#mundane life activities my beloved

[mr-malumm]

11/11 was official unofficial agent 1 day and therefore ma1um day so i drew me and the love of my life :))

[sylusjinwoon]

{ 188 }

wrapped around your finger.

kenji (ken) sato x fem.reader

warnings: currently unedited; alcohol mention.

dedicated tags: @luneariaa since she adores kenji sato 🥰

{ you keep me wrapped around your finger | wrapped around your finger | i was caught up in your orbit | spinnin' like a bullet | i was wrapped around your finger | wrapped around your finger | then i shot back down to earth… }

there was a boredom felt coursing through your veins, and despite how you were living in a country where superheroes and monsters existed, it wasn’t enough to spice up your lackluster life (unless you counted running for your life when these said monsters appeared, but you digress).

you were a young woman living in the heart of tokyo, working a simple 9 to 5 job as you came home to your cozy, one bedroom apartment. it was a mundane life, filled with your usual routine-

but every once in a while, when a giant kaiju was seen within your city, your life would take a turn for the worse as you had to run to avoid any collateral damage caused by ultraman and his less than savvy way of defending the country.

you had no idea what had happened to the beloved hero. one moment, he was as competent as can be, always successfully leading the kaijus safely out of the city with minimal effort-

and the next, ultraman would actively be struggling to defend the city from these attacks, more often than not causing the k.d.f. to enter the scene and clean up the mess made by the struggling ‘superhero.’

on several occasions, you considered leaving the country of japan to move to a more peaceful part of the world void of any kaiju attacks, but with how badly the current ultraman was doing, (and knowing your luck), the monsters would probably end up invading all parts of the world.

so, you decided to save yourself the hassle and simply stayed in tokyo.

currently, you were eating a simple meal of cup noodles, seeing the time read 8:16pm. while slurping up your noodles, you kept changing the channels on your t.v., the boredom felt seeping into your very soul as it made you a bit listless. a yawn escapes from your parted lips, with tears felt running down your cheeks. letting out an annoyed grunt, you slam down your half eaten cup of instant noodles, your gaze burning with a strange determination to finally get out of your apartment.

"how pathetic can i be, anyways? it's a friday night, and i'm here eating instant ramen like a loser."

you grumble while speaking to yourself, heading into your room to find a cute outfit to wear before heading out. the night seemed calm, with zero monster attacks, and with the lack of monster attacks meant that you wouldn't be witnessing the pure incompetence of ultraman.

when you were dressed cutely while wearing a light sheen of makeup, you grabbed your purse and placed the essentials within it: your keys, cellphone, and wallet. ready to have the absolute night of your life, you finally left the confines of your apartment after what felt like centuries.

the warm, spring air brought the scent of cherry blossoms as you walked with a bounce in your step across the sidewalk. you weighed your options of what you could do tonight, yet ultimately settled on getting some drinks at a bar somewhere. and who knows? maybe you'll attract some guy and have him pay for all your drinks the whole night. it's not like you had work the next day, so you were going to let loose tonight and allow yourself to enjoy whatever the night had to offer.

you enter the first bar that you saw, walking in with a smile on your face as you slide towards a free space seen on the counter. the bartender greets you with a nod while asking for what you'd like. you tell him your favorite drink, and before you could say anything else, you were aware of a tall man that stands beside you, sliding what appeared to be his sleek black credit card across the marble counter.

"put it on my tab, i'll take care of her."

you could feel your eyebrows raise up in response, meeting the man with the cocky voice as he takes a seat beside you. he was handsome, with ebony locks of hair and matching eyes coupled along with an even cockier smirk.

"what's a cutie like you doing here all alone?" his arrogant tone and manner of speaking was enough to make you want to shut him out, with you grabbing the cold glass of your drink before taking copious gulps from it.

"whoa, sweetheart, you might want to take it easy. don't want you getting sick after one drink."

"i'm sorry, but who the hell are you again?"

your question succeeds in making the gorgeous annoying man do a double take, clearly caught off guard by your question before visibly relaxing once more. a lazy sounding chuckle was heard from him as he extends a hand out to you, "my apologies for being rude, i'm ken sato, but you may also know me as the sole man that will make history in baseball."

you feign disinterest, acting like you had no idea who he was just to knock him down a peg or two. "sorry, i'm not sure who you are. i'm aware of how there are many baseball teams, but your name has never once come up."

ken ends up letting out a painful grunt while dramatically clutching at the front of his chest. "my lady, you wound me."

you hold back the urge to roll your eyes at him, managing to finish your drink as you thanked the bartender for his time before getting out of your seat and away from ken. seeing the way his gaze widens at the sight of your retreating figure, he quickly takes back his card from the bartender before chasing after you.

"oi, don't you think it's a little rude to leave without at least telling me your name?" you purse your lips upon witnessing his persistence, already hearing the smirk in his voice as he catches up to you. due to his long legs, he manages to reach you within seconds, the lazy grin still on his face as he saunters beside you. "come on, babe, don't leave me hanging."

"don't call me babe, sato."

"heh, i won't as long as you give me your name, babe."

you stopped walking, meeting his shit-eating grin as you folded your arms across your chest. letting out a gentle huff, you finally tell him the syllables that made up your name, watching as ken's smile grew even wider, happy that he was victorious.

ken steps closer to you, brushing back a few strands of your hair while repeating your name a few times, as if wishing to taste them against his lips. you felt your eyes go wide when his handsome features lean closer to you-

only to freeze completely when a beeping sound was heard coming from his watch. from your periphery, you saw it glow an almost painful shade of red, nearly blinding you from how bright it was compared to the darkness of the night.

"shit, i gotta go!"

as you were left absolutely dumbfounded in the middle of the street, the sudden roar of a kaiju's cry followed by the brightness of ultraman's suit was what finally broke you out of your reveries as you let out a string of curses while running back home to your apartment.

i should have just stayed home. you thought to yourself in an almost bitter manner, feeling angry when you couldn't seem to get the image of ken's stupidly handsome face from your mind.

{ ... }

it had been a couple of months since your first meeting with the egotistical ken sato, and you were happy to see him get some well deserved karma.

for starters, each time he was in a game with his team, the giants, ken was the one who seemed to struggle the most. (you tell yourself the reason you watched his games was because you wanted to laugh at him, not because you held the tiniest bit of concern for him.)

he still kept up his cocky personality, but you could tell that he was exhausted. the dark circles seen beneath his pale skin became more prominent as his body appeared to be a bit more gaunt than usual. it was obvious that he was losing weight, and you feared for both his physical and mental health.

but truly, regardless of how much concern you had for him, it wasn't like you could just go up to his house and check up on him. since he was technically a celebrity, you were certain that even he had some set amount of boundaries set in place.

in the end, you decided to simply mind your own business, not wishing to disrupt kenji sato's life-

at least, for now.

{ ... }

it was currently your day off, and you had kept your t.v. on to a random channel when you heard the announcement;

"don't change that channel, since after our commercial break, we will head to ms. ami wakita with her first exclusive interview with the star of the giants, kenji sato himself!"

hearing those words makes you stop wiping at your countertops, your head tilted in response to the announcement. admittedly, work and your own personal life had distracted you from keeping up with the news pertaining to ken sato. you had kept the baseball player in the back of your mind, and truly felt curious about this interview.

wiping the slight sweat from your brow with a handkerchief, you let out a sigh before grabbing a bottle of water from your fridge, uncapping it as you nearly drained half of the bottle with your fervent gulps. letting out a sigh of satisfaction, you return to your couch just as the interview between ami wakita and ken began.

to say that you were absolutely shocked upon seeing ken again would be the understatement of the century. not only did he appear better (aside from what you assumed was a broken arm), but there was a kindness seen in his gaze. he spoke softly and respectfully in reply to each and every one of wakita's questions, and you found yourself becoming mesmerized by the tranquility of his voice.

your eyes were glued to the screen of your television, watching ami as she continued along with her interview.

"you've proved the skeptics wrong, brought the team together and rallied the giants to their first championship title in years. that's got to feel good."

"haha, i can't take the credit, it was this team- these guys. i'm just happy to be a part of it."

“earlier, i spoke with shimura who said 'ken sato might be the finest player i have ever coached. he exemplifies what it means to be a giant.'

many critics, including myself, have noticed a change. what do you attribute that to?”

