#partially made out of spite because i keep seeing people (and by people i mean sonic 3 fans) being ableist as hell about maria

[sonknuxadow]

[maltacus]

Sylvanas + Arthas? + Jaina?

GhosterM made an epic comment reading partially as follows...

Prequels might not be the best Star Wars movies (although Revenge of the Sith is Top 2 in my heart) but they have some extremely versatile quotes that you can use in pretty much any fandom, works especially well in Warcraft since Arthas and Anakin have some similiar archetypes. Few more that i thought about when commuting:

...

Also me when i see people shipping Arthas with Sylvanas: "You will go home and rethink your life"

...

...and now I am of course rethinking. And noting that on AO3 there are 14 works tagged Arthas Menethil/Sylvanas Windrunner and the longest is 93k which is a heck of a lot of words but by no means impossible I know from experience because sometimes things grow on you.

How impossible is it really? Let's approach it methodically.

Arthas freaks out at Stratholme and Northrend under Mal'Ganis' manipulation and that is on him and pretty damn bad. But the rest is theoretically all on Ner'zhul and Frostmourne.

Sylvanas as undead and suffering the same mind control from the Lich King could potentially show some understanding. Or not, because she is seriously pissed at him for substantial and, ahem, heart-felt reasons or one frosty such reason to be precise.

Scratch talking then. They fight, or Sylvanas hatches the plan to mind-control Arthas and send him on a suicide run against higher ups or whatever else - for some reason she uses the hallmark banshee power of possession! Now she has an unimpeded front row seat witnessing the chains on his mind. Spice it up to make that possession cut the link and free Arthas from the Lich Kings control because why not?

Join forces against Lich King preparing to then stamp out Arthas at the first available opportunity? Well, if Kerrigan did it in the Brood Wars so can I, Sylvanas reasons. Off they are to a forced alliance...

Aaand why not toss in the old flame that actually probably WILL listen to Arthas even when nobody else will and who Sylvanas will then seek to assassinate out of spite and to twist the knife deeper into the death knight, only to become touched seeing Jaina's unconditional love and finding herself brooding on how much young Menethil was really his own when desecrating Quel'thalas...

It is in all honesty actually thought-provoking that the Forsaken queen does not ponder more on whether it is Arthas or Ner'zhul pulling the strings, but the Frozen Throne seems to hint that Ner'zhul could be keeping a low profile even among his underlings, which would probably have been a wise move with all the nosy dreadlord supervisors snooping around.

I know of course that a pairing could be pulled off in far simpler ways, but wouldn't it be half the charm to do it in the angsty and limitlessly forgiving and understanding way that Jaina and Sylvanas are to each other in many Sylvaina tales?

After all, if Sylvanas (who in her long life may or may not have done a lot of terrible things too in the bitter, bitter war against the Amani trolls) can be forgiven for so many things done in undeath absent Frostmournian mind control, why not Arthas?

Jaina reunioning with Kel'thuzad whom she personally helped kick out from Dalaran and later hunt down and kill, would just be a bonus.

[Megalomaniacal Evil Laughter and Thunder Outside]

[thestupidhelmet]

Oooh can I get 23 & 24 for Q and Z? 🤍

Queer (LGBTQ+) AU Headcanon: Eric/Buddy, Fez/Buddy

Eric/Buddy: They enjoy going to car shows together. Eric sighs at all the cars he thinks he'll never be rich enough to own. Buddy rubs his back and says, "I am. Pick out your favorite. I'll get it for you on our eleventh anniversary."

Eric: That's nine years from now, but ... I can wait.

Buddy: Who said I was going by years?

Eric [curious and flirtatious]: What are you going by?

Buddy: The eleven-minute anniversary after you choose the car you want.

Turned on and feeling loved, Eric kisses Buddy. Fortunately, no one sees them (it is the 1970s in Wisconsin after all; they've got to keep themselves safe).

Buddy [teasing]: I hope you love me for more than my money.

Eric: Actually, I'd rather be able to pay for the car myself. I'd also prefer to be the one who can buy you expensive things. So, if anything, I love you in spite of your money.

Buddy [caressing the back of Eric's hair]: We've got to work on your ideas about traditional gender roles.

Eric: But we're both men.

Buddy: And ... ?

Eric [partially understanding]: We're both men! So we can both be the bread-winners, bring home the bacon -- and why are there so many food metaphors for making money?

Buddy: Eric, if you weren't so cute, I'd be pissed. But even if you were dating a girl, she should be able to "bring home the baon," and I don't mean food.

Eric: Right. You're right. ... Say, can we swing by the Piggly Wiggly before going home? I've got a hankering for bacon now.

Buddy: Sure, and you can pay for it.

Eric: And you can cook it because I burn anything that touches a pan.

Buddy: Your mom's a great cook. Didn't she teach you any skills?

Eric: Oh, she tried. And my dad tried to teach me how to aim a flashlight, and you know how that went.

Buddy laughs and slings his arm around Eric's shoulders. "Let's go find your dream car."

Eric stops him and says, "Wait, wait. I already have my dream guy. The car can wait a few more years."

Buddy, touched, returns Eric's earlier kiss. They enjoy the rest of the car show then have an early dinner where bacon is the main course.

---

Fez/Buddy: Fez doesn't withhold his affection for Buddy in school, but he does express it surreptitiously (because 1970s Wisconsin). When leaving notes in Buddy's locker, he copies Jackie's penchant for dotting her I's with a heart so that if people spot Buddy reading these notes, they'll think a girl wrote it.

📝: I'm potentially going to write a Fez/Buddy fic, and I don't want to spoil what I've already planned. That's why my answer for them is short in comparison to that for Eric/Buddy.

Zennie (Jackie/Hyde) Interaction: Eric/Buddy, Fez/Buddy

Eric/Buddy: They go on a double-date with Jackie and Hyde at the bowling alley and have a friendly competition. The scores are close. All four of them are good bowlers, and Jackie and Buddy both have custom-made bowling balls.

Out of respect for the fact Eric and Buddy would put themselves in danger were they to make out during Jackie and Hyde's turns (or at any point during their date in the bowling alley), Jackie and Hyde stick to subtler PDA.

Eric and Buddy, though, have come up with a secret code for what they feel. High fives, low fives, a shoulder pat, a back pat. These all mean different, significant feelings.

Jackie, having gotten close to Buddy and generally having empathy, is angry on his and Eric's behalf that their love can't be expressed out in the open. She and Hyde, who supports Eric a hundred percent, join a movement for equal rights for and ending discrimination against gay people.

---

Fez/Buddy: Jackie invites Fez and Buddy to spend a weekend at her family's ski cabin with her and Hyde. Word gets out to the rest of their friends (Fez was too excited about it to stay quiet), and Eric and Kelso want to spend the weekend there, too.

"It's just for couples," Jackie says.

"I'm dating Donna," Eric says.

Jackie narrows her eyes. "For now."

Eric: What's that supposed to mean?

Hyde: It means, Forman, she doesn't know if you two are gonna stick it out.

Kelso laughs at the unintended innuendo, but Donna is annoyed and says, "We're engaged, so you both can shut it."

After the initial shock -- Eric's included ("That was supposed to be a secret!") -- of Donna's announcement, Jackie says, "Fine. Then the trip is only for couples who aren't engaged."

Kelso: That's not fair! Fez and Buddy'll never get engaged, so they'll always be invited to the ski cabin.

Fez: Kelso, that is not the problem you think it is.

Hyde: Yeah, man. They could get engaged, but no one can marry 'em. Not legally. 'Course, I'm never gettin' married, so they could take my spot if that was freakin' possible.

Jackie: Steven, your ideas about marriage will change. And so will the country's. If two consenting adults love each other, them getting married hurts no one. It'll actually help society! Imagine how much more revenue the wedding industry will generate. It's economics.

Fez: And the rate of divorce among heterosexual couples keeps increasing, so heterosexuality does not automatically equal a happy marriage.

Hyde: Exactly. Which is why I'm not gettin' married.

Jackie: Today.

Hyde: Ever.

Fez: I would like to marry Buddy someday. We've been together almost five years, and we're the only couple among us who hasn't had a break-up.

Hyde: Me and Jackie haven't broken up.

Jackie: Today.

Hyde: What's that supposed to mean?

Fez, Eric, Donna, Kelso: You know what it means.

Jackie: Never getting married?

Hyde doesn't know what to say.

At the ski cabin that weekend, Buddy and Fez give Hyde a talking-to. Hyde thanks them but says he and Jackie'll be fine.

Buddy [holding Fez's hand on the main room sofa]: If you don't care about losing her, you will be fine. I, however, would be devastated to lose Fez. I think he feels the same way about me --

Fez: I do.

Buddy: Which is why we're so careful. One or both of us could get killed simply for loving each other. What's the worst thing if you marry Jackie in the future, that you're happy?

Hyde [after a moment, mumbling]: That we get divorced.

Buddy and Fez: What?

Hyde: Nothin'. ... Nothin' compared to what you two have to deal with. If either of you tell Jackie I'm not against marrying her someday --

Fez [scared]: You'll out us at school?

Hyde [shocked Fez would think that]: Hell no! I just want to tell her myself is all. And, uh ... you guys should invite us to your next activism meeting. Think you'll get two new members.

Hyde leaves Buddy and Fez so they can go skiing together -- and so he can have an important discussion with Jackie.

Jukebox Ask Game

[neoatlantiscodex]

How to Build a House (Part I-IV)

Because we've evolved beyond the need for our buildings to suit our environment. You can go to Vegas and see signs everywhere about water conservation, and then go out to their perfect golf courses, where the green transitions immediately into sand dunes.

Part I: Foundation

Most of our traditional building techniques focus on wood. We don't need to build with wood anymore, but that doesn't mean we cannot learn anything from it. One of the big problems with wood is that it will rot if put directly into the ground, and so you need something else there. Namely rocks.

Reminder: Concrete is just artificial rocks.

The size and depths of your foundation is dependant upon the size of your building, and your ground conditions. The bigger your house, and the worse your soil, the more complex your foundation needs to be.

Part II: Basement

If you extend the foundation upwards, you get a basement. We normally think of basements as underground, but we are wrong in doing this. Basements are just another word for the Undercroft. Because you don't want to add wood to your lowest level, having a floor made of stone was a great idea. Stone was more expensive, so you make it the smallest floor.

Which is wild for us modern people to think that medieval houses often had the lower floor be the smallest.

Part III: Jettying

Why? Hubris? To spite God?

Because it was practical, and it lowers your tax footprint. There was a lot of older construction practices who's primary goal was lowering your tax footprint. We've come down hard on them, but, quite frankly, if the rules are reasonable, and people do something really cool to avoid them, then we don't need to change them. They would sometimes build over river to avoid paying property taxes.

The practical part is that pre-modern houses were built using single beams spanning any open space. Long beams tend to sag over time, but if you put weight on the outside, it evens it out. So, by building the higher floor a step larger, you put weight on the team, and get more space.

Medieval houses would typically pay tax/rent based off either the size of the base, or the size of the frontage. This is actually an incredibly simple way to run building regulations, and the simpler the regulations, the easiest it is to build.

