#there's also stuff i don't want to commit to yet

[intimidating-fettuccine]

Creep Minecraft World

I've mentioned before how they have a Minecraft world they all play on, and I wanted to actually just randomly talk about it :p

At least several times a month, they all get together to play on their Minecraft world together. Sometimes a few people might be missing or absent, but they try to have as many people playing at a time as they can. Things I've already established, BEN is the one who builds cool houses for everyone (I'm adding on that they're all set up like a villager village, so they're all connected by paths and near each other like a housing development), Jeff helps people the most with mining, and Toby and Sally are both working together to make a zoo for all of the animals they come across with nice surroundings so they can all be happy in there. Now, back to my expanding on it.

I think that they all probably split into groups on who does what, and some people will just tag in whenever they want to. BEN, Liu, Helen, and Brian are the designated builders of the world. They're really good at building and have an eye for making pretty designs, so generally, that's what they spend their time doing. Jeff, Natalie, Kate, and Tim are the designated miners in the world. They had built like a whole mining system and are constantly expanding it to collect more and more materials together. Both groups work together to help each other out, and the rest of the creeps are free to join a team if they'd like to so that they can help out more, but they usually just follow the instructions of the established team members. Toby and Sally as I said earlier are committed to building a zoo, and they name every single animal that they put in there. Sometimes others will help with building or getting animals in there (they have also been allowed to use creative mode to get animals or build something if they need to), and it's situated near the housing area so that everyone can just walk over and look at the progress when they want to. Generally, they all work really well together in their teams, but sometimes they do have disagreements.

Speaking of disagreements, one of the world rules is that keep inventory has to be on, mostly because there was a point when they kept going around killing each other and then they'd get mad because they'd lose their stuff, and fights would happen, so keep inventory has to be on so that now if they die or kill each other, nobody can be upset. (That started because Jeff and Tim would push each other into lava whenever they were in the mines and disagreed on something). They haven't even gotten very far into the Nether yet because they all keep dying or killing each other. Also, nobody is allowed to alter or destroy anything that someone else has made (even if they think it looks really bad and they want to change it to make it look better, cough cough, Helen, cough cough) so that everyone can have their own little area that they build in and they don't have to worry about the safety of the work. I think they also all have an "open chest" policy where they each have one chest with a sign above it that says open, so that if someone is missing or really needs certain supplies they can take from someone else's open chest that has extra stuff they don't really need in it. I'd like to think they also go on like planned attack expeditions, like if they find an area that has a warden they'll all team up to try to fight the warden together (they rarely succeed because everyone is just screaming and yelling and running and laughing), or they'll all fight the ender dragon together, or a wither. Also??? So many mods. BEN has added so many mods to the world and he and everyone else get so much enjoyment out of it. It can be chaotic sometimes, but the Minecraft world is one of the few things everyone can actually usually get along with about, so it's a good bonding experience for them.

[khalss]

you should totally talk about your courier sometime, friend :3

WAAAH OKAY

these are just some preliminary ideas as i still try to figure stuff out but my courier is an experiment who doesn't even remember that they're a very Not Human entity running around because of the gunshot to the head that deleted most of their memory

their la creatura. just a little guy

i admittedly don't know a ton about the fallout universe so a lot of the details on who did this and the why is still fuzzy at best but i can always paint the why as just 'i dunno we wanted to make a cooler human and it still didn't work'

post gunshot they go by Six because they cannot remember their name and trying to randomly pick one doesn't feel right so just going with the number they were given feels best but their real name honestly isn't much better because it's just a codename. something like Dakota or Delta (it's gonna be part of a set). their REAL birth name (if they even had one to begin with) is lost to time

their design for the experimentation was to make something that was very good at recon and stealth so they excel at information gathering and have keen senses (particularly sight, smell and hearing) and having something akin to a danger sense. in game stat wise they have excellent perception and agility and poor strength with slightly above average endurance. they can take hits better than a normal human but they're much better at straight up avoiding danger

it's funny playing with the amnesia aspect of fnv because it's just, imagine you forgot everything about yourself including the fact you're not even human anymore. they start human looking at the beginning with some eccentric quirks (glowing eyes at night, able to eat raw meat) but slowly turn over the course. they probably had a drug they'd take to keep the form under control but since they can't remember to take it, they just full turn at some point

kind of werewolfy but i've been told there's a lot of weird shit in the fallout universe so i like the idea of leaning fully into the goofiness the series has to offer!

personality wise they used to be far more aggressive but the bullet effectively altered that and they became far more passive post shot. they're far more skittish when fnv actually starts. there's still a lot i have to figure out and think about but uhhh that's basically the quick and dirty of what i have rattling around! strange little la creatura surviving the worst string of bad luck

oh and im also trying to push their design a little harder. maybe have like, bones and shit poking out so it's not a totally 'clean' design hee hee. i'll design the human form later but i just really wanted to make the creature version first

[echthr0s]

hey Siri at what point in Rogue Trader do I finally get to do real ass heretical shit

[keeps-ache]

ggghhg i hate vehiclessssssss ghghghhghhhhh [dies dies dies forever]

[kuiinncedes]

bro

[eclipseslayer]

CURIOSITY GOT THE... DOG?

➭ LAIOS TOUDEN X HYBRID!F!READER SMUT ONESHOT

➭ Day 2 of Kinktober: Accidental Stimulation

➭ SUMMARY: Laios gets curious about his fuzzy party member and reaches out to scratch her ears, however, he wasn't expecting a certain reaction when he goes to scratch behind her tail.

➭ CW: Breast play/nipple play, Laios slaps one of your boobs, semi-public sex, fingering, penetrative sex.

➭ WC: 2.8k

➭ 18+ ONLY! MDNI!

You're the newest member to the party, one that everyone found a bit strange, as you were unusual to see.

You're a hybrid—similar to Izutsumi in the sense that you're cursed—part dog, part human, except, you're human for the most part. You're far from a Kobold, as you're not quite on that level of "dog", as the only dog part of you are your ears, your tail, and your keen sense of smell and hearing. The rest of you is human.

And of course, Laios is the one to find you the most fascinating.

He's the one who's constantly behind you during trips, reaching out to curiously pet your ears or maybe feel your fluffy tail, but by the time he's close to touching you, Marcille bonks him on his head with her magic wooden staff.

Though, now, as you're asleep, Laios remains awake, with a curiosity to be satisfied.

He sits upright, looking down at you as you're curled up into a ball, sleeping peacefully, snoozing away.

His fists are tight as he battles a mental block. He knows that he shouldn't touch you. Senshi, Chilchuck, and Marcille remind him every day, and yet, there's this urge deep within him that needs to satisfy his curiosity, and he hates that he couldn't, at least until now.

He sighs, hanging his head, knowing he'll just have to reap the consequences later as he's now decided he's committed to touching you.

So, he reaches out, slowly, not wanting to wake you and brings his hand to your ears. He smiles softly at how cute you look, sleeping so peacefully, and slowly, he begins to scratch on your ears. He tilts his head, trying to see if he'll elicit some sort of reaction from you as his eyes search your body. His eyes widen when he sees you begin to whimper and kick in your sleep, just like a dog would. He smiles, feeling pleased that he's getting a reaction out of you, so he keeps scratching behind your ears.

What he didn't expect, though, was for you to suddenly wake up, as you shoot your eyes open and give him a side-eye, which has him quickly retracting his hand. His face flushes a bright red in the act of being caught.

"I-I'm sorry... I was only curious..." He mutters slowly, afraid you'd get angry at him.

Though, opposite to Laios' thoughts, you're definitely not angry, as those scratches were very nice. You hadn't actually been scratched like that before, as usually you'd tell people to "fuck off" before they'd even get close to you, but, now... you're curious. You want more.

"It's okay," you mumble, also hating that you're admitting to yourself that you love it so much. You pause, and you sigh. "You can continue."

Laios' eyes widen. "R-Really??"

You huff, and you sit up. You lean your head forward to let him continue scratching. "Yes. Now hurry up before I change my mind."

Laios smiles from ear to ear, so he eagerly reaches out and starts scratching behind your ears again. He hums contently to himself as he scratches you, and finds it joyously amusing when you start wagging your tail.

"Aww, look at how cute you are! You're wagging—"

"Don't. "

Your words are sharp, almost grumbling under your breath as you grip your sleeping bad from underneath you. You huff.

"Don't say I'm cute or any of that stuff... just... scratch me," you grumble, as Laios' praise had you dangerously close to getting even more happy.

Laios' eagerness seems to fade away when you knock aside his praise, but, nonetheless, he keeps scratching behind your ear.

You feel content with just the scratching of his hand behind your ear, wanting to shake your leg like a dog, but you opt just for wagging your tail.

Though, Laios gets a bit more curious as his hand moves downward, a bit deeper into your hair but still scratching behind your ear, and, for some reason, this makes your eyes widen and it makes your leg jolt as this new spot has unlocked something inside of you. You almost bark from the feeling, but you settle for a whimper.

"L-Laios..." You whimper his name and he raises an eyebrow.

"You okay?" He asks softly and you nod. In fact, you're more than okay.

"Scratch that spot again, please," you beg, which has Laios's eyes widening in shock. That was the last thing he expected from you, but, he's certainly not going to say no.

"Alright," he complies with ease and continues to scratch behind your ears at that spot, and this time, he's more surprised to see you begin to suddenly act more dog-ish as you start whimpering, and your tongue hangs out, and your eyes cross from how good those scratches feel.

He smirks to himself at the sight, just finding your behavior entirely too cute. He chuckles and he tilts his head as he sees your tail wagging against the fabric of your sleeping bag, and as you let out soft whimpers.

