#since things in this timeline are vastly different

[linderosse]

Guys.

Super long post; read at your own peril (tl;dr at the end).

But I just had a brilliant possible idea about where Echo (the new Zelda from Echoes of Wisdom) fits in the Wisdomverse, so I’m documenting it in case I decide to use it.

See, merging Echo into Fable would be cool. They seem very similar already (relevant post), and it’s a good option.

Yet there are a few small problems with this. I can get around them, but they’re still something to consider.

Fable’s already in four separate games (Most Zeldas get one game or less). Adding EoW makes a fifth.

Fable is already quite powerful amongst the Zeldas. Adding EoW makes her a bit OP. I’ll have to balance that carefully.

Fable has a planned story arc in the Wisdomverse. This might conflict with EoW (for example, this is why LU decided against adding TotK to Wild)

So while I still think it could be cool to merge Fable and Echo, I’m also looking for other possibilities. I don’t want to introduce a new Zelda between Fable and Dawn unless I have to.

And then I realized:

There is already a canon Zelda between Fable and Dawn.

I’ve literally already introduced her.

I have plans for her that could totally work with what we see in Echoes of Wisdom.

She’s vastly underpowered and could use the abilities from EoW very well

I could totally see myself writing her personality into EoW Zelda— it’s a different take than how I’ve depicted Echo before, but it would work equally well imo

And she’s also the Zelda with the least canon information; the one we know the least about overall— especially since we never meet her in her own time.

Guys, if Fable doesn’t work out, I think it might be awesome to merge Echo with Aurora— Hyrule’s second Zelda.

Imagine this:

Aurora woke up centuries in the future, after the Great Decline. She’s trapped in a vastly different world with Dawn and Hyrule as her only solace. She loves them, but she’s not from here; and she can’t shake the dread that she’s left everything behind: her friends, her realm, her brother, who she still cares about despite everything he did to her— and also, of course, her Link, who she loves, and went on an entire adventure to save.

When she was Echo, she was a hero. But as Aurora, she’s an echo of the past; a mournful ghost of a bygone age

Tl;dr: What if Echoes of Wisdom is the era Aurora came from— and where she desperately longs to return?

Masterpost

(More thoughts on the timeline under the cut.)

So— Echoes of Wisdom seems (so far) to take place around the time of Legend’s era, with enough ambiguity that it could be either before or after Legend’s era of ALttP/Oracles/ALBW/TH.

Currently leaning towards “EoW before Legend” considering the similarities to OoT, but I could very well go with “EoW after Legend,” which would be necessary for the Aurora merge. The Oracle games, after all, have a lot of similarities with OoT in terms of races and characters present (Zoras, the Deku Tree, Zelda’s design, etc), and they come after ALttP, which doesn’t have quite as many. Same thing with FSA, which is canonically after Twilight Princess but obviously resembles Four Swords more, and both Wisdomverse and LU have shifted the timeline to match. So there is precedent for similarities to skip a generation or two, even in canon.

I also doubt EoW is going to include a Prince of Hyrule (the one character we know of from Aurora’s backstory). This is fine, because I’m confident I can come up with a reason the Prince was away during the events of EoW. Perhaps during the events of EoW, the Prince left on a journey of his own and first encountered the Wizard that leads to Aurora’s downfall.

Anyways, these are just tentative plans. We’ll see what happens when the game comes out!

[cacoetheswriting]

honesty: the music video

pairing: rockstar!eddie munson x popstar!fem!reader word count: 2.3k summary: after a long day on set, you can't wait to get it on with your costar.

content warnings: 18+, minors dni: mature themes, literally smut with a minor plot, established relationship, unprotected p in v, overstimulation, praise kink, dom-ish eddie, adult language, heavy use of pet names, mentions of aftercare — if i missed anything in this chapter, pls let me know!

celebrity skin. masterlist <- part of this lil' universe, but can totally be read as a stand-alone. timeline wise, this takes place somewhere after part 3 and before end part 5.

“We want it to be sexy.”

“But not too sexy.”

“Revealing.”

“But not too revealing.”

“Sounds like you guys don’t know what you want,” Eddie chimes in, interrupting the back and forth of your respective teams.

You stifle a giggle.

“That’s ‘cause of the two distinct styles,” someone from your team clarifies, “We wanna be respectful.”

“For sure,” one of the creatives on the Corroded Coffin side agrees. There’s a short pause. “We will have you two kiss at the end, though.”

At that, Eddie smirks. He looks at you from across the table and you could just about melt right there, blood rushing to your face, warming your cheeks.

“That won’t be a problem,” he says confidently and winks.

-

Honesty was a guaranteed hit. Top of the charts. Everybody that’s been so far involved in the project said it. They praised it. From the bass, drums, to the guitar and vocals. The production value was off the scale. A dream arrangement that would stand the test of time.

All the song needed was a music video equally as captivating.

A back and forth discourse began shortly after you first started recording with the band: whose style should the clip resemble more?

Corroded Coffin screamed all things dark, maybe a little gory. Their usual expression featured slightly melancholy undertones and a lot of references to all things Dungeons & Dragons. Imaginative, for sure. An artistry that had rarely been seen in the genre. 

Although it’s been an artistry vastly different from yours. 

The glitter hadn’t necessarily been your idea, but it certainly became a signature of sorts. Anything sparkly, always. And music videos that told a story. Most often one of love since that’s what you idolised ever since you were a kid — it obviously helped that love also sold millions of copies.

Eddie’s team argued that it’s the band’s song and you’re just a feature, therefore the accompanying video should lean into their style. Your management team was hesitant to agree. Calculating risk in case the lines get blurred a little too much and your pristine image shifts to the opposite end of the spectrum. Hours of arguments. Hours of negotiations. None of which you, or the rockstar were even mildly aware of. Too lost in each other's eyes and soft cotton sheets. 

Eventually, a compromise, of sorts, was found.

Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers influenced, in part, a 1946 film noir of the same title, with Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster taking the lead. The movie, in turn, inspired the black and white music video.

Done up in flair of the characters, Kitty Collins and Ole Anderson (aka Swede), you recreated iconic scenes alongside the brown-eyed rockstar. The rest of the band was also dressed to the nines. Side characters that played their instruments in the background of main shots. They blended in well, while adding a unique spin to the known story. 

Overall, the Honesty shoot quickly became a big spectacle. Bigger than anything Eddie Munson and his band of closest friends has ever been lucky enough to be a part of.

Intricate sets. Glamourous. In front of cameras and bright lights, you and your scene partner, Eddie, mouthed along the lyrics to the song as if they were a script. And with every scene, as if the two of you were the only people actually there, no equipment and no crew, you got lost a tiny bit. Lost in the chocolate of the rockstar’s wide gaze. In the way he smelled. The style of that decade suited the brunette greatly, so you became lost in how he looked in this character. Dapper. Unlike you’ve ever witnessed him before. He committed to the role too. A certain swag in his movements. How he touched you so hesitantly, delicately because that’s what the video required.

By the end of the night, after the director yells, “Cut!” to signalise a wrap, a round of applause for all involved in this project, you’re feeling hot and bothered. Sweaty, though not because you just completed a full day’s work. No. Somehow, you found the Corroded Coffin frontman even more attractive than at the start of that day — something you didn’t think was possible. When you glance in his direction, he’s already staring you down, and you know he feels the same way.

Backstage, inside your trailer, you’re sitting cross-legged on the couch. Fingertips at your lips as you wait for that inevitable knock on your door. You know it’s only a matter of time considering the build up of tension throughout the shoot. From the lingering touches and that kiss the director had you two repeat over and over and over…

Logically, you could wait until the two of you were home. Back at Eddie’s Hidden Hills mansion, away from prying eyes and ears. In a bed that’s become all too familiar. Far from possible interruptions. Logic however, well, right now, logic was taking a back burner ‘cause you needed him now. Desperately. And without a doubt, Eddie needed you too.

A knock. Then again. But the rockstar doesn’t wait for you to answer. He lets himself in. 

“What happened to the wig?” You ask, raising a brow.

“It was itchy,” he replies with a slight laugh, then shakes his head. “I much prefer my natural locks.” 

“That’s too bad,” you say with a slight shrug, “You looked quite smart with that short hair.”

Eddie hangs his head with a smile, though his eyes don’t leave yours. Not even for a second. That’s when you notice the glimmer. That look, the reason he’s here, just like you predicted. So you return the expression. Only yours is a little more sly. Tempting him. Teasing. 

“I had fun today.”.

“Me too.”

There’s a lot that happens in the seconds after you stand up. A lot that happens quickly. 

Eddie reaches for your wrist, pulling you closer before wrapping his, for once, ringless hand around yours completely. He presses it to the middle of his chest, holding it against his heart. You can feel it beating and that’s enough to make you melt ‘cause it’s strong and you swear it skips at the contact. His other hand reaches for the base of your throat. He holds it gently, caressing upwards until he’s gripping your jaw. 

“Kissing you in front of all those other people kinda got me going,” he admits in a low tone.

Naughty, that’s what you want to say, but you don’t get the chance ‘cause his lips crash into yours. Hungry. Desperate. Rough. Heat rushes through your body at the sudden contact, no different than any other time his mouth found yours. You’re at his mercy, always, and he knows it well. 