Part II-II: Basement II

In the modern era we've decided to start finishing our basement, only to lo-and-behold discover that it's cold. Not only is the earth cold in northern climates, but heat rises.

Stone has a high heat capacity, meaning it takes a lot of energy, either way, to change the temperature. This means they are great for holding a constant temperature. Before the era of AC, if you wanted to keep something cool, you kept it in a cold room in your basement, or in a room that goes into a hill. If you prevent light from getting in, it would keep colder.

Basements were also used for general storage, or for a business. Because back in the day, most people lived in the same place they worked, and in cities, where space was scarce, you built up. In the modern age, we literally have laws to prevent people from working out of their house, because we're utterly insane.

Once we started added plumbing, furnaces, electricity, etc., having an unfinished basement made it simple to maintain these. When you added cars, it was also a great place for a garage/car port.

Do we need basements, now? No. But they are useful and practical. And understanding their limitations can dramatically reduce your future energy use, and improve your quality of life.

Part IV: Car Port / Garage

Amazingly lost technology. Partially because we started finishing basements. What's worse, is that in most modern countries, parking is getting extremely expensive, as the space is valuable. So valuable that people have died over parking disputes.

A car port is a room in your basement that you can park your car in. If you fully enclose it, it becomes a garage.

If we extend this to apartments, ground floor apartments suck. For everyone. So, you can lift it up a bit, and give them parking under the same foot print. Because a problem we have is that the companies building apartments just do NOT want to build underground parking.

Now, if you have protected underground parking, people could park a car. Or a bike. Or a scooter. Or keep a canoe. Or do maintenance on their car, which is difficult if not impossible to do on apartment parking lots. And this also gives you a place to keep your waste disposal, and other heavy machinery. So, this is another reason to make people pay based off the rote value of the land itself, not the profits that can be made from it. You could also have a bus / train station there.

Thank you @noneatnonedotcom.

[mangoisms]

Im just soso obsessed with figuring out tim as a character rn i cant stop thinking abt it (ive always been a jason todd girlie but i read ur fic and that angsty twink latched onto me and refuses to let go)

I think u have a pretty good hold of him, especially bc in present comics writers are so intent on elevating tim in spite of other characters (barbara and her hacking skills for example, or any comparison made btw him and any robin, really) that most portrayals of him are so boring it makes me cry, while you on the other hand took the approach to write about his flaws (which are MANY) while still making him charming and handsome (he is so... !!!!)

To me flaws are also tied to not only the good traits of characters but also their core beliefs and ideals so what can you say abt tim?

I know he can be stupidly arrogant and patronizing at times, that he's always idolized the position and legacy of robin and constantly fights his insecurities with this role and his abilities for the job, that he can also be incredibly selfish or outright mean when it comes to being mindful of other people's feelings for the sake of logic (re when he didnt tell tam abt his dad not being actually dead), but at the same time i cant figure out exactly what he wants to do with his role as robin (or red robin) or why he would want to keep going when his main goals first were just making sure bruce wouldnt go down a dark path, im pretty sure he mentioned not being a vigilante forever but his actual goals remain unclear to me

(Im in the midst of reading his solo robin run but ive read red robin so give me a little room for this, you are definitely free to talk abt more of his comics bc i havent read everything yet and everything im saying should be taken with a grain of salt, video essays and the issues ive read can only get me so far)

He could have gained an inherent desire to help people after all his time as robin and the so fucked up shit that happened to him, maybe as a ways to channel his grief (much like dick and jason and bruce, im thinking abt identity crisis here) after he isnt "needed" as robin anymore, but at the same time that would be so tragic because he was supposed to be different to them, he was supposed to remark the importance of robin's role in helping be "batman's light" and not becoming like batman himself, its just so interesting and im still trying to really understand the extent of his character so id just. Love to get ur thoughts and musings on what fuels tim as a character and how you see him

(I dont have this problem with jason bc his moral conflict is very crystal clear to me and also so freaking juicy, his actions are logical and so understable, granted he also hasnt had as much screentime as tim and i can see when writers just Dont Get Him, misunderstanding the original intent of his character coming back etc etc etc, tim has grown and evolved throughout his tim as robin so this might factor in too)

Anyways sorry for the long post i hope this is alright !!! Loved ur fic to bits and ur writing is a blessing mwah

okay HI i am not exaggerating when i say that i have been thinking about this ask since you sent it HAHA tim is just a parasite in my brain he won't let go...

that's the funny thing about portrayals of him today... i feel like people want to elevate him as a potential batman or a character closest to bruce in terms of intelligence and detective skills, which isn't true at all, i think (because, exactly, you have babs Right There), and of course, narratively, this is all a good thing (this post covers it well, i think). it's in the same vein of people making tim out as the most dangerous person in the batfam, should he ever chose to go down the path, which i can partially blame red robin (2009) for with this panel....

(and i don't think that's true either. he has the potential to be dangerous just like any of the others but i think the ones to really be scared of are babs, dick, and cass but ANYWAY)

in general, red robin 2009 was a bumpy time for tim with bruce's death and his spiraling, but it seemed to really inform what they were going to do with his character. no more time for the civilian life, committing himself much more thoroughly to The Mission like bruce. which is, if you ask me, a negative progression of his character, which isn't bad, exactly, in terms of storytelling, but it feels like all we get are the 'good parts' now -- the intelligence, the status, the resources, and then we don't get to grapple with the consequences.

there were some in red robin 2009 but it was more tim accepting them and making no move to change his actions, which is fine, but now... idk. but i also don't touch modern comics with a ten foot pole so this could just be. Wrong. but that seems like what's going on. so i feel like that's where people get the idea of him being... idk not the Perfect Robin exactly but. you know?

no no yeah i totally agree!

re (because i want to break this down i'm telling you i have Been Thinking About This): at the same time i cant figure out exactly what he wants to do with his role as robin (or red robin) or why he would want to keep going when his main goals first were just making sure bruce wouldnt go down a dark path, im pretty sure he mentioned not being a vigilante forever but his actual goals remain unclear to me

exactly this. he did say that and i've reblogged this at some point i think, showing a panel from robin 1993 where he mentioned he wouldn't be a vigilante forever, then paralleled with that panel i put in earlier from red robin 2009. (there's this post, which touches on another thing about tim trying to set himself apart as having friends and thus not being bruce LOL which is another topic entirely)

i think that was what red robin 2009 was - a negative progression of his character, one that, again, we never really grapple with, especially as dc shoves robin back onto him now.

his motivations are an interesting thing to me, because he did start out coincidentally, saying batman needed a robin but he didn't assume he'd be that robin, it just kind of happened because he was there (well much more went into it but you know?).

but aside from that, i've never gotten the impression tim really does it for people. i mean batman in general has been about the detective work but i think towards the 80s/90s/00s there was a shift to focusing on the people but tim has never really struck me as a hero of the people. he's more about fighting crime than he is about helping people. i think it is partially informed by the genre - re detective comics, etc - but still. he's not like, say, peter parker/spider-man, who is a hero of the people, of the working class. the people are inherent to him as spider-man. tim does it out of duty and responsibility i think, being the light to batman's dark, of course, but he's also very much a teenage boy about being robin - the cool factor, pointedly mentioning he wants to let off steam by knocking around 'criminals' that kind of thing

which doesn't mean he's unfit for it but he operates in an odd grey area as far as his motivation goes, which i think is where we get red robin? he was defined by being robin and he did his job, then he got the boot. so it is very much an identity crisis but we're seeing that negative change as he changes for the worse, for something darker. i mean, yes, red robin 2009 was again bumpy because he was at a very low point in his life but in general, that run was dark for him.

editorial wise, we'd never get to see what they made of it because they did the reboot and started new-52 a few years after. but whether he'd continue being red robin/going down this path, or if he'd shed the identity and go for something lighter... it's hard to say.

i kind of like the thought that he'd change his identity and try to take a lighter approach, try to pull himself from bruce's influence, though with how it's all set it up, it seems fated that he'd end up there. there was red robin 2009, but then there was his sixteenth birthday incident (which sounds bad here and i'd read this before reading it myself but god when i read it it pissed me off so bad... really what turned me off bruce as a 'good' father figure, i can't lie). he ultimately ends up going back and becoming robin and this is the turning point for him where he agrees to enter this mindset that bruce wants him to be in. (this post talks mainly about timsteph but it is also a point to the end about the shift in his character and how that affected his relationships as well)

i mean i know red robin 2009 is marked by the grief of bruce's 'death' and a bunch of other Very Bad Shit but even when we got past that and he had his little 'Let me let in the people who love me because i am Not batman' he then proceeded to go a little surveillance crazy and make a hit list (something like that, it's been a while..) but. yeah.

ultimately, at the core of his character, i think he is good and compassionate and kind, so, even aside from all that (like the birthday incident), i think he would've made his way there eventually. it could maybe be why we see him returning to robin, if we wanted to try and pretend dc making him be robin is a completely normal and logical decision that they actually thought through. like a way to return to the bases and feel it out from there. though i still think they could've just. idk. given him a BREAK from vigilantism to figure it out. i'm a big proponent of civilians and their place amongst vigilantes and superheroes and i feel like tim's due a break, which is why i put that stuff in my fics. i do want to see him step back and try to figure out his life, because at one point, though robin 1993 was arguably defined by the balance between robin and tim drake and had plenty of civilian friends to keep things interesting, we don't see much as far as what he wants to do. which i suppose could be part of his relatability factor that tim drake, the character, was conceived with

but idk at this point they have to give us something 😭 anyway. this got VERY long i am very sorry.. i don't mind long asks either but i might've overshot my response... alas. i also hope i more or less answered your question??? if not feel free to slide back in here and talk to me! i rambled a bit here and it's like. 3am rn i'm scheduling this to post because i wanted to get it all written Now and. yeah.

thank you SO much very happy to hear you're enjoying everything <333 hope you continue to enjoy :**

[mdhwrites]

So with your wonderful analyses on shows, how do you think Sunset Shimmer's story (redemption from evil mean bully to an empathetic hero) on Equestria Girls' spin off was? Is it every bit as good as what fans hype it up to be?

I... can't wholly comment. Not because I'm entirely unfamiliar with what you're talking about, I watched the first three Equestria Girls movies... But I also watched them over half a decade ago when they came out. I haven't watched literally any My Little Pony since midway through season... 6? Whenever Starlight joined the cast.

I can remember some of my strong feelings about certain aspects of it, partially because the bronalysis community was part of why I ended up joining the fandom as a whole and began fanfic writing so MLP was when I was first cutting my teeth on analysis but weirdly enough... I never really questioned Sunset's redemption arc, even back then.

Part of it is because they're movies, not a show. Redemption arcs get a little weird with that because the structure and pacing of such things is a lot odder. What I will say is that I do agree that it's not bad. People don't just forget what Sunset did but kind of crucially to keep those movies enjoyable, they never just tell you to think the end of the first movie was pointless. People are genuinely giving Sunset a second chance, even if maybe with a bit of trepidation, she's actively worried about reverting some but you can also see that same fire, drive and passion that led to how she was before. I think Equestria Girls, from what my memory says, was actually REALLY important for this because Sunset is a bit too demure in Rainbow Rocks, a bit too purely nice, but the third movie makes it clear that it was a defense response. The old Sunset isn't 100% gone, she's just figuring out how to balance it all.

