#tragic blondes our beloveds...

[lovesick-level-up]

Gold Aventurine Reply Icons

@hiddencircus's anniversary event: cuatro - one color or every color ever

gold go brrrr - its such a pretty colour. when we decided to do gold, aventurine was the first character to come to mind. though, i'll admit, doing just one colour isn't very fun lmao. we are a colourful edit kinda guy, but this was fun to try at least.

feel free to use with credit as long as you aren't on our dni, but don't claim as your own! like/reblog if you save or enjoy!

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Ava Gardner (The Killers, The Barefoot Contessa)— She's so goddamn hot. Her and Frank Sinatra could've sandwiched me and I would've thanked them for the privilege

Jean Seberg (Breathless, Saint Joan)— Some of us watched À bout de souffle as a lil French undergrad and had the trajectory of our lives changed by Jean Seberg. She IS French new wave!! She is the moment!! She sadly had to work with a lot of shitty directors in her career but even so, she has this magnetic energy whenever she’s on screen. In her personal life, she was also very supportive of civil rights causes, and was even targeted/harassed by the FBI for financially supporting the Black Panther Party.

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Ava Gardner:

Ava Gardner is one of my favorite actresses of all time. Although a lot of her roles in movies are about her being beautiful and nothing else, there are some films where her acting truly shines.

Gifset: https://www.tumblr.com/pelopides/721438308726603776/ava-gardner-as-pandora-reynolds-pandora-and-the

Gifset 2: https://www.tumblr.com/portraitoflestatonfire/731899355804598272/if-the-loustat-reunion-doesnt-look-like-this-then

HER FACE. LOOK AT IT. Also was a life long supporter of civil rights and a member of the NAACP, had lots of fun love affairs with other stars, bullfighters, married several times but was also happy in between to just have lovers and was unapologetically herself.

I literally gasp every time I see her.

Between 1942 and 1964, Ava Gardner was credited in no less 50 films, and is still considered by some to be the most beautiful actresses that ever graced the silver screen. Despite life-long insecurities regarding her talent as an actress, she weathered public scandal, industry hostility, and outright condemnation by the Catholic Church with fearless grace. She would later in life talk candidly about the reality and pain of living through two (studio approved!!) abortions during her short marriage to Frank Sinatra, and while the two of them could not make their relationship work, they remained in each other’s lives for nearly 30 years. She would forever describe herself as a small-town girl who just got lucky, but always felt like a beautiful outsider.

Really genuinely one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever seen. An autodidact. Had amazing chemistry with Gregory Peck to the point where I do think about watching On The Beach again sometimes because they're so good together even though that movie did destroy me. Was a great femme fatale in many movies.

Jean Seberg:

anyone who plays Joan of Arc is kind of hot by default tbh

she's gorgeous, she's cool, she has the original blond pixie cut

She donated a lot of her money to civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the black panther party as well as Native American school groups, as a result of this the fbi ran a smear campaign against her and a surveillance campaign which is thought to have led to her suicide tragically.

idk if this is propaganda but the COINTELPRO and the FBI are widely blamed for her death. If the FBI was after her for supporting the Black Panther Party you know she was good

[serene-sun]

Father imperator…

RHRN SPOILERS!! This is what I think happened after the movie (saw it an hour ago)

“I am very sad to announce the passing of our beloved mother superior, sister imperator, and while we mourn her tragic death due to unfortunate medical conditions, there have been questions on who will reign.” Copia stands at the podium of the chapel filled with siblings of sin.

Several gasps rotate throughout the ceremony and sorrowful sniffs and sobs echo as copia is reminded again of what happened the faithful night of the LA ritual.

“And while the clergy needs a new leader….eh.” He paused, glances to his side where the ghost of nihil and sister were smiling and waiting for him to get on with it, “there will be a new papa as well.” He turns back to the crowd.

The rummage of words and shuffling fills the room to where nobody can hear, the ghouls eyes widen as they stare at pa- copia.

“Papa, what do you mean??” A sibling stands in the crowd.

Copia grips the side of the podium, “well…unfortunately we all know that the cycle must continue…” he watches his brothers from the back of his head like a bird nervously, he chuckles, “I am pleased to announce that it was my mothers dying wish to have me take over head of church.” He stands strong, thinking he said it well.

Imperator ghostly puts her hand on her forehead and shakes it as she sighs, the whole room getting louder again.

“Mom?? Sister imperator was your mother?!” The crowd exclaims in both shock and somewhat happiness.

Copia frightenly puts his hands up like chairs are about to be thrown even tho they aren’t, “eh…I’m sorry, but it was best for the clergy if it was secret- but it is true that I am pure emeritus like it was rumored.”

“Hah! I told you he was no bastard!” One sibling says to another.

Sodo steps from his seat from a pew and leaves the room, Aurora softly cried into cumulus’s arm as rain and Swiss discussed with upset and worried faces.

After the very chaotic clergy meeting, the ghouls meet copia in the hall, “papa, what is happening?”

“It is as said, I am the sole heir to the clergy. The papa was never the king, only the joker after all.” He tried to joke, tho it was true that all papas were second to the superiors. The papa had only been the monarch of a democratic state.

“But….what does this mean for us..?” Rain asks sadly, he furrowed his brows.

Copia lightened, he cupped rains cheek with his hand, “I’m afraid I’m not sure yet…”

Rain then placed a hand on copias wrist, “we don’t want to be sent back to the pit….please….” He chokes on his voice.

It strikes copias heart, “I promise you happiness, tho I’m unsure where you will be.” He says with a reassuring smile.

“Copia. Who is the new papa?” Swiss asked confused, he quickly added, “you have no children?”

Copia chuckled, “yes but I do have one ehhhh one more sib-“ he’s cut off by the breach of the door way, the double doors opening wide as a foot steps into the lit hallway.

Incame a blonde man, white eye and painted face, “hello,” he bows…

[sepublic]

The Owl House and Fullmetal Alchemist

            So let’s talk about how The Owl House’s parallels to Fullmetal Alchemist, how it may or may not take inspiration in certain aspects, etc. Dana Terrace mentioned once that Luz would love Arakawa’s art, and even without the confirmation that Dana herself is familiar, it’s pretty clear…

            (And yes, I’m discussing the 2003 continuity because why not; Depending on when she got into FMA, it might’ve been Dana’s first exposure to the series even!)

            We have a magic system that can be accomplished two ways; Either by drawing circles with patterns, or by using your hands. In FMA, the former is the norm, the latter the exception; In TOH, it’s the other way around, with our main character Luz having to rely on glyphs.

            Luz and the Elrics lost a parent, but they have one who’s still alive that they have mixed feelings with, but ultimately reconnect with near the end of the series. The loss of that first parent motivates them, it’s what leads to the inciting incident, with the Elrics trying to bring their mother Trisha back to life only to lose an arm, a leg, and a body; Luz carries on her father’s final gift, and in her attempts to be true to herself as Manny taught her, she ends up being sent to Reality Check camp, with her mother Camila agreeing due to not being as brave.

            The permanence of death is something for characters to struggle with; Multiple characters in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist attempt to revive the dead for this reason, or prolong their own lives by ending the lives of others. The closest attempt to reviving the dead is in 2003, in the ambiguity of its Homunculi, who may or may not be the souls their creators attempted to bring back; And at the end of the series, the main protagonist is killed. But his brother Alphonse recognizes that his soul hasn’t yet passed an established threshold existing on a separate plane of existence, and is able to sacrifice mythical power he’s gained to bring Edward back to life, at the cost of himself passing the threshold.

            Similarly, Luz also dies at the end of the series to protect the Collector; But because her soul hasn’t yet passed the established threshold that exists on another plane of existence, the Titan is able to use his power to bring her back to life, even as he himself passes the threshold. Luz dies as a lesson to the Collector in the limitations of their own power; Edward’s tragic encounter with Nina reminds him that for all his boasting of alchemists as the closest thing to God, alchemists are still mere mortals with limitations, which is a major factor into his main antagonist’s motives.

            The Collector’s childish naivete extends to their lack of familiarity with death, and they eventually have to come to terms with it and other consequences as part of their character arc. The Collector is the youngest sibling of the Archivists, who themselves have a petty relationship with death; They seek to preserve all living things eternally via scrolls, but this state destroys their physical bodies, preserving only their souls. Any population that doesn’t go along with their plans of preservation are wiped out by the Archivists in retaliation.

            The Collector’s story can also be compared to Wrath the Homunculus from 2003; Both are immortal child antagonists who stand out thanks to their magic. Both are manipulated by Belos and 2003 Envy (guys who murder their blonde brothers via stabbing), and are isolated to do so. They feel anger over being mistreated by parents and older sibling (figures), but ultimately just want companionship.

            They have bittersweet endings; The Collector goes off into space, but still occasionally visits his mortal friends; Wrath goes off on his own, but occasionally interacts with Winry, and finally sacrifices his life to help Alphonse reunite with his own beloved family member, as Wrath gets the same in death.

            But for all of the mixed feelings about death, immortality may not be so pleasant either; King Clawthorne is doomed to outlive everyone except for the Collector and Hooty, which means so many loved ones dying before his eyes. This is a fate Hohenheim dreads regarding his wife and children, and he manages to avoid this when he sacrifices the power behind his immortality to save the world, and die a mortal whose age finally catches up to him. This might be why the immortal Archivists preserve mortals as scrolls, though their reaction to those who refuse them is suspect…

            EDalyn Clawthorne, EDward Elric; They’re main protagonists, with a color scheme consisting primarily of dark red, with gold, black, and white. They’re teen prodigies, although both lose their magical abilities in order to protect a loved one who stars right alongside them as a fellow main character. This is never restored, and they also lose their right arms due to being part of a deadly spell. They’re quite (in)famous and have a sibling. Of course, Edward works for the state; Eda is devoutly against it, a proud criminal.

            There’s a running theme of disability, with Eda’s disability coming from the curse, which eventually drains her magic. It leaves her fatigued, is implied to be messing with her memories, and causes her to age more quickly. It even makes her transform into an Owl Beast, due to the curse coming from Eda being possessed by one. When the curse completely overtakes Eda, Lilith takes on half of it to allow Eda to regain her usual form, but her and Lilith lose their magic forever. In the context of a society comprised of witches, Luz is essentially disabled, as is Hunter; For Luz, glyphs are her magical prosthetic, as is Flapjack the Palisman familiar for Hunter.

            Edward lost his arm and leg, Alphonse lost his body. Izumi lost some of her organs and regularly suffers from fainting and exhaustion, as well as vomiting blood. Lan Fan loses her arm. Automail is aesthetically cool, but it’s also a hassle and requires a months-long process to get used to, and even then you need a mechanic to maintain it. Ed has to return to said mechanic, his childhood friend Winry, multiple times, and suffers from his prosthetic overheating or nearly giving him frostbite, depending on the temperature.

            Disability sucks; And it’s something you just have to learn to live with, in Eda’s case. She accepts her curse, she’s not interested in her mother Gwen’s attempts to cure it, which just make her feel ashamed of the curse and lead to a breakup with her lover Raine. In 2003, we see a man who lost his leg but doesn’t use Automail to replace it, explaining to the Elrics his decision, and being validated and respected for it by the narrative.

             Ed and Eda’s disabilities are connected to a magical incident involving another being they constantly live with; This being lost their body, and their soul had to be bound to something else… For Ed, this is his brother Alphonse being bound to a suit of armor. For Eda, this is the Owl Beast having to be bound to her body, which is what the curse is; Technically a parasite draining her.

            Despite this, Eda figures out a way to work with the Owl Beast, recognizing it’s also trapped with her. And you can see similarities between this dynamic and Ling Yao with Greed, a Homunculus who embodies his Father’s desires. Greed and the Owl Beast both manifest as red magic, linked to the main villain in some way; Father is the source of his childrens’ soul-fueled Philosopher’s Stones. Thanks to the Collector, Belos wields the same red magic as the Archivists who reduced the Owl Beast into a contained soul that can be melded with another living being and their body.

