#ok so originally they were just like human and then when i went to line it it just didnt vibe right so i made them mer-folk

[bluemas321]

||Spell⬩Amulet||

“Curses can be tricky things. Sometimes they demand an impossible price, one you might not be willing to pay.” – Nisha J. Tuli

[ambrosiagoldfish]

Innocent and Touch-Starved 18+

Hunter x GN! Reader

All Characters are written to be 18+

Warnings: Handjob, Incredibly inexperienced Hunter, First orgasm, First time Masturbating, Reader acts as a 'Teacher' to Hunter, Hunter may be slightly OOC but shouldn’t be too bad (he’s just a bit more submissive than normal)

THIS IS SET POST TIME SKIP WHEN HUNTER IS 18

If you don’t like, don’t read! It’s better for both you and me!!

Request Box: OPEN

As fluffy as smut could get

Word count: 1713

A/N: This was originally going to be NSFW HC's for Hunter but as you can see it turned into a small fic! If the writing style shifts part way through that's the reason why!

Not Beta read, We die like flapjack; could have missed some mistakes.

As we all know by now, Hunter really isn't familiar with the common concepts of affection or love. So something mildly sexual, let alone sex, is a completely foreign concept to him.

So foreign that if you started dating when he was still the Golden Guard, chances are you wouldn't have had any kind of sexual encounter with him due to him being overworked and generally touch-starved. 

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he didn't even know what sex was as most of the information he learns comes from Belos, who,  being from the 1600’s, definitely has a warped view of sex. So him not wanting his “nephew” to be tempted by the desires of lust isn't all that surprising.  

But when he's free from Belos and living in the Human Realm is when he starts getting more open with you. 

It starts slow, he gives more kisses than usual, then he starts letting you hold him longer, closer.

He basically starts getting all clingy, and he's not really sure why. 

He thinks it's because he just really loves you (which is true) but in reality,  he’s just starting to get really horny after being touch starved for so long. 

Then eventually, you two are cuddling on the couch in the living room watching some movies. You both have been left to keep watch of the house while Camila, Vee, and the Hexside Quartet went out to buy groceries. 

Them being out of the house meant free hugs without any teasing from them, which was perfect for Hunter. So now here you two were, cuddling up in a blanket, watching a, honestly pretty boring movie marathon on TV.

Feeling a tad bit sleepy you lean further into Hunter’s chest, snuggling into the soft form beneath you. 

“I love you…” You Yawn out. 

His Ears darken with blush before he nodded.. 

He hasn't said I love you back yet, but it's fine for you, you know the kind of upbringing he's had, I love you's definitely weren't common place. 

Hunter’s face falls deeper and deeper into a crimson blush, the weight of your body, the warmth of your body is so close.

It's already way past the point of when His body gets a “tingling” feeling with you. He still has no idea what causes it or what it means.

Suddenly he feels you shift and let out a noise of discomfort.

“Are you ok, Y/n?” He asks, his voice low

“Yeah! Don’t worry Hunter, i uh, just felt something firm poke me and I was surprised hehe…” You chuckle awkwardly raising up to face him. 

Hunter’s confused “Something Firm?”

“Yeah, uh… there.” you point

Slowly, his magenta eyes follow the invisible line connecting your pointing finger and this “firm” thing, until eventually they land right on the bulging tent in his sweatpants.

He quickly covers his bulge with a pillow. 

“S-Sorry I didn't mean- This doesn't normally happen when we-” He stampers over his words

“Hey hey, don't worry Hunter, it's no big deal” He feels you lightly caress his cheek. 

Despite his face feeling hotter than the boiling sea, he calms down a little.

“Here, I can step out for a few so you can take care of it”  He sees you begin to leave

“Take care of it? What… Do you mean?” He asks sheepishly. 

He watches as you look at him in surprise. 

“You know.. Relieve it? By..  masturbating… “ You say awkardly.

“Mastur…bate?” Hunter says confused

He watches you walk back over and sit beside him

“Have you really never done that?”

He nods his head, more than a little embarrassed

“Well what do you normally do when it happens?”

“I just… Wait till it stops, it usually happens when I'm asleep and when i wake up it's already like this..”

He thinks back to all the times he would be late to training, meetings, and other Golden Guard business thanks to his ‘problem’ most mornings.

You both sit in silence before he hears 3 words leave your mouth

“I can help..”

He jumps back slightly 

“But only if you want me too… I would never touch you without your permission, you know that…”

 you pause 

“I can show you how to masturbate so that you will know how in the future…”

He thinks for a moment before nodding his head at you, “Ok Y/n, I trust you, please show me..” 

He slowly moves the pillow from his crotch revealing the tent in his gray sweatpants. He sees you smile warmly before you get to work.

Your light fingertips move to gently hold his face as you kiss him, freckling them all over. 

He watches you beneath him, slowly lowering yourself from the couch to the floor of the living room, your hands slowly making their way down his body as you plant your kisses, before they stop at the waist line of his pants.

He watches you pull back and look him in the eyes before asking

“Are you sure?” He nods sheepishly again. Slowly your fingertips creep under the elastic of his sweats before pulling them down in one toff motion.

From his sweats, Hunter’s Hard-on springs up, standing at full mass. Hunter looks away as deep crimson shades his face.  Having his ‘privates’ out in full view was the last thing he thought would ever happen, but here he was.

Hunter is afraid to see your reaction, but what makes him even more afraid is that he hasn't even heard you react yet. Slowly, he looks down to see your almost surprised reaction.

“Is… is it ok?” Hunter Asks, “N-normal i mean..” If he knew nothing about sex and masturbation, He certainly didn't know if his ‘privates’ were the same as other people his age or if he somehow differed. On top of that, being a Grimwalker came with many health related questions, this being one of them.

Hunter quickly calms down when you give him that soft smile and say, “Completely normal, and completely perfect.”

Your hand leisurely makes its way to his hard-on before your fingers wrap around it,

Hunter shutters at the touch and his back straightens “F-Feels good…”

“Good Hunter, just relax..” he feels your other hand knead his thigh soothing him to lay back.

Your hand begins moving up and down his shaft, your grip tightening and loosening every so often. Hunter’s voice began to come out, what were soft moans began to develop into loud groans that filled the room. 

“Y/n so g-good…” 

You sped up your hand at his words, “Try to pay attention to how I'm doing it ok? So You'll know later for later.“

Hunter nods his head, half lidded eyes watch down at you fisting his hard-on. The way your soft hand feels on his shaft, the wet slapping sound with each pump, it was all so much for him

“You’re leaking so much pre Hunter, you must really be backed up, huh?”

“P-Pre?” he moans out 

“Precum. It's what’s making your cock so slippery as I stroke it.”

“C-Cock?” All of this, all of this pleasure, this… experience, was really too much for him. 

You laugh “You really have a lot to learn Hunter,” You slowly lean up to his pointed ears,

 “Good thing I'm a good teacher.” you whisper seducticly.

With that, a knot in his stomach was tightening up rapidly, a feeling he has never felt before, to him it felt similar to anxiety, the anticipation of something you know will happen, but you're unsure what it is.

“Y/n! Something’s happening- it feels weird- I think we should stop-” 

He warns and tries to stop your hand pumping his cock but is stopped by your other hand holding his firmly. 

You quickly lean into him and begin kissing him. You start stroking faster, the slapping of wet skin echoed throughout the room as well as Hunter’s muffled moans.

Finally… the knot snaps, his body begins shaking, sending waves of pleasure through Hunter’s body. Hunter’s cock shoots load after load out, squirting on his stomach and your hand, as well as on the couch. The whole time you don't let up stroking his dick, making sure to pump as much of his cum out. 

After what feels like an eternity for Hunter, but couldn't have been a few seconds, his droopy eyes look down at you, exhausted.

“What… Was… that?” He huffs deep breaths inbetween words

“That was an orgasm or “cumming” and this is sperm or cum” you hold up your hand covered in the warm whitish clear liquid.

Hunter tiredly looks around noticing the mess on the couch and him

��I… did all this?”

“Mhm, you must have been so bottled up” you give him a kiss on the cheek

“I need to clean it up before… Luz and the others… get back-'' Hunter says, huffing through his words as he tries to pull himself up but his body doesn't let him.

“Hey hey Buddy, shhh” You grab his head an softly lay him back

 “After such a big load, not to mention your first, you’re clearly spent out of energy. Let me do it, ok?”

“But-”

“Nope. No buts” You kiss him. “Wait here”

You leave before returning with some towels and some of Hunter’s spare clothes, you began cleaning the cum off the couch and your cum covered hand, then slowly, you undress Hunter out of his dirty clothes and help him into some new ones, before throwing them into the washing machine and turning it on.

You return to Hunter, who at this point is nearly fully asleep. You slowly ease onto the couch with him, he feels the soft weight of your body rest on his, he tiredly moves his arms to embrace you, as you pull a blanket over the two of you.  

“Thank you Y/n… for making me feel… so good.” He says, clearly in between a state of consciousness and asleep.

“Of course, anytime Hunter.” You kiss his chest

“I..” He starts, you look up at him

“I love you Y/n…” He says before fully drifting off into sleep

You snuggle further into his chest, closing your drowsy and love-stuck eyes.

“I love you too Hunter”

[kanmom51]

Okay so I had to put my thoughts down in words

I just don’t know how to feel about what Jimin said in the bts of Muse, other than sad.

I guess I should start by saying I’d been dreading him saying something along the lines of that since I heard Who, as to why he made it. The MV bts came and went and then bam, we get a mini production diary, with saying he’s looking for love and is alone. Exactly how I thought he would explain it.

I hoped I’d be wrong but alas, he more than confirmed he is single. I suppose it’s not surprising, but all of our collective hope or support seems in vein now.

I’m still going to watch the travel show but I feel sad about it tbh. They make such a cute pair.

I'm really sorry that you feel that way love.

Especially knowing that you are just not taking what JM said the right way.

In any case babe, whatever you might believe about their relationship, that shouldn't take from you supporting them for being the most adorable human beings possible.

I won't go too much into the BTB. I do think you need to watch it multiple times, try to pay attention to JM's body language too. But I will say that I do think that your reaction here is unwarranted, in the sense that JM IS NOT saying he's single or that he is looking for love or that he is alone.

Let's start with the fact that JM was going for the gender neutral lyrics to start with, but that changed, probably because it sounded better with the "she" instead of the "you".

So, yeah, JM originally wasn't looking for a she, but a you. Funny how if this was an autobiographical song that would have mattered, right? Oh, wait a second. It isn't.

The song is not about JM, not about his real life, not about his actual experiences down to the T.

Not this song, nor Muse the album, even though the other songs were written by him.

Not an autobiography. Unlike Face.

JM says it here and he said it in his album exchange with RM!!

See, it looks like you are doing exactly what JM wanted fans to do. And that is get the wrong idea!!

Did you miss this perhaps?

Yeah, you probably missed JM saying this.

Btw, when JM talks about his diary, I really don't believe he means a personal diary where he writes his wants and needs and experiences, lol. He's talking about that diary where he writes his ideas for the album, his ideas for the songs, where he wrote his lyrics to the songs for Face (we got that diary with Face) and for Muse. And JM, he's a shy boy, Idk if you are aware of that. This young man who oozes confidence on stage is so very shy and the experience of having to explain to John Billion the idea he wants for the song and it coming to life left him a little self conscious, shy.

