#unless it’s something from a discord of gods…??

[bookwyrminspiration]

okay question. for those who’ve read a chorus of dragons (I haven’t read a discord of gods yet, no spoilers please <3). what’s teraeth referencing when he says he “loved s’arric first” in that final confrontation scene of house of always? and when senera said in the footnotes he may have been waiting to fuck Kihrin for 4 or 500 years?

I’ve totally spaced whatever past life instances/relationships they’re referencing and I would like. to know what they’re talking about because I cannot figure it out </3

[ghoulphile]

i want this man to do gross, disrespectful, unspeakable, borderline illegal things to me

⭐ inbox | discord | ao3 ⭐ requests: temporarily closed | tag lists: open last updated | 6/6/24 notes | i'll update this post as i continue to write. fics will be 18+ unless stated otherwise ❤️ requests closed so i can catch up on the ones already submitted - will be opening up again soon!

🍒 sticky fingers the ghoul x reader one-shot | 18+

“Lil girls should know it’s rude ta steal.”

🍒 janey's dad cooper howard x reader two-shot, part one | 18+

“We really, uh, shouldn’t - oh fuck, you look --”

🍒 run rabbit run the ghoul x reader drabble, request | 18+

the drabble thing HNNNGH think about coop calling you bunny from the start bc he clocked that you were always a down for it and you not getting it until he after you fuck for the first time

🍒 in the middle of the night the ghoul x reader drabble, request | 18+

Cooper watching you sleep. Its a quiet night. nothing but bugs passing by. Cooper keeps watching, and his mind wanders. cut to him "borrowing" your soft and smooth hand, pulling it from under your makeshift blanket and wrapping it on his dick, jacking himself with your hand bc he's bored/trying to pass the time/stay awake

🍒 wish you'd make me cry the ghoul x reader drabble, request | 18+

"You’re such a needy fucking brat." :3c

🍒 dog days pre-war cooper howard x reader fluff, request

I was wondering if you'd write something about maybe prewar/postwar (either one) cooper where his love is a bit sick (not life threateningly so ect) and he just takes good care of them

🍒 it's always the quiet ones pre-war cooper howard x reader drabble | 18+

We can see that Cooper tends to go for good girls but what if he ran into a seemingly innocent - or at the very least kind - person… but they dirty talk like a sinner in the sack?

🍒 no use cryin' over spilled milk the ghoul x reader one-shot | 18+

based off this ask; trying to survive topside after growing up in a vault is hard enough, but doing it five months pregnant? it's a good thing you find the ghoul when you do.

🍒 i can taste your skin in my teeth the ghoul x reader drabble request, wip | 18+

drabble request thingy: "you're so wet and I haven't even touched you" and/or "aww... you're pathetic" I feel like these go so well together in a very mean(super hot) way >:)

🍒 use me pre-war cooper howard x reader drabble request, wip | 18+

for the drabble request "I want to use you so fucking bad" with pre bomb coop?

🍒 don't threaten me with a good time the ghoul x reader request, wip | 18+

how do you think our ghoul would handle having a breeding kink?

🍒 in the collision of your kiss pre-war cooper howard x reader wip | 18+

"As I live and breathe, that's Cooper Howard! Why, he must've cost a fortune -- how ever did you get him to agree to attend a children's party?"

🍒 criminal tongues the ghoul x reader request, wip | 18+

Could I get and aggressive smut with coop like he hasn't had any in 200 something years ! Hes needy and wants it NOW

🍒 finders, keepers the ghoul x reader request, wip | 18+

Cooper wants people to know the reader is *his*, and she best damn well know it to. If she doesn't, he'll have to show her

🍒 god is a woman pre-war cooper howard x reader request, wip | 18+

If you don't mind of making cooper howard/the ghoul being submissive or treating reader like a goddess of a smut?

🍒 bury all your secrets in my skin the ghoul x reader request, wip | 18+

I was thinking how it would be to be the first to get him to take all his clothes off since the bombs fell. Being the first to get him to be vulnerable in this way. If you would write this I would be very grateful.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Megatronus talking to Megatron fic please?

Hell yeah lets go. Mostly just transcribed from my rambling in discord, but nyeh

Consider: the cogs they've been given influence their host a bit. Like how, donated organs sometimes have "memories" from their old bodies that they had before. Giving the host physical sensations and habits they didn't have before (it's a real thing, look it up)

We know that Liege Maximo wasn't responsible for orchestrating Solus's death in this universe, but it's still very possible he's still got a very dark and twisted streak inside him. What if D-16's sudden, violent resolve to kill Sentinel came from Liege Maximo? He 100000% wants Sentinel dead because he's a traitor and doesn't deserve to live, and his influence still on his cog combined with D-16's righteous anger came together into the drive to rip that mech apart, with his bare hands.

What I'm getting at is, the cogs have "memory" and influence, to a point. Optimus got Prima's cog, so naturally he stepped into a more rigid leadership position that was staunchly against purposefully extinguishing sparks. So, when D-16 takes Megatronus Prime's cog from Sentinel's chest, he gets hit with a blast of Presence from the God of War himself, and already riled up and angry he kinda. Spirals out of control.

The Spirit of War drives him to fight, protect, destroy. Raze that evil mech's influence to the ground so not a single shred of him remains. Unless his presence is completely annihilated, there's a chance it could seep into the cracks and take up root again, and slowly sink it's insidious fingers into their people once more. He cannot allow that!

Fast forward to that night and newly christened Megatron is still angry, angry, angry… until he falls asleep and his processor can get a much-needed rest and defrag. He dreams about- about Orion, about… the surface, about Sentinel, about everything. He sees Sentinel taking Orion away, sees Orion bloodied and lifeless falling into a pit of despair. He sees himself, out of his body, trying to save him but he can't. He sees his best friend looking at him in sadness and disgust and, finally, feels the sadness and misery he'd been stubbornly choking down suddenly force it's way into his throat.

...Is he awake? Is he asleep? It hits him so intensely he can't tell, and just. Plops down on the ground, arms wrapping around himself and beginning to sob with all the force of his broken spark. It's not fair. Everything… everything has changed, he's lost everything and everyone and- and he's still angry! Why does he feel like this? How does he make it stop? He doesn't want to be angry anymore, he doesn't want… whatever this is that he can feel slowly creeping toward him. This isn't over. Something bad is coming. He doesn't want this, he doesn't want this, he doesn't want this-!

He about jumps out of his plating when someone suddenly touches his helm, and nearly falls over when he looks up and finds a hulking, huge mech had settled down next to him. Thrice his size, at least, and before, that wouldn't have been strange. Expected, even. But now he has his cog, his alt mode, he's much bigger now. Even so, he feels puny in this mech's shadow, but his size alone isn't the surprising part.

Painted purple and black with a face that Megatron knows extremely well. He rubs his optics and shakes his helm, but he's still there. His vocalizer squeaks when he utters the name, "M- Muh-! Megatronus Prime?!"

He's definitely still dreaming. He has to be. But- But everything feels so grounded and lucid and real- but-

Megatronus Prime chuckles softly. "Sorry to frighten you, little one," he lats the ground next to him. "Sit with me?"

"I- um," he blinks. "Y-Yes sir?"

Megatron has no idea what to say. He sits a respectful distance away, hugging his knees and just o.o staring at him shellshocked the whole time. It- It has to be a dream but it feels real. Is… Is Megatronus actually here with him? Surely he can't be, but…

The Prime waves his servo out in front of them, and warm, gently burning orange fire materializes from nowhere. It floats in a ball before them, lighting the dark, shadowy night. Megatron can feel the heat on his cheeks, and the sensation is too real to be anything but.

"You… y-you're really here-!" He gasps and wipes clumsily at his still-wet face. "Oh- Oh my Primes, you're really-" Promptly slaps a servo over his mouth, optics wide. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to swear, I know we shouldn't use the Primes names in vain I just- y-you're here and- and-"

Megatronus laughs and shakes his helm fondly, reaching over to gently pat his helm. "Peace, youngling, peace. I take no offense." Prima, on the other hand… ooh, how he hated hearing their children swear. It amused the god of war, more than anything. He gave the little silver mech a thoughtful once over. "You have my cog." It's not a question.

Megatron flinches and brings both servos to to his chest. "I- I'm sorry!" He means it too, hanging his helm and looking ashamed. "I- I was just- he took it, he killed you and he took and I- I couldn't just let him keep it," it was impulsive, he would admit, swapping it for the cog already in his own chassis. His voice lowers to a shameful whisper. "D'you… w-want it back?" He doesn't want to go back to being cogless, but…

Luckily, Megatronus shakes his helm. "No, no, keep it. I've no use for it anymore. Heh," a humorless sound that could almost pass as a sarcastic laugh. "Though, I should ask. Wouldn't you rather have yours?"

"What do you mean?"

He holds out one huge servo, palm flat, and an image flickers to life, misty and glowing blue similar to the visions Alpha Trion had shown them. It's simple this time, just a standard transformation cog. But… Megatron chokes. "You mean-?! Th-This one is-?"

"Yours," the Prime nods. "We keep track. We've kept track of every cog he stole, and whom it belongs to. If you want yours, I'll grant it to you."

He's stunned silent, mouth hanging open and entranced by the vision. He… he could have it back? He'd come to accept that his cog was gone, that that monster had molested his newborn body and plucked it right from his chassis, that a part of him had been stolen and desecrated before he even opened his optics for the first time. A hurt that could never heal… a wound he'd carry til the day he died.

But now, Megatronus Prime, his greatest hero and idol, is talking to him and offering it back. All he can do is sit there with his jaw slack.

The god of war seems amused, laughing for real this time and reclining back against the solid metal behind him. He reaches out and wraps one arm around the youngling, who squeaks in surprise, and pulls him close against his side. "You don't have to decide now," he promises. "You can keep mine, if you like the way it feels. And if you change your mind someday, that's fine too."

He's not at all expecting the sudden sob that bubbles up from his side, and looks down in surprise. Little namesake suddenly curls against him, shaken by the first positive physical contact he's had in multiple days, beginning to weep with earnest against his hero's side.

"Wh-"

"I'm sorry!" The words burst out of him in a rasping voice heavily laden with sorrow and wet sobs. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so so sorry! I- I didn't mean to, it wasn't supposed to happen like that, I didn't wanna hurt him, I- I didn't mean to I was just so mad-"

This… really isn't Megatronus's forte. He doesn't know what to say, so opts not to say much at all, instead gently draping his arm around the young, miserable bot and just letting him huddle beneath him, weeping brokenly.

"I know, little one… I know. It's alright-"

"It's NOT alright!" He wails. "Nothing is alright! I wanna go home but I don't have a home anymore, and- and Orion hates me and everyone probably hates me and- and I killed my best friend and I took your cog without asking and," he takes a great, heaving, wheezing invent. "And I'm just like Sentinel!"

Megatronus goes from awkward to actively panicking in about 2 seconds. Ok, tears he can deal with. Let them cry it out and release all the stress and they'll be fine afterwards. That's how it goes. But… super deep seated self doubt and worry you've turned into the monster you just defeated? That's- That's really not something he knows how to deal with. Megatronus Prime does not know how to deal with kids.

"...wait, no-" he gives the little one a gentle shake. "No, no, that isn't true-" he continued to wail and cry like the world is ending, like his spark really has shattered into pieces. "You're not- you didn't intend to hurt your friend and wouldn't have if it was up to you, and--forgive me, Mother--Sentinel needed to be dealt with. "You've nothing in common with that mech aside from the cog you both hosted in your chest-"

That just seems to make him cry harder, and Megatronus flounders. What to do, what to do?! Um, uh-

"Oh!" He reaches up with both hands, undoing clasps and deactivating invisible magnets. "Here! Do you want to try on my mask?"

That gets him. Megatron raises his helm suddenly, still hiccupping, tears still streaming down his cheeks. His mouth is still trembling, but he's no longer wailing.

"Wh-" he whimpers softly. "What….?"

Megatronus undoes the last clasp and removes his giant purple mask, lowering it slowly and giving the little silver mech a somewhat sheepish look, red optics peering over the rim. "Do you… want to try it on?"