Which I mean... All of that is a billion times better than "I will murder every timeline of existence" Starlight Glimmer being redeemed simply because she lost a single friend when she was young. No I don't care that the show is called "FRIENDSHIP is Magic", Starlight is still arguably the most destructive, spiteful villains I ever saw in that show and brushing it under the rug was not okay with me, let alone with the fact that the MANIPULATOR uses MIND CONTROL within half a season of being redeemed!

*siiiiiiiiiiigh* But again, take anything I say about MLP with a grain of salt. It has been two and a half years since I last logged into Fimfiction, mostly to delete some of the few stories I wasn't willing to condone keeping up, and I still have no plans to return. Not with how I left.

Oh, but because I feel like it, just some stats from Fimfiction because it was still like five years of my life: I published over a million words worth of material over the course of 205 stories.

I made over 1300 blogs so if you thought me being a windbag was new, NOPE!

And I have over 1,500 followers on it, placing me... A HUNDRED FIFTIETH ON THE SITE!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?

I won't link it though because, well, I have been wanting to put that part of me away for a long time now. Not just the poor quality work of my old days but the type of person I was. I joined the Brony fandom at 17 after all and while hitting rock bottom during college while being a part of it helped make me into a better person, I had to go pretty low to get there first. As such, linking it feels like condoning that old person, even if I'm not about to hide it.

Isn't that what redemption and growth is about after all? Recognizing you did wrong in the past and trying to do better? And I know for me, I'm still trying to constantly learn how I can do better. Maybe it's even part of why redemption arcs mean so much to me and why I hadn't considered Sunset's in the past. I wasn't in the middle of my own by then.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[platoniccereal]

What about you? What games had the biggest impacts on you?

i should note that i'm not a big gamer, actually, because i don't play games, i'm more used to watching someone else's playthroughs, for instance. that said...

to get this out of the way, dragon age franchise. fandoms that you've fallen into when you were thirteen really stay with you for the rest of your life, huh. it is connected to old online friends and different times, it sparked my creativity, i learned to, err, do fandoms through it, to interact with canon, i partially formed my views on systematic oppression through it (i would rather say in spite of it, lol) and many other things. i was young, and it was a playground. now i'm back, and it's a ruler for my growth. plus it's queer. i started with the second part. which. explains a lot.

detroit become human was pretty big. i won't say the material itself was impactful, but the fandom around it. again. it was about me finding my audience and new friends, creating rn9 and finding my reed900. it was about seeing what people are capable of when they're inspired enough to animate two cardboard cutouts. dbh raised my standards for fan made content to the skies, and i won't say i ate shit before that. it was about finding out which dynamics i liked the most. i still keep an eye on it.

speaking of dbh, what comes after by epsee. this. it's fan made, it's for dbh, and this is what i mean when i say dbh fandom has got some delicious fucking food. i can't put my finger on what did it impact. but it rearranged and altered my brain chemistry, i dunno. this lil guy right there was enough to make me cry for straight 15 minutes. i remember lines from it. i've got soundtrack from it on my sd card. it's so melancholic it sucks my soul out. i keep coming back to it in my thoughts from time to time. you are who you are, you hold grief, you hold kindness, you care for androids and humans alike, you want to be better, for their sakes- *throws up.*

probably we all have the game that showed us what games are capable of? yeah, what remains of edith finch showed little twat me this, i think undertale did the same for many people. again, it's subjective, but it was the first one to show it so clearly, juggling narratives and characters, being so good at every single one of them, writing such a touching story. lewis' story at the fish factory is still one of the most well put stories in videogames that narratively support themselves thorough being a game.

and you know what? happy tree friends flash games and people playground-esque stuff. i won't shy away, i know which fucked up games massively formed my tastes as a kid, lol.

thanks for your question!!

[toffeebrews]

Nah you're right honestly. I think it's completely stunted my creativity. I literally struggle to WRITE anything because of it, i can barely write a paragraph of fanfic nowadays. To say I've never indulged in the culture myself would be a lie, I have. But it's hurt my own art because of it. I actually used to be deep in cringe comps and cringe culture as a kid (which is ironic cause I was a furry but thats besides the point). I think, playfully making fun of certain fanon things is fun. Or pointing out the difference between fanon vs canon is fine. Hell, I think even criticizing fanon is fine, just keep it respectful. Being a jerk about what is "correct" and "not correct" is annoying. Actively policing what people can and cannot write is annoying. Criticizing other people's works because it doesn't "fit what you see" is very annoying. Hilariously, as other people have said, UTMV is BASED on fanon. Whether "correct" or not keeping these characters alive as many have been abandoned years ago.

As you've said, if people take fan works as complete gospel and a complete accurate representation than thats on the VIEWER not the artist. You're not "misleading" people for doing something different. You're not bad for wanting to change characters. HELL there's so many interpretations made by fans I've enjoy more than the canon (mutuals looking at you with big eyes full of love :3). What people can do with characters is FASCINATING please keep making it.

Honestly, I've been afraid to say there's certain fanon interpretations I enjoy. I grew up with alot of them and still very attached to them sjekwjee. Some that I enjoy better over canon in some ways (cough cough i think dadmare is cute).

I think the reason im so scared to do anything ut related is im afraid of getting jumped for getting a character wrong. At least in utmv its more up to interpretation lmao.

At the end of the day, there will be interpretation all of us find "cringe" or don't like. But my advice in those moments, make something of your own. Don't like the writing? Go write it. Don't like how it's drawn? Go draw it. Don't like that tumblr post? Make your own! I don't mean that in a passive aggressive way, but go make it yourself. Because nobody will get the interpretation in your head just right aside from yourself, no? Make what you want to see, cause that may be the only way you can truly satisfy your fandom needs. (I suppose if you aren't skilled enough yet, you could always request art/writing from people who have that open. or commission artists/writers as well :D) Spite is a good motivator LOL!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't think utmv could happen again. I think that this is partially due to cringe culture and that's kinda of sad.

id talk about how the “fanon is bad and cringe and canon is the only way” mindset has destroyed so much of what matters the most in fandoms but then id get burnt at the stake (someone please insist i talk about this so i can be dramatic but relent)

[makeste]

some follow-up thoughts on BnHA 306

mostly Deku angst, but also a little Baku angst (and some TodoBaku angst) mixed in for good measure. because there’s plenty of angst to go around.

1. “if I’d only been stronger...”

I’ll talk more about Deku later in this post as well, because there’s definitely plenty to talk about; this is the most character development he’s gotten in almost 200 chapters. but for starters, I want to discuss the possible parallels between Deku’s current character arc, and what is arguably the most iconic moment of angst/character development in the series.

remember how this kid, who up until this point had rarely seemed to give two fucks about the world around him, suddenly revealed that he blamed himself for being the downfall of All Might? remember how it came almost out of nowhere? how he’d been hiding it, and trying to suppress it? “but even if I try to forget... sometimes it all just comes rushing back.”

yeah. so anyway, I got to thinking -- if being the cause of one hero’s downfall could affect someone this badly, what about being responsible for the downfall of all heroes?

what if a boy who wanted nothing more than to keep people safe suddenly found himself at the epicenter of a disaster that killed hundreds, possibly even thousands of people?

now obviously, this is not the sole thing that’s troubling Deku right now; this kid has a whole array of traumas as of the War arc. like, you know it’s bad when Society As We Know It Coming To An End Partially Because Of You is the least of your problems. but still, I think this is worth bringing up, because the hero kids blaming themselves for things that aren’t their fault is hardly anything new. and yet, what with everything else that’s been going on -- all of the Todoroki drama, and Vestige revelations, and hospital antics, and political strife -- I feel like it’s easy to forget or overlook this little detail.

the fact is that AFO put this entire plan into motion solely in the hopes of finally obtaining OFA. every single thing that happened at Jakku -- Tomura powering up; Machia waking up and going on his rampage (after being ordered to do so by Tomura); and even Dabi/Touya choosing this moment to finally strike (because he knew this was when the reveal would do the maximum damage -- when people’s faith in heroes was already wavering) -- every last bit of it can ultimately be traced back to AFO’s desire to steal OFA. which, obviously, makes it AFO’s fault, not Deku’s. but then, Kamino wasn’t actually Katsuki’s fault either. it wasn’t his fault the villains went after him (but he blamed himself anyway), and it wasn’t his fault that people got hurt in the ensuing battle to save him (but he blamed himself anyway).

just. I think we’re underestimating just how strong of an impact all of this likely had on Deku. we haven’t really had the chance to see him process it yet. he’s been too busy, and there have been too many other things going on. but I’m telling you guys, that empty look in his eyes in the final page of the chapter? I can all but guarantee you that at least some of that emotional weight is coming from this.

sure would be nice if he had a friend who knew exactly what that was like, and could help him process the guilt and all of the other associated emotions, just like Deku once helped him. unfortunately I’m not so sure things will be that easy this time around. anyways though let’s move on to a couple of other thoughts and speculations.

2. “...and I bullied him.”

one of my least-favorite BnHA fanfic tropes is the one where the rest of class 1-A somehow finds out about Katsuki and Deku’s history -- i.e. that Katsuki bullied Deku throughout most of their childhood. mind you, it’s not the concept itself that I dislike; it’s mostly how it’s used. a lot of times it’s just an excuse to have all of the other kids turn on Katsuki and ostracize him; either because the author thinks that’s what he deserves, or else so that Deku can eventually come to his rescue and defend him and shame the rest of the class for not seeing how much he’s changed. either way, it’s usually pretty awkward to read, and more often than not the characters are pretty OOC (especially Ochako and Todoroki).

however! there’s a big difference between fanfic and canon, and just because I’m not a fan of this trope in the former doesn’t mean it couldn’t be executed well in the latter. and lately I’ve been thinking about this a lot. mainly for three reasons:

the recent (can we still call it recent?? well whatever) scene where Katsuki confessed to All Might that he used to bully Deku is now one of my favorite scenes in the entire series, and proof that this can be executed well.

both Todoroki and Deku have finally had their respective big secrets revealed to the rest of the class. so like, idk. feels like it just might be secret-revealing season now, you know?

and lastly, as a result of Deku’s secret about OFA finally being revealed, the rest of 1-A now either knows, or can extrapolate, that he used to be quirkless.

and from there, I feel like it’s not all that hard to put two and two together with how terrible Kacchan and Deku’s relationship was when they first started at UA. that’s not a terribly difficult puzzle to solve. so I feel like it might come out anyway, and if so, I’d prefer Bakugou telling them himself, and taking responsibility as part of his atonement process. because we know that he regrets it. we know their relationship has changed. we know that he has changed. and so I think I might like to see this.

alternately, if confessing to the entire class is too much, at the very least I could see him confessing to Shouto, because I’ve always felt like this was one of the big things that made Katsuki so resistant to letting Todoroki call him a friend. because I feel like there’s a part of Katsuki that saw the parallels between Endeavor’s abuse of Shouto and his own bullying of Deku, and thought, he wouldn’t be so quick to call me his friend if he actually knew the truth. and so there’s actually been this roadblock wedged between them this whole time that Shouto doesn’t even know about. because Shouto hates Endeavor. and so it’s not such a leap to assume he’d hate Katsuki too if he knew just how terrible he’d been to Deku when they were younger.

not that I think he actually would! actually I don’t think either of those things is actually true (because Shouto clearly doesn’t hate his father either, in spite of everything that’s happened). but the point isn’t what I think -- the point is what Katsuki thinks. and I really do think there’s a good chance he’s worried about Shouto hating him, and it’s one of the things that’s made him so reluctant to accept his friendship. anyway, so I’m really just rambling now, but you get my point. I don’t know if this is actually going to happen, but it’s a scene I would like to see if Horikoshi decides to indulge me.

