#she fuckin raised them

[disastermages]

[read it on ao3]

The dock above Jiang Yanli is old and rotten in places, but not rotten enough to give away where she’s hiding underneath it, trying hard not to giggle. Her brothers are supposed to be leading her fiance deeper into the woods and eventually out onto the dock, telling him all sorts of made up ghost stories. The three of them had come up with them together last night, but she had been the one to decide that Jiang Cheng should be the one to tell them, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but grin and that gave the whole thing away. 

The sound of their voices drawing closer and closer is Jiang Yanli’s cue to dive beneath the surface of the water, unbound hair fanning out like the bloom of a flower as she draws breath into her chest and holds it. All she has to do is wait for Nie Mingjue’s shadow to tower over the water, and then she could wrap her hand around his ankle while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both shoved him into the lake.

They couldn’t do this sort of thing when she was engaged to Jin Zixuan. They tried, and he hadn’t taken it well. 

The white robes on her body, layers upon layers of them to keep from allowing them to be come see through, grow heavy and rough in the water, but they do little to slow Jiang Yanli down as the dock above creaks and groans under the weight of three grown men. She can see just enough past the glare of the sun to know that Nie Mingjue is squinting hard at the water, she has to time this perfectly. 

Wei Wuxian leans over Nie Mingjue’s shoulder, pointing something out, and it’s Jiang Yanli’s cue to strike, pushing herself up out of the water with a force she shouldn’t have to wrap both small hands around Nie Mingjue’s ankle while both of her brothers shove their shoulders into his back, pitching him forward while they run away, howling with laughter. 

Jiang Yanli is almost certain that she’s a very convincing corpse, she can’t see past her own hair to tell otherwise, but the way Nie Mingjue splashes and tries to fight against her hands on his arms all but confirms it. He’s reaching for Baxia, Jiang Yanli knows she shouldn’t laugh, but she still does, it makes him stop splashing for just one long moment before reality sinks in.

“You!” Nie Mingjue sputters, hair clinging to his face as he dips below the surface for just a moment before he remembers how to tread water. It’s an improvement, he couldn’t even float when they’d first gotten engaged. Alarm gives way to amusement as he tries to swim towards her, only to be met with empty water as Jiang Yanli dives away from him, black hair and white burial robes billowing out around her. 

Nie Mingjue no longer sinks like a stone, but he still can’t keep up with Jiang Yanli when she truly tries to keep away from him. “I didn’t know Mingjue-dage was so eager to swim with me,” Jiang Yanli grins as she resurfaces, pushing her hair out of her face just to look at him. Some men would have splashed and thundered their way back to the shore by now, but all Nie Mingjue has done is watch her as if she’s something to be marveled at.

He swims towards her carefully, never knowing whether or not she’s going to slip through his fingers again, and admittedly, Jiang Yanli thinks about it, but she lets him draw closer instead. She could push him under again, but that feels too mean, even she wouldn’t forgive herself for that. That’s something her brothers did to each other. 

She chooses to be sweet, instead, brushing wet hair from his face and then pressing that same hand against his cheek. He would get tired of swimming with her soon enough, she has to take what she can.

“I would have swam with you sooner if I’d known you made for such a pretty ghost.” Nie Mingjue smiles when he says it, pressing a kiss to the palm of her hand right after, and Jiang Yanli feels her stomach flip before it fills to the brim with butterflies. It isn’t fair how he can tease her right back after she’d conspired with her brothers to push him into the lake. 

Slowly, they drift closer and closer to the shore, sinking into the mud just a little as they climb out of the water together, water falling off the both of them in sheets. If she’d been alone, Jiang Yanli might’ve just laid on the dock so the sun could dry her from bottom to top, she might’ve even fallen asleep in the sun like that, but who knows what kind of rumors would get spread if anyone caught her lying her cheek on Nie Mingjue’s chest while they dried together?

She should lead him over to the tree trunk where her clothes, her real clothes, not the burial robes she’d bribed her shimei to get for her, lay hidden, but Nie Mingjue’s arms wrap around her waist. He’s careful not to pull her wet hair as he holds her close, his eyes glued to her face. He always treats her as if she’s some great beauty, as if she’s something to be held close to his heart.

