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ranticore · 11 months ago

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Two shortwing rival academics and a lil bit about spire culture

The East North Spire (or honestly just 'Spire', people will know what you mean) is the most densely populated location on the planet. It consists of the remains of one of the largest old telecommunications spires on a cliff. The sea around here is shallow and dense with reedbeds which can be used to make building material. Wood (or an alien equivalent) doesn't exist on Siren so reeds make up most permanent and impermanent structures, as well as providing the pulp with which to make paper and the extremely light reedsilk clothing that harpies wear.

Being surrounded by abundant natural resources as well as being an area with relatively mixed water year-round, so good fishing opportunities, the spire was an obvious choice to build on. The structure of the spire is made of woven reed platforms and silk tents attached to the main trunk, but over the years it has grown immensely wide and complex. People might liken its appearance to a giant multicoloured tree if they knew what a tree was. The structure extends down the cliff-face all the way to the water, where it expands into a dense network of docks and pontoons which has become something of a globlal shipping hub.

The spire is mostly famous for its strict occupation-based culture and honorifics system, which I originally scribbled down on a drawing of Qedivar and Terwy in ramble form, but it's important to understand that these names are cultural and geographical so not limited to harpies.

This is the first pass of the naming system so it's likely outdated lol.

Anyway what started as a collection of craft guilds at the spire transformed over centuries into the world's only institute of higher learning. It is mostly a gigantic and deeply bureaucratic university, the headmaster of which is the highest authority in the entire city.

The culture at the spire is loud. Open debate, arguments, and outright fights are encouraged as a way to clear the air and avoid any simmering tension building up between aggrieved parties. Holding a grudge is considered physically bad for your health, worse than any consequences of a heated debate or quick scuffle (drawing blood is where this acceptance of fighting ends, however). The population density is ludicrous, especially in the shortwing bowers where you'd be lucky to have a wingspan's worth of space to yourself, so it's in their best interests to become very good at managing conflict as early as possible. There is no concept of romantic relationships as a separate phenomenon to platonic relationships here and the potential for gigantic nightmarish polycules to develop is almost guaranteed, but a comparatively small societal weight is placed on sex and intimacy, it's just a thing you do with your friends and that's about it, you won't get any institution of marriage though it is possible (rare) for a pair to be exclusive.

There are no blood ties or familial bonds among inhabitants of the spire. There are differing gestation periods & nurseries based on body type, but among the shortwings, who are the most numerous and have very short gestation periods, nursery duty is pretty much like jury duty. Everybody gets called out to the nursery every couple of years to do early infant care, once the birthing parent is no longer needed (at time of weaning usually). The infants are communally raised and when they're old enough to learn they get shuffled immediately off to school where they will remain until age 12 or so when they pick their main topic of study, or a craft apprenticeship. Then their fellow students or guild masters are considered to be their true families.

The culture is frequently xenophobic against basically everyone else; it's got Big City disease where everyone living outside may as well not exist, and other places are far less important. Particular negative consideration is given to people from the Western continent who are thought of as just inherently dumber for not having any great institutions of learning, with the notable exception of the visored harpies. There's also a strongly ableist element in the spire, those not considered smart enough or not fit enough to work a craft are practically second class citizens.

Qedivar and Amivar (-var suffix indicating a scholar working on a theory) share a bower, they're on-again-off-again frenemies due to the fact that the two of them are working on very different theories on the origin of people. Amivar has proposed a theory of evolution, which is partially wrong where the humans are concerned (as they were intentionally designed but have experienced natural selection since) and correct for all other life on Siren (which did evolve), and Qedivar believes the Precursors were similar to gods who magicked the entire planet into being and then populated it with distinct groups of people. Both theories have some merit but really all they've achieved is endless debates and fights, until a particularly harsh defeat at Qedivar's grant application causes our pal Qedivar to decide to set out to prove his theory right by any means necessary, with a budget of almost zero.

While Qedivar travels to the Western continent to learn the heretical truth (which is that he was wrong and they're all just Human aliens), Amivar stays behind. He continues his work, but when the ministry of knowledge at the spire comes knocking to demand to know Qedivar's whereabouts, he's faced with a tough choice - sell Qedivar out and reveal his location, thus potentially getting a really nice research grant in return for his evolution theory which has proven very unpopular, or cover for him and, in doing so, implicitly accept the unacceptable truth of what his colleague has uncovered. I had a lot of fun thinking over Amivar and his actions in these circumstances, in a situation where where so much hinges on pride and self-advocacy... a look at the guy who has to stay behind and deal with the consequences of someone else's grand adventure (as well as the ministry of knowledge threatening to disappear him).

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flowersandskeletons526 · 1 month ago

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"Figure It Out" - Warriors concept album fanfic

I said I was gonna do more with the polycule and dammit, I did! Little longer than I usually write for one-shots but I had to. Enjoy!

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It started years before Swan ever met Mercy. It being the crush.

It began with Ajax. Ajax, who was already well established as the resident hothead of the Warriors, even in the early days after Cleon found Swan under the boardwalk. She terrified Swan when they first met, loud and brash and quick to temper. She looked at Swan like she wanted her dead for the first few months, especially after Cleon named Swan as her second. Swan did her best to just avoid Ajax as much as possible until the death glares turned to bickering and the bickering turned to banter with just a few venomous barbs thrown in to keep it on brand.

She still remembered the first time Ajax truly smiled at her. They’d been going back and forth as usual, both in a good mood so it was limited to playful jabs. Ajax went to punch her in the shoulder, all in good fun, and she caught Ajax’s fist mid swing on instinct. Ajax had only seen her scrap a few times at that point and got a strange, curious look on her face. She threw a slow hook with no intention to actually connect. Swan caught the punch again and got her first look at what a real, happy, genuine grin looked like on the enforcer.

Maybe she lost some wrestling matches on purpose because she liked the way Ajax’s eyes lit up when she celebrated victory. Maybe she stared a little too long when she pinned Ajax, watching the way she laughed as she called her surrender. Maybe she thought that the late night chats and the play fights and the rare softness in Ajax’s expression when she looked at her could mean something, but in the end, she gave it up.

When Rembrandt arrived, she knew she’d made the right choice. She saw how hard Ajax fought for Rembrandt from the second she brought her home. She saw the way Rembrandt looked at Ajax with those wide, bright eyes, the way Ajax smiled at her so helplessly, how Rembrandt had Ajax wrapped around her finger from the very start. Swan still noticed the same things she always noticed about Ajax, but she didn’t let herself linger on it how she used to. She was content knowing Ajax had found someone who made her so happy.

And then she began to understand exactly how Rembrandt had gotten such a hold on Ajax.

To start, Rembrandt was objectively gorgeous. No one would disagree on that fact. But she had a subtle sort of draw to her, too. Swan first noticed it when Rembrandt made her sit for a portrait, claiming she was the only Warrior that Rembrandt had yet to finish drawing. Something about Rembrandt’s quiet, observant gaze studying her and how the artist reached over to tilt her chin up or move a lock of hair left her with such a severe internal panic, she avoided Rembrandt for days afterwards.

Rembrandt also had a funny habit of forgetting the concept of personal space when she got excited. Normally this was directed toward Ajax or sometimes Cowgirl, who had no concept of personal space period, but not always. When they watched any of Rembrandt’s comfort movies together, she would explain in intense detail how artistically flawless she found certain shots or sequences and lean into Swan almost the same way she leaned into Ajax, tucked under her arm and fidgeting with Swan’s fingers while she talked. Swan couldn’t forget the feeling of Rembrandt’s fingers intertwined with hers.

When it was the three of them together, whether they were hanging out at home or out on a mission, she took notice of how the couple looked at each other. She noticed it was the same way she looked at both of them. And she shoved that shit into the deepest recesses of her mind because falling for one friend was bad, and falling for two was worse, and falling for the two of them that were already in a relationship with each other was just about the worst feeling in the world.

The night from hell further cemented her belief that those feelings would never crop up again. Meeting Mercy all but guaranteed it.

