#this has been sitting in my drafts since october

[theseventhveil1945]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Created by Joss Whedon (1997-2003)

[goodoneguys]

shows that I think the gays and theys will like that aren’t homosexual but also are homosexual

Dr. Stone

Barry

Quantum Leap (1989-93)

Monk

Chowder

Regular Show

Arrested Development

Star Trek The Next Generation

[everything-y-nothing]

MOODBOARD. blushing all the way home (Singer-songwriter x Rugby Star AU) by @newtonsheffield

[smute]

hi my darlings i finished my zine and im extremely tempted to say something bad about it right now but im trying not to belittle myself so much. so... 🤫 hope you enjoy <3

[silverfoxstole]

Paul, Dominic West and Amanda Drew publicise the donation of all the books from the set of Butley to Pimlico School.

[queerofthedagger]

What We Build and What We Burn

[Dream/Hob, Explicit, 23k words]

Tags: (Post-) The Sound of Her Wings, Dream-Sharing (kind of), Mutual Pining, Emotionally Repressed Dream, Hob has Abandonment Issues, they're both stupid and struggling but they're trying their best <3, the working title was: friends tell friends about being locked up for over a century, but then Hob developed issues too so! Fun!!, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst

Summary:

“For some reason that I have yet to understand, your dreams seem to be trying to bring you to me,” Dream eventually says, his voice a little too even to be casual. “Not only that, but the Dreaming allows you in; it is not something that should be possible.” Hob turns and takes in Dream’s wary face. “Does it always look like that? So…” “Desolate?” Dream offers, and his expression doesn’t change, but Hob can read the hurt on him, still. “No, it does not.” --- After Dream finally finds him in the New Inn, Hob struggles to rebuild his trust that this—Dream returning—will always be the case. At the same time, the concern that something has gone horribly wrong grows through meetings, dreams, and details that Hob shouldn't notice but does; not that Dream is much more forthcoming than in centuries prior. That's okay, though; if Hob has learnt one thing, it is how to be patient. Mostly.

[thelostrainbowthenovel]

Bios: The Feorian Rulers

- Ruling King Vulcan Von Brandt

. Age: 47

. Gender: male

. Sexuality: straight

. Family: parents, 1 older sister, 1 niece, Ignatius(oldest child), Hestia(second oldest child), Flint(middle child), Ashton(youngest child)

. Relationships: Soleil(wife)

. Abilities: fire magic(natural), hand-to-hand combat

. Physical Appearance: tall with a muscular build, short and slightly curly brown hair pushed back with spiky bangs, tan skin, dark brown eyes, several battle scars all over

Ruling king of the Kingdom of Feor, husband to Soleil, and father to Ignatius, Hestia, Flint, and Ashton. Although he is the second-born, his older sister never cared to take over the throne for herself so the role as heir was given to him during his early adolescence. He was always taught the ways of being a strong and capable leader as a prince, so while his new position as heir took some time getting used to, he accepted it gratefully as he always wanted to do best by his people. Logical when it comes to thinking, and preferring to rule with a firm approach, he comes off to some as close-minded and cold in his rule. While this is true to some extent, he is a lot more open-minded and caring towards his people than some would think, as he will advocate for new laws if he sees it as important or necessary. When he became of age he followed in the footsteps of the kings before him and joined the army, rising up in the ranks and serving as a captain during a series of battles that almost escalated into war when he was in his twenties. Fighting closely alongside him during this time was his wife Soleil and his best friend Idris Brenton, with the latter now being a general and his right-hand man when it comes to current military tactics and decisions. Although he was originally arranged to Soleil, they knew each other as children and made sure to get to know each other better during the course of their engagement, to the point they were genuinely in love when they married as adults. He may come off as stern and intimidating, but he softens up the most around his family, caring for their well-being and safety above all-else as he does not want to lose any of them for any reason.