            Ling accepts Greed’s red Philosopher’s Stone into his body, and the two form a friendship where they take turns. Ling’s body becomes superhuman like a Homunculus, complete with regenerative abilities, and the power to rearrange the carbon in his skin into an indestructible Ultimate Shield.

            Likewise, Eda comes to a mutual agreement with the Owl Beast after befriending it, having to make concessions such as letting the creature take over her body to feed; In exchange, Eda is able to achieve a harpy form she has proper control over, granting her flight and enhanced strength and speed, as well as claws. It’s nowhere near what she could accomplish with the magic she’s still missing, and she still needs to take elixirs… But it helps.

            Ed and Eda’s lineage can be traced to a blonde man who has a (blood) brother, the main antagonist of the series. While the antagonist chose evil, the brother chose to renounce this, leaving him behind to have a child with someone he fell in love with.

            The antagonist is located at the center of the setting, within a giant fortress. Their lairs are filled with gears and haphazard pipes. Despite their appearances as elderly, long-haired humans, they have a true form; A viscous monster covered in eyes. During the final battle, they project giant versions of themselves atop their own fortress.

            The villains also share a similar white, holy aesthetic, drawing upon the image of Christian patriarchal figures; One of them is canonically Christian, in fact. Both are motivated in different ways by some relationship to the idea of God, with Father wanting to become him, and Belos insisting he’s doing God’s holy work. They consider themselves as being born special, as having some aspect of God carried through them.

            Despite their delusions, their narratives make it clear that they didn’t actually work or earn any of what they’ve accomplished; They’re nothing more than thieves piggybacking off of the efforts of others, glorified parasites who didn’t learn or mature at all. The Truth dismisses Father’s questions of what he should’ve done differently, responding that he clearly knew all along, he just ignored it; Similarly, Belos is shown to be aware deep down that he’s a treacherous hypocrite. And yet they both ignore these things, failing to self-reflect.

            Their plans are similar, waiting for the eclipse so they can enact a Promised Day/Day of Unity. They’ve been working for centuries to do this, establishing a corrupt nation to do so, with all of its citizens and military unaware that they’re setting up their collective demise. There’s a spell circle cast, and it requires a group of skilled alchemists/witches to activate it; For FMA these are five alchemists who have seen the Truth. For TOH, these are the nine Coven Heads, witches powerful in one of the nine tracks.

            (Belos definitely did a better job at this, having backup witches and replacing coven heads for fifty years; Father didn’t have any until a few years prior to the Promised Day, and just barely figured out the remaining three within that last year. The last one was prepared literal minutes before the eclipse.)

            They both absorb the power of a God/Titan that is sort of God but not really, more on that later, to become all-powerful; But they are separated from that power. Their final moments are similar, insisting to someone else that they did nothing wrong, only to be met by unimpressed silence, angering them. They die reduced to a humiliated, pathetic little thing, because that’s what they are at their core. This all-powerful villain with the power of a god is brought down not by equivalent magic of any kind, but with a simple bare-fisted punch, or a stomp from a foot.

            The villains run on the lives of countless innocent beings that they’ve consumed across the centuries, and without this energy, they die. The villains’ magic is arcane and red, defying the usual logic. At the center of their lair, they mess with the source of the setting’s magic, rendering it ineffective. Their evil began about 400 years prior to the start of the series, when they began consuming these innocent lives, and despite their good relationship with their brothers, pushed him away; This brother would set in motion the villain’s defeat via his child(ren).

            The souls of the consumed are still alive, and attempt to fight back; In particular, Belos has a resemblance to Envy, an extension of Father’s personality. Their human appearances hide monstrous green forms; Belos’ is a result of the Palismen souls he devoured, whose faces emerge and writhe from the amalgam they’ve become, like how Envy’s true form has the souls of his Philosopher’s Stone emerging from the flesh. They both have the ability to parasitically control others, and this is displayed/discovered after they’ve been enormously injured, reduced to a tiny little thing. They eventually use the lives of others to reform their bodies, only to get knocked down once again, and die.

            There’s a human they tormented and have captured before, attempted to make an accessory to their plans and were successful to a degree, and found glee in their guilt, smugly talking hot shit about how it doesn’t matter. But those humans get the last laugh; Envy and Belos share very similar scenes where after their source of power is disrupted by said human, Envy and Belos are reduced to just an upper half, dragging themselves along the ground as they rave angrily at the silent protagonists, insulted to be looked down upon and insisting they’re still better, as they reach out uselessly to the human that has soundly humiliated and defeated them.

            Belos and Father/Envy both have a disdain for a species, thinking themselves superior, only to be done in by them and their collective bonds and relationships; The villain has nothing to him. The one thing he has are his Homunculi; Artificially-created beings who resemble humans and have pink eyes. But Belos’ Grimwalkers inevitably defy him, just as Greed defies Father. These rebellious children end up as friends to the protagonists. In the 2003 continuity, a Homunculus is specifically what happens when you try to bring a dead person back to life, only to get a flawed clone with some of the memories.

            This is exactly what Grimwalkers are, with Hunter and his predecessors being attempted clones of Caleb; Belos is another example of a character who refuses to accept death, at least for the one person he ‘cares’ about. He also refuses to accept death for himself, feeding on Palismen to prolong his existence.

            Going further into 2003, we should also compare Belos to its villain, Dante; While Father is an inhuman being, Dante started off human, just like Belos, and both represent the worst that humanity has to offer, the banality of evil. Dante manipulates others into creating the Philosopher’s Stone before stealing it from them, using it just to keep herself alive; But her soul is eventually reaching its limit, and the Philosopher’s Stone is not enough. This causes bodies she stole from others to decay at an increasingly rapid rate.

            Similarly, Belos used Palismen souls to become immortal, but eventually his form turns into a slimy green monster, and while he uses more Palismen souls to revert himself back into a human, one can see how the curse has begun to creep into his human appearance. By the end of the series, he is permanently the curse monster, and can only imitate the façade of his human appearance, and for a brief while. He also ends up possessing the bodies of others to survive, and one of them, the last Grimwalker, decays rapidly from the attempt and falls apart.

            Dante is the master of the Homunculi and created four of them, while helping the other three regain a more human appearance. She’s a master manipulator and gaslighter, just as Belos manipulates Hunter, but also all of the people around him. They’re raging hypocrites and cowards, their motives very human; Dante wants to live forever, while Belos craves the righteous power fantasy of being a witch hunter. They represent dead people who refuse to move on, with Belos especially representing conservative, white supremacist ideology furious over the changes of the modern era, and rejecting them to continue his crusades regardless.

            This also gets us into a villain introduced after Dante in the 2003 continuity; Dietlinde Eckhart, a literal Nazi trying to help Hitler rise to power. Eckhart is knowledgeable about the magic of another world parallel to ours, the world that is the series’ main setting; Belos/Eckhart manipulate a young girl of color into accomplishing their plans of genocide. Eckhart is fearful of the other world beyond hers and its magic, seeing it as an inherent threat that must be destroyed; In her efforts, she becomes consumed by supernatural forces, mutating into a slimy, unrecognizable monster and is killed in this state. They both have long-ish hair of a similar color, and the slime that consumes them starts to cover their face in similar patterns…

            For the main FMA continuity, there’s a juxtaposition in that a society of humans is revealed to be run by a non-human who hates humanity and thinks he’s better for not being like them; In TOH, a society of non-humans is revealed to be run by a human who hates non-humans and thinks he’s better for not being like them. Belos sees the witches and demons of another world as an inherent threat that must be destroyed. He’s also much more thematically intertwined with the state he leads; Father is ultimately his own apathetic entity, letting others run it for him.

            Amestris is an imperialistic state, it’s fascism, it commits genocide against an ethnic minority of brown people; It’s racist. Belos comes from a real life historical context, a very racist one, just like Eckhart; He’s a Puritan from a 1600’s American colony, relying on the delusions of Evangelicalism as his motive, Satanic Panic dialed up to eleven. His attempted genocide and damage to the culture and environment of a world he’s colonized is just the obvious extension of what Puritans like him did in real life; Eckhart is a literal Nazi helping Hitler rise to power, and Hitler cited the American settlers’ genocide of Native Americans as inspiration.

            FMA 2003 places more emphasis on the corruption and racism of the state, and it can be seen as a criticism of the U.S.’s War on Iraq during its release. The War on Iraq was supported by Evangelicals, many of whom support Zionism in the same region due to their Evangelical desires for the Rapture to occur, and they see the establishment of Israel as part of the ‘conditions’ for this Rapture to happen.

            The Promised Day/Day of Unity are both Rapture events; In the case of FMA, there’s a group of high-ranking military humans who believe they’ll ascend above the rest when it occurs. For TOH, this is what’s believed by the witches and demons colonized by the coven regime. With Belos especially, his Day of Unity is unambiguously a play on the Rapture due to his real life, historical background and motives.

            Amestris may be led by a Fuhrer, but it’s meant to be a conglomeration of multiple Western powers, and its name hearkens to America. When you combine this with 2003’s commentary and Belos’ blatant Christian colonialism -imposing his own understanding of how God works onto the local Titan- and representing how other Puritans like him are factors into everything wrong with the U.S…. You can see how both series criticize real-life white people.

            This also gets me into another character, Raine Whispers; They bear a resemblance to Roy Mustang in some ways, as they’re both high-ranking government officials aware of how their state persecutes others. They’re both selected by the villain as a key factor into their genocidal rapture spell. They both seek to use their positions of power to challenge the government’s atrocities. They both joined it wide-eyed and idealistic, only to realize the truth.

            Both of them realize that in addition to the inherent corruption, there’s also a conspiracy afoot within the government; Their attempts to interfere lead to them being captured. Mustang attempts to find someone like-minded in the friendly Raven, only to find out he’s a part of it and has led him like a lamb to the slaughter; Raine expects an enemy out of Darius and Eberwolf, who prevent themselves as loyalists, only to reveal they’re on the same side after all.

            Nevertheless, being captured leads to both characters being allowed to continue their duties under government surveillance, due to their role in the genocidal spell. But they find clever, under the radar ways to coordinate with their fellow rebels without being seen. There’s a scene in which Raine burns a message from Darius in the leadup to the Day of Unity, just as Mustang does in the leadup to the Promised Day.

            There’s hope; All of our disparate protagonists coming together, different subplots like Luz and her family, Hunter and the students of Hexside, and the CATTs. Everyone comes together to find a way to stop the genocidal spell, and/or ensure others survive it; Armstrong sends his parents outside of Amestris, while the staff and students of Hexside fortify the school and are able to avoid the Collector’s control later on.

            Everyone comes together to stop the genocidal spell on this dangerous day, having to contend with the fact that a lot of the people they’re fighting don’t know any better, and they can’t convince them in reasonable time; But what other choice do they have? They’ll have to cause some damage and harm, including to those in the upper echelons of the state who don’t realize they’re not included. There’s a specific plan, although things don’t exactly pan out…

            But while the genocidal spell activates, it’s ultimately reversed to prevent anyone from dying to it. This is accomplished thanks to someone who was duped by the villain into helping them get to this point; Hohenheim was manipulated into giving the Dwarf in the Flask half of Xerxes’ souls to become Father. But with the other half he was given, Hohenheim undid the Philosopher’s Stone comprised of Amestris’ souls… Likewise, the Collector was manipulated by Belos into giving him the draining spell, but after being freed by King, undid it.

            Amidst the similarities of Raine and Roy, there are also the differences, such as in how they seek to challenge the government; Roy intends to become Fuhrer by legitimate processes so he can change the country using his power, and hopefully shift it to democracy. Raine is under no such illusions; They regularly break the law to protect the people who are being persecuted by the state, use their knowledge to interfere with operations, and incite the public to do the same by explaining the state’s corruption.