This isn't about the song telling the story of his life. This is about having to explain an idea for a song, his vision, it actually being something that he isn't going through.

Ok, moving on.

Again, JM explaining the vibe he is going for with the song.

And again his shyness.

He continues to say that he poured all his emotions into this so he's embarrassed.

Not because these emotions are his as in this is what he feels right now longing for love, but because he feels embarrassed to explain his emotions about the song, the emotions he's looking for in the song.

I suggest that if you are having an issue with understanding how this song is not JM, not his life, maybe go rewatch the album exchange with RM.

And read my post on it as well.

These feeling JM is trying to encompass in Muse (and Who) are part of the universal language of love, a language he is using in Muse to convey his message, which is not literal.

And specifically when he talks about Who, it's about that feeling of excitement in his work that he's looking for. Those are the feelings he's talking about. Not the lyrics about the "she" (who was supposed to be a "you"). Not the lyrics that are written in the universal language of love. No. It's about the feelings about his work. The feelings about the message he is trying to convey. Which has NOTHING to do with his love life!!!

But again, he's telling us about those feelings through a language we all understand. So that longing he has for that feeling with his work is brought to life as a longing for a someone to love.

This!!

It's a story he wants to tell!!!

And the whole "everyone's living alone" sentence that you are probably clinging to, cause obviously...

a. He could be talking about the fact that at some point of every person's life, they are living alone, as without a partner, a loved one, and as such it's a relatable feeling.

b. It's not like people that are in relationships don't feel alone at times. Even JM, who was in a committed relationship with JK when going through the struggles and feelings he had and poured into Face, into Alone felt that way. I bet you JK was feeling alone or lonely during the time JM was working on Face and Muse. During those lives in Feb 2023. And yet, he was in a committed relationship with the person he loved.

c. He's trying to tell a story, and he's trying to convey his longing for that feeling with regards to his work, and being lonely is how he's explaining it, the way he's conveying it to us. Hence the "everyone's living alone"... meaning - that is something everyone will understand, meaning, hoping he picked the right idea, the right way to convey his message as the 6th song for Muse!!!

THAT IS ART!!!

And JM created art. Not "this is a song based on my own experience" art, which he did with Face, but "this is a story I want to tell that will help you understand my feelings about my work" art.

And he knew.

He knew people will make the wrong assumptions.

Just like you are right now.

Side note, and before I go, Idk if you have noticed this, but Muse, promoting the album, talking about the album, is so much easier for JM to do than Face. With Face all we got was that it's personal, that he was struggling, but not much more than that. JM was pretty much staying quiet, and even when he did talk he was saying much of nothingness. While with Muse he's talking, he's opening up, he's explaining. You know why? Because it's not about his life!!

Just saying.

[snoopyhq]

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ ARCANE CHARACTERS AND THEIR POKÉMON TEAMS !!!

includes: viktor // jayce // mel // caitlyn // vi // jinx // ekko

a/n: if you guys want a part two with any of the other characters, feel free to lmk which ones :D !!! i had a lot of fun with this, and it kind of went into a whole AU direction with all my ramblings. oops!

tagging @anexcellentshot <3

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ VIKTOR

For his team, I wanted a collection of 'mons that would kill it in a steampunk themed show, so here we are!

GOLURK

Its lore centers around it being an ancient Pokémon built by an ancient civilization, so not much is known about it

To me, this Pokémon would be perfect for Viktor due to its aura of mystery and its creation by human hands

It also fits well with Viktor's arc when he becomes the Arcane Herald (glowing eyes, larger stature, commanding presence, associations with otherwordly abilities)

LUXRAY

I'm a firm believer in the fact that Viktor is a cat person, so of COURSE he gets a feline Pokémon

Luxray is an electric type cat. Need I say more?

Viktor's Luxray hisses at anyone who looks at him wrong. It's very funny. A total lapcat and demands his attention at all times

Everyone else who isn't Viktor can get fucked

KLEFKI

END KLEFKI HATE 2025

Why do people hate Klefki?! Being so serious right now btw... like are they just allergic to fun and whimsy or what. IDGAF if its just a key that became a Pokémon, it's one of my faves forever and always

Anyways. As for its relevance to Viktor, I see it as sort of being a good assistant for him in the lab and such. Carries his keys, yes, but also his tools for him

ALAKAZAM

I'm pretty sure it's the most intelligent Pokémon, and Viktor is a whole genuis

The dots connect!

Alakazam likes watching Viktor work on his various projects, and it oftens plays chess with him. A very intellectually stimulating experience for them both. The score currently is very close, although whose ahead, we'll never know :-)

GALARIAN CORSOLA

OK SO ORIGIN STORY !!!

We know Viktor grew up in the Undercity, and where he was shown had a river with cave systems nearby. I believe him and Corsola found each other the same fateful day he met Rio

They see each other as kindred spirits, having suffered in the environment they were dealt. Viktor is protective of his Corsola, and caring for it makes him feel a sense of accomplishment

Very bittersweet

MAGEARNA

A Pokémon that was also built by human hands, specifically by scientists according to its lore

It also has an ability that makes it a wonderful caretaker of people

That falls in line with Viktor's motivation to use Hextech to improve the lives of the less fortunate, and this Pokémon fits his aesthetic so well. I think Magearna is a wonderful way to end his team with :3

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ JAYCE

His character grew on me. Jayce Talis, you should've been born into a shoujo, not forced to shounen </3

TIMBURR

Very helpful fella to have around a lab! Construction sites! Factories! That's the Talis family specialty!

His first Pokémon, and the two often played with wooden building blocks and LEGOs in his childhood

Specifically choosing the first evolution because I can see Jayce's Timburr growing alongside him in the craft and one day evolving into a Gurdurr, and perhaps even a Conkeldurr

Or maybe it can stay a baby, who knows?

HERDIER

Looks like Heimerdinger. I am GREATLY amused by this

Is the Talis family dog, and followed Jayce when he went off to the Academy

Always sighing like its got bills to pay but that's because it has to watch over Jayce away from home 😭 Get him a martini (dog-friendly) and a long vacation ASAP

Big theme of family and Pokémon with Jayce here hehe

TINKATUFF

Another great Pokémon to help Jayce out with his endeavors!

This one has the most attitude of his team, and only helps with extremely ambitious, daring projects

It wants to improve, and taking up easy shortcuts is an insult

Overall, a diva

He loves it anyways, and always makes sure to express his appreciation because its efforts DO pay off handsomely

DARMANITAN

Jayce works in a forge at some point in the series, so having a Darmanitan with him just fits

It can withstand the high temperatures and has the muscle to help him out

I was debating between this fella and Heatmor but I like Darmanitan's rotund look better, sorry Heatmor

CARBINK

Very mystical Pokémon. Parallels the Mage that saved Jayce and Ximena when he was a child

Also resembles a Hextech crystal lowkey

MELMETAL

I think it's SO funny that it has "Mel" in its name

Also, more continuation of Pokémon that can dabble in craftsmanship

Evolved from a Meltan that snuck into his luggage when he was moving to the Academy district and refused to leave

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ MEL

I wanted a team that serves both cunt AND power, so here is Mel's team! Looking for a transparent BG, full-body picture of her was actually so hard. What the flip. I thought it'd be in her Arcane Fandom Page Gallery, but it wasn't. AUGH

DELPHOX

Fox motif

Also a mystical one too, since its lore states that its burn marks were used in divination long ago

Mel being a mage means she can connect with her Delphox on a deeper level

KOMMO-O

Noxians are people who value raw, physical strength

Ambessa is canonically a warmonger. Mel having a fighting type Pokémon like Kommo-o goes well with that lore

It's powerful, dual-type with DRAGON, and just radiates aura

Also, its scale patterns and her braids can sort of match in style and it also works with Mel's gold accents!

UMBREON

Evolved from her Eevee

It happened around the time Mel left home for Piltover for the first time. Their bond runs deep

Hates being confined to a Pokéball, so it roams out and about at all times

SNEASEL

Devious Troublemaker #1

Smart AND sneaky

It's resourceful with its wits and stealth, like Mel

Tolerates her Fezandipiti

FEZANDIPITI

Devious Troublemaker #2

Abuses its pretty privilege to get away with EVERYTHING (it works)

Best buds with her Sneasel

INDEEDEE

A Pokémon that "never leaves its trainer's side", so it makes sure she stays taken care of and GOD KNOWS she deserves a break

Secretary Pokémon basically

Keeps tracks of her papers, blueprints, speeches, and council talking points

Hovers over her during the duration of those meetings and makes sure she's comfortable

Also really, really good at snooping around and finding out the most incriminating secrets. Memorized everything to the letter

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ CAITLYN

Firm believer that she would be a competitive player in a modern world.

FROSLASS

Cold as hell (figuratively AND metaphorically)

Just like Caitlyn

It's a feminine Pokémon and it's TERRIFYING, I love creepy/non-conventional Pokémon lore

Highkey judgemental. Has purposefully iced out a council membor on more than one occasion. Thinks they're useless

SINISTEA

They're kind of twinning. Tell me you guys see the vision too

Like... same side part and everything !!!

Tea parties and they're both the prettiest princesses. They also talk about the best way to 'get rid of' Salo. It's great

Caitlyn never utilizes her Sinistea in battle. It follows her around instead, offers an off-putting vibe to the function

YUNGOOS

Yes, this is because of the mongoose comment

Also I think it's really funny that you have these elegant and put-together Pokémon on her team, and then there's this guy

Bites ankles

DECIDUEYE

She's a sharpshooter and so is Decidueye

Had it since it was a wee Rowlet, and the runt of its litter (nestmates? flock? i don't know bird terminology)

With her in every shooting competition and practice she attends

Her ace Pokémon. They're so in sync, she doesn't even need to voice moves aloud anymore

GROWLITHE

Enforcer ☹️

CORVISQUIRE

It's intelligent, even compared to other bird Pokémon similar to it

Also has that air of innate curiosity

Caitlyn had her whole detective thing in Season One of the show, so her having a curious corvisquire on her team makes sense to me

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ VI

If Vi has no lovers, I'm DEAD!!! Literally became one of my favorites the second she showed up one screen. I’m also the eldest sibling so maybe I connect to those characters more… Choso from Jujutsu Kaisen is another absolute faves of mine.

URSHIFU (RAPID STRIKE STYLE)

Matches her boxing fighting style

Very focused and disciplined

Her go-to sparring partner

LOKIX

A good kicker is needed to balance out a team of mostly fist-to-fists combat

Makes sure she does not skip leg day

Not that Vi would ever but it's nice to have someone look after her like an elder sibling for once

ALCREMIE

Similar to Caitlyn having Yungoos on her team, I find it funny to have Alcremie be the contrats on Vi's team

Her calling Caitlyn "cupcake" all the time? Please

Vi dotes on her Alcremie

First Pokémon she caught that wasn't in the Undercity, so it's a little bit of a primadonna, but who cares? It's adorable

Head chef of the team because picturing this little 1'00" Pokémon bustle around a kitchen area and whipping up delicacies makes me laugh

RIOLU

The youngest on the team and has the most to prove

Or at least, that's Riolu's mindset

Follows her Urshifu around like a little shadow, eager to learn and become the strongest of 'em all

Will evolve into a Lucario one day

CHARMELEON

Complements her color palette

I firmly believe she would choose a fire-type starter in any game route

Also has an insatiable fighting spirit, which I believe can be properly nurtured with Vi as its trainer and the rest of her team

Pairs up with her Riolu the most during sparring practices

ALOLAN MAROWAK

Both Vi and Marowak lost their mothers at a young age

Both watched their mothers die, even if the circumstances were slightly different

Not having a Cubone that evolved into a Marowak on her team would've been such a missed opportunity

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ JINX

Her team was the first one I finished putting together in my Google Docs. Very happy with how this one turned out.

