#whereas that place was big and some people owned | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

p1utofairy · 4 months ago

Text

★ your next glow up?

note — i wasn't gonna post this now but i figured fuck it why not?! enjoy, my loves! this is for entertainment purposes only <3 take what resonates and leave what doesn’t. p.s. come in my ask box and tell me what you think!

PILE ONE.

pile mf ONE, you are really stepping into a new era! when i tell you this new you is gonna turn HEADS. tuh, you’re gonna be looking like new money. nicki minaj’s ‘new body’ verse is coming to mind lol “you ain’t fuck me, you fucked the old body. you ain’t fuck nicki, you fucked nicole body! ain’t no miles on this here new body, off with they heads these bitches is nobody’s.” OH YEAH OKAYYY, PILE 1. maybe you’ll be hitting the gym more, switching up your diet or possibly getting some cosmetic work done?

whatever you’re doing differently, it’s gonna be noticeable. people are gonna feel like something changed with you overnight like “um when did pile 1 get so bad?” and this isn’t to say you aren’t already attractive…there’s just something about your energy and confidence that just amplified x1000 and people are really gonna feel and see this change in you. you might start experimenting with your outfits a little more, giving off a more seductive vibe. it’s like you're breaking out of your comfort zone especially if you usually opt for baggier clothes or a more conservative look. wait cause why am i thinking of ‘pretty little liars’ when emily is talking to aria about hanna and she’s like “haven’t you heard? she’s the it girl now.” PERIOD, PILE ONE. giving serena page vibes from love island.

there will be a lot of talk about you and even if you don’t hear it directly, trust me, people are gonna try to keep tabs on you. i’m seeing people re-watch your instagram stories tryna figure out who took you that place and who you’re doing it with — oh these people are spiralingggg. this could very well be potential suitors tryna scope out the scenery, but they’re not sure if you’ll be interested in them. they might fear rejection because you just look so damn good and it looks like you’re in such a better space in life and got your shit together; whereas they feel like they lack the resources/finances to be with you. these potential love interests see you as high value, pile 1. they’re intimidated by your beauty and aura. you’ll be more so focused on attracting a partner that can actually make shit happen.

you don’t have time for the cat and mouse games. you want the real deal and i do see you getting the person that you want. you manifested this person into your life and i sense them feeling like they won the lottery with you! i’m hearing that you are sooo mesmerizing on the outside and your heart & personality makes you so much more beautiful. there’s layers to you and i think this next glow up will allow you to really shine and be yourself unapologetically – you’re leaning into the different aspects of yourself that makes you unique. if there’s anything you’ve got your mind set on or something specific you want to do, go for it! whatever you do, you’ll stand out effortlessly and be successful. say yes by floetry is coming to mind. “see, i’ve been watching you for awhile…your smile and style. wanna know if i can be with you for the night, alright.” i meannnnn need i say more?!

how to tap into this energy?

listen closely to your intuition! work on your third eye because i’m hearing that you’re a powerful manifester and you don’t even truly know it. even if you do know this, you start doubting yourself and limiting your own thoughts. always think big and bigger because it’s in your reach. don’t get so caught up in the “how?” because your manifestations can appear in many different ways, not just one. you have a clear vision into the future – you just gotta adjust your lens and focus on what it is that YOU want. who cares if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else, as along as you see the vision then it’s a go! listen to ‘i want it all’ by sharpay evans lol you need to embody that song and its energy.

PILE TWO.

hey, pile 2! i’m hearing you’ve been putting up with the bullshit for wayyyy too long and this next glow up is gonna be a proper FUCK YOU to all your haters! i feel like people take your kindness for weakness and you feel like you don’t get the respect you deserve. you can deal with a lot of passive aggression in your relationships or friendships and people expect for you to suck it up and be okay with it. what i’m mainly picking up is that you like to keep the peace. you don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feather, but it just makes it worse for you because you’re not truly expressing yourself and your emotions. this keeps you up at night like “ugh! i should’ve said this or I should’ve stuck up for myself and finally cussed so and so tf out.” but you don’t because you know why, pile 2? you’re better than them, simple as that.

you wouldn’t treat anybody how some people treat you, and the reality is that it’s so much harder to be nice than it is to be mean. anybody can be mean and say hurtful shit if they really wanted to, but to always be graceful and kind in the face of adversity and ignorance? rare af. +10000 aura points! don’t let anybody make you feel less than or like you can’t speak up for yourself. this next glow up you’re going to use your voice and really make it known that you are not to be fucked with, okay?! you will be standing your ground and really popping your shit in the most calm and collected way possible & people are gonna be like “wait…did [y/n] really just clock me like that?!” and you’re gonna be standing 10 toes down on it as you should. they’ll have no choice but to respect you lol. you will start to realize what is worth your time & energy and what isn’t.

you might start cutting off people that don’t mean you any good and really start to focus on yourself and your energy. no more walking on egg shells and sparing peoples feelings, this is YOUR life and you have a voice just as much as they do – so use it! i think you’ll also be meeting new friends & a potential love interest during this next glow up. i’m hearing ‘how stella got her groove back’ lol so yeah some of you might be playing the field a little bit.

some of you might just want something casual and nothing more because you just want to focus on your own healing journey. you’ll start to understand why things had to happen the way that they did & why certain relationships didn’t work out the way that you thought they would. you’ll be able to decipher what you are and aren’t willing to put up with and honestly i just see you bossing tf up and advocating for yourself no matter who doesn’t like it. that tiktok “nobody loves you baby! you should only love yourself – ON MY SOUL!” just randomly came to me lmfaooo this is your ‘i’m focusing on what really matters aka me’ era and i think it’s exactly what you need pile 2.

how to tap into this energy?

i think you need to transmute the negative energy that people try to project on you into something positive. 12:12 on the clock, yeah. like look at this way, if people doubt you, don’t respect you or don’t feel like your capable of achieving great things then use that to your advantage. let them underestimate you all they want, and then BAM boss up on them and show them who tf you are. what they don’t know only makes you stronger. you have the power to make some powerful ass connections and make a name for yourself so be calculated & strategic with your moves. people will be eating their words when it comes to you, pile 2.

PILE THREE.

pile 3 your next glow up is gonna be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ngl, but very rewarding nonetheless. i’m hearing that one tiktok sound “you gotta take the good with the bad, smile with the sad. love what you got and remember what you had.” so yeah i think you’re really gonna be figuring out how to transmute your energy and create something from it – whether that be a job opportunity, a love offer, a trip, etc. there’s something that you really want and you’re doing the work to make it happen. you have the plan, you just need the platform lol.

for some of you, i see a major relationship coming to an end. this could be a lover or a best friend, but this person will be exposed because they’re not who you thought they were. this person has very sneaky/deceptive energy and you’ve been in the dark about this for way too long. this person/connection means a lot to you, so you will feel like this is a tough situation to completely walk away from; but my sweet pile 3’s you will be more than okay! you will be spectacular! 10:10 was just on the clock.

allow yourself to sort through your emotions and learn from the situation, don’t let it weigh you down. sometimes we get too caught up in how long we’ve been with somebody and all of the good memories we made with them, that makes us hesitant to move on. sometimes things just run its course and you’re no longer in alignment with that person. you can’t force anything or anyone in your life that doesn’t align with your highest self and that can be very hard to process when emotions are involved but i’m happy to let you know there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

i see some of you traveling to a place you’ve always wanted to go and possibly meeting a potential love interest. in this next glow up, you’ll be doing things that you’ve always wanted to do cause there’s no one holding you back. you’re stepping out of your comfort zone and just taking a leap of faith – high risk, high reward. you’re gonna be making time for yourself and also prioritizing your hobbies/interests. this is beautiful, pile 3. i see you really getting in touch with who you are at the core. be kind and gentle with yourself, because you are a precious gem that a lot of people value and care about.

how to tap into this energy?

stop giving your power away. work on your throat chakra, my loves. your voice is your power and it’s one of the major keys to your success. a closed mouth doesn’t get fed, so you need to speak up and communicate what it is that YOU want and not just say what people want to hear. this next glow up will really have you standing in your power. release is needed especially verbally cause you know that tight feeling you get in your throat when you’re tryna stop yourself from crying? yeah no more of that. no more walking on egg shells, pile 3. say what you feel and stand on it & watch how the tides turn in your favor. mwah!