His tongue glides along your top lip and you part your lips to accept him without hesitation. He wastes no time sliding into your mouth, letting this tongue work in tandem with yours as he tilts his head to further deepen the kiss. The hand holding yours lets go, instead finding home on the small of your back, pushing you as close to him as humanly possible. His other hand lets go of your jaw, albeit not completely. Ghosting along the side of your neck before you feel him wrap it around your throat, squeezing lightly. It’s nothing new for Eddie to be a little rougher with you, but there’s something about this moment, after a full day of moderate teasing and borderline foreplay, that causes a moan to burst through you when he squeezes again, only harder.

The rockstar pulls back, sporting a devilish grin. “Making such pretty noises for me and we haven’t even gotten to the best part.”

“Do your worst, Eds.” It’s a dare. Nothing sweet about it.

He smirks at the challenge and before you can register what exactly is happening, Eddie is lifting you up swiftly, hiking up your dress in the process, only to drop you down onto the sofa with a gentle thud. You’re wide-eyed as he unbuckles his belt with one hand, the other tugging at the pantyhose the wardrobe lady had you wear for the last scene of the video. He partially rips them off of you, then he hikes his index finger along the band of your underwear, eagerly pulling them down your legs until they’re wrapped around your ankles, with the reminisce of your stockings.

“The heels stay on,” the rockstar instructs, pushing your legs apart with force and positioning himself in between. All you can do is nod. Half-naked, half in costume. Same as him.

In the space of a heartbeat, his lips are on yours again. This time they don’t stay for long, instead moving downwards towards your chest. When he squeezes your breast through the silk material of your dress, he compliments how fucking good you looked, “I wanted to ravish you the second I saw you, baby.”

You whimper at his words, and at the fact that his now freed cock is gently brushing against your wet folds. Not quite breaching, just teasing you further. Only adding to the overall stimulation. 

“God, you’re so fucking hot. So fucking pretty. And all mine.” Eddie’s breathing into your bare chest ‘cause somehow in the moment your dress has slipped down ever so slightly and your tits made an appearance. Fingers from one hand are digging into your hip, holding you in place, while the other has you by the ribs. Thumb brushing your soft skin while his hot mouth is sucking on your hardened nipple.

Your eyes are closed. You’re not sure when you closed them. He’s invading your senses all at once. Just when you feel like you can’t take it anymore, when you want to whither and plead for him to touch you where you need him most, Eddie plunges himself into you without warning and your eyes snap open. 

“Oh God…” he groans, drawing his hips back only to slam them in again, making your body bounce against him. “Fuck, baby. Jesus.”

You sob in pleasure as Eddie knocks the wind out of you with each relentless thrust, still increasing his speed. Heavy panting and grunting fills the trailer, along with the sounds of where his cock slams against your sweet juices. He’s sitting straight now. Eyes are fixated on the mess you’re both making, where his length disappears in and out of you, while you admire the way his locks fall naturally in place. Although briefly, ‘cause you’re arching your back the next second, rolling your eyes to the back of your head when he hits that sweet spot.

“So. Fucking. Pretty.” He growls. “You’re so fucking pretty when you’re all stretched open like this, sweetheart. Your pussy was made for my cock, baby. You take it so well. You take this big dick so well, my good girl. Fucking made for me. Ain’t that right, dollface?”

“Made for you, Eds.” You just about whisper back, nodding your head feverishly.

Slap. His hand makes contact with your thigh and you practically wail. “That’s right,” he praises, “Made for me. So fucking tight for me.” Slap. Slap. Slap. 

Eddie’s cock starts to swell. You can feel it expand inside of you, then again when he thrusts back in. It has you heaving. The speed he’s established is close to becoming a little too much for the two of you and he drops his weight slightly, allowing you to wrap your arms around him, nails digging into his bare back. He can sense that you too are close and he’s trying hard to hold back, make this moment last longer, but his body refuses to slow down. Chasing the way your glistening pussy chokes his length. 

“Where do you want me baby?”

“Inside,” you croak out. “Cum in me, Eddie. Please. I need you to fill me up.”

“M’mph—” He chokes out, movements growing more and more erratic. The whole trailer is shaking at this point, that’s what it feels like to the two of you anyway. “Everybody out there will know what a good little slut you are. Not that innocent. Wanting me to fill you full of my cum, fuck.” 

Slap. Slap. Against your thigh. 

“Please, Eddie.” 

Slap.

“Shh… I’ll give you what you want, sweetheart.” He coos, “Gonna pump you full. Gonna make you see stars while my cum drips out of you.”

That’s when you shatter around him, uncontrollable desperate squeals making him groan louder as he continues. It’s sloppy, messy, and once you’ve completely unravelled underneath him, the rockstar can’t contain himself any longer. He lets out a broken moan as ropes and ropes of his warm spend start to throb into your hole.

His body gives up at the last spur and he drops flat on top of you, although not without a loose kiss placed to your jaw. His cock remains inside of your pussy. You can feel it pulsing until, after a few minutes, it no longer matches the beat of your heart.

Eddie lifts himself then. He kisses you softly and you smile against his mouth. When he eventually slips out and stands, he tells you not to move, that he’ll grab a towel from the small trailer bathroom and will help you get cleaned up.

“Wardrobe is going to kill us,” you call after him, balancing on your elbows as you sit up slowly. “Pretty sure these clothes can never be worn again. Purely for the fact that they reek of sex.”

“At least your wig stayed in place,” Eddie points out lightheartedly when he returns, his pants once again buckled, a towel in his hand. “That’s something the hair and makeup team should be proud of.”

“I’ll be sure to tell them,” you say, meaning it as a joke ‘cause there’s no way you would ever admit to what sins the two of you just committed.

Eddie smirks. “Pretty sure they already know,” he says as if it’s no big deal, “We weren’t exactly quiet, sweetheart.”

as always, thank you for reading! pls comment, reblog & support your creators.

celebrity skin. masterlist | the killers (1946) reference

& the celebrity skin. taglist: @eviethetheatrefreak , @thirddeadlysin , @haylaansmi , @nope-thanks , @tlclick73 , @vintagehellfire , @ashlynnkennedy , @avalon-wolf , @sidthedollface2 , @astheni-a , @bebe07011 , @aysheashea , @papillonoirsworld , @vol2eddie , @spideyanakin-interacts , @rogers-sweatbands , @mimsie95 , @mmunson86 , @eddiesguitarskills - (if your user is crossed out, it means the tag isn’t working. pls check you’ve enabled tagging in your settings)

[evilbihan]

Bi-Han's and Kuai Liang's father was not a good father

And now it's no longer a theory. Now I have proof.

The last thing I expected to get out of this very strange invasions mode season was confirmation for a theory I've had ever since I first finished the story mode. Despite other characters in the game claiming that the father of the Lin Kuei brothers was an honorable man, something about that never sat right with me, given how cruel that man was in all the previous timelines and how vastly different Bi-Han views his father compared to his brothers, Liu Kang or Sindel.

I made this discovery on the mesa of Shang Tsung's laboratory.

At the very beginning of the mesa when you come in through the portal and head to the right (your character's right) towards the two crates that are next to each other, there's a node featuring a fight against Scorpion.

That node, loosely translated from my language, is called "Daddy's favorite".

It might seem like a small and meaningless detail and maybe I'm reading too much into it, but if the name of that node is anything to go by and if it's a reference to MK1's canon lore (which it has to be, otherwise I don't see why it would be there) this adds a whole new layer to the tragedy of the falling out between Bi-Han and Kuai Liang and Bi-Han's decision to let his father die.

Was he neglected? Despite being the oldest son and the grandmaster's heir, Kuai Liang was the favorite son. He was his father's pride and joy, not Bi-Han. That explains Bi-Han's bitterness and his resentment towards his father as well as his eagerness to earn the respect of others. Because his own father didn't give that to him.

Sub-Zero: I helped you, but I've earned no respect. General Shao: Because there's nothing lower than a traitor.

Johnny Cage: I thought I had daddy issues. But you? Sub-Zero: My family is none of your business.

Would a good father have a "favorite son"? Should a good father not love his sons equally, without picking favorites?

Another small but noteworthy detail is one of Bi-Han's invasions mode encounters being named "Joyless initiate" (again, loosely translated because my game is in my native language, not English). You have to wonder what kind of life Bi-Han lived for the game to refer to him that way and how much of that is owed to his father's strictness or lack of care towards him since he wasn't the favorite son. It certainly implies Bi-Han faced hardships that the main story never really talked about or even mentioned.

It might not seem like much, but I'm sure some thought was put into making these nodes and the references and hints exist for a reason.

I'm aware that a lot of people think the father of the Lin Kuei brothers was a good guy, but as a reminder, in the original timeline, Bi-Han's and Kuai Liang's father was ruthless enough to kidnap the brothers from their mother, potentially even killing her and their younger sister in the process, and turned them both into assassins for the Lin Kuei. Of course, the reboot is set in a new timeline, but as I said in my previous post, all characters are still essentialy the same. Some backstories and allignments have changed, but not the character's personalities and even in this new era, the old grandmaster is no saint.