Megatron blinks twice, then thrice. "That's a mask?"

The god of war nods, lowering it further. He has an unexpectedly pretty, almost delicate face. "My Solus made it for me," he admits, sounding almost shy. "To tell the truth, I… ahem, I get… rather anxious when people see my face. Solus made this for me, quite a long time ago." it's huge when he reaches to offer it to Megatron, nearly the size and width of a small table.

Megatron's hands are still shaking as it's laid across his lap, pinning him to the ground end eliciting an "oof!" of surprise. It's heavy! It weighs more than the miners did when they were cogless! Probably still weighs more than some of them! He runs his hands over the smooth, tempered metal, awed by its quality and sheer size.

"You wear this all the time?" He asks, starstruck.

"Indeed. I never take it off, in fact." this was a special occasion, though.

"I… we thought this was your face," Megatron admits, nearly sheepish. He reaches up to touch his chassis, where the likeness of the god's mask is still etched painfully into the metal there, thanks to Sentinel. He steals a glance up at Megatronus, unable to quite believe what he's seeing. "Everything in the datafiles and history stuff, you're always wearing it. We- We thought you didn't have a mouth!"

Megatronus smiles at him, amused, and for the first time in days Megatron manages to smile, too.

"…can I really, uh…?"

The god of war snaps his fingers and the mask shrinks obediently, til it's just the right size. "Go ahead, youngling."

He exhales nervously and slips it on, fumbling unsurely with the clasps. It smells like sulfur and high quality energon, and something about it makes his whole body prickle.

After he's got it on, he looks up at Megatronus shyly, fidgeting. The world looks different from in here: his peripheral vision is cut off, and everything is framed with the shape of the optical slits. "Well…?" He wrings his servos nervously. "How do I look…?"

"…heh," Megatronus lays one servo on his helm, jostling him gently. "Like a little champion of war." He may be called Megatron now but he's still a child at spark, right now. He's painfully young, and Megatronus Prime is worried for him.

When Megatron wishes he had a mirror so he could see what he looks like with the mask on, and Megatronus is all too glad to grant that wish. It's good to see him less emotionally devastated, but soon after the little silver mechling settles back against his side. "I don't… wanna go to war," he admits forlornly, hugging his knees. "I… I wanna go home. I don't want a war."

"That means you're smart," Megatronus tells him seriously, which earns him a confused look. "I preside over war and reap power from it, but only a fool hopes for war. War incurs heavy loss no matter who you are, and those who actively seek it seek their own destruction in turn. Tis my duty to govern that domain and stand as a guardian over those who must do battle." The Patron Deity of Warriors, Megatron recalls easily. The Guardian Prime of all who take up arms.

If the god of war himself encourages not to seek his domain, it's probably best to listen, no? He sags helplessly against the divine mech's side, feeling helpless.

"You said you want to go home?" Megatronus asks, and Megatron nods wordlessly. "Then… perhaps you should."

"I can't! Orion said- he's a Prime now, and he doesn't want me there, and- and I said I'd never trust another leader again-"

"You trust me, don't you?"

It's plain to see how much the kid idolizes him, and trusts him enough to, at the very least, cry his spark out and air his grievances. That certainly speaks of trust.

"Well- yes but, that's different!" Megatronus Prime isn't just some leader, he's one of the 13! One of the gods! Trusting him is different than trusting some uppity mortal that thinks they're better than everyone else and is willing to suck their lives away for their own benefit! Megatronus Prime isn't like that-

"Do you think your friend Orion is like that?"

"No!" The reflexive leap to defend his friend comes before he can really process it. "No of course not, he's-"

Megatron covers his mouth. Oh. Slag.

"Perhaps," the Prime reaches down and gently removes his mask from Megatron's face, gently lifting his chin with one finger. "A better vow would be to no longer place blind trust in those who lead. Don't deny yourself faith or hope, little one. Both are important in order for you or anyone to have a future."

A future. Right. He sighs, shoulders falling to their lowest point and averting his optics. What future? He's stranded on the treacherous surface with a bunch of bloodthirsty strangers, and if he shows even an ounce of weakness that screechy seeker is going to be jumping for his throat. If not him, then one of the others, surely. He couldn't have any sort of comfortable or trustworthy future with people like that surrounding him. Every friend he's ever had, all of his batchmates, his siblings, his family, they're all back in Iacon. The mecha in the high guard hold no love for him, nor do the ones he's left behind. None of them ever will again. Even Orion, his... his everything, even he surely hates him now.

"Do you truly believe that, little one?"

"Yes! Wouldn't you?! I- I killed him!" Accidentally, and because Orion threw himself in front of his weapon, but still. "Sentinel Prime killed you, don't you hate him?" internally, Dee hates himself for hurting Orion. Surely Orion must hate him as much as he hates him, right?

"Sentinel," Megatronus spits the name in a vengeful rasp. "Murdered me in cold blood, as he did several of my siblings. We're still deciding what to do with him. Orion Pax threw himself in front of your weapon and was caught in the crossfire. You did not seek to murder him, nor did you seek to harm him. Twas an accident, nothing more, and not deserving of hatred. Not the hatred you hold for yourself, nor the hatred you presume he holds for you."

"But..." Megatron shrinks in his shadow, tears beading along the bottom lid of his optics. "But..."

"Hush," the Prime's command is firm but still very gentle. "You want to go home. You don't wish for war. Then I ask you, little one: what must you do to achieve those goals?"

[blood-orange-juice]

Inspired by a discord discussion.

I keep seeing characters from snowy places portrayed as unbothered by cold or missing it, and every time I remember that it's completely counterintutive if you didn't grow up in freezing temperatures

So I thought I should write this post.

We are very bothered by cold. We are way more bothered by cold than southerners. Being bothered is what keeps you safe. Warmth is a resource.

There are few lucky people who simply never get cold (mostly guys of endomorph body type) but it's not a given and generally northerners start to complain and wear warm coats at the tiniest hint of cold.

Humans can only adjust up to a certain threshold.

For example, Irish and British winters allow you to ignore weather almost completely (you'll be miserable but you'll probably live), so there's a culture of stoicism, not heating your house above 16-18°C (60-65°F), wearing shorts and sandals (and a Very Big Scarf) when it's snowing and all that.

(I quickly got used to leaving the bathroom window open at 4°C when I was living there. who cares really)

So there's a common misconception that you can do the same with even colder weather.

However, once you are past that adjustment threshold (for most people it takes as little as -5..0°C/23..32°F lasting for more than a month per year) there can be no special built-in resistance to that type of cold (unless you are a yogi or a Taoist monk), instead you learn a bunch of behaviours that help you. You start to preserve warmth religiously.

You also start to differentiate between types of being cold and avoid some of them (some build up over time and it wears you down, so it's best to avoid them entirely). Anything that drops your core temperature (this is noticeable long before you start shivering, shivering is the equivalent of fire alarm) is a huge no. Fingers getting a bit numb from building a snow castle is nothing major though.

It can be hard to unlearn that even if you moved to a warmer place years ago.

Stoic northern characters who have moved to a warmer country are very likely to Complain About The Cold.

They'll start wearing coats at higher temperatures than southerners (because, well, the weather might get worse, or you might stay outside longer than you planned, or move less).

They'll get cold hands more often because their body panics at the tiniest signs of cold and diverts blood to the centre (my first impression of the Irish was how warm everyone was when we shook hands. I'm the same now).

Most will heat their houses to the point where it's possible to walk around in a t-shirt no matter how cold it is outside (those who don't will comment "thank gods that people don't do that in your country, I hated it back home").

They'll whine at +5°C (40°F).

Apart from heavier clothes they'll have a bunch of weird habits like Walking Really Fast when the weather is bad (it's for when you don't want to wear heavier clothes).

They might have a fondness for scarves and good winter shoes (warm shoes and a warm hat are even more important than a warm coat. the lack of hats in fantasy upsets me. scarves are less important but they are pretty).

When locals get surprised they'll reply with "yes, but this is *damp* cold, *dry* cold is different" (it's more complicated than that but this answer usually stops further questions, so we go with that).

It's not like they are actually less cold-resistant, they just take cold more seriously.

At the same time they can be weirdly unbothered by things that freak some of the southerners out because they know how their body deals with low temperatures and which things have no consequences.

(it's not something that you learn from books, it's practical knowledge of what you personally can get away with. for example, I often get completely numb thighs during winter walks, takes an hour to start feeling anything when I get home. but I know it's all right as long as my feet are warm and my core temperature is within normal range)

They also won't suffer consequences when it gets truly cold, while more nonchalant southerners won't notice when they get borderline hypothermic or just cold enough to get sick.

They'll probably consider -30°C (-22°F) exciting. It becomes enjoyable again, because the outside world is now a death zone and there's some macabre fun in resisting it. Oh, and your eyelashes get covered in frost and it looks dope. What's not to like.

Kids will make a point to eat ice cream outside in -30°C (no, they won't get sick from it). I can't explain it, it just works like that.

Generally people from colder countries are not bothered by cold if they can return to a warm place soon enough, it's the prolonged exposure to cold (even mild) they are worried about. Going out for a smoke without a coat is common.

If they are still in a cold country, it's also a bit different from what you expect.

There's a trope of drinking to keep warm. It doesn't work like that. You can drink alcohol to feel warm but not to keep warm and it's an important difference. When it's cold your body's proper response is to constrict blood vessels and to divert blood flow from extremeties to slow down the loss of warmth. Alcohol reverts that.

This means it's perfectly appropriate to drink eggnog or mulled wine at a fair (when you are supposed to get to warmth soon enough, so the illusion of not being cold is not harmful) or hard spirits when you get back from the cold (it will help you warm up faster), but not if you are staying in a cold place. During a hike through winter woods a thermos with sweetened tea and fatty food are your best friends.

Some won't know it and get drunk and frostbitten/hypothermic. People are stupid.

Food gets weird, fats start to seem even tastier than usual. People in Antarctic expeditions are known to crave sticks of butter. In certain weather sandwiches with frozen lard are delicious.

Anything can and will be made into tea.

Some tropes I personally disagree with.

Pain. Pain levels depend on the weather. Cold eases any kind of external pain (cuts or burns) but makes worse anything internal (broken bones, cramps, most headaches).

Hypothermia feels nothing like peacefully falling asleep. It's the most miserable state I've ever experienced, psychological trauma doesn't even come close.

Well, maybe there are people who do fall asleep but other people I've talked to seem to share my experience.

I'm not sure how exactly it works, I think it messes up your self-regulation, since most chemicals in your body require a certain temperature range to work properly. Basically you become Not Yourself. Your emotions go whack (usually it's either extreme self-pity or extreme anger). It feels awful. I hope you never get to experience it.

Most of us don't really miss cold.

Well, some perverts do, but there's a general consensus that cold is awful.

We do miss some things that only happen during cold days though. The stillness and the quiet or how pretty snow looks. How bright the stars are on a clear night. The colour of sunsets and twilight sky when it's freezing.

(in my opinion, the best experience happens around -5°C, it's already pretty but the world is not a death zone yet)

There's also an appreciation of contrast with things that are Not Snow.

Walking from the cold into a greenhouse with orchids.

Watching a blizzard rage outside your window while you sit in warmth with a cup of tea.

Jumping into a lake straight out of a sauna (then going back. do not do that if you have a heart condition).

Fireplaces. Holiday food. Mulled wine. Saffron in pastry.

There's also a lot of beauty in the world that is frozen. I keep stumbling upon the fact no one around me shares these experiences anymore and it saddens me.

The xylophone sound of first ice being broken by a passing boat.

Sea moving under the ice — when it's not too thick it rises and falls like some large animal breathing.

The whale-song-like sounds of ice cracking on large lakes.

There's a very special mood of waiting for first snow. The world is too cold and dark without it and then you wake up one night from the sudden quietness (snow muffles all sounds) and you know it's there even before you look out of the window,

There's the exhiliration of spring. The moment when the wind starts to have a scent — thawing snow smells a bit like watermelons but clearer. Winter smells like nothing at all.

The first tiny yellow flowers in mud. They are our hanami.