            Likewise, they intend to remove the coven system completely, and replace it wholesale by assassinating Belos; We see them succeed in the epilogue when the system is now run by a council that they’re a part of, coven bindings are removed so magic can be practiced freely, there is no longer a fascist Us vs Them mentality, and prisons have been abolished and replaced with hospitals.

            In addition to assassinating Belos, Raine is willing to use violence in general; When cornered by fellow coven heads Darius and Eberwolf, they attempt a spell alongside Eda to kill all four in the vicinity. What causes Raine to call it off isn’t the realization that Killing is Wrong, it’s the realization that Eda has kids back home that she’s leaving behind, and they care too much to let Eda go down this path out of self-destruction.

            It’s later revealed that Darius and Eberwolf are a separate undercover cell, who kept up appearances to avoid being exposed (as seen when loyalist Kikimora shows up shortly afterwards). But in the end, the narrative does not admonish Raine for their willingness to kill government officials to protect the persecuted; Darius and Eberwolf were fine because they were already on the same side, but if not then killing them would have been fine. This is reiterated by Raine successfully helping defeat Belos in the end, and participating in a killing blow they announce personal satisfaction with.

            (Also unlike Roy, Raine never killed anyone for the state, only going after people who they thought were a part of it, or even were. Their decision to go against the state was prompted quickly by realizing how witches were being branded and likely discreetly executed by others, whereas Roy became the biggest murderer of the Ishvalan Genocide and decided only then to change the system from within the system.)

            This gets me to another comparison, and hear me out; Raine also bears some resemblance to Scar, particularly his 2003 counterpart. They have the brown skin, glasses, and lighter hair; They’re both willing to kill government officials and burn down the state, and they’re not admonished for it, validated even. Their ‘magic’ is associated with red. They fight to protect a group persecuted by the state.

            In fact, Raine is like Scar in that they ARE a part of that group technically, because the state’s ultimate function is to murder all witches, and as a witch, they too have been colonized by the coven regime, and they’re inherently a target due to having been covenbound. The beliefs of wild witches, deemed part of the ‘Savage’ Ages by the coven system, is like how the Ishvalans’ own religion is demonized, and Raine is very much a wild witch by the end of the day.

            So in this sense, you can see Raine Whispers as a strange blend of Roy Mustang and Scar; A violent freedom fighter whose pro-murder stance is never challenged because the narrative ultimately agrees with it, who gets to kill the dictator. They initially joined the state thinking it was just, only to quickly realize it persecutes innocents and that they themselves are a target of this larger genocide, and decided to change the government.

            I also want to add that in the same finale where Raine helps kill Belos, our protagonist Luz asks the Titan if her wanting Belos dead makes Luz just as bad as Belos; The Titan laughs it off, essentially saying that the violence of the oppressed is NOT equal to the violence of the oppressor. Luz and co. are actually fighting to protect people who are at stake, against someone who is not protecting anything, only claiming to be in his fascist aggression.

            Luz settles her moral quandary, shortly after opting to let a pleading Belos boil to death rather than save him; Belos claims this makes her evil for not wanting peace, and just as bad as those witches, whom humans like him are better than! Cue said witches stepping in, agreeing that they aren’t better than this, before taking petty, justified enjoyment in stomping Belos to death. As I’ve said, Raine is among them.

            Willow is one of Luz’s friends, and a recurring element to her storyline is Willow allowing herself to be angry, allowing herself to call out people, be it bullies or even her own friends, to express displeasure with them, and this is how she can learn to stand up for herself. Eda outright says to her mother that she has a right to be upset over years of condescension over her disability. Scar’s mentor tells him his anger is valid, and will never not be; Victims have a right to be angry, and this goes hand in hand with having the right to go against abuse, which oppression is a large-scale version of.

            The magic of both series comes from the land itself; Magic is a gift from the Titan, and Alchemy is powered by the kinetic energy of the Tectonic plates. There’s a mysterious portal with an eye on it, linked to the deity of the series; FMA’s portal houses God and is guarded by the Truth, while TOH’s portal uses the eye of the Titan. Like 2003, there are two parallel worlds that the portal can be used to traverse through; Our world, and another world where this magic is possible to begin with. Glyphs can’t be used in the human world, and in 2003, alchemy or the powers of the Homunculi are similarly inaccessible here.

            On a meta note, there was once a fan theory that the Demon Realm had witch counterparts to those in the human world and vice-versa; This was prompted by an early design for Amity being one of Luz’s human classmates, as well as her mentioning an Augustus whose nickname Gus adopts, and of course the reveal of someone impersonating her. This was later established as a basilisk named Vee, and the theory was disproven. But in 2003, counterparts WERE a thing, with Alphonse Elric having Alfons Heiderich, Hughes having a Nazi counterpart I kid you not, and the human Pride was cloned from being real-life Fritz Lang.

            (Speaking of Vee! We have a reptilian shapeshifter who can imitate humans and other beings; We also have Envy. See the resemblance?)

            As aforementioned, TOH and FMA both have a space between worlds, used to cross between said worlds, as the threshold for death; Souls who go past the murkiness of the in-between are lost forever, while souls who pass the Gate are beyond even the power of the Philosopher’s Stone. With God not exactly being God, the afterlife is also left ambiguous; It’s eventually confirmed/heavily implied that Belos does not see the ghosts of his brother and the Grimwalkers, but is merely hallucinating. We don’t know what the afterlife in TOH is actually like, if there even is one.

            And in 2003, it’s implied there is no afterlife, and all deceased souls simply become energy for Alchemy; At least on our world’s side. When Wrath the Homunculus dies, he has a vision of himself reuniting with the deceased Izumi, and the existence of the Homunculi adds to this uncertainty.

            There’s a Theological rumination in both series; God in FMA is described by Father, who was born from it, to be the collective nervous system of the Earth and all of the living creatures that are part of it. It’s not really God in a conventional Christian sense, nor is Truth; It’s a deliberate mystery. Edward Elric is a devout atheist (despite having met his universe’s God) and brings it up to Rose, a member of Cornello’s cult who has an existential crisis after it’s exposed.

            Father Cornello is the first villain of the series, an agent of the Homunculi and by extension Father, whose purpose is to create political instability that will justify the state’s violent, White Savior interference, and thus fulfill the third Blood Crest needed for the nationwide transmutation circle. He runs a cult and uses the red power of a fake Philosopher’s Stone given to him by Lust to rouse everyone into believing in him as a holy man, a bringer of miracles.

            He’s a phony, but right after Lust disposes of him, she namedrops her Father; And with Father Cornello being his full title, there’s the obvious religious parallel. Then we see how Father (sans Cornello) is obsessed with God, and in the end these bookended villains, the first and final antagonists, are called ‘third-rate frauds’ by Edward Elric, who claims there’s no comparison between him and them.

            You can see the comparison between Belos and Cornello, with Belos more explicitly being a figure of Christian colonialism; The Titan is worshipped by witches and demons, but also acknowledged as very dead and unable to speak or influence people. But Belos introduces the concept of Hell and Damnation to them, and treats the Titan as a higher deity similar to God; Not just for his own insincere purposes, but because his racist, colonial mind cannot grasp how another belief system works differently.

            Rose has an existential crisis when everything is revealed, but eventually makes peace and finds a way to keep going. Similarly, we have the aforementioned Titan in TOH; It’s revealed that the Titan is just one of many, and that the Titans are just… people. They’re just people, very BIG people, but people nonetheless, and the show’s tritagonist King, Luz’s adopted little brother, is a juvenile Titan himself.

            As King comes to terms with being the son of the Titan, he meets Steve, a former member of Belos’ cult who left and has his fair share of questions. Among them being the consideration that maybe even the Titan (God) doesn’t know what he wants, that Belos is putting words into someone else’s mouth, etc.

            This is reiterated when Luz meets the (specifically, our) Titan, and sees firsthand that he really is Just Some Guy. So for FMA and TOH, there is a God of sorts, but not in the way as Christians would conceptualize it, which is intentional; Belos is canonically Christian, while Cornello and Father are meant to emulate Christians.

            In 2003, it’s revealed Christianity used to exist in this universe, and that the city Dante came from practiced it; It also had witch trials that condemned innocents to die, with Dante and Hohenheim using these condemned lives as fodder for their Philosopher’s Stone experiments. Belos, as mentioned, is a historical witch hunter, with Gravesfield’s witch hunts meant to emulate the practices of another Puritan colony in the area, those of Salem…

            Christianity is dead by the present, with Dante having outlived it; But she throws in cheeky references to it in how she names the Homunculi after the Seven Deadly Sins. At one point, she crucifies Lust as punishment, and the thing about Lust is that she was once a woman of color from a desert region (Remember 2003’s War on Iraq commentary?) brutalized by a predominantly white, America-inspired military as part of Evangelical delusion. But when she was remade, Lust turned out white, and is now a white figure being crucified…

            Belos is also Christian, but much more devout than Dante (even if both are insincere by the end of the day); When he first began his genocidal plans, he had long brown hair, a beard, and blue eyes… As many have pointed out, in his youth, Philip Wittebane resembles the whitewashed depiction of Jesus Christ; And in the finale, he has the closest pose that a kids show can get away with to the crucifixion, as a symbol of his Messiah complex. The Puritans are the ancestors of the Evangelicals…

            Of course, religion is not bad in these series; Scar and his fellow Ishvalans keep their religious faith. Scar has an existential crisis over his use of Alchemy, considering it heretical; His brother was a casual heretic, and his research into a Xingese form of Alchemy, dubbed Alkahestry, is revealed as the basis for Scar’s Alchemy. Scar decides to make an exception for his religion, applying Alkahestry to his other arm in order to give him a better chance at fighting.

            At one point, Wrath denounces the Ishvalans’ religion, inviting God to strike him down in arrogance… When Scar fights him at the end, pure chance causes the sun, emerging from behind the eclipse, to reflect off of Wrath’s sword and blind him; It is an Act of God that gives the religious Scar the chance to use Alkahestry to tear off Wrath’s arms, causing him to bleed to death. And in the end, Scar gets to keep his religion.

            Scar and his brother reconciling the use of Alkahestry with their religion seems to be a riff on Christians trying to reconcile their religion with science, with evolution, all of these things. But it could also be a historical reference to how a lot of scientists were Christians who saw no distinction, and believed their research to be a way of exploring God’s world, not countering his word; Gregor Mendel is the father of genetics and he was Christian.

            FMA has a nuanced take on religion, not all bad or good, it really depends on how you engage with it because religious violence is just a veneer for the greed and cruelty of some. TOH agrees, pointing out that Belos’ use of Christianity is just to serve his own delusional hero complex, monster slaying fantasies, and hateful bigotry. Christianity in colonialism is an extension of colonialism, not the other way around.

            You see this in the finale; The show makes a cheeky reference to Jesus Christ in how Luz dies to protect someone from Belos in the finale, before accepting the power of the Titan to come back to life and defeat him. Of course the Titan isn’t really God, Luz isn’t really Jesus; But when the Titan’s corpse is left in a pose mimicking Adam reaching out to God, it makes one reflect on Dana’s Catholic background.

            So while she herself is no longer Christian, she seems interested in exploring Christianity as not all bad, as having a lot of good in it; She’s critiquing Evangelicalism and its punitive practices. But she seems to find respect in the healing, restorative aspects of Christianity; These sorts of disagreements are of course very Christian, if all of the denominations are anything to consider.

            And this theme of Retributive vs Restorative justice isn’t just limited to the discussion of Christianity; Much of TOH is based in the idea of people who have been hurt or suffer, but choose to be better. It’s about not lashing out, but instead preventing others from suffering the same way you have, because suffering isn’t really good or healing or redemptive; You be better in spite of it, not because!

            And you see this in how characters like Lilith or Amity become better people, not because of their suffering and loneliness that made them cruel, but because of the compassion of people like Luz reaching out to them. You see how they’re allowed to get better, and that while they are held accountable to the people they’ve hurt, they’re not supposed to be punished; Just given space to grow.

