#so you can actually help people who work M-F 8-5?

[king0fcrows]

.

[slumped-in-the-arms-of-fiction]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Finally getting around to this one! Thanks to @justhere4thevibez for the tag, love ❤️

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

17, but the depths of LJ have a few more

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

235,247 across two fandoms

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things – specifically Hellcheer, though there are three Eddie-centric ones in there (each with a Hellcheer nod). And I used to write Gilmore Girls.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm gonna focus on ST as that's been my main focus for a while now.

Bruise Pristine

Two guys, a girl, and a cheerleader

Being Human

In Focus

For a good time call Mary Jane

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yep! I'm so grateful that someone took the time to comment on something I wrote, and I want them to know that! Commenting can be difficult and I like to acknowledge that and give a little kudos in return. Plus, I love engaging with fellow fandomers! As a reader, I like to let someone know I liked their fic with more than kudos if I have the spoons to do it, and I love when an author responds to me when I comment.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

While there can be angst in the ship fic I write, I generally like to give a happy ending. Some can be bittersweet, but not out and out angsty. My ships tend to be canonically tragic, so I want HEAs.

In saying that, Backpack, though short, is definitely not sweet. It's canonical so... yeah.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

As I said, I do tend towards the happier end of the scale (she says, lying through her teeth). I think my two long multi-chapter Hellcheer fics Two guys, a girl, and a cheerleader and Being Human are quite movie-happy ending. And shout out to the Gilmore Girls kind of fix-it Not Time's Fool because that was tooth-achingly sweet, especially with the follow-up Letters to a Lost Love.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nnnnooo, not really? There was one weird one who berated me for writing Literati (GG) when I had the gall to comment and enjoy a fic with a different ship, which was bizarre. Actually, the almost-hate comments tended to be in GG – people can be very cutting when it comes to Rory. The Hellcheer fandom thankfully tends to love both characters equally, and have been nothing but gracious and accepting.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Boy, do I! Try and STOP me writing it – it always sneaks in. F/M and explicit. Ventured into kink a little bit with For a good time call Mary Jane. My smut also tends to be emotionally driven, I can't do PWP.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not crossover in terms of characters from two different fandoms interacting (though there was a Supernatural/J2 done in the style of Fight Club back in the day that was WILD). But my two multi-chaps are based on other shows with ST characters kinda merged with the originals or similar storylines (New Girl and Being Human), but the supernatural elements aside in the latter neither are crazy!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I don't know how it would work but I'm open to it! I spitball a lot with lovely @justhere4thevibez and we've tossed around ideas the other has caught; my dearheart @barriss helped with d&d stuff in fic, and I thrash ideas around with my discord gremlins a lot, so the parts that appear in fic makes it feels like a collab ❤️

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Hellcheer till I die

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have a ton of Hellcheer ideas in the wings – maybe not all of them will come to fruition, but everything I've actually started writing will be finished, I hope.

I do, however, have an unpublished chapter of Literati that I absolutely love, but I ran out of steam as it was going to be a big undertaking, and then I kinda left that fandom so I doubt I'll ever go back to the fic, unfortunately. Pity, coz what I wrote was 🔥 in my humble opinion LMFAO

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do snappy dialogue well – I love banter, the flow. I like to think I'm funny too, though I feel very Milhouse "my mom thinks I'm funny" when I say that. I also see things in a cinematic way – the scene, the setting, placement, lighting etc – which I think comes across in my writing. At least, I hope it translates to the page!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I suck at planning. I have an idea and I go from there and down the line I'm like "Ohhhh fuck, where was I going with this, how do I do this, WTF IS HAPPENING", and then I panic, can't write, spiral. It mostly comes good in the end (except that GG one, RIP). Self-doubt is the fic-killer.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've never written a character who speaks another language, so have thankfully avoided that pitfall, but I would ask someone who speaks the language to help out, if possible. Google Translate ain't great, but it'll do in a push for some things.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Supernatural waaaaaaaaaay back in the day. When season 1 first came out and they were still battling the yellow-eyed demon and MotW. Ahhh, good, simpler times.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I think my New Girl fic, Two guys, a girl, and a cheerleader. I had a blast seeing how the characters could blend together while still being themselves, as well as using plots from the show to make a full, coherent storyline. I'm ridiculously delighted with the d&d elements of that too – I was so happy with how the True American chapter came out, and I'm very lucky to have had Sabrina's insider knowledge for that to make it what it was ❤️

Though I had great craic writing Mary Jane... And Blood moon sex magick... and I love the Eddie-centric canon-compliant(ish) Back to the Front. Sure look, you gotta be your own biggest fan 😆

That was so much fun! I don't know who hasn't done this yet, so I'm tagging @gingertumericlemon @windowsandfeelings @watercoloredlie

[childofaura]

Big question I have: who are your top 10 favourite Awakening characters from the First Generation and why?

This one will be fun :D also same disclaimer I always say: these aren’t in any particular order except for number one, because he really is number one.

That’s pretty much how all my lists go, lol.

Priam. This man is perfect and wonderful in so many ways; before I played Awakening, I watched all the confessions of the male characters, saw him, and went “THAT ONE. HE’S THE ONE .” He left me smitten even before I knew anything about him, like him being Ike’s descendent, and I’ve always been drawn more towards the “Avatarsexuals”. The game always tries to play him off as annoying, but he’s just incredibly passionate about gaining strength. He’s actually pretty passionate about everything he does, especially when he confesses that he’s fallen in love with you. His confession portrait has to be one of the most romantic in the game:

Priam is a hulking beast of a warrior but here, he’s kneeling down in front of you, having taken his gloves off so he can hold your hand in his (no one else does this by the way) while he gazes adoringly into your eyes. Combine that with how powerful and handsome he is, he’s my ultimate husband choice in Awakening. The only downside is how far in the game he is before you can recruit him (Chapter 25) but he’s worth it.

2. Aversa. I like a lot of SpotPass characters, and I like Aversa for her extra lore. Most people hate the SpotPass characters for turning the villains “good”, but I think it’s neat that the bad guys help defeat the TRUE villain pulling the strings (and it’s not like bad guys like Validar became good). Aside from that, Aversa is actually a sweetheart who struggles with making friends because she feels like she doesn’t deserve it (in her supports with M!Robin at least). It definitely makes her one of the more interesting female Awakening characters.

3. Vaike. WHEN, IS??? WHEN ARE WE GETTING TEACH??? Here’s hoping he’s not a demote when we get him… he’s a cool dude and his support with Sully is actually pretty touching, they were made for each other.

4. Frederick. I think Frederick (along with Dedue) is actually one of the nicer vassal characters in Fire Emblem, because Jakob can kind of be an asshole sometimes and Hubert is… Hubert. He’s diligent, cares about others, and holds the Shepherds together.

5. Gregor. The dude is SO overlooked as “haha funny Russian man” despite the fact that he’s powerful as fuck and even could have been a Khan of Regna Ferox if he wanted to. And RESOURCEFUL, the fact that he knew how to do Cordelia’s makeup is impressive. Plus I think he’s the best dad for Severa (I actually headcanon that Severa is bilingual in Gregor’s homeland tongue and it comes out when she’s pissed off at something or someone). Great dude and I’m glad he got added to FEH.

6. Gangrel. I said it. He works great as an antagonist and he’s a fun ally with a fascinating backstory (he kind of reminds me of Askeladd from Vinland Saga). It’s actually really sad to me that he dies a horrible death if he doesn’t support with F!Robin, I’d have liked for him to have loved to do SOMETHING.

7. Kellam. NO END. I’VE HEARD NO END TO THE INVISIBILITY JOKES. I GET IT. I will ALWAYS acknowledge my boy. He’s such a sweetheart and I adore his support with Olivia. He better get a prf when he gets added to FEH or I will riot.

8. Panne. She turns into a bunny. I like her.

But also she has a great backstory.

9. Virion. Ok yes he’s silly and goofy and flirts with anything that looks remotely female and walks on two legs. But if you read his Support with F!Robin (definitely one of the most sincere supports of the game in my opinion), he’s actually a very noble and caring guy. Especially during one of the DLCs where he sells an heirloom dagger for an old couple who was sick, and refuses to be acknowledged in any way or form for doing so. He’s got a great heart.

10. Mustafa. Does this count? Probably not but I wanna give him a shoutout anyways. I’m mad that HE wasn’t a SpotPass character, as cool as Walhart was, I would have preferred Mustafa. At least he got added to FEH, I’ll take what I can get.

Special additional shoutouts to Olivia, Sully, Lon’qu, and Yen’fey, they’re also really cool. I do like the other characters (especially Maribelle’s support where she knows how to talk like a sailor) but I’d prioritize these guys on the list.

[oh-nostalgiia]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks so much for the tag, @atthelamppost!

1. How many works do you have on ao3? Looks like 32.

2.  What's your total AO3 word count? 73,750

3. What fandoms do you write for? On AO3 specifically - ? Just Rogue One. But back in my LJ and forum days, I've written for a small handful.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

heaven help a fool who falls in love

cause honey i've been thinking about you

to the ends of the earth would you follow me

all i want for christmas is you

only love could hurt like this

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I've been really slow to get to it, but yes, I do! I appreciate each and every comment I receive.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? That would be you'll bring me home, because there is major character death(s). On the plus side, at least there were long, happy lives lived before that point, but ...

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Happiest ending - ? Most of them end on a hopeful note, mostly because I suck at definitive endings. As far as downright happy, I'd have to say maybe no one can choose who they fall for (or when they fall, or how they fall, or why) or if you love me, don't let go.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, because I tend to fly under the radar as a writer. Guess there's one good thing about low engagement, right?

9. Do you write smut. If so, what kind? Absolutely. In fic, I've only written M/F, but in RP-land, I've done it all.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not fic-wise, but again in RP-land ... most of my experiences comes from cross-canon shenanigans.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not as far as I know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Sure haven't.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? I have not. But a shared favorite pasttime with the bestie is kind of half rping things that we haven't actually written yet.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? Jyn x Cassian, of course.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I'd like to think that I'll finish all of my little projects, but especially the Cassian as a merman Jyn as a human vignettes.

16. What are your writing strengths? ??? (I don't think I'm particularly good at anything, tbh)

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Endings. Dialogue is sometimes not where I want it to be. Pacing. And I think I"m too dry as a fic writer. I'm better with RP, when I have something to guide my responses.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Never done it. Would rather just state plainly that the character is speaking another language than botch it with attempting the translation myself.

19. First Fandom you wrote for? I mean ... first fandom I ever wrote for an online audience or first in general? First in general is the New Mickey Mouse Club or Beverly Hills, 90120, but nobody saw those. They were my little plays in my little notebooks and they were private. For an audience ... definitely Backstreet Boys. Had a Geocities website back in the day. And I'm not about to say which one it was 'cause those fics do not need to see the light of day.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? The ones with the lowest engagement, tbh. I'd like to think I've gotten better as a writer, but those fics just haven't found an audience. come back with the waves is a particular favorite that not a lot of people have read, and i found love where it wasn't supposed to be is another, which gained a bigger audience.

Not tagging anyone, but if you see this and you want to give it a go, have at it!

[riverdamien]

Good Mental Health!

America's Loneliest Era!

(from the Washington Post)

Our Lady of Mary's Month!

Pray the Rosary!

Mental Health Month!

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God; believe also in me.  2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b]  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”[c]  5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  7 If you know me, you will know[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe[e] because of the works themselves.  12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14 If in my name you ask me[f] for anything, I will do it.  (John 14:1-14 NRSVEU)

Mental Health Awareness Month What it is: May is mental health awareness month, making mental health and suicide prevention bigger topics than ever. #mentalhealthmatters has around 42 billion views on TikTok, and #mentalhealthawareness has racked up 20 billion. Why the conversation is changing: The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey showed that suicidal ideation, especially for teenage girls, is continuing on a concerning trajectory. In 2021, 30% of girls said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 24% said they had an actual plan to end their life. According to data published by Mental Health America, 16.4% of youth reported experiencing a major depressive episode within the last 12 months. This news comes at a time when adults are feeling so lonely that the US surgeon general has declared loneliness a public health emergency. Stigma around mental health topics appears to be eroding, but that isn’t necessarily leading to better mental health outcomes for teens and for the population at large.

Conversation Starter: What do you think are the biggest contributors to mental health issues for your generation? (Check out our new video series on Mental Health for more help having this conversation!) 

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

What is good mental health? In his book, Ash Wednesday, J. R. Mabry has the Sheriff say: "If I have learned anything from my mother, Jake, it's there are no good people. There are only people in various stages of being fu. .cked up. Some less, some more."

Good mental health is the ability both to value life and to engage in a life of affirming other people and creatures and value their lives as we do our own, seeing them as independent from us. Good mental health means the ability to behave differently depending upon the circumstances and not expect every thing go our way. Good mental health is our ability to see everyone, regardless of social status, sexual identification, and color, simply as a fellow human being.

"In Christ  there is no east or west. in him no pride of birth, the chosen family God has blessed now spans the whole wide earth. For God in Christ has made us one from every land, race, and sexual orientation,  has reconciled us through the Son, and met us all with Grace."

We live in America's loneliest era. Our country is so divided, we stay buried in our social media and do not talk to one another, and most importantly listen. Good mental health means to"shelter our souls." For me it means to dwell in Jesus. "Dwelling in Jesus", means to be open to all, to listen, letting them find good mental health, and a "dwelling in whatever their belief in the Higher Power."

Recently a young man came to my place. He was well dressed, and he said don't you remember me, and I said, "Well, I am not sure," "You knew me as "Chaos", who at fifteen had been high on fentanyl and knocked me down, sending me on a two year journey of recovery. He said:

"You simply forgave me, and continued to be my friend...and for the next year you simply listened when I came to your house, even in pain you listened." Through our listening I found a Higher Power in AA." I went home to my parents, and am now in college. I keep a photo of you in my wallet to remind me you care and you listen, never judging."