PILE FOUR.

alright, pile 4! for this next glow up i see you moving. some of you might actually be moving into a new home or apartment and it’s gonna grant you so much peace and comfort. for others of you, this could be you moving on emotionally from a toxic relationship and/or familial bond and finally getting the clarity and peace you need to cut all ties and move onto something better. whatever the situation may be, it was weighing heavy on you and making you feel very down.

you’re gonna feel so free when you leave this situation behind, it’s not even funny. i’m hearing that you were a gilded bird in a cage. some of you could’ve been moving from place to place, not feeling quite settled or financially stable. if you feel lost right now and like you don’t know what to do with your life/where it’s taking you, i just wanna say keep going – W.A.Y.S. by jhené aiko is coming to mind. “if there's one thing that i learned while in those county lines, is that everything takes time. you have gotta lose your pride, you have gotta lose your mind just to find your peace of mind.” awww yeah that’s your theme song for this next glow up. things might not make sense right now, but please trust me when i say that everything is going to work out in your favor & things will be better than you could ever imagine.

you will be blessed with the tools you need to get to this next phase of your life. you are the source, pile 4. whatever you put your mind to, you can surely achieve! don’t let 3D circumstances throw you off, you are so abundant and prosperous you will see in this next glow up just how much of a powerful manifester you really are. you’re still trying to find yourself and figure out where you fit in in the world, but you don’t have to put yourself in a box, pile 4. pave your own way and once you do others will want to follow suit. no one can see your future the way that you do, so keep doing your thing because i’m seeing that you will come across people/friends that share similar interests and niches as you. awww pile 4 you’re going to find your soul tribe.

you have this flighty energy about you (air sign energy/esp gemini) like you’re from one thing to the next and you can’t figure out what you truly want to do. some of you might be in college or almost about to graduate and when people ask you “do you know what you want to do?” you’re like uhhhh….]>|>]^>.]€]€]£ like you truly don’t know but like that’s okay cause actually you do know! on a soul level, you know. what’s understood doesn’t have to be explained pile 4 lol people might not get it now but when you pop out living the life you’ve always dreamed of, TUH. they’ll understand then.

how to tap into this energy?

get out of your head so much and just vibe, pile 4. you can plan plan plan all you want but the reality is: shit happens! it might annoy you or make you feel incredibly frustrated when another problem or inconvenience pops up in your life, but there’s nothing you can’t overcome. it’s life. you will be greatful for these experiences in the long run because it will be another bridge that you’ve already crossed and dealt with, so you won’t fold under pressure – you’ll just already know what to do. you got this, pile 4. shit is about to get really good for you.

#pick a card #pac #pick a pile #p1utofairy #pick a card reading #tarot reading #pac reading #intuitive reading

1K notes · View notes

hasnomoxxie · 4 months ago

Note

Could you tell us more about Dan from Levity Rises?

YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ME AB LEVITY RISES

I recently updated the designs for them so I'll talk ab them all if you don't mind :]c

I'll add the most information on Dan though just for you bbg!

I do plan on making a few screenshot redraws (and potentially an intro animatic because an awesome person actually made a theme for this au)

THE MYSTERY TWINS ⇆ THE ORIGINAL MYSTERY TWINS

Stanley and Stanford Pines take on the roles of Dipper and Mabel! Stan's curious and is the more mystery focussed one whereas Ford is more energetic and active than his base counterpart.

Stanley is an adventurous young boy, looking for the next interesting trip to go on, initially thinking spending the summer at Levity Rises was going to be a waste of time. Though after arriving and finding the scrapbooks alongside the anomalies happening across Levity, he and his brother quickly became obsessed with finding out the secrets of the Rises, as well as who the mysterious Smile Pup(swapped with bill cypher) is.

Ford (often going by 'Six' or 'Sixer) is a happy go lucky and optimistic young child who is alot tougher than his base counterpart was at his age. Since it's typically only just been him and his brother, so he's eager to make the best of his summer by meeting new people, though he hides his polydactyly with gloves he changes frequently.

DIPPER ⇆ STANLEY

Dipper takes the role of Grunkle Stan in this au!

Owner of the mystery shack, Grunkle Mason- or (Big) Dipper to people around Levity Rises- is the resident faux scientist of the town. His personality is more eccentric, tending to get hyper fixated on paranormal paraphernalia, to the point in where he does lock himself away for periods at a time.

Not much is known about his origins, he just kind of always existed on the outsidea of the town, but after opening the shack to the public, people quickly accepted his presence due to his quirky personality.

MANLY DAN ⇆ SOOS

Dan actually takes the role of Soos in this au, being the resident handyman of the mystery shack! Though often the lines blur between his role and Wendy's from the original. Wanted to keep it flexible yk?

Dan's a real dude's bro, pretty dim witted and blunt but often chill and level headed- Unless he's challenged- dude's competitive as hell, it's actually crazy. His mother, dubbed 'womanly wendy', is the toughest lady in town, owning a diner, aptly named 'Wendy's'.

Dan enjoys working at the Shack as it's one of the few places that'll let him freely experiment with his logging with the nearby trees for his own projects and adding fixtures onto the shack, which Dipper is pretty thankful for since he can focus his efforts on other things. It's also because of this reason that Dipper puts up with Dan's outbursts and semi airheaded personality. So it's safe to say, he's there the majority of the time.

Stan admires Danny alot and the events of 'Into the bunker' happens with Dan in place of Wendy. This does mean Stan had a passing crush on Danny during the episode, but even afterwards Stan kind of puts him on a pedestal. Ford enjoys Dan's company often being called 'little man' and playfighting on occasion. The twins act like his little hype men and he enjoys hanging with them.

As for Soos in this au, he initially built the mystery shack and is frequently seen around Levity Rises taking on odd jobs and making people as happy as they can be, though it's implied that he hasn't found his true calling yet.

LAZY SUZAN ⇆ WENDY

Lazy Suzan takes the role of Wendy in this au! Hazy Jane is a part time worker at the mystery shack, and is stan's first crush upon arrival to the Rises. She's a bit of an odd soul with a less than perfect memory, but is incredible at making a homely environment for the shack. Despite that, she can be extremely co-dependent in some situations, especially with her boyfriend. Otherwise she's earnest and does her best at her job. The events of 'Soos and the real girl' occur with Jane instead of Soos (and Rumble instead of GIFanny). Despite wanting to help, Stan is incredibly pouty throughout the episode.