            This also applies to Luz; The U.S. school system punished her a lot, but this did nothing to help Luz. And when she chooses to avoid its Reality Check camp, Luz finds healing in the Boiling Isles. When she feels guilt over being manipulated by Belos into giving him what he needed to take control of the isles and attempt genocide, Luz attempts to punish herself by staying in the human world, believing it was her selfishness that caused this.

            But as with Eda, this does nothing but hurt herself, and hurt her loved ones who are isolated from Luz. Luz has to forgive herself, she has to heal, she has to resolve to do better and let herself be happy and even selfish at times.

            The show beginning with Luz’s conflict with the school disciplinary system goes hand in hand with the introduction of the Boiling Isles’ Conformatorium, a harsh prison; And it’s later revealed both of these systems come from Puritanism. Puritanism/Evangelicalism is criticized for its emphasis on punishment, Belos focuses on the suffering of the crucifixion, while Luz represents the healing of the resurrection. As mentioned, prisons are abolished and replaced with hospitals.

            FMA also has a similar sentiment; Multiple characters are Amestrian war criminals who helped commit genocide against the Ishvalan people. And in the end, they’re not allowed to wallow in self-pity, they don’t get the luxury of dying or killing themselves (not yet anyway); They’re held accountable, they’re expect to do the hard work of continuing to live, so they can give reparations to the Ishvalans, challenge their own system, and prevent more people from dying.

            There’s a scene where Tim Marcoh, a doctor who feels guilt over using Ishvalan lives to create a Philosopher’s Stone, encounters Scar. He finds a brief relief in this, for a moment the shots frame him as a martyr bathed in white light, accepting holy judgment from Scar, who will absolve him…

            And then it cuts to a very angry Scar, who is not a perfect, holy angel here to absolve Marcoh; He slams Marcoh against the cold hard concrete, knocking him down to reality and showing him to be the scared and pitiful man he actually is. And Scar demands answers, he demands help in his quest to help his own people. And so Marcoh doesn’t get to die, he has to live; He still loses his face to Scar as punishment, left hideous. But he’s expected to spend the rest of his life helping rebuild Ishval in repentance.

            For TOH, it’s not nearly as terrible (since it’s a kids show) but it’s still there; Amity betrayed Willow, and while she had her reasons, while she really was stuck between a rock and a hard choice, she nevertheless owes it to Willow to be and do better for her, and that’s exactly what she does! Amity works to defend Willow and be a supportive friend again.

            Hunter aided Belos, who devoured Palismen and endangered them; Now he carves Palismen and helps the Palistrom woods grow once more. Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf were all part of the coven system, but have since replaced it with a new one as they work to undo coven bindings, and eventually succeed. Alador used his technology for arms manufacturing, which contributed to the Day of Unity; His tech helps in undoing those aforementioned bindings.

            Lilith was head of the Emperor’s Coven, but was ultimately a pencil pusher who never actually arrested any wild witches; Despite this, Lilith accepts that she’s complicit after seeing Eda almost be executed later that day, intending to use her position to prevent anything like this, in spite of her leigitimate fear of being killed by Belos. She’s ousted by Belos before she can ever do this, but Lilith ends up working with the rebellion to stop the Day of Unity, and genuinely offers to sacrifice her own life to sabotage the draining spell.

            Lilith having guilt and needing to make up for it is also there; She accepts half of the curse to mitigate Eda’s due to being the one who inflicted it upon her, losing her own magic in the process. She brews a spying potion to apologize. And when Lilith offers to sacrifice herself against the draining spell, it’s also to spare Eda that burden, although Eda ultimately has to be the one. Despite having wasted most of her life, it isn’t over, there’s still plenty more years; It’s never too late for Lilith to begin anew with her mother Gwen, and find a new purpose and happiness.

            FMA goes with the idea that it’s hard to live, it’s hard to keep going; Rose has no purpose but Ed tells her to keep going on her own two feet. Sloth, an extension of Father’s personality, finds constant agony in the work of living, and only finds peace in his final moments, knowing he’s about to die. Jerso and Zampano are resigned to having been transformed by the state into chimeras, but Alphonse encourages them not to give up and to keep trying.

            In TOH’s final arc, it’s hard for Luz to forgive herself, to still want to keep going for her dream. She would rather punish herself and remain in depression over her guilt in being manipulated into giving Belos what he needed to create his regime and attempt genocide; But as her mother reiterates to Luz, she just needs to accept that mistakes are a difficult part of life, but that it’s still worth trying regardless.

            As mentioned earlier, Raine does call off the murder-suicide against Darius and Eberwolf, not out of a moral quandary towards killing fascists, but because they realize Eda is essentially committing suicide; They see her photo of Luz and King, and pinpoint that Eda, feeling like she’s no longer needed in anyone’s life, has succumbed to despair. But these people still need her, Eda’s life matters too; Just as Al admonishes Ed for almost letting Scar kill him because Alphonse needs his older brother too.

            The story does not end in Fullmetal Alchemist; The adventure keeps going with Ed and Al exploring two different directions of the world. Roy and his fellow war criminals are still working to change the government, with Arakawa even stating that she never did the conclusion to this, because the story is not about them, but about the Elrics. Jerso and Zampano journey with Alphonse to restore their bodies.

            The Owl House also goes by this; Its ending shows there’s still plenty more work to be done in rebuilding the Boiling Isles, there’s still a looming threat out there in the Archivists. Dana herself said she doesn’t like the phrase Happily Ever After, in how it settles everything as perfectly settled and resolved.

            Given both series involve a Rapture event, you can probably see the satire here; There is no great ending to life or history. Life keeps going, society keeps going, and you have to do your work to help yourself and others. You can’t just give up. Living is hard, but it’s worth it!

            That also gets me into the aspect of working, of working with others, etc. Fullmetal Alchemist talks about Equivalent Exchange, and how to gain, you must sacrifice, and/or work for it. In 2003, this philosophy is deconstructed by Dante as libertarian bullshit (not that she’s any better), pointing to things like class inequality as her evidence. Despite this, 2003 believes in still trying, in still being kind to others, that sort of thing.

            The main continuity builds off of this further; Ed and Al don’t get this type of Wake Up Call, but they come to the realization that you should still be gracious in general. Alphonse pitches a new Alchemical equation they’ve been coming up with; Where you take one, add one, and thus give two back. The idea is to give, to create more in the world, to be gracious. It’s not that people should just earn everything, that there’s a responsibility to be compassionate for its sake, and without any expectation of an equivalent return, if any.

            Remember what I said about TOH, and how characters suffer but choose to be better and kinder? You can see this here; The show actually namedrops and criticizes capitalism via a literal pig who benefits from it, and in the character of Odalia (both of whom have their greed flourish under a coven system resembling America’s, started by the same settlers no less). People shouldn’t have to suffer, they shouldn’t have to work for and ‘earn’ things, sometimes you should give it to them anyway.

            At the start of the series, Eda tells Luz that if she wants to achieve her dream, she needs to work for it; Similarly, Ed and Al have to work for their own dream as well.

            But work isn’t just doing everything you can to accomplish a goal, because Father and Dante are villains for this, and they receive karmic fates. Belos is obsessed with his fantasy, to the point that he sacrifices his own brother for it, and dies pathetically, having wasted his entire life. Work is also about paying attention to the people around you, to the world around you; Giving back to it, giving back to them. It’s about uplifting the others around you, it’s about remembering the relationships you do have and maintaining them.

            In 2003, there’s emphasis that the Elrics abandoned the relationships they already had with Winry and Pinako for their dream. For TOH, Luz can’t just have her head in the clouds all day, dreaming about fantasy; She needs to engage with the world around her, and only then can she achieve her dream. Her first spell comes from acknowledging that others and their dreams matter, too; The rest come from Luz paying attention to the literal world the Titan embodies.

            Luz ultimately wants friends, she wants to reconnect with her mother and gets that. King realizes he doesn’t want power, he just wants friends; And in FMA this is what Greed, an extension of Father’s personality, comes to terms with before sacrificing himself to protect his friend Ling from Father, and allow Ed to deal the finishing blow.

            So Work is a basic necessity; It’s not necessarily good, but it’s something you just have to deal with, like Life. But it can pay off in the end, and you can and should help others and spare them the Work, so they can also be happier at a lower cost; Give more to the world, ask not just what you can get from the world, but what you can give back.

            Wanting things is not demonized, either; Too much is bad of course. But the appropriately-named Greed explains to Edward that everyone wants what they don’t have, and in the end, this willingness to dream and keep moving forward is important to growth and humanity. Likewise, Luz is allowed to want things, she thinks her problem is that she’s selfish, but her attempt to be ‘content’ with what she has just made her miserable. Sometimes you need to prioritize yourself, sometimes you need to reach out and find a better place, too!

            And this is also important in challenging a corrupt system that tells you to be content; Even before the coven system is confirmed to be killing people, the narrative condemns it as needing to be changed anyway because of how it limits people. Luz and other kids in the Detention Track wanting to learn magic is good, them pursuing that leads to good change within their school.

            As another similarity in how their stories end? Ed gets his arm back, Al regains his body, and they’re both surrounded by the many, many friends they’ve made, who earlier cheer on Ed when he defeats Father, an observation that gets Greed to admit this is what he really wanted. In the afterlife, Hohenheim is ecstatic to tell Trisha that their sons have made so many friends!

            Luz’s story, the exact final moment and frame of the show, ends with her having made so many friends; Becoming a Chosen One was part of it, as was being a Good Witch. But this is the final note to end on, and we see the many relationships she’s surrounded herself with literally and figuratively, after the series began with her concerned mother asking Luz if she had any actual friends.

[riza-jes]

Continue of this post

Inspired by Royal AU by @thesaurus-with-no-words

They had the plan. A plan that was supposed to be the chance of getting it all over in time and safely keeping both Ace and the baby that was hidden in his womb.

But everything went wrong.

And as a result, Sabo couldn't be at the bedside of his beloved, who was giving birth to their child in agony, but together with the rest of the revolutionaries who marched to the palace. The citizens of the country cheered and lashed out at the noblemen who were oppressing them, and The battle was bloody, brutal and very very... slow.

At the same time, having already extended as far as possible the pregnancy, imprisoned in his own chambers Ace was in a battle of his own.

And that battle will take his life.

Ace knew that ( he had realized it as soon as he made the decision his mother had once made. And the price of that he’s willing to pay.), yet Sabo denied it.

The days earlier, he had been with his lover and left kisses on his face, massaged stress steeled muscles, never loosened his iron grip on Portgas all the time Ace was suffering the agony and pain of a delayed childbirth.

And then, in one particularly tragic night, the kingdom of Raftel fell, and the last tyrant king, Ace, died in labor fever.

Sabo was late, he burst into the hidden chambers, and he’s still too late. He saw Ace smiling at him, smiling at newborn, not loosening his grip on his child. Ace didn't react to his lover's arrival, he seemed frozen. Sabo rushed to his lover, to their child. Kept denying reality.

Sabo arrived too late for rescue. The love of his life is dead, and still the child's bursting cry being the only sound.

At the bedside stands his faithful friend, Deuce, he's pale and the tears in his eyes won't stop flowing. He doesn't turn around to see the arrival of the revolutionary. And his voice is deaf, empty, but at the same time full of a thousand and one emotions. His clothes are still bloody from--- ( the floor and the bed are also covered in blood, the baby in Ace's arms is the only clean being).

- You have a daughter. He tried to hold out longer, he wanted you two together to give her name.

Their daughter has his freckles.

She has blond fuzz on her head, her facial features aren’t like her mother's, and Sabo can't see her eye color.

His gaze returns to Ace's peaceful face over and over again. He died with a smile ( just like Rouge, just like his own mother)

Their daughter has freckles.

Sabo had little princess in his arms, his daughter and the only thing left of his beloved Ace.

Their daughter had light blue eyes, blonde fuzz on her head and freckles from her mother.