The humidity of Lotus Pier is already making both of their hair curl, Jiang Yanli wants nothing more than to reach out and run her fingers through Nie Mingjue’s curls, her eyes blinking wide while he continues to watch her like he can’t bear to let her out of his sight.

She shouldn’t. Jiang Yanli knows that she shouldn’t, but before she can think twice about it, she’s standing on tiptoe to kiss Nie Mingjue. Her arms wrap around his neck, keeping him close and keeping herself up, though she doesn’t need to for long. 

Nie Mingjue picks her up and holds her against him before Jiang Yanli even realizes that she’s being moved, her own hands sliding down to his chest. She can feel his heartbeat there, but it feels far, far too fast for something as simple as picking her up. Carefully, because it might break whatever spell they’re under, Jiang Yanli slides one hand up to Nie Mingjue’s throat, feeling for his pulse and finding it just as fast.

“Sect Leader Nie,” Jiang Yanli calls him that to dump ice water over her own head, her lips still numb from the kiss when Nie Mingjue rests his forehead against hers, his eyes fluttering shut. She needs to get down, she needs to put some sort of distance between them so she doesn’t do anything he might regret. It doesn’t matter that she started it, it doesn’t matter that she played a trick on him or kissed him first. This is too much, she’s done too much, and all Nie Mingjue has done is reward her for it. 

Jiang Yanli doesn’t expect to be kissed again, nor does she expect the kiss to linger as long as it does. She can’t hope to control the soft sound that flutters out of her throat, as if one of the butterflies in her stomach has broken loose. 

“Qinghe’s waters will be too cold and shallow for you to do this again, Lady Jiang.” Nie Mingjue speaks to her softly, but the reminder of her own title does nothing to cool off the warmth that’s building up underneath her cheeks, “You’ll have to find other means of playing tricks after we marry.”

Nie Mingjue still wants to marry her, even after Jiang Yanli pulled him into the lake and pretended to be a ghost. She even dressed the part.

Slowly, and then all too quickly, a smile bursts across Jiang Yanli’s face while her cheeks burn hotter, threatening to dry them both in an instant. They aren’t supposed to be alone together, not until after they’re married, they’ve already broken that rule, among others. She shouldn’t go to Qinghe until the wedding, either, Jiang Yanli knows that. Her wedding robes aren’t even done yet. 

“Perhaps a visit to the Unclean Realm should be arranged,” Jiang Yanli speaks softly, leaning her chin against her hand while she pretends to think, “I’ll have to think of what can be prepared once I settle in, won’t I?”

Jiang Yanli doesn’t expect to see Nie Mingjue grin down at her, but it puts her heart in her throat all the same.

“Your future husband might have tricks of his own, Lady Jiang.” It doesn’t sound like a threat or a warning, it sounds like a promise.

Jiang Yanli can’t wait for him to follow through with it.

[sludgekludge]

THANK YOU your criticism of fizzarolli is spot on! i never understood why blitzo has a close childhood friend that he performed with whos life he ruined in the fire that he reconnects with later in life (and also has connections in the lust ring) but also a sister that he performed with whos life he ruined in the fire that he wants to reconnect with later in life (and also has connections in the lust ring)

vivziepop, if you removed the childhood crush thing, these would be the same character.

THAT'S WHAT IM SAYING YOU GET IT!! YOU GET IT

sure, their personalities are different, but their functionality in blitz's story is so similar it baffles me. a big issue both these shows have is the redundancy of some of the cast. you can delete fizz and reassign his roles to other characters and have everything work fine - even the stolitz parallel in fizzarozzie could be re-attributed to like, bee and tex, who blitz knows through loona (those characters are both relevant to loona as well, so two birds one stone, less characters cluttering everything up), and the whole 'failed romantic arc' thing… verosika is right there. so blitz could also know bee and tex through her...

furthermore, BARBIE AND VEROSIKA LITERALLY APPARENTLY KNEW EACH OTHER WHICH IS LIKE, THE CONNECTION IS RIGHT THERE WHAT ARE YOU DOING ITS RIGHT THERE WHY DID WE MAKE A WHOLE NEW CHARACTER!!! WHY DID WE MAKE A WHOLE NEW CHARACTER AND THEN THIS RIDICULOUS CONVOLUTED REASON AS TO WHY THEY WERE IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME IN OOPS!!! VIVZIENNE POPSICLE!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! WHY ARE WE STILL INTRODUCING ALL THESE REDUNDANT CHARACTERS WITH 1 MILLION OVERLAPPING TRAITS!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

