#repressed ghost my beloved

[gomzdrawfr]

extra scenes from this

[too-much-tma-stuff]

The Other Shoe Drops (part 21)

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As much as Jason and Danny did not want to get out of bed the day after their engagement, there were a lot of people who would be very upset if they found out about the engagement through the villain rumour mill, and Harley could not keep a secret like this. So after breakfast they turned their phones back on to start making calls, first to Alfred and Ellie, then Roy, then making their way down the line of various family and friends. They were ecstatic of course and Roy immediately started talking a mile a minute about planning an engagement party for both of them before forgetting to say goodbye before hanging up making them both laugh. 

Who knew when that party was coming and if it would be a surprise party (purposefully or because Roy forgot to tell them), but they were looking forward to it. Roy knew them both really well by then, he would do a good job.

“Should I be upset he just assumed he’s going to be my best man before I had the chance to ask?” Jason joked to Danny. 

“Hey if you don’t want him I’ll take him,” Danny said, draping himself casually across Jason’s lap, letting out a soft appreciative groan when the arch made his back pop a little.

“Fuck off, he’s mine,” Jason laughed shoving Danny’s shoulder, he didn’t budge an inch as he grinned up at Jason.

“Good, I want Harley as my best woman anyway,” Danny agreed easily. 

“She’ll do a great job, your bachelor party is going to be fucking wild!”

“Excuse you, it'll be my Bachelorette! And I’ll go with the Gotham Sirens,” Danny sniffed in lighthearted disdain. 

“Of course it will,” Jason chuckled indulgently. “Have a great time, Beloved. And when you do I hope you’ll wear the new gloves I made for you.”

“You made me new gloves?” Danny asked, eyebrows pinching together in confusion.

“Yes, I made us both new gloves, with bands carved into them so even when we have to wear our gloves over our rings people will know we’re taken,” Jason explained with repressed pride. 

“Aww you sap,” Danny teased with deep affection and pulled Jason down to kiss him  passionately. 

 ---------

They had a week to enjoy life as new fiances, they told all their friends and family and started discussing colours and potential venues. There would almost certainly be legal complications since Jason was pretty sure they were both legally dead, they’d have to hire lawyers to be officially married as Jason Todd and Danny Fenton, but they didn’t want to talk about that now. They were planning to have a long engagement anyway so for now they could just banter about if red was too cliche of a colour. 

But of course the universe wouldn’t let them get to their engagement party in peace before another one of the balls they had in their air dropped on their head. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Danny asked, dangerously soft into the phone. The tone immediately catching Jason’s attention from across the room. He got up and went to sit next to Danny, asking with his eyes if everything was okay. Danny gave him a look and shook his head slightly, then switched the phone to speaker so they could both listen. 

“-know how but they convinced the UN to have a meeting to hear them out. They’re pushing back much harder against the Justice League than we expected and want to prove ghosts are a threat and they’re methods are justified. We didn’t expect them to have enough resources to do anything like this, especially with our more covert operations ongoing.”

At least the voice coming out of the phone was J’onn and the disdain dripped from his tone. Jason thought that if it had been any other member of the JL calling to warn them about this situation Danny might have gone into a full rage. J’onn knew how awful and triggering this was and made no attempt at neutrality like some might, he was fully on their side in this. 

“Ghosts aren’t a threat though. The last time they tried to prove that, Dan and I worked it out without causing any damage to anything. That’s better than most heroes,” Danny responded flatly. “Most people in the world don’t even believe in ghosts, how can they say we’re a threat if we make so little impact we’re not even a certainty!”

“I know, and we will tell them as much. We will do everything we can to make sure the UN sees the GIW for what they are, and no matter what they decide I swear we will not allow their actions to continue unchecked. The Justice League is Moral, not lawful,” J’onn assured the two of them firmly. “I just wanted to ask you permission to use the presentation you gave to the Justice League to give a more human face to the real harm the Ghost Investigation Ward has done.” 

“I’ll do you one better, I’ll attend the meeting,” Danny said flatly.

Silence weighed heavy in the gentle electrical static of the phone, louder than usual in response to Danny’s anger. “I… Am not sure that would be wise,” Martian Manhunter said as gently and reasonably as any parent. 

“I don’t care if it’s wise this is my people we’re talking about J’onn. Someone should be there to represent them, and I think it had better be me rather than Dan or Ellie. She’s too young and he’s… well, Dan.”

Jason could feel J’onn’s hesitation through the phone as he tried to come up with an argument. “I assure you we will represent your case, and Deadman will be in attendance. But I just-”

“J’onn you can’t keep me out. Will it look better if me and Jason show up with you or if we crash the party?” Danny cut in impatiently.

J’onn sighed heavily through the phone, and Jason winced sympathetically, he suspected the Martian had one hell of a headache brewing. “I believe I’ll let you decide your own path,” J’onn said delicately. 

“Thank you, Sorry in advance J’onn. I have a feeling this is going to suck, for all of us,” Danny said. 

“Yes, I am sorry too Hyena. This is not how any of us wanted this to go,” J’onn lamented, and hung up without saying goodbye. He still sometimes forgot human politeness, and the conversation was clearly over.

Danny dropped his phone on the couch and immediately crawled into Jason’s lap and hid against Jason’s chest. When Jason wrapped his arms around Danny he could feel the smaller man trembling violently. Jason made a sympathetic noise and held him close, rocking them both slowly as Danny let out an involuntary wounded-animal whine.

“Breath Baby, breath,” Jason crooned when Danny started to hyperventilate. He couldn’t fast track through this panic attack, Danny needed to work through his feelings, no matter how much it hurt Jason to see his lover like this. It wasn’t, and couldn’t be, about him right now.

They rode out the waves of panic together, with Jason supporting and holding Danny together, and even once Danny was calm again they didn’t separate. Danny lay against Jason’s chest, his breathing slow and deep almost as if he was asleep though Jason knew he wasn’t. He was just too exhausted to panic anymore, so Jason waited for Danny to be ready to talk.

“Will you come with me?” The question softly muttered against Jason’s chest.

“Of course I will,” Jason agreed without hesitation. “I would never let you face this alone.”

“I have to go,” Danny insisted.

“I know Danny, I’m not going to try and stop you. You should be there. You have to know Ellie will probably come too though right? If anyone lets slip this is happening, if she finds out we won’t be able to keep her away, just like you.” Jason reminded, she was Danny’s clone after all. She was just as stubborn and selfless as he could be, and this was her fight too. 

Danny hesitated and sighed. “Well, let’s hope no one lets it slip to her, but be prepared for her to be there.”

---------------

Unsurprisingly they weren’t invited to the UN meeting, and no one communicated with them about it anymore. But that didn’t matter, Jason may not have been as good of a hacker as Timmy but he had still been a robin and he knew his way around a security system. They could have asked Tim for help, but that increased the channels through which Ellie might learn about the meeting and they didn’t want that, so Jason just did it himself and found out where and when they’d need to go to crash the party.

They didn't bother to go through the front door when they crashed the meeting. They wouldn't be let in anyway so they skipped the scene they would inevitably cause at the door and just walked through the wall and into the hall where the leaders were already gathered. They were dressed in full Red Hood and Hyena garb, they had considered coming as Jason and Danny, but Jason was still protective enough of his identity that he would rather not and Danny hadn’t fought him on that.

“Don't mind us,” Danny said cheerfully, waving away the ripple of fearful and angry murmurs that spread through the room. “This decision will affect both of us since we’re both flavours of undead, so we’re here to see how it goes,” Hyena said cheerfully. 

“So have I,” Said a familiar voice from closer to the ceiling.

Danny’s shoulders tensed for just a moment when he heard Ellie’s voice but then he forced himself to relax and turned towards her as she swooped down to join them. “And my little sister Phantasm is here too! Just be glad we didn’t also bring our big brother as well.”

“We don’t have any chairs for you,” Diana told them with gracious resignation, accepting but not condoning their presence. 

“That’s alright, we’ll stand. Or float in her case I suppose,” Hood said, gesturing casually to Ellie when she hovered next to him.

“Right, well, let’s carry on,” Diana sighed, turning back towards the podium.

“What? No! We can’t continue with them here. They are violent and dangerous creatures, it’s like casually having a meeting while there’s a bomb in the room!” One of the GIW representatives blurted. And to his credit, he did seem genuinely scared, maybe he did actually believe the bullshit they were spewing. 

“They are not, the justice league has worked with them multiple times. Phantasm is an established and well loved member of the Teen Titans and Hyena has been an invaluable consultant and ally when we’re in need.”

“Ya, like when you people purposefully released Dan from his containment before he was ready in hopes he would go on a rampage to add some legitimacy to your crackpot theories,” Hyena piped up helpfully. 

“Hyena, that is conjecture, we have no proof that they did that,” Batman warned, low and gentle. 