//Sabo didn't want to leave Ace, they had a baby, the pregnancy had been hard, and they could have shared even a brief moment of absolute happiness where Ace held their newborn baby girl in his arms and Sabo hugged his whole family, if Sabo had stayed by his side. If only for a moment of bonding with his family, a chance to help and support his lover in such a time of need. Yet in the moment when Ace needed him at most.

Sabo. Wasn't. There. ///

Deuce watches from the distance as Sabo is tearing apart and remembers.

*****

“this is our daughter, sabo, our baby...” Ace said in a whisper, in a voice full of disbelief and all-encompassing love, yet so weak and vulnerable at the same time. he leaned on Deuce, keeping his eyes on the baby in his arms.

*****

...The smile on the revolutionary's face was bitterly loving, he couldn't stop leaving light kisses on the top of the head of the love of his life, his light and flame, his Ace. His hold on Ace trembled.

Tears couldn't stop flowing from his eyes.

He spoke words of love, spoke words of encouragement, and never left Portgas d Ace for a second. The faithful doctor, the only survivor and remaining by his sire's side, who had been by his side the whole time was the only witness . Outside the window, the lights of revolution never stop thundering.

Less than an hour after the baby was born, the Sabo family was once again reduced to just two.

Ace died cradling his child with a smile.

‘Their daughter has freckles.’

The first thought that was came to Ace.

She has the bluest eyes, which quickly disappeared in a fit of roars as a result of being in the world outside of her mother's body.

She had Sabo's features, Portgas freckles and Ace already loved her with all his heart. The loud cry and red face gladdened Ace's heart as it meant their baby would live.

- This is our daughter Sabo, isn't she beautiful - everything ached, his own voice felt in the distance. Deuce was saying something, but Ace could no longer hear him, his hands trembling but tightly clasped the roaring child's face, he pressed his cheek against the little fluff of hair and felt through the pain, the sorrow, the grief, the unclouded nothing of love and adoration - the delight of my heart, our daughter, our Joy.

Their daughter had freckles and the life gifted by Ace's sacrifice.

Their daughter has freckles, loud voice and one left parent.

Their daughter is all Sabo had left from Ace.

And Sabo loathes it with all his heart.

[jennegatron]

NADDpod c3 season finale

4 hours???? murph what a thicc sode......

play by play thoughts below the cut. i will stew on this thicc sode and see if i have any Big Thoughts about. Kenna, you are a star. You are my MVP.

intro: murph needs to hit the hog harder..... hit that hog & lather your pole jake getting cut from the cast 💀 "Jesus lord, what the hell was that?" "you're in the hoghouse right now, you can't talk to caldwell this way" i love you brian murphy, you're the funniest man alive and on this podcast

cloud land the night before: "we'll carry your lifeless body everywhere we go" "i'm sorry i said the a word" kenna i love you 😭 "hell yeah man" "I'll live in the meat shed" kenna all my favorite lines are just from murph. murph you're so funny. albin wants to be start a magic school 🥺 albin has been to disneyland alby's academy has a haunted bathroom, where the ghosts are totally real sol offering to teach the dumb kids who are bad at magic KENNA, 'it's just dumb' "will we still be friends?" "We'll be knights together and I want Calder to be our squire" Balnor 🥺"I don't want any part of your school." Callie's mom used to knit 🥺 Kenna "Lie i died in a cool way and then give her this handkerchief" Murph is so smart to figure out how to spread around the displacer scarf Oath of Devotion instead of Redemption is cool Tongue kissing her sword Albin and Balnor tussling is so funny. The 3 of them love instigating so much. Squite promotion for Kenna 🥺 "I can squat to squite?"

day of Albin brushing pass Calder is so funny the beeps and boops are cute every time gunk "ready to help!" his beautiful blonde hair and handsome squidward, perfect middle part, the true hero "knights of the prawn table" "sir gunk the gallant" murph you're the funniest man alive they love gunk so much and i love that gregor my man!!!!!!! i missed you so much 😭 princess shiverblight, i have missed you!!!!!!! "how's it going?" "good, we just don't listen to her"

battle mechanics "we're spamming gunk" Calder being in love with Triss 2 is so funny and Zunark is SO confused. i love you Zunark. I love you stupid Calder. Calder is so funny. "Holy shit, he's closing" "they're both morons." ty zunark. you're so right for that Kenna with the single leg takedown 🥰

murph's glen voice........ i love you gunk..... "get gunked" "always bet on gunk" "I think there's a banshee in the urinal!" Sol being pierced and covered in diamonds is v funny Zunark and Calder vvvvv

GREGOR NOOOO!!!!! KENNA NOOOO!!!!! Wave mommy lmao Omg the tongue kiss with Sol. Crown pulled him 💀 He more than stabilized brother It hurt in my nards dude, my angel Gregor CALDER FUCKING KILDÉ Sol and Acoralil are so funny.

Epilogue Cuuuuute adjunct professor sol Potholderss 💀 Hahahahaha bad surprised Albin portrait is so good Kenna 🥺🥺🥺 Krugin 🥺🥺🥺🥺 and a girlfriend 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺I'm putting together a team, the students really don't need me My girlfriend is a wizard and she gave me a scroll because she's my girlfriend Babe 2 pig in the city canon exists in bahumia

Calder returns to ice knife into the lake house Ice skating 🥺 Beers with Gregor and Gowain 🥺 GREGOR I love you 😭 "She doesn't like labels" Gregor being so sweet and telling Calder "I don't know if she's the one", "now you sound like her" Jake you're so funny I can't. Long distance situationship is so brutally funny Brings sooooo much drama Kenna repeatedly dropping "my girlfriend" Gregor has already pulled the door down for beer pong, that's my #1 shithead

Fey republic 🥰 Cyra as ambassador 🥰🥰 Callie as traveling theater troupe She's just a theater kid, that's all they've ever been Maeve haypenny tragically died Cyra as passive aggressive is soooo funny Murph singing, my beloved What if triss 2 saw this story about princess shiverblight! she might not care! Jake Hurwitz funniest man I know.

[olivia200312]

Chapter 2: Staying || Bound By Destiny (Ardyn Izunia x Reader)

Summary:

You may have read stories of girls (and boys) being teleported into gaming worlds such as Final Fantasy XV, but have you ever imagined that one of them gets teleported into our world? Y/N is a 25-year-old young woman who just escaped from an abusive relationship. One night, an unexpected thing happened while Y/N was about to sleep. A canon character got transported into her world. Chancellor Ardyn Izunia is known as a tragic man with a devastating past. The Gods from his world decided to punish him by cursing him that he'd never find love and sending him into a new world called Earth.

What would happen when Ardyn meets Y/N? Will he love her?

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

Ardyn was awake and he grinned at her, causing Y/N to blush. Just why? Why did she have to have a crush on Ardyn, who is a fictional character? Yet, he was here. She stuttered, trying to say words while placing the fedora hat away on the chair and where Ardyn's trench coat was. 

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't expect you to wake up fast!" Y/N stuttered 

Ardyn showed a sly smile and sat up. "I was just teasing you, my dear." He then looked around, and his sly teasing dropped to a frown. He looked even more concerned. "Where am I?"

"You are at my apartment," Y/N answered Ardyn's question. "I was minding my business when I found something glowing and that's when you appeared."

Ardyn was a bit impressed but he felt also... thankful. This young woman saved his life. If no one stepped in to save him, he would have lived on the streets, on this unknown planet. Wait, this is planet Earth like Shiva said? Is this his punishment? Being stuck on this planet with possibly no way home? How can he work then as the chancellor? Not to mention, he was someone shrouded with mystery. Y/N tilted her head a bit to the side and Ardyn looked at her. 

"Is this planet Earth?"

Y/N nodded. She was surprised. How did Ardyn know that this is Earth? This is not Eos, that's for sure. "Can I ask what happened?"

Ardyn decided that it was best to explain so he did. Y/N listened to every detail. She never heard anything like that before. Sure, some people wrote about a canon character being teleported to Earth, someone being teleported into the franchise world, or a franchise being collaborated with another franchise. She wondered if the government held a deep secret, a special connection with the outside world somewhere in the universe. Was Eos connected to Earth? 

Once Ardyn finished explaining, he didn't stop looking at Y/N. He just noticed something. She was a beauty. And also, she looked a little bit similar to his deceased lover, Aera. Y/N may not have the same blond hair color or blue eyes, but she had some similarities. Y/N was clueless about it but she went on: "Wow... That must suck." She then became suspicious and crossed her arms. "You aren't here to make here forever dark, are you?"

Ardyn couldn't help but chuckle. How foolish she was. He did want to bring darkness in Eos after being betrayed by the Astrals and younger brother, Somnus. No one helped him. Even perhaps Aera knew what was going to happen to him. Why didn't she warn him about it? Or tell him? Ardyn held even anger towards his once beloved. But he missed her dearly. What if... Y/N was a reincarnation version of Aera? Impossible. "No. I failed to bring darkness for my revenge. His Majesty defeated me in a battle."

Y/N couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "It's because of the betrayal, right?"

Ardyn looked at Y/N with his dark eyes, causing her to shudder. She should've been more careful. "How do you know that, my dear?"

Y/N wanted to come up with something, to make Ardyn feel that he wasn't bad. But Ardyn detests lairs and he can detect it easily when someone is lying. She sighed softly and decided to tell the truth. "You are a... a..."

"A what, my dear?"

"Fictional character," Y/N responded nervously.

Ardyn was taken aback. How was this possible? Was he a fictional character on this planet? How? He saw Y/N looking nervously at him. He remembered so many victims... The ones he made nervous and killed them. But he could've killed Y/N right now and there. Or some minutes ago but she... saved his life. She was also a beauty and she reminds him of Aera. She was also like a new creature that he had met on Earth. But she was a human like him. He also wanted to see if magic existed on this planet. He has Starscourge after saving many infected ones when he was not immortal at the time. He was only 33 years old and stuck forever in this body. 

"I-I'm sorry to disappoint you, sir. I know that it's a lot to take in."

Ardyn chuckled and even heck, he even laughed a bit! "We are not in public, my dear. This is not Eos now, isn't it? Just call me Ardyn."

Y/N smiled a bit. "Very well then, ... Ardyn." She then stood up and went to her closet. She opened it and searched for a baggy shirt that would fit Ardyn. He couldn't help but watch her. Just as he was about to ask what she was doing, Y/N let out an "Aha!" and showed Ardyn a baggy black shirt. "You can stay here if you want. I don't want you to sleep on the streets."

"That is very kind of you, my dear," Ardyn said with a genuine thankful smile as Y/N gave him the black baggy shirt. "Where may I change?"

"Follow me." Y/N led the way as Ardyn followed her. The bathroom was not far. Y/N turned the light on as she entered her bathroom. There was a bathtub with curtains and a toilet. Oh, the bathtub also looked nice and big enough for your legs to be in the water too. Just imagine a hot relaxing water in the bathtub...

"You can change in here."

Ardyn entered while Y/N closed the door to give Ardyn privacy. She went to the kitchen to make something for Ardyn. What was his favorite food to eat? She decided to make him some (choice). She knew that Ardyn lived for many years to taste all kinds of foods. So, what was his favorite? Ardyn came out through the door and heard noises in the kitchen. He wore now a baggy shirt and he took out his shoes as well. He saw a small corridor/hallway that led towards the front door to the outside and there were Y/N shoes so he placed them down next to hers. He went to the kitchen and there he saw Y/N making food. 

"Ah, you're done. I made some food for you," Y/N said as she turned around with a plate of food on it. "Have a seat."

Ardyn did as told and he sat down. This world is indeed a bit strange for him. He was treated all the time as someone important since he was a chancellor, the one of Niflheim. Y/N set the plate down in front of him and sat down across from him. He began eating while the girl watched him. "How does it taste?"

"Splendid!"

After eating, Y/N led him to the living room. "Now about the sleep. When looking at you and since you are a chancellor, you sleep in beds?"

Ardyn smirked with a chuckle. "My dear, I am immortal, I don't need sleep. But yes, I sleep in beds."