- Queen Consort Soleil Von Brandt

. Age: 45

. Gender: female

. Sexuality: straight

. Family: parents, 2 older brothers, 2 younger brothers, 5 nephews, 1 niece, Ignatius(oldest child), Hestia(second oldest child), Flint(middle child), Ashton(youngest child)

. Relationships: Vulcan(husband)

. Abilities: flame magic(natural, depleted/no longer), hand-to-hand combat, sword-fighting

. Physical Appearance: tall with a fit, hourglass build, wavy and waist-length, side-swept fiery red hair fading into orange and yellow, fair skin, gold eyes, ears double pierced, large burn scar going from her lower-left cheek down all the way to her wrist

Queen consort of the Kingdom of Feor, wife to Vulcan, and mother to Ignatius, Hestia, Flint, and Ashton. Soleil grew up as the only daughter of one of Feor's most notable noble families, having four brothers. She did not despise being the only girl of her siblings however, as she got along fairly well with all of her brothers growing up. She knew Vulcan when they were children, back when he was just the prince and they were not arranged yet to be married. She followed in her families footsteps and joined the army when she was of age, fighting alongside her two older brothers and Vulcan. When they were both over the age of sixteen she and Vulcan were arranged to be married, doing so several months after she turned eighteen. She continued her work as a soldier for many years, even after having her first two children, before one fateful battle happened that not only gave her her burn scar, but also completely depleted her of all of her once powerful and strong magic. With no magic left, she took to wielding daggers and swords to defend herself with, being her daughter's first teacher on how to properly wield and fight with her own swords when she was big enough to learn. She also developed both PTSD and mild depression from her accident, that while she has been doing much better with her mental health in recent years, she still has her struggles with unwanted flashbacks and nightmares of the incident that have her feeling down for a long time whenever they pop up. She is a mature and wise queen, at first having a little trouble expressing herself and her emotions when she was younger, but has grown to become a lot more lively since then, even a little flirty to get her husband's attention now-and-then. While she is married into the royal family, she still has a good amount of influence. Nowadays she works on maintaining a strong presence as a role model for those in similar positions as herself when she was younger, that despite having a horrible accident that takes away a vital part of yourself, that there's other options in life out there to continue standing strong despite what others may say about you.

[diorstarr]

criminal minds // the autobiography of my mother, jamaica kincaid

[chdmeeksmartins]

Peyton Anna Hyde, in the au no one asked for…

With her father’s loyalty, skepticism, and love of Zeppelin and her mother’s intelligence, quick wit, and compassion… Peyton is one confident kid.

The child who was always asking why and how she learned from a young age that questioning the status quo was a good thing. It sparked her early interest in activism, and has kept her on that path ever since. With a smidge of zen sprinkled into her headstrong determination to always fight for what matters to her. Whether it’s unfair bed-times, or against dress codes being enforced at school.

A lover of ripped jeans, rock music, good poetry, Neve Campbell movies, and root beer floats.

And while she’s a sharp witted quick thinker, she’s also taken a bit after her middle-sort of namesake by having a bleeding heart. Kitty might not literally be her grandma, but she sees her as one anyways.

Peyton has a tendency to be constantly annoyed by her little brother’s lack of concern about the world, and is trying her hardest to him passionate about something. Whether it’s climate change, or feminism, or even something small like sports.

She hates apathy, almost as much as she hates skinny jeans and the state of the music industry.

[huapaiqingyuan]

in my previous post discussing chihaya’s feelings for arata, i mentioned in the tags that chihaya uses karuta as a crutch to navigate the relationships in her life. 

my previous posts have briefly touched upon/hinted about this.

the matter of fact is: a relationship doesn’t require all parties to share a common hobby to sustain itself; having one helps to facilitate interactions between the parties and thus, builds and preserves bonds. perhaps arguably, that if the parties have nothing in common, they are more prone to falling out with one another as it would require more effort to communicate.

regardless, it is not impossible. however, for chihaya, it seemingly, is because she’s come to use karuta as a crutch to navigate her relationships.

there are many instances of this: her perceived parental neglect and subsequent distance from them was only overcome by the fact, she saw her father documenting her karuta achievements from newspaper clippings—the same way he did for chitose.  chihaya’s relationship with her mother only grew closer because her mother took a more active approach into nurturing her youngest child’s hobbies. chihaya was called out by her classmate during that class trip to tokyo for being so emotionally absent on their trip, even after said classmate put in all that effort to organising the trip’s itinerary to appeal to chihaya because it was tangentially associated to karuta via the 100 poems.

there then seems to be this baseline that chihaya requires from people for emotional intimacy: karuta.