“i wouldn’t be here without my family, simple as that. my dad, mom, they made this possible. i just wish she could be here to see it.”

“i’m sure she’d be proud.” wakita reassures ken with a genuine smile on her face.

ken takes a moment, adjusting himself on his seat before taking out his phone.

“she used to leave these messages, little things to help me get through tough times. mind if i share?”

wakita simply nods in response, allowing ken to press play on his phone as his mother's voice was heard:

"kenji, you're probably not even up yet, but i was thinking about you and i wanted to share a little list of hopes. i hope that you'll give your father a chance. whether you believe it or not he loves you with all his heart. i hope you'll understand us better- understand that we were just trying to prepare you for all the challenges headed your way.

and as time passes, and we fade into memory, i hope that you'll pass some of those memories, some of those lessons along. because in the end, it was all done with love, kiddo. i miss you. see you soon."

your eyes began to water, feeling the tears well up from within them after hearing such a heartfelt message. wishing to pull yourself together, you wipe away at your tears and shut off the television screen. your heart was felt glowing with a strange warmth, recalling ken's kind smile during such a heartfelt interview-

was this the same ken sato you interacted with all those months ago?

no; the pompous ken you had first met was merely a mask he had made for himself. the ken that spoke to wakita- now that was his true self. you were certain of it now.

deep down, you knew that you probably would never see him again, yet still, you couldn't help but feel immensely happy for him. there was a kindness and a light seen in his gaze now, making your prior worries pertaining to him melt away in response.

{ ... }

despite how the kaiju attacks still occurred, the world surrounding you seemed much more peaceful now-

especially since it seemed like ultraman had finally gotten his shit together.

his gigantic form walked with more confidence now, as he was able to send each wandering kaiju back into the depths of the ocean and away from the city of tokyo. his popularity has spiked yet again, especially after his heroic actions seen when he shielded the city from a bomb that was meant to take out what seemed like the entirety of the country.

altogether, you felt considerably safer now while living in this city.

once you clocked out of your job, you figured you could treat yourself to a nice restaurant, searching through your phone for some places nearby. you were so focused on searching for the best restaurant to eat at that you were unaware of the tall man standing in front of you, making your form collide with his as the impact left you gasping a bit.

"oh my god, i'm so sorry!"

"heh, don't worry about it, pretty lady."

your eyes go wide, recognizing that casual voice anywhere as you looked up to see a pair of gentle, dark eyes looking down at you. his face was partially covered by a baseball cap, but the way his hair fell across his face (further accentuating his handsome features) was a dead giveaway.

"ken...!"

you had no idea what prompted you to do this, but you couldn't stop yourself from throwing your arms around his neck. feeling your sudden embrace catches ken off guard as he takes a step back, steadying himself when he wraps an arm around you.

"hey, it's good to see you again, too." a rich chuckle was heard coming from him, and you found yourself trembling in response. hearing him speaking to you so gently now filled you with an inexplicable warmth. recalling his injury, you gasp and take a step back, "i'm so sorry, i forgot about your arm!"

"no worries, look." ken then holds up both of his hands in response, "see? i'm all healed. no harm no foul, really."

you felt the heat dye against your cheeks, clearly flustered now while speaking to this achingly sweet and soft version of ken sato. "t-thank you, really. uhm, so... like, i was wondering... ah..."

you found yourself struggling to get the words out, making ken look down at you while placing both hands into the pockets of his jeans. he waits for you to continue speaking, and you let out a deep breath before continuing, "i'm sorry, for being a bit cold to you when we first met-"

yet ken cuts off your apology by holding his hand up, "don't be, i was a complete and total asshole to you. you had every right to be annoyed with me, and honestly, no offense taken when the cold shoulder was well deserved."

you both end up laughing at the memory, taking a second to bask in the moment before you spoke once more, "listen, i was going to head out somewhere to eat dinner. would you like to join me?"

ken's eyes go wide as he gives you an eager nod, "would i like to join you? hell yes i would like to join you. did you have somewhere planned?"

you shake your head in response, "not exactly, but i figured we could decide together, maybe?"

a wide grin was then seen on ken's face, "are you in the mood for some amazing tonkatsu? if so, i know the perfect place."

"yes! i don't mind some tonkatsu at all!"

"perfect." ken then takes a hold of your hand, walking beside you as he remains on the side closest to traffic while striding across the sidewalk with you. by now, your heart was felt skipping its beats when you softly called out his name.

"hm?" ken faces you, and you gathered your courage before standing closer to him to press a kiss against his cheek. the kiss was a quick one, barely lasting a second before you immediately stepped away from him. you felt the heat return to your cheeks once more, catching the way ken touches at the spot where you had kissed him with his hand.

another rich chuckle was heard coming from him before he tells you, "you missed."

"eh?!" you turn around to face him again, only to see ken slowly turning his baseball cap around before leaning closer to you with a smile on his face.

"i said... you missed." finally understanding what he meant, you felt your gaze slowly narrow before closing your eyes completely, allowing ken's lips to meet with yours in a sweet kiss, setting your heart aflame with adoration for him as you gently kissed him back, completely and utterly engrossed in your own little world with him.

a.n. - so i just finished watching ultraman: rising just a mere few hours ago and had to write something for the new boyfriend material 😭 ken sato is so sweet and cute, and i get why he has tumblr in a chokehold right now. this is unedited, but i hope you readers still enjoy this!

all stories are written by rei; reposts, translations, and plagiarism are not allowed.

[coldxperience]

☾ Lan Wangji's names etymology

Here's a complete post on the etymology of our beloved Lan Wangji's various names. I've always appreciated how authors would give out names that fit their characters so well, which is why I chose to share this.

▷ Lan Wangji Master Profile.

Birth Name - Lan Zhan 藍湛

Lan 藍 (lán) – blue. In Chinese, Lan 藍 is literally blue.

Zhan 湛 (zhàn) – clear, deep. In Chinese, Zhan 湛 from 湛蓝 (zhànlán), azure blu

Lan Zhan’s formal name Zhan 湛 means deep or clear, without impurities. It is often prefixed to the front of the word “blue” to describe the color of sunny cloudless skies, azure. Wangji’s birth name 湛 (zhàn) derives from the 诗经 (Classic of Poetry), one of the Chinese ‘Five Classics’ dating back to the Zhou Dynasty and a core pillar of Confucian thinking, studied by scholars to this day. The common meanings of this word are “deep” or “crystal clear”. The phrase 湛清 (zhànqīng) is often used to describe a transparent personality or state of mind that is in its purest form, with no distractions or obscurities. The name is really perfect for Wangji, as the phrase 湛深 (zhànshēn) can be used to describe a person displaying profound knowledge and/or mastery of skills in a complex field. 精湛 (jingzhàn) also means to be deeply proficient and skilled at something, normally used to address masters and pioneers. Interestingly, 湛 has another pronunciation, dān, which means “happiness” or “indulgence”. A third, rarer way of pronouncing the word is chén, which means “to sink” or “to make extinct”. I think the multifaceted nature of the character 湛 perfectly embodies the deep and complicated being that resides within Wangji.

Birth name is rarely used by anyone other than close family members, teachers, and elders in the family, clan, or sect. Using it implies either a certain type of intimacy or a certain type of seniority over the person being spoken to. Side Note: The fact that Wei Wuxian addresses Lan Wangji as Lan Zhan so early on in their acquaintance would be considered rude.

Courtesy Name - Lan Wangji 忘機

Wangji 忘机 (wàngjī) – to be free of worldly concerns (a Daoist phrase) Wang 忘 means to forget. It may have negative connotations in English because it’s associated with a passive disease and loss of treasured memories. In Chinese, actively forgetting can also be a positive renunciation of worldly troubles, so the character is somewhat more romantic than an English speaker would assume. Ji 機 / 机 is typically used in common speech to refer to machines, mechanical things, opportunities, and worldly things that have many parts intricately connected with each other. In more metaphysical discussions, it implies the intertwined destinies and sophistication of the mundane. To forget the secular calculations and intricacies of the world is to live freely and without distractions; as an antonym of precision, it has heavy Taoist flavors because of its seclusive connotations.