Here's the design line up as well as initial notes I made when redoing them!

Hope this answered your question about Dan :]

RAUGH THANKS SO MUCH FOR ASKING THOUGHHHHHH

(EDIT)

SOMEONE SUGGESTED A BETTER SWAP FOR BILL, I JUST HAD TO ADD IT!

(EDIT EDIT)

I'm fixing wording and stuff so it's easier to read soz :p

1K notes · View notes

bogleech · 2 months ago

Text

I've probably seen or read ten thousand hundred interviews in my life where a financially successful U.S. born gallery artist says some variation on "everyone always wants to know why I don't make 'pretty' things, but I just have to be myself"

Like not to be mean buddy but if you mean your own immediate childhood social circle or puritan parents just say that. Otherwise it can't be that many people outside stuffier boomer art critics. Don't get me wrong I truly like your giant vantablack beetle with the doll heads for eyes* but your pieces are selling for thousands or millions in a new york city gallery full of pieces like "toilet full of blood representing poverty" or "real human skulls painted happy colors" whereas your pieces are just goth in a country that makes 500 horror movies a year and now spends more on Halloween than on Christmas. There's places in this world where you might have been censored or even persecuted for making art that isn't church or government approved and the artists who claw their way out of that are goddamn heroes but you're from philadelphia. Heck I'm a middle aged man drawing rotten monsters since I was a silly little baby and nobody has ever said anything about them but "neat!" Have you heard of the internet in fact, we've got places where you could share an oil painting of a godzilla sized big titty baphomet impaling every pope in history on one of multiple giant dicks and get 50k likes before you hear one breath of disapproval.

#*I made up this example so if it resembles anyone's actual art I apologize and I really do mean I like the sound of that #I specified U.S. born because there's countries where an artist really will have to fight to express anything that isnt safe and whole

269 notes · View notes

sleepyangelkami · 1 year ago

Text

ROOFTOP SHENANIGANS .vi

☆ WORD COUNT - 2.3K

VI (ARCANE) X FEM!READER

☆ SUMMARY - vi has been staying with you in your big fancy uppercity house while on the run, one night you both take an exciting trip onto the rooftop while avoiding the 'exquisite ball' beneath you both, organised by your parents, of course.

☆ WARNINGS - fluff, petnames, arcane!universe but slightly different, mentions of men, kissing, mentions of rich/upper class reader, mention of reader being 'small', multiple mentions of reader having a mom, use of 'good girl' in a domestic (not smutty) way, intended lower case, nothing i write is ever proofread 🩷

you should be at the party downstairs.

it felt like every second week that your parents were throwing another party. although, they didn't particularly want to call it that. they'd call it a ball, force everyone to get into these big puffy dresses or intricately designed suits. the first five minutes would be alright but soon enough you'd get bored of your parents' business talk with the old folk.

this time, though, you were spending your saturday night in your bedroom, clad in your silky white pijamas instead. vi sat across from you, just aching to get out of this room. and truly, you couldn't blame her.

vi had been on the run for quite some time now. once she got out of stillwater prison, the first place she went was to you. you'd told her where your fancy house was situated beforehand and besides, it wasn't as if it were hard to miss. when the drenched girl arrived at your door in the pouring rain with blood smeared on her face, you couldn't exact turn her away. not that you wanted to. you had to say, smuggling a 'criminal' into your house and keeping them there even though they were wanted was an... experience to say the least.

your parents had no idea, of course, and they never could. they were big councillors and 'your actions would reflect on them and blah, blah, blah.' you'd heard the story a thousand times over. and that was when you weren't standing properly so you could only imagine what they'd have to say about smuggling a wanted criminal.

"uhm, vi?" you questioned, her voice airy. somehow, the girl had manged to persuade you to follow her outside. only downfall, your bedroom was situated on the highest floor of the building.

the cotton candy haired girl looked at you with a chuckle falling from her lips. "here, gimme your hand." and you didn't have to be told twice.

vi was many things. she lived on the dangerous side whereas you liked to keep to yourself, always doing your best to hide in a shadow. you were the type of girl that didn't want to be looked at, vi was the type to not care whose eyes were on her. and somehow, these personalities mixed just a little to well and suddenly she was coercing you onto the rooftop.

your white socks began to get a little dirty by the way you found your feet padding against the wall. you climbed up with her hand in yours and suddenly your back end was sitting atop the roof.

you'd never been up this high in general let alone at your own home.

"pretty, isn't it?" the girl mumbled as she leaned in a little closer, there was a smirk on her scarred lips, lifting them up and curving them.

beneath you, your eyes were strained on the carpet that led people inside your house. you could see carriages with horses driving into your driveway. it was a sight to see, men and women in suits and dresses, all looking much too fancy to be taking a trip to your house. the light from the house hung in the midnight air, shining and emitting a yellowish hue onto the grass.

you hummed, your lips in a straight line. "you're prettier." you teased causing the girl to roll her pretty eyes. only she didn't take them back down, she found her eyes staring up at the midnight sky above you both. "you like stars?" you questioned, assuming she had an interest or something given the fact that her eyes seemed awfully strained on something in the sky. perhaps she knew constellations and what the little shapes meant. you never bothered yourself to learn it.

"no." she spoke, still studying the night sky. "jus' been a while since i've seen that many stars." vi was in prison for a long time. you knew she was innocent, she didn't deserve the place that she got but unfortunately all the money in the world couldn't get someone to listen to you. not a corrupt government like piltover. you hummed once more, letting your head fall on her shoulder. "tired, cupcake?"

nodding your head, you fought off a yawn. you could hear her coo as her hand came down to your own, her fingers gently interlocking with yours. to others, she may seem like the brooding, dangerous girl she was thought to be. but with you? she was as gentle as a butterfly. "you're so warm." you mumbled, nuzzling your way into her.

"you're so cute." she retaliated, watching as you flushed, rolling your eyes with your lips in a tight smile. her eyes glanced back up to the little stars dotted around the sky. "you know, you're kind of like a star."

with a tired pout, you placed your head on her shoulder, looking up at her with those big doey eyes. "how?" people had compared you to many things in your days, but a star? not so much.