3. “...so when you wake up, please give him my best.”

and now, as promised, back to Deku.

ngl guys, when I first saw this image, my immediate thought was that Gran must have died. because I mean, hello, leaving U.A.?? donning himself in his teacher’s old cape?? empty, exhausted look in his eyes?? what else were we supposed to think lol.

but maybe that was an overreaction. because when I think about it more, Gran’s death isn’t strictly necessary in order to push Deku over the edge. first of all, there’s already the whole “hero society is in ruins now because of you” thing I mentioned earlier. but also, there are just so many other things. like, let’s just list them here because omg. what a rough couple of days this kid had.

he was forced to battle TomurAFO and was terribly injured in the process (most of which was his own fault, but he wouldn’t have gone that far with OFA unless he felt like he had no choice)

and it wasn’t just him that was injured, either. in fact, even though he tried to act as bait to keep everyone else safe, he wasn’t able to stop three of the people closest to him from nearly being killed right before his eyes

and of course that last one was especially traumatic, because it was Kacchan, and because he had to watch Kacchan nearly die just to protect him. out of all the things that Deku witnessed in this arc, this might be the one that had the biggest impact on him

he was also basically helpless to do anything to protect Shouto and Endeavor when Dabi showed up. so again, we have this running theme of people he cares about being hurt and him not being able to save them

and he also got sucked into the OFA Interstellar Dream Vortex for a brief spell during the battle, during which he learned that AFO had possessed Tomura. more importantly, he learned that Tomura was Nana’s grandson, a fact which was only briefly touched on during that scene, but which I think wound up being the trigger to the whole avalanche that ended with Deku leaving UA. but more on that in a moment

anyway so just to wrap this all up, the battle eventually ended, Tomura got away despite all of their efforts, and then Deku wound up comatose in the hospital for two days. which brings us to the most recent chapters, during which

Deku learns that he will be the last wielder of OFA, whether he likes or not

Deku learns the identity of the last two mystery OFA users

and then at some point, he wakes up and presumably talks to Gran, and winds up with his cape

something happened during these last two scenes which helped to push Deku over the edge. I won’t delve into the matter of the Second or Third users for now, although most of you already know my suspicions regarding that, and I do think that would fit into the general pattern here (that is, the pattern of Deku feeling more and more strongly that he is putting the people around him in danger, and his fear of losing them becoming so overwhelming that it eventually pushes him to leave).

but that’s not what I want to talk about for now. what I want to talk about is Gran. specifically, what it is that Deku discussed with Gran. and this is where we come back to that reveal I mentioned earlier -- that Tomura is Nana’s grandchild.

basically, what I think happened is that Deku mentioned seeing Nana in the OFA Zany Psychedelic Spirit Void, which led to the topic of Tomura, and the fun fact Deku recently learned about him being related to Nana. this, in turn leads to Gran divulging his various regrets about everything that happened with him and Nana and Kotarou. his intent is to apologize to Deku for placing the burden of their failures on him. unfortunately, the part that Deku actually gets fixated on instead is this:

All for One hunted down and killed Nana’s son (and probably her husband as well), and stole her grandchild and psychologically tortured him into becoming a mass murderer, for no other reason than that Nana had once held OFA

in other words, AFO can and will hurt and kill anyone Deku is close to, anyone who has any kind of connection to him at all, without mercy, and regardless of whether it actually gives him any kind of tactical advantage or not. he’ll do it simply to hurt him. no other reason necessary.

I don’t know about you, but for me that would be a terrifying realization. and for Deku, I think it just might have been the tipping point.

so, let’s recap.

Deku learns that AFO is after him

AFO/Tomura very nearly kills several of Deku’s most important people, including Kacchan

and then he learns that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and realizes that all of their lives are still in danger and will continue to be as long as Deku is AFO’s target

and then add to all of this the misplaced guilt about society already being shambles, and the heroes already having more than enough to worry about. they’re barely holding things together as it is. and we already know how Deku feels about being a burden to them:

and so instead, he leaves. of course he does. in hindsight, I think this was inevitable.

the question is, did anyone else also put the pieces together in time to realize what Deku was planning before he actually left? specifically, did Katsuki, who understands Deku’s self-sacrificial nature better than anyone else, see the signs and put two and two together? like he did back at Jakku?

and if he did, would Deku have been willing to accept his help again?

somehow, I can’t help but think it might not be that easy this time.

anyway, so that was a lot of rambling, lol. sorry about that. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS about all of this angsty shit. tired nomad Deku needs hugs and comfort and someone to reassure him that he doesn’t have to face this alone, and that everything is going to be all right. HE IS JUST A LITTLE BOY. this is too much, and I cannot handle any of these feels, and oh my god, somebody please help him.

[unrestedjade]

More baseless Ferengi headcanons no one asked for: LATINUM EDITION~~~

- Almost every home is a rental, as almost all usable land is corporate-owned. Might as well daydream about owning a moon, it's no less realistic than owning the house you grew up in. (No I'm not frustrated with my $1500 rent at all, no I'm not miserable watching 40-year-old trailer homes selling for $250k to a property management firm that's going to rent it out. Surely a place like Ferenginar wouldn't be equally ridiculous, hahahahahahahahHAHAHAHA. Ahem.) - Latinum as religious fetish. We see Quark offering slips of latinum while he prays to the Blessed Exchequer before bed. He even has a little shrine. What's unclear is whether you're meant to reuse the same slips each day or if you have to actually "give up" the latinum over the longer term for the offering to count. You can break a piggy bank, but it's probably bad to break an image of the Exchequer, unless he's very chillaxed compared to the majority of gods. - Assuming really giving up the latinum is better, is destroying it extra good? Or are you sinning by removing it from the Continuum? Are there Ferengi extremist sects that sink latinum into bogs or launch it into a star?

- What do they think and feel about latinum with regards to the Exchequer? What does a god need with it? Is it meant to be his lifeblood, figuratively? Or literally, via transubstantiation? (Catholic Ferengi. Cathipitolists.)

- How was latinum treated in the days before they knew to process it with gold so it could be handled safely? It's very pretty and ethereal-looking in its raw form, and also very, very toxic. Depending on the symptoms of latinum poisoning, I wonder if it had anything to do with it gaining religious significance? Ancient Ferengi priests seeing visions and going a little funny in the head from handling raw latinum for years and years?

- The way Quark and Brunt talk about taxes in S7 suggests there's not a lot of taxation in Ferengi society (officially, anyway. idk what else you'd call their ubiquitous bribes/tips than unofficial taxation). In any case, since one of the major purposes of taxation in modern economies is to control inflation by removing money (governments create/destroy money; they don't really keep a little checkbook register of surplus/deficit the way a household does) offering latinum to the Exchequer as an act of worship could be a good way to take money out of circulation for a while. - Latinum vs fiat money? Latinum is canonically used as coinage by multiple species. (It would seem like Ferengi are putting themselves at a bit of a disadvantage by also attaching a spiritual importance to it, but who knows, and this is a tangent on a tangent.) Is all their money backed by latinum? It can't be, right? Just conceptually, their stock markets and banks can't possibly be tying every value in every account to a real, physical measure of latinum, that's horribly inefficient. Can "latinum" also mean any legitimate liquid asset? Or does the Exchequer insist on the real thing? Much to ponder. - Brunt implies in Family Business that Ferenginar has houseless people and beggars. There's no point in begging if no one ever gives you anything, so some people must give charity to beggars. What's that look like, is it something kind-hearted Ferengi do in spite of the RoA explicitly stating that charity is only acceptable when you come out richer than you started? What's their rationalization in that case? Are they left feeling shameful about it? (Obviously the people stuck begging feel shitty, by design. Ironically, they might feel less shitty than we would, since the Exchequer doesn't appear to care how you get money, only that you get it.) - If you're moved to give money/material aid to a needy person, you'd probably do it quietly. Here in the good ol' US of A a common view is that "hand-outs" hurt the needy person in the long run because you're removing their impetus to stop being lazy sponges. And that's from people who follow a religion that commands them to care for the needy! So it's gotta be even harsher under a religion that's completely mask-off in its worship of individual prosperity. - (You just know Keldar was one of those people tossing a few slips of latinum for someone sleeping under a shop awning each morning. His business sense sucked but Ishka made him sound like a warm person. Folks gotta eat.) - Reincarnation... Alright, so if you were a dude and you die broke it's implied you can't reincarnate/are damned to the Vault of Eternal Destitution. Cool and fair, nothing to unpack there. What about women? They're half the population but seem to have been overlooked on this point in this here 10k-year-old religion. Which is telling in itself, of course, but you'd think someone would have addressed this? Who reincarnates female? Is the accepted understanding that females reincarnate female and are totally removed from the requirement to bid on their life? But that still doesn't solve the problem, because even if reincarnation were assigned-sex-segregated (god what a shitty idea, compels me tho) you're still losing X number of men to the Vault each generation. - I want to see what Ferengi religious debates look like. Pel is shown to be a serious scholar of the RoA as they've dug into not only the text itself but all the commentaries and refutations and deep-dives others have published about it. That's gotta fuel some spicy convo around the tongo table once everyone's a few drinks in. - Are there multiple sects? People arguing whether this or that rule is meant to be taken literally vs as metaphor? Everyone can't be in lockstep on this stuff. Quark seems to have been raised within the currently-hegemonic sect, but surely there's others.

- There don't appear to be any clergy or equivalent persons, so I wonder if there's different sects how they organize themselves? Do they host different subs on Ferengi Reddit? (Ferengi Reddit...shudder) - Ferengi atheists slacking at work or living as drifters because there's no point saving money for a next life that's not real. Life must drive them to drink. That's when you go out into space to live with the sane people and never call home.

- Is the rest of the population chill with atheists, or is that a no-go? I guess it would depend on how loud the person is and whether they follow the Rules or not.

