#we deal in rare books and the dead

[izzy-b-hands]

My doctor messaging me at 12:30 in the morning to tell me she wants to do a telehealth visit abt the side effects I'm having with my new Lamotrigine dose (including worse insomnia than my usual insomnia, as u may have guessed lmao) is. something.

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

Show don't tell

Pairing: Gamigin × Afab!Mc × Lucifer

Lucifer decides to take a more active approach in teaching Gamigin about intercourse.

Afab!reader but they only use they/them pronouns.

It's been a month since Lucifer won the Phenomenon photo contest, but Gamigin has been thinking about what he saw since the day it happened. He would stay in the comunal shower staring at his erection and pondering wether or not he should masturbate to the image of his king pressed on Solomon's child. The angered screams of his brothers wanting to use the bathroom would be the only thing that would snap him from his confused trance.

Lucifer, keen as ever, knew Gamigin's head was in other places not his work or any particular conversation they were having. He had a few ideas as to what might be clouding the dragon's thoughts, but when he found him sneaking into Marbas' room to try and grab some Abaddon magazines, he knew what he was dealing with.

"Bring Adam's child here." Lucifer ordered to Gamigin who instantly blushed and ran to the gates. The dragon was so excited to see them again, maybe his king will mate again with the human and he'll be allowed to watch once more. All the scenarios that used to be reserved for his dreams were now flouding his mind as he made his way to the gate.

You were sitting peacefully in your room in Gehenna, doomscrolling on some random social media, your mind elsewhere. A familiar glowing light illuminated the other side of the door before Gamigin burst into it with an excited smile. "Get in loser, we're going to Paradise Lost!" His loud voice accompanied by the even louder jiggling bells of his staff filled the previously dead room. "That was an actually good use of a pop culture reference."

"Thanks, I practiced." And with that Gamigin grabbed your arm and brought you to the calm botanical gardens in Paradise Lost. "We have to go to Lucifer's private office which is... on the other side of the country. Sorry, since Bathin left we can only teleport patients here."

The walk was uneventful, you and Gamigin starting and stopping conversation on a whim. Before long you reach Lucifer private office. A huge room inside the hospital with two queen sized hospital beds. Lucifer was sipping some tea while discussing with Buer. When Gamigin opened the door, Buer bowed and left without a word. It was strange how well coordenated the people of Paradise Lost were, especially when it was about their beloved king.

"[Strip]" Lucifer commanded to no one in particular, but you could tell it was ment for you. You took off your clothes and Lucifer picked you up and set you on the bed with your legs spread out. Your pussy was on full display for the two demons in the room. The king walked to his desk and took some medical gloves from one of the drawers. Lucifer turned to Gamigin and signed for him to get closer.

"This is the outer labia" Lucifer messaged the flesh before using two fingers to spread your lips. "This is the inner labia. They're the primary reasons why I got a real exemple for this leason on the body. In all the text books you'll see the same pictogram, one that rarely matches anything actually fleshy." Gamigin nodded, taking mental notes of your vagina.

"Lucifer, did you really call me ov-" "[Silence]" You couldn't even finish your sarcastic remark before you lost your voice to Lucifer's divine power.

"Under the clitoris hood you can find the clitoris or clit as it is more commonly known. Some people can ejeculate only by stimulation to this bundle of nerves, and, fortunatly, this one is part of this category. Pay close attention to the vagina, see how it convulses when I rub the clitoris." Lucifer begins to demonstrate to the gawking eyes of the young dragon. You wanted to moan but your voice had other plans, only letting out small gasps and whimpers.

Lucifer picked up a bit of your wetness on his gloved finger and brought it to Gamigin's mouth. "Lick." He didn't need to use one of his usual orders, he knew Gamigin would obey him blindly even without magic. The long tongue of the dragon greedily lapped up all your juices from the lead doctor's hand.

"Good. Now grab a set of gloves and come here." Gamigin sprinted and swiftly put on the plastic. The older demon was rubbing slow circles around your clit, enough to keep you excited but not enough to cum. When Gamigin arrived, Lucifer pointed to your opening. "Slowly insert one finger inside. They have a lot of experience, but the muscles around return to a tight state after a while. We don't want to hurt the patient, so be careful with the first finger."

Red in the face, yet still curious as ever, Gamigin slowly wiggled a finger inside your hole. A chocked moan escaped your lips as you spread your legs widder, your body already trained to recieve pleasure. The foreign feeling of the gloves rubbing against your walls and the circling of your clit was making your head spin. Slowly, Gamigin started to thrust his finger inside you at the guidance of Lucifer.

You can feel your orgasm approaching, but before you could release, Lucifer and Gamigin moved away from you. You saw the dragon sucking the finger he used to pleasure you while he looked up at the fallen angel. They were talking about something, but you didn't care what it was, you just wanted to cum.

You try to move but can't. Damn it, Lucifer must have thought in advanced about your little escape attempt and ordered your body to stay. When you look back in front of you, you notice that only Gamigin was there. Before you could question where Lucifer was, you felt him grab your body and setting you on his lap. He was naked, his cockhead touching above your belly button.

"As you can observe, most demons and angels are quite bigger than humans could normally handle. Yet, it can be observed that this particular human can take more than usual." Lucifer slowly picked you up so your hole was hovering over his penis and he began to decend your body on his.

You claw at the bed sheets and try desprately to at least moan. Gamigin was staring wide eyed at the copulation of the two of you, sight that only made you more emberassed than you already were. Lucifer bottomed out inside you after the most agonising 30 seconds of your life. You felt so full and stiff, like a sock puppet being worn by its master. One of his hands was wrapped around your throat and the other was set on your chest to try and prevent you from laying on the bed for support. He needed Gamigin to see it, that's why you were here in the first place.

"Do you see the bulge? That's how deep I went inside of them. Come touch it." Gamigin took a step closer and nervously felt the slight bulge from within. His eyes shifted rapidly from the bulge to Lucifer to you as if he was trying to imprint this moment in his memory. The dragon's three horns were already getting damp as he tried to massage lower before Lucifer glared at him to back off.

"It's not your turn to touch them yet. You still lack experience. Now, come closer." Lucifer started to thrust. Nothing too powerful, but enough to make you orgasm every time his dick was fully in. The hand that was on your chest moved to your hair as Lucifer began to move your head towards one of Gamigin's horns.

"[Suck]" He ordered and you obeyed, too weak from overstimulation to even think about going against the first light. You took one of the horns between your lips and started to suckle on it. The sweet devil energy washing down your mute throat.

Lucifer was quiet and you were forbidden from making a sound, but Gamigin was making up for the silence. His loud moans, whimpers and whines filled the room, so loud that everyone in the country must know what was going on. The dragon started to futely thrust against the air, his knees weak as his knuckles turned white from how hard he was gripping the bed.

The mind-numbing pleasure Lucifer was delivering straight to your very core was starting to get overwhelming when the former angel began to pick up the pace of his thrusts. A hot stream of tears imitating the leaking of your slobbering cunt began to fall from your eyes. When Lucifer noticed you began to cry he manhandled you off him and Gamigin and he layed you directly on the table.

"They're prepared enough now. Shed yourself of your garments and try to mate with the human yourself."

Gamigin noded and fumbled with his pants, quickly taking off his pants and boxers in one fell swoop. He got on top of you, his hands on either side of your sholders and his knees just under yours. He set there confused as he looked up at Lucifer who moved closer to Gamigin to help him every step of the way.

"Good... now move in, slowly, dear, slowly." He cooed to Gamigin. Even though you were the overstimulated one, Gamigin acted like teen in heat. He was much smaller than Lucifer, but he was way less experienced. His whimpers were beautifully pathetic as he entered your loose pussy. Lucifer was petting his head the whole way through.

"Good boy. How does it feel?" Lucifer voice was so sweet and friendly, it almost sounded like he was another person.

Between sniffles and whines, Gamigin managed to speak up with a hoarse voice "B-better than I could even i-imagine. Th-thank you, L-Lucifer."

Lucifer nodded in acknowledgement and grabbed Gamigin's waist, one hand on his lower stomach and the other on his tail bown. He started to thrust Gamigin inside your puffy pussy. It didn't take long before the dragon got used to the rythm set by his king and he got lost in the feeling of your wet cavarns.

Lucifer took a step back and watched the two of you have a go at it. The scene was lewd, sure, but to Lucifer it was the sweet deflowerment of his little brother. He was temped to take a picture to add to his album.

The rythm set only a few minutes ago was getting sloppier and faster as he was trying to reach his first orgasm inside someone. Gamigin hugged your limp body as he rutted inside, his head pressed to the matress. He practicly screamed as he came inside you. He colapsed on your body as he tried to even out his breaths.

With his strong arms, Lucifer picked you two up and walked to the other bed and layed you there. His touch was the gentlest you've ever recieved from the former angel, but Gamigin seemed used to the affection. Gamigin opened his mouth to speak but Lucifer covered it. "Sleep you two. You need rest after such an intense session."

You didn't need to be told twice, though calling it sleep would be an understatement. You both practicly collapsed into your own personal dream world, silently snoozing in Lucifer's office.

[thinking-emoji]

Phannie acronym/initialism* dictionary

*no i'm not getting into what counts as an acronym or an initialism. I'm also not telling you how to pronounce any of these

Please refer to the original version of this post to check for updates!

7SC: 7 Second Challenge

AP: AmazingPhil

ATF: Above the Fray, former management agency

atiwttmotiimpaowwmtf: And this is when, through the magic of the internet, I met Phil. And obviously, we were more than friends...

BFTD: Back from the Dead

BIG: Basically I’m Gay

BWAGFEO: Basically We Are Gay For Each Other

BWYBMS: Better With You By My Side

COTY: Coming Out To You

D&P: Dan and Phil

DAP: Dan and Phil

DAPB: DanAndPhilBEATS

DAPC: DanAndPhilCRAFTS

DAPFTTT: Dan and Phil Finally Tell the Truth

DAPG: DanAndPhilGAMES

DAPGO: Dan and Phil Go Outside

DAPGOOSE: Dan and Phil Go Outside On Stage Event

DAPWEPINOF: Dan and Phil watch every phil is not on fire (sic)

DD: Dystopia Daily; rarely: The Drug Deal

DILM: Dan is leaving me

DINI: danisnotinteresting

DINK: 1. dumb twink; 2. double/dual income, no kids

DINKWAD: double/dual income, no kids, with a dog

DINOF: danisnotonfire

DINOK: Dan is not Ok

DITL: Day in the Life

DJH: Daniel James Howell

DnD: Daniel and Depression; in our circles rarely: Dungeons and Dragons

DnP: Dan and Phil

DNPB: DanAndPhilBEATS

DNPG: DanAndPhilGAMES

DvP: Dan vs. Phil

DvPHTSD: Dan vs. Phil Hometown Showdown

ETVAHTCTE: Embrace the void and have the courage to exist

FDITL: Festive Day in the Life

FFVII: Final Fantasy VII

FFXIV: Final Fantasy XIV

GDM: gays do maths

GG: Guru Gossiper; old forum site with dnp threads

GTPWTW: Giving the People What They Want

GwF: Golf with Friends

HEH: Heart Eyes Howell

HL: Hard launch

HTBYFIS: How To Befriend Your Favourite Internet Stars

IDB: In Depth Bants

IGTOHGMMWGHTHBWPOTC: I got the octopus, he's gonna marry me, we're gonna have tentacle hooked babies with parrots on the crib

II: Interactive Introverts

IOM: Isle of Man

ISG: Internet Support Group

IT: InterTalent

IT2: It Takes Two

LAP: LessAmazingPhil

LEL: Love Eyes Lester

M&C: Martyn and Cornelia

MINO: mullet in name only

NBSII: No But Seriously Imagine It

PCOU: Post Coming Out Universe

PGPIA: Post gay Phan in Australia

PHA: public horse announcement

PINOF: phil is not on fire

PMAVEDFAW: Phil makes a video every day for a week

PML: Philip Michael Lester

PPA: Phan Porn Addiction

PSL: Pumpkin Spice Latte

RPF: Real Person Fiction; rarely: Roleplay F...iction???

