#those wacky romans

[starlooove]

I’ve said this before but y’all think black people and writers are fucking stupid when you lie about Duke being boring or hard to get into or whatever. Like black writers who care about black characters KNOW what they’re writing and who’s gonna see it. They HAVE to justify the inclusion of these characters from the jump with different stories or dynamics or they’d get buried immediately which is still happening despite their best efforts, look at Orpheus. Like it’s so disingenuous to say Duke being there doesn’t make sense in any capacity because it HAD to make sense because he KNEW he was writing a black character into a white space. Duke Thomas or Luke/Jace Fox or Onyx Adams or Gavin King could NEVER just show up at dicks door then put on the costume all whilst making fun of the dead kid and be taken seriously! They could NEVER have their personality just be “relatable” for a good chunk of years, get carried by their friend groups, and then have contradiction on contradiction stacked on their ideals and still be called the best character! They could NEVER get the 2nd longest Robin run (in character bc I have some shit to say on how Damian is being written rn) and still be called most hated! We KNOW we have to work hard when we want black stories out, we KNOW we have to have a reason for them to be there! Y’all acting like they’re just shoved in and you HAVE to like them is stupid as hell and a fucking lie I’m tired of it.

[risotto38]

tumblr is my smoke break from writing this exhaustive fuckin essay on north american shamanism

[strawberrybobamilk]

GTA Protagonists x Reader Scenarios - Spending Halloween With Them

TW: Language, suggestive ending

Claude

Halloween isn't his favorite holiday, but will have lots of fun in decorating the house, eating sweets and bingewatching movies with you anyway.

Tommy

Likes watching classic 80s horror movies with you and dressing up as the villains from those movies.

"Trick or treat motherfuckers!"

Carl

He doesn't care how old you both are, he'll happily go trick or treating with you. He'll refuse to go dressed as a ghost, vampire etc though, as he thinks they are "too generic and unoriginal".

You: "What will you dress up as then?"

CJ: "A Ballas member. Nothing is nastier than them"

Toni

He'll go trick or treating with you, dressed up as a bloodstained killer butcher.

You: "Er, interesting choice, but why?..."

Toni: "Trust me, you don't wanna know"

Victor

Will surprise you with a pumpkin pie with cute spider decorations.

"Thought it would be a nice Halloween treat, darling"

Niko

He personally never really cared about Halloween, but definitely won't say no to candy corn! Also expect Roman, Mallorie and Brucie to come visit, all dressed up in various wacky costumes.

"Well, at least it's nice here with you guys"

Johnny

For him this day is more like an excuse to wear vampire fangs (he secretly has a thing for vampires).

"Damn you look hot, can you keep those on next month too? Or even better, forever?"

Luis

Will make his club serve pumpkin flavored cocktails to celebrate.

"Come over here and have a taste Y/N! It's free for you, like always"

Huang

Will buy more candy than usual during october. He says it's in order to ensure they have a good stock of them for october 31th, but you know it's just an excuse. Will wake up feeling sick on november 1st.

You: "I told you to not eat so much candy Huang!"

Huang: "Urgh, it's not the candy Y/N, it's... something that's not the candy, okay?!"

Franklin

He'll just chill with you and watch horror movies together.

"Alright let's do this, gotta use my Vinewood+ subscription somehow!"

Michael

Similarly to Franklin, he will (DEFINITELY) watch horror movies with you, but only the older ones.

"Ahhh, the old classics, the newer ones focus too much on jumpscares and gore"

Trevor

Loves Halloween, its spooky and gritty atmosphere, and will carve pumpkins with you already by september 1st. Just don't ask him why do those pumpkins have "questionable" holes.

"It's called a pumpkink sweetcheeks"

[clove-pinks]

Constantin Hansen, Et selskab af danske kunstnere i Rom, 1837 (Wikimedia Commons).

A very special Eighteen-Thirties Thursday today as I have finally learned the correct word for those wacky huge tobacco pipes that were in vogue with Europeans in the early to mid-19th century.

It is a Turkish style of pipe called a chibouk ("stick"); also romanized čopoq, ciunoux or tchibouque. The more you know! Constantin Hansen's 1837 painting of Danish artists in Rome has many lovely details in high resolution, including chibouk pipes.

[blood-mocha-latte]

director's commentary for the 60s au please :)

fanfic writers directors cut

the morning sun my accidental roman empire... my darling... since i already talked about it in a previous ask, choosing a new section to yap about:

The other one wasn’t paying attention, bright blue eyes pinned to Joe instead, which was rather unsettling. “Hi.” He said, warmer than before, and the other coughed immediately afterwards, disbelieving. 

“Are you kidding, Web, or are you just—”

“What? Look at him, I’m just being—”

“You’re being a sl—”

“Okay.” George said over both of them, and Joe jumped, surprised, when George grabbed his hand, began pulling him along again. “We’re going to Perco’s bedroom. Ignore them.”

“Those are your friends?” Joe asked, feeling rather shell shocked.

“No.” George said, quick. He shot a look over his shoulder, seemingly annoyed, and his fingers tightened around Joe’s palm. “They’re just over here, sometimes. They help make signs. No one likes them all that much.”

Joe was starting to regret agreeing to this. “Okay.” He said, and hoped he didn’t sound too freaked out.

this fic's already 30k so i had to cut A Lot of parts out, but there's a deleted scene that basically goes more into webgott in this. and by that, i mean that they're both very Reactive and Wacky and web has a weird Thing for toye and no one can figure out if he's serious about it or not.

this was also my shout-out to yet ANOTHER deleted section where toye's basically just Overwhelmed by everything about luz's life and luz is like "EVERYONE STOP BEING WEIRD. he's kind of flighty." alas, 30k is already More than it should be for a oneshot, and so the deleted scenes folder of the fic is almost as big as the fic itself 😔

thank you for the ask!!!

[mixedupmojo]

Dating monkey king JCA

This guy is seriously underrated. Which is a pity as he is such a fun character (at least in my opinion) So I have decided to rectify that. Here are some head canons for what it would be like to date the monkey king from Jackie Chan adventures. 

(I feel like this is one of those pieces of writing that borderline both good and bad. Any way enjoy)

