#was seriously considering even posting it

[aealzx]

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Update Post

Prologue | AO3

Previous

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“...o, he hasn’t woken up yet.”

Someone had entered the room that morning, and now Jazz was talking to someone that could have been them or another person entirely. The haze of their lowered conversation was helping to pull Danny from the fog of sleep. But after the initial part it sounded like the conversation was one sided.

“Clothes?.... Actually, I don’t know what he would like. He hasn’t bought anything for himself for two years now. And never has a response when we ask.”

That response made Danny feel like they were talking about him. Jazz and whoever she was talking to. It was probably on the phone. He felt a little bad, but what she had just said was true. He hadn’t really done much when it came to clothing lately. Sam and Tucker had mostly been the ones to give his Phantom attire an update, and he just hadn’t bothered to address anything else.

“No, I’m not going to wake him up. He needs his rest-”

“Mmm… ‘s fine, J’zz. ‘M awake,” Danny forced himself to mumble even though he wasn’t quite fully alert yet. Relaxing in the study the previous evening had been really nice, and his spirits had risen a little when the few sips of broth he’d had a few hours before bed hadn’t made him sick again. But he still felt like a truck had hit him in his sleep, which made that morning hard. “Izzat for me? Here…” he asked, lazily flopping his hand into the air so that Jazz could give him the phone.

Jazz seemed to consider it for a moment, but eventually sighed and walked over to put the borrowed cellphone in Danny’s hand. Danny couldn’t see, having not managed to open his eyes yet, but Alfred was waiting patiently at the door to get it back. For now Danny just flopped it next to his head and turned his ear into it. “Mm…’ello?”

“Danny! Good morning~”

It was Stephanie. Chiming in a bubbly way that was much too energetic for… what time was it? Still felt too early.

“So, we’re out shopping and getting some new clothes for everyone, but your friends are being unhelpful and keep saying you don’t have any kind of style you like. Soooo, you get to answer. What would you like us to pick up for you? And what size do you usually wear?” Stephanie rambled, anticipating Danny would have more answers than the others.

“Uhhhhhh….,” Danny stalled, both because he was still waking up and she had said a lot of words, but also because he didn’t have an answer. “I dunno. A t-shirt and jeans? I’m usually a size smaller than Tucker though.”

“Seriously? That’s it? That’s so boring,” Stephanie complained.

“See? We told you, but you didn’t believe us.” Danny could hear Tucker’s voice, and figured he was on speaker.

“He just kept wearing the same clothes he had when he was fourteen, and only has new ones because the rest of us bought some for him. But he was so unhelpful then too that we had to settle for just getting him space themed stuff,” Sam huffed, and Danny could hear her folding her arms in annoyance.

“Hey, I got a lot of other stuff to worry about than clothes,” Danny protested to defend himself.

“You like space themed stuff though?” Dick’s voice chimed in now.

“Yeah, I still like space,” Danny confirmed. “Can’t do much with it these days, but I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut,” he admitted, feeling a little embarrassed about admitting his childhood dream.

“Cool. What about puns?” Dick hummed, adding another question quickly.

“No. Dick, don’t you dare,” Stephanie scolded.

Danny could only smile though. “I love puns,” he confirmed, not able to pick out who was all contributing to the chorus of groans and complaints, “Why? You got a good one?”

“Maybe. You’ll see,” Dick’s response was with barely held mirth. “Thanks kiddo, take it easy,” he bid before ending the call.

Well at least that was something to look forward to. Danny’s smile didn’t fade as he lifted the phone from the pillow to hand back to Jazz, who then returned it to Alfred. He ended up rolling over and laying there for a little longer, which made Jazz giggle and run her fingers through his hair for a bit. It was comfortable, and at least he wasn’t so tired he fell asleep right after waking up.

“...Alfred made some more of the broth you got last night. Do you want to try some more?” Jazz eventually asked when Danny finally managed to keep his eyes open and focus on things.

Danny considered how he felt before answering, and ended up nodding. “These help,” he admitted, pointing to the anti nausea patch behind his ear. It was enough confirmation for Jazz to move to help him sit up, stuffing all the pillows she could behind him when he was upright so he wouldn’t have to worry about spilling. The broth really did taste good, despite only being slightly warmer than room temperature. He found that if he only took small sips, and waited awhile between them he didn’t end up with his stomach wanting to revolt again. Maybe eventually he’d want a fat burger again, but for now this was enough.

He soon learned that he hadn’t woken up until after 10:00 am, but while that felt weird to hear he eventually realized there was nothing wrong with it. Apparently the others had been out all morning, Stephanie having come to get them since it was a holiday for her school. Not that her attendance was stellar anyway with all the mishaps she ended up in during the daytime, but it helped convince Bruce to let her carry on. She’d even managed to drag Dick and Barbara to join them. And that and the phonecall earlier led to Dick being the one to burst into the bedroom shortly after noon with the bags he’d promised over the phone.

“Head’s up!” Dick called as the only warning before he tossed a new t-shirt over Danny’s head.

“Dick!” Barbara scolded mildly, having only heard how Danny was doing and not completely sure he was up for being harassed.

To her surprise Danny just snorted. “It’s fine. It’s just a shirt,” he excused, pulling the t-shirt off his face and spreading it where he could see. While Dick grinned triumphantly at Barbara before turning to watch Danny expectantly, Danny quickly read the text on the shirt and promptly half choked on a snort. “HAHAHAHA H-,” he erupted with full on laughter, wheezing as he tried to vocalize the text. “I have - PFFFF HAHAHA - so many prob- HHHHH Jazz,” he howled and wheezed, turning the shirt so his sister could see the astronaut image surrounded by the text ‘Houston, I have so many problems’.

“Oh-.... Ohhhhh that’s great,” Jazz grimaced, giving a thumbs up as the content of the shirt was enough to dampen her own joy over seeing Danny laughing so openly. Considering his current situation, Danny probably thought it was rather fitting.

“I’m so upset we were right that he would love that,” Sam grumbled with a shake of her head.

“I think it’s great,” Danielle chimed in, though not laughing quite as much as Danny since she’d already seen everything.

“Of course you do,” Tucker sighed.

“I have more!” Dick took that as a chance to continue, plopping on the bed and digging out another shirt to pass over to Danny.

“Oh no, I’m leaving. Have fun,” Tucker groaned, quickly heading out the door partially to get away from what he had a feeling was going to be a terrible session of puns and bad jokes, and partially to take care of his own haul. Sam was quick to follow his lead, dragging Danielle after them so she didn’t skip out on helping.

As Danny excitedly held up the next shirt another honk laugh escaped him, though not quite as uproarious as the first. “HA! Just need space. Classic,” he complimented, lowering the shirt to his lap and looking up at Dick again to see if he had more.

“This was the last shirt they had, but if you want more puns after I have plenty to give,” Dick complied, handing the final printed shirt over to Danny.

It took Danny a second to realize the graphic of the earth was suggested to be spinning, staring at the conversation between the characterized moon and their own planet. The moon was asking what the earth was doing, and the earth responded ‘Making everyone’s day’, and as soon as the joke clicked in Danny’s head he was almost crying with laughter again. He didn’t even notice Stephanie joyfully recording both of them.

“Give me what else you have,” Danny requested after getting his breath back, reaching out to tug on Dick’s arm. It felt good to laugh. Even if it hurt his ribs, hurt the still healing burns on his chest, it felt good to just sit and laugh about something stupid. He didn’t want to give it up just yet, and it seemed Dick had actually planned for this in the past few hours after learning Danny loved puns too.

“Alright, get comfy ‘cause I have got a real gemstore to show you,” Dick agreed eagerly, squirming up onto the bed next to Danny and getting comfortable as well where they could both look at his phone. He had a folder saved just for collecting his favorites.

Danny was quick to settle into place wedged against Dick’s side, quickly reading and giggling or outright barking more laughter as they flipped through the saved images of jokes ranging from ‘I’m more confused than a chameleon in a bag of skittles’ to ��astronomers got tired of waiting for the sun to go down, so they decided to call it a day’. Throughout the scrolling and varying degrees of laughter at the jokes, Danny even added some of his own that he remembered after seeing some of the others. 

Eventually their session was interrupted by Damian pausing at the doorway, getting their attention with a light knock.

“Pennyworth would like to know if you would prefer supper in the study once more,” the youngest Wayne informed, and waited for the response.

“Who…?” was what Danny ended up responding with, having not heard people’s last names yet.

“Alfred. Damian calls everyone by their last names,” Dick thankfully supplied, earning a small noise of understanding from Danny. It wasn’t hard to tell the hours and hours of jokes had worn him out, but he seemed quite content so Dick didn’t feel bad. “You’ve upgraded to the couch already though? Hell yeah.”

The comment made Danny snort again, though he also had to grimace at Dick incredulously. “What kind of lifestyle do you people live?” he asked before giving a quick answer to Damian. “Here is fine for today. If that’s okay.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Your recovery is of utmost importance to those in this household. If supper in bed will facilitate that, then it is of no consequence to anything else,” Damian responded easily, giving them a nod before leaving to report back to Alfred.

“Eh. We’ve had our fair share of injuries through the years,” Dick admitted to Danny’s question, lifting a finger to tap the small bandage on his own forehead once. “Enough that a knife wound is more like a papercut,” he half joked.