SAP: SuperAmazingProject

SGF: Saying Goodbye Forever

SSAYWD: some shit a youtuber would do (dystopia daily segment)

SWWTTY: Something we want to tell you

TABINOF: The Amazing Book is Not on Fire

TATINOF: The Amazing Tour is Not on Fire

TIIH: The Internet is Here

TIT: Terrible Influence Tour

TTLMT: Trying to Live My Truth

TTSTWMG: Trying to See Things Without My Glasses

UTA: United Talent Agency

VPDO: Viewers Pick Dan's Outfits

VPMO: Viewers Pick My Outfits

WAD: We’re All Doomed

WDAPTEO: What Dan and Phil text each other

WITL: Week in the life

WIQY: Why I Quit YouTube

WWWY: When We Were Young festival

YWGTTN: You Will Get Through This Night

Works Cited:

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

Danny Phantom doesn’t want to be king.

And the Observants also don’t want him to be king.

Frankly, very VERY few people want him to be king, dead or alive.

But opening the sarcophagus, even if it’s closed NOW, disrupted some magic protections. Until those can be fixed, summoning spells need to be answered by SOMEONE. Not all of summons, just like—once a month or so. Because if they don’t let that power outlet happen, all of those summon magics build up and suddenly Pariah Dark reigns again. Answering the summon basically dispels the built up magic, like opening a dam.

Again, Danny doesn’t WANT to do this either, but everyone else involved is a bad choice. He won’t even be named prince, because THEN that implies he COULD be king. He needs a title, of some kind, a position in the court, no matter how tenuous, so he can do the thing. Something where no one in their right or even WRONG mind would think to try to kill him for the position or try to marry him or something equally annoying to deal with.

So.

He becomes the Ghost Court Jester.

He even gets a fancy little outfit upgrade when he’s summoned, all black and white bell hats and shoes, a stupid little ruffle collar and black parachute pants, even face paint with a tiny dot of glowing neon green at the tip of his nose. The works. Better yet, if he hasn’t been ‘unsummoned’, his human form is just the exact same costume with swapped colors. He can change into his normal outfits, but until that circle has been disrupted, the next summon, or the next full or new moon, he’s stuck into the outfit when he first transforms from either form.

The Phantom Jester, which is a title more intimidating than Danny appears to be if we are to be honest, cracks jokes and never, EVER takes the summons seriously.

“Listen, I just had to get my hours in and it’s the last day of the lunar month, you got lucky I came at all.”

“I got the position by virtue of not wanting to go to Time Jail for a crime I technically didn’t commit and technically probably won’t but, well, eyes are the beholder of the grudge or something else equally cryptic to make you mad.”

“Is this a slumber party? … do you have cake? Bummer. Well, enjoy the bleeding walls then.”

“Whether I help you or not is entirely dependent on how well of a run down you can give me on this book I have to read that I have not at all touched.”

“Explain the reason in three sentences or less. I suggest less. And if it’s stupid I’m hitting you—oh you think this circle can contain me? Haha. It won’t.”

“Is that chicken blood? Why?? What did the chickens do to you?”

There are props in his costume but he literally never knows what he’s gonna pull out of his sleeves. Danny can’t even do a balloon animal and knows exactly zero card tricks, which would be more of an issue if the cards weren’t the size of a dinner plate. He barely even juggles and he’s honestly probably just utilizing his rarely-used telekinetic powers, but he does give people flowers if they haven’t been a total jerk. And if those flowers are like, rare and have seeds for propagation, well… he literally wouldn’t know. No, really, he doesn’t. He gets summoned by at least two ecology departments and he has no idea why, I mean, if he had a nickel—

He also had pies and is NOT afraid to use them.

[iamgonnagetyouback]

Would you write some thing for Charlie Dalton from dead poets Society with a female reader, where she tries to make him jealous with Pitts?

charlie dalton x fem!reader who tries to make charlie jealous

You and Charlie hadn’t spoken in three days. The argument still echoed in your mind—the harsh words, the way his eyes had darkened when he stormed out. You had never fought like that before, and the silence that followed was almost worse than the shouting.

You were furious, but more than anything, you missed him. Missed his jokes, the warmth of his arm slung over your shoulders, the feeling that with him around, life was just a little less heavy. But instead of reaching out, you did the opposite. You decided to make him feel the sting of jealousy he made you feel during the argument. You needed to get under his skin the way he'd gotten under yours.

That’s where Pitts came in.

Pitts had always been a friend—kind, soft-spoken, and the perfect person to help you carry out your plan. It wasn’t his fault he got roped into this mess; he had no idea what you were really doing. You weren’t even sure he’d agree if he did know. So, you played it cool, asking him to sit with you during lunch, joking a bit too much, laughing a bit too loudly at his comments. You were doing everything to make Charlie notice.

And, of course, he did.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Charlie watching, jaw clenched, hands tight around the book in front of him. His eyes, normally bright with mischief, now burned with something darker, something that made your heart pound uncomfortably in your chest.

Pitts was in the middle of saying something when Charlie stood abruptly, knocking his chair back in the process. The entire table went silent, every one of the boys glancing between the two of you, feeling the tension thick in the air.

“Can I talk to you?” Charlie’s voice was low, but it carried across the room.

Your stomach twisted. This was what you wanted, wasn’t it? To get his attention, to make him feel what you had been feeling. So why did you feel so damn sick about it now?

You nodded and followed him out, the door shutting behind you with a heavy thud. The hallway was quiet, save for the faint sound of the boys murmuring inside the room.

“You think this is funny?” he hissed, turning to face you, his eyes blazing. “You think using Pitts like that was a good idea?”

You crossed your arms, trying to mask the guilt rising in your chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit,” Charlie snapped. “You’re trying to make me jealous.”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” you fired back, not even trying to deny it anymore. “You deserved it after the way you acted.”

He ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth. “I didn’t deserve this,” he muttered, more to himself than to you. His face was a mix of anger and something else—something vulnerable that you rarely saw from him.

“Then what did you deserve, Charlie?” you asked, voice shaking despite your best efforts to stay composed. “To just let you walk all over me? To act like it didn’t hurt when you completely shut me out?”

“I wasn’t trying to shut you out,” he said, voice quieter now but still tense. “I just… I needed time. We were fighting, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I didn’t want to say something I couldn’t take back.”

“Well, congratulations,” you bit out. “You managed to say nothing instead, and that hurt just as much.”

His eyes softened for a second, guilt flickering there before he looked away. “You’re right,” he said quietly, the anger draining from his face. “I was an ass. But why did you have to involve Pitts? You knew I’d—”

“I wanted you to feel how I felt,” you admitted, interrupting him. “I was hurt, and I thought if you saw me with someone else, maybe you’d understand.”

“God,” he muttered, rubbing his hand over his face. “You think I don’t understand? Every time I saw you laughing with him, it felt like—” He stopped himself, eyes flicking to yours, raw emotion bubbling up. “I get it, okay? But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.”

Silence stretched between you, heavy and full of all the things you hadn’t said yet.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” you whispered after a long moment. “I just didn’t know what else to do.”

Charlie sighed, stepping closer, his hands finding their way to your arms. He didn’t touch you like he was angry anymore, but like he was afraid you might slip away from him.

“I hate fighting with you,” he said, voice barely audible now. “I hate it so much. But don’t… don’t ever do that again. Don’t use someone else to get to me.”

Tears pricked the corners of your eyes, and you nodded. “I won’t. I’m sorry.”

His forehead dropped to yours, his breath shaky as his grip tightened on you. “I’m sorry too,” he murmured. “I should’ve never left that night. I should’ve talked to you.”

You leaned into him, letting the warmth of his presence calm the storm in your chest. The argument still lingered between you, but at least now you weren’t drowning in the silence anymore.

At least now, you weren’t alone in it.

[bbyboybucket]

Okay besties, today I’m giving you the run down of Buckys finances and networth. Because as I’ve said multiple times, he’s obscenely wealthy despite the fact you’d never know by looking at him.

Now first off, MatPat (my fav YouTuber who I’m so sad is retiring, literally adore him) did a mini theory a few years ago, calculating Bucky’s compound interest in previously earned money from WWII in his frozen bank account while he was presumed dead. It totaled out to $51,143. This is just the money that he earned in the 30s/40s and has grown interest on. This is assuming the money wasn’t given to his family and for the purpose of this post, we’ll go with that it wasn’t. However, MatPat didn’t account back pay, for disability pay, and other military pay/benefits.

So as a starter point, we’ll use $51,143. Next, I’m going to calculate his back pay from being MIA/POW because he would have been considered active duty. A MIA/POW is given back pay of 50% of the average per diem rate, for each day held in captivity. The 2023 rate is $157 per day, and I assume that would be similar for him because TFATWS takes place in early 2024. So that means Bucky would get $78.50 per day. There is no time limit on how far back pay can date to, so the entire span of Bucky’s capture is accounted for. As per the Smithsonian memorial in CA:TWS, Bucky was captured in 1944, making it exactly 70 years of capture. So, the back pay for those 70 years, is $2,005,675.

Next, we’ll look at the different forms of disability pay he would receive. I’m only going to look at canonical, confirmed disabilities for this. Bucky would be classified under SMC-N 1/2, where one arm was amputated above the elbow and/or was amputated so close to the shoulder that a prosthetic cannot be worn. Now obviously, Bucky does have a prosthetic but it is implanted into his body, as a majority of his left shoulder seems to have been amputated. Since he is single and has no dependents, aka has no children and is not taking care of any family, and he is still able to work, he would be receiving $6,182 a month.

He also has PTSD, which he would most likely get a 70% percent disability rating for, as 100% is very rare to receive for mental and is considered to be extreme impairment in daily functioning. (He could recieve 80 or 90% but I’m being generous here and trying to give the most realistic assessment). All this means, his mental illness pay for PTSD would be $1716 a month.

It’s also canonical that he has brain damage via The Wakanda Files book. We know in that book, he’s described to have pretty severe TBI. However, we don’t know anything of his symptoms and the book only describes of the brain scan looks bad and that the serum is keeping him from being more impaired. The VA uses 10 areas of impairment as criteria to rate the severity of TBI disability. The only canonically confirmed area that we know Bucky deals with is memory. Since we know no other symptoms and we know he’s not extremely impaired, I’m going to estimate he’d be rated at 50%. Which would give him a compensation of $1075 a month.

Now, we can assume Bucky is retired from the military. From being a retired sergeant, we can assume his monthly pension is around $5,482.

Reminder, all VA pay is untaxed. All of these together, his monthly salary is $14,455. However, this is not including disability back pay. The VA sometimes will pay a lump sum from back from when the diagnosis was made. Assuming the Wakandans were involved in Bucky’s trial and pardon, I’d assume some of his medical records were brought in as well. Back dating to when he was being treated in Wakanda, that’s 7 years, however we don’t know if the blip would count so for that reason, I’ll say 2 years. So, his lump sum would be around $215,352.

Now, endgame was in October, six months before TFATWS, meaning it took place around March/April. Within, the span of October to March, Bucky woulda have accumulated $86,730. Because even if his pardon wasn’t official yet in October, he would still receive payment for that month.

Finally, in grand total, all of this is $2,358,900. His networth would be in a similar, slightly lower range. Meaning: yes, Bucky Barnes is a millionaire and nobody would ever guess.

[superfallingstars]

Personally I think jily is supposed to be idealized (like how James and lily were idealized) to Harry. James gets knocked of his pedestal in swm and so does jily by Harry questioning if his father forced his mother into marriage. Later when talking to lupin and Sirius James and Jily get a slight defense and Harry is back to feeling alright but with the knowledge that things weren’t perfect.

I personally don’t read Jily as abusive (even though I read James as being abusive to snape at school, but I don’t think that violent, physical behavior was extended to Lily) but I definitely don’t read them as a “good” couple (whatever that means). I think you can read it in many different ways given there is so little of them and I think an interpretation that their relationship wasn’t the healthiest is perfectly plausible with the scant information we’re given.

Yeahhhh that’s probably what JKR intended. James and Lily are the fridged parents who are dearly mourned and missed, and as a result, their flaws are completely smoothed over in everyone’s memories. But in Snape’s Worst Memory, Harry learns the hard lesson that things aren’t always what they seem, and that nobody is perfect, not even his dead father. Hurrah.

My problem with this is that I think it’s very boring, LOL. Like it really is probably exactly what JKR intended (given her middle-of-the-road takes on every moral and political question that happens in these books), but man, it feels like such a cop out. James basically ruins Snape’s life for no reason, and the conclusion we’re meant to draw from this is just, well, people are complicated! NO!!!! Bad answer!!! Like, Snape also did some terrible things, but at least he spends a ton of pages actively suffering/atoning for his sins. But James, on the other hand, is only somewhat implied to have changed maybe slightly a little bit somewhere off-page, and we just have to take #1 James Potter fanboy Sirius Black and serial understater Remus Lupin at their word. So if James was supposed to be “redeemed” – or even just excused – wow, it really doesn't work for me. You can't go as dark as "protagonist questions if his father forced his mother into marriage" and then just brush it off like no big deal, Joanne! And it’s so frustrating, because all it would've taken to fix this would've been to show James being a good person instead of just telling the reader that he was one (proof: trust me?). Ugh.