• The moment he sets his sights his sight on you it's all over. The boy is totally love-struck, we're talking heart eyes, floating cartoon hearts, shot with cupids arrow, the works, he is gone. • And your life will forever be a lot more chaotic as he has made it his mission to woo you (as well as enact a long list of pranks but that can be put aside for late first ROMANCE!) • Get ready from now on your life will be filled with over-the-top, cheesy, grand romantic gestures and wacky shenanigans. • He will do anything to win your affection. Some of these instances include: -flooding part of your city/town so he can take you on a romantic gondola ride -coming home after a long day only to open your door and be swamped with a tidal wave of flowers. And after finally managing to dig yourself out, only to find that your entire home is bucay upon bucay full of them -flirts with you constantly. This sometimes develops into a whole skit. Referencing some type of Romanic pop culture the best example is the Romeo and Juliet speech. -popping up out of nowhere so he can talk and hang out with you. Which slowly devolves into him trying to show off and impress you. Will also randomly kidnap you every now and then to take you on spontaneous dates   - during a romantic dinner he is pulling some bugs bunny level stunts one moment he's your date next he's acting as the waiter, then he's the chief, then a violin player, etc....etc..... Just switching between all of these different roles all the while still holding a conversation with you. it's honestly quite funny especially when he gets in an argument with himself over the fact that the waiter is flirting with you despite it literally being himself -giving you interesting/expensive pieces of jewellery. And you later find out via the news that he took them from a museum or some fancy jewellery store. And subsequently having to find a way to sneakily return it so you don't get in trouble (or keep it I don't know your moral compass ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) • Eventually, if you agree to be his s/o he will be over the moon and you will have gained yourself one over-the-top but very dedicated lover • Has made it his personal mission to make you laugh as he loves the sound of your laughter, especially a full blown belly laugh. the first time he got you to laugh like that made him so soft he practically melted into a puddle of goo. but whatever you do, do not fake laugh! at any one of his jokes, I'm serious. as he will get extremely upset with you and it will devolve into a full blown fight. That will require a lot of apologising and making up on your part to get him to forgive you. • Expect a lot of cheesy pet names from honey bunch, snookums, schmoopsie woopsie boobear slowly getting more and more ridiculous/sickly sweet the further he goes on. Stop him before he goes too far and you throw up from the sweetness. • On a side note, he will call you his queen • Very physically affectionate. He is always touching you somehow, whether it be slinging an arm around your shoulders, holding your hand as he drags you off on your next adventure or having his tail wrapped around your waist • He's a nuzzler. So watch out because that beard of his tickles and he will use it against you • He has done the whole kiss up your arm thing while calling you sweet pet names or just generally praising you • He knows how to keep you on your toes there is never a dull moment when you're with him • I don't know why but I think he would be a bit of a movie buff, based on all of the pop culture references he makes in the show. as such he love's watching films together with you, however, he cannot sit still for the life of him. Not to mention he would talk throughout the duration of the film. I can guarantee at the end of the movie there will be popcorn everywhere. • On a side note, another thing you end up doing a lot together is performing. He absolutely loves to be at the centre of attention and craves the spotlight. And with you being his partner he will want you there with him. And often drag you along to join in on his act, whether it be acting, magic, stand-up comedy, dancing, or karaoke. he just wants to include you in something that he enjoys and overall for the both of you to have fun together (on a side note he does not care if you're not good at any of it or if you both look silly he just wants to have fun with you). However, if you’re the type of person who very much enjoys staying out of the spotlight he will respect that but expects you to be a part of the audience cheering him on.   • loves it when you play with his hair and will pretty much let you do anything with it. Which means you can braid it to your heart's content. • Will include you with his wacky costume changes often giving you an outfit to match his • Playing pranks on various people, and just because you’re his significant other don’t think that you're safe, as he will prank you too. Usually, it's just some ploy to trick you into kissing him, however, some of them are purely at your expense. if he ever takes things too far though and makes you upset or "gasp" the unthinkable makes you cry. He will make it up to you with a huge grand gesture and once things calm down, offer you a soft heartfelt apology • If you have a similar sense of humour as him he would love it if you were his partner in crime • Pitching in on prank planning becomes part of your quality time together • Helping him out whenever he gets stuck in doll form be it by finding someone he can swap places with or through some other magical means. And for whatever reason, if there is ever a scenario where you're the one to swap places with him and become a doll, he will stop at nothing to find a way you turn you back all the while taking care of you while you're in your doll form. • He is still salty over what Jackie and jade did to him and is still looking for revenge against the two. Personally, You have nothing against the two and actually get along with them whenever the monkey king is not around. (there have been multiple occasions where you have ended up having tea with uncle, getting food with Tohru or jade, having in-depth conversations with Jackie or getting into mischief with jade) However now and then you may end up getting roped into whatever crazy scheme he concocted to get back at them. But most of the time you're just observing from the sidelines. • When the Chans first met you they first thought you were being mind controlled or manipulated in some way and subsequently ended up kidnapping you only to find out on you worn't and you just really loved this goofy monkey. Needless to say, the monkey king was not at all pleased to find out you had been kidnapped, and by his enemies no less. Which results in him coming to rescue you (not kidding he actually road in on a horse dressed as a knight in shining armour to come and get you) this result in a series of hijinks that get weirder and weirder as. one monkey king is trying to protect you. babying you all the while, after all, you have just gone through a traumatic experience being kidnapped and all (even though they were very nice kidnappers). Two, him trying to get some well-deserved payback ( at least in his eyes) against those who kidnapped you aka the Chans. and three, you trying to stop him from committing a felony while simultaneously trying to show that you're ok. it finally ends with half of the city in chaos, Jackie and the fam a little worst wears, section 13 freaking out over the damage and with you now officially on their radar and with you completely exhausted and very much in need of a nap with a clingy monkey at your side.    

• The monkey king doing something ridiculous in the background Jade: What do you see in him y/n: he makes me laugh

• Stopping him when his pranks take a more harmful or lethal turn. As seen in the show this boys humour can get pretty dark • He gets jealous really easily, and can't stand not being the centre of your attention. And as such this does cause problems within your relationship but after sitting him down and telling him how much this is damaging your relationship. He will back off and try to be a bit better for your sake with only the occasional relapse here and there. • At the end of the day, he really does love you and would do anything for you

[ragnarlothcat]

6, 7, 15, and 8

Hello my vampire buddy and thank you 💙(for this fic writer ask game)

6. the word that appears the most in your current draft (wordcounter.net can tell you)

I have like 80 drafts but in the one I opened most recently the word is Ventress. Which makes sense since my first draft tends to be super fragmented, mostly dialogue with the speaker's name slapped next to it so I remember who's talking. The funny thing is I haven't even decided if I'm going to use her first name or her last name for this fic so there's a decent chance I remove almost all of those!

7. your preferred writing fonts

Honestly I'm so boring because I just use whatever Microsoft Word gives me. It was Calibri for ages but I opened a new document the other day and suddenly it's something called Aptos? I tried writing in it and it's fine, or fine enough that I'm not going to bother switching it to anything else!

I will say that I refuse to write in a serif font. I briefly tried Times New Roman and it made me feel like I was back in school. Rancid vibes. I am not nearly fancy enough to require serifs!

8. if you had to write a sequel to a fic, you’d write one for…

I've been making noises about writing an à la carte wedding sequel for like 3 years now but there's a reason I haven't! I know a lot of my fics are just slice of life but I do need some conflict, no matter how insignificant. What would that even be??? The caterer brings the wrong kind of cake and Anakin has a meltdown?

Instead I will say I'd like to write a sequel to as holy and enchanted because I've talked about it often enough and it would be the adventures of ridiculous god Obi-Wan failing at acclimatizing to human society. Wacky mishaps and random acts of violence!

15. favorite weather for writing

Rain! But I must specify that it has to be the kind of rain that doesn't give me a migraine. If it's good, cooperative rain I can wrap myself in blankets and have a great time!

[annachum]

I had this headcanon of what if the Clones in Clone High can actually speak to their Clone parents via a spiritual convo gadget ( cuz why not )

Here are some of my HCs of how some of their Clone parents be like with their Clone kids :

. Look, considering the fact that their Clone parents lived in different times as them, those clones are bound to have some wild advice

. Vincent Van Gogh be a gentle and artistic parent who tries his best to help his Clone son battle through depression. It breaks his heart seeing his Clone son having depression as he does, so one way for him to try help his Clone son is through art therapy ( it works, most of the time )

. Julius Caesar be kinda like that military, athletic dad who has high hopes in his Clone son and trains him in military and politics related shit. But if he comes to Caesar and cries to him about heartbreak and stuff, ofc Caesar is gonna lend him a shoulder to cry on ( after all, Romans are encouraged to embrace their emotions growing up ).....while having murder on his mind

. Cleopatra VII be that glam mom whom Cleo Smith looks up highly too but sometimes wonders how tf she can live up to her Clone mom's big name. And sometimes, Cleopatra sometimes tries to help her Clone daughter compose herself more ( I bet Julius Caesar and Mark Antony prepared her for her Clone daughter )

. In fact, sometime after Clone High began, Caesar and Cleopatra are reunited through a series of trials and such in afterlife planes ( cuz Cleopatra avoided him all these years due to her thinking that he doesn't love her anymore regarding the whole Actium War thing, the Egyptian Gods are at cold war situation with the Greco Roman gods for centuries since the Actium War until sometime after WW2 and such ) and the two basically agreed to co parent each other's Clone kids. Bless

. Abraham Lincoln is kind of like an ' old school ' type of dad to Abe who loves his Clone son and wants the best for Abe. He also tries his best to encourage Abe to develop more of a backbone and stand up to ' big headed machos ' from being pushed around ( by JFK Jr and Julius Jr before they eventually sincerely apologized )

. Genghis Khan be kinda like that scary dude in PTA meetings but actually doting and caring to his Clone son and wanted the best for him. He keeps saying that his Clone is his 366th child ( I heard Genghis Khan ended up having 365 Kids and 1001 grandkids- DAMN )and trains Genghis Jr in fitness, politics and such

. Joan of Arc be a cool lesbian mom who supports her Clone daughter's dreams and sexual orientation, and ofc gives her Clone daughter sound advice. Joan of Arc knew from the get go that Abe doesn't deserve Joan Jr ( HAAAAA!!!! )

. Confucious be kinda like Master Oogway and/or Shifu to his Clone son's Po - trains him in philosophy, defense combat and such And gives his Clone son sound advice

. Frida Kahlo be like a wacky cool mom to her Clone daughter, encouraging her Clone daughter's artistic passions and talents and the two be regularly exchanging artistic ideas with each other. Bless.