“Ya, except that they totally did right?” Danny said, getting a scowl for his trouble. He held up his hands in defeat. “Alright, I’ll shut up. Please carry on.”

Everyone continued to shoot nervous looks in their direction, besides the members of the Justice League who were forging ahead and forcing everyone around to keep up or get left behind, which no one could afford. So they carried on the debate with the JL going first, presenting the information they had on ghosts, and the evidence of the GIWs crimes. The evidence was extensive, if the world leaders believed that ghosts were sabient, or even could just feel pain, there would be no doubt about their unethical actions.

Hyena, Red Hood, and Phantasm managed to stay quiet, even while they showed the presentation Danny had made to show the JL. It was Ellie’s first time seeing it, but Danny was so proud of how well she held it together! When he wrapped an arm around her he could feel her trembling a little and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, but she kept a stiff upper lip and she didn’t make a sound. He wondered if it was cold to hope her emotion would play well to their audience. 

Unfortunately the worst was still to come, because the GIW had to present their case against ghosts, though Danny had no idea how the hell they were going to try to justify their actions. Danny had stopped breathing already because it helped suppress the rising panic as the GIW were called to present. Ellie had stopped breathing as well, and on his other side he could hear Jason breathing fast and shallow, the only one who still needed to breath betraying their collective fear. Danny hated that he caught himself practically praying to Clockwork that this would go well. Surely if this was going to go badly he would have interfered right? He’d done it before.

The GIW agent, a professional looking woman wearing a white dress suitable for business rather than the usual cheap looking white suit, walked to the stand, her white heels clicking ominously on the wood floor. She carried a small stack of notecards and a usb, the contents of which Danny absolutely dreaded. He did not want to know what footage they had, what ‘experiments’ they’d done that they would bring up today. He just hoped neither he or Ellie would have a panic attack.

“Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed leaders. My name is Amy Watson, called agent W, and I’m here to present on behalf of the GIW,” The woman said as she put down her things. “You have heard a lot today about what our organization has done, none of which I will deny. Because it would be foolish to do so with the evidence presented. The Justice League have done their research, and with the information they have I’m sure they’re being genuine. However I suspect  they have been manipulated as well because you were told what we did, but not why, and we stand by all our actions no matter how gruesome they first appear.”

She plugged in her usb and pulled up a clip and Danny sucked in his breath when he recognized himself in the thumbnail, from before he was Hyena. It was a fight with Skulker, there had been no casualties but the show of force was impressive. Then that bitch Penelope Spectra, she really was a piece of work worthy of trying to prove ghosts were evil. Finally him again, as Hyena, fighting Dan, there were no casualties in that fight either but damn did it look bad. And last but certainly not least, footage of them in Penguins bar, which was much worse.

Wait, how did they have the fight? Penguin had cameras but he wouldn’t have given the footage to a government organization. And how would they have even known that would happen unless. Danny inhaled sharply and leaned into Jason’s side. It had been them, they had organized the whole thing for the same reason they had let Dan out. They were hoping that if Jason died Danny would go on a rampage retroactively justifying all the shit that they had done, and even if they hadn’t gotten the rampage they wanted the fact that Danny had actively killed a human in that fight did not look good. 

“Looks like we owe Penguin an apology,” Danny murmured to Jason who scoffed, but nodded.

“Ghosts are incredibly powerful and unkillable by all conventional weapons. They cannot be stopped by even the most advanced of our earth security systems. Without specially developed weapons they are unstoppable, and as those videos show, they are capable of tremendous harm. It is our firm belief that ghosts are simply the imprint people left behind, an emotionless echo no more capable of feeling pain than a recording. But even if it could be proven that they have feeling and thought, and that’s a big If, what we do would still be more than justified in the name of global, maybe even universal defense. 

“Through our experiments, and yes, a few sacrifices, we have been able to develop weapons, shields, and restraints that work on these beings. If it comes down to it, we might just be capable of defending our planet against these extra-dimensional threats now.”

“With all due respect ma’am earth does have defenses against this sort of threat,” Deadman spoke, floating into a standing position and nodding to those around them. “I have been part of a branch of the Justice League known as Justice League Dark for years, we have been in charge of handling all supernatural threats to this world and I assure you we have some very powerful members, capable servants of the public good.”

“Ya including me,” Hyena spoke up, gesturing to paused the video. “All three of those clips you saw involved me, either as I am now or when I was younger since I’ve been the GIW’s enemy number one for years. The first two fights involved no human casualties at all! Penelope Spectra- the spirit in the second clip, is a criminal who probably would have killed someone, but we have our own ways of dealing with our criminals and she is now serving a century in prison for her crimes. Brought to justice by myself and the ghost warden, Walker. The GIW have tried to paint us all with the same brush but we’re not all bad! There are bad ghosts like there are bad people, because ghosts are people, just dead ones.”

“I’m not sure that matters,” One of the world leaders mused, staring at the screen. “If ghosts are such a threat then we need a way to defend ourselves against them. Relying entirely on the Justice League is not always possible, or wise. Some of us might feel much more comfortable with the ability to defend ourselves.”

The Agent W nodded graciously, “Rightly so. Though the American Government has funded our efforts up until now we are willing to share information, or even set up branches in any countries willing to partner with us.”

“Wait, no, that is not what this meeting is about. It is to determine if the GIW and the US government are guilty of violating human rights laws and the meta-protection acts, not to get them new partnerships!” Diana interrupted with barely controlled rage.

“If they have, there are countries that would offer them sanctuary, because they value the safety of their own people over the hypothetical feelings of ‘ghosts’,” Someone else piped up in a tone of barely concealed disdain.

Danny could not believe what he was hearing! And judging from the way Ellie was trembling and Jason had clenched his fists they agreed. 

“You cannot be serious,” Martian Manhunter said. “This is another sovran species who has caused you so little trouble until now that most of you didn’t even believe they were real and you're willing to condone war crimes against them? Outside of an active war zone? Just because they have not been officially declared sapient does not excuse this especially when no independent tests have been done!”

“They’re hardly a sovran species, at best they're a bunch of thugs but truly, they're little more than animals.” Agent W dismissed. “And I assure you we have conducted extensive experimentation, all of our notes have been made available to you to look over for yourself. Please feel free to come to your own conclusions.”

“Conclusions from biased and unethical “Science” are bound to be just as biased and unethical,” Batman added in his low familiar rumble. But Danny wasn’t sure how many people had heard him, there was sounds of paper rustling around the room as leaders started to look through whatever research the GIW had provided. Things were quickly starting to devolve into bickering and whispers, the facade of dignity and poise quickly cracking and falling away.

Danny did not like the way this was going, the JL was losing control of the audience. Fear was a stronger motivator than righteousness and the GIW had a lot of practice in making people afraid. Maybe it was time to give them something else to fear.

[kikyoupdates]

⭑˚💘⭑ bnha x f!reader

reverse harem, my hero academia x fem!reader, slowburn

Ever since your Quirk first manifested, you’ve been the apple of everyone’s eye. With the goal of becoming a hero, you enroll to U.A. and soon find yourself drawing the attention of many. Will you form genuine connections with others, or is this all just your power's will?

00 — prologue 01 — beloved 02 — pastel heart 03 — new class cutie 04 — lover boy 05 — sweet & spicy 06 — sugar cheeks 07 — freckles 08 — win their hearts 09 — divine presence 10 — overtake them all 11 — pretty hurts 12 — two of a kind 13 — princess of mischief 14 — mesmerizing 15 — the charmed 16 — wondrous beauty 17 — blessed by the gods 18 — cherry lips 19 — cats are great20 — chicken nuggets 21 — drunk on love 22 — affectionate storm 23 — simply lovely 24 — boyfriends 25 — like a butterfly 26 — disillusioned 27 — aesthete 28 — serendipity 39 — love trumps all 30 — enchanting 31 — chance meetings 32 — no love 33 — serene 34 — sun kissed 35 — melting gaze 36 — exquisite 37 — tainted beauty 38 — whispers in the night 39 — beautiful torment 40 — revered 41 — helpless little lamb 42 — a friend's hand 43 — flickering flame 44 — the gods must be crazy 45 — saccharine 46 — new home 47 — strengthened desires 48 — song of voice 49 — progress 50 — love you a latte 51 — center of attention 52 — thriving devotion 53 — graceful rescues 54 — disagreements 55 — a troubling feeling 56 — long overdue 57 — friends once more 58 — better than a kiss 59 — sowing the seeds 60 — instant defeat 61 — golden gaze 62 — love's in the cards 63 — humorous introduction 64 — repressed emotinos 65 — a discovery 66 — violent embrace 67 — arisen 68 — newfound appreciation 69 — shackled by pain 70 — infiltration 71 — the meaning of fear 72 — ghost-like beauty 73 — misguided love 74 — the raid's aftermath

More chapters are available on Quotev and Wattpad!