(I don't think anyone in Europe truly appreciates spring if they are not from Nordic or Baltic countries)

There's a certain attunement to the scent of ice too.

Like that barely perceptible tingle in the air in late September, long before you can see any ice.

I feel the scent of ice when there's wind from the right part of the Atlantic. No one ever notices but it's there. I love it.

It's nostalgic in a way.

But it's never missing the cold itself for me. For very few people it is, I think.

*

This is, of course, personal perspective and my experience is not universal. I'm a person from continental climate with harsh winters and hot summers and a city dweller with occasional visit to country houses and a tiny bit of mountaineering experience.

An indigenous person from a place with barely any summer or a character from a fantasy everwinter country will probably differ from me.

There are, after all, simply people who genuinely love cold. A lot of them. It is, however, not the default northerner's experience.

But hey, it's still more complex than it's usually written.

*

If you want to read something focused on winter descriptions, there's Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg.

It's hauntingly beautiful prose and the main character is from Greenland.

‘It’s freezing, an extraordinary -18 °C, and it’s snowing, and in the language which is no longer mine, the snow is qanik – big, almost weightless crystals falling in stacks and covering the ground with a layer of pulverized white frost.’

And then there's Moominland Midwinter. I think it gets better when you read it as an adult and it's probably still the best thing I have ever read about winter solstice.

Anyway.

I think we need more good winter stories.

[doubleddenden]

So the stories leaked from gen 4 development are certainly interesting, eh? I'm sure everyone has their own feelings about it- some of you are apparently ECSTATIC about fucking your Machokes. Good for you, my guy. Some are horrified, thinking something's been defiled (it is fiction and most importantly non canon, you're fine, get a grip).

Me? I think the lady (yes, it was a lady) that wrote all of these is REALLY PASSIONATE about her craft, and was also referencing real world mythos and how they portray similar instances- I think we all know that Zeus has probably done worse on all giving and receiving ends of these stories, as well as Poseidon, Loki, and probably some other myths from Europe, China, and definitely JAPAN- key word there. In fact, the Typhlosion story is probably a reference to a similar story about a badger yokai that can alter its face to appear human, and the Octillery story is definitely a reference to- well, tentacle porn is a thing for a reason that goes pretty far back as a way to get around censorship in hand painted porn. The contents of the story aren't really much different or more terrifying than mythos we'd see in the real world (or if you're in the bible belt like me, probably EXPOSED to with morning bible studies before class growing up), and it's mainly just shocking to see it in the context of Pokemon.

And I think that's kind of the point. Sinnoh is already a pretty dark region in terms of lore and myth, and has surprisingly religious undertones considering the family friendly nature of Pokemon and its general target audience. Obviously none of the horse, badger, sloth monkey, octopus, god, or... Lapras fucking made it to the final cut, although in Japan they still reference People and Pokemon being so equal at some point that they could marry- that's even kind of referenced in Legends Arceus with I think a diary written by a man kidnapped by a Froslass? its been a minute, but you probably know what I'm referencing.

I think an interesting question would be "How did we get to these terrifying stories?" Especially Typhlosion and Slakoth.

Its important to remember this: None of this was meant to see the light of day outside that office circa 2003 to 2004ish. Yeah, surprisingly you weren't supposed to see the story of a man fucking an Octillery BEFORE throwing it back out to sea in a rated E for everyone game, and you didn't! You saw it via twitter, reddit, 4chan, tumblr, discord, or your local weed guy who all spread it from someone who got it from confidential office logs we wouldn't see unless someone took that info from Game Freak's darkest depths of other secrets they'd prefer to keep hidden. Every game and media company has this, good and bad, to various degrees of sfw and not. Did you know Disney has an entire vault of actual PORN that animators would make of their own anthropomorphized characters? Locked nice and safely, too... with uh, some exceptions breaking containment, I think?

So with that being said, we understand this is meant to be privileged info only a handful of people were supposed to see. That means they can use words and stuff you normally wouldn't see- Adventure time for instance had Finn and Jake saying "fuck" in story boarding, kinda funny- because its meant to be workshopped and tinkered with, refined until you get something desirable.

In fact, creators will often propose darker ideas than what they actually want so that they can more easily talk censors into an outcome they ACTUALLY desire. Alex Hirsch did this a few times in Gravity Falls' production, and you know Disney was a bitch to deal with (although he probably didn't propose stuff like this, but you get the idea). So this being said- Obviously nobody wants a story about a Typhlosion engaging in a non-con relationship with a minor it kidnaps. Nobody wants to read a story about humans MUTILATING Slakoths for fun and then getting revenge impregnated by a Slaking, only to give birth to a Slakoth and have it killed and thus kill yourself out of grief for your lost child (people reading this without context- ho boy you guys have missed out on some crazy shit that's popped up). So what is okay from here?

Maybe a little Pokemon death after going a while without it and accruing a reputation of being safe for kids? Mention of Pokemon bones being picked clean of meat and put back into a river so it can come back reborn? Some darker undertones of Pokemon being tormented by Team Galactic? How about a story of a boy slaying Pokemon with a sword, but less detail of mutilation of Ursaring and Slakoth? All of this made it into Diamond and Pearl, didn't it? Add in a little Human and Pokemon "Marriage" that is easily scrubbed out and replaced with "eating at the same table" for the more sensitive Western audience, and you have some pretty believable, dark, somewhat uncomfortable but child friendly lore for Pokemon.

Not to mention, a lot of this was probably pitched just to get a feel of the vibe they were going for in the game. If you read back through the stories, bits and pieces end up being used in other, non Poke-fucking stories, or recontextualized. See the above.

While its certainly a relief that they're non canon, it is a rather interesting look at the development of gen 4 lore and actually makes it feel more... realistic, in a way- again, comparing it to real world mythos and religious tales. That, and honestly? The religious backstory is actually, unironically amazing- HEAVILY based on real world religion, but plenty of real world religions steal from other religions and mythos anyway (coughchristianitycough).

Its actually a bit sad, because in any other JRPG, Arceus becoming a wounded woman that an ordinary man cares for, Arceus falling in love with this man because he treated her so tenderly, bearing human twins, the twins becoming Dialga and Palkia to fight some Titan that would become Mt Coronet, and Arceus loving this man so much that she took his soul to create Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit to spread love and joy throughout the world? That would literally be INSANELY GOOD world building. Plus! Arceus was a human woman when she did this! It was also consensual! Can you imagine what the world would have been like if we had gotten not only FEMALE Arceus- god of all Pokemon universes- but also a HUMAN INCARNATION of her? And this was BEFORE Giratina came into the picture, apparently. If anything, we got robbed a bit of some deep lore and potential story telling from this being cut, imo.

But one more thing to consider is this: All the stories, even if they did make it to the final cut, would still be stories within a story. Fictional folktales within a fictional setting. If we judge the above by how relevant the ACTUAL content that made it into the games were to the actual overarching plot... It'd be overall kinda useless beyond some flavor text. That's kind of the sad fact of it. Pokemon Players especially, grown adults too, are not exactly known to be well read and some play the game by rapidly A pressing every ounce of dialog they come across, even in brand new playthroughs. I'm sure some remember that one idiot on twitter that thought he made the discovery of the century when he found Snowpoint Temple in Legends Arceus, right? So understandably, especially when you're working on a clock, on limited space, on new and unfamiliar hardware, and trying to be as broad and reachable to audiences as you can- things get cut. Even... Some of the coolest lore building of all time SERIOUSLY A FUCKING PANTHEON WHAT THE HELL.

And I lied, there is one more thing to consider, especially for anyone actually morally offended by some of the content mentioned- Keep in mind that this is in 2003 to 2005ish Japan, with Game Freak (who we know are pretty out of touch in some regards, even by today's standards), before twitter, before tumblr, during a more edgy time for... well, everyone alive at the time, and especially adults. That's 20 years ago. Some of you may not have been alive at that point (did you finish your snacks and juice, lil guy?), some of you probably had a lot of your formative education influenced by the more puritanical side of tumblr or twitter, but it was simply a different time and place. That's it. The people involved in this have moved on and have probably grown into better people, and probably haven't made more fics like this. Maybe. Who knows. It's fiction anyway, and nobody real got hurt from it, and that's what's most important at the end of the day.

So that's my thoughts on it. I think I'm more annoyed by the fact that one of my favorites got a worse Vaporeon treatment than anything, and there's possibly the risk of Nintendo/TPC/Game Freak overreacting and gatekeeping Typhlosion out of the games for a bit. Sigh. My first pokemon, man. Well, anyway, try not to take it too seriously if you see the jokes and memes about it. It'll pass.

But hey, sexy Latina Skyla is canon! Shadow the Hedgehog wins!

[imagine-shenanigans]

sighs dramatically.

Okay but the ghost distribution system as we call it is hysterical but can we tlak about how None Of The 141 are built to date.

Like, sure, Gaz is great at flirting, and he's charming, but DATES? He's the type who asks you on a date because he thinks youre pretty/handsome/adorable/etc but by the time the two of you actually go on a date he's ready figured out like. the whole rest of your lives together. He's already imagined up 20 different scenarios of different dates, stalked your front-facing social media and found your secret or hidden accounts that theoretically don't link back to you. Sure, he's scrounged through your discord servers and your private messages and texts and a thousand other things while he was bored on leave. He knows enough to know that he's happy with what comes next. All dates are simply... ritual at this point? Something obligational, other than the fact he gets to spend time with you.

You're not going anywhere, he's just the least heavy handed of them, the one who'll let you think its your choice to keep him around until he's got his ring officially on your finger. Life won't go according to plan but he's prepared for that too. In his head, you're already married anyway, he's just working his way up to that part. He'll manufacture any scenario to keep you with him, because he wants you to be. And he'll make sure you want to be too.

Soap on the other hand is WAY less tactful about it. He's charming, and he'll take you on dates, sure, but the moment he spots you it's incredibly easy to get obsessed. He immediately drops an arm around you, purring in your ear and talking to you. Doesn't ask you on a date so much as demands it, puts his number in your phone and presses a kiss to your temple, his fingertips squeezing your chin before you leave. God forbid you let him into your home - he'll never leave if you do. Johnny's SUCH a physical guy that while, yes, personality matters, it seals the deal for him the moment he's got his tongue down your throat and his fingers in your pants. Something about the way you settle in against him makes him feel like he's home, and you will never get rid of him.

He's willing to take you on dates if you need more proof, but he won't even pretend like he doesnt already have a copy of your key. Like he's not telling the guys about the bonnie little thing he's going home to - he slips into your apartment/house/etc and into your bed without changing, barely finding time to slip his boots off. Presses one hand to your mouth and just... holds you. He'll fuck you within an inch of your life later when you're less panicked, sure, but he just wants to press his nose to your neck and breathe you in. If his hips rut against your ass, ignore it for now. (Haha... unless? No? okay in a minute then)

Price is just as manipulative as Gaz can be, just as charming as Soap and Gaz too. But he just... doesn't care, just like Simon. There's a reason so many people have Price with like... mail order bride or a "one day you look up and hes your husband" scenario and thats because he's good at what he does. And by that I mean being a husband and pumping you full of kids whether or not its physically possible. (Btw check out Ceil's mail order bride western au its good shit, or Bo's Kingpin Price drabbles, makes me lose it every time.)

He sees you walking about and the MOMENT you do anything remotely domestic - pick up a neice/nephew/babysitting kid/etc and put em on your hip? Rock hard. play peekaboo with a baby across from you at a cafe? pick up after yourself just to be polite to the waitress? he's already stalking you on multiple platforms theres no goddamn way youre getting away from him. He'll figure out where you go in your free time and insert himself there as naturally as possible. He's not particularly hiding what he's doing either - he likes to test you, to see if you notice things missing or moved. If you do, he'll be a little more cautious, use it as reason to drive you into hsi arms. If you don't he jsut views it as all the more reason to take you away - poor thing, you just can't help yourself can you? You're lucky nobody else has got their claws around you, hm?

[box-dwelling]

I put this in discord but fuck it it's post worthy. I missed the month but AA charcaters and are they publicly out (like in terms of being legal celebrities, not with friends and family) and do they attend pride.