Listening saves lives, simply listening with out judgment.

The word "dwell" is related to an old English word for "heresy" or "madness". Perhaps it is a sort of insanity to believe that God dwells here, with us.

Or that, somehow, resurrection is an end to our exile, and an invitation to come home to God. If so, the madness is the long-lingering hope of the human race, the dream to dwell. Not only a hope, however it is hard work, this effort to shelter our souls.

To "dwell" means we struggle as a family with all people in finding safety in life, in finding "good mental health".

None of us are "good", but we try as hard as we can and move from the stage of evil ultimately into the fullness of God, the fullness of accepting all as a reflection of Jesus of Nazareth--black, white, brown, blue, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning and all in between. The fullness of good mental health.

In the midst of our fears and uncertainty and old Methodist hymn, one upon which I was raised and one that will be sung at my funeral rings out:

"O God, our help in ages past,

our hope for years to come,

our shelter from the stormy blast,

and our eternal home."

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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

Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

punkpriest1@gmail.com

415-305-2124

River's Creed:

"I write  because this is the way I protest".

Ministry on the streets is the way I resist, dong what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment."

"Now I hand down to  you what has been revealed to me: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures."

[dollystuartwrites]

7&ME - Chapter 1 - Job

Pairing: OT7 x F!Reader

Genre: fluff, smut, idol AU, straight, bisexual, gay, threesome

Wordcount: 1015

Chapters: [1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] [11] - [12] - [13] - [14] - [15] - [16] - [17] - [18] - [19] - [20]  [21] - [22] - [23] - [24] - [25] - [26] - [27] - [28] - [29] - [30] MASTERLIST Wanna read all the chapters right now? You can find the complete story for free on WATTPAD

Summary: Miracles do happen! Somehow you've finally managed to secure a job at a big company! Even though it'll be a 24/7 job, they promised you a fat paycheck, so you don't care what the job is... But what if the job is managing 7 grown men? Seven men who all have needs...

Warnings: swearing, unprotected sex, vaginal penetration, fingering, size kink, oral (f&m receiving), dirty talk, gay sex, threesome sex, bisexual sex, implied masturbation, this is super vanilla compared to most of my stories, let me know what I missed.

Y O U R   P E R S P E C T I V E

I could feel my heart thumping in my throat.

I was nervous.

But I was always nervous on my first day on the job.

I mean who isn't, right?

I've had several jobs before, some simple ones like waiting tables and such.

But never something significant.

I looked out of the window of the cab, watching the streets flash by.

Who would've thought that my first job out of college would be something so big?

Certainly not me.

When I had applied my resume to the vacancy the Big Hit Entertainment had put out, I'd never expected to actually get it. After all, I barely had any experience and I had just gotten out of college.

Nervously I played with my hair as I watched the sun slowly set, outside of the car window.

The job description had been vague, and during the job interview, the workers didn't give me much information about what it was exactly they wanted me to do.

All I knew was this: 1. It would be a 24/7 job. Meaning no time for friends or family. Not that I had any since I had immigrated to Korea. 2. The paycheck was enormous. If my calculations were correct, and I could keep doing this job for at least 5 years, saving up most of my salary (not that I would have time to spend it anyway), I would almost be settled for life. 3. Anything that I would experience should be kept secret. This had been very important to the bosses since they had mentioned it several times during my interview. I was not to talk to anyone outside my job about the job. Not even the bosses themselves. 4. I would get instructions from my clients about what it is that I should do exactly.

This last point had helped me a lot while trying to figure out what the hell it was they wanted from me. Apparently, I had several clients: I would have to work for or manage multiple people. Since Big Hit Entertainment was a company that managed many k-pop stars, I imagined it would be probably a new group that was about to debut or something.

They probably expected me to help them with their schedule or something, making sure they'd be on time for practices and whatnot.

But then, why would the clients be the ones to instruct me? Surely if this was the case, the bosses would instruct me, not the client?

'We're here,' the cab driver spoke. I blinked.

The cab had stopped in front of a large concrete entrance, that had guards and a barrier guarding and checking everyone that came in and out of the place.

'Oh,' I breathed. My heart pounded loudly.

'Do you need any help with your bags?' the cabbie offered politely.

'No need, thank you,' I thanked him. After all, I only had one suitcase.

I paid the cabbie and got my stuff out of the trunk.

The cab immediately drove off into the night.

I wasn't sure what to do. Nervously I walked up to one of the guards at the entrance.

'Erm, hello,' I started, my voice slightly shaking.

The guard didn't say anything.

'I'm y/n and I'm starting my new job today and I was told this was the address...' I said, my voice trailing away as the guard stared down at me unblinkingly.

I wasn't sure what next to say. I didn't even know what my job description was.

I looked at the space behind the gates. It reminded me a lot of a luxury hotel or apartment complex. The ones you would see in k-dramas where the CEOs would live.

Definitely not a place a group that still had to debut would live. They could never afford it. I could never afford it.

'Identification,' the guard said unexpectedly.

I quickly rummaged through my bag and pulled out my passport, giving it to him.

The guard inspected it carefully, before giving it back to me.

'Follow me,' he commanded, walking away with big steps.

I had to run to keep up with him. I had barely any time to look around properly.

There were large condos stacked upon one another. Separate buildings, all with large windows and luxurious-looking balconies and gardens.

This had to be a place where big celebrities lived.

'In here,' the guard said after a while, leading me into one of the large uniform buildings.

The more I saw of the place the more my thoughts were confirmed. This was NOT a place for a rookie idol group.

'This door,' the guard said suddenly when we were standing in front of a large wooden door. He abruptly turned around and walked away.

'Thanks,' I mumbled.

I stared at the high door.

Dear god, what had I gotten myself into?

I closed my eyes shut for a moment and took a deep breath.

Calm your mind

I pressed the doorbell.

'Who is it?' a male voice came from the little speaker

'Hi, I'm y/n. I'm here for the... job?' I said hesitantly, not knowing what else to call it.

The door gave a buzz and I pushed it to open. It was a very heavy door so it took some effort because I was using one hand to hold my suitcase.

With my backside first I entered the hallway, closing the door behind me.

I turned around and my heart skipped a beat.

A group of young men was standing in the hallway, looking at me with curiosity and interest.

I quickly bowed deeply at them.

'Good evening, my name is y/n' I reintroduced myself.

I straightened my back and saw all of them smirk at each other.

A quick count told me there were seven of them. Seven men from, what I guessed, my age. All with different hair colors and postures.

And all very, very handsome...

I nervously smiled at them as they exchanged peculiar looks with each other.

'You'll do just fine,' the tallest man said. He winked at me and grinned.

I could feel my cheeks getting hot.

Oh, dear...

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! / Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here!

A/N: I apologize for all the profanity in this part ahead of time. I think I’m going to do M/W/Sat updates, as long as my writing permits, and then maybe Wed/Sat updates. I got the day off because it snowed so I thought I would post this since it’s ready haha

* Well you’re royally f*cked

* There’s a big stupid smile curled on your face, and every time you try to hide it, it just comes back wider

* You really shouldn’t be happy right now

* “What has you in such a good mood?” Edward’s got a matching smile of his own.

* Oh shit. It’s fine, you’ll just play dumb.

* “How do you know I’m happy?” How about the dumb grin you’ve got on your face you stupid b*tch.

* You would have smacked your own forehead if you weren’t aware Edward was watching your every move

* You’re lucky Edward’s nice and he doesn’t call you out on it

* “Whenever you’re happy it kind of radiates off of you,” his voice lowers “you know because of your powers”

* Ah, you didn’t know you did that

* “So what do you think about the new girl?” You blurt it out like it’s an intrusive thought

* F*ck. Just-okay just play it cool. Play it cool.

* F********ckkkkk what’s wrong with you.

* Is being happy making you act like a moron?

* He shrugs

* “Just another human, I kind of wish everyone would shut up about it though. Having to hear people talk about her and think about her is getting annoying. It’s like being in a tunnel with one too many echoes.”

* Ah, so he hasn’t noticed yet.

* “I wonder what she’s thinking about.”

* Edward just shrugs again.

* What the f*ck Edward take a hint!

* “Edward?”

* “Yes dear?” He has the nerve to grin after using that pet name. The criminal is teasing you. Some best friend.

* And still it makes you outrageously happy

* You have to force your smile into a straight line

* “What’s the new girl thinking?”

* He looks over to her, Tyler and Mike are fighting for her attention, both of them a moment away from tugging on each arm and shouting “mine!”

* You see him search, you’ve heard enough about his powers to know right now it’s like mall food court level of chatter for him, but in a few seconds he’ll focus on her and realize he can’t hear her thoughts.

* Knowing how prideful he is though, he’ll probably deny it.

* “I don’t know I can’t read her mind” he says bluntly. “Do you think the school music teacher would teach me how to play violin if I asked?”

* “What?!?”

* “I know it’s kind of inconsiderate to ask but-“ you click your tongue

* “No not that!” You gesture towards Bella “you can’t read her mind?!? Isn’t that kind of a big deal?”

* His eyebrows thread together

* “I can’t read your mind either”

* Yes but you’re from a completely different world, in a body that radiates despair (and apparently joy now). You’re basically like some type of eldritch being from another dimension. 

* Edward doesn’t see it that though

* “Honestly it’s a relief, one less mind I have to tune out.” He walks ahead of you as you stay motionless in the middle of the hallway

* What the f*ck is happening?

* “Are you coming? We’re going to be late for Biology if you keep lagging behind like that.”

* How could you forget? The whole story starts because Edward is super into Bella’s blood! He fantasizes killing her for like- the entire class period.

* You were worried for nothing, just because they didn’t have the cafeteria moment isn’t that big of a deal

* The thought makes you both relieved and a little sad

* Still it’s for the best, this is the way things are supposed to be

* And who knows, if you have to leave maybe you can poach Rosalie and Emmett to leave with you

* And maybe Jasper, he won’t like having a human around the house all the time

* “Mr. Cullen, Ms. Eleazar” Mr. Banner hands you each a worksheet.

* Oh right the onion cell worksheet. Ah right the mitosis crap. Well hopefully Mike remembers enough that you both can hobble through

* “New year means new seating arrangement!” He tells you both excitedly. The seating arrangements on the projector.

* “Why am I next to Edward isn’t the seating arrangement supposed to be alphabetical?”

* “I decided to go by grade this time, you should be happy! Aren’t you two...friends?” You can tell your teacher is confused by the nature of your relationship, almost as much as you are. 

* “Super happy Teach.” You mumble taking your seat next to Edward who’s grinning like an idiot

* “You can’t say he’s picking favorites when it’s merit based.” He grins and you roll your eyes

* Angela’s sitting next to Ben Cheney, they seem to be discussing the trigonometry homework, and how it’s basically impossible

* Oh right, he’s supposed to be her boyfriend this year. 

* Personally you think Angela could do way better. But love is blind, you’ll ship it if you have to. 

* And right on cue Mike walks in, Bella following close behind. He takes his seat on the table behind you while Bella talks to Mr. Barnes

* “Why didn’t you guys sit with us at lunch today?” Mike is practically leaned over the entire width of the table.

* Before you can say anything Edward snorts

* “Because (Y/N) was getting lectured for staying out all night again”

* Mike looks like his eyes might pop out of his head

* “W-what? Out all night?! Without inviting me!” You roll your eyes.

* “He’s making it more dramatic, I went out for a run early in the morning because I couldn’t sleep and everyone was freaking out because they thought I got kidnapped.”

* Like any vampire or human stood a chance against you and your violent mood swings

* Mike’s so caught up in lecturing you about how you need to be more careful

* “There’s a lot of weirdos out there!” Yeah you live with them

* That he doesn’t even notice Bella’s taken a seat next to him

* Now that you get a better look at her, she is kinda pretty. She’s the kind of person who probably always looks good in photographs, no matter what the angle. Nice cheekbones and big brown eyes. Modest on boobs and butt, but she’s skinny so it works for her.

* “Hey, you’re Bella right?” You give her your friendliest smile, and you don’t miss the light blush that blooms on her face.

* You’re not sure whether it’s from your beauty or because she’s just not used to so much attention. She just nods.

* “Have you already seen the three whole things there are to do in Town on a Friday night?”

* Bella actually laughs at that. She’s got dimples, and little wrinkles that show up at the corner of her eyes. It’s cute.

* “One of those things is going to the library, so really it’s only two things.”

* She giggles again.

* “Is the other one going over to your house to play monopoly?” Mike asks, a grin arching onto his face

* “No my house is out of town, the other thing is to go to the school football game”

* “I’m not really a big fan of football” Bella hesitantly says, and Mike and Edward laugh

* “Yeah no one here does, everyone goes for the half time show, or just to hang out.” 

* You’re pretty sure your entire friend group only goes to the games to see your cheer routine, especially this year since you’re captain now. The first junior captain in a long time apparently. The news actually made the local newspaper.

* Everything is going good, and you’re starting to think maybe you and Bella might be friends.

* “Why don’t we have a board game night at our house again? Last time was-“

* You stop sentence, you were having so much fun you almost forgot why Edward was so obsessed with Bella.

* The slight breeze from the air conditioning brings her scent to you.

* You cover your mouth and nose with your hand

* Her scent is REVOLTING

* “(Y/N), are you okay?” Mike asks

* You vaguely feel Edward’s hand on your shoulder, has he not caught her scent yet?

* It’s pretty hard to miss

* Like gym socks, with a overly sweet base, it’s like-

* Your head snaps up, and your hand clamps over your mouth and nose even harder, but not because the scent is revolting

* She smells like cheese, perfectly aged Gorgonzola cheese, or maybe Brie?

* You smell the sweeter undercurrent stronger now, it’s like warm juicy peaches

* Roasted peach salad tossed with Gorgonzola and olive oil

* How many times have you dreamed about eating that while basking in the warm sunlight

* “I knew you shouldn’t have eaten those leftovers at lunch,” Edward says, but you know it’s performative, thank god he’s still got some sense after smelling her.