She was happier with Mercy than she had been in a long time. They clicked in a way Swan never thought she would with anyone after giving up on her past feelings. Mercy made her feel safe and protected in a manner Swan exclusively reserved for everyone but herself. She was loud and headstrong and excitable and loving and Swan couldn’t help but love her. Through all the turmoil and trauma and infighting after that night, Mercy was always there to be her rock, even before she could admit to herself that she needed one.

Life was good with her in it. She had Mercy, and Ajax and Rembrandt had each other, and after everything calmed down and they were as normal as they could be after Cyrus’s summit, life was good.

So why did her heart still hurt so much when she saw Ajax and Rembrandt together?

She didn’t really notice it until she was sent out on a tagging mission with Rembrandt. It had been raining for the past week so they had a lot of catching up to do. Months had passed since Rembrandt had that awful fall when she and Mercy got jumped, and as much as the tagger would refute the accusation, she still wasn’t back to the level she used to be. She rushed through her work, determined to get as much done in one night despite Swan’s insistence that she slow down. Coming down the ladder from the fire escape, she slipped.

She never hit the ground. Swan caught her, already prepared to help her down, but Rembrandt broke. Pulling Rembrandt into an alley, she held her tight for a long time, whispering gentle reassurances as Rembrandt covered her mouth to choke back violent sobs. She buried her face against Swan’s chest and clung to her with everything she had.

“Sorry,” she whispered when she calmed down enough to speak. She still hadn’t let go. “I’m sorry. I’m okay. I’m fine.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Swan cooed, combing her fingers through Rembrandt’s hair. “Let’s get you home.”

She lifted Rembrandt in her arms and carried her the whole way back to her and Ajax’s apartment. Ajax came bolting down the stairs when Swan rang the buzzer. She took Rembrandt from Swan, even though Rembrandt insisted she was okay to walk now, and Swan followed the two of them back up to their apartment. She lingered awkwardly by the door while Ajax talked to Rembrandt and made sure she really was okay, because Ajax had always been more worrier than warrior when it came to her. Rembrandt insisted she just wanted to go to bed.

Wordlessly, she went to Swan and pulled her into a long, lingering hug, hiding her face in the crook of Swan’s shoulder. Swan tried her best to ignore the fact that she really, really didn’t want to let go. After Rembrandt left and they heard the bedroom door close, Ajax turned to Swan, brow furrowed and eyes downcast.

“Cleon’s gonna kill me if I leave either of you two alone right now,” she mumbled, “so… you want a beer?”

They sat close beside each other on the couch with their drinks, closer than they’d been comfortable enough to in a long time. Swan took a deep breath.

“Has she… Is she still having nightmares about it?” she asked haltingly.

“Not often,” Ajax said. “She hasn’t spaced out in a long time, either.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah. Thanks for getting her home.” Ajax swallowed hard and clenched her jaw, turning away from Swan. “Listen. I know things haven’t been easy since, y’know, since that night. And I know I haven’t really done anything but make it worse. I wanted to say thanks for not hating me after everything and… I’m sorry.”

Swan blinked. “You’re apologizing?”

“Yo, fuck you, man! I’m trying to be emotionally intelligent for once and you-”

“No, no, wait, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.” She watched Ajax’s expression shift, her features softening as she leaned her head back. She still had a scar above her eye from when Swan busted her eyebrow open in a fight. She deserved it, sure, but it didn’t stop Swan from regretting it now. “I haven’t done much to make it easier, either.”

“You did better than me.” Ajax shook her head and took a long pull from her drink. “How’s Mercy?”

“She’s good. Cleon’s talking about making her the head scout.”

“That’d be a good fit for her. Girl’s quick.”

“Yep.”

“She treats you good, right?”

That threw Swan for a loop. “Y-Yeah. Yeah, she does.”

“Good.” Ajax took Swan’s hand, squeezing it tight. She met Swan’s eyes. Swan’s chest felt hot and tight. “I’m… I’m glad you… I’m glad you finally have someone who makes you happy.”

Swan could tell Ajax wanted to say something completely different. She’d known her long enough to understand that. She just couldn’t fathom what else Ajax could want to say.

“And, y’know,” Ajax continued with a light tone, “if she didn’t treat you right, I’d have to fight her, and that would suck because she’s actually pretty cool.”

Swan laughed and tried to forget about it. But in the end, she couldn’t.

She couldn’t ignore the way Ajax softened after that night. She couldn’t ignore the lack of venom in her voice anymore, even when she was truly pissed off at something Swan did. She couldn’t ignore how both Ajax and Rembrandt seemed a lot touchier than normal, always reaching over to absentmindedly hold her hand or put an arm around her as they walked if Mercy wasn’t doing that already. She noticed Rembrandt smiling at her more often when she thought Swan wasn’t looking. She noticed Ajax always looking away or leaving the room entirely when Mercy would kiss Swan in front of her.

She noticed all those old feelings that had been buried for years come brutally flooding back and she absolutely hated herself for it. She just prayed she could get them to go away before Mercy found out.

In the end, Mercy figured it out on her own.

Sitting in their bedroom one night, waiting for Swan to get ready for bed, she asked, “How long?”

Swan frowned as she turned to look at her, her shirt halfway over her head. “How long what?”

“How long have you liked Ajax and Rembrandt?”

Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

“What are you talking about?” Swan demanded, her pitch betraying her. She hated how high her voice sounded when she lied. “I don’t… I’ve never… I don’t have feelings for them. I love you, I would never-”

“Swan, stop.” Mercy flashed a soft, calming smile. “I’m not upset. I just want to know.”

Swan’s throat tightened. Her eyes stung as her pulse hammered in her ears.

“I thought it would go away,” she choked out. “After they’d been together for a while. It was a silly crush from a long time ago, that’s all. With all the fucking fighting after the peace meeting and Ajax and I trying to kill each other and Rembrandt’s accident, I thought… I was over it. I’m trying to get over it. And besides, even if I ever wanted to say something, they’re fucking engaged now. What if I fuck that up?”

Mercy took a deep breath. “I like them, too.”

Swan’s world rocked. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Mercy whispered. “Like, a lot.”

And suddenly it all clicked.

When Rembrandt had leaned in to light her cigarette off Mercy’s because her lighter was dead and Mercy ended up with a blush that lasted all day.

When the four of them were out together and Swan and Rembrandt had gone to get drinks, how they came back to the corner booth and Ajax and Mercy were sitting a lot closer than before and chatting idly with easy smiles on their faces.

The lingering hugs. The gentle brush of an arm or hand as they walked. The fact that Rembrandt’s sketchbook was suddenly exclusively Mercy’s portrait and Ajax hadn’t had an unkind word about her in weeks and the looks and the compliments and everything.

Swan flopped onto the bed beside Mercy and covered her face with her hands. “What do we do?” she groaned.

“I have no fucking clue,” Mercy said with a sad laugh. “Do you think they like us back?”

“Do you think they do?”

“I don’t know! You’ve known them longer than me! Is this how they are with the others?”

“No! It’s how they are with each other!” Swan uncovered her face and turned to look at Mercy. “Run it back. So you and I are dating. Those two are dating. We like them and they might possibly like us and all four of us have just been pining for weeks.”

“This is confusing.”

“No shit.”

Mercy inhaled sharply. “Do we tell them?”

And that was how Swan ended up at Rembrandt’s door about to make either the best or worst decision of her life.

“Everything’s okay, right?” Rembrandt asked as she sat beside Swan on the couch. Cleon had Ajax out on a mission so it was just the two of them in the apartment. “I mean, you just said you had something to talk about over the phone, so I was a little worried.”

“Sorry about being cryptic,” Swan mumbled. “I, um…”

Just say it, Swan thought. Rip the bandaid off. You can do this. You took on an entire city trying to kill you and got home alive, you can confess your feelings for your best friend.

“I like you!” she blurted out. If she and Ajax had one thing in common, it was that neither were very good at words. That had always been Rembrandt’s forte, but now she couldn’t stop the multiple years’ worth of repressed feelings spewing from her mouth. “You and Ajax. I have for years. Since, like, pretty soon after you joined, and even longer for her, and I tried to ignore it because you two have always been so happy with each other and I didn’t want to fuck up that or our friendship or the crew if I made a mistake. But after everything, the feelings still haven’t gone away and I literally cannot get it off my mind. I’ve tried but I can’t. I just keep looking at you two and seeing everything I want and I… I couldn’t stop thinking about it all.”