"cause." she shrugged her shoulders. as embarrassed as she was to get the words out, she still couldn't fight off that tight lipped smile on her face. "you're like... lighting up the darkest skies." she watched as your face changed a little, not in a bad way, a way of endearment, a pout stretched across your lips. "and, you know." she coughed, attempting to defuse any tension. "you're... small."

you shook your head, stifling a giggle. "you were doin' so well." and she just had to ruin it with her joke, not that vi could ever ruin anything, you were sure.

the sound of mellow music hit your ears. it was low but due to how loud your mother always seemed to blare the music, you were still able to hear it even from your place on the roof. you'd given the lame excuse of not feeling right which is the only reason your mother had left you stay in your bedroom. and as grateful as you were to spend time with vi, you couldn't help but miss the music. it was this song in particular that was your favourite.

any other night, you'd be in the centre of the dance floor. you'd be dancing with someone, no doubt, you didn't care who, man or woman, elderly or one of the kids. but when this song played, everyone in piltover knew to make room. "love this song." you mumbled, hiding your hands in the silk of your pijamas. it was still awfully cold, especially when you were sitting atop of a roof.

vi hummed in thought. she'd heard you play this song many times, she was no stranger to your infatuation with the song. your eyes watched as she moved from you, standing up on the roof. she laid a hand out for you to take to which you merely awkwardly stared. "oh come on. i dragged you all the way from your fancy ball. the least i can do is dance with you to your favourite song." your heart swelled. "will you dance with me, angel?"

and how could you refuse someone so... unearthly? you stood with a giggle, placing your hand in her own.

she helped you get up swiftly.

you breathed a shaky breath before glancing down. it seemed like a good idea at first but it wasn't as if the rooftop was exactly straight. it was still slanted, off to the side as you did your best to hold yourself up. you could say that grace wasn't your thing. but that didn't matter, for in seconds you could feel warm hands on your hips, holding you upright. "careful, cupcake."

you attempted at everything to wipe the smile off your face and failed, of course. "my knight in shining armour." you murmured jokingly, one of her hands moving up to hold one of yours. your free hand came down to sit on her shoulder. "you know how to dance?"

and by the looks of it, she did. her feet moved before you, stepping in, stepping out, she moved so elegantly, so softly. it seemed as though she'd lived on a dance floor. you'd danced with many people in your life, no one had ever compared to vi. "'course, elegance is my middle name." she murmured against your skin.

you giggled as she spun you out, her arm in the air as you twirled. you couldn't stop the sounds from your mouth, pure ecstasy filling your veins and your cheeks by the feeling of the heat that had rose to them.

vi too wore a smile, as big as anything as her pearly whites were on wide display for you to see. your eyes trailed from her own sapphire ones to the tattoo sitting beneath it, decorating her skin beautifully. she pulled you close then, holding her face near yours as she swayed your bodies. "if you were at the ball, would you be dancing with some guy now? some... councillor kid or something?"

you tried to huff out your laugh. vi, in all her glory, jealousy and insecurity seeping into her veins. "vi..." you stopped dancing, though she was still holding you close. the only difference was now you could see her face. "you're all that matters to me." fingers gently twisting the bubblegum locks. "not the balls my mom throws, not the 'princes' i get the pleasure of dancing with, not the money, not the... lifestyle. you. i'd trade the entire city of piltover for you in a heartbeat."

she looked down at you with those lovey eyes, the ones that showed you she knew you were telling the truth. "you're a real idiot, cupcake."

you shrugged, smile on your lips. "that's okay." you mumbled. "you can do the thinking for me."

she couldn't help it. you were so close, the aura was so sweet, gentle light flooding from the windows and doors of the house and the soft music from the ballroom. and you looked so pretty. her fingers brushed the side of your cheek, pulling your face closer to hers.

you didn't fight it, in fact, you melted into her. you felt her soft lips on yours and you kissed back, just as gently. there was something about the way her hands held you, as though you were glass and she was being careful not to break. she'd beg to differ. not glass, more like a painting. you were a beautiful painting and she was holding you so close, engulfing you because she knew ugly people liked to ruin beautiful things. she couldn't risk letting anyone attempt to toss their hands near your heart.

at some point in the night, the music lowered itself, then it was but a hum and suddenly, there was no music at all.

you and vi still sat atop the roof, bodies close as you peered out at everyone who left for their carriages. you commented on a couple people you knew, explaining them to vi. "is he nice?" truth was, she didn't really know anyone in the uppercity.

you shrugged your shoulders. "I don' really know, he smells kind of funny." listening to the way she chuckled against your skin. truth was, you didn't really care for anyone in the uppercity. "'s getting really late." you commented, yawning again. you knew it was getting late for people were going home and god knows your mom didn't throw balls just to end them early. "you comin' to bed?"

she glanced to you, watching your slightly watery eyes from yawning so much, big and doey, ready for sleep. "I'll be a couple minutes, sweetheart. you to bed, alright? i'll be down soon."

and for a sleepy you, it was enough. you nodded your head and bidded your farewell to the girl you loved more than your entire being.

at some point in that night, you'd managed to get yourself into bed, snuggling up against your covers and allowing them to completely engulf you. you had your fists near your chin, holding the blanket close and your eyes shut closed, light breaths leaving them. all this stressing and keeping vi a secret was so tiring, exhausting even, but you wouldn't change it for the world.

you were in and out of sleep, almost as if your body was waiting for her to come back into the room.

the sound of the window closing shut was enough to alert your body. "vi?" your voice all croaky and full of sleep.

vi had swung in the window as if she were spiderman himself. "i'm here baby." she mumbled, kicking off her boots. obviously, she'd been more prepared for the night on the roof than you had. she climbed into your big bed from behind you, her arms immediately reaching out for you. she watched as you turned around, arms grasping around her neck. "why're you still awake?" she mumbled. she'd spent at least another hour out on the roof but she'd assumed by your sleepy eyes that you'd been ready to knock out then and there. she wasn't going to be the one to keep you awake.

you sniffed against her chest, hugging yourself close. her scent was enough to have you sighing in relief for her to be back in your arms. "can't sleep right without you here." your body and mind had grown awfully attached to the cotton candy haired girl.

"you're so cute." she cooed at you, pressing a kiss to your scalp. "go to sleep, sweet girl, i'll be here in the morning." she could feel you relaxing against her chest, eyes screwing themselves shut. "good girl." she mumbled, pulling the blankets above you.

"g'night, vi." your tired whisper barely reaching her ears.

so sweet. "goodnight, cupcake."

main masterlist/vi's masterlist

907 notes · View notes

harrietvane · 8 months ago

Note

So, in Busman’s Homeymoon, Lord Peter buys Harriet Vane a mink cloak worth 950 pounds (according to the Dowager Duchess’ journal entry), but he buys Tallboys for “only” 650 pounds.

Even bearing in mind that real estate really did used to be cheaper, do you understand how that is possible? Or how to find out more about relative purchasing power? I used an online calculator website which gave me some figures, but it still seems insane that one could buy an entire Elizabethan farmhouse for 2/3 the price of a garment! Very curious to learn from others who understand this better than I do.

Ah, I see my esteemed colleague @oldshrewsburyian has also had some interesting thoughts on this, so I'll link that here as well before I begin.

So, it's a legitmate question, and there's no catch-all simple answer (in the gotcha sense of 'why didn't i know that bit of cultural Truth'), but there are mitigating factors that take it from a ridiculous price comparison, to merely outlandish. Even taking into account that the coat is quoted in guineas, not pounds, and that PW says the bank valued Talboys at £800 via a mortgage (the paid price was a discount, for paying in cash quickly, which is Plot Relevant), it gets us to roughly the same place, value-wise. Or shall we say PRICE-wise, rather than value, as I'll get into below. There's several factors at play here - they mainly relate to class, and spending power:

-The house is Not That Great, in terms of the kind of property that PW would usually be buying. I mean it is still a large-ish house, big enough to have 2 adults and small children in, but it's not what would be on his radar normally. The only reason they know about it, it that it's near a place where HARRIET grew up as a child. It's not getting any high marks in particular Beauty, Convenience, or Quality - the main reason HV's drawn to it is sentiment, rather than anything else. They both know that they will have to significantly add to it, and alter it, in order for it to be a comfortable home. That would usually be out-of-budget for someone in Harriet's position, who would expect to buy something that meets her needs 'as-is'. Most people looking at buying that house would be Harriets not Peters, so it might be a tough sell.