[gxlden-angels]

I love getting my silly little dose of validation whenever I explain something as small to my childhood as "yea they taught us to be prepared to be soldiers in spiritual warfare between angels and demons from a young age" and having my therapist or a friend respond like

[onedoorful-jimin]

I HATE THISSSSS

I loved newjeans!!!! I was rooting for you!!!! We were all rooting for you!!!!!!

But your ceo and creative director started to act like a greedy fuckin finance bro and TRIED TO USURP A COMPANY and GOT CAUGHT! like a fucking dumb stupid guy!!! And she’s supposed to be a smart capable artistic creative diva!!!! Her downfall was that she aligned herself with the wrong people aka loser men aka that vice president A from the leaked kakao texts (who got accused of sexual assault btw! and ceo lady looked the other way)!!!

And now ex-ceo mhj—because she did in fact get fired from her position as ceo—is making a whole lotta noise with the press and now the Korean National Assembly?? and now one of the newjeans members went in front of these politicians?

Whatever. I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.

I just am done.

mhj and the newjeans members are now just making a whole lotta ruckus so hybe will let newjeans out of their contract without making them pay $200 million in termination fees. so mhj can put them in a new contract under a new label she controls, even if she has a non-compete clause in her contract, she can still pull the strings behind the scenes.

I hope hybe never releases newjeans cuz that’ll be what’s best for them imo. It’s really really fucked up but these girls can scream and shout and struggle as much as they want but they should never be allowed anywhere near mhj ever again. they should be chained up to a radiator and given methadone cuz these girls’ brains were hardwired and that shit needs to be flushed out. mhj fed them poison frfr.

It might be impossible to make sure they have absolutely no contact but hybe should not let these girls go.

[spotsupstuff]

No wonder he is always angry...

At least he has his family.

Does Sparrow knows? Do the others iterators know? Is there another city that does the same!??!

Also "venom of the lower circles"? What is happening there?

how very angry Boreas is is a testament of how much he has had to suffer, in both the lighter funnier ways as putting up with constant knowledge of everyone's life such as roadrage to darker ways such as actual torture, and how much self respect he has to recognize that he didn't deserve this. "just because we can heal does not mean it is alright for us to get hurt."

everybody knows about it! but it feels like it's always been like this, so it's okay. this is just how it is. it is just another fact of life. (yet both Zephyr and Orion still remember the first time Boreas has dragged himself online in their chats and how closed off he was- too hurt to interact with them normally)

there isn't anyone else with this kinda thing! the bigger the city the easier the empathy gets lost. and as we all know at this point, Boreas was blessed with being the biggest of them all

with the venom- i've laughed in the tags of that one big Boreas raging pic how it's funny that someone would rather put warning sign program into him rather than find a way to help him with his anger and as i've been working on him a bit more, i decided to take this idea a little further

he gets angry, the warnings pop up. he gets more angry, past what the Houses consider alright to allow him to feel, they "cool" him down by automatic injection of the paralyzing venom directly into the puppet. it hurts like a bitch and causes a very small Hivemind unsync, damages his puppet's internal organic systems (but "that is okay. he can heal." they say.) + sort of works like a sedative. nothing too severe that would affect the parts of his consciousness that controls the city, of course, can't be inconvenient to the citizens, but it pulls on his metaphoric reins like That

this was originally implemented because back when he still used to have Mechanics looking after him (those were from the Wellspring, too), he started being a little too... daring and disrespectful for their tastes. so it's his little "controlled shock FNaF: sister location" moment

it is no fun

after his facilities were deemed stable, he no longer had any Mechanics workin on him (an Admin and a Mechanic are two different roles, even though they r very similar). then he had only one Admin that sometimes checks in on his systems without directly interacting with him. the paralyzing doses were instead used when the Houses had to arrange things with him n he didn't want to comply for whatever reason and when the school became a thing, it was a way to ensure he doesn't actually hurt any of the students

