#still dragging john's ass but in a slightly gentler way

[phalangemedes]

I know there are allegories for addiction and the fledgling whiff of mood disorders within the pre-nuclear run up too, which makes it more complicated, like yes, I wanna throat punch him for decisions he’s made but also that is a flawed man in a position without a win state. He's obviously a guy with deeply obsessive traits, and although initially he'd found a.. I don't wanna say healthy, the kind of work load he put himself under was by no means good for him, but it was FOR GOOD. So I'll say he had an ideal and was harming himself for it re:no sleep, constant stress, general unwellness in trying to get the cryo project off the ground. But when it came to the point of no return with necromancy, I think the easiest example (is actually not Titania and Ulysses, I think that's more of a scream for intimacy. That he couldn’t connect with his peers so he made someone he could love who didn’t question How he loved) was the exact point Cristabel treated him As a Godlike figure and showed him the shape of the soul and that preternatural Need to obsess transferred to the addictive power of necromancy.

That's another part of the "love" of it though, I think, that lysis is neither necessarily good, nor does it have a perfect form, just as love will always contain grief and can never be “pure”. Which worsens that John dictated the grief come first for his Saints, which I guess in some ways you might call a mercy, but it can only be a true mercy if it's the choice of the people involved, not an outside party. Maybe that’s more it, John wants to do good by Forcing What He Thinks Is Good on people.

Alecto is a very LITERAL example of some of the above too, John was so lonely Barbies were what made him feel seen, so what's better than a giant one? She'll get it right? She wont leave him, she'll love him and whatever he says she'll go "Yes John I agree!". And then, actually, he is once again a Huge Dick and when it doesn't work he locks her up. Like!! Sir!! You are repeating generational cycles with yourself, you have become your own terrible father in an unbreakable loop! (ACTUALLY SEE BELOW, baby G1deon did EXACTLY the same. In a way so did Harrow, also with Alecto. Lonely children seek comfort in the inanimate, because there’s a lack of complexity. Hi it’s me I’m also Children)

Earth!Prison fits so nicely with his inability, or lack of WANT of contemplation too. Sit his ass in the naughty corner and make him think about what he did lmao. he may have some flora and fauna for company

Yeahh I feel for Kiriona, she's only ever had 'my mum's great because she's a random skeleton that I can make sure loves me because she had no autonomy' Magnus, briefly, John mid a mental health crisis... Pyrrha having forgotten how to communicate with people. WORSE in some ways, Ianthe offering her a mutual exchange of friendship and it's IANTHE who is about as able to cope with loneliness as John, but on the opposite axis. The poor babies are not okay

I think that's one of the things capitalism has stolen from us as a species though isn't it, that... art can be bad. Because It can't?? As you said any form of self expression is an oddly selfless glance into the heart of someone, and the self can't be bad if the art it's offering is made from a place of love. (It's why crypto bollocks and AIgen is the anti art isn't it, profiteering is it's major point, not the act of creation. And, on a further and prolly more controversial note, a lot of gallery work. Things that sell for a price that could reinvigorate or entirely regenerate neighbourhoods or eliminate vast quantities of homelessness is just elaborate money laundering between the 1% and honestly, evil.)

We could all take a lesson from Pal! Deal with our trauma by writing porn, respect women and maybe like... resist self destruction. Just a teensy smidgen.

I'll shout this from any available elevation, roof tops or not, but I wanna grow up to be like her. Just adept at my craft and absolutely unhinged in love with what I do?? What more could you ask for?! I mean, also the emotionally damaging (affectionate) people with my output too. Like, muah. Haunting you with my narrative? -brow waggles-

@debtstothedead hi. I'm still not sorry but I will move if you want us too lmao

I have such a big beef with the way that the TLT fandom talks about Cam and Pal being codependent. I have not seen any word of god quotes that talk about them that way, but it seems to be this widely accepted truth that just doesn't click with my reading of the characters.

Certainly by NtN Pal has a dependent relationship with Cam, as they are sharing a body. There are even some parallels to codependency with how their use of necromancy in Cam's body causes her harm.