(this is also backed up by the fact chihaya seemingly requires her romantic partners to be strong in karuta as mentioned in the previous post)

hence, in chihaya’s mind, the people around her can be categorised into roughly three levels of emotional intimacy 

1) people who care about karuta  2) people who play karuta 3) people who play karuta with her on the same team

as mentioned in the tags of my previous post, her relationship with taichi best demonstrates chihaya’s crutch on karuta and how it functions because for however how brief that time was, taichi had at one point existed in a fourth category: people who hate karuta.

1. people who care about karuta: this is the level that chihaya’s parents belong into. before i delve into it proper, i do have to put a disclaimer that these “tiers” of emotional intimacy merely serve as a guide to illustrate my point. i am not saying that chihaya isn’t close with her family because they don’t play karuta. the neglect she suffered as a result of having an over-achieving sister as a tween that only grew, was the root of a rather fractured familial relationship. but karuta did help to mend this gaping bridge that was there and that’s why i say it is a crutch. 

with that out of the way, taichi, had at one point somewhat belonged in this category. taichi, during their elementary school years, participated in karuta “on the side”. his focus was still primarily his studies and soccer. this was noticed by chihaya— for she teased him about skipping soccer practice to join arata and her. hence, while he was technically playing karuta, he did not have the same fervour and passion for it as many of the characters in the cast— something that he grapples with throughout the series. despite having an already packed schedule, taichi carved out the time to take part in karuta because he could see chihaya’s passion for it. she was already pulling away from the rest of their friend group, and hence to maintain a presence in her life, he felt inclined to also participate.

(notice how no one else from their elementary school days were ever brought up again. the only friendships that survived were ones born out of karuta)

2. people who play karuta. the closest relationships chihaya has are undoubtedly the ones she formed throughout her karuta journey. this is an indisputable fact. i’ve discussed this in my previous post (from as long as we have karuta means) and i’m too lazy to rehash so i’m going to shamelessly quote myself:

they were never going to maintain their childhood dynamics. they were never going to have that same level of familiarity and closeness. this is part and parcel of growing up. this is something that was acknowledged. and it was this ackowledgement that sparked the fear that they will become strangers. 

karuta is like a balm on this hurt, on this aspect of growth, that as long as we have karuta, we will see each other again. we won’t just be a figure immortalised in faded pages of a yearbook, but an encounter to look forward to again.

karuta was both a topic that she could use as a common topic to talk about— as seen about how she immediately dived into it upon seeing arata in fukui. in fact, it was the only topic she talked about despite arata’s obvious discomfort and disdain— but also how playing karuta meant there were regular competitions in which players would convene and play together. in a way, this was, in a way, a cop out to maintaining friendships because it seems like she was almost reliant on meeting others at the next competition or at the next training. perhaps this was due to the limited funds she had as a mere highschool student which constrained her from meeting friends in other provinces. karuta made it so that they will conquer these distances and bridge that gap.

for so many players, karuta was the medium to facilitate these relationships. but it was evident, especially in the older characters, that karuta was not all that was to life; they had all formed meaningful relationships outside of it in a way that eluded chihaya. for chihaya, karuta was a crutch and it was evident in how her emails to arata were always updates of how she and mizusawa were performing in karuta. the contents of their communication hardly ever deviated outside of that.

her learning that taichi hates karuta is what devastated her because a hatred for karuta means he would no longer play. and if he did not play, how would they continue to be friends? their communication became limited and their relationship stilted. despite being mere metres away, the air between the two had become strained. her reliance on karuta and the loss of this crutch meant she was lost in how to navigate her relationship with taichi forward.

it was only when she finds out that he still played karuta that she is brought a sense of comfort… but it wasn’t enough which leads us to the next level.