His curiosity aches once more about your tail, and so, while you're distracted with the ear scratch, he uses his other hand to reach down to the spot just above your tail, where your tail meets your behind and begins to scratch there also.

Shocked, your eyes widen at this and you whip your head around to look at Laios as he scratches that spot. That spot where you're so sensitive that it stimulates something inside of you. You swallow thickly and you look up at the blonde man who contently scratches behind your ear still, while his gaze is fixed on your moving tail, unaware that you're staring at him.

"I-I... Laios..." You whimper, and you feel your face heating up because of that continuous stimulation.

Laios' head perks up at your whimper and he looks over at you, wondering if you're alright.

"Everything alright?" He asks softly, and continues to scratch despite your whimpering.

You nod and you give him shy, puppy-dog eyes as Laios continues to scratch your behind, as that spot creates a familiar ache inside of you. One with need that gets you all wound up. You swallow thickly.

Laios seems to take notice of this as you look at him with eyes like that. His eyebrows raise and his scratching comes to a slow. He looks around at the other sleepers beside him and then turns back to you. He pulls his hand away from your behind and offers it to you.

"Follow me."

You take his hand, and the both of you get up, carefully stepping over the other sleepers as you make your way to a corner in the dungeon, away from the soundly sleeping party.

You sit on the ground and you look up at him with a pouting lip, and fuck, does it make Laios' cock throb. He swallows thickly.

"What's going on?" He asks, and he takes a knee so he's stooped down to your level.

You reach out and you paw at his leg. This behavior is most unexpected from you, as you were never one to display needs of help or affection, and yet, here you were, basically begging for it.

"Laios you... when you scratched me I... something in me... I don't know but I'm aching. I need something to help..." You murmur a bit pathetically, and you curse under your breath for showing signs of neediness.

Twitch. There it is again. His cock throbs and twitches, hardening as you paw at him. He swallows thickly, looking down at you as you beg for him to touch you. He lets out a shaky breath.

"I think..." He swallow thickly. "I think you need something. Something like..." He reaches down for your hand that's pawing at his knee and he places it onto his hard cock. His face flushes as he watches your eyes widen in response. "...think you need this?"

Embarrassed, your face flushes and you look down. You know it's what you need, and yet, you can hardly bring yourself to admit it. You squirm in your spot and you look up at him.

"Y-Yes please..." Your words are shy, and so cute as you give him those puppy-dog eyes again. He smiles softly.

"Okay, pup," he grins, and he feels a sense of achievement as his chest swells, knowing that he's finally going to fuck something that's not human, or at least, not completely. "Let's get these clothes off of you, yeah?"

You nod once again, and shyly, you raise your arms up as Laios slowly pulls your top off, and then he pulls your bottoms off.

His breath hitches in his throat when he sees you fully naked. He hums, pleased with himself that he's gotten you to this point, and he once again feels his hard cock throb in his pants. He groans and he leans down, towering over you as he presses you against the ground.

You gasp at the coldness of the floor hitting your back, earning a chuckle from Laios.

He leans down and begins to press kisses down your body, starting with your neck. He huffs as he takes in your scent, smelling that familiarity of a dog, which has his senses pleased.

He goes down your body, and his hands wander over it, trying to pinpoint the spots that has you the most sensitive.

Although, what he doesn't know is that everywhere where Laios is touching has your body on fire. You're a whimpering mess as his hands wander your body, alongside his kisses that continue a trek down your skin.

His hands soon glide over your breasts, and his fingers tweak at your nipples, making you whine loudly.

He chuckles upon finding your sensitive spot, but he winds a hand back and slaps your breast which has you whimpering. Your ears fall flat as you look up at him, wondering what went wrong.

"No, no, bad pup. Can't be loud, okay? Don't need to wake the others," he murmurs into your ear, and he then leans back down to press a kiss to your breast to soothe it.

Luckily, the stinging sensation of the slap quickly dies down as Laios' tongue laps over it, soothing it warmly. You hum and you whine as you start kicking your feet when his tongue glides over your nipple, eliciting a feeling of lightning shoot through your spine as that's yet another sensitive spot Laios has found.

Your hands grip his hair in return as his mouth sloppily covers your nipple in saliva, sucking oh-so-earnestly, lips puckering and suckling around that hardened peak.

You're writhing in pleasure as Laios' mouth is busy, meanwhile, his hand begins a journey down your body and slips between your thighs. He blushes when he feels that you're wet, knowing that his scratches made your body so accepting and willing.

He slips two fingers inside of you and sighs as they're accepted so willingly. He begins to pump and curl them inside of you, earning him soft moans from you, and your fingers grip his hair even harder.

"Laios..." You whisper his name in a soft whimper, and your hips buck against his hand.

He watches, amused and enthused that you're taking his fingers so well, and that your tail twitches with each curl of his fingers.

"So... wet..." He acknowledges it as if it was a statement that came from his curiosity. He wasn't even sure hybrids could even have sexual organs, or something along those lines, and yet, here you were, sucking in his fingers.

"Laios..." You repeat his name again, and you tug at his shirt. "Need you. In me."

Laios raises his eyebrows. That was the last thing he expected from you, as he just figured he'd finger-fuck you until you're satisfied, but, fuck. He's surely not going to say no.

He starts pulling down his pants, but before he can finish, he raises an eyebrow at you.

"You sure?"

"Yes!" You whisper-shout, murmuring under your breath. Your tail twitches and your ears flatten, frustrated.

Laios senses your impatience so he quickly pushes down his pants, leaving them around his ankles. He moves to hover over you, but, before he can completely situate himself, his eyes widen when he thinks of another way he can fuck you.

"Wait," he stops himself and sits back on his knees. "Get on all fours."

You look up at him and narrow your eyes at him. Oh he's having too much fun with this. You huff.

"Really? You want me in doggy?" You almost sound like you're in disbelief, but, then again, it's Laios. Of course he wants you in doggy.

He scratches the back of his head and lets out a weak chuckle. "Heh... can you blame me?"

You mumble and roll your eyes, but, regardless, you entertain him. You sit up and shift so you're on your knees and your palms are on the ground.

You look forward at the cobblestone wall while you hear Laios shift behind you. Your eyes widen when you feel a fat head line itself with you. You swallow thickly and you let out a choked gasp as you feel him slowly push inside you.

He's thick, and he stretches you so deliciously as you feel him cling to your walls, pushing deep inside of you until you feel the fatness of his tip press against your g-spot.

You moan as it curves so perfectly, hitting that spot so nicely. Your hands curls into fists and you bite your lip while you get used to the amazing stretch that Laios gives you.

"I'm going to move now... alright?" His voice is gentle, and his big, rough hands grip your hips. He doesn't even give you the chance to respond as he starts moving, chasing after what he wants.

With the first thrust, you let out a moan when you feel his hips and stomach meet your ass, his fat cock instantly meeting your pleasure spot inside of you, making your eyes roll back.

Then, again, the second thrust, and the third, and the fourth and—your brain starts to go numb as you take his cock, his pace quickly picks up and the sound of his stomach hitting your ass fills the room. At this point, you don't even care if the others hear you and Laios. His cock feels way too good to care about the other party members.

He grips your hips firmly and he mutters curses under his breath while he moves in and out. Your pussy feels so good around him, so tight and needy as it squelches, singing it's songs of praise to Laios, telling him how good he feels inside of you. He grunts, and his thick hands grip your hips again, tighter this time, and he picks up his pace.

It's harder, harsher, and you can't suddenly seem to keep up. You whine and your ears twitch every which way, and so does your tail as you feel your senses start to go haywire.

Your sense of smell, your hearing, your vision, hell even your taste gets lost as your head goes fuzzy from taking Laios so deep within you.

"Hnnnghhh... Laios!" You moan out, and you hear him let out a dry laugh. You know he has to be trying to keep himself together from cumming so quickly, and honestly, you are too.

Flames are being lit within your stomach, kindling as Laios keeps thrusting, meeting that spot that creates sparks, thus making the flame only grow.

It's sickening, almost, for how quickly the flame in the furnace grows, and you have to burg your nails into your palms to keep yourself in reality, but that pain is short lived when it's overpowered by the pleasure that Laios is giving you.

"L-Laios..." You're almost there, you can feel it. You're hot, you're sticky, and your pussy is squelching so loudly from being so wet. "I'm..."

Laios feels your wet pussy tightens around his cock and he groans.

"Fuck, so am I," he grunts, and he starts breathing heavily.

Laios picks up the pace again. It's in short, quick bursts that have you moaning in every breath. Almost. You're almost there. Your stomach, so tight, so, so, so tight—

"Aaah!!"

Your moan rips through the air, soon followed by Laios' own moan. Your legs shake and your head falls dizzy as you fall against the cold, hard floor of the dungeon, and Laios quickly pulls out, as his hot seed pours out of him and leaks onto your ass, and onto your tail.

A long moment of heavy breaths and sighs are exchanged between the two of you as you try to collect yourselves.

Soon, Laios brings a hand to your ass and wipes up all of his mess.

"Sorry about uh... scratching that spot..." He apologizes softly.

You raise an eyebrow, and you turn your face to look at him. You give him a lazy smile and you giggle.

"Don't be sorry... I happened to like it."

[wombywoo]

Ok! I've finally decided to put together a (somewhat) comprehensive tutorial on my latest art~

Please enjoy this little step-by-step 💁‍♀️

First things first--references!

Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard, but I always find that this is a crucial starting point in any art piece I intend on making. Especially if you're a detail freak like me and want to make it as realistic as possible 🙃

As such, your web browser should look like this at any given point:

Since this is a historical piece, it means hours upon hours of meaningless research just to see what color the socks are, but...again. that isn't, strictly, necessary 😅

Once I've compiled all my lovely ref pics, I usually dump them into a big-ass collage ⬇️

(I will end up not using half of these, alas :'D)

Another reference search for background material, and getting to showcase our models of choice for this occasion~

When picking a reference for an actor or model, the main thing I keep in mind (besides prettiness 🤭) is lighting and orientation. Because I already kinda know what pose I'm gonna go with for this piece, I can look for specific angles that might fit the criteria. I should mention that I am a reference hound, and my current COD actor ref folder looks like this:

Also keep in mind, if you're using a ref that you need to flip, make sure you adjust accordingly. This especially applies to clothing, as certain things like pants zippers and belt buckles can be quite specific ☝️

Now that we've spent countless hours googling, it's time to start with a rough sketch:

It doesn't have to be pretty, folks, just a basic guideline of where you want the figures to be.

The next step is to define it more, and I know this looks like that 'how to draw an owl' meme, but I promise--getting from the loose sketch above to below is not that difficult.

Things to keep in mind are--don't go too in-depth with the details, because things are still subject to change at this point. In terms of making a suitable anatomically-correct sketch, I would suggest lots of studying. This doesn't even have to be things like figure drawing, I genuinely look at people around me for inspiration all the time. Familiarize yourself with the human form, and things like weight, proportions, posing will seem a little more feasible.

It's also important at this stage to consider your composition. Remember to flip the canvas frequently to make sure you're not leaning to one side too often. I'm sure something can be said for the spiral fibonacci stuff, which I don't really try to do on purpose, but I think keeping things like symmetry and balance in mind is a good start ✌️

Next step is just blocking in the figures. Standard. No fuss 👍

Now onto the background!

It's frankly hilarious how many people thought I was *hand-drawing* these maps and stuff 😂😂 I cannot even begin to comprehend how insanely difficult that would be. So yeah, we're just taking the lazy copy and paste way out 🤙

I almost always prepare my backgrounds first, and this is mostly to get a general color scheme off the bat. For collage work, it's really just a matter of trial and error, sticking this here, slapping this there, etc. I like to futz around with different overlay options until I've found a nice arrangement. Advice for this is just--go nuts 🤷‍♀️

Next, I add a few color adjustments. I tend to make at least 2 colors pop in an art piece, and low and behold, they usually tend to be red and blue ❤️💙There's something about warm/cool vibes, idk man..

Now we move on to coloring the figures. This is just a basic block and fill, not really defining any of the details yet.

Next, we add some cursory values. Sloppy airbrush works fine, it'll look better soon I promise 🙏

And now--rendering!

I know a lot of beginner artists are intimidated by rendering, and I can totally understand why. It's just one of those things you have to commit to 💪

I've decided to show a brief process of rendering our dear Johnny's face here:

Starting off, I usually rely on the trusty airbrush just to get some color values going. Note--I've kept my sketch layer on top, but feel free to turn it on and off as you work, so as to not be too bound to the sketch. For now, it's just a guideline.

This next stage may look like a huge jump, but it's really just adding more to the foundation. I try to think of it like putting on make-up in a way~ Adding contours, accentuating highlights. This is also where I start adding in more saturation, especially around areas such as ears, nose and lips. Still a bit fuzzy at this point, but that's why we keep adding to it 💪

A boy has appeared! See--now I've removed most of the line layer, and it holds up on its own. I'll admit that in order to achieve this realistic style, you'll need lots and lots of practice and skill, which shouldn't be discouraging! Just motivate yourself with the prospect of getting to look at pretty men for countless hours 🙆‍♀️

I'll probably do a more in-depth explanation about rendering at some point, but let's keep this rolling~

Moving forward is just a process of adding to the figures bit by bit. I do lean towards filling in each section from top to bottom, but you can feel free to pop around to certain parts that appeal to you more. I almost always do the faces first though, because if they end up sucking, I feel less guilty about scrapping it 😂 But no--I think he's pretty enough to proceed 😚

They're coming together now 🙆‍♀️ Another helpful tip--make sure you reuse color. By that, I mean--try to incorporate various colors throughout your piece, using the eyedropper tool to keep a consistent palette. I try to put in bits of red and blue where I can

Here they are fully rendered! Notice I've made a few subtle changes from the sketch, like adjusting the belt buckles because I made a mistake 😬 Hence why you shouldn't put too much stock in your initial sketch~

The next step is more of a stylistic choice, but I usually go over everything with an outline, typically in a bright color like green. Occasionally, I can just use my initial line layer, but for this, I've made a brand new, cleaner line 👍

And the final step is adjusting the color and adding some text:

Tada!! It's done!

All in all, this took me the better part of a week, but I have a lot of free time, so yeah ✌️

I hope you appreciated that little walkthrough~ I know people have been asking me how I do my art, but the truth is--I usually have no clue how to explain myself 😅 So have this half-assed tutorial~

As a bonus, here is a cute (cursed) image of Johnny without his mustache:

A baby, a literal infant child !!! who put this wee bairn on the front lines ??! 😭

Anyway! peace out ✌️

[ceilidhtransing]

Having spent pretty much the entire year immersed in studying Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and genocide more broadly, my heart is bursting with the need to stress how much you should take Project 2025 seriously. This is a long post but please stick with me.

Don't take this post as an attempt to concretely predict anything. We can't ever fully know the future and I think it's silly to say with total certainty “if Trump wins then America will become just like Nazi Germany” - not only because the future isn't written yet, but also because Germany under the Nazis was a very specific regime with its own quirks and peculiarities and I don't think that even a worst-case-scenario Trump regime would look exactly like Hitler's Germany. No two regimes ever look exactly alike: it would use the same colour palette as all far-right dictatorships but be constructed from a different medium, like what a watercolour is to an oil painting.

But just because Trump is a very different person from Hitler, and a worst-case-scenario Trump dictatorship would not literally be “Nazi Germany all over again”, that doesn't mean that what happened in Germany isn't instructive here. Forget the specifics of whether or not Trump as a dictator would organise a state identically to how the Nazis organised Germany or whatever; on a far broader and more relevant level, there is a distressing number of similarities. And too many people are falling into the same thought traps as they did then.

Please don't assume that Trump is “way too incompetent” to achieve what's in Project 2025 or Agenda 47. They said the same thing about Hitler. They said that there was no way this showman could govern effectively - holding big rallies and making speeches that get people riled up isn't the same as being good at running a functioning state and achieving what you want. The New York Times even wrote after he became Chancellor of Germany that this would only “let him expose to the German public his own futility”. And in many ways Hitler was pretty incompetent. But that didn't end up mattering. The greatest crime of the Nazi regime, the Holocaust, was masterminded mostly by a whole load of people besides Hitler, who were delegated the nitty-gritty task of actually orchestrating it. Hitler's personal incompetence didn't prevent war or genocide.

Please don't assume that Trump is “just a wacky nutcase” who “can't possibly be a real risk”. They said the same thing about Hitler. The mainstream media gave constant coverage to all the crazy extreme things Hitler said as if he was merely a bit of a joke and not a massive threat. The Nazis were quite happy with this. To quote Goebbels repeatedly in his diary, “The main thing is they're talking about us.”

Please don't assume that being in power will “moderate” Trump and that “of course he won't be able to do all the crazy stuff once he actually has to govern”. They said the same thing about Hitler. It was a common sentiment in the early 1930s that all the sensible politicians around him would force him to moderate his stances. Fritz von Papen, the last Chancellor of Weimar Germany, persuaded President Hindenburg to make Hitler the Chancellor by assuring him, “In a few months, we will have pushed [Hitler] so far into the corner that he will squeak.” It turns out that power doesn't “moderate” people who are openly talking about a dictatorship.

Please don't assume that there's any truth to the whole “Trump has nothing to do with Project 2025 and trying to link it to him is just liberal hysteria” line. They said the same thing about Hitler. People repeatedly asserted that Nazi street violence wasn't really representative of the party leadership; it wasn't representative of Hitler. He was even subpoenaed by a very brave lawyer in 1931 in a bid to prove that recent violence by Nazi stormtroopers was committed with the knowledge and encouragement of the party leadership, with part of the prosecution's argument hanging on a pamphlet by Goebbels that promised a violent overthrow of the state if the Nazis couldn't come to power legitimately. Surely no legal political party could be publishing that. In a successful attempt to escape criminal charges, Hitler repeatedly lied that the pamphlet was not official Nazi Party material and that he didn't know anything about it. No Trump didn't write it, no it isn't an official GOP manifesto, but the links between Project 2025 and Trump, the previous Trump administration, and Trump allies are extremely well documented. Just the other day, Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought was caught calling Trump's disavowals of the document “graduate-level politics” and saying, “what he's doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand ... he's in fact not even opposing himself to a particular policy.”

Please don't assume that “there's no way something like that could happen here; we're way too educated and advanced”. They said the same thing about Hitler. The Germany of the 1920s and 1930s was one of the most educated and most scientifically and industrially advanced nations in the world, and its cities were some of the most progressive in the world. People were stunned and horrified that it was in Germany of all places - Germany, land of music and art and science and literature! - that fascism took root. Germany's economic and social advancement didn't stop about 40% of its voters choosing the Nazis. It didn't stop them taking power.

Please don't assume that Project 2025 is “just a wishlist” and “not actually a serious plan”. They said the same thing about Hitler. As is hopefully very clear by now, plenty of people did not think that the Nazis were capable of, or would dare to try, putting into actual practice the horrific ideas about race that undergirded so much of their ideology. “I like Hitler; he talks sense economically and I think all this stuff about Jews is just bluff and bluster.” “Every party has a loony wing, right? You have to understand they're not serious when they talk about this stuff; they're just telling their base what they want to hear.” “God have you heard this crazy race science shit about head shapes and stuff? It's hilarious! I'm sure none of them at the top really believe that; there's no way they'd be that nuts.” When a group of people like this tells you what they believe and tells you what they want to do with power, believe them. No matter how ridiculous they seem, they're not joking.