What I just don't get about the codependent label is that I don't see Cam and Pal enabling one or the other in destructive behavior. Certainly they partake in risky behavior that Pyrrah criticizes them for, but it seems to be a mutual decision. Cam is just as reckless as Pal is, and possibly moreso.

(And also Pyrrah is a huge projecting hypocrite. Love her tho I may, it's true.)

Pal's quotes about how grand lysis wasn't their inevitable end, but was the best and kindest option left to them complements the discussions we overhear in their recordings. Pal's pursuit of Cam's consent and her enthusiasm in giving it just doesn't match the codependent relationship that fans keep referencing.

[trashcatsnark]

6, 8 - Dahlia 10, 13 - Tsuneko and Mamoru

You didn’t specify SFW or NSFW. So, I do Both

SFW Dahlia and Seeds

6. Going out to eat: Who pays? Who orders the most food? And who has dessert?

answered here

8. Who knows how to swim? Who doesn’t?

I feel like Dahlia and all the Seeds know how to swim. Dahlia grew up in very southern Louisiana, like heel of the boot, so she wasn’t ever far from a beach. She doesn’t remember clearly, unfortunately, but in her little jewelry box of memories and mementos is a photo of her at the beach with her dad and mom when she was a toddler in little floaty wings. 

The brothers learned how to swim early, I feel like Jacob and Joseph were probably taught by Old Man Seed in the throw the kid and the lake and see if they come back up for air kind of way, unfortunately. But they made sure to be the ones to teach John properly. During their time with the farm foster home, Jacob found a creek he’d found and sneak his two brother away to spend the day playing in the water. There was always hell to catch when they came back, but it’s good memories of the few moments they got to be kids. So, each of the brothers still have fond memories of swimming. John when he was with the Duncans also got to enjoy bougie indoor pools, but he’d take a dirty creek swimming with his brothers over that any day. 

Growing up in Hope County, Faith/Rachel also learned how to swim early on. There’s not exactly a lot to do in Hope County as a kid and there’s lots of water, so fishing and swimming were both pretty big and she doesn’t like fishing. As she got older her and Tracey would often go swimming in the lakes late at night to just kind of get away from everything. 

SFW Tsuneko and Mamoru

10. Any pets? Or plants?

Yes! Tsuneko has a pet ferret named Kiyohito, Kiyo to his friends which is everyone. The little guy is always getting into trouble, but he loves cuddling with Mamo when he moves in, Kiyo basically sees Mamoru as a giant bed. They do not have plants though, unless they’re the plastic kind. While Tsuneko is a fantastic pet mom, she cannot take care of plants to save her life. She doesn’t know what it is, but it’s just not worth it. Mamoru is...well Mamoru, he can’t take care of himself let alone a plant. 

13. Who stays up late? Who sleeps the most? Does the other have to force them to sleep/wake up?

Tsuneko stays up way later than Mamoru, she generally before him has a lot of issues sleeping. Though, he has his own issues. Because she doesn’t get much sleep and has nightmares. Mamoru sleeps a lot, but it’s rarely quality sleep, he wakes up and he just still feels tired. This lessens more when they actually live together, because Mamo and Tsun find that they both get better sleep when they’re together. So, he starts dragging her to bed even when she’s trying to stay up to do one of the bazillion things she claims she needs to do. So, eventually their schedules sync up more and more. He forces her to go to sleep and she forces him to wake up, both act annoyed but love it. 

NSFW ASKS UNDER CUT (CAUSE I A RAMBLY BITCH)

NSFW Dahlia & Seeds

6. Dom/top? Sub/bottom? Any switches?

Dahlia is a technical switch with a heavy lean towards sub/bottom. She can get pleasure and satisfaction from either, she likes to do what makes her partner happy. However, her lack of experience, tends to slot her in the sub/bottom role because well, she’d like to do what makes them happy but doesn’t know what would do that. She also...just kinda likes being manhandled a lot. But, she’d be lying if she said being able to dom one of the bros who’re physically bigger and stronger than her isn’t kind of a rush. As a bottom/sub she also tends to be the uh, bratty variety, mouthy, generally has to be a pain in the ass. 