BOMBIRDIER

The word "bomb" is kinda in the name

AND that fuckass bird is an asshole, according to it's Pokédex entry

I think it's hilarious, and fits Jinx's antics very well, especially with her first scene after the timeskip in season one

PANCHAM

The Pokedex entry for this one says it finds a Pangoro to look up to and trains relentlessly to get stronger like its mentor

Very much a reflection of how Isha looks (looked) up to Jinx, and wanted to be like her :')

NICKIT

Only surviving kit in the litter of Silco's Theivul

Naturally, it became Jinx’s Pokémon

Messes with her Espurr all the time. Gets lightly scolded, pretends to feel bad, and gets right back to it when her back is turned

Brings her scraps of metal and other shiny valuables it nicked (haha!) from unsuspecting citizens

HISUIAN TYPHLOSION

NOT A GOOD YEAR FOR MY BOY TYPHLOSION

Justice for him for REAL.

But anyways. Colorful flames, extravagant, explosions. It basically spells itself out

Keeps her Nickit in check when it gets too rough with her Espurr

INFERNAPE

Her signature calling card is the graffiti monkey

Her monkey bomb/gadgets !!! Motifs...

The most disciplined of her Pokémon

ESPURR

Look at it and tell me it isn't experiencing the horrors(tm) and the voices(tm) at all times

I think Jinx could see herself in it in a way, and having Espurr on her team is kind of a grounding experience for both of them

They save each other

This lil guy is her PRIDE AND JOY ok

˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ EKKO

Ekko deserves the entire world and more, I'm being so serious right now. Ekko 4 President.

DRILBUR

Little guy who just enjoys digging. Yeah, put him on the team

Would be very helpful for finding trinkets that Ekko could bring to Benzo's (in a happier timeline, they continue spending their days like this)

When the canon events happen, its role now becomes finding/forming tunnels and escape routes

NOCTOWL

Scout in the air

Goes along with Ekko's owl motif :D

Caitlyn already had Decidueye, and I feel like a tougher, more rugged looking Pokémon like a Noctowl fits the boy savior better

His team is a lot of earthy tones I've realized

Undercity Represent 🗣️🗣️🗣️

CELEBI

Ekko's connection with time, the four seconds, etc. etc.

Celebi is a time traveling Pokémon. It's perfect :3

I think he's the only character with a mythical Pokémon on his team, and you know what? He deserves it. Big Ekko fan! He can have a mythical Pokémon, as a treat

HOUNDOOM

If aura farming was a Pokémon

Looks tough, is an even tougher fighter

The rear-guard of his team. It looks out for the other ones and makes sure they all get to safety whenever it's brought along during one of Ekko's missions

Acts as a heater for the others and Ekko himself

Completely chill with letting Noctowl perch on its back

SKWOVET

Ok hear me out, this is the comedic effect guy

I headcanon that he pulls a Meowth in the anime and taught himself to speak human. NOT for the pursuit of romance this time, but for the pursuit of gossip

One of the tiniest ones recorded, so it sneaks around really easily

Like Mel's Indeedee, it gathers talk and whispers that otherwise would not see the light of day, and relays it all back to Ekko

It keeps him up to date on movements of other political factions and certain people (Jinx)

Has grown spoiled on all the treats it gets fed from being really damn good at its job

KROOKODILE

Found by Ekko during one of his explorations underground with his Drilbur

Battled against his Drilbur, and then his Houndoom when they broke up into the surface

Was eventually caught, and now goes on side quests with Ekko's Drilbur

Gives Ekko some peace of mind knowing that Drilbur has a bigger, more formidable friend watching out for it

Totes the coolest, rivalling Houndoom in levels of chillness

[friccafracc]

DROP THE FIC OR IM COMING FOR YOUR KNEECAPS

ALRIGHT OK BUT I NEED IT TO BE KNOWN THAT I HAVENT WRITTEN ANYTHING SERIOUSLY SINCE HIGHSCHOOL OK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Something is after me. I know it is, I’ve seen it. It looks like a man, but I know that it’s not. It…. It’s face is like a mockery of something human- like- like if you asked someone who has never seen a human to draw or model a person’s face, their smile. No… I don’t think any human would be able to get it that wrong.”

“And I’m not crazy, alright? God, y’all probably get that a lot here, don’t you? You people specialize in crazy. Not that I’m anyone to judge anymore, given the shit I went through before coming out here. I didn’t even know a place like this existed outside the Usher Foundation. I just…there’s some weird, crazy shit out there I guess, and when I heard about y’all, I figured I should probably pay a visit. At least let someone know before I die.”

“I know I’m gonna die.”

“I suppose I should start from the beginning. My name is Joshua Nelson, I’m originally from the States–Memphis Tennessee. Now, if there’s one thing you should know about Memphis, it’s that nobody in their right mind should EVER move there on their own accord, ‘cause you’ll either get mugged or stalked or both. I was born and raised there, so I never really got the choice during the formative years of my life. I’ve learned to live with it, though.”

“I worked retail in a gas station before…well, everything. It was a shithole. The kind of building where, no matter how hard you scrubbed and no matter how much bleach you used, the stains and smell of smoke would never leave. Instead just…mingled with the citrus of the chemicals. It paid the bills, though, and I was never witness to a robbery, so I couldn’t complain too much. The customers were docile and if I noticed anyone shoplifting, I kept it to myself. I wasn’t getting paid enough to give a damn.”

“We had regulars that would come in on a schedule and regulars that wouldn’t. People who were just passing through the city or visiting family or friends. You get all types in that kinda place, and if you’re placid enough to any asshole who’s having a bad day, everyone gets along just fine. There were a couple of regulars who were friendly enough, though, that I remember their names. Miss Kelly was an older woman, short and heavyset–she was one of the friendlier ones. We’ve got a lot of talkers in the south and boy did she make sure I knew every exact reason for what her kids were getting up to, or what was going on in a reality show she was hooked on at the time.”

“George Michael, a thin man in his 40s, maybe, always came in whenever he needed a new pack of cigarettes, I think he was a chain-smoker, cause he was in there a lot.”

“And then…then there was Hunter. Now Hunter was a younger man, maybe college age. A little older than that? Poor bastard was hooked on something, that much anyone could tell. He was gaunt, a little twitchy, you know, telltale signs of drug abuse. I could never tell what specifically he was on, but then again, it was never my business to know. I treated him the same as every other customer, we all knew he wasn’t gonna cause any harm, he usually came in for food, chips and hotdogs and stuff and he never caused a fuss.”

“I think… I think Hunter is dead.”

“One day he came in, I think it was a Wednesday or something cause it was slow that afternoon, and he burst through the door. Well–maybe not burst, but he came in the building like he was racing to get indoors first before someone else. The guy was usually jittery and, I’ll admit, a little shifty usually, but this was full blown paranoia. It startled me at first, his intensity, and he made a b-line towards the back of the store and ducked behind one of the shelves. Maybe not duck completely like ducking for cover, but it was obvious he was hiding. It almost made me expect the police or some drug lord to come storming through the door, but nobody else came.”

“Hunter stayed pacing in the building for a good 20 or 30 minutes, periodically lifting his head to crane his neck and peer out the window or the glass of the door. I checked once or twice as well, but if someone was out there, I didn’t see them. Eventually the guy calmed down enough to buy something and when he approached the counter with his bag of Doritos he looked almost like he was going to be sick.”

“I asked him if everything was alright, but he just shook his head and left.”

“I didn’t see him again for another week or two after that. Obviously I assumed the worst. I theorized that someone was after him and when he didn’t show up when he usually did it was more than enough to confirm my suspicions. Be it cops or some random person on the street, I couldn’t decide which fate would be worse, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel for the guy at least a little bit.”

“Hunter was almost completely out of my mind when I saw him again. I was surprised. By all accounts, it didn’t look like anything had changed about him. Maybe aside from the fact that his posture was way better than it usually was when I saw him, but other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary.”

“Business went on as usual and when he came up to the till with a liter of coke, I offered him a ‘Welcome Back’ and rang him up.”

“When I turned back to him, he was smiling. For some reason it was like a pit opened in the bottom of my stomach. I couldn’t understand why, though. It looked like Hunter–patchy, unkempt stubble, greasy hair, thin face, sunken eyes. His appearance had never bothered me before, so I was struck with confusion that mixed in with the undefinable, sudden sense of dread.”

“‘Thank you,’ he said as I handed him his change. And he walked out the door. It sounded like Hunter, too.”

“Hunter returned the next day, and the next. Each time he was polite and quiet, and each time he smiled when I rang him up. I counted his teeth. They were straight and flat. When I counted mine in the mirror when I smiled, I saw 17 or 18. Hunter’s counted 24.”

“Maybe he has a dental problem that I didn’t notice until now, I told myself. Human bodies are weird. Sometimes you have more teeth than usual.”

“The fourth day he came in a row, I saw his eyes and his pupils were…swollen, is the only way I can describe them. I know what people’s eyes look like when they’re high. This was not that. It was like they almost swallowed up his irises completely, and they were dull. Dull in the sense that the fluorescents overhead did nothing to cast any reflections onto them. It made me want to writhe and squirm whenever he looked at me.”

“I called in sick the fifth day. I knew Hunter would be back in that gas station to see me. I knew it was to see me. And I knew that thing. That..whatever it was. It wasn’t Hunter.”

“I guess a part of me was always dreading that day. I had always heard stories about people being stalked from friends of friends. It was only a matter of time before it happened to me, right?”

“I saw Hunter at the grocery store the next day, posture straight and face split open into that smile with too many teeth. I didn’t have the mind to be polite. I turned completely around and walked the other way, trying to fool myself thinking that he hadn’t seen me. I kept a pocket knife on me after that encounter. I probably should have been before, but hindsight is always 20/20.”

“Each time I saw him after that, it was worse. On the street to my apartment, his eyes were too wide and his grinning mouth was slightly agape. A crude facsimile of delight as I rushed past him. I stopped going into work when I started to spot him everywhere I went. Every destination no matter how far or random, he was there, grinning at me. He knew where I lived, that I had no doubt. So I went to a friend’s one night hoping to throw him off. Maybe I could move out and lose him. Lord knows I didn’t have the money to break my lease early, but I was desperate.”

“My friend suggested I call the police, but for some reason I was convinced that wouldn’t help. Cops usually only made things worse in that town, and I had a sinking feeling going that route would only waste my time.”

“The final straw was the second night I was crashing on my friend’s couch. I was exhausted, the past few weeks spent sleepless and paranoid and I was ready to finally pass out when I heard a light, rhythmic tapping on the window behind my head.”

“It’s just the wind, I thought to myself. A tree branch or something scraping against the glass. The exhaustion was completely gone, my pounding heart and pumping adrenaline overpowering any lame excuse that I would be stupid enough to be reassured by.”

“I didn’t move from where I lay. Tap. Tap. Tap. Came through the window once again.”