In the words of Hans Litten, the lawyer who subpoenaed and cross-examined Hitler in that court case in 1931, “Don't listen to him; he's telling the truth.” Litten was arrested on the night of the Reichstag fire in 1933 and spent the rest of his life being tortured in concentration camps before dying in Dachau in 1938 at the age of 34.

A tyrannical dictatorship can often be seen coming a mile away. I don't want to imply for a second that what the Nazis did came as a surprise to everyone and couldn't possibly have been predicted. There were people who saw this coming in the 1920s and 1930s and tried to sound the alarm while they still had a chance. But they were too often in the minority, taking the threat seriously while others had convinced themselves that there was no need for concern because the Nazis wouldn't really do all the things they repeatedly talked about wanting to do. Everyone should have seen this coming, but too many people wanted to believe it couldn't be true.

Don't let this scare you. Let it energise you. Talk to the people in your life about Project 2025 and Agenda 47. Push back against people who assert that “they'd never actually do all that stuff” or “Trump didn't even write Project 2025” or “it's not a real plan, just a list of crazy shit to get the base riled up”. Have conversations with folks you know who are on the fence about voting or about who to vote for and who seem persuadable. Make sure you're registered to vote, and keep making sure, especially if you live in a red state where people keep mysteriously dropping off voter rolls.

Now, again, please don't read this as some confident prediction that Trump will be a Hitler figure. I want to stress that is a worst-case scenario. If a Trump presidency is what happens, I would much prefer the best-case scenario: that he spends four years fumbling around and not really accomplishing anything and then gives up power at the end without much of a fight. But it would also be a folly to be smugly overconfident that the worst-case scenario “won't” or “can't” happen. It could. It has happened before. There is no reason it couldn't happen again.

[exhaslo]

Kinktober Day 30- Villain!Miguel x Hero!Reader

*Requested by so many of you that I had to incorporate so much in here. So- breeding, glove kink, fingering, dark thoughts, kidnap and so much more. Might make this a damn mini series because I fell in love with it!*

        This was not how you expected your day to go. Everything was going smoothly as you patrolled the city for any crimes. You stopped a few bad guys, retrieved a stolen purse and helped an elderly couple with directions. All the normal stuff. None of your big villains were out committing crimes, so you had a moment of peace. At least you were until you met him. A new villain who was a big threat, but not in the way you expected him to be.

        Before you even met this new threat, you were responding to an explosion at the Alchemax building. It was the last place you wanted to go since you worked there, but it was also where you received your powers. Swinging towards the tall building, you noticed people falling. Quickly, you scooped each person and brought them down to safety. They thanked you and begged you to stop the mad man who was tossing them like rag dolls.

        Whoever this person was had no care for human life. You huffed as you crawled your way up to the building. Entering through the broken glass, you coughed towards the smoke. You had to stop the fire from spreading. Webbing as much as you could, you continued inside the building, wondering where this new threat was.

"Ahí estás, mi hermoso nuevo sujeto de prueba. (There you are, my beautiful new test subject.)" A voice called out.

        You flinched, jumping away as you tried to locate the voice. It was strange, this person almost sounded like your extremely sexy, yet insane, coworker, Miguel O'Hara. Miguel was the son of your boss and CEO of Alchemax, Tyler Stone. Miguel was dangerous to say the least. He shared his father's beliefs and was determined to test the DNA of spiders on regular people, cue how you got your powers. You were lucky to have it been an accident. Everyone else did not share the same fate.

        Either way, you never saw Miguel turning fully evil. It was just a disappointment too, especially after fantasizing about him. Shaking the thought out of your head, you tried to look through the smoke. You gasped lowly, noticing a tall and buff figure before you. This was defiantly not Miguel. Miguel was a twig.

"¿Sorprendido por mi nuevo look? (Surprised by my new look?)" The man spoke as the smoke cleared, "I'm just like you now, but better." Miguel said with a fanged smirk.

        If your jaw could drop, it would. He really was insane! Miguel tested on himself and now had spider powers like you? This could only end in disaster. You went to web him in place, but Miguel was faster. He grabbed your wrists and pinned you against the floor. His body hovered over yours, causing your heart to race. This was bad, very bad.

"Don't look so scared, cariño (sweetheart). I'm not going to hurt you," You were so focused on his fangs,

"H-How am I supposed to believe that?!" You huffed, trying to kick him away. Miguel pinned your legs down,

"I would never harm the successful ones," He brought his head to your neck, inhaled deeply, "You smell so sweet, cariño. I'm going to take such good care of you."

"I don't think you mean that in a good way,"

        Miguel just chuckled darkly as his new red orbs stared directly at you. It was scary how strong he was. You didn't have fangs and you sure as shit were not this strong. You let out a small yelp as you felt Miguel inject something into you. You vision began to blur as your body weaken.

"Vamos a formar el equipo perfecto, cariño. (We're going to make the perfect team, sweetheart.)

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

        A soft grunt escaped your lips as you started to come back to your senses. You fluttered your eyes open, wincing at bright white walls. Trying to make sense of what happened, you shivered in response. Your eyes widen as you recalled Miguel. You raised your head, whimpering as you felt your naked body strapped to a soft table. You were confused and scared. Your mask was off too. Miguel really was insane and you had no idea what he was going to do to you.

"Ah, you're awake." Miguel said as he walked in with his lab coat over his bare chest, "I was surprised to see that it was you under that mask, (Y/N). How very naughty of you to hide right under my nose. Perhaps that is why I took an interest in you."

"A-As much as I would love to hear more...Please let me go," You begged, fear creeping into your system. Miguel walked over to you, his fingers stroking your body from your legs to your neck,

"Can't do that, cariño. Right now, I'm studying you." He hummed lowly, "Tienes un cuerpo bastante sensible. Perfecto para mi. (You have quite the sensative body. Perfect for me.)

"Miguel, please...I know I lied to you, but we've known each other for years. Please let me go,"

"You'll run away if I do." Miguel walked over, fixing his gloves, "I need you."

        You glanced around the lab, trembling in fear. This did not look like any of the labs back in Alchemax. It gave off a more homey atmosphere. Even the table you were on was soft. You knew that Miguel had some common sense in him. You just needed to find and exploits it so you can get free. You weren't lying when you had known him for years. Hell, you even had a crush on this mad scientist. Perhaps you could use that to your advantage.

"I-I won't run away. I....I'll corporates. I know you like things to be easy," You said with a whimper. Miguel's eyes sparkled for a moment as you saw his fangs poke out again,

"You'll be a good girl for me?" He asked.

        Oh, if it weren't for the situation you were in, you'd find that extremely sexy. You had to admit, you were a good girl which is why you became a hero. So much for avoiding the liking bad boys trope. You gave a hesitant nod towards Miguel, hoping that he would at least free your hands.

"Spread your legs out for me the," He demanded. You gulped, slowly doing as he said, "Que hermoso coño. Todo para mi. (What a beautiful pussy. All for me.) Did you have any major changes to your reproductive system when you got your abilities?" He asked.

        You trembled as Miguel started to touch your inner thighs. You replied to him with a 'no'. His fingers just stroked your legs as he loosen the binds on your feet. He kept your legs up, retying your feet. You could only twitch as the cold air hit your cunt. Miguel was watching your reaction. He fixed his glove one more time, spreading your folds. You squeaked, wanting to complain, but you knew that would only make him mad. You were his new test subject. You had to behave or he will hurt you.

"Don't be so scared, cariño. I'm not going to hurt my good girl," Miguel whispered as his finger entered your hole. You whined lowly as he explored your insides with his thick finger, "So tight, you've stayed single, yes?"

"Y-Yes." You replied, trembling as his finger alone stretched you out. You needed to change the topic, "M-Miguel, b-besides fangs...and your physic...w-what else affect you?" You stuttered as he pressed against you cunt.

"Tsk, tsk, don't change the topic. We're focusing on you."

        You bit your lower lip, almost afraid of where this was going. Almost. The deep dark part of you was getting horny at the thought of what Miguel might do to you. It was bad. You were tied up in his private lab with his finger inside you. Miguel was a villain now. You could not allow yourself to be swayed by him. Right as you were about to ask something else, Miguel entered another finger. You hit your head back, letting out a soft mewl in response.

"Good response. Flow is above average according to the data, but all the better for me." Miguel spoke to himself, pumping his fingers inside your dripping cunt, "Now for the length until burst."

        You whined as you tried to move your hips as Miguel's fingers pumped deep inside you. His two fingers alone were larger than some of your toys. This was the most pleasure you had ever felt. You gasped sharply as he curled his fingers. He kept curling as if he was searching for your weak spot. Once he found it, you broke down. A loud moan escaped your lips as your body shook in pleasure. You cam against his gloved hand, your pussy clenching against his fingers, wanting more.

"Qué rápido. Es más fácil para mí criar. (How quick. Easier for me to breed.)" He smirked, taking his glove off.

"Hah....hah....Miguel?" You panted softly, relaxing from your high. Miguel took off his lab coat, typing away on his computer.

"User experiencing intense thoughts of breeding, higher salivation, increase blood-"

"A-Are you okay?" You asked, wondering if he was now having side effects of experimenting on himself. Miguel stood straight and made his way over to you,

"I'm not, but luckily I have a hero here to save me. You will save me, right?" He leaned closer to you, his hot breathe against your neck.