⊱.⋅follow + post notifications on for story update announcements or join the author's discord!⋅.⊰

💘 main masterlist ♡ oneshot masterlist

[ananxiousgenz]

ALRIGHT SO I am finally making an intro post for The Guys!! everyone, meet levi rhodes and caspian theodore felix dupont-hearst II!

i am reposting this art from my wonderful beloved best friend/writing buddy/co-creator @percy-mawce-arts (you have no idea how often I look at this image and think about them and sigh, I am kissing you a million times over for making them with me).

first up, levi (the one sitting down on the left)!! levi is your average blue collar worker. he works at a factory owned by cas' family manufacturing bionic body parts. levi is very sweet, and cares a lot about the people in his life and isn't afraid to fight for himself and those he loves when he feels threatened. he likes gardening and singing, and regularly babysits his neighbors' daughter, hazel. levi lives in a shared apartment with his two best friends, robin and jasper, who he's known since he was about 10. he's also a cyborg (affectionately known as "cybies" in this world. his blue eye and right arm are mechanical, the unfortunate result of a fire in his childhood home that gave him a fair amount of fire-related trauma). he can also play guitar! my notes on him- he's so pretty, I wish I looked like him, and I love him dearly.

up next- caspian (the one standing on the right!). cas is your typical rich prick: smart, manipulative, cold, and calculating. he's lived so long repressing emotions they've managed to convince themselves and everyone around them that he doesn't have any. the elite class he is a member of is obsessed with maintaining a perfectly white aesthetic, hence why cas looks like a human version of Casper the ghost (i do love him, i promise). between those repressed emotions and the pressure of being one of the perfect elite, cas has thrown themselves into club culture upheld by a lot of the younger rich folk, complete with a lot of hookups, drinking, drugs, and the like. as he gets more involved with levi, he begins to realize how messed up his life is, and starts trying to fix it. he's a big fan of history and fashion and is really good with kids! my notes on him- he's a traumatized bastard, and I love him SO much

anyway, those are The Guys!!! I will probably make a plot line lore post later, and introduce the other characters we have properly, but for now you know these two!!!

[dol-dee]

Context: HERE

It’s almost claustrophobic the way Sydney cages you in, between your school seat and the wall behind you. Back flush to the wall. 

She must've been waiting for the opportunity, considering your height difference.

Her face is incredibly close and so different from the usual dreamy smile that’s directed at you. 

Dark purple, almost black hair drapes around you like a curtain.

The contrast to her usual self unnerves you a bit. you repress the urge to shiver. 

She inches even closer, so slowly you'd think she mistook you for some skittish animal.

An almost predatory smile twitches against her lips again, before she plants a slow kiss to your cheek. 

“Hello Beloved, I thought I should visit you after you’ve been so busy avoiding me”.

You keep looking at her, eyebrows furrowed, stony silence. She goes on:

“Just wanted to remind my partner who she belongs to. 

We’re promised to each other after all”. She pauses and everything inside you starts to tenses up.

Her languid pace dissipates the moment she rips your shirt open with surprising strength. 

The loose buttons you had wanted to mend later, popping right off. You flinch. Not from shock but the conscious effort to stop your reflexes. To keep yourself from instinctively lashing out.

A low chuckle escapes Sydney.

“Awe don't hold yourself back on my account, Dee. Not after you’ve already hit me once. You know I can take it” Her left hand wanders from the desk you sit at, to your thigh. 

idly stroking it. playing with the hem of your skirt. you keep your gaze on her as apprehension sneaks into the back of your mind. What the fuck did you do to Sydney? You truly hadn’t expected her to react this way, you thought she would’ve been happier with your suggestion. You coerced her into depravity after all.

You still don’t trust your voice to come out right but right as you are about to speak- something flashes over Sydney's face and she bites down on the crook of your neck. 

You successfully squash your instincts once more. It feels weird. You never had to suppress your fight instinct near Sydney before. Hadn't needed them with her in the first place.

The ghost of a smile caresses your skin. Sydney's bite hurts but it's tolerable compared to past injuries you’ve had. You can hold out, it could be worse.

Time seems to slow as she sucks several hickies into your shoulder and cleavage. lovingly punctuated by harsh bites. 

You’re glad you decided to buy that spiked choker so many months ago or your throat would probably share the same fate. 

it's irritating how easily your body reacts to her. You keep perfectly still, clenching your teeth to ground yourself.

You feel a bit short of breath once Sydney finally shoves off of you to stalk away, with the same warm smile she usually sports around you.

[puffin-smoke]

hi my brain is going a mile a minute right now and the world needs to know so

Here are Puffin's vaguely organised thoughts about Lovely x Treasure :DDD

They've been friends since high-school, they're basically attached at the hip at this point, you can't get one without the other

You invite Treasure somewhere? Lovely is coming for moral support. You invite Lovely somewhere? Treasure is being dragged along.

Lovely is Treasure's scary dog privilege. Habitually threatens to slash the tires of anyone who hurts them. "I just want to talk to them-" "Love, last time you "talked" to someone you ended up in the ICU."

Everyone Treasure dates has to get through Lovely first. It's like meeting your partner's parents. Almost nobody gets their approval

Now, why are they doing all this? Because they have feelings for Treasure, but won't act on them. Lovely has fully resigned themself to the idea that they're not good enough for them, so they're trying to find someone who is. Who can treat them right, who can be what Lovely can't.

Lovely is convinced it would never work out; eventually Treasure would figure out they're too good for them. Where Lovely is brash Treasure is calm and collected. Where Lovely acts without thinking, Treasure never stops thinking. They're convinced it would be oil and water.

MEANWHILE, Treasure has liked Lovely since the day they first met, but thinks that Lovely doesn't feel the same way because they keep trying to set them up with people.

They actually start to think that Lovely already knows about their feelings for them and is trying to let them down the easy way. Which honestly just hurts more than outright rejection.

miscommunication trope my beloved.

requited unrequited love my other beloved

So they both repress their feelings and eventually drift apart.

Until they meet again at the Vampire Summit (the fact that Treasure didn't go originally is a CRIME)

Vincent sat Lovely and Treasure next to each other without knowing they had a past together. Neither of them knew the other would be there, so the reunion was incredibly unexpected

They get to catching up, and Treasure can feel all their old feelings resurfacing the more they learn about who Lovely has become. Vampire Royalty is just their type apparently

Same goes for Lovely, who's missed them for so long. They regret ever letting them drift out of their life but still can't bring themself to tell them how they feel. And also they look hot as shit in their summit outfit.

And then things start going to shit, as the Summit does. Lovely sticks by Treasure's side throughout it, knowing how terrifying this must be for them. They planned to give Porter a talking to as soon as this was all over, and probably a repeat of their famous right rook. At this point they'd firmly decided that he was nowhere near good enough for Treasure. Internally they are keying his car.

Things are going well, as well as can be expected, up until the trial. The verdict is cast and Christopher is beheaded. And Lovely freaks out, immediately reminded of Adam's death.

So Treasure watches the strongest person they know, the person who defended them through thick and thin, who never showed even a sliver of weakness, run from the venue as though they had seen a ghost. And finds them hyperventilating on a bench in the cold.

They run to sit by them and coach them through the panic, holding their hands in theirs.

All Lovely can think about is how warm Treasure is.

When they begin to breath normally again, the pair just sit in silence for a while. Lovely is the first to speak.

"One hell of a party."

Treasure laughs. "The appetisers were pretty damn good."

"So's the company." Lovely smiles, and leans their head on Treasure's shoulder, soaking up their warmth. "I missed you."

In that moment, all Treasure wanted was to kiss them. To grab their chin and press their lips to theirs and steal back all the time they'd wasted. But instead they just lean into the touch as much as they'll let themself, and close their eyes. "Me too."

and that's all for now BYE

[dragelton]

the ghosts finale was literally the worst finale of any show i have ever seen and i fully mean it

youre gonna take THE gay person found family show, add a fucking baby into the mix, have alison leave the ghosts so she can focus on the baby???

and like yeah. she has to. of course she has to. but like the baby isnt REAL. they wrote that thing in. they had her look at her found family and go sorry guys, this was fun but i need to focus on my real family, me and my DH and our lovely baby girl.

and see like. everyones posting analysis about how its actually even more family that they left because you also have to move out of your home when you grow up and only see your family for holidays yadda yadda and its like. well. yeah thats true. you live with your family until youre older and you love them but you outgrow them, who as much as you might like them are a part of you as your family and not as people you have independently grown to bond with. so you eventually leave them and surround yourself with a friend group or something such. one might even call it. a found family. and the reason why this sucks shit is because it betrays that this whole time the people writing this found family have been thinking “well yeah friendship is awesome but its nothing like REAL family where when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-”

and then with that perspective you think back to the core of these characters who resonated so much and realize that their tragedies have always been a lack of family. julian was a serial cheater and workaholic who never told his daughter he loved her. pat will never get to see his kids grow up. thomas died before he could marry his beloved. fanny was robbed of a marriage with a man who loves her. kitty never grew up and got the dream wedding she desperately wants to have and her daddy never loved her. and then you get to cap who by all rights should be the exception to this and realize that when they teased him coming out the whole show but at the end subverted it to make it about his lost love it was not a radical portrayal of love between two men it was actually about them having the most cishet perspective on gay identity. it was them looking at a man who spent his entire life repressing his sexuality and going my, what a tragedy, he never got to get married.

of course you can say this has always been what the show is, that its not the shows fault i thought i was watching something else. fair enough. but appearently i’ve been watching something that is just not that good. like im going to be honest maybe it was just kind of bad.