So because of all that, I agree that from what we’re given, it’s quite difficult to read Jily as “good.” We rarely see them interact, and when we do, James’s behavior is wayyyy too similar to the trope of “terrible guy eventually gets the girl even though she seems to hate him with every fiber of her being because his persistence and not taking no for an answer is just toooo romantic to resist.” Which sucks, lol. It feels like JKR is basically being like, “eh, James was young and dumb, whatever” and giving him a huge out for all the grief he caused Snape (and Lily, for that matter) – and she expects that the reader will agree that that is a legitimate excuse for his behavior, and by extension think that it's reasonable for Lily to forgive and eventually marry him. And man, I am just not sure if that is enough to convince me. (And evidently, I'm not alone, considering the “Jily is abusive” meta post that likely sparked this ask!)

With that said, I agree that it’s a stretch to say that James was abusive (or even implied to be abusive) toward Lily. It’s not a completely unfounded take – it could probably be written well in a fic, and even be canon compliant – but you would really have to extrapolate that dynamic from the little information we’re given (as you pointed out). And more importantly (at least, re: that meta), I don't think JKR intended that interpretation at all.

Personally, I just don’t think it makes sense for the narrative for James and Lily to have been in an abusive relationship. And by the narrative, I mean Harry. If Jily is an abusive (or even just bad) relationship, that would have massive ramifications for the way Harry sees his parents. Ideally he would have to come to terms with that at some point – I don’t think it makes sense for James’s and Lily’s relationship to have been this way and not have significantly affected Harry – but imo JKR clearly does not want to deal with that. Like you said, the point of SWM – aside from foreshadowing Lily and Snape’s relationship – was to knock James off his pedestal and basically go, See, nobody’s perfect. <3 And the story is not interested in engaging with James’s behavior on a level any deeper than that lol. Which ok, I don’t love it, but if we’re not going to spend time dealing with morally gray James, then it doesn’t make sense for him to be even more morally gray (or rather, have him fall face first over the line into becoming a downright despicable person) by making him abusive toward Lily.

So that's my Doylist analysis: no way in hell did JKR intend Jily to be an abusive relationship, but she also didn't do a good enough job defending and/or redeeming James after SWM, so we're just left to speculate about how much he really changed. Still, I don't think "JKR is a bad writer" is a very satisfying answer. After all, the only reason that I'm engaging with this text in the first place is because I'm a fan of it, so I think it's also worth looking at it from a Watsonian perspective – or at least, to accept the events of the book as they're written and try to fill in the blanks. (Imo so much of the fun of fandom is trying to fill in those blanks in a satisfying way, to expand upon a character and try to reach a more interesting conclusion than the author did... And I would be remiss not to mention that, because it undoubtedly influences the way that I (and probably also you, if you're on this side of tumblr) engage with the text.)

So for me, as a Marauders era fan, I’m faced with: ok, I don’t really like the idea of these two characters together, but they canonically got together, and I think the story is better because they got together, and it’s better if they genuinely like each other, and it all had to happen somehow – so how can I explain it in a way that both makes sense with the story and is satisfying to me? And my answer to that is twofold.

First, I imagine that James was not always quite such an awful guy (as in, not always as showy, combative, and cruel as he was in SWM). After all, there is a glimmer of goodness in him when he chooses to save Snape’s life during the Prank, revealing that somewhere deep down, he does in fact have a moral compass. And second, I think that he has to have changed. And I mean a genuine change – one that might not have resulted in completely different behavior (after all, he was still hexing Snape through his seventh year) – but regardless, something that makes him seriously reflect on his actions and reconsider his motivations. His behavior in SWM is just too inexcusable for him to get with Lily – partly because Lily is generally framed as a Very Good Person, and partly because regardless of how she is framed, James was still awful to her – without any self-reflection or growth. Of course, the problem then becomes explaining this in a satisfying way!

And I have some ideas in mind – but they’re definitely more speculation than fact, and omg this post is long enough already. Luckily, I received another ask on this topic, so I will save my self-indulgent headcanons for that.

There is one last thing I want to mention, which is (part of) my reasoning for why James may not have been such a bully all the time and why I think he has the capacity for change, and it's been nagging at me ever since I read that meta post (which again, presumably started this whole thing). I think one thing that bothers a lot of people (including me!) about James is that it seems like he chooses to pick on Snape in SWM because of Lily’s presence. He wants to show off to her, so he keeps looking over to the girls by the water, he ruffles his hair, he deepens his voice, and he tries to get her attention by targeting Snape. Following this logic, we can presume that James wouldn’t have done any of this if Lily hadn’t been there – and that’s the part that got me thinking. I have to wonder if Lily was perhaps not the only person who James wanted to impress in that scene… in fact, I think it’s incredibly likely that James would have acted differently if the Marauders hadn’t been there! (Harry has "the distinct impression that Sirius was the only one for whom James would have stopped showing off," and Sirius saying that he's bored is the inciting incident for James spotting Snape...!) Yes it’s going to be a James masculinity analysis because this is what happens every time I talk about these fucking characters apparently. So idk, stick around if you’re into that.

And of course, thank you for the ask!

[kalinara]

I've been contemplating why many of the Throuple or "Scogean" fics and meta that I see don't really work for me. This is not intended to target any one author or commenter. This is just my own personal, general opinion.

And I think my main issue is that I look for Throuple fic/meta that specifically deals with the 616, that is, the main comic book, continuity. And, for all that this is where the Throuple is actually canon*, it's actually pretty rare to find fic/meta about this specific dynamic.

(*No one's buying the eleventh hour denial, Marvel)

I think what a lot of Throuple writers don't realize about the 616 continuity is that Scott, Jean and Logan really are not a ship of two well adjusted individuals and their weird self-loathing, feral pet that they've coaxed in from the cold.

That dynamic may work for some of the other continuities, and that's perfectly cool, don't get me wrong, but if we're specifically talking about 616, the dynamic is ultimately very different.

I mean, yes, Logan is Logan. And he's got a lot of trauma and issues under his belt. He's also about 200 years old and has learned a shit ton of coping mechanisms. He's not always friendly, he's not always civilized, and occasionally he's an outright judgmental asshole. But he's mostly figured out his own shit.

Now let's look at Scott Summers and Jean Grey for a minute. The first and best of Xavier's child soldiers.

Jean Grey is the living embodiment of a god, who is constantly dealing with the fact that a loss of control on her part could and has led to billions of deaths. She has to deal with the fact that she dies, a lot and basically every time she comes back it's to a very different world than she left where everyone is yet again in some new bizarre crisis. She's constantly trying to relearn herself, her surroundings, her relationships, and atone for the things done when she'd lost control.

(A.X.E. X-Men #1)

Scott Summers is arguably the more normal of the three. He's not a god or an immortal, right? But this is a man who, in his last canonical nervous breakdown kicked Xavier from the mansion (twice), went from being headmaster of the School, to the benevolent dictator of the entire mutant race, to being an outlaw revolutionary that decorates college dorm rooms Che Guevara style and ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone even as SHIELD, the Avengers, and pretty much every world government wanted him captured or dead. Oh, and he thought it was a great idea to try to teach a new batch of students in the fucking left over WEAPONS X facility.

He's a little more stable now, admittedly. I'm not quite sure what to make of the whole outsourcing his moral accountability to his wife bit. But I'm sure the panic attack and the fact that he's now living in an abandoned Sentinel factory are not something we really need to worry about.

(Uncanny X-Men #527)

Obviously, everyone is going to have their own read on the throuple, but to me, the throuple is less two well adjusted people with their poor feral friend, and more one somewhat sane old dude who is dating a tormented goddess, and a modern version of Alexander the Great perpetually on the verge of a psychotic break.

I'm just saying, in the 616 continuity, LOGAN is the well-adjusted one.

[mixedcontents]

I think Tyrion and his barely sleeping and spending his nights distracted by women or books until he exhausts himself enough to sleep and even then not for long is 100% his chronic pain and I appreciate that about his character if not for his pov chapters would we as readers pick up from other characters that he is in intense chronic pain all the time? Probably not but then again it's rare for anyone to see someone in intense chronic pain even if they know they are and be able to tell people in chronic pain are SO good at masking it (though it comes out in ways that are obvious when one knows what to look for) like Tyrion is in intense pain even before he is further disabled by battles and people in chronic pain need more sleep ok average than healthy people and then there's the brain fog and irritability that chronic pain people have to deal with and even so Tyrion handles all three extremely well though at times he can't control his temper and snaps and then immediately tries to get it under control again and apologizes idk I hate what Tyrion did to Shae and Tysha (though let's be real he had little choice in the matter and has spent the years since thinking of her trying to convince himself he hates her ect) I believe he's a character who not only cares for people not just the 'important' people but the small folk the disabled the deformed ect and I really believe he could have a really interesting redemption and spend the rest of his life as hand or possibly a ruler/lord working to redeem himself and try and make up for all the worngs he and his family has done

On the other hand we had the mountain that rides Clegane who we also know is in intense chronic pain (migraines) and yet he lashes out and purposely inflicts as much damage and pain as possible on others even his own younger brother he has spent his life causing others pain at worse killing them at best he has no want to be or do good he has no desire for redemption no nor chance at it now that he is well not dead but rather Qyburn's creature of some sort (hinted at)

Idk if there is one thing i love about grrm it's his writing has many a disabled character main characters with their own pov chapters and non ones that are explicitly shown and stated to be disabled and ones that are only hinted at and I just really appreciate that hus disabled characters are as varied and alike in their disabilities as they are as people/characters but also how we see that affect their lives the perception of them as characters/people and what they do from Bran and Jaime to Tyrion and the Clegane brothers and many many more

[aphroditelovesu]

⸻ The Lost Queen - V ⸻

— summary: You woke up near a military camp without remembering how and why you got there, you didn’t understand why they were dressed like ancient Greeks, all you knew was that you weren’t safe and you needed to get out of that place as soon as possible. Too bad for you that you found yourself attracting unwanted attention from the Macedonian King and he won’t let you go so easily.

— genre: yandere, dark!au.

— warnings: time travel, obsessive and possessive behavior, murder, mention of torture, kidnapping, angst, fluffy (very rarely), dub-con, eventual smut, pregnancy.

— pairing: yandere!alexander the great x female!reader, yandere!generals x female!reader.

— word count: 2,370.

— tag list: @devils-blackrose, @faerykingdom, @hadesnewpersephone, @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 , @kadu-5607, @zoleea-exultant, @borntoexplore11-blog, @silmawensgarden, @elvinapandra, @jennifer0305 , @his0kaswife, @animetye-23.

— the lost queen series masterlist.

Chapter 5

You looked at Perdiccas fondly, feeling happy and relieved to have an ally, no, a friend in the midst of all this chaos.

''Can we come in?'' He asked smiling gently.

''Yes.''

Perdiccas took your hand and led you to the tent. Opening the flap of the tent, you entered along with Perdiccas and they were greeted by an impressive sight.

Even though they were in the middle of a military camp and in the middle of nowhere, it was still well prepared and decorated. There was a large table set up where everyone else was sitting and chatting like old friends. You looked at the food and there was a wide variety, to your surprise, fruits, breads, cakes, lots of wine, water and other foods that you couldn't identify at the moment.

It was really well done.

Everyone stopped talking the moment you started walking to the table. There were two free chairs, one beside a black-haired and bearded general and one beside another you had recognized as the one who had insulted your outfit a few hours ago. You snorted at the thought and, letting go of Perdiccas's hand, you sat down in the chair beside the black-haired and bearded general. Perdiccas frowned a little, but took the chair next to his friend.

You, aware of the stares, felt sulky and embarrassed. You coughed a little and looked at the general beside you who smiled at you.

''Hello...'' You murmured softly.

He chuckled a little and leaned in close to you, ''Hello.'' His voice was deep and amused.

You nodded, but didn't look away. You knew it was rude not to look at someone when they were talking to you.

''Your name is (Y/N), isn't it?'' It wasn't a question, but you nodded. ''Nice to meet you. I am Cleitus.''