Danny snickered at the response, but wasn’t sure how he really felt about it. Was it really a good thing to be so used to being hurt that they seemed to have started making a game out of things relating to it? Maybe it was just something so inevitable for people like them, that they’d just had to make the most of it in the best way they knew how.

“Does it…,” Danny found himself speaking before he’d fully committed to the question in his mind. He had half the thought to retract his half voiced question, but opted instead to complete it. “Does it ever get to be too much?”

The question made Dick recognize a little more about what state of mind Danny was in, and his brows furrowed in concern before he eventually brought the smile back. “All the time,” he admitted. “Especially when you get all these meta humans and aliens involved. But… it’s too hard to stop.”

For a moment Danny had forgotten that the others, aside from Duke, didn’t have any special abilities that weren’t common for a regular human. It must be very stressful for them to have to deal with people like him that ended up rogue. But also, hearing someone else admit that they too, sometimes, only kept going because it was too hard for them to stop brought Danny a strange kind of bitter comfort. Maybe they were just all doomed together.

But, even if they were, at least he had company.

“...Thanks,” Danny chose to respond, relaxing a little more heavily into the pillows. The laughter had felt good, but the exhaustion and aches didn’t. “For all the jokes. I loved them.”

Dick could only grin fondly, reaching out to ruffle Danny’s hair after sitting upright. “No problem, kid. Anytime you need some more, just let me know.”

“Does that mean I can have your number after I get my phone back?”

Dick could only snort, having not expected that question. “Sure. We’ll figure something out for the whole interdimensional communication thing. I’m sure someone has already figured it out,” he chuckled, scooting to the edge of the bed to get ready to join the others at dinner.

Danny could only hum in acknowledgement, content with that answer, and let Dick leave to get his own food. Having someone to appreciate good jokes with was something to look forward to at least.

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Iiiii struggled a lil with this one too =3= But there were some notes I needed to be mentioned before getting too far along.

Thank you for whoever sent me some puns though XDD they really helped. I love puns, but I'm terrible at coming up with any or even remembering them.

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Tag list: @galaxy-sharks-and-bottled-ships, @starscreamlover, @nerdynonnativenarnian, @dragongoblet, @megacharizardx99

@bellathecatastrophe, @cj-ghostemoji-destielpie, @asexual-insomniac, @wolfeyedwitch, @tkiesai, 

@fanaroff, @raven1508, @nebulainajar, @serasvictoria02, @oliocelottafanfics,

@honeysuckletook, @omniithe-deer, @wolf-under-the-stars, @gingernutcalo, @that-random-fangirl,

@op-sys-chaos, @kirasigncomics, @ehobep, @paranoid-ira

[allthecanadianpolitics]

What do you think about US Americans who are considering moving to Canada following this election? Is it misguided/misinformed to think it might be any better there? Is there anything in particular to be aware of when making that choice?

It's definitely an option I'm starting to seriously consider as a trans person already within a few hours drive of Vancouver, but there's a "danger you know" element to it all, and I'm very aware of just how little I really know about what my siblings across the border are dealing with right now. The whole idea has been a joke for so long that I'm kind of embarrassed to even be thinking about it, honestly.

As I said in that master post I shared, that Canada has the same systemic issues as the USA, but even with that said things in a lot of ways Canada is safer for Trans people (at least in the bigger cities), at the moment.

But the caveat is that multiple Premiers/Provincial Parties and the Federal Conservatives (who have a good chance of winning the next election) have proposed a lot of the same Transphobic policies as has been in the USA. Its not as bad here yet, but I do see warning signs flashing red, and it could get worse.

If you would feel more safe, and have the resources to do so, then apply, but it is a long and difficult process, so just keep that in mind.

As I said on that post, I'm not judging anyone. If you do feel unsafe, moving to Canada may be a way to get away from that danger, but you're not going to be able to claim asylum (due to USA/Canada immigration agreements), and so you'd have to be an economic immigrant with a job or have family in Canada.

[befemininenow]

I'm disappointed right now. Things are awfully quiet everywhere as I write this post. It's not just on trans/LGBTQ+ spaces that are affected. It's science, art, young people, entertainment, POC, women, and everyone else who will be affected by this aggressive win. America is currently the laughing stock of the world as we speak and now we have to face 4 tough years of the orange cheeto.

Not all hope is lost, however. For instance, New York just passed a state amendment that will protect abortion rights while Sarah McBride has been elected as the first trans person as a member of Congress. Not to mention, states like California have governors and politicians vowed to protect the rights of minorities, including trans people. Things are going to be tough, but I'm hoping this new reality will wake us up to challenge this upcoming new administration without any mercy.

Oh, and P.S. For those sissies and trans girls who have voiced and voted for this fascist gov't as a joke, I'm even more disappointed in you. It's hard to believe there are people in these feminization caption circles that supported this ugly administration and think they are the exception to the purge. Remember all those sissy blogs that were purged and terminated in the late 2010s? He may have not done it, but it happened during Rump's term. Considering Project 2025 is aiming to eliminate and purge everything and everyone deemed "un-Christian", don't be surprised if the blue boys knock at your door one day and arrest you for being a sissy who supported Rump, but doesn't fit the mold for being a "man". And no, no forced feminization will occur. They will wipe you out of this world for being too "effeminate". I seriously wish what I said was a slippery slope, but a bunch of it has become reality. And for that, I don't pity you. Smh, truly a Leopards Ate My Face moment.

[betaphannie]

I fucking hate this. Idc what kamala could've and should've done differently yadda yadda ya. Of course when a woman is running she has to be absolutely perfect to even be considered meanwhile a man who is literally a felon who wants to end democracy gets most of America's votes. I'm used to living around racist assholes but I seriously believed that people were waking up. People I knew who used to be conservative were posting that they were voting for kamala. It's fucking COMMON SENSE that you don't elect the guy who will make it impossible for you to fight against any of his policies. But common sense isn't so fucking common is it? I have to go to work tomorrow knowing that a good portion of those ppl I work with voted against my rights and led this country to its downfall. Don't any of you from blue states tell me "at least the maga cult members will get what's coming to them." Be so fucking for real. The worst of it will come to trans people, people of color, women, queer people, poor people, disabled people, and all the people in other countries who didn't agree to this. We're all gonna fucking die in a climate crisis under a fascist regime and it's my own damn neighbors' fault.

[dostoyevsky-official]

I'm aware of how swing states work. People across the entire WORLD are aware of how American swing states work, even though we shouldn't have to be, because your country has truly outsized power and we have to watch your elections like hawks.

It's not just about your individual vote, and relying on condescending "mY vOtE dIdn'T MATTER" bullshit is just a misdirection and you know it. It's about spouting & spreading shitty dangerous rhetoric and participating in the disenfranchisement of your own rights. Apathy and disengagement is what your right-wing populists WANT from your country's voters. You helped them spread that, and that's on you.

You really think you're going to do any better at direct action and community organizing if you're willing to hide behind the 'I'm just one person and my actions don't matter' line? That's all of activism, sorry. Being just one person who still gets up and takes action even if the odds are stacked.

My family is from a country that has had voting as an option taken away from them. You can be as condescending as you like, and it doesn't change the fact that the rest of the world is looking at Americans who threw away their votes with disgust.

you don't understand how american elections work and you don't understand what happened last night. you need to familiarize yourself with swing states. you need to learn what they teach in fifth grade here about the electoral college. if this is how you closely follow american elections, you were badly misled by someone.

i can show you any number of electoral maps, the vote distributions, the swings, the irrelevant stein voters in wisconsin, but none of this is getting through to people making this argument. it's a shame. there were 47,741 write-in votes in nyc, 1.85% of the vote. think about that number. these were not "disenfranchised voters" but rather people expressing their dissatisfaction through the ballot box.

i'm deeply flattered that you think my posts and follower count, which couldn't pack an opera house, had any effect, but they didn't (otherwise i'd take credit for NYC props2-5 failing, which passed). i don't think any posters on a moribund, embarrassing website had any effect. streamers like aiden ross did; joe rogan—why did kamala refuse to sit with him?—did. you and others are frustrated about the results, you're looking for an answer, you're angry, i get it. but this explanation, if taken seriously (protest voters in safe states cost the election), is one of the worst conclusions you can arrive at, somewhere in the ballpark of "Peanut's martyrdom swung the vote;" you're not even considering what the candidate said (or didn't) that caused people to protest vote. we are absolutely doomed if people run with this, and, mercifully, it's so stupid that it won't be taken up by the democratic party. they will more readily blame protest voters in michigan than those who voted like i did.

you need to realize it's apocalyptic if this is your key takeaway, and that your political insight into america is worthless if you stick by it. please channel your frustration into something more productive.

feel free to send me more votescolding asks, but i won't be answering any of them. this is my last word

[firstkanaphans]

That one ask/reply shitting on THK and GMMTV in general is really.... something. 🙃 I think you and @invisiblegarters already expressed most of my thoughts on that but I just want to add that based on every Jojo interview I've ever watched (and I've watched a lot of them during Only Friends), I never once got the impression that he's being forced to worked with branded pairs and, as you pointed out, it's actually kind of insulting to suggest he's having these pairs forced onto him and has to write stories he actually doesn’t want to tell just to suit those pairs. During OF I saw a lot of talk (from the same circle of people who are now criticising THK before a single episode has even aired) about this too (about Jojo probably being forced to keep SandRay and TopMew together just because the actors are branded pairs) but everything always pointed to the opposite being true: Jojo (along with the other OF writers) wrote a script where 2 of the couples are together at the end and one is not. And he chose the actors according to that story, NOT the other way around (he chose branded pairs to play those 2 couples because he always planned on them to be together and therefore felt branded pairs would fit that kind of a story/ending).