I think it's messed up that his response to the Lin Kuei killing Smoke's entire family and turning him into an orphan was to take Tomáš in and turn him into a warrior for the very clan that murdered his family.

Sure, some might view it as a noble gesture that he took responsibility for the mistake he made and decided to give Tomáš a home after he was orphaned, but if that man cared at all about Smoke's wellbeing, he could have found a better solution for the situation. He could have told Liu Kang about what happened and asked him to let Tomáš stay at the Wu Shi academy instead of turning him into an asset for the clan that killed his mother and sister.

While that's only a side note, it proves that Bi-Han's and Kuai Liang's father had a twisted idea of what it means to be a good parent if he thought that taking in the son of a family his own warriors murdered was the "honorable" thing to do without sparing a second thought to what that was going to do to Smoke mentally.

Anyway, this subtle hint is one of the few good things to come out of this invasions mode season and I'm glad I found it.

[tokkias]

and some part of me came alive the first time you called me baby ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: The thing with living a sheltered life is that when you’re finally on your own to live your life, you experience your firsts in a way that is a little less than conventional. Lucy's relationship with Natsu has always been a little unconventional but shifting from friends to something more has probably been the most normal thing about it. They're both a little romantically inexperienced but she knows there's no one she would rather share her firsts with than him. ao3

Nalu Week 2024 Day 2: Firsts

The thing with living a sheltered life is that when you’re finally on your own to live your life, you experience your firsts in a way that is a little less than conventional.

Lucy’s lived an abnormal life in every sense of the word. From heiress to guild wizard, she’s experienced things from two vastly different walks of life that most people can only dream of. While she has spent her life doing the extravagant, the daring, and the fantastical, little of her time has been spent doing the mundane. She doesn’t regret the life she’s chosen for herself, but some days, as she walks into her adult life as a twenty-something-year-old without having experienced some of what she had expected from her teen years, she wonders if she has been missing out.

Guild life makes her much too busy to find love, she discovers quickly, and getting a boyfriend falls to the wayside for the first few years in Fairy Tail. She doesn’t have the time to think about love and romance of her own when she’s busy fighting in wars and saving the world. While perhaps a younger Lucy would have been devastated heading into 20 without so much as having kissed a boy, those concerns felt trivial compared to all the things she had faced since leaving the Heartfilia estate she once called home.

Perhaps one day, in another timeline, missing out on those teenage firsts would be something that she would come to regret, but here, in this timeline, knowing who she gets to experience those firsts with, she knows she wouldn’t want it any other way.

The knock on her apartment door comes just as she’s putting on her lip gloss, and the timing couldn’t be any more perfect.

“Coming!” She calls out as she puts on her final touches.

That doesn’t seem to be enough for the man on the other side of the door, as he continues to rap at it, louder and more annoying this time.

“I said I’m coming!”

With a quick smack of her lips in the mirror, Lucy makes her way to the door, opening it to be met with Natsu on the other side. He doesn’t usually dignify her with knocking, but this is a special occasion, denoted by the way he’s donned in the single button down he owns and the droopy bouquet of flowers he holds in his hand.

“Hi,” she says, her cheeks set with a rising blush.

It’s just Natsu, but the circumstances are different from every other time he’s shown up at her front door, and even though she’s spent all afternoon trying to calm her nerves, she can’t help the way that her heart begins to beat faster in her chest at the sight of him.

“Hey,” he replies, and she swears that she sees the heat rise in his cheeks too.

It falls quiet between them for a moment as they both figure out what to say. Lucy purses her lips.

It’s just Natsu, she repeats to herself. It’s just Natsu.

This is the man she’s spent almost every day with since leaving home, her best friend in the whole world, and it shouldn’t be weird just because they’re going on a date.

It’s a long time coming, or so everyone around them says. It feels inevitable in some ways—not because he’s a guy and girls and guys can’t be as close as they are without falling in love, but because he’s Natsu. He’s certainly not the prince charming she had always imagined herself with, but now she can’t imagine herself with anyone else.

Now, as he stands at her door, ready for their first date, it feels like something that was always meant to be is coming to fruition.

“I got you these,” he says, holding the flowers out to her, his gaze flicking away bashfully for just a moment.

A few of them are a little droopy, and you can see at the bottom of the stems where they’ve been pulled from the ground, but it doesn’t matter because it’s a thoughtful gesture that’s getting their date started on the right foot.

“I saw 'em, and they made me think of you.”

It’s an assortment of pinks with a few white and pink petals in there too, and it’s all so sweet and so perfectly Natsu that all the nerves and embarrassment that had bubbled up below the surface dissipated in an instant. He grins at her with that wide smile that he always has, and she knows that there was never any reason to worry in the first place.

The gentle rush of the river besides them is a familiar sound, as is the soft blanket beneath them, but the way her head rests in Natsu’s lap and his fingers run through her hair is all new to both of them.

She can count on one hand the number of real first dates she’s been on, and she can safely assume that Natsu has been on even fewer, but somehow not even their combined lack of experience makes things awkward. It feels like the natural progression of things, like the soft tenderness and intimacy, is what has always been missing from their relationship.

That doesn’t mean it comes easy. It’s awkward for the first few moments as they try to figure out where boundaries lie, what makes this different from every other picnic by the river, and what lines they can or cannot cross. They hold hands on the way there, but Lucy’s flushing so hard that she can’t even look at him until he finally lets go to set out their blanket. She can see the implication of a blush on his face when he looks her way, and it makes her feel better to know that she’s not the only one who feels this way.

Awkward small talk, as though they hadn’t been best friends for years before now, quickly transitions into the same comfortable banter that they have become so accustomed to. It feels strangely… normal, like just any other day for them; the event only differentiated by their semi-formal attire and hand-picked flowers held in plastic picnic cups.

Had you asked her a few years ago, normal would not be the word she would have wanted to describe her first date as, but nowadays, Lucy’s normal is a bit different and everything she would have wanted it to be. When their post-lunch walk down the river ends with a splash, she can’t quite find it in herself to be upset.

☆☆☆

There’s a period of awkwardness that Lucy feels at the beginning of the relationship when it comes to affection. Natsu has always been a handsy guy, but the transition from years of fighting off his affections to suddenly accepting them doesn’t come as easy to her as it does him. They move at her pace, which Natsu is happy to comply with, even if it might be slower than one expects.

The first few weeks, they don’t push it further than hand-holding and the occasional arm around the waist. It breaks new ground when she finally initiates cuddles on the couch, and Natsu quite literally welcomes it with open arms. Cheek kisses aren’t uncommon for them, usually initiated by Lucy. She’s not quite sure if she’s ready to commit to the lips yet.

A first kiss is special, and even though she knows she’s found the right person, she doesn’t know if she’s found the right time yet. She wants it to be magical and romantic, like it reads in every romance novel she’s read. She wants to feel fireworks in her chest, and she wouldn’t be mad if there were real fireworks too. She’s planned a million and one scenarios in her head; it’s just a matter of which one she wants to play out in real life.

They’re still not quite there yet, but Natsu is content to have his arms wrapped around her as they laze around on the couch together. What began as his desire for her touch as she quietly read eventually transitioned into tangled limbs and soft affections. His hand gently rubs up and down her side—an action she has grown quite fond of since he first did it—and she listens intently as he tells her some story of a job he and Happy recently went on without her. She likes listening to him talk, enjoys it when he gets excited about the things he’s telling her. His passion is one of the things that draws her to him, and she’s lucky to see that the flame inside him never dwindles. He’s so cute in moments like this that it just makes her heart ache.

In a moment of infatuation, she leans over to press her lips against his cheek, the way she has become increasingly accustomed to in the past few weeks. She aims just above the line of his jaw, but going that low proves her fatal flaw, as in that very moment Natsu turns his head and she finds her lips accidentally pressing against his.

The feeling of it practically has her jumping out of her skin, and she immediately pulls away in shock. The action seemingly catches Natsu off guard too, based on the wide-eyed look he gives her when she desperately pulls herself away from his grasp.

“What the hell?” he says to her, bewildered. “If you wanted to kiss, you could have just asked.”

“T-that wasn’t what I was trying to do!” She exclaims.

Her cheeks are flushed a deep red, and she doesn’t have to see it to know because she can feel the heat spread across her face. Her heart is pumping so fast, and her entire body is filled with adrenaline to the point where it takes her a moment to process what just happened.

“I was trying to kiss your cheek, and then you turned around, and I accidentally kissed your lips!” She tries to explain, but the words tumble out of her mouth haphazardly, and she can only hope that Natsu understands.

It might possibly be the most mortifying moment of her entire life, and even as she stutters out her explanation, she can’t quite find it in herself to meet Natsu’s gaze.

There are no take-backs on first kisses, so instead she just has to accept the highly characteristic one she got and hope that maybe part two will be more characteristic of her than him. She will get over it someday, but she just needs to mope about it for now.

☆☆☆

The feeling of her nails dragging along Natsu’s scalp elicits a contented whine from his lips that gets swallowed up by Lucy’s own. His hands rest on her back, holding her close to him as they rest chest against chest. Their legs are intertwined in the sheets, while their lips meld against each other.