Jacob is dom and top, 99.9% of the time, he just likes feeling in control, feeling powerful. That being said, he doesn’t like an easy win, so to speak. He likes that back and forth sort of power struggle/battle for dominance during sex. He likes to feel like he’s more than earned being the one in control, so, he’s more than okay with Dahlia’s more bratty tendencies. He also like feeling his partner is strong and capable in their own right, even if he’s taking control in the end. When he does let Dahlia do any kind of domming/topping, it’s usually offered almost condescendingly or like a challenge, like oh, i’d like to see you even try, pup

John is described in game as a sadomasochist, meaning he can find pleasure in both giving and receiving pain. So, I’d say that places him in the switch category, he definitely can and does get pleasure from being dommed and topped, with Dahlia it makes him feel wanted and desired. But, I will say i feel he still goes more into top/dom territory, he leans that direction a bit more. Again, due to Dahlia’s inexperience, the Seeds taking control is just kind of natural, but also he’s really clingy and needy, so he tends to initiate and steer the direction of it more. 

Of the Seeds, I feel like Joseph leans the most towards bottom/sub as any other of them. Though, I would still classify him as kind of a service top, I guess. His main focus is on making Dahlia feel good, he wants his partner to feel loved and cared for. He’s the one in control, but it’s all focused on servicing her and making her feel good. He also is very interested in bottoming in traditional ways, Joseph wants to be pegged, you can’t change my mind because it makes him feel loved and wanted as well, he wants to give his absolute all to her, in any, way, shape, or form she’ll take him

Faith is dom/top, most dominant of the Seeds after Jacob. She’s dealt with a lot of feelings of powerlessness over her life, struggling with being underestimated due to her appearance. So, sex is a really nice place for her to be dominant and feel that control. She likes being able to lead things and see the effect she has on Dahlia, whether that’s more soft version of it, massages that lead to pinning Dahlia’s hips down while she plays with her, or more rough, sitting on Dahlia’s face type stuff. 

8. Favourite erogenous zones?

As I’ve said a lot, Dahlia doesn’t have much (any) experience before the Seeds in any universe so, I would say, i thinks she’s genuinely surprised by how much she likes having her ass groped. Like I said, she very much finds out that she likes being groped and manhandled. Like, just one of them reaching over and grabbing a handful of her ass sends her reeling. On a softer note, she also really is into having her hair played with, not pulled, but stroked, ruffled, petted. It just makes her melt and become putty in their arms. 

As weird as it may sound, I think Jacob really likes when Dahlia strokes over his scars and kisses them. She doesn’t ever really point out or talk about his scarring, for a long time it’s always genuinely felt like she just didn’t notice or care. The only time she ever really has said anything is once asking if they still hurt and it was clear she was just concerned for him. He doesn’t consider himself insecure, but he knows the effect his scars have on how some people see him. So when she kisses and strokes them like she would any other part of him, it makes him happy. Other than that, Dahlia likes to tease him about his ears, calling them dumbo ears and wiggling them while telling him to fly away. He glares and calls her a nuisance, but it’s cute and maybe he kisses her a little harder than necessary right after. 

John’s found he really likes having his throat/neck kissed and bitten. Dahlia has kinda prominent canines, so when she gets into sucking and biting at his neck, she leaves a lot of marks. And he loves it. He could just lounge back, with his head tilted back and baring his throat to her for hours as she sat in his lap and covered him in marks. Otherwise, he really likes having his fingers in her mouth too, something about it just gets him riled up when she licks and sucks around the digits. Not only the suggestion of something dirtier, but having her love and desire him enough to worship even small parts of him. 

Joseph, kinda like Dahlia, has his hair as an erogenous zone for him in a way. But, not only does he like the gentler aspect, of having his hair stroked and played with. But unlike Dahlia he is completely okay with her pulling his hair. He likes her taking her pleasure from him, as he puts it. He likes her wanting him and being needed, that harsh pull of his hair just shows how much she needs him. Also gonna make you go bald quicker Joseph, but whatever His other erogenous zone that he loves, that he feels dirty admitting is when she kisses around his hips/belt line, just beneath his LUST scar. There’s just something about her looking up at him, as she kisses him there, with that sin plastered just above her lips. 