* “Mr.Banner, I think (Y/N) ate something bad, is it alright if I help them to the nurses office?”

* “Yes and hurry!” He’s practically shooing you out as Edward pulls you by the arm

* Nooooo, you wanna smell her moreeee

* You have the sense to not wine and keep your mouth covered.

* Edward doesn’t take you to the nurse, you both don’t stop walking until you’re at the parking lot

* “What the hell was that?” He asks, it’s the first time he’s seemed even remotely angry with you

* He seems more confused then angry though, you’re so shocked you actually sit down on the curb.

* And after a moment of hesitance Edward sits beside you, placing his hand over your own

* “She smells good Edward, like really good.”

* Edward laughs

* “Yeah I gathered that” he shakes his head. “I thought you were supposed to be a picky eater”

* “I aaaaamm” you moan, your head is cradled in your left hand. “She’s like one in a million”

* “You’re one in a million” you lift your head to see Edward looking at you with that stupid sh*t eating grin.

* “Really Edward my life is falling apart because I want to eat someone, and you think the appropriate response is to flirt?”

* To be fair, he’s always flirting, it’s basically apart of his personality at this point

* “You’re being melodramatic.” He chuckles and throws an arm over your shoulder. “Worst case scenario you kill her, Carlisle doles out his funeral punishment-don’t ask, and then we have to start over as freshman again somewhere else.”

* You groan, you finally worked your way up to a junior, you were just starting to get used to this crappy town, you don’t wanna start all over again in a new one

* “What’s the best case scenario?”

* Edward thinks hard for a minute.

* “Best case scenario...the music teacher agrees to teach me how to play the violin and I impress you with my magnificent playing.” You smack him on the arm.

* “Not the best case scenario for you!” You know he’s doing it on purpose. He just wants to make you laugh

* It works, you do laugh. How much more absurd could this situation get?

* “Everything’s going to be fine, if Jasper can handle having to smell 300 students he thinks smell good, you can handle 1.” 

* He’s got a point

* “Wait-didn’t she smell good to you?” Wasn’t that like, the whole d*mn point?

* His eyebrows thread together and he shrugs

* “Um, she smelled alright, no better or worse than the others. I’m not sure what you smelled-“

* What you smelled? The rich but refreshing flavor profile is sublime

* The f*cking heathen doesn’t even know what he’s missing

* “But to me she smelled like peaches”

* Well he kinda knows what he’s missing

* “She’s definitely anemic though, there’s a sever lack of iron in her scent” ah that must be that cheesy smell you’re getting

* Well ain’t this ironic. The girl who’s going to steal your best friend is only getting noticed because of you.

* “I don’t know, personally I prefer Henrietta the 3rds blood, but that’s just me” he’s lying, your blood is good and all, but it’s definitely still not on par with a humans blood

* He’s just trying to make you feel better.

* He rubs your shoulder, before patting it and moving to stand up.

* “Now come on, we have to make you eat some human food so you can throw up in front of the nurse and she lets us leave school early”

* You roll your eyes, anything to leave school early huh?

* “Yeah all right, lead the way Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Brooding”

* “Why do you always say that? I don’t brood that much anymore!”

* “You know how some people have resting b*tch face? You have resting brood face.”

* “Says the person who literally radiates despair” you shove him as you both walk towards the vending machine

* You take a deep breath as you watch Edward fumble with the vending machine

* The dork literally sticks a credit card up to the glass and demands the machine give him chips. 

* (Y/N/N) why isn’t this working? Am I supposed to insert my card through this slot?” 

* You laugh. You’re pretty sure he’s not doing this on purpose.

* “You’re supposed to use cash Edward.”

* You watch as he fumbles with his wallet muttering:

* “Do you think it’ll take a twenty dollar bill?”

* You watch in amusement as Edward tries - and fails- to use a twenty dollar bill, and then proceed to use obscure profanities to curse “this vile wretch of human technological advancement” 

* You feel a sigh of relief escape you.

* Yeah, everything is going to be fine. 

Tags:  @moonlights27 @thebluetint @the100thtwilight @awesomebooklover17 @oneofthepotterheads @smileygirl08 @imdoingathingmom @iconicgguk @yrawn @alyciaswhore @little-horror-show @wicked-watering-can @lazydreamers @xxxmuxxx @puritanicalhypocrite

[hillbillyoracle]

September Self Care Challenge

The last few months have been hell for me y'all and there's absolutely no sign of it letting up. The astrology for this year is pretty clear that it's only looking to get more intense between now and part way through next year so I'm trying to focus on ways I can better ride this wave out. I realized other people might appreciate these challenges that I've created for myself so I decided to share them with all of you. Please take what is useful and leave the rest. Try as much of it as you can or as you want. I will say it would probably help to use a journal throughout this process or a planner. Whichever works for you!

The Routines

Given the astro weather and what's going on in the world generally, now is a really good time to reexamine routines and solidify the helpful parts. I've been doing a lot of this lately and it's been really impactful.

So one part of this challenge involves creating both a morning and evening routine that has at least one of item of maintenance self care, kindness self care, and reflection self care. Expression self care too if you can manage it.

So for instance maybe your AM routine would be:

Brush teeth + get dressed (maintenance)

Morning pages, TMS journaling, or a tarot challenge (reflection)

Make a nice cup of tea and read or listen to something (kindness)

And maybe your PM routine would be:

Brush teeth + wash face (maintenance)

Write about what happened that day (reflection)

Put on a diffuser and read of listen to something (kindness)

Try to stick to it more days than you don't and that's already a win.

I also like to anchor my routines around 123 and 321. In the morning, I like to write down 

1 way I can give back to someone 

2 things I want to get done

3 things I'm thankful for. 

In the evening, I like to write down 

3 things I accomplished

2 ways to improve

1 thing I'm proud of or thankful for

These could count as reflection if need be. I just find them really handy for starting off and finishing a day on a good note.

The Content

I've been feeling bombarded by content that stresses me out lately. I can tell it's been taking a toll on my health. As a disabled person, I've had watch so many people, including family, suddenly decide COVID wasn't worth worrying about while I remain in the same lockdown as ever because I haven't stopped being high risk. It can be really overwhelming seeing how little folks care.

But I was recently introduced to the idea that instead of trying to scroll through the news less, it was more productive to focus on what I want to do more of instead. So I've cut back to reading a news roundup around midday and then focusing on completing the following challenge.

Read 5 new books

Watch 5 new films or documentaries

Listen to 5 new podcasts

Listen to 5 new albums

Create 5 new works

When I say new, I mean new to you.  I've found that novelty helps keep my mind from wondering which is helpful in these times.

What work is is ultimately up to you. For me it will be mostly writing and embroidery this month. Maybe some knitting or crocheting. For you it could be creating a new art piece, learning a new song, taking and editing 5 new photos - whatever would really engage you in a meaningful way.

The Prompts

These are designed so that you can pull cards for these, journal through them, or both. So please do however many of these are actually helpful to you and then don't sweat the rest. I wanted to include a tarot challenge as a way to help take care of one of the reflection categories for the routines and prompts deeper thinking on the theme.

1 T - What's been getting in your way lately? How can you get it out of your way or adapt to it?

2 W - What spell work would improve your life? What do you need to perform it?

3 T - What have you been wanting to learn more about? Where could you start?

4 F - What's would make you feel more confident in your body? How could you do that?

5 S - What's your biggest limitation you're facing? What can you learn from it?

6 S - What talent could you share with others more? Where could you start?

7 M - What's been bothering you around the house lately? What would lessen it?

8 T - What way to move your body would bring joy? What do you need to start?

9 W - What friend or community have you not reached out to in a while? How can you?

10 T - What spiritual practice brings you peace? What would you need to do it more?

11 F - What small change would feel luxurious? How can you implement it in your life?

12 S - What structures do you need to set up? How would they benefit you?

13 S - What way could you brag on yourself a little? Who would be proud to hear about it?

14 M - What food would make you feel more cozy? What do you need to be able to make it?

15 T - What is the biggest drain on your energy? How can you lessen or get rid of it?

16 W - What really needs said? Who needs to hear it?

17 T - What could you give someone to cheer them up? Who should you give it to?

18 F - How could you spend more time with beauty? Where should you look?

19 S - What should you cut back on? How would it benefit you?

20 S - What would make you more sovereign? How can you implement it?

21 M - What intuition have you not been listening to? What does it say?

22 T - What's a better way to deal with anger? Where can you learn more?

23 W - What charm could use refreshed or recast? What needs to be different?

24 T - What opportunity is presenting itself? How can you take it?

25 F - What could you revel in more? How can you make it happen?

26 S - What needs to be gotten rid of? Where's the place to dispose of it?

27 S - What's the dark side of your ego? How can you manage it better?

28 M - What would make your home more calming? How can you bring that in?

29 T - How are you when you're aggressive? What's a better way to get what you want?

30 W - What connection needs extra energy? How can you add to it?

Conclusion

I hope this helps folks. I know it's been helping me since I started doing it and I thought it would be nice to make it more of a community wide thing. So do that parts that speak to you and leave the parts you don't. But please tag me in your reflections, use hashtag #SeptemberSelfCareChallenge, and share your experiences. We're all going through some rough shit these days. Let's take care of ourselves at least a little each day.

[mcbenson25]

The Lawyers Daughter Chapter 5

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Note: F/N: father's name, M/N: Mother's name ------------------------- You may have only been in New York for an hour but you had fallen in love with it.

The people bustling, the sounds, the chaos.

It felt comfortable to you. As if you were meant to be there.

Your mother was still uneasy about the whole thing but she was happy to spend time as a family.

The hotel you were staying in was very nice. In fact, it seemed a little out of your budget.

Your father had explained that he had a friend who worked there and had given him a discounted rate.

Thank God for good friends.

They had gotten a guest suite for the price of a regular room. The suite was straight out of a movie. It had a sleek design with marble countertops and a sparkling floor. There was a huge tv and two rooms. One for you and one for your parents. What you loved most was the huge window doors that lead to a balcony. It gave you a perfect view to the city below you.

It couldn't get any better than this.

"Hey kiddo I see you're enjoying the view"

You smiled and gave him a big hug

"Thank you for this dad!"

He chuckled before he rubbed your head messing up your hair.

"If you think this is cool wait until tomorrow when we actually go do stuff"

"Can I get a preview of what we are doing"

"F/N don't you dare tell her or so help me God you will get it," your mother half yelled from inside.

Your father held up his hands defensively.

"Sorry kiddo you heard the boss. You're just gonna have to wait till tomorrow"

You smiled as you walked back in and saw your mother had ordered room service. It smelled and looked like it was meant for a king.

After eating you got ready for bed. You were excited to see what tomorrow would bring.

You were grateful for your parents. They had really gone all out on this.

You went to sleep with pleasant dreams running through your head.

---------------------------- You woke up to a familiar song playing in the background.

You rubbed your eyes and stretched your arms as you went into the living space and saw your parents already eating breakfast.

"Morning pumpkin. Come eat," your mother said as you came over to kiss them good morning.

You sat down and began to eat. The sing seemed to get a bit louder and you recognized it as the opening song to Hamilton.

"Why do you guys have Hamilton playing in the background? I thought you didn't like it?"

Your mother laughed.

"Darling I never said I didn't like it. I said that there was too much sing for my taste".

You rolled your eyes playfully as you took a sip of orange juice.

"It's a musical, mom. There's gonna be a lot of singing".

"Well hopefully it'll be better in person rather than on TV"

You spit out your drink.

"In-person?!!"

You looked at your father to make sure this wasn't some lame joke.

He nodded. "Yeppers kiddo. We got front tickets to Hamilton for this evening"

Your mouth dropped in surprise.

"That's awesome! Thank you thank you thank youuuuuuu!!!!"

Your mother tapped her fork on your plate.

"You're welcome. Now finishing eating. We have a big day ahead of us." ----------------------- And a big day you had indeed.

You had gone to various places throughout the day and you felt like you were on a cloud.

The Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Central Park.

To everyone else, they may seem mundane and ordinary but to you, it is an exhilarating experience.

There were many musicians on the street playing lively tunes as you swayed to the beat.

You loved New York. New York loved you.

There was nothing that could change that.

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

Your parents suggested you go back to the hotel to get some downtime before the show. You were kind of tired from walking all day so you agreed. You would be happy to take a little cat nap and restock on energy.

You suggested taking the subway back to the hotel. Your parents were reluctant to agree but eventually gave in when you pointed out it was a 30-minute walk back.

But you all realized there was a matter of getting on the right train at the right time.

Your parents bickered among themselves over who knew what train to take to get back the fastest. You sighed and sat by a nearby bench. A man was sitting beside you. He had brown hair, green eyes and was, to say the least, dressed to impress. He was busy on his phone typing away faster than you had ever seen anyone else before. Your parents kept arguing and were getting a bit loud which caused the man to look up from his phone annoyed.

"It would be nice if they could keep it down. Nobody wants to hear them argue," he muttered in annoyance.

Well nobody asked you to stay and hear about it.

There was a pause before he was staring at you questionably.

"What did you say?"

You didn't even realize you had spoken.

"I um-nothing," you said weakly.

The man's eyes glittered with amusement. "No. You said something."

Crap.

"Nothing. I was...talking to myself."

The man sighed annoyingly but you saw the twinkle in his eyes saying he was the opposite of annoyed.

"Okay then. But if you did say something then maybe I could give you directions to the train you need to take so your parents can stop bickering like animals."

Ah well.

You could either swallow your pride and repeat what you said to the man or listen to your parents argue for the next hour and be stuck here.

Your stomach at that moment decided to gurgle.

The man glanced at you with a grin.

"Fine. I said Nobody asked you to sit here and hear them argue. You could have just left if it annoyed you so much"

Well, there goes your pride.

The man's eyes wrinkled as he laughed. It seemed as if he didn't do that much.

"How old are you?"

"A number"

He hummed humorously.