. Harriet Tubman be giving her Clone daughter tips on how to fight racist thugs ( YASSS!!!! ) and also encourages her Clone daughter's dreams and hopes and gives her Clone daughter some solid advice.

. JFK be kinda like a 50s/60s athletic dad to his Clone son, encouraging his athletic and political prowesses and such. JFK sometimes find himself having to ensure his Clone son doesn't do anything TOO stupid tho.

. Sacagawea be that ' cool ' mom to her Clone daughter who teaches her Clone daughter about embracing her heritage and geography and such, ofc she gives her Clone daughter several sound advices too

. Some of the clones have some DNA from those with close relations to their Clone parents

. Julius Jr got some DNA from Caesarion and therefore has recessive DNA from Cleopatra VII. JFK Jr got some DNA from John John Kennedy and therefore has recessive DNA from Jackie Bouvier. Cleo Smith got some DNA from Cleopatra Selene II, and Abe got some DNA from Mary Todd Lincoln

. Genghis Jr got some DNA from Empress Borte ( Genghis Khan's chief wife )

. Several clones of rulers be bonding over how tough it can be to bear the weighs of their ancestry on their shoulders

[oatmealdaydreams]

An Emerald Crown

Come suffer with me

Pairings: Creativitwins, platonic DLAMPR (background), gen

Trigger/Content Warning: intrusive thoughts, abandonment issues, suicidal thoughts & ideation, suicidal Remus, panic attacks, dissociation, suicide attempt (kind of?), touch-starvation

Description: On bad days, Remus wants nothing more than to be taken care of. The Imagination obliges when no one else will.

Extra: Hey look, it's "The Imagination is some entity of its own and is overly protective of the twins" hours. It's angst time, folks. Come suffer with me!

[Masterlist] | ao3 link

[Read under the cut]

The Imagination doesn't just answer to Creativity's call, but it tends to have a mind of its own, as well. 

So, when one of the twins is a little too lost and distressed? It will not hesitate to take care of them. Sometimes, that means leading them to a calm, warm place to let them rest in. Sometimes, that means closing itself off from everyone but the twins and not letting anyone near them until they're okay again.

Sometimes... sometimes that means stopping them from doing very harmful things before they end up Faded. 

~~~

Ya know, sometimes it just hurts too much to be alive. 

Okay, not alive, per se. Just existing. Sometimes existing is overwhelming and people say things, and then your f*cking thoughts are roaring at you- and all you want to do is tear off your skin and bury yourself ten feet underground. Let your corpse rot away and fertilize the soil. Let your lungs and organs decay and molt and feed the damn maggots wiggling in your stupid f*cking bones. How'd they get there? They'd have to bite into your skin and eat their way through veins and muscle to get to your bones. God, and now they won't stop wiggling inside of you and it's just so awful. 

Remus' bad days are a lot worse than the Others could ever imagine. 

Have you seen the sh*t he deals with on a good day? He isn't just the crude humour and uncomfortable commentary parts of Intrusive Thoughts. He's all of it. He tends to the Nightmare realm when he sleeps- which is dumb that he has to work when he sleeps- and that entails whatever wacky sh*t that the Others have going on inside their heads. He sees things and hears voices and knows the little shadow monsters that everyone has. It's not all bad. Virgil's monster loves to snap and bite at Roman's, and it's really f*cking funny when they start to brawl. It distracts them from spilling lies into those two's heads, at least. He can hear when the Others have those slimey, icky thoughts. When Logan thinks his value is equal to what he produces, when Janus is stuck in his own threads of lies and overcorrects everything, when Patton feels grey and numb and so lost because he's not sure what's helpful anymore. And when that happens, he always helps because f*ck that. They don't deserve to be tormented like that, and he loves them. He cares. He cares, and he won't let any sh*t even touch them if he can help it. So yes, he f*cking helps them out when those dumbass thoughts get overwhelming. 

Now see, Remus thrives on chaos. That much is clear, considering he's him and he's a little trash kraken. He loves throwing people off. It's really funny when they try to chase after him for exploding the kitchen again, even though they never quite catch him as he cackles down the halls. 

But as much fun it is to f*ck with the Others, he isn't exactly... excluded from being f*cked with. He has his own sh*t, his own intrusive thoughts. I mean, of course he does. He is Intrusive Thoughts, it wouldn't be more fitting for him to suffer alongside everyone else. And he's learned to manage them! They're not all that bad. Houses on fire and knocked out brothers? Not that bad. 

It's just when they get louder do they get more graphic. 

Sometimes the more graphic things are fine. Really, they are! Who doesn't like messy dissections of frogs and Lovecraftian horrors stitched together like a kid poorly made a f*cked up plushie for their friend? It's fine. Those are tolerable. It's fine. 

Then, there are the times when... when they aren't very manageable. 

When they start to whisper old lies from past arguments, how bad memories could become real again, why would they ever care about you? Worthless and irritating, it's a surprise that they even tolerate you. They'd leave you if Thomas let them. They'd leave you without a second thought if given the choice. Oh, why would they ever love you? Stupid child. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

You're so worthless.

Remus has bad days, and today is one of those days. 

~~~

He's not sure if it starts with waking up, but it starts somewhere. 

As per usual of the Others, debates and arguments are being flung around like monkeys throwing their own literal sh*t at a f*cking wall. Or like viscera splattering on the ceiling. Something happened with Thomas that made the resident emo freak out, and Logan is too busy trying to calm him down to deal with whatever the f*ck Janus and Patton are arguing about. Probably some dumb moral crap that he couldn't care less about. Or maybe some weird parenting differences when it comes to Virgil. Out of everything that's happened, no one expected them to become co-parents- but hey, might as well. At least they aren't throwing hands. Actually, no. That'd be more interesting and fun to watch than this sh*t. 

And Roman is trying to butt in with actual good advice for once, but hey, no one's listening and Remus is this f*cking close to hitting them all with his morningstar. God, do they ever shut up? He's literally right there. Roman's hard to miss. But yep- oh, Virgil's freak out is leaking to the Parents(tm) and now they're all joined into a mismatched argument. Great. 

So yeah, a normal f*cking day. 

Thomas already agreed to relax and take it easy, what the f*ck are they even arguing about?

Maybe you should leave.

He ignores his brain. That one's nothing new.

Leave them alone. They don't need you.

That one's also nothing new. 

"Virgil, there's nothing we can do right now. Please, just try to calm-"

"Don't tell me to f*cking calm down!" 

"Language."

"Yes, because his swearing habit is definitely the thing we should be focusing on."

"Virgil, please just listen-"

"No. No, Logan, you need to listen! It's f*cked and we f*cked up and I-" 

Virgil gasps and chokes, unable to breathe properly. It's like his lungs are bound and tied by horrible rope, and he can't stop shaking.

"Whoa, kiddo-"

"Oh, sweetie-"

Virgil nearly staggers, but Patton catches him as terrified tears fall down his face. He's stuttering gasps and breathing sharply, and- oh, sh*t. Sh*t.

"Hey, hey. We've got you, sweetheart. Just breathe with us, okay?"

"Can't-"

"You can, sweetie. It's alright. Shh, just breathe."

Virgil whines, and then Logan is holding his hand and rubbing soft circles on his knuckles. Virgil's Tempest Tongue still bleeds through his voice like watery tar. 

It takes a while before anyone speaks again. Luckily, this specific attack appears to be a short one.

"There we are, little one," Logan speaks gently as his friend tries to get a hold of breathing again. 

The encouragement urges him to keep trying. Eventually, his panic lets him have his lungs back and he's trembling less. He slumps in Patton's hold, now exhausted, and gets passed off to Janus as the other two mutter about arranging something. A pair of hands hold him tight, the warmth of another person filling his chest with safe, safe, safe. Another hand is carding through his hair, and a fourth one is thumbing away any stray tears. Virgil nearly closes his eyes. 