“I don’t know why I laid there for so long, unmoving, convinced that if I didn’t turn around, whatever it was outside would lose interest and leave. I really, really wanted it to leave.”

“I lay still for what felt like hours, every muscle in my body wound up and tense and ready to leap into action at any given opportunity. I was praying the opportunity would never come.”

“I don’t know how long it was when the tapping ceased, but it was long before I finally managed to relax. It seemed like my strategy worked. What an idiotic thing to think. Like I was a child hiding from an imaginary monster in the dark. Like the logic of not giving a stalker any attention so it would go away was sound. No. I think it was that false hope that landed me in this situation.”

“Because when that tapping came again, I wasn’t prepared to turn around. But I did. I turned around and what I saw in the darkness through that glass was… I don’t know what it was. I know it had eyes and teeth. It was grinning, but its teeth stretched well beyond what would be the borders of its face. God, I couldn’t see its face. I knew it was Hunter, though. It had those same lightless eyes that stared back at me every time I closed my own. Dead and dark and dull and staring at me–eating at me, wide and gleeful and spilling into the shadow that I could only assume was a part of the creature, itself. Its form took up nearly the entirety of the window, blocking the outside world. It didn’t move.”

“I screamed. I screamed and closed the curtains and I hid. This woke my friend of course, and she came stumbling out of her room, looking bleary but alert. I tried to signal to her not to go to the window or do anything or to call the police. Thankfully she got the message and the cops were there within the hour.”

“They didn’t find anything. Or anyone, for that matter. I left out the…the monster bit, because I assumed it might land me somewhere I really didn’t want to go.”

“They were about as helpful as I thought they would be. Told me to call them again if I noticed any suspicious activity.”

“I booked my flight here that very night. I wasn’t going to stay in that goddamn city with whatever the HELL that thing was. I don’t want to end up like Hunter. I don’t want it to wear my skin.”

“It will, though. I know it will and it scares me more than anything in the world. And I know I can’t escape it, either.”

“It followed me here. I saw it. It was still grinning at me and it was still. Wearing. Hunter’s. Skin. The shadow that was cast over it made it so I could only see the whites of it’s eyes....its teeth.”

“I don’t want to die.”

[melit0n]

YOU ALSO LIKE A BAND CALLED THE MAINE THIS IS VERY EXCITING TO ME EVEN IF YOU DONT REALLY LISTEN TO THEM ANYMORE

YES I DOOOOO!!

(minor ramblings under the cut)

Okay, so, I originally found them when they released XOXO, which they were playing on the radio! This was still almost peak Covid time, so I was sat at my desk, window open, and the first song that played was Face towards the Sun. Hearing "Everything is exactly as it should be" followed by that massive drop was genuinely such a wonderful feeling. I was in a bit of a mental pitfall, and that entire song absolutely hit me. It's safe to say that I can happily call that song (and that entire album to be honest) to be my favourite from them.

Overall, I really like songs/albums that address the mundane existance that is being a modern human being (I mean hey, one of my favourite albums overall is literally called 'How To Be a Human Being' by Glass Animals which you should totally have a listen to Drift) and XOXO hits that spot perfectly.

From that album, my favourites would be FTTS, Anxiety in Real Time and High Forever (the beat, finger plucking and vocal arrangement itches my brain so bad).

Their singer also has a really like, pure voice?? If that makes sense? It feels, or sounds, really familiar, and it's lovely. Even though their sound changes quite a bit from Can't Stop, Won't Stop (equally adore the vocals there though) to The Maine, that stays constant and I love it.

While I do tend to lean towards songs with a deeper meaning, CSWT is a secret pleasure of mine lmao 😭. I have Into Your Arms and Whoever She Is hidden somewhere in my 40hr+ playlist that'll play at least once a month and they're always a joy to hear. I love the struming pattern in IYA and the lyrics in WSI. While I'm not entirely prior to the repetitive topic of 'one special girl who has my heart', the bridge and the little electronic violins, mixed with that cute piano, makes it one of my favourites.

Side note, but the vocals in this one also somewhat remind me of Modern Baseball's vocals in Sports?? That may just be genre similarity though, lol.

Honestly, the only album that sticks to my memory is Lovely Little Loney and some parts of You are OK, though I'd probably have to give it a relisten to pick out my favs, lol.

The second time they popped up, I was at a local record shop and they were playing it! I recognised the singer and was like 'YOU. Again??' and asked which album it was, and then went home to listen to it!! I remember absolutely loving the fade in between Lovely and Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu, which also happens to be my favourite from that album, along with Do You Remember? (The Other Half of 23') and Little. The lines "what would you say if you could say everything you needed to?" plus "I've been searching for the right words, but I can't even find an echo," really stuck with me. Made me remember I was and still am a horribly hopeless romantic.

Overall, I think I'm definitely more biased towards their newer stuff (like, 2017-nowish new), but they are still such a banger band.

And maybe, just maybe, they have managed to sneak into my top five songs since I got this ask. And maybe I've listened to High Forever thirty seven times over in those weeks. Maybe.

[offshore-brinicle]

Other misc things:

- Chains of others gets the Gloom effect rather than Pride when Meur uses it in story. Given how he says outright he wishes to protect Heathcliff and how the idea of an unfair judgement [from Erlking judging that all Heathcliffs must die to the court in his novel] is a theme they both share.

- In the end scene, Rodya is at the back of the bus and seemingly in deep thought, can't remember her saying much in the later parts of the Canto either. Something must've hit her hard.

- Is the river under the Heights something connected to the 'stream of human consciousness' [paraphrased] that I believe was mentioned in lobcorp?

- We know boughs can be destroyed, but I wonder if one can be 'reactivated'. The one Dante hold onto in Pass On is charred black but still intact.

- To add to the parallels, Heath n Yi Sang both get stabbed in the heart by a bough, one by their own volition in an act of love, and another by someone else.

- Why does Demian remember Cathy. It's probably something to due to the stars but half the time I'm fairly certain he's just standing invisible somewhere during the story given how much he knows. But given the body and coffin were both still there, I doubt ctrl alt deleting someone fully erases them from everything.

OK answering one by one:

I LOVED THAT MOMENT SO MUCH. In general it was such a surprise and treat to see how much more active Meursault was in this Canto and I was wondering about the Gloom change unless I was just misremembering the color since Pride is also blue but thanks for confirming. Meursault......... It's also so so cool to see the EGOs being used for practical uses like restraining someone like Meursault does, it makes me wonder what it can be do with some of the others like for example Ishmael's anchoring with Snagharpoon or Yi Sang's teleportation in Crow's Eye View

Actually good point though she actually spoke quite a bit I think, mainly in the first part about the resentments she has towards the rich, and the moment she has when they're approaching the mansion that brings up her dark side to the others in full force even if just for a second. Since apparently she's gonna be the focus of next Intervallo I hope it means she's getting more character development...

I say "yes, most likely" as I talked in my previous answer, taking in count Hermann has an interest in it and finding "the prime form of humanity" and The Well they talk about is the origin of everything in the world and humanity itself and responsible for The Light and EGO and everything, it's not the first time there's been a physical entrance to it somehow, the other most notable one is the Black Forest in the Outskirts that comes up more in-depth in Ruina.

Yeah I wonder how it can even get "burnt up" in the first place and what they're even gonna do with it since getting the charred Bough is treated as a grey area of sorts between success and failure. I wonder just How it lost its power and how it can be reactivated though taking in count it's basically magic

I SEND AN ASK TO MY FRIEND ABOUT THIS TOO, the other party involved for each Heathcliff and Yi Sang's cases are also the two most important women to them and great symbols for their own nostalgia and overall arcs, and they are connected to them through flowers that carry symbolic meaning and are tied to their homelands. Heathcliff stabbing himself as an act of showing his love to Catherine is also interesting because Dongbaek's reason for stabbing Yi Sang could also be interpreted as being a form of love, but...marred with heartbreak and hatred and resentment for what happened to the League like in the original Wuthering Heights [edit cuz I forgor: this is something amplified by the fact that when she stabs Yi Sang she quotes the line from The Camellias where the protagonists fall in love together both physically and metaphorically], specially since she was so overwhelmed seeing him she went for him when she was going to initially attack Dongrang derailing her plans. How she talks about it when questioned adds to it too since she kind of justifies herself saying that Yi Sang wanted to die too and isn't spiteful like she is towards Dongrang even being calm seeing he was just fine despite her murder attempt (but also the fact that she was unphased by that still gets me. She's really got no sanity left), and she was correct in claiming Yi Sang was longing for death even if the moment left a big emotional scar on him, much like Heathcliff's heart was broken by Catherine and so he breaks it in a literal sense for her.

Honestly Demian is just Demian. He's a weird little guy and probably exists out of time or something tying to his star. It's probably for the same justification as to why Heathcliff and Dante remembered Cathy, and she's def not truly "gone" since they couldn't really erase the consequences of her actions and presence. Hindley and Linton are still dead because of her.

[burberrycanary]

For the fic commentary game...I want to ask about so many lines, but ok. I've narrowed it down to three from Lost Vocabularies..., so you can pick—I'd be so interested to get your author's commentary on any (or all) of them! 💛

He will never forget nine months of stock prices from 1950.

(this is the one I'm probably least likely to get an answer to, which is fine, but I'm so very curious about what Steve did during those months in the past, and a girl's gotta try! 😜)

2. But he sure as hell doesn’t want them back, not so long as Bucky is willing to carry them, whatever they mean to him now—though Steve doesn’t like to think how Bucky must have found them and when.

(Basically, I just like to make myself sad about Bucky Barnes, so hey: talk to me about the dog tags!)

3.

“Why were you always signed up for something? You already took more vocational classes than about anybody.”

[…]

“Trying to impress my dad,” Bucky admits on a slow breath out. “But not in the way he wanted. ‘One of the laborin’ Barnes with a proper education,’ he liked to say. ‘Bastards won’t know what hit ‘em.’ He wanted me to live out that better American life he was chasing. Be respectable.” Bucky gives a faint dry laugh. “Sorry Pops.”

(I know this is more than one sentence...but I'm just endlessly fascinated by Bucky's (and Steve's) pre-war life and especially Bucky's relationship with his parents and how he feels about them now, after everything. So, if you'd be willing to elaborate on that snippet up there (I'm particularly intrigued by But not in the way he wanted), I'd be ecstatic!

(📦&🧼&◼&⬜-🔪)

2. But he sure as hell doesn’t want them back, not so long as Bucky is willing to carry them, whatever they mean to him now—though Steve doesn’t like to think how Bucky must have found them and when.

Crying into our beers over Bucky Barnes should be the name of our band. 😭🍻😭

The dog tags were such a distinctive element in TFATWS that I knew I wanted to use them in this post-Endgame fix-it series that ended up sprawling out to a bigger scope than I originally intended. But the first question from canon to consider is: whose dog tags are they, anyway?