Phoenix: He is not out because he doesn't like talking about his personal life at fucking all. But if asked directly he's gonna admit to it. But he does definitely go to pride every year with Trucy and is the guy to give dad hugs to queer kids who's parents don't support them

Apollo: The press will wrestle his sexuality and being trans from his cold dead hands. He does go to pride but very specifically because he's trans, not because he's gay. Given his taste in men he does not think that's something to be proud of

Mia: 100% out publicly and does go to pride.

Athena: Not really famous enough for people to care but she's not hiding anything at all from the public. She goes to pride every year and loves it

Maya: Out publicly as a deliberate stance around the complicated gender politics of Kurain. Loves pride and brings pearl along who loves the rainbows but will stare homophobically at any gay person she sees.

Ema: not famous enough for anyone to care but she will absolutely mention it if she ever is. She is going to pride and she is getting wasted and high and then having a questionable hookup

Miles: Literally started this train of thought. He is not out publicly. He would find the very concept of revealing his sexuality publicly demeaning and invasive. He doesn't like pride for introvert reasons, he only ever goes as a chaperone for Kay and Seb.

Franziska: Very very out. But she is not going to pride unless she's asked to do a speech because she is a god damn workoholic. She only goes personally if Maya drags her along and then she does actually have a ton of fun.

Godot: I don't think he's even out to himself.

Klavier: He is very very out publicly but his fans still debate it. A lot of people think he's queerbaiting for his career despite all evidence to the contrary. He is at pride EVERY yeah and will go to as many parades as he can manage. Huge pride guy. He also probably performs there 99% of the time.

Simon: Robert Patterson levels of out. He is not here to represent anyone, he is here to baffle. He goes to pride mostly with Athena and refuses to wear any colours.

Gumshoe: Again not really famous enough for it to matter. But he fucking loves pride. He enjoys himself so much. Honestly even if you don't interpret him as queer I think he'd still go to pride as a loud as hell ally.

[cosmic-ghost-hermit]

Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t but always be open to new experiences. ALSOOOO join my divination discord!!!! Link in bio

Pile 1

Crystal: Moss Agate

Song: Timeless by Jon Bellion

God/Goddess: Hermes

Astrology: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

Vibes: 🌸🌿💖💚🪲🌷🪷����🍑🍣📗🧠🧚🏼🩲👛🦚🍐🍉🍡🎀🐷🪴👚👅🧑🏼‍🎤

Hi, pile 1! What makes you extraordinary is your mind. You are extremely intelligent. You are fantastic at looking at a situation and seeing the secrets that lay in wait. You see past the smoke and mirrors to the important matters easily. It’s not something many people like about you unfortunately. You catch a whiff of their dirty laundry before they even tell you about it’s existence. Which can be kind of scary to experience if you aren’t used to it. However, this weeds out the people who can’t handle your intellect. It removed the people who are jealous of you or who would lie to you or try to manipulate you. You are a purifier. You are a lie detector. You are also extraordinary because you are a defender. You use your knowledge to help the people you care about. You arm them with information. You equipt them with communication skills they didn’t have before. Your heart center is very strong which tells me you are fiercely loving and want the best for all your friends. You always keep your promises. I also see you are very understanding. Pile one even though you can lift the facade of most people, when you do it is never something you bring judgement into unless it is necessary. You might see someones anxiety in the way they chew on their nails. You meet those conclusions with kindness and grace. If others had your skills they wouldn’t use it the way you do. You are such a kind soul. Pile one you are extraordinary no matter what others say about you. Just because they can’t control you it doesn’t mean you are what they say you are.

Pile 2

Crystal: Sunstone

Song: Bad Reputation by Avril Lavigne

God/Goddess: Hades, Persephone

Astrology: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn

Vibes: 🤎✒️🎓⌛️♠️🕶️🫚🥐🪵🦫🐌🧳🐻🕰️🪜🧸🐗🖤🦇🕷️🦅🪨��️🧋🏹🪮🗝️🎱🎻🐶🎮🦽⚰️🚬🏉🪑🏴‍☠️♣️

Hello, pile two! You are extraordinary because you are unconventional. I see that you are very fashionable in an alternative way. You have a crow like energy to you. You collect interesting things and keep them in line of sight. There is this depth to you that is absolutely fascinating. Sometimes that depth can scare people because they haven’t been through all that you have experienced. The depth you hold isn’t always obvious. It sits right underneath the surface. You don’t offer your depth to those who don’t ask. You don’t offer your depth to those you believe don’t deserve you. Even so, you are brave, bold and never look for permission to do what you please. I would see you on the street and would whisper “Ohmygods that person is so fucking cool do you see them??!?!?!?!” You also have a voice that stands out from the crowd. You can project your voice in a powerful way that rings in peoples ears even after you have left the scene. Your words linger on their minds. What you said sticks with those people and will never leave them. They can hear the wisdom dripping from each syllable and they understand there is experience behind what you say but can’t quite pinpoint what you lived through. You have worked hard for your place in life and there is a richness that you resonate even if you aren’t wealthy. You take no shit. The universe loves that about you, baby. You don’t let your heartbreak keep you down. You might have had hard times but that has never and will never define who you are. Holy fuck you are so cool.

Pile 3

Crystal: Howlite

Song: Renaissance Girl by alybob

God/Goddess: Iris, Artemis, Apollo

Astrology: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius

Vibes:🩵🐭🤍🌨️🫐⏱️💙🦢💎🛁🍙🧿🪬✈️🧊🍭🛼🏳️‍⚧️🥶🦋🐻‍❄️🦕🧢👟🥽🥼🗣️🛬🗽💦🐚��🪼❄️🌊☁️🐰🎧🎹🌎⚗️

Hey, pile three! You are extraordinary because you haven’t been invented yet. All you were is gone. All you are is yet to be born. You get to decide. I see you may have recently discovered you are changing into someone new before your eyes. You didn’t even notice for a while. You were charging into life with little thought to how you wanted it to go. You perception has been twisted and you have a new angle to look at now. You are extraordinary because you could become anything. You could become an activist, an painter, a musician, a model, an engineer, a programer, a runner or anything you can imagine. You are a dream. I’m kind of jealous at how raw your energy is. You are iron ore that has yet to be melted down and molded into what you were meant to be. The richness of your soil could nurious any plant or tree. You are the star that is transforming into a supernova. Wow. You are such a lovely and beautiful soft energy pile 3. Your energy is like delicate piano with a soft bassline. You are full unlimited potential. I’m sure hearing this might not be what you expected at all. You might not even really like this answer if I’m honest. Please understand that I see you have come out of an act. Who you were is nothing compared to who you will be. You masked your truest self for a long time and now you are moving into new power beyond your old self’s dreams. If past you met current you they would be strangers to one another. My advice moving forward is to explore yourself. Carefully map out your new self. Voyage to your new interests with excitement because you will be crafted from stardust, my friend. The world can’t wait to meet them.

[ababanerb]

The Sign

Part of the Stardew Valley Inktober for the Grapefruit Sky Discord Server. Cheers!

(also posted to AO3)

Sebastian doesn't believe in Yoba, but his mom does, and so do his friends. He doesn't have any faith in The Sign of The Vessel, and he only goes to Sunday Service when his mom drags him along. But that doesn't mean he doesn't recognize a sign when he sees one.

Or-

Sebastian finds religion, just not in Yoba.

Sebastian does not believe in Yoba. He never has, or he at least can't remember a time in his life if he did. His mom does, though. Robin wears The Sign of The Vessel on a gold chain around her neck, a gift from Demetrius, even though his stepfather doesn't believe in Yoba himself.

There was a period of time, when he was in middle school, and he wanted to impress Abby, where he had worn The Sign of The Vessel around his neck on a silver chain. Then an upside down Sign on his earring when he went through a phase of total hatred for Yoba in his early teens.

Now, though, he hardly ever wears any jewelry, not unless he's going into the city or if he's making a post on social media. And none of his jewelry holds any religious meaning, he doesn't want it to.

So, Sebastian is twenty-four, and his small cluster of friends in Pelican Town is limited to Sam and Abigail, both of whom believe in Yoba. To some degree. And Sebastian still doesn't.

After all, what kind of benevolent deity would put him through so much shit? Take away his father, and replace him with a man who hardly tries to fill the space left behind? What kind god would stick him with a dad who had been abusive and absent, but make the replacement so neglectful that it made him miss the abuse? 

No kind god would leave him stuck in a town he can't seem to get out of. 

It doesn't matter to Sebastian, if Yoba has a plan for him, or that he's exactly where he's meant to be. Doesn't matter that his mom is a great mom — and she is. And it doesn't matter if Demetrius sucks because Maru is nice even though he pushes her away half the time because he partially holds her to blame for the way he'd been treated after Robin got remarried. It doesn't matter.

None of it matters.

Because Sebastian knows that he's meant for more. Knows he's meant for something better than his basement room. Meant for more than being shoved downstairs to be forgotten, to be replaced. Knows he's smart, smart enough to get a good job in the city and get the hell out of Pelican Town. Knows he wants more than a quick fuck out of the girls he talks to.

And he knows, when his mom drags him down to the Temple of Yoba inside Abby's home to join the town on Winter Star, that Yoba hates him. He glares up at The Sign, and it almost feels like it taunts him as he glowers where he sits with his mom. The gold is brilliant, blinding with the sun beaming in, and he hates it.

But his mom doesn't. He can hear her murmuring a prayer beneath her breath, her hand pressed to the golden Sign that dangles from her neck. He can hear her asking Yoba for prosperity in the next year, for the whole family. 

But then, he hears, “And please, more than anyone, give Sebastian a sign. Show him you have a plan,” She asks, low beneath her breath as she asks Yoba for more. Which is odd, since the religion of Yoba has always been more of a silent thing. 

But his mom always asks. Always. And sometimes, she gets what she asks for.

He doesn't believe in Yoba, and he knows he's not the only one. Shane doesn't believe either, and for his yearly checkup with Harvey, the town’s doctor also doesn't seem too inclined to believe either. And for as much as he hates Alex, he can appreciate that the other guy also has a lack of faith.

But Robin believes in Yoba, and she reminds him, on the first day of Spring, that Yoba has a plan. And he's part of it.

Which is cryptic. 

Especially at ten in the morning when he's just woken up and pouring himself a lukewarm cup of coffee. 

“That's— Okay. Thanks, Mom,” He says, voice tired, and a little concerned for his mom’s mental stability as she walks out the door with her tool bag slung over her shoulder. Off to some job Lewis had commissioned her for. 

Work on the old farm, he recalls vaguely. She’d told him a week or so ago, when he’d been knee deep in code. 

That also doesn’t matter, he decides as he takes his steaming mug of coffee back downstairs with him. The farm on the West side of town had been empty for most of his life, and if he ever met the old farmer, he can’t remember. 

If anything, it probably got bought up by another old dude, He thinks as he settles into his desk chair, pulling up the project he’d had to pause last night when his vision had gotten so blurry he’d forced himself to bed. He goes back over the lines and lines of code he has written, finding more mistakes near his stopping point from the night before, fixing them and continuing with his project. The deadline is two weeks away, but he’s nothing if not determined to get the fuck out of Pelican Town and into Zuzu. 

Or at least out of the basement. Away from Demetrius.

Either one is good, as far as he’s concerned.

He codes well into the night again, and he gets his project done well ahead of schedule. Sending it off to his client and grabbing his pack of cigarettes, he heads out to the lake next to his house, and forgets all about his mom’s trip to the old farm earlier that day, and whatever she might have said about the new farmer. 

It doesn’t matter, after all.

But then it does. Because that Friday, when Sebastian meets up with Sam and Abby for a drink and a game of pool, they’re both talking about the farmer. About you. Like you’re Yoba, like you’re the Vessel for some benevolent power. 

He chalks it up to Small Town Reaction To New Neighbors™, and leaves it at that. He lets the two of them get their ranting out, and proceeds to kick Sam’s ass at billiards while Abby struggles through Journey of The Prairie King . 