Rembrandt stared at her with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted. She didn’t move a muscle for what felt like an eternity. She took a sharp breath to say something, closed her mouth, and finally, just when Swan was beginning to regret being born, she asked slowly, “Does Mercy know?”

“Mercy is the one who suggested I tell you. She likes you guys, too.”

She barely finished the sentence before Rembrandt tackled her onto the couch.

She ended up on her back with Rembrandt straddling her, pinning her down by her shoulders. “It took Mercy telling you for you to finally figure this out?!” she exclaimed. “How are you worse than Ajax when it comes to feelings? I’ve been trying to get you two to figure your crushes out for years!”

“You knew?!”

“Jesus Christ, yes! Fuck!” Rembrandt leaned back, still on top of Swan but letting her prop herself up on her elbows. “I knew it would take Ajax a minute to actually understand what she was feeling but with you, I…” She shook her head. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want either of you two to feel weird about it. I thought that maybe one of you would say something and we could at least start a conversation about it but you never did. And then with Mercy showing up and you being so happy… I thought you moved on. You really still feel this way?”

“I never stopped feeling this way,” Swan admitted. She hesitated. “Ajax likes me back?”

“I think Ajax liked you long before I joined the Warriors. She just didn’t know how to say it to you. Why do you think I made the first move when she and I got together?”

“And you-”

“Uh, yeah! Have you not been listening to me?” Rembrandt raked her hands through her hair. “Shit. This is the gayest thing that’s ever happened to me and I figured out I liked girls when I was ten. What the hell.”

Swan laughed. She flopped back on the couch, and Rembrandt leaned forward to rest her forehead on Swan’s chest. “I have to tell her now, don’t I?” Swan asked.

“You don’t have to. I would like it if you did,” Rembrandt said. She lifted her head enough to look Swan in the eye. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with this, but I’d like if we could maybe talk about it, at least? The four of us?”

Swan nodded. “I’d like that, too.”

“Ajax is supposed to be home later tonight, if you want to talk to her now. You could call Mercy over?”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that.”

Swan called Mercy and recounted the conversation. Rembrandt gave her privacy for that. Mercy was ecstatic; Swan could almost hear her grin over the phone. After Swan ended the call, Rembrandt came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Swan turned in her embrace and returned it, and they held each other close for a long, long time before moving to the couch. Rembrandt tucked her head under Swan’s chin, clinging to her like she was dreaming and might end it if she let go.

When Mercy arrived, Rembrandt was the first to get up. She launched herself at Mercy and practically glued herself to her as Mercy laughed. Mercy tangled her fingers in Rembrandt’s hair and held her tight, swaying gently. Rembrandt pulled back, pressing their foreheads together, and Swan just barely heard her whisper, “Thank you.”

The three of them sat cuddled up to each other on the couch while they waited for Ajax. Swan and Rembrandt told Mercy old stories from the earlier days of the Warriors: successful missions, happy times hanging out, crazy adventures they’d been sent on. Mercy would periodically butt in with the ever present question, “You guys didn’t realize it then?” And Swan would blush and look away while Rembrandt laughed.

Rembrandt got up to meet Ajax once she finally came home. Ajax gave her a confused look upon seeing Swan and Mercy on the couch, and Rembrandt replied with a gentle kiss and a nod towards Swan as she stood. A tiny part of Swan regretted this, seeing the way they acted so softly with each other and had an entire conversation with just their eyes, but Mercy squeezed her hand and she knew she was making the right choice.

Ajax stepped up to her and waved her towards the bedroom. Swan stood awkwardly in the center of the room as Ajax closed the door. Hyping herself up in her head, she decided on her course of action. She’d never been good with words, and neither had Ajax, so she had to approach this differently than she did with Rembrandt.

“So,” Ajax said, “did you need to talk to me or-”

Swan surged forward and kissed her.

Ajax froze. Swan thought maybe she came on too strong and leaned back. But then Ajax was pulling Swan against her by her hips and returning the kiss just as fiercely, and Swan was tugging at Ajax’s braids and biting her lip and Ajax’s strong grip was on her waist and keeping her as close as possible and wait, wait, this was getting a bit handsy for a confession. Maybe rewind a bit.

Swan moved her hands to Ajax’s collar and pushed her back just far enough to break the kiss. “I like you,” she said breathlessly. “So does Mercy. And Rem likes us back and says you do, too.”

Ajax blinked, still stunned. Her brow furrowed. She grabbed Swan’s shoulders and held her at arm’s length to look her in the eye. “That’s what this has been?!” she asked a little hysterically, and Swan thought it sounded like a question meant more for herself than anything. “Like, all of this? That’s what this is?”

“Took me a minute to figure it out, too. Rembrandt’s been waiting for us, apparently. I didn’t want to fuck anything up if you guys didn’t feel the same way so I never said shit.”

“When did… did you… when did you know? Wait, hang on, Mercy likes me? Mercy likes us?”

“She’s the one who suggested I tell you guys. She figured out I still like you two and called me on it.”

“Why didn’t you say something before now?”

“You guys were happy. Why didn’t you say something?”

Ajax thought for a moment. She looked around the room, anywhere but at Swan, and then sat on the bed and tugged Swan down to sit next to her. “Kinda figured you hated me,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. Swan forced herself to keep her eyes off Ajax’s scar. “Can’t deny we’ve spent the last few years mostly beating on each other. I mean, yeah, I enjoy the sparring and the play fights, but I didn’t know if that meant to you what it felt like to me. And then after… after that night, all the times we’ve tried to kill each other since then, and you being so happy with Mercy.”

“You being so happy with Rembrandt. Getting engaged.”

“I thought something was starting between her and Mercy. Kinda hoped…”

“Hoped she’d bring it up?”

“We’ve all just been waiting for the others to say something, huh?”

“Apparently.”

“Can’t believe the three of us never did anything about it. Can’t believe Mercy broke it out of us.”

“Only took a few years.”

Ajax angled her body in towards Swan. She took a deep breath, held it, and faced her. “I saw the way Rem looked at you, sometimes. And the way you looked at her. I thought I was reading into things too much.”

“We’re kinda dumbasses, aren’t we?”

“Leave it to the artist to figure out our feelings before we do. She’s always been good at that.” Ajax tangled her fingers in Swan’s hair and brought her forward to rest their foreheads together. Swan gripped her shoulder tight, fingers digging into her skin, because they were still themselves and couldn’t help a minor play fight, even now. “We’re gonna have to talk this through. The four of us.”

“Rembrandt said the same thing. Should we go tell them?”

Ajax flashed a crooked smile, gentler and kinder than she’d been in a long time. Swan saw in her then that woman that had first smiled at her, the woman that always had her back even when they fought, the woman who made it clear that no matter how much they whaled on each other, they would never let anyone else get the chance to do the same. “Probably,” she chuckled, “before they think we’re fighting.”

As Swan stood, she pulled Ajax into one last hug. “We need to get better about feelings,” she murmured.

“Yeah. We’ll work on it.”

They walked into the living room hand in hand. Mercy and Rembrandt were still curled into each other on the couch, Rembrandt resting her head on Mercy’s shoulder and speaking quietly against her neck, Mercy laughing as she smiled so helplessly back at her. That was the look when it came to Rembrandt: the half-lidded eyes, the smile just turning into a grin, the utter devotion ready to follow her anywhere. Swan and Ajax had worn that look for a long time and Swan understood now exactly how down bad Mercy was. Thank god she’d had the nerve to say something.

They looked up as Swan and Ajax entered. Swan caught the flash of fear that sparked in Rembrandt’s eyes as she extricated herself from Mercy’s embrace, flexing her hands at her side. Mercy stood behind her and put an arm around her waist in support.