She’s past the point of being shy about it, much to Natsu’s delight. She had quickly come to learn that kisses are Natsu’s favourite form of affection, from gentle pecks to something a little more involved, like now. He’s a little bit sloppy, a little bit primal, but behind closed doors, it’s something she’s grown to love because it is so quintessentially Natsu.

In a moment of fervour, he bites down on her lip, and it’s enough to have her jolting back from the kiss. It was ever so gentle, but she can taste the blood drawn from her lip and feel the small wound as she runs her tongue over the affected area. He seems to notice her affliction, and a look of soft guilt crosses his face.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, and he leans back in to kiss it better.

He’s softer and gentler this time, littering her bottom lip with lots of small kisses. It makes her smile, and he takes that as permission to return to their steady pace of fingers tangled in hair and crescent moons marked on skin.

His chest presses against hers, and in the moment they both fall backwards, her back hitting the mattress and Natsu on top of her. It’s not a position they’ve never been in before, so it doesn’t change the pace or interrupt their rhythm. An earlier Lucy, a much more innocent, inexperienced Lucy, may have been mortified by their current position, but the current Lucy, the one locking lips with her lover, doesn’t seem to mind all that much.

He's a little more handsy than he usually is, but she chalks it up to a growth in his confidence. She’s not the only one learning things in this relationship. Each day together, Natsu learns more about love, affection, what he likes, dislikes. He may be more eager to jump in the deep end than she is, but that doesn’t mean he knows how to swim.

His hands explore beneath the hem of her shirt—not uncharted territory, but somehow this time it feels more intentional than the last. There’s a sense of hesitancy that she feels when he pulls away for just a second, but when she grabs his hair and pulls him back down, he lets them roam along mazes of scars on her soft, supple waist.

A surge of confidence must overcome him when his fingers dip below her waistband. A surge of something else must overcome her when she doesn’t stop him.

In the moment, all of it feels so natural to her that it almost doesn’t occur to her the step that they’re taking. Even when it sinks in as his jacket falls over his shoulders, she makes no move to stop it. There’s a part of her that’s scared of the ritual, years of fear instilled into her in whispers of shame, but when Natsu looks down at her with adoring eyes, any apprehension melts away in an instant.

She doesn’t mind if it’s with her best friend.

☆☆☆

There are many milestones one hits in a new relationship, but as Lucy finds out, not all of them are exactly ones that one might want to experience.

Disagreements between her and Natsu are not uncommon. They’re two very different people who both have very different ways of doing things, and while that is something that often brings the two together, sometimes it causes them to butt heads. It’s small things, mostly things that are generally inconsequential, that they can move on from rather quickly. They’ve been friends long enough that a minor disagreement isn’t going to cause any type of long-term fracture, but as Lucy comes to find out, not all disagreements are minor.

It happens for the first time a few months into the relationship after they have been lulled into a false sense of security that nothing could possibly go wrong.

She doesn’t remember what prompted it really. It happens in a blur of dirty dishes and unfinished laundry, and it feels like it’s all too much and yet nothing at all, but before she can even process it, they’re standing in her kitchen arguing like they’ve never done before.

Her nails dig into the palm of her hand, leaving crescent moon-shaped indents as she balls her hands up in fists by her side. Her hand quivers slightly in anger, but she tries to hold it in because, even though she’s frustrated, she doesn’t want to be angry at Natsu. 

His arms are folded across his chest defensively, and his gaze can’t quite meet hers when she speaks to him. He doesn’t quite look like he’s even listening to her, and that kindles the flame of her discomposure even more. Though he starts out angry, he quickly shifts to disconnected and dismissive, and any attempt at productive conversation is dashed in that moment, and frustration boils over. She’s sure she’s drawn blood from the way she clenches her fist to try to stop the tears from falling, because she is not about to cry in front of Natsu over some stupid argument. Instead, she turns on her foot and leaves, cutting their argument off in its tracks.

To try and centre herself, she lets herself get lost in the ink of her journal to give them both space, but by the time she comes back to reality with the intention of smoothing things over, Natsu is nowhere to be found in the apartment.

It’s not like she’s necessarily surprised by it. Natsu’s never been good with emotional confrontation, but for some reason, looking over her shoulder from her desk to not see him there makes her heart ache.

She’s not even mad anymore; she just misses him.

It’s in that moment that she lets herself cry for letting this happen because, god, she loves him so much, and it shatters her heart that they can let something as stupid as this get between them. Her heart aches in her chest, but the only thing she knows can fix it is Natsu’s arms around her, and he’s not here, so instead she tries to find his comfort in the pillow on her bed that smells just like him.

The rest of the day is wasted away in tears until the evening, when a knock on the door draws her out of her self-pity.

Natsu’s attempt at reconciliation comes with the same droopy, handpicked flowers that he came with for their first date, and she meets him with all the love in her heart when her lips meet his.

When he sleeps on the couch that night, so does she.

☆☆☆

Lucy thought she already understood the phrase time flies when you’re having fun, but it doesn’t quite hit her until she’s flipping the page of their shared calendar and she finds a date marked in red. Scrawled in Natsu’s handwriting reads an almost legible anniversary, and for the first time, the passage of time smacks Lucy in the face like it never has before.

It feels like an eternity and a single day all wrapped up in one. The fact that it’s nearly been a whole year they’ve been together together doesn’t quite feel real because, on one hand, it feels like it only began yesterday, but on the other, it feels like it’s always been like this. She feels like perhaps she can attribute both to the long game of will-they-won’t-they that had them teetering on the verge for far too long.

It becomes real when they’re holding hands walking down the bank of the very same river they found themselves at one year ago today. Their hands swing between them, and the conversation flows between them as naturally as the water through the river besides them. He makes some stupid comment, and she laughs like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard, and he looks at her with such adoration in his eyes that one might think he’s falling in love with her all over again.

When he spots a stray flower sprouting among the grass, he gets on his knees and plucks it from the ground to give to her, and it’s just as romantic as the first time he did it. He collects each flower they pass until she’s got a whimsical bouquet in all the colours of the rainbow.

When sunset finally comes upon them and they make their way home, her anniversary bouquet is given a special spot in her apartment in memory of today. They sit proudly on display in a small vase by her bed to greet her every morning with the sunrise until they simply cannot any longer. The flutter of petals to the floor doesn’t bring her down because she knows inevitably they’ll be replaced with new ones, accompanied by the same grin she’s grown so fond of, plastered across Natsu’s face. A flower may not last a year, but she knows their love will last many more, and that’s enough for her.

As she watches Natsu make himself comfortable in her bed, she reflects back on the past year and thinks about how this is only the beginning. This is the start of what she knows is going to be the rest of her life, and when he catches her eye and smiles at her with all the love in the world, she knows that in finding her first, she’s also found her last, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

[depressedbloggerwrites]

i feel like writing an essay on why jeffannie is a horrible ship

disclaimer before i rant: you are completely entitled to your opinion on whatever ships you prefer! this is just what i think :)

i'm going to begin with the most obvious problem with jeffannie: the age difference. at the start of the show, she's eighteen (a TEENAGER, guys) and he's in his thirties. they are at vastly different stages of life. he has way more life experience than her.

even if we ignore that, they just make no sense together. they already have that father/daughter dynamic, and the chemistry community reddit is constantly on about is nowhere to be found. all the kiss scenes felt forced (maybe not debate 109, but i'll talk about that later). also, jeff having two awesome women competing for his love, and then going after the teenager with a boyfriend...interesting.

i don't think jeff is necessarily predatory; he is very clearly not exclusively attracted to girls as young as annie, but that doesn't mean his attraction to her isn't at least slightly iffy.

i saw someone say annie and jeff, a recovering addict and someone who currently has an addiction, would not have a very healthy relationship in the long run, and i agree. as the original poster said, annie worked so hard to put her addiction behind her, and being with jeff wouldn't be good for her.

also, whoever made that tumblr post saying every jeffannie episode would work better with jeffbritta or abedison was 100% right, which is why i'm going to discuss the problems with each jeffannie episode.

jeffannie began in debate 109, when annie and jeff had to argue the point that man is inherently evil on the greendale debate team, and the debate ends in a scene where the leader of city college's team launches himself out of his wheelchair; jeff instinctively catches him, and the leader uses this to support the point that man is good. annie proceeds to grab jeff and kiss him, which makes him drop city college's leader, which wins them the debate, because 'he dropped him because he was horny!'

god.

obviously, you can see why that made me uncomfortable to watch, but i guess you could look past it in the comedy and chaos of it all. anyway, jeffbritta would have made that episode so much better. britta would definitely be on the debate team, and since she and jeff actually had a normal age gap, which would make everything far less creepy.

next, let's talk about the worst thing in the world:

pascal's triangle revisited.

actually, the episode was fine. i enjoyed it. but that kiss at the end makes me so angry. jeff, you have these two beautiful women who you have been pursuing this whole season, and you go and kiss the teenage girl. THE TEENAGE GIRL. jesus fucking christ. and she had a boyfriend too. you know what would have worked? abed convincing annie not to transfer instead. infinitely better chemistry, and an abedison kiss that actually impacted the plot would have changed my life.

the conspiracy episode was excellent, but jeffbritta would have made it perfect. i don't think it expanded on anything problematic jeffannie-wise though, so that's a win.