Roman joins Patton and Logan, summoning the fluffiest blankets he can think of and asking where they want them. The Others are making a soft little nest of comfort on the couch. Janus is holding on to a now-clingy lump of spiderling, and said spiderling is refusing to let go. As everything is set up, they all move to the nest and Virgil is cuddled relentlessly by the Others. His head is in Janus' lap, laying across Logan's and Patton's legs, and Roman is making sure everyone's comfily snuggled up together. Janus still cards a hand through the emo's hair. Logan is tracing patterns on his arm. Patton holds his ankles loosely and hums a calming lullaby. Virgil feels warm and safe, and exhausted. His eyes close as someone suggests a distracting and quiet movie, so he can just rest. His breathing evens out as he hears Janus mutter something about yes, sweetie. you can sleep, it's alright. 

All while this happens, Remus stands there, frozen and distant. 

All he can hear is his own blood roaring in his ears, and the dumb little words his brain likes to tell him. 

You can't do anything right, can you? Why are you just standing there? He needs help, and you do nothing. What the f*ck is wrong with you, not helping your older brother?

It's like someone blocked out every other sound. Ya know his ability, the one where he can muffle out everyone else and then his 'target' can only hear him? Remember when he used that on Thomas, in his introductory video? Yeah, that was fun.

But now it feels like someone else is mimicking his ability and doing it to him, and he hates it. He hears his thoughts and his blood and nothing else. What, did his ears decide to be picky? Why would they do that? Stupid f*cking ears. That's not how they're supposed to work. He's supposed to hear things. Hear the Others, hear whatever the f*ck they're talking about. How else is he supposed to do his job? Motherf*cker.

And his limbs and joints are frozen, stuck like they need oil or something. He's a stood-still tree, a demented statue. He's still standing in his spot in front of the TV, staring distantly, and omg- limbs, please move. 

No one's paying attention. I need to move, why can't I move?

Why would they pay attention to you? They need to look after Virgil. He's more important. You're just a little worthless pest.

Stupid, hopeless pest.

He wants to scream at his brain to shut up, but his throat is thick with ash and dust. It's dry and cracking like a crumbling cliff into the sea below. Maybe he's the cliff, crumbling down. Drowning aimlessly into a sea. He can't move, so maybe he is really drowning. 

And he wants to help Virgil. He f*cking knows how to help him. For Devil's sake, he lived with him for years, of course he knows how to help. Virgil was there when he was a newly-separated Side, lost and confused in the dark. He and Janus took him in. Virgil was like his older brother. He always took care of him, even when he felt scared or uneasy around him. He cared. He still cares. He needs to help his older brother. 

Let me move! I want to help him, let me help!

Why would he want you? You can't even do anything. Do you not care anymore? Is that really how you should treat a brother?

He doesn't notice when he starts trembling. All he knows is he can't move and can't help, and he feels so useless. Seeing Virgil hurt and panicking scares him. He wants his friend to be okay. He wants him to be safe. 

But he can't do anything.

It'd be better if you weren't there at all. Then, you wouldn't be hurting him by being so useless. Leave, leave and never hurt anyone ever again.

"...Re?"

Remus doesn't hear whoever calls for him, sinking out as soon as he can move again. 

~~~

Remus' crown is silver and cracked, adorned with shiny emeralds. 

It's a pretty sight. Something broken still being something important and beautiful. It's supposed to be symbolic for how Remus is, or at least just a cool accessory for him to wear around his own kingdom. His kingdom is a bit more chaotic and messy than Roman's, perfectly reflecting who Remus is. His 'half'. Well, not so much as his 'half' as it's simply his domain and section of the Imagination. 

Back when the twins were still getting used to being two instead of One, they figured out a system for creating in the Imagination. I mean, the Imagination itself might've helped a little, but the twins were pretty proud of themselves for coming to an agreement. They would have their own spaces to create whatever they wanted, Roman's fanciful kingdom and Remus' nonsensical nightmare-land. But, though having separate spaces, they also made a space for them to share. To create things together, just like being One again. Sometimes, when one or both of the brothers needs to seek refuge, they go to their shared space to just exist there. 

Maybe it's all the messy nostalgia of being closer as kids, or the faintest feeling of being whole, but it's Remus' favourite place to go when days get bad. All the creations they made as kids still stand tall and mighty, unwavered by time and conflict. It's the one space the twins wouldn't ever dare to ruin or touch. It holds too many memories, too many safe nights under the stars. 

There's a small tower there. It's protected by a lava-and-eldritch-horror moat to keep those inside safe and warm. Remus had made the moat; Roman made the tower. It has nothing but comfort inside. A bed of the fluffiest blankets and softest pillows, weighted plushies to hug to you until you snooze away, a fireplace that can be adjusted to your heart's content. Colours of mixed gold and silver, red and green. It's the safest place there. 

And maybe that's why, as Remus sinks out from that damn living room, he yearns to go there. 

Since he is Creativity, just like Roman, Remus can sink into the Imagination without having to use one of the doors in the Mindscape that leads there. And just like Roman, he doesn't even need to think about it. Just a feeling, maybe a yearning, and he's there. 

And that's where he falls to. He sinks inside that safe tower, plopping himself straight- ha, 'straight'- onto the warmest bed he's ever laid on. He's still in his average Duke outfit, but a quick snap of his fingers fixes that. Now in soft things, he buries himself under a large weighted kraken. He wraps the tentacles around himself, reminding him of his own. Hiding his face in the plushie, his own green tentacles sprout from his back and cling onto the weight on him. It's like being hugged and hugging back- which is something he doesn't remember too well. When was the last time anyone gave him a proper hug? 

...not for a while, it seems. 

Suffocate in it. Why would they ever touch you, creep? You always damage whatever you touch.

That's a relatively normal thought for him, but with all the everything from today? It just adds to the mound of f*ck-you his brain is throwing at him. And the reason it hurts is because it isn't wrong. He knows not to listen to icky greenish thoughts, but he's made of those. So... it just- f*ck. Just f*cking God.

Virgil is still semi-scared of him. Patton freaks out, disturbed by anything he says or does. Logan just seems so bored with him, just like he's a little pest and Logan is the Bug Exterminator meant to squash him into bug bits. Janus is used to him, but in such a way that he just... he knows how to tune him out and ignore him. How to distract his attention. He shouldn't be enticed by some of things he contributes, but it's not all like that. He's not just Intrusive Thoughts. He's also Creativity, and Janus knows that. He knows that, but he never seems to act like it. He just... pushes everything aside. Janus wasn't always like that, but when Virgil left? After Virgil left for the Lights, things just continued downhill. Remus should be used to it by now. It's been happening for a long while. 

And Roman? Well...

We've all heard how he feels, haven't we?

All that being said, who the hell would ever touch him? Hug him, hold him? Dry his tears? Yeah. Yeah, that's... yeah.

Remus' crown is small- so is Roman's, technically, for being a prince- and it sits heavy on his head. Like now. He can feel the weight of Duke on his head. He shakes his head, and it won't fall off. Right. When the twins were still young, they'd made it so their crowns wouldn't ever fall. They dualled a lot- god, how long ago was it when we last did that?- and with all that exercise and moving around, enchanting the crowns was common sense. Sometimes, Remus forgets how close they once were. Certainly nothing like now, that's for sure. 

He tries again. The crown stays stubborn atop his head. He wishes it would just let go. 

But when does he ever get what he wants? 

He huffs, giving up. The crown feels heavier, especially since he just tried to refuse it. Now it's not the weight of Duke that hurts, but the weight of brother and Creativity that makes his heart ache. He hugs the kraken tighter, wishing it would just crush him into the little pest that he believes himself to be. 

Pest? Oh please, you're far worse than a pest. An annoying little brat, a useless little Duke. You don't deserve that crown, now do you?

...do I?

Do you?

Does he? Does he deserve a crown atop his head, pretty and shining? Does he? Does he? 

Maybe he did once, when he was young and still learning the things he could do as Creativity. But does he now? Now, does he? He isn't sure. Has he ever been sure? Perhaps not. If he doesn't deserve a crown, then what does he f*cking deserve?

Nothing.

Nothing?

You deserve nothing, nothing at all.

Nothing at all. I deserve nothing.

A question, an option, a decision- it settles in his gut, twisting his intestines like the wrong kind of moth. 

If I deserve nothing, then... shall I stay? Is it worth staying?

His mind goes quiet, finally, for the first time that day. 

Oh, I see.

He decides, chooses, answers the question. The silence of his mind is deafening. The silence is the answer, and it feels resigned. As if there was never any use in fighting in the first place. 

I understand now.

But he doesn't. No, he doesn't understand. But he isn't one to back out once a decision is made. 

It's so easy and simple. Why haven't I done this before? It's so easy.

Easy, yes, but that's the problem. Why is it so easy for him to come to this conclusion? And it's not like he hasn't thought of this before. Maybe that's why it comes so quick to his mind. Maybe that's why, but that still doesn't make it okay. He deserves to be okay; why can't he see that? Is he really that far in his head, trapped in unwanted thoughts?

Yes, it appears he is. 

He wonders if a note is worth leaving, just a simple goodbye, but decides against it. 

Who would ever f*cking care if I was gone?

The Imagination shudders as Remus thinks such a thought.