3. people who play karuta with her on the same team. if chihaya formed some of her strongest relationships through karuta, it is also because these friendships were forged via being the same team.

once again, quoting myself from a previous post on the trio’s struggles:

like arata, she was still grasping to a child’s promise of karuta always linking the three of them together. she centred her life around karuta to maintain that bond, forming mizusawa’s karuta club in an mimicry of the one match the three played together.

if arata envisions the room where he plays karuta with chihaya, chihaya envisions the highfive in which the trio shared in that one team game they played together. the mizusawa team was formed because she had the opportunity to recreate this vision, even if it was only taichi with her. in fact, she took for granted that taichi would continue pursuing karuta. there was never a time, that if not for external circumstances like them being in different middle schools, that she questioned taichi’s position as her teammate. their friendship had already transcended the level of just people who play karuta, so wasn’t it natural that they continue playing together?

when taichi quits the club, it hadn’t cross her mind that he was quitting karuta on a whole. but the fear of him leaving the team had already placed a huge mental strain on her because in her mind, their scratches in their relationship that she was ignorant to and too late in realising were becoming cracks. in an effort to stop it from becoming a full-blown break, she chased after him to beg him to stay in the club because she equated him leaving mizusawa as him leaving her. she had taken his rejection of the club as a rejection of the emotional intimacy that being teammates easily afforded them.

as previously stater, taichi quitting karuta shattered in a way that arata quitting didn’t. for when arata quit, she didn’t follow in his footsteps but instead formed mizusawa in hopes that arata will one day return.

when taichi quit, her unwavering belief in karuta which shaped her relationships and worldview was destroyed. when she later rejoins mizusawa, it’s on the similar belief that taichi will return the same way arata did. (while she was proven right, this conviction is somewhat delusional but it’s a post for another day if i ever get into delving into the trio’s individual relationships with karuta)

taichi’s return to karuta should have been a comfort to chihaya— and it was— but it will always be overshadowed by the fact that it was a little too late for there will never be an opportunity for them to play as a team again. they will never be able to achieve that same level of intimacy in their lifetime.

if there is no longer an opportunity to be teammates, and taichi is still playing karuta so there is an assurance that they will meet again, then why does chihaya feel so troubled with regards to her relationship with taichi?

with arata, her problem had always been feeling inadequate — that she would not be able to play him in a match. with taichi, she had always been confident in her skill, even arguably to the point of arrogance. she wasn’t necessarily worried that she would not have the opportunity to play taichi, but nevertheless craved more from their relationship. the inadequacy with taichi plays out differently because karuta was no longer enough and she could not settle for playing in the same tournament.

she craved something on an entirely different level and was struggling to understand that because all she knew were these three levels. part of chihayafuru’s story is chihaya defining a fourth level of intimacy— one that she carved out just for taichi.

[apocalyptic-byler]

i realized i had a crush in october. ok so that means that i deserve to be given a sweater (preferably polyester) on the 3rd of december

[pizzaqueen]

I’m actually totally in love with the decor in what we see of the Harrington house

[theclowncowboy]

u guys should come to my frat party tonight. yeah its at kappa fagdyke

[ifievertoldyou]

on tHaW!tntduo and the ruler archetype

the ruler/matriarch

^

passive shadow aggressive shadow child-devouring hag ice queen

the ruler (or matriarchal) archetype, at its purest form, is seen as a healthy mom* who is emotionally available to her kid, but also gives them enough room to grow into their own person, and not just an extension of herself. if the mother doesn't give them enough space, she becomes the shadow archetype of the child-devouring hag. and if she gives them too much space, she falls into the shadow archetype of the ice queen.

*while this archetype is a feminine archetype, and i use feminine terms here, just like with any other archetype, it can be for anyone regardless of their gender.

the matriarchal archetype isn't always a parental figure, but this is a very easily observable example, and both thaw!soot and thaw!quackity do demonstrate this, with thaw!tommy for the former (since soot basically raised him too) and thaw!slime for the latter. though, of course, i will go into more detail on the other avenues that this archetype is seen in too.

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.

.