There’s an interesting story behind Lan Wangji’s name. It comes from the last line of a poem by acclaimed Chinese poet Li Bai. The sentence reads “我醉君复乐 陶然共忘机” (wǒ zuì jūn fù lè, táo rán gòng wàng jī), which translates to “I become drunk and you’re merry; in our happiness we forget about all worldly matters”. In my mind, this scene perfectly brings to life Xianxian enjoying a jar of Emperor’s Smile with Wangji in the Cloud Recesses after his resurrection when he is no longer concerned with the vanities of the world. “Wangji” is a Taoist phrase that means “to hold oneself aloof from the world”. The direct translation is “to forget about worldly crafts”. Chinese fans often describe him as “一尘不染” (meaning not be soiled with even a particle of dust) and “不食人间烟火” (a Taoist phrase now used to describe a person who has otherworldly qualities, who does not associate himself with ordinary temporal matters).

The courtesy name, in The Untamed, is given early on. In many wuxia/xianxia novels, characters don’t receive their courtesy name until they are adults. This is a name friends, acquaintances, and peers (those of equal standing) use.

Title - Hanguang Jun 含光君

Hanguang Jun 含光君 (Hánguāng-jūn) 含 (hán) – to hold, to bring 光 (guāng) – light 君 (jūn) – honorific for a gentleman or man or noble character

Hanguang Jun is a title that praises Lan Zhan’s integrity. Jun 君 is a character (literally “lord”) with multiple meanings, but here it is attached to the end of a name to show respect. Wangji’s title directly translates to “noble bearer of light”. 含光 (hánguāng) is also the name of one of three of the most powerful swords in Chinese history/mythology, said to have been under the care of Shang Dynasty emperors. Its blade is described to be invisible, and a mortal cannot see it being wielded with their bare eyes. Later interpretations during the Warring States period described the three swords as symbolic stages of a person’s journey to finding the Taoist path, with Han Guang being the final stage of ‘preparedness to enter the Way’ (入道合体之状). The characters HanGuang 含光 separately and literally mean “hold/envelops light”, and in the novel, it is taken from a widely circulated legend about several of the main characters, which specifically goes like this about Lan Zhan: 景行含光藍忘機 (JingXing HanGuang Lan WangJi). The first two characters are taken from an ancient collection of poems, and describe a person of upright and faultless disposition. The next two characters, Han Guang, refer to a harboring of light. For me, it’s not the light part that’s interesting, but the state of harboring that defines the most significant cultural nuances. It is (or at least was) considered a form of virtue in China if you don’t flaunt your brightness in other people’s eyes; so the polite thing to do, if you’re brilliant as flames, is to shield that light so you aren’t so in-your-face about it.

The title is just what it says on the box. It is used to express respect, but also a certain amount of distance.  Side Note: The young disciples of the Gusu Lan call Lan Wangji Hanguang-Jun because it would be disrespectful for them to address him as Lan Wangji, as they are not of equal standing. When Wei Wuxian returns from the Burial Mounds, he addresses Lan Wangji as Hanguang-Jun because he wants to distance himself from their earlier intimacy to prevent being questioned about his methods. 

Extra thought:

I must give props to Lan Wangji’s actor Wang Yibo. Early reactions from the Chinese audience had some unfavorable reviews that criticized his lack of facial expressions, but later retracted their opinions, because they realized that he was actually doing a superb job with his eyes and his body, considering the limitations. The script gives him very few lines in most episodes. You can see how he looks directly at anyone in the eye unless he’s about to kill you, or (later on) if you’re Wei Ying. If you don’t know him well, he seems unconfrontational with those cold shielded eyes, but as soon as you step over the line (sometimes a line named Wei Ying), you’ll feel the sharpness of that fierce light in his eyes like a blade to your throat. Just ask Fairy the spiritual dog...

Author Note: I am not an expert in Chinese at all, English isn't my native language either - I hope everything is correct.

▷ MDZS Home Page

[ completed ; 17/07/2024]

★ ⁺. ໒꒰ྀི｡- ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১ ૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა ˖⁺‧₊˚

[l0v3tast3]

This randomly came to my brain but, what do you think Gaz would be like as a husband?

GAZ BRAINROT !!! arizona ily thank u for reminding me of my love for kyle garrick <<33 here's some pure fluff, he's just so easy to write it for o(>ω<)o gaz is definitely one of my favorite comfort characters not gonna lie hehe

husband!kyle who always keeps a fresh bouquet of flowers set in a pretty vase on the kitchen table for you. it's a habit for him, like muscle memory. he stops at a little flower shop after his run every monday morning, right around 6:30, and catches up with the owner before he comes back home to you. by the time you wake up their stems are cut (just like you showed him) and it's sat front-and-center on the table, next to the breakfast that lured you out of bed. when you thank him with a sleepy smile as you plop into your chair, kyle smiles back and kisses the crown of your head before he sits next to you.

husband!kyle who wholeheartedly encourages you to exercise with him. you're into running? he's happy to go for as many laps around town as you want to (are able to). you're into weight-lifting? he insists on adding the weights onto your bar himself and is always there to catch anything you may drop. more into yoga or stretching? he is a gymnast after all, so he'll be excited to show you what he knows. kyle will be over the moon just to go on little walks around the block with you- he definitely uses it to get into pokemon go (and makes you get it too). and even though he's an active person, he'll still love lounging around with you.

husband!kyle who loves doing mundane, everyday things with you. cleaning around the house, laundry, running errands, all of it. he's had enough chaos from the military to last multiple lifetimes. the little things are what grounds him from it, you're the one who helps to ground him from it. while he isn't a man of many words, his thoughts are more than plentiful, so it's hard not to find appreciation for things wherever he can. kyle shows it in as many ways as he can, through flowers and keeping you healthy and accompanying you for however long you can stand to be around him. you are his beloved and he is yours, to have and to hold, and kyle will spend every day of his life proving that he meant every word of his wedding vows.

(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ likes, comments n reblogs are always appreciated!!

[lawsofchaos1]

Malec Promptlet: Circle!Alec AU

[Inspired by a comment from @crimsonpharaoh on my latest fic about the Circles very failed attempt to recruit Alec... What if they didn't fail?]

Alec is the eldest son and the acknowledged heir of two prominent, highly-ranked Circle members that are openly known to have recanted Valentine’s ideology in name only. When Robert and Maryse begin leaving the Institute in Alec’s care when he’s fourteen it becomes clear that Alec isn’t relying on his bloodline alone and is going to be an immensely powerful member of the Clave in his own right. 

The Circle would be utterly foolish not to recruit the Shadowhunter who is absolutely certain to become the next Head of the New York Institute. Especially when it becomes evident that the Shadowhunters of the New York Institute would happily lay down their lives for their beloved young leader. Whichever way Alec turns in this war, so too will New York. 

Kept wholly apart from the Downworld and with no formative mentors other than his parents, the Circle tries to recruit Alec … and Alec says yes. Everything he’s been taught says that Valentine is right - that the Downworld is a threat, and - well, Valentine’s not stupid. It’s clear that Alec is too ethical for torture and the worst of his planned experiments - but the Head of New York openly sympathetic to his cause? Aiding it, even subtly? Valentine is careful in his recruitment and how he presents the Circle’s aims. It works.

In canon, Alec is held back as he works because his pro-Downworld values are so far against the standards of the Clave, but if he doesn’t have that friction working against him? Alec rises fast and far in the ranks, quickly becoming the Vested Head of New York with his parent’s vocal support and he dominates the Clave’s political circles in Alicante. His Institute is loyal to Alec, utterly, and follows his lead. With the careful way Valentine (and Maryse) present the results of his actions to Alec, he has no cause to doubt the righteousness of his support for the Circle's planned rise.

Until he meets Magnus.

Magnus and Alec meet by sheer happenstance, literally running into each other on the streets of Brooklyn on one of the passingly rare afternoons Alec takes off both his patrol and administrative duties. Alec takes one look at the most beautiful man he’s ever seen in his life and is so tongue-tied he nearly fumbles accepting the resultant invitation for coffee.

For months, Alec grows deeper and deeper in love with the gorgeous and kind mundane, glowing in a way that’s noticeable even to his typically highly unobservant siblings. Alec has slowly begun to dreaming about them making a life together. Alec's is certain Magnus' soul would be deemed worthy of Ascension, but, even if Magnus isn't interested in becoming nephilim, Alec loves Magnus with everything he is and can't picture his life without Magnus by his side.