-The house has no power, and limited plumbing: There's dark references to DRAINS by the dowager duchess, it's entirely possible that this house has no modern plumbing at all - they make the comparison that the huge palace the Wimseys grew up in wasn't plumbed until recently, but then again they do have about 800 servants, whereas Talboys is just a regular house: they will have Bunter alone (at first), with an assist from Mrs Ruddle. There's mention of "a cistern" with some basic valves, but the scullery is mentioned as having a copper, from which hot water is "scooped into a large bath-can" - a copper being, simply, a large metal basin over a fire, in effect. No running hot water, maybe no flushable loos - it's a factor. They also talk specifially about having to electrify Talboys themselves - it's candles and lamps until then. It's fancy camping. By the mid-1930s, a lot of middle-class buyers would expect a little more convenience in both water and wiring, unless they had significant support staff, which Talboys would not be expected to house.

-There's probably no farm! It's a farm house - not a wider land purchase. People like PW's brother the Duke are wealthy primarily because they own land, not because of the big palace they have (which eats money, rather than generates it). The land is what gives them spending power, because other people are paying them rent to live on it, farm on it, or both. PW's own personal 'younger sibling' wealth is also mentioned somewhere to be primarily in real estate (assumed to be in London) - sad to say: he's a landlord, and that's why he's rich. Talboys, on the other hand, as a purchase, would not, in almost any way, be expected to generate revenue through either farming, agriculture, or charging rent. Until they invent house flipping in 80 years, or until the motorway goes through in 40 years, there's not much expectation that Talboys would increase all that much in value.

-Lastly, there's a massive disparity in what The Market Will Bear when we compare a basic residence vs a luxury item (like a mink coat) in the mid-1930s. This is not particular to that time, though. Like any first-year economics student will tell you, the price of something is not it's intrinsic value, it's what someone is WILLING to pay for it. If someone is willing to pay such a price, that's the price it will be. So, we're not comapring Objects, we're comparing Buyers: the the main purchasers of a slightly run-down farmhouse located nowhere special are Harriets, and main purchasers of mink coats are Peters. Talboys is priced for Harriets. The mink coat is priced for Peters.

Compare for example, a contemporary parallel: the Hermes Birkin bag. It's a leather handbag with a starting retail price of about USD 11,400. Just for the bag. Then, you have fancier versions of the fancy bag, eg wikipedia tells me one version sold at auction for USD 380,000 in Hong Kong in 2017. Now, the Harriets of today are not buying a Hermes Birkin handbag, but they are probably trying to buy slightly run-down houses outside urban centers for (one hopes) slightly less than 380k. The Wimseys of the worlds are clearly buying Birkin bags. In that way, it's actually pretty easy to get to a place where Person A might buy a single luxury item for X pounds, and Person B might buy a whole residence for X pounds, and neither feel like they'd done something insane. The key here is in a Wimsey/Vane marriage, they run up against this concept immediately, and repeatedly.

There's a good reason the first epistolary section of the novel is almost entirely taken up with money chat - the ring, the purchase of shirts from Burlington Arcade, the marriage settlement, the gift from the bride to the groom, the mink coat, the bitchy exchange between Helen and Harriet about HV being allowed "six free copies of her book" to distribute. These people come from 2 fundamentally different experiences of the world. They might have gotten engaged using the word 'Magistra', specifically to emphasise their fundamental equality (in the context of learning and the mind, to begin with), but it can't be denied: there's gaps that need to be bridged. They both know parts of their married life will be spent in attempting to do that, hopefully to their mutual satisfaction. Mention of a mink coat for 950 guineas is a nice, neat shorthand for illustrating what's still at play between them here.

#dorothy l sayers #and this isn't even getting into the delicious things like #a) helen being considered unspeakably vulgar by calling attention to the price of HV's ring but #b) peter being considered friendly and polite by openly stating what he paid for talboys #like these are some delicate class rules at play here! when to mention money and when NOT to mention money! context matters!#here's so much going on - this is (I feel) what DLS means when she says she couldn't simply marry them off #they'd have to really engage with what that would mean #and then she wrote 2 whole novels about it #replies #fromthedeskofcripslock

261 notes · View notes

trialbywombaat · 5 months ago

Text

Pluto

“One more chapter, Papa?” Ivy asks.

Tommy closes the book and places it on her bedside table. “We already did one more chapter, remember?” he reminds her gently.

He knew the question had been coming, and his answer is the same every time. In the past, getting Ivy to move on would have been a bigger struggle. But they've been working on their nighttime routine for a while now, and she’s getting the hang of it. Her question, and Tommy’s answer, are both part of that routine, and he knows she finds some kind of comfort in it.

He reaches down to switch on the night-light. It’s one of those moon ones Evan saw online and had insisted they buy for her, along with those glow-in-the-dark star stickers that he’d always wanted as a kid. There are stickers everywhere in Ivy’s room, actually - and not just the nice wall decals you can find on Etsy, but the cheap shitty stickers she brings home from school or begs for every time they go to Target. There’s fairies on her bed frame that Tommy knows he’ll never be able to remove, and sticky residue all over her desk from the fire truck stickers that she’d picked off one by one instead of doing her homework. Tommy and Evan hadn’t grown up in the kind of households where kids were able to put stickers on the walls, or play with paint or glitter, or make mud pies, and every time Margaret’s eyes fall on one of Ivy’s marker covered dresses and she smiles one of her cool, polite smiles, Tommy feels a tiny flash of victory that he doesn’t bother to hide.

“What are we gonna dream about, tonight?” he asks, taking Ivy’s hands in his own. Maddie taught them this routine years ago, when they were first trying to get Ivy to sleep in a ‘big girl bed’, and it’s managed to stick.

“Unicorns,” Ivy answers quickly. It’s always unicorns, and has been for months. Tommy’s quite sure that unicorns must be in every dream she ever has, because they are ubiquitous in all of their lives now. She has a unicorn backpack with a unicorn pencil case and a unicorn lunch box, and no less than seven stuffed unicorn toys in bed with her at this very moment, tucked under the unicorn comforter where she is lying, wearing unicorn pyjamas. Even Tommy dreams of unicorns - just last night, he had to ride a unicorn into a wildfire while carrying buckets of water in both hands.

But he still closes her hand into a fist and squeezes it tight before kissing it. “Unicorn dreams it is.” He pulls her in close for a hug. “I love you to the moon and back.”

“I love you all the way to Pluto,” she says back to him, because Oliver Jeffers taught her that the moon is a one year drive away and Pluto is an eleven thousand year drive away, and Ivy is both decent at maths and eager to get the last word.

He kisses her softly on the forehead then pulls back, ready to get up and turn off the light. But Ivy tugs on his sleeve, so he crouches down next to the bed.

“What is it, baby?” he asks her.

“Do you still love Daddy to the moon and back?” she asks, her voice small.

Tommy suppresses a sigh. God, kids are perceptive.

“I still love your Daddy all the way to Pluto,” he promises, trying to reassure her.

“Why are you fighting, then?” she asks.

Tommy strokes Ivy’s hair. “Sometimes people who love each other still fight sometimes,” he explains. “Like when Bandit and Chilli built the swingy chair.”