Y/N nodded. "How about I take the couch and you sleep in my bed?"

"Now, my dear, it's not wise for a gentleman to let a woman sleep on the couch," Ardyn said with a frown. "How about we share the bed?"

Y/N stiffed. She blushed. Never had she shared a bed with a man before. But Ardyn is her damn crush and yet he was here! Ardyn grinned once he noticed her blush. Y/N grumbled a "Fine" before walking to her bedroom, Ardyn following close behind. What he was saying is the truth. It's not wise for a gentleman to let a woman sleep on the couch. Y/N was already in her short pajamas and laid down in bed. Ardyn laid down next to her and closed his eyes. Like he said, he didn't need sleep since he was immortal. Y/N moved to sleep on her stomach and slowly closed her eyes. Sleep took her in rather quickly. 

[favcharacterpoll]

ROUND 4 MATCH 32: IANTO VS. NICO

Ianto Jones from Torchwood faces Nico di Angelo from the Riordanverse. Who do you like more?

Ianto Propaganda:

"He is just the sweetest man and he sacrificed himself for the good of the world"

"VOTE IANTO I actually don’t agree with his propaganda it really belittles his character makes his death seem more intentional than it was no he was a complex character who died tragically attempting to save the world he’s not that sweet and he wasn’t trying to be a martyr very woobie!Ianto wording there but yes he is a very beloved character because he’s a bitch and drives cars into bodies of water"

"ianto literally has a physical shrine in cardiff that's been there for so long it's a landmark on google maps"

"He looks good in a suit and makes FANTASTIC coffee"

Nico Propaganda:

"autism"

"YOU KNOW WHAT. if autism isn't enough to compel you to VOTE NICO then i will write this.

ok so he's gay & european (like the legally blonde song) and also a goth. we love our goths here on tumblr right?!

first i need to provide you a visual. please imagine a small italian boy. now imagine that small italian boy going through a time machine hotel casino in vegas, some wack crazy traumatic incidents, becoming an alt/emo kid and being so fucking powerful that even gods show a little more respect to him than others...

nico has gone through literal hell TWICE !! one time it was VOLUNTARY !! and all the while he was probably experiencing said hell in its most terrifying form. this shows us his mental resilience and selflessness are incredibly strong traits of his and that maybe he should stop being a reckless bitch but whatever !!!!!!

tumblrinas listen up... nico was the first canon lgbt+ character created by rick riordan in the chb chronicles (i am not counting all the other gods, goddesses, minor deities and other figures of greco-roman myth). he was the trailblazer. his story didn't end in tragedy, but he found friendship and love and family, which in this age of upsetting "bury your gays" media is still quite hopeful to read!!

nico has a sunshine bf who would literally walk through hell with him!! i'm not kidding. this actually happened. i'm sure he's definitely cheering from the sidelines somewhere... please do not let will solace down!!

did i mention nico's the son of hades, god of the underworld?? this means his powers include, but are not limited to, being able to communicate with spirits via mcdonalds happy meals, wielding a sword that rends souls asunder, turning people into ghosts, re-animating skeletons, shadow traveling and being able to read other people's death auras.

these powers and his terrifyingly grumpy personality (in earlier books) have created a reputation famous among the demigods and deities. also he literally summons an entire skeleton army and rises from the fucking underworld with his father, stepmother and step-grandmother (all gods) (how does this work) in tow, inspiring FEAR and PANIC among the enemy lines.

and if that's not enough, he's friends with lizard people, his signature items of clothing are a BIG AVIATOR JACKET + SKULL RING = VERY GOOD CHARACTER DESIGN and his hair canonically smells like rain on stone. just so you know

VOTE NICO VOTE NICO VOTE NICO !!!!!!!!!!!"

[15001700tt]

2. ...And the New

Chapter index

September, 2023 (7th year) 

The first day of their seventh year was brimming with new and exciting things. First, Scorpius and Rose became Head Boy and Head Girl, and that of itself, dictated the entertainment for the rest of the year. Just the thought of the two of them, trying to figure out how to deal and tolerate the other, had many returning students placing bets on their first day back, some as soon as they settled in for their first Hogwarts dinner of the upcoming year. 

“To our new students, Welcome to Hogwarts!” McGonagall says in a way of welcome, earning an excited applause and some high-pitched cheers from the fresh meat.

“And to our returning students, Welcome Back!” This brought out some walloping whoops as the Great Hall filled with bursting applause from the older students, overwhelming the excitable, happy newcomers. 

The sheer enthusiasm and liveliness of youth brought a surge of warmth and pride to McGonagall, causing the Headmistress to give one of her rare smiles as she let her kids run through their rowdiness. It was going to be an exhilarating year, after all.

“As with every year, I shall expect the very best from all of you! Tradition dictates a select group of upper-year pupils assist the Heads of Houses and myself in the day-to-day functions of the school in the capacity of Prefect. So I give you, your Head Prefects for this year: Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy! Congratulations to the two of you!” 

Another round of applause overtook the Great Hall, however, this time McGonagall raised her hand to silent the mass before they became too rowdy. There would be time for that much later. 

She needed the students' calm for this next 

announcement. 

“Now, I am thrilled to announce that this year, Hogwarts will once again be hosting the Triwizard Tournament! It is a privilege and honor to have this international celebration of magical excellency and fellowship, right here at our school! The tournament will test one of your peers in the most dangerous and punishing of tasks to win the Triwizard Cup, one thousand Galleons, and Eternal Glory!” 

“And probably an eternity of bruises,” Alice whispered snidely to Rose. 

“Given the nature of this tournament, rules have been stipulated for the safety of all candidates and to ensure a fair competition.” A grim expression replaced the earlier joviality McGonagall had displayed. 

“Additional rulings have been made in light of the tragedy that befell us the last time we hosted such an event. The Interim Chief of Magical Games and Sports, as well as Hogwarts Alumni, Serafeim Avery, is here to disclose such proceedings.” 

She gestured to the man with short blond hair and in traditional wizard robes standing behind the podium. He looked very old and yet young at the same time, a certain eerie aura surrounded him. 

“But first, let us take a moment to honor the dearly departed. A moment of silence for the tragic loss of a most beloved son, a kind and exceptional student, Cedric Diggory.” 

As a heavy silence overtook the Great Hall, Rose glanced at her family, who were all somber, knowing they were recalling the story of Diggory's death just as she was. They knew how dangerous it was. How Uncle Harry was set up by a death eater. How quiet and sad her parents would get at the mention of Cedric’s name. How her uncle and parents refuse to talk about the event at length. Rose felt hot liquid tear up in the back of her eyes and mentally riled herself up.

She knew McGonagall was a great headmistress, but this was stupid. Way too many students have died during the tournaments. Three bloody times, for Merlin’s sake! That’s why it was discontinued in the first place. And it should’ve stayed that way. Albus better not be getting any bright ideas or else she’d wring his neck before he even gets past the age line of Goblet of fire. She didn't want anyone to get hurt really, worried eyes fleeting towards the Slytherin table where Scorpius, Albus, and Cole were sitting. 

“Think long and carefully before you drop your name,” McGonagall said gravely, breaking the solemn silence. “Eternal glory is a worthy cause, but not worth any of your lives.” 

A pause. 

“Now for the Head of Magical Games and Sports.” The Headmistress left the podium to her seat. The man standing behind the podium stepped up, and began to announce a very long and boring list of new or changed legalities. 

Rose took this time to wonder. Cole might join in, just for kicks and giggles. Scorpius had on a blank expression as usual. She could hardly ever read his emotions, let alone this far away. A brick had more expressions than the bloke. Somehow, he noticed her staring at him, and he raised a questioning eyebrow at her gaze. Quickly averting her eyes, she focused on the podium again. A deep part of her hoped that none of her cousins entered this stupid competition (her cousins were all crazy, it didn't matter what their gender was, they were all insane). 

“-To summarize, the most imperative revisions are as follows. Those who can enter their name in the Goblet of Fire must be at least seventeen years old, no exceptions. Anyone putting in a name not their own will be met with severe punishment.”

The man’s eyes moved slowly across the Great Hall, never wavering or staying on anyone for too long. “Contestants are not allowed to investigate or attempt to actively elucidate any challenges after sunset without a professor’s permission or supervision. Because of the nature of this competition, the Board has decided, if there is any proven suspicion of malicious intent, the Triwizard Tournament will be stopped immediately. Student safety is our priority, first and foremost.” 

After finishing his closing remarks, the man promptly stepped off the podium, the Hogwarts Headmistress smoothly replacing the now unoccupied space. 

“Earlier, I declared that the Triwizard Tournament is an international event,” McGonagall started, though her earlier elation now replaced by haunted shadows. 

“And so, Hogwarts will be home to two astounding institutions for the upcoming year as they also participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Let us welcome our friends from Beauxbatons Academy and their Headmistress!” 

McGonagall pointed at the huge double doors of the Great Hall, just as they burst open to reveal three rows of beautiful young girls in light blue uniforms. 

Dominique softly gasped as she recognized some of her old classmates. Soon, they began to sing a lovely tune, with a lifting melody, in perfect harmony, that put everyone in a haze as the gals made their way slowly down the middle of the hall. The tune was familiar to Dom, who quickly realized it was an old hymn from an ancient text they had to memorize at the all-girls’ academy. It was written by the Veela in the Dark Age to lure people to follow through on their desires. The tune didn't hold as much effect on those part Veela, like herself and her siblings. Despite the very small percentage, the subtle lineage was quite prominent in Dominique (⅛ Veela has more negatives than positives I suppose). 

From how small the Great Hall had seemed, they probably used a charm to expand the room space and tables, Rose deduced distractedly. McGonagall resumed after the visiting students settled in one half of the extra tables provided. 

“Next, welcome Durmstrang Institute and their Headmaster!” Adorned in maroon outfits with ruby red accents, handsome young men marched through the open doors in three rows, canes in hand that struck the ground in a rhythmic beat. 

The Durmstrang students mirrored the French students’ entrance, but in stark contrast to the latter's grace and elegance. Delicate motions, pretty smiles, and a flexible dance exhibition, were now replaced by stiff movements, stoic expressions, and deep, rumbly chanting. Their performance was an impressive martial arts display of various techniques and formations, showing off the even more impressive physique. 

As the three schoolmasters reconnected, the 

Durmstrangs made their way and filled up the leftover seats in the Great Hall. After personally greeting the visiting school’s respective Headmistress and Headmaster, McGonagall addressed the restless mass of hungry students. 

“Now that we are all settled, I extend another warm welcome to our guests. Please consider Hogwarts your home for the next year. And before we begin to eat, a speech.” 

“We are currently making history. As we sit here now, and continue to join together, understand that this year will be a remarkable year for yourselves and the world. For in this year 2023, we hold The Triwizard Tournament. A rare and legendary opportunity to show off all the skills and knowledge you have accumulated throughout your education. 

Though most will not be able to participate, after all, only three will be chosen. One student from each school will be chosen to stand alone. Chosen to compete in three deadly tasks that will challenge you. Have no doubt about it. These tasks will confuse you, they will scare you, and they may kill you. 'Tis’ not for the faint of heart.” 

A pregnant pause filled the room, many students holding their breaths, some even clutching their chests or pants. 

“But, if you do survive, if you happen to win, then your name will be legend. Have no doubt about it. Doors will open. Imagination becomes reality. Possibilities are limitless. And your name will forever be remembered in honor. For legends never die. For that is why this competition was founded. All for Eternal Glory! To have a chance at such a legacy, one need only write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it into the Goblet of Fire before the time limit. Take care though, if this is the path you choose to take, there is no turning back.” 

Rampant whispers began to fly, heads turning back and forth excitedly as the students began to speculate. Before she lost the hold on their attention for good, the Hogwarts Headmistress finished curtly. 

“But more specifics on that later. Now, let’s feast!” With a wave of her hand outwards, McGonagall made a bounty of food appear in generous amounts on all the tables.