Swan and Ajax shared a look, smiled, and lifted their intertwined hands to show their partners. Rembrandt laughed in delight as she jumped on them, putting an arm around their necks and pulling them down to meet her, tears of happiness starting in her eyes. Ajax kissed the top of her head and then leaned over to kiss Swan’s temple, as well. Mercy hung back, letting the three of them have their long overdue moment together. Rembrandt reached over and dragged Mercy into the middle of the hug, pulling her down for a quick kiss that left her red in the face and stuttering. Swan couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay,” Rembrandt said, a little breathless from laughing, “seriously, we will need to talk about this. It can’t be a one and done, everything’s perfect type thing.”

“Agreed,” said Mercy.

“That being said…”

Ajax grinned. “You guys want to stay over tonight?”

Swan and Mercy said in unison, “Yes, please!”

#writing #fanfic #warriors concept album #warriors musical #ajax warriors #rembrandt warriors #swan warriors #mercy warriors #ajax x rembrandt #swan x mercy #remjax #swercy #ajax x rembrandt x swan x mercy #polycule #mutual pining #repressed feelings #fluff #only fluff

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cartooemcanhis · 6 months ago

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Got any headcanons for any of the ka-pow characters

Oh I definetly do!! Love those guys!!

I dont got alot for him unfortunatly.. The only one is that all the buddhist monkey episodes are popular movies/a tv show in the htf world

He was super short and has an even shorter temper, he would go off on people like thrice his height and often had to be dragged away from people by Flippy or Sneaky

believe it or not...not from france...france is not real in Treesy.. Hes actually from littletownelsewhere!

Was almost comically strong for his size, that damn bag full of bombs weighed ALOT.

Became mildly imfamous for snacking when he wasnt supposed to, he got in ALOT of trouble. He is the nibbler <3

Was secretly in a polycule with Sneaky and Flippy. Everyone else in the W.A.R just thought they were oddly close friends

Wasnt fully deaf(if he was he would of been discharged), he just had really damaged hearing.

Creepily quiet, often stared into space not saying things for hours. He was always listening though and knew alot of secrets.

Grew up in Rainytown and was actually childhood friends with Sniffles. They stopped talking after Sniffles moved away to treetown, and they can never talk again now.

Was one of the W.A.Rs best soldiers for getting into enemy bases and gaining intell, it got to the point that the Blue Tigers had to install tech into their bases that would un-hide Sneaky.

Ate basically only insects. At first soldiers would look at him funny whenever he did that but eventually they got used to it.

Smelled pretty horrible usually (Chameleon facts go brr)

At some point before operation tiger bomb he got his tail badly hurt and it hard to be removed.

Hes actually Splendids brother!! They were seperated as babies because Splendid was sent down to treetown and Splendont was trapped in a mirror, all because of some prophecy.

Splendid has no idea who he is really, all he knows is that some jerk is copying his look and causing chaos. Splendont despises Splendid and blames him for his imprisonment.

Naturally destructive, but unlike his brother he usually does it on purpose.

Doesnt care about treefriends, animals, or plants lives, hes here to cause chaos and doesnt care what dies while he has his fun.

They all live in different parts around Treesy and only really ever meet up if some kind of world ending disaster is happening

All of them are from Treesy other than TickTalk, who came from the planet Xarathos, which is the same planet Splendid is from aswell.

Wonder Wanda and Webster are definetly dating but noone else in the team seem to notice it lol

Wandas the mom friend of the group (aka the only one whos got brainsels), Websters a little menace, Man 'o war is almost always angry, and TickTalk is chill usually

Man 'o war used to be a normal jellyfish but he got mutated and gained conciousness (he does not like having sentience he longs to go back to having no brain

Webster is just like that, she was born with practically unlimited web that she uses to swing like spiderman

Wonder Wanda actually has no powers, she just uses magical bubble tech

TickTalk used to be a normal tick (well as normal as you can be when you're a gross paracite from space lol) but he ended up in treesy and got mutated in the same mysterious goop that mutated Man 'o war and grew really big. Due to their shared pasts, Man 'o war and TickTalk are rlly close.

"The best" agent in the Creeping Critters Organisation, little do they know he would drop them in a heartbeat if it meant accomplishing something that would benefit him

Known for being cruel and manipulative, hes not afraid to kill people if it means getting information.

Believe it or not, hes cousins with Mouse Kaboom.

He and The Mole SHOULD of been rivals due to being in conflicting corporations, but due to some twist of events they were in a secret forbidden relationship. Unfortunately, Rat was pretty toxic in said relationship and used Mole to gain information. Everything broke up once Mole faked his death and ran away to Treetown.

DEFINETLY has atleast 5 fatal diseases. Genuinely someone get this guy put down I dont think having him around is safe. His blood is all thick and gross and at some point he started an entire pandemic that killed hundreds of people.

Super cocky and overly confident, he thinks every little plan he has will work perfectly because he himself is perfect.

oh wow that was alot!! Thanks for the hc request! :D

#happy tree friends #htf #htf hc #htf mouse kaboom #mouse kaboom htf #buddhist monkey htf #htf buddhist monkey #sneaky htf #htf sneaky #htf webster #htf wonder wanda #htf tick talk #htf man o war #htf splendont #splendont htf #htf kapow

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calware · 8 months ago

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Further details on those spaceship groups I made up a while back:

1. Every team had a preset captain+first mate(scribe/Operator/whatever), but everyone else was chosen by the captain.

2. The setup is a combination spaceship simulator/combat exercise (the characters are at a space military academy thing)

3. Selections were performed between each group of 4

World's Worst Polycule: Dave (chosen as captain to make him more responsible), Tavros (chosen as first mate to help him become more independent by working with other independent people)

All the other 3 were chosen in the moment by Dave; he decided who he thought would be the most fun to work with (which typically coincided with independence).

Jane: given automatically after all other alpha kids were picked.

He thinks Terezi is fun, and she's good at large field presence without working closely with others

He thinks Gamzee is fun/ his squad mostly fights independently

4 and a Half Girls: Feferi (chosen as captain b/c powerful family), Sollux (assigned first mate because of good computer skills/parallel processing)

Her other 3 were picked with the aim of making a setup most comfortable for them all.

Jade: Feferi usually has a sniper on her team in Eridan, so she made sure to get a sniper ASAP

Roxy: she got to pick first here, so she took the best all-rounder. Roxy can fit into whatever team composition they end up running.

Nepeta: given to her automatically when all other midbloods were picked

Toxic Magic Bullshit: Dirk (chosen as captain to force him to make decisions and figure out what's best for other people), Vriska (chosen as first mate to force her to both listen to someone else's orders, and to force Dirk to listen to his subordinates)

His other 3 were decisions mostly made from the limits of other people picking first.

Rose: Dirk and Vriska were both good short-range, so he wanted the mid-range Rose over the close-range John.

Aradia: given automatically as all other lowbloods were either captains or first mates (error on my part. Oh well!)

Eridan: you know how Dirk can't stand people who are too similar to him? That's why he took Eridan over Equius.

Almost Stable: Karkat (Technically the leader of his original team, but Sollux and Aradia are powerful enough to just do whatever they want), Kanaya (effective second-in-command, helps Karkat get used to actually leading)

Karkat had very bad luck with pick order.

John: given automatically after all other beta kids were picked

Jake: Jane scares him

Equius: given automatically after all other highbloods were picked.

All of these groups have some form of dysfunction, whether it be the Dave-Terezi-Gamzee hell triangle, Sollux dealing with exclusively people more energetic than them, Erivris, or Karkat's gripes with the fact that he barely picked anyone on his team + inexperience with actually leading.