because there is an exception in his taboos when it comes to laying harm upon certain kinds of Ancients instead of covering all of them. he is allowed to kill anyone who is considered an intruder And he is allowed to harm Iterator Mechanic students (not severely though) in order to rough up the to-be Mechanics. they have to be ready to deal with the absolute worse an Iterator can offer, Just In Case. this taboo gets a little bit more broken for the Mechanics' last test, which is looking after Boreas' systems for a few days

during this last test period, all of the students are guaranteed to be in the respawn cycle now. which means Boreas can wound them fatally if they provoke him enough (since that is a big No on what to do with ur Iterator charge as a Mechanic, the severe punishment would be warranted). the first meeting between the student n Boreas is monitored by the teachers- the student comes into his chamber to introduce themselves and lay out their plan of system check ups. if a student manages to severely anger/provoke Boreas Here already, the teachers will administer the venom n just send the kid home to retake the year or leave. if they can't handle the first meeting right, they are pretty much helpless. and for this helplessness Boreas has to suffer

the venom is advertised to come from willing lower circles (or levels), but it hardly is. while it is rarely extracted by force, it is usually gotten by financial manipulation of people who are well or as an abuse of unfortunate poor citizens/lower circles. if you give us this resource, we will compensate you, give you money, take it as part of your taxes. it's dehumanizing, but out of desperation the unfortunate souls give in

they do not know what their venom is then used for. they don't ask out of fear. and while Boreas is aware of this manipulation, he blames the unfortunate ones either way. the end result it that they've allowed him to hurt with those generous donations of theirs. he's too bitter, angry and hurt to give much of a shit. all of the Ancients are the same. all of them are a part of the problem

which is why the fuckin -ruffles hair- his and Sparrows' relationship gets me so hard

in his eyes, she's just as guilty as his Houses at the beginning. but she's strange, she gets bullied a lot, she's thrown away by everyone of these high city levels. she breaks one of his overseers- such expandable unimportant things to him- and she cries over the broken eye. and the most puzzling thing... during her last test, once she enters his chambers, she bows to him as she gives him a shortened version of her name- "just Three Sparrows, i know you don't want to waste your words on me"- she still flinches when he approaches to judge her, but she suppresses any other sign of distress that would warrant a venom administration. she offers to make him a deal. she offers to listen to what he's comfortable with her working on him. she says she won't force anything on him. it just makes no sense. cautiously, he accepts. he watches her like a hawk during her work, but she never breaks the promises she's made to him

this doesn't change his opinion on the Ancients. when later Sparrows changes Zephyr's, he's salty and still angry about it. they all should pay. this is just one individual. she is an anomaly. she is dangerous. with how sick his puppet feels from those doses at the end of each semester, there is no other way for her to be

and he holds on to that opinion until he witnesses that reconciliation between her and Euros after the 1st Rot situation. she could've been mean, she could've screamed, she could've hurt him. first two of those that he has done to Euros before the euthanization, even though he's already been made aware of his fault and the situation was considered in control (he's done it out of concern, his own fear and worry for the young thing, but still-). but no. Sparrows was better than him, then (she screamed at him at first becuase she had no idea how bad it could've been- maybe he was damned already n there was nothing she could've done to save him). she was kind and warm even after being lied to- betrayed- she gently whispered explanations, she leaned against him softly and allowed it when he leaned against her back.

an Ancient was a better person than him- the same venom held at bay in her fangs coursing through his bloodstream, remnants of yesterday's dose still ringing off- and he has no other choice but to see and recognize her for it

[biillys]

STRANGER THINGS 2.02 – trick or treat

[visceral-pup]

.

[du-hjarta-skulblaka]

Stuck on the first few eps of Farscape after finishing up Fantasy High s2 and maybe its the whole most recently consumed bias but I'm really struck by how much it feels like a dnd game??? Bunch of weird lil renegades slapped together and put in weird situations, honestly it would make a really interesting starting point for a game

Anyway John Crichton is a bard/wizard; he does a lot of persuasion as performance and that scene of him collapsing to the floor to write slingshot equations is THE most wizard shit- perhaps Artificer would be more accurate to him but it's not a class I'm familiar with.