"H-How can I?" You knew you shouldn't have asked.

        The look Miguel had was lustful and curious. He placed himself between you legs, revealing his large, harden cock. You could feel your heart about to leap from your chest. Miguel's breathing was irregular and his pupils were blown. This wasn't an experiment anymore. He was taken over by lust.

"My good girl," Miguel stole a kiss from you, the tip of his dick pressing against your folds, "I can't stay mad at you for hiding this little secret. Not when our offspring will be perfect."

"M-Mig-" You winced as you felt his cock stretch your walls, "Mhm...W-Wait-" You begged.

        You whimpered as Miguel kept pushing. His hands were stroking your body. You whined and lifted your hips slightly as his dick kept entering your tight walls. He was so big. It felt uncomfortable at first, but you started to get hotter and wetter. Miguel's tip kissed your cervix, threating to enter. Your pussy pulsed around his cock, taking in his large shape. Miguel grunted lowly, inhaling at the thought of finally being inside you,

"¡Un ajuste perfecto, estábamos hechos el uno para el otro! (A perfect fit, we were made for each other!)" He roared in laughter before slamming his hips into yours.

        Your body arched as you let out a breath taking moan. Miguel was bullying your poor pussy with his monster of a cock. Each time he filled you back up with his dick, you felt your vision blur. Your loud moans were overtaking the wet slapping noises of your bodies connecting with each thrust. Miguel's grunts getting sloppier as he rutted into you like the madman he was. He grazed his fangs over your shoulders, biting into your skin. You cried out, blood tingling down.

"M-Mig~" You cried out, begging for freedom. Miguel licked his lips as he felt you tighten against him, "G-Gon...na cum...p-please....M-Mig, please~!" You begged repeatedly.

        Miguel just smirked as he watched you fall apart. He freed your arms, allowing you to wrap them around his neck. He held your hips tighter as you cam against his dick. Miguel kept thrusting through your high. You whimpered his name as Miguel stopped to cum inside your womb. His chuckle echoing the room as he placed you back down on the table, putting you on your side.

"We're not done yet, cariño. I have the stamina to last for hours," He whispered harshly before pounding into your pussy again, "Oh? What's this scar? How did my little subject get hurt?" He actually sounded concerned.

"Ah...I-I g-got it...mhm...f-from...hah~ V-Vulture..." You finally said between moans. Miguel growled lowly as he lifted your leg over his shoulder, slapping his dick deeper inside you, "AH~ s'much....deep~" You cried out.

"How dare he." Miguel's tone got darker as he watched you fall victim to another orgasm, "As of today, you are officially retired as Spider-woman. I won't allow my perfect partner to get hurt again."

"B-But-"

"I'll take over the role," The look in his eyes turned wicked, "When I'm done with them there won't be anyone left to challenge us as the superior beings." Miguel chuckled as he gave you another load of his cum.

"Miguel," You whimpered lowly.

        Miguel noticed your body losing feeling. He placed you on your knees and noticed the area where he bit you. His tongue grazed over his fangs, realizing that he had paralyzing venom. A sinister chuckle escaped his lips as he continued his harsh charade of thrusts from behind now. You body twitching and shaking from the overstimulation. Your moans getting louder as your face grew more blissed out. Miguel pulled your hair, forcing you to arch your back,

"How does that sound? Are you going to be my good girl and stay here as my perfect subject?" He whispered in your ear as he pounded your drenched pussy.

"Y-Yes! Yes, yes!" You cried out, unable to think straight. Miguel stroked your back as you tighten around his dick again,

"I won't let you leave. I'm going to find out everything about you as you carry our perfect offspring. Qué hermosa eres, siendo contaminada por este villano. Me aseguraré de que todos sepan que fui yo quien te jodió hasta someterte. (How beautiful you are, being tainted by this villain. I'll make sure everyone knows that I'm the one who fucked you into submission.)" He chuckled.

"Mhm~ M-Miguel~" You moaned lowly, feeling yourself drift from the numbness. 

        Miguel hummed to himself as he gave you one last load. Pulling out, Miguel raised the table and fixed you on your back. He had your hips raised, wanting to make sure that his cum stayed inside you. Miguel stroked your hair as you fell asleep before making his way to his computer.

"Set reminder to not use fangs during breeding session. Subject will not last and it isn't as fun without her cries." 

[catastrophicalcat]

Reasons Valmont Sucks (Catwoman 2018)

Valmont was a terrible character. And I really want to dissect why and how he is terrible - not just to get it off my chest and onto the collective Internet, but also because I think that Howard made some questionable writing choices that doomed him.

A quick intro - Valmont is Selina's love interest from the 1st two arcs of Tini Howard's Catwoman (2018) run. Inspired by some version of the Dangerous Liaisons character, he is a quasi French assassin who appears in Selina's life when she is trying to take on the Five Gotham Crime families, stalks her a bit, gifts her a stolen cat, fucks her, and eventually get murdered by her while he's trying to kill Batman. BatCat are on a poorly defined break during these events (with Bruce clearly thinking that they're somewhat committed to each other). Valmont is a dork. He looks like this:

More stuff under the break since I don't know how to write succinctly...

Valmont is a possessive stalker. It's obvious that Howard wanted to create a character who is different from Batman. Just look at him - Batman wears black, Valmont wears white. Batman strives to be a good person, while Valmont is an unrepentant murder. Bruce tries to be a gentlemen, while Valmont.... Almost immediately, Howard is in a pickle - how can she recreate a 17th century romance about assholes when, at the moment her run begin, Selina has no reason to be into this guy? And, this phony goth poser, by definition, cannot be upfront and just ask Selina out. Bruce would have done that. He's not Bruce. Solution? She gets rescued by him. A lot. Some examples:

While getting rescued frequently may be a way to fall in love, it makes Selina just so incompetent. Like I think that almost every single issue where Valmont appears, she needs to gets saved by him in some fashion. I don't think that Bruce rescued her that often, at least not in her own run! I went from reading about a savvy cat-burglar to an eternal damsel-in-distress.

Maybe I missed it, but I literally just read through all of his issues to find these screencaps, and I can't find any reason for him to be there other than to stalk her....

2. Making sexy French man is hard, OK! Prior to this run, I did not realize just how hard it is to write a sexy man instead of a creepy man. But seriously, this guy is GROSS, and Selina being into him makes her come off as dumb floozy. Who in the world would get turned on by lines like:

Maybe I'm fascinating, Catwoman. (Spoiler - he isn't)

I consider myself a citizen of the world. (Is he "my parents live in Ohio, I live in the moment" Ted Mosby?)

I wanted to help. But I did not want to chase you, or do what those boys had done. So I simply waited, where I knew you could find me. ("Those boys" - Tim & Dick, who tried to offer reasonable assistance and advice).

Fascinating? Interesting? Dangerous? (Describing himself.)

But I won't assume that just because a cat has sat in my lap once, it will do so whenever I call. (He then proceeds to bang her on the roof).

Have you ever had anyone encourage you to chase your desires? Just for your own pleasure? (Yeah, this is like a famous trait of hers...)

The sharp pleasure of waiting until I see you again is enough. (See, normal Selina - or a normal woman - would just never see him again).

Related to the above - their sexy times? Not sexy. First, they try and fail to hijack a cannibal's plane and parachute jump. Maybe adrenaline got their heart rate up, but still - poor planning! Second, and more egregiously: multiple characters comment on how Selina is deliriously tired. Valmont is one of those characters! He then bangs her on the roof. I don't want to kink-shame, but sleeping with someone when they're falling off their feet from exhaustion is like, not great?

3. He's a freaking murderer! This guy kills people and drops their bodies in the harbor. He's friends with Flamingo, a cannibal who tried to eat Robin (Damian, but still!). And yet, this is how Selina feels about him:

What happened? Really, what happened? Selina used to be smart and not boy crazy. Sure, she has a wide variety of unfortunate love interests despite these traits (post forthcoming!). But never has she fallen so fast, so quick, so off the deep end for someone who deserves it so very little.

I have other substantive issues with this run, but wanted to start by dissecting Valmont. A non-Bruce love interest is already an uphill battle in a Catwoman comic. Burdening him with all of these negative traits did not lead to a good story. Instead, Selina came off as stupid and immature for ever liking this guy in the first place.

I know that this post was super negative - these are just my thoughts, and I'm open to critique. If folks feel positive about Valmont, or other things I touched on here, I would be really interested to hear it.

[in-som-niyah]

hi!! i’m literally so obsessed with your work i’ve been scrolling your profile all day 😭😭 i was wondering if you could write something about jason x fem!reader getting married? mostly fluff but ill never say no to some good smut

a/n: "i’m literally so obsessed with your work i’ve been scrolling your profile all day" WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNNNNN STOP UR GONNA MAKE ME CRY THIS IS EVERYTHING TO ME HELLO??? like wdym u like my work so much u spend so much time on my blog i love u gimme kiss

anyway this prompt is *chefs kiss* bc we all know Big Bad Jason Todd™ is such a loverboy softie but most of all he loves hard.

I think that before he met you he never thought that he would be so enamoured with someone who also feels the same way about him at the same time, that also wants to marry him??? He thinks he's too flawed and violent and abrasive for someone to even like being around him. So marrying him??? haha you're funny.

But after YEARS (yes, it takes him years of a committed relationship with you to fully trust that you actually like being with him for an extended period of time, let alone forever) of handling his emotions, outbursts and injuries with grace while still giving him a whack at the back of his head when he's being stupid, he considers marrying you.

Remember, Jason Todd is fucking scared himself, and he doesn't want to scare you off with a ring that literally promises forever with him. Though he loves you, he wants you to be happy in the end. Will you be happy with him in the end?

