#we are getting so much shit restored into the game

[onewingedangels]

can't play any other game anymore. I just want traod remastered all day every day

[biceratops7]

I’m gonna SCREAM-

We’ve already established as a fandom that Metatron could teach a masterclass on gas lighting, but I wanna talk about how he specifically validates the things Aziraphale cares for while simultaneously devaluing them under the surface.

First off, this moment?

Tells us everything we need to know. It sets the scene for exactly the games Metatron is playing. He makes Muriel feel important while openly insulting them (flat out calling them stupid), aka seamlessly reinforcing the idea that they’re less than to both them and anyone else in the room. He knows he can get away with this easily, he knows that Muriel, lonely, overlooked little Muriel, will be completely distracted by the fact that someone so important is taking an interest in them.

This is already horribly clever, but then later on you realize it’s doing even MORE heavy lifting when he appoints Muriel to run the bookshop. “See? What’s important to you is what’s important to me! I’ve graciously taken the time to ensure your beloved shop is looked after by Muriel. You know, the dim one!” …let’s suffice it to say he’s ensnared too birds with one net for this one, and that a pattern is already starting to arise.

So when Metatron says Gabriel came to Aziraphale because he’s a “natural leader” and “doesn’t just tell people what they wanna hear”? Yah he’s full of shit. Aziraphale struggles with his sense of purpose when he doesn’t have someone or something guiding him, and for thousands of years he’s been terrified of sharing his true feelings and opinions to 90% of people he’s known. Completely just trying to butter him up. Wanna know the real reason Gabriel seeks asylum with Aziraphale?

Exactly this. Gabriel just says so point blank. It’s not because Aziraphale is this person for him, it’s because despite knowing nothing, he has this instinct that Aziraphale is the only one who can possibly understand why Gabriel did what he did. He is, I mean as far as we know, the only other angel who has fallen in love. (In general, let alone with a demon.)

But nope, can’t have that. We can throw the promise of restoring Crowley in the mix to sweeten the pot, but we can’t acknowledge why he’d want that so badly in the first place. So now it’s cause they work so well together. We can praise the angel for the fallen archangel Gabriel himself coming to him protection and guidance, give him a gold star. But we couldn’t DARE imply that it was by virtue of Aziraphale’s courage to choose earthly love over heavenly. How Gabriel didn’t need a leader, but a friend who’s truly known the joys of adoring that “particular person” and the pain of needing to hide it.

Cause then Aziraphale would start getting crazy ideas, like that his silly little human feelings have a great deal of worth. That they have the power to inspire, form cracks in the institution, fundamentally weaken what has controlled and harmed him. We wouldn’t want him to know the true value of the cards he holds when he has the ace in a match against you, now would we? After all…

Metatron uses this ingeniously sinister tactic of taking away Aziraphale’s choice while giving the illusion that he’s actually opening up doors. Notice how he tells Aziraphale he would have the authority to do something as extraordinary as turn a demon into an angel, yet he never once puts the much simpler alternative of just working with a demon on the table? The sleight of hand here is that he’s being offered the opportunity to freely be with Crowley… but he’s already freely with him as is, no bargain to be made. In fact he fought to be. Metatron disappears this accomplishment right before our eyes, while seamlessly maintaining the illusion to Aziraphale that he (Zira) is in control.

He sets Aziraphale up for failure by only providing the option he knows Crowley will not only decline but be deeply hurt by. It’s all so cleverly planned. Once this plays out exactly how he wants, he delivers the finishing blow by diminishing Crowley and his “damned fool questions”. Suddenly doing a complete 180 and emphasizing how foolish and troublesome he is. Metatron was offering Crowley by Aziraphale’s side as The Carrot. Now he’s telling Aziraphale it was stupid of him to want The Carrot, un-heavenly.

Aziraphale’s life, love, happiness, it’s all not only a massive inconvenience for Metatron but a liability. He has successfully taken a weapon from Aziraphale’s hands he didn’t even know he had. Metatron sees the writing on the wall, and he wants it contained.

[wonijin]

DOWNFALL

you just wanted more budget for the soccer team. unbeknownst to you, karina wanted more. and before you know it, you were both knee-deep in a dangerous game of sweet lies and bitter emotions.

TAGS: enemies to less than enemies lovers. 3.2k words. thick juicy sexual tension. slight smut at the end.

WARNINGS: manipulation and sexual themes

the sea of students part as karina walks through. you follow her long graceful strides with your fast march.

“come on, karina. aren’t you supposed to be the president here?” you complained lowly in karina’s ear. people are already whispering because of the unusual sight of you and the student body president, you didn't dare attract more by arguing with her publicly.

“i am. that’s why you’ll regard me as president yoo.” karina replied without sparing a glance at you, her cold eyes trained forward.

“well then, president yoo. the soccer club needs more funds. as the captain, i’d like you to raise our budget just a teensy weensy more.”

this exact line has left your lips too many times these past few days. but who could blame you, the girl beside you refused over and over, leaving you no choice but to insist.

“how many times have i told you? we can't. the budget has already been decided so you’ll have to do with what you have.” you both reached an empty classroom and you closed the door behind you immediately.

“fuck that. we missed championship last time because of your shit budgeting. you think i’d stand for the same shit twice.” your hands flew up in the air in frustration, inhaling a deep breath. karina points her icy glares toward you, freezing you in place.

“if you think you can just get whatever you want, then you’re dead wrong. i’m not like my predecessors who bends to every single one of your whims.”

your brows furrow at her words. before you could reply, she had already opened her mouth.

“so i suggest you either give up or you find another way to get to championships.” with that, karina slams the door shut, leaving you fuming and glaring at her back.

karina knows you. she’d seen firsthand your effect on people. she’d watched you break peoples heart. she’d witnessed your charm work to the previous presidents. only to be reduced to tears when they realize they are but a means to an end.

in her eyes, you tarnished the student council’s reputation. they were branded as your puppets. one word from you, and the most respected students karina knew heeded. all because they found you endearing. oh, how it broke the ever so hard working girl.

but karina won’t turn out like them. she refused to be. in fact, she’s on a mission to get revenge. for her friends and for the council. a mission to restore the student council to its former glory and to destroy you.

this is either the stupidest idea you ever cooked or the cleverest.

the school parking lot was flocked with students despite the scorching weather. while cars of all shapes, color and sizes lodged aimlessly.

“everybody! thank you for coming today!” you shouted at the top of your car, holding a megaphone in one hand. “welcome to the soccer team’s sexy summer car wash! where we wash your car in ways both you and the car will enjoy!” cheers erupted through the crowd. you peer among the people gathered and you think just how much you’ve earned from the participation fee alone.

“let’s get this party started, shall we?” you put down the megaphone beside you. the crowd goes wild as you remove your shirt. your team members followed after. and the parking lot is in chaos.

the party is in full swing with more and more people appearing by the hour.

“i didn’t think washing cars would be this fun.” winter giggled beside you as you fill up buckets of water. it was safe to say winter liked the attention. after all, many are already lining up to take her home tonight.

“of course, when have i ever had a bad idea?” you grinned.

“every idea of yours is bad,” winter’s nose scrunch, remembering all those times you got the team in trouble. “speaking of, are you sure karina won’t just pop up suddenly? i mean look at how many people there is, she’s gonna find out.”

“then, let her. we’re students and this is our school.” you shrugged but both you and winter know it isn’t as simple as that. at least not when it comes to yoo jimin.

“she already thinks you’re the devil who have sex with everyone in exchange for favors. this would only make shit worse between the both of you.” winter’s words rang true to ears. unfortunately, you chose to be deaf to reason, too consumed by your hatred for the president to heed her advice.

“she can do whatever she wants and i could care less, winter.” if karina wants to paint you as the villain, so be it. those girls, her friends and the past council members, they slept with you willingly. they tried to give you what you want in hopes of winning your heart. but they didn't and so they wept.

“and would you really stop all this just because theres a chance little miss president will come?” at that, both you and winter come back to the heart of the mob.

the team didn’t really have to try to be suggestive or anything. walking around shirtless and flexing your muscles every now and then is enough for this sexy car wash to be sexy. after all, who wouldn’t be satisfied with sweaty six pack abs.

you were washing the hood of someones volvo while the owner was flirting with you.

suddenly you hear a murmur ripple through the crowd. you craned your neck to see the sea of people part.

a koenigsegg jesko pierced the population of teenagers. its engines roar over the hush whispers and its ivory skin reflecting the awe-struck faces of the students.

the luxurious car stopped behind you. everybody fell silent and you stood up, each one eager to know who is the driver.

the door opened and everybody broke out in gasps and distinct whispers. you looked at her with wide eyes as you stood frozen in place.

karina sauntered over to you. confidently and slowly, like she owned all the time in the world. strangely, there was no hint of anger in her gorgeous face. but her eyes held something you couldn’t fathom.

imaginary electricity prickle your skin. the air around you gets more charge every step she takes. you try to school your expression once more.

karina stopped in front of you.

“karina-” you started. but her gaze kept your mouth from saying anything further. she raises her hand and a slender finger met your lips delicately. “shush.”

you quietly observe as she face the car you were washing. she inspects it silently. she traced the hood with her fingers without a word. bubbles gathered at the tip of her fingers. she lifts her hand once more and in a blink of an eye she flicked it over to you. the bubbles landing on your cheek.