Faith has very sensitive breasts, she loves when Dahlia laves attention there, kissing and sucking, leaving marks across them. Even little things like when Dahlia just wants to nuzzle her face against Faith’s chest, deciding she prefer the plush of Faith’s breast to the brother’s more muscled chests. She just help but excited and wanna hold Dahlia there forever. Another slightly more innocent erogenous zone she has is her back. She likes giving and receiving massages a lot. The first time Dahlia gave her a back massage, it was meh, inexperience making a difference. But Dahlia is a quick and eager learner, the more she learns about Faith’s body, where to rub and press, the more those massages take a dirty turn. 

NSFW Tsuneko and Mamoru

10. First to orgasm? Last to orgasm? Who comes the most? Does someone ever end up unfinished?

Assuming it’s sex in which they’re both being stimulated, Tsuneko will cum first. Counting foreplay, technically Mamo cums first usually from her blowing him, stroking him off, etc. Because she knows she’s on the more uh sensitive side, so she likes to make sure he cums before so they’re at least a little more close to even. Last to cum usually depends on if he cums inside of her, if he cums inside of her that’s usually enough to force her into another orgasm. If he’s using a condom or pulls out, he’s the last to cum. Not really, they both wouldn’t be happy leaving the other unsatisfied. The closest to that they ever get is if Mamoru did something to piss her off and then tries to initiate sex before apologizing, than he gets the no, you sit there with your blue balls and think about what you did, treatment. 

13. Who’s loud? Who’s quiet? Does one try to make the other louder/quieter? How?

Tsuneko is a whimpery, whining, squealing mess. Mamoru is more of a dirty talk and grunter, getting a bit more loud and cursing as he gets closer to his end. Mamoru is an asshole who loves hearing the noises she makes so when they’re in a nice private place, his apartment, hers, or eventually their shared home. He’s excited to make her extra noisy. This can be just by doing things he knows she loves as he learns more and more of what makes her tick. This could also be him maneuvering her in ways where she can’t cover her mouth or bite down on his shoulder to suppress her noises, something she usually tries to do. But, if he’s trying to get a little handsy in a riskier spot, he’s instead trying to keep her quiet, cause while he likes a bit of risk. He does not want anyone hearing those noises but him. 

[ectoblologist]

for @part-sadist​

heard you were feeling down, so here’s a little bit of a short John/Dave mermaid AU i’ve been playing around with in my head. i’ll probably continue it tomorrow!! i hope you like it, and i hope you feel better soon.

---

The sea is ordinary this morning--quiet and calm, but not overly so; the kind of weather that promises an average catch. You'd left early, assuring your sister that you wouldn't need her help bringing in the nets you'd put out the day before because the weather isn't rocky and you're convinced they won't be heavy enough to warrant an extra pair of hands. 

Your name is JOHN EGBERT and you are TIRED, because despite waking up early every day to do your job, you HATE MORNINGS. Especially mornings like this--boring ones. 

Your small fishing boat rocks ever-so-slightly as you haul in the third net of your rounds, and you hum a little to yourself, dumping the load into the hull's storage compartment. You can't hear your voice over the sound of the motor idling, but you can feel your throat vibrating--it's comforting, somehow. 

Once the net is empty you make sure the buoys are still secure and toss it back out into the water, stretch a little, and then head back to the cockpit. After a few minutes, the fourth and final net of the morning comes into view, and you can already feel yourself mentally preparing to head back toward the shore. 

The fourth net is heavier than the others--that's the first thing you notice. After a few tugs you start to wonder if you should go back and get Jade to help you with this one, but decide heading all the way home would be a hassle. Instead, you put a little more elbow-grease into your grip--and then, all of a sudden, the net starts fighting back. 