Chapter index

[ravenouscultleader780]

COTL AU(A Tale of Two Lambs/MLP Base Edit)

Hello Cultists! Here's a Small but Pretty Big Reveal Post i made just now to continue my Cult of The Lamb AU(as MLPBaseEdits) with This one being a pretty important fanart/story piece with Two Characters/Lamb OCs i made next to Lamberina & my Narilamb children whom are Lambert & Lamberina's Parents..

So To finally show on this blog for the 2nd time round(first time being my old FT of The Narilamb Family Tree) btw.

Anyways here is the finished fanart below with a whole storyline bio below it to explain how they met, got married and had their 2 baby calfs and sadly both died(being assinated by the bishops genocide of the lambs kind) and with Lambert & his Big Sis Lamberina(new name being Angelique Woolsteed legally changed in the Cult of Misfits(Angel's own cult with her BF being one of the Ex Witnesses of Anura being Zepar)

Here it is in all of it's MS Paint Glory! and yes i did the Background of The Forest of Old Faith myself on Paint(Feel free to like on how i did, feel i did a good job as a bg maker which i'm not used to but am getting the hang of it and liking it better) Anyways here is the full story bio below for Joseph(The Purple Male Lamb) and MaryAnn(The Grey Female Lamb whom has Freckles like Lambert & Dirty Blond Hair which Lamberina/Angelique currently has as her Dyed Mane)

"Once upon a Time in lands of the old faith there lived two lamb lovers named Joesph & MaryAnn Steelwool whom were already happily married as a young couple with them being possibly the last lambs alive during the lamb genocide ordered by the bishops.

Joseph and Mary both were horrified at the sight of their home of DarkWood(Originally Lambert's Birthplace) being destroyed in ruins with many huts burned by torches to the many families of lambs being killed and massacred in horrendous & tragic ways with Joseph and his wife escaping tremendously until.. the most hated bishop being Shamura asking his minions to kill the two lambs with mary leaving their twin babies Lambert & Angelique as orphans left on Ratau's doorstep as their new guardian with their parents being killed and taken into silk cradle by shamura & his sibs to be kept as prizes to their completed massacre.

so now 1000 yrs later in present day Lambert & his Older Sister both have thrived in their own cults with Lambert still missing their deceased parents and honoring them in memory with Angelique doing the same.

and that's the whole story of their Parents and their tragic deaths.. and i bet your noticing a pattern with Shamura here and his "Wrath Tendencies of Killing Species with Both Lambert's own Kind and his Currently Beloved Wife Samantha Bloodsucker's own kind being extinct aswell. so the next chapter for them both Avenging their Species by Reproducing New Life for them both with Samantha agreeing to help her Husband's sadness and grief while Lady D's Species of Axolotls and M3gan's Species of Nightwolves are still existing(but their own Biological Families have been deceased for years)

and that's all i'll post for now with Lambert's Parents which this Fanart is the Last Time i'll draw them and will continue to draw the Backstories of The 6 Spouses(Sammi, Lady D, M3gan, Lucos, Ruri, Toots & Giselle) aka The Spouse Squad very soon with Samantha's being a Whole Webcomic for her and her rival Shamura(being a Betrayed Father Figure type storyline) to the rest being different genres with different topics on how and why they ended up despising the 4 bishops in order : for Sammi (it's a Cozy but Dark Domestic Abuse Storyline) for Lady Dimmi(it's a Noir but Mysterious Love Story) for M3gan(it's a Thriller/Horror Sstoryline) for Lucos(It's a Humorous but Unlikeable Storyline) for Ruri(It's a Fantasy Storyline) for Toots(it's a Musical Storyline) and finally for Giselle(It's a Fairytale Self Discovery Storyline) so as you see all 6 spouses related to marrying Lambert(minus Narinder, The Bishops since it's explainable already in-game aka Our Choices) will include their own Genre like a Movie, Book, Series or even Video Game as their Backstory(ies)

Just wanted to update my blog since on DA i'm taking a break for now until maybe Nov-Dec since i won't be so busy during the holiday seasons or maybe i will who knows.. also about The Spouse Squad Webcomics and when they'll be coming well it'll be pretty soon since Samantha's is First!(hence her being the oldest spouse in game for me!) and since i found a bunch of nice bases to use which the very first part will be released on Oct 4th to be exact!

Hope you all liked this post, have a good weekend bye!

[rockislandadultreads]

NoveList Combo: Haunting Literary Fiction

Did you know NoveList is a database you can access with your library card to find reading recommendations? Find your next favorite read with this fantastic readers tool! Check it out on our website here.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.

Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she?

This is the first volume in the "Todd Family" series.

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

You belong to the earth, and the earth is hard.

At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a solitary orchardist named Talmadge carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he has cultivated for nearly half a century. A gentle, solitary man, he finds solace and purpose in the sweetness of the apples, apricots, and plums he grows, and in the quiet, beating heart of the land--the valley of yellow grass bordering a deep canyon that has been his home since he was nine years old. Everything he is and has known is tied to this patch of earth. It is where his widowed mother is buried, taken by illness when he was just thirteen, and where his only companion, his beloved teenaged sister Elsbeth, mysteriously disappeared. It is where the horse wranglers--native men, mostly Nez Perce--pass through each spring with their wild herds, setting up camp in the flowering meadows between the trees.

One day, while in town to sell his fruit at the market, two girls, barefoot and dirty, steal some apples. Later, they appear on his homestead, cautious yet curious about the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, Jane and her sister Della take up on Talmadage's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Yet just as the girls begin to trust him, brutal men with guns arrive in the orchard, and the shattering tragedy that follows sets Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect them, putting himself between the girls and the world, but to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at "The Paper Palace"—the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside.

Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady, Sabrina, Roman Holiday)—Growing up, Audrey Hepburn desperately wanting to be a professional ballerina, but she was starved during WWII and couldn't pursue her dream due to the effects of malnourishment. After she was cast in Roman Holiday, she skyrocketed to fame, and appeared in classics like My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She's gorgeous, and mixes humor and class in all of her performances. After the majority of her acting career came to close, she became a UNICEF ambassador.

Jean Seberg (Breathless, Saint Joan)— Some of us watched À bout de souffle as a lil French undergrad and had the trajectory of our lives changed by Jean Seberg. She IS French new wave!! She is the moment!! She sadly had to work with a lot of shitty directors in her career but even so, she has this magnetic energy whenever she’s on screen. In her personal life, she was also very supportive of civil rights causes, and was even targeted/harassed by the FBI for financially supporting the Black Panther Party.

This is round 4 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Jean Seberg:

anyone who plays Joan of Arc is kind of hot by default tbh

she's gorgeous, she's cool, she has the original blond pixie cut

She donated a lot of her money to civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the black panther party as well as Native American school groups, as a result of this the fbi ran a smear campaign against her and a surveillance campaign which is thought to have led to her suicide tragically.

idk if this is propaganda but the COINTELPRO and the FBI are widely blamed for her death. If the FBI was after her for supporting the Black Panther Party you know she was good

Audrey Hepburn:

"She may be a wispy, thin little thing, but when you see that girl, you know you're really in the presence of something. In that league there's only ever been Garbo, and the other Hepburn, and maybe Bergman. It's a rare quality, but boy, do you know when you've found it." - Billy Wilder

Raised money for the resistance in nazi occupied Hungary. Became a humanitarian after retiring. Two very sexy things to do!

where to begin......... i wont her so bad. i literally dont know what to say.

My dude. The big doe eyes, the cheekbones, the voice. The flawless way she carried herself. She was never in a movie where she wasn't drop dead gorgeous. Oh, also the fact she raised funds against the Nazis doing BALLET and she won the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her humanitarian work.

"It’s as if she dropped out of the sky into the ’50s, half wood-nymph, half princess, and then disappeared in her golden coach, wearing her glass slippers and leaving no footprints." - Molly Haskell

"All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn." - Cary Grant

I know people nowadays are probably sick of seeing her with all the beauty and fashion merch around that depicts her and/or Marilyn Monroe but she is considered a classic Hollywood beauty for a reason. Ironically in her day she was more of the alternative beauty when compared to many of her contemporaries. She always came off with such elegance and grace, and she was so charming. Apparently she was a delight to work with considering how many of her co-stars had wonderful things to say about her. Outside of her beauty and acting ability she was immensely kind. She helped raise funds for the Dutch resistance during WWII by putting on underground dance performances as well as volunteering at hospitals and other small things to help the resistance. During her Hollywood career and later years she worked with UNICEF a lot. Just an all around beautiful person both inside and out.

No one could wear clothes in this era like she could. She was every major designer's favorite star and as such her films are time capsules of high fashion at the time. But beyond that, she had such an elegance in her screen presence that belied a broad range of ability. From a naive princess, to a confused widow, to a loving and mischievous daughter, she could play it all.

Look at that woman's neck. Don't you want to bite it?

[dapperbasil]

⌛💉 Marcus, 🌃🖤 Alistair, 🌹🤝 Tammy

Marcus:

⌛ When and how were they turned?

"Starting off dangerously, are we? I suppose talking about my past wouldn't hurt too terribly bad. If you know my dear Lilliana's story, then you know mine as well. We were both young nobles in late 18th century France. Most people with eyes to read a book and ears to hear the tales of historians know what happened to nobles during that time period. My wife's family was no different. When she disappeared that night I thought I had lost her, the person I was closest to in the entire world. I was lost in my way, and my family -try as they may to urge me to consider another suitor- was unable to console me.

Enter my sire, Elise. A beautiful british woman, tall with flowing blonde hair. She convinced my family that I was better off getting treatment for my broken heart, and once the papers were signed she dominated them and altered their memories. Marcus wasn't just standing in the foyer hours ago, Marcus died of typhoid a few months before the Sylvestres were executed. Their beloved son was long since buried in the family crypt.

Elise offered me the chance to see Lilliana again, to which I accepted without yet knowing the terms. A bit foolish of me, but given that we have been reunited for over 200 years now I do not begrudge my young self. Under the light of the full moon in the garden of my family's estate, Marcus Beaumont died his mortal death. My blood decorated the poppies growing from the earth and I awoke as a kindred."

💉 Have they sired anyone? If so - why, how and did they claim their childe?

"Is it strange to hear a sabbat bishop admit he has only sired once? The act of mass embrace is archaic, and unnecessary in these times. I never participated in one myself, and have only given my blood outside of vaulderie to a single kindred.

It was a chance encounter, a time I decided to hunt for myself to feed rather than partake of one of my ghouls. Due to my feeding restriction I tend to not overly hunt or drain the kine too much. If I run out of places to feed, then it starts to get very not pretty very fast.

Met a young man at one of the drinking establishments in the city, offered to take him to get some actual food. I learned a bit about him as we chatted. He was young, he was bold, he was stupid. His father had apparently thought so too, as he had just signed up to join the war effort. I eventually asked his name and was floored when I heard the last name.

Beaumont.

Turns out he was my sister's great grand. My own blood, running off to join one of the wars of the kine, one that would surely get him killed. If it was a war he wanted to fight, it would be one worth the fight.

His embrace, it went wrong. I did everything correct, but still it went wrong. His body seemed to reject my vitae, I often wonder if it was because he was my own kin. It was a miracle of Caine he even awoke, a lost and fragmented soul. He no longer recalled anything from before he awakened, and none of it ever returned.

Lilliana and I treat him as our own of course, he is the son we never had the chance to have."

Alistair:

🌃 Where are they from and where do they live now?

"You're asking where I'm from? Why bother? What difference does it make if I was born in West Virginia or New Mexico? You're that curious? Would Nova Scotia surprise you? Of course the accent isn't just for show, you fool!

Toronto is where I make my home now, after radiovangelist Alistair Seth Allan tragically passed away from a lung infection. It's a bit close to that Camarilla cesspool than I would like, but given the opportunities it presents me I don't see much reason to complain about it too much."

🖤 How do they feel about being turned? (How did they adjust? Do they feel differently now than they did when they were first turned?)