And then Alec’s world falls apart.

Magnus, just as glowing and just as in love, sits Alec down and quietly, nervously, tells him about the Shadow World. Tells Alec he’s a warlock.

If Magnus is a Downworlder, then nothing Alec has believed for his entire life can be true.

Alec is numb and disbelieving, but Magnus must take it as shock alone for he continues in his explanation, rubbing Alec’s back soothingly as he describes the terror and genocidal aims of the Circle.

Alec somehow manages to rasp out to Magnus that he needs time to think and he flees.

With a starting point Alec had somehow never considered over the last seven years, the threads start to pull apart and everything Valentine hid from him unravels in a series of horrible revelations that leave Alec throwing up bile in his sink. 

What has he done?

The next morning, Alec rises from the cold bathroom floor, limbs aching and head throbbing from lack of sleep. Silently, he goes into his office and gathers every document he has on the Circle’s activities. Everything he’s done for them, every horrible political aim he’s aided, every safehouse he’s helped conceal. He writes down names, he writes down dates and addresses, he sketches out images of the Circle members he’s seen and has no other information for. It takes him nearly until the sun’s last rays are fading before he’s done. 

And then he disarms himself. His bow and quiver. His blades and daggers. His stele. Even the slim hold-out weapon in his boot. Nothing remains.

Alec takes up his parcel of documentation and walks to Brooklyn, every step an inch closer to his grave. Every step an inch closer to his love - to Magnus, the High Warlock of New York.

When Magnus opens the door in leggings and only the barest make-up, Alec’s heart breaks. To Magnus, his mundane boyfriend had reacted very poorly to learning of the Shadow World yesterday. Badly enough that he likely is worried what Alec is here to say.

And Alec would give nearly anything to wrap his partner in a warm, familiar embrace and soothe his worries away, but Alec doesn’t deserve the comfort that would bring him too. He doesn’t deserve to even look at Magnus anymore.

Magnus brings him into the living room, gesturing him to the couch, but Alec stops short in the bare space in front of the coffee table. He looks to Magnus, memorizes for one final time what it is to have the man he loves look at him without hate and disgust in his eyes, and sinks to his knees on the ground.

Magnus turns around, startled, mouth open to protest, but Alec can’t listen to that - can’t hear what Magnus says before he knows of Alec’s sins. 

He places the parcel of information on the floor in front of him, focuses his gaze on his knees and confesses.

Everything.

[allthingsfern]

My 2023 Top 5

Since early May, 2022, when I fractured my right arm (the humerus, right under the shoulder joint), my health, my physical well being, has deteriorated at a fast pace because I stopped being active. Part of that was my not taking pictures because, especially for the first 2 months after the break, I could not lift my camera. Then, this year, my cataracts got worst and I had my right eye surgery in early November, with my left eye surgery rescheduled for next April. (My cataracts in my left eye are not as severe as they were on my right eye and before my surgery scheduled for this month, December, I got a bad case of bronchitis.) It has been a year of deterioration and adjustment and retrospection (in 10 years I will be 80 years old) and of doing photography. Not so much of making pictures, but certainly of continuing my learning my beloved art form and going back and reworking some of my old photos.

So, with all that said, here are my Top 5 for 2023 and why I chose them and what, in some way, they have to do with my explanation above. The first 3 were captured this year and the last 2 are finds from past photos that I overlooked and that the newer, more powerful masking tools in Camera Raw helped me shape into what I think are stunning images. I am getting good at doing the Ansel Adams style manipulations and am also enjoying the process.

Oy vey.

Circles and triangles and shadows, oh my II. Oakland, 01-28-23.

I went to Oakland, which is a city I love and think is sadly overlooked because of San Francisco's grandeur. Had a great time walking around for a couple of hours and got a few solid photos. What more can I ask for.

Portrait II. Davis, 03-20-23.

Had dinner with this young man and got a couple of photos. zTHis was my favorite; captured him at his most comfortable because he was reacting to a comment by his roommate. Not the sharpest image, but I love the sense of motion and his expression.

Roses IX; Municipal Rose Garden. San Jose, 05-14-23.

For my birthday I went down to San Jose and stayed a couple of days. On my birthday, I visited the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and had a wonderful time capturing gorgeous roses and enjoying the park's festive Mother's Day atmosphere.

The beauty of decay Vintage trailer: Crockett, 10-01-17.

Kinda creepy/post-Apocalyptic/SteamPunk, this photo came to life once I started editing it in Camera Raw recently. The masking, dodge & burn tools are excellent and its tools for manipulating color also helped immensely even though this is a B&W photo.

COVID wanderings Outdoor seating? Pier 1. San Francisco, 09-07-20.

While walking around a deserted San Francisco Bay promenade on the Embarcadero, I was struck by the hard, graphic lines and sharp B&W light/shadows of this, which showed that even in the midst of a terrifying pandemic, there was beauty to be found every so often, in the most unexpected, mundane places.

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Is there anything good (positive achievement) about the Valyrian/ghiscarian empires? I feel GRRM didn't bother giving them nuanced and interesting history beside mass slavery, rape and genocide, esp the ghiscarians they are mash up of the all the racist oriental tropes you can think of

Hi anon, this is a really good question. I think you can look at it two ways.

On the one hand, if we're analyzing the books from a literary perspective, GRRM's portrayal of the entire continent of Essos is pretty Orientalist and doesn't hold up that well. And we can blame this to some extent on GRRM being a white boomer who clearly did not think all that deeply about the stereotypes he was playing into when he created his "exotic" eastern continent. 90s fantasy was rife with this stuff (even my beloved Robin Hobb is not completely immune-- I'm looking at you, Chalcedeans), and at the time Orientalism was, much like critical race theory or decolonization, a grad school level concept, unless you ran in activist circles. You didn't have Tumblr and Twitter and TikTok and Youtube generating Discourse, you had to actively seek out different perspectives. And ex-hippie liberal white boomers often assumed that they already had the right perspectives, that they knew what traps to avoid, and so you'd get 90s SFF authors thinking they were very cleverly subverting these tropes by going, "I know, I'll have an intensely misogynistic culture of desert dwelling nomads who have harems and slaves but I'll make them white." It was pretty bleak. Luckily for all of us, fantasy has come a long way since then.

And yeah, once you see the Orientalism in ASOIAF, you can't unsee it. Lys is basically the fantasy version of the "pleasure planet" trope, the Dothraki are a stereotype of the Mongol armies without any of the many positive contributions the Molgols made, Qarth is like the Coleridge poem come to life with people riding camels with jeweled saddles and wearing tiger skins, with its women baring one breast and it's sophisticated assassin's guild, and Mereen has its pyramids. The entire continent is brimming with spices and jewels and pleasure houses and people saying "Your Magnificence." It is also a place of blood magic and dragons and Red Gods and shadowlands. It is everything exciting and "exotic," juxtaposed against what appears to most readers to be very mundane--septas and pseudocatholicism and maesters in the citadel. So yeah, it's an Orientalist's fantasy world, and the point of all this is not necessarily to cast it as evil per se, but to cast it as "Other" (and to be clear, Orientalism is harmful and GRRM deserves the criticism he gets for leaning into stereotypes). Valyria and the Valyrians are certainly included in that-- they are explicitly Other as foreign born ruling family in Westeros, and they are treated that way both in-world and by the narrative.

The question then becomes, although GRRM's depictions of Essos lean heavily and inelegantly into Orientalist tropes, why did he create these worlds the way he did? Why is Valyria an "Other" and what significance does it have to the story? And I think that some of this is GRRM's shorthand for something magical that is lost and forgotten and fading away, just like Valyria itself is in the memories of the Targaryen family. It is the Xanadu of Coleridge's Kubla Khan, not just the East viewed from the West, but the past viewed from the present, a nostalgic yearning for a place that only ever existed in the imagination. When the narrative does visit these places in person, rather than telling us about them secondhand, they become ugly and brutal, the jeweled facade hiding a rot underneath. In ASOIAF we have Dany ripping that facade off of Meereen and Yunkai, but she idealizes her own Targaryen heritage, and that is not insignificant, and as readers, we are invited to idealize it right along with her, in spite of plenty of hints that perhaps we should not (like the aforementioned slavery). We even hear Astapori and Yunkish slavers speaking to Dany echo sentiments about the even older Ghiscari empire, also lost, "Ours is the blood of ancient Ghis, whose empire was old when Valyria was yet a squalling child." Old Ghis and the Valyrians who conquered them are both long gone at this point, and yet their descendants are clinging to the legacies of cultures that would be wholly foreign to both of them. Because if Valyria is Xanadu, the Old Valyrians and Old Ghiscari are also Ozymandias, the mighty who have fallen, their once grand civilizations nothing but forgotten ruins. The Targaryens don't yet realize that they are that "half-sunk shattered visage," that they are yearning for something that is gone and never returning, something they never really knew in the first place.