Not to mention I thought Jojo being a simp for Khao was common knowledge, but I guess not? But yeah, uh, anyone that has ever watched any of the Soonvijarn videos knows this. It was only a matter of time before Jojo got to work with Khaotung tbh (and clearly wants to keep working him and First, given he chose to work with FK immediately after he already worked with them). Directors have faves and it's very clear Khao is one of Jojo's.

The only thing I will agree with that original post on is the fact that it'd be nice to see some of these branded pairs act in projects solo or with a different partner. However, that doesn't have to mean they should stop working with their branded pair altogether. I don't see why they couldn't do both. Though honestly, for me the main determining factor is what the actors themselves feel happiest doing. There are certain actors who definitely do not/did not enjoy being stick in a branded pair and that was visible from the moom. I'm glad for those of them who are no longer in branded pairs, since that's obviously not something they wanted. However, FK are not one of those pairs. From everything I see of them right now, they both feel happy and fulfilled working with each other. The moment they stop feeling that way, I will stop wanting to see them act in shows together as a couple. People seriously need to stop being so vehemently against branded pairs as a whole. (There's also a lot of hipocrisy going around: Branded pairs are totally fine if it means these people will get to see a pair like MaxTul play a couple in multiple series, but as soon as a GMMTV branded pair acts in several BLs together, branded pairs are suddenly bad and are holding the actors back. Double standards much?)

[This ask was sent in response to this post, but I would just skip down to @invisiblegarters addition because it's the only part worth reading]

Yeah, there’s an anti-GMMTV branded pair movement going on here on Tumblr and I don’t understand where it came from or what its purpose is considering early GMMTV pairs such as OffGun and TayNew are exempt from criticism. 

It seems to come down to just a fundamental misunderstanding of the genre. In romances, the two main characters end up together. If they do not end up together, it’s not a romance. It does not matter if the two main characters are played by a branded pair or not. This is just how romances work. 

Not to mention that these shows are conceptualized way before they are ever cast and are oftentimes based on novels, so the casting has literally no bearing on the story at all. In the case of THK specifically, Jojo has been working on that script for at least two years. FK weren’t even a branded pair back then!

To suggest that queer characters are only getting happy endings because a company is trying to sell fan meets is incredibly insulting to not only the queer creators who make these works, but also the queer viewers who want to see a happy ending for themselves on screen.

[amaryllis-sagitta]

DATV more thoughts about Solas [after I saw More Crossroads Stuff]

Not gonna lie, I'm seriously struggling to stay sympathetic towards him. The sadboy shtick got tired in that note from The Missing #3 if not earlier, and the pestering messaging from the game feels like a setup. "Look! He has REGRETS. HE REGARTS, OKAY????". Cool. But then, the seemingly common sense response from both Rook and the NPCs around is to go on an angry rant about how performative and hollow Solas's regret is, and how he will 100% without all doubt go full Farquaad on the world as soon as he breaks free.

His characterization in this game feels like BioWare tries to pander to stans and haters at the same time, but moreso to the haters if you haven't entered the game with an already Solas-favorable attitude. And yet, I don't feel like I have any room to make up my own mind when trying to fill in Rook's shoes because someone's always breathing at my neck repeating HE'S THE GOD OF LIES AND TREACHERY. LIES AND TREACHERYYYYYYYYYYYYY. It makes a principled Rook, who wishes to understand Solas without the ulterior motive of outwolfing the Wolf, look dangerously naive. Being understanding towards Solas is no longer portrayed as a choice of open-mindedness and mirroring but one of... a leap of faith that borders on folly and forbodes a bad ending (*cough cough* parallel to Varric *cough cough*)?

On the other hand, there is an attempt to portray Solas as a victim of toxic codependency, but what does it matter? It's truly an accomplishment for Mythal's appearance to obliterate not one but TWO arcs about breaking the cycles of abuse and untangling from poisonous influences that instill a toxic sense of duty. Morrigan's eyes were pried open too, and she moved past the "mistake" of defiance towards her mother. Solas remains the #1 Mythal Stan even if it implies him basically regretting he has ever existed, because every step and every decision since he joined the world makes him complicit in unspeakable evils.

All in all, despite using Solas to reach her own goals and maintain her own position, Mythal is vindicated by the narrative if not straight up absolved by the weirdest clapback from the assumed moral objectivism of the Fade spirits so far -- she was driven by Benevolence in the beginning and not sheer greed or hunger for power. This is supposed to be evidence to support Mythal's special place in the universe as "the best of them all". Meanwhile, she is responsible for the Blight. For the sake of survival of the first elvhen on the Earth, she would destroy the Earth's very primal creative force. But letting the other Evanuris have the Blight would take things a step too far. Okay? Yay? Are we supposed to consider this growth?

Where is this supposed benevolence? The Mythal we saw showing benevolence towards the elven People was FLEMETH, the one who prevailed in the post-Veil world and "grew wiser". It's the Asha Bellanar. It might be MorriMythal who keeps watching over the Veil Jumpers in Arlathan. Not the shard we petition for help supposedly consumed by the nature of Retribution, that dwells on the hurt and reproach of all the betrayals she experienced, and replies with cynicism to a Rook who tries to come off and principled and show that they care for injustice whenever, however and to whomever it happened.

My greatest gripe with the Mythal thing is that all of this could come together somehow if that encounter was a beginning of a true arc of reflection, moral change and tangible reparation.

I haven't completed the game yet but I have read about the potential implications of this for Solavellan and... ughhhhhhhhhhhhh

I've always been kinda lukewarm about this romance personally, but it looks like the version of a Solasmancing Lavellan that is strongly hinted by the narrative is... either a sycophant or kinda done dirty by the Mythal thing? I'm going to see once I reach the endgame (I'm building up towards the "good" Solavellan ending because I don't have the patience to explore what "bad" Solas means considering how he is characterized at his best).

[mllemaenad]

I really do not understand why Varric is the one pursuing Solas. I mean, I understand the Doylist explanation – Varric is a beloved character who will now have featured in three separate games, as well as multiple novels and comics.

But the Watsonian explanation is not clicking. I did my homework. I sat down and read The Missing, but that did not help at all. In fact, I have now considered my Inquisitor and am completely confident that Dirthara Lavellan's plan for dealing with the Solas problem would absolutely not be "send the ageing viscount of Kirkwall on a months long wild goose chase, with the apparent end goal of ... talking Solas out of his plan".

First, I don't see why Varric would be the most likely person to be able to reach Solas. The Inquisitor herself seems the more reasonable option.

Second, Varric is viscount of Kirkwall, a city-state notorious for setting itself on fire if you take your eyes off it for five minutes. I appreciate Alistair had a few adventures in the graphic novels, and there was that time Maric got lost in the Deep Roads but ... broadly, heading up the "Stop Solas" taskforce is a whole separate responsibility that does not seem to be something you should allocate to a man who has the Worst City in Thedas to rule.

Third ... seriously, the plan is to find Solas and have a chat? That's it? It's clearly it. All through The Missing, they keep noting that they don't really know what they'll do if they actually stumble across Solas. And the backup plan, to which Harding occasionally alludes and at which Varric consistently baulks, is to stab Solas until he stops moving. That one ... also doesn't inspire much confidence.

At this point, I'm not sure what Solas's plan entails or exactly what the outcome will be. I'm not even 100% sure I'm opposed to it. I recognise that the narrative is telegraphing that this is bad but, eh, they say that about blood magic too, and my feelings on that are much more complicated.

Surely, instead of chasing Solas all over the map like a fantasy Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, we should be researching what his scheme entails, and potentially how to disrupt it. There have to be options other than this. We have a game series littered with elven scholars like Merrill, accomplished mages like Dorian or Morrigan, thoughtful rebels like Briala or Anders and ... we're ... not ... going to do anything with that?

In both Origins and Inquisition the set up established that there was a solid plan that unexpectedly failed: the Battle of Ostagar in the former and the Conclave in the latter. While I was not a fan of how many of its established plot lines Inquisition chose to just blow up instead of actually resolving, I at least understand how both scenarios led to a rag tag band who should never have been responsible for any of this saving the world. Dragon Age 2 was about the systematic failure of government in Kirkwall and, again, Hawke is forced to act as the people in power utterly refuse to do anything reasonable at all.

Here, my question is – why are we doing it like this now, before we have to?

Ah, well. Maybe it will become clear in time. I may look back on this post and laugh.

[scrapingby]

Something about Rhun makes people just want to tell them things and it absolutely started in their childhood. All of their brothers used to go to them, if they needed someone that would just listen. Most of the time it was just being able to say something out loud, to not be alone with their thoughts. And with the experiments and the general pains of growing up that would happen a lot.