- You know who they're definitely not chill with: socialists. Do they have Satanic Panics about this or that media turning the youth into commies? If you're an outspoken socialist, are you looking at exile? Arrest? An unexpected date with an Eliminator? - Conspicuous consumption seems to be a thing, and it's interesting in light of the whole "needing a good high score for a good reincarnation" idea. It still boils down to showing off how much you can afford to waste, but the stakes are undoubtedly higher for the faithful. - If something happens and you're at risk if losing everything, is it safer to just off yourself while you still have money? What if you're going to lose more than you'd ever be able to make back? (In economics this is called a perverse incentive lulz)

- The Great Monetary Collapse must have suuuuucked. It's the Great Depression x100, and also your god is mad at you, maybe??? And your next life is totally screwed now, too. Fuckin' dire, man. When Quark mentioned it in the show, it was with this flippant air like he was waiting to see how Miles and Julian reacted. He might have elaborated more if they hadn't reacted...the way he probably assumed they would. (Partially a self-fulfilling prophecy given the way he primed them to treat it as a joke, but I digress.) - Suicide rates are measurably higher in societies that elevate achievement and work ethic (see the Protestant vs Catholic divide on this, it's interesting and very depressing as a lapsed protestant in a protestant-dominated country). Just saying. - On this same bummer track: hedonic depression could be very commonplace among Ferengi. Every minute not spent working is spent on distraction because life is just such an exhausting grind, and a lot of factors determining whether you're a good/successful person are out of your control. Booze, porn, and gambling are all very distracting, and thus very popular. If a lot of this just sounds like regular degular capitalism: yes. It's actually proving difficult to push the fictional society further out because we're already living beyond satire. Maybe that's why I like these awful little guys so much. (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hi! It's an au twilight question.

What if Edward and Bella did the nasty in early New moon. Then the party happens and the Cullens leave. Bella discovers she's pregnant with Renesmee. What do you think what would happen?

A very interesting question, anon. One that will go very interesting places, I'm sure.

That said, as usual, because I'm a completionist, we have to go through the "why no canon?" routine. Bear with me, I simply must.

Why Didn't Edward and Bella Do the Nasty Pre-Breaking Dawn?

For all that Edward is, for all his... questionable morals and sexual fixations, he does have a moral code he strictly holds himself to.

Edward is adamantly against having sex with Bella in terror of the very real possibility that he will murder her in the act. He's very clear about this, he didn't think he could do it, at all, and only his sheer desperation that Bella never be turned, his desire to marry Bella, as well as Alice's thumbs up convinced him to do it.

If Bella was a reasonable person then she would have agreed as well. Sex with Edward, while she's human, is a bad idea. However, Bella never really seems to clue in on what vampires even are so I think the Man of Steel on Woman of Kleenex aspect is lost on her.

Had Alice not given the green light, I imagine Edward would have gone back to the drawing board and ended up either here or here. Bella turning is the worst possible outcome and Edward will risk almost anything, even Bella's death, to see it avoided.

But that doesn't mean it's an action he takes lightly.

He suggests pimping Bella out to Jake before he suggests sleeping with her himself. For Edward, this is a last resort.

More, Edward is a man of his time.

Edward was from an upper class family and, more to the point, still holds himself to the standards of the society he knew when human (much to Bella's amusement).

Edward wistfully talks about courting Bella, how he would have courted her had he been a true man in the time period he was familiar with, and why marriage to him is so very important.

That Edward doesn't seek out the approval of Charlie, Bella's father, is a hilarious aside to me. Edward's all about chivalry until all those old society standards get in his way.

What do you mean a gentleman doesn't sneak into a lady's apartments in the middle of the night to watch her slumber unawares?!

Regardless, marriage is extremely important to Edward, especially in the context of sex.

Edward will absolutely not have sex with a woman who is not first his wife. He also will not marry a girl that society defines as underage, he will wait until Bella's legal and probably until she finishes her primary schooling.

This means Edward was never likely to have sex with her before graduation and certainly not before her eighteenth birthday.

Which, at the earliest, puts her past the New Moon birthday bash.

Edward and Bella Do the Do Anyway

But let's pretend they do it anyway.

I'd say the most likely scenario is after the birthday disaster. This is it, Edward knows he is leaving Bella forever, if he is truly noble then he will never see her again.

Certainly, he will never interact with her nor hold her in his arms. To Edward, this is essentially his last true night on Earth.

So rather than pull a partial D.E.N.N.I.S. system, Edward pulls the full D.E.N.N.I.S. system, he initiates the "I" he was previously missing, "Inspire Hope". Or, in this case, get laid for the first and only time in his life.

He sneaks in through her window. They make beautiful, passionate, tepid love so Edward does not crush her in the act, and as she sleeps blissfully in the aftermath he sneaks back out the window to never be seen again.

(It takes Bella a week to admit that Edward just hit and run. The Cullens aren't coming back.)

However, because Edward didn't actually point blank tell her what was happening, rather than hit her New Moon stage of depression, Bella's instead in denial.

The Cullens are coming back. What, Carlisle has a new job? No, that can't be right, they're coming back. Alice would never leave her without a word. Edward would never leave her without a word.

Jessica pats Bella on the back consolingly and is secretly glad that it's not her. She might have been dumped by Edward Cullen, but at least he didn't humiliate her the way he did Bella Swan.

Leaving without a single word, yikes.

Two weeks go by then Bella gets the flu.

In a single day, she's unable to keep down anything. Huh, that's weird. Very quickly, Bella has her tampon epiphany. Bella is not a virgin, she had sex with Edward, she's late, and she appears to have a baby bump.

Bella is carrying Edward's child.

There is no question of aborting the child. This is Edward's child, the only piece she has left of him, even without Renesmee's gift it's ride or die. Bella is delivering this child even if it kills her.

However, she has some immediate issues.

First, she's visibly pregnant, it's been only two weeks. That's not supposed to happen. More, Charlie is bound to notice sooner rather than later, Bella would like to avoid that, the stigma of teen pregnancy, as well as the inhuman complications that are sure to come along.

Second, there's inhuman complications. Bella can't just go to an OBGYN, not even a town over. She's carrying something half human, a doctor will poke around and find that out, and then Bella's blowing the secret.

Bella knows vaguely of the Volturi at this point, but not the severity of the law, it's more that she promised Edward she would never tell a soul.

Plus, a human doctor wouldn't be able to help anyway.

That leaves vampires.

Bella tries to call/email the Cullens. However, thanks to Edward, all their numbers are disconnected and all their emails no longer exist. Her "Alice, help, I'm pregannant" messages are sent to a void.

(Alice, meanwhile, thinks she's finally successful in blocking visions of Bella. At least Edward will be off her back. Without the cliff diving and Jake, Alice does not assume Bella has died/committed suicide.)

A brief internet survey also yields Bella no results, but it does get her a lot of vampire porn. Thanks internet.

Bella... starts to get worried.

She's getting more and more pregnant in a matter of days, Charlie is starting to notice that she can't keep anything down, and the Cullens aren't taking her phone calls.

Then, Bella has it, she remembers that weird baroque painting Carlisle had of him and those Italian vampire dudes: the Volturi. Conveniently named after the city they live in, Volterra, Italy.

Bella debates her options.

Edward told her that these are the guys who make sure that humans who know the secret disappear. Well, Bella is a human who knows the secret, that's bad. Also bad is that they eat people, Bella is a person.

On the other hand, Edward implied these guys are civilized and friends of Carlisle. That's... good? Bella isn't sure she's on good terms with the Cullens, given the whole abrupt leaving thing, but maybe they don't have to know that.

Bella debates with herself, tries to look up the Denali, and only finds the National Park. She has no idea where these guys even live, or what they even look like besides "blonde hot vampire", and she's short on time. Plus, they are close with the Cullens, so the Cullens probably did tell them "Ew, Bella, No Gross, Do Not Want".

Because the Cullens all hate her now.

Bella has some money saved up, and this is probably a one way trip, and if she doesn't go then... well, it's not looking good. Bella musters up her courage, tells Charlie some outrageous fib to explain why she's disappearing off the face of the planet, and books a flight to Rome, then Pisa, then a bus ride to Volterra.

Bella subsists completely on blue gateorade, this doesn't go well, and she vomits blue in the parking lot.

Regardless, she makes it, huzzah she is in Volterra. It's sunny out and there are no vampires. Bella wanders around the city and looks for the most vampire building she can find.

Luckily, she happens to be right, and it's the very central castle. Well done, Bella.

Bella walks in and spots a vampire. She also spots a receptionist, Bella is very confused. Never the less, Bella says the magic words, "I'm a... friend of Carlisle Cullen?"

Even though Bella doesn't have Aro's name (or any of the other Volturi for that matter), Carlisle's name does the trick. Anyone who works for Aro knows that name.

Color Aro intrigued, he will meet this pregnant woman! (Caius, meanwhile, votes that they eat her immediately out of spite.)

Well, Aro touches her hand and lo and behold she's scarily gifted. And she knows Carlisle, what a great day to be Aro.

Aro explains that everything's totally fine with her knowing the secret, it just means they have to turn her eventually, after she gives birth of course.

Bella stares at him numbly and wonders why Edward made this such a big deal if it was that easy.

Aro insists Bella start from the beginning, as in the very beginning of her life. This is weird, but Bella complies.

An hour later they get to the interesting part: Bella meets Carlisle (and Edward Cullen, Aro guesses). Aro gets to hear the whole, sordid, ridiculous tale of Bella and Edward's romance including the part where he fucked her and ran off into the night.

Aro is stunned.

He first apologizes for the Cullens behavior, they should absolutely not have abandoned her, and not turning her was completely irresponsible (what the hell was Carlisle thinking?)

He then gives the bad news, he... has never heard of anything like this.

You see, normal vampires don't have sex with humans. It isn't done.

Also, there's this thing called Immortal Children (Edward tell you about that, no? Well, he probably thought it wasn't relevant). That thing your carrying might not be a child capable of growth but an insatiable monster.

Or it could be the alien from Aliens.

There's no way to tell, really.

BUT NO NEED TO WORRY, BELLA, THEY WILL FIGURE THIS OUT.

Aro promises Bella his protection and a period of observation for the child. Bella's not sure she likes that observation part, but this seems like a pretty sweet deal otherwise.

As for what to do, well, Aro has to call in the foremost vampire medical expert. Sorry, Bella, but there's only one man for the job.

Aro sends out Demetri to find Carlisle.

Demetri shows up on Carlisle's doorstep, "Carlisle, old friend, Aro has need of you. Your son knocked up a human girl."

Carlisle blinks, blinks again, then does a thousand yard stare. My God.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Edward is already on Victoria's tail. Carlisle tries to call him, to no avail, Edward isn't taking his phone calls.

Alice and Jasper are already on their trip to hunt down Alice's past. Plus, given the Volturi, they'd be unlikely to come anyway. Carlisle sends them a message.

Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett travel to Volterra to clean up Edward's mess.

And sure enough, there's Bella, very pregnant with a child that is very much not human. Carlisle dies inside, Rosalie's on a warpath that Edward would abandon his pregnant girlfriend to the point where the only place she could turn was human drinking vampires.

Rosalie takes it upon herself to leave Edward the world's angriest voice messages until he returns her phone calls.

Aro's delighted to see Carlisle again. Even if he does have a wife now. Also, Aro claims finders keepers for Bella, Carlisle's not happy about this and less happy that Aro points out that if Edward cared so much he wouldn't be absent right now, would he?

They figure out the blood drinking thing, Carlisle desperately raids a hospital to prevent Bella from being fed the leftovers of the Volturi victims. This likely doesn't work out for him.