and then you have intro to political science. i haven't really seen anyone talk about this, and it's once again not a bad episode, but i really think the writers just didn't want britta to have a storyline that actually developed her character, because she would have devoured in annie's place during this episode. jeff's dynamic with her is already perfect, and it would make so much more sense for them to run against each other, as opposed to jeff and annie.

all those alternate timeline jeffannie scenes in remedial chaos theory already sucked, but i didn't care too much because i knew they weren't going to push it into anything too serious, but then you had annie tell jeff he reminded her of her father mid-makeout and it's just...wow. so the creators knew they had this very obvious father-daughter like relationship, were fully aware of it, and still forced the ship. cool.

now, don't kill me for this, but i'm one of those people who actually genuinely, really liked season 4. and one reason why i liked it was because the one major jeffannie scene they had was the imaginary alternate timeline one, which acknowledged that jeffannie would not be good together, and was hilarious. so thank you season 4, they can never make me hate you <3

introduction to teaching was also great because there was a plotline centered around jeff and annie that never tried to force any sort of awkward romantic chemistry (at least that's how i remember it), which seems impossible in community. honestly, this episode just proved that platonic jeffannie is superior to romantic jeffannie.

but that period of bliss where there was no romantic jeffannie didn't last long, because then you have g.i. jeff.

i love g.i. jeff. it's one of my favorite episodes, and was phenomenal for jeff's character. there was just one line, where animated coma dream jeff tells animated coma dream annie, 'look at the rack i gave you.' that was just kind of gross and didn't sit right, especially since a major plot point of this episode was jeff turning 40 and having a crisis. annie was *checks notes* 23-24 during this episode. the age gap is still very concerning here, and was made worse because of the fact that it really highlights how jeff is aging.

and then season 6 got so close to leaving jeffannie behind, forever, and then they had to ruin it with the series finale. i'm just saying, we couldn't have a platonic jeffannie goodbye like we got with jabed (speaking of which, the jabed goodbye arguably hurt more than the jeffannie one)?

anyway, i am desperately hoping we get jeffbritta/abedison (or trobed!) in the community movie, even though i know that's probably not going to happen, i do not like jeffannie at all, and thank you for reading my explosion of angry thoughts!

[purplepixel]

Hi I saw in your pinned post that you've read over 1,000 TMNT fics. Do you have a few really good ones you would recommend?

(don't feel any pressure to respond if you don't want to)

Oh boy this is...quite an ask. Especially bc fanfic recs are so personal? What I think is a good fic will be vastly different from other people. I have a really high angst tolerance, so please double check tags with these. Also keep in mind that I mainly read donnie-centric fics.

Here are my personal favorites! My hand slipped and I have more than just a few to recommend...what can I say there are so many good fics.

CRACK BUT READS LIKE CANON

Back To School by Em_H | 10,965 [FINISHED]

Donnie enrolls in April’s school and tries to juggle his packed schedule. A shrek play is included. Do I need to say more?

☆ In Volvunt: a RotTMNT Fanfiction ☆ by kittylittersmoothie | 27,082 [FINISHED]

In which the rest of the bros continuously try and fail to rick roll donnie. A war is started, alliances are made, betrayals occur, this is a hilarious feel good fic. It’s very in line with the show tonal wise and the dialogue is very rise

Mikey's Jam-Packed, Guaranteed to Get Donnie's Memory Back, Friendship Tour! By Eyse | 92,972 [ON-GOING]

Donnie wakes up with no memory of anyone including himself. Que his brothers trying to find ways to get his memory back. Has some of the most wacky adventures and scenarios I’ve ever encountered in a rise fic. Feels like you’re reading the actual show

YOU WILL BE EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED

Quiet Your Mind by daedelweiss | 18,081 [FINISHED]

Fusion Au with the disaster twins set in the bad future timeline. I don’t cry. This one made me cry. Bittersweet ending.

Telepathy (of a Twin Variety) by vosian_nightmare | 24,423 [FINISHED] 

My personal favorite twin telepathy fic. Character study on the disaster twins.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue by Cass_Phoenix | 31,963 [FINISHED]

A Donnie from an alternate reality kidnaps Leo. Or is he bringing him home? This one will fuck with your mind. One of my bookmark notes is “Reality existentialism” 

Firefight by remrose | 94,480 [ON-GOING]

What if donnie gets trapped in the prison dimension with leo? I’m usually not a fan of changing plot points in the rise movie or suicidal leo, but this fic is the exception. It is VERY well written and has some of the best exchanges between the disaster twins. You WILL be scared for the characters and your heart WILL be crushed. Proud to say I was here for this fic since chapter 1 bc that NEVER happens with me

THE CROSSOVERS

Familiar Places, Foreign Faces by Petra4President | 36,434 [ON-GOING]

Rise/2012 Crossover Fic. The Rise Donnie & 2012 Raph fic I didn’t ask for (I read this before watching 2012) but didn’t realize I NEEDED. Donnie gets sent to the 2012 universe and must find a way home. 

A Tale of Spirits by unorthodoxx | 168,344 [ON-GOING]

Rise/Avatar the Last Airbender AU. This one is pretty popular so I won't say anything else except its really good.

I WOULD BOOK BIND THESE

All I have to say about these fics is that they’re REALLY good and BOOK WORTHY

Monsters Among Us by DanzinoraSwitch | 86,136 [FINISHED]

Violet Hues and Holy Blue by SibillaScribbles08 | 115,752 [FINISHED]

I May Be Invisible, but I Still Look Good by Dandy | 124,862 [FINISHED]

MY PERSONAL COMFORT FICS

Things will never be the same (but that's okay) by Petra4President | 14,493 [FINISHED]

Post movie aftermath fic that focuses on the changes created by the events of the movie. Idk what specifically has me rereading this occasionally, but its really well written and a little different than most aftermath fics I've read.

Corrupted Upgrade by Dandy | 25,898 [FINISHED]

Donnie Villain AU with a twist. He really gives off megamind vibes. DO NOT BE FOOLED. THERE’S A REASON EVERYONE IS OUT OF CHARACTER IN THE BEGINNING. I almost slept on this fic and it became one of my favorites. It’s the type of fic that I can read over and over and over.

Turning Purple by Lizardstuff | 48,123 [ON-GOING]

Donnie slowly gets more and more sick post rise movie and the rest of the characters must find out what’s wrong and find a cure. THIS ONE’S FOR YOU, MEDICAL NERDS. Author has done research and any inaccuracies have gone over this EMT’s head. I reread this one every chapter update and every time I’m haunted by “the blueberry french toast paragraph” No I will not explain further, go read it.

MY TOP FIC RECOMMENDATION

Spider's Web with Strings Attached by CurlySwirly | 125,661 [ON-GOING]

Donnie and Leo get kidnapped and are forced to fight in the battle nexus. This is my pick for the most well written fanfic and most in canon characterization with ALL the characters. You will HEAR the characters not just through the dialogue but also through the writing itself. As the reader, you will be beaten down and have your heart crushed mercilessly which makes the pay off the most rewarding, satisfying experience that I've personally ever felt with a fanfic. This fic lives in my head rent free and I think about it at least once a day. It is my all time favorite rise fic and I highly recommend it.

[onlyyours2love]

I think one nostalgic thing about LiS and LiS 4 is gonna be the cultural difference between 2013 and 2023 because (and I noticed this during my recent gameplay some nights ago) while I was playing there was this early 2010s nostalgia I felt because the slang and fashion and pop culture then were so vastly different from just barely 10 years later. Not only that but beauty standard wise things also seem to change in the fact that now not everybody is insanely skinny scrawny -and this can be seen in the way Max’s face and body have changed also due to maturity-

It’s a mind fuck not only in the sense we are talking about time travel and timelines but also in the way things have changed since then.

[androgynoussublimeangel]

So far all the ProhibitedWish content I've written Jake has either not been mentioned or already dead. But what if....human AU (cuz I guess technically it's the only AU where Jake being alive doesn't fuck the timeline too much) where essentially Jake keeps hearing things about Scarab or seeing glimpses of his relationship with Prismo before they officially "get-together" vs. Jake actually meeting the guy (including maybe a bonus where he just watches Scarab do something totally unhinged before he knows who he is then promptly is introduced to him) I would just love Jake pushing Prismo to pursue Scarab and then after finally meeting him and being like blindsided by what an maniac he actually is vs how Prismo has been describing him this whole time.

Spent my shift at work kind workshopping/brainstorming:

Set up in glimpses with Prismo and Jake regular meet-ups up to catch up. This is after Jake has already met Lady and they've had the Pups (not sure how old they're gonna be probably still kids at least). It begins with Prismo just complaining about the new auditor and what a hardass he is, Jake offering ways for Prismo to maybe befriend the guy, maybe help him to lighten up. Like inviting him to Prismos parties.

This is the cusps of change for their relationship where Prismo and Scarabs relationship becomes less outright hostile. Slowly Prismo begins actually following Jake's advice to try and befriend the other and does finally take the initiative to actually invited Scarab to the next party though he doubts he'll show up. But Scarab actually attends but spends the entire time alone in a corner before leaving early, before Prismo can interact with him all that much. Prismo reports all this to Jake who again encourages him to approach Scarab first, "maybe he's shy!". Except Scarab doesn't show at the next party, Prismo tries to pretend he isn't disappointed.