“what the fuck?” before your hand can wipe your cheek, her hand stopped yours. the other landed on your cheek gently. you feel your throat get clogged up as your wide eyes meet her brown ones.

you inhaled sharply, shakily as she moved her thumb to remove the white foam. her face closer to yours than before, giving you the chance to admire her features. it was nothing short of perfection.

although you were more than certain the foam had long since left you face, her soft hands stayed perched on your face.

“what are you playing here, karina?” you growled lowly. karina smirks at your frustration. how entertaining to see you crumble.

she leaned impossibly closer. expensive perfume invaded your senses. your eyes closed for a second as you gulped. “you forget. this is my parking lot you’re standing on.”

“we’re students here, we’re allowed to use this space.” as if coming back to your senses, your back straightened as your hand flew to her waist. her smile faltered for a blink of an eye but you caught it. and your lips widened at the sight.

“my, why are you so defensive?” she giggled beside your hear. melodious as it sent your bare spine shivering. if that wasn’t enough, she brought her other hand to your abdomen. “i’m not here to stop your fun. i just dropped by to say hi to my favorite student.”

her body pressed against yours. so close, you can feel her ample chest. should your hands go any lower, it would meet her ass.

“what are you playing here, karina?” you ask one more time.

“i’m playing your game. so try not to lose,” each word left her mouth with diction and it registered onto your brain slowly. just as you were about to make a comeback, her lips planted a kiss onto your ear. you feel your body go red, your mind on haywire.

and when her spell has left your system, she was already in her car revving her engine.

the student body president had declared war. and so far, she’s winning.

“watch me get the highest bid. everybody wants a piece of this, no doubt.” giselle twirled, showing off her curves.

“i doubt anyone would even bid at you. they’ll be too busy putting their money on this.” kazuha replied, flexing her muscles.

everybody lined up back stage for the team’s charity dating. in truth, you’ve raised more than enough money for the team. however, you wouldn’t let the threat by the name of yoo jimin pass so easily. and everybody knows when you cross y/n l/n, you cross the whole soccer team.

so you made the perfect stage of revenge for your humiliation. that little scene from the car wash spread like wildfire, everyone who had a mouth were talking about it. good and bad.

“thanks. i owe you and the team.” you pat winter who is fixing her makeup in front of you. you were the last ones in the line.

“what do you mean? this would’ve happened sooner or later, with or without intervention from miss president.” winter laughed. she put down her mirror and turned her body towards you.

“it’s already too late to talk you down whatever insane plan you come up with. so i wish you luck instead” she smiled at you. winter already knew it will work, there wasn’t a time it didn’t. *captain never fails*, that’s the line the team holds onto.

then you heard her name get called on stage. not soon later, loud chants filled your ears.

and you were left with your own thoughts.

you knew karina was somewhere among the crowd. she’d bid for you until she wins. the night starts with the two of you. and that’s where your game begins. your favorite game, the chasing game.

you’ve never lost at this game. and you have no plans to.

“please welcome! consecutive season MVP for three years and of course captain of the soccer team, y/n l/n” the crowd roared your name. it echoes throughout the whole venue. adrenaline pumps throughout your body.

you smile and the crowd goes wild. “okay. we’re starting off 70K WON.” not a bad start, your pride tells you.

“120K WON.” could be better. your eyes scan the crowd. a woman like karina wouldn’t be hard to miss. no matter how many people are here.

“500K WON.” a gentle voice spoke up. everybody turned turned their heads towards the source. a woman holding the number “7” with a gloved hand.

there she is. sitting elegantly, dressed in white that shows of her milky shoulders. her hair down, her eyes piercing and her lips painted red. she looked ethereal just by sitting in a chair.

the crowd murmured as they watch karina throw the highest bid of the night. you were sure another wildfire had just been brought to life.

“going, sold! a date with miss l/n for 500K WON” the announcer clapped and the audience followed.

“well, folks. this officially ends the soccer team’s charity dating. thank you for coming. for those who won a date, enjoy. for those who didn’t, there are other ways and many more chances.”

you walk down the stage to where karina is standing. she patiently waits for you to reach her, eyes never leaving your figure.

“you must like crashing our parties.” you greet. you both know there’s no need to be hostile, for now at least.

“of course. like i would pass up the chance to see your miserable face.” she links your arms together. you hummed in response. “let me buy you a drink then. for bidding 500K WON for this miserable face.”

you let her guide you to the bar where she orders an expensive drink. figuring you wouldn’t be able to go through the night this sober, you settle for a beer.

“barbaric. just like how i imagined you.” she huffs through her nose. what a priss you thought.

“its a classic” you correct.

the bartender passes you the bar. without missing a beat, you drink some and leave some on your mouth. then, you press your lips to karina and passes the beer to her mouth.

the president makes a disgusted face that makes you chuckle. you see her throat bobbed up and down.

your eyes fly back to her face, “tastes better when its from my mouth, yeah?”

you invade her space until her familiar perfume invades your senses again. “you wanna play my game, karina? sure. i don’t mind.”

“but what i don’t understand is what you’re breaking your heart for?” you say like you already know she’s the one who’s going to end up in tears.

“break my own heart? as if you can get even close” she scoffs.

“because your friends cried over me? please, they knew what they were getting into. it was their fault for not paying attention enough.” you ignore her. and while your words ring true, she still felt anger bubbling in her chest.

“or is it because the past council treated me like a queen?” you look at her in the eyes and laugh lightly in disbelief. her brows furrow in a blink of an eye, but it was gone the moment it appeared.

“i didn’t tell them to do anything. everything they did, they did on their own accord. maybe that’s precisely why it pisses you.i just butter them up a little and suddenly all my wishes come true.”

you had struck a nerve. it was why she’s in this crusade to end you. she worked hard for her seat in the council, fought for her reputation and earned people’s respect. meanwhile, you didn’t do anything and people still kiss the ground you walk on.

people fail to see you. the true you. manipulative and toxic. only she does and it frustrates her.

“but that’s why i like you. while others were blind, you saw reason. they were too busy winning my favor but you were plotting my downfall.” you tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.

suddenly, she grabbed you by your tie and crashes your lips together. her lips were soft as they looked. they contrast her aggressiveness. for a moment, both of you were list in your world full of hatred and anger for each other.

your teeth clashed and your tongues intertwine. when you pull away, a string of saliva connects both your lips.

karina takes your hand and lead you outside the venue where her expensive car is parked. both of you wastes no time getting in.

you don’t know how long the drive took but when you did arrive at her mansion, you were drowning in your own lust. in the blink of an eye, you were pinned in the door of her room.

your hands roam all over her, feeling every inch. her lips move from your lips to your jaw to your neck. while her hands reach lower and lower until she’s palming you. you throw your back.

“you think you’re so mighty.” she bites the skin beneath your ear.

“know what i like about being president?” she asks you even though shes aware you’re head is stuck in ecstasy to answer. “i get to put people like you in their place.”

karina rubs circles through your pants. your body burns at her touch, like there’s flames at her fingertips.

“why don’t i show you what your friends saw in me?”you breath out and she laughs at how stupid you sound. how could say that while you writhe under her fingertips.

“after all, you paid for a good time. let me show what your money is worth.” you you reach on to her back for the zipper of her dress. you pull it down, leaving her in her undergarments. your eyes feasts upon everything before you.

“like what you see?” she puts a finger on your chin, forcing your eyes to meet hers. she smirks before kissing you again, slowly this time. her hands quickly unbuttons your shirt and you shrugged it off, not breaking the kiss. you were about to remove your tie but she stops you. “keep it on.” she says firmly.

karina grabs you by the tie and pushes you onto her bed by your shoulders. she climbs onto top of your abdomen. her once more before she pulls away and puts hand on your chest to keep you down. with one hand, she takes off her bra. her boobs spilling for you too see. your eyes meet as her hands massages her voluptuous tits, moaning. she bit her lower lip and threw her head back, just to tease you.

unable to resist any longer, your hands reach out to touch. but her hands were faster, she removes the tie around your neck and binds your hands. “you can touch next time.”

“right now. all of you is mine.” her lips attack your neck until they’re red and purple. hands explore your body until they stop at your chest. squeezing them before removing your bra. her lips move onto them next. she pinched, sucked and you ached for more.

next, she removes your pants and your panties, leaving you bare before her. she admires and for the first time you feel your face flare from someone looking at your body.

as if testing the waters, she puts her knees between your thighs and raises them until her knees barely touch your bare core. “fuck.” you let out a breath.

“don’t worry. i won’t make you beg.” this time, the unsaid words hang on her tongue.

“i’ll give you everything you want tonight. until you’re too drunk to remember anything else but me.” your breath hitch as her hands rub circles on your thighs.

‘by the end of the night, you’re going to be wrapped around my finger’ the thought makes karina smirk.

she gives you one last kiss before diving down, disappearing between your thighs.

[cumaeansibyl]

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 20TH!!!