Ivy’s face is screwed up in concentration. “And then they were happy again?”

“That’s right,” Tommy says.

She doesn’t look mollified yet, though. “Will you ever stop loving each other? Like Sarah’s mum and dad?”

“I don’t think so,” Tommy says truthfully. “There’s too many things I love about him.”

“Like how he always gets the voices right?”

Tommy laughs. Evan is very good at reading stories. It’s always seemed to come naturally to him, whereas Tommy never manages to get the voices quite right. “Yeah, like that,” he agrees. “And how he makes me laugh all the time, and how he knows so many different things” - he hears Ivy’s door creak slightly, and feels two sets of eyes on him now, both watching him intently - “and how he cares so much about helping other people, and how he never gives up.”

He looks up to see Evan smiling softly at him.

Tommy stands up. “It’s time to sleep, now, Ives,” he says, and this time she doesn’t protest.

“Night Papa,” she yawns sleepily, curling in on herself and hugging one of her many toy unicorns.

Tommy turns out the light as he exits the room, then grabs Evan’s hand and pulls him silently towards their own bedroom.

“Evan,” he says as soon as they enter the room, his voice quiet so that Ivy shouldn’t be able to hear them.

Evan cuts him off before he can say anything. “I’m so sorry, Tommy. I really am.”

He’s said that so many times the past few hours, ever since Tommy met him at the hospital that afternoon, and suddenly Tommy feels so guilty for making him feel like he has to say it.

Tommy pulls him closer, puts a hand on the small of his back and another on his shoulder, as though they’re going to dance instead of talk. “I know, love.”

“You- you know I love you and Ivy more than anything; that I always want to come home to you.” His right hand is clenched tightly, and Tommy grabs it and unfurls it gently, running a thumb over the fingernail marks Evan has unwittingly left there.

“Evan,” Tommy says again, and finally Evan stops and looks at him. “You don’t have to apologise. I’m sorry I made you feel like you do. This is my fault, not yours.”

“No, but I - I keep doing this dangerous shit, and-”

Tommy doesn’t like to cut Evan off. But he doesn’t like watching him beat himself up either, so the decision isn’t hard.

“You can’t help it,” he says firmly. Because he’s figured it out.

It was an old habit he’d fallen into, a retread of the arguments they’d had early on in their relationship, when Evan just couldn’t seem to get it into his head how important he was to Tommy. How he didn’t get to sacrifice himself anymore, because he had someone who needed him, who was waiting for him at home.

Instinctively, when Tommy had gotten Bobby’s call today, he’d assumed that it was the same thing, that Evan had forgotten about it again, and to be honest, it had hurt. That they still weren’t enough.

But he’d realised his mistake when he was getting Ivy ready for bed that night. When she’d run from the bathroom to her bedroom after he’d clearly told her not to, and had slipped to the ground because her socks hadn’t had enough grip.

“It’s about performance, not knowledge,” Ivy’s occupational therapist had explained to Tommy and Evan once, shortly after they'd found out that she has ADHD. “She knows exactly what she’s meant to do, and if she could do it, she would.” It was why explaining the rules to Ivy has never really worked, because she already knows them all. She knows she isn’t meant to call out in class, or snatch toys away from other children, or go to the bathroom without asking the teacher - she just doesn’t have the impulse control to stop herself.

And Evan knows that he needs to come home to Tommy and Ivy. If he could stop himself from going ‘full-Buck’, he would.

Which is why it’s Tommy who should be apologising.

He moves his thumb in little circles against Evan’s shoulder, knowing that Evan finds the movement soothing. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just how your brain works.”

Evan’s breath catches a little, and Tommy doesn’t know if it's relief or something else until he speaks. “I don’t know how to stop it,” he says.

Tommy brings him close, squeezing him tighter. “You don’t have to, love,” he says, heart aching at the words. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” He leans back again, and places his fingers under Evan’s chin. “I love your brain.”

Evan leans forward, and rests his head against Tommy’s shoulder. “Just my brain?” he asks.

Tommy pretends to consider it. “I guess your spleen is pretty great, too.”

Something for @bucktommypositivityweek. I know it's a day late now, but this one is for Day 1 - What they both love about each other.

#911 abc #bucktommy #evan buckley #tevan #tommy kinard #girl dads bucktommy #my fic #bucktommypositivityweek #evan buckley has adhd

181 notes · View notes

cyb3rtarot · 6 months ago

Text

Pick a Pile: Your Archetype & Career

Disclaimer: readings are not replacements for professional advice. Take what confirms, not confuses. You make your own life, not a reading. I’ll be looking at what traits you embody when working and what kind of work may fulfill that!

Help a Palestinian family!: 1 2 3 4 5

pile 1 🔗 pile 2 pile 3 🔗 pile 4

✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷﹏﹏✎﹏﹏﹏

Pile 1

Your archetype [High Priestess, Ace of Pentacles]: hi pile one! You guys do things from an intuitive place, naturally getting ideas of improvement. This is helpful to a group dynamic, the person that invents, creates, or comes up with the next venture. You may not know where this inspiration comes from, but this is your intuition or senses bringing things subconsciously perceived to the forefront of your mind. For example, you may have good pattern recognition with trends, or you may be able to blend many influences from others into an original style. If you’re spiritual, your inspiration may come from your practice. The ideas you come up with can be very fruitful; you know what will work. You could contribute a lot of plans to something you just joined even if you aren’t familiar with it. Whereas some are driven by passion or desire, the quality of what you produce doesn’t necessarily depend on whether you’re “into it” or not, because your intuition helps you rather than conscious thought or emotion. This inspiration may also guide you directly towards opportunities when you need them. You might be much more into the initial thinking process rather than the work itself. You can easily give ideas to others, but you yourself could take a long time or not be interested in implementing your own good thoughts and advice. Like offering others the seeds because you prefer not to grow them yourself. This could manifest as roles where you delegate a lot, give someone a concept to make reality, or provide the beginning material to a project. You may struggle communicating ideas though, whether this is difficulty being understood or a desire to withdraw. A lot of chaos you experience happens once you bring other people into the equation. It’s like you produce these amazing blueprints, but when you've had to share them, have conversations at work, or begun working with others, things have gone awry. You may have a cycle of negative experiences working with others. Something about the whole process keeps you trying to make it work, but still having some kind of burn or crash at the end. So, some of you may job hop or do more eccentric work.