And that would be fine. Rhun has always been responsible, always worried about the beings close to them. But it wasn't fine, because for all that Rhun listened to every single complaint of their brothers, their brothers didn't listen to them. Not when they tried to tell them about how their day had been going (because no one wants to listen about what chores the nuns had Rhun do). Not even when they requested advice, because Rhun would take too long to answer. And especially not when Rhun tried to talk about their own feelings, their own worries.

Because for Rhun talking was hard. It's hard to always follow two group discussions at once: the one in the real world and the one in your head. It's humiliating to give an answer to a question that wasn't spoken or add something when the conversation has already moved onto something else.

It's also hard to talk while being so deeply aware of every tooth in your mouth brushing against the flesh of your cheeks and your tongue when you form words. And it's deeply uncomfortable to be told by your brothery that the over exaggerated way you move your face while talking looks ugly.

Sometimes Rhun stayed silent for so long that they feared they would forget how to speak (and that with their voice removed, their brothers would soon move on from them) so they forced themselves to not think, just press some words out. That's how they started to be what could be considered "snarky". Trying to keep on top of the conversation by thinking fast.

With the nuns, talking wasn't an option at all. And from all of the siblings I believe Rhun was the one deemed the most "well-behaved" or "responsible" so if the nuns needed an extra set of hands for something delicate or just someone to help with anything at all, they would take Rhun (I also feel like Rhun is someone that needs to do something all the time, because the alternative is being alone with their thoughts. So they were always grateful to get chores and even offered to do them for the brothers). And inevitably they would either start talking at Rhun (bc they wouldn't want a real answer from them anyways) or among each other and Rhun would just have to be there and listen. Often times it would be about personal problems of the nuns but mostly it was about the brothers. About the experiments and how good or how bad they performed. What punishments should be used for whom (for that one, they always wanted Rhun to answer) and shouldn't Rhun be grateful that they were being allowed so much freedom with how freaky they were?

So no. Talking isn't Rhuns strong suit. And they don't like thinking about how it makes them feel that everyone feels comfortable to dump their trauma on them but that no one, not even their brothers, bother to listen to their thoughts. So they work. And they try not to feel too bitter about always being used but never wanted. So yeah. They get snarky when people just start talking to them. They know how it will go. But they always, always listen. Because they know how it feels when no one listens to you.

----

Seriously, Klaus went out of this way to try to smooth things over with both words and actions with Zeke (DVD) and Fips (carrots). But with Rhun? All he did was say that what Rhun had been saying since forever was right and that they should have listened. My heart is breaking all over again.

Thanks at @jobroedchen-blog for your addition to last post. That's what kickstarted this train of thought that I had been trying to ignore until now

[naniwatig3r]

AT YOUR SIDE (18+)

Knight!Hoshi x Knight!Femreader

Summary: You work hard everyday as a dame, a female knight. Proving your place. Finally you snap when your fellow knights, including your brigade’s leader, Kwon Soonyoung don’t match your discipline.

Warnings: some ranting about misogyny, f oral recieving, fingering, unprotected penetrative sex, inaccurate medieval history (did not research)

a/n: Based on those beautiful photos of Hoshi in armor from the spell mv <333 Also fic is unedited and out of my ass 😞 first fic here, please provide feedback

Word count: 4.9k

—————————

The sun glares, making the heavy chain armor and plates hot to touch. Sweat collecting at your brow as as you swing your sword, whishing through the heated air into the straw dummy in front of you. The sword sinks in, the beautiful heavy feeling that you’re so accustomed to for the last few years.

But relishing in the zone of your training doesn’t last long. As you hear boistering laughter, straightening back up with your heavy sword. How the other knights act like fools; laughing and making crude jokes of women, beer, or whatever antics they get up to. But not you. Since you were a squire, you’ve worked so hard to be here. Being a woman, it was not easy. Harder than everyone else, you think, if someone would just lend an ear and listen.

But you made your way. Hardening yourself from the sexist and crude jokes, the hard training, and the hazing of the knight you were a squire for. Until you were finally knighted.

You thought that was it, finally, being with the dedicated knights that worked as hard as you, that could recognize your dutiful determination. The way your muscles ached until you could scream during training. The way you’ve laid down the life of many for the sake of your kingdom. How you’ve dedicated your life to finally stand as a Royal knight.

Oh but you were wrong. So wrong. Even with the acknowledgment of the king, the passive looks, the way no one took you seriously, it was one thing. But when the knights you oh so respected finally revealed their true colors from behind the public perception, it boiled your blood. The drinking, the abuse of power, the lack of training.

And the worse of all, the leader of the royal knights, Kwon Soonyoung. Hoshi, the Kingdom’s Tiger, The Wild Suzerian, the Kingdom’s secret weapon.

He laughs back, his damp hair glistening in the sun from — what you’d consider — minimal training. As he leans back onto a wooden post, surrounded by the other knights as they speak of things you care nothing about.

It wasn’t fair. You thought, as you grip the hilt of your sword tightly. You were boiling in the heavy metal, weighed down by the pounds of chain mail. Something that you were used to, but was somehow more suffocating today from the excessive heat. Soonyoung was just wearing a loose linen shirt, the strings loosely tied.

You strike down on the dummy once more.

Grunting, you feel your hands clam under the gloves. The sweat traveling to all the way to the tips of your fingers. Soonyoung wasn’t suffering like this, you thought. Hands free as he shoves the other knights as he laughs loudly, leaning so casually against the wooden post. His trousers tight like he wasn’t meaning to train at all, just to come to personally spite.

Another slash across the dummy.

How the corner of his lips curve into an irritating smile, does he care at all? Like the kingdom doesn’t rely in him, how people of the kingdom see him as a savior, how the King praises him? The way his eyes squint and sparkle under the sun, like he’s allowed to be this relaxed. Not fair, not fair, not fair.

You let out a loud cry as you swing your sword hard as you can, surprisingly, cutting through the worn out dummy. The straw torso dropping to the rough dirt, as the swing of the sword makes you stumble. Throwing the hilt of it onto the ground, free from it’s weight.

You grab your helmet, throwing it to the ground in anger, freeing your face finally as you can breathe. The small slits and openings of the helmet restricting your breathing too much before. You take a deep breath, as you whip your head towards Soonyoung, the other royal knights, who now stare at you. From your loud outburst, and surprise at the cut dummy in half.

“Are you all insane?” You say loudly, panting as you stare at them angrily. Sweat beading down your forehead, strands of your long hair slick against your skin.

“Royal knights — how laughable,” You scoff, as you flicker your eyes between them all. Barely clad in their respective armor, Their swords hung up on the weapon rack. “Laughing like a bunch of little boys, while the Kingdom is preparing for war.” You hiss, as you point at the weapon rack, “Swords hung, dusty, with cobwebs, the way you all indulge in vices as our people beg for help in rural villages, how our people in the inner city speak on crimes and injustices.” You continue bitterly, unhooking your gloves, throwing them onto the dirt with a huff. (It was fine, your squire will pick it up.)

“The audacity of the lot of you,” You hiss, spitting at the floor before stomping away, back to the knight quarters, to peel the sweaty hot metal off you. Heating from the blistering sun, and the boiling of your blood. Through your anger you’re oblivious to the attention following you as you head for the barracks. The eyes of the Kingdom’s tiger focused steady on the back of your head, as you walk off.

—

You huff frustratingly, as you throw the chain mail onto the wooden bench, finally feeling relief as your bare skin is freed. Hands on your hips, as you kick the nearest chest with anger, grimacing as you withstand the pain of your foot as you continue to beat the poor chest.

“Angry little thing aren’t you?” You hear, the voice soft and amused. Making you still, as you put your foot down. “First the dummy, now that chest. Keep that up and the treasury will cry over the new supplies we’ll need replacing.”

You turn, seeing Soonyoung. Your breath hitching as he leans on the wall, arms crossed, relaxed and inquisitive. His head tilted, his eyes boring into you. An easy smile on his face, like your outburst meant nothing at all. Which didn’t aid in all in your simmering temper.

“Sir Kwon,” You address, keeping formalities despite what happened only a minute ago. “I apologize,” You grit, glancing your eyes away. “The heat has gotten to me, I could not turn a blind eye to the lack of training.” You say, gripping your bare fist tight, running over the calloused skin of your knuckles.

All you can hear is a snicker, in the quiet barracks, as he uncrosses his arms and stalks over. Making you sieze up slightly, not used to his presence like this. Sure, you were on the same brigade, following under his leadership, but he never paid attention to you. There was nothing to scold, the way you train so consistently, how you run laps around the other royal knights despite your recent accolade. So his eyes, so carefully trained on you, made your skin crawl.

“No need to,” He starts lightly, “It was fun. Seeing you finally under that dutiful attitude of yours.” He grins, “Tell me, was it really the sun that made you break?” He asks, tilting his head, like a taunt.

This made you tense, readjusting the tightness of your fists. This was nothing, you thought. Many have belittled you, made fun of you, hazed you. So why was it that just a simple knowing smile made you want to scream? To choke out the famous Kingdom’s Tiger?

“It was the sun, sir,” You say quietly and shortly. Looking into his eyes, your gaze determined and strong, how it always was.