[arundolyn]

not to be a complete ungrateful terrible horrible brat for a minute but like having a terminally ill parent who is also terminally fucking shitty really sucks because not only do you personally have to cope with your parent actively dying but also said parent will get mad at you for wanting time to yourself and not wanting to be their live in nurse 24/7 and also like completely forget about who you are and what you're like as a person especially in terms of like . energy level. because it's not convenient to them right now so anytime you try to think of yourself it always feels like you're Choosing Wrong

[c0ffinrehearsal]

frankie is making me watch this new documentary about christian fundamentalists and like….i know i say this a lot but christianity is literally insane what the FUCK

[jackass-jones]

Idk man I just need to hold hands with Kai Satou and I’ll be good

[cactusringed]

I think it'd be funny if I got a raise

[agayconcept]

.

[spotsupstuff]

Okay, I need to know what Sparrow's dad said about the rot because it is haunting me like Sos is haunting the narrative.

Is there a post that describes Sparrow's dad to know about him more? What is his name? (It seems he also haunts the narrative)

he is not to be really known

and really he only haunts the narrative, yes, but specifically when Sparrows (or her family) is the focus. to the Iterators he's just another fleeting life of an unimportant figure

he hasn't said anything about the Rot, good chance he's never even heard about it. what he talked about to Sparrows was his belief that the Void Sea was not to be discovered, disturbed and then used. in the Rot comic, Sparrows talks about the connection she's made herself as a Mechanic between the Rot (a thing specific to Iterators) and the Void Fluid being key ingredient for their existence

though it had to dawn on her at some point that if her dad was right about the introduction of the Void into the society not being right and therefore the Iterators' existence (including Caper's) is inherently wrong on that basis, she's not the sort of person to ignore the facts even if they hurt. the Rot is connected to Void. the Void allows Iterators to live. her husband is unintentionally hurting the spiritual balance by simply living. it hurts, but there is nothing she can do about it so she'll keep on loving him while keeping her thoughts to herself

more to Dad: • he doesn't have a name and i'm not planning on giving him one • he's native to Euros' facilities while Inkling comes the facilities of Aftertaste of Disdain • big believer in the original local pagan religion. so he prays to and believes in the Folk Gods. since he's so strong in his religious faith, he spiritualy cultivates himself a lot. that's why he's so thin and grey (the greyness in his case means that if he dies he will not respawn) • he died at 51- which is basically like dying in late 20s in human years • met Inkling when he was 20 and she 16. he was travelling the through the Eo group territory in the name of his spiritual journey when he stopped for a while in Disdain's facilities. they became good friends there and since during that time Disdain's place was facing food issues (effectively putting the lower circle through famine in the name of preserving the higher circle- as a result of the war's poorly managed consequences. they lasted stupid long), with her family's agreement he took Inkling with himself back to Euros' facilities which were stable since he was a very new Iterator unaffected by the war • they stayed friends for about 6 years. then one day Inkling started trying to hit on him by secretly putting her food into his backpack for when he'd go to work. food meant a lot to her, as someone who grew up in famine, so she thought that would carry the message across real well. poor man thought he was haunted by a food ghost until he one day caught her in the act • stayed girlfriend n boyfriend for about 4 years. got married and 3 years later had the twins. 4 years After the twins, came Sparrows • originally he was simply a farmer, but when he came back home with Inkling, he learned how to be a shoemaker so he could spend more time at home with her (since she is a tailor) • the granda i sometimes mention was the Dad's dad. he however took in Inkling so readily that at some point she just started referring to him as her dad and he likes to call her his daughter • he was a good father! often imparting his thoughts on the children for them to Consider, not blindly accept. he read them stories, took them out for trips in the district, showed them how to use the farmer equipment and so on • despite this, Sparrows has mixed feelings about him. she loves him and takes care of his grave when she's home, but she can't help but be angry at him for being... "too spiritual" and therefore removing himself from the respawn pool. if he hadn't, he'd still be here with them! but well... it's not like he Wanted to die to some lizard getting a jump on him and leave his family behind to fetch for themselves. she doesn't come to terms with this till much later, possibly with Euros' help

[orcelito]

hahahaha. you dont say.

in any case i just read chapter 40 of trimax and i am. not the same.

[letmesleepy]

Hey Sleepy I know about Otto but what about Caroline? I've seen u tag oc tag stuff as Caroline. Who are they?