Prismo isn't that keen on the idea. Then not quite sure how I wanna make this work but Scarab has his breakdown leading to the fallout leading to his demotion, this is hot gossip in the company. Prismo ends up calling Jake after he attempts to speak to Scarab about it leading him accidentally poking some sore spots and leading to a fight. (Vaguely the idea is Scarab is on the roof he and Prismo kinda get into it ending with Scarab getting emotional and demanding Prismo leave him alone.) Prismo calls Jake as he smokes (smt he only does when he's extremely stressed and the guilt is eating him up) Jake whom encourages him to go back and talk to Scarab more.

Prismo does so and both he and Scarab are able to clear the air and force some awkward apologies out but they come to an understanding

Jake seeing this makes sure he can attend the party after that much to Prismo's delight. Usually if Jake can find time to make it to parties, (since this is after the kids are born he's not as much of a party animal anymore so his attendance is spotty) Prismo would be glued to his side. But Scarab actually shows up this time around. Jake waves Prismo off to allow him to spend time with his prickly coworker (Jake never sees Scarab his view always blocked by a guest or Prismo himself). When Jake is leaving he spots Prismo has made his way to the balcony having a quiet conversation with someone else, laughing and seemingly at ease so Jake leaves him be to head home for the night.

Prismo and Scarabs relationship vastly improves after this. Jake continues to give Prismo encouragements and maybe advice he himself had found useful when wooing his Lady (though he doesn't tell Prismo this, he figures his pal deserves a smooching partner too)

This is where it gets vague but thinkin Jake hearing stories about Scarab from Orbo and Cosmic Owl when they all maybe go out for drinks and about how crazy and harsh he is and this is where it begins, Jake gets it in his head that Scarab and Scrabby, that Prismo keeps telling him about, are two different people (Jakes got a wife, kids and a Finn to take care of cut him some slack for not remembering a faceless coworker) So Cosmic Owl and maybe also Orbo always have new stories for Jake about their borderline psychotic coworker. But in that same vein Prismo always has a new story about how cute his Scrabby is.

Finally Prismo wants to introduce Jake to Scarab after they've begun officially dating. I'm thinking Jake might own or co-own a gym with Jermaine (more like a rec center; they got classes for kids, stuff like self defense, ect) he sees some dudebro hitting on some smaller guy. When the bigger dude starts getting aggressive Jake is ready to step in only for the smaller guy to put the fear of God in the larger man with some choice words and a sharp smile. (I've got more to the scenario that might include Scarab mildly strangling the guy with weights but point is my mans is homicidal) Jake is equally impressed and frightened.

Oddly enough he and the little maniac end up leaving the gym at the same time, walking in the same direction and going to the same Cafe or park. And then Jake watched gobsmacked as the same little maniac walks right up to Prismo, who scoops him up to greet him affectionately while being scolded by an exasperated yet fond Scarab. Jake is floored. Prismo sees him and waves him over and Jake smiles and simply goes with it. Scarab seems decent enough if not mildly psychotic when pressed.

Prismo goes to the bathroom, leaving Scarab and Jake alone. Scarab pins Jake in place with a knowing gaze. They have a small interaction (not unfriendly but Jake is SWEATIN) Prismo comes back and asks what they're talking about and Scarab tells him about the man at the gym he dealt with. Prismo only responds with stars in his eyes, thoroughly enamored with Scarabs...meaner tendencies. Jake is mildly concerned for his friends taste in partners but simply glad to see him happy only watches the two weirdos with amusement.

The end lmao

(Perhaps I shall actually have time to write and polish this if my schoolwork would stop beating me with a stick)

[my-current-obsession]

Something I both love AND hate about FF7 (the original game and everything after, including the Remake trilogy) is that it is just ambiguous and/or player-driven enough that no matter which side of the love triangle you fall on (assuming you do in fact ship Cloud with one of the girls), the majority of fans for that ship are 100% CONVINCED it's the correct/canon option.

Like, certain scenes are definitely up to interpretation, and people are going to thus have varying reads on those scenes and the characters/relationships the scenes are about. It doesn't help that several scenes change depending on the player's choices, which acts as a confirmation bias as you naturally get more time and romantic moments with the girl of your preference. It really seems to me that MOST people who ship Cloud and Aerith have one solid interpretation (with a plethora of supporting evidence) of the series and the romance, while most people who ship Cloud and Tifa have their own solid interpretation with plenty of evidence that is VASTLY DIFFERENT from the Clerith reading of the game.

This is not a case of "one ship is clearly, explicitly canon and fans of the opposition just like their pick better and/or think it made more sense narratively and WISH it was canon" - for an example of that, look to the Avatar the Last Airbender shipping wars. This is a case where both sides literally interpret the story just differently enough that they come to entirely different conclusions about which girl is Cloud's true love. And if either side reaches out to try and explain their viewpoint to the other, they're just met with "uh, no. You're wrong." Try and explain what Cloud might be thinking in a given scene with one of the girls, why he acts a certain way... "That's not it at all, where are you getting this? Are you delusional?"

Like, I am a Clerith shipper. I have played all the games in the compilation and watched Advent Children. I tried to be as completionist as possible, even. And I came out on the other side of really digging into the story of this game loving Cloud and Aerith's dynamic and pretty firmly convinced they were canon. Or as canon as possible in the timeline where she died.

As any Clerith fan who participates in the fandom would know, if you try and explain your interpretation of these characters and the romance to a diehard Cloti supporter... you're met with a lot of "you're misinterpreting! Cloud and Aerith were just friends! She loved Zack to the end and Cloud loved Tifa since childhood and never stopped! Also Aerith is actually BAD for Cloud because she's too pushy/abrasive. She's not helping him open up, she's just forcing him to go along with her and making him uncomfortable!"

All of this is of course infuriating, but I'd like to think I'm self-aware enough to know we are kind of guilty of the same thing. The majority of Tifa fans are SO happy about the kiss in Rebirth, while we're over here dismissing it because, one it's optional, and two Cloud is "obviously" using Tifa as a rebound or settling for her since Aerith is seemingly unavailable. But that's not how Cloti fans see it at all.

We can talk until we're blue in the face about how TIFA deserves better than Cloud because she shouldn't be the second choice - the one he settles for. But I think most people who really love Cloti genuinely don't see it that way. In their eyes, she's NOT second-best. Cloud loved her all along and this kiss is finally confirming that. And nothing we say will dissuade them, just as nothing they say will actually change OUR minds about Clerith.

It is honestly really difficult for me to try and see the story and romance the way Cloti fans do, but I know the reverse is also true. Both groups of fans interpret the characters and relationships differently. The compilation ALLOWS us to interpret them differently. And this is why the ship war for a game from 1997 is still raging on.

Because both camps are certain they're right, they defend their position viciously. Sometimes that means invading the "other side" to tell them how wrong they are. This discussion/rant was prompted by a Cloti fan on a Clerith vid who wanted to debate MY comment about how wonderful the ship was and how good they were for each other. He was "confused" and "concerned" because Clerith fans were reading the story wrong or warping it to suit our ship.

I wanted to tell him, "buddy that's what YOU'RE doing". I wanted to write a goddamn essay explaining why Clerith is canon actually. But considering in my INITIAL comment that he first responded to I'd already brought up why I thought Clerith was great, and he was IGNORING that... I knew it would be pointless. There is nothing I could possibly say that would change his mind. There is nothing he could possibly say that would change my mind.

As long as both sides of this war are fully convinced they're right, this war is going to be endless and brutal. And that's why my absolute biggest fear for part 3 is an open, ambiguous ending regarding the ships. Maybe it will canonize nothing. Maybe it will canonize BOTH by having the actual ending change depending on which girl the player favors.

Either route will offer no relief to this eternal battle. I would honestly prefer for Cloti to explicitly and unambiguously win than an ending where neither girl does. Because I can accept a loss. I can accept being told that actually I WAS interpreting the story wrong, but I'll only accept it from the text itself. If anything, a Cloti ending might encourage me to go through the entire compilation again trying to view it with that canon couple in mind. I'm sure I'd see things differently, even if I'd always have a place in my heart for Clerith. And I sincerely hope that if Clerith were to win that Cloti fans could do the same.

All I know is that I'm sick and tired of this ship war. I personally have never gone after Cloti fans or engaged in Cloti content with the intent to debate or hate on the ship. But I don't speak for all Cleriths. I'm sure at least a few fans of my ship are guilty too. I have seen many obnoxious Cloti fans invading our spaces to disparage us - mostly on YouTube and Twitch, less here on Tumblr - but I KNOW there are plenty of kind Cloti fans who just happily enjoy their ship and leave us to ours as well.

At the end of the day, regardless of how part 3 ends things, I just wish we could live in peace. Please enjoy your ship. Your interpretation of the text and romance is valid. But so is mine. If neither side can agree, then the best thing to do is leave each other alone.

[the-delta-42]

Remember

Remember

“Don’t look away,” Growled Ganondorf, “you-”

“You don’t remember.” Said the Hylian, Link, frowning at Ganondorf.