He hums, nodding his head, “Right, I see. Must be because of all that armor.” He muses, smiling, as he glances at the mess of the layers of your knight armor scattered on the bench and floor in a frenzy. “It’s not required you know,” He says, “To be in full attire during training all the time. Especially in this heat.” He continues.

You shake my head, “It’s duty and how I was taught. I must always be ready and comfortable in the attire. In training, at war, at duty.” You recite, your words firm. It also had to do with your status as a woman. You never showed up in anything less than your required armor. It made you feel like you belonged, that the curves of your body were shielded. That your combat and dedication combined with hiding under all of those layers, you were seen on the same level as all the other royal knights.

He sighs, “Sad,” He begins, “A lady ought to know that she was born with weapons of her own.” He says, trailing his eyes. “You know theres more ways to fight than holding a sword, don’t you, dame y/n?” He says, his tone light, condescending in your ears.

You scowl, as you look down and realize the extent of your exposure. Your chest wrapped in bandages for security, breasts straining against them. Your loose linen trousers thin enough that the curves of your hips press against the fabric. You bite your tongue, “Of course, as a man you see that.” You start lowly, “But as you said, I am a dame, a knight. The only thing that matters is my duty to the king and the sword in my hand, just like you.”

Soonyoung grins, amused at your response. His eyes still trained on you, like predator to prey. For a moment you see how he earned the title of the Kingdom’s tiger, the way his eyes dance around you like you’re his next target. “Admirable,” He says, “Frustrating, but admirable.” He admits, crossing his arms as he steps even closer. The smell of him was strangely intoxicating, of pine and a layer of musk that was actually nice. Nothing like the gagging smell of sweat and men you were accustomed to.

“You’re tightly wound, dame y/n.” He states. His expression hardening slightly, “You’re dedicated, skilled. But your lack of flexibility is worrying. Misery should not be your only state.” He says, his eyes glowering into you. Making you tense with anger.

You? Unflexible? Living in misery? “What would you know, sir?” You grit, “You don’t know how hard it was to be knighted in my position.” you say, eyes narrowing, eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t choose, that is just how it is. While you all monkey around, I must uphold. No one will ever see the extent of my hardwork and dedication, but God will. And so will the king.” you spit, glowering as your knuckles turn white from your hard fists.

Soonyoung raises his brows, but doesn’t back down. Its infuriating, the way he doesn’t flinch. How he looks down at you from his height, already feeling like mock without doing anything. The worst of it, how your chest tightens at how his eyes look, curious and listening.

“No one will see?” He repeats, “Thats wrong, dame y/n.” He says flatly, “Who do you think recommended you for the knighting ceremony?” He starts, making your eyes widen at what he’s confessing.

He shakes his head, sighing, “I’m not claiming it was all me.” He starts, “I frequented the squire quarters many times. Looking for talent, as the king prepared for war. I watched you. Your skill definitely aided in the fast track of your knighthood.” He says, his eyes focused on you solely, like the room was fading out. “Training until you passed out, up at 5 everyday, taking orders from your assigned knight with no hesitation.” He lists, stepping closer, making you stumble back, but the more you step back, he continues to close distance.

“The way you swing your sword,” He says lowly, licking his lips, like he’s replaying the many times he’s seen you practice and fight. “How much power in that delicate body of yours, the technique of it. Hell, the way you sliced the training dummy in half like a loaf of bread.” He says, his voice hurriedly, excited the more he lists things he admires about you.

Your back is against the wall now, the cobbled stone rough against your bare skin. Your eyes wide, mouth agape speechless at Soonyoung’s specific praises. He leans forward, placing a hand next to the wall as he traps you in. “No one will see you say?” He says, flickering his eyes as he gazes at you intensely. “Y/n, forget the King, God, or whatever validation you seek for. I’m right here.”

Your eyes widen, breath hitched as you hear his words. The infamous wild sezarian is a fan of yours? Supported you until you finally got what you deserved, and this whole time you stared at him in envy and bitterness. But you couldn’t forgive the blasphemy of his words, “Watch your mouth sir,” You manage to say, “Thats heresy! you could —“

“What? Get in trouble?” He muses, breath fanning over your face. “Tell me, would you report me?” He asks, his free hand moving up to push a strand of hair away from your face, rendering you still. “You might, you’re so dutiful, aren’t you my dame?” He says lightly, like you’re his.

He bounces his gaze around your face, taking it in. This time, no helmet, just your hair framing your face, close as he’s ever seen it. And he can’t help but feel a swell of excitement. “Let me reward you,” He suggests, his voice breathy, “When was the last time you’ve truly been paid attention to?”

You gulp, swallowing hard under his burning gaze. Your skin heating once more, despite how the cold cobblestone wall is pressed against your back, only clad in thin linen and bandages. You feel your heart beat hard against your chest, so loud, Soonyoung must be able to hear it. It was a unrecognizable feeling, the way your knees weaken, a fluttering feeling starting to take root in your lower abdomen.

“Being a knight and doing my duty is rewarding enough.” You manage to choke out, a little proud that your words were steady coming out of your mouth.

Soonyoung rolls his eyes, “I’m sure thats true,” He says sarcastically, “But a human being, even as admirable as you deserves a break, don’t you think?” He points out, as he leans closer to that your noses could brush, making you take a sharp inhale. A chill down your spine that travels straight to your core.

“Dame y/n, is it that horrible to remember that you are a woman under that armor?” He whispers into your ear, his breath tickling your skin. “It is no curse on you. It what makes you so deliciously different and refreshing from the spoiled brats that think Knighthood is their right.” He says, firmly, “You should not mold yourself into such a miserable life where you forget who you are inherently. You deserve to have the same audacity of ones who can’t hold a candle to your hardwork.”

His hand travels from beside your ear, down to trail your jawline, to your neck, in a slow agonizing pace. Making you flutter your eyes in response, never having felt such a gentle touch in all years you’ve lived. “If they can indulge in vices, then you very well can too,” he whispers, moving his other hand that was trapping you in to caress your cheek. Leaning down to give you an open mouthed kiss on the side of your neck, making you gasp in response. “Let me give you what you deserve, y/n,” He says lowly, his breath ghosting your skin as he peppers gentle kisses.

“Sir!” You gasp, as grabs you by the waist tightly, right under your bandages. at the rough pads of his fingers feeling like they always belonged there. Your cheeks burn, flustered from his advances, your hands shooting up to grip his arms. Oh, how toned they are under the thin linen, hard against your hands as your resolve weakens.

“Sir, this is inappropriate, I’m a knight under —“

“Under me,” He murmurs, “Quite figuratively and literally, yes?” He says like it’s normal. Taking a deep breath as he kisses down to the swell of your breasts, the taste of your skin intoxicating. The smell and taste of your sweat from training mingled by the rose tonic you use when you bathe. He lets out a soft breath, running his hands down your binded chest until he lowers himself down to his knees. A sight you’ve never even dreamed of seeing in your lifetime.

He looks up at you, a look of arousal and focus, his fingers teasing the waistband of your linen trousers. Licking his lips in anticipation, his pupils dilated. Something you’ve only really seen right before the surge of battle. “Inappropriate, sure, but you haven’t pushed me away, have you, my dame?” He points out, knowing full well if you wanted to, he’d be flat on the ground for trying to advance on you.

He was right. You don’t know whats happening, but the need building in your abdomen, the way you push your thighs tightly together as you take a sharp breath, you wanted it. You wanted it bad.

The second the look in your eyes softens, a wild grin finds Soonyoung’s face, his eyes in the dimness of the room twinkling with a newfound vigor. Like a tiger really was in front of you. He claws at your lower abs, before pulling down the linen pants, revealing your cunt. Glistening, shamelessly showing how affected you were this whole time despite your attempts at being professional. You take a sharp breath, cheeks burning, sensitivity heightened under his gaze.

He leans in, taking a deep breath through his nose, as he licks a strip up your pussy in an agonizingly slow pace. The warmth of his tongue against your slickness making you involuntarily moan out, your hands immediately finding anchor on the cobblestone behind you.

“Beautiful,” He breathes, grabbing the hold of the back of your thigh, slinging one of your legs over his shoulder. The further access, making him kiss your clit with a gentleness that makes your stomach flutter, and a whimper escape your mouth. His eyes flickering to your face, as he smiles. “This cunt of yours,” He says shamelessly, making your cheeks flush further. “It’s been neglected too long.”

Immediately his mouth is back on you once more, tongue swirling a circle around your clit, sucking slightly as you buck your hips into his face. His hand holding your thigh on his shoulder in place, as you throw your head back against the stone wall. Lapping up your juices with a satisfied groan, your taste everything Soonyoung imagined and more. The soft whimpers from your mouth going straight to his cock, as it strains against his pants. Its heavenly, for both you and Soonyoung, as your eyes roll back unevenly from his ministrations.

He licks another stripe up your folds, this time settling his tongue into your opening, prodding it open as he hardens his tongue to intrude into you. The action making you cry out, pulling him closer with your leg around his shoulder. The way your pussy clenches excites him, feeling how you tense as he continues to tongue fuck you. Moaning as he does it, savoring your taste, the heat and scent of your cunt wholeheartedly. He moans, kissing your entrance as he mutters, “You taste so good,” He whines, “Divine, better than any bottle of wine.” He praises, flickering his eyes up to see your face contorted in pleasure.