It takes a lot of mental and emotional strength to overcome these fears that swirl around his head.

When he does get over it though, he's so attentive yet sneaky when picking your ring. There's a luxury jewellery store on the way to your favourite clothing store at the mall, and he literally takes you to the whole mall just to pass by the store. He always looks to see what your eyes catch, what you like and don't like. Doesn't matter if he ends up spending hundreds since you're at the mall so much, he'll do it just to make sure he gets exactly what you want.

Jason also uses his extensive detective training to find out what cut and stone you want on the ring. He's ok with diamonds, but would want something more unique and personal for his love. He wants something that always reflects you, no matter the occasion.

Side note: once the ring comes he would definitely put together a photo album of pics he took of the ring in plain sight while you're completely oblivious just for shits and giggles

Finally, when it's time to pop the question, he doesn't do flashy and big productions with lights and letters and petals and stuff.

He would be dancing in the kitchen with you on a lazy Saturday, eating pancakes and bacon and when the song ends just casually asks "if I were to ask you, would you marry me?" Now he looks collected as he lovingly smiles down at you but is actually shitting himself until you say that you would in fact marry him if he asked. Then he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out the most perfect, detailed, gorgeous ring you could ever ask for while properly asking you to marry him. Cue the waterworks (from both of you) and the celebratory make-out sesh.

Y'all definitely fucking the night of the proposal though

I feel like it would be realllllly possessive since yk you literally belong to him now

"tell me who this pussy belongs to, pretty girl" Knowing full well you can't answer because your eyes have already rolled back mid-stroke and you're babbling incoherently. It does, however, put a smug ass smirk on his face.

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

a/n pt2 bc i can't shut up: i hope u like it!!! i wasn't in the mood to write anything smutty but idk im in my soft era for jason i just want his stoic self to love me :(((((

[ladyloveandjustice]

A Ranking of the '4 Days of Ohtori: Someday My Revolution Will Come' Revolutionary Girl Utena Game Endings

I was commissioned to do a post ranking the endings of the Revolutionary Girl Utena dating sim based on quality and enjoyment! I did a liveblog for it for it a while ago, see here. If you know nothing about the game, I think you should read it and then come back to this post. It's a fun liveblog!

I was also asked to talk about if any of the endings work out well for the main character (who I call Purple Pigtails).

Basically all of the endings aren't ideal for Perfect Pigtails. Her dad is sick enough she has to leave Ohtori to help him iirc, she doesn't ever get to reconcile with Chigusa even though she badly wanted to (it's implied she had a crush on her despite everything, but she had to basically kill her). She also knows her dad's a piece of shit now, and that both her parents lied to her. I doubt she'll ever trust them again. She may even hate her Dad now. Her family was a lie, and that's very sad. On top of that, several of the endings imply she may come back to Ohtori which is honestly not a good thing for her!!! So none of them really work out for her, but I'm going to talk about which ones work out for her the least and the most as I rank the endings.

My favorite endings of the Utena video game, from best to worst:

Juri Ending

So, after much deliberation my favorite ending is the Juri one. The fact that her response to Purple Pigtails falling in love with her is "sorry, can't just enter a healthy lesbian relationship because I am super committed to this toxic one. You know that girl I painfully pine over while starting at her in my locket? That locket I wish I could throw away? Well I'm giving you your own pining locket to torment you with MY picture. We can be sad lesbians together."

It's just so Juri. Has to spread her unhealthy behavior everywhere. I don't think she knows any other way to deal with this stuff except to put it in a locket, keep it a secret and stare at it longingly. So she assumes Purple Pigtails needs that too. It's just...incredibly funny but also incredibly sad.

Does this ending work out for Purple Pigtails? Not really, no, she has to leave her crush behind and mirror Juri's unhealthy behavior. As long as she has that locket she can never move on or find a girlfriend. I will say she's better off than Juri though, because at least her crush doesn't try to actively torment her every chance she gets. I also think she's more likely to eventually put away the locket than Juri. She only knew Juri four days and isn't quite as fucked up as her. But then again, I could see her go on a similar quest to find Juri someday, like Utena did for her prince...but I don't think Juri will ever be in the position to be what she needs, even if she's healed and moved on. Because no real princes exist.

Then again, the fact Purple Pigtails was able to leave Ohtori at all means she was able to grow up and move on herself. She's accepted that her childhood was never what she thought it was...so maybe such a quest is unlikely. Maybe she will move on pretty quickly. Or maybe being obsessed with Juri means she will be welcomed back to Ohtori soon...

Anthy ending

My second favorite ending is the Anthy ending. The only reason it's lower than the Juri ending is that the washing each other's back scene is a little uncomfortable to watch, knowing Purple Pigtails has no trouble coercing sexual favors from Anthy. Whether this is all part of Anthy's plan or not, she is likely not enjoying this...and yet it's framed fairly comedically, which feels weird.

But otherwise? God it's perfect, so wonderfully absurd, so wonderfully Anthy. Her plan here is so elaborate and there are so many layers. There's also the question of why the hell she even did all this, which is so intriguing.

The way she's so direct with Purple Pigtails, her resentment and cynicism coming out, is great. Purple Pigtails is pretending she wants her, but she only wants power.

She also actively sabotages Utena in the fight in order get with Purple Pigtails. Why?

But after that, she also sabotages Purple Pigtails, deliberately keeping her up all night with uh. possibly sex, (again, uncomfy) to ensure she'll be too tired to concentrate the next day. But she does this so PP will lose to Utena even though Utena doesn't have a sword anymore.

Anthy played PP so thoroughly, but again, why? My theory when I first played this was Anthy was feeling guilty about her inevitable betrayal of Utena and was trying to get with Purple Pigtails, only to immediately realize there's no way PP could become a prince so she goes back to Utena.

But there are a lot of options. Maybe Anthy and/or Akio needed PP to be taken out. She was upsetting their plans somehow, so she needed to be defeated so humiliatingly she'd never try to get with Anthy again. It could explain why PP eventually left in the other endings, maybe she actually hadn't moved on, maybe Akio felt she was too much of a risk (possibly by how things got so complicated with Chigusa, too much of a distraction for the duelists) and kicked her out.

Or maybe this was all to test to find out where she was a prince candidate, and she was found wanting...considering you have to order rose tea as a prerequisite, this one's very possible.

It's all so fascinating. Maybe I should have put it as favorite...ok, let's say it's this and Juri tied.

Obviously this doesn't work out at all from Purple Pigtails Perspective. She becomes a supervillain, she's humiliatingly defeated, and she very well may be stuck at Ohtori for a long time...and fact she doesn't appear in the anime implies she's no longer friends with any of them. Maybe Akio made everyone forget about her. Maybe she was so bitter she rejected them all.

Utena's ending (Romantic Version)

(As a PS... it's very obvious the girls aren't allowed to kiss on the lips in this game, likely because of outside pressure, both Saionji and Miki get lips, while Utena and Juri do the princely forehead kiss (but you could also argue it's because they are the most "princely characters...and imitating the prince kiss is 100% in character for Utena. Also kissing a girl on the lips at this point in the story would pretty much short circuit Utena. Send her into such a lesbian crisis her heart might give out)

This ending is so sweet on the outside, but then you peel a layer back and see how fucked up it is. Utena very deliberately imitates her "prince" here, and that will someday horrify her, that she imitated Akio and got another girl obsessed with princes. And obviously that's very bad for PP too, since the thesis of Utena is the chivalrous prince who will save you is a lie.

Utena's words imply they will meet again and there's not a lot of outcomes that are good for that. One outcome is that PP goes back to Ohtori to find Utena, only to find she's already gone. But then Akio has a replacement Utena, right there. I'm not sure that would even matter, with Anthy gone, there's no way he can like, use her for anything...but he might take his anger at Utena and Anthy out on her. The better option is PP finds Utena in the real world, and sees that she and Anthy are officially girlfriends and have become healthier people. That might be good for her, actually--I'm sure Utena would encourage her to move on, find her own identity, and Utena would still want to be friends. Or she could ignore Utena andsink into bitterness and jealousy.

One of the most screwed up things about this ending is that PP basically loses her individuality and has become a copy of another person. It's not great for her that she's so wrapped up in Utena that it's her identity now. It's very sad just like it was with Anthy in the manga.

So no, I don't think this ending goes well for Purple Pigtails at all. She loses who she is, becomes obsessed with something that's just a false patriarchal idol, and that makes her vulnerable to Ohtori. Her only hope is finding Utena in the real world, and Utena making up for her past mistake.

Miki's ending

It was such a chore to get to this ending, but it's worth it for how funny it is. Purple Pigtails immediately deciding she actually wasn't in love with Miki after all (hint it's because she's a lesbian hint) and just. blowing him off, pretending she has a boyfriend back home. Legendary of her, and honestly Miki kind of deserves it. From his perspective it must feel like she really played with his feelings, though.

Because it doesn't exist, Miki!!! It was never real!!!!

She does say she "likes younger boys" after this, but that's just what she's telling herself. Someday she'll realize. Hopefully.

I think its interesting that Miki is the only one in this game who explicitly actually has feelings for her. He is able to move on from his sister (sort of. I mean at the very least iirc he never compares PP to Kozue that I can remember. Which is HUGE for him), but none of the rest can move on past their obsessions.

I actually think this works out pretty well for PP. She's not too attached to Miki, so she's unlikely to go back to Ohtori, and it doesn't break her heart to leave him, she's still herself, and I think she'll be able to move on.

Touga Ending (italicized since I haven't seen the whole route)

I haven't fully watched this route, so I don't know what it takes to get there. If I did it might affect my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. But while this ending is so mean and horrible, it is also so darkly funny. Touga distilled. He's such a asshole that it is impossible to get any thing positive from your ending with him even in a dating sim, and that's amazing. You think you've won but you lost. You lost the second you decided to date Touga.