What kind of work might fulfill this part of you?: It’s important for you to rest and not force yourself to be one way or the other. There’s opposite energy, where your ideas provide promising routes to take, but your sensitive & intuitive self suffers when you throw all your energy in. There may be a strong urge to isolate or work at unconventional hours. You may find success in supporting these parts of yourself, such as through remote or hybrid jobs. You could enjoy working at night or in another environment where the amount of people around decreases, including but not necessarily working by yourself. This doesn’t have to be your own home. Working with others through private consultation or in their home may be an option, or being something like a digital nomad. Anything with more intimate, cozy, or peaceful feelings. That doesn’t mean working in an office is out, but struggles in communication or processing ideas may improve in personal settings, or when you speak with consideration to emotion. Work that’s emotionally satisfying or requires a bit of sympathy may be fulfilling. When working with others, you may over-compromise or offer too much which leaves you drained, since you offer things that come from your deeper, intuitive self rather than passing thoughts or emotions. Work that can be done with less contact (for example, less big groups and more individual interaction), or work that can often be done at your own pace both may address this. Many of you may really enjoy physically making things; I see someone making pottery. You’re able to physically create things that are healing, or this process could be healing to you, even as a hobby. In general, jobs that require physical effort versus just mental effort get you out of your head. They allow you to work on tasks that depend on effort rather than navigating mental and social demands or office politics. Even being a healer, especially someone who goes to others’ homes and provides personal care, or working with medical equipment, could be one application of this. Contract work—something with a definite start and end—or something that guarantees work within a specific time may be compatible. This could also be presenting or writing contracts for others. Some of you could find fulfillment working with the government or an organization, especially something that requires you to physically go do work (like working inside and then working in the field or going to meet people), or something with a quiet environment. You may excel in giving others ideas or tasks and supporting them as they work on it, giving ideas for businesses, giving prompts of some kind or ghostwriting. You may also heal outside of the physical; some of you could feel fulfilled in helping people start a new phase of life. This could be coaching, social, or community work; I get personal vibes. If you’re religious, you may enjoy working at a place of worship or religious organization. Even providing religious or spiritual services from your home, bringing these to others, or providing support in a place of worship.

Extra Details: the moon/full moon (Capricorn full moon may be significant), hermit/isolation/shut in, late night, yellow, orange, space interest, gaming, Mercury/ Mars in difficult aspect to Sun/Saturn, natal oppositions, heavy Cancer or Capricorn placements, Earth stellium, 4th & 10th house, social/speech difficulties, cycles of burn out or broken partnerships, worked with (relationship) partners, working in fields you have no passion but no conflict with. If you don’t merge work & interests, you may have success incorporating more emotionally satisfying things into work—you guys should acknowledge emotional whims. You may divorce yourself from pleasure and ignore what you like. Balance is needed. If something like work takes up a lot of time, create reminders or pieces of space/time where you can engage with something that brings you joy/amusement, especially if you sacrifice satisfaction for others. Check in with your logic + emotions more, as intuition is just one part of the picture. Spiritual counseling or business, less traditional medical jobs (again I see something with med equipment such as hospice, or care for conditions that require devices), neurodivergence, sacrificing self to support a partner/ team (burn out!), (potential) catalyst for societal change, mothering tendencies. If you already felt drawn to pile 2, it may resonate

Thank you for reading!—Tip Link | Paid Reading Info in Pinned Post!

✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷﹏﹏✎﹏﹏﹏

Pile 2

Your Archetype [7 of cups rx, Queen of Swords rx]: hello pile two! You’re adept at making important & deep judgements. You get to the root of the matter and cut through BS. You have a sharp, investigative mind or are very knowledgeable in your fields of interest, and that allows you to see things others can’t always see, to evaluate, research, and bring clarity. You could excel in teaching or training. Your mental abilities also suit roles with objective judgements, such as a researcher, investigator, lawyer, or a decision maker. You could be someone who always knows things can be far better even when it seems like a far possibility (though some of you struggle with excessive pessimism), and from this you can create a real plan. You may enjoy presenting facts or ideas more than completing the project. These are not just academic or professional roles, but also you as a person. There’s air and water, logic & emotion, but rather than combine them I think you use logic to cut through emotion. You might be the friend who people complain to and you give simple advice on how they can fix their issue, but they just wanted to complain lol. The Queen of Swords is reversed like the 7 of cups, able to see things how the cups figure does, however the figure is still turned towards the many dreams in the cups. She can’t really offer her sword of truth because they can’t see her. You may struggle to communicate what you know or make connections due to finding it difficult to meet people where they are in their emotions or knowledge level. Some of you may have physical difficulties communicating like language barriers or speech disorders. Some of you are also pursuing something but hit a wall, for example, struggling to continue studies, or relationship stagnation, so it’s your own dreams that feel out of reach. There’s energy of being unable to accept something, though ironically you may dislike this trait in others. You have all the knowledge and skill to bring order in whatever role you pursue, but you need to ground yourself mentally. Give yourself space to process emotion in conjunction with thoughts instead of always handling them separately, especially if you know you’re not being honest with yourself. Try to imagine things from others’ perspectives. All the sense, fact, or skill in the world cannot get through a stubborn emotional wall. Many people are looking at things from feelings rather than objectivity, so if you want to communicate with them through the latter, try identifying what may be on their mind or how emotion could impact their judgment. It’s not that you’re invalid when trying to communicate, this just may help you handle emotion more smoothly. And, the same applies for logic. We have to accept when people aren’t ready to face something, grow, or learn; we cannot chase after them forever hoping they’ll change. You may feel yourself to be the one in reality while they’re lost in illusion, but by continuously chasing someone with words when they’re not listening, you have also placed yourself in illusion. Knowing logically something can change or knowing facts does not mean that's what will play out in reality, and reality does not always bend to our sense of what's right.

Your details remind me of pile 1, if you already felt drawn.

What kind of work might fulfill this part of you?: you may excel in working with children, families, married, and vulnerable people. You may find this confusing if you struggle with connecting to others’ emotions, but your mental nature may help you. Because, specifically I see a role where you solve issues. This could be being a teacher like I said, especially someone who teaches fundamentals, like a teacher to young students who helps them get a grasp on the world, or a tutor. You could show people what's possible after issues or stagnation, reintroducing people to life, giving a “new lease on life.” As one example, helping to overcome trauma. You may feel fulfilled in helping to give new starts through government, social work, or especially the adoption/foster care system. Some of you may be really good matchmakers or good at matching children to appropriate homes & schools. You’re capable of showing people a bright future through overcoming, introducing new phases, starting new things, or pointing people to resources. If you're interested in medical work, this also reminds me of rehab (any kind of rehab, including physical), and some of you may enjoy medical work that involves children or fertility. If you’re interested in legal, you could find jobs where you investigate and brings things to a close, such as finding missing people or helping people get away from abuse. There’s an emotional aspect to things that fulfill you, but rather than needing your emotions to make it work, more so you’d find fulfillment where people would appreciate you or you create a lot of hope for them, because these situations would require your intellect. There’s an energy of making promises and this could be contracts, such as a teacher’s contract, or I’m not sure exactly what this is but you may present contracts to people. And this is something I picked up in your archetype—you may drift into roles where you have the power to “let” people into an organization or unit. So, you may decide on others and see what places they’re suited for, whether this is organizing students, children, or some kind of recruiter, evaluator. Essentially, the work that seems fulfilling to you requires problem-solving skills and passing judgements for improvements, especially for those who don’t have anyone else who can do this for them.

For many of you there’s already something specific that’ll bring you a lot of emotional fulfillment but you're resisting it because of the difficulties I mentioned above, or because your family is trying to turn you away from it, and this seems to be some kind of passion project, hobby, or business you want to run (something about food or nature)? You either need to sit with yourself and separate your thoughts and plans from family, or try to approach it from a new angle, such as taking a non-traditional route rather than what you’ve already tried. It’s okay to decide not to, but it should be your decision. For others, if that doesn’t resonate, you could find success in running your own business, but especially if you incorporate a hobby or passion into it, even if it’s not traditionally how it would be done. This pile may find more success if you allow yourself to go towards things that make you feel good rather than just what logically makes sense.