"What number would that be?"

"You're a stranger"

"That didn't stop your snappy comments"

Well, he had you there.

"16," you said in defeat.

"Hmm, 16? Imagine how'll you'll be when you are 30," he said chuckling.

It was your turn to laugh.

"Okay, I did my end of the deal so now it's your turn."

"Alright, snappy. Take the next train and get off at the third stop. It should be pretty close to the street your parents are yapping about."

You smiled.

"Thank you, Mr..."

"Barba. Rafael Barba."

"Okay, Mr. Barba. Thank you for the help."

He smiled.

"You're welcome Snappy"

You giggled before getting up and telling your parents you had figured it out. They looked at you in relief as you boarded the incoming train. As the doors closed you saw the man still sitting there. He looked at you, smiled, and waved.

You waved back as the train left the station.

Hey y'all! I'm on vacation this upcoming week so expect some good juicy content! If you like this story check out my other works (SVU Reader Imagines, Dear Mr. B)! As always I really appreciate feedback!

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

[maraudersandlily20]

ok dorcas and marlene as chaotic professors at the same university? could be an AU, could just be Hogwarts

As told in Text Conversations: 

Groupchat: Picasso is a Bitch 

Dorcas: New Teacher alert.

Lily: Department?

Dorcas: Engineering

Remus: Sounds hot

Dorcas: shut up immediately.

Remus: you’re not my mom

Lily: M or F

Dorcas: F

Remus: Dammit

Lily: seem nice?

Dorcas: idk. I didn’t get the chance to actually talk to her. It was more like a moment in passing. She was surrounded by guys, though

Remus: what a lesbian move

Lily: how… how is that even a thing?

Remus: Lils, are you dumb? If girls ONLY hang out with guys, chances are they’re butch. Or they know they aren’t attracted to guys and are wild as fuck and have nothing to lose. They have no one to impress, really. Those are the only two options.

Dorcas: Jesus

Remus: No, I’m sure he wasn’t there

Dorcas: I have to leave this conversation before I physically kill Remus Lupin. Talk to you both later.

Lily: Lunch in our usual spot?

Remus: Tell me if you see the Lesbian again.

Remus: Also, where the fuck is Alice?

---

Groupchat: The Walking Dead

Sirius: Well lads, I dropped off the love of our lives at school. Felt like a proud parent. Almost cried.

Marlene: You are aware that I know how to make explosives from scratch right? I’ve been aching to do it for a while, so you wanna keep doing this? Is this happening?

James: I need him, though. We’re gonna get married eventually. So no. You are not allowed to blow him up

Marlene: Fuck

Peter: How's the new campus? 

Marlene: Small. I mean, it’s a lot smaller of a university, harder to get into and all that. But still. For a place that boasts a great deal of wealth, they certainly don’t show it in building size. 

Sirius: That’s how you know they have money. They have nothing to prove. Classic rich people move.

Peter: You should know.

James: Did you get settled though, Mars? 

Marlene: Enough. I still have to set up the lecture hall to my liking, but it’s nice to have an office that will probably be permanent. And I saw your door just a few down from mine, Jamie boy! Sirius: I should have become a professor. I feel left out. I hate being left out.

Peter: You have the right degree, Paddy. You could be a professor if you wanted.

Sirius: Desk jobs are gross. No thank you. Also, children.

Marlene: It’s not a desk job. And, like, these children are basically full grown adults.

Sirius: Physically, maybe. But I remember what we were like at their age. Mentally, they belong in daycare. 

James: You’re just bitter because those college boys outdrank you the other night.

Sirius: THEY FUCKING CHEATED!

Peter: They didn’t though

James: Whatever you say, Pads.

Marlene: Also, I just saw a very beautiful woman. Will keep you updated if I see her again.

Sirius: WHY ARE YOU ONLY SAYING THIS NOW?!?!

---

Groupchat: Picasso Is a Bitch name changed to Hamlet, that’s fucking gay

Remus: Any sign of the lesbian?

Dorcas: No. 

Alice: What? What Lesbian?

Lily: Oh, while you were sick, Dorcas saw a very pretty girl. Remus thinks she’s a lesbian.

Alice: Ooh, that’s fun! 

Remus: I don’t THINK Lily, I know. 

Dorcas: You haven’t even seen her

Remus: Irrelevant. 

Lily: Do you guys know if Potter is back?

Alice: I saw him this morning. He was getting coffee.

Remus: I love that man so much. He’s so beautiful I could literally cry. With that hot caramel skin and that wild hair and how he always smells like some weird spice. I want him to be the father of my children.

Lily: Don’t encourage him.

Remus: He’s not even here.

Lily: He can sense your enthusiasm. So shhhhh

Alice: Do we still not like him?

Lily: No.

Dorcas: You know it was an accident, Lils. 

Lily: You don’t know that. And I don’t know that. And who in their RIGHT MIND asks someone out after they’ve pushed them into a fountain? Like, the audacity?!

Remus: At least he’s authentic

Lily: Yeah, an authentic bitch. 

Alice: Lol.

Alice: I’m honestly really interested in this Lesbian situation, though. Can we get back to that?

Remus: She’s in the engineering department. So if your cute little math loving butt just wanted to wander over there…

Alice: I’m on my way. 

Dorcas: Why are we friends? You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.

Dorcas: ALICE

Lily: They’re doing it out of love.

Dorcas: Well their idea of love is something I am not interested in. 

Alice: Blonde?

Dorcas: Fuck.

Remus: Is she blonde, Dorcs?

Remus: IS SHE?!

Dorcas: Yeah.

Alice: Marlene McKinnon. Blonde, blue eyed, I’d say 5”8, 5”9. Masters in Engineering. Very nice.

Remus: Alice, I fucking love you

---

Groupchat: The Walking Dead changed to Update, I’m still gay

Sirius: Why the name change?

Marlene: Needed to get your attention

James: But like… with that?

Marlene: It fucking worked, didn’t it?

Peter: What happened?

Marlene: I saw that beautiful woman again. And I was right. She was beautiful.

Sirius: Sounds riveting.

Marlene: I told you I’d keep you updated, and I am. Stop being ungrateful.

Sirius: Yes commander

James: Who was it?

Marlene: Don’t know. Short, black, curly hair?

James: Where did you see her?

Marlene: She was getting a plate of spaghetti in the Canteen.

James: Hm……….. 

Sirius: James doesn’t know anyone because he’s too busy mooning over Evans.

James: I am so much stronger than you. Do not come for me right now

Peter: Sirius, you have an appointment here, come down.

Sirius: Fuck. 

James: Peter, you know you can just text him personally, right?

Peter: I can’t shame him publicly if I only text him. 

Marlene: Facts.

James: Did you talk to her?

Marlene: Nah, she was with people. I wanted to though. She seems lovely. 

James: Lovely? Who are you and what have you done with Marlene McKinnon.

Marlene: She’s dead now. I’ve inhabited her body. 

Sirius: Thank god, she was a bitch.

Peter: SIRIUS

James: I’ll keep an eye out for her. Let me know if you want me to scout it out.

Marlene: Okay, James Bond

---

Groupchat: Hamlet, that’s fucking gay changed to Dorcas McKinnon has a nice ring to it

Dorcas: Remus, stop changing the group chat name. I know where you live.

Remus: We live with each other.

Dorcas: Exactly.

Lily: Are there lesbian updates????

Remus: I met her. She was wandering around, looking for a pop machine. 

Alice: Yay! I love Lesbian updates

Remus: Good news: she’s funny. Like, super funny.

Lily: Saying good news like that often means there is bad news to follow

Remus: She’s uh… friends with Potter.

Dorcas: Uh-oh.

Alice: Oh no.

Lily: I’m really sorry that you have to eternally break up with this woman, Dorky. Because NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. ANYONE who is friends with James Potter is not worth knowing.

Alice: That’s pretty judgemental, lils.

Lily: .... And?

Remus: Luckily, you don’t have to date her.

Dorcas: No one is dating ANYONE. Jesus, you guys. Chill out about this whole thing

Remus: I don’t think that’s physically possible. 

Dorcas: Can we talk about anything else?

Alice: Frank is taking me out for sushi tonight. 

Remus: I would marry Frank in five seconds, if he’d let me

Alice: I’ll let him know. 

Remus: Thank you, I appreciate it.

---

Groupchat: Update, I’m still gay changed to Emotionally Unavailable Idiots

Sirius: I have met the love of my life.

Marlene: Stop being dramatic

Sirius: Excuse me? EXCUSE ME? He quoted the Princess Bride with me. Word for Word? Marlene, I must marry this man. WHO IS HE?

Peter: Why do I keep missing all of the fun stuff?

James: The fun stuff is watching Sirius gay panic over a stranger?

Peter: Yeah. Obvs.

Marlene: He’s the lit professor.

James: Lupin?

Marlene: I think so, yeah. 

Sirius: An english nerd. Perfect. He can read me poetry while I give people tattoos. We’ll make millions. 

Marlene: I think… he wants to be my friend. He’s come around a few times. He even brought me coffee once, with a croissant. I didn’t know people were so nice to strangers. Am I in a hallmark film?

Peter: It’s cause you're such a catch, Mars. 

Marlene: I will shove that “catch” up your ass, Pettigrew, if you don’t stop being stupid.

James: Impossible. Stupidity is Peter’s middle name. 

Sirius: Yeah Peter Marcus Stupidity Pettigrew.

Peter: My middle name isn’t Marcus.

Sirius: Wait really?

Peter: No?

Sirius: Why the fuck did I think it was Marcus?

James: I think Lupin is bi, Sirius. So…

Sirius: James, you are the other love of my life. I will kiss you when you get home. You provide me with the most valuable information and attention. I can never truly repay you.

James: Finally. Getting the recognition I deserve. Can’t wait.

Sirius: Marlene, please. Be his friend, I am begging you. I will give you our first born child.

Marlene: Pass.

---

Groupchat: Dorcas McKinnon has a nice ring to it changed to I won’t hesitate bitch

Alice: Marlene is so nice

Lily: You’re all traitors. She’s friends with the enEMY

Dorcas: I thought Remus was supposed to be the dramatic one

Remus: I’ll take that as a compliment

Dorcas: Whatever helps you sleep at night. 

Alice: Seriously though. She’s so nice. A lot of my students have her and they’ve been gushing. Apparently she’s one of the best professors some of them have ever had.

Remus: Damn. High praise. 

Lily: Still skeptical

Alice: She asked about you, Dori. 

Dorcas: wait, what?

Remus: ALICE SAY MORE RIGHT NOW?!?!

Alice: She said she had noticed that you and I are close and she wanted to know about you. What your name is, what you teach, how long you’ve been working here, if you were single.

Dorcas: She did not ask that.

Remus: Dorcas, shut up forever. Alice is talking. Alice, my love, please continue. 

Alice: I may have invited her to eat lunch with us.

Dorcas: Uh…

Lily: You did what?

Alice: She’s new, Lily. I’m trying to help her make friends.

Lily: You did it, didn’t you. 

Alice: ummm

Lily: YOU TOLD HER SHE COULD BRING JAMES POTTER, DIDN’T YOU

Alice: He’s her friend. I couldn’t exclude him.

Lily: I never thought this would happen to me. To be betrayed so thoroughly by my own friends. I don’t even have the words. 

Alice: Who knows, it might be fun?

Remus: I’m so excited I could burst

Dorcas: Is it legal to drink on campus in the middle of the day?

Remus: Unfortunately not. Trust me, I’ve tried.

---

Marlene McKinnon to Dorcas Meadowes

Marlene: It was nice of all of you to invite me to lunch. I know it was probably awkward for all of you to have to spend time with a stranger. But I really appreciated it. 

Dorcas: No problem. You’re always welcome.

Marlene: Maybe… we could go get something to eat off campus sometime?

Dorcas: Yeah, of course. We go to the bar on Wright all the time.

Marlene: Oh, I meant like… just you and me. Actually.

Dorcas: Oh.

Marlene: Yeah. Did I guess wrong?

Dorcas: Guess wrong?

Marlene: About you being into women?

Dorcas: Ohhhh…

Marlene: ??

Dorcas: What did you have in mind? For our date?

Marlene: Wait, is that a yes?

Dorcas: I expect like, first class treatment, because I’ve seen you in action now. Anyone who can wrangle James Potter like that is someone who deserves knowing. So yeah. It’s a yes.

Marlene: Yay! Okay, you won’t regret it!

Marlene: Also, my friend is in love with Lupin.

Dorcas: wait, James? 

Marlene: Lol. Nah, James is still hung up on Lily. She’s wonderful, by the way. Tell her I’m grateful she was so kind. I know about what James did last year, so I can understand her bitterness. Fucking funny, though, to see it in person.

Marlene: It’s my other friend, Sirius. He owns the tattoo parlor, Cannis Major, on Levi. 

Dorcas: Hmm. Well, let me know what I can do. I’m sure we can get them in the same room at some point.

Marlene: Are you offering to meddle in people’s lives?

Dorcas: Is that okay?

Marlene: Dorcas Meadowes, I’m pretty sure I’m already halfway in love with you. 

Dorcas: Thank god. 

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

This has been in my ask box for literal months. I’m sorry @tonftyhw !! I had finals and stress and I don’t know how to write. I hope this makes you smile though.

Clarifier for who teaches what if anyone is interested:

Lily-History

Remus-Literature

Dorcas-Art (painting)

Alice-Math

James-Chemistry

Marlene-Engineering/Physics

Sirius owns a tattoo shop because I will die for that AU every time. And Peter works with him, kind of like the brains of the business.

Should I write more of this? It was so fun lol 

[kendrixtermina]

Appreciating the Range of Type 6, or, one stereotypical example, and three that aren’t.

I want to tell you about some type 6 ppl that I know in my personal life.

Exemplar #1: F. B.