In the surgery flashback from CATWS, we see that Bucky is no longer wearing his dog tags, which means they were taken away by Hydra. And this makes sense since Hydra was starting the process of completely stripping away Bucky’s identity. What Hydra does with Bucky’s dog tags depends on what kind of organization Hydra is, culturally and administratively. While you could write any number of stories here, especially since Bucky, as a specific known recovered asset, isn’t what the Japanese scientists in Unit 731 called “maruta” (“wooden logs”) or what the CIA-run black sites in West Germany under Project Bluebird called “expendables,” you could argue that Zola might keep Bucky’s dog tags for any number of reasons: spite, gloating, pride, or a perverse attachment to his greatest success. But the most rational course of action would be to destroy anything that could identify Bucky as a well-known American soldier—because this era of American history shows you could get away with not just murder but crimes against humanity as long as you played by certain bureaucratic rules. And this is the organization that Peggy Carter built, canonically, and the era that Steve returns to in Endgame—"the dark and bloody heart of the twentieth century [that] beat and maimed all the unsteadiness out of Bucky’s hands long ago." 

I’d argue these aren’t the dog tags that we see Steve wearing when he wakes up in the fake recovery room, which would have been replaced as part of the attempted deception, but instead the ones that he was wearing when he went into the ice, which would’ve been returned once the jig was up: 

Hanging around Bucky’s neck on a bright beaded chain are tarnished dog tags with the raised text turned, here and there, the pale green of copper eaten away by time.

I’ll admit I did look up the composition of WWII dog tags and scanned through some research papers on the corrosion levels in metal equipment used in the Arctic before deciding that I could just take a little literary license here and have Steve’s old dog tags be thematically “tarnished,” which in the text is explicitly tied to the theme of things being transformed over time, but the word also carries the connotation of something that’s sullied. For the dog tags, both meanings hold. 

My backstory headcanon is that Sam, who was the executor of Steve’s will and his chosen next of kin, invited Bucky to go through Steve’s surprisingly few personal effects for anything he wanted to keep before Sam donated the rest to museums. All Bucky took was the last, unfinished, mostly empty, little notebook and Steve’s old dog tags, which he restrung on a new chain. That’s it. That’s what Bucky is left with as a stranger in this strange land of the present. 

In the first glimpse Steve gets near the end of Still Left with the River, he interprets Bucky wearing his old dog tags as indicating that Bucky never stopped caring about him, which is true—Bucky kept on caring a whole hell of a lot. This is Steve’s “it taught me to hope” moment in the text that helps push him toward being honest with Bucky about how he feels after several decades of alternating between pining and grieving, pining and grieving. How many times has the worst already happened between them?

There is always an end to the line where the same big black pit is waiting. And eventually Bucky won’t crawl back out.

But the dog tags are deliberately ambiguous as a symbol, since they equally represent the grief that we see Bucky struggle with in TFATWS. They are Bucky’s chosen gesture of mourning when Steve buries himself in the past. It’s telling that even after Steve returns, Bucky doesn’t take the dog tags off or offer to give them back to Steve again. Whatever they mean, they’re Bucky’s now. And Bucky on some level continues to mourn a faith between them—ineffable and up to that point mutually committed to despite the worst the world could do—that Steve broke when he decided to go back to the past and which returning doesn’t unbreak. Because that’s the problem: “Time only moves in one direction.”

(“There’s a creepy stone somewhere that says otherwise.”

“Exactly.”)

Significantly, over and over, these fraught identification tags are described as occupying the space between Steve and Bucky:

Tipping Steve’s chin up with his thumb, Bucky kisses the blazes out of him while the old dog tags swing a little on their glinting new chain in the space between them.

How Steve left is still very much between them throughout this whole series. 

The scene where the dog tags are revealed as Steve’s is significant:

...Steve’s old dog tags swinging in the space between their bodies; then the warm tender weight of Bucky’s forehead, pressed just off-center against his chest, overlapping with the light touch of metal and the pooling chain; [...] Bucky pressed close, and his face hidden.

The contrary actions of Bucky pressing close but still hiding is how Bucky has chosen to deal with the complicated emotional situation Steve has put him in—the combination of intimacy and distance that shades through most of this series. Bucky is trying to both protect himself and give Steve a good-faith chance to do better. Bucky’s strength and generosity win out in the end, because that’s who Bucky is at heart: the bigger person in a way that has nothing to do with being tall or strong or healthy. But part of the problem of any post-Endgame fix-it is that no one fight or confession or “being shoved in a closet together” shortcut could solve these emotional sticking points. 

Steve really did that. Whatever his reasons or motivations, which this series digs into a lot in the subtext, in the moment Steve meant it. And there’s no way to undo the choices that have been made, not without recourse to an ethically flawed concept that’s the opposite of living: because trying to undo past losses is exactly what Endgame gets wrong by attempting.

Fuck Endgame: the only way out is through. And by “through” I don’t mean Steve passively playing white-picket-fence house with Peggy through the ugly back half of the 20th century and then getting some sort of science-fiction second chance for a life with Bucky, once all that’s over. That’s doubling down on the flawed ethics of Endgame.

Life is a process of making choices, over and over. And living with the consequences. How you live with them is another ethical choice you get to make, over and over. That’s the constant and inescapable ethical action inherent in being alive.

This series is deliberately full of minor characters with losses just as profound as Steve’s: loved ones gone, former ways of life lost, all the small gathered-together pieces that we each painstakingly build into a life vanishing, whether bit by bit or calamitously all at once:

Her face lights up. “Thanks, I make them myself. I’m thinking of going to fashion school, maybe. Textile design. I’ve already died—fuck being scared, right?”

Between war, the Blip and the Return, she has lost every member of what was once a huge family. And life just keeps going on.

“Yeah,” Steve says. “Fuck being scared.”

Or:

“Been walking since Greenwood Cemetery. I can’t get to where any of my people are buried so you know what I’ve decided?”

Steve gives a hum, meaning what’s that?  

“I’ve decided to collectivize. Every grave on earth with the first name George is my boy’s. I’ve claimed every Elizabeth—in all forms—and Rachael, Robert and Joseph. Never cared for my husband’s people so I don’t bother with them. But I’ve got some favorites down in Greenwood picked out for my boy. ”

“I’m sorry for your losses,” Steve says, quiet, and thinking briefly of his own most recent dead. He doesn’t add, I know what it’s like to let grief triumph over reality. “So you visit.”

“Every day that I can. Lots of graveyards in this city. But Greenwood is nice. All the flowers and so forth.”

This is a story about grief.

Steve is trusted with great power to help set right wrongs the Avengers did during Endgame, setting all these other timelines on roads to destruction to save their own. And in the face of the temptation of that great fantastical power: the possibility of easy facile answers to unsolvably hard problems about change and loss so many people equally have to confront and hurt over and struggle with—all the time, right now, forever, constantly—Steve Rogers falters:

Preemptive—that idea is never going to seem right to him. But isn’t that what he’d tried to do when he’d stayed in the past? Get the preemptive good life by side-stepping the possibility of more loss? Because, for him at least, one way or another everything that mattered would have already happened.

And still the same old story at the bottom of whatever idealized notions got papered over top: trading other people’s lives for your own security.

He’ll never know whether, if his plan had worked, he would have stayed in the past for good.

And now he’s got to live with that.

If the dog tags in this story stand for anything, it’s living with the consequences.

You can make mistakes. We all do, individually and collectively. But there’s no undoing the past—not even in the MCU’s confused theory of the multiverse. All you can try is to do better: to make right what’s been put wrong as much as you can; or find things that are good and help them be better for more people.

There are deliberately four apologies offered in Lost Vocabularies: two from Bucky and two from Steve. But this is the climactic and closing apology that echoes the same language used to introduce the dog tags into the narrative: 

Pushing Bucky back, he touches the tarnished dog tags where the raised text has turned, here and there, the pale green of copper eaten away by time.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says, meaning a whole lot.

Bucky’s response, “We got here,” deliberately sidesteps the question of forgiveness and is designed to be read in two ways. The first reading challenges the relative significance of the past—we reached here however that happened—while the second rejects the past more completely: all we actually ever have is right now.

The thing is, Steve has been angry his whole life and he’s trying so hard to be a little more grateful for a change. 

He’s been doing better and he’ll keep on trying.

But there’s still just so much to be angry about everywhere he looks, from the past all the way through to this moment, burning up in front of him right now: this crawling-forward world that should be better, and isn’t, and won’t be unless people step forward to shoulder the hard slow work with no one to punch and no climactic battle you win or you lose.

This sort of work requires the splendid terrible patience of the tide eating away at a face of rock: mighty and irresistible, but wearisomely slow.

You gotta do the work. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

A Man Takes His Sadness Down to the River (The Consolation of Philosophy)

[kaleldobrev]

Unexpected Love

Pairing: Ash x Sister!Winchester!Reader

Summary: Ash is your mullet knight in flannel armor

Original Prompt: Requested by anonymous | Hiii, I saw you write for spn and I throught about making a request. Idk if you even remember Ash, he's seen in season 2 but for like, just 5 minutes in total so I'm not gonna be mad if you don't remember him, but I throught about asking you if you could write something for him with Reader that's Dean and Sam's little sister? You can write what you want, even something bite sized, I just feel like he's not appreciated enough 🥺 It's ok if you don't want to write it, and take your time if you do. Have a good day 💕

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: Cursing (1x), Fluff, Sam & Dean just being protective/supportive older brothers

Authors Note: Of course I remember Ash my anon friend! How could I not remember Doctor Badass? | Since you told me to write whatever I wanted, I decided to do a cute little romance between him and reader cause hey, he needs some love too! | He’s honestly one of my favs | I hope you liked how this came out! I never wrote Ash before, so I hope I was able to do his character justice! | Takes place in Season 2 obviously | Flashbacks are in italics | If you want to request something, just send me a message! | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡

Dating was something that was always particularly hard for you as you’ve been consistently on the road with your father and brothers since you were six months old. The four of you never staying in the same place long enough for you to ever form any kind of connection with anyone. In a way, you thought that it was a good thing considering this line of work, but at the same time, human connection was something that you craved, yearned for. Yes, you had a strong bond with your brothers (Sam more than Dean – twin power you know?), and kind of had a strong bond with your father, but the bonds that you had with the three of them weren’t particularly fulfilling for you. You always felt like there was something missing.

At one point when you were seven or eight, long before you had learned of the supernatural, you had asked your father once when the four of you were in the car if you could stay at Uncle Bobby’s for a while.

“I’m tired of moving around so much daddy. Can I stay at Uncle Bobby’s for a while?” You had told him, asked him; silence filled the impala, despite the music being so loud.

Sam turned to face you before turning to look at your father – you knew that Sam had felt the same way. Dean turned to look at you, craning his neck as he was in the front seat along with your father who was currently driving to the next motel. It would have been the third motel in less than two weeks. Your father looked into the rearview mirror, looking at you as you started playing with your thumbs. “I’m sorry…” You whispered.

When the four of you had gotten to the motel, Dean had practically pulled you to the side while your father and Sam had started bringing things into the motel room. “Why do you want to get away from dad so bad?” He asked, almost as if he was offended.

“I want to stay in one place longer than two days.” You said. “Motels smell funny.”

Dean scoffed. “So does Uncle Bobby’s house.”

That was the last time you had ever asked.

Even if you had found yourself lucky to pull a date, something or someone would always get in the way. Either a hunt would take precedence, or one of your brothers (usually Dean) would “accidentally” interrupt the date. With either scenario, the guy you had landed the date with would either never call you make again – despite your efforts of trying to make something work or, they would outright tell you to never call them again.

As the years went by, you had simply come to the conclusion that you were destined to never find love, destined to spend the life on the road with your brothers as hunters.

“Come with me.” Sam said to you, a few weeks before he had told you, Dean, and your father that he was going to be leaving to go to Stanford.