~~~

The Imagination is a lot more sentient than the Others realize. It's also very observant. 

It sees a lot of things. It sees the little Duke sink out into the safety of the tower. It sees him cry and try to hide behind a weighted kraken. It sees how he is lost in thoughts, most of them intrusive. It feels the sad, the upset, the confusion. It feels the resignation as a final decision settles in the little Duke's mind, determination following. It sees how he tried to refuse his crown and how he seems so upset that it won't let go. It feels how tired he is. It sees, it feels, and it is horrified as its precious Creativity decides a note isn't worth it. It's horrified not because of a lack of a note, but because of what that means. It realizes what he intends to do, and it shudders. It realizes, and it's horrified for its little Duke. 

The Imagination is furious. 

Not at Remus- no, never at Remus, it adores him- but at whoever let him suffer like this. How long did they let him feel so low? It knows he struggles, and it's seen him on bad days, yes. But... but they've never gotten this bad. Are his thoughts always this hostile? Has it just never noticed? Who the f*ck hurt its baby like this?

The Imagination sees its little Duke, its baby, sitting up on the bed. His tentacles are put away. He's moved the kraken off of him, sitting at the edge as he plots. He thinks. He's thinking of ways to- oh, poor child. Please, please do not leave. 

It hears his thought rise up again. Who would miss me? he thinks. 

I would, my precious Duke. Both of us, your brother would miss you. He loves you, can't you see? I love you, my child, I do. I do.

There's a window on the tower. It's big enough to be an entrance on its own, but it's designed to be a big and open window. The Imagination blows a breeze to the little Duke, ruffling his hair. It sees the tears still silently falling down his face. It sends a stronger wind, not too strong, and ruffles his hair again. He sighs shakily, closing his eyes for a moment. He knows it's the Imagination. Of course it is, who else would notice? It always notices, always.

He lets the Imagination ruffle his hair a third time before he opens his eyes. 

"I'm sorry," is all he can say, sounding ages older and so tired.

Oh, the poor thing. The poor, tired little Duke. The Imagination wants to tell him no, you have nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault, little Duke. It's okay. Stay, please stay with me. But it cannot speak, not exactly. Sometimes, it wishes it could. It would be so much easier to comfort its babies. 

It still finds ways to comfort and keep them safe, though. 

When the little Duke stands up, probably decided on a how to what he plans to do, the Imagination immediately blows a forceful gust of wind that makes the Duke fall back onto the bed. No, it insists stubbornly, stay. Stay. The little kraken huffs as he stands again, only for the Imagination to repeat itself. Stay, precious child, it says. Please, just rest and stay here. He starts to get frustrated as the Imagination won't stop insisting. It's pleading. 

"Just let me go. I wanna go, just let me go," he begs the Imagination. 

It hurts, it f*cking burns to see its baby like this. How to get him to stay, what would make him stay? Who would- oh. Oh, yes. It can do that.

It whispers, it calls, it tugs. It tugs, and a familiar Prince is summoned right next to the bed. The little Prince is dazed for a moment, but he shakes it away. He wears his usual outfit, red sash and white collared shirt. He looks around, curious as to why the Imagination brought him here, before realizing where he was. And who was sitting on the edge of the bed, in soft things, staring wide-eyed at him. As soon as he sees the tear streaks on his brother's face, he snaps himself into his own soft things.

"Remus? Is this where you've been? I was looking- hey. Oh, hey." 

He must've started crying again because the little Prince has this soft, caring look on his face. The Duke pales and f*cking shakes as his twin comes closer. He flinches away when he reaches out to touch him, and the Prince makes a comforting noise. 

What the f*ck, what the f*ck. No, he can't be here. Please, not like this. Please, please, please-

"Oh, Re. Hey, it's okay. I'm here, you're okay." 

No, no, no, no, no-

"Re, Remus. I need you to breathe, okay? Can you breathe with me?" 

He shakes his head violently, trying to inch away from his brother. 

"You can, it's okay. I believe in you. You can do it, come on."

The Imagination watches as its little Prince tries to coax his poor brother into breathing. It waits. It watches. 

Roman grabs Remus' hand- gently- and Remus flinches. He whimpers. 

Warm, warm, too warm. Too warm, it's too much-

"What- oh. Oh, Re, come 'ere." 

Roman manages to carefully scoop up his brother in his arms. Remus can't move, let alone breathe, and all he does is shake and cry and whimper. Roman knows not to overwhelm him, so he resists the urge to hug him tight. He simply sits him in his lap, rubbing a firm hand on his back. Remus gasps at the touch, subconsciously leaning into it. 

Warm, warm, warm, so warm, too warm, not warm enough, warm, warm.

"There you go, it's okay. I've got you, Re. Yes- there you go. I've got you, you're okay."

Remus can't bite back a sob as Roman coaxes him to lean on him. He leans against his chest, his head hidden under Roman's chin. He can feel Roman's chest and throat rumble as he holds him. A hand brings his own to feel a heartbeat in his chest. He feels Roman's heartbeat, steady and unwavering, beneath his palm. His lungs shudder as he tries breathing in. 

"Come on, Re. Try again, it's okay. Breathe." 

Remus tries again, and again and again and again. He tries as Roman holds him steady, holds him firm and still. It takes a while, but eventually he can breathe again. His eyes droop as his brother's hand moves from rubbing his back to carding through his hair. He melts, so tired and exhausted from today. The burning slows recedes into simple warmth as he stays in Roman's arms. He breathes. Roman breathes. He wraps his arm around Remus and holds him tighter, and all Remus can think is warm, warm, warm.

"That was a lot, huh? You got it all out, Rem?"

Remus hums sleepily. Roman chuckles. 

"...do you wanna talk about it?"

Remus stills, and Roman immediately wishes he never asked. 

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to if you don't wanna. It's okay, Re. You're safe, you're okay."

Remus lets himself relax again, and Roman sighs in relief. There're a few moments of quiet that makes the Prince think his brother fell asleep. That is, until he speaks in the smallest voice Roman's ever heard. 

"'ant to go."

"'Go'? Go where, Rem?"

Remus avoids looking at him, instead just burying himself into Roman's chest. Where would he want to go that would cause such distress? Where? Is it somewhere in the Imagination? Is it somewhere he doesn't know about? What could- 

It clicks. 

Oh. Oh, God.

His mouth is dry and feels like sandpaper as he realizes what Remus means. Go. 

No, no no. Oh Re, no. I don't want you to go. 

He tightens his hold on his twin, planting a kiss on his head of hair. He misses the cracked crown by an inch. He always thought it was unfair that Remus got the broken one. He never understood why. He still doesn't. 

Not the point. Focus on Remus.

"Re- Rem. What- why? Why do you want to go?" Roman's voice cracks mid-sentence. 

Remus feels something wet on his head, promptly realizing that Roman's crying. Oh, Roman is crying. He made him cry.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. This is why you need to go. Be gone, go. Go!

He stays silent for too long, apparently, because Roman is hugging him tighter and kissing his head again.

"Re, what's wrong? I promise you're safe with me, okay? Anything, no matter what. I don't want you to go, talk to me. Talk to me."

Remus snuggles more into his very worried brother, letting out a sigh. He didn't mean to make him cry. He hates it when his twin is upset, and it's even worse when it's his fault.

"I just... 'm sorry I made you cry. I don' wanna hurt you," mumbles slip out from the little kraken. 