Complete Stats

Wing: 5 p or cp: largely phobic – lots of safety worries, outright authoritarian follower personality Instinct: sp/soc Trifix: 613  - 6w5 1w2 3w2 (“The Taskmaster” or “The Middle Manager”) jungian: ISTJ / SLI-Te oldham: Conscientious & Aggressive Essence Type: Mars Temperament: Pure Choleric

What he’s like:

Not pleasant.

Every “strict conservative middle aged guy” stereotype in the book. Control freak, makes a mountain out of every molehill, sees the world as full of axe murderers, judgemental as fuck, horrible temper and yet completely impersonable, all his opinions are copypasted from right-wing news sites. When they say war is good he’s for war, and when they say war is bad he’ll be like “At least Trump did not start any more wars” without perceiving a contradiction. Despite this, he believes is very hot, principled and funny. He is none of these things. He puts people down nonstop. My knowledge of neurochemistry tells me that he must have emotions somewhere or he couldn’t function, but I ain’t ever seen a single one of those emotions. They’re all for his job and a few trusted mentor figures. And his mom. At least he loved her.

If you say anything he doesn’t like, he “throws the sofa out the window” as his wife once put it.

How he’s a Type 6:

Well, he’s pretty much every negative stereotype in a nutshell… other than distrusting his partner. But that might be cause hes sx blind, or cause the wife is big on monogamy & wouldn’t ever cheat.

The one positive trait of 6 that he has is that he does his research. Before moving anywhere he googles the crime rates and if you need a doctor he might find you the best one. But even that can be overriden by ideology (hydroxychloroquine!). And if you don’t take his exact advice, there goes the sofa out the window again…

And I guess the work ethic from all 3 parts of the trifix really comes through – he hasn’t had a single bad grade in his life and always keeps collecting new certifications, and will make sure you hear about it...

Exemplar #2: I.

Complete Stats

Wing: 5 P or cp: pretty much an even mix of phobic and counterphobic Instinct: sp/soc Trifix: 614 - 6w5 1w2 4w3 (Would prolly call herself “The Big Pain” rather than “The Philosopher” ^^°) jungian: INTJ / ILI-Ni oldham: Serious & Conscientious Essence Type: Saturn Temperament: Chlor-Mel

What she’s like:

I’d describe her as serious, mature, discerning, focused and passionate about her friendships, if perhaps somewhat forceful at times, with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor.

Comes across like someone who knows what she’s talking about, with well-articulated points.

Often the Responsible Sibling, Designated Sanity Checker or Bullshit Detector.

Prefers to plan everything in advance in typical Ni dom fashion, even amusement part trips. Gets somewhat anxious without a future plan or shedule.

Often mistaken for a whole lot more sociable and confident that she really feels inside. (even I kinda bought it and got her whole darn trifix wrong on my first typing attempt, though that was when I was new to typology) She can act the boss act temporarily to get the situation over with, but she actually hates making decisions.

She does however have the occasional cute/pure moment where that lower function block comes out.

How she’s a Type 6:

She has saved our family from many a terrible restaurant by making sure to check the reviews. The preparing for all possible dangers is very 6, the acting tough outwardly when youre inwardly anxious, the intellectual problem solving & some tendency towards organization/responsibility/ “logistic” intelligence.

One online test she took gave her 5w6 instead of 6w5 but that’s probably just the ITxx-ness leaking in. I remember this one time we were discussing this artsy-fartsy theater play to which we’d had fascinatingly different reactions, and at one point I half-jokingly said something like “But does anyone ever really feel connected to others, or is that a myth?” to which she wrote, “[Name], what the fuck? Yes I do.” and then immediately deleted it. That’s more of a 6 reaction innit?

Nonetheless the wing does feature in significantly – for example she got very well informed about a lot of topics because she researched them to assuage a random survival-related fear, like, “How to make sure I have enough retirement money”

Exemplar #3: M.

Complete Stats

Wing: 7 p or cp: largely phobic Instinct: sp/sx Trifix: 692 - 6w7 9w1 2w1 (Fortunately very much a “Good Samaritan” rather than “The Stockholm”) jungian: ISFP / SEI-Fi oldham: Sensitive & Devoted Essence Type: Lunar-Venus Temperament: Pure Supine

What she’s like:

Precious! Sweet, nice, good listener, friendly, gives all the best gifts. But also perceptive and good at understanding people, eg. mediating to the parents when one of the younger sisters is having An Emotion™ or winning the trust of problem children.

Unlike I. Who has some soc that helps her keep track of a larger circle of friends despite her introversion, M. tends to enjoy the closeness with her family and have just a few very close friends. Excellent friend material all around! The sx and Se also come out in enjoying art forms involving the body like theatre or dance.

She can be a bit shy, conflict-avoidant and occasionally a lil bit panicky though.

As a small kid she used to be super duper shy but then a wise english teacher encouraged her to play a big role in a play, and since then she’s a lot more confident and doesn’t let ppl push her around without limit, though she’s still a quiet, helpful person. There you see the difference that a good teacher can make.

How she’s a Type 6:

For one thing she moves and emotes faster than a core 9 would, and she fits the body language – big eyes that move around a lot, stands a bit lopsided, talks in a shrill voice on the rare occasions where we exhaust her patience etc. As a xSFx and a w7 she shows mostly the “warm, friendly, likeable” side of type 6. She also has a very 6-ish tendency to very frequently ask people’s opinions & feedback before making decisions. (the other fixes probably add to this)

Alas, she also has a little bit of of the fear/insecurity.

Also she has a social/care job which might be seen as 6-ish desire to serve the community.

Exemplar #4: J.

Complete Stats

Wing: 7 P or cp: largely counterphobic Instinct: sx/soc ?? definitely not sp first. Trifix: 638 - 6w7 3w4 8w9(?) (Shall she be a “Justice Fighter” or a “Kyle”? Only time will tell.) jungian: ISTP / LSI-Se ?? Oldham: ? some Dramatic & Serious, perhaps ? Essence Type: Definitely Mercury Temperament: San-Mel

What she’s like:

The first adjective that usually comes to my mind is ‘cool’. Sassy, energetic & a little bit tough, but also affectionate when she wants to be. (though in admiring way rather than a mushy one)

She says the coolest things, has a certain sly sort of cleverness, and an astonishly good poker face. Bit of an occasional prankster. Hilarious. Knows all sort of cool science facts. Avid gamer. 

Not especially popular or over the top sociable, but she gets sad if no one pays attention to her a while. Will act visibly moody where ppl can see sad or worried and can catastrophize a bit in such situations.

How she’s a Type 6:

I first though we might be getting an ExxP type 7 since she was a pretty energetic child, but once puberty hit and independent thought manifested, she turned out a whole lot too reactive and ‘edgy’ for this, and more on the ‘moderate introvert’ side of things.

Since then the sisterly dynamic has been like one fluffy golden dog and 3 hissing black cats. Hissing Cats #1 and #2 are very proud of her, but cat #1 was forced to conclude that she’s probably not a positive outlook type.

Out of all the reactive types 6 fits best because she does broadcast group identity (like wearing merchandise of her favorite media and wearing buttons in solidarity with ppl she likes.) & has a big case of Big Sibling worship for M, I, and someone else who isn’t on this list due to being a 9. (a 4 or 8 might like their older siblings but probably wouldn’t constantly stress the admiration.), but she can also show lasting, pouty displeasure with authority figures who have slighted her. (Like that one time I went too far in teasing her...)

I’m just assuming the 8 fix because that tends to make 6s more bold, louder & more shameless.

Basically she is the “punk teen” type of 6. She can be a bit dramatic & over-the top but still come to her family on advice (even advice on pranks!) in ways that xSTPs of other enneagrams prolly wouldn’t.

She also tends to use self-deprecating humor in tough situations and deflects compliments to present herself as ‘ordinary’.

...

This may sound like I’m really getting down on my first example (I won’t pretend that I’m not) but the point in bringing him up is that the reason he’s like this is: He was subject to really bad parenting that put a lot of fear into him, there was no good parenting to teach him broader coping strategies, he lived in a crappy environment that crushed his dreams, in a sense ‘confirming’ those fears and making him double down, resulting in a person who is just always rigidly following the same predictable pattern or jumping from one automatic reaction to the next with very little pausing and thinking. That goes for the other types too: A ‘stereotypical’ person is a desperate person ruled by fear, who cant stop or soften up even for an instant cause they constantly feel this fire of threat under their arse.

A lot of descriptions say that 6s ‘Follow authority’ but most would balk at the notion – ‘I do the research!’ they might argue ‘I don’t just trust anyone’ or ‘I’m actually a rebel’. There is of course such a thing as denial  that’s more like the extreme case.

But with a more average, functional 6 it’s not so much ��obedience’ as that they just like to bounce their ideas off of others to get feedback, or that they feature in other’s viewpoints. So you might get someone who can naturally use feedback (something other ppl may have to learn first) or who is very considerate of others (which others might have to consciously remind themselves to do.)

Those are sometimes pretty good traits actually.

On the other hand this is probably part of what makes decisions hard cause they consider all these possible scenarios of how things might displease or cause harm to everyone involved.

Being able to naturally snap into Action Mode under stress looks a bit enviable from the outside, but I. assures me that it’s actually super stressful & exhausting, even for someone who doesn’t get to a point of just being unreasonably aggro at you.

Though even an extreme case like F.B. would probably claim that he ‘did the research’ even as he’s 1:1 quoting the Pope at you, and then saying that you ‘have to be respectful’ even if you don’t even believe in Christianity. Hence why you get a lot of authoritarians talking about “disrespect”. You didn’t “fail to obey”, you “disrespected the flag” or  “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”. Because they’re still trying or inwardly thinking that they’re doing the consideritation & considering other’s PoV thing when they’ve long since crossed from respect and consideration into mindless obedience, all while still thinking that they’re very sceptical and discerning cause after all they really distrust the other political party or whatever.  

In a way you get this obsession with ‘mind control’ cause they’re not unaware of & very much looking to guard the blind spot. They’re adults trying to do adult things.

For example, if I voiced an opinion to F. B. which he didn’t like, his reaction was often to ask “who told you that”

That’s just how he seems to think opinions work, somebody tells them to you.

Makes one wonder how he thinks new opinions start.

Yeah - Nobody told me that. I concocted it myself in some corner of my head. And in the interest of objectivity, I should stress that you can also end talking out of your ass that way, if you’re not basing it on enough outside data. Making up new shit has more of a quadratic than a linear learning curve – at least with copying you get something semi-useful right away. In making up your own you might be really off a long time before you stumble on something useful.

Also, I was young at the time and it’s not wholly unreasobale to think that an inexperienced person might be duped. I reacted really badly in part cause he hit my own ego buttons cause I was of course proud of this epiphany that I had concocted by myself, and now he says (or so I perceived it, being sensitive to accusations of incompetence) that I’m too dumb to form an opinion, so of course I launched into full Obnoxious Reddit Dude Mode.

In I. It manifests more on a reasonable useful level like “Oh wait, should [young cousin] be on TikTok? I don’t want him to get sucked into some cultish BS.” which is at least something the parents should have on the radar/ warn him about even if they do let him use TikTok, because for all that it is vital for him to get his experience with independent socializing & experimentig with sel-presentation, people do sometimes get suckered into cults or goaded into unsafe tests of courage.

And in a sense… maybe they overamphasize it but to some extent they’re also simply consciously aware/ mindful of it. The rest of us are not immune to propaganda after all, solong as it’s presented in a way pleasing to our egos. Any type structure can become a ‘hook’ if you’re not careful.

[takaraphoenix]

spuffy for the ask game since you have a spuffy story coming up on your schedule?

Yes, yes I do! And sure can do! ^-^

I love Spuffy. It has been one of my absolute favorite ships from all fandoms for many years, but ever since I also read the comic continuation, I gotta say, Spuffy is the favorite ship. The most beloved of all ships I've ever sailed.

They are the embodiment of hero/villain enemies turned lovers.

And they have my favorite m/f dynamic; he's full of snark and bastard energy, but oh is he soft for her.

And they also have that thing that makes me love ships the most; it's a ship between my two favorite characters from that franchise. If a ship unites my two faves, it just instantly gains more of my love, because it means I get them both, at the same time, happy, with each other.

I love the way their dynamic slowly changes over the seasons.

I have a soft spot for early bastard secondary villain Spike, he is hilarious and Buffy's annoyance with him is delightful.

And then he has his literal oh moment of realizing he's into Buffy and he doesn't know how to handle it and he handles it in the whackiest, weirdest way possible. I mean, role playing with Harm? Having Warren build a sex bot? The incredibly awkard stalking?

But things get more serious and less of a comic relief "look at that poor bastard" when Spike becomes one of the people Buffy trusts. One of the people she trusts the most, I'd say, considering she leaves her mother and her sister with him, repeatedly.

Season 5 is such a good Spuffy season in that Spike becomes a Scooby by sheer force of will. Somewhere in my mind still lives an alternate spin where the Scoobies do escape Glory in their RV and just... have a merry roadtrip with each other.

And sure, it's easy to dismiss Spike - easy for Buffy and the other characters. Because he's a vampire, and not a fancy one with a soul like Angel. He might lust for Buffy, but it can't be love, right.

But, and that's what makes me love this ship so much, it is love, even without a soul. (It's also what makes me love Spike so much, because he is such a complex character with so much growth who was already so much more than just a vampire even without his soul.)

Him bringing flowers after Joyce died, not to somehow score points with Buffy, but because he genuinely liked Joyce and they had genuinely bonded with each other. Because he mourns, even without a soul.

And, the biggest evidence as to him genuinely loving her - he stays, when Buffy dies.

If it were all misplaces lust that he blows out of proportion, he wouldn't have stayed. Buffy was dead and since Willow, Tara and Xander didn't tell him about wanting to resurrect her, he had no reason to stay, no reason to believe she would ever be back.

But he stayed in Sunnydale. And not just to mourn and get drunked and fucked up, the way he did when Dru dumped him.