“I can’t Sammy. I don’t have a full ride like you do.” You said. “Besides, he’d be too fucking worried if I went.”

“But we��d be together Y/N. It’s not like we’d be by ourselves.” He said. He wanted you to come with him, despite not really interested in the whole college thing; but he knew hunting was something that you had never wanted to do. You wanted that white picket fence life like he wanted.

“I can’t…leave Dean with dad.” You told him. As much as you had wanted to go with him, you couldn’t leave Dean and dad alone, as you were usually the buffer between them. Yes, they rarely got into fights but when they did…it got bad.

You were fully prepared to do the whole one night stand thing for the rest of your life. At least you would have some kind of human connection, even if it was just for a little while. Hell, it’s been working out just fine for Dean, why wouldn’t it work for you? But that was until you met Ash.

Ash was an interesting person; someone that you thought you wouldn’t have ended up with. Despite knowing him less than a year, he was someone that you could actually imagine spending your life with (no matter how long that life span may be). You had first met him about a few months after the death of your father when your brother Sam was listening to your father’s voicemails.

“He’s always been so secretive.” You told them, upon hearing the sound of a woman’s voice in one of the voicemails – a woman that called herself Ellen.

“Think dad ever had a thing with her and it ended badly? Maybe that’s why he never told us about her.” Sam theorized.

His theory caused your other brother to give a disgusted look. “Gross, now I’m thinking of dad having sex.” Dean said, his voice sounding just as disgusted.

“You are far too pretty to be with these two.” Was one of the first sentences that Ash had ever uttered to you. A sentence that had made you laugh, but a sentence that offended your eldest brother Dean the most.

The relationship between you and Ash was something that you honestly didn’t expect to happen. Not because he wasn’t your type, but because you had thought that there would be no possible way to maintain a relationship given the fact that you were always on the road.

“You know this isn’t going to work out right?” You had told Ash, the day you and your brothers had gotten back to the Roadhouse after completing the Rakshasa case.

Ash looked at you, trying his best to play it cool as your brothers were only standing within earshot. “That’s the beauty of technology. You’d only be a phone call away.” He said. Him saying this was something that you had never really thought about previously; but it was something that had made perfect sense to you.

“If someone wants to be with you kid, they’ll make the effort.” Bobby told you numerous times growing up. For years, it was a line you thought that he just said in order to make you feel better. But for the first time in your life, you realized that Ash was the only guy in your life (besides your brothers and your father) that had actually wanted to make the effort.

“You and Ash still going strong uh?” Dean asked, leaning up against Baby.

“Uh, yeah.” You replied. “Still trying to get used to the whole long distance thing.”

“That’s fair.” He said. “At least you guys text and call right?”

“Yeah.” You nodded.

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Do you not want to talk about this? Thought this would be something you’d be all over.”

“Dean, you and Sammy have never been people I’ve spoken to about guys before. Nor have either of you really asked. Why the sudden interest in Ash and me?” Whenever you had crushes on people in the past, you had never once found yourself gunning to tell one of your brothers or your dad. You knew that it would only end badly; especially if you told your father or Dean.

He shrugged. “Can’t your brother just be interested in your relationship for once?”

“Not without ulterior motives he can’t.” You gave him a look, your brother automatically looking offended.

“Me? Have an ulterior motive? Honestly sis, I’m offended.” He scoffed.

“It’s kind of your MO brother.” You said. Dean opened up his mouth as if to say something; to try and get himself out of whatever hole he had dug himself into. But there was nothing that he could possibly say to get out of it. He instead just closed his mouth.

“Look, I’m just happy for you. Truly I am.” He actually sounded sincere. “You know me and Sammy just worry.”

“And you know just as well as I do that I can kick either of your asses.” You said. “I can take care of myself just fine. And Ash…neither of you have anything to worry about honestly.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking Ash.” You said, sitting on the trunk of Baby while your brothers were inside of the motel room. Being outside was the only source of privacy that you could possibly have when being on the phone.

“What’s up Missus Badass?” He asked, hearing the smile in his voice.

“I was thinking, after we finally kill Yellow Eyes…I’m going to quit hunting.” You said. “How would Ellen and Jo feel about me working at the Roadhouse?” Your tone half joking and half serious. Ash was silent for a moment, more quiet than he normally was whenever he was on the phone. “Ash? I didn’t lose you did I?”

“No…No…” He began. “They’d love to have you.”

“Yeah?” You asked. “You know, I am very familiar with the workings of a bar.”

“If I didn’t know you so well, I would be concerned by that statement. But, since you are a Winchester, I ain’t the least bit surprised.” He said.

“Yeah. I’ve been hustling pool, and playing poker before I reached puberty.” You laughed a little. “As Sammy would say, the way we were raised was jacked.” You paused. “But hey, at least I met you.”

“Your mullet knight in flannel armor.” He said serious.

“Oh, I like the sound of that.” You smiled. The motel door opened, your brothers coming out. “I gotta go but…I love you.” You whispered the I love you. Hoping that it was just loud enough for Ash to hear, but low enough for your brothers not to.

Your I love you had caught him slightly off guard, but it was something that he enjoyed hearing you say. “I love you too.” He responded back. You were happy that he said it back, afraid that you might of said it too soon. For the first time in a long time, you had felt like you might actually get that happy ending you have always wanted: a life away from hunting.

Tag List: @roseblue373 @beansproutmafia @queenie32 @deanwanddamons @missy420-0 If you'd like to be added to a tag list, let me know!

[autumnbrambleagain]

like wow I can't believe they let Lana Wachowski make the matrix 4

the first 30 minutes of the movie is literally just her standing in front of a blank screen saying "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." for like 30 solid minutes

just looking at every redpillcel chud proudboy who appropriated her metaphors and going "fuck you" looking at everyone who took away nothing but bullet time going "fuck you" looking at the world for getting so fucking bad and going "fuck you" talking directly to warner bros and saying "fuck you" for making her make a new one, i can't list everything because my woman went on for 30 solid minutes and did not even repeat a single fuck you it was 30 minutes of solid fuck yous

and then the rest of the movie is a matrix movie in the barest fucking sense at all it is medieval allegory level of a matrix movie okay i'm talking we got characters named Do-Goode and Righte-Living and they're on a quest to find the fabled city Submission-To-My-Lord-In-Adversity medieval allegory level of a movie ok

every FUCKING line every character says is on 3 levels of medieval allegory level no one has a throwaway line that isn't metareferential to the movie itself, the act of watching and judging the movie, the effects the movie had on society vs the effects they had hoped it would have,

characters appearing just to talk to the wachowskis and keanu and the original staff literally saying shit like "i grew up on stories about you, neo, even if you think you didn't change the world how you wanted, it still meant something to us, look at the life we built because of what you made"

like there's literally a new city where machines and humans live together and neo's like "i wanted to end the war entirely :c" and the characters are like "yes, but look at what our side has become at least c: " and like the metalayer is so fucking paper thin this isn't a movie about "what happens 60 years after the last matrix movie" this is "what happens 20 years after we released the last matrix movie in real life no for real"

the villain is LITERALLY and METAFICTIONALLY using neo and trinity to his own perverted ends twisting what their story was meant to be about and forcing them to be together even when they were supposed to be dead and the sequel is them going "well if you're forcing our story to not be over we're going to rebel and make it about what we want it to be about"

the movie literally ends with lana wachowski walking onto screen and dragging david zaslav out of his chair in the WB headquarters and going "hey fuck you for making me make a new matrix movie, fuck you, but thanks for giving me a chance to try to make another big impact again, but still fuck you"

i don't think i've seen a single criticism of the movie that the movie didn't already predict and have an answer for in the movie itself

like there are people who are like "eehh but where was the humanity it was so meta" it's like my dude this is Piers Fucking Ploughman, you aren't watching this to see the continuing adventures of the story, we are well past where the story ended and now we're in full blown allegory town and if the first 30 minutes didn't prepare you for that then honestly buddy you need to go back to 9th grade english

"oooh but neo just uses force push every fight scene" yes it's making fun of you for wanting to be distracted by 20 minute long fight scenes and having neo be so fed up with this shit he just turns on wallhacks and cheats his way through every combat encounter

"uuooo it was so boring" my dude you walked into Synechode, New York and expected a popcorn thriller fuck you

"it felt very unnecessary" i'm sorry did you miss the central thesis of the movie which was "this is unnecessary, why are we being forced to make this, fuck you" ??

look at this revieww

"The Matrix Resurrections" carries on as if it has something important to impart to folks looking to see cats in mirrors and bullets in slow-motion. There is action, but it seems remarkably old-fashioned.

i went to the car wash, and it was just a bunch of nozzles spraying water on my car, what the fuck?

The film also stuffs itself with footage from the earlier films just to remind us – because the public is stupid, right? – that this is the same series but only serving to remind us that this is just the same old, same old but nothing like as good.

imagine going into a movie and missing the point of something so perfectly, it's like

honestly, i don't have a metaphor for how completely fucking DIRELY this idiot missed the entire point of the movie this is incredible, media literacy is fucking dead my dudes, which is also something the matrix 4 spends like 10 minutes of lana wachowski standing on screen on a white background just making eye contact with you going "fuck you. fuck you."

The plot is absurd and largely impenetrable, the visuals just a rehash of a visual style we’ve seen before and any superficial pleasure we might get from seeing Reeves as Neo and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Trinity (and a slightly larger-than-life turn from Neil Patrick Harris as The Analyst, creator of the new iteration of the Matrix) are quickly snuffed out as the film smothers us in a tidal wave of its own smug self-satisfaction and the mistaken belief that we’ll welcome this stuff back into our lives like some long-lost old friend. The Matrix Resurrections doesn’t even try to be metaphysical or pseudo-intellectual, it’s just content to regurgitate a concept quite happily and adequately explored 22 years ago but with absolutely nothing new to offer either narratively or visually. Frustrating, futile, and foolish, The Matrix Resurrections is largely utter guff.

imagine walking into a movie called "I am going to insult you if you fuck this up" and fucking it up and the movie spending 2 and a half hours going "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." and going "yeah i dunno it didn't feel very welcoming or friendly for some reason, i don't know if it had anything to say"

the movie literally has executives bring neo and trinity back from the dead and they spend the entire movie justifying their reunion because they weren't supposed to survive or be together again and people out here really be like "but you just gave us neo and trinity again, why did you think it would just work like that?" and meanwhile they're hallucinating because all that's on the screen is keanu and carrie-anne going "fuck you. fuck you. fuck you."