Oh. You blinked in surprise, remembering him from the history books. Cleitus the Black, a veteran general who fought under Philip and Alexander after Philip death.

''It's a pleasure and an honor.'' You said, your voice a little louder. If it were possible, Cleitus' smile widened even more.

You just smiled, not knowing what to say. But honestly, what could you talk about? All of this still felt like a dream, a nightmare, but it wasn't. You was over 2,000 years in the past and was dealing with people who are already dead to you. So how was you supposed to carry on a conversation?

You had never been a very communicative person, although you had her friends, you were quite quiet and never bothered. Everyone understood you and it never bothered you that she was a person of few words.

But now...

Now you didn't know what to do. You needed to say something, you needed to because everyone was looking at you like you were an alien. Not that you judged them, because you was quite different from them. Maybe not in appearance, because as far as you was aware, you are human and looked like one, but... Your way of acting and the clothes you had worn earlier were obviously not common.

You needed to leave soon.

You cleared your throat and grabbed a glass of wine, sipping a little and, in a weak attempt to break the ice, you said, ''The wine is excellent.''

You stole a look at Perdiccas and smiled when you saw the explicit approval in his eyes.

''Indeed, it's excellent.'' You turned towards the voice and frowned a little when you realized it was the man who had called you a whore earlier. You didn't know his name, yet, but you could already tell the two wouldn't get along.

''Why, Craterus, be polite!'' You looked at the other man, Ptolemy, you recognized him, who had warned the one had called her a whore.

Craterus. She mentally rolled her eyes, of course it had to be him.

Craterus bared his teeth at the other man, ''I'm nice, Ptolemy.''

''Where are you even from, (Y/N)?'' You turned to look at who had caught her eye. You smiled at him, it was Hephaestion.

''I'm from...'' You thought for a while, ''a very far place, as I said before.''

Hephaestion smiled at you and his face got hot. Why did he have to be handsome?

''Yes, I remember.'' He looked at Alexander who was drinking wine.

He smiled at his friend, that is, if they were just friends, and turned his gaze to you.

''But we would like to know the name, ma'am.''

You frowned and sighed. Fine, if they wanted to know the name of your country, they would, but it wouldn't do any good.

''I'm from (C/N).''

''(C/N)? Never heard of it.'' He replied, looking at you intently.

''It's a very distant and unimportant place, not worth mentioning.'' You lied, hoping he would stop asking questions.

Hephaestion hummed and decided not to ask any more questions, picking up his glass of water, and drinking its liquid. You noticed that he was the only one who didn't drink wine at the table.

You grabbed your wine and drank one more time, sure you needed alcohol to settle your nerves from that night. Getting drunk wasn't the smartest decision, you knew that, but a little drinking wouldn't hurt.

It's not like you're going to fall down drunk, right?

Drinking really hadn't been your best choice.

Was it your tenth glass of wine? You had stopped counting after the seventh.

You weren't exactly weak to liquor, but this wine was pretty strong. It was sweet, which only increased your liking for it and you had lost count of the glasses you had had.

If you were sober you might have noticed Alexander's eyes on you.

''So, (Y/N)...'' Your mind, numbed by drink, had hardly noticed that it was Alexander himself who was speaking to you. ''How is this your Birthplace? (C/N), I believe?''

You muttered something unintelligible.

''What did you say? Repeat.'' He ordered, not taking his eyes off you.

You looked up from your plate and looked at the King who was staring at you as if he could read your thoughts. You frowned and pouted, but replied, ''It's a nice spot…''

''Nice?'' He looked more than a little dissatisfied with your answer.

''It's sparsely populated and unknown... No big deal, my King...'' Your voice was slurred with drink, but you were still sane enough not to say anything that might give you away.

''And the location?'' Alexander persisted.

''Very far away.''

''How far?''

You growled. Was this a fucking interrogation? Something clicked in your mind and you grabbed some water, thinking about your answer.

''Very far away.''

''If it's so far away, how did you end up near my camp?''

Fuck.

''I do not remember.''

''Do not you remember? Do you remember where you are, your name and you remember how to speak greek but you don't know how you ended up in my camp?'' He sneers and you feel like flying at his neck.

Fortunately for Alexander's neck, Hephaestion decided to intervene.

''Alexander! I don't think this is going to go anywhere, we're not in an interrogation and it's obvious that (Y/N) is drunk. Asking questions will do no good at this point.''

Alexander looks at Hephaestion and sighs, drinking his wine again. He must have had a pretty good intolerance for alcohol because he had drunk more than you and was quite capable of acting the way he wanted to.

You drank five bottles of alcohol with your friends and you were almost falling drunk on the sidewalks.

Your friends... Your heart ached at the thought of them. How would they be? Would May and Andrew still be their usual melodrama? Did they miss you?

With these thoughts about your friends, a wave of depression washed over you. You shrank back in your chair and that caught Cleitus's attention.

''Hey girl, are you alright?'' He was just as drunk, if not more, than you were.

''Yes... Just some bad thoughts.'' You mumbled and took a piece of bread.

''I know how it is...'' He frowned, ''Sometimes I have some bad thoughts too. It's horrible, isn't it? You would think a general like me would be above that, but I'm not.''

You were surprised by his sincerity.

''No, I don't think...'' You shrugged, feeling a little more sober, ''We all have bad moments and terrible thoughts. It's human, isn't it?

Cleitus looked at you and smiled lovingly.

''Yes, you're right.'' He brought his hand to your cheek and squeezed it gently, you looked at him in surprise but didn't interrupt him. ''Your skin is smooth and unscarred...''

You mentally scoffed. You weren't a soldier, so it was obvious you didn't have any battle scars.

Without waiting for your answer, Cleitus removed his hand and looked into your eyes. You felt something inexplicable when those eyes as black as night stared at you.

''I liked you, (Y/N). I hope we can be friends.''

You looked at him delighted and felt your eyes wet. Friends... You liked the sound of that.

''I'd really like that.'' He smiled at you and drank some more of his wine. You looked at his plate and picked up a grape, biting into it heartily.

Friends. That was good. It would be good for you to make friends.

The hours passed and you had forgotten all your sorrows, your fears as you ate, drank and talked.

You felt like you had known them for years and you liked it.

Cleitus and Nearchus were two comedies. The two of them together were like comedians, cracking jokes and laughing. You had even gone so far as to squirt wine through your nose after they made you laugh.

At that point, you felt more comfortable and happy.

Really happy.

You could get used to it, with them if everything was different. It was a disturbing thought, but true.

Everything was calm and fun. With the loud laughter and the strong smell of alcohol, but it didn't last long.

Not when Alexander, visibly drunk and not a little, decided to open his mouth.

''I wish to marry (Y/N).''

The entire table fell silent and everyone looked back and forth between you and Alexander.

Your heart soared at his words.

Cleitus looked at you and frowned at your reaction. That wasn't right and he decided to protect you.

The previously happy environment had become hostile and not even the music masked the discouragement everyone felt at Alexander's announcement.

You closed your eyes, feeling like digging a hole like ostriches did and hiding your head. Or to cry. Either option would do.

This was too much to handle. You hadn't even been there for a whole day and a mess was about to break out. You just hoped it didn't end in anyone's murder.

How foolish you were to think you could live in peace for a while.

''What do you mean, Alexander?'' Hephaestion asked, sure he had misheard.

''What you heard.'' The King replied to his best friend, drinking some more of his wine. You frowned, but wisely kept quiet. It was better not to say anything at the moment.

''Did drink rob you of all your good judgment, my King?'' Cleitus sneered loudly and shamelessly, drawing everyone's attention.

Alexander's head turned towards Cleitus and he glared at the general with seething hatred. Your stomach lurched and nausea hit you, an urge to throw out all the food you'd consumed tonight. By god, or gods, you didn't know that much more, but you prayed to anyone that no one was killed.

Especially Cleitus.

You had seen Alexander's maddening gaze and felt dread. Not for you, but for others. For the people you came to enjoy the company of after this feast.

''Do you dare question me, Cleitus?'' Alexander's drunken voice could carry through the entire tent and you flinched at his tone.

Cleitus didn't answer, just sipped his wine and picked up a lone grape from his plate, popping it into his mouth. He didn't say anything, but disapproval was visible in the veteran general's gaze.

And that was enough for Alexander.

Everyone alarmed when Alexander rose from his chair, furious, and pointed an accusing finger at the general sitting next to him.

''I suggest you hold your tongue, Cleitus.'' Alexander snarled, placing callused hands on his waist. It would have been a comical sight, you supposed, since he wasn't very tall, but that didn't stop him.

No, it definitely wasn't an impediment.

Alexander might not be a tall man, but he was intimidating. And that was understandable, he had been trained since he was a child and was a warrior, a general and a King created to kill and conquer and destroy those who stand in his way without remorse.

He was a dangerous man. A man who could make you die in the most painful ways. And yet here you were, sharing a meal with him like it was nothing.

Cleitus rose from his chair, his face twisted into a grimace.

''Do you want to marry her?'' He pointed at you, and if you weren't scared, you could tell you were offended. ''Are you that drunk, Alexander?''

Alexander pushed his chair to the side and your eyes widened as he grabbed a sword from his waist.

''Think carefully about your next words.'' Alexander growled loudly and raised his sword, pointing it at the general at his side.

But Cleitus didn't listen to reason, he picked up his own sword and everyone's eyes widened as he placed it on the table.

The others rose cautiously, Ptolemy holding Cleitus by the arm with help from Nearchus, while Hephaestion and Perdiccas held Alexander. Cassander and Philotas watched all this with neutral, amused expressions.

Craterus and Parmenion looked tempted to intervene, but they didn't budge.

You got up from the table and tried to calm Cleitus. You couldn't let him die, not like this...

But he didn't care and neither did Alexander. The moment the general raised his sword, Alexander broke free of his friends' grip and lunged at the general. You screamed as Alexander thrust his sword into Cleitus' abdomen, and Cleitus screamed in pain and fell against you and those still holding him.

Alexander had stabbed Cleitus.

You didn't know what to do. You needed to help him, you needed to save his life. Cleitus shouldn't die now.

You wouldn't let him die now.

— lady l: ...I don't have anything to declare, except that maybe this wasn't the drama you expected? This is just a taste of the real drama to come! I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading and drink water!!

[aziraphales-library]

hi :))

I'm wondering if you have any cozy ineffable husbands human aus that kinda fit autumn? also angst with a happy ending would be nice

thanks!

Okay, these are the fics that came to mind for stories with somewhat cosy/autumnal vibes and some angst...

Acts of Prayer by Nadzieja (Series) (M-E)

Crowley is not a priest anymore, he has buried that part of his past long ago. Yet, fate brings him back to Tadfield where he'll have to confront a ghost from his past he hasn't seen in a very long time (but whose face might as well be carved onto his heart). [A Priest AU, with *a lot* of angst and a happy ending.]

is there anybody out there? by theycallmeDernhelm (E)

Welcome to the zombie apocalypse. England has been overrun by walking corpses, everything's gone to hell, and the few survivors are scattered- among them, Crowley and his 11-year-old son Warlock. When Crowley's radio signal is unexpectedly picked up by another group of survivors, he finds himself falling, in a way he never thought he'd fall again, for the charming and kindly Aziraphale. Over three seasons and a tenuous radio connection, a romance develops between them, while a friendship grows between Warlock and Aziraphale's nephew Adam. Love isn't dead (or undead) after all.

The Scarecrow by AppleSeeds (M)

The last surviving member of his family, Aziraphale inherits a crumbling 14th century cottage from his uncle. Staying in the cottage to catalogue his uncle's collection of rare books, Aziraphale combats his loneliness by speaking to the scarecrow in the neighbouring field. He awakes one night to find the scarecrow in his bedroom, mouth torn open, speaking to him... Crowley was cursed by a witch and turned into a scarecrow over five hundred years ago, but somehow Aziraphale's presence is changing him into something more human. While Aziraphale works to break the curse completely, the two of them spend a great deal of time together and find something special within each other, both discovering what it truly means to be free.

in the house we remain by commodorecliche (M)

Aziraphale buys a quiet cottage in the middle of the English countryside. It is perfect in every way: old-style, quaint, surrounded by wilderness, with a small water feature in the back and a price to rival that of any other property he's seen. He is in love from the moment he sees it. But when a mysterious set of books, all written by unknown author A.J. Crowley, appears on his book shelf, Aziraphale begins to wonder if there is perhaps more to this house than he'd originally believed. The truth can be buried, but it cannot stay hidden forever.