[readingtheentrails]

10 characters/10 fandoms/10 tags

Tagged by @missmacfire, thank you!

Okay, let's go!

1. Larissa Weems - Wednesday (2022)

Look, I'm obviously gonna pick Larissa first because I have made some genuine friends through the Larissa/Gwendoline fandom and that means she is my #1 baby girl/Menace Principal.

2. Moiraine Damodred - The Wheel of Time (2021)

It was hard to decide between Moiraine and Siuan, honestly, but Moiraine won out just because we get so much more screen time with her. She was the reason I came back to tumblr in the first place and I have such a lovely and supportive discord community thanks to her/the show. Her dedication to the mission about all else just gets me so 🫠

3. Aloy - Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)/Horizon Forbidden West (2022)

Aloy best girl 😍😍😍 I think the Horizon series might be my favourite games of all time. They are so much fun to play, the story is so interesting and Aloy is a great protagonist. She is strong, independent and doesn't bother trying to fit in. She does her own thing and I really respect that.

4. Xena - Xena Warrior Princess (1995)

Xena was so special to me as a little baby gay. The thirst I experienced was unbelievable but because her relationship with Gabrielle was (barely) subtext, it was safe for me to watch in a conservative rural environment.

5. Utena Tenjou - Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997)

This prince saves herself! Utena is iconic and this anime is one of the first shows that ever got me thinking about gender roles and patriarchy. Utena doesn't always get it right but she does try her best to help her friends.

6. Astarion - Baldur's Gate 3 (2023)

Look, I just love him. I would let him devour me with no regrets. I'm still in Act 1 of the game and he has absolutely seduced me with his charm.

7. Nadja of Antipaxos - What We Do In The Shadows (2019)

I cannot get enough of Nadja. The perfect all-powerful absolute idiot. Her own worst enemy. My beloved girlfail queen 👑.

8. The Captain - Ghosts (2019)

I love the Captain so very much. He's from an era when he literally would have been imprisoned for being open about his sexuality so he's so repressed and uptight but we see these little glimpses that are just wonderful and he's played with such care.

9. Kassandra - Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018)

I still can't believe there are people out there who choose to play as Alexios when Kassandra is right there! She's amazing, such a badass and I never want to play another AC game because no other protagonist will ever be as good as her (also Ubisoft is evil).

10. Tissaia de Vries - The Witcher (2019)

Look, I just obviously have a thing for teachers who are a bit mean. Sorry not sorry to be a stereotype!

No pressure tagging @dianneking @weemssapphic @h-doodles @beaujes and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it

[sneezemonster15]

In the art of sasuke with the bottle naruto is keeping score of his beetles fighting and the page says "nasa" or NS too lol

I see SA and NA. And Naruto is apparently winning.

Interesting visual language.

Not only it shows team seven dynamic pretty accurately, it is also humorous and clever.

So it's summer season and it's hot out and team seven is enjoying watermelons. Watermelon as a fruit is quite tied up in Japanese culture. It's considered quite a luxury. Watermelons are offered as gifts. Fruit is generally quite expensive in Japan. And watermelon is quite a popular summer fruit there. It's symbolic of summers. As it should be. They also grow square watermelon in Japan btw. They are always up to something, in that country. Lol.

Anyway, I digress.

Naruto is in his own world and it makes sense because the time period is pre time skip, when Naruto was generally more obtuse about his feelings for Sasuke. He is playing a Beetle match, where Naruto beetle is winning against Sasuke beetle. Naruto is on top of the world heheh, my lil sweetheart. This is basically proof that their rivalry was never rivalry in the true sense. It was always a way for Naruto to get close to Sasuke, which is something Naruto tried to repress a lot but it all came out during vote one. In war arc, Naruto doesn't even hesitate to admit Sasuke is better than him. Like it's not even a matter of concern for him. He has already seen what Sasuke is capable of, he also knows Sasuke holds contempt for Kakashi and Sakura, for valid reasons too, but he tries to keep peace. But he is not lying about Sasuke being a remarkable shinobi, he already knows Sasuke is better than Sakura or Kakashi at battles.

It was never really about rivalry. And even though they both improved with a healthy competition between them, at the core of it, they are a team, a unit, the real cell 7, the main act. All Naruto wanted was to be able to talk to Sasuke, have his friendship and companionship. He didn't know any other way, he is an orphan who has always been on his own. He acts on instinct and his instinct told him that Sasuke was equally motivated to be a better warrior, just like him, and that was one platform where they could converge, they could establish contact that didn't require them to confront the more confusing feelings they felt for each other. At least for Naruto.

Sasuke of course is much more in touch with his feelings regarding Naruto, pretty much in his character, he knowingly and premeditatedly died for his beloved in land of waves arc, for love. In this art, even though Sasuke is annoyed at Naruto's obliviousness, his gaze is entirely focused on Naruto, oblivious to everyone else there. Including Sakura lol. Again very much in character. It's one of Sasuke's pet peeves, how much he is not able to resist Naruto's charm despite his obliviousness and Sasuke loathes himself for it but still cannot help it. His expression here looks like annoyance with a hint of longing. He loves Naruto and certainly tries to get his attention.

In land of waves arc, he matches his pace with Naruto while blushing as Naruto is rattled and suspicious of Sasuke but all Sasuke intended was to be by his side, as it is later symbolised as well, in chapter 698, where they are holding each other's phantom hands, lying half dead side by side but smiling and happy. And their interlocked hands look like a bloody heart. Btw Sasuke had already accomplished something in the first arc itself which happened to be something Hinata wanted since day one and couldn't accomplish until her cousin had to facilitate it for her in the last arc. By dying. And even in that panel, holding Hinata's hands, Naruto looks like he just saw a ghost lol. With Sasuke, he looks finally at peace.

Sasuke tries to get Naruto's attention when he asks him about chakra control. Naruto is so surprised hehehe. Subtext - Why is he coming to me for help, is he up to something? Well, I am not going to give him the satisfaction. 👅.

And Sasuke mentally facepalms himself.

Naruto's obliviousness needles Sasuke, he is the ultimate tsundere, PTSD ridden warrior/avenger who has steeled his heart against love, but still can't help opening up to that one idiot he adores so much but the idiot is too naive to get it. Alas. Lol. I mean there's a reason he anointed Naruto as his 'usuratonkachi' (thin hammer, a casual insult meant for slow, useless folks).

Sakura is standing at a distance, focused on Sasuke and trying to get his attention but to no avail because he is busy mentally cursing both himself and Naruto.

Sakura is practically wetting herself, pun unintended, her body language is reminiscent of Hinata's in this panel.

Look at the body language of both Sakura and Hinata. Both holding their knees together, bashful, their bodies bunched up what with all the butterflies in their stomach, probably increased heart rates and resultant nervousness, you can practically see their heart eyes that are focused on their object of desire. Sakura of course is more obvious about her object of desire while Hinata is more shy. But both are in the throes of their crush, while the boys are totally, indubitably, entirely unaware of the girls' existence. Lol.

Kakashi obviously is far away from them, camouflaged, almost invisible to the eye. Not interacting with his team. Pans out. The great copy ninja, never even began to understand Sasuke, Naruto or Sakura. Mostly instinctively wrong about all of them. heh. Where you see Gai's involvement with his team, where he backs Lee without question, where he scolds Tenten when she complains about the hard training, treating her just like how he would treat a boy. Or Neji, when he is the only one to back him up after his chuunin battle with Hinata is concluded, what with her embarrassing defeat and everyone descends down to defend her.

Kakashi on the other hand thinks Sakura is not violent, who is not the bragging type, who loves Sasuke like a mature woman, who thinks Sasuke was in the wrong about everything he did including his disdain towards Sakura and his own goal of killing Itachi, who thinks Naruto and Sasuke are rivals and that's what motivated Naruto. Of course he is wrong about all of it. But that's all in his character. An emotionally inept yes man.

Finally, there was something I had noticed about Sasuke in this art but I always felt a little hesitant talking about it. Yes, the bottle in his mouth. Now if you look at it, the mouth of the bottle stops at Sasuke's lips. It doesn't seem that the neck of the bottle is that long that part of it would be inside Sasuke's mouth.