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the child-devouring hag - soot

the hag archetype is the pinnacle of smothering and codependency. people with this archetype tend to constantly search for the high of something to help them through life, whether through actual substances or through people. hags are terrified of being alone with themselves. they also tend to exert a scary amount of control over their kid, and drain the kid so that they can get the kid's 'youth.' this can sometimes be the more physical youth, like what we see mother gothel from tangled do, but it can also be that of their mental youth, like the hag preventing their children from learning important things for themselves because of their overprotective and obsessive nature.

hags are the classic example of the helicopter parent trope. the parent constantly hovers around their kid, causing the kid to not experience valuable learning moments for themselves because of the parent's need to protect, also alienating them from their peers and causing the kid to grow resentful of the parent for not treating the kid like their own person. a lot of the time, by the end of the story, the hag is faced with retaliation from the child, either by the child finally telling them how they feel, getting cut off, to straight up being offed by them. though there can be darker endings where the child stays with the hag too.

and we can see all of these traits of the hag in thaw!soot. whether it's the unhealthy attachment he has to tommy and how he basically holds onto him like he's his sole lifeline (which is definitely the most prominent example we see in literally any version of wesker's wilbur), but we can also think of the obsession that he has with quackity and las nevadas, or even the actual substances that he uses. but whatever it is, revy uses things to help himself get through life and escape his thoughts, although this is never that healthy for anybody involved.

and we've already seen how scarily possessive he gets over theseus, how even when thes asks to just go on a little walk, wilbur invites himself along with him, forcing himself into every aspect of his life, and not letting him do anything on his own. soot doesn't treat thes as his own person, but as something of his, and this, i think, best exemplifies how he fits into the hag archetype.

-

the ice queen - quackity

the ice queen is someone who tries so hard to protect themselves from getting hurt that they create an environment of hostility, often inadvertently to some extent. they're numbed by their intense emotions and push people away so as to not risk getting hurt again. ice queens are overly fluent in human nature, and become a blizzard of bitterness because of their distrust of mankind. while the hag is overly smothering with the ones they care about, the ice queen is the exact opposite. ice queens push people away so they don't get the chance to see their vulnerabilities, instead of unhealthily clinging onto those people to help feel better about their vulnerabilities, like what the hag does.

thaw!quackity is literally all of this to a T. he puts on all of these different masks for people, but none of them Ever show him vulnerable. he keeps his true feelings away from others as best as he can, causing him to be both renowned and feared in las nevadas. and the few people who do make it to his heart he would fight the entire world for. because he does care so much, but he's just so scared of showing that to people that he doesn't absolutely trust (and even during the softer moments he has with his trusted people, quackity's currently always the one doing the comforting, he doesn't let his guard down long enough to warrant getting comforted himself. because he's scared of being seen as "weak' by anyone.)

but see, quackity doesn't want everyone to be so scared of him, he still wants to be treated like a person. but he doesn't know the intentions of all these people, so he instead defaults to putting on the mask of someone who people would be far too scared of to even think about crossing. he acts all scary and untouchable, and and pushes people away from seeing the more human parts of him, because humans are weaker than ram hybrids , and he doesn't want to feel weaker ever again.

so he ices his heart from both himself and the world, making him seem emotionally constipated at best, and hostile at worst. (this is an entire other tangent entirely, but note that wendigos are also often depicted as having hearts of ice.) and while his heart does thaw (lol) a bit when he's with his cared ones, he still doesn't open up about himself all that much. his blizzard of bitterness stops for his cared ones, but the coldness doesn't entirely, because that's what he's comfortable with. which, it makes sense why all the people he cares about can see the good in him. this means that they have the capacity to stay warm, even in his instinctual coldness, so they aren't uncomfortable with it and still treat him like an actual person. which, that means a lot to quackity. he hasn't been treated like a person in so long, he's so often just been seen as either a pathetic doll or a ruthless monster. so q, tommy and slime all not seeing him as either of those, but as an actually trustworthy person 1000% contributes to him deciding to not be as harsh with them as he is with others. yes, there are other factors too, but this is a common thread i've noticed with all of them.

-

i think the fact that thaw!tntduo are really just two sides of the same unhealthy coin only adds to how distinctly they build off of each other in their dynamic, and it also explains how easily the conflicts can arise between them. because they're literally the two different extremes of the same exact archetype. they have so much in common. and yet, are so incredibly different at the same time. it's all just so interesting to me.

okok i'm done now, thank you so much for reading ^_^ <3 /p

[khaarl-i]

(( edelweiss :   what was the bravest moment in your muse’s life ?  are they known to be courageous from then on ?  