GIVEAWAY: SUPPORTING REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT IN THE NAME OF SPITE

A college football podcast I enjoy runs a charitable drive every year for New American Pathways, a Georgia refugee resettlement charity one of the hosts used to work for. Since all their listeners are sports fans, they came up with a fun gimmick:

Donate money in the name of your favorite team, to compete with other teams.

Naturally this gets a lot of action! People donate to show fans of their hated rivals that they're the BEST, they donate specific numbers to commemorate notable game scores or player jersey numbers, they talk so much shit, it's fun.

There are also some fictional schools that have developed into their own entities, and this is where my pitch comes in. Because in addition to silly things like Night Ham University and Make Spencer Eat Cheese, we have...

PROTECT TRANS KIDS UNIVERSITY

(art by Matt Souva)

Our beloved PTKU Blue Sharks came in FOURTH PLACE last year, raising $46,626 for refugee resettlement! The grand total was over a million dollars!

Now, of course, New American Pathways has had basically all its federal funding cut, and there's no prospect of its being restored any time soon. And it's more important than ever to show the world that we believe in protecting trans kids.

I know times are tough and apt to get tougher. Which is why I'm adding an incentive.

If you send me a donation receipt (personal info redacted) in the name of Protect Trans Kids University between now and Friday, April 18th at midnight EDT, I will enter you into a drawing for YOUR VERY OWN BLAHAJ THAT I WILL BUY AND SEND TO YOU.

Questions:

Is there an FAQ about what all this is? Yes, it is here.

Do I have to donate to PTKU? Yes, because I want them to beat Michigan this year. Of course you can donate to whatever you want, but I won't enter you into the drawing. I figure like 80% of you have zero sports interest so it should be fine.

What if IKEA US doesn't ship to my location? IKEA shipping is weird. If I can't figure out how to get a shark to you directly, I will send you the appropriate amount of money for you to buy one from an IKEA in your country. You will need to have Venmo, Paypal, or CashApp for this option.

What if I don't want to give you my address? Same thing, we'll work it out. Is there a minimum donation amount? I think the website minimum is a dollar. There is no minimum for the drawing.

When will the drawing take place? UPDATED: Sunday 4/21. The donation deadline has been extended to April 20th! I will keep everyone posted.

Where should I send the receipt? cumaeansibyl@gmail.com.

Any more questions, send me an ask.

GO FORTH AND DONATE Y'ALL

[exilethegame]

if The Exile were a party system rpg-style video game, what would some of the characters voice lines in battle be? Like, if they won, or a companion went down, or a romanced Commander went down, or they got healed or something?

:))))) I had fun doing this.

For MC being down it's: platonic /romantic, and for healing it's: in need of healing/after being healed.

Vethna: MC's Down: "Ma Vysna! Hold on!" / "Tyrat'ri-- hold on, damn it! We've made it this far, haven't we?" In need of healing: "I need to heal!" / "Thank... you..." Victory: "And I thought Vygrand was violent."

Nikke: MC's Down: "Shit--! MC's down..." / "Hell no. Get back up, MC! You're not dying on me today." In need of healing: "Hey, uh, I don't think I'm supposed to be bleedin' from there. Am I supposed to be bleedin' from there?" / "Ah, yes-- the sweet satisfaction of cheating death... again." Victory: "You'd think they'd get the memo to stop trying to kill us by now, huh?"

Jost: MC's Down: "You're not supposed to take 'break a leg' literally, you know!" / "MC! You're okay-- you are okay, alright-- ? Just... stay there!" In need of healing: "I know you can see I need healing right now..." (said in the most passive aggressive manner ever) / "Ah, that feels good..." Victory: "F*ckers."

Amilia: MC's Down: "No! Stay there, MC, I'm coming!" / "No! MC!" (But it sounds like she's about to burst into tears) In need of healing: "In need of some help here. Now!" Followed by silence and then, a much quieter and polite: "... please?" / "Thanks..." (said with exhaustion) Victory: "I just love restoring harmony into the world." (Said very cheekily) OR, if the enemy is an animal: "I wish we didn't have to do that..."

Sabir: MC's Down: "MC! Get back up, damn it!" / "I'm coming, beloved. Hold on!" In need of healing: "Not to cause alarm, but I do have reason to believe I am on the brink of death." / "Ah, thank you. I'm a few steps from the precipice now, at least!" Victory: "... does anyone know how to get blood out of silk... ? ... no?"

Syfyn: MC's Down: "Stay down, MC-- I'll see it's done." / "NO!" (but screamed in the most utterly gut wrenching way ever in a mix of pure rage and utter terror) In need of healing: "We're taking too many hits here!" / "Thanks." Victory: "..." (She's cool and strong and silent. Maybe just like a small "humph" occasionally?)

Freedom: I feel like Freedom would be an RO that isn't a companion, ya know? Like you can't go out on missions with them but they're still part of the "main crew," and maybe they have a couple of special missions you tag along for. MC's Down: "That is... an inconvenience." / "Breathe, beloved. I will not let you fall so easily." In need of healing: "My body feels... weak...?" / "... odd." Victory: "Eugh-- their corpses already stink. Can we go now?"

[thewertsearch]

CG: I NEED YOU TO COME THROUGH FOR ME, BECAUSE WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF MANPOWER HERE. CT: D --> We are CG: YES DIDN'T I MENTION? FEFERI, KANAYA AND TAVROS ARE DEAD, SOLLUX IS UNCONSCIOUS, AND TEREZI IS MISSING.

It all fell apart so fast, didn't it?

One minute, he was sitting in the Veil’s rec room, bickering with Jade. The next, everything was blood and honking.

What the fuck happened to Kanaya.

You foolishly misplaced your glasses during your heroic revival attempt, leaving you with no way of communicating with the others to warn them.

Phew. You got me, Hussie.

But there is no one in here. Just someone taking a nap on the horn pile over there. And a big puddle of something next to the transportalizer.

We turned our back on Kanaya's body, and now it’s on the move.

Who’s the culprit, though? The only troll unstable enough to do this is probably Gamzee...

Are those.... fang marks?

KANAYA!!!

She's back!!

I mean, she's apparently a fucking vampire, but who gives a shit? We're back in business, baby!

Man, this is fucking random, isn't it? From where I'm sitting, it's come completely out of the blue. If it gets my girl back in the game, I'll take it, but how the hell does this even work?

I know Kanaya used to dream of being a vampire rainbow drinker, but dreams don't usually come true this easily. Alternia does have undead, so it's possible she was bitten before she Entered, but I would have expected her vampirism to have manifested much earlier in the session. She has always had pointed teeth, but I assumed it was just a natural trait in trolls.

Is it a Sylph thing, perhaps? The class is apparently 'more magical' than a Witch, so maybe Kanaya's latent magical abilities were triggered in death, restoring her to... undeath?

If that's true, though, then why a vampire? They don't have anything to do with Space, unless you count the fact that they're nocturnal, and thus active when the night sky is visible. I doubt that's even true for rainbow drinkers, who are probably diurnal.

Kanaya's thirst for fuchsia blood would suggest that her instincts have taken over for the time being. We won't really know how much self-control she has until she's face-to-face with a living troll, but I'm confident in her willpower.

That said... I'd absolutely love a villainous Kanaya. If she fully gave into her thirst, she'd be a bigger threat than all these idiots combined - especially if she has access to the traditional array of vampire powers.

Anyway, please excuse me as I pop the biggest bottles of champagne. Kanaya's back, baby!

[kymera219]

FIRST LINE GAME

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway

I was tagged by @recluserat, thank you lovely!

1.) Where the Flowers Lay(The Memories Remain)

"Hey Peter?"

"Hmm?"

"How come your eyes are blue?"

2.) Canines and Confectioneries

Hey guys I'm ba-OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Derek looked between Stiles and the box of chocolates he and Peter were sharing with utter confusion.

"Uhm....eating?"

3.) The Best Part for Me (Is Laying Next to You)

Stiles Stilinski had an unusual habit.

Whenever he'd fall asleep(aka crashing after a week long research binge), he somehow ended up draped across one of the other pack members . At some point, he'd cuddled pretty much everyone in the group.

Everyone except Derek.

4.) Contact Chaos

Deucalion was looking over the latest edition to his book collection (one of many his mates had gifted him with since his sight was restored) when his phone rang. He answered it without looking up from the tome, and was rather surprised to hear a total stranger on the other end.

"Deucalion Blackwood?"

"Speaking."

"Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. We have your son, and if you ever expect to get him back alive, you'll do exactly as I say."

5.) New Year's Resolution Solution

What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing," Peter mused as he continued to mess with things on Stiles's desk, "just updating this quite frankly abysmal resolutions list you have here."

Stiles snatched the paper out of his hand, and rolled his eyes at the fact that what he'd written down had either been scratched out or heavily edited.

"Peter, does this say commit MORE crime?!"

6.) A Familial Present

Here."

Peter stared at the crudely wrapped box in his hands with a feeling of confusion, a feeling that increased when he saw who gave it to him.

When Stiles told him that he'd invited Malia to their house for Christmas, he hadn't expected anything to come of it.

Granted, he and his daughter had gotten a lot closer recently, especially after he regained the Alpha status and she joined his pack. Still, he never thought she'd actually respond to the invitation, let alone bring a gift for him.