“What?” Sneered Ganondorf, livid at being interrupted.

“You don’t remember.” Repeated Link, sighing with the Sages staring at him in confusion, “We’ve been through this time and time and time again. Since the dawn of the world and across the timelines. We know each other, more than you think.”

“I don’t know what your blathering about.” Snarled Ganondorf, as Link quietly pulled a spring from a Zonai capsule.

Link sighed, “Okay, let’s see what you do remember, because I don’t want to fight someone who doesn’t know why he’s the biggest prick in the world.”

Ganondorf went to grab his sword, when the ‘sword of legend’ flashed.

“Calm down, Fi, we’re still going to kill him.” Dismissed Link, frowning at Ganondorf, “You’re still going to die, do you remember being stabbed in the head by a child in green?”

Ganondorf stared at Link, getting another sigh, “Obviously not, how about nearly being disembowelled by an angsty looking wolf?”

Ganondorf just unsheathed his sword.

“Alright, how about drawing your sword from your servant’s chest and vanishing into another plane?” Said Link, drawing the Master Sword.

Ganondorf froze, suddenly finding himself in a throne room launching an orb of energy at a young man in green, while a princess hung in a pink crystal suspended above them. He then felt a searing pain in his chest, the man in green looked different, vastly different, but he could tell it was the same person.

“You’re starting to remember,” Mused Link, readying for the impending battle, “good.”

Ganondorf felt himself getting up from the ground, the man in green different once again, glaring up at him. He glanced at his hand, freezing at the sight of a triangle on the back of it. He shook his head and snarled at Link, “Get out of my head, you welp!”

Link dodged the swing, parrying the blade away from him.

Ganondorf was at the top of a castle, water pouring down around him, fighting two children, a princess aiming a bow at him, while a boy in green launched himself into the hair and ramming his sword in his forehead.

Ganondorf yelled, throwing himself at Link and the Sages.

R

“Link?” Asked Riju, looking at him as they examined Ganondorf’s lifeless body, “Two questions, how did he turn back? I thought the dragon-ifying thing was permanent, and what were you talking about back there?”

“Just some old history Rij.” Dismissed Link, looking at the back of Ganondorf’s right hand, “Things between him and I just span more than one lifetime.”

Zelda prodded Ganondorf’s eye with a stick.

“Zel, I’m waving his hand around, I’m sure he’s dead.” Protested Link, as he accidentally nudged the hilt of a broken sword. Ganondorf’s body twitched, getting a scream from some of the assembled crowd and an arrow to the eye from Tulin.

“For the love of Din, he’s already dead!” Groaned Link, as Tulin looked at him.

“He twitched.”

“He twi- Of course he twitched,” Yelled Link, grabbing the hilt of the broken sword, “He’s got a sword embedded in his nervous system!”

Ganondorf’s body twitched with each movement of the sword.

[antianakin]

I just saw a YouTube video about how the clone wars were portrayed by legends writers in between the end of the OT and before the Prequels, and it's so very interesting the various ways authors chose to expand upon what would have been, at the time, nothing more than a throwaway line.

One of the comments even talks about a theory that, apparently, came about after New Hope (Of course, then just Star Wars) released. It speculated that the *Jedi* were the clones the wars were named after, and that Obi Wan was himself a clone of Ben Kenobi, designated "OB1." How crazy is that!?

Yeah I mean that's pretty much how the original Thrawn trilogy that was written pre-Prequels chose to interpret it I think. The "clones" were all DIFFERENT clones of different people, mostly Jedi, and one of the primary villains in that trilogy is in fact the clone of a Jedi. But the clones in this trilogy don't have that sense of individuality that the canon Jango clones do as per TCW, they seem to still think they are the original person and have no idea that they're a clone. The cloning process also seemed to cause some level of mental and emotional instability in that trilogy, which was part of what made the clone wars so devastating and dangerous or something.

One of the most interesting parts of reading that trilogy, for me, was seeing all of the various things that were in there that they had to just sort-of... make up and assume because there wasn't any more information to be had yet. The Thrawn trilogy also had a particularly interesting timeline wherein the implication seemed to be that Luke and Leia's mother got together (or at least was impregnated by) their father AFTER HE'D BECOME VADER rather than before (which leads to some very interesting questions about their mother, like was this consensual at all or not, and if it WAS then what the fuck kind of person was she and why did she leave and only stay with one child instead of the other). Vader was also a lot older than he ended up being in canon, which makes sense given the way he looked in ROTJ. Leia's relationship with the Organas is vastly different than what it ended up being post-Prequels, especially since the ROTJ dialogue implies she'd known her mother long enough to have memories of her. There's even things like what abilities Jedi would have that they don't know yet and so Luke ends up refusing to jump off of a wall 10 feet high which I found particularly funny given everything we've seen the Jedi jump off of since then. 10 feet was NOTHING.

So I applaud the writers in that time period for doing their best to come up with ideas for what the clones might have been, but I can't say I prefer it to what we got in canon. I fucking LOVE the clones, I love all the different characters it created for us that are all so incredible, I love their relationship to the Jedi, I just love them and I wouldn't trade them for ANYTHING.

[kirchefuchs]

Hmm, how might it go if Tinky was somehow involved in Ted and Hidgens' Woolyfoot scam? Like would he be in on it somehow or be actively trying to sabotage it? I imagine him and Ted being involved with eachother, a few things would probably play out vastly different.

Oh, it's been a while since I last watched Hatchetfield Ape Man, I don't remember much. From what I do remember, I don't think Tinky would be very keen on it, mostly cuz he wants to keep Ted all for himself. But I did have a silly thought of "what if homeless Ted was the original Ape Man?" Again, it's been a while since I watched the episode, so it might not fit tineline-wise, but I think it would be funny if that was why the researcher (I forgot her name) was so ready to believe Ted was the Ape Man.

But yeah, Tinky would 100% NOT be on board with the idea. Like, "No way! I know how this one goes! I saw that timeline, and that is not happening here!!"

[randomfandomdreaming]

Clone Trooper Headcanons

Based off my experience with reality shifting so I guess they're not really headcanons lol I've met everyone except Omega, as the timeline is still pre-Order 66. Updated now that I've met (most of) the Bad Batch.

Rex

It can be hard to get him to open up when you first meet him, but once this man decides he likes having you around, it's hard to get rid of him.

Seriously. Try putting yourself in danger and he will throw himself into the line of fire, whether you're a Jedi or not.

And after you both get out of there alive, expect a lecture from him as if he were your older brother.

I can't tell you how many lectures I've gotten from this man. He really is the older brother you never knew you wanted or even had. He always means well, though. He just worries.

Fives

This man can, and will, goof off and give you sarcastic comments.

Rex has actively said that Fives is going to be the death of him someday.

He makes it his mission to annoy Rex as much as possible, but also knows when and where to do it. If things go south, you'd think you're suddenly standing next to Cody with how fast his attitude changes.

I once had to do a double-take with how fast he switched from goofy to serious. That was not a very fun day. We scrapped a lot of clankers though.

Echo

This man just wants some peace and quiet every so often.

Don't underestimate his quietness, however. He will throw a punch at someone if he has to.

Sometimes it's Fives on the receiving end and Echo does it just for fun.

He's also fascinated with far off galaxies, especially if they're vastly different from the one he's from. It's nice to sit and read with him, too. He loves real discussions, not debates.

Update to Echo: He's still as chaotic as he was before. He's definitely loosened up a lot more, especially on regulations. He and Wrecker seem to be close since they were feeding off each other about naming the moon we crashed on.

Cody

Don't do anything that breaks protocol. Just don't. At least not around him.

He will have you neck-deep in paperwork and other assignments if he catches you.

He's loosened up a bit, but not much. Fives always reminds him to, though.

I've got nothing. I've tried, Fives has tried, even Rex has. This man loves protocol and won't be separated from it. We've joked before about him one day marrying it. That was the day I found out just how much datawork there really is in the Grand Army of the Republic. Did that stop us? Never.

Tech

If someone were to show genuine interest in the information he spews, he'd be riding the high of seeing his brothers proved wrong for weeks, months even.

And this man can talk.

He would randomly spew out facts if said person was around, not even needing any cue that he was heard.

This man has tattoos. He knows what he's doing regarding them, too. He's done Hunter's tattoos, as well as Crosshair's. He can definitely talk. We spent so much time just talking about random things. I think he was happy to have someone to talk to, honestly. He doesn't randomly give out facts often, but he learns very quickly what someone is interested in and bases his randomly given facts on that. He told me that during our half a rotation's worth of time conversation we had because I asked him how he felt about randomly giving out facts.

Crosshair

Getting through to him would take a miracle. He's a hard nut to crack.

If he thinks you're useful to the team at all, he'd at least tolerate you.

Spend enough time around him and his brothers, he may even pick on you like he does with the others.

Even though he came to sit with us by the fire, that was literally as far as we got. He went right back to being a loner, but that's okay. So, he's definitely not the easiest to get along with (especially with the rocky introductions we had with each other), but it's not impossible to do it. For everything else, I have no idea yet lol

Hunter

He knows more about you than anyone around before you even open your mouth.