"Rem, no- Rem, I'm crying because you want to- to... to go, and I don't want you to go. You didn't hurt me. I'm worried, not... I'm upset because I'm worried." 

"...why?"

Roman pauses for a moment, closing his eyes to process everything. Oh, Remus. Have we really let it get this far?

He opens his eyes, "Why I'm- Remus, I'm worried and upset because you're my brother. Because you don't want to be here and I love you, and... and I love you." 

Remus huffs, disbelief heavy in the air. 

"Rem, I do love you. You know that, right?"

"...'s not important."

"Yes, it is. It's important because you're important. You deserve to know how loved you are."

"Mhm, sure."

"Hey, Rem- Re, I love you. I love you. You're my twin and brother, I'll always love you."

God, Remus wants to believe him. He wants to believe him so bad, but it doesn't make sense. If Roman loved him, how hasn't he noticed certain things? Is Remus really not worth noticing? 

When he voices that, however, Roman is ready to f*cking punch himself because he has had some part in it. In this. And that hurts, it burns, it burns because Remus is his f*cking brother and how could he have let his brother suffer like this? He hates that he let anything go unnoticed for so long. 

"Because I'm a f*cking dumbass, and I let it go this far. I should've looked and saw and paid attention, and I didn't, and I- I'm so sorry, Rem."

Remus immediately looks up at him at that, confusion bare on his face. 

"What?"

Roman looks down at him, tears still silently gliding down his face. Remus makes a concerned noise, reaching up and wiping his tears away. He hates seeing his brother cry. 

"I'm sorry. I let sh*t go on for far too long. And- and I'm gonna make it up to you somehow. I'mma start by paying attention like I should've."

Remus' confusion worsens as he takes his hand away from Roman's face. 

"But- but it's jus' a bad day. It's fine."

"Oh, Re... bro-bro, if this was just a bad day, would you really be feeling this low?"

"Yes! It's- I'm always... I..."

Isn't this how it always is? Isn't that just how bad days are? It's not... I'll be fine. I'm- I'll be...

But I'm so tired.

Remus' eyes widen as a realization hits him like a morningstar to the head. 

When did this even start?

Roman holds his brother firmly as his thoughts fly across his head like ping pong balls. 

(ha, balls.)

(Shut the f*ck up.)

...has it ever really ended?

Remus exhales sharply, tears springing back to his eyes. 

Oh.

"Rem, bro-bro, it's okay. I've got you. You're gonna be okay."

Remus buries his head back into his brother's chest, too tired to shed his tears anyway. He feels Roman kiss his temple, clinging to his brother in response. 

It's another while before someone speaks again. 

"...what happened today? Did something just, like, set it off, Re?" 

"Mm." 

Roman rubs his back, and he melts into his brother's embrace. 

"Do- you don't have to, but... talking might help?"

Remus slightly nods. 

"'s just, um, I couldn't... 'member when Vi had a panic attack earlier?"

"Yeah?"

"I couldn't... I was frozen an' I couldn't help-"

Roman keeps his twin steady as he lets it out, knowing he just needed to speak. He holds, he cares. He cares, so much, and he holds him. 

"I 'anted to help. He's... he's my brother an' I couldn't do anything. He 'as there when you couldn't be, he raised me, he cares-"

Remus takes a stuttering breath. 

"He cares, and I know how to- to help 'cause I used to all the time, but... but I got stuck an' it was awful."

His cracking crown feels heavier on his head.

"He hurt an' I couldn't help."

"Oh, Rem..."

He huffs, everything pouring out. Once the floodgate is open, it cannot be closed until everything is out. And his floodgate of blood and acid and what the f*ck is wrong with me? is wide open. 

And it hurts.

"Sometimes, m' thoughts get loud and then Vi was hurt and I- I jus'..."

"It got to be too much?" Roman finishes for him. 

The little kraken nods, tired tears sluggishly gliding down his face. He sniffles. 

"It didn't feel worth staying anymore."

Roman's breath gets caught in his throat at that. He cards a hand through Remus' hair, noting how exhausted his brother is. How tired and how oh-so heavy his words felt. 

"It is, I promise. You're worth staying, okay, Re? It's worth it." 

"It- it jus'... it was a lot and I just 'anted it to f*cking stop." 

"I know, Re. I know."

"Hurts."

"I've got you, it's okay. You're not useless or bad. My brother, Re. You're my brother."

Roman wipes away stray tears as Remus finally slumps in his arms. He continues carding a hand through hair as his other one rubs firmly on his twin's arm. Up and down, up and down. A calming reminder of I'm here, you're okay, you're okay. 

"I love you, and I want you to stay."

Remus believes him this time, even for a few moments. 

"I love ya too, dork."

Roman snorts, kissing his brother's head again. Remus' crown doesn't feel quite as heavy anymore. 

"And I... I'll stay. I'll stay here."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good, Re. My bro-bro. No one gets to hurt you. No nasty thoughts can take you from me."

Remus' tentacles sprout from his back, wrapping around Roman and hugging him back. A way of saying I'm staying, I'm right here and I'm staying. The twins hug each other for a while, up in the safety of the tower, curled up on the bed in soft things. Crowns are forgotten about as they no longer feel so heavy. One cracked, one whole. One silver, one gold. One adorned with emeralds, the other with rubies. 