You can clearly see the rim of the bottle at Sasuke's lip. Which is the right way of drinking from a bottle. But the sweat drop, the towel and his bangs collectively make it look like the neck of the bottle is totally inside his mouth and is protruding when it isn't. It's a visual trick. lol.

Kindly refrain from saying it's accidental, please don't insult your intelligence and the artists'. Kishi is not an amateur, he knows what he is doing. Very well. He has admitted Sasuke was the character he put the most effort in order to render his design and expressions right.

He is very attentive to detailing and his own brand of visual approach. And it's not like this is the only suggestive art he made for Sasuke and Naruto. Heheh.

The only thing that seems out of character in this art is the plate kept under Naruto's chin that is collecting all the dripping watermelon juice. No way Naruto would use a plate for this reason. I doubt it would even occur to him. Hahaha. Maybe Sasuke kept it there, it's possible. That would be in his character.

In any case, the supposed team seven dynamic is pretty visually consistent in this art, where Sakura is kept out of the picture, so is Kakashi. Both of them quite far back in the background. So Kishi wants you to notice Naruto and Sasuke first. And the watermelon. Sasuke's expression naturally takes your eyes to Naruto again and forces you to pay more attention. And then you see the other details, like the beetle match and scoreboard. After that, you see Sakura in the background and it surprises you that she is so far at the back doing something suggestive like that. But it makes sense because when it comes to Sasuke and Naruto's relationship, that's where she stands. Far away in the back, lol. And then, you are just entirely surprised to see Kakashi is even there. Most people simply miss him. And when you do notice him, you think, well that's silly.

Sakura wants Sasuke's attention desperately but she cannot have it, it's registered only for Naruto. Heheh. While Naruto is just lost in his own fantasy of being with Sasuke while Sasuke is just frustrated at his innocence.

Bang on Kish. Once again.

[hopingforbrain]

As close as they are, Lan Wangji’s voice is almost a whisper, his breath ghosting over the first thin layer of the bandage. Dumbly, Wei Wuxian wonders if Lan Wangji would blow on the wound if he asked him to. 

“If you do not wish to speak, then so be it,” Wrapping around a few more times, the tails of the bandage are neatly tied. Lan Wangji’s hands are firm, the pale lines of his face carved from jade, his sandalwood scent faint under blood and dirt. “But do not lie to my face.”

~

after the battle of jiangling, wwx melts into a little angst puddle until lwj comes to tend to him with equal parts love and repression. they don't talk about it, why would they ever?? all lwj needs to do is 🥺🥺🥺 at him because that man is WEAK.

also, we have a longingly-gazing-at-your-sleeping-beloved scene. what can i say, wwx's dumbass pining can't take all the spotlight lol

[illuminatedquill]

Sabine Wren

A Song for Two

Story Summary: Mandalorian tradition dictates that a song be sung for their fallen. As the war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance rages on, tensions simmer between Ursa Wren and her daughter, Sabine, who is unwilling to finish her own song before the worst comes to pass. It falls to Alrich, her husband and Sabine’s father, to keep the peace and find the reason why his daughter refuses to complete the task.

“No?” Ursa Wren asked, her voice cracking like thunder. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

The leader of Clan Wren stared down at the holographic image of her daughter, Sabine Wren, emanating from the war table in their ancestral home’s main hall. The image was slightly hazy; an unfortunate side-effect of the long distance call between Krownest and Lothal, but there was no mistaking the defiant look on Sabine’s face.

Sabine was wearing a flight uniform, as opposed to her usual Mandalorian armor. It was a new development that rankled Ursa constantly.

So similar to your mother, observed Alrich Wren, husband to Ursa and Sabine’s father. Just like she was at your age.

The thought made him smile a little, despite the circumstances. Hearing the two bickering like this - like in the old times before the Empire came - assured him that the war hadn’t taken away everything important to him.

At least, not yet. Which was something that he and Ursa were increasingly aware of with each passing day.

Sabine crossed her arms and replied in a terse tone. "I don't see what the big deal is, Mother."

Ursa exhaled sharply through her nose. Alrich barely repressed a chuckle.

His wife threw a death glare at him before replying through gritted teeth, "It is Mandalorian tradition, Sabine. We all must have our own song ready to be sung in case we fall in battle."

Sabine shrugged. "Is there a deadline for this or something?"

"Preferably before you die," Alrich said, dryly.

His daughter glanced at him with a small smile. Ursa rubbed at her temples.

"Sabine," she said, after a long moment to regain her composure. "Please give us the song at your earliest opportunity."

"I'm not exactly overflowing with free time at the moment, Mother. I'm busy with the defense of Lothal and my training with Ahsoka."

Alrich winced. The two subjects that Ursa were touchy about and Sabine had just dropped them both in the same sentence. Especially after the bickering she had just endured.

Ursa straightened her back and glared at Sabine with a new fire raging in her eyes. "Lothal. Remind me again why you're there and not here on your home world."

Sabine narrowed her eyes. "I made a promise to Ezra. Mandalorians keep their promises, if I recall. We stake our honor on it."

"Your Jedi friend has been gone for how many years now? Did he give a time limit on this burden he handed to you?"

Alrich watched his daughter's eyes blaze with a fire equal to her mother's. "It is not a burden," she snarled.

Ursa slammed the table, causing the hologram to sputter for a brief moment. "You should be here! With your family."

"Ezra is family. He and everyone else on the Ghost were more of a family to me than anyone on Krownest ever was," Sabine said, coldly.

"Everyone here is still alive, Sabine. We have that over your beloved Jedi, at least."

Alrich wilted at Ursa's remark. He closed his eyes and waited for Sabine to go nuclear.

She didn't disappoint. "He's not dead, Mother. But you are - to me." Her voice was empty of any rancor, any sign of outrage. Sabine spoke as if she was stating a fact, nothing more.

The hologram fizzled out. Sabine had cut the call.

Ursa stared at the spot where her daughter had been and then swore viciously.

Alrich sighed. "You went too far with that last one, Ursa. You know how much Ezra means to her."

Ursa turned to her husband, her eyes still simmering with rage. "The war with the Empire is raging and she sits safe on another planet. Doing what, Alrich? Playing Jedi? Upholding a promise to a dead friend?"

Alrich studied his wife. "You think she's running away from her problems again."

Ursa snorted. "Think? No, I know she is."

He stepped closer to his wife and held her hand. The physical contact shook Ursa out of her mood; she gripped back with a tight, affectionate squeeze.

"I don't think that's true," he replied, quietly. "She's changed. Sabine is trying to be better than she was before."

Ursa sighed, some of the tension releasing from her shoulders. "Training to be a Jedi? What is she thinking? As if she doesn't have a big enough target on her back."

Alrich smiled. "Our daughter always loved a good challenge."

Ursa eyed him, amused. "Wonder where she got that from," she said.

He snorted. "You, obviously. I seem to recall you butting heads with your own mother, more than once."

Alrich thought for a moment. "Actually, you butted heads with pretty much everyone you met."

Ursa grinned at him, and Alrich felt his heart skip a beat. Despite the wear and tear of the past civil wars, he still saw the fierce young woman he fell in love with at first sight burning at the core of Ursa Wren.

"I was talking about you, actually," Ursa remarked.

Alrich blinked at her. "Me? I was just a simple artist. I never did anything too crazy, last I remember."

"You were the only one bold enough to court me," she pointed out with a sly smile.

"Ah, true. Although 'bold' might not be the right word for how it was viewed at the time. Especially by your family."

Ursa said, "I thought of you as being brave. Especially since it worked." She reached out and stroked her husband's cheek fondly. "Either way you look at it, it doesn't matter since I liked it."

Alrich kissed his wife's hand. "Feeling better?" he asked.

Ursa nodded. "Your charm worked, as always. Thank you."

She looked at the war table with a sigh. "What will we do about Sabine?"

Alrich looked at his chronometer. "Sleep on it. It's late, my dear. We'll have a solution in the morning."

After ensuring that his wife was dead asleep, Alrich returned to the main hall and keyed in Sabine's call code into the console.

After a few seconds, the holo-projector lit up to reveal his daughter again. She was dressed in casual sleep wear this time, having ditched the flight uniform in preparation for bed.

"What?" she asked.

Alrich sighed. "Hello to you, too, Sabine."

His daughter was sitting on what appeared to be a cot, holding a fresh brewed cup of caf. She looked tired.

"Your mother was out of line earlier with the comment about Ezra," he said.

"Stating the obvious," replied Sabine. "She send you to apologize?"

"No," said Alrich, firmly. "She doesn't know I'm doing this."

Sabine's look sharpened at him. "Doing what? You still want that damn song?"

"It's important, Sabine," Alrich said. "I don't understand why you won't do it."

His daughter leaned back against a wall and sipped at her caf. "First, explain to me why you and Mother are so insistent upon it all of a sudden. You've had ample time to ask me for it before."