Your eyebrows furrowed, eyes shut as you lose yourself in the feeling of Soonyoung’s mouth. The sight only making him more determined to pleasure you, as he keeps his steady eyes on you, he latches his mouth back around your clit, alternating from sucking and flicking with his tongue. You buck your hips, grinding against his mouth instinctively, gasping as you grab at the stone behind you.

He uses his free hand to finally stick one finger into you, the stretch warm, and easy, but tight as your walls clench around his finger. Soonyoung moans, his own eyes rolling back from just the tightness of your walls. Already getting off of the idea of you around his cock, as he ruts into you. His impatience showing as he doubles his efforts, sucking your swollen clit with fervor as he pumps another finger into you, curling his slender fingers until he feels your spongy flesh. Knowing he’s found the right spot as you basically double over, find your hands in his hair, gripping tightly.

Its mindnumbing, the combination of Soonyoung’s smart mouth and nimble fingers, as you feel the tight knot in your stomach build. You cry out, whimpers and whines escaping your throat as you tense, the feeling of pleasure starting to get overwhelming. “Sir, sir, I’m going to —“ You try and warn, before your voice cuts out as you gasp loudly. Hands tightly pulling on Soonyoungs’s hair as he grunts from your hands. Your body shuddering as you whine, riding out your high on Soonyoung’s face, his hand a tight grip on your ass. Seemingly determined to drown in your juices.

You pry his face off your cunt, as he seemed a bit lost in you. The over sensitivity making you push him away, as he pants, looking up at you with awe. He licks his lips, your slick allover his nose, mouth and chin. The filthy sight making you let out a sharp exhale of arousal, already feeling yourself start up again once more.

He stands up, pushing you back up against the wall, “Now taste,” He murmurs, closing in and molding his lips with yours. Warm and soft, as he pushes his tongue against yours. You moan, tasting your own juices on his tongue, as he kisses you with a slow pace. Pulling back, a trail of saliva and your arousal between your mouths. Licking his lips, as you stare back heavy lidded. “Tasted yourself, haven’t you?” He says breathlessly, “Can you see how ruined I am now that I have you?” He moans, as he grabs the bandages around your chest, using his strength to roughly rip them off with ease. His hands immediately coming up to massage your freed breasts, rubbing his thumbs on your nipples as you whimper in pleasure, pinching and massaging them.

“Wicked thing aren’t you?” he continues, murmuring it into your skin, his mouth against your ear as he squeezes your breasts. “Blessing me with the prettiest, divine pussy I’ve ever seen, better than any woman, whore, or lady I’ve aquainted,” He growls, “My dame, how have you walked around this kingdom without me buried into you at all times?” He says, like you’ve committed the greatest crime. His words going straight to your core, dripping, as you clench around nothing, needing more.

“I apologize sir,” you breathe, need evident in your voice. Biting down on your lip, fluttering your eyes as he kneads your breasts, making you squirm under his hands. You look like a sight, the way Soonyoung reacts as his angry expression turns focused. Cheeks flushed, your pretty lashes against your cheeks as tears of pleasure dance at the corners of your eyes. Ridiculous, he thinks, that you’ve been here all the time. And it’s taken him this long to take you.

He huffs, “No need. We remedy it now,” He says firmly, his leader like voice coming out. He lets go of your breasts reluctantly, unbuttoning his trousers, his dick springing against his chest. Angry like he is, pink and pretty, slick with pre cum. The sight of him already making your legs weak, just imagining him inside you.

He steps back, sitting on the wooden bench, pushing my haphazardly thrown armor out the way for space. A hand to his dick, pumping it slowly a few times as his eyebrows furrow, a moan coming out of his lips. You take a deep breath, stepping up to him.

“Sir, let me,” You say, straddling on top of him, the closeness between his cock and your pussy making you throb with need. You let out a sigh as you wrap your rough hands around Soonyoung’s dick, stroking him slowly, exploratory. Making him gasp and take a sharp inhale.

“Fuck,” He groans, his noises music to your ears. Squeezing slightly, as you press your thumb over the slit of his dick, slick with his precum. The action making him moan out, “Enough, no more teasing,” He breathes, putting his hands over yours. “Let me give you what you deserve, Dame y/n.” He says, making eye contact with you, his eyes soft but still determined with arousal and anticipation.

He holds you up, until you’re hovering over him, kissing you momentarily just from missing the way your lips tasted a moment ago. He adjusts, as you both moan out as the tip of his cock swipes against your folds.

You start sinking down, gasping, your breath caught in your throat. Inch by inch, Soonyoung’s cock stretching you out deliciously, the pain and pleasure knocking the wind out of you as he watches intently at the filthy sight of his cock disappearing into you, until he bottoms out. You breathe, adjusting, holding Soonyoung’s shoulders tightly. Fuck, was it beautiful. If you could, you would write epics of how he felt in you, have the bards at those stupid pubs sing about how magical he felt, how perfect he was.

And it starts, as he starts rolling his hips, grabbing your ass with his hands tightly, roughly groping them as he starts a slow but deep pace. “Heavenly,” He breathes, his eyes furrowed in pleasure. “I’d win millions of battles just to have this pussy again.” He moans, as you squeeze around him so well. “Name it, kingdom, country, anything,” He rambles, drunk on the feeling of your pussy, how you drip and suck him in. The way your tits bounce in his face, how your hair falls so effortlessly around you. Especially the fact that no one would know how beautiful you were like this, taking him in so well like it was your knightly duty.

The praises only fuel you, as you wrap your arms tighter around Soonyoung’s neck, rolling your hips to meet his. Bottom lip under your teeth as you bounce on top of him, the knot in your chest building up again, as you chase that high eagerly.

Sweat, the painful pleasure of both of you clawing each other, the lack of caution as you both go at it roughly. One of your breasts trapped in his mouth as he sucks harshly, his hips snapping up with force that shakes the measly wooden bench under you both. You match him, the way your core burns at how hard and fast you roll your hips, fingers clawing deep into his back muscles. A chorus of moans and heavy breathing between you both, as it’s now just a matter of reaching the top of ecstacy.

“Come,” He grits, letting your tit go with a pop of his mouth, as he kisses up your neck, licking the sweet sweat of your skin. “You deserve it, my dame. Reward me with your release.” He commands, holding your waist down with both arms, fastening his pace as he holds you up like a ragdoll.

And with that you do, gasping as you choke out a loud cry, eyes shut as you shake and shudder, eyesight spotty as every part of your lower half spasms with utmost pleasure. Squeezing Soonyoung’s shoulders hard, making him wince at your strength as you ride your orgasm to completion, panting heavily.

Soonyoung pulls you off despite his body screaming him not to, as he clumsily grabs his dick, stroking it hard until spurts of his release come out, as he moans, tapping his dick against your stomach as he recovers, coating your chest with his warm cum.

Its quiet for a moment, as you pant, catchin your breath, sitting on top of him as he holds you close, breathing in your sweat as he rests his chin in the nook of your neck. His touches light, once more, as he rubs circles into your back. “God,” He sighs, continuing a string of curses, before lifting his head to look into your eyes. Despite the exertion, his eyes are wide, a film of sweat over his handsome face. A look of a man who discovered excalibur on his face as he looks at you.

For once, you look relaxed. Your shoulders down, eyebrows no longer furrowed, the normal guarded look on your face gone. For once you look like a woman, one thats utterly you, strong and beautiful. Looking how you should, satisfied and cared for. Only making Soonyoung’s resolve tighten, thoughts filling his brain of taking care of you, making sure you feel the appreciation you deserve.

“My dame,” He starts quietly, “I never want you to have an outburst like that again,” He starts, referring to your angry insults thrown at the other royal knights, “If you need an outlet, let me be one for you.” He promises, gripping your hands tightly in his. “Let me fight your battles strongly beside you,” He says, kissing you briefly, “Never be alone. I am here.”

You nod, feeling an undescribable feeling in your chest rise. Odd, how your hands are with one of the most respected knights in the kingdom, the same man you despised and felt envy for. Odd that you let this same man ravish you and make you remember that there was more to life than just your royal duties. And very odd, that now you have the Kingdom’s Tiger by your side.

[mallowwblossom]

OUTER BANKS SEASON 4 SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!!

Ok, so now that JJ is dead, NO ONE can. convince me that Riara WON'T happen in season 5 AND LET ME TELL Y'ALL WHY.

First of all, their chemistry has been there from the start. You could feel it even in season 1, and if you say otherwise, you're lying. They’ve given us so many moments—both direct and indirect interactions.

Have you noticed that when Rafe talks about Kiara, he uses her full name, but when he addresses her directly, it's ALWAYS and ONLY "Kie"?

THAT LOOK??? ARE Y'ALL SERIOUSLY GOING TO DENY THAT LOOK?

Also, remember in season 1, when Pope and Kiara talked, and Pope brought up her "Kook Year"? She reacted badly to that, and considering she was Sarah's best friend back then, a possible fling between Rafe and Kiara could've easily happened and is HEAVILY IMPLIED.

When Rafe picks fights with the Pogues, he never really targets Kiara aggressively(I mean yes he does almost choke her and tries to down her in the sewers but ykwim).For example, in season 1, he pulls her away from Barry, saying she was not the one they were looking for.