Both little Creativities hold each other, watched over by the Imagination. 

~~~

The Imagination blows a gentle breeze to ruffle their hair, just before either one can fall asleep. The little Duke groans, huffing a purposefully dramatic sigh. The little Prince snickers at his brother. 

"It's like our f*cking mom."

"It is, isn't it?"

"God, you have no f*cking idea."

"Is that a challenge?"

The twins eye each other.

"...maybe later."

"Alright."

Brief silence. Its babies breathe for a moment, soaking up each other's warmth. 

"It wouldn't let me leave before you came over."

The little Prince holds onto his brother tighter, if that's even possible at this point. 

"Kept blowing breezes an' stuff. Didn't want me to leave."

"...neither do I, Rem. You've got the both of us."

"I know that. I just... hard to remember, sometimes."

"We'll just have to remind you, then, won't we?"

"Mm."

The Imagination warms the fire brighter in the fireplace, all that warmth settling into the little Creativities. The little Duke's eyes droop closed as he basks in all the care and love his family provides. Maybe it's just his brother and his mom, right now, but it's enough. It's enough for today, for tonight, for right now. A soft tune drifts through the tower, lulling the little Prince to sleep as well. A lullaby, something that once drifted throughout the entire Imagination when they were all younger. A gift of song for its children, its precious little royals. It watches over them as they drift deeper into slumber. 

It's not all gone for Remus, the feeling of needing to go. It doesn't just end as fast as that. There'll be other times, more times of insecurity. More times of feeling overwhelmed. Of needing something to stop.

No, he'll still struggle through it. But now, as he sleeps soundly and safe, he has people to help with it. The Imagination, in all its maternal care. His brother, in all his protectiveness and love. 

And the bad day ends as a good one, surrounded by those who love him. 

[lesbianneopolitan]

Perhaps this question has been already asked but exactly how strong would you rank your Neo ?

I honestly don't care enough about power-scaling or power-ranking to answer this properly, probably LMAO

All I can talk about is what we've seen up until now in the show itself. Neo's more of a counter-fighter than one using brute strength. Acrobatic, flexible, a trickster, shielding herself and using the weight of the opponent against them, fencing, etc.

Her Semblance has evolved, for sure. She can now aid herself with clones in battle, or the Jabberwalkers, but after leaving the Ever After the usage of those consume her Aura more than they did in the other world, so she has to think well about when it's fitting to use them in combat.

Her style of combat is still pretty much the same. She follows what she learnt from Roman- using her skills first without abusing her Semblance to the fullest, and while she is quite deadly, she knows when to retire from battle if someone is clearly more skilled than her (the Maidens for the major part, and perhaps older and more experienced Huntsmen).

The advantage with her comes with the possibility of using the element of surprise when she's fighting someone else to take them off-guard. Think faster, try to react fast, be one step ahead.

So I don't know how strong she is, but more knowing that she can be deadly- as expected of a trained assassin.

Overactive Imagination evolved for my Neo, but I still think more of it for the usage of out of combat possibilities than abusing it for them, because like I mentioned it costs more Aura if she isn't careful, so it's not an infinite source of wacky stuff like she did in the Ever After- you wanna manage your resources well when in the middle of battle, as opposed to when she's just chilling.

So, my Neo is just as strong as regular Neo with a plus on aid that she gives herself if needed, really.

[rubyneo]

RubyNeo accademy au?

waves oh so sweetly.... so basically my ruby/neo lady beat's AU (as much as i dont particularly care about rh) has the events of roman holiday happen during the time that WOULD be volume 1.

for timeline reasons: lady beat's starts in march/beacon starts in april. at the end of march trivia is taken to lady beat's by her mother and around the same time (roughly a week later) ruby is fighting torchwick in the street. (neo is 17, ruby is 15)

when glynda rescues ruby and ozpin comes to talk to her, noting her silver eyes, resemblance to summer, and connection to qrow (and therefore taiyang) he decides it would be far too dangerous to enroll her at beacon so early but it's also too dangerous to just leave her at signal (around 5 ish years prior is when that one student tragically loses her life at signal academy.) oz is worried that roman is working for salem and so he fears that salem will start looking for ruby within the huntsmen combat/upper academies. he and taiyang agree it will be safest to hide her in plain sight amongst the troubled girls of the upper class attending the preparatory school.

so two months into the semester, ruby is enrolled in the academy. trivia is intrigued by her but is certain that the other girls will make sure ruby avoids and hates her so she ignores ruby's initial attempts at friendship.

trivia finds ruby reading by herself one day and recognizes the book (the girl who fell through the world) and tentatively starts a conversation about it. ruby doesn't mind that trivia has to type out her questions and trivia likes that ruby doesn't ask why she doesnt talk. then ruby stops reading the book right before the final chapter where alyx makes it home and trivia asks her why? and ruby explains her mom was a huntress and when she was little promised to finish the story when she got home, but she never came home. so ruby can never finish the story.

the girls quickly become pretty close after that, and when the malachites destroy trivia's uniform, ruby helps her fix it.

trivia is a little protective over ruby because ruby is softer around the edges and so nice and she doesn't want to see the other girls hurt her because ruby can't tell when they're being cruel sometimes.

the spiders and roman are both working for salem in this AU btw. so when trivia and ruby sneak out to follow the malachites they find them meeting with roman and cinder and ruby tells trivia "those two...the man and woman...i fought them a few months ago..."

ruby and trivia spend the next few months trying to figure out this tangled web they've found themselves in until it all comes to a head during the volume 2 finale. they've been thorns in cinder and roman's sides for too long and so while cinder oversees the mountain glenn project, roman makes a deal with the vanilles to bring trivia back home since she still is not acting how they want her to, uses some of junior's men and hei xiong sr's weapons and kidnaps ruby, taking her to the vanille manor in hopes of luring trivia there. unfortunately for roman, ironwood's army is on direct orders to investigate every disturbance and it turns into a fire fight between the atlas military and roman.

ruby, trivia, and roman survive, carmel and jimmy do not. roman is arrested, and ironwood takes ruby and trivia to beacon to discuss what will happen with them. ozpin decides to just make the girls students as soon as the second semester is finished. to try and keep them safer ozpin gets them set up in a dorm on campus that would have been used by the CMSN team if this was in show canon.

during their time bumming around beacon, ruby helps trivia design hush, and they train together.

so volume 3 sees trivia and ruby joining in on team ABYS (Abyss, made of ilia, blake, yang, and weiss) and JNPR's wacky hijinks. cinder's team has also infiltrated the school and (with lionheart's help) faked an entire other student who is, oh so tragically, back in mistral with a horrific injury and simply cannot participate in the vytal tournament this year :(

the rest of the volume carries out basically the same as canon. beacon falls, ozpin dies, yang AND ilia go to try and help blake (yang still loses her arm, ilia barely manages to get all three of them out alive), weiss ruby and trivia go to beacon tower at jaune's urging to save pyrrha but they're too late. ruby unlocks her silver eyes.

trivia pulls a blake and takes off before ruby wakes up post Silver Eye Blast because she blames herself. if she hadn't pulled ruby into helping her tail the malachites and torchwick they would still be more or less safe within the prep school.

Yang and Ruby are Heavily Traumatized by these new abandonments and do NOT know how to talk to each other about it. and then ruby takes off.

volume 4 would see the split as:

yang, alone in vale

weiss, alone in atlas

blake, with ilia and sun in menagerie

ruby, heading to mistral. JNR tags along with her even though they don't know her as well in this AU because they need to feel like they're doing anything useful in the wake of pyrrha's death

brief flashes to trivia travelling on her own under the alias neopolitan, gathering information on the spiders and torchwick and trying to uncover who cinder is/who she's working for

then we come to volume 5! the Reunion Volume

neo catches wind of something brewing in mistral and starts heading that way. yang decides to seek out raven to find ruby faster than just searching every inch of land on the continent of anima. weiss runs away, hoping to find winter in mistral but her airship is downed. blake rallies the people of menagerie to aid the people of mistral. and ruby does her best to bond with JNR and oscar.

first reunion: weiss and yang

second reunion: weiss, yang, and RNJR

third reunion: qrow runs into neo while trying to find the huntsmen of mistral. nobody but ruby recognizes her on first sight. Things are Tense and Emotional for a bit. ruby is still upset trivia left her, neo is terrified that they're biting off more than they can chew.

blake and ilia return to the main crew!

the battle for haven proceeds as it did in canon, basically. neo is doing her best to help ruby and be her support in the fight, the tides truly start to turn when ilia and blake join the fray.

ilia defends jaune and weiss while jaune heals weiss. the first thing weiss sees when she opens her eyes is ilia's back and hears the SNAP of lightning lash and knows she's safe for another moment.

ABYS is reunited, with Weiss throwing her arms around Blake and Ilia and then dragging Yang in. Ruby and Neo stand off to the side and have a little reunion of their own

volume 6:

while ilia and jaune do their best to rally their teams behind them and do some Team Bonding, ruby and neo have a quiet moment to talk. the last two weeks have been trying so hard to get everyone up to speed with every one else, neo only now realizes she has to truly look up at ruby to meet her eyes, and tells her as much. she apologizes for leaving, ruby forgives her. ("i forgave you the moment you left and the instant you came back.") it's not all fixed but they're going to try.

WUH-OH BEE TENSION (ilia and weiss are sipping coffee and ignoring the other two. they'll work it out if ilia has to beat them over the head with a relationship self help book)

ruby fully uses her silver eyes for the second time to save neo, screaming out her name as the apathy take her down. (in a few moments maria's words would echo in her ears. think about the people who love you.)

ruby controls her power for the first time, grabs neo, and drags her out of the cellar.

volume 6 more or less continues as it did before. cinder finds herself teaming up with roman to hunt down ruby.

the bees kill adam.