Yet here she was, standing before him, giving off a scent of nervousness so strong that it overpowered everything else.

7.) My Furry Little Friend

Stiles Stilinski was not someone who kept pets.

Sure, he'd had that boa constrictor when he was younger, but that was it. Most of the time, the guy could barely keep himself alive, let alone an animal.

So color Scott surprised when Deaton sent him to Stiles's address with a large order of pet supplies. Thinking it had to be a mistake, he set everything on the porch before opening the door and going inside.

"Hey, Stiles? You here? Deaton sent me over with a weird order in your name, and I wanted to...HOLY SHIT!"

8.) Christmas Clause-tastrophy

"Let Stiles drink the spiked eggnog you said....it'll be fun you said....."

"How was I supposed to know he'd be such a lightweight, Peter!"

"Well maybe if you had bothered to find out before letting him go through half the punch bowl, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

9.) I'll Always Choose You

The last thing Peter expected when he entered his apartment and flipped on the lights was to find someone already inside. He bristled in alarm for a brief moment, then immediately calmed when he realized the person sitting on his couch was his Mate.

"Stiles," Peter said as he set his keys on the side table and closed the door," not that I'm not happy to see you, sweetheart, but why were you sitting in the dark?"

Stiles looked up from where he'd been staring at the floor, and Peter could tell from the red-rimmed, puffy eyes that he'd been crying. The wolf inside him raged, and he had to fight the urge to immediately go and rip apart whoever put that look on his boy's face.

10.) Spooks, Kooks, and Werewolves Oh My

"Why are we here again?"

"Did you seriously just ask why we're on our honeymoon? Cause that just makes me question your first marriage even more than usual."

Tagging @jadezdominion @jagged1 @kimmycup @deliciousblizzardshark @infiniteeight8 @clareguilty

[softantlers]

lottienat first kiss during wilderness spin the bottle? \o/ plsss

I had so much fucking fun with this!

this is how we do it

Just as Montell Jordan’s velvet-smooth vocals threatened to restore the Yellowjackets into the carefree teens that had boarded the plane to nationals, Van’s boombox stuttered and died.

“Goddammit,” muttered the redhead as the soccer players skidded to a halt. All around the cabin, their dancing bodies seemed to sag back into reality: another night in the wilderness—no music, no anything but for the gloomy pitterpat of rain outside.

“What happened?” asked Jackie as Van made her way to the boombox, ejected the tape, and unceremoniously slapped it.

“I don’t know,” grunted the goalie before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Has hitting something ever fixed it?”

“Maybe try blowing on it,” suggested Mari as she peered over Van’s shoulder. When the redhead bent to do so, a peculiar sound issued from the ceiling overhead. Like something… rolling?

Lottie glanced upward, her heart a stampede. Sucking in a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut and reached for her mantra: It’s not real… It’s not real… It’s not real…

“Uh, the fuck was that?” asked Jackie, and Lottie blinked, shifting as she noticed the spooked girls around her. Throughout the cabin, the Yellowjackets had stilled.

“Wait… you heard it too?” she breathed.

“It was probably just a branch,” cut in Taissa, hands on her hips as she threw a pointed glare at Lottie.

“Inside on the floor?” Mari snorted at the forward. As Tai opened her mouth to argue back, Jackie let loose a sudden cackle that could only be described as nefarious. Next to her, Shauna flinched before turning to her best friend and muttering, “What the fuck?”

“You wanna know what I think it was?” snickered Jackie. With a flourish, she leaned toward a dusty end table and snatched a long-emptied liquor bottle. “Kinda sounded like hooch rolling around up there… Maybe Dead Cabin Guy wants us to play spin the bottle.”

There was a stunned pause. As everyone took their team captain’s meaning, Lottie noticed Van exchange a significant look with Taissa. The blood had drained from the forward’s face, and her jaw was locked. Carefully, Tai spoke, “There’s three boys in this room, Jackie. The fuck are you on?”

“Actually,” interjected Ben, scooting forward on his perch by the wall to retrieve his crutch, “there’s two boys. I’m a grown-ass man, and I think that’s my cue to go the hell to bed.”

“Byeeee, Coach,” sing-songed Mari as Ben found his footing and lumbered toward the bedroom. The coach raised a lazy hand as he left, chuckling under his breath.

An awkward silence followed Ben’s departure, and in the background, Travis raked a stressed hand through his hair while Javi’s eyes were glued to the ground.

Gen gave a nervous laugh. “Two boys then. I mean, captain, this could get a little weird.”

Lottie watched Jackie with her brow furrowed. The other girl hadn’t exactly been thriving in the wilderness thus far. She lacked the same authority she’d always had on the soccer field and in the halls at Wiskayok High. Now, with all eyes on her, Jackie appeared to grow taller. It had been a few days since she had commanded everyone’s attention like this, and she seemed to be enjoying it.

“We survived a motherfucking plane crash,” said Jackie. “Are you really scared to play a little game? And besides…” At this, she turned a cheeky smile on all of them. (Shauna, Lottie noticed, stiffened when Jackie beamed at her.) “What happens in the wilderness stays in the wilderness.”

“Shit, I’m down,” Van shrugged, and Taissa whirled on her. Not meeting the other girl’s eyes, Van turned to Jackie, “I mean, it’s true, right? What happens in the wilderness…?”

Too amused for her own good, Jackie grinned. “We’ll make a pact. What happens here stays here.”

“Fuck,” chuckled Natalie, rolling her shoulders and cutting her eyes to the other girls. “I mean, everything once, yeah?” Across the room, Lottie’s stomach dropped.

--

“No way, Taylor,” scoffed Taissa when Jackie turned to hand her the bottle. The Yellowjackets were sitting in a haphazard circle on the cabin floor, and everyone had grown a bit shy, staring into their laps and hands to avoid looking at each other. For Tai’s part, the forward was pressing the bottle back into Jackie’s hands. “You started this shit. Now you get to really start it.”

For all her earlier bravado, the team captain appeared flustered. Nevertheless, she grasped the bottle and forced a smile. “Fuck it,” she said before leaning forward. With a sharp flick of the wrist, the bottle spun. It gave several solid rotations before chaotically losing the plot, clattering across the circle and hitting Mari’s knee.

Cross-legged, the JV player winced, “Ow, fuck!” she seethed, rubbing the sore spot before noticing everyone’s eyes were on her. “Wait, what?”

“That counts,” asserted Taissa, literally throwing her hand out to point at Mari with diabolical eyes. Even Lottie had to stifle a laugh at the look of horror on Mari’s face.

“You didn’t even want to play!” gasped Mari.

“No,” answered Taissa, pulling her knees to her chest and grinning savagely. “But now y’all have made your bed.” She leaned forward and let the vindication drip. “Sleep in it.”

To the forward’s side, Van had her face in her hands and was losing it. Meanwhile, Jackie was smoothing out her skirt as she rolled onto her knees. She shrugged as Mari gaped at her. “Rules are the rules, Ibarra. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Let me guess,” broke in Shauna from her spot next to Jackie. “We won’t tell Jeff.”

There was a curious pause as the team captain turned to her friend. Lottie noticed that Shauna’s hands were clenched in her lap. Apparently unbothered, Jackie laughed a little before prodding the midfielder in the shoulder. “Lighten up, Ship. It’s just a game.” With that, she crept away from her frowning friend and across the circle to where Mari sat. The other girl stared as Jackie approached, looking like a prisoner sentenced to the gallows.

“Ready for this, JV?” the team captain asked, a bit of a hitch in her voice as she settled across from Mari. The other girl gave one last pleading look around the circle before realizing that no one was going to save her. Mari turned to Jackie and gulped, “Okay.”

Surprising Lottie, Jackie pulled Mari to her by the drawstrings of her dingy yellow hoodie. The JV player let loose a startled sound as their lips came together in a firm kiss.

“Oh captain, my captain!” laughed Natalie, cupping her hands around her mouth for the taunt. She beat the floor in amusement as Jackie and Mari fell apart, both girls blushing fiercely. As Jackie returned to her seat by Shauna, the circle of Yellowjackets broke into giggles.

“Maybe getting stuck out here isn’t so bad,” Travis joked, and Van cackled, “That’s what I’m saying." Lottie couldn't help but smile when she noticed Taissa loosening her shoulders by Van’s side. The forward was snickering along with the rest of the girls, seemingly more comfortable now than when the game had been originally proposed.

On the other hand, Lottie blinked when her eyes drifted back to Shauna and Jackie. The team captain appeared spaced out, her gaze on the floor. But Shauna… Lottie had never seen the midfielder with such a dark expression. What was going on between them?

Looking a little worse for wear, Mari touched her lips in wonder before snapping out of it and shoving the bottle toward Akilah. “Next!” she barked, the sudden exclamation pulling Lottie from her thoughts. With a long-suffering sigh, Akilah grasped the bottle, muttered a little prayer, and then gave it a deft spin.

“Oh shit,” said Van at the same time as Javi’s face paled. The younger boy rubbed the back of his neck, glancing shyly between the bottle bearing down on him and Akilah across the circle. At his side, Travis suddenly found the far window very fascinating.