And these are only moments from the FIRST SEASON! The fact that are only those present in the first season and some of you still don't believe this ship leaves me flabbergasted.

Their strongest moment was definitely in season 3 with an entire arc of them together in Barbados.

ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MEANT NOTHING?

Now, yes, Rafe met Sofia and dated her in season 3, but tbh it never felt genuine. Rafe is a twisted man, and it seemed like she was just a replacement for the family he lost. Rafe needs someone whom he can prove himself to, to encourage and love him, partly to prove he can be like Ward, another twisted man who always managed to keep his family together and placed his family first (at least according to his disturbed vision) . Now that he feels "betrayed" by Sofia, I doubt we’ll see her again.

ALSO THE RIARA MOMENTS IN THIS SZN WEREN'T GONE AT ALL, THEY WERE ON FULL FORCE.

Call me crazy if you want, but I genuinely believe Riara will become canon. It might even be part of the reason they decided to kill off JJ. Yes, Rudy Pankow didn’t want to continue on the show, but remember that interview where Carlacia said Cleo and JJ were supposed to be a couple? I don’t think Jiara was in the plan from the start; it happened mostly because of fans.

I’m not happy with how they handled this season, and I’ll probably talk about that in another post. I’m definitely NOT happy with JJ’s finale, but I’m excited about this likely-to-happen Riara pairing. And I don't know If It's just me but I'm noticing the writers seem to be pushing a potential redemption arc for Rafe, which I don’t fully approve of—but who knows, that could be another hint for Riara?

---

Side note: If you were in the OUAT fandom in the 2013/2014 I'm telling this is like the Bealfire-Emma-Hook love triangle. Like we all liked I hope Baelfire, but from the SECOND we saw Hook, we all knew Neal was supposed to go. Change my mindddd

MIND YOU ENGLISH ISN'T MY FIRST LANGUAGE AND I REALLY HOPE I MANAGED TO GET MY POINT ACROSS😭

Of course, that is entirely my opinion, but PLS do interact because I'm curious about everyone's take on this. <33

[cravingpepsimax]

so I ship stancest but I dont really talk about it because of how mean people can be, plus I dont want to lose any community over it. Do you have any suggestions on how to start interacting with stancest stuff without incurring wraith?

the main thing you wanna do is use an alt/sideblog. this account — minus for a private community i am, + following other stancest shippers — is entirely detached from my main. i even have an alt ao3 account. here’s a few tips on making a stancest sideblog:

make sure you’ve got your following tab hidden on your main. you might think, “oh, i won’t follow stancest blogs, that’s a liability” — you will. it’ll be fine. they’ll get it.

if you are a popular artist, and your style is distinct, either do not post your art or try and use a different style. this goes for all forms of art, though the bar changes — for example, authors do have unique writing styles, but, unless you’re writing some Really Groundbreaking Fanfiction, most people probably won’t go “hey, doesn’t this sound like x?”.

the above matter SIGNIFICANTLY less if you don’t post much/any gf art on main. at that point, you’re looking for a venn diagram overlap of “people who like whatever you normally post”, “people who look at stancest content”, and “people who hate stancest content”.

DO NOT POST IN THE MAIN TAG. do NOT. seriously. tumblr’s a lot more chill these days, and i’ve seen some stancest posts in the main tag that get away scot-free, but you’re IMMEDIATELY exposing urself to the hoarde. in a similar vein, censor ship names that aren’t considered problematic, like b1llf0rd, f1ddauth0r, f1ddlest4n, etc.

i wish u luck on ur stancest journey, fellow stancest secret society member 🫡

[justchillandshipit]

A Few things to consider...

If we apply Tim's thinking about Buck's situation to Eddie, then Tim could put Eddie in a couple of relationships before his endgame with Buck. I just can't be normal about that. I'm probably the only one who is crazy like this. For Buck, I kind of understand it, and I'm not referring just to Tommy. Buck was with so many women. He really does know that side of himself very well. Buck is curious too, so I could see him dating a few men and maybe another woman without it lasting as long as his time with Tommy. I can see this type of exploration as brief but defining. It will help him narrow down and see what his 'type' might be in regard to men. (We know his type, and his learning will be part of his realization.) I just don't feel that same vibe for Eddie. He is the nester. Maybe he should have a few boyfriends first, but I'm just not reasonable about this so I'm going to let it go for now. I'll puke on that bridge when we get to it.

Side note semi-unrelated: I love a slow burn, but I don't want to wait another three seasons for Buddie either. Please stop the torture.

Things I loved about this episode. Buck. Always. Eddie. Always. lol Seriously, the whole Risky Business moment was golden. Shaving the stache was excellent. His admission that he wanted the full beard but it wasn't allowed and the Priest calling him out as wearing a mask--all of that is just superb. I loved the Buddie of it all. I loved the way Buck seemed to take in Eddie's appearance and then keep his eyes upward as he handed him the beer and walked past him. I loved the way, Eddie didn't hesitate to open the door half-dressed and just accepted that they were drinking tonight without any explanation as to why. Non-Buddie related: I love that Maddie is already pregnant. We don't have to go through a long process of whether they will get a child and be able to keep it the way we did with Henren. Fingers crossed for no miscarriages.

I'm glad Eddie did what the priest suggested as far as doing something fun, but I'm having a little disconnect with how he went from punishing himself to dancing around with no real progression into what brought him to this point. I need to watch it again. I may pick out more on a rewatch. We had parallels in this episode in a big way, but the well seems like a missed opportunity for Eddie to reflect on what happened when he was trapped in one and the decisions he made when he got out of it. We don't generally get two full-character episodes for the same character, do we? We saw Eddie moving forward, but I'm missing the strong motivator that will inspire him to 'Think."

I also need to think about what happened in the restaurant with the girl hitting on Buck. (was this the restaurant Tommy left him standing at before?) What a horrible choice for an anniversary date if it was. lol

Another question: Wasn't there supposed to be a flashback for Eddie in this episode? I know the Bobby/Buck scene got cut. I sort of hate that. I was looking forward to a Father/son moment for them. I do understand that they are limited with time though, so there we go.

Speculation: Eddie is now trying to embrace fun. Buck and Eddie will end up going to bars together at some point, even if Eddie is not looking for a date. We could see Buck in action picking up guys. We could see guys hitting on Eddie. We could see Buck having a reaction to that. We may also see, Buck going to that Laker's game with Eddie after all.

I see I've missed over 100 new posts. I'm betting someone has answered some of my questions already. lol

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What are your thoughts on this class division in wizarding society?

What percentage of the population do you believe would be considered upper class? It seems that within the Sacred Twenty-Eight, only families like the Malfoys and Lestranges could truly be considered extremely wealthy. In contrast, the Black family seems more like an example of old money in decline — where their generational wealth was being spent on lavish lifestyle without replenishing their fortune, as suggested by the state of properties like 12 Grimmauld Place, and unlike the Malfoys, they don't seem to own other estates, such as Malfoy Manor.

It's hard to imagine that at least half of pureblood families still belong to the upper class. Most have likely fallen to the middle class, or at best, the upper middle class. This decline in status seems to be the root of their discontent, fueled by a perceived loss of wealth and influence compared to previous generations.

It's likely that purebloods were displaced by half-bloods, who increasingly rose into the upper ranks of society. This shift could explain why so many purebloods were drawn to Voldemort's promises of restoring their power over those of "lesser" blood. They failed to see how their own ambitions would ultimately lead to their downfall.

Hello 👋

I have a lot of thoughts about this and the short of them is:

I don't think blood status has much to do with class because almost everyone is essentially a pureblood and muggleborns and actual half-bloods (with a muggle parent) are in the minority.

I don't think there is a pureblood decline in their society and class isn't really the issue with blood purity, it's just plain ol' bigotry.

I think the Sacred 28 is bullshit and that many purebloods in-universe don't take it all that seriously.

The full essay is under the cut because it got kinda long:

Honestly, I don't think blood status is all that connected with class in the wizarding world, tbh. Like, I talked about this in the first post in this blog, but I think, like, 70% of their population would be considered "pureblood", as in four wizard grandparents. Like, muggleborns are only about 5% of their population, and the majority of the magical population in Britain are ones I won't consider half-blood since technically all their immediate family is magical. So, really, it depends on what you consider "pureblood" and that would depend on how bigoted you are.

The Sacred 28 doesn't include even a third of the families I would consider "pureblood". The Pureblood Dictionary was written by Cantankerous Nott in the 1930s, and this context should be taken into account. He wasn't an unbiased source, and he didn't necessarily even do proper research into the genealogy of families that didn't feel pureblood enough to him (like the name "Potter" sounding too muggle to him) so let's take his writing with a grain of salt. It's also pretty clear families like the Blacks don't see the Sacred 28 as the be all end all since they marry other families which are pureblood but not in the dictionary, like Gamp or Potter, so clearly, many blood purists also take Cantankerous' book with a grain of salt.

Now, I think, since the majority of the population is what I at least would consider purely magical, blood purity doesn't correspond to class. The Weasleys are pureblood, and they are clearly portrayed as poorer and the family seemed to have been lower class for a while. The Prewetts (Molly's family), probably used to be more wealthy but have declined in recent years (from Muriel's behavior, the heirloom tiara, and such, it always seemed to me she was used to a better lifestyle and treatment. Also, Molly's mother was Lucretia Black, giving more evidence to this idea). We saw the Gaunts who were also on the decline in their most recent generations living in a rundown shack.