Westeros is not immune to this either. I think it's a consistent theme that GRRM plays with is the ways which the past is glorified and distorted and romanticized. Even in a meta-sense, his entire medieval world is, in many ways, a half-remembered medieval fantasy, the medieval world as imagined by people who read Ivanhoe, rather than a medieval world as actually was. And GRRM simultaneously presents this romanticized world alongside the brutality of the past (and to drive that point home, George's medieval world is much more brutal than the real medieval world was), and so he asks us, just like Dany must ask herself at some point, is the past really all that romantic? Or are we simply yearning for something unnamable and Other? And if we yearn for that, why?

On the other hand, from an in-world perspective, if you are Westerosi, are there any redeeming qualities to Valyrian culture? And I think we can answer that question by asking ourselves, is there anything salvageable from the past, even if the past was terrible? Even if what we perceive of Old Valyria wavers between a horrific empire based on conquest and slavery, and an idealized homeland full of magical dragonriders, depending on who is doing the telling, if we accept it as a fully fleshed out world, then I think we can remember no cultures are monoliths. Old Valyria had art, architecture, fashion, music, literature, and I like to imagine that there were good freeholders, perhaps even Valyrian versions of the Roman Stoics and the Cynics, who raised moral objections to slavery. Certainly the Valyrian "freeholder" government itself, a kind of proto-democracy, similar to that of Athens, was innovative for its particular time and place, even if it was not as democratic as our modern democracies are, and that model of government is replicated throughout Essos, where strict hereditary monarchy seems to be relatively uncommon. Valyria also had a great deal of religious freedom, which persists throughout Essos as well. And as with any empire, it's important to keep in mind that the ruling class made up only a small percentage of actual Valyria, and we know there were Valyrians who were not dragonlords but just normal people, going about their lives who had nothing to do with the atrocities committed, and those people were telling stories, creating art, writing songs, and producing culture too. So I think, tying back into how GRRM uses Valyria and Essos in his narrative, we do not have to discard the past entirely, nor do in-world Targaryens, but it's the romanticization that's the problem, and I think that's something that both in-world characters and readers are cautioned against.

[otakusheep15]

Obey Me Flufftober Day 9

Prompt: Games

Pairing: Barbatos x reader (gender neutral)

Word count: 434

A/n: Barbatos my beloved! I love writing for this demon, but I also lowkey suck at it lol. Still, I think this prompt will be fun for him.

While Barbatos was not usually one to take breaks, he tended to be weak-willed when it came to your requests. So, when you request him to take some time off so you two can spend some time together, who is he to refuse you? Plus, he knows how much Diavolo wants him to relax, so it was surprisingly easy to get him to agree.

Since this was meant to be a relaxing break, you decided on a simple activity that would not require much effort: board games. You knew Barbatos was smart, and you knew he enjoyed strategy games, so you thought this would be perfect for him. Also, the image of Barbatos playing a human world board game made you laugh, so this was a win for you as well.

As expected, Barbatos is quite good at any and all games you introduce to him. You don't mind losing because seeing Barbatos happy is all you need right now. You're glad to see him relaxed and enjoying himself. You found that, after a multitude of board games, he seemed to particularly enjoy long-term games such as Monopoly and The Game of Life. You guessed it also had something to do with them being long-term strategy games, but he wouldn't specify an actual reason himself.

Still, playing with him was fun. He also never once mentioned having responsibilities to take care of, so he's either so genuinely invested in the games that he forgot (unlikely) or he's just purposefully not mentioning his many responsibilities for your sake (likely). Either way, you were not complaining. You got to spend quality time with Barbatos while playing your favorite games, so you were fully satisfied.

It's a simple, mundane date, but it's perfect for you. It almost feels domestic in a way, like you're a normal couple having a casual game night. It's sweet, although you don't mention your thoughts aloud. You're sure he knows what you're thinking regardless.

After beating you at yet another game, Barbatos decides that you've played for long enough. You're about to complain about him going back to work, but then he reassures you that's not the case. Instead, he points out the fact that you've spent the entire day together playing games, and it's getting rather late. How could you argue with that? You want to, but you know you can't.

Barbatos also reassures you that he would love to do this again sometime. Perhaps he'll introduce you to some Devildom exclusive games. You could barely contain your excitement at the prospect of another board game date, much to Barbatos's delight.

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 7 ("YOU GOT TO KNOW WHEN TO HOLD 'EM / KNOW WHEN TO FOLD 'EM") EDITION

Whew, baby. Well, I found this episode particularly brutal.

I've been noodling this week on the following theme: the mundanity of toxicity. The everyday-ness of bad in people. I think this episode captured this well (cc @lurkingshan, @neuroticbookworm, and @bengiyo, who all got a little preview of this thinking).

But I caught some other themes in this episode, too, which I'll quickly hit and list:

2) The elements of life, and 3) Gambling.

As a devoted meta writer, writing about Only Friends is hard. Because: I want to think that there's a lot more to what I'm seeing. I am certainly missing cinematic references that Jojo and team are making (I haven't watched Queer As Folk, for instance). Mew's face popping out of the bathtub? That has me wondering if I'm missing a cinematic reference there.

But at the same time, I wonder if by just observing the Only Friends crew, that I'm picking up on enough. When I was in my twenties, living in New York City, going to college...I was still trying to figure people out. I was absolutely SURROUNDED by people, and I couldn't help but think, everyday -- what is it that makes these people tick?

And I found myself regularly shocked at how mean people were. Very often, I'd just be like -- what the actual fuck, why are you trying so hard to be a massive dick? And, who knows -- maybe people were thinking the same thing about me.

That was when I was young. I just -- I didn't know that much about people. Really, what I didn't know -- and what I really NEEDED to know, and what I learned about myself in that decade and the next -- was how to manage myself around anybody, so as to preserve myself from any unpredictable pain that might come from someone else. In other words... I needed to fucking grow up.

Part of that self-management was trying on identities. Could I fake being a stronger person? Sure, I definitely tried. I tried with clothes, with new slang, with trying new activities, with drinking. That's just normal for a lass in their twenties.

The Only Friends crew -- they are assholes. Many of them were trying on change a couple of weeks ago. Mew experienced a HUGE identity shift during this episode.

But what they all embody to me, in this moment in their lives, is a kind of everyday toxicity -- a self-absorbed perspective, so tunneled internally into each and every one of them, that none of them are realizing that the energy they put out is colliding and having effects on others.

Like -- it's kind of shocking and twisted to watch. But when I think about it, when I remember what it was like to be in a huge city and to be in college and post-college: there's a part of me that remembers being CONSTANTLY surprised that people were just massive jerks, everyday, and again, who knows -- I think people likely thought that I was a jerk, too, for thinking of myself and leading myself with my life.

People, most people, grow out of these stages, as they get older, get more experienced in their years, maybe get more political in their dealings with others. I can't condemn this group of university students fully, as I hold hope (I'm a mom, damn it) that they'll grow into more fully robust and empathic people. But they ain't there yet. I'm not sure my turning stones gives me more insight to them than in relating to my own experiences as a former twentysomething. It has me thinking, as someone who loves turning those stones in my beloved dramas.

That all being said. Those two other themes in this episode have me thinking -- the elements of life and gambling.

We saw Mew play with fire (fucking finally, my man). And we saw lots of water -- water in the pool, water in the tub with Sand and Ray.

Water puts out fire. Mew tries to fake-drown (lol) Boston in the pool. Later on, Mew lets Boston know that he (Mew) can take Boston down, but won't. Mew is trying to control the fires that he's lit, and the ones that have already been burning.

My question to Mew is: do you know how to do what you are doing, or what you want to do?

I don't quite think so, and I think that "Welcome to Las Vegas" shirt he was wearing at Boston's house indicated as much.