There was a quiet moment before Akilah crept forward and settled in front of Javi. Her tone was gentle, “This your first kiss, Javi?”

“I… Um…” Javi kept rubbing the back of his neck. Lottie twisted her mouth, feeling a trill of affection for the sweet kid.

Noticing how nervous Javi had gotten, Akilah's shoulders loosened. Without preamble, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek—a tiny peck. Javi’s shoulders stiffened, and when Akilah fell back, he looked up into her smiling face. “Save it for someone special," she told him.

“Wait, what the fuck?” gasped Mari, throwing an accusing finger at Akilah. “That’s not fair!”

“Actually, I think it’s perfectly in order,” Taissa responded, turning daggers on Mari.

“Absolutely protocol,” Natalie agreed from across the circle.

“But—”

“Keep it up, Ibarra, and I’ll kiss you next,” Tai hissed. To her side, Van’s eyebrows shot up.

But the threat seemed to have the intended effect, and Mari deflated. “Y’all are so fucking weird,” she whispered, a blush on her cheeks.

And around and around it went. Travis kissed Shauna. And that had been… Strange. A scowling Gen had kissed Misty, who really just seemed ecstatic to be included. Laura Lee even surprised the hell out of everyone by giving Van a quick peck on the mouth (a gesture that had Taissa gaping). And Natalie—

Fuck. Wait. Natalie.

Lottie stared blankly at the bottle bearing down on her before peering into the other girl's intense blue-green gaze across the circle. “Oh,” she said, her chest tightening. For her part, Natalie's face reddened as she rolled onto her knees. Something about the winger’s shy eyes was making Lottie’s stomach flip as she mirrored Natalie and moved forward.

“Offense on defense, offense on defense…” Van chanted as Lottie and Natalie met in the center of the circle. Natalie laughed softly and flipped Van off before turning back to Lottie. In the firelit cabin, the set of the winger’s jaw, framed by her bleached hair, made Lottie breathless. She found herself staring at Natalie’s neck, eyes drifting to her collar bone and then back to her lips.

In front of her, the punk seemed to notice the attention and stiffened. Panicked, Lottie lifted her gaze to the other girl’s face. Her throat went dry when she noticed a sort of haze there. Natalie let loose a breath. “You ever thought you’d kiss a girl, Matthews?” she whispered, and it was so quiet that Lottie couldn’t decide if the other Yellowjackets had heard.

Her mouth opened and closed, at a total loss for words. She felt flustered and too hot with everyone’s attention on her. But Natalie’s mouth… It was parted, and Lottie couldn’t stop staring at her bottom lip. She felt a little dizzy.

“Well, come here,” muttered Natalie, and Lottie blinked when the winger suddenly leaned forward. Their lips met—firm—and Lottie braced herself by slapping a palm to the back of Natalie’s neck. The other girl shivered under the touch, and Lottie’s stomach somersaulted. When Natalie made a small breathy sound, opening her mouth to gently tug at Lottie’s bottom lip, she felt the heat rush to her core. Oh, fuck.

Another second and then it was over. Natalie rocked backwards, smiling softly at Lottie as the circle broke out into snickers. “Everything once,” she repeated to the group, shoulders rocking with laughter as she returned to her spot. Heart in her throat, Lottie did the same, retreating in a daze.

The evening progressed and the Yellowjackets bickered, bantered, and kissed. Seemingly unnoticed by the others and the chaos of their game, Lottie felt Natalie’s gaze continue to burn into her. Full of a strange and wonderful overwhelm, Lottie looked at the other girl. Through hooded eyes, the punk smiled. Lottie swallowed thickly, a prickle at her neck. When she gave the winger a nod—a brief jerk of her chin—she noticed Natalie's jaw tighten before she nodded back. Lottie's heart galloped at the invitation.

[toptophat]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

(Translation: TopHat just watched Dragons Rising S3 part 1 and she's currently very happy!!)

TopHat's Thoughts on Dragons Rising S3 part 1!!! (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!)

First things first, I had a great time watching this! I was hyped for weeks!! The fights never fails to impress me and the animation is beautiful as always. And now I'm really excited for the 2nd part, imma talk about the biggest surprise characters before the main guys

Obviously we expected Morro to show up and it seems that even when completely separated in the merged realms, he's still atoning for his actions in Possession by cultivating Wu's teachings and protecting people, which was really sweet to see, and of course his conversation with Arin was expected. I hope that after Thunderfang is defeated, Morro can actually meet the ninja again and team up with them, especially since there's a chance Wu is alive.

Pixal was definitely a welcome return, the team just didn't feel complete without her. It is kinda sad that she didn't realise how long she was trapped for but at least she's reunited with Zane and Samurai X is finally back! I really loved the way she intimidated the Freebooters, made Rapton shit his pants and everything 🤣 anyways, glad my gurl is back!

Dareth made a small cameo and it seems like he's still trying to be a ninja even after all this time! thankfully the Arrakore didn't grant that wish, and it's also nice to see my boi's efforts in restoring Djinjago are paying off, it's looking beautiful!

Now onto the main guys!!

Firstly! No, Internet, Arin was obviously not gonna be evil, he's simply being manipulated by Ras, but he's still kind to others, willing to reason with others as opposed to unnecessary violence and he even rejects some of his teachings and is still on somewhat decent terms with the ninja, especially with Sora and Lloyd, the latter of which he risks his life for in the first battle against Thunderfang. And with Jay/Rogue revealing to the others that Arin's parents are still alive, it looks like Ras was only lying to him and using his emotions against him to fulfil his own agenda.

Sora is most likely to master her spinjitzu in part 2, but it's great that she was able to have that moment to reconnect with her bestie! And it was even interesting that when they were kids, he saved her from literally being trafficked, like, holy hell, idk what else you'd call that! Hopefully the other ninja can tell her that Arin's parents are alive so she can convince him that Ras is using him. No pressure!

Frak was great this season, I may have said it before but it's nice to see some heroic serpentine for a change. Appreciate that he's also trying to get through to Arin, admitting that Ras' teachings are flawed, I feel like Arin could've gotten the same experience under better circumstances

Wyldfyre continues to be goated, it was nice seeing her get obsessed with the arcade games whilst looking for Jay with Kai and Nya, it's also pretty cool that she managed to find a cure for the decay affecting Roby (caused by one of the forbidden 5). Where would the ninja be without her? tsk tsk

Cole didn't really do much in part 1, like, I at least thought we were going to have an episode where he looks too! maybe he'll get to at least do something in part 2?

Zane, as always was my goat, I loved his solo episode with the train (really appreciated the reference in the title) although I did have one tiny pet peeve.... THAT GODDAMN SONG 😭😭😭 don't ask which one, you know exactly which one I'm talking about, how many times has that song played during his fake out deaths??? I wasn't even worried this time, I was like "oh, he's dying again" he did get that cool mech suit though! And him calling Pixal the smartest and most attractive member of the team is just... My heart 🥹!!!

"is this guy bugs? IS THIS GUY BUGS???" - Kai

I really enjoyed Kai especially when he showed his dad side saying "Did Roby break up with you? Let's kick his butt!" And also imagine spending your time and effort trying to beat your buddy's highscore only to have them take it back without even being there, it was a sweet moment but that's gotta suck 😭 bro is not hearing the end of it!

Nya, my goat!! It's great that she finally managed to find Jay, of course not as himself but it's still him! Also if there's one thing I could count on, is her and Kai's banter, even as adults you can't not banter with your siblings! Also it was kinda fun seeing her partake in a wish battle again, only this time the Djinn is on her side and not trying to marry her because she looks like his dead lover and through that marriage granting the Djinn infinite wishes causing her to get hit by a poisonous dart and die only for it to be reversed by her actual lover's wish so that only they would remember what happened!

Oh yeah speaking of which, we finally got more Jay screen time!!! Bro thought we wouldn't notice his goofy ahh, although I did love that he actually was a threat to Ras as the mercenary Rogue, it also seems that Kai was right, Jay was probably like "i sense a disturbance in the force.... DID SOMEONE JUST BEAT MY HIGHSCORE??" It's also clear that he hasn't lost his sense of humour ( guessed from his signature "Hoowah!!!" But the pun works too) also bro hasn't changed one bit 🤣 is his goodness still shattered, cus it doesn't feel like it? But I know they'll find a way to get his memory back I missed him so much 😭

La-loyd and Ras, two sides of the custody battle, it's nice to see that he isn't having those visions so frequently but it seems that he is in a lot of danger from Thunderfang who will definitely be back for revenge. So it also turns out that Ras is lying to Arin about his parents, imagine using an emotionally distressed, grieving child for your own gain 😭 that's 16/17 realms worth of fucked up!! I get that he wants his home back, but toying with a child's emotions and dependence is not it bro... Like I said, I really hope Sora is informed about this somehow, someone needs to tell Arin

The Forbidden 5, man, those fuckers were creepy!! Especially the decayer and the one made of bugs!!! Like, I have a phobia of creepy crawlies (spooders) and seeing the inside of him filled with bugs was just... ewww 🤮 I think they're either dead now or their power was slurped out by Thunderfang, either way I don't think they'll be any trouble for now, they sure were a handful though!