"Okay," Alrich said. "That's fair."

He took a breath and said, "The Empire is withdrawing from Mandalore."

That got Sabine's full attention. "They've stopped the attacks?"

Alrich nodded. "Yes. We haven't had a sighting of their forces in over a month."

He watched his daughter's eyes, seeing the gears in her mind run through the calculations. "That's not good," she replied. "Could mean a major offensive is about to take place."

"Your mother and Bo-Katan are in agreement with you on that," said Alrich. "Rumors are swirling that the Empire has personally chosen Moff Gideon to lead a new campaign against all of Mandalore."

Sabine's eyebrows rose in amazement. "I've heard of him."

Alrich shuddered. "Yes. A reputation for brutality and cruelty - even within the Empire, he's infamous."

Sabine shrugged. "I'm sure you all will be just fine. You've swatted down all the previous Moffs and Admirals who came your way."

"True," Alrich agreed. "But this time could be different."

"It won't," Sabine said. "You'll beat him. Mandalore will stand."

She sipped more at her caf. "Still haven't told me why you want my funeral song."

"Because this is a war, Sabine!" Alrich shouted.

Sabine flinched. Alrich rarely raised his voice. He decided to press on, while he had his daughter off-balance.

"Nothing is for certain, do you hear me? We want the damn song because should the worst happen to you, your mother and I want something - anything - to remember you by! Not just an empty suit of armor!"

Sabine stared at him. After a long moment, she said, slowly, "I know it's a war, Father. I know that."

"Do you?" he asked. "Your mother thinks you're playing Jedi and running away from your problems."

"I'm training, not playing. I'm serious about it. And defending Lothal is important to me."

"It's important to Ezra, you mean," he pointed out. "I know you made a promise but, Sabine, don't you think it's time to move on? There are other worlds that need defending. First and foremost, your own home being one of them?"

Sabine was silent. Alrich studied her.

"You consider Lothal to be your home," he said, quietly. "More than Krownest."

Sabine just looked at him. After a long moment, she nodded.

Alrich blew out a breath. "Honestly, I'm not surprised. Or even upset."

"You're not?" asked Sabine, surprised.

"No," he replied. "I'm just relieved that you have someplace that you can call that."

Sabine considered his words before replying, quietly, "You and Mother and Tristan are still my family, you know. I still love you all."

Alrich felt his heart tighten at her words. "I appreciate you saying that, Sabine. But a family should always stick together, no matter what. How we treated you back then - yes, we were doing it in your best interests, but it doesn't excuse our actions."

He looked at her, feeling his eyes begin to water. "We made you feel alone. And I will always regret that."

Sabine looked away for a moment, before saying, "It wasn't all bad. I met Kanan and Hera. Then Zeb, Chopper, and then . . ."

His daughter refrained from saying the last name, Alrich noted.

"Is that why you're training to be a Jedi?" he asked. "For your friend, Ezra?"

Sabine stared into her cup of caf. "He did a lot, you know," she whispered. "Not just for me; he saved a lot of other people."

Alrich nodded. "That's what Jedi do."

"No," said Sabine, suddenly. "That's what he did. It wasn't because he was a Jedi."

She looked up at her father with a bright smile. "It's because he was Ezra."

Alrich blinked at Sabine's smile; throughout his life, he had rarely seen a smile so pure and bright from her. Not since she was a small child, barely taller than his knee.

Feeling his fatherly instincts start to kick in, he wondered: Ezra Bridger - just how important were you to my daughter?

Something must have shown on his face because Sabine's expression turned into a frown. "What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

He coughed, hastily, to cover up his sudden suspicion. "Nothing, nothing. So - you're training to be a Jedi because, what, you want to be like Ezra?"

Sabine smirked and said, "Maybe I was just bored and wanted to try something new."

Alrich groaned. "Sabine, please."

His daughter just shrugged and took another sip of caf. "Hey, gotta have some secrets. It keeps life interesting."

Alrich snorted and then said, "So - about the song."

Sabine grimaced. "Fine. I actually did write it." She reached out of the picture and grabbed a datapad. After a moment of typing on it, she said, "There. Just sent it. Happy now?"

In a deadpan tone, Alrich responded, "Oh, absolutely." His personal datapad dinged with the arrival of Sabine's song. He opened it up and started to read through the verses.

"It's not finished," Sabine said, sounding frustrated. "At least I don't feel like it is. It's missing something."

Alrich, still reading through the verses, began to feel his eyebrows furrow; realization began to grow in his mind, slowly but surely.

Oh, I see what's missing, he thought, sourly. And my suspicions were correct.

Intuition suddenly sparked in his mind and Alrich looked up the first time Sabine had opened the file and the last time she had updated the file.

When he finished, he looked up to find Sabine staring at him, impatient. "Well?" she asked.

He considered her for a moment and then said, simply, "It's fine. I'll attach some notes and send it back to you."

Sabine groaned. "Great. More homework. Ahsoka already gives me so much."

Alrich laughed. "Is it alright if I share this with your mother?"

Sabine waved at him in a go-ahead motion. "If it'll get her off my back, then by all means."

"I'll make sure of it," Alrich promised. "I'll leave you be for tonight. Thank you for doing this, Sabine."

Sabine smiled at him. "It's for family. Family is important."

"Yet you gave us so much grief for it," Alrich replied, dryly.

"It's a Clan Wren specialty," Sabine responded.

He was about to cut the call - and then hesitated. "Sabine," he said.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Yes, Father?"

"You've had this song in the works for some time. I saw the original date you started it."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a while. Since I first ran away," she confirmed.

"The last time you updated this was shortly before . . . before the Battle of Lothal." He avoided saying 'before Ezra went missing'.

Sabine's face turned into an expressionless mask. "That's correct," she said. "Things got busy after that. I came back to it when I had free time but . . . I don't know. Couldn't figure out what was missing from the song. It doesn't feel complete."

Her statement was said a little too casually for his liking. "You really don't know why it feels incomplete?" he asked, peering closely at his daughter's expression.

Something stirred in Sabine's eyes - a faint sense of recognition - that she quickly shut down with an irritated look. "No," she insisted. "I keep saying that."

Alrich pursed his lips. "Alright, then. Keep working on it."

Sabine replied, "Great. Can I go to sleep now? Please?"

He rolled his eyes and cut the call.

The next morning, Ursa still found him sitting at the War Table, reading the datapad.

"What are you doing up so early? Did you even sleep?" she asked, worried.

Alrich rubbed at his eyes and showed his wife the datapad with Sabine's song on it. "You're welcome," he said, tiredly.

Ursa's eyes widened in amazement. "You got her song? How?"

"I talked to our daughter, instead of yelling," he replied. "You should try it sometime."

"You're half-asleep, so I'm going to let the sarcasm slide this time, Alrich Wren," Ursa said. She scanned the datapad, frowning.

Smiling a little, he asked, "You see it, too?"

Ursa looked up with a questioning look. "It looks . . . finished."

Alrich snorted. "Not according to our daughter. She's unusually blocked over this."

"Sabine? How so?"

He rubbed at his forehead, feeling the weight of his years. "She feels as though it's missing something."

Although it's not a some 'thing' really, he thought.

Ursa sat next to him and re-read the song verses in silence. After a while she said, confused, "I still don't see it."

Alrich sighed. "Sabine's right: it's missing something. However, you are also right in that it is, indeed, finished."

He paused and then added, "At least, Sabine's part is finished."

Ursa quirked an eyebrow at him in question and Alrich was almost violently reminded of Sabine doing it exactly the same way last night. "Her part? This is her song. It should all be her part."

He gently took the datapad from her and said, "It is. The whole song is Sabine's part. But the verses - look here, love. It's a give and take; a question, waiting for a response." Alrich highlighted some of Sabine's song verses to illustrate his point.

Comprehension began to dawn in Ursa's face. "It's a conversation."

Alrich nodded. "Not the exact term I would use, but close. It's a duet, Ursa."

Ursa looked at him sharply, understanding lighting up her eyes. "It's a song for two," she said, softly.

"Yes," Alrich said. "Two performers. And these verses are Sabine's part. What's missing is the other singer's part."

Ursa considered that for a moment. "She told you this?"

Alrich shook his head. "Sabine doesn't seem to know or understand."

Ursa looked at her husband, seriously. "Who's the other performer? Who does she want to share her song with?"

Alrich gave his wife a knowing look and said, quietly, "Ursa. You know who it is."

Ursa closed her eyes and laid her head in her hands.

He patted his wife on the back, affectionately. "Sabine never likes to make things easy for herself," he said, smiling.

"Or for us," Ursa replied, annoyed.

Alrich laughed. Ursa looked up and couldn't help but join.

When they were finished, Ursa rested her head on Alrich's shoulder for comfort. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

"Should we tell her?" she asked.