Under Construction by summerofspock (E)

Crowley has one goal: sell the run-down lodge in the Cascades that his uncle left him in his will. He doesn't expect to meet someone like Aziraphale, the kind handyman working on his uncle's property who turns out to be more of an enigma than Crowley first thought.

The Grindr Logo Doesn't Even Have a 'G' In It by indieninja92 (E)

After the Apocalypse, Aziraphale ventures into a new space in the gay milieu - Grindr. There he starts talking to a charming young man who certainly doesn't bear any resemblance at all to a certain long streak of demon, not one bit, no thank you. Meanwhile, Aziraphale and Crowley navigate their friendship after the world failed to end. There is much drinking and silliness, but could it be that there are other feelings lurking underneath?? Of course there are, this is fanfic.

- Mod D

[kradogsrats]

Schrödinger's King in the Bird Box

Time for a return to the single topic that most torments me in this entire franchise canon: is Harrow in the goddamn bird or not?

Except not really. I'm not going to go over the evidence again. I've done it before. Almost everyone has done it before. It has only gotten stronger. At the absolute minimum, an attempt was made to put Harrow in the bird. That's not really disputable. I admit it. It's over.

This is actually the second time that I've struggled with narrative cognitive dissonance regarding a real core factor of this show (like not "what's the deal with Archdragon reproduction," but something that is clearly supposed to be thought about with the intent that it will eventually make sense), and eventually managed to rotate it so hard in my mind that the way I wanted to see it slipped out of my grasp and I saw it the way it's actually intended. Ironically, I think I may have been thinking about the Ocean arcanum at the time.

Anyway, what previously always bothered me about this question was mainly two things:

It would have a devastating impact on Ezran's character development if Harrow reappeared during s1-s3, but the timeskip and arc of s4-s5 made it so it would also be deeply weird for him to reappear before the show ends.

If Harrow is in Pip's body, both Viren and Pip's subsequent behavior, as well as how Pip is treated by the narrative on a meta level, make absolutely no fucking sense.

But... if Viren doesn't know whether the spell was successful or not? If we are meant to not know whether the spell was successful or not, because it's not going to get resolved in the show itself?

If we accept that the earliest point with any chance of the hooks for this plot being set is late s7—because yes, Aaron Ehasz would do an exact beat-for-beat repeat of Zuko and his mom—that both puts Ezran far enough in his growth for it not to be threatened by the "real" king returning, and keeps Harrow out of the loop for long enough that it doesn't really make sense for him to do anything but step down from the throne in favor of Ezran, anyway. As for Viren and Pip's behavior, if the show isn't going to advance that plot much further during its runtime, there's no reason for us to be constantly reminded of it. The setup has been made, and they can just let it stew because it's not actually relevant.

That being said, Viren's behavior actually does make a lot of sense if "is Harrow in the goddamn bird or not" is a question that is also tormenting him. To that end, I'll be doing some digging here on the nature and context of the body-switching spell, Pip/Harrow's behavior post-swap, and what the hell is going on in the Harrow section of Viren's dark magic dream.

The Spell is Made Up (Unlike All Those Real Spells)

First of all, I think there's been some long-term incorrect assumptions made about the body-switching spell. It's not a known spell: this is Claudia and Viren essentially flying by the seat of their pants... but we rarely stop to think about how that contextualizes the rest of the discussion around it.

The initial plan is to find the assassins and ambush them before nightfall. As Soren points out and Viren himself confirms: if they fail, the assassins will be unstoppable under the full moon and Harrow is as good as dead. Claudia decides to put her mind to that problem, so naturally she stops to flirt with Callum in the library and gets the inspiration for the spell from something he says.

(Fun fact: none of that happens in the novelization. Zero amount.)

She brings the idea to Viren, and they develop the spell from there. It's not really clear if Claudia actually knows whether something like that would be possible, but Viren does know that transferring the essence of a person can be done—he's got a nice little coin collection that proves it.

As for the snake, there's no way Viren "acquired" a two-headed soulfang serpent because he has a book somewhere on how to use a rare, malformed specimen of a dangerous Xadian creature to switch people between bodies. He probably thought "that's weird, but could be useful," or maybe whoever sold it to him just had a great sales pitch. A non-trivial amount of success at dark magic is in having access to rarer and more powerful reagents than your competition.

Anyway, what this means is that Viren has absolutely no idea what success looks like for this spell, particularly when using it on subjects of different species. When he describes it to Harrow, he is 110% talking out of his ass. He sounds like he knows exactly what the spell will do and how, and I think a lot of us kind of fell for that. He needs to sound confident, because if he admitted that he doesn't know if it will even work, with a possible failure condition of "snake eats your soul," well... a) Harrow rightfully wouldn't go for it, and b) he'd look incompetent, which is the worst thing ever.

When he goes to Harrow's room, he casts the spell... but did it work? I think that whatever it did, it did it in a way that Viren can't tell whether it worked or not. Maybe both Harrow and Pip passed out. Maybe Viren just didn't want to hang around for the aftermath—in the novelization, when he exits the room and runs into Callum, his eyes are still black from spellcasting.

Activities of Dr. Pip Harrow, Ph.D.

Probably the thing that has always bothered me the most about the entire Harrow-Pip theory is that yes, literally everything in the lead-up and immediate aftermath of the assassination points to that being exactly what happened... and then the narrative lens of the show completely drops the rope. Pip doesn't even appear in the novelization until Viren's pre-coronation scene, which is funny given his looming presence over half the scenes with Harrow in the show.

Pip appears exactly twice after the assassination—once in s1 and once in s2—otherwise he goes completely ignored. He's not in the background of Viren's office, or the throne room, or Harrow's bedroom. No one ever mentions him ever again. Ezran never mentions him again, in the show or in any supplementary materials. You'd think the boy who can talk to animals might have some interest in his dead dad's beloved pet... but who knows, maybe Pip has always been an asshole and Ezran's actually like "thank goodness I never have to speak to that dude again."

Anyway, in all of Pip's appearances, he behaves like... a bird. A trained bird—Harrow can rely on him not just fucking off—but he doesn't demonstrate human-like intelligence the way Bait does. That being said, Bait is essentially a main-cast character (at least as much as, say, Corvus... maybe even Soren) while Pip is a plot device, and even then it takes until well into the first arc for Bait to show the kind of complex reasoning and initiative that separates him from an unusually smart dog. Pip's human is also a stressed-out king, rather than a rambunctious ten-year-old, so he's probably a bit more sedate overall. I would personally bet, given the way the show has progressed with regard to Xadian creatures, that Pip is as intelligent as Bait.

The point of that is: even if Harrow's consciousness is occupying Pip's body, he's not really doing anything with it. He's pissy, sure:

But is that Harrow's pissy-ness or Pip's? Even if Pip is only as intelligent as a trainable bird, that's plenty intelligent enough for both grieving/confusion that their human is gone and holding a grudge against obvious assholes. Viren cages him, but is that because he flipped out and got bite-y? And was it Harrow flipping out, or Pip? Or is he caged just because Viren's of the general attitude that animals belong in cages? Those who fail tests of love... We just don't know.

A lot of us also, to circle back to assumptions about the spell, have tended to think of a body swap between Harrow and Pip resulting in Harrow flailing his arms around wildly and screeching... but again, we know literally nothing about this spell, nor do we actually know anything about Harrow's behavior after Viren leaves his room. Maybe his body sat catatonic on the bed until Runaan came in and shot him. Maybe Pip, being intelligent, was able to maintain the facade—once everyone's in the heat of battle, it would be hard to notice even significant deviations from normal behavior. Even if "Harrow" appeared to fight only halfheartedly, or give up entirely... well, he hasn't been the same since he lost Sarai. Maybe the spell only partially worked, and only half of his soul is inside Pip, with minimal or no influence over the bird body's behavior.

Viren does appear to take some precautions in case Harrow is alive inside Pip. The cage, for one... but he also has nearly all subsequent important conversations outside of his office. Like I said earlier, Pip's cage isn't rendered in the background of any scene, but since he escapes from Viren's office I'm assuming that's where he's been. Even if Pip was just out of frame in every scene in Viren's office post-assassination through end of s2, the only things he's seen are... Viren eating butterflies, and the conversation between Viren and Claudia about the mirror and her side mission to bring the egg back at all costs. He doesn't know about Soren's instructions to murder the boys. He knows about the mirror and Viren's obsession with it (which he could have known before), but he doesn't know about Aaravos. He may know that Viren stole his seal but only if Viren was stupid enough to stamp the letters with it in front of him (which... look, he could be). The only things he's really learned are that a) his sons are alive, and b) Viren lied to him and the egg is alive.

Now, realistically, if we were meant to hang on to the is-Harrow-in-the-bird plot thread because it's going to be significant within the scope of the show... I'd be expecting to see at least one cut to Pip glowering at some point during all these machinations. If it weren't for the mirror and Aaravos, I'd expect Viren to be yelling all his monologuing at Pip, too. But the show does none of that. Instead, the next time we see Pip, we see him peace-ing out of the show for at minimum the next three seasons, and possibly the remaining two, as well. If Harrow's in there... why? Did he go to find Callum and Ezran himself? It's not actually clear that he knows Ezran can understand animals, so it would be reasonable for him to think Viren is his only chance at ever not being a bird again. Maybe he thinks that chance is gone with Viren's arrest and would rather not spend the rest of his life in a cage. Maybe he really isn't in control of the body.

Back to Viren, though: since Pip refuses to demonstrate any behavior that could be taken as distinctly Harrow's, Viren actually has no idea at any point whether Harrow's in there or not. He doesn't know if Harrow lived. He doesn't know if he succeeded or failed. It's a constant reminder that he's almost, but not quite, in control. Almost, but not quite, good enough to achieve what he wants.

It probably drives him absolutely insane.

Did You Think You Were Somehow Getting Out of This Without Me Mentioning Kpp'Ar?

Just kidding, it's finally time to talk about Viren's dream. We've gone two entire seasons and a two-year timeskip without any mention of Harrow or Pip (though those maniacs dropped the fucking snake basket on us as an incidental but obvious prop early in s4), and then suddenly we get punched in the face by Viren's subconscious.

First, though, I do actually need to point something out in the scene with Kpp'Ar. Bear with me, I promise this is relevant.

Viren sealed Kpp'Ar's soul in a coin 12-ish years ago, and the coin has been sitting collecting dust in his secret dungeon for... some amount of that time. Now he opens the door and finds Kpp'Ar standing there, free—and I will note that I don't believe Viren actually knows how to free people from the coins, or whether it can even be done. His reaction is surprise, followed by suspicion and wariness:

When he encounters Harrow—dead—his reaction is horrified shock, which is fair since the last time he entered the room that way there was no surprise body chilling out waiting for him in it:

Then, when Harrow speaks to him, suddenly alive and unharmed, he drops straight into relief:

Some of this is undoubtedly due to the differences between Viren's relationship with Kpp'Ar and his relationship with Harrow. With Kpp'Ar, after that initial moment of confusion, he's absolutely determined to not show a single hint of ignorance or weakness—this is a trick, or a test, and a passing grade in "light verbal sparring with the mentor you're pretty sure you remember betraying" is a thing that is both normal to want and possible to achieve. For Harrow, who he wants so desperately to call him brother, who he walked into this very room ready to die for, before everything went horribly awry—he not only immediately and willingly goes to his knees, he literally prostrates himself.

... I'll give everyone a moment to get all the innuendo and suggestiveness out of their systems, because that's not the point. This time.

What is the point is that Viren's reaction to Harrow isn't disbelief, but relief. Hope. Kpp'Ar is supposed to be in a coin, and Viren immediately questions how he got out. Harrow is supposed to be dead but Viren doesn't give a second thought to how he's not. Fortunately, Harrow helpfully explains:

Fun fact: back in s1, we don't actually see Viren actually taking action against the assassins. We don't even see evidence that he re-entered the room at all—it's only Soren and Claudia who participate in Runaan's capture.

I haven't actually touched a lot on the complex shit going on for Viren, emotionally, throughout all of this—I mentioned it's was probably driving Viren insane over the course of the first two seasons, but let me elaborate. If Viren successfully switched Harrow and Pip, that means Harrow survived... but he expressed his feelings on the proposal in no uncertain terms, and there's a good chance he will literally never forgive Viren. I don't think Viren thought far enough ahead to consider how to get Harrow into a human body again, but I do think he's dragging his feet on it a little because if he can work things to his advantage—unite the Pentarchy against Xadia and follow through on the war Harrow was avoiding—he'll prove to Harrow that he was right all along. Any chance of that flies out the window with Pip at the end of s2.