And finally, Mr Thunder "Source Dragon Senpai Wouldn't Notice Me" Fang, I had a feeling he wouldn't be easily finished with in part 1, so they're gonna have to give it their all in part 2! And since the Arc dragon of focus defeated him once, is his natural opposite, and is literally one of the newer Lego sets only for £85.97, we'll definitely see them in part 2!!

Moral of the story.... Don't do bugs, kids!!

Anyways, I literally watched this in one sitting hours ago, I was mad dedicated!!! But I'm glad I got to watch it! And I can't wait for part 2!! Idk if I've said this but DR is a great successor to the original series, because I feel like it's the best of both worlds, Lego obviously wouldn't get rid of the old ninja, that'd be awful for business so this is a good move! And honestly the new additions balance so well off of the ogs making a good blend of old and new.

Dragons Rising S3 Part 1 gets 100 corny lighting puns out of 1

[mikaila-orchard]

Anduin still gets more respect and dignity than Sylvanas ever did and I'm still mad about it.

Aight, the new WoW trailer stirred up some old animosity that I have to get out lest it fester.

The problem I've had with Anduin for the past few years is something that isn't even strictly his fault, and is just symptomatic of how shitty the writing staff is. In theory, Anduin is an interesting bit of flavor for the Alliance. Someone who was raised in a very turbulent time in the Alliance's history, gone through some shit when he was too early to handle it and is plagued with self doubt because of it. All of this complimented by Velen's vision of Anduin's future going down two very different roads.

Alas, the problem is in execution. Because what we are left with in practice is a character who goes through comparatively less than other legacy characters (Thrall being raised as a slave, Jaina losing her home and loved ones regularly and Sylvanas with fucking everything) but who, by the time Shadowlands rolls around, insists that he is the one suffering the most and everyone else needs to get over themselves. And that wouldn't be so bad (hell, in Shadows Rising, it's kinda treated as a genuine character flaw) but that's not the case because WoW treats Anduin like the moral barometer of the franchise for many years now.

There are multiple examples of this throughout, but the biggest culprit is all across BFA and Shadowlands, where Anduin is made to understand the hardships that Sylvanas and the Forsaken have suffered, most of it by the Alliance's hands, and just shuts it down with "Everyone suffers, stop hiding behind your trauma and rise above it," and because BFA is framing him as the hero and Sylvanas as the villain he gets away with it. In the fucking Sylvanas book, he has the gall to say Sylvanas had a better life than him because she knew her mother and calls her selfish for committing suicide. And of course the book frames Anduin as being in the right about all of this because they decided Sylvanas holding him captive was the time they would even allow to let her reach out to someone and hope they understand her. The deck was always stacked against Sylvanas and in Anduin's favor in terms of audience sympathy.

But then, what happens in Shadowlands? He gets dominated by Zovaal, stabs the Archon (doesn't even kill her), maybe kills a bunch of unnamed npcs off screen, and fights his friends. Not a single tally to add to his body count while he was a puppet. And when he is freed from Zovaal's control, he doesn't lose his support system, he doesn't lose the respect of his loved ones or his people, and he's not put under pressure to just be okay again.

AND YET!

He still goes on this self imposed exile of his, and has been on it for over half a decade at this point, because he is just too haunted by everything he's 'seen and done'. Things that we as the audience don't really see. So in practice, the justification for all this on screen angst is so painfully weak. And yes, there's no wrong way to respond to trauma and there never will be, and Anduin's trauma responses are far from unrealistic.

But compared to Sylvanas, Anduin is giving a great deal more respect and dignity by the narrative for, comparatively, much less. Sylvanas was enslaved and forced to murder her countrymen (onscreen too, we MADE HER DO THAT in warcraft 3) and when she was finally freed, she had no support system besides her rangers and Nathanos, she was feared by her former homeland who only accepted her help out of desperation and was hated and distrusted by enemies and allies alike way before she might have done anything to deserve it. The game even leans into the idea that the Sylvanas who suffered all this trauma isn't the real Sylvanas and we just needed to restore her soul to have the pure pious ranger general back (barf). And she still has to toil away in superhell because the writers were too chickenshit to fully backpedal on the deliberate character assassination the sexual predator on staff forced upon her.

"Oh, but M'Kay! That's the writers fault, not Anduin's! You can't blame him for all that."

Maybe not but a lot of the issue here comes from the fact that so long as the people who enabled this inequity of care remains on staff (IE fucking GOLDEN) this won't stop. So what choice do I have but to loathe the byproduct of this fuckery when it's being shoved in my face like this? What other way could I possibly interpret this disparity other than as misogyny?

[spiderfreedom]

my suffering is profound and legitimate, yours is frivolous nonsense

Just reading a blogger I like but I had to laugh because she was talking about how beauty practices are bad for women's mental health, and she left a note saying "unlike gender affirming care! gender affirming care improves people's mental health and it's nothing at all like cosmetic practices."

TIL, when an older woman gets botox to remove her wrinkles and avoid facing the inevitability of decline and death, her problem is spiritual/structural and she needs to Do The Work to deprogram her ageism, unlike people with dysphoria, who of course have legitimate claims to cosmetic alteration.

And it is cosmetic - no part of the body that is altered by HRT or SRS or any of the feminization/masculinization surgeries is failing to function or functioning poorly. The problem is with the brain, which perceives the body parts as foreign or undesirable. We may sympathize with someone struggling with such a condition, but that does not change that the body parts being altered were already healthy and the alterations are cosmetic, and the relief being brought about is mental.

But plenty of trans people openly admit that separating body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria is a losing game. Contrapoints's video on "Beauty" (transcript) has the observation that she feels least dysphoric when she is meeting feminine beauty norms:

But I also think that trans people often talk like gender dysphoria is this intrinsic, personal experience that's always 100% valid and never has anything at all to do with the external pressure of beauty standards. But in fact, gender dysphoria is not sealed away in a vacuum away from the influence of societal ideals and norms.  [...] When I try to psychoanalyze myself, I find that my desires to look female, to look feminine, and to look beautiful are not exactly the same, but they're woven together so tightly that it's kind of difficult to untangle them. And the opposite is also true, that for me feeling mannish or dysphoric usually goes along with feeling ugly. I don't have a lot of days where I walk out the house thinking "well, I'm giving femme queen realness, but apart from that I look like absolute shit". 

Max Robinson's book "Detransition," from an FTM perspective, points out how the prospective trans man views his suffering as unique from and distinct from women's, even as the surgeries they seek are not especially different:

The stereotypical cosmetic surgery patient is seeking to become closer to being perfectly feminine - she wants to be beautiful. Transitional cosmetic surgery, on the other hand, is widely understood to mark the patient as ex-female and therefore unfemale; this is part of the meaning FTMs seek to create through surgery. FTM desire for cosmetic surgery is positioned as something totally different than the stereotype of a woman who 'merely' seeks beauty at her frivolous leisure. FTMs are deemed to have a rare affliction that needs urgent, life-saving treatment. Conversely, there is nothing more common than for a woman to become obsessed with her socially-deemed 'unsatisfactory' looks and desperately seek to change them, believing that such a change is the only thing that can restore her quality of life. This comparison will feel like an insult to the FTM. It will feel that way because we believe other women's suffering doesn't matter, and recognize how much ours does. Women's suffering is ordinary but ours is extraordinary. For us to matter, we must be differentiated from the silly little woman who wants to be pretty so badly she'll pay thousands of dollars (now billable to credit cards and loan programs designed to pay for elective surgeries!) to risk her life and health. These women don't need to be fixed; we do. FTMs know that we don't deserve a woman's fate but have not yet realized that no woman does.

I have more to write on the topic of the relationship between gender identity and beauty culture, but I'll end this one here. It makes sense that somebody who is identified with the opposite sex would also be affected by the standards of beauty expected of that sex. (Non-binary identification is more complicated and requires separate treatment.)

[yuurivoice]

So, after listening to the director’s cut of the first 3 chapters then listening to part 1 of chapter 4, I couldn’t help but notice the parallel. In the beginning it was Seth always trying to get Jessie’s attention and her not answering his phone calls and such, and now here she is calling him, doing the same and he is ignoring her, and given the circumstances of how he saw her last time with the blood on her and all, no doubt he would be avoiding her. Will this be further explored between Seth and Jessie in later chapters?

I dunno! I thought chapter 4 coming back with an inverse of Seth's desperate call to Jessie would be real cool and ground things a bit.

Lots of people wondered about Jessie in the fallout of ch3, hearing from her accomplished a little bit of a tone setter and also allowed for several pieces of info to get planted indirectly and then expanded on when Seth got to talk with Boo. It helps remove some of the awkward contextualization Seth's dialog would have been doing. It still happens but with the seeds already planted it feels a little less HERE'S WHAT YOU MISSED, BOO, WHO HAS BEEN HERE AND ALREADY SHOULD KNOW THIS BUT THE AUDiENCE DOES NOT lol

Having extra characters to play with really fuckin helps. 😂

I don't know if we'll delve much further into the Jessie of it all. I talked about how a big part of me feels like it would be good to show the other side of the coin with Pops, who i worked to establish as a mess of a man who went and got better because it was the right thing to do, not because he wanted something. That's a personal one for me, and I think I can work with a loser alcoholic whose insecurities and fears chased away the folks who gave a shit about him. If we can do the "cutting someone off is good actually" I think we can do the "mending the relationship with someone who wronged you is possible" thing.