They all have more problems than just those, but those are the standouts.

these character pairings are very interesting to me i'm rotating this in my mind

#ask #wickedsick

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catis15 · 8 months ago

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My Opinions/Reviews on Saphic Books:

- Bright Falls Trilogy

- All of them are cute and heartwarming and giggle worthy and shit

- It's cool seeing each of the friend groups POVs and they're all pretty relatable in my opinion

- Pretty good representation of various family relationships especially with mothers

- the various relationships are actually really well written but the stories are still very much focused on the romance, they're not sidelined persey but they're not the main focus of that's what your looking for it's very much about the couple

- I like the variety in body types through the series, there's different heights, weights, yada yada and it's nice to see and they're all appreciated

- There aren't any POC MCs but there are side characters, also lots of gender and lgbtqia+ identity representation NB characters, ace characters, lots of queer couples, I think there may be a polycule mentioned but I'm not entirely sure

- Smut? Yes there is, how much varies between book but I'd argue there's more every book with Iris's book having the most; Id also argue it gets intenser as the series continues but it's all pretty mid (not in the it's bad writing way in the I've read far worse but I've also read some relatively pg 13)

DELILAH GREEN

- I love Delilah sm she can fucking step on me and Id ask her to do it again

- It's a sorta an asshole to everyone but you between her and Claire but not in the typical way? Like it's there but it's not written the way a lot of that trope usually is, idk I just really like how these books are written I think the author does a fantastic job

- Delilah seeing Claire for who she is and like just how much emotion she has is just yes, and also Claire seeing Delilah as like a sweet person and not just an asshole is nice too

- Because I know it bothers some people, Claire is a mother and the kid is talked about, I don't mind parent tropes but ik some people just don't enjoy reading them, I thought Ruby was sweet though and Claire seeing how Delilah interacts with her is also really cute

- Delilah also providing that safe and comforting space for artwork for Ruby is also really sweet and seeing Delilah kinda give Ruby what she herself didn't have is wholesome ASF and Claire just appreciates it and shit idk it's cute

- Hating On The Straight White Man TM (because he is gross to Astrid)

- Delilah is a photographer and Claire runs a bookstore

ASTRID PARKER

- It's cool getting to see Astrid's POV compared to how Delilah (her sister) views her

- Mommy Issues TM and in my opinion it catches some of the subtleties of growing up with a toxic parent really well

- Jordans ex comes along so warning for that, ok some people don't really like that

- Also handles like not missing your ex but feeling like YOU failed because the relationship failed

- again the subtleties of so much is just so well written

- Jordan is very stereotypical lesbian and I'm here for it

- her truck is named adora, her cat is named catra (if I'm remembering correctly), she wears random button ups, got that half saved short hair going (funnily enough I myself had both Astrid and Jordans haircuts at various points in my life lmao), she's a carpenter sorta, she's got an attitude, is into taro, like I love her sm 😂 she's so me fr 😭

- enemies to lovers

- Astrid's a bitch and Jordan pretends not to be into it

- they fuck in a pantry

- it's funny

IRIS KELLY

- iris doesn't do kids and marriages and her more or less traditional family is giving her shit for it

- Stevie has anxiety and handles it the same way I handle mine so that was relatable

- handles the shit that goes along with having anxiety really well so props to the author once again

- fake dating tm

- They're basically giving each other 'classes' because they think they're bad at things; but in reality it's just them being comfortable with stuff they're actually pretty good at; Stevie helps Iris be more comfortable with everyday romance and Iris helps Stevie be more comfortable with adult fun time intimacy outside of committed long term relationships

- but at the same time in queer Shakespeare and it's beautiful

- Home Field Advantage

- will add later

- The Song of the Huntress

- Just bought it and haven't read it yet

- The Priory of the Orange Tree

- Just bought it haven't read it

- Late Bloomer

- a few chapters in

- th author notes are funny and enjoyable

- good representation of things like people pleasing, autism, trust issues due to family trauma, bad relationships that you stay in for the comfort, toxic friends

- They're some pretty heavy themes but their handled in an easy to swallow way

- while these are very present themes the main focus is still the romance, but they're handled a bit more in depth than say the Bright Falls Trilogy

#saphic #lesbian #books #book review #queer books #Bright Falls Trilogy #delilah green doesn't care #astrid parker doesn't fail #iris kelly doesn’t date #late bloomer #late bloomer book #home field advantage #home field advantage book #song of the huntress #the priory of the orange tree #priory of the orange tree

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tea-mew96 · 3 months ago

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hi meow :^) can i geeeeet optimus priiimal

Why, yes you can!

Send me a character and I'll tell you my...

First impression

This guy seems neat. Not sure how I feel about this whole furry alt mode thing, but I'm curious to see what else this character has in store.

Impression now

My beloved ape dad, munky queen, and comfort character.

Get past the "lol munky" jokes and you will find what is IMO one of the best designed characters in Optimus Primal. His iterations do differ (mainly in terms of the sass level he possesses), but the one constant is that he is a perfect ambassador of his beast mode: gentle, caring, and protective of his team and friends-sometimes to a fault-yet powerful and not afraid to smack a bitch if need be. Favorite Transformers character of all time, if you don't like him we can't be friends /hj

Favorite moment

You could put all scenes of Primal in the Beast Wars episode "Gorilla Warfare" here, but I'm specifically gonna pick the scene where Primal is going on a rampage through the Darksyde. Berserk Primal always lives rent-free in my head.

Idea for a story

I've given quite a bit of thought to an origin story for Optimus Primal, specifically for the original show. Decades later and we've never gotten canon info about his life before Megatron stole the Golden Disk, which baffles me.

To keep the story short, I imagine Optimus Primal's origin story being complimentary but opposing of Megatron's. While Megatron took the name for himself out of a power-hungry ego to be better than the Megatron of legend, Optimus Primal received his name upon activation due to his similar appearance to his namesake. However, he has a rough upbringing due to the pressure to be "perfect" like his namesake, despite not wanting anything to do with being a political leader or spiritual successor to Optimus Prime (hence pursuing a career in space exploration instead once he was older).

Unpopular opinion

I personally like Optimus Primal in Beast Machines for the most part, primarily from a psychological perspective.

Yes, he is snappy to his team, he's not as cheery or light-hearted as he was, but that's entirely because of the extreme negative situation he's faced with.

I always remember what Primal said to his fellow Maximals in episode 3: "Megatron decimated this planet because of me, you think I can bear losing any of you?!"

I bring this up because this is what signaled to me that Primal is not mentally doing well. Primal is blaming himself for Megatron's escape and his subsequent unleashing of the virus, blaming himself for the millions of sparks and future of Cybertron now on the line due to Megatron's actions, blaming himself for putting his teammates right back at square one but now with limited resources and numbers. Primal is putting a lot of unhealthy pressure on himself and it shows.

I just think it sucks that a lot of people don't seem to talk about this when it comes to his characterization. Most of what I see usually starts and ends with how preachy he is when that's only scratching the surface of his character IMO.

Favorite relationship

I will always stand by Primal, DInobot, and Megatron polycule, though only in an AU/what if scenario.

If referring to canon material though, I like Primal and Dinobot's relationship because of how sweet their friendship ends up being. Primal believes in Dinobot more than Dinobot seems to believe in himself, and Primal still supports him even during his worst moments.

Meanwhile, I find Primal and Megatron's dynamic fascinating to study, primarily because of how strongly linked their fates are with one another. They don't get along at all, yet their opposing characterizations and mannerisms ironically compliment each other well.

Favorite headcanon

He doesn't get many chances to do so, but Primal is a talented singer that knows how to play the guitar and piano (or whatever the Cybertronian equivalent of those instruments are.) I like to believe he's sung lullabies to Cheetor when the young bot can't sleep. Yes, this headcanon is based off Garry Chalk.

#asks #dorkicon #beast wars #beast machines #optimus primal #megatron #dinobot #long post #maccadam #tf analysis #tea.txt #mewni.txt

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tickle-bugs · 1 year ago

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I have an idea for a Glinda and Elphaba story based on Jennafer Newberry and Lissa DeGuzman’s portrayals of Glinda and Elphaba. I included a link for reference. In popular during toss toss, glinda does this adorable giggle and then tries to have Elphaba recreate it, but it comes across as super forced and fake when Elphaba does it. I don’t know if this is too similar to the other Glinda and Elphaba story you posted the other day, but I thought it would be cute if Glinda tickles Elphaba to help her find her natural giggle. Of course Elphaba doesn’t let Glinda do that without her revenge so she tickles Glinda after. https://youtu.be/VQxRXpDtIf8 the toss toss giggle part starts at around 4:10, but at around 3:05 Glinda does really adorable deep gutteral laughter that is worth watching.

From Your Heart

Summary: Elphaba stops laughing at Fiyero’s jokes because she’s embarrassed of her laugh. Fiyero laments. Glinda takes this personally.