ruby petrifies the leviathan and cordovin finishes it off.

they escape to atlas. (and neo pulls ruby off to a dark corner of the airship to check on her. was she okay? did she need anything? and ruby presses their foreheads together and tells her she's fine, they were okay. they were finally safe.)

cinder and roman follow.

MISCELLANEOUS OTHER STUFF BEFORE I PASS OUT SLEEPY STYLE:

Neo's birthday is December 21st, the winter solstice (so in this AU they have roughly a 22 month gap between them)

Ruby's 17th birthday still takes place between the end of volume 5 and beginning of volume 6, neo doesn't get a chance to give her a gift until the wardrobe update in volume 7 (it's a very simple pink and white braided bracelet. ruby keeps it in her belt pouch so she doesnt lose it in a fight)

ruby nearly kills roman in the volume 8 finale fight because he throws neo off the yellow brick road.

penny doesn't play as large a role because ruby literally doesn't know her.

roman severly injures neo after he lures them to the jabberwalker's acre and then uses ruby's distraction to set a bunch of the leaves of the tree on fire and force ruby to inhale the smoke + ascend because she thinks neo is dead.

the cat possesses neo because she regains consciousness as ruby "falls" into the tree.

okay im going to bed now good night i love you anon

roman chooses to ascend at the end upon realizing he has nothing waiting for him back in remnant as he is.

for getting this far here's ur reward (art i did for this AU like a year ago)

[unexploredcast]

Maybe this was said at some point but what kind of antlers does Batholomew have?? Are they like whitetail or elk or mule deer? Or something kinda wacky

Great question! From Roman: "whatever animal's antlers look like the leshens' antlers in Witcher 3. not the ancient leshens bc those look like moose antlers, just normal leshen, which is what Lamentations looks like"

& here's Bartholomew's pinterest board for reference!

[katiajewelbox]

Halloween Countdown Day 3

The Origins of Halloween Traditions

Was Halloween really just a 20th century holiday invented by candy companies to sell more candy? Not at all, and I'll throw a jack o lantern at anyone who says Halloween is a boring commercialised holiday!

In this intriguing and easy to read article with wacky vintage pictures by Heather Thomas at the website Library of Congress Blogs, we delve into the ancient spiritual origins of Halloween. The familiar traditions and motifs are analysed one by one to help you understand and appreciate their significance when you see them during spooky season.

Although many people think of it as a North American holiday, the roots of Halloween lie in Celtic Europe and the Roman Empire. Therefore, the growing popularity of Halloween in the UK is a revival of ancient traditions and should be welcomed back. Also, the old Samhain festival had more in common with Latin America's Dia de los Muertos / Dia de los Difuntos, so we can see the two holidays as partners not rivals.

For Halloween lovers and those unfamiliar with the holiday, this is recommended reading!

#Halloween #history #culturaldiversity #culturalheritage #samhain #Celtic #AncientEurope #americanculture

[wickedlittlecritta]

What the heck is Angel at The Crossroads of the world?!

okay so you remember raising werewolves, right? with finn and raphael? i decided i didn't like it so i've started rewriting it only this time it's set after the siege of jerusalem and it takes place in constantinople (which is the crossroads of the world) and there's very little of it actually written but right now i do have the knowledge that i'm writing a knight in 1099 before plate armor existed which i think is very funny. it's still a murder mystery only now it's historical fantasy instead of urban fantasy which i think is much more fun.

also seph is still here but this time he's the previous byzantine emperor's bastard and he's been blinded bc i love the absolutely batshit things those wacky eastern romans did

he's going through it

[mysteriesofloves]

What would you say are the best gossip girl episodes? the lists I see online are often very chuck-centred….

A DEFINITIVE OBJECTIVE TOP 5 LIST in somewhat particular order (which also happen to be my favs because i have taste):

1. 1x04 bad news blair. NOT just because it’s Thee Dair Episode but because all around it is the strongest episode with the best character work for every character and every plotline is entertaining. it’s grounded and meaningful and beautiful and has multiple scenes that appeal to the thesis of the show (or what should’ve been the thesis of the show) AND ALSO has a wacky and dumb poker scam escapade. that is teen television excellence

2. 1x09 blair waldorf must pie! this is ALSO teen television excellence the drama with the teens and the adults is perfectly balanced it is the only episode that tackles blair’s ed with any sort of sincerity the flashbacks make me want to gnaw drywall it is such a GOOD episode !!!!

3. 1x01 pilot. one the greatest teen tv pilots of all time and just SUCH a good pilot in general. she is lifechanging she is the definition of ICONIC i get chills just hearing the opening whistles of young folks. you’re kind of not invited raised a generation. nostalgia factor alone puts this on top but even that aside it is a very very good episode.

4. 1x11 roman holiday. more of a biased choice i just love this episode it’s cozy and fun and sweet and i think every storyline is well done. it’s just a very good holiday episode and i am a sucker for holiday episodes

5. 1x12 school lies. underrated i think. it’s giving dark academia but in at least a mildly self aware way and i think it’s genuinely one of the most compelling episodes of the show. to me it’s one of those eps that passes just “teen soap” territory and goes into just being a Good Episode Of TV yknow.

these are all from s1 because that’s the only well written season. rest of this list in no particular order is 1x13 (which would’ve made a great finale), 2x18 (THE most entertaining episode and my personal favourite but is unfortunately bogged down by whatever tf chuck is running around doing), 2x19 (just a really good ep. i just love it. crisis blair u will always be famous to me. dan visiting the van der bilt mansion for really no reason other than he was There and Needed something to do u will always be famous to me), 3x02 (SUCH a good episode so funny and does a really really good job at setting up the season that the status quo changes and the characters are tested and evolving! oh wait.), the hamptons episodes and the paris episodes for the VIBES and the AESTHETICS and the LOOKS but not for much else.

season 4 dair arc is obviously my favourite thing ever and also on the entire show but ben (🤮🤮🤮) is also there and raina is putting up with chuck’s bs so it can’t properly make it onto the list because the episodes as a whole are Bad and should be watched through dair youtube clips only/with a finger on the forward button. this applies to s5 dair arc as well.

[inkofamethyst]

June 26, 2023

Hm.  It does, in fact, seem that I have expelled most of my terror into that last post.  Now it kind of sits as a numb, low hum at the back of my mind instead of endless, tormented howling.  Figuratively, of course.  Anyway, the worry is still there, here, but just not as dreadfully centered.

My photo-friend, a former psychology major, once told me several years ago that catharsis was fake.  That there was no such effect documented scientifically.  That me journaling my negative emotions was only making them stronger, not somehow releasing them.  Time and time again, I feel that I must be proving scientific literature wrong.  But hey, that’s what a scientist does, right?

Now, I confess, I have, some winters, felt so dreadful that I listened to nothing but sad and angry music and isolated myself for months.  That was not catharsis.  That was wallowing.  A depression somewhat aided by the shorter, colder days, in addition to personal and/or international despair.

Maybe, then, true catharsis is just for me.  Some secret method of shedding the negative.  When I’m not in a self-created environment of it, that is.  If I’ve filled the box I’m in with negativity, shedding the negative from my skin won’t remove it from me, but add to the scenery.

Okay, enough with the philosophizing.

I finished watching Manifest with my dad, and I think the ending really, really delivered.  I mean, the show was textbook Lost-esque: large ensemble cast of unique characters experiences a mystery-riddled ordeal together, somehow isolated from the rest of the world.  There are clues and connections and buildups and twists and throwbacks and central characters and peripheral characters, all of whom we grow to know and care about.  I think the main difference between the ending of Manifest and Lost is that the characters in Lost were suck on that stupid island (I mean it was an interesting island, but it was, by nature, isolated).  Anything they did was stuck on that island.  There was literally (pretty much) no impact on the outside world once they boarded that plane.  They were all unknowingly fighting for a spot to be the protector of some special island that was only important, from my recollection, because Jacob said it was.  Because it contained the Man In Black and kept him from destroying humanity like some sort of Pandora’s Box, or something.  But, in its finale, Manifest demonstrated that the ensemble’s ordeal had a greater purpose that clearly and actually impacted themselves and their world.  I think I teared up when Lost ended because those iconic final few shots with Jack and seeing the cast all together again and happy after seasons of trials was a little emotional.  Sure there was some growth: Sun and Jin, most notably, Hurley...  But the characters in Manifest all grew and exhibited their growth clearly in those final minutes.  Sure, the show got a little wacky, just like Lost did, in mixing science and reasoning with magic and faith, but it was entertaining and interesting, with an ending that was heartwarming and, in my opinion, beautifully satisfactory (though my father did guess what would happen after they boarded the plane that final time, but he’s seen a lot more television than I have).  Four seasons is a reasonable length (it’s the only show I’ve watched from the beginning of college to its end, actually), and I would recommend it to Lost-lovers.

[edit: one thing about Manifest though, and maybe it’s just that I was raised Christian and live in a Christian-dominant culture, but I found an interesting Christian-y bend to the show.  And I’m not talking just about Angelina’s character background or the whole Romans(?) 8:28 thing near the beginning, but across the show and even in the finale, the idea of a sort of eternal, infinite punishment for finite crimes is a very Christian thing.  Now, don’t get me wrong in the slightest, seeing unequivocally bad, unrepentant people suffer feels immensely satisfying.  That’s because I’m human.  It’s that instant reaction.  But, after thinking about it just a little, it’s just kind of unfortunate, honestly.  I think a less satisfying but, perhaps, more just ending would have been those bad people not being able to recall or in any way use the growth that could have occurred during those five years, unlike the protagonists.  But to an audience, and as a piece of fiction, it might have seemed too lenient.]

Lost changed the game in television.  But it’s hard to maintain a position as both the first and the best as time goes on.

Today I’m really, really thankful that I feel less worried.