(Uh, first of all, chain life, Book! MORE, MORE!)

Mew has decided to become a gambler. Let's think of all the metaphors! Mew has decided to roll the dice and possibly move past the pass line. He's decided to play his odds. He even STACKED his odds -- going to a new gay bar, enticing Drake Gap, going back to Gap's place, stealing the sex tape from Gap's computer, threatening Gap with reporting him for a crime, going to BOSTON'S HOUSE, TALKING TO BOSTON'S DAD, showing Boston the copy of the sex tape, THREATENING BOSTON, MAKING BOSTON BEG, showing MORAL SUPERIORITY OVER BOSTON, throwing the flash drive at Boston, and walking away. Like, if that were a metaphor for actually playing craps, first of all, lol, the pit guy would check Mew's ID, get him a players' card, and encourage him to move to the high limits room, being like, WHAT is this motherfucker DOING, but we want him doing more of it, he'll make us more money -- once he starts fucking things up.

Mew's trying on a new identity. He already was on the road to it, getting that LASIK for Top. He's just continuing to move forward with it. He's going to play with nastiness, but still try to come out on Top.

Trying on new identities. It is so normal when you're young -- I did that. Trying on what fits for whatever reason you are feeling at that moment -- if you're rebounding, if you're healing, if you're bored. Mew is embarrassed, maybe even ashamed, maybe even regretful that his first relationship ended up as a failure.

And now he's figuring out how to recover -- by taking a gamble, and playing with the exact same mundane, everyday nastiness that he's seen in everyone around him.

P.S. Ephemerality and permanence? That fire burned the memory that Top tried to create with Mew (cc @twig-tea and @lurkingshan here). And, gambling? SO ephemeral. Buh-bye, money and pride. Ray switching back and forth between Mew and Sand? Ephemeral crushitude. (SAND. SMDH. I KNOW RAY'S DAD SAID SOMETHING TO YOU, BUT STILL, SMDH.) Nick turning on Boston. Boston begging Mew to hold back on the permanent impact of the sex tape on Boston's dad's career.

And the ephemerality of movement: the clothes in this episode said it all. Las Vegas, NYC, Stanford. These young folks can just... disappear if they want to. And they just might.

(G'DAY, EPHEMERALITY SQUAD! @ranchthoughts @slayerkitty @distant-screaming @twig-tea @neuroticbookworm @lurkingshan @clara-maybe-ontheroad @thatgirl4815 @chickenstrangers @wen-kexing-apologist)

[cornley-amateur-drama-society]

Chris, Sandra, Robert, and Vanessa as YouTubers

(because the idea was living in my neurons and firing them constantly)

Chris is so one of those guys who acts out his favourite scenes from plays and movies and TV shows.

But, more importantly,

He is watching stage performances and ripping into them with a zest that scares new viewers.

(There is a drinking game floating around with older viewers based on what Chris says or does, such as pinching the bridge of his nose at least three times in the span of two minutes or if he starts a sentence off like, “Hm, right, well then.”)

He's talking about Shakespeare, he's talking about Wilde, he's looking at off-Broadway and off-West End up-and-coming shows

He's looking at what's promising (u&c shows), what's timeless (older, well-known shows), and what he appreciates about them or what he thinks is outdated or sucked in execution (all).

Once a month, he'll perform a scene from a play he wrote himself.

There are several plays he's penned from which he chooses each month, performing scenes that are disjointed, so his ideas cannot be potentially stolen.

He does have a Patreon, the patrons dubbed “The Screen Beans.”

One of the things he does every other week is a live Q&A while he does mundane things like cleaning his office or making a meal or holds yarn for someone off-screen.

There are fancams in the #ScreenBeans tags across social media of his lives due to Chris' much more laid-back personality.

(Laid-back is a relative term here. He is still very conscious of what he says and does, however he wears his glasses or forgets to shave a few days before the lives or is wearing cosy-looking handmade jumpers.)

His Instagram account is active, and he posts at least thrice a week. Each post is something specific for the day, like #HoratioMondays, #WednesdayViewings, and #SaturdayShots.

Horatio is a beloved feature of his channel. A nearly completely black cat with white spots on the end of his tail, over one eye, and on one paw, the little guy is missing half of one of his ears. He has brilliant green eyes, though, that look like emeralds when the light hits him right.

Chris had, in his late-teens one night walking to his flat, stumbled across Horatio as a small, weak, and thin kitten. He instantly picked him up and took him back to his flat. Though there were two other roommates there, Chris was positive that they would be fine with it.

(This was in part due to having seen Kevin's family cat in the family pictures around the flat, and also knowing the Patels since he and Kev were in Primary. Their other roommate was a friend of a friend named Max Bennett, and he was surprisingly easy-going and adored animals.)

Horatio Mondays are of the now almost twelve-year-old cat going about his life.

Sometimes they're videos of him staring at a bug on the window or of him dropping one of his toys into his mini water fountain and then releasing the most pitiful and cooked yowl for Chris to rescue it.

Other times they're pictures of him curled up on the little bed Chris has for him in his office, slightly messy selfies of the two of them together, or pictures of Horatio dressed up for whatever holiday or event is approaching.

Wednesday Viewings are sneak peaks into what his video on Friday will be about. Sometimes it's a shot of the title card of the movie or TV show. Others it's an artfully done picture of a book of a play open with several pens and sticky notes scattered in and around it.

Saturday Shots are just pictures of anything particularly interesting Chris did during the week, or pictures and videos taken during a stroll in the park near his flat, or pictures with his friends at cafés or theatres.

Many people are surprised by who Chris is friends with, not expecting to see the Sandra Wilkinson, the Robert Grove, and the Vanessa Wilcock-Wynn-Carroway with him.

Well, okay, Sandra and Robert make sense given that both of them are well-known acting vloggers, too. But it always throws new viewers off to find out that Chris and Vanessa are engaged.

The two of them are very good at keeping their accounts separate and compartmentalized.

Once they announce their engagement on both of their channels, however, the divide they had slowly erodes away and Vanessa can be seen occasionally in his lives, sometimes even joining in for a few minutes. She also starts to feature more heavily on his Instagram page, along with her cat Othello.

(Screen Beans are shook to find out that Chris had been hiding an entire whole ass cat from them for years. Especially one as fluffy as Othello. When asked about it in a live Q&A that he did on Instagram after his engagement announcement video went up, he chalked the lack of Othello up to the fact that he can close his office door while he films. And that Othello likes to sleep most of the time on his and Vanessa's bed or hang out with her while she works on a new pattern or design or challenge.)

Chris posts his videos every Friday, and they range between three minutes long to over an hour and a half if he's dissecting a film/TV show/play.

[slowtides]

Some things I'm practicing, encountering, and pondering while undergoing the trials of living:

-Music is essential. Making music is recommended. I think it is good to sing at least once a day, lest I lose track of wonder.

-Writing letters to my beloved friends makes me feel less alone. It is slower than speaking on the phone or texting, but it is also a rejection of the digital in deference to the analog--the solid reminder that although I am not holding their hand, I am holding something once held by their hand.

-I am practicing my handwriting by journaling. I have, in the past, given over to digital introspection, which serves the purpose of furthering my inner life. But by practicing introspection on paper, I enhance my self-disclosure by making my inner life at once both furthered and legible.

-An addendum to the previous note: I am changing how I write the lowercase letter b in cursive, which is actually quite difficult.

-Physical manifestations of nostalgia protect themselves by wagering on a possible someday. Maybe one day I will want to remember this piece of paper. Maybe one day it will be of use to me. I am going through boxes of pieces of paper, wondering how I can possibly prepare for a lifetime of potential remembrances and uses. I have accepted that in many cases, I will simply need to begin again without a paper memory to guide me. But in some cases, like photos, letters, and other heirlooms, I cannot bear to let them go.

-Undercurrents of rage, dissatisfaction, hopelessness, grief, and abjection at the state of the world and her people push up against and threaten to overpower every breath. I imagine they are an external force pushing and pulling me, breaking me against the shore. They touch every conversation, every mundane task, and demand notice. I can't imagine being able to ignore them.

-I am quite alone and long to love someone the most and be loved the most in return. I miss being a best friend. I read somewhere that grief is love with nowhere to go. I think I am grieving my own solitude.