If the body-switching spell failed, it means Viren essentially killed Harrow himself. That's the reality I think he grows more and more resigned to over the course of s1 and s2, when Pip remains unresponsive. He had no choice but to take the best chance at saving someone he loved—but this time, instead of saving Harrow, he murdered him.

In the dream, Harrow has not only survived, but credits Viren with his survival. He doesn't just dismiss Viren's show of remorse, but makes his own apology to Viren. He calls Viren brother. After an impossibly long nightmare, everything is okay. All is forgiven. Maybe there was nothing to forgive, in the first place. Maybe Viren was right all along.

Then it all turns sinister with the callback to the coin incantation, and we have a sharp return to reality:

The cinematography here treats Pip a lot more like how I would expect him to be treated in s1/s2 if we were meant to know he was actually Harrow. There's focus actually on him, instead of just other characters' reaction to him. He "speaks"—as I noted in another post—in raspy sounds very unlike his songbird chirps from s1. This is absolutely Harrow as Viren actually left him—even if he's not dead, he's in a warped prison of dark magic, a perverse mockery of himself.

Oh wait.

Harrow-who-is-both-human-and-alive was never an option, and what we've got now is mirror images of Harrow-the-dead-human and Harrow-the-live-bird, and they're going to do to Viren what he did to them.

Now, it's not that none of this makes sense if Viren knows for sure that Harrow is in the bird... but it makes a lot less sense and has less emotional resonance. If Viren knows Harrow survived as Pip, he'd be more likely to question Harrow's human form than his survival—the way he does with Kpp'Ar. He might be more guarded, expecting hostility—which, I will note, is what he gets when Pip enters the scene. Instead, because until now he believed that he actually killed Harrow in his attempt to save him, he's so relieved to see Harrow alive that for that one moment he loses all pride and is ready to beg for forgiveness at Harrow's feet.

Since legitimately none of this makes sense if Viren didn't at least attempt to put Harrow in the bird, we're left with Harrow maybe or maybe not alive, Viren having maybe or maybe not been the one to actually kill him (gonna be a fun one with the Runaan context), and a plotline that is definitely not going to be resolved in the remaining two seasons of the show. I'd be kind of surprised if they even did any more setup for it (like Callum/Ezran finding out it's a possibility, or even a hint drop like Runaan being all "it was fucking weird, he just sat there" or something) outside of future supplemental media.

Conclusion

Either Harrow is alive and in the bird, with the future intent being to do a spinoff story The Search-style, or we're in for a huge bummer of a "actually, it was Viren all along who killed Harrow, therefore Runaan is a good guy and we can all be one happy family" pile of absolute bullshit. Yes, they said Harrow's dead. Harrow's body is dead, we knew that all along. There's a note in the artbook that Viren was actually going to rip the shroud off at Harrow's funeral in order to publicly prove it's his body, because that is an extremely normal thing to do.

The show just treats it extremely weirdly because, even as the only person with any chance of knowing, Viren is in the same uncertain boat as the rest of us. (Actually more uncertain than the rest of us, since he's not genre-aware.) Also it's another chance to torment Viren emotionally, and they'd never pass that up.

Thanks for coming to my absolutely ridiculous TED Talk on this topic, I hope this screenshot now does as much psychic damage to you as it does to me:

[lakesbian]

it's the moment like 4 of you have been waiting for:

i finally rotated pact creature design in my brain enough to post about it. to all the people who sent me asks wanting to hear my thoughts explaining Why Pact Creatures Are So Good this ones for you.

the core of pact's monster design boils down to one very good fact about pact's worldbuilding: in the world of pact, the universe canonically loves a good story. magic literally runs on themes and ideas. subsequently, strong themes aren't the end result of pact's monster design so much as they are the most fundamental aspect of it--meaningful themes and narratives are such a textually important part of how pact monsters work that one bogeyman outright tries to start a conversation with blake by, upon noticing the birdhouse in his soul (tm), asking if birds are important to him.

what really seals the deal on this being fascinating is that pact monsters aren't invented wholesale--a lot of the book hinges on offering its own explanations for preexisting folklore or urban legend. pact takes a variety of common threads in the way cultural myths & monsters are presented, picks out the conceptions with compelling implications, and distills them into one design so thematically coherent and clarifying that it makes you go "ohhh, why aren't All ghosts/dragons/fae like this? this is Exactly What They're Supposed To Be."

like, we all know that ghosts are dead people, and oftentimes the appearance and/or behavior they're written as having is either implicitly or explicitly based on reenactments of their past life/how they died, and sometimes they're depicted as lucid but more often than not they're depicted more like broken or warped remnants of a person, and sometimes they make things colder/give off Bad Emotional Vibes/etc. those are generally true assertions about how ghosts are often culturally presented.

pact takes that and explicitly declares that ghosts are what happens when something so bad happens that an imprint of the resultant misery is left on the fabric of the universe. some ghosts appear horrifying because their appearance is warped and exaggerated beyond what's realistically possible to match how awful whatever happened to them felt. some ghosts are more lucid because their imprint is more recent, or has been strengthened and fed by human attention instead of left to decay. some ghosts are less lucid because they were forgotten. when ghosts make the atmosphere feel awful to be in, that's because the ghost isn't just the imprint of the person, it's an imprint of the awful thing itself. incredibly interesting! it feels so very much like the absolute heart of what ghost stories are about--about the grief and horror of being impacted by the ever-present echo of something terrible, about something so viscerally wretched happening that reality itself cannot forget it, about the emotionally powerful interactions between someone still-living and the memory of someone already long gone.

(pact also gives an aside that, in very rare scenarios, neutral or arguably even positive occasions which leave a sufficiently strong enough impression can also become ghosts. genuinely fascinating expansion.)

& the thing here is that pact does this for creatures like ghosts that are already richly thematic and iconic, but it Also does it for creatures with less obvious theming. how do dragons work? what's pact's underlying explanation for their position as immortal, powerful, regal, fire-breathing* fantasy monsters?

*&, depending on the media, sometimes ice-breathing or poisonous or whatever else

well, you see, dragons are recursive loops. "dragons are recursive loops" is perhaps one of the Top All Time sentences in the entire book, and the delightful thing is that, in addition to sounding excellent, it makes sense.

that's how they generate and spit out so much of whatever their element is. they're snarls. they're ouroboroses. they're something feeding into itself, self-sustaining for thousands of years, drowning anything which threatens it in torrents of whatever the self-feeding element is--fire, sometimes, but it could be poison, or ice, or whatever else, and that's why you've probably heard of ice dragons in addition to classic fire dragons. Dragons Are Recursive Loops. recursiveness is, after all, a form of immortality.

or, like, fae? we all know that faeries are incomprehensibly old/outright immortal Tricky Little Bitches who like to manipulate people while posing in an inhumanly/horrifically beautiful fashion and going "teehee." pact takes that to a fantastically surreal level of extreme artifice, one that's almost grotesque in its dreamlike nature--they have all lived for so very long that, to them, boredom is worse than death, and so they have complicated social games spanning centuries, and speak in the most practiced of misleading wordplay, and perfectly curate their forests so that even the smallest pebble is an intentionally-chosen setpiece for their play. they graduated from handjobs a couple dozens of millennia ago--now they're more into erotic-poetic descriptions of full-body degloving. you will not notice when a faerie steals and replaces your child, because you are very young and stupid compared to them, and playing-pretend at being your child is only the briefest of trifles in their unfathomably long lifespan.

the other good bit is that pact explicitly acknowledges that faeries run on what is colloquially deemed Bullshit--the universe likes a good story, and faeries have gotten very good at telling it a moving story. if a faerie tells a good enough story about having a sword that breaks the laws of physics, then that is what their sword will do. and so the way to combat faeries is not to out-bullshit them--because no one is out-bullshitting a being with thousands of years of bullshitting practice--but to say "no, that's fucking stupid and made up" until their implausibly long sword acts like a sword of that size actually should and shatters on the spot.

& all of these writing decisions feel so naturally truthful to what these creatures are Supposed to be--they're really not wholly new takes, they're a presentation of preexisting ideas in a way that gets why those ideas appeal to people and goes full-throttle on all the most thematically rich or otherwise narratively interesting parts. It's Good Writing. I Like It. you could spend an entire essay breaking down the presentation of literally any single one of pact's creatures, it's that compelling in its reflection and organization of Ideas About Creatures.

[marsprincess889]

ANALYZING "THE TWILIGHT SAGA" WITH VEDIC ASTROLOGY

Fall is here and I've decided to rewatch Twilight, all 5 movies. The franchise is a phenomenon that most can't explain. We all know that it's very bad but also excellent and no one can deny the cultural impact it had. I was 10 when the last movie came out and I remember how everything was saturated with it. The movies serve as a time capsule and when I first watched all the movies last year, even though I've never seen them before, Breaking Dawn p.2 still catapulted me back to 2012. It's a really good way to learn recent history 😅.

Whether you like it or not, Twilight is an important part in pop history. You've obviously heard of the "still a better love story than Twilight" joke, at the very least.

Anyways, I want to analyze the movies via vedic astrology, specifically, nakshatras. We'll start with the author of the books, Stephenie Meyer.

Stephenie Myer has Sun-Moon-Rahu conjunction in Mula nakshatra.

Mula deals with everything abnormal, with horrors hidden in plain sight. It has a strong connection to animals and creatures that are considered dangerous. Overall, Twilight is still about Bella finding out about the supernatural and even falling in love with and becoming such a creature. The gloomy atmosphere of the first movie really suits Mula because of its Ketu rulership and the city of Forks really suits Ardra- Mula's yoni consort, but I'll talk about that in a second. First, let's begin with the characters.

Bella Swan

Kristen Stewart - Hasta moon (Revati sun, Rohini ascendant)

The modern myth of Persephone

In many ways, Twilight mirrors the myth of Persephone. Kristen's moon nakshatra- Hasta being tied to this goddess, she plays a convincing transition from innocence and inexperience into reaching your full potential through transformation. Hasta nakshatra is in the middle of Virgo- the most material sign, connected to the 6th house of everyday worldly matters. It's female at her most independent and untainted, either completely shutting off male influence or completely embracing it.

So, Hasta is Persephone, Queen of the dead who was abducted by the God of the dead and underwold- Hades while she was still just an innocent maiden, picking flowers with her friends.

We see Bella being defined by her surroundings and relationships, which is a common complaint that people have while watching this movie, but that's precisely why she's the modern Persephone. Persephone was loved by her mother - Demeter, but she was also rarely, if ever mentioned without her mother in mythologies as Kore, the maiden, before she became Persephone- Queen of the Dead. Bella manages to stand out with her awkwardness and uniqueness even though, by stereotypical standards, she "has no personality". Eventually, her romance with Edward triggers a deep and fast transformation, symbolized in the movies by Bella becoming a vampire, and what a vampire she became.

Bella's transformation and power

We see that Bella as a newborn vampire has impressive self control and nice skills. She also gained a power to shield. Now, Hasta in females often manifests as extreme defensiveness. It's the nakshatra of the female being closed off or completely open, and we see Bella opening up completely to Edward, his family her own family and Jacob while shutting off any other influence, thus, protecting herself and those who she opened up to from anything.

Hades is connected to Bharani nakshatra. Let's move over to the Hades in Twilight.

Edward Cullen

Robert Pattinson- Ardra Moon (Krittika sun, Bharani ascendant)

Ardra- the yoni consort of Mula (dog yonis) is known as "the moist one". It almost always rains in the city of Forks (at least in the movie version of it, lol) and it's almost always gloomy. Mula and Ardra being yoni consorts, it makes sense why Stephenie Meyer wrote about the Ardra archetype. Ardra (and rahu nakshatras in general) are connected to inherited wealth, and we see that Edward's family is most likely the richest one in town. Wealth doesn't substitute for happiness, though, and Ardras are almost always tortured souls who struggle a lot internally but maintain a cold exterior, that cracks sometimes to unleash all the angst and anger that has been held inside. Edward is definitely a tortured soul who makes things a lot more complicated then they are. He doesn't even believe he has a soul for most of the franchise. Ardra men are also frequently seen as extremely attractive by women, especially because they always have hidden depths.

Besides that Ardra archetype, Edward serves as a Hades figure who falls in love with the innocent Persephone- Bella, who, like Persephone, eventually becomes a force to be reckoned with. Robert Pattinson has Bharani ascendant, the nakshatra connected to that God and the underworld.