Take this as either a Glinda-Fiyero-Elphaba polycule AU or just supportive best friend Glinda who’s not into Fiyero but wants to help her hopeless bestie lock him down. I wrote it with the polycule in mind though because I love them.

Glinda stopped being surprised at finding Fiyero face down on her bed by probably the third week of term. His dramatics harmonize well with hers, she specifically chose that mattress for the healing level of bounce it has--everything tracks. What doesn’t track, however, is Fiyero being face down on her bed and not at the date that she’d set up for him and Elphaba.

“Why are you not wooifying Elphie? I specifically requested it.” Glinda sets down her purse and slips off her heels. Fiyero groans pathetically from the bed.

“Up, scoot, c’mon.” Glinda pats him until he moves over. She sits beside him and rubs his back.

“We went picnicking in the quad. Everything was perfect, Galinda. I even wore my good pants. But halfway through she just…ran away. I don’t understand. What if she doesn’t like me?” Fiyero’s lip wobbles. Glinda ignores the way that sentiment chews at the wall of her heart.

“Don’t be silly, Fiyero. Everyone likes you.”

“What if she isn’t into me, I mean?” He sighs. She brushes his hair away from his temple.

“I’ll talk to her, alright? I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Go mope in your room and I’ll send word.” She pats his cheek. He sighs and sits up.

….

The door lock starts to click and Glinda’s on her feet in a moment. As soon as the door opens:

“Elphie!” Glinda throws her arms up with a joyful squeal. Elphaba freezes in the doorway.

“Why are you so perky?” Elphaba eyes her suspiciously. Glinda frowns.

“I’m always perky.”

“More than usual. Something’s up.” Elphaba sets her stuff down roughly. She sits on her bed. Glinda slides into the space beside her and tangles their ankles together.

“Well, a depressed little birdie told me that your date with Fiyero didn’t go so well.” Glinda grimaces.

“He told you?” Elphaba whispers in horror. Glinda shrugs weakly. Elphaba groans and drops her head into her hands. Glinda primly pats her back and murmurs a halfhearted ‘there there’.

“He’s just…he’s so funny, Galinda.” Elphaba picks her face up a bit, then drops it back down. She groans louder.

“Normally that’s a desirable trait in a beau.” Glinda busies herself with unbraiding Elphaba’s hair--a habit for them. Elphaba visibly unwinds beneath the touch. It does Glinda’s soul well to see it.

“Yeah, but…he’s funny and I can’t laugh at his jokes.”

“Are they terrible? Or perhaps risqué?” Glinda runs her fingers through Elphaba’s hair. The silky locks are soft to the touch.

“No!” Elphaba’s face flushes a dark green. “Well, maybe, yes. Sometimes. But that’s not it. I…my laugh is ugly. I’ve been scared to let him hear it, so I’ve been hiding it. He tried to make me laugh earlier, so…I ran.”

This impacts Glinda like a chariot at speed. Her eyes rove over her best friend’s face, this beautiful once-in-a-lifetime wonder that just happened to bless Shiz University at the same time as she. A miracle in every way, and she’s blaming herself for something out of her control. Unconscionable.

“It’s so stupid--”

“No. Don’t you dare do that. It’s not stupid at all.” Glinda squishes Elphaba’s cheeks between her hands. Elphaba softens, her gaze dropping to the floor. Glinda kisses her forehead.

“I think Fiyero likes you because you’re you, Elphie. And that includes your laugh.” Glinda quickly wipes away the lipstick smudge left behind.

“But what if he thinks it’s ugly?” Elphaba murmurs through her squished face.

“That’s exactly what you asked me about your skin, and then I had to listen to him wax poetic about the color of emeralds for a week. He will like every part of you. Sorcerer’s swear.” Glinda holds her hand out. She and Elphaba exchange a complicated multi-step handshake in quick succession, ending in sparks and glitter puffing into the air between them.

“Would it be easier to let me hear it first?” Glinda bumps their shoulders together.

“You’d have to really get to me. I’m not sure if you can.” Elphaba huffs.

“Hey! I’m hilarious.” Glinda swats her lightly.

“That’s not it, I mean…you have to catch me off-guard. I spent so long practicing hiding it that I don’t know if I can laugh anymore.” Elphaba tucks her hair behind her ear.

“I have an idea.” Glinda turns fast enough to bounce both of them on the mattress. Elphaba scoots against the headboard to give her space, and does a sweeping gesture to indicate she’s listening. Even with the nonchalance, her eyes are sharp and painfully earnest.

“Well, it’s easier to start laughing than it is to stop. So what if I help you? I can teach you how to do the accepted Upper-Uplands giggle. When next you see Fiyero, try it! If he keeps making you laugh, your real one should come into the light.”

“You want me to fake it?” Elphaba furrows her brow.

“Most magicians fake their power. Why should this be any different?” Glinda shrugs. Elphaba nods slowly as the idea takes shape in her head.

“It’s…not a bad idea.”

“That’s the spirit. Now repeat after me.” Glinda shuffles and preens, clearing her throat. She releases something between a melody and a laugh—a trilly, pompous little thing that her mother had grilled into her during her formative years.

Elphaba makes a noise like a dying goose. Silence falls over the room.

“This is hopeless!” She wails. Glinda does not laugh, she does not, but she does puff her cheeks out ridiculously.

It just tickles her, the ways her two favorite people are made for each other.

Wait a minute.

“Elphaba Thropp.”

“Am I in trouble?” Elphaba immediately leans back, eyes wide. Glinda spins around the bed, backing Elphaba up against the headboard. She gets close, close enough to see the faint glitter still smudged on Elphaba’s forehead.

“Only if you’re ticklish.” Glinda grins, her hands finding Elphaba’s waist. Elphaba’s eyes widen past the size of the moon.

“I am going to turn you into the slimiest, wartiest toad imaginable.” A wobbly smile overtakes Elphaba’s face.

“You’re a very talented witch, but that sounds awfully hard to accomplish while laughing.” Glinda tuts and sets loose her fingers, tracing the asymmetrical seams of Elphie’s frock with unpredictable fingers. Elphaba’s face puffs up like the aforementioned frog. She hides behind her hands. Her shoulders shake with the effort of restraint.

“Let me hear it, love. It’s just us.” Glinda nods encouragingly, even though Elphaba can’t see it. Elphaba peeks open one eye between her fingers, then shuts it again. Glinda frowns. She pries Elphaba’s hands away from her face, instead placing them around her wrists.

“Stop me if you hate it.” Glinda says very seriously. Elphaba blinks.

“I can’t…it’s not…Idon’tmindit,” Elphaba says quickly, her face radiating heat. Glinda bites her lip on a smile.

“Good.” Glinda descends like a cyclone onto Elphaba’s ribs and it startles her laugh right out of her.

An endearing mess of shrieks and cackles blesses Glinda’s ears. Elphaba slides down the headboard and into a fit of snorts, holding onto Glinda’s wrists but never pulling away. Her nose scrunches as she tries to fistfight a tidal wave—poorly, but adorably.

Glinda fits her fingers into the curve of Elphaba’s waist and she tosses her head back, making a mess of her newly-freed hair. Hiccups filter into her laughter as it rocks her.

“Is this so bad?” Glinda has to shout over Elphaba to be heard. Nonsensical syllables tumble from her lips as she waves her hands around. Her laughter finds wheezy silence. Glinda relents then, taking a long, proud look at her handiwork.

Elphaba glows with her smile. It brightens her from the inside out. Little lines dance along the corners of her happily squinted eyes. Glinda pats her stomach. She jumps with an anticipatory giggle.

“What if I still can’t let Fiyero hear it?” Elphaba fiddles with her fingers.

“Tell him. He’ll understand.” Glinda rests her hand on Elphaba’s thigh. “And when you inevitably choose to be stubborn instead of admitting to yourself that you’re ready and he loves you, perhaps a little birdie will tell him what I’ve learned.”

Glinda wiggles her fingers and giggles evilly. Elphaba narrows her eyes.

When Glinda’s tackled face first onto her bed, screeching like her life depends on it, she knows immediately that the pursuit of Elphie’s smile is worth a few frizzy curls and smudged mascara.