-I am doing much better since I have been sleeping well, taking my medications, kissing my cat, caring for my surroundings, and partaking in activity in the fresh air. Damn them for being right.

[mr-malumm]

Cringetober day 29: experimental makeup!!!!

Me and the darling husband are Sylveon and umbreon foe Halloween and this is us getting ready together 🥰🥰🥰

[silent-words]

Oct 21 - Introduce your Inquisitor

I'm finally here to show you my Inky! He has two different models, because now I'm doing another playthrough with the same character, but I didn't bother much to make him identical to the previous playthrough. Let's go!

Dionysios Trevelyan, human mage, pyromancer, formerly of the Ostwick Circle. 26 years of age at the start of the Inquisition.

Born to a wealthy noble family in Ostwick. This family had never had mages before. Dionysios' grandfather married a former Dalish elf (thus an uncharacteristic swarthy complexion), and it was believed that mage legacy came from her. Initially the future Inquisitor was named after said grandfather, Brendan.

The only child of Trevelyan family at the time, he manifested magic at the age of 4, and was taken to the Ostwick Circle of Magi immediately. The child overheard his father telling his wife "This son is a waste, we need another heir". The young mage would never forget it.

When he was 15, Brendan Trevelyan found out that his grandfather had hunted elves for sport and forced one of them into marrying him. He was so disgusted that he decided to change his name. He chose "Dionysios" after the author of a magic textbook. He officially changed his name only when he passed his Harrowing at the age of 19.

After he arrived at the Circle and started living there he became close to several other children, who afterwards formed "the Ostwick Gang", a group of young mages. There were two boys, with whom Dionysios lived in the dormitory before their Harrowing, and two girls, whom they initially started protecting from bullying. These four people (actually two humans and two elves) became real family, true siblings for Dionysios. They were the first to cheer him up, and they were the first to start calling him by his new name.

Dionysios and his Circle siblings knew that templars pushed them to undergo the rite of Tranquility. But they resisted and swore that they will do anything not to become Tranquil. Although their life wasn't hard and Ostwick Circle was a peaceful one, they knew that they're held like prisoners, and they have all the rights to actually be part of the society. When presented with an opportunity to get out of the Circle and see his family, Dionysios refused. Other people in the Circle, including his beloved friends-siblings were not given such an opportunity, so using it himself would be unjust. Besides, he was a "waste of a son" anyway, so why bother?

To overcome all the perils of magic the Ostwick gang started studying magic with all the passion they had. Dionysios enjoyed it and held the title of "bookworm" proudly. He fell in love with elemental magic and mastered the power of fire. Even after his Harrowing he did not pursue any romantic relationships. As everyone else at the Circle had assumed, it was because he was deeply interested in magic theory. In reality he just wanted to find someone special, man or woman, a person to spend his life with. And in the Circle the choice was extremely limited.

Right before his Harrowing he got hold of "Mage freedom manifesto" by someone who called themselves Ser Pounce-a-lot. Dionysios was so inspired by the text that he memorized it verbatim and started retelling the manifesto instead of prayers to the Maker. He started looking for and opportunity to free the mages of southern Thedas.

When Dionysios was 22, the Mage Rebellion began. It was the Ostwick Gang, who made the templars go away without bloodshed. Although the first enchanter was killed, Dionysios was eloquent enough to persuade the Knight-Commander to leave their post and take the templars to Orlais. Some mages left to join the rebellion, some stayed in the Circle, Dionysios and his siblings included. They offered citizens of Ostwick help – with healing, enchanting items and some mundane activities. Thus poor and middle-class non-mages stopped being hostile towards their magic fellow citizens.

When they heard of the Conclave to be held in the Temple of Sacred Ashes, there was no doubt who should be sent there. It was Dionysios – always so kind, polite, eloquent and of noble birth.

After the explosion on the Conclave, Dionysios found himself among the people who were wary towards mages, and no one actually had the same Circle experience as he did. He felt lonely until he met a charming Tevinter mage in the Redcliffe chantry. Dionysios loved talking to Dorian, travelling with Dorian and then, after some time, kissing Dorian. He fell in love and wanted everyone to know about it (to the utmost horror of his lover, of course).

During the Inquisition Dionysios:

allied with the mages

brought Vivienne to the brink of a nervous breakdown (answering "mages should be free" to every one of her questions)

made Alexios work for the Inquisition

defended Dorian in front of his father (he actually wanted to kiss Dorian then and there to piss off that "magister", but stopped himself) and eventually romanced Dorian

saved Celene from assassination, and she stayed the Empress

saved Hawke from the Fade (left Stroud there), because Hawke had to get back to her rebel mage husband and children

saved Grey Wardens

softened Leliana

kissed Dorian in front of Cullen (just like Hawke had kissed Anders in front of the very same Cullen, as Varric pointed out)

made Iron Bull Tal-Vashoth

made Leliana the Divine

got his left hand chopped off

made the Inquisition Leliana's personal guard

After that Dionysios led the Inquisition for a couple of years, talking to his lover through the crystal. But then he decided that it's not how he wants his life to be, so at a pretext of getting a magic prosthesis in Tevinter, to rode to Minrathous to stay there for good. Dorian was, of course, baffled, but couldn't resist Dionysios' puppy eyes and allowed him to live in his mansion. Lord Pavus could never say no to his amatus.

I hope I'll be able to find them together in Minrathous in the Veilguard.

[buryam-soul]

I'll have sent this ship to three people now, but you probably want to do Cytham too, so have at it.

Pfpfppft the consequences of the cytham mutuals circle....

What made you ship it: their dynamic in the AQ was tickling my brain throughout 3.1, but like a lot of ships, my activation mode lies in seeing fanart/other people shipping it, and for them that was actually this cute animatic

It has Alhaitham being observant of Cyno's limits, it has a stubborn but softening up Cyno.... It's a nice starter for me to dig deeper into cyhaino and it's also justg. Really cute. I owe it my life.

(though maybe without it, the conclusion of the AQ with the "so you think i'm fit to be a sage?" "heh not at all" probably would've sold me anyway)

What are your favorite things about that ship:

ough their trust and respect developing throughout the AQ and beyond....

But also the office romance nonsense they can go through is so fun.

They're both just funny in general really, in a way that really resonates with me. Puns and obvious lies my beloved....

And I love how their balance of the grandiose and the mundane intertwine. They saved a nation -- also they have drinks and play cards at the tavern. Their first on screen interaction was a fight -- and their latest was a conversation about a light novel. They were coworkers before the whole heist and they went back to being coworkers (except now they also work with a god). Why are they Like That (affectionate).

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship: I don't really care about the deskas parallels tbh. Same with the interpretation of them being exes. People have made good stuff with these hcs and theories, but on their own I don't find them that interesting.

[queercodedvillains]

If you can I’d love to hear the outline/tldr of your Claire’s AU because the posts under that tag are always so funny to me

So the claires au tag started because I wanted to collect all my modern au inspo posts in one place. Since it all gravitates around my beloved little terrorist Deidara, and I think he'd do great at a dead end low effort retail job with a bonus perk of bullying giving piercings to tweens and a sick employee discount, the claire's au was born. In hindsight, I wish I had called it the mallrats au, but since the fics came after the tag, we're stuck with the consequences of my choices smh.

It's expanded significantly, to the point that its sooo hard to summarize, but I'm gonna try my best here!!

My general goal is to transcribe everything we know from canon as closely/creatively as I can to a modern/90s setting. Tbh this started because I just was not emotionally prepared to handle canon!akatsuki levels of fucked up war criminals and I just wanted to put them in low stakes shenanigans that keeps the core of their characters without all the murder and angst and action (I hate writing action. Horror is fun and dandy, but spin kicks and explosions and puppets are beyond me for now).

So in the claires au/mallrats cinematic universe, the Akatsuki are just a gang of queers doing your run of the mill criminal activity. Drug dealing, car stealing, chop shopping, gun running, book cooking, you name it. They all ended up kicked out of society for one reason or another, banded together, and became mundane villains of polite society.

For example, Sasori is always depicted as tinkering with his puppets. So I decided that tendency to methodically pull someone apart and back together, that special calculating mindset that it takes to look at a body and come up with twelve different secret weapons to hide in their limbs, would make the perfect fodder for a chop shop mechanic. Stolen cars instead of stolen corpses. He seems like he got the obsessing-over-cars brand of autism and I love him for it. He's weird and reclusive and pretentious and insufferable and genius.