He was a Scooby. For months, he worked with them to protect Sunnydale, to fight demons, to help raise Dawn. He took on so much responsibility and for the first time truly became a hero, a good guy. He fought for the good cause, not to impress Buffy and score points with her, not out of any misplaced reasons. Solely because she was gone and he wanted to honor her legacy, he wanted to do what she would do if she were still there, he wanted to protect those she had died to protect.

I have a very complicated relationship to season 6's Spuffy. It's very self-destructive, on both parts. She's only using him, he becomes her bad coping mechanism with being brought back to life. And he knows that, but he can't stay away. Personally, I think all of Seeing Red was a huge mistake and especially after the build-up of what they had Spike do for Buffy so far without a soul, it... it felt like a whole different writer with entirely different ideas just grabbed the script and hijacked it at that point, to be quite frank. I do think that at that point in how Spike's character was established, it was OoC. Even if you try to argue that their relationship had already been a mess of mixed signals, with "I hate you, you disgust me" being followed by mindblowing sex, I still think that this was pushing things too far.

But it brought us Spike going to get his soul, so I digress.

And then comes season 7 and season 7 is just peak Spuffy. Season 7 is my happy place. Gods. The way Buffy cares for him, the way she protects him, from the others, from the First, from himself. The way she stands up for him. How she keeps choosing him.

The way they banter and raise "the children" together once he feels better.

And when everyone in an act of being incredibly, impossibly, forcibly OoC just turns their back on Buffy and also stabs hers, repeatedly, he is still there. He tells them off the way I was yelling at my screen too and then he found her and comforted her and simply held her.

And then he died. Not for her, but because he actually was a hero. And it wrecked me. (The best thing AtS ever did was bring Spike back to live, imo.)

Let's skip season 8 to the end, where he comes in as the knight in shining armor, having done his research on how to stop the apocalypse unfolding once again and how, even though she had just hooked up with Angel, she immediately starts fantasizing about Spike as soon as he's in the room? I swear, season 8 is a freaking mess.

But season 9... really hurts. That she'd come to him, of all the people she knows and loves, she comes to him when she doesn't know how to keep going, when she considers running away and raising a child, being a family. He is the person she thinks about. And he is the person she comes to for back-up when she decides to have an abortion. Whether she goes to a happy place or a dark place, in both scenarios she chose him over everyone else, to have him at her side.

And season 10 finally gives us the canon romantic relationship between them. Finally, they actually get together and it is so good. The way they communicate with each other, the way she reassures him that she chose him and no one's going to come between them, tells him that he is a good man and also finds for herself that she is not just happy in this relationship, she also finds that she loves herself more, she likes the person she is when she is with him (she literally says that).

Buffy has a freaking mind-journey, traveling into Spike's mind and seeing and feeling just how much he loves her, how regardless of what else is going on, he loves her.

They are... They are everything I always dreamed they could be in a real relationship - they have their problems, but they talk them through, they reassure and support each other, they're domestic and cute, they make each other better, not by changing the other but by supporting the other and giving each other the chance to be their best self.

When they actually are in a real relationship, neither of them is jealous. And both have shown in the past to be prone to jealousy. But when Buffy tells Spike that Angel is her past and that he is her present, he accepts that and he doesn't feel the need to be a jackass around Angel. And when Spike tells Buffy about his could-have-been Dylan, Buffy doesn't get jealous over her, no, she decides they should go to Dylan's art-show and she gets along splendidly with her.

Season 11 is an overall rough ride, I mean, they are literally locked inside an internment camp for nearly the whole season. But the Spuffy keeps you going, because they are so strong together, they make this work, together.

The season ends with them kissing, with Buffy saying "I love you" for the very first time and all Scoobies being together and it's... the picture-perfect ending to Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I could have ever imagined.

(There is no season 12 in my mind. That was Fray-centric garbage that did a disservice to Buffy as a character.)

Send me a ship and I will explain why I do or don't ship it

[callistolivia]

How to read/calculate your birth chart

From time to time I get people who are absolutely brand new to astrology, so I figured I should make this post and add it to my FAQ for reference. In this post I’ll demonstrate step by step how to calculate and read your chart via Astro.com.

*This is just a simple guide; you will still be required to research on specific topics such as basic understanding of symbols in astrology.

Calculating Your Chart

Step 1

Create an account on Astro.com 

Step 2

Under ‘Free Horoscopes,’ you will find ‘Extended Chart Selection’ and it will take you to the chart calculating/format page.

Step 3

If you haven’t already inputted your birth info, you can do this now under ‘Add a New Person’

On the Extended Chart Selection page, it gives you options for how your chart will be calculated and formatted. The default House System will likely be set to “Placidus,” but I strongly recommend changing this to “equal” as it will be easier to understand and is the way I read birth charts.

You don’t need to change any other settings from here, however you’re welcome to. Under ‘Display and calculation options” you can adjust what planets or objects will be included in your chart, you can adjust the aspect orb, and you can change aspect allowances. Under ‘Additional objects’ you can choose to include certain asteroids and objects as well. I personally like to include Pallas, Ceres, Vesta, and Juno, but these are by no means required. 

Step 4

‘Click here to show the chart’ will take you to the actual chart page. This is your calculated chart.

(This is my chart with my personal settings)

The table below the circular chart lists the placements and aspects. Take note of the planetary symbols next to their names as this will help you learn the symbols and understand the circular chart better. 

The aspect chart (the staircase looking table) can be read by looking at one of the symbols (triangle, square, angle, etc.) and the planetary symbol above it and the planetary symbol to the right indicates which two planets are making this aspect. This page on Astro will give you a brief explanation on what the aspect symbols are. You definitely do not need to focus on aspects if you’re a beginner, but this may be good to refer back to when you’re ready to learn about them.

Looking at the circular chart, you’ll notice it resembles a pie with twelve slices. You will see that these twelve slices are numbered (near the centre). These numbers represent the Houses. Where the houses start is indicated by your Ascendant (AC in your chart. Ascendant can also be referred to as Rising sign). From the exact degree of your Ascendant, 12 slices can be marked around the circle in 30 degree intervals. In my case, my ascendant is marked at 22 degrees in Leo therefore my first house starts at 22 degrees in Leo, my second house starts at 22 degrees in Virgo, my third house starts at 22 degrees in Libra, and so on. The equal 30 degree slices are the result of the equal house system; other house systems will give you different house layouts. Placidus, for example, will give you different sized houses starting at different points (so you might be able to see why I recommend the equal house system.)

Still looking at the circular chart, you will see the planetary symbols sitting in these pie slices with a little number next to them. The little number next to the planetary symbols indicates in what degrees the planet is in the sign (note; the SIGN, not the house. The signs have their own ‘cusps’ apart from the houses which are also in 30 degree increments). So if you take a look at my Sun for example (circle with a dot symbol) it is sitting in the 4th pie slice (fourth house) at 16 degrees in Sagittarius. 

If you continue to look at my Sun in the 4th in Sagittarius, you will notice that a red line is pointing to it and connecting to Jupiter. This is considered an aspect. Aspects show the relationships between planets in our birth chart. If you refer back to the staircase table and where the Sun meets Jupiter, you will see a square symbol. This symbol indicates that the Sun and Jupiter are forming a square aspect.

The 3x4 table to the right of the staircase table keeps score of how many planets of the same element or same mode you have. C - Cardinal, F - Fixed, M - Mutable and F/Red - Fire, A/Yellow - Air, E/Green - Earth, W/Blue - Water. This will give you a basic and quick idea of the general emphasis of your chart. It only takes you really a second to realize that I’m a fire dominant with a significant lack of earth just by looking at this table. 

Reading Your Chart; Where to Start?

1. The Big Three

Locate your Sun, Moon, and Ascendant. These three placements are almost always the most important placements in your chart. Identify their meanings, their significance to the house they are in, and look into what their relationships are with other planets in your chart.

2. Your Chart Ruler

Your ascendant indicates what your chart ruler is. Your chart ruler is the planet that your ascending sign rules over. For example, if you are a Taurus or Libra ascendant, then your chart ruler would be Venus. Look at the condition of your chart ruler, is it in a sign that works well for it? What aspects are being made to it? What house is it in?

3. Day VS Night Chart

Your ascendant’s line is what divides the chart into two hemispheres. The top half of your chart is considered the Southern Hemisphere whereas the bottom half is considered the Northern Hemisphere. Depending on if your Sun is placed above (Southern) or below (Northern) the ascendant’s line will indicate whether you have a Day chart or a Night chart. In Day charts, the Sun has more priority and the chart’s main benefic planet is Jupiter. In Night charts, the Moon has more priority and the chart’s main benefic planet is Venus. You can find many other significances with Day VS Night charts that are worth researching into.

4. North Node

Your North Node placement is going to be one of the most eye-opening placements to look into. Definitely should not go overlooked. 

5. Midheaven 

Your Midheaven, also synonymous with your 10th house, gives some insight to future career or life goals. This represents where you will build your legacy. 

6. Love indicators (for those who are interested in this)

Your chart can imply insight to how you behave in love and the type of people you attract/may be most compatible with. The points you will want to research for this are Venus (romantic expression/aesthetic expression), Mars (sexual expression), and your Descendant/7th house. The asteroid Juno is a bonus you may want to look into. 

7. Jupiter and Saturn.... And the rest of the planets

Eventually you’ll want to look into the rest of the planetary positions in your chart. Jupiter typically suggests our eases and opportunities in life whereas Saturn indicates inhibitions and fears. There’s some really interesting things to unpack from these planets based on their sign and house position. When looking at the planets, you should also consider their condition as planets do better in certain signs and worse in others. This is considered exaltation VS debilitation. Outside of a planet’s ruled sign, it has a sign it exalts in, a sign it is debilitated in, and a sign it is detriment in. Planets in their ruling or exalted sign have significant influence on the chart.

8. What stands out?

When you look at your chart, what stands out to you? Any particular aspect shapes? Any over emphasis in one sign (Stellium)? Any major conjunctions? If it stands out, it’s likely important and should be looked into. Take my chart for example, there is a very obvious triangle shape in it; this is called a grand trine. There are other chart patterns too, as this is just one, that can lead a big impact in one’s chart. 

9. Literally at this point, go down the rabbit hole.

By this point, you would have gone over many of the main points of your chart and you can explore any particular point or section now! Aspects? The rest of the houses? Asteroids maybe?

To summarize, I want to emphasize that this is just a simple guide that will require research. Google, books, and forums are your best friend when it comes to researching astrology. Overall, I hope this post makes sense.

[zaikaglow]

Queens of The Court

Pairing: Hitch x Reader, mentions of Ymir x Reader, brief Eren x Reader

Synopsis: After the girl you almost dated Ymir starts dating Historia and breaks your heart you can’t get your head back in the game. A handsome boy from the baseball team offers to help you get your mind off of things, but maybe the actual solution has been under your nose the whole time.

Content: Oral (f giving and receiving, brief m giving f receiving). mention of m x f sex, but the only explicate content is between two women. Slight angst.

The ball you sent flying bounces on the other side of the tennis court and starts to roll into the adjourning court while Hitch goes running after it. “Hitch what the fuck you could have hit that if you payed attention for once in your life” you say frustrated. It was really starting to annoy you the way that Hitch would be so zoned out that she wouldn’t even notice that the ball had been served until it was far too late and she was swinging her racket at nothing. Pieck has her racket pinched between her knees as she focuses on re-tying her ponytail “Come on y/n calm down you and Ymir are the first string me and Hitch are just here as backup” at this laid back remark Ymir decides to pipe up, racket up on her shoulder she struts up to the net. “Well how do you expect me and y/n to be able to keep winning tournaments if we only get to practice with you two space cadets”. Hitch is finally back from retrieving the ball wines “come on were doing our best”! Pieck lets out a small chuckle “come on Hitch even I don't believe that”. “Whatever it’s 8 o’clock the courts closing soon and I need to go pick up Historia from practice lets go” 

You and Ymir start to head back to the locker room together and you can’t help but to think back to the times before Historia. After doubles practice when Hitch and Pieck would go off to share a joint and leer at the baseball team from the bleacher you and Ymir would play each other 1 on 1, relishing the extra time together. At first it started off as a competition. Sure you two were the best doubles team but who was the best player? The first night you broke the barriers of physical contact was when you insisted that Ymir’s serve was out and her insisting it was in, until she had you backed against the chainlink “you know maybe if you put the same amount of energy you use arguing to work on improving your serves it might have actually have been in” you chided. “Shut up” Ymir responded, “why don't you make me” were your final words before her lips came crashing down on yours, her hands against your face. From then on it was your routine, after doubles play individually and always with a bet. Maybe the loser would go down on the winner, or maybe they’d be the one to wash down the winner in the locker room showers. You two never officially dated but you loved Ymir and thought of her as your girlfriend. That was until Historia. You remember how stupid you felt the day you had won your game against the opposing school and back in the locker room you had laced your fingers through her hair to pull her in for a kiss when she placed a hand on your shoulder to stop you “actually I started seeing someone. We’re still good as friends, we just can't keep doing the physical stuff okay”? God “the physical stuff” was that all this was to her? Your heart felt like it was being split in two and how could it not? You were in love with her and you thought she had felt the same, that the unspoken bond was what made it even more romantic. But turns out Ymir didn’t see things the same way, she thought you were just friends who happened to fuck. And now your plays were starting to suffer, too distracted by the heart ache. Sometimes getting distracted by the way Ymir’s hands grip the racket and your mind starting to wonder if she brushed her thumb along Historia’s cheek before kissing her the same way she used to do to you. Maybe that’s why you were so hard on Hitch for her spacing out, it's always easier to pick apart your flaws in other people instead of facing them yourself. As Ymir heads to the gym to go grab Historia from practice you decide to head over to the baseball field. Maybe hanging out with those two stoners would be better than going back home alone.