The rehashed story is convoluted, existing under the guise that if you can't follow along, it's because you aren't smart enough to understand.

so you weren't smart enough to follow along, huh? that's okay, art movies aren't for everyone. let's see the rest of your review let's see,

Some of the scenes (and even lines of dialogue) are almost identical to the movie’s predecessors. It’s the same movie with slight changes, much like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” or “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” and it relies too much on nostalgia and the goodwill of sci-fi fans.

yeah buddy it's maybe not that the movie is too convoluted, it's that maybe you have 0 media literacy and you shouldn't be a film critic. holy fuck is this all it takes to be a film critic? you don't have to be media literate at all?

you guys walked into an art movie that was just keanu reeves, carrie-anne moss, and lana wachowksi standing on a blank screen saying "Fuck you" for two and a half hours, and you half-hallucinated an action movie and somehow came away disatissfied the action movie you were hallucinating wasn't as cool and hip as you had hoped it would be

fuck you

matrix 4 unironically one of my favorite movies absolute fucking masterclass of 300 cuil metalayer infiniteoroborous commentary 1000 years artistic triumph

[agenericplaceholdername]

Dragons Rising E11-15 Thoughts

Here’s some thoughts on each episode in the first half of Dragons Rising, Season 1 Part 2:

The Temple of the Dragon Cores:

The Merge music starts playing before the MergeQuake starts 

This does kinda make me wonder how many people in Ninjago have interacted directly with the Ninja

Commented last time on the other empty holes in the portal gate room, but I guess those are just used for dragon stables

“My bathroom is everywhere” tbf with all the dragons there Wyldfyre probably isn’t making things that much worse

Lloyd was fixing the monastery from where the bounty hit it in E4

Zane: “The world is gonna end” Lloyd: “yeah I knew that, can I get back to my plants?”

“among us”

LaRow wait- what were you about to say about Lord Ras?

On one hand, Zane is really unintelligent in this scene. On the other hand, it’s nice to see the other Ninja just lounging around

Arin how did you know there were 3 dragon cores

RAPTON

This is such a strange resolution of this scene

Correct use of precision over accuracy

Did the FSM actually create the other realms? or just the landmasses like he did with Ninjago

“It never came up” is prob true and also such a funny way to address that you’re actually the grandson of God

“And the Wyldness” isn’t that a whole realm? Imagine if the Spirit said one of the cores is “in Ninjago���— how would they know where?

Frohicky!

Gangs of the Sea:

The first hint at a Rapton defection?

Arin volunteering to be with Lloyd immediately :)

Nya faces the problem of any teacher who has two people in their class with the same name

Naps are awesome Kai

It’s interesting that Lloyd frames Arin’s inability to do Spinjitzu as something holding him back, since that usually seems reserved for True Potentials, while Spinjitzu is just doing certain body movements

Is this training music new? It’s good

Ninjago has *never* done this trope before (except when they did)

Have any non-human characters had glasses in Ninjago (Glutinous had a monocle, but idk anyone else)

Lloyd is just trolling this guy lol

So the crab used mind control though the crown to control the Merlopian leader. But how did it control the rest of the Merlopians?

The crab’s tooth being planted is a leap in logic but I’ll take it to be true (meaning some mystery that’ll be resolved later)

Even when small that crab looks evil

And we go right into the next episode

Wyldly Inappropriate:

So were these guys in the Underworld the whole time, but some other kingdom or something?

I wonder if this recipe differs from the one Frohicky makes for Lloyd later

PIXAL :(

“That’s the second fastest I’ve ever seen someone grow a mustache” lol

Zane went into the Crossroads with the intent to purchase something and brought no money?

So they can’t say “We should kill you” (outside of that one Nya line which is meant as a joke) but “We should eviscerate you” is fine?

Did Nya run into the Lava-Tides before she started working with the Craglings?

I love the scroll of grievances

THE Chancellor Gulch? Absolutely crazy that he was the first side character to return in DR

All the mucoids have hyphens in their names (Grab-Barg, Tope-Epot, Zant-Tanz)

Moral about bullying (similar to what S1 of the original show would do)

Good development for Wyldfyre

There’s a Never-Realm samurai in the crowd. What does he think about Zane

“I’ll let everyone know what happened to you. Maybe someone will be sad.” Great line but not only is it funny but in the context of what happens in S2…

I’d like Zane’s tax filing toaster

Yet another Lobbo win

Is this meta-commentary on how Zane has been written? Or just incidentally responding to criticism in recent years

Good to see Kai and Wyldfyre working together

And now into the next episode

The Last Djinn:

Poor Zane

Both Frohicky and Lobbo have problems with their moms

“Anything that isn’t alive” ok so that’s just there so that they can’t use the seeker stones to find the missing characters right lol

“Not all Spinjitzu lessons are about fighting” this is a callback to Can of Worms, so a deep cut

So in just 7 years, Frohicky could clean the monastery with a toothbrush

No, Nya doesn’t know that her destruction of the Cursed Realm resulted in Djinjago’s destruction

“Why am I not Sora One?”

So I know the Howlers aren’t ghosts (they don’t seem dead or alive) but they do remind me of Bansha

Nya immediately gets in front of Sora to protect her from Arrakore

A “special energy” about Riyu? Why don’t you elaborate, Arrakore?

Arrakore’s lower body looks like cotton candy

“The Howlers will hunt you to the ends of the known realms and beyond” I assume this is a figure of speech but it would be wild if the Howlers could follow someone into and out of Nether-Space, for example

Nya’s eyebrow raise lol. “No comment.”

“No one is ever powerless!” It’s true but also funny that Nya says stuff like this as if her arc in Crystalized made sense and actually proved this (obv it’s clear that the writers thought it did)

Great scene - the Sora development, the music, “Your wish is yours to keep”

Good lesson from Zane

Having a Djinn on your side is pretty overpowered, so they’re clearly trying to limit Arrakore’s abilities

Easily the best of the 5 episodes covered today, although E13 is solid too and none are outright bad

They Call it Doom:

Kai head jumpscare

Dorama’s Imperium guards have top hats lol

Kai how’d you fall for that

Could a wish like this help locate PIXAl or Jay?

The pie stuff is great bc it comes from Arin’s VA, Deven Mack

“Acting general” why is Zant-Tanz only an acting general? Was there another general before who had to be replaced? What’s the policy on Mucoid Warrior promotions? 

Not the doom mucus! This episode does everything it can to replace “death,” “die,” and “kill” with “doom” and “destroy” … even though Ninjago has used those words before?

“Teams are for people too weak to work alone” let’s see if Wyldfyre still has this anti-Kai, anti-team mindset by the end of S1

Dorama flying with his staff is incredible

When did Rapton try to “stomp [the Ninja] into oblivion”? Lloyd isn’t talking about the Photacs since that’s what Arin brings up next

“Be destroyed. Obliterated. Pass away. Cease to be among the living—” okay maybe it’s a little funny but cmon

“ All life is important.” “But that’s Rapton.”

Hey Dorama is a union man!

So when did Dorama switch the cores?

Zant-Tanz and Arin’s dialogue is great

Couldn’t a Mucoid just wear high quality shoes and be fine?

Rapton I know you help the Ninja later but you also really suck

The Administration is super cool here

Sora and Nya — you do understand why children would run away from two older people carrying weapons right?

COLE! yeah Nya and him could have recognized each other faster but whatever

This is an okay batch of episodes - it’s good to see various new locations, but it does feel very fetch quest-y

Next up, the finale of Dragons Rising Season 1!

[jacenotjason]

*slowly appears from the void*

Would it be alright, if I requested some Fun Facts about Ma? I am so very curious and I wanna hear all the things about the characters-

Hey how did you do that? Ma facts? Oh sure >:D *throws goldfish into the void*

Funfacts n notso funfacts round with Ma!

(HERES THE AU!)

Fun Facts

She’d pierce more of her if she could, but.. ya can’t really pierce a bird? If i drew her in a human au she’d have WAY MORE piercings!

SHE CAN FLY! She just doesnt like to lol

Her hair isn’t naturally that neon rainbow, its black underneath! She regularly bleaches and dyes, usually in the company of others bc its always funner, and you need someone to check the back!

Ma is a mix of birds, but she’s mostly eagle!! Thats where she gets her big ol talons!

Her talons are really sharp! She always tells ppl to mind them when they’re close. (Aa i can imagine her saying that actually “I’m so happy you decided to-, watch the talons, sugar- come over today”)

She has a leather bag with spikes that says “PUNK MOM” in bright green, its her ma bag >:D she carry’s snacks, first aid utensils, and medication! Mostly anxiety medicine or pain meds.

She is the tallest neighbor, beating Barnaby by about half a foot

She went to Mother Mary’s School for Problematic Boys, after she came out. She was sent at 17

She met Barnaby there ^ she was astonished by how brainwashed Barnaby was, since he was sent there so young he was so accustomed to all the teachings. Poppy decided she wouldn’t just escape, she’d take Barnaby with her!

In the school, everyone went by their last names. (Adults called the kids “Son ____” and kids called the adults “Mother ____” and “Father ____”, kids call each other “Brother ____”. They thought they were a big family, basically. Its a very stereotypical cult.) which explains why Barnaby doesn’t know her deadname! He called her “Brother Partridge”, when they escaped they traded their real names, and ofc ma said to call her Poppy

Poppy calls her parents every year or so, (“just makin’ sure they’re still bigoted. Aha, just kiddin’, I don’t have to check.”)

I like to think Ma has a southern accent. I don’t actually know where she would’ve developed it, but it fits with the mom vibe ok?

She’s horrible at baking, but AWESOME AT COOKING. Like go to her house every thanksgiving. Not even, go for dinner she’ll happily cook you some heaven sent meal im serious.

Poppy was originally going to be completely greyscale, no neon whatsoever. I changed it bc it looked way too gloomy and.. bad.

Poppy would happily say yes to a “Hey Mister*” (*teens standing outside a store and asking adults to buy them alcohol/cigarettes. This literally never works, but Ma would get u some as long as u promised to be safe, and might even make u party at her house)

Not-So Fun Facts

Ok some context for this one: Barnaby was going to be killed by the cult. Before a sacrifice or killing someone that stepped out of line (thats what Barnaby did) they down a cup of wine to cleanse themselves before taking a life. Poppy knew they’d kill Barnaby and poisoned the wine. She pretended to drink it as everyone else did, and bit her tongue as she waited for it to work. If it took even just a few more seconds to kick in, Barnaby would’ve been killed

The poison wasn’t lethal, in Poppy’s words, “they’ll shit weird for a week and vomit more then a tween with bulimia, but they’ll live.”

If it wasn’t obvious her parents are transphobic

I don’t have a lot of notso funfacts for Ma.. shes doin ok <3

[greatqueenanna]

I think we all should share our (realistic) theories on what's going to happen in next frozen movies, just for funsies and maybe someone will get it right. Ok I'll start:

- frozen IV was announced so early because the plan is to make four films in total, one for each season. We already had summer and autumn, next ones will take place respectively during winter and spring. Winter symbolises death, stagnation and hardships. Frozen III could have a sad vibe and something bad might happen (a cliffhanger may be included) Frozen IV will take place in spring which represents renewal and fresh start. Frohana deal with their problems and come out victorious. Every plot line is tied up. It's also probably the last film ever.

- previous film were about self-acceptance and finding your own place. The Inner Life. Now when all that is settled, it's time for The Outer Life. Elsa could start to question what she can bring to the world with her magic. How she can help people and how they perceive her. Is she still a human in their eyes? A spirit? A queen who lives in the woods?

- the villain. We've already been told that magic is a l w a y s good and you should never fear it. What if it's not true? What if the new villain is an ex Fifth Spirit who went rogue? Or the original Snow Queen? Or just someone with different kind of elemental powers. A lesson that magic abilities doesn't automatically make you a good person is long overdue in that franchise. Elsa having a moral crisis would be interesting, too. Seems like she's been relying on her magic too much lately and kinda lost her human side in the process.

Honestly, you pretty much gave some really good ideas that I don;t think I could top.

The seasons thing actually makes sense. A lot of sense. At this point, I'll be shocked if they next two films don't explore winter and spring and the symbolism with that.