"My feelings about the embrace? Hate to say it but its not like I had much of a choice in the matter. I dunno if you've got cotton in your fucking ears or what, but I wasn't joking about the lung infection. I was fully set on passing on peacefully, my work for the lord done good and well. That is until a certain blasted tremere regent with true faith decided to save me by damning me eternally!

I hated being a kindred, I hated being a tremere. I hated the camarilla and all its frills and fallacies and I hated everything and everyone my first few years. First chance I had, I ran. The chantry didn't take it seriously. I was blood bonded, so of course I'd come crawling back sooner or later. But I didn't. I defected. The bonds eventually broke.

I found Caine soon after I joined the sabbat, and though the journey's been rough, I am grateful to have this second chance at life and a second gospel to spread. Our father's words guide our actions each night, and it is my eternal duty to do the same."

Tammy:

🌹 What clan do they belong to and how do they feel about them?

"Ventrue, blue bloods, the clan of kings. Ironic isn't it, my name being Tammy King and being one of them? I'm sure that was on purpose, a constant reminder of what I was and what my sire expected of me. A clan of leaders, of the proud, of the strong willed. All words I don't really know fit me very well.

As a group, ventrue are an interesting topic. Our sires are picky and selective, and after embrace it's not uncommon for them to stow us away until we're smart enough, talented enough, polite enough to not embarrass them. As such, I haven't met overly many. Younger ventrue aren't allowed at clan meetings, and if your sire is particularly eccentric or distrustful you might not see your first elysium for decades. Oh and don't get me even started on feeding preference, the night you learn that is arguably more important than your embrace. Sires put so much pressure on their childer to learn theirs, don't take almost a year to find yours like I did. Just trust me on that.

There's so much to learn as a ventrue, so much you're expected to know and do. And even after all that you're still not a full member of clan ventrue until you prove yourself to the board. They make it sound easier than it is, just pull off some incredible accomplishment and you're in. I'm not sure how long I'm gonna be working on mine, just gotta hope I'm done with it by the time my second decade rolls around.

I say this all like its bad, but in honesty its not. Sure its a lot all at once, and its really rough if you're like me and feel totally unprepared for everything. But its also pretty nice, ventrue have a sense of community, what's good for the clan is often good for the individual as well. We help one another, no excuses, no exceptions. Knowing that can really give you reassurance, you know?"

🤝 What is their relationship with their sire like?

"Ah... I did mention him in passing earlier. Do you promise to not tell him what I say here? You do? Okay, if I can be honest, its much better than it used to be. Neither of us really seemed ready for my embrace. I was scared, confused and most of all, bitter. I lost the only thing I had achieved in my mortal life with the embrace, and I was mad at him for taking it from me. He was cold, distant and wasn't really the best teacher early on. Looking back I can't really blame him, he was as new to this as I was.

Over time we became more accustomed to one another, or at least it feels like it. As time passed I opened up my heart to him, and he tried his best to watch over me and help when I needed it. It took about five years, but we got there in the end.

He's never been fully honest with me about many things, but Zacharias has been there for me for over ten years now. I like to think we've gotten closer in that time, but it always feels like there's a chasm between us. Maybe one day I can cross that chasm and tell him how I truly- apologies, I really shouldn't say more."

[echo-has-queries]

Obsessed with the idea of being perfectly aware of the personal drama amoung your local pantheon of vaugely eldritch gods. But instead of this usually being tragic and violent like the greek pantheon it's just kind of wholesome and gossipy.

"Did you hear, our god has whispered to us of the girl she's met at the "coffee". She seems excited. I hope they dance soon."

"Another god has changed his nature. Last we heared of The Blond One he was a god of Polite. Now he seems to be of Jerk."

"Our home has been swathed in the blessing of our god! Her beloved has agreed to the union. I hope I get to gaze upon her when the day comes and recieve a piece of the celebratory gift of sweet."

Apparently a part of the reason why farmed bees stay in the beehives that humans build for them is because the farm hives are safer and sturdier. I don't know how a busy Discord server's worth of bugs that only have one brain cell each would logically conclude that the humans protect them from outside threats, illness and parasites, but if I understood right, the bees would be free to move away and build a new nest somewhere else any time they'd want, and they simply choose not to.

You know how in almost every culture, people have some concept of "if I sacrifice something that I made/grew/produced to the Gods, they will ward me and my harvest from evil"?

So, in a way, don't the bees willingly sacrifice a part of their harvest to an entity not only far greater than them, but nearly beyond their comprehension, in exchange for protection against natural forces wildly outside of their own control?

So tell me, beekeepers, what are you to your bees, if not a mildly eldritch God?

[riza-jes]

Continue of this post

Inspired by Royal AU by @thesaurus-with-no-words

They had the plan. A plan that was supposed to be the chance of getting it all over in time and safely keeping both Ace and the baby that was hidden in his womb.

But everything went wrong.

And as a result, Sabo couldn't be at the bedside of his beloved, who was giving birth to their child in agony, but together with the rest of the revolutionaries who marched to the palace. The citizens of the country cheered and lashed out at the noblemen who were oppressing them, and The battle was bloody, brutal and very very... slow.

At the same time, having already extended as far as possible the pregnancy, imprisoned in his own chambers Ace was in a battle of his own.

And that battle will take his life.

Ace knew that ( he had realized it as soon as he made the decision his mother had once made. And the price of that he’s willing to pay.), yet Sabo denied it.

The days earlier, he had been with his lover and left kisses on his face, massaged stress steeled muscles, never loosened his iron grip on Portgas all the time Ace was suffering the agony and pain of a delayed childbirth.

And then, in one particularly tragic night, the kingdom of Raftel fell, and the last tyrant king, Ace, died in labor fever.

Sabo was late, he burst into the hidden chambers, and he’s still too late. He saw Ace smiling at him, smiling at newborn, not loosening his grip on his child. Ace didn't react to his lover's arrival, he seemed frozen. Sabo rushed to his lover, to their child. Kept denying reality.

Sabo arrived too late for rescue. The love of his life is dead, and still the child's bursting cry being the only sound.

At the bedside stands his faithful friend, Deuce, he's pale and the tears in his eyes won't stop flowing. He doesn't turn around to see the arrival of the revolutionary. And his voice is deaf, empty, but at the same time full of a thousand and one emotions. His clothes are still bloody from--- ( the floor and the bed are also covered in blood, the baby in Ace's arms is the only clean being).

- You have a daughter. He tried to hold out longer, he wanted you two together to give her name.

Their daughter has his freckles.

She has blond fuzz on her head, her facial features aren’t like her mother's, and Sabo can't see her eye color.

His gaze returns to Ace's peaceful face over and over again. He died with a smile ( just like Rouge, just like his own mother)

Their daughter has freckles.

Sabo had little princess in his arms, his daughter and the only thing left of his beloved Ace.

Their daughter had light blue eyes, blonde fuzz on her head and freckles from her mother.

//Sabo didn't want to leave Ace, they had a baby, the pregnancy had been hard, and they could have shared even a brief moment of absolute happiness where Ace held their newborn baby girl in his arms and Sabo hugged his whole family, if Sabo had stayed by his side. If only for a moment of bonding with his family, a chance to help and support his lover in such a time of need. Yet in the moment when Ace needed him at most.

Sabo. Wasn't. There. ///

Deuce watches from the distance as Sabo is tearing apart and remembers.

*****

“this is our daughter, sabo, our baby...” Ace said in a whisper, in a voice full of disbelief and all-encompassing love, yet so weak and vulnerable at the same time. he leaned on Deuce, keeping his eyes on the baby in his arms.

*****

...The smile on the revolutionary's face was bitterly loving, he couldn't stop leaving light kisses on the top of the head of the love of his life, his light and flame, his Ace. His hold on Ace trembled.

Tears couldn't stop flowing from his eyes.

He spoke words of love, spoke words of encouragement, and never left Portgas d Ace for a second. The faithful doctor, the only survivor and remaining by his sire's side, who had been by his side the whole time was the only witness . Outside the window, the lights of revolution never stop thundering.

Less than an hour after the baby was born, the Sabo family was once again reduced to just two.

Ace died cradling his child with a smile.

‘Their daughter has freckles.’

The first thought that was came to Ace.

She has the bluest eyes, which quickly disappeared in a fit of roars as a result of being in the world outside of her mother's body.

She had Sabo's features, Portgas freckles and Ace already loved her with all his heart. The loud cry and red face gladdened Ace's heart as it meant their baby would live.

- This is our daughter Sabo, isn't she beautiful - everything ached, his own voice felt in the distance. Deuce was saying something, but Ace could no longer hear him, his hands trembling but tightly clasped the roaring child's face, he pressed his cheek against the little fluff of hair and felt through the pain, the sorrow, the grief, the unclouded nothing of love and adoration - the delight of my heart, our daughter, our Joy.

Their daughter had freckles and the life gifted by Ace's sacrifice.

Their daughter has freckles, loud voice and one left parent.

Their daughter is all Sabo had left from Ace.

And Sabo loathes it with all his heart.

[annarellix]

The Girls on Chalk Hill by Alison Belsham (Detective Lexi Bennett #1)

They lie on the hillside, wearing matching white dresses, tiaras in their blonde hair. Each of them clutches a red rose. They could be sleeping, but frost shines on the lashes of their wide blue eyes, frozen open forever…

Detective Lexi Bennett is devastated when she finds the two teenagers lying side by side on the quiet green hillside, their throats cut. Convinced this is no ordinary killer, she vows to draw on all her profiling experience to find justice for these beautiful girls who will never have the chance to grow up.

But when the victims are identified as Lucy and Eden Carter, Lexi’s blood turns cold. The sisters were triplets – and the third girl, Paige, is missing. The case suddenly feels frighteningly personal. Lexi was a triplet too, and she and her sisters were abducted as teens. Two of them escaped but Lexi’s dreams are still haunted by memories of the faceless man who took them, and her sister Rose, who she never saw again.

Her boss thinks she’s too close to the case, but Lexi is sure the monster who took her is back with a message. She throws herself into the investigation, hunting down every clue, certain that time is running out to save Paige.

Then she returns home to find the back door open and Rose’s diary on the kitchen table. As she traces her beloved sister’s handwriting, her heart breaking, Lexi swears she will not rest until this brutal monster is caught. Will the diary help her find him before Paige is killed? Or is she walking into a trap designed just for her?

My Review:

This is a story that starts with a punch and never stops keeping you on the edge and punching.

Lexi Bennet is an unusual MC: a British detective who worked with FBI and has a tragic past. All these elements will play in this gripping story and there’s also something that I think will be featured in the next stories.

That said is an excellent debut as it’s a twisty and emotionally charged story that keeps you guessing and it’s full of surprises.

Lexi and the cast of characters are fleshed out and realistic, you cannot help feel for the victims and I found the unsub quite terrifying.

Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Buy Link(s)

Audible:

UK: http://ow.ly/rkF450OgI03

US: http://ow.ly/chLb50OgI02

Listen here: http://ow.ly/1UQ550OgI01 

The Author

In 2016, I entered and won Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect competition. This secured me an agent and a three-book publishing deal with Orion for my police procedural series set in the world of tattoos and tattooing. My first novel, The Tattoo Thief, was translated into 15 languages, was a No 1 bestseller in Italy and is the first instalment of the internationally acclaimed Tattoo Thief trilogy. I also write in collaboration with my brother Nick Higgins – Canelo has published our action thriller series set in Afghanistan, Death In Kabul and Death in Helmand. Now I’m embarking on a fresh crime series with Bookouture. It's set in Canterbury, featuring DI Lexi Bennett, newly appointed to lead the Major Incident Team after a spell working with the FBI’s specialist serial killer unit.

I divide my time between London and Edinburgh, where I am a co-founder of the Edinburgh Writers’ Forum, providing professional development and networking for writers.

To learn more about me and the books I write, visit my website at www.alisonbelsham.com

Social Media

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