He has to admit that he’s curious, mind wandering to the new farmer on his walk home. The night air is still chilly in the early Spring, biting at him even through his sweater. His cigarettes burning a little more on the way down in the cool air, and he relishes in it. 

When he was younger, still in high school and rebellious in the only ways he knew how, he’d chainsmoke until he made himself sick. Dubious therapy videos and time taught him that it was less rebellion and more a cry for help. And he’d wondered what kind of god would let a kid feel the way he had. 

He still wonders, sometimes, when he lets the thought creep in and he smokes too much weed too late at night. Wonders why Demetrius’s desire for a lab had trumped his need for a bedroom, why he’d been pushed down into the basement when Maru had gotten everything.

Silly, really, because he’d learned to love his basement bedroom in high school, when he’d realized what he could get up to with no one to hear him. 

Sometimes though, he’d find himself wishing he’d been caught. Like Sam or Abby, who’s parents cared, sometimes too much. 

Doesn’t matter, though. Not when he’s been building up his savings and he can almost afford the move even though he’s been able to almost afford the move for years now. 

He forgets about it over a bowl of weed.

He meets you by chance, a few weeks later, when the weather has gotten warmer and Spring has begun to give way to Summer. And he gets it, very suddenly, what Sam and Abby had been talking about. 

You’re– not quite real, it seems at first glance. But you notice him from across the lake as you emerge from the mines, bag slung over your shoulder. You’re glowing, and he blinks and chalks it up to it just being a trick of the light. You wave to him from across the lake and make your way around the lake towards him.

You close the distance shockingly fast, and as you approach the glow that surrounds you seems to grow stronger, and he wonders if it really is just a trick of the light.

“Hello, I’m (y/n),” You introduce, and you keep your hands firmly near your sides, “You must be Sebastian, right? Your mom, er, Robin told me about you when you moved in.”

“Oh.” He blinks at you, staring for a moment before he opens his mouth, choosing his words carefully, “You just moved in, right? Cool.”

You smile broadly at him, before twisting your bag on your shoulder, rummaging through it until you produce a stone. A perfect, tear shaped crystal rests in the flat of your palm as you offer your hand to him. When he takes it, it’s cool to the touch, and it doesn’t warm even when he sticks it in his pocket and says, “I really love this. How did you know?”

You merely smile at him, your hands back at your sides again, “Just a feeling,” You tell him, and his mother’s words from the first of Spring come rushing back to him.

“Huh,” He remarks, his own lips quirking up, “Must be a sign.”

“Must be.”

Sebastian doesn’t believe in Yoba, and he can’t call himself atheist, not anymore. Because even he recognizes a Sign when he sees one.

[gaytommykinard]

blonde or brown?

i woke up from my ill-advised late afternoon nap to see the discord girlies were talking about buck's hair colour and insisting it's brown. so i had to set the record straight

first things first: to judge the true colour of your hair, it needs to be dry and free from product (unless it dries with your hair like certain oils and serums, but let's not get into that right now) and you need to look at it under a light - natural light preferably, but artificial will do trick. and obviously, it needs to be virgin hair that's not been dyed.

(yes, some charts go up to 11 and 12, but let's stay away from bleach-blonde shades for the purposes of this post, yes?)

so i'm trying to find pictures of oliver stark in a setting with good lighting to match his level with the chart above

not sure what year this is from, google credits "2019 Arnold Jerocki" (it does look like s2-s3 buck?)

but this one's definitely recent (7x04 which was filmed in 2024!)

and the most recent BTS of oliver from that video abc posted on instagram (i took a screenshot from this gifset by @rylivers)

so

first photo (from 2019) looks like a level 8: blonde

second photo i would say is level 7: medium blonde. (at most it's level 6: dark blonde)

third photoset: this one i'm including to show the difference where the sun is hitting the hair vs when it's not. overall it looks like his current hair is at the 6-7 level.

moving on...

"maybe buck had blonde hair in s1-2 but then it got darker so he's brunet now" is that it? or...

is it possible that oliver has been dyeing his hair for some time to hide greys? they're visible in this (zoomed in) pic (from his instagram)

i cant find any other photo where you can see the greys, so i'm inclined to believe the hair is being dyed to cover it. and not sure if this is a personal choice or something the hair&makeup department are instructed to do to keep him looking young (because god forbid a 32 year old has greys, i guess?! welcome to TV land). also, i'm not a professional colourist, but they may have gone a level or two darker to cover the greys.

in conclusion,

oliver's - and therefore buck's - natural hair would be classed as blond. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

PS. before anyone @'s me: yeah, yeah, ginger undertones, i hear you. here, i'm mentioning it as acknowledgment. i have nothing else to say on that because it's related to tint, not level. cheers.

[valentine-cafe]

˖⁺. ﹙ the snake deity of deceit. ﹚: zhào talisen  164 .𖹭 ݁

. . . scary? my god you’re divine !! 🍒 : “ i am the face that stares back at you in the mirror, tormenting you before your heart shatters like the millions of glass pieces that previously occupied the golden mirror frame you built for yourself ”

꒰ verse ꒱ 164

꒰ species ꒱ corrupt snake god, primordial rhytraari

꒰ ethnicity ꒱ chinese 

꒰ age ꒱ unknown ( millennia )

꒰ gender ꒱ male

꒰ mbti ꒱ isfp

꒰ alias ꒱ copper resentment, the copper rhytaari, copper primordial rhytaari, copper wrath ( by ecpd 781 ), copper siren, copper boy, the great snake, the serpent of the lake, duckling, emerald’s right hand, ( shrimpie ♡ )

꒰ story ꒱ 

a master of lies - the deity of deciet and great destruction. serpent to most, siren to some - a mad god is what he actually is.

a being of chaos, a chaos that hungers forever and on — craving discord and destruction, awakened by this. . . underlying hatred for the world, a hatred unknown. what caused this to stir in the first place?

taking form of a giant serpant that many write about in their numerous mythologies across the eras. too busy sucking out the souls from their physical bodies and luring them into the waters of his river, his lake. tearing them open and degrading them from entering the vicinity. stupid humans, stupid, stupid mortals.

why enter the ever dawn when it is rumored to be a place where none come out of once they enter? was their deaths not enough to satisfy their knowledge, did they truly have to go search? stupid, mortal, creature.

the being has no love for this world. . . why?

who is to say?

none will, the mouths that were once able to are dirt filled and bone now.

 

꒰ appearance ꒱

copper eyes with maroon undertones. slitted pupils 

long, straight black hair that trails behind him, he often has it up in some form of a half-bun. has copper streaks in his hair 

tan skin with copper glimmers all over his body. has copper freckles all over his face. androgynous and sharp facial features  

7’11” tall ( 241.3 cm ) with a slender figure 

hands ad forearms are stained in copper colouring 

snake features, such as eyes, fangs and general features 

rows of sharp teeth and an elongated tongue 

sharp talons 

typically dresses in lots of traditional clothes in regards to his culture. especially long, elegant hanfus

gold and copper chains and necklaces all around him. on his clothing as well 

red painted lips 

copper and gold bracelets crafted with opals and pearls 

lobe and upper lobe ear piercings 

gold nose ring 

midline tongue piercing 

opal navel piercing

can turn into a giant snake that often dwells within lakes and water bodies

 

꒰ personality ꒱

alluring and charming, a silver-tongued, cunning and deceptive being which thrives off of discord and feeds on resentment.

carries himself in an eerily calm manner, an effortless cool confidence following wherever he may step.

when displaying wrath and malice, it is usually put into a serene and calm font, his enchanting voice misleading you into false safety.

deceitful, loves spinning the truth and playing mind games on people.

sinister — you find him often delighting in chaos, unafraid to step on a few eggs if it means he can have his way.

a master of manipulation, the rhitaari indulges in sadism of the highest degrees and often gives into his violent tendencies.

a sociopath, far from forgiving.

eager to put people in their place and remind them of his power, all with a smile on his face, laced with kindness.

he is patient, yet determined and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

in spite of his general aura of elegance and control, talisen can be quite erratic and even impulsive; something that can lead to catastrophic evens.

despite his malevolence, the rhitaari can as a matter of fact extend kindness to those he deems worthy of it. he does not fancy hurting the innocent. . . unless they can be used as leverage.

he is a possessive man, and has a tendency to grow beyond obsessive over the ones who hold his heart, which can result in quite the yandere behaviors from him.

though, he may be this confident being, it all ultimately falls short when the deeper parts of his soul are observed.

he is deeply wounded from the past. ashamed and guilty from the choices that he made and commit to. . . though, the show must go on, must it not?

 

꒰ with a lover ꒱

sweet and gentle with a lover, caring and nurturing

so many possessive undertones, hidden well by his deceptive behaviour. he is most definitely yandere esque. wants you all for himself — so that he can put you into his and his husbands’ cottage, and keep you there. where you can just simply be, and enjoy life them

always doing his best to assure that you are feeling good. and when you are not he’s immediately running to you to bring you comfort or whatever it is that you may need

dances you around the cottage or the forest grove, singing soft melodies to you

composes many poems and songs for you

very touch starved man, which means his hands are always resting on you, whether it be your hips, waist, thighs, shoulders — anything he can touch really

when you are not around him to touch, cuddle or simply speak to — he gets irritated very quickly

can be extremely teasing and flirty. especially with his words and touches. can get exceptionally touchy

can pretty much the definition of a puppy that forgets how big it really is. randomly picking you up and slinging you around gently, or simply just holding you close, stealing kisses and randomly throwing you into bed to cuddle

expect lots of random midnight walks

sooooo many kisses and huggles through the day

 

꒰ strengths ꒱

alluring song and beauty: his songs and beauty are enchanting, much like that of a siren. he is able to put people in trances with this and lure them to their watery demise.

he is proficient with enchantments, and often uses them for his mischievous deeds, causing discord and chaos wherever he may step foot. also uses enchantments to his advantage as a way of drawing in wanderers and onlookers into his river.

illusions: born with these illusionary powers even before he was a rhytaari, he has now mastered the skill of creating entire empires in one simple flick of the wrist. this means when you walk into one of his illusionary fields you may experience intense brain fog, nausea and start hallucinating, as you are walking into something that is seemingly real but isn’t. he uses this method to also lure people to him and kill them.

charms: he has taught himself charms throughout his years, using them to make people tell him things when they refuse to do so.

teleportation: the ability to travel from one place to another instantly, with so much as a thought. this includes multiversal and realm teleportation.

silver tongue: something he has always wielded, he can be both incredibly deceptive and convincing. able to work his way around someone’s head and pull at them like the strings of a puppet. he is talented in the ways of manipulation.

mind-reading: the ability of telepathy, however, he can only do such if he is deeply connected to the person or know the person very well.

shapeshifting: the ability to shift his form into whatever he so desires, this can range from different people and beings to animals.

divinity: he is considered to be a corrupt god and therefore obtains catastrophic abilities, that of which allows him to quite literally have the ability to rip into universes

 

꒰ weaknesses ꒱

. . . 

 

꒰ relationships ꒱

rishen herrera: husband, best friend, ‘deceased’ ( dies and reincarnates repeatedly )

alessio agresta: husband, work partner.

1311 rishen herrera: boyfriend, different universe ( verse 1311 )

9948e rishen herrera: close friend, different universe ( verse 9948e )

9948v rishen herrera: close friend. . . different universe ( verse 9948v )

zhào talisen: bullying victim, variant, different universe ( verse 781 )

zhào jìngyì: bullying victim, variant, deceased, different universe ( verse 9948e )

209 jìngyì herrera: bullying victim, variant, different universe ( verse 209 )

1311 jìngyì agresta: bullying victim, variant, different universe ( verse 1311 )

 

꒰ extra ꒱

he can turn into a small duckling when visiting people that he is fond of.

he is omnilingual yet his preferred languages are english and chinese ( mandarin )

he also knows all sign-language

he torments his variants ( doppelgangers ) across the multiverse, projecting his self-hatred onto them

he smokes with a kiseru pipe.

owns several familiars who were left behind by previous owners.

he can travel the multiverse with no restrictions.