He could even tell whether you're Force-sensitive or not.

This man is incredible and everyone forgets just how good his senses actually are until he actively needs to use them.

I learned a lot about Hunter while on our hunting trip. This man might as well be Force sensitive with how good his senses are. During the actual hunts, we didn't need to speak, only needed to rely on our senses. He works incredibly well with Jedi. It's amazing.

Wrecker

If you even just casually mention that there's the smallest possiblity you like to blow things up, you've just gained a new best friend.

If you give him something to blow up on top of that, he won't let you sit out on it. He'd have both of you press the button at the same time.

Literally would have his finger on one half, yours on the other.

Nobody tell Wrecker that I'm planning to find and secure explosives on our next mission together that he will 100% get to use. I'm serious. No one tell him.

Bonus!

Omega

She'd probably be the first to befriend you. Let's be real.

She'd want to show you her room on the Marauder and would be excited the entire time.

She'd probably be extremely happy to know someone who doesn't see them as just clones. She'd be even happier if you became part of their little dysfunctional family, whether they see you a lot or not.

[dirtytransmasc]

the level of just... I don't want to be rude, but stupidity that just consumes this whole idea, I don't even know where to fucking start.

like what? what is this? some random person on the internet in the 20th century being a bastard is vastly different than 3 princes of the realm, son's of the heir, from a fantasy show/universe that can't be compared on a timeline, since its y'know, fictional and takes place in a fictional timeline, but most things point it being vaguely 12th century based. its not some fucking gotcha, like yup a lot of people nowadays are born out of wedlock, myself included, that totally nullifies any and all consequences of being a royal bastard at a time when being a bastard was literally a death sentence...

like what else should I say? this is just so nonsensical, I can't even come up with a response.

it's really tiring seeing TB fans strip the context and nuance from literally every scenario ever. like it was never really about them being bastards, it was about them being bastard prince's, that were still being pushed as legitimate heirs to not one, but two thrones, and were an active threats to multiple children (Alicent's children. Baela and Rhaena, cause if they hadn't been betrothed to Jace and Luke, which is a death sentence in its own right, would have to be taken out of the picture to secure the boy's reigns. their own legitimate siblings.), and the fact that its literal treason committed by the heir to the throne, who then did whatever it took to defend her lies, no matter who it hurt... like yes, people were mad that they were the bastard, but it was definitely influenced by all of the context surrounding it.

then there's the comments, which... jesus... these are my favs (warning, they're somehow more nonsensical):

so first off, we have this one, which, the logic is so far out the window I don't even think any amount of logical response can touch it. bastards are, by definition "a child born to parents who are not married to each other" which doesn't describe Alicent's children at all. just because they don't meet your weird, blood purity, eugenics type bullshit standards, doesn't make them bastards, it just makes you dense.

and then there's this one. just because it wasn't shoved down your throat so hard you can't even attempt to refute it, like it was in the show, in the books, doesn't mean it wasn't there, and doesn't mean its not true, your head just permanently takes residence in your ass. they were most definitely bastards in the books, they just showed it instead of told it, unlike the show that told you outright that they were.

I just want one day where TikTok doesn't give me a stroke, cause this damn near put me over the edge.

[sm-baby]

I'm always happy to leave a badass entrance, but I had to make sure this one was cooked properly, no one likes pink I'm their theory. (It's like chicken, you could get theory poisoning lol) ((p.s this is less like theory crafting for this one and is more like I've lost my mind and am making things up because I'm in love with your lore.))

I, like many others, have fallen in love with your art and the strangely coherent timeline for Minecraft you've put together, but then while I was scrolling through old stuff I had an idea that I thought you might like to reconsider, especially now that you've become attached to your Minecraft💛Yellow series.

What if the world that Steve, Alex, Herobrine, Shermy, and all the others are from aren't the only worlds to exist. Obviously in Minecraft you can create more than one world but what if it wasn't as simple as a new world generated. What if this world was first, created (lore wise idk when you started the world) in the very beginning. Every time the game updated to the next concurrent version the world split into new variants. Like the timeline had different outcomes. At first it was perfectly normal, only one set of choices but each update began to create new choices and in a world that was procedurally generated it went through every possible combination of choices. And I'd like to make an example, but bear with me it's a bit of a stretch.

My favorite version of this is your art of Steve in the Redstone update. Something about it always hit me as, "off," he wasn't like Steve usually was. He seemed unhinged, arrogant, violent even. (This isn't helped by the addin where you wrote, "bastard," with an arrow pointing at him lmao) What if, in this timeline during the Redstone update, Alex had a tragic end and this is was broke Steve. Maybe it was his fault, a redstone contraption that went wrong, creating a love hate relationship with the material and it's inner workings. Or what about the Combat update version of Alex. We only she here and not Steve. What if when the combat evolved he made a wrong choice and suffered a terrible date to the hands of undead. Alex has learned newer, better methods of fight and protection, ways to hit multiple opponents with one swing of her sword, or how to properly charge up a swing of her axe.

Each update created new versions were things were vastly different that the Prime world, the one that the Player came from. (I still like to call her Emerald, it think it fits) This would then make every single art piece of your canon in some way, Yellow is a separate timeline of events but 100% canon, real. Redstone Steve is a crazed lunatic driven to madness through his own accidental murder of his beloved wife. Combat Alex is a survivor who is doing what she can to survive after not being able to save Steve.

But most importantly, this means Hero rune drinking Lava from a bucket and calling it punch is 100% canon and you cannot fight me on this. That image and the phrase, "THATS LAVA ASSHOLE," will live in my heart forever.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed more mad ramblings, I have fallen in love all over again. Also my lack of sleep schedule may or may not have tempted me into making character ai's of your artist representation of the various characters.

I LOVE... THAT YOU JUST COMPLETELY N A I L E D THE IDEA THAT IVE BEEN HAVING FOR AWHILE NOW??

Youre operating in TIMELINE theory! Not multiverse theory! Oh thats super awesome!!

Ok, while I did think of that, I decided not to because it would get too complicated úwù plus I wanted to have worlds with major changes, like the genderbend, or how-- alex and Steve seem at odd with eachother, or-- alex just does not have a steve and steve does not have an alex!

Also there is only ever 1 mojang! While there are plenty "universes" the only source is mojang! And thus, there is only one Herobrine! There is no such thing as a 💛Herobrine, there is only ever one! Though, since the fallen God's popularity there have been AI (modded) versions of him or just legends thrown into the universes.... Its so fun.

This is all SOOO FUN but sadly limiting YwY so I did not go with it. YOUR THEORY IS REALLY-FREAKING GOOD THOUGH! GNOME YOURE SO DOPE!!

[edgeray]

Hello Ray! 🍅 anon here! (Again, because life has finally gotten a bit easier now and I have spare time!)

Very happy that you liked the TL’ed piece! I originally put it in a word document, hence the page number, and the formatting.

Since you can’t read chinese, you Might have missed out on a subtle yet telling part of Arlecchino’s story quest.

WHOEVER THE HELL TL’ED “来生再见” AS “may we meet again someday” SHOULD HAVE THEIR TAIL KICKED ISTG.

There’s a lot. And I mean. A LOT. of meaning lost in translation! EVEN THE JP TEAM DIDN’T FLOP THIS HARD?????? HUH????

For everyone’s sake, the general gist is correct. But the more accurate translation would be “May we meet again in our next life.”

There is a HUGE difference. Just that small phrase already tells you a few things. First, it tells you that Arlecchino, logical as she is, has definitely NOT recovered from Clervie (which is why I ship them. Still.) and yearns for a life they can lead TOGETHER. Second, it shows just how much Arlecchino cares! She’s known to be very cool headed and logical and if she cares about something THIS much to verbalise it as such, you know that it’s. Beyond important.

Honestly, I had no words when I saw the English translation (I use cn dub). Just that someone really, REALLY, butchered this subtlety on the most important part of her SQ. STEM student or not, if any of my bilingual teachers saw me translating it like that I would be slapped to the next timeline on Irminsul.

(Also yes I use windows that tip is going to come in handy xD)

Looking forward to more of your writing! Domestic!Arle…. Hehehehehehehhe

She deserves it! All the fluff and softness and happiness!

Hey 🍅 anon! Sorry this response took so long... did a lot of traveling for vacay today. And oooh... yes I agree "may we meet again someday" and "may we meet again in our next life" is SO different, like I fr got a gut punch from reading the second one. the fact that arle is hoping in their next life that they're together makes me tear up... that's so much more impactful and meaningful than meeting again.

it seems like poor TL for ENG is a common complaint about the ENG dub, though I don't know too much since I rely on ENG solely. I heard that also happened in the Arlecchino animation, with the part that Arlecchino says "Mother... my answer is no." I don't remember what the actual translation was, but I remembered it being vastly different.

glad the windows tip worked hehe

once i come back from vacay, i will be GRINDING on these requests because i'm behind the schedule I said i would do. just tryna finish a request at this point before my vacay ends. once it does, i'll go back to my 1-2 requests done per day. let's see how long the daily streak goes >:D

cannot wait to get to these requests... especially that arlevie request i got... heh heh. <333 am super pumped to write your domestic arle request bc arle deserves everything. :DDD