Deidara likes explosives, duh, but guns are so boring imo so I wanted to dig deeper into his love of temporary beauty, and how that meshes perfectly with drugs. They're ephemeral, transient experiences that fade quickly but leave a lasting impact on a person, changing their life, etc. He's also. Super fucking pretentious about it. Don't let him corner you at a party. Sasori might be the chemist but Deidara is the real brains behind the operation, and also the very willing test subject. I see him as a club kid, always on one in the middle of the crowd, and entirely responsible for the Akatsuki's branding. He designed the clouds and the patented pressed pills (we got blue teslas, they got white owls, etc) and also is solely responsible for word of mouth advertising. He's always got a can of spray paint and/or a black business card with nothing but a phone number and a red cloud. He's always bright and loud and shiny and looking for attention in seedy places, always in the middle of the mosh pit or the dance floor or some sketchy back alley or the skate park (skating is kinda like riding a giant flying bird, right?) Either way, everyone wants whatever the fuck he's on.

Together they're a power couple. Absolutely nasty, insufferable to talk to, impossible to be around unless you're just as pretentious as them about their very specific interests AND willing to listen to them bicker endlessly about their arts. Naturally, they only have two friends. Kakuzu and Hidan.

I want to dig into their backstories and relationships later, narratively, but the barest bones of it is that Hidan is Deidara's childhood friend and professional pain in the ass. Class clowns in detention together, bullying the local nerds, weirdo queer kids with serious mental issues from broken homes, a scrappy sort of friendship born out of desperation for someone Like Them etc. I mean Hidan's got a nasty sadomasochistic streak, a propensity for self harm, and an obsession with the occult so don't get me started on him as your local satanic bad influence. Their whole thing could be its own post tbh.

Kakuzu and Sasori are like crotchety old men on the porch. They like to sit in some booth at the club talking shit and looking menacing while Deidara and Hidan are busy 'advertising'. I also see Kakuzu as a bit of a mentor to Sasori, being a bit older and wiser and seeing Sasori get dragged into the Akatsuki after dropping out of med school and being disowned by his grandmother (a whole other post as well) and spiraling into shitty coping mechanisms (alcohol, mostly). Kakuzu smacked some sense into him and got him sobered up because he loves that sad pathetic wet cat of a man they got money to make!!

If and when Sasori and Deidara split up to work, I see them pairing up with Kakuzu and Hidan, respectively. Every artsy twink needs their burly body guard, yknow?

I'm maintaining their age differences to some degree, although pinched closer. At the time Mallrats is set, Deidara is 25, Hidan is 26, Sasori is 32, Kakuzu is 40. Itachi and Kisame are also mid 20s, Konan and Pain and Zetsu and Tobi are in their 30s.

Deidara centric timeline wise (and trying to stick to canon as closely as realistically possible) he gets kicked out of his house for being fruity at 14, ends up couch surfing with Hidan (having 'sleep overs', or sneaking into his room when Hidan's mom said no but didn't care enough think to look under his bed/the closet/that pile of laundry) and when he can't pull that off, staying in the mall til after closing and posting up in there all night. After a while, someone in the Akatsuki notices him kicking rocks in a parking lot and realizes they need some scrappy kid to run a backpack from one end of town to the other without getting noticed. One thing leads to another and he ends up catching Konan's attention. She (30s, forgery and embezzling specialist, dyke and mother of the house) shuffles some papers, gets him his own apartment on the condition that he works for her and the money goes from their business associates to him to her to his landlord.

I have a soft spot for Konan doing this for anyone she can. Queer kids in the 80s and 90s didn't exactly have resources, and she did what she could with what she had, handing them a way to earn their own money and a safe place to live, even if its seedy and illegal. Beats the streets! Most of them were runners for a few years and aged out, she signed their SRO apartments off to them at 18 and they moved on with their lives. There's a whole host of people who only know her as Lady Angel (winknod to canon again) because she did what she could to save em. Deidara just happened to be too good at his job and got pulled higher and higher, until he landed in Sasori's shop.

That's about caught up to what I've gotten so far in Mallrats and The Waiting Room (with so much more to go. My muse is wildly overactive for the amount of time and attention span I got). I got head canons on like all the main characters from Konoha/Suna, all the Akatsuki, and the Sanin. Where they work, how they interact, how their relationships translate to mallrat/clubrat shenanigans, etc.

Every detail Sasori and Deidara falling in love? DUH. But also........... A complete dossier on everyone's kinks? Hidan and Deidara's gay awakening? Sasori's history with Orochimaru? The absolute fuckery that is any of their home life before the Akatsuki? Brazilian Kakuzu? Jashinism in a neopagan satanic context? Kakuzu and Hidan's perfectly vicious relationship? Konan as Lady Angel? Itachi darling son of the police chief working for the mob to spite his homophobic dad? Kisame... well, idk about Kisame, but if you care enough to develop it with me I could be convinced to!! The list goes ON.

I could go into heavier detail about so much more but this is already so long T^T. If you read this far thank u ilysm and I would be so delighted to get into more if you're interested!! The ask box is always open and I am foaming at the mouth over them at the drop of a hat <3

[insomniphic]

FOR THE DAILY ONE-SHOT VALENTINES WEEK SPECIAL

Tried to finish this today but couldn’t so I guess we’re doing the second part tomorrow 🤷‍♀️

‼️Reminder that these One-shots are NOT CANON whatsoever.‼️

<— Prev

DAY 2: STARS (Part 1)

“I promise you, Narry. The sights here are great!” His lover rambled on, clasping onto his hand as they dragged him down the pebble road, talking over the sound of rocks shuffling underneath their weight — blending well with the crickets hidden in the grass, and forest, that bordered them from the town. “And I double, double, checked the weather today, just to make sure. It’s clear skies!” They craned their neck to grin, the soft glow emitting from him creating a warm portrait that he’ll imprint in his mind forever; just like every other moment.

“You seem pretty happy that ‘stargazing’ won on the wheel of mundane dates tonight.” Narry laughed, giving their hand a gentle squeeze as he swayed his other arm that held the bag carrying their essentials.

“So what? It was my idea.” They chuckled, decelerating their eager pace to stride along with their partner.

“Hey now, I’m not denying that it’s a great idea.” Narry hummed leaning to their side to give them a quick kiss on the temple. “Believe me when I say that I’m just as excited.”.

Stars out of all things. He’s got his fair share of experiences with “stars”. In fact, the most logical explanation for his identity, as a being, would be to call him as one of those specks out there.

Narry huffed, a small attempt to hide a random chuckle. It’s taking a lot out of him to not say something his lover would categorize as “cringey”:

“Why look at all of that stellar activity when I’m right here?” Or maybe something else like, “Am I not the light of your life, already?”

Ah… he could already see the eye roll and the incoming punch to the shoulder — all while talking about how stupid his attempt to flirt is. Sadly, he’ll have to hold that idea back for a future moment. His beloved seems quite eager to make this opportunity special for them.

His eyes change focal points from the dim green path, to up at the musty clouds of gray covering any of the beauty. He strained his eyes as far as he could and noticed the awaited empty patch of clouds coming to blow their way. A speed that would take longer than it should. A gust whistles past them and he takes his attention away from the observation, listening back in on his jewel’s ramblings. He’ll save those worries for later.

“—I mean how could I not be excited, honestly? You cooked the meal for tonight, we’re out of town to the point where it’s quite, we get to experience some nature, I get to be with you and do the things I’ve always wanted to do,” they listed, a warm smile widening on their face as the reasonings became more heartfelt than the last word, and Narry couldn’t help but blink and gape his mouth slightly in awe. Sometimes he forgets that affection exists; that he’s capable of it. And with his lover saying those kinds of lovey-dovey things? He’ll be quickly reminded.

Narry shuts his parted lips and pries his hand away from their hand just to run it up their back and wrap his arm around their shoulder, pulling them into where they have to trot with a slight tilt. “Do you know how much I love you?” He whispered against their hair.

They quiet down, the crunching of the gravel echoing louder during that moment of silence. “No, I don’t need to know,” they began, “I’m just happy to hear that you know how much you love me,” they smiled contentedly as they came closer to the hill.

“I do.”

===

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