At the last possible moment, Edward finally picks up his phone. He learns that all he's tried to accomplish failed spectacularly. Bella is pregnant with his demon child, is literally drinking blood, and is in Vampire HQ with the leader insisting she will be turned immediately after the C-section.

Edward races to Volterra and strides into the room demanding Bella be aborted and remain human.

Aro stares.

Carlisle awkwardly explains that Bella's too far along, it's too late now even if they wanted to, more she adamantly doesn't want to abort and never did.

As for Bella being human... Bella pipes in that she's cool on becoming the vampire part. Aro's a great guy. She then races to embrace Edward, he's come back, after all this time. And he's going to be a father, isn't that wonderful?

Edward loses his mind.

And because this is Edward, I have no idea what he'll do, only it'll be utter madness. This is my best guess.

To be a little more serious, he probably tries to abort the child anyway, he mercy kills Bella and the child, or Renesmee manages to get through to him.

Given canon, it's likely the latter. Bella is convinced that her and Edward's relationship is perfect.

Aro has no idea what to think of any of this.

[oneisallallisone]

All I Know, All I Know Greedling x Reader fic Chapter 1

In a land ruled by alchemy, there are some who would call you a sorcerer. You intend to understand what this means. Along your journey you end up getting mixed up with two strange brothers, a military conspiracy, a potentially world-ending event, and the avarice of something more than human.

I wanted to see more Greedling x reader stories in the tag. This one’s going to be a SLOW burn, but we’ll get there. I have plans. 

Read on AO3

_______________________________________________________________________

All I Know, All I Know

Chapter 1: Koldun

There are ancient legends: tales that tell of a city disappearing within a single night, stones that hold the power of god, of immortality itself, just to name a few. Myths such as these have been passed down through generations by word of mouth, pen to paper, and are woven into the fabric of everything that fascinates humankind. 

There is no name for the legend that you are, however. 

Alchemy is the science of understanding, reconstructing, and deconstructing matter. Alkahestry is the art of reading the Dragon’s Pulse, of sensing the flow of energy within yourself and the world around you, and then manipulating it. Both rely on a give and a take. A desire, an exchange, and a result. But you, with your will and your breath and the force that plays at your fingertips, are something else entirely. 

No, there is no name in Amestris for you. But there is an ancient Drachman word for what you might be. A word so old and feared that it is uttered in barely a whisper. “Koldun,” they call you. “Sorcerer.” It is the only word that seems to fit what you are, and the way it is spoken is just as cold as the air that bites your ears and the tip of your nose. Drachman winters are harsh. The resentment of Drachman people who don’t understand your nature is harsher.

But enough about the cold. Now you found yourself in the warmer weather of the south, regretting the bearskin cloak you have draped around your shoulders. It might not be fit for a sunny day in Central City, but its weight provides a calming sense of familiarity. A small piece of home that was actually yours to keep. 

The journey to Amestris hadn’t been hard, but it had been long. The mountain pass was no longer safe to use, as both Drachman and Amestrian soldiers were posted nearby at all hours of the day. The peace was holding out, for now, although it seemed like things could take a turn for the worse at any moment. So instead of taking the mountain pass, you traveled the road through the forest with a group of merchants who were on their way to Aerugo. They needed to pass through Amestris first. You’d parted ways with them in Central, and they wished you luck despite not knowing the full details of your mission.

How could you have told them, though? They would have left you for dead with nothing but the snow as a blanket for your final rest had you told them what you were. Koldun. The word still didn’t feel right in your mind, but it was the only lead you had to cling to.

So there you were, walking through the streets of Central in your too-hot bearskin cloak and worn leather boots, trying to find the greatest wellspring of information the West had to offer in order to gain some insight into the nature of your existence.

Only when you got to the First Branch of the National Central Library, you found a pile of rubble instead.

“What?” you gasped, barely audible. “No, no!”

You ran up what was left of the charred stairs and into the wreckage. 

All around you were mountains of debris and ash. Wooden shelves reduced to nothing, charred husks of books no longer readable and scattered about. You stumbled around every turn, through every crumbling passage that looked once like it might have been a hallway, searching the skeleton of each room for anything that might look like a single page intact, but there was nothing. It was a ruin. You sank to your knees. 

“Dammit!”

An involuntary surge of your power shook the room with your cry—violet waves that knocked loose a few pieces of stone that had not yet fallen. You buried your head in your hands and willed yourself not to sob. There had to be another place to find answers about your abilities. There had to be. You couldn’t have come all this way for nothing. 

You were muttering this softly to yourself when another voice interrupted you. 

“Um, hello?” 

You turned sharply to an unexpected sight. A boy with blonde hair and a long red jacket, and…a massive armored fellow? The voice from before, coming from the blonde boy, spoke again. “Are you alright?” 

You quickly rubbed your dampening eyes. “Yes. Yes, I’m just fine.” 

“We heard a crash,” the armored fellow said in a voice that sounded far more childish than you expected. “Are you sure you’re not injured?”

“Yeah, yeah I was just…throwing some things around. I’m fine. Just frustrated.” 

“Did you happen to see who did this?” the blonde boy asked.

You shook your head. “No.” 

He narrowed his eyes a little then. “How do we know you didn’t do this?” 

“What?” you hissed. “Look, when I got here the place was already a wreck. I didn’t see who or what did this. I swear.” 

For a moment it looked as if the boy was going to continue interrogating you, but then his eyes softened. He dropped his shoulders. “Alright, Al.” He turned to the suit of armor. “I guess we’re going to have to figure something else out.” 

There was a clanking as the suit of armor, Al, hung his head. “I guess so.” 

“Wait,” you said just as the boys were turning to leave. “Do you know if there’s anywhere else in the city that would store knowledge similar to what was in this branch?” 

The blonde boy crossed his arms. “What kind of information are you looking for?” 

You hesitated for a moment. How were you supposed to explain your predicament to these strangers? “Well…I’m looking for any sort of historical records or myths of people with beyond-human abilities.” 

“So you mean like alchemists?”

“Honestly, not quite,” you said hesitantly. “But that wouldn’t be a bad place to start.”  

The blonde boy huffed. “Well believe me, when it comes to people with ‘beyond-human abilities,’ alchemists are the only thing you’re going to find. Alchemy isn’t anything supernatural, but it’s the closest thing humans will ever have to augmented abilities.” 

“You sound very sure of yourself.” 

“Yup. Anything else is just made up.” 

The corners of your mouth twitched. Was it pride? Was it spite? The only thing you knew is that you wanted to wipe this guy’s smug smirk right off his face, and you could already feel the power surging to your fingertips. 

You hadn’t even called upon it. It knew you. 

Raising your hand, you allowed your energy to manifest at your fingertips. Small flickers of purple danced across your skin as you curled and flexed your fingers. It was like passing a coin between your knuckles. 

The blonde boy’s mouth flew open, first in shock, then as if he was going to say something, and then settled into shock again. The armored fellow next to him startled. 

“Brother…” the metallic voice rang. 

“How…how are you doing that?” the blonde asked you. 

“They didn’t perform a transmutation or anything!” the armored boy said, partially to his brother but mostly to himself, it seemed.  

“I’ve never seen alchemy like that,” the blonde started, “Not even Teacher’s is like that. Seriously, how are you doing that?” 

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” you responded.

“What?” 

You pointed at the suit of armor. “What’s his story? I haven’t been in this country for long, but I know that citizens casually going around in full armor isn’t the standard.” 

The metal boy shifted uncomfortably. “Oh, I, well…uh…” 

A resolute look fell onto the blonde boy’s face. He placed a hand on the armored torso of his companion. “Al, it’s okay. We can think of this as just another equivalent exchange, information for information. And besides,” he lowered his voice, “Whatever their power is, it’s not something we’ve seen before. We’d be idiots not to learn more about it. Maybe they can help us.” 

You raised an eyebrow, but neither of the boys saw it. 

The armored fellow raised his head to catch your gaze again. “Please just don’t freak out.” He brought his hands up to his helmet and pulled. There was nothing underneath. 

At first you thought that the boy inside the armor must have been too short to stand within it. But then you took a few steps closer and realized there was no boy in the armor at all.

“Oh,” you said. “Well that’s not something you see every day.” 

“And neither are you,” the blonde said. “We told you ours, now you tell us yours.” 

You frowned. “Unfortunately there’s not much to tell. It’s why I came here, actually. I’m trying to learn more about the nature of my abilities, because they are definitely not…what you call alchemy.” 

“Well, where do you come from?” he asked. “Maybe it has a different name in your country?” 

You shook your head. “Alchemy exists in my country. It is something that is taught. I, however, was not taught any of this.” You lowered your gaze to the floor, preparing to say the words that you had only said to so few. “I am from Drachma. The only word they have for me is Koldun. It translates to sorcerer.” 

[andraaste]

I am not your enemy - Lance fanfiction part 16

The Chapter is finally out my Guardians 🐉

Chapter 16 : In the deepest memories of the last of the dragons

My hands would follow their path taken for several minutes, forming various abstract forms of their weak caresses. Many chills arose from time to time with my fingers when I explored new areas but no protest was ever heard, which prompted me to venture out again and again, savoring this almost suspended moment in time.

Blinking hard with white lids in the dim daylight streaming through the curtains, my gaze fell for a moment on the long locks that partially obscured Lance's sleeping face. With his head resting on my bare chest, he didn't seem to want to wake up from his deep sleep, an arm slung over my request now firmly pressed against him.

I directed my caresses a little higher until I reached a scaly area on his shoulder. Fascinated, I drew each outline as if to come to memorize them, surprised to feel them vibrate with each passage of my fingers.

It had been some time since I realized one thing. One thing who, each time he let me see it, filled my heart a little more with new feelings.

More and more often in my presence, Lance seemed to forget his barriers. So sometimes the young man let an infinite number of improbably colored scales run over his skin while, at other times, his ice ran through my body without any logic, drawing complex and involuntary shapes. I’m always surprised at the sweetness of these manifestations, yet they are born of a raw, primitive nature. Because despite his human appearance, Lance was nonetheless a dragon whose instincts he had and, beyond the brutality that accompanied some, I loved to see him let go. I had the impression that in those rare moments when the barrier between his two forms was weakening, he could finally relax, really be himself.

But to share with him this moment of physical intimacy In purely instinctive outbursts, he loved to mark me with his presence, ranging from his powers to his scent and at times, to his claws. Lance had been unintentionally brutal at times, but was it strange if I admitted that I absolutely loved every moment ?

The dragon pulled me out of my reveries, stirring lightly. Lifting his face with still sleeping features, he arched an eyebrow as he analyzed the situation, his gaze drifting over our still naked bodies. My breath quickened as one of his hands lingered on the slope of my hip as his eyes were already dark with desire. Without warning, he tightened his embrace and rocked over me. His long hair tickled my face as he leaned down to explore every inch of my neck, making me moan in spite of myself with languor.

- Hello, my angel, he said in a hoarse voice against my skin.

I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders as a weary smile stretched my lips.

- Hello, my great dragon.