Pieck has the stupidest smile on her face when she passes you the joint, you taking it between your pointer and middle finger about to take a drag when you hear his grating voice “Heeeyyy y/n”. God it’s fucking Eren Jaeger, and he’s walking over baseball bat slung over his shoulders and you look away trying to avoid eye contact “Hello ladies, oh come on y/n don’t ignore me even in person” you take a drag of the joint before answering “hey Eren you ever think maybe there's a reason I never answered your text from 4 months ago” the boys eyebrows furl in concern “Oh come on you can’t still be mad about that group project! I said I was sorry and I was just asking you to dinner to apologize, you didn’t have to ignore me for 4 months”. Hitch doesn’t look like her cheery self, elbows on her knees and her fists supporting her pouting face “come on Eren you think you’d get the hint after 4 months, she’s. Not. interested.”. You pass the joint back to Pieck when suddenly you get an idea, still not daring to meet his teal eyes you say “Eren me and Ymir are playing tennis tomorrow why don’t you stop around 5 and pick me up”. Eren’s face lights up in excitement while Hitch and Pieck seem taken aback by you suddenly asking the guy you've blown off for the past 4 months to come hang out. Eren lets out a small chuckle “you two still practice on a Saturday”? “That’s why me and Ymir are so good, we apply ourselves. Hitch and Pieck could be too but they don't. Anyways are you coming or not” you say  “Oh I’ll be there hot stuff, I’ll be there.” he says while strutting back off to the rest of the team in the dugout. “Hey I can apply myself” Hitch practically yells, you can't tell whether that remark was for you or for Eren.

Your game against Ymir is not going in your favor, you know you can play better than you are but she brought Historia with her to watch and it's too distracting. Staring at her and wondering what she has that you didn’t, why Ymir could fall in love with her but not you. It’s a big surprise but you’re actually relieved when Eren shows up so you can end the game. Once on the court Eren makes his way over to you wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you close to him, Ymir who has her tennis bag in one hand, the other holding Historia’s looks over at the two of you eyes crinkling into a smile “hey I didn’t know you were with someone, I’m really happy for you y/n”! And with that she turns and starts to walk away like she didn’t just tear your heart apart with her smile. She was genuinely happy for you, there were no hints of jealousy, maybe she was just relieved that you found someone and that possibly your game would finally improve and stop being pissy about her being with someone. You grab your bag tighter and start making your way down to the locker room right out of Eren’s arm while he starts jogging after you “I’ll be out in a second I just need to change” you say fighting back the tears that were starting to prick at the corners of your eyes. Instead of actually getting changed you lay back against the cold lockers before sliding down to the ground and burying your head in your arms that rest on your knees when suddenly you hear “so were you fucking her or something”? Your head snaps up “Eren what the fuck are you doing in here. This is the women’s locker room". He just chuckles at you before offering you a hand “it's Saturday, no one else is in here drama queen”. You wipe at your eyes with the back of your hand now afraid he’ll notice your tears not that your upright “what does it matter Eren”. He places his hands against the lockers right next to your hips before leaning in and you feel his hot breath fan across your face and his nose brush your cheek “do you want me to help you forget her”? You feel his hand snake down under your skirt running up your thighs until he reaches the top band and tries to pull down but your clothes stay in place. “It’s a tennis skirt dumbass the shorts are attached” you side step your way under his arms out of his grasp before starting to head back out of the locker room “besides like I’d ever let you fuck me here at least take me back to your room or something”. Eren starts to jog to keep up “hey I know how tennis skirts work”!

Eren’s dorm was painfully college boy-esque. Air fresheners littered along windowsills and desk an attempt to hide the boy BO and by the dirty bong on the desk, weed. You sit down on the edge of the bed pushing away a dirty tee-shirt with your pinky when Eren takes a seat on the floor between your knees ``okay baby girl I’m gonna make you forget aallll about that little tennis partner of yours”. He places a wet kiss to the side of your knee before using the first two fingers on each hand to dip beneath the waistband of your skirt before pulling it down. You lay back in the bed as you feel him kiss your inside thigh before finally making contact with your core, and oh god what the hell is he doing? He’s spelling out the alphabet, you're not too terribly surprised “not shocked just disappointed” would sum it up. He’s hot so of course he probably has tons of girls who faked ecstasy just because they were so excited to have Jaeger between their legs. But after Ymir? No way this comes close, b, a, s, e, oh he finished the alphabet so he’s moving onto random words now “baseball”? Real creative dumbass. Bored as hell you can't help but to pull out your phone.

To: Sub 1

What are you doing rn?

Movie night with Pieck! You should come join us!!! : )

K, going to shower and then be up.

Eren pulls away surprised when you sit up and start to pull your skirt back up “hey babe, what's wrong”? He gives you those stupid puppy dog eyes. “You're bad at this i'm bored” you utter grabbing your tennis bag and heading back to the door. You’re halfway down the hall when you see him standing in the door frame hardon visible through his boxers when he says “come on y/n I'm better with my dick dont you even wanna see”.

After making it back to your dorm and taking a quick shower you head up to the next floor and give a knock on the door adorned with cute little construction paper cactuses labels “Pieck” and “Hitch”. Hitch opens the door with a big smile, her eyes crinkling at the corner. You can't help but notice the white tank top wearing she’s wearing is slightly see through and the way her nipples push against the fabric, and boy can you feel them too when she pulls you into a hug and her breast squish against you. Pieck is laying down on the bed blowing the smoke from a joint out a window fan they turned around so it blows out the window instead of in. She smirks when she sees the way your face goes blank at how Hitch is nuzzling her head against you “hey y/n want some”?  You give a nob before heading over to the bed arm around Hitch guiding her back with you. A couple drags later and you're not even paying attention to the movie. Instead the weed has heightened your senses and it feels intense the way that Hitch is running her delicate little fingers up and down your arms. Pieck who’s been stealing glances at you two occasionally takes her phone out of her pajama shorts and says “oh hey I just got a text from Pock asking me to spend the night, I’m going to head over. You know how I like to sleep in, in the morning so y/n feel free to stay till wherever” she gives a wink as she saunters out the room. Hitch is semi laying back on the pillows and starts to giggle once Pieck is out the door. “What are you laughing about” you say as you sit up from the other end of the bed. Hitch’s face turns a bright red “nothing i'm not laughing about anything”. God you don’t know what it is about her right now but the way she short hair is kinda messy from rolling against the pillows or what a tease she looks like nipples poking through that see through tank top and her ass practically hanging out the bottom of those short shorts but you can’t help what comes over you. On your hands and knees you start to crawl towards her, green eyes widening as she watches you stalk towards her like a predator. Until you’re over her hands placed just under her armpits, your knees against the sides of her hips. You move one hand up to her jaw brushing your thumb over her lips “I said what are you laughing about ''. You don’t even give her a chance to answer before you crash your lips against hers, a small mewl escaping her lips at the contact. You move your hand from her face down to her side fingers running over her ribs. She sighs and leans into your touch, at her receptiveness you go ahead and move your hand up to her breast kneading the soft tissue between your fingers. When she starts to rub her thighs together you go ahead and practically rip that little tank top off her and latch your lips onto her nipple. One hand still gently squeezes her other breast thumb rubbing small circles around her perked up little nipple, on the other you have your tongue flicking, rolling, and sucking against her. Her hands go to your shoulders squeezing harder each time you pull off her nipple with a pop before going back. You plant a kiss to her sternum moving down her torso nipping at her belly button before continuing down and pulling her shorts off. She’s so beautiful. Her plump bottom lip between her teeth as her perky breast moving up and down with her excited breathing, her pubic hair is the same sandy blonde as her head and she’s practically glistening at her core. Spreading her legs apart you lay your head against her thigh and look into her eyes as you slide your pointer and ring finger inside of her. You can’t help but chuckle at just how wet she already is and how she’s clenching around your fingers, her hands gripping the sheets. You turn your head slightly as kiss her thigh as your drag your fingers in and out watching her face contorted in pleasure as she whimpers “use your words tell me what you want” she practically pants out “your tongue I want your tongue” and she's so sweet how can you not indulge her? You start to curl your fingers up as you give her puffy clit a kiss before starting to lap at it with the flat of your tongue. It’s driving you crazy the way her tits bounce with the thrust of your fingers and how she’s grinding her hips down against your fingers. Your other hand goes to play with her tits as you feel her flutter around you as she reaches her release, your tongue still spinning around her clit to ease her though the orgasm. “Mm too much” she mutters out pushing against your head. You sit back up admiring the fucked out look on pretty little Hitch all thanks to you. She sits up on her hands and knees giving you a soft smile “wanna make you feel good now” she says crawling into your lap, peppering kisses down your neck stopping to suck on your collar bone. You pull her head back “no hickies” you say bopping your pointer finger against her nose playfully. She giggles before ducking her head down to your waist pushing your PJ shirt up to access your nipples. She’s rougher than you were and you can feel her teeth nipping as she grabs you by your waist keeping you pulled close to her. When you give a little yelp when she uses a little too much teeth she pulls away giggling again as she pushes you down. “You know everytime you’d bend over for the ball” another giggle “I’d imagine what your pussy would look like”. You finish taking off the rest of your clothes for her and spread your legs when you reply with a teasing “so what do you think then?”. She licks her lips “even more beautiful than I could imagine” she says head moving down between your legs to lick up your folds before latching onto your clit. Hitch was an enthusiastic lover and you two went back and forth until it was late and you two were boarding on overstimulation. After laying down next to each other you get up and start to put your clothes back on. Hitch grabs your arm “hey, don't you wanna sleep over”. You just continue to put your clothes back on saying “ I don’t know if that's a good idea, I had fun though”. You get up and give her a kiss on the forehead before heading out and you can't bear to look her in the eyes because you can just feel the sadness radiating off of her. 

Back in your own bed you hug your knees to your chest trying to get rid of the hole in the pit of your stomach. You did like Hitch, she was sweet and god was she good in bed but come on she’s not someone you can rely on. This is Hitch! Hitch who once missed a game because she slept in too late after a party, Hitch who sometimes just forgot about practice. There was a reason she was on your phone as “sub 1” . You were afraid of getting attached to someone like her. Especially after the number Ymir did on you. You needed someone who you knew would be there, someone who won’t let you down. Your heart couldn't take another break but also you couldn't help but feel guilty for not even giving her the chance. To take your mind off of things you decide to get up early to go practice against the backboard.

It's 7am on a Saturday and you think you’ll be alone so you’re surprised when you hear the familiar sound of the tennis ball bouncing against the back bored and your heart sinks. Who else would be here at 7am besides Ymir, but you're surprised when you turn the corner and see Hitch. She’s painting and sweaty so its obvious shes been here for a while, when she misses the ball and stops to pull another out from her shorts you say “Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here” she looks down and that pang of guilt comes back to your chest. She makes her way over to the fence where you are “Well you’re always talking about how I don’t apply myself and I thought that maybe if I tried harder in tennis you’d see something worthy in me” tears are starting to form in her eyes “I just imagined maybe you’d see me actually win a game or something. Not just see me still sucking against a wall”. You put your hands up to where her fingers were poking through the chain link and place your hands over her’s. “Hitch” she perks up to meet your eyes “do you want to go on like an actual date” her lips part in surprise at your words. “Also why don’t you see if Pieck’ll sleep over at Pocks again, this time I’ll stay the night”. She’s really beautiful when she smiles “yeah I’d like that”.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 9

Let me preface this by saying we’re entering a period of episodes that I’m not that fond of. There’s nothing wrong with them really, but it’s just padding and a little bit of set-up for later arcs, but I personally think the set-up is unnecessary.

Anyhow, straight into it! I shouldn’t say “straight” when wangxian is on screen. I struggled to get a good shot, but the dichotomy between Nie Huaisang and wangxian here is hilarious to me. He’s such a good comedy act, flailing and being totally useless, other than being another warm body, but at the same time, he’s the only one really acting like a teenager here. Lan Wangji is always so cold and serious, while Wei Wuxian is a goof until he needs to be serious, but both of them are also extremely talented. We know Nie Huaisang isn’t an idiot, but I don’t get the impression he’s a great cultivator either.

I literally watched this scene this morning and totally missed this part. Lan Wangji stops Wei Wuxian from killing or attacking the puppets further, as he’s about to use his sword to defend them all. It’s a great little moment, actually, because it shows how Wei Wuxian is willing to do anything, but he’s not willing to murder innocent people if they can be saved. We already know, with all the Lan principles, that Wangji would not kill needlessly, but we don’t necessarily know that about Wei Wuxian. But he has morals, he has his own principles, and he’s not going to cast those aside for nothing.

Now, you could say he won’t do it now in the story, but what about later? What about Wen Chao? I’d say that’s totally different. That was revenge. And one of the things I like about this story is that it doesn’t shy away from revenge (something that a lot of Western media kind of disdains—we seem to be afraid to in any way make revenge out to be something good).

I can’t believe I managed to capture the exact moment that Lan Wangji used the Silencing spell on Nie Huaisang. I’m honestly really impressed with myself. Of course, it was totally by accident. I was initially going to just talk about how funny Nie Huaisang is again, because I love his flailing and physical comedy, and his expressions are fantastic. But can I talk about this glare that Yibo has right now? Haha, I love it. Again, if looks could kill. If I were Wei Wuxian here, I’d feel pretty satisfied for being the one not silenced at this moment. Honestly, it shows such a progression in their relationship: they’re really working as a team, no longer at odds with each other. It’s really apparent that they have become a team: it’s Nie Huaisang and WangXian—not Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. There are also more moments where it feels like Wei Wuxian is really looking for Lan Wangji—like, it feels as if he’s more interested in the relationship than Lan Wangji. I don’t think it’s true at all, but that’s kind of what we’re shown. The thing is that Lan Wangji is so much more aloof and cold towards Wei Wuxian—very tsundere, I suppose. But of course, we know Lan Wangji is very conscious of Wei Wuxian.