I always thought that Elsa, after being done with her inner world, would then become a teacher of some kind, helping other people with magical elements in their lives. So this, also makes a lot of sense to me.

For the last idea, the concept of someone being a mirror to Elsa, but went the opposite direction because they didn't have a loving figure in their lives (an Anna basically, haha) is also a really good idea. It would also bring in a very nuanced and layered narrative of those fearing said villain because of their magic, and how they act an excuse for their fear. However, the villain wouldn't have been that way in the first place if not for the fear of magic.

Thus, you have Elsa and Anna grappling with trying to get people to accept magic, while also trying to fight/help this villain.

The only thing I think I could add is a plot for Kristoff. Maybe where the villain is located is the same place his birth family is from? Maybe his family is the one struggling with the presence of this villain?

[theskyexists]

The last graduate reread

It's crazy. People just RUN. You save yourself or it's over. Damn

Does El seriously not realise that if she just got her head out of her ass and told any enclave: I can kill every mal ever ever ever if you just give me the mana... But no

It's something that the scholomance is trying to teach her now. It realised she's got a weakness for poor freshmen lol

But hold on if El got jumped 5 times a week, then how the heck has she never shown off her killing prowess???

She NEVER asks Orion for mana. And he's so unbelievably dumb that he never even offers it

Once again, the last graduate sets the scholomance up as the largest mal ever - perfectly. El literally thinks: it feeds on us. Yet.

Honestly ...I think Orion DOES like Chloe a bit. He likes them all well enough. They're alright. They just don't interest him.

She just killed a whole pack of leskits.

She could have absolutely saved a couple of those 600 kids that died anyway. If she'd had the SENSE to get a power sharer

There were two silly parts in here that I disliked. The plans that went nope. The honeypot plan in original form that went nowhere. And yknow the whole graduation plan.

Was the scholomance trying to get Orion to slow down on his eating too?

I am pretty damn sad that Chloe got such a limited role in the golden enclaves. She's their ALLY. Why wasn't she there for any of it???

Yeah. Why CAN Orion see El? It IS probably because she's a third level entity.

Mana mana mana. Can't find enough mana to do a major working. Ok but. Orion is right there. He's right there. He WILL BE right there in the graduation hall. So. Endless mana.

Yeah this was the disappointing honepot setup. Their first experiment with the lute worked just about. Rework the melody.

Sludging acid that can burn through flesh and bone. It's like she doesn't even see that that might be USEFUL ON MALS???

Last time i also thought this spell was insane. Insane. It took a minute. It took no mana. Its free mana building. All it takes is common selfless purpose. healing. And they never use it again. She could have used it on any one person bleeding out or dying of one or the other mal poison or wound. Like.

Wait... Orion could SEE Cora when she got healed by circle

Wait... Is it because she's pure mana? No. He'd be able to see liu. Its because she's so powerful. So that IS why. Third order entity, thus has crisp edges for a mawmouth

Orion doesn't want the sharer because then he'd suck it dry.

El complaining aboutbrewing instant kill poisons. El...you can throw them...at Mals. You can trade them..... To be thrown at mals....

I would actually bet that the Scholomance has been funneling mals at El before, it was just never so obvious before, and matched to her abilities. Or not.... Did she just run everytime she got jumped? Probably ....

El says ' i understood him perfectly' but she didn't understand him there at all lol

Holy SHIT. Liesel tripped El so bad just before the mortal flame it's basically a fucking murder attempt. What the FUCK. She goddamn well gave you important information too

Ah. Right. She regretted hurting her that bad.

Amazing cake metaphors for Liesel's stunning cleavage lips and hair ensemble that Orion has zero interest in.

AND THEN THEY KISS!!!!!!! great kissing scene

That line I'll never forget it. That there's nothing much more dangerous than a fully grown wizard. Yeah. What if they didn't have to fight for their lives endlessly. What would become of humanity then...

She only realised now, now that freaking khamis did it, that SHE could do it. My god.

El is convinced Orion wouldn't survive. Which is stupid and hilarious in retrospect..he WILL survive

He just won't be able to protect people much. After all he couldn't get at Ellen in time

So the scholomance set up a situation to get El to see she will have to get everybody out. Then threw a course at them that only she can help teams get through

ALFIE!!!!! still so friendly lol

Liesel, a woman after El's own heart.

The Marathi group who traded their spellbook to Jaipur for enclave building spells instantly imploded after getting them. Well now we know why. Some moralists among them

It does also say here that you can purge your own mana. Why doesn't every fucking wizard do that oh my GOD. That's a bad loophole you shouldn't have put in novik

She literally describes the use of a mal binding spell then goes urgh but it was useless. El....you didn't have to keep it... Didn't have to feed it human corpses....just direct it into the void....

El still pessimistically interpreting the scholomance.

El not telling anyone she's gonna save em all.

WHY???? ARE YOU AN IDIOT

I guess the scholomance feels the same

Oh right. This was the moment even the book admitted: El desperately needs help because she can never spit a single thing out that would help everyone

Wow I suddenly love khamis. For finally having a go at El.

Yeah the scholomance made her the enclaver in a group of thousands. But now she's got to live with being that, everybody having to say yes to her stupid plan or die

Edit: kind of hilarious that Liesel was looking like some sort of super attractive vogue model scholomance equivalent and Orion didn't even notice which somehow triggered El into going for it with him. I need a fanfic of that exact scene again with them as highly accomplished adults. Like. El (Killer of Mawmouths) takes Liesel along (Domina of London and Manager of the Mawmouth Extermination Program) into the new Scholomance to visit Orion (Guardian of the Scholomance) and Liesel looks stunning and El looks beautiful naturally but yknow like a hippie nomad who never had the chance to learn how to dress. And somehow you get the same dynamic where El notices how amazing Liesel looks and how Orion doesn't notice at all. And Liesel rolls her eyes at El like, duh. And it again triggers El and Orion making out. Lolololol (because that IS flattering right? And also Liesel IS an aphrodisiac alsjdodjeoddjdjliaks).

[some-random-enby]

UT Yellow has made me have ideas and I have to dump them somewhere so Tumblr gets to experience my brain

Undertale's other fallen children

Patience & Bravery

My idea is that Patience and Bravery are sibling who fall at the same time as each other. Patience is a quiet kid who mostly relies on Bravery to get through physical altercations, but they're great to talk to if you ever have any problems you want to get off your chest as they're a great listener. Bravery, on the other hand, is pretty hot-headed but still a nice kid who has good intentions. They're extremely protective of Patience and would do anything to protect them. If I were to ever make this a proper story I'd probably change this to where it doesn't happen so early on but at the moment, my idea is Patience ends up dying in the ruins which leads to Bravery being so filled with grief that they let themselves succumb to the cold of Snowdin.

Integrity

This idea isn't original but I like the idea that Integrity went on a killing spree when they arrived. My idea is that they had family killed in the war and were orphaned due to it, which led to a resentment of monsters. They aren't a bad kid at heart, but were just too filled with rage to think rationally about what they were doing. They end up getting into Waterfall before they end up hiding due to the manhunt for them and end up getting found by Gerson (still head of the royal guard at the time), and then puts up a fight that ends with Integrity dead and Gerson injured badly enough that he needs to retire and Undyne becomes head of the royal guard.

Perserverance

Perserverance is a very anilitical kid who is obsessed with studying things like different spiecies of plants and animals. They arrive at what is probably the worst possible time for a human to fall, with every monster both anxious and out for blood after what happened with Integrity, so Perserverancs barley gets any rest up until Waterfall. Gerson, ironically enough, becomes a good friend of them (after some initial weariness). They share many interests that leads to Gerson taking them in and keeping them safe from the royal guard, since no one expects the former captain of the royal guard who was injured so badly by a human to be hiding one. Perserverance would go on to write multiple books about the biology of monsters under an alias that would becone widely popular without anyone's knowledge of the actual author behind them. Eventually, it ends up becoming public that a human is living in Waterfall, which leads to a hunt for Perserverance that ends with Gerson having to betray them and provide their location as to not have it known that he was the one hiding them.

Kindness

Kindness actively goes out of their way to make people's day better... even if that leads to their own detriment. They end up living with Toriel for a little while before they eventually do leave like the rest of the humans. The one person they meet they don't end up befriending is Undyne as they were too busy not trying to get killed and the events never lined up like they did with Frisk to let it happen. Eventually they do end up making it to Asgore himself who they desperately try to make friends with to no avail, leading to their death directly by him.

But yeah that's my little brain dump thanks to everyone who actually read all of this lol hope your day/night/whatever time it is for you is good ok gb :)

[chempack]

ok everypony it is now 11pm and i am less sleepy so i will chatter about my oc idea. also @mnikhowozu hi :)

so my working name for him rn is adam white (bonus points if u can figure out the origin of these names. hint: consider some of my other characters names) but i will likely change at least the given name. i’m considering lucas but not sure, i just generally want something Classic European bc i feel like that’s what two mfs named James and Catherine would name their kid (bonus points if it’s biblical). as i’ve said i’m making the character so i can do tale of two wastelands (hopefully. if i can figure out the mod. haven’t tried yet and dk how it works so it might be complicated…) so obviously he starts as the lone wanderer

to contrast charlie (who has always dealt with barely contained rage and loathes his dad, blaming james for all the shit he had to go thru in the wasteland), adam is more forgiving to him. not that he doesn’t also have conflicting and negative feelings abt james, he does, but he also sees him as ultimately a Good Man doing things for the Bettering of Humanity. adam never had much ambition in the vault and was just kinda drifting along as he grew up, was probably gonna be a maintenance worker or something “basic”. he didn’t learn medicine from james because james never bothered to teach him and he never thought to ask to learn. BUT! later in the wasteland — most pointedly after james dies — he takes it on himself to become something of a doctor because he wants to Continue his parents’ Legacy. etc etc

i also have it in mind for him to wear a mask while traveling (think along the lines of the blastmaster helmet. except i’m actually thinking of something from the pitt i just don’t remember the name.) so just imagine this nervous 20 year old in full armor with an assault rifle comes running up to you after you were brutally beaten by a raider or something, one year post-project purity, and he’s like TRUST ME LET ME HELP IM A DOCTOR meanwhile he looks like an overblown raider boss

at his core he is a Coward and, again, not ambitious. chronically indecisive. he Wants to help but he does Not want to risk himself (though of course he does since it’s. kind of the nature of the games if ur playing a mostly-good character). this then leads him to just going along with mr. house when he gets to vegas, because he doesn’t want to rock the boat and, honestly, probably won’t even think to kill house. he has his own opinions, for sure, and he’s not a saint — the choices he does make still are bad at times. but generally, he takes the road of “what is the most helpful at large but also the easiest for Me”

also, i think the followers of apocalypse have a university in california or smth? isn’t that mentioned once or twice in fnv? not sure need to research. and also i’m aware it generally doesn’t really Match for the courier to be the lw but obviously i’m ignoring that for the sake of the mod. but, depending on whatever is going on there, the followers’ university is what i’m currently thinking of for why he went west, and he… idk, gets roped into courier work for money or for a relatively easy way to Help or something, and ends up caught up in new vegas politics

if anyone read this whole thing i love you forever and ever i’m hugging you in my mind palace rn. and if you know anything about this supposed university that i might have just made up in my head then please let me know. okay thank you love you byeee