If you really struggle working closely with others, you may like offering remote services. For example, chatting with people or sending emails—rather than speaking face to face where you may be uncomfortable relating emotionally & spontaneously.

Extra details: internal work like meditation or therapy, hard time mentally accepting something or mental dishonesty, neurodivergent, stubbornness, something about academic dishonesty—I feel you would be able to discern when someone’s work is not authentic or you’d be good test proctors or something. Farming, culinary, cafes. Neurodivergence. Helping people who are separated from reality, or finding yourself in that situation even though you were careful. Uncanny intuition and/or divination. Blueberries and/or the color blue is significant, blue moon?

Thank you for reading!—Tip Link | Paid Reading Info in Pinned Post!

✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷﹏﹏✎﹏﹏﹏

Pile 3

Your Archetype [Strength rx, 5 of pentacles]: hello pile 3! You have amazing strength and courage, but it’s hard for you to feel this for what it is. At your healthiest expression, your archetype shows up as no BS. You have the ability to remove yourself from harmful situations even if it means enduring loneliness or hard times. You’re not the one who is going to self-sacrifice constantly hoping to turn the situation around with the power of light and friendship, you’re the one that says I’m out of here lol. “My ride’s comin I’m leavin’ 🤨.” In less healthy expressions, you feel disconnected from your own bravery, feeling weak or cowardly. You may flip extremes, running away from anything a little scary, to clinging onto actually scary things & people for a sense of security.

There’s two different main groups in this pile. Some of you became this way because you had to already endure or leave a messed up situation. For a lot of you, I’m seeing someone played games with your mind or exploited your friendship, or innocence? I get this hopelessly in love energy from a lot of you and I think you learned a hard lesson through relationships, especially some of you mixed work and relationship (which is not always bad but always potentially messy). So, you’re currently in a vulnerable energy and that reflects in how you express yourself in all areas. If some kind of work or passion starts to sting, you may retreat quickly and move to the next thing even if it seemed promising. The other group needs to hear a message about moving on. This is for those of you who know you’re being mistreated or in a harmful situation, even sacrificing material stability and peace to have someone by your side. Of course, that’s going to reflect in the reality you manifest. On the top of the deck I saw the Devil and 6 of pentacles, but the Sun was behind the 6 of pentacles. It’s like you’re purposefully feeding something to hurt you, knowing it will hurt you, and then expecting a different outcome. Why? You’ve seen the result; initiate the choices needed if you truly want something different. Whatever vice or harm you’re allowing towards yourself is very tied to stagnant financial energy or lack of ambition you may be experiencing. The larger message for everyone is to believe in your own strength. Being in 5 of pentacles energy is not all bad; the lights behind the travelers remind us help is closer than we accept. But, you don’t have to take every shiny pentacle that rolls your way; it’s fine to endure a journey to find what’s right for you. Maybe you feel you’re not that strong because you don’t endure things other people do, or you haven’t gone through certain things, made certain choices. Even feeling childish. But there's vibrant strength radiating from you like the Sun. And if you do feel more child-like than your peers, that’s one of the good qualities of The Sun, not a bad one. It takes a lot of courage to choose less convenient paths. And if you have stuff poking holes in your energy, that impacts your life negatively! If only you don’t give your Sun away to things that leech off you; your energy is a lot stronger and more organized than you think.

What kind of work might fulfill this part of you?: I'm getting a message rather than specific jobs. The work that fulfills you will be more apparent as you do more inner work. This work (that fulfills you) is a marriage of your shadow side with your tranquil side. There’s a need to go deep into your pain & shadow, and to accept or show compassion to these. I’m not sure if there’s a disconnect between your conscious mind or external life and your pain, for example, maybe you have a lot of trauma you’ve not really reflected on or have only scratched the surface of. Maybe you aren’t really sure how to reconcile your agony and hard times with other parts of your life and self. There’s two polarities, and your message is about bringing these in union, meaning not fully merged as one. It’s okay if your shadow side, trauma, agony, pain, or dark emotions don’t fully make sense or can’t be perfectly merged with other parts of yourself right now. When people do shadow work, a lot are trying to eradicate their shadow because it’s associated with pain. We see shadow work as our way to triumph our trauma, to destroy it. When we speak of healing, people usually mean controlling their shadow, to get rid of it through merging it or turning it into light. I believe we’ll all keep running into the same problems collectively until we stop trying to kill the shadow. The shadow is not pain, it forms in response to pain. It’s a proof of existence, of an experience having happened, but not the experience itself. Work that fulfills you will come out of allowing this shadow side to exist with the creative, productive, enlightened etc parts of yourselves. By doing this, things you produce will naturally speak to others, or your impact will be farther reaching. For example, if you worked in the medical field, you’d excel in providing true comfort to patients, especially as some kind of doula or even a death doula. If you created art, your art would really speak to people since you could incorporate your shadow instead of only light & fun. If you did spiritual work, you could relate more or provide more accurate service. Basically, acknowledgement of your own shadow gives a platform for the same to happen in others, and in this process lies something that speaks to your soul.

A lot of you are struggling in mental anguish, or a feeling like never waking up from a bad dream. I understand how you feel, and I wish I had a better answer for you. No matter how much we speak about inner peace or life advice, real life and brain chemistry is not that simple usually. In spiritual communities, I think we’ve regressed in accepting the shadow, partially due to ideologies that rely on never acknowledging what we don’t want to be true. I think you should feel whatever negative emotions you have without self judgment. Even without mental judgment; try not to extrapolate your pain, like saying your life will always be terrible because you’re in pain now and have been. Even if you think that, try to let the emotions pass through without telling them what they must mean or be, like a passing stranger you’re observing. Pain tends to blur clarity, but we think this is not true for mental pain even though that can be the most confusing kind. I’m not saying doing this will fix your life problems, but someone needed to hear that. I always encourage you to take advantage of mental health resources that are accessible if needed.

There’s also a repeating theme about awareness or alertness. Pain is pushing you into an unalert phase? You’re encouraged to not over-analyze your pain or anything else. You may benefit a lot from an activity or routine that forces you to be wholly present or engrossed for an amount of time. Something physically engaging or a sensory experience especially, even just making yourself stand in the Sun for longer than you normally would (and wear sunscreen lol) ((although I’m really talking about something even more engaging, something that fully takes you out of your head like a martial art? Physically crafting something, walking outside, etc. Stuff like standing in the Sun is okay, but the point is to not be in your head or on devices for a set amount of time. Mental activities or devices may keep you too close to your thoughts and not as aware)).

Extra details: work relationship or friends with benefits, relationship or feelings for childhood friend, or a childhood friend going through relationship troubles, love triangle or 3-person relationship. Varied job interests or no specific interest in one field. Bright eyes, beautiful eyes, or intriguing gaze. Need for inner child work or acknowledgment, especially if having issues with peers from childhood. Spiritual art, or the process of exerting effort can be a spiritual experience for you, even exercising, anything you throw yourself into. For some of you, creating art that makes you feel nostalgic or is based in your nostalgia might be rewarding. Dark circles or lines under eyes, tiredness on face, financial struggle.

Thank you for reading!—Tip Link | Paid Reading Info in Pinned Post!

✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷﹏﹏✎﹏﹏﹏

Pile 4

Your Archetype [9 of cups, the Magician]: hi pile 4! Your archetype gives self-assured or self-reliant energy. I’