All the ways Kristen and Robert's nakshatras connect mythologically

Hasta and Bharani - Persephone and Hades

Rohini and Krittika - Eve and Adam

Hasta/Rohini and Krittika - The Moon and The Sun

Revati and Bharani - yoni consorts (!!)

The love triangle and enemy yonis

Jacob Black

Taylor Lautner - Krittika moon, Dhanishta sun, Krittika ascendant

The wolves in Twilight are depicted as complete opposites of the vampires. They're impulsive, forward, outwardly aggressive and temperamental, whereas vampires are characterised by more self-control, coldness and refinment.

Besides both of them being Krittika, Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson have enemy yoni nakshatras: Taylor's Dhanishta sun_ mars ruled and lion yoni, outwardly aggressive and more forward and Robert's Bharani ascendant_ venus ruled, elephant yoni, internally very selective and outwardly more compliant and refined, more subtle. None of them are better than the other, but since Bella is the protagonist, vampires and Edward in particular are more frquently painted in the positive light.

I've also seen more movies where enemies are actually played by actors or actresses with enemy yoni nakshatras. It's one of the most common patterns I've observed.

So, Jacobs's lion yoni, martian demeanor frequently clashed with Bella's and Edward's elephant yoni nakshatras. It's interesting that both of those yonis are kings of the jungle and fight for authority. Traditionally, elephant yonis are associated with authority and lion yonis are their disruptors and these films certainly showcase that in the form of the love triangle.

Renesmee Cullen

Mackenzie Foy - Bharani moon (Vishakha sun, Krittika ascendant)

I always associated Bharani females with the archetype of being born into a family where they play the role of a sort of "princess" who adopts her family's ways from an early age (I hope this made sense). You know, the chiefdan's daughter or the headstrong capricious princess in fairy tales, those are all tropes I associate with Bharani.

Besides that, Bharani is another nakshatra associated with Persephone and seeing as Jacob imprints on her WHEN SHE'S A LITERAL NEWBORN, I think we have a repetition of the Persephone- Hades myth. Also, Jacob is double Krittika and Renesmee is Bharani and the female Bharani- male Krittika dynamic is the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Jacob being assigned to protect Renesmee and saving her life is definitely connected to that myth. Also, we have a lot of Krittikas in this franchise.

Bonus: The Volturi

Two out of the 3 rulers of Volturi have Venus nakshatra moons:

Michael Sheen as Aro - Purva Phalguni moon

Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius - Bharani moon

Makes sense since they're considered the elite and Venus is tied with elitism.

So, this is pretty much all I wanted to say. If you liked this post please interact with me, like, comment, reblog or even message me. Happy fall equinox and take care 🤍🧛🏻👩🐺

[yuriisclumsy]

𝖯𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗎𝖾, 𝙰𝚌𝚝 𝙸𝙸: Honorary Knights

First Chapter | Last Chapter | Next Chapter

𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗈𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝖻𝗒 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗅𝗒. 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝:2430

Authors note: Sup, how's everyone's day? Amazing as usual I presume? Anywho- I've been trying out this new style of drawing as mine solidifies. Also, I've realized that if I make less drawings with colors these chapters go a lot faster because I can't continue writing if I have an idea for a scene. I NEED to finish the drawing then go back to writing (It's rare if I continue writing after an idea).

A week has passed since I discovered I was in a game.

Sirius helped clear the final temple, returning Mondstadt's elemental flow back to normal after a week straight of work. Paimon and he were on their way to Acting Grand Master Jean to report the good news.

Unfortunately for me, I happen to be walking in the same direction to renew the book I borrowed from librarian Lisa, lest she comes looking for me if I don’t inform her I need more time with it.

Talk about bad luck.

“So, [Name], what’s new? Do you have something interesting to tell us?” Paimon questioned me.

“Nope. Got nothing new,” I did not look at her when I said that.

She stumps her little foot in the air. “What? What about that book you’ve been reading?! Have you not learned anything new after a week of reading it!?” 

“Well, it’s nothing new for you. But it’s new for me. Lost memories, remember?”

“...What is the book about anyway?” She asked instead of responding to me.

“Teyvat’s history. I finished reading it, and I’m getting another one. This one was a very old edition.”

“Is Teyvat’s history that interesting to you?”

“Yes, very,” I nod. “What about you two? Anything else besides reporting back to Master Jean?”

“I wanted to ask them about the teardrop we found in the forest,” Aether responded. “It was left behind by Stormterror, so maybe they know what it is.”

“Good thinking! It could also help us deal with stormterror easier.”

Reaching the Knight's Headquarters, we saw Master Jean who appeared to be talking with someone.

“Look, it’s Jean!” Paimon pointed at her. “Who is she talking to?”

She seems to be talking to a woman. She had a black outfit with purple here and there; her hair a burned-blonde, bangs that rested right above her eyebrows; her face hidden behind a gray mask. 

She spelled trouble through-and-through.

“Don’t know. But I have a gut feeling that she’s no good,” I said, eyeing her with distrust.

“Let’s wait for her to finish,” Sirius said. “We can wait on the side over here. I don’t want to be in the middle of the street.”

As we waited, we saw the frustration from both ends of the party. Jean looked adamant about her position, while the masked woman seemed to be irritated; she looked like she was trying hard to convince Jean to whatever she wanted from her.

I remember this part of the story. Jean gets pressured by a Fatui agent –a Snezhnayan diplomat– Anastasia, to kill Dvalin. Amalia warned me about them: 

“Never. Ever. Trust the Fatui.”

The scary part about that was how she looked dead serious. Before then, I had never seen that side of her. The fact she changed so quickly too… I got nightmares for a month straight; Amalia would come in and tell me how I was a bad friend.

Ahg, I get shivers just thinking about it…  I looked back at two political figures. I’ll trust Amalia and my gut feeling about the Fatui. Note to self: “Don’t talk to the Fatui.”

“Looks like she’s done talking to that person!” Paimon announced. “Let’s go talk to her.”

Jean’s gaze followed the masked woman, face laced with worry. Her eyes then darted towards us as we got in her peripheral view.

“Oh, Traveler, you're back,” she noticed I was with him, “and company… Is she the one you and Amber were talking about?”

“Yup!” Paimon confirmed. “This is [Name], our traveler buddy and official cook!” Her eyes sparkled at the mention of cooking.

I sighed, turning my attention to Jean. I smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Master Jean.”

“Likewise,” she reciprocated the smile.

“Now that everyone is acquainted, Paimon has to ask. Who was that just now?”

“First, I would like to thank you,” she looked at Sirius, “Lisa informed me that the elemental flow is finally stable because of your help, and skill. For that, you have Mondstadt’s gratitude.”

Sirius scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed for getting compliments.

“Is someone getting shy now?~” Paimon teased.

“Leave him alone Paimon. He actually did something, unlike someone.”

“I told you, Paimon is moral support, moral support!”

“Anyway–” Jean intervened before she had to break up a fight, “the aftermath of Stormterror’s last attack is finally settled for the moment. But not the pressure from the delegation, in fact, it has become too big to ignore.”

“Delegation? From Liyue, or Inazuma City?” Paimon asked.

“Snezhnaya,” she paused and then continued, “they choose to follow the god of Cryo. Their envoys go by a particular name: The Fatiu. Heard of them?”

“Are you kidding? They are famous! Wait, infamous is more of the word.”

“Let me guess, the Fatui wants to take Stormterror down, right?” I said fully knowing the answer to the question.

“Correct. I don’t think killing Stormterro will do anyone any good, nor do I think it’s the right action to take. The Cryo god’s Fatui have always coveted the Anemo god’s power.” She had the same worried face I saw when the Fatui woman left, “I don’t believe they have Mondstatd’s best interest at heart.” I nod in agreement.

“Speaking of power…” Sirius began.

“What is it?”

“I have something I need to show the Knights,” he finished.

“Oh? Then let us go inside the Headquarter. We shouldn't discuss important matters…” she looked around, “out in the open.”

Jean led us inside. Before I stepped foot inside her office I stopped. Jean noticed and turned to see if everything was fine.

“Sorry guys, I need to return this book to Lisa,” I said from just outside the office.

“I see,” she understood and said nothing else about it, she knew how Lisa could be when a book was missing. “Before you go, could you do me a favor?”

“Yes. What is the favor?”

“Once you’re done, tell Lisa to come to my office please. We might need her.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her,” Jean closed the door dismissing me. I skipped a few steps to reach the other side of the building faster.

I opened the door to the library and went in. I looked at the front desk only to find it empty.

Lisa’s not there… Maybe she’s over here. I walked through the first floor, but no Lisa in sight.

Not here either… Going downstairs, I ran through the whole floor as there wasn’t anyone in the room, yet she wasn’t there either.

Where is she!? I yelled internally. So, she can miss a day, but we can’t? Talk about unfairness.

“Hi, darling.”

“AHHHHH!” I turned around but managed to slip due to a paper on the floor. “Ouf–! Awo! That hurt…!” rubbing my butt, the voice reached out their hand to help me up. I looked up and saw, the one-and-only, Lisa!

“Oh, dear, are you alright?” I took her hand and responded.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” I lied. My butt still hurts.

“You keep on getting scared whenever I greet you. I’m not that scary to you, am I?” She sounded hurt asking that.

I rolled my eyes. You look harmless, but you’re a rose with pesky thorns… That’s what Amalia has said anyway.

“Of course not, miss Lisa,” I dismissed her. I faked an innocent smile and said, “You look average to me.” 

It looked like an arrow had hit her bullseye in the heart. She was mumbling how cruel youngsters are nowadays, and how, begin quote, ‘her beauty is fading because of her age,’ end quote.

I didn’t mean my comment obviously. I only said that to get back at her for the two times she’s given me a heart attack. She looks young for her age, that’s for sure.

“What are you back here for, returning the book I presume?” She asked me, leaving behind the commentary I made like I never said it in the first place.

“Yes, you see, the one I have is outdated–a century outdated to be precise–of the history of Teyvat,” I explained.

She hummed, “yes, I remember. I found it quite odd that you wanted to read such an old book. Now I know why.” She turned and waved her hand in a follow-me motion, “Come, I know exactly where the newer version is.”

We moved to the section that Amber showed me when I came here last time. Looking at it now, the history section was much bigger than I remembered.

“Here it is!” Lisa handed me a book. “This is the newest version, it came out a year ago.”

“Thank you again, miss Lisa,” I thanked her as I eyed the book.

I wonder what they added.

“Please, this is nothing compared to the work I had to do the past week,” she rubbed her shoulders. “Taking care of the Temples of the Four Winds was more of a hassle than I had imagined.”

We walked up the stairs and stood by the front desk.

“You’re being too modest. Thanks to you and the others, Mondsatdt has one less thing to worry about.”

“Thank you again, sweet-pie,” she smiled. “I checked out the book already, so you’re as free as a bird.”

“Thank you,” I lightly vowed and walked toward the door.

!

I almost forgot!

“Oh! Miss Lisa?”

“Yes?”

“Master Jean asked for you, she is in her office.”

“Ah, thank you for informing me. Now shoo, off you go,” she pushed me out of the library as she herself went out, locking it with a key after she made sure there was no one else inside.

“[Name], if you ever find yourself unable to find a quiet place to read, go to windrise. It was nice weather, and if you’re lucky, you’ll hear the soft strumming of a lyre.”

“Thank you for the advice,” I thanked her for the third time today. I walked out of the Headquarters and made my way to find a place to sit and read.

I can go to Windrise like Lisa suggested, I looked up to the blue, and the sky is clear. Oh! There is a Statue of the Seven there! I can try and obtain powers similar to how the MC did in the game— well, better said how Sirius did. Plus, there is a big space to test out the System.

The air near the sea is the best… I breached in the air.

I basked in the atmosphere underneath the massive oak tree, the symbol of Mondstadt’s hero – Vannessa.

The trail from Mondstadt City to Windrise was perfect. Not a single monster interfered, with a few slimes that minded their own business when I passed by. It was a bit strange, since I remembered they attacked on sight. But, this is the world of Genshin, some things are bound to change.

“All right, time to get to work. System!”

“I’m sorry, I can’t make a proper analysis at the moment,” Lisa said.

“Huh? But Paimon thought you were able to see some impurities.”

“Correct. But it’s not enough for me to come to a conclusion,” she turned to Jean and Sirius, “give me some time. I’ll take a look through the library's restricted section.”

Jean nods. “I’ll leave all the research to you then, Lisa,” she looks at the outlanders.