I don't like "redemption" in a case like this because it implies restoration. I think for someone who has caused hurt like Pops did, actual healing requires transformation. You have to shed the irredeemable and become different. You have to be made new, in ways that only love can accomplish...starting with figuring out how to love yourself.

Ew. Gross. Hate that! Can't wait to drag all of them bones out of the closet. I'm sure there'll be minimal tears shed.

I just think I'd like to see a failure of a father and a man choose life and love. There aren't enough of them doing that. So I guess I'd like to see what it might look like, particularly for Seth, who is so close to my heart and my own personal experiences. My dad never did get right, he chose to burn the candle at both ends and give up. Then he died with an 8 ball on his bedside table. He talked a big game about how special and important I was, and when it came time to love me and choose life, he threw it away. Least I could do is imagine a world where Seth gets a father, and I get the satisfaction of knowing that I could dream up a better one than mine.

In case yall were wondering if I still had it in me, yeah, I figure I can do a little more emotional damage. 😂

[quitefair]

The Temple of Mythal and Greek Sculpture

Or: How Bioware takes from history without any nuance.

--

Picture this. You're me, playing Inquisition for the first time. You get to the Temple of Mythal, the doors shut behind you and you finally get to look around. It's a typical elven ruin for the game, nothing much seems different...

Hold on.

Hold the fuck on.

You know what that is.

You know what that's based on, and for a long time after it tickles you. Oh, maybe that meant something in the grander scheme of things! We've never seen such a blatant reference to a real-life sculpture anywhere else in game (to my knowledge at the time)! Maybe it'll come up later and it'll all make sense!

Here's the deal. I've been bothered by this for years. The more I think about it, the more angry I become. Anger over a single fucking type of statue, you say? There's a lot of other shit to be angry over in this game, and you choose this?

YES! I CHOOSE THIS! AND THIS IS WHY.

--

Picture this. You're me again, aged 14 this time. You're in the Louvre, the first museum of Western classical art you've ever been to. You've grown up in a place where this interest could only be cultivated from extra-curricular reading, and for a kid that age from my country to be ass deep in Greek and Egyptian myth is frankly lmao. Neurodivergent. Anyway.

So we're wandering around the Louvre, I've just taken my parents through the Egyptian section and given them a thorough infodump on everything I know about burial rites.

And then we enter this room. And I very nearly fall to my knees when I catch sight of her.

This is the sculpture the statues at the Temple of Mythal are based on - one Winged Victory of Samothrace.

She is a sculpture from the Hellenestic era, depicting the goddess Nike stood at the prow of a ship. Her head and both arms are missing, save one hand with two fingers (also in the Louvre but displayed separately). She was found on the Greek island of Samothrace, among the ruins of what was known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. It seemed like she was displayed at the top of a hill, looming down at all that regarded her.

I’ve had the absolute privilege of seeing her in person twice in my life, both before and after the 2013 restoration. And let me tell you, regardless of which staircase that leads you there, the sight of her will stop you in your tracks.

[Now with people, for scale.]

She is massive. Larger than life, and immediately is the centre of your attention. It's not the fact that she has no head, no arms. No, you will realise the closer you get to her, the more you're able to appreciate the details of this absolutely astounding piece of history.

No. It's because she feels so alive.

The way her robes drape against flesh, wet from sea-spray or rain, yet flowing with the motion of an invisible wind. The wings cast behind her dramatically as her right foot steps forward. Standing tall and proud, unflinching, unbowed against the elements. Even without her arms, you can feel how dynamic the torso and legs are.

You don't need to be an art historian, or even have any knowledge of Greek myth or art history to stand in front of her, as I once did as a young teen, and nearly be brought to tears.

So.

This brings me to the first of the two main gripes I have with the way this sculpture is used in Inquisition.

Compared to the way she's displayed in the Louvre, and also presumably how she was presented to her original audience - larger than life, looming, powerful, beautiful - she is relegated instead to smaller, repeating statues of the same nature throughout the temple.

This diminishes the purpose of the original sculpture, which was to instill a sense of awe and wonder. The singularity that forces you to focus and appreciate the scale and intricacy. The aura, the gravitas of having a single, massive sculpture of such a dynamic figure is completely gone.

And to make things worse, they Mythal-ify her. Adding a helmed head and changing her beautiful feathered wings to leathery dragon wings. They don't even add arms, which is odd because the original sculpture very clearly is missing its arms.

And, may I ask, Why?

It feels cheap, like they saw the Winged Victory and were like 'oh shit this is a cool sculpture, we should add it in game' without giving any fucking thought to what the sculpture means.

Which brings me to the second gripe. The complete disregard for the symbolism of the Winged Victory.

Detail from the Athena fountain, Parliament Building of Vienna, showing Nike the Winged Victory in the palm of Athena's hand [source]

Nike is a minor Greek deity, said to be the daughter of Pallas (a Titan) and the river Styx. Her other siblings by the same parents include Zelus (Zeal),  Bia (Might) and Kratos (Strength).

Yes. That Kratos.

She was one of the earliest gods to pledge her allegiance to Zeus in the Titonomachy, and after the victory of the Olympians, Nike and the other gods that allied with them were allowed to live on Olympus. In her aspect as Victory, she is closely associated with several of the major Greek gods, and in particular, Athena.

There's also her Roman counterpart, Victoria. This version doesn't come with the backstory Nike has, but is more of a general concept of victory. This is the aspect that is present in a lot of the modern sculptures and interpretations of Nike/Victoria:

Left: Detail from the Berlin Victory Column. Right: Detail from the Victoria Memorial, London. Note the similar iconography, of a woman seemingly standing against a strong wind, fabric and cloth adhering and yet flowing against the breeze, wings outstretched.

From this, we can probably extrapolate what our beloved Winged Victory might've looked like. Here's an artist's render of one possibility:

There's some iconography we need to go through before moving on - symbols that are commonly associated with Nike/Victoria.

One is the trumpet as see in the reconstruction above, the sound and symbol of the end of war, of impending peace. Another is the laurel wreath, another Greek symbol of victory and achievement. Famously, laurel wreaths were used to crown victors of the original Olympic games.

This is another conversation entirely, but there’s a discussion to be had about the duality of Elgar’nan and Mythal, in term of vengeance and justice, and how an emotional rage versus a calculated wisdom can be compared to the difference between the two Greek gods of war – Ares and Athena.

If we can compare Mythal to Athena, in the sense of her wisdom in making difficult decisions, then it’s not a stretch to associate Mythal with the symbolism of Nike, and therefore explain the presence of statues similar to the Winged Victory in her temple.

But since Bioware absolutely did not put this in the game for anything other than the Aesthetic, there’s some problems that need to be addressed.

Mainly in the way in which these statues are scattered throughout the temple. If you wanted static, ominous statues to line the walls as your player characters explore, perhaps have like, I dunno. Less dynamic statues that you reference?

Left: Nike of Paionos, Right: Stele 1 of Las Incantadas

Or maybe instead of statues, have friezes lining the walls. Like this one from the equally iconic Pergamon altar, depicting the Giganomanchy.

It’s the same symbolism, the wings, the smiting of foes and victory of good over evil.

And then perhaps, at the heart of the temple... where, y'know Bioware, lay a body of water sacred to Mythal herself, you could've perhaps done something remarkable. You could then have had the most dramatic and beautiful entrance you’d ever seen.

[Nike, at the iconic Daru Staircase, the Louvre]

It was at this moment that Mythal walked out of the sea of the earth's tears and onto the land. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow, and at her touch he grew calm and knew that his anger had led him astray. - Codex entry: Mythal: The Great Protector

Mythal herself strides out of the Well Of Sorrows, the metaphorical tears of her followers that died and kept their knowledge alive in her name. Her (draconic) wings spread out, (restored) hands outstretched to touch her husband, to calm the rage that nearly destroyed this world.

A symbol of victory against the blind rage of a god against His father, the Sun. A symbol of wisdom and grace, against the violence of hatred. A divine sense of something bigger than anything we could imagine.

There's also the lack of iconography regarding victory, instead piling on some cheap representations of what we think of as Mythal. That's another post entirely on the symbolism of the Elven gods, but if Bioware really wanted to hone in on the Athena/Athena Nike parallels, they might have thrown in the trumpet/laurel/palm leaf symbolism with the statues, alongside the dragon wings.

If this were the case, then maybe, just maybe, Inquisition would’ve then earned the use of this sculpture in the game.