[headlinxr]

𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 ─── 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐠-𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐤𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐨

SYNOPSIS  !  In Sung-hoon's eyes, you are not just a mortal. In you he finds a mirror that reflects not only the horrors of his own nature, but also the possibility of something more, something that had discarded as an illusion lost in the sands of time: Hope. To Sunoo, however, you are a toy, a pawn on his chessboard of chaos. He sees you as a spark that could be extinguished with a simple gesture.

But his carelessness is a mistake, for even he to feel the impact of your presence. In you he senses a discordance that threatens to fracture his indiference, a crack that hints at questions he, until now, had refused to ask: What remains of the soul when everything else is lost?

GENRE. vampires, non idol! au, sung-hoon and sunol are brothers, reader is a maid. brother vs brother, f!reader.

WARNINGS. this is a bit experimental.

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

In the heart of a world where night is not merely the absence of light, but a sovereign empire that consumes time and reason, stands a castle that seems to tear apart the veils of eternity. Its silhouette is a perpetual shadow, a cathedral to the void whose towers rise like the hands of a penitent crying out to the sky, aware that their plea will fall into the abyss of silence. Each stone of its walls, worn by the weight of centuries, bears the memory of primordial pain, like scars that whisper laments to the immortal winds. It is not a dwelling, but a mausoleum erected to guard torn souls, a sanctuary dedicated to hopelessness where eternity itself seems to have found its reflection.

In the heart of this gloomy domain dwells Sung-hoon, prince of the vampires, son of the eternal tyrant Dracula. Like a Prometheus chained to the rocks of his own immortality, he observes his existence with the melancholy of one who examines ashes that refuse to cool. In his eyes, dark as the abysses that separate man from God, burns a fire that does not illuminate but consumes. It is the reflection of an extinguished humanity, a vestige that struggles not to fade under the overwhelming weight of its own eternity.

Sung-hoon is not simply an heir; he is a martyr of a lineage that drinks from life to prolong its curse. Immortality, far from being a divine gift, presents itself to him as a spiritual desert, where each moment is a question thrown into the void. His existence is a perpetual dilemma, a crossroads between the duty to perpetuate the darkness and the yearning to break the chains that bind him to his father's legacy. He is a modern Lucifer, exiled not for rebellion, but for the cruel irony of a will that was never his.

In contrast, his younger brother, Sunoo, seems to inhabit the same eternity with the insolence of one who has made peace with the void. If Sung-hoon is the penitent seeking redemption in a desert of doubts, Sunoo is the jubilant Cain, the libertine who has embraced his condemnation as a dance in the shadows. For him, immortality is an endless feast, an ocean of pleasures and chaos where he sails without fear of shipwrecks. He does not seek purpose, for he finds it in every shadow, in every scream stifled by the night. He is a Faust who has sealed his pact with darkness and, instead of fearing it, has turned it into his canvas.

However, the brothers are nothing more than two sides of the same cursed coin. They share the same fate, the same condemnation: an eternity that strips meaning from everything they touch. Sung-hoon, consumed by the flames of his introspection, and Sunoo, immersed in the vertigo of his hedonism, embody the extremes of an endless existence: the fruitless search for meaning versus the acceptance of absolute emptiness.

In this duel of opposites, an unexpected figure emerges: You, a maid whose humanity becomes a beacon that defies the gloom. Your presence should be irrelevant, like a speck of dust in a cosmos governed by immutable hierarchies and bloodlines. But, against all logic, your mere existence unleashes storms in the hearts of the immortals. Your steps, light as whispers, and your gaze, as serene as a calm lake, burst into the fabric of eternity like an anomaly, a crack in the impenetrable wall of immortality.

In Sung-hoon's eyes, you are not simply a mortal. In you, he finds a mirror that reflects not only the horrors of his own nature but also the possibility of something more, something he had dismissed as an illusion lost in the sands of time: hope. Your humanity, far from being a weakness, is an impregnable stronghold that awakens in him desires more dangerous than the thirst for blood: The longing to regain a humanity he believed lost.

For Sunoo, on the other hand, you are a toy, a pawn on his board of chaos. He sees you as a spark that could be extinguished with a simple gesture. But his carelessness is a mistake, for even he begins to feel the impact of your presence. In you, he perceives a discord that threatens to fracture his indifference, a crack that hints at questions he had until now refused to ask: What remains of the soul when everything else has been lost?

While Sung-hoon and Sunoo grapple with their own desires and the rivalry that consumes them, the castle itself seems to come to life. This bastion of shadows, cathedral to oblivion, becomes another character, watching with its cracked walls as a tragedy unfolds that could change the rules of the universe. The stones, silent witnesses of countless lives consumed, resonate with a tension that even eternity cannot contain.

Sung-hoon, the tormented prince; Sunoo, the rebel dancing in chaos; and you, the spark that threatens to ignite everything, become figures of a dark poem, a tale that explores not only the limits of immortality but also the mysteries of humanity itself. And so, in a world where light and shadow intertwine in an eternal embrace, the presence of a mere mortal becomes the flame that could challenge even the oldest darkness.

The tension between Sung-hoon and Sunoo reaches its peak on a night when the moon, usually distant and serene, is tinged with an apocalyptic red, as if the very sky were weeping blood before the imminent fracture. The air in the castle is dense, laden with a silence that is not the absence of sound, but the suffocating presence of unspoken words, of secrets that sink their claws into eternity.

At the top of a worn marble staircase, Sunoo stands as an unyielding judge, his figure bathed in the flickering glow of a torch that casts erratic shadows on his stony face. —Love is a fallacy, Sung-hoon— he declares, his voice as cold as the edge of a scythe. —It is the opium of mortals, a refuge for those who cannot bear the void. We, who are eternal, do not need such illusions.—

From below, Sung-hoon watches him with a mix of weariness and defiance. His posture seems that of a man closer to the dust than to the heavens, but his eyes burn with an intensity that belies his apparent fragility. —The void is not an enemy, Sunoo— he replies, his voice resonating with a dangerous calm. —It's a teacher. And love, far from being a deception, is the only act that defies time and death. It is not weakness, it is the flame that can ignite even the ruins of our soul.—

Sung-hoon's words pierce through the columns like an ancient echo, as if awakening dormant memories in the very stones, silent witnesses of centuries of tragedies and betrayals.

From the shadows of a Gothic arch, you advance with a serenity that belies the tempest around you. Your mere presence seems to disrupt the gravity of the moment, like a lightning bolt illuminating the chaos only to reveal its magnitude. —They are both wrong— you declare, your voice as firm as the tolling of a bell. —Love is neither a refuge nor a redemption. It's a test. And like all tests, it doesn't promise answers, only deeper questions.—

You fix your eyes first on Sunoo, whose mask of indifference begins to crack under the weight of his gaze. —I'm not a pawn on your board, Sunoo. I am not here to confirm your truths or to reinforce your chains. I am free, and my freedom terrifies you because it challenges your control.—

Then, your attention turns to Sung-hoon, and although his gaze is softer, it is no less incisive. —You, Sung-hoon, cannot seek in me a salvation that I do not possess. If you love me, let it be for who I am, not for what you expect me to represent.—

The frankness of your words strikes the two brothers like a lightning bolt. Sunoo, always the architect of order, feels something within himself give way, like a dam that can no longer hold back the waters of a dark and deep ocean. —Love is a prison— he finally murmurs, his voice muted like a condemned whisper. —And I have sworn not to be a prisoner of anyone, not even of myself.—

But even as he utters these words, something within him falters. You have sown doubt in him, a crack of vulnerability that forces him to confront the possibility that, in his rejection of love, he has built an even more oppressive cage than the one he feared.

Sung-hoon, for his part, finds in your words a strange form of comfort. He does not seek in you an idol or divine salvation, but an echo of humanity that connects him with what he thought was lost. —If love is a test— he says, his voice laden with a determination that transcends despair, —then I choose to face it with you, expecting no reward other than the privilege of walking by your side.—

You smile, but your smile is neither that of a conquered maiden nor that of a redeeming angel. It is an ancient smile, laden with wisdom and melancholy, as if you contained the sum of all the love stories that ever existed. ─Then walk with me, Sung-hoon— you answer. —But remember that on this path there are no promises, only choices. And each choice carries a shadow with it.—

The scene dissolves into a silence that is not empty, but full. Sunoo, defeated but not humiliated, retreats into the shadows, his figure enveloped in a twilight that embraces him like a mantle. His footsteps echo on the stone like a requiem for a life of certainties now eroded.

Sung-hoon and you remain in the foyer, as the first light of dawn timidly penetrates through the stained glass windows. The light neither burns them nor redeems them; it simply envelops them, like a reminder that even in immortality, each new day brings with it the possibility of choice.

The castle, a witness to centuries of intrigue and suffering, seems to breathe, as if eternity itself had suspended its judgment.

In this story, there are no absolutions, no closed endings. Just one eternal question, hanging like a sword over their heads:

Can love, with its fragility and its strength, redeem even the immortals? Or is it simply a mirage, a flame that flickers briefly before being extinguished by the wind of time?

You, Sung-hoon, and Sunoo follow divergent paths, but the threads of their story remain intertwined. In their choices, in their doubts, not only the weight of immortality is revealed, but also the irreducible spark of humanity, which persists even in the face of the abyss.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/768602942216552448/the-fans-of-charactership-are-a-literal-cult?source=share Idk, i'm usually on board with how people need to stop misusing words like "gaslighting" and "grooming" in ways that dilute their true meaning, but the overly expansive use of "cult" shot the moon a long time ago. It predates the internet. It's even long been a joke in religious studies circles that religions are just cults plus time. We have widely-used terms like "cult classic" and "cargo cult" that have very little to do with "cults" in the vein of Jonestown or Heaven's Gate, the classic super-high-control mass suicide types of cults, not to mention something still clearly cultish but a level down from those like Scientology. Even the specific horrifying things they did - "drink the koolaid" for instance - have become colloquialisms. And despite this, I just don't think there's really a cultural problem with people confusing everyday cliques with the Branch Davidians. There's a pretty good book called "Cultish" by Amanda Montell that makes a good argument for why identifying broader "cultish" behaviors, ways of thinking, and rhetoric is useful even when it's not specifically a classic "cult" doing it - but something that has aspects of what makes cults bad. Think multi-level marketing schemes, for instance, or online hate movements like TERFs or the alt-right or MRAs. And I would say a lot of "anti" culture, and some specific insular fandom communities I've seen that featured overly controlling mods, or abusive community norms you can't question, headcanons that were treated like strict dogma everyone must adhere to, etc. are good examples of the utility of that. Something doesn't have to be a full-blown "cult" for it to have some parts of what makes cults harmful, and it to be useful to see that and identify it and therefore identify the group/person as harmful. (or even just specific elements of it as harmful, because sometimes overall benign groups adopt one or two harmful practices.) Like I remember my friend told me about leaving a fandom Discord server that was full of white people except for one POC who was also like the "head" of the group and people worshiped her as their anti-racism fandom guru, and anyone who ever questioned anything she said had to deal with the entire rest of the server coming down on them like the wrath of God. And that she used this position to constantly harangue people for minor things, for which they were expected to do public performative apologies in front of the whole server. I could tell my most offline, fandom-ignorant friend or family member about that and I know exactly what they would compare it to, and that is a cult! And there's a reason for that! That high-control stuff is messed up even when the goal isn't mass suicide. Personally, I've never seen like an entire ship's fandom be a cult, but I could definitely buy like a particular clique dedicated to it being cultish. But unless it's some super cracky rarepair that no one else would think of other than this little group that is desperate to speak it into existence, there are usually normie disconnected people shipping whatever it is, too. That would be the point I would make before "fandom groups can never be like cults."

--

Fandom has spawned multiple full on cults, but I don't think any were the majority of shippers of some particular thing.

[zhuoyichenpretty]

Eps 28-29 Speedrun...

I'm trying to play catch up after falling behind a bit, so here's just a highlight reel/speedrun (as much as I can speed...which is not very much tbh). The meta has dwindled down to nothing; I do apologize. This is very much just reaction-based. Also, I'll probably have to stay out of the tag once the express episodes come out, unless the site I'm watching on uploads those eps too.

Spoilers incoming!