Thats Carolina ^_^ let me talk about her miserable life under the cut. Its under a cut cuz uhhhhh sensitive topics below. Also long as hell

Carolina is my fallout oc/sona/its complicated. We'll say shes an oc cuz shes only really a sona when im playin the games and when thats happening the pronouns are they/them but since its just me playing the they/themming is only in the head.

Shes in 3/nv/4 and dear god she goes through so much trauma. Shes a mute chick w huge anger issues who tries not to show it by constantly being @_@ about life. She had a tumor in her throat when she was 1 yr old, which if it wasnt removed would have traveled to her brain, if it didnt close off her ability to breathe first. She had to have surgery to have it removed, taking her vocal cords in the process.

She has a huge love for repairing tech such as computers and bots, and when she was in the vault she dreamed of being the person to maintain the water chip. But as you know f3 story she never got the chance, only ever being a pipboy repairmen (which she did enjoy but due to how isolated she was she wanted water chip job more so she could be more important and liked). She has an incredible memory too ✌.

Cuz of her mutism she had like almost no friends aside from amata + a few adults, only furthering her @_@ ing and not showing her emotions. This leads to FURTHER isolating cuz everyone just thinks shes weird. She struggles a lot w her self image due to this isolation and kids pickin on her for being mute + tall, leading to struggles w anorexia. Throughout the 10 yrs old f3 to f4 she tries to recover from this, but cuz the apocalyptic world is harsh she doesnt get well off at first, becoming an alcoholic alongside it, due to in f4 shes brainwashed/reprogrammed (cyborg from nv dlc) into believing shes a 200 yr old mom searching for her son. Not only brainwashed but had surgery to look like the original nora. This only worsens her self image problems when she realizes the truth. The reason shes brainwashed is cuz Father believes shes incredible, and due to her work in washington/vegas, believing she should take his place. Originally he thought she was a true vault dweller, having no radiation. By the time he found out she wasnt, it was too late. But he persisted anyway, still considering her determination and the charisma she would gain from nora to make her an excellent leader.

When she realizes shes actually NOT nora, and that they gave her a dead womans voice, thoughts, face, this leads to her almost going over the deep end, for a moment considering horrible things from making her anorexia worse for a sense of control to simply finding a hole to die in. But in the end she decides instead to combine her personality w noras, since nora is now stuck inside her. Nora is a "program" of sorts, existing in the cybernetic part of carolinas brain. She was scanned from the original noras head, who died during the capturing of shawn. Due to her being a corpse there were a lot of memories gone, so a lot was filled in or simply left blank. Shes a ghost of herself but she doesnt wanna die again, so she stays alive through carolina, the two becoming a new one. Carolina is now more vulnerable, with new thoughts, but in a way she finds a peace in it, feeling less lonely even if the company isnt entirely true. They ofc arent totally harmonious, at times being completely separate mentally, but they over time find this to be a good thing, always seeing things in a new way, coming up with better ways to solve things. Her only other constant company is f3 dogmeat, who stays by her side ever since they met. But that changes when she has to take care of shawn, who believes shes his bio mother. Now she has more company with him involved.

Originally carolina doesnt wanna take care of him, being very traumatized by what happened w Father, but in the end he wins her over, so they travel together. Ofc carolina tells shawn the truth, that shes not his mom. But he in the end decides it doesnt matter, that shes really cool and he wants her to be his mom. With this relief, she changes her face back as much as she can, and removes noras voice from her. Because of their new relationship, carolina opens up more, having a healthier lifestyle to set a good example, and making promises to not be as reckless in battle, cuz he worries about her :(. Over time she starts expressing herself more, still ofc sometimes @_@ but thats cuz she has apocalyptic autism and Is Just Like That. But overall she learns to laugh and actually be happy cuz she has someone to love again, and this time she doesnt let ppl step over her. As she recovers and loves, she gains more weight and becomes fat and strong ^-^ leading to her passion of engineering being more easy due to having more energy.... Not to mention the flustering attention she gets cuz shes a beefy woman in the apocalypse.

Tldr: i take yer gruff depressed middle aged man w daughter and raise you: gruff depressed middle aged woman w son. + cute doggy :)