“I’ll notify you all if I make any progress,” she went closer to the crystal, “thought I wouldn’t go getting your hopes up. They are incredibly ancient texts, not to mention—Ouch!” Lisa retracted her hand from the object as the force of the impurities hurt her. “Gosh, that hurt!”

“Are you okay?” Jean worriedly asked, checking her friend from any injuries. The other two were just as concerned.

“Now, now, you three are looking at me like I’m half-dead. I’m fine. The impurities in the crystal…” she looked at it before continuing, “it hurts when I get close…” She hummed in thought. “It appears to react to Visions, repealing it even.”

“What? How can that happen?” Paimon asked.

“I’m not going over the details, if not we'll be here for days-on-end. All you need to know is that the impurities and the elemental energy we embody repel each other.”

“Really?” She looked at Sirius, “then why is he able to hold it?”

“That is a good question, and a question I don’t have the answer to, unfortunately.”

“...” Sirius stayed silent through the whole interaction. What could be in his mind?

“Anyway, the crystal would be better left in the hands of my cutie,” Sirius places the crystal back in his bag. “It will be a pain if left with – both literally and metaphorically.”

“Okay. I will keep it.”

“Fascinating… Do you know anything about what makes you special?” Jean asks Sirius in wonder. He nods in solidarity.

“Well, that's the end of that,” Paimon said.

“Traveler…” Jean called, “the knights of Favonius have another favor to ask of you. Please accept the title of honorary Knight and the gratitude of the Acting grand Master.”

“Honorary Knight…of Favonius?!” Paimon gave Sirius a smirk, “look at you go. You just arrived in Mondstadt and already have a super cool title! Paimon is impressed.” Sirius puffed his chest with pride.

“We gotta tell [Name] once we see her. Oouu, she’s going to make that angry face again, Paimon can just tell!” she says excitedly with a small fire in her eyes when she thinks of your face.

“Then this is a meeting concluded,” Jean dismissed then. “We’ll meet back here if you find anything.”

“Okey-Dokey! Let’s go!” Paimon and Sirius walk out of the office leaving Lisa and Master Jean alone.

“What peculiar little creatures they all are…”

“What are you mumbling about?” Jean inquired after hearing Lisa mumble.

“Oh, nothing. Just complaining about how I haven’t had a proper nap since the incident with stormterror started,” she lied.

“Don’t worry. Soon, we can all rest properly,” Jean reassured.

A little far from the Knight’s Headquarter…

“Okay, we’re far from the knights to hear us,” Paimon stands–floats–in front of Sirius, making him stop. “There’s something you didn't tell them. The boy. The one that communicated with the dragon, kinda hard to miss.”

“I know, Paimon. But I’d like to investigate on my own first,” Sirius explained to her. “And I don’t think he’s a bad guy.”

“So you do remember him,” a boy in green caught her eyes, “he looked just like the guy down there!” Sirius looked at the guy Paimon pointed at.

“The exact same shade of green, what a coincidence. Seems like green is a popular color.”

“See? See? Wait… Hold on a minute… that… that's the same guy!”

“Hmm… looks like him,” he said nonchalantly.

“Stop joking around and let’s go after him!”

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ᘻɑ𝘚Ե୧Ⲅ⧿ℓἱ𝘚Ե

[pooks]

alright, time to dive into part 5; the Alabasta Saga feat. straw hat!Ichiji

into the Grand Line and encountering Laboon

we start first at the Reverse Mountain Arc, where our heroes passes the Red Line and into the Grand Line. Ichiji is very excited and unfortunately, gets a massive panic-induced anxiety attack.

i mean, come on. first, they nearly crash into the mountain when they're riding on the stream up the mountain, then they almost crashed into a giant whale and then, they get EATEN by the same whale

Ichiji stays with his crew while Luffy got (briefly) seperated from them. Ichiji is very confused about how they ended up in a resort (?) inside the whale and meets the strange old man, Crocus.

compared to the rest, Ichiji appreciates Crocus' sense of humor and finds him very humorous.

Ichiji is very touched by the story of Laboon and the pirates he's waiting for. like Sanji, he's realistic about the possible theory that the pirates might be dead.

he is, just like the others, very agitated and panics when Luffy decides to fight Laboon...and in his weird way, makes a promise to return.

log poses and two weirdos

after they gets to the surface, Nami notices that the two weirdos who tried to kill Laboon, Mr.9 and Miss Wednesday, are missing. Ichiji coldly says that he doesn't care what happened to them and they could get eaten by giant sea squids. Nami gives him a slap on the head for his tactless remark while Sanji laments to her that his older brother is a little petty and holds onto grudges too easily.

Ichiji is concerned when Nami panics about her compass malfunctioning when she draws plans for their Grand Line journey. when they got the explanation about log poses, the magnetism in the Grand Line, Ichiji remarks that he forgot something and pulls up a small leather book.

Sanji recognizes it and yells at him why he has it. Ichiji, with a small smirk, tells them that Zeff gave him his old logbook, which contains his detailed journey in the Grand Line. Sanji seethes a little, obviously jealous that Zeff trusted Ichiji with his prized logbook.

Ichiji instead asks Crocus if log poses was common to buy in the Grand Line and gets the bad news that they would be, unfortunately, stuck at Twin Capes since they can't travel without a log pose. then Luffy reveals having a log pose, the very one Mr.9 dropped.

Luffy and Sanji ends up accidently breaking it, though, and Ichiji takes this as a sign to return to the ship, not in the mood of dealing with his little brother and his silly romance antics.

later, then they're approached by Mr.9 and Miss Wednesday and being asked to travel to Whiskey Peak, Ichiji is against it since he doesn't trust people who just tried to kill their whale friend. his vote is vetoed, since Luffy decides to go to Whiskey Peak anyways and captain's word is law.

the straw hats, along with their new guests, sets sail for Whiskey Peak and Ichiji briefly wonders if their new destination has their namesake drink. Usopp wonders why, which Ichiji reveals it's his favorite drink.

Whiskey Peak, a town that welcomes pirates?

upon docking by Whiskey Peak, where they're greeted by a large crowd that seems to adore and welcome pirates, Ichiji is suspicious. he's grown up with a lot of pirate tales from the Baratie and he knows that people welcoming pirates is very rare.

he's visibly annoyed when Usopp, Luffy and Sanji instantly falls for the welcome. during the party in a tavern, Nami is easily lured into a drinking game for some prize money. Ichiji and Zoro bonds a little over their suspicions, being the only ones with rational mindsets. Zoro reveals to Ichiji, being on his 12th drink, that he actually likes Sanji but gets annoyed with his constant womanizing. he also tells that he finds a good friend in Ichiji. the latter appreciates his honesty.

Ichiji, still being suspicious of the overly warm welcome by the town, cooks up a plan in his head. he puts on an act and feigns a migraine, asking the "mayor" if there's a quiet place he can sleep. Ichiji "sleeps" in a smaller room, but takes his chance to quickly make a decoy doll (made up from sacks of potatoes ) and hides it under the bed he's borrowing. when he's being checked on, Ichiji is lying on the bed and pretends to sleep.

while his crew has seemingly collapsed by exhaustion, Ichiji takes his chance to place the decoy on the bed and sneak outside onto the rooftops to investigate his surroundings. he overhears the exchange between Zoro and the "townspeople" and realizes that they're in a bounty hunters' nest. he hides inside an empty house and as soon as a bounty hunter runs past, he ambushes him and steals the clothes and weapons, successfully infiltrating the bounty hunters.

revealing princess Vivi and fighting Mr.5 and Miss Valentine

Ichiji sneaks around and evades Zoro, deciding against joining the fight. he knows about Baroque Works and which high-ranking agents are here, but he feels that he's missing an important piece of the puzzle. he also puts his faith in Zoro and decides that his friend got this covered.

we find out that Ichiji has enhances senses, which is proven when he hears the entire reveal of Miss Wednesday's identity; princess Vivi of Alabasta and that the boss of Baroque Works, Mr.0, has ordered her eliminated.

he makes the decision to join the fight, but using the element of surprise to his advantage. when Vivi is cornered by Mr.5 and Miss Valentine, he surprises them by putting a bullet into one of Mr.5's hands.

Ichiji, standing on a high building, takes off a cowboy's hat and it landes by the agents' feet. he lets himself being revealed in the moonlight, introducing himself as Scarlet Ichiji of the Straw Hat Pirates and mocks Baroque Works at the same time.

"Oh, I thought I sensed a foul stence around here. I understand that your highly esteemed boss, Mr.0, sent you two here to this backwater island, just because he felt threatened by a princess finding out his dirty little secrets? How embarrassing. Mr.5 and Miss Valentine, how about you'll return to your boss with the shameful message that Scarlet Ichiji of the Straw Hat Pirates defeated you?"

Zoro, who just intercepted an "explosive booger" from Mr.5, smirks and remarks that now it's a fair fight, obviously happy that Ichiji is here and he made a badass entrance.

Luffy vs. Zoro and escaping Whiskey Peak

Zoro and Ichiji works together to fight their opponents, but they don't get very far when Luffy catches up to them and starts to fight Zoro, due to a misunderstanding

Ichiji is very annoyed by this and he now defends Vivi on his own, fighting Miss Valentine and Mr.5. the latter is still very furious at Ichiji for taking out one of his hands and Ichiji finds Miss Valentine extremely annoying, as her haughty laughter starts to trigger his temper.

the agents gets quickly taken down when Zoro and Luffy are irritated by their interference. Ichiji stays out of their fight and ensures that Vivi is safe. Luffy and Zoro are taken down by a pissed off Nami.

the four straw hats gets a fully explanation from Vivi regarding the state of Alabasta, the civil war, who pulls on the strings and the accidental reveal of the Mr.0; Crocodile, one of the seven warlords

Ichiji remarks that's he couldn't be less surprised about Luffy and Zoro's excited reactions and Nami's despair. things gets worse when the Unluckies discovers them and marks them as wanted. Ichiji takes this as a sign that they have no choice than to deliver Vivi to Alabasta and fight Crocodile.

Nami is especially upset at his lack of reaction and resigning himself to his fate. Ichiji simply smiles at her and tells her that a long time ago, he made a vow to never turn away anyone asking for help.

Igaram, formerly known as Mr.8 and the captain of the guard of Alabasta, plans a decoy to allow the straw hats to safely escape Whiskey Peak and deliver Vivi to Alabasta. Ichiji remarks that a decoy was risky, but he understands the importance of the mission. however, it goes horribly wrong when Igaram's ship is attacked and seemingly dies. the straw hats decides to take the chance to escape now.

Luffy fetches Sanji and Usopp and they all boards the Merry. Sanji and Usopp, being out of the loop, complains and Nami "sets them right".

Miss All Sunday and heading to Alabasta

not long after they've escaped and after both Sanji and Usopp got everything explaineed, they're unnerved by the surprise entrance of Mr.0's partner; Miss All Sunday (aka Nico Robin)

everyone aims their weapons at her, deeming her as a threat to Vivi. Ichiji, in a surprising twist, doesn't gear up for a fight. instead, he looks up at her with folded arms.

Miss All Sunday neutralizes them quicker than they can see. but she takes the chance to look down at Ichiji and asks why he wasn't prepared to attack unlike his captain and crew mates.

"Because you have something to say. Considering that you are partner to Mr.0, you could've had us killed before speaking up. My theory is that you're here for a reason."

the rest of the straw hats are surprised how quickly Ichiji figured it out. Sanji remarks in his mind that Ichiji is the brains between them; the strategist, always trying to figure out the big picture.

Miss All Sunday seems to be interested in Ichiji, both of them having a brief staring match (first Ichiji/Robin moment!) before she offers them an eternal pose that leads to a different, faster route to Alabasta or they take the longer route, where they might be attacked by more agents and reveals they'll head towards a place called Little Garden.

Luffy takes the decision in his head, though and crushes the eternal pose, saying that she doesn't make the decisions on his ship. Miss All Sunday takes her leave in a rather amiable way, saying that they'll meet again.

soon after she's left, Ichiji remarks "what a strange lady", vaguely impressed that she managed to get on their ship undetected. Sanji, swooning over the woman, asks if Ichiji agrees that Miss All Sunday might be a "mellorine" like Nami and Vivi. Ichiji only says a flat "no" before stalking off to the galley.

he opens up a large book with blank pages and starts to write about their recent adventure in Whiskey Peak, taking his duties as the archivist seriously.

(end. part 5)

(read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4 here)