#my fics #wicked #ticklish!elphaba #elphaba thropp #lil bit of glinda at the end too but not gonna tag it #glinda upland #fiyero tigelaar #who knows what these ship names are lol #but i love these three so much. esp my girls.#i absolutely refuse to write glinda as anything but hopelessly in love with elphie

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aingeal98 · 7 months ago

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yoo sangah for the ask game!!

three facts about them from my personal headcanons

-She faced so much misogyny from both her family and her workplace that the fact Dokja didn't harass her was enough for her to want to try and be his friend. Like the bar was on the floor and it was a relief to her that a single person cleared it.

-Her childhood was lonely, being from a well off family but hating the fakeness of high society and the lack of care towards those not as well off. She doesn't talk to her family much at all and she's never regretted it.

-But since she comes from that upper class, despite her efforts she struggles to make friends easily, especially with women. Her bond with KimCom was the first time she had a family she felt she could truly die for with no regrets.

a reason they suck

Out of all the characters it feels like the authors struggled the most with deciding where they wanted to take Sangah's character. It was very clear from early on that she was intended to subvert her usual character archetype but just how much they intended to subvert it didn't seem clearly thought out from the start. It leaves her with a bond to Dokja that's more highlighted than most of KimCom but not on YooHan's level. It also means that she never manages to carve out the same amount of narrative space as say, HSY does.

a reason they are great

I actually really like that her bond with Dokja is so thoroughly subverted. She's not his love interest, she's not his prize. She's not a goddess or secretly evil. She's just a person trying to survive like the rest of them. She's just his really good friend, someone who remembers who he was before the scenarios and wanted to be his friend even then. Yoohan both meet Dokja for the first time during the scenarios with all this savvy knowledge of the apocalypse. Sangah knew him as this guy obsessed with a webnovel, and she liked him even back then.

a reason I relate to them

Constantly feeling guilty for things beyond their control and feeling like no matter how hard they try there is a wall between them and the people they care about where they can't fully view you as Real and not just what they want you to be.

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

Sangsoo. But more specifically, sangsoo where she's not dating joonghyuk or dokja but hsy is, and she's constantly the only one who can get the entire polycule to cut their antics and listen to her. HSY is highly smug about this even though her gf privileges never stop Sangah from yelling at her too.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

-She deserved to snap and go apeshit. Tell everyone to stop fucking calling her a goddess she's just a person and they're all so unhinged she's at the end of her goddamn rope

-She deserved to have an argument with Han Sooyoung that lead to them kissing to shut each other up

-She should have had a Fuck You moment towards Olympus. One just for her where she got petty revenge on them for using her as a pawn.

-I needed one moment where someone fully saw her as a person. Dokja came close but she always knew more about him than he did her. I needed someone who saw her as an equal and I think HSY did but at the same time there was more there we needed to see for me to be satisfied. Probably a conversation within the three years they were living together.

-More focus on her in the epilogue. I get that it's the yoohankim story but for all the reasons highlighted above, Sangah and Dokja have a unique and special bond. I felt there was a tiny bit lacking there and I wanted to see more.

five people that character never fell in love with and why

-Dokja. It could have been something but then he died for three years, and by the time he came back she was also dying trying to keep everyone else alive. In some ways she understands him quite possibly better than anyone, but somehow being inside the Fourth Wall and seeing his entire life just solidified their bond as purely platonic.

-Yoo Joonghyuk. He's not her type. Ironically she is his type but he's already loved Lee Seolhwa which would make any relationship too painfully familiar to him.

-Jung Heewon. In a way she was almost everything Sangah would look for in a partner but on top of already having a thing with Lee Hyunsung, she also comes across as extremely straight. Sangah was convinced she was straight until she saw her arguing with Han Sooyoung and was like wow what is it about that woman and making every fight have underlying sexual tension.

-Lee Hyunsung. Also Sangah's type, but so clearly smitten with Heewon that Sangah would shut any potential feelings down if they ever arose.

-Sun Wukong. She may be Tang Sanzang but her story lies beyond that of his constellation.

#orv #orv rambles #yoo sangah #asks #thanks for the ask!

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lifeisabitch-butimcute · 2 months ago

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hello!!!! 1 & pandalily pls !!! 💖🤍

yayayayay hello!! ofc 💕

When I started shipping them: imma be honest i don't remember when or how i was introduced to them 😅 like a year ago?

My thoughts: we're gonna be here for a while if i share all of them...i'll share the surface level deets. my lily is, in every universe, a comphet lesbian that has either crashed out and is living her best life, reluctantly surrendering to heteronormativity, or in some uncomfortable liminal space in between. pandora is the driving force in teaching lily how to stand up for herself and be her own person, and lily, in turn, acts as a grounding force. pandora lets lily be her own person and lily introduces a new form of love to pandora and it works!! so fucking well!! I'm slamming down one of my favorite pandalily interactions that i've written as evidence (it's short, it's out of context, we don't have tiiiiime):

“I just want to know who you are,” Pandora said quietly. She didn’t look put off by the outburst. “Outside of your accomplishments.” “I am my accomplishments,” Lily replied bitterly. “I don’t believe that.”

What makes me happy about them: 1) lesbians <3 2) lily getting to be happy and being separated from men's expectations of her and her responsibility to them and 3) pandora getting to love and be loved by someone who's not her brother (respectfully. love u evan) in a way that still allows her to be herself.

What makes me sad about them: i mean, canon is....pretty classically sad for both of them. they're dead. but even as a ship, i am kind of gutted by the idea that lily will never be pandora's twin, and i think that's something they both have to reconcile with because evan knows her so well and she's always had that so i think she gets frustrated when someone isn't as intuitive towards her wants/needs/etc. and i think lily would be weighed down for a long time by the feeling of the relationship not being "complete" because there's no man because she's been taught all her life that she is half of a whole and that empty space can only be filled by a man. that's a lot to overcome!

things done in fanfic that annoy me: i say this about a lot of female characters in fics, but i don't like when they have individual characteristics wiped out to make them more palatable and relatable. let them be kind of shitty, they don't always have to be sassy girlbosses or giggling simpering girly pops or whatever the fuck. i also don't love pandora being depicted as a luna 2.0 - i think she runs darker and a lil more twisted than luna. and lily...kinda back to my original point. she's not just One Thing. you can be more than one thing.

things i look for in fanfic: i'll be honest i don't read a ton of pandalily because i'm picky as hell, but i have read ones that i loooove and it's usually morally grey pandora and lily. i believe in several they were cannibals/serial killers. #girlboss

who i'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other: hm. i'm really only comfy with them ending up with other women...i do like lilycissa, and i'm open to other pandora-based lesbian ships, but off the top of my head i can't think of any. if anything i know you would have some so hmu if you've got any 😘 i'm still sitting on my lily/pandora/narcissa polycule idea too.

My happily ever after for them: 1) fuck nasty. 2) travel the world. 3) fuck nasty (internationally) 4) come home, work incredibly successfully jobs, maybe have a kid, if they're feelin it. otherwise, i could see them owning chickens? for some reason? could be a slay. 5) fuck nasty

who is the big spoon/little spoon?: pandora is big spoon, lily is little spoon!

what is their favorite non-sexual activity?: ooooh okay i think pandora really likes recipe experimentation (<- lame ripoff of canon someone string me up) but i love the idea of lily coming home from work to find pandora surrounded by ingredients and dishes and lily's always down to join and sometimes it turns out really well and sometimes they end up ordering pizza but pandora has a tendency to just throw things in the mix based on vibes and lily makes her slow down and write down the process but really they're both right and they have fun doing it so who cares?

BONUS because fun fact i have a multi-chap pandalily fic in process that i! forgot! about!

“Yeah, yeah,” Lily muttered into her glass as she lifted it to her lips. She set it down and said casually, “You can fuck me about it later.” Pandora’s hand froze where it was halfway to her mouth. Her gaze slid up to meet Lily’s. “Is that right?” Lily’s tongue darted out to swipe along her bottom lip, watching as Pandora’s eyes tracked the motion. “We could always have a thoughtful conversation about our feelings instead,” she said dryly, reaching for her own food. Pandora’s nose wrinkled, and she took a vicious bite of bread and cheese before mumbling through her mouthful, “I’d rather make you scream.”