It's not like you haven't dealt with it before. Sometimes when you catch a particularly big fish or something a shark that doesn't want to be dragged onboard they'll start struggling to get free, the fight for survival revived for just a moment. It's uncommon but not impossible to deal with--just annoying. You brace your feet against the railing and pull, heaving with all your might and more than a little irritated. 

Finally, with one last tug, the mass of fish flops onto the deck, and without the resistance your own momentum pulls you back onto your ass. "Shit," you mumble, thankful you hadn't hit your head. Cleaning up all the fish now flopping around you is going to be a pain and a half, and you don't really want Jade to chew you out for--

"Fuck you, you dick! Put me back in the water! What the fuck is your problem, pulling innocent guys outta the ocean like that? Fuck you!"

You blink, wondering for a brief moment if you had hit your head, before your eyes land on the abandoned net again--and what's in it. 

"Uh."

"Don't just stare at me, for fuck's sake! Christ!" the thing shouts over the sound of the motor, glaring at you through the holes in the weave. Its eyes are red, slightly darker in color than the massive cascading tale glistening halfway down its body. Matching fins feather its... arms? And neck? Alongside pale skin, framing a sneer wrapped around glistening, pointed teeth. 

It looks like a person, and also a fish, and also maybe something in between. And it's yelling at you. 

The only thing you can think to say is, "Ah, sorry," which is, apparently, the wrong answer. 

"Sorry isn't gonna get me back in the fucking ocean," it spits back, this time gesturing toward the side of the boat with its... hands? It has fingers, but they're webbed, tinted red just like the rest of its weirdly non-human parts. 

Not really sure what to else do and working more than a little on autopilot, you scramble to your feet with the intention of untangling it from the net--only to stop once you realize you have no idea if this thing is dangerous or not. 

It looks ready to start chewing you out again, but before it can speak you say, "You gotta promise you won't attack me, okay?" more than a little wary. 

The thing waves its hand at you. "Yeah, yeah--although, theoretically, if I did it would be totally justified because you pulled me up here."

You frown. "You got caught in the net on your own, you know."

"You put the net out in the first place."

"Yeah, but, like, I didn't stuff you in the net."

It scowls, maybe thinking it over, maybe deciding whether or not to eat you. It occurs to you that maybe you shouldn't be provoking it. Then, suddenly, it sighs--a kind of wet noise almost like someone blowing bubbles into milk through a straw. "Okay, fair. I'm still pissed, though. Now, are you gonna help me or not?"

Rationality wins out over uncertainty and you decide that you're probably a lot safer with it off your boat, so you start approaching again, this time cautious. The thing looks impatient, surprisingly human, and for a second you actually do feel kind of bad for pulling it up. 

After a few minutes of telling it to stop struggling, you finally get its fins untangled from the rope, at which point it just kind of lays there on the deck, glaring at you. You motion to the water on the other side of the railing. "Well?" It rolls its eyes. "Do I look like I can jump outta here? Just--I dunno--throw me overboard or something."

You blink at it. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. God, are all land-dwellers this dense, or is it just you?"

You resent that, and tell it so in no uncertain terms. "Are all fish people stupid enough to get caught in nets, or is it just you?"

That shuts it up for a moment. Then, finally, through gritted teeth, it replies, "Please toss me overboard."

It's not like you have a better option, anyway. 

With a sigh of your own, you crouch down and in one swift motion sweep the creature up bridal style, trying to ignore how slimy its skin and scales feel. It gives a muffled oof at the sudden motion, but otherwise doesn't say anything, and as soon as its in your arms you fling it over the railing.

It hits the water with a massive smack, and for a moment you wonder if you should have been a little gentler--if you'd hurt it. But after a second it resurfaces, shaking out its white hair? And scowling at you again. 

For some reason, while it's still there, you feel the need to call, "Sorry you got caught in the net!"

To which it responds, "You're still a dick!" before submerging again, disappearing under the waves. 

You stand there for a moment, half-convinced you'd just hallucinated the entire encounter, but the slick residue left on your bare arms and shirt keeps you from completely assuring yourself you're not crazy.