Lance laughed in the crook of my collarbone as he let his icy hands rest on my thighs, causing goose bumps to grow in the grooves of his palms. His lips entered the slope of my jaw, and when they finally met mine, it was with some authority that he lifted my legs on either side of his narrow hips.

We kissed for a long time, our tongues meeting without delay to deepen our embrace. Between my legs, I felt him pulsing more and more vigorously, increasing with maddening speed the desire that had not left me.

- You do well not to forget in whose arms you find, he amused himself in a voice with a much deeper sound than usual.

I dug my nails vigorously into his muscular back as his hips pushed against my lower abdomen.

- How could I, exactly ? I questioned him with difficulty, so much the least of his gestures obsessed me. You don't really help me forget it...

- It's true that I can't keep my human form completely, with you.

- I don't mind, you know, I said with a laugh.

A gentle smile lit up his face, which features often so harsh. In a light mood, the dragon lifted my chin with his fingers to orient my face in his direction. I plunged without hesitation into his eyes which had occupied all my thoughts for several weeks.

Becoming serious again, we didn’t say the least for several long seconds, we observe with a heavy look of meaning.

- Andraste...

I knew what was going on in his head.

We.

Our relationship, our past, our present... To be in each other's arms was absurd, totally unconventional and we were both deeply aware of it. What would become of each other once we got out of this room ?

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing we could become for each other. And we knew it.

Deciding to stop our respective paths of thought, I crossed the short distance between us, feverishly pressing my lips against his. I kissed him with anger, despair, envy. I placed my fears in those powerful hands that encircled my hips, those greedy lips that devoured mine as if to come and seek some breath. I needed to feel him losing control, needed to drown in his eyes that screamed at me that they loved me.

Or at least, during these short, resolutely forbidden moments.

- Please, don't say anything, I said between two kisses, starting to move my pelvis against his. We'll have plenty of time to worry about this later.

Seeming to consider my words at first, Lance suddenly planted one of his hands on my hip as I shifted more and more vigorously under his weight that crushed me. Not giving me time to think, he shamelessly slipped two fingers inside me without ever taking my eyes off suddenly feverish. Reaching my guard, he stirred slowly but confidently, torturing me with his thumb a little higher. My God, I had never wanted someone so much, I was sure.

Each of his movements made a myriad of sensations explode in the pit of my stomach, making me turn my head with his precise gestures. My pelvis quickly accompanies his fingers, guiding them silently while each of my moans is found drawn to his lips. When a multitude of stars erupted in my field of vision, I firmly grabbed his throat as he led me over the edge of the precipice without warning.

As I lost ground, I noticed with a blank eye that my light was diffused into him. Starting from the base of his neck just under my palm, it illuminated him tanned skin with its bright, warm colors. In this story, it wasn't Lance who lost control the most.

I think it was me.

Not that I ever really had control over my powers, that would have been lying. But I no longer control anything. My emotions, my fears, my desires; I was constantly jostled, tossed about between everything.

When the dragon in turn realized that I was marking him without permission with my light, he groaned in satisfaction before promptly removing his fingers from my privacy. I didn't have time to figure out what was happening to me as I already found myself astride him, Lance having grabbed me to reverse our places, his hands feverishly running my back as his tongue attacked my chest. Tilting my head back, I let his hungry mouth move up to my ear, biting my skin with his suddenly sharper teeth until it slightly marked me.

With one hand, I pushed him away in order to come and press his back authoritatively against the mattress. His gaze darkens again as I lean over him, starting a slow descent from his abdomen. Another gasp escaped him as my palm met his erection, slowly working its way up from the base to the end, never taking my eyes away from his. Lance slid his fingers in an inordinately gentle gesture through my hair to achieve my face, making it easier for me. His hands began to shake slightly when I finally took him in my mouth, unable to fully accommodate him as long as he was imposing.

His breathing quickened as I started my task, fascinated to be able to discover him in my turn as he had done that night with my body. Very soon, I heard him utter several quiet moans which excited me to the highest point before he hastily tugged at my hair to make me lift my head. Bluntly, he pulled me up to him while vigorously grabbing my lips, framing my face with his large hands.

- I think I want you too much, my angel.

*

The water hit my head heresy, hitting my long hair hard against my shoulders. How long have I been wandering here ? My eyes narrowed at the force of the rain that fell on me, I moved forward as in a kind of constant blur.

My gaze was followed by a small shadow which is quickly in front of me. Running under the downpours, she didn't seem to feel them, moving freely in the surrounding darkness. I put a feverish hand in front of my face to try to make out something around, having lost the figure between the trees. Sailing blind, a childish laugh catches my attention as I push two branches in my path. Deciding to follow the sound of that unfamiliar voice, I sank deeper into what looked like a real maze.

The closer I got to the shadow, the more it seemed to take shape before my eyes. Very soon, I could make out rainbow-colored hair that blended into pale skin, accompanied by two small horns. The young girl was running innocently, as light as the air despite the brutality of the force of nature that fell on me. My heart skipped a beat when I thought I was losing sight of her again, which prompted me to pick up my pace even more. I stumbled many times, sliding across the muddy ground, hitting oversized roots. The thundering sound of the rain covered the sound of my frantic breath, my hair clinging to my face, entering my mouth, sticking to my eyelashes. My sight was diminishing, darkness absorbed me with its cold arms.

I didn't know what to do anymore, I was lost.

But suddenly the little girl's big silent eyes appeared in front of me. An arm outstretched in my direction, she invited me to join, as bright as the sun. When my fingers made contact with her skin, the scenery changed completely, making my head spin at breakneck speed.

The movements finally calmed down. I immediately recognized the Crystal Room, but it wasn’t the one I knew now.

Several people with unfamiliar faces stood in front of me. With serious faces, they were discussing without seeming to notice my presence.

- He will be the one we send there.

- A Guard Chief, when the situation is totally out of control there ?!

- He's far too young !

- Bring him in, cut in the man who seemed to be the decision-maker here.

A shiver ran through my back as the door opened wide, letting slow, sure footsteps echo through the room. When the young man in question passes close to me, brushing my right arm in the process, a sharp sensation marked my skin under my sleeve. He seemed to feel it too, for the expression on his face changed for a brief moment, almost flustered. His gaze caressed mine without actually seeing me.

- Lance, we were expecting you.

Continuing on his way, a confident smile widened the full lips of the dragon with such youthful features.

- Please excuse me for being late, Master Kaze.

Completely caught up with what was happening in front of my eyes, I was surprised to find the young girl's little fingers wrapped around my forearm. When I turned my head in her direction, the world shifted once again.

A companion collapsed at my feet, spurting blood against my legs. A violent gag took hold of me when its organs fell from the gaping wound that sawed through its stomach. Horrified, I backed up several meters when my attention was signaled by a huge dragon crashing into the rocks not far from me, all with a thudding noise. In a last rattle that comes back to my stomach, the creature collapses to the ground before taking on a semi-human form. Tears flooded my cheeks as I rushed over to him.

- LANCE !

My voice creaked, broke in my throat. I could only see the red puddle that gradually spread around his neck like a macabre web when my vision changed once again.

I was sitting on a bed in a windowless room. Beside me, a small gas light glowing faintly in the dark. Looking down, I noticed I was perfectly dry. No more blood stained my clothes.

- So if I understood correctly, you want to help me break this damn Crystal ?

A harsh laugh shook the broad shoulders of the young man as his interlocutor didn’t move a millimeter, perfectly stoic.

- You understood me very well, Ashkore. Do you want to make this deal, yes or no ?

Lance's gaze shone with a gleam that made my blood run cold. A carnivorous smile crossed his crazy-looking face.

- Very well, my dear deamon. But don't think you'll get me right.

The light suddenly went out, revealing once again the bluish color of the great Crystal.

Serenity reigned in the room. This time, no sound comes to disturb the religious calm of this atmosphere. A movement at the back of the room made me turn around anyway, revealing Lance once again.

Alone, casually assisting on the floor, his gaze didn’t seem to want to leave the luminescent jewel.

His eyes had never been so dark.

- That was the last time he was here, until you woke up.

I jumped at the sound of the small voice behind my back. The young girl stands there, motionless. I hesitated for a moment.

- Ophelia... where are we ? I questioned weakly, having her decide to disappear again.

Her expressionless gaze was lost for a moment in the void behind me. I thought she wouldn't answer me.

- In the deepest memories of the last of the dragons.

- But why ? What are we doing here ?

Walling herself in silence, she walked straight ahead until she crossed my body and passed to the other side.

- You have to find the answer for yourself, Andraste.

The recommended image to blur around me. No, not now, I had to catch up with her !

- Ophelia !

Abruptly opening my eyes, I woke up sweating in my bed, breathing heavily from my parted lips.

I was dumbfounded when I realized that tiny ice crystals were forming under my astonished gaze.

Damn, what happened to me ?

(Chapter 17)

[authenticcadence18]

You seem to be such a hopeless romantic, any reason for being like that? It's honestly quite endearing.

Well! I blame the media I consumed growing up, lollllll. I mean, I grew up on Barbie movies like Princess and the Pauper (like, in the end of that movie, Erika—aka the Pauper—is proposed to by her love interest, but instead of staying behind to marry him she decides to travel the world and pursue her dream of being a singer. And her king says he’ll wait for her and HE DOES, ONE DAY SHE COMES HOME FROM SINGING AND THEY EMBRACE AND GET MARRIED AND!!!!!! SHE FOLLOWED HER DREAM AND HER KING SUPPORTED HER AND WAITED FOR HER, I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD WHEN THIS MOVIE CAME OUT SO THE BAR HAS ALWAYS BEEN HIGH) and The Island Princess! And then there’s disney. Cinderella was my first favorite movie, and then i just keep seeing more movies with genuine sweet romances in them! Like The Little Mermaid, Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, etc. And of course I grew up loving ships like Percy and Annabeth, Phineas and Isabella, and Star and Marco! Friends to lovers is my favorite trope for a reason, LOL! I’ve never understood the trend in young adult fiction where the protagonist must choose between her childhood best friend or the “broody bad boy” she’s just met and she chooses the bad boy: the childhood best friend seems like a no brainer to me! I’ve just have always loved the idea of two people loving and complimenting one another completely and being best friends as well as romantic partners. It’s just so sweet. I’m not as much of a fan of stories where two people instantly fall in love, especially when it’s based purely on looks. That just isn’t endearing to me, seems shallow. But I love it when two characters genuinely get to know each other and fall in love BECAUSE of each other’s little idiosyncrasies and passions and personalities, not in spite of them.

To be honest, I’m relatively jaded towards actual romance these days, and sometimes that affects my ability to enjoy fictional romance. That’s partially why I haven’t been writing as much, I only want to write fluffy romancy stuff when I’m genuinely enjoying it. From what I’ve seen, finding and maintaining relationships is TOUGH in the real world. They’re far less likely to work out, and modern dating culture absolutely sucks. Like the concept of mutual reciprocated feelings between two people who are perfectly compatible seems like, a needle in a haystack kind of deal to me, and yet the wedding industry exists and tons of my friends/family are dating or engaged or married and it is just. Mind boggling. I guess, I’m learning more about what I want a relationship to mean to me as I get older? And writing definitely helps with that, so I want to keep at it.