Only thing I can think of is the whole situation with “him”, but that didn’t make them brave… not really. It made them able to put aside their morals in order to survive (and to protect their loved ones).

When in crisis situation they go into 100% rational, 0% emotional mode, figuring out what they can do to control the situation, even if it means killing somebody.

Random potential situation I think illustrates it well: they're held captive and trying to escape, but there’s a guard between them and the exit. Most people would probably either try to sneak past him or just knock him out, even if it would lessen their chances of escaping. Khaarl wouldn’t hesitate to kill the guard, eliminating the potential issues.

[the-fandump]

At first, Steve was just confused.

There was already enough to deal with after the rift opened up in Hawkins. There were far too many reports of strange things happening all over town, likely due to Vecna and his monsters wreaking havoc, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. He was just lucky to avoid most of the trouble.

Then the gifts started appearing.

It started small, of course. A few dead mice and picked flowers would be left outside his door, or maybe a pretty feather or two. It was like some sort of cat had taken a liking to him.

He didn't want to be rude (whatever it was might take offense to that), so he tried to take at least a portion of every gift and leave something in return, like a small water dish or a shiny rock he'd found. Whatever was leaving the gifts seemed to like them well enough.

When the flowers (which he always took) became more common and the mice (which he usually left alone) were replaced by buttons and trinkets, he realized something. Whatever it was that was stalking him and leaving those gifts was smart enough to learn what he liked. It realized that he preferred pretty or useful things over dead animals (prey?) and changed accordingly.

That was concerning. He tried to ignore it.

Something else that confused Steve was how often he would wake up to the sounds of shifting branches outside his window, even when there was no wind. He would sometimes glimpse a large shadow if he was quick enough to look. It was too high for anything that large to climb, but he got the disconcerting feeling that it wasn't a bird up there watching him.

It was not very comforting to learn that the lock on his window was broken.

Now, Steve was not the lightest sleeper, but there were some things that could definitely wake him up.

Like when he felt something crawling into his bed.

The creeping feeling of being stared at certainly didn't help. Steve tried to keep his breathing steady, not wanting to find out what would happen should the intruder realize he was awake. If he gave himself time to adjust he would have a higher chance of making it out of this alive, so he tried not to gasp when he felt cold talons grab his body.

There was a slight jerk, and suddenly Steve was being lifted into the air, held tightly Shaina the body of whatever creature was carrying him. The cool air of the night made him shiver, but his kidnapper didn't falter.

Steve thought he heard a few words whispered into the air during his unexpected flight, things like safety and hide and mine.

That last one scared him a bit.

When he was gently placed on something soft, Steve finally got the courage to crack open his eyes.

Inches away from his face was his kidnapper, head tilted to the side as it he looked at Steve with the strangest expression.

Steve felt like he was going to faint. He recognized that face, but there was no way it could be true. It couldn't be–

"Eddie?"

Steddie idea where Eddie does come back to life as a kas-ified upside-down vamp that doesn't remember his friends and is loyal to Vecna at the moment. He's given orders to go wreak havoc in the right-side up and he goes to do so.

Nothing too sinister at first. Just stalking people at night and setting them on edge enough to call the cops and when they get there he's already gone. Animal carcasses everywhere. Just random shit.

He gets orders to target a specific group. He doesn't understand why he feels reluctant to do so but he won't let his master down. From a distance he spies one of the group his master described and goes to torment this soul but when he gets closer GOD DAMN.

This creature is GORGEOUS.

Why would his master want him to torment such a beautiful thing?

It's Steve.

Vampire Eddie falls in love with Steve at first sight and legit can't complete his mission because he's too busy trying to woo his mate and Vecna gets increasingly more frustrated at his resurrected soldier.

Vamp Eddie leaving gifts for Steve to find in the mornings, Vamp Eddie watching over him as he sleeps to make sure nothing hurts his Love, Vamp Eddie just being so freaking whipped. When he hears that Vecna plans to send others towards Steve he kidnaps Steve so he can protect him and when Steve wakes up he's just like, "EDDIE!?"

And Vamp Eddie is all heart-eyed like: "He knows my name I knew we were meant to be."