#ask game #jen tag #pandalily #thank you thank you #i love them #a

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ca-suffit · 7 months ago

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I've always had this weird impression that in this fandom it's seen as intellectually superior to be for polyam relationships.I know about the poly nature of Rice's vampires.

but the show made it clear from the start that they are jealous and possessive, Sam himself said that Lestat is monogamous at heart.

Why the poly discourse is so pushed because from what I was able to gather from other fans who have read the books even in the Chronicles it's not so much the polycule paradise as some try to make it believe?

Obviously everyone is free to their preferences but I have the impression that it is almost become shameful to prefer one particular pairing for each characters.

There's a lot of layers to this answer tbh. I'll try to go in order of what I've noticed are the most prominent reasons for this of what I've observed over the years.

a) It's another stand in for "it's gothic romance," "they're all monsters" type logic. It gives the illusion of being deep while rly just removing any real attempt at conversations ppl don't want to have (or don't have the range to have). This can also tie into fandom racism bcuz it smooths over discussions of *why* ppl might prefer certain pairings.

b) Shipping wars *are* annoying, so that is a legit reason. Usually the real reason is part a but this is still in there a tiny bit.

c) It *does* make ppl feel special. This and BDSM topics are some ppl's whole fandom personality bcuz fsr ppl think this is all unique in fandom spaces idk. This goes back again to how a lot of ppl read the VC books as children and still think it's brand new information when they're 45 years old in 2024.

The books do *not* get into polyam relationships well at all. The only thing that makes it vaguely polyam is that there's a sentence here and there of ppl kissing each other, living together, traveling together, whatever. She never explores any deep dynamics of anything. Nothing is ever laid out in full. They don't speak about these relationships with each other. The show did more to talk about it on any level than the books did. Even for any monogamous relationships, she doesn't explore much of anything as the books go on. That's a lot of what makes everything feel so unsatisfying. There's no substance to anything. She places characters around each other and uses words to force a depth of relationship that the readers don't feel otherwise bcuz she didn't write it lol. Whether it's conflict or romance, it all falls flat the more it goes.

#asks #interview with the vampire #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #amc iwtv #iwtv 2022

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powerpolyculeshowdown · 2 years ago

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everyone who hasn't seen leverage should watch leverage after this. and then you will all see. anyway its a diff genre than orv obviously so there's no world ending/world saving shenanigans bc its set in our reality but i don't think that matters. they're the ultimate power polycule To Me because of the way that they are. it's fucking insane i literally cannot explain it to someone who hasn't seen the show. they were the first exposure i had to canon adjacent polyamory in media and watching the show the first time it was like getting hit by a car over and over tbh. their relationship to each other is so central to the show, and even though hardison and parker are canonically dating, both of their separate relationships with elliot are given the same respect and narrative importance as their romantic relationship, which isn't something i would really expect from a show from the 2010s? usually popular media tends to value love interest relationships over other ones. but they're a Team and a Family so their relationships, all of them, are given the weight they deserve. plus in leverage redemption they are so tooth rottingly domestic oh my GOD. middle aged queer love knocks me out every time one day i'll be living like that..... god....in leverage they grow together and learn to love each other but in leverage redemption they have been together for 10+ years and you can TELL. they work like a well oiled machine!!!! they each have separate jobs but they know each other and have lived and loved and worked with each other long enough that they can passably fill in for each other (which is hot. btw) on cons and they finish each others thoughts and make the same gestures (theres a scene where hardison and elliot point at something with the same stance at the same time it's really cute) they know exactly how to make the others happy and angry and they ALWAYS GET THE JOB DONE! NO MATTER THE ODDS! BECAUSE THEY'RE A TEAM! and they will always ALWAYS insist upon being there for each other THEY'RE EVEN GOING TO BREAK INTO NASA TO GO TO SPACE TO GET HARDISON, BTW. ugh. basically. heart hurt i cry every time for these guys :(

u had me at domestic bye everyone gonna get a new hyperfixation

#thats a joke sorry #i WILL get to it eventually tho #ppspropaganda

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73chn1c0l0rr3v3l · 1 year ago

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if you're willing to share, i'd love to hear your thoughts on adoption/found family/people being weird about it. the way things ended up in that episode felt kind of off to me and i'm still trying to put my finger on why.

I'm writing this with a headache, so please forgive if it is a bit meandering.

I'm also going to state up front I am not talking about the adoption industry & all of the shitty stuff involved in that - I'm talking about my own experiences as an adoptee.

First things first: people are Weird about adoption. There's this assumption that people are default genetically related to their family unless stated otherwise, there's the assumption that people will want to be connected to their blood family, there's this assumption that biological family is always the best answer. I think a lot of people have a lot of default assumptions about what family IS & what it means, & they get uncomfortable if you question them.

There are 2 adoption narratives - either your adopted family is horrible & you find your biological family & stuff is Better, or you leave your horrible biological family to get adopted into a family that is Better. There's nothing for "i won't ever have access to the biological family, & I don't entirely relate to my adopted family either," or "my biological family loves me but I can't be in their lives because our values are too different but I don't actually like my adopted family but they're who I grew up with" or even the very succinct "they both suck, okay?" There's a huge variety of experience, & I feel like a lot of the nuance gets lost on people who don't relate for whatever reason.

It's one reason the Timeless Child resonated with me so hard? Because yeah, sometimes you don't know who you might have been & you mourn it, but you can't be anyone but the society that raised you. On a more personal level... well, Tecteun very intensely reminded me of my mother, & I was rewatching Flux (including That part) the night she died & uh... certain parts of that sure were familiar.

It's really frustrating as someone who is currently sorting through some VERY complicated family feelings - my mother (my actual mother, the mother who raised me) died in September. My father - the man I grew up with - died in 2012. I haven't heard from most of my family since then - I didn't hear from most of my family when my mother was dying, which happened over months. I haven't heard from my father's family in more than a decade at this point. They were not there when I was suffering as a kid, they were not there when I needed support as a teenager, they were not there when I was coming into myself as a young adult. Family to me isn't a thing that you WANT, because what's the point of it? I understand it's a different thing for other people, but these things are never one size fits all, & I resent them being treated as such.

If you came up to me & said "you can travel with the Doctor through time & space & you get a SPACE DAD or a SPACE MOM" I would run very fast in the other direction. I've got parents. Depending on how you look at it, I've got more than the usual set that most folks have. I don't want a replacement or an additional parent - I want to grieve the ones I have, untangle the feelings I've got about them. I want people in my life who care about me, who I care about - friends, lovers, mentors, partners, & all those other relationships that you don't have names for. I like it when things don't slot into place neatly.

Which leads me to my issues with found family as a trope. My main issue with it is that it treats the whole thing as very... one size fits all. That everyone *wants* to be part of a family with a mom & a dad & a grandmother & kids. Versus wanting to be in a polycule, wanting to be in a friend group, wanting to be part of a community. I feel like with the ending of the Giggle, it was slotting the Doctor (& Mel) in the parts of a traditional family - they're the aunt & the uncle now! Not blood related, but still having a designated Place. Which possibly ties in to people being weird about adoption, since merely being Not Blood Related somehow makes it different.

I am, admittedly, also allergic to labels. My only label irt my sexuality is queer, I do not have a gender, I have stepped off the various spectrums & am just... me. What I like about the Doctor & their relationships is that most of the time they're in that same grey area? Is the Doctor Sarah Jane's lover? Her best friend? Her avuncular old uncle figure? Her mentor? They all apply to varying degrees, but they're all also valid, & I love that.

I could also talk about my SPECIFIC issues with how it was done in the giggle, but most of that comes down to taste, & we all know that varies from person to person to a much greater degree.

I am also not telling off people who do like found family & those dynamics- I'm really glad there's so much space for so many interpretations! I'm really glad there are so many different enjoyments to be had!

... I'm not sure if all of this entirely made sense, but thank you for letting me ramble a bit.

#doctor who #i didn't realize i had so much to say #spoilers #thanks nonnie

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