Basically, Touga promises he will write PP every single day, and he will come visit her too, and she's ecstatic.

And then he goes and burns her address, calling her stupid, because of course he fucking does. Thus PP is totally ghosted, left despairing and wondering why.

It is also very interesting he's the only love interest she does NOT get a kiss from, unexpected since Touga has not problem kissing girls he does not give a shit about. Either he just, genuinely hates her guts THAT much or he's ---

ahhh shit. I just looked it up. You can have PP have sex with him. In fact you have to actively avoid it if you don't want to. So that's why he doesn't need a kiss. Her already got what he wanted. That actually makes this ending so much more heartbreaking, a lot of girls place a lot of importance on their first time, and PP was treated so cruelly with hers. This goddamn prick.

It is horrible, but it is exactly what I'd expect Touga to do (esp since this is set so early in the story) and I think it's incredible the game was so true to his character that you just get a straightforward unhappy ending when you date him. The others at least APPEAR a little happy, though they're quite sad when you think about them for long, but the game makes no pretenses with Touga. It just goes "no, you got nothing good out of this relationship, this man is trash, he played you like he does everyone"

Obviously this is pretty sad for Purple Pigtails, who gets manipulated and ghosted, and, depending on your choices, gets to have the lovely experience of a horrible older boy manipulating her, fucking her, and throwing her away at the tender age of 14. But, assuming she is able to move on (I hope so?) this might be happier than others for her in the long run (especially if she avoids having sex with him). Touga ghosting her means he won't be able to torment her further, and that's better than any other option with him. Unless, of course, she goes back to Ohtori to get an explanation...

Perfect Ending

I do like the perfect ending bc of the funny interactions the council get in--Juri teasing Miki about liking older girls and Miki getting extremely flustered, Touga being so fucking annoying especially when he insists on calling Saionji BEST FRIEND over and over until Saionji is like "can you shut the fuck up''...

The goodbye with Utena is fairly generic though, just the tiniest bit gay. One thing that is interesting for this ending is PP wanting to learn fencing.

It's ambiguous who she's talking about here, she could even mean Chigusa despite the fact she's deader than dead, or it could be "we don't know which person she's most attracted too ooooh".

As far as working out for Purple Pigtails? She escapes romantic trauma, which is great for her, but she seems really determined to go back to Ohtori in this one, and as has been said many times, that is not good for her.

Akio Ending

I considered rating this higher bc it's so funny how PP calls Akio on his bullshit.

But there's the fact that PP's particular Akio ending is even more uh, rape-coded than any other Akio car ride, IIRC? It's not only the fact she's underage, but she actively begs Akio to stop. But of course that motherfucker doesn't listen.

It's honestly so sad so that kind of ruins any fun. Which doesn't make it bad, but i don't like thinking about that part.

This is the second worst ending for PP. Just like the Black Rose and Anthy endings, she's still at Ohtori and has no friends, but there's the sexual assault aspect on top of that. She will be so traumatized, and on top of that she lost humiliatingly, while Akio basically called her worthless.

Saionji ending

Saionji's ending is both kind of boring and vaguely interesting. (And I'm ranking it like this on the assumption Saionji never hit her, which I assume he didn't from the Youtube comments. While he would definitely be cruel to a gf in multiple ways if she stuck around enough, I think it's possible the only person he would physically abuse while dating is Anthy. which is. something to analyze.) Saionji is (blessedly) silent during most of this ending. only saying "I owe you a lot" when he gives her the present (implying she's been kind of for caring for him, wet pathetic dog that he is, which does fit with the snippets I've seen of this route and echoes his relationship with Wakaba)

Saionji does give her his little leaf (apparently the only present he's capable of making?? like if he can carve this leaf he must know how to carve other things, right??? maybe it's just the carving he's best at) but PP knows he's too obsessed with Anthy (and Touga. the obsession with Anthy is just an extension of an obsession with Touga lets all be honest here) to return her feelings and they're both pretty honest and open about things. But THEN she claims she'll come back and make him look her way someday.. AND THEN she just plants one on him out of nowhere. Girl, you forget about consent!

Honestly Saionji just seems extremely confused and freaked out about it, even his expression afterwards, which makes me feel bad for him, something I'd never thought I'd say in my life. It's kind of interesting to see him like that. But...it doesn't stand out too much other than that. It's kind of just like. okay girl. calm down.

This one does not work out perfectly for PP since she seems pretty determined to come back to Ohtori and make Saionji love her, which is definitely never going to happen. But she doesn't lose her identity, doesn't get a pining locket, Saionji is surprisingly nice to her, unlike Wakaba she knows she doesn't have a chance right now, so she wasn't hugely disappointed...so it could be worse.

Utena Friendship Ending

Basically the same at the perfect ending, except we never get to see any fun interactions between the group. Boring.

Black Rose Ending

This one claims PP is obsessed with books, which has never come up in the game before, so it feels out of nowhere and like it wasn't properly developed. There's not much to dig into, when there should be. And her defeat is basically the same as the Akio endings, so it doesn't add much.

(Utena is being so mean here!!!! You know she's brainwashed why are you being an asshole about her skill!)

One the worst endings from PP's perspective, her mind is messed with, she literally has no friends, and she's stuck at Ohtori.

Game over

Obviously a Game Over is pretty boring. The game just ends. Bye.

I think PP would disappear from the world in the game over ending, just like Chigusa wanted. So this is the worst ending for her, she not only dies. she's erased from existence. At least in the other endings she gets to live.

(also I think either this one or the perfect ending are canon for the anime. The game over ending makes a lot of sense, since they would all forget PP and all that happened with her ever existed, and that would be the explanation for why she's never mentioned in the anime. But the more optimistic take is that the perfect ending is canon, and nobody ever mentions her because she just doesn't come up.

So there's my favorites ranked from best to worst.

NOW let's rank the endings from worst to best for Perfect Pigtails!

Game Over (she dies)

Akio Car Ending

Black Rose Ending

Anthy Ending (it's possible for her to have friends in this one)

Touga Ending (provided a) he has sex with her and b) she is unable to move on from what happened. Without those two factors though, it's under Utena's in the long run)

Utena Ending

Juri Ending

Saionji Ending

Perfect Ending

Miki Ending is the best one for her, weirdly! (Or at least my interpretation of it. She got out unscathed and has no desire to return to Ohtori!)

---

And those are my rankings! I hope everyone who read this far enjoyed the rambling.

[thesirencult]

Pick A Card Reading: Your Soulmate's Letter To Santa About You 💌

PILE 1

Dear Santa,

I want to thank you for my gift from last year, lol. She is amazing.

She makes me happy and puts a smile on my face. Sometimes I smile so hard my cheeks burn.

I've never felt happier in my life.

The way she talks, the way she moves, the way her eyes brighten up when she looks at a puppy or a piece of chocolate pie, they all drive me wild.

I want to be there for her, this Christmas and every other Christmas after this one. I want to buy her a house as a gift and a ring to go with it, maybe even a car? She doesn't like to drive that much but my baby has to have everything she wants.

What she wants she will get. I love her. I adore her. She owns my heart and soul. I'm proudly whipped.

Thank you Santa, I'll take care of her heart ❤️

~ Your soulmate is a provider. They must be a "golden retriever" type of person. I'm hearing "here comes the boy!". When you first meet them you won't expect to fall so hard for them. They have a compatible sense of humour with you.

PILE 2

Hey Santa Baby,

Am I in the naughty list? Great!

This year I put up with no bs and I said "bye" to everything that held me back. I let go of the old stories and left the world behind.

Well, not the whole world, because I met that special someone and they are amazing. I'm writing down my goals for next year and I want one of them to be to deepen my relationship with my soulmate.

I know that they are special, I'm not crazy! I consciously make the choice to commit to them. I feel like we are twin flames and can not wait to explore they way their mind works.

I want to help them unlock their potential. They are a force to be reckoned with and they don't even know it.

Bye, for now!

~ Your FS (yup, they are) is someone who could very well be a motivational speaker or a content creator in that space. They love doing challenges like 75 hard and lighting up other people's fire. They could also be an athlete or ex athlete. You will love this person's practical nature and approach in life. This person is also very spiritual and they probably have heard of Ayahuasca and other popular terms etc. They remind me of a Tech Founder in silicon valley who is I'm woowoo stuff (no worries, I'm the woo woo stuff).

PILE 3

Santa,

I'm ready to move on from this year. My faith is stronger than ever before.

I've wished for so many things in the last few years. Many of them manifested into my life but one thing still hasn't showed up yet and I'm very bumped because of that.

Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for the life I live and lead. I have almost everything I've wished for but that almost is killing me.

I know she is out there. I've felt her energy before. Since I was a child, whenever I looked up to the stars, I felt this overwhelming connection with someone. This invisible string tagging at my heart at all times. No one has ever made me feel this way and I know that it is unfair to say that for my previous partners but I miss her. I miss someone I've never met. Can you please bring her to me this year? I don't want anything else but my love to come back to me in this lifetime.

I know that the time to meet her is coming. I can feel it, but make it as fast as you can. Please.

I have a lot of goals for the year, especially financial ones. I'll try to focus on them until she comes. Where is she? Where is my love?

I will know she is here when I lay my eyes on her. My heart will speed up and the world as I know it will shutter. Shutter my world darling. I don't care. I made that world by myself and it is time we build our own world together.

P.S. Send loving energy to my soulmate, they need it. Tell them I will buy them their gift myself next year, but for now... This, sadly, has to do.