Sources not listed above/Further reading if you're interested

https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/a-stairway-to-victory

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1412/winged-victory-the-nike-of-samothrace/https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/hellenistic/a/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace

[sacredashes]

i think people are misinterpreting why people are mad when we complain about the lords of fortune being """""ethical treasure hunters/pirates.""""" it's not that people are mad isabela THEORETICALLY learned her lesson from da2 and decided to spread it to everyone else. or that we want everyone in the game to be crazy evil.

the issue is with the FRAMING of, "we're not thieves, we don't steal. we don't steal culturally significant artifacts." because EVERYTHING in a tomb, or a ruin, IS A CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT ARTIFACT. there is absolutely nothing from a civilization (that may be lost but IS being studied and the culture is STILL practiced by a modern group) that isn't significant when it comes to restoration, study, etc. there's so much value to gain from something like a broken vase that's being thrown down the drain for a pirate to steal and sell to some rando because "oh well it's not a religious artifact like the literal TOME OF KOSLUN, so it's fine." tomb raiding is ALWAYS bad, you're literally stealing shit from dead people. raiding ruins for treasure is ALWAYS bad. the idea that taash says this line like it means anything and rook can't go "yeah no, that's still stealing, they have the traps up for a reason," is a problem. glad a lof!rook can say "i'm pretty sure we do still steal though," but i do hate that it's locked as a lord option.

(and that's all without getting into the ‘finder's fee!’)

[avionvadion]

Ortho: "Those pieces of wood are not just sitting on their skin; they're rooted deep into their heads. If we tried to force them off, it would not end well! Furthermore... Eleanora Quince's health is deteriorating rapidly. The wood seems to be interfering with another magic already engraved deep in her body. She... may not survive the night if we can't discover the cause of these roots and how to remove them."

Listen, ya'll. I have October mapped out.

Halloween preparations start on September 30th (Divus says they have a "month" to prepare.) The Magift Tournament is in mid-October, so I'm going to have it take place on the 17th. Playful Land will be taking place a couple days after the tournament but a couple days before Halloween Week. (18-24th, as Ortho gives us a decent timeline at the very beginning of the event to work with, so it'll be one of those days) Halloween Week is the last week of October. (25th-31st, exactly seven days.) 

Considering everyone will be turning into living puppets, I'm treating that magic as a curse. Furthermore, Eleanora can not have another curse overlapping the one she already has. Thus, she gonna start dying.

There's already gonna be lasting drama from Book Two featuring Ace, but oooooooh boy this is gonna get DARK.

Especially since Eleanora would absolutely be considered a "defective" puppet. Once she starts visibly deteriorating and losing life, Fellow will most likely tell his "boss" that one of the puppets seem to be dying from the spell. If he does that, then the boss will probably tell Fellow to "toss the defective one overboard" and into the sea.

They can't restore her to normal and let her tell everyone what happened, but they can't sell her as a living puppet either. Easiest way to get rid of her is to toss her overboard while she's still being transformed.

Fellow probably won't dump her into the water right away, though.

Human trafficking is one thing, but murder is another. (Really? That's where the line is drawn?) So he'd probably be keeping an eye on her condition to see if she actually dies or not, checking her pulse every now and then, etc. Contemplating his life choices and why he's still working for such a rich asshole who treats him like utter shit.

As time passes, Fellow probably comments that Eleanora will end up becoming a "pretty corpse" after all, unlike her friends who will be living puppets, and Lilia will be pissed at that but can't really do much since he's also paralyzed from the wooden curse.

ALSO, since Fellow IS a card-

I'm trying to rationalize why and when he might end up joining NRC.

The only reasons I can think of after watching his SSR story and reading his voice lines, is that he realized he needs to actually learn the stuff he wants to be able to teach for when he eventually gets the funds he needs to build a school for the poor and the people with little to no magic. Because, even in his SSR story, he laments that he can't teach Gidel a whole lot of stuff since he himself never went to school.

(Him teaching Gidel how to read was the cutest damn thing oh my goodness)

But how did he get into NRC, when he doesn't have the magic for it or the cash? How was he able to establish himself as a student with Gidel as his "other half" similar to Idia+Ortho and Yuu+Grim, so he can build up his knowledge and make a proper game plan?

My idea is, he managed to catch Kalim in town and sweet-talked him into speaking to his parents, mentioning the offer Kalim spoke of before back in Playful Land, and at his behest Kalim's parents bribed the school into letting Fellow and Gidel attend, sponsoring the boys as Kalim spoke very highly of them. (Similar to when Kalim was supposed to be in RSA, but was transferred to NRC so he wouldn't be separated from Jamil.)

That said, I do think it would also take a couple months for Fellow to come to terms with his situation and make the decision to attend NRC after all.

As such... I leave you with this to consider:

Fellow showing up after winter break is over, at the start of January, just before GloMasq and Book Five. Thus being left with all of the boys who were nearly turned into puppets who still have grudges, and those who have grown fond of El after she saved them realizing this was the man who almost KILLED her, while Eleanora and Grim are off at Noble Bell College.

He will be in for a talking to, and poor El is gonna have to fight for her life trying to calm Malleus' rampage when they get back so Gidel doesn't lose his older brother. XD

[kinopioa]

Welp bored, gonna catch up for IDW

Issue 76

So we begin with...this spat

Technically they wouldn't even know this, they were locked up the entire time by Clutch when that news was revealed. Meta writing strikes again

Regardless, there's no reason for them to be mad. Sonic saved people's lives again

And yet

"In cahoots" bro Espio, you really shouldn't know this. And Sonic, why are you telling them what Amy and Tails obviously did given those two rescued them?

This summarizing would work for literally anyone not actually in that arc

First, Jewel's fault for the Restoration when the ocean was RIGHT THERE

2nd, Phantom Rider didn't do shit till Mimic stirred shit. Like Sonic went out of his way in disguise to save people fucked over by Surge and Mimic

But instead of noting these points, Flynn instead opts for Sonic to...dismiss and ignore cuz IDW Sonic is an asshole that can't be held accountable for anything

And then of course, Clutch is a D tier villain. There's 0 reason to make him seem more important as is

And then of course, more meta strictly to instigate bs drama. Sonic should not know that Eggman tricked the Chaotix in Heroes

Goodness I hate how 180 Sonic is interacting with them after Evan stopped writing, this pettiness is lame

And now Silver and Blaze looking at the Garden

This is arguably the least wooby Flynn has ever written him

Unfortunately for readers, they'll only be aware of 2 time travel instances in this comic, the latter Silver *still* hasn't returned from for no real reason. Rivals, Rivals 2, Colors DS (which isn't even a ruined future), and Forces do not apply unless you have prior knowledge of the franchise

...despite how this comic immediately contradicted Forces and frequently gets events wrong for sass/drama

Oh cool, Flynn finally is aware his fav food is apples

Ah fuck, he'll randomly obsess over them and act like he was only recently introduced to them...

Where's that Twitter post bout Dick Grayson and cereal?

Anyway

Nothing's really implied she isn't in games. In Rush Cream hugs her after the last boss her story, and the olympics have Amy girl out with Blaze accepting it

Flynn genuinely seems to not accept that Blaze's char arc already is mostly finished, I've noted this before for the 2023 annual

This shit looked like a mall earlier issues, but more importantly, there's no way you had this "home base" apply to the ENTIRE world for services post Forces. This comic gets me for how artificially important this is

Not to mention this oddly is the first we see mention of other regional offices, like wow...before it was just 2-3 towns

Reminder that post war restoration genuinely was forgotten for NPCs after Zombot until the 5th anniversary 4 page comic randomly. And it appears to still be outside the offices...

Shout outs to Aaron, he's doing heavy lifting to make Silver not seem wooby. Even though the Diamond Cutters never should've talked down to him like he isn't experienced

Genuinely overqualified...

Like really, none of you are helping in the supposed other regional centers? You're just pouting?

Really?

Goodness

And then Jewel admits her insecurities

First Lanolin, no it fucking wasn't

It's ironic cuz Jewel suspected that Clutch was off the more she interacted with him, even being one of the main planners to stop him. But that'd give too much credit to Jewel

But regardless this entire thing is stupid. There's clearly no need for the Restoration after the Zeti, there was no reason the Chaotix never told anyone about Clutch, no reason to do a lot of shit in IDW outside false drama

Tangle wraps her tail and reassures her that if it wasn't for her, most would give up on Tangle. Which...I mean...

But anyway, fake apology

Note how she isn't specifying what she actually did. Just how others reacted

Also weird to wait and apologize now. Not directly to Whisper earlier, it just HAD to be a show after Jewel stated frustration

I know what you are

So she proposes to work in a town, which Jewel immediately calls out on

Damn girl, couldn't even lie fully. I actually like this humility, but I know Lanolin will be bossy Sally 2.0 again later, or just nonexistent after this :/

I hate to be cynical, but that actually might be what's being set. They're disbanding

They're only disaster magnets cuz y'all are mischaracterized to push bs drama frequently

Anyway they have a sappy "see ya later instead of a good bye" and go on their ways

And then it ends with Sonic and Chaotix...honestly not doing much yet working to start a search. For again, a D list villain that really is nothingburger

They then leave

The letterer had fun with fonts...

SONIC: ComiCraft Killjoy W5 Italic (stretched further)

CHAOTIX: Fight To The Finish Rough BlamBot Bold

Rest: ComiCraft Doohickey Lower W05 Regular (stretched for bottom, curved for Next time)

Overall, meh. It's a filler issue effectively, but it's clear Ian doesn't collab as well with Evan as he stated