But uh, yeah! I’m less of a hopeless romantic now than I was when I was younger, but it makes me happy when I’m still able to enjoy fictional romances and see the potential relationships can have. I’m assuming this ask was inspired by the Tiana/Naveen post I made yesterday, rewatching that movie really hit hard because Naveen genuinely loves Tiana SO MUCH and is as passionate about her dream as she is. And then in the end they SHARE HER DREAM. And Tiana gives Naveen a new purpose in life and loves him just as much and I just. It makes me a little teary, but in a good way!

[crossdressingdeath]

It infuriates me when people say that "oh it wasn't their fault JGY manipulated them" for every bad thing happening in MDZS. Especially in defense of JC. Like yes, he manipulated a lot of people and he's a murderous little bastard, but even when JGY put his hand in, the person still made the choice. JC, especially because of the CQL, is treated like a poor little baby due to this. Manipulation to cause harm and actually causing harm are two separate things. Very similar, but still different. And honestly, it wasn't even very hard for JC to go off, he didn't even need manipulation. It's also hypocritical of JC stans to criticize JGY and WWX of being mass murderers and killers when JC is guilty of the same thing and more!

I think the trouble is that people often miss that just because there are situations in the novel where "JGY manipulated them" largely (though never completely) absolves a character of guilt doesn't mean that that applies to every character JGY ever talks to. Like... we know JGY is a master manipulator, but one of the interesting things about him is that if we look at just the main cast he... very rarely does. He manipulates LXC into not seeing him as suspicious (although I'd argue that that's at least partially incidental and related to him genuinely wanting to be LXC's friend), but otherwise he seems to mostly just... occasionally suggest the cast act on their preexisting impulses. Hell, it's usually JGS making the suggestions! For instance, it's JGS who's all "Hey, Sect Leader Jiang, your second in command insulted you one time" and then JC is like "Shit, did he? I'd better kill him". That's the thing with the manipulators in MDZS; all they do is get the ball rolling. They'll make a suggestion, they'll tell a couple lies, and that is all it takes for whoever they're talking to to go full mass murderer. JC is the perfect example, because as far as we know the Jins did practically nothing! JGS said WWX insulted JC (and was immediately shot down by Lan "never ever lies ever" Wangji) and then claimed the Wens JC knew for a fact were civilians were actually an army; there's no mention of them doing anything beyond that. They were at most an excuse for JC to do what he already wanted to, because JC knew from what he'd seen with his own eyes that everything they were saying was bullshit.

And yeah, people act like manipulation completely removes all culpability from the shoulders of the person who actually did whatever deed is being discussed when... that's not how it works. And because it's mostly JC people keep trying to absolve of guilt by claiming he was manipulated: not only was he not manipulated himself on account of being one of the only people who went to the Burial Mounds and saw the Wen remnants (meaning he had all the information that JGY and JGS were hiding from everyone else to manipulate them into killing a bunch of civilians), he actually does a good chunk of the manipulating for the Jins! Remember, he actively hides the fact that the Wens a) are civilians and b) are led by the people who risked their lives protecting him after Lotus Pier fell in favour of telling everyone that WWX is a traitor for... fulfilling JC's life debts for him. This is the sort of manipulation that removes culpability from a person, because the people JC's talking to aren't getting the full story. Because he's hiding it from them. So if people are going to insist that JC shouldn't be held culpable for anything because "JGY manipulated him" (footage not found), then everyone involved in the first siege of the Burial Mounds except JGS, JGY and JC is totally innocent because the three of them are, as far as we know, the only cast members who actually knew what was happening. And yet people keep insisting that everyone is guilty except JC! Very strange, that one of the only people who actually knew what was happening is also the only one who isn't guilty. People should just admit that the "JGY manipulated them" line is just about scrambling for an excuse to insist that JC willingly slaughtering a civilian population out of sheer spite and desire for revenge against people who were already dead isn't a completely morally bankrupt act already.

And yeah, it's incredibly hypocritical that people both in and out of universe freak out over WWX and JGY being mass murderers when a) WWX only acted in self defence and b) JC is also a mass murderer. And a serial killer! Which JGY and WWX are not! Keep that in mind next time you read the bit where the sects all turn on JGY; they are doing this in the presence of a known serial killer who tortures people to death and doesn't even benefit from it (one thing you can say about JGY is that he never kills anyone without some sort of tangible benefit) with no intention of doing anything about him. I'm not suggesting that JGY shouldn't have been dealt with for his crimes, but... just keep in mind that they're doing all this with the support and arguably under the leadership of a guy who has brutally tortured so many people to death that his entire reputation is based around it. And do nothing about that at any point. Classism is alive and well among the sects.

[acey-wacey]

Crushing on another team’s manager

Yamaguchi 

He probably noticed you during training camp

You were the manager for Nekoma and Kuroo’s best friend, besides Kenma, so you hung out in the 3rd gym a lot. 

Yamaguchi waits for Tsukki sometimes and plays with Kuroo, Bokuto and Akaashi. 

He first notices you when you pop in to tell them that dinner is almost over. 

“Kenma saved you a bowl but if you’re not at the dining hall in exactly 4 and a half minutes, I will be eating it, Kuroo.”

The 3rd-year laughs and starts cleaning up the gym along with the rest of the 3rd gym boys but Yamaguchi’s mind is still on you.

The first thing he noticed about you was the way a wide grin spread slowly across your face when you were teasing Kuroo. 

He had never seen a smile so goofy yet so beautiful in his entire life. You intrigued him already

He thought about that smile as he went to sleep that night.

Your next encounter was during one of the practice games they had with Nekoma during the camp. 

In between the sets, you were passing out water and towels to the Nekoma players. 

Yamaguchi found his eyes wandering towards you. He couldn’t help it, all he could think of was that smile and how he’d love to see it again. 

Before he could snap himself back to reality, you looked over to catch him staring. He immediately flushed and avoided eye contact. 

When he glanced back up at you for just a second, you were waving at him and smiling. That same smile that he couldn’t stop thinking about. That same smile that radiated warmth and sunshine in the pull of your lips upward. 

He almost stared for too long again but he was conscious enough to realize that he looked like a fool and he waved back before you looked away. 

When you turned back to talking with Kuroo, he remained with the shock and euphoria of seeing your smile again. 

Tsukishima had to knock him back from his thoughts when the next set was about to begin.

The third encounter was at the barbeque at the end of the training camp. 

Everything was completely chaotic and you were keeping the Nekoma boys in check. 

You passed around watermelon and chatted with Kaori and Yukie about how hard it is being the mom to a bunch of crazy teenage boys with way too much energy. 

As you made your way to Karasuno, you hesitated and groaned. 

“I can’t go over there, there’s a cute boy over there and I can’t hold my ground against cute people!” you whisper to your fellow managers. 

They share a smile as you explain why they should go give Karasuno watermelon instead of you. 

In unison, they grabbed your plate of watermelon and pushed you towards where Yamaguchi was sitting. 

He turned around just in time to have the Nekoma manager flung into his arms unceremoniously. 

As you try to grasp the situation, Yukie and Kaori out here just whistling and handing out watermelon, winking and wiggling their eyebrows at you. 

You tried to untangle yourself from Yamaguchi and apologize for your friends but he was too shocked to get any of what you were saying. He was still processing that you, the beautiful angel with the beautiful smile, just fell into his arms, literally. 

It all caught up with him eventually and he was beet red. 

When he realized you were talking, he pulled himself together enough to listen to you. 

“I am so sorry about that, and about my friends,” you growled at Kaori and Yukie, who shrugged and continued passing out watermelon. “I hope I didn’t hurt you,” 

You rub the back of your neck, hoping he won’t notice the blush rising on your ears. 

You two are just standing there awkwardly chuckling and blushing profusely while Nishinoya and Tanaka are sitting across the table watching you and munching on watermelon. 

“So are you guys gonna go out or what?” asks Tanaka as he takes another bites of watermelon. 

This draws your attention. 

Its a whole mess of stuttering as you both frantically try to explain. You aren’t sure what you’re explaining but you don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. Well, no completely the wrong idea. 

Yamaguchi looks towards you, biting the inside of his lip awkwardly. 

“That-uh- actually doesn’t sound like-uh- such a bad idea”

He cringes and braces himself for the imminent rejection but instead is met by a hand taking his. 

“I’d like that,” you tell him. 

He can’t help but smile when he sees your face, the one that is displaying that smile, that radiant smile that fills him with warmth.

Kyoutani

You were Oikawa’s sibling so he expected you to be just as annoying as your brother. 

You go to Shiratorizawa for the science program and have become the manager for the team so you can participate in the school’s volleyball program even if your brother isn’t there. 

The first time he meets you is when you come to bring Tooru a bento during practice. 

You find a stray volleyball by the entrance and throw it straight at Tooru’s head

“Hey! Iwa-ch- y/n! Hi!” 

You smile widely and pat your brother on the arm

“Hey stupid, I brought you a bento so you won’t starve”

While he rifles through the food you brought him, your eyes wander to around the court. You watch some of the other players practice . 

What catches your attention is Kyoutani’s spike. You knew it was powerful from what Tooru has told you but you never expected to see him in person.

Of course you have to walk over and introduce yourself because hey, why not?

He just kind of stares at you. He thought you would be intimidated by his appearance since most people are but you just walked up to him and told him his spike was amazing. 

That made an impression on him more than it probably should. You had such a confident air about you and he was very confused as to why he found himself thinking about you during his classes. 

He would perk up whenever he heard someone coming into the gym, hoping it was you. 

When Aoba Johsai played Shiratorizawa, you, of course, walked over to talk to Tooru. 

“You are going to lose,” you spat. “Also I love you and do your best! Good luck!” Tooru rolled his eyes and punched your arm, so you punched his back harder and earned an “ow” from the drama queen. 

When you were done messing around with Tooru, you looked over at Kyoutani and waved at him with a little smile.

“Good luck out there, Kyoutani! I hope I get to see one of those amazing spikes!”

You made your way back to the Shiratorizawa team as he scowled out of spite for his own heart, how dare it beat that fast when you talk to him

During the whole match, you cheered for both teams out of loyalty to your school and your brother. 

When Kyoutani scored a point, you cheered the loudest. He wouldn’t show it but he loved the attention from you. If you cheered that loud at all of Aoba Johsai’s games, he would score all 25 points just to hear your praise again. 

He asks Oikawa about his feelings and that was a mistake. 

Oikawa is all “ohoho you like my sibling ohoho” he’s such a child

Kyoutani very is very close to just losing it when Oikawa’s all like “ listen here, young one (you’re only one year older shut up) you have a crush, and you gotta tell them. Here, I’ll help you. 

He writes a little note on some Sanrio stationery because it was the only paper Oikawa had in his backpack and Oikawa is supposed to give it to you. 

He’s a little bch about it tho

Just holding it above your head because stupid volleyball players

He eventually does let you read it and you are over the moon

Partially because of the cute stationary but mostly because your crush just confessed to you, I mean, how much better does it get

Now every time you come into the gym, Tooru does the wiggly eyebrows and you shut him up with a volleyball to the back of the head (Iwa: I’ve taught you well)