Ep 28

Heh. ZYC's plausibly deniable jealousy is back and boy have I ever needed it. His cursing better be more intense now that he's basically confessed to ZYZ several times over lmao. And oh how precious he is, taking Ying Lei's ice marks comment seriously enough to double check his neck.

Ah. Watching WX's convo with Princess Longyu while knowing what happens in ep 29, the irony of her lie about being poisoned...Good (and terrible) stuff...

Oh god oh dear I was watching the whole acting ordeal through my fingers with preemptive second-hand embarrassment for ZYC. The moment WX pulled out her little booklet but we were cut off from seeing the msg, I knew, esp given the very pointed shots of the fish right before their whole convo haha. Not bad of a set-up imo, more subtly natural than usual which I like since I prefer explanatory flashbacks to have a bit more premeditation baked into the original scene for viewers to pick up on in real-time, which this show doesn't always do.

But oh my. I have to say this. I apologize in advance but it's in my damn handle so forgive me but—ZYC is so fucking lovely when sulky and embarrassed. I'm smitten. I had seen the director post those shots of TJR all dramatically lit and beautifully framed months ago and I had no idea it was going to be used for this. And this is coming off the heels of the previous episode's mpreg joke, which I'm still not over. This show's commitment to flustering ZYC's character needs to be studied and replicated in fanfics. Who said that? Not me. Anyway.

I've seen mixed reactions to ZYC not being in on the acting, but just for me personally, I like that it wasn't intentional for them to leave him out, and I really am glad to have heard his honest feelings in that moment. It felt significant to see him make that decision against even the rest of their family, and I'd personally rather it come out while the rest of them are playing at discord than actually seeing them fight internally just to witness ZYC draw his ultimatum so genuinely and seriously. It feels like yet another moment where the narrative is creatively committing subtext into text for us and for ZYZ to hear, without having to torment us with somehow worsening the stakes within their group to the extent that would elicit such a reaction.

WZY and Chongwu Camp really invest in a lot of latex skin huh?

Oh my god I love that PSJ sucks at acting too. Her panic at having to pretend lmfaooo. Also, this gets at something I really should have realized much earlier on, but the way ZYC and PSJ have so many similarities in disposition and belief, and also how WX and ZYZ overlap a lot in their inclination for acting and playful tricks and teasing—I love that. WX and ZYC each gravitating towards respectively familiar personalities in romantic partners, which actually very much happens irl. Basically seeking out personalities similar to their comforting (pseudo-)familial bonds. Also explains why I love both ZYC and PSJ so much.

Lmfao Ying Lei's theme song kicking in as he volunteers to hold onto the dragon scale really does get me. His song captures his character so well.

Any day I get to watch TJR inception-act as Ao Yin acting as ZYC is a good day for me. That little snarl of a reaction after Ying Lei pulled out his weapon is some good shit. I love that even the texture of his voice and the cadence of his line delivery is different (the stark contrast when actual ZYC shows up in the next scene is *chef's kiss*). And he is uniquely suited for batting his eyelashes, I must say.

Okay! Onto Ep 29:

First ZYC forgets how to count when he calls them a group of five...now ZYZ tricks Ying Lei into giving his all to protect an empty box...when will the grievances against Ying Lei end?

My live reaction to finding out WX's been fatally poisoned: ZYZ, ZYC, Bai Jiu, and WX passing around the hot potato of mortality.

I'm glad for some more emotional development on the Li Lun!Bai Jiu front! I feel like he's been on the back burner for a bit with the ZYC demonizing (which he caused anyway, lol). I am certainly intrigued by Ying Lei being around to hear Li Lun!Bai Jiu's monologue and what this may lead to. And it's been said but LZY (Bai Jiu's actor) does soooo well here it's such a great watch.

Also...Li Lun wants a roof (well, technically, eaves) to shelter from the rain and a lamplight in the dark? Sounds like a throuple with ZYC and ZYZ really might fix him tbh.

Justice for WX in ZYC's flashback from two years ago. She does not say "Are you stupid?" but more along the vibe of "Don't be silly" as she and ZYC discuss his snake bite. The subs are too literal here it makes her sound so out of pocket lmao

God I'm so glad PSJ slapped all of WX's will to live back into her in ep 27 because yes girl!!! Fight for your right to live!! Also, speaking of, where tf is PSJ ): Her girl is dying, why doesn't she get any screen time to react? Do I assume she knows or not?

But yay! The contract ripping was cute. As an aside, I do wish I personally felt enough of a spark between ZYZ and WX to ship them on my own because the writing is there for their pairing to be pretty solid. Like I've said before, they're sweet and good together but they just don't rot my brain. I wonder what's missing for me because I honestly like their acting much more than I expected to. Perhaps it could also be a matter of contrast, as some dynamics in the web of relationships stand out to me in terms of chemistry more than others, even if we're not talking strictly romantic (I mean, I'm of the belief that TJR could have chemistry with a brick wall if he wanted to). Anyway though, I'm going off topic. ZYZ and WX cute (and tragic)!

I gasped at ZYC going to meet WZY. That's what I call desperate measures.

Ha, ZYZ asking ZYC to protect him while he's weakened from the Ever-Burning Wood reminds me of CQL c:

Yooooooo ZYC grabbing the newly reforged Cloud Light Sword and all that gorgeous light. What a hero. Smitten, I say.

Ohhhh the Li Lun/ZYC superimposed images, the way I was holding my breath and worried for a second that ZYZ would call ZYC by the wrong name !!!! That's some legit ex-vs-current-lover storytelling like whew. But I needed ZYC to catch ZYZ a little better than that when he fell like embrace the man already pls

The cave scene!!!!! I'm looking through my fingers. I feel like I'm intruding. How many jade pendants does ZYC have on his person for ZYZ to drink at any given moment? And oh wow something about the framing of ZYC's hand on the wine bottle as he mixes it—what an intimate ritual. Feels like I watched ZYC make three separate confessions just seeing him pull out the jade, mix the drink for ZYZ, and hold it out to him with his eyes averted...And then he goes and lays his heart bare (again! once more on top of the conversation in ep 26 like he is really not letting any chance of misunderstanding arise he is trying to show his hand as much as possible wow). But yeah who's gonna gif the wine mixing for me?

Fuckkkk, they're zhiji, they said it, I'm going insane.

I love ZYZ's pause right before he drinks the first cup. Watching the gravity of this moment and ZYC's absolute sincerity hit him, settle on him. Such a meaningful and significant breath between actions. Like, we are allll aware of how serious this is.

ZYC holding intense eye contact while drinking the second cup??? Uh??? I really should be turning away now right? And ZYZ's stare back is truly indistinguishable from his openly loving looks at WX. I am on the floor.

All of ZYC's toasts are about ZYZ being a savior of some kind ;-;

Another live reaction: WHEN DID ZYC BECOME A SURGEON THEY JUST DID SURGERY ON ZYZ'S CORE IM CRYING.

ZYC most dramatic surgeon I've ever seen did you see the way his hair caught the wind? God but his nonchalance is killing me. Yes why not bare your heart and soul over some wine you mixed specifically for ZYZ and then operate on ZYZ's core in one sitting? All in a night's work I guess. Also ZYZ's still recovering from the Ever-Burning Wood oh my god someone take ZYC's license away what is this medical malpractice. Bai Jiu is out of commission for a little bit and all of a sudden everyone thinks they're a doctor smh.

All I have to say about the WZY meeting is sometimes I get so distracted by ZYC's eyelashes. Also goodbye and good riddance WZY! Unless the drama decides to pull a fast one on us, which is never beyond the realm of possibility here. But at least he burned.

PSJ is back :D Head empty except for how pretty her red cape is.

Ouuugh Li Lun who is constantly possessing people and obsessively making others look at the real him and Ao Yin who is constantly impersonating people and now asking to be remembered for how she actually looks. What a pair, I can see why they stuck together all this time. Also Ao Yin's true form is so pretty. Girl I know you killed a bunch of people and continuously framed our heroes and caused so so so much heartache for them but I'll remember your true form dw )-:

The borrowed sympathy Li Lun gets while in Bai Jiu's body is quite poignant and so complicated and tbh I want more of it. As someone who doesn't want him to go down this unfortunate path any further, I have hopes about the potential there, but it's probably safer to expect the worst.

Not sure if this more surface-level commentary is still fun to read, but this will probably be all I have time for from now til the end. And since I'll be staying out of the tag soon, it'll just be me shouting into the void for the next few days. Thanks to anyone still sticking around and reading these!

Also sorry I don't add more photos on the regular, I'm watching the show in pretty shitty resolution and on a player than is awful to screenshot from (-:

[theohshit-r-official]

Long-as-hell OOC post incoming

So, I feel I should probably clarify this, on account of shit going on in the zeitgeist re: Lancer RP on here, and because I and this blog am not an entrenched figure in the community here, so it pays to be as clear as possible what I am here for:

First, let me clarify: this is not about anyone in particular, and god knows I'm guilty of not doing some of the shit I'm going to recommend here. Second, this is, in addition to not being about any one person but instead the different microcultural elements I've noticed on here, mostly a post to explain what *I* am going for with this blog so that *YOU* can decide if or how you want to engage with it and me.

The primary purpose of this blog is as follows and as I will elaborate on here:

To serve as a place for people to dump their shitposts, serious opinions, and in-world takes they don't necessarily want to put out via an established character blog or their main in a more centralized place. This means I WILL publish most shit people send, even if some of the implications are not so great, though I won't publish some of the more egregious shit on account of it sucks. See this article [LINK HERE] for an example of something similar being done by a real world political figure (notably, a known inspiration for the Ungratefuls' Tyrannocleave) for a much better purpose than mine.

This ALSO means I will likely be publishing from people not immersed in the community or party to your established norms. I understand that online spaces largely run on reputation, but I, out of character as well as to some extent in, am an academic and I'm pretty well informed of both positive and negative consequences of this, and this is an intentional choice. DM me or send an ask labeled as OOC if you want to talk about this, I'm happy to discuss it, I'm just not likely to change my stance on it on account of "This is a heavily established, pretty well-researched concept in human social dynamics" so don't expect me to change what I'm doing from the jump. With that being said, let's lay out the motivation a bit:

Part of the appeal of LANCER that was explicitly intentionally designed by its creators is that there are both large structures of recalcitrant, sticky politics (see: Albatross hunts pirates, a group known to exist largely due to economic suffering, for a megacorp that sells weapons to pirates; the KTB is required to maintain an absurd level of extractive industry by Union, which favors their most abjectly fucking awful major house politically; etc) that serve as a shared bedrock for engagement and are pointedly shitty as hell *AND* large swathes of space where you can largely do pretty much whatever you want and have things be as good or as bad as you want so long as you avoid having them be run directly and heavy-handedly by the major players (as a brief sidebar, if you want an example of someone doing an excellent job of navigating the intersection of the larger players and the open, freer space and a damn good homebrew module, I highly recommend Vex Werewolf's In Golden Flame Act 1 [LINK HERE]). LANCER is a game where both the narrative impetus and mechanics are intrinsically tied to political context and dynamics, and the way LANCER allows for space from that for players and GMs is to have a lot of literal space unaccounted for.

The implication of this, of course, is that it is intended to be an equally valid mode of enjoyment to get really into the weeds of the established politics (hello, Siren Song, cannot WAIT to play an idiot in you and see how you break her) OR to not do that and avoid it entirely, but, and this is key, you cannot really feasibly do both at once reliably at scale without a lot of care and awareness, and I do not think that that is a reasonable expectation to have of total strangers on Tumblr. The official Discord community for this game has a rule to the effect of "Do not use your comfort to stifle political discussion unless ABSOLUTELY necessary" (very, very roughly paraphrased), and instead encourages disengaging from shit you do not want to deal with. To give an example of how that translates to practical domains, in the context of the game, if you didn't want to have to deal with Harrison culture, you wouldn't play a game on Ras Shamra, so why would you choose to pursue a conversation with someone playing a proud character from Ras Shamra on here if you don't want to hear what that character would say?