~ Awww your soulmate is very sweet and... depressed! They don't show it to anyone though but when they are alone at night they drink a glass of wine and think about you. They would want you to be there.

This person is very, stoic and "protected". That give me "military" vibes even if they have nothing to do with the military. This inability to outwardly express their feelings. You will baby them a lot and it is going to look comical but they will love it. Your FS might be older and taller than you and people will laugh when they see how much of a baby they become around your presence. They are very tired of being lonely. Don't get me wrong, this is not someone mopping around, they are just a "closeted" romantic. They hide their true feelings and you will know they love you because they will do acts of service for you or you will catch micro expressions. As soon as you enter in an official relationship they won't be able to keep their hands away from you.

[icycoldninja]

Dating Mahito headcannons

A/N: I don't care if half the world hates him, I think he's funny.

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

-Biggest pain in the ass you will ever meet.

-Uses Idle Transfiguration to confuse you by transforming into different people and knocking on your door, acting as if you had a prior arrangement, when you obviously did not, leading to a great awkward encounter that ends in him laughing his ass off as he transforms back.

-Regularly gives himself boobs just so he has an excuse to "borrow" your clothes.

-Will also transfigure you just to screw with your head, though he won't do too much or it might kill you.

-Despite being a very sadistic and awful person, Mahito does have a soft, caring side, though he didn't have it before. He got that from your love and attention, though getting him to display this sweet side is very difficult.

-Sneaks up and tackles you whenever he gets the chance, then proceeds to torture you with tickles.

-Loves bubble baths, childish as it is, and always calls for you to bring him a towel or something else he forgot.

-Don't let him French kiss you unless you want mini hands sliding down your throat.

-Doesn't take care of his hair, yet it's still so shiny and soft. It does get tangled though, so he probably won't mind you brushing it out every day.

-Is out committing crimes and other malicious deeds for most of the night so you'll never know the comfort of falling asleep in his arms.

-That's fine, though, he flips upside down in his sleep for some reason, so you're really falling asleep with his big-ass feet up against your face.

-Only holds you if you ask him to, and oftentimes you have to plead your case.

-Never cooks, never cleans, he only consumes the food you eat or buy and lives rent-free in your house.

-What he does all day is a complete mystery, though it's probably best that you don't know.

-Sometimes you question why you even agreed to date him since he does nothing for you and only uses your stuff--then he treats you to the best weekend you've ever had, with makeovers, movie marathons, massages and...something else. You know. Something fun. Something he puts his technique to use for. That's right. PILLOW FIGHTS!

-Nah, but seriously, that other thing is a viable activity. 😉

-Drags you all over the place to do weird shit, from commiting homicide in an abandoned alleyway to running wild in a supermarket.

-He also wakes you up at 4 AM because he found a dead cat on the side of the road and wanted to show you.

-He's an absolute magnet for trouble, but he's also a lot of fun and at times, a huge cutie. You're so lucky!

[captainlexapro]

hang on. I just need to talk about quinn's autograph for a minute because i have so much appreciation for the effort and intention he puts into it. (also i love linguistics/language/writing and how people sign their name is actually very interesting to me)

Been thinking about this (x) article from 2021 (and also very much demko saying "thoughtful" for his one word to describe huggy at the nhl awards this year. demmer u don't understand the implications of what you just said).

teammates chirping quinn for being a slow at signing because it's not a scribble or an unintelligible flourish...but he straight up doesn't give a fuck what they think because HE wants HIS signature to be easily distinguishable for FANS. like the awareness of how special that stuff can be for people. 💙 antoine agreeing that "you should always be able to tell the name without the number." YES!!! YOU GET IT!! (don't get me wrong, there can be iconic autographs that aren't legible whatsoever but idk. to me it's something about how it's a name and i'd like to be able to read it. it's so personal and a scribble doesn't feel personal).

i wanted to see how his signature has changed/progressed over the years, so i dug around a bit to see where he's landed at this point. let's back up to the beginning!

2018 (screenshot from this vid) -

huggy's first official nhl signature!!

his draft day signature shows he's still fully spelling out his first name. it also looks just very. teenage boy who can't do cursive.

BUT the elements are already there - heavy on the Qu, the Hu, (new nickname Q-hoo? like yoohoo? no? fine.) and the s. starting to stylize the gh.

*side notes: Qu is such a rough first letters pairing rip... it's a distinct shape. printing Q doesn't flow easily into the u while cursive Q is ugly (in my opinion) and idk if a lot of people actually know what a true cursive Q looks like (hint: it looks like a 2). also, "quinn" is hard just because it's SEVEN vertical elements back to back. i honestly think doing it in cursive requires more focus than printing. hughes is fun because it has the high and low elements right next to each other, which he emphasizes.*

2019 (nhl debut) -

oh boy. sill very choppy. still have those main elements of emphasis happening.

i feel like he probably hadn't started worrying about his signature yet (this was his first game, to be fair).

not a lot of connectivity (especially in Hughes)

the n has hints of what it will become later, though, which is cool to see!

2021 (from article)-

only writing Quinn now (only one dot for an i). maybe to speed it up, maybe just bc that's the nickname he goes by, maybe both.

seeing the connecting line/stroke between the g and h more prominently

s is looking more stylized as well

i think he's picking up the pen a fair amount still (maybe up to 8 or 9 strokes in this one?). so yeah, i'm sure it took a while compared to others...

2022 (from this silly vid)-

this is kind of not a 'true' signature to me bc 1) given the nature of the video i kind of doubt he would have put 100% effort into it (complete lack of stylized s) and 2) you can tell the surface/pen combo isn't great - see the jaggedness on the gh?

this is the most ~scribbly~ version i saw. like i said, idk if i really count this one but i don't want to dig around forever to find a confirmed 2022 signature

regardless, he seems to have sped it up and is better at the cursiveness aspect. Most of it is connected - i'd guess 5 total strokes for that version.

2023 (from wallpapers on the canucks' insta)-

definitely more committed to a "look"

Qu is kind of aggressive lol and the gh stroke isn't super smooth either. HOWEVER it is 100% a stylistic element he focuses on. also it's fast to connect them, so it probably feels pretty natural. just needed more practice on keeping that stroke aligned.

officially no dotting of the i anymore - just swooping up high (again, probably helps with speed)

we have the fully stylized s! i'm actually very fond of that part because lots of people will let the last letters fall to the wayside and basically just draw a line. he's kinda doing that a smidge with the n. but there's intention on the s and it looks very nice!

2023/2024 (from canucks' wallpapers & inhousemade insta)-

here we have our latest iteration

I reallyyy like the finishing on the n - it matches well with how he does the s, which is so pretty. such a fun letter to write lol

i think the gh line has been fully mastered at this point. and it's a good way to keep his signature legible but still give it a unique flair. not everyone's signature/name has that type of line so ppl can pick his name out rather easy i would guess.

i think huggy's probably settled on autograph style/look at this point. but i will still keep an eye out to see if he decides to try a new element!

thanks for reading and hopefully you found this mildly interesting ☺️

[imustspeakmyheart]

Here's my Earthsea tattoo I got as a little birthday present to myself. This illustration comes from the Bantam paperback editions; it's the little icon above the very first chapter of A Wizard of Earthsea, depicting the island of Gont.

Ramble about my FAVOURITE Earthsea passage below :)

So I've been obsessed with this quote ever since I first read it a couple years ago. The full thing goes as follows:

"As their eyes met, a bird sang aloud in the branches of the tree. In that moment Ged understood the singing of the bird, and the language of the water falling in the basin of the fountain, and the shape of the clouds, and the beginning and end of the wind that stirred the leaves: it seemed to him that he himself was a word spoken by the sunlight" (35).

This happens in Roke's courtyard, the first time Ged enters the school and meets the Archmage. Objectively, it's just a lovely passage in a book series full of beautiful prose. It exemplifies exactly what Roke is: a place where magic coalesces and an understanding of the world can be reached. This knowledge is the very thing Ged has been wanting throughout the book so far, what has driven away from Ogion where the learning was too slow. And look here! He steps foot in the school and at an instant, this moment of transcendence. Lovely stuff in a small atmospheric scene.

But it does another thing I find way more interesting in that last phrase I put in bold. See, Wizard is a book very preoccupied with mastery over the world, in particular Ged's continuous longing for power, for overpowering others. That's, you know, his whole arc in this thing. Learning that power means knowing when or even whether to use it, and that magic (which in Earthsea means change, even the tiniest change, that ripples and ripples onward) takes consideration, time, patience.

So how wondrous is it that we get this phrase still at the very beginning of Ged's inner journey, still in his full hubris mode, that shows the world's influence over him. And look, I know this is a tiny itty bitty sentence right and it might not seem all that, but I don't think anything like this happens anywhere else in the books either? In a series where words are power and influence and change, literal magic, I think it really does mean something here that Ged feels like "he himself is a word spoken by the sunlight".

What does this mean? What does it mean to be spoken by the sunlight? That he feels made, created by the sunlight? Changed? Held in place? Either way, some influence is held over him by the very powers that wizards usually command themselves. The landscape is speaking him, the sunlight is commanding him, subsuming him, he's part of the world in the realest most primal way you can be in Earthsea. He's a word.

And another thing! Ged's entire struggle in this book is with what? His shadow. Yet this phrase reminds us that even at a moment where Ged has not learned his lesson yet, when he is yet to commit that terrible act, he has light in him. He's changed by that sunlight all the same. Light and shadow both; there can't be one without the other.

(Also this fountain Ged's at in the courtyard in this scene is the very same place Nemmerle dies after saving Ged from the shadow. Very important place, this.)

ANYWAY suffice to say I love this passage and I will never stop thinking about it.