Alrich replied, "No. She wouldn't believe us, anyway. It's something she needs to figure out for herself."

Ursa sighed. "A Mandalorian and a Jedi. What an unexpected pairing."

"Hey, it'll make for an excellent song, at least," Alrich responded. "Clan Wren will definitely be remembered."

Ursa snorted.

She picked up the datapad and read through Sabine's verses again. "It makes sense now. I see how his part is missing."

Alrich nodded. "She needs him to complete her song."

After a long, poignant silence, Ursa said, "It's a love song, Alrich."

"That it is," said Alrich.

Softly, she said, "It could be a sad song."

Alrich took a moment to consider his reply. Finally, he said, "It's her song, Ursa. Sad or not, we will sing it anyway."

Author's Note: So, I'm on a Hadestown kick. It got me thinking about songs, and the power of songs, how they help a story continue to be told throughout history - and then I remembered that Mandalorians also have a thing about songs. Which is how this story came into being. Also, I've been wanting to do a story told from the viewpoint of Sabine's parents - and how they might potentially feel about Sabine having strong feelings for a certain Jedi.

[nocoastposts]

Dropping a WIP Wednesday snippet right after midnight, so I’ve not been tagged yet. This is from a WIP with the working title “Sad Henry Is Sad”…self explanatory. Happy Wednesday!

Henry feels like a walking contradiction in all matters of the heart. He pores over romance novels full of wistful thinking and happy endings. He’s lovingly teased for being such a romantic, and he recites Austen as easily as he breathes.

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

But Henry always reminds himself that his beloved novels are just fiction and fantasy. What he shares with Alex is simply not comparable. Their…arrangement is comprised of convenience and mutual attraction spurred by hormones. No more, no less.

Still, Henry has his weak moments, though he’d be hard pressed to admit them. In these moments, fantasy and reality bleed together. After late nights that feel like a bit too much, Henry ghosts his lips across Alex’s shoulder as he sleeps. He mouths the words “I love you”, and prays that Alex never hears.

______

Each sunrise brings another false beginning. Henry’s unsure how it happened, but he abandoned his ‘no spending the night’ rule weeks ago. He swore by this form of self-preservation, and Alex once again changed everything.

Perhaps it was the way Alex circled his fingers around Henry’s wrist as he murmured “stay, sweetheart” before drifting off to sleep. Maybe it began when he draped himself across Henry’s back, sated with no intention of moving.

So, mornings with Alex begin with false-hearted motions. Henry ignores the way the sunlight pours across Alex’s skin. He returns Alex’s sleepy grins while knowing his own smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

He’s forever grateful that Alex seems a little less sharp before his coffee, allowing Henry to quietly slip into his gilded armor.

Tagging @anincompletelist @wordsofhoneydew @firenati0n @bigassbowlingballhead @happiness-of-the-pursuit @eusuntgratie @dragonflylady77 @affectionatelyrs @daisymae-12 and anyone else who’d like an open tag!

[delightfulkingtyphoon]

Hi 😀

I'm going to share with you guys some headcanons I have of my dear, beautiful and wonderful princess Daniel Robitaille :3 (aka. Candyman)

❗Remembering❗

Everything I say here is my interpretations of the character and >>my<< headcanons about him. If you have another interpretation, agree or disagree, you are free to share your opinion in the comments 👍

Let's start

✿~Favorite hobbies, skills and talents

• Daniel Robitaille is a talented and very detailed artist. He always seeks to do the best in his paintings. He likes to put passion into everything he does.

He has loved painting since he was young, which is why he studied at the best schools of his time to create magnificent works. He enjoys learning and applying new techniques to his arts.

• In addition of learning the best painting techniques, he also learned to behave like a polite gentleman in the society, learning to dance, speak several languages and play an instrument.

Not that he needed to prove something to someone, but to challenge himself. He likes to learn new things.

• He knows how to lead a waltz like no one else. He is a gentleman from the 19th century, and at that time, if you wanted to conquer and impress the most beautiful women in the ballroom, you needed to know how to dance. And Daniel is the best in terms of charm and elegance when dancing.

• He is bilingual, knowing how to speak French perfectly and a little bit of German. He knows how to speak other languages such as Greek and Spanish, but due to lack of practice, he remembers very little of the lessons from his time.

• One of his favorite hobbies, besides painting, is literature. He loves romance and poetry books. His favorite type of romance is those that end in tragedy. For him, there is something poetic about death and love. If you mix the two in the right amount, it's a perfect dramatic love story.

• He was taught to play instruments such as piano and violin, but he was not very interested in learning that. He is more of a listener than a musician.

• He loved going to concerts and theaters when he was alive, his favorite type of music is serene, sweet as honey. And his favorite type of theater plays are mainly dramas. But he loves a good comedy.

✿~Favorite foods and colors

• Daniel Robitaille loves good food (and who doesn't, right?) He loves roast meats, savory pies, cakes and any type of sweet.

• He loves shortbread cookies accompanied by good coffee sweetened with honey. After all, he loves sweets and sugary things.

• His favorite type of sweet pie is lemon or cherry. He loves chocolate and strawberry cakes.

• He is also a fan of good wine. He likes the ones that don't have a very strong flavor more.

• He loves colors like yellow or red (he looks good in red.)

✿~Love, sexuality and relationships (and a little of lore)

• Daniel Robitaille was and IS a very charming, seductive and charismatic man. So much charm that he could have the most beautiful girls he wanted... And the most beautiful men too.

Daniel has been interested in many women of his time, even men, but he can never date or seem interested in any man, oh no. Never!

It was a difficult time for a black person, imagine a black and queer person. Bisexuality was something abominable in those times. Many desires were repressed, forcing him to hide in the shadows. But he found safety in the lips of his beautiful muse and beloved Caroline.

• Daniel loved Caroline like he never had before. His passionate young heart was emotional, and full of affection. The two loved each other very much and swore their love every day and night. For him and Caroline, their love was strong and not even that prejudiced society could separate them. Even after their deaths.

• Daniel after spending years wandering throughout the afterlife like a ghost, waiting for someone to summon him again, he found a shelter in the underworld so he could rest while waiting to be called again. There, he sympathized with a hideous demonic creature not receptive or pleasing to people's eyes, but to his, he was the most beautiful in all of hell. The Hell Priest Pinhead

• It took a while for the cenobite's heart to soften, but he was unable to resist Daniel's charms. The two fell in love and live off the pleasure of each other's love, the comfort in each other's arms. Daniel loves his beloved Pinhead intensely, just as he loves him just as much. Intense, pleasurable.

• Daniel can finally explore his sexuality, discovering new things about his own body and mind. Feeling and satiating every bit of what Pinhead had to offer him. Intensifying the love he felt for Pinhead and his pleasures. He loved him. He loved him so much that he chose to remain in hell with his beloved for all eternity. Even if someone summoned him again, and he went to the world of the living, he would always return to his beloved.

Bonus:

✿~Other things he likes

• Daniel loves cats. He always wanted to have cats when he was alive, that's his favorite type of animal. He acts tame when around kittens, always wanting to pet them and play with them.

• He also really likes birds, he likes to hear their serene singing when he is in the world of the living.

• He also likes butterflies, they are his favorite insect. He likes how their wings are colorful and have different patterns. It gives him a lot of inspiration to paint when he see one flying.

• He doesn't get along very well with dogs, they are too noisy and agitated for him, so he avoids them.

• He loves flowers, all kinds of flowers. He likes their colors, their smells. They are all beautiful to him. Red roses, lilies, hyacinths and chrysanthemums are his favorites.

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.

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End of Headcanons (for now)

[jade-kyo]

RvB 20th rewatch: s4

Getting closer to done with the Blood Gulch Chronicles!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Love that Caboose knows Church so well he can predict what he’ll do next 😂

THE FIRST BOW CHICKA BOW WOW

Tex is so silly… she’s the only one aware of the horrors 🙂

Ooooh Andy… you were truly something

“And you’re the only one who saw it… just like signs of Donuts heterosexuality!” Absolutely one of my favorite jokes in the whole show holy shit

“Well Church you’re kind of a long way from hero” I am in agony

Watching Donut and Simmons fight over the ghost in the background has me cackling

DONUT SCREAM LIKE A WOMAN

“You know if I killed a ghost would it come back as a ghost of a ghost” and Church was not about to test that theory 😂

Fun fact I just found out from the s3 commentary: crouchasourus, the name Andy suggests for the alien, was a reference to an email they received from a fan suggesting a name for the “dinosaur” (the fan didn’t know it was an alien)

“And my bullshit meter agrees” Sheila you will always be famous to me

Ah yes Simmons first breakdown

Andy

I respect Tex being horny on main

“We’re both just a couple of lovers” “that sounded kinda gay dude” yet another heavily quoted line for me

Love Church trying to have a genuine moment with Tucker and just giving up

Nah bro Grif straight telling Simmons to talk to him more aggressively I’m losing it

Tucker being all cowardly boy doesn’t know he’s gonna be the best of them, he doesn’t know that he’s gonna be leader, he doesn’t know he’s gonna be a hero. Crying.