A lot of the conflict on here seems to stem from people being frustrated with people from one side of the aisle or the other interacting with them without establishing rules of engagement and/or where they stand on "I want to enjoy a sci-fi power fantasy without thinking too much about the implications" versus "I really want to dig in on the psyche of a proud Harrison soldier," both of which are equally valid ways to engage with the setting and the game. They come into conflict in no small part because many people in the prior category are expressly interested in using the mechanics of a mecha setting to tell a mostly feel-good story without the political meat and grit of the original setting materials, which, I'll especially note, is not something people coming from other mecha contexts are likely to expect. This means that you have a conflict between people interested in one mode of engagement (which, if I had to guess, comes more frequently from a general tabletop gaming background) and others interested in a very different mode of engagement coming from differing backgrounds, including but not limited to the broader world of mecha fans.

(NOTE: I am not saying that these groups are totally distinct or that this is the sole reason conflict happens, I'm just trying to give a more fleshed out example for people who are less familiar with the draw of the grit. I think the mecha community is a good example for this, as it is both something that a lot of people are peripheral to AND a cultural context a lot of people really don't understand from the outside)

Let me elaborate a little here on where the mecha side of things is coming from, for those of you less familiar. The arguable single most influential piece of mecha media in much of the world (Neon Genesis Evangelion) is in part an express exploration of the ethics of military recruitment and the use of child soldiers. The fact that this piece of media has recently been used to sell McDonald's does not change that weight in the culture of mecha media, nor does it change that, historically, mecha is a genre about war. The most prolific mecha series by far is Gundam, whose villains famously have a point and whose protagonists infamously tend to develop through deeply traumatic realizations that they may not be the unambiguous good guys they thought they were. Mecha media, on the whole, pointedly cultivates a strong sense of engagement in setting geopolitics, the ethics and process of war, and the role of individuals as vehicles of violence, and people coming from a heavy mecha background are likely to be invested in exploring these themes.

That being said, I totally respect wanting to engage with it from another angle, but you can see how people wanting a more free-form, canon-lite experience and people who are coming from a mecha background looking for the nitty gritty of the established, shared setting could come into conflict, particularly when it comes to making claims about established parts of the setting. Of course, in character conflict is fine and well and dandy if that's what you're going for, no shame in that, this is more to do with the out of character aspects, including how you respond to and handle in character conflict.

Here's the thing: this dichotomy of interest does not favor a single, fully connected network of people heavily interacting. It does not favor a community with a single set of hard norms. It favors a lot of individual level variation, it favors many smaller sets of norms between individuals, and it favors good communication about those differences. I am aligned with the creators of LANCER in that I think both approaches to engaging with the material have value, and I want there to be space for both here, and I agree with them that the two are not always compatible. To preserve space for both, we need to prioritize curating our own experience over policing others', which, I know, shocking that the person who linked Anarchists Welcome would make a statement about taking an anarchistic approach to maintaining a stable, healthy social context which allows for conflict.

This is one of the reasons that I, in running this blog, have consciously chosen to almost exclusively respond to other people's posts who I actually have spoken to out of character, despite Umommiest being an extremely vocal HORUS shitposter, because I often cannot tell from character blogs what their relationship to the shared text is and their interest in different modes of interaction. This is ALSO why I'm going to be fairly indiscriminate in publishing asks and submissions, and only have Umommiest respond to what gets sent in when either prompted directly by the material or when it is plainly a shitpost that allows for some play (see also: the 8 year old seeking liberation via artillery platform and soft target elimination frames). As is quite well known in the kink community, consent does not occur in character, and personal norms and interests should be established outside of them. If there is a character blog on here that you have concerns about or want to interact with but are unsure how to proceed, DM them and check in, the same way that you would talk to someone if you wanted to join a game of pickup basketball or something. This is a social activity, social activities have fairly well established means by which to initiate them in a more intentional manner, let's make a point to start using them more consistently.

With that being said, if there is a character blog that you do not want to see, block them. There will be characters that people choose to play that you personally A will not like and B may not wish to engage with. Use the curation tools you have rather than relying on norms all the time, as norms develop from consensus and require other people to change to work. You don't have to put it on others to tailor your experience. I will go somewhere else rather than deal with somebody I don't want to talk to at a bar, and this is a similar sort of interaction. Blocking is not a condemnation, it is a choice to not engage with someone or something you do not want to. On my end, I will be doing my best to consistently tag in-character posts, reblogs, etc with ohshitumommiest going forward so you can block the tag as described here [LINK HERE] if you want to see what people are submitting without any of Umommiest's commentary, responses, etc. I'm also thinking I'll move towards initially publishing even the shitpostier things without commentary and then following up with a reblog with the commentary (so if you want to see just what other people make and not her bullshit, that's cool, too).

For the record, I *am* personally interested in the politics of the setting and Umommiest is a character that is heavily written based on the canon. She is also, frankly, a HORUS shitposter of the highest and worst degree, if you can't tell from her demeanor, and will engage with people who comment in character on posts here as would reflect a highly informed, terminally online political agitator with no formal affiliation to anyone who sees all of her speech as largely without personal consequence. Part of the purpose of the ohshitumommiest tag is to allow you to engage with the submitted material without having to see if and how she replies to you if you are not interested in that. If you are, hey! Looking forward to having some fun together with this horrible girl I've made!

Frankly, I don't care where you fall on the spectrum/split of hard text engagement versus loose text as inspiration, but I do care that everyone has an outlet for shitposts and other art/thought pieces on the setting that they think are gold or at least fun but don't have a place for personally. I think Lancer fucking rules, and people have a lot of cool, funny, and beautiful thoughts and ideas on it regardless of affiliation on these grounds, and I want to make this a place to share them without too much worry of how they fit a given blog.

If that nondiscriminatory approach to publishing is unacceptable to you, cool, I don't care, block this blog. Maybe read the linked article first and see if that helps you see a different perspective a little, but, please, use the basic curation tools available to you on this site to help maintain a diverse community that reflects the varied appeal of LANCER's setting.

With that said, play ball, and I'm looking forward to continuing to see the awesome, wild, wonky, and frankly unhinged shit this community continues to create!

PS: if you want to anonymously publish something with a link or an image via this blog, please DM me and I will effectively spoof a submission so your blog does not have to be attached. You run the risk of me knowing that you sent it, but it doesn't get broadcast to the world.

PPS I know that there are some other folks on here who engage with other LANCER online communities (e.g., the official Discord) who share much of the opinions I expressed here, particularly the "Hey there are different, conflicting way to enjoy the setting, and having some understanding around that is healthy for the community" stance, so feel free to share this around as you like.

[deadgirlwalking91]

What are your top 5 Adam, Lute, and GuitarSpear headcanons?

Hey Anon,

I love headcanons! 😊 Here we go... (under the cut because it's longgggg)

Adam

The type to pick up random hobbies, be utterly obsessed with them for a while, then eventually discard them for something else fun and exciting. Only a few have stuck with him through the years—namely, playing the guitar and cooking. Yes, I think Adam would be an amazing cook with a genuine appreciation for food and culture.

Also the type to be naturally talented at a lot of different things. Which is lucky for him, because he's also lazy and can't be bothered putting a whole lot of effort into things, unless he really, really loves what he's doing (see: guitar)

The more I dwell on it, the more I think Adam and Sera do have a close relationship. I wouldn't necessarily say mother/son coded, but I think if he came to her for advice—or if she sensed that he needed guidance—they'd put aside their boss/employee dynamic and have a good heart-to-heart where he'd value her opinion.

Getting a little NSFW for this one, but I feel he'd be more of a giver than a receiver in bed. He's had that much sex over the years that for him, knowing he's getting somebody else off is just as much of a turn-on as receiving. That's not to say he doesn't love getting taken care of, though ;)

LOVES the Exorcists to bits. Genuinely gets along with them all, and loves seeing them grow and succeed with each Extermination. Will socialise with them, play card/board games with them (which tends to get violent and chaotic), sometimes they go to him for advice, etc. On the flip side though— a Discord server I'm in recently had a discussion about whether Exorcists get their periods or not and if so, would they all sync up? And honestly, my answer to both is a resounding Y E S which means that for a week every month, Adam has to deal with hundred of PMSing women. I have a theory that they all also exhibit similar symptoms which change every cycle, so he's constantly kept on his toes (and probably trying not to be killed). Is this true? Look, probably not, but it's still a fun as fuck concept to think about!

Lute

To contrast my first Adam headcanon, Lute would be a god-awful cook. She burns pasta. Does not give a shit about food, cooking etc. Could live off protein shakes if she could, but deep down loves the food Adam cooks.

Lute and Vaggie were friends before The Maiming. I genuinely believe they were close—possibly besties—then, Vaggie started expressing her discomfort with the Exterminations, and they drifted apart. I don't necessarily think they had a falling out before Lute and Adam left Vaggie in Hell, but they certainly weren't friends anymore. I also think, should the show go down the route of Sinner Adam, Fallen Lute and the both of them joining the Hotel that there's potential for them to repair their relationship, despite everything (or maybe that's wishful thinking on my behalf because I do love the idea of them being friends).

Assuming Lute is Heavenborn, she is the way that she is because she doesn't know any different. Being a genocidal maniac is what she was created to be. I genuinely think that there's potential for her to change her tune about Hell, Sinners, the Exterminations etc but it's going to take a LOT for it to happen (I strongly maintain that the line 'Everyone can be redeemed/From the evil to the strange' from 'Happy Day in Hell' is foreshadowing this). If it does, her loyalties will lie with Charlie and the Hotel, and she'll stop being quite so rigid with her views. It's giving growth.

In saying that—she has her vices, and I think they'd be something in complete contrast to her tough exterior. Think rom-coms, romance novels, 90's boy/girl bands, trashy reality TV, luxurious bubble baths, etc. Something that you'd never expect from a bad bitch like Lute. Adam knows about them all, and she's threatened to kill him multiple times if he breathes a word of them to anybody.

Also loves and adores the Exorcists, but doesn't show it. Someone has to play bad cop during work, and it sure as hell isn't gonna be Adam. Still, she feels a strong sense of pride whenever they succeed, and wishes she could be close to them. She's just a little awkward and doesn't know how to balance that boss/friend relationship with them.

GuitarSpear

Their relationship is the worst-kept secret in Heaven. Both of them staunchly deny there is anything going on between them, but the amount of times they've been caught in compromising positions by the other Exorcists is laughable. There's betting pools on when/where they finally admit they're together. The girls also tease Lute about it mercilessly in the locker room after training, much to her annoyance.

They are a very touchy-feely couple, but in different ways. Adam is handsy and grabby, whereas Lute will do smaller, subtler gestures like a hand resting on his arm or lower back, will lean against him, etc. The only exception is that she tends to climb him like a cat—which he doesn't really mind. She'll also force her way into his lap and curl up against him.

They don't live together, but they might as well. Lute spends most of her spare time at his place, keeps clothes and toiletries there, makes herself at home. The only reason they haven't moved in is because they're trying (and failing) to keep their relationship under wraps.

I actually can't decide who fell first, and who fell harder. I can see it happening both ways. I think I like the idea of Lute's attraction to him being more of a slow-burn and something that evolved over time. Whereas Adam's is a lot faster, and he is super confused by it all and can't figure out why all of a sudden he is SO attracted to Lute. It then makes him super awkward around her (like, can't get his words out properly awkward), she gets all concerned something's wrong with him, and it creates this fun little scenario where you want to bash their heads together and tell them to just communicate.

NSFW-ish: I picture them as more of a switch couple in bed, rather than having set top/bottom or dom/sub roles. Given their personalities, I can see them fighting/struggling for power and dominance in the bedroom on a regular basis. That's not to say there aren't times where they do willingly take a top/bottom role (Lute after a long day letting Adam take care of her? Swoon. But also, the power dynamic shifting so that Lute calls the shots? Y E S). I just like the visual of them rolling around, pinning each other to the bed, leaving scratch and bite marks all over each other's bodies in the process. Honestly, I think sex between them would mostly be rough, frenzied and raw, but they also would have their slower, sensual moments (see TYFTV 17 as an example) that are just as intense and passionate. If you got through alllll of that, I applaud you, haha! But seriously, thanks Anon, this was fun to write out <3