I’m not going to pick on her specifically here, because overall, the fake instrument-playing is pretty hysterical. I do think she’s the worst at it, though, probably because she only does this in one scene or something. Wang Yibo has a double for a lot of the scenes where he’s playing the guqin, but what little we see is fine. Xiao Zhan is also okay—we know he isn’t really playing, but he does an okay job pretending to play. Like, his lip is on the flute. It kind of looks like Wen Qing doesn’t even have her lips on the flute—like she’s trying not to wreck her makeup. Anyway, I’m not going to harp (see what I did there?) on it—none of them are musicians.

Reminder to gif this part.

Any time Wei Wuxian comes to Lan Wangji’s defense is a good time, and coupled with a smile like this—my heart is melting, excuse me. I love these moments, because for just a few seconds, it feels like no one else is there—it’s just the two of them having a moment together. And Wei Wuxian is once again here proving how he’s loyal to Lan Wangji, how his friendship is worth something, and it’s not just skin-deep. I think Lan Wangji is touched here: the way his averts his gaze, as if he likes what Wei Wuxian is saying, but he still feels uncomfortable. Outside of his family, this is probably the closest relationship that Lan Wangji has ever had.

Wei Wuxian has a lot of cool magic, and it’s a shame we don’t get to see more of it. I like the idea that his talismans are more clever, if that makes sense. They aren’t just explosions or hitting people with waves of force to knock them around. He’s got golden nets, and talismans that can bind/bond people to each other, ones that can cause you to be pinned to the ground. It’s just very fun, and we don’t get to see a lot of that sort of magic in this world. Actually Lan Wangji has the Silencing spell, plus the body binding spell that he uses in the book, but that is, unfortunately, not in this series. And the first time you see it in the book is when he binds Wei Wuxian’s body so that he has to sleep right on top of Lan Wangji—great stuff.

WWX: So they are making use of my wisdom? LOL

Wei Wuxian stops to make a joke, saying he is most disturbed by the hallucinations because he has so many thoughts in his head—basically too smart for his own good here—and at the same time, poking fun at Lan Wangji, because he isn’t bothered by the hallucinations (ie. he doesn’t have many thoughts in his head). Okay, first of all, we know Wei Wuxian respects Lan Wangji a lot, so he is definitely joking, and it’s all in good fun. Lan Wangji rolls his eyes a bit, and he’s not bothered. He did, after all, tell Wei Wuxian to put the net over the other three so that he and Wei Wuxian could take care of the dire owl alone. He also respects Wei Wuxian and values him as a fellow cultivator and teammate. Second of all, again, Wei Wuxian is not an idiot! He’s smart! He’s clever! He’s not dumb! I don’t know who still needs to hear this, but I’m saying it again. I know it’s easy to put him into the typical BL “female” role: he’s smaller, he’s a bottom, blah blah blah. I honestly don’t like that at all. Every ship doesn’t have to be two opposites. It doesn’t have to be m/f, top/bottom, big/small, dark/light, smart/dumb, strong/weak. I’m aware of how the book is written and I’m aware of BL tropes in general, but I see two equals here. I like how they picked Wang Yibo, a shorter and younger man than Xiao Zhan, to play Lan Wangji. I like that they took out the fact that he has inhumanly strong arms. I like the different dynamic that it displays from the book characters. That isn’t to say that I don’t like the book—I love the book. The book is my favorite adaptation, both in terms of storytelling and in terms of plot. But that doesn’t mean that it’s perfect for me.

Anyway, enough ranting for now.

I love this shot. And I love how in sync they are in this fight—it’s like a dance. When I’ve heard about fight choreography in the past, I never associated it with the word “dance,” until I saw this series. I don’t know if it’s the costumes or the setting or the actors or what, but their motions are so fluid, so dance-like—it’s actually quite beautiful.

Oh, my god, look at that grin! I fucking love it!! Also, serious moment turns into a chance to tease Lan Wangji. I will accept it.

My sentimental heart loves how scared Wei Wuxian is for Lan Wangji here. All that time wearing the One Ring—I mean, holding the Yin Iron, is really wearing him down. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself). But jokes aside, I love how Wei Wuxian is right there, instructing him on how to handle what’s going on and to not lose control, while the others are just kind of clueless as to what is happening or how to help. And even after Lan Wangji snaps out of it and says they have to go to the Chang Clan, Wei Wuxian’s expression still is one of great concern, and I doubt it’s out of fear for what the waiter has just told him. I think he’s just really worried about Lan Wangji. This is the first time that Lan Wangji has even been like this, even in the face of great danger, and Wei Wuxian is shaken by it.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 8, Episode 13 (Worthy)

Well, wow. That sure was an episode that happened.

Thoughts under the cut.

Anyone who leaves spoilers for episode 14 on this will get blocked.

- First of all, I want to now talk about the spoiler I saw for this episode last week, to put the anger from my last post into context: After I had just finished watching episodes 8-12 and started writing my post about them, I went into one of the RWBY tags bc I’m dumb and saw a post that said (I don’t remember the exact words, but more or less): “I’m so glad Yang is finally dead, so now her fans can shut up about her and everyone can ship Blacksun instead.”

… Yeah. Imagine seeing that when you haven’t seen the actual episode and have no idea what really happened. I honestly completely panicked for a few minutes, before remembering I don’t actually know anything and this might just be a “Weiss gets impaled in Volume 5, but one episode later it turns out she’ll be fine” situation. So then I had to look up what actually happened to Yang, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to sleep. So, to the person who made that post: Fuck you. Not only did you freak people out for no reason (because come on, there’s no way falling into the void actually kills you – and even if it does, we at least definitely don’t know that for sure after episode 13), but even if Yang had actually died, it’s super shitty that your first reaction to a beloved queer character’s death would be “yay, now people can ship my m/f ship instead”. Like, I don’t care if you personally dislike Yang/ dislike Bumbleby/ prefer Blacksun – show a little bit of decency.

Phew. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest because it really made me angry. Now let’s get into the actual episode:

- “Worthy” as a title pretty much already made me predict that Cinder would succeed in her plan, since “you have to be worthy” was what Watts told her in his speech. She’s gotten the message and is now back to efficient plans – and while I love to see it, it also very much scares me when it comes to our heroes’ survival chances. The last time Cinder was doing well, we lost Pyrrha, so… help.

- And gosh, this whole episode was so intense! I feel like it mostly set up a bunch of very intense situations that are going to escalate in the last episode that I’m very much not ready for.

- I still think the whole central location between the worlds is really beautiful, if dangerous. (They should have specified to Ambrosius that they want handrails or something.)

- Nora using her hammer like a witch’s broom was amazing.

- I also loved the scene with Jaune and the people at the train station; that was really funny.

- The middle of the desert might not have been the best place for the exit. Didn’t the group consider that there might be a sandstorm or something else unpredictable out there? Couldn’t they have picked a better exit point?

- Cinder causing an explosion in the middle of the evacuation that throws multiple people into the void was bad and all – but it was still one hell of an entrance!

- I love that now that Cinder realized that she has to rely on teamwork, she’s suddenly being so nice to everyone. Apologizing to Neo, complimenting Watts on “tearing the kingdom apart with nothing but his intellect”, that soft “You deserve this, Arthur”, complimenting Team RWBY on their plan, thanking them for teaching her “one last lesson”. Yeah, maybe she’s just talking to Neo and Watts like this because she needs their help, and to Team RWBY because she’s confident she’ll win – but it’s still amazing to see the shift in her attitude and how she’s clearly changed her tactic.

- It’s insane to me that some people correctly predicted that Cinder would ask Jinn the last question based JUST on the fact that there’s a part in the opening where everyone else freezes in time while she walks past them. Holy hell! I love trying to guess stuff based on the intro, but I would have never thought that far.

- Cinder’s question to Jinn seems like a waste considering it was Jinn’s last question, but maybe it just seems that way to us as viewers because Jinn didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know. Was it the right thing for Cinder to do? I don’t know, to be honest. Yes, it did give her the chance to ruin the heroes’ plans, but I have a feeling Salem won’t be happy about the question being gone. Pretty sure Salem was going to ask Jinn how to get the Beacon relic, and now she can’t do that. (Cinder ruining Salem’s plans for the beacon relic? Let that be foreshadowing, please.) I mean, maybe it’s worth it from Salem’s POV if it gets them the staff and then she’ll have 2 of the 4 relics – but they could have still gotten the staff later, while I don’t know if Salem has any plan B for the beacon relic. And I’m a little worried about Cinder now. I always thought that Salem wouldn’t kill Cinder no matter what, because she still needs the Fall Maiden for the beacon relic – but if she now has to wait another 100 years for the beacon relic anyway, I’m not sure if she’ll have a reason to keep Cinder alive. (And I’m still worried about that “Some lives will end much too soon” line playing over that scene of Cinder clutching her Grimm arm in the opening.) I also wonder if Cinder even knew that this was Jinn’s last question. Did Jinn even tell her that? Also, when will the 100 years even be up? Do the questions just reset every 100 years regardless of when they were used? So maybe we’re already at year 80 or something and will only have to wait 20 years?

- The cut from everyone at the central command place screaming to them being dead was kinda funny in a “very dark humour” way.

- When Harriet first jumped onto that ship with the bomb, I, like an idiot, thought that she was finally being sensible and trying to get the bomb as far away from Atlas and Mantle as possible, not that she was trying to still drop it on Mantle. She and Ironwood might as well be working for Salem’s team at this point, because they’re doing everything to help the villains’ plan. And the villains are even counting on it! Watts freed Ironwood from his cell and is piloting Harriet’s ship. Those two are just straight up helping Salem’s team in their attempts to… what was it? Save Atlas?

- Ironwood killing Jacques was awful and proves once again that Ironwood has zero morals left. And I didn’t like Jacques, but that was the kind of death that absolutely no one deserves. He had no way to escape or fight back, he was defenseless, locked up in a prison cell with nowhere to run – that’s not just a murder, that’s an execution without a trial. And Jacques wasn’t even a threat, he wasn’t in the way of any of Ironwood’s plans. Ironwood killed him literally just because he could. And no one who thinks they’re the good guy (and Ironwood still thinks he’s the good guy) should go around just killing people who aren’t even a threat.

- And then we have Yang falling into the void. Honestly, as heartbreaking as Blake’s sobs and anger are, I kind of love this from a “supreme angst, let’s see my faves suffer” perspective. That said, Yang better actually be fine or else.

- Actually, my prediction is that the rest of team RWBY will jump into the void to save Yang in the last episode. Because they’re all falling in the opening, and because “Sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall and fight for every life”. That’s pretty much the only prediction I feel somewhat confident about, for the rest I have no idea.

- I wonder if it would have been better if Penny had just gone through the doorway and gotten the staff to Vacuo. I get why she didn’t, because Yang just fell and her other friends were in danger… but at the same time, she was supposed to protect the population and the staff (and she has the maiden powers that I’m sure Cinder still wants). If she had just gotten out of there, at least the group in Vacuo would have had some help against the sandstorm and the Grimm. But then again, it would have also severely weakened Term RWBY’s chances against Cinder and Neo… it’s a tough call, really.

- “Why didn’t you just learn your lesson?” “Oh, Penny… I did.” Okay, but that’s the thing: She really did! Just not the lesson Penny wanted her to learn. And notice how Cinder called Penny by her first name again? She didn’t use to do that. I still think somewhere down the line Penny has earned her respect.

- I wonder if Penny’s technically weaker now because she’s human (?? is she??). She’s definitely not used to fighting without her robotic parts (as you can see when she tries to reach for her swords and realizes they’re not there anymore). I summoning those swords like she then did her semblance or another maiden power?

- Blake now has to choose between helping Ruby and helping Penny and Weiss – gosh, the suspense…

- I’m glad Vine at least finally tried to stop Harriet now! (Better late than never.) But I really wouldn’t blame Qrow and Robyn for crashing into their ship. It’s not like they had any way of knowing that Vine was trying to talk sense into Harriet. Also, Qrow crashing through Harriet’s windscreen was amazing.

- Winter and Ironwood are going to fight to the death and I’m so scared of it. (I just need Winter to survive, please…)

- When Weiss described the doorway as a “one-way ticket to Vacuo” last episode, I briefly wondered if that meant they wouldn’t be let back through, but then I brushed it aside and didn’t think about it too much anymore. Oh, damn. You really do have to be very specific with Ambrosius.

- I’m not even sure which location is the best to be in right now because they all seem very unsafe: Atlas and Mantle are unsafe because Atlas is falling, because Mantle might still get blown up by Harriet, and because Salem might still come back any time. The place between worlds is unsafe because of the void and because there’s a big fight happening right there. And Vacuo is unsafe because of the Grimm and the sandstorm. So really, they’re all awful for the civilians right now.

- And now I’m thinking the volume might actually end with the protagonists split into three groups as well: Team RWBY in the void (that they’ll spend Volume 9 finding their way back from), one half of the other characters in Vacuo (Oscar, Ren, Emerald, maybe more?), and the other half still in Atlas/Mantle (Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, Winter, maybe more).

- I’m super nervous about the last episode. I haven’t seen any spoilers at all so far, and I plan to keep it that way. I’ll probably completely ignore anything RWBY-related until next week because the anxiety would kill me otherwise. I’m really worried we’ll get a character death or even several. And ironically, my first prediction on who might die this Volume (Penny, Nora, Winter, Cinder) hasn’t changed all that much. I’m worried about Penny because she has the Maiden Powers and the staff, so Cinder will come after her (but I really think it would be an awful writing choice to kill her off after we just went through so much to save her). I’m very worried about Winter because she’s engaged in a duel to the death with a man who has a big canon that he just blew someone up with. I’m worried for Cinder because of the opening and because Salem might be pissed at her for using the last question. I’m worried for everyone who’s still on Atlas and might get blown up by the bomb (Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, Winter again). And I’m very worried for the characters who are in the in-between realm. Not so much Team RWBY, but I’m worried about Nora, Jaune, and Penny. So yeah, I’m pretty much worried about everyone and very much not ready. Now let me ignore RWBY’s existence for a week – or only reblog posts I already have saved as drafts – because it’s the only way I’ll know peace.