“A threesome with cheerleaders” another vocal stim right there

Ah yes Grif and his love for Simmons hole

God Church is such a fucking dork. He just like me fr.

NAH I NEVER NOTICED SARGE RAG DOLLING IN THE BACKGROUND AGJAJSGDJD

And Donut becomes Church’s favorite red

“I think you might be projecting” man even Leonard “most repressed man alive” Church knew Simmons was gay

LOVE Church and Sheila just fucking with Simmons

“Or it’s a key all the time and when you stick it in people it unlocks their death” Caboose my beloved

“Is he republican?” Caboose really coming in here with the best political joke in the series

“Could’ve just thrown it on the floor and cut out the middle man” again a very quoted line for me

“Officer hot pants” Simmons says that like he’s into it

“I am allergic to things I don’t want to do” me too Caboose

Preggers

“I do not want to catch pregnancy”

Grif genuinely trying to cheer up Sarge is weirdly sweet 😂

GET CRUSHED DONUT

Ahhh Blood Gulch is so silly! They’re doomed 🙂 also I was half asleep towards the end of the season so if my notes seem less coherent that’s why 😂

[linisiane]

What Kim Kitsuragi Tells Us About Fandom Ghost

I don't know if this has been said before, but I feel like another reason why Kim Kitsuragi is so wildly popular and beloved is how seamlessly he maps onto the trope of the Fanon Ghost.

Fanon Ghost is a concept that originated on Tumblr, by user wildehack, to describe the phenomenon of fandom elevating certain white male side characters from canon into main characters in fic, using a very specific set of characterization.

(Examples: wildehack focused on Star Wars' Hux's popularity in fic in comparison to characters like Finn/Poe, but others include Q from Craig!Bond verse, Arthur from Inception, Draco Malfoy, etc.)

From wildehack's defining essay:

"... prudish til you get him in bed, whereupon he is The Most Kinky, the charmingly repressed rage, the Love of Research and Order, the way lust/interest/affection is coded into irritation at The Neat and Tidy World being All Roughed Up by the hot mess of the other half of the ship?" "This crowdsourced tight-lipped furious perfectionist with his neat clothes and his scowling defensiveness and his biting sarcasm and his embarrassed desire to have a dude who is both sweaty and emotional take him apart."

Sound familiar?

Well, the terms may be a little different.

Where wildehack uses 'prudish,' 'biting sarcasm,' etc. to describe their fandom's fanon ghost, Disco fans might use 'professional,' 'dry wit,' etc. to describe Kim Kitsuragi.

But, the idea is the same, down to his embarrassing / sweaty / emotional partner. Kim Kitsuragi is Fanon Ghost if fanon ghost weren't a white male side character.

quick detour that'll become relevant later: i feel SO smug about the fact that Kim's characterization is canon to Disco Elysium. You had to make up your own perfect blorbo, but ours came like that! And he's not a white character being used to ignore POC main characters!

wildehack's essay started a conversation on why fandoms gravitate towards "This One Crowdsourced Dude," even when he doesn't exist in canon. And when there are other, often more established, minority main characters to work with.

There are a bunch of responses to this question—the FandomLore article I'm referencing this discussion from has a bunch of the full metas—ranging from exploring why he's often white and what exactly about him appeals to fandom. I think Kim's popularity can be really helpful in sorting my thoughts to these responses.

For instance, there are two general responses as to why the Fandom Ghost is usually a white side character:

Whiteness is considered a a blank slate default, making it easier to write about without fear of misrepresentation/mischaracterization

VS

White men are considered more desirable/more relatable by fandom.

It's probably a mix of the two, but I think a fascinating THIRD take is that these white side characters in canon aren't just blank slates, but also share minor traits that all point to One Trope that causes people to obsess.

certifiedspacetrash postulated that the fandom ghost is actually a reskinning of a much older beloved archetype—the byronic hero: a character notable for being hard to like and hard to know, but usually possessing a rich inner life and a softer side accessible only to a special few. (Sound familiar?)

He theorized that part of the reason we don't see many POC Fandom Ghosts is because mainstream medias don't cast byronic traits onto POC characters.

"I think if Hollywood cast more young, striking actors who happen to be PoC, women etc as villains / byronic heores we would see lots of fanfic of them. But Hollywood is still in some weirdass reaction to being accused of racial stereotyping (which they 100% still do), and almost refuse to cast poc or women as bad guys. If they are, they’re either cast very old; or they’re the mary sue badguys - 100% beautiful, geniuses, incredibly powerful, no flaws whatsoever - and that tends not to inspire a lot of writers."

I find this take fascinating with Disco Elysium in mind because of the way Kim Kitsuragi is the exception that proves the rule.

Kim Kitsuragi is a rare, well-written mixed Asian character with byronic traits. And would you look at that?—Kim Kitsuragi has captured the hearts and minds of basically every Disco Elysium enjoyer ever.

Kim Kitsuragi is notably NOT overshadowed by Jean Vicquemare, who is a white side character with byronic traits that, in an alternate universe, could've been possessed by the Fandom Ghost to overshadow Kim. Jean, in our universe, already has a pretty big fandom in proportion to his screentime.

But, by the grace of moments where Harry can get Kim to "give a smile only you can see," Kim Kitsuragi is the breakout star of Disco Elysium. I find that hopeful, in a time where Asian male characters (outside of Asia, ofc) are often overlooked or boxed in or emasculated.

[nonbayanary]

"Wraith" [my SENA-sona]

Trigger Warnings: Bullying, Spirits, Death, Suicide, Abuse Trauma, Ghosts, Hauntings, Insanity, Revenge

In an alternate universe where a young Kobayakawa Sena dies from being beaten to death by his bullies, the ghost, only known as "Wraith," rises from the ashes of his corpse.

Wraith is a manifestation of Sena's rage, resentment, and grief. He is merely a shadow of Sena's former self—a husk of the child's soul, with memories of abuse plaguing him.

Being a resentful spirit, Wraith is stronger than other spirits of his type. The theory is that, the more a person represses their negative emotions in life, the more powerful their dark energy will be in death. These spirits will be even more powerful if their deaths are violent, like Sena's death at the hands of his bullies.

His bullies didn't mean to kill him—they just wanted to beat him a little. And yet Sena's death is tragic and painful all the same.

He haunts his neglectful parents and his bullies, driving them to either insanity or to suicide.

He resents his abusive, good-for-nothing parents. He's told them over and over about his bullies, and they did nothing. His parents verbally and emotionally abused him, treating him like their emotional punching bag. This led to his low self esteem, which rendered him vulnerable to bullies in the first place.

Wraith hates his bullies, the pieces of shit who took everything away from him. Even as his bullies are children, he shows them no remorse, as Wraith is only the leftover resentment of Sena's soul.

The only person Wraith does not hate nor hurt is the young Anezaki Mamori. She was his only trusted companion when Sena lived. Even after Sena's death, Wraith honors this friendship of theirs.

It takes thirty years for Wraith to exact his revenge.

His parents go to jail for child neglect, and he haunts them in their nightmares. His mother kills herself with a shiv, and his father dies in a prison riot—killed by other inmates.

His bullies die in a shorter time. He haunts every single one of them, both in their dreams and in their waking hours. He does this for years until one by one, they all commit suicide.

With Wraith's revenge complete, he has nothing else to do. So he chooses to follow Anezaki Mamori around, and protect her from bad people and spirits alike.

Mamori sees him sometimes, at the corners of her peripheral vision. She used to feel pangs of grief and pain during the first years when she saw him. But she slowly got used to seeing him near, so much that she feels comfort in his presence.

Sometimes, Mamori's classmates tell her she's haunted. Her only response is to smile fondly. "I know."

Mamori speaks to Wraith sometimes, when she's alone. He never replies. He has nothing to say—but it does not bother her. His actions matter more than his words, and she knows he's been keeping her safe all these years.

In some cases, resentful spirits dissipate once the deaths of their murderers/abusers are equally violent, if not more. Wraith's parents and bullies have all died by violent and tragic means.

And yet Wraith remains on this plane of existence. And he slowly realizes: it's his attachment to Mamori that keeps him tethered to this plane.

Gradually, he grows more protective and fond of Mamori. He still does not talk, but he communicates in other ways. He nods, shakes his head, tilts his head, points his chin, and all the other things Sena used to do when he lived. It hits Mamori with pangs of nostalgia for their childhood—before Sena died. But Mamori still feels grateful, for not everyone stays with their loved ones after their deaths.

Wraith's existence begins with rage, resentment, and grief. But it slowly becomes a story of staying for one's loved ones in order to protect them. From a tale of revenge, it becomes a story where not even death can part a spirit from his beloved sister.