In the case of the Black family though, I don't think they were in that bad of a state. They clearly had money, I mean, buying the super expensive Firebolt didn't make a dent in Sirius' inheritance that he kept living off of. And they clearly lived in luxury before all the family died out, so I don't think they were that much on the decline. They probably weren't at the peek of their wealth, but they were far from struggling.

I think the state of Grimmauld Place has more to do with Walburga's and Kreacher's mental health rather than money problems. Also, I wouldn't say they don't have any other houses, we don't actually know that. Personally, I always read it as Sirius and Regulus clearly not growing up in the same house as the Black sisters, so I assume there are other houses that at least belonged to the Black family. Let's not forget that until a generation ago, there were quite a few of them around.

And, yeah, sure, the Potters are new money rich (from Sleekezyes) and aren't sacred 28, but the Potters are an old enough pureblood family the Blacks didn't disown Dorea for marrying into. This suggests that they are seen, in universe, as very much an old and established pureblood family in the UK and that the reason they aren't in the sacred 28 is Cantankerous Nott bias. So, again, the Potters aren't an example of half-bloods becoming more relevant or purebloods being on the decline.

The Crouchs are part of the sacred 28 and are clearly wealthy since they have a house elf, which is expensive and a sign of prestige:

“Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they’ll be rich,” said Fred. “Yeah, Mum’s always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing,” said George.

(CoS)

Also, the fact Crouch had incredibly influential ministry positions before and after the scandal with his son (you need to be very rich and very well connected to remain a department head after that at all, even if it is a less prestigious department).

The Malfoys are sacred 28 and are clearly very rich. We know they made most of their money from land they got in the Norman conquest and later muggle dealings, so that money is old. But we don't see them in decline until Voldemort returns. Lucius is living his best life, throwing away money on brooms for the Slytherin team, sitting on the board of governors, and having the minister's ear. Clearly, purebloods who had influence didn't all lose it.

The Smith family descends from Helga Hufflepuff, they are clearly pureblood but they aren't sacred 28 (name is too muggle). We also know they are pretty rich, both from Zacharias' behavior and from the fact Hepzibah Smith owned a house elf.

Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle (only the Parkinsons are Sacred 28 but Crabbes and Goyles are clearly pureblood as well) are likely living very comfortably, but they're not as wealthy as the Malfoys or Blacks. As Pravati seems to know at least Pansy from before school:

“Shut up, Malfoy,” snapped Parvati Patil. “Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?” said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. “Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Parvati.”

(PS)

I assume the Patils are seen as pureblood (even if they aren't on the sacred 28) and have about the same level of money as the Parkinsons do. I mean, I don't see Pansy’s parents being friendly with someone who isn't pure enough for their standards.

So, I don't think class is inherently tied to blood status since, as I said, most of the population is essentially pureblood, and it won't make sense for all the population to be rich aristocrats, that's not how this works. I also don't think there is necessarily a pureblood "decline" that created the antagonism towards muggleborns, most rich and influential characters we see are pureblood or essentially pureblood since they were raised by wizard parents in the wizarding world. I also think the tension around blood status is way less justifiable. Like, I don't think it has a good reason like that — it's just bigotry, and it has existed for centuries. It ain't new.

We see blood purist purebloods, or half-bloods reach very high positions in the ministry. It's muggleborns who seem to be struggling to get offers for ministry positions since they don't know anyone who could pull them in (since the ministry runs on connections, which is where the Slug Club comes in for talented muggleborns). In both wars with Voldemort, the ministry was Death Eaters. Many Death Eaters or other blood purists already had high ministry positions, just waiting for Voldemort to take over and let them do what they wanted with them: Lucius, Umbridge, Yaxley, Rookwood (in the first war), Runcorn, and many more since we don't have all the names.

In the first war, Arthur said it was 20:1:

Oh, Molly, come on, it’s about time you got used to hearing it — look, I can’t promise no one’s going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we’re much better off than we were last time, you weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...”

(OotP)

As the first Order had 22 members in the photo Moody showed Harry, that would place the estimated number of Death Eaters at 440 (or more), which is an insane number to their measly population size of max 7,000 and would explain why the Death Eaters range multiple classes of wealth considering the sheer amount of members and sympathizers.

The reason the Death Eaters could take over so easily twice was because they had their own people in key positions. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the Carrows or Macnairs are particularly wealthy or influential, but they aren't suffering either. It's not that muggleborns took their status and positions. They didn't. There are very few muggleborns in the ministry (and in their population as a whole). And actual half-bloods who have a muggle parent are a minority as well. I'd estimate up to 90% of wizards grew up in the wizarding world with wizard parents. (Tonks is considered a half-blood, but her father is a muggleborn; he's a wizard, and she grew up in the wizarding world, so she barely counts as a half-blood as she lived around magic all her life). So, I don't think the tension about blood status comes from any fear for their traditions or lifestyles or their status being taken away by half-bloods — because I don't think anything like that is happening. Not really.

We even see muggleborns like Hermione choose to assimilate, embrace everything the wizarding world is, and forsake their muggle upbringing, which is likely something Ted Tonks did as well. It's not purebloods who have their lifestyles change, it's muggleborns who assimilate into the new world they enter. It's why Hermione learns and reads as much as she does, it's why past the first year she quietly stops mentioning her muggle parents and spends less and less time in the muggle world.

I do want to note, regarding class, that all wizards do go to the same school, so wealth and class clearly don't register to them the same way they do to us. I think it's less cut and dry for them because of how small the population is.

Like, if you want to marry only wizards, you have like 6,200-7,000 max people in the population. Looking at only those around your age, it would bring you down to like 400, maybe 500 wizards/witches. Cut that in half since you're probably gonna be looking for a het match, so you have 200-250 candidates. Let's say you're a blood supremacist so we remove all muggleborns and half-bloods from the list, and we're down to about 140. Remove families of blood traitors or ones you can't be with because they're too closely related to you, and you're down to less than 100 probably. And then, if you cut this down more by class and wealth, purebloods would have an even smaller possible genetic pool. And most of them don't want to end up like the Gaunts, they know marrying too close is a bad thing. In the Black family tree, the only close marriage we see is between Orion and Walburga and they were second cousins, which isn't that genetically close. So I think there is quite a lot of movement between classes and that most families are way less concerned about class than about blood.

To summarise, I see class in the wizarding world as not super strict and there is quite a bit of movement. As most wizards are wizard-raised, blood status doesn't matter to wealth or class all that much and you see old money and newer money working together (Lucius and Fudge) along with poorer people of similar blood status working with them (Macnair and the Carrows).

(I always got the vibe from Macnair he is lower middle class at most: “Macnair . . . destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide. ...”, and the Carrows aren't giving aristocrat vibes either)

Like irl, there are a lot of variations. You have old families who were always well off but not extremely rich until recently (Potter) you have old money that's still living and kicking (Malfoy, Crouch), you have old money in decline (Prewett and Gaunt, to a more extreme degree), and you have rich families (although less than the Malfoys) with really shitty luck where the money is still there but there's no family to use it (Black). We also have poor families (like the Weasleys. Also Umbridge's family was quite poor, it was a half-blood family, btw, since her mother was a muggle).

The majority of wizards probably fall into the range in between — the middle class. With some on the upper end of this scale (Parkinson, Patil, Longbottom) and some on the lower end (Macnair, Carrows). Characters like Seamus and Lavender are also clearly somewhere comfortable in the middle class. Slughorn is another Sacred 28 name and the man seems used to spending and luxury, but he isn't extremely rich either, so I usually place him in the upper end of the middle class.

Additionally, the Pureblood Dictionary (where the sacred 28 are from) is bullshit and most pureblood families don't treat it as the end all be all, but more as a useful resource along with other resources. (my headcanon is that Cantankerous Nott wrote it to assure everyone of his own blood purity. JKR said in the past the Notts are as pureblood as the Malfoys, and we know the Malfoys have married muggles in the past... so...)

So, yeah... these are my thoughts, it's not all that organized, but I hope it makes sense.

[katerinaaqu]

Oh but you don't even need to agree with me but I immensely appreciate it. Actually the first album was a masterpiece! The liberties taken were generic to the story. He took the brief phrase from Iliou Persis and turned it into a moral dilemma for Odysseus it was exactly the type of stuff you do for a respectful to the source adaptation. When I saw the Lotus Eaters design I really tried to ignore it and then Polyphemus came. I didn't mind it THAT much because it was still low-key close to the original but the more I watched the more it deflected! It was like an avalanche! Hahaha oh my people visiting and getting inspired by my posts like this is something I still need to get used to hehe thank you so much!

Gosh! For real! I was writing my own retellings in small fanfictions for now if you are interested to check them out. I have them to my pinned post. I am seriously considering to turn them into an actual book at this point!

New Epic saga and it's horrible... to give you an idea, Odysseus fought Poseidon, stole his trident and made him beg for mercy

hmmm a god begging a mortal for mercy is not exactly on par with Greek religion and stories. How did that scene made it into the final version?

[doopn00p]

A Taboo Kiss