice

[brian-in-finance]

Instagram

How Lauren Lyle Got Ready for the 2024 BAFTAs

Behind the scenes with the Outlander veteran as she prepares for British film's biggest night.

LIA TOBY/BAFTA//GETTY IMAGES

"You can take this really seriously," says Lauren Lyle, "but the BAFTAs are meant to be a good time." That's just what the actress—a star of Outlander who's about to begin filming the second season of the series Karen Pirie; season one is streaming now—was aiming to do. She attended the awards as a guest of BritBox, which exclusively broadcast the show in the U.S., and took the opportunity to go all out in a dress by 16Arlington, accessories by Jimmy Choo, and jewelry by Messika. "I want to feel like myself," Lyle told T&C as she was headed to the ceremony, "just an elevated version."

Here, Lyle let Town & Country tag along as she prepared.

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"When you first get the invitation, the question is what to wear. I immediately went to my stylist, Holly White, to get a brief. This time, we wanted to go minimal and modern. I wore 16Arlington, which is a very cool and sleek brand. I wanted to look good and make a statement, but also wanted to be comfortable. You want to turn heads without being obnoxious about it."

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"Because the dress is slick and dramatic, I wanted to keep my hair up to allow the dress to have its moment, and my hair stylist, Fabio Petri, and I were leaning into something a bit 1990s, which feels right at the moment. We modernized it a bit, but that’s where the inspiration came from."

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"My makeup, done by Mata Marielle, was similarly inspired; it was clean and fresh but with a nod to the '90s in the brown lip, which is done sort of how Claudia Schiffer used to do it. It’s a long day—carpet, ceremony, dinner, after parties—so you need makeup that won’t end up melting off of your face."

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"There are times when you have like four days before an event, but this time wasn’t. We had about a month to plan and pull something together. The mad dash was today, because we started so early. You go through the process of picking outfits and from there you get ideas about the hair and makeup that’ll go with it. Everyone involved has their own ideas about what they want to bring to life."

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"Last night was the nominees party, which was a really glamorous night at the National Gallery, and then a bit of an after party, where I was trying to find Margot Robbie. This morning, I woke up at 8 am to be at my hotel by 10 to start glam for a new day. I got to the hotel, I had a coffee and we started right away. Then we had lunch—a club sandwich and some fries—and it was time to get dressed."

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"As far as accessories go, I have Jimmy Choo shoes and a bag, and Messika jewelry. I am dripping in diamonds, from my ears to my fingers. It feels fantastic."

Jamie Salmons, Courtesy of BritBox

"To keep going for a long night, I drink lots of water, I’ll have snacks, but mostly I’ll drink lots of Champagne. I have nothing but a massage tomorrow, so I can really go all out tonight. I have work to do later this week, but tonight I want to enjoy it and have fun."

"When it comes to events like the BAFTAs, more than anything you're hoping to have fun!"

Town & Country

Remember… you can take this really seriously, but the BAFTAs are meant to be a good time. — Lauren Lyle

[woodsfae]

B5 s03e07 Exogenesis table of contents • previous episode

I try to pay attention to ships' names because they can give hints to the nature of a character or a thematic element, but today's is pretty oblique. The shuttle Dyson. Is it for Dyson physics? The interactions of quantum elements with physical matter from a quick wikipedia romp. Or is it another dyson that I don't know the reference for? Fun theorizing.

This newly minted Lieutenant seems plot-relevant!

Marcus the Ranger is hanging out on B5, it seems. I wonder if it's one of those times they talk about someone to remind the audience they exist, but they don't show up in the episode.

Yikes! The Dyson people are doing weird alien bugs melding into humans shit. Dr Franklin's probably gonna do more coke-fueled medical work.

Corwin the new Lieutenant is going to get Susan Ivanova's best subtle grilling as to his allegiances. Can't wait. But till then, some Marcus harassing a sleeping vendor by quoting the Scottish play to him.

And then a meeting with another Ranger who gives him the funniest information report imaginable. Not so much sharing information as making sly allusions to what may be. Funny and dramatic. It is interesting seeing Marcus work. He's like a local liaison, coordinator, recruiter, and information gathered all at once. I guess you have to wear a lot of different hats when you're in a small start-up with limited staff and a ever-widening scope.

I love the sheer medical garb and ppe, and also like the new mesh arm and shoulder layer Dr Franklin is modeling. Also like the 3d imager! The alien bug is now wrapped around the dead guy's spinal column and is imaged like criss-crossing threads. I enjoy this medical mystery for Dr Franklin. He could use some enrichment, and if there aren't mass causalities it might be almost relaxing for him.

Looks like Marcus's absent colleague/contact has fallen in with a new crowd. A crowd of people all infected with this new-to-Stephen parasite? What would a parasite's agenda even be? And the vendor who wasn't feeling well is missing as well.

Listen new Lieutenant. Listen to me closely. Susan Ivanova is not hitting on you right now. She is the second in command of Babylon 5. Obviously she wants to informally assess a new Lieutenant under her command!

Funny that Garibaldi was enthused about the idea of hanging with Marcus and inviting him to things, but now that Marcus himself is asking him to do something, he doesn't wanna hang. And I actually laughed at Marcus's clever wordplay. He didn't lie at all, but strongly suggested that Garibaldi cares a lot about the issue and is asking Dr Franklin to help Marcus. He must have studied at the same Aes Sedai school as Delenn!

Shenanigans are afoot at the old vendor's quarters! His shirt is all jacked up and his back is pulsing! I don't like that! Or all the parasite-distributers with guns.

Stephen and Marcus are asking the same questions I am. What are the parasites' motives? What are their aims? What are their actual effects on the humans?

Dr Franklin thinks the parasite takes control of their neural system. I wonder if they are trying to transport themselves somewhere, or survive somehow. Garibaldi's point about why they would be targeting people from Down Below is a good one.

Marcus is sassy! I like him. He's very roguish. He and Dr Franklin will be fine. I hope they enjoy their field trip together!

I hope Susan is fucking with this guy right now. Just tormenting him over the roses because he panicked and lied and said he found them lying on her doorstep.

An unsettling conversation with the person who says he "was once Duncan, but is now Vindrizi." And he says they are just trying to survive. dun dun! This still has the potential to be a mostly enriching field trip for Dr Franklin. And it's a great further introduction to Marcus. I like him tremendously.

Susan's testing the insubordinate waters is kinda sorta subtle. But she does get the necessary information. He would report another officer whom he say speaking or acting against Earthdome. They will have to work around him!

Oooooh, gossiping about Susan Ivanova! Franklin likes her. Marcus is concerned that she seems more distant now than when he first came on board.

Marcus: "I sense in her a key as yet unturned." Dr Franklin: "What does that mean?" Marcus: "I don't know, but I think it will be fascinating to find out."

dude is just saying allegorical things and then admitting he doesn't even know why he thinks that. Lol. But somehow it's charming?? What a little smartass (affectionate). Dr Franklin thinks so, too. And I love that they're failing the reverse bechdel test (I jest, I jest).

Stephen is right that Marcus is not Ivanova's type. We all her know her type is blond and telepathic with a tortured backstory.

This has been a very fun plot. Stephen has two patients in one, and Marcus just took out two guards in one plot! And got Stephen's Link and triggered a security protocol! Finally, some backup is on the way. There's just enough time for Marcus and Stephen to discover the aliens' tragic backstory and suddenly be required to negotiate for their safe passage to the recently-arrived security team. But they do have wrap up their little prison break first!

Aha! Information sharing! The person who was once Duncan says that all the humans there volunteered, and that they will all have a better life this way.

Aww, and they have a hell of a backstory! Less tragic, and more epic. Living histories. Less parasites, and more a holy order of record-keepers.

This is a wonderful little story. Very epic. Another of those cool details of worldbuilding. Also it's fucking hilarious how Stephen Franklin is like "I will only allow this if I get to medically oversee it every step of the way."

Oh, and here does come the tragedy. Duncan's…symbiote? left him so Duncan could convince Marcus and Stephen they were telling the truth, but the separation caused damage and he wouldn't be able to rejoin without permanent damage. But at least he feels inspired to go really live and see some amazing things with the rest of his life. And I think he's wise to say that we should all wake up and decide to be special.

Lol, Susan wasn't fucking with the Lieutenant Corwin about the roses. Inadvertently, that guy has played a hell of a prank on both her and Marcus! Hah!

Ivanova, throwing the roses on the bar: "Keep em!" Marcus, beaming and picking them up: "Thanks! I will!"

Really laughed hard at that one.

Alright, I'm starting to see where some of you acquired your crushes on Marcus! He's cute and charming! And very nonthreatening. I wouldn't mind being buds with him. He seems genuinely really an entertaining person to hang out with.

This was overall an interesting and fun episode. I enjoyed theorizing about it. I can't discern a connection between the name of the shuttle the symbiote record keepers arrived in and any plot. If you have thoughts on that let me know! It also isn't often you see symbiotic relationships with bug-like critters. I know now that DS9 was accused of lifting a lot of details from the original B5 pitch, but I wonder if this isn't a nod back the other way, especially since Trill symbiotes were introduced in TNG, which predated the B5 pitch if I'm not mistaken.

next episode

[squeakyfir]

Stow-Away (Jaws 1975) (X Child! Reader)

Description:

Stuck on a populated island with an abusive father with only one way out but hard to reach.

A boat.

Born on Amity island and losing your mother at the age of two, it left you with your father who was caring at first but then became abusive. You had too escape. You thought about sneaking onboard to a boat but now that a massive man eating shark was threatening the waters, the town stopped the flow of boats leaving the harbors out of fear.

You were stuck.

Until…

You see a boat preparing to leave the island. That was your only option, jump aboard and hide until gets to another port.

But… Oh boy… What these men were doing was not what you expected.

They were out on the water… To catch the man eater themselves…

I do not own the cover image. All rights of that image, characters and story belong to Universal Studios™. I will be adding my own twists but the main things belong to Universal Studios™

Chapter 1

Next

An evening's heat was poured onto the small island of Amity. This town had little to no troubles at all. Most was just noise complaints, the local kids getting into mischief and a very few number of accidents. There was nothing to turn the heads and cause shock from the locals. All of the people on Amity island knew each other well due to it being a small town. It was peaceful and secluded.

But being secluded wasn't always the best. Especially in your case.

You didn't really have friends and wouldn't talk to other adults that much. You were always on the move that it was starting to become a bit concerning. You were mostly seen at the store and on the beach but that was basically it. You live with your father in a small house on the island and were always afraid of what tomorrow would bring. It was because of your father. 

"GET IT DONE, NOW! I'LL BE BACK IN THIRTY MINUTES AND IT BETTER BE DONE! GOT IT"!

"yes"

"GOOD"!

Your dad left the house and slammed the door shut. You were alone with the task of cleaning the house once again. You sighed and knew you had to get started. As you grabbed the broom, you looked up and saw a family picture of you and your parents. Your father looked so happy and so did your mother. You have a very very vague memory of her since she died when you were two. You are now seven years old and your father now despises you. He blamed you for your mother's death, deciding that you were nothing but a waste.

You stopped looking at the picture and got to work. It was too much for a young kid. Some of the work required you to be on a ladder, which is dangerous. You had fallen many times but your father didn't care. He only seemed to be concerned if you broke a bone, to which he would then sigh dramatically and take you to the hospital saying you accidentally fell but not from a ladder. Sighing once again after only a couple of things have been accomplished, you looked out the window and saw the beach in the distance. It was lifeless which was still strange considering what was happening on the island.

Amity island is known for its beaches but because of a man-eating shark, there was no way people were going in the water. Especially boats. All fishing and sailing boats were told to not go out into the ocean and could only sail in the channels until the situation was dealt with. It was a problem for you considering that a boat was your only way out. But anyways, you kept working until you heard the door slammed open. "YOU BETTER BE DONE"!

You didn't respond and only jumped down from the step ladder that was helping you be able to do the dishes. You ran and hid underneath the table and heard his heavy footsteps coming into the kitchen. You tried to keep your tears at bay and saw that he left the door opened. He walked into the kitchen and saw that the dishes were halfway finished and looked enraged. He marched upstairs demanding that you come out of your room at once.

Not wanting to deal with him anymore, you sprinted out the door and down to a harbor. Your little lungs were gasping for more air but you knew that your father would know by now that you got out. As you kept running, you had to stop to catch your breath and noticed that you were near cranberry hill road and also saw a boat with people putting supplies on it at the last boat house. They must be leaving! This is your only chance! You went over and hid yourself behind a wall to watch and wait for an opening. You could see the name of the boat.

"Orca"

It was a small and decent sized boat, but it looked like it could conceal you. As someone moved over, you could see the floor on the boat and saw two small hatch doors. It was big enough for you to hide down there. It would be hard to reach it but you had to take it. Once people had their backs turned, you sprinted for it and made it on the boat and quickly got through the door but that doesn't mean you were quiet. As you shut the door, you heard a man say, "What was that"?

"Somethin' must've fell".

You couldn't see anything except the bright lines of light that shined through the cracks of the door. You then heard a startling sound; the engine of the boat was right next to you, and you gasped loudly when the sound occurred. Luckily, it was loud, so it muffled your gasp. The loud sounds from the engine were silenced a bit and the boat started to move.

Not knowing what was going to happen, you kept your mouth and nose covered from the engine fuel and hoped that this would be over fast.

[franstastic-ideas]

Mei, I am definitely looking at the Nimbasa Ferris Wheel event with the X-transceiver like I’m on The Office. Starry-eyed has an extra layer of cuteness knowing she wears space-buns. Nagisa could be a reference to something other than the water relation, but again, the kind of softness that matches.

The little gremlin! I like the fact spirit can have a double meaning as a “sprite” not so much in modern english, but more in word origin. And I see it mostly attributed to children. Nox is def related to night, the moon, ghost-type, honestly the mythology writes itself. You literally have an owl archer. And something in my brain ticks it as a good choice you went with Nox over Nyx or any other feminine-esque name despite also referring to a goddess for some reason, intentional?

Akari, The Skyfallen Luminary, and the one I could suspect to be your favorite bc it’s all kinds of pretty and fun. Honestly gorgeous all around. It’s not easy coming up with three word titles that captures everything you want in a way that feels alive or cool, but you’ve done it for sure. And Seraphina? I’m giggling even more I don’t need to google that to know the religious symbolism here, and with fire. Oh, PLA and Volo. You’ve started a whole thing here aesthetically. I’m bouncing off the walls from it tho, the research that goes into this is my jam, bread and butter.

Juliana (The Straight A's Scholar) GIRL PLS I’m bout to cry, I am not gonna get anxious over a Pokegirl y’all don’t KNOW what real college is like for hard science majors in your cozy Pokémon World (just got out of an exam) but FINE go be a scholar like in the old days. PHDs ain’t no walk in the park either irl. But alas, yeah, that’s Paldea for you, I GUESS I have to say congratulations. She’s a good girl, and bonus points for the culturally fitting nicknames.

This is not something I know how to express, but I read each name like it’s a title card of a movie flashing across the screen with a dramatic and lit up sequence with all the girls and little made-up animations and whatever else I picture that goes along with the backgrounds of the names and I go “hm yeah” *nods* that be them. So kudos all around!

Mei seems to be under the impression that she's in a shoujo rather than an adventure game. She sets off from Aspertia City with the hope that her journey will be filled with romance, that she will finally find her true love, her prince...

As much of a sentimentalist as she is though, do keep in mind that Mei still defeats Ghetsis at his worst.

I consistently refer to Mizuki as a 'horrid little creature', even though she's actually one of the taller girls. She moved to Alola from Kanto and originates from Lavender Town, so she has a camaraderie with Ghost-types.

You know that girl who asks Red or Leaf if they believe in ghosts and if told 'No', she replies, "That white hand on your shoulder... I'm just imagining it." That's Mizuki.

Akari's title is indeed one I hold in high favor, because of the multiple meanings behind it. Skyfallen of course pertains to her falling from the space-time rift, and a luminary is someone who inspires or influences others, referencing how Akari brings about change in Hisui.

But luminary can also mean 'angel'. When you pair that definition with her status as The Skyfallen, it paints the image of a guardian angel descending upon the region. Which is certainly what Volo sees her as.

Juliana, she's essentially the perfect student. She shows up to class on time, she loves every second of it, and she's entirely devoted to her studies. So much so, the grand majority of her Pokémon's names begin with the letter 'A'.

She has to do the intellectual heavy lifting between her and Arven. Juliana would be more than happy to tutor him, though.

[ilikereadingactually]

A Sweet Sting of Salt

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland

i have to get this out of the way first: i can't stand this cover. it doesn't match the book at all imo. this cover says "sexy YA romance," and doesn't say "queer historical fantasy" to me at all, and folks looking for sexy YA romance will be disappointed, and folks looking for queer historical fantasy will have a hard time finding it. but my feelings about cover design aside, i did in fact look closer at this book, and decided to read it, and loved the hell out of it! a very charming pearl inside an oyster. which is actually not a great metaphor, because i like the way oysters look aesthetically, and i do not like the way this cover looks aesthetically. i'll stop going on about it, i've typed enough words that the image has gone mostly above the fold.

so! this was a lovely book! it's set in the early 1800s in Nova Scotia, which i know nothing about, but that didn't actually matter to my enjoyment. it's not really about the history of the time, aside from the way of life and social mores of this little town by the ocean. which is a plus for me personally because i'm bad at/not terribly interested in historical Events, i'm always more compelled by the characters and their relationships. so i was very compelled here by Jean, unmarried twentysomething lesbian midwife; Jean's mentor/surrogate mother Anneke and her friend/surrogate brother/fellow queer Laurie; especially compelled by Muirin, the "mysterious" Scottish wife of Jean's neighbor.

i say "mysterious" in quotes only because it takes Jean quite a while to figure out what's going on with Muirin, on several levels--which is not a problem! Sutherland does an excellent job of keeping Jean's gradual understanding believable, while also giving the genre-savvy reader everything we need to see the story under the story. the dramatic irony is delightful. the slow building love story is delightful. the dips into historical queerness was delightful, well-balanced and given with nuance. the climactic tension was tense as hell, the resolution made me weepy, and best of all...selkies!! surprise, this is a selkie story, which is one of my favorite things. it's a struggle for me not to be one of those white girls who is uncomfortably woo-woo about what she thinks is the witchy pagan spirituality of her Celtic ancestors because one of her great grandfathers came over from Ireland. selkies bring it out in me though T^T

the deets

how i read it: an e-galley from NetGalley, which i read in one sitting after work yesterday, cuddled in bed. what bliss.

try this if you: saw The Secret of Roan Inish at a formative age and/or just are into selkies, love seeing historical queers find ways to be together, dig kidfic, or long for the ocean.

some bits i really liked: Muirin and Jean being relatable

Jean caught a glimpse of Muirin's back past his shoulder; she sat on the bed in the far room, gazing out the window at the sea. Jean couldn't have said why she was sure Muirin was looking over the woodlot to the bay, and not at the trees or the empty field behind the house, but she was certain of it, somehow. Muirin had grown up on an island, and she could be twenty miles inland and still have seagulls in her eyes., was the sort who'd pine if she were kept from the shore for long. Jean knew sea-longing too well not to have seen it in Muirin. Some people had salt water in their blood.

---

No, what Jean minded about going to church was the people. She was already beginning to chafe at beginning so closed-in with neighbors and didn't want to be in town long enough to have to come again next Sunday. She wasn't used to having to see and talk with a dozen different people and more each day anymore. Maybe in a bigger place it would be different? Where you'd see people but not know them all by name, and have them know you, too, and want to stop you to tell you all about their children, and their business, and their neighbor's business, too. Where you wouldn't have to wonder what they were all thinking about you, or guard yourself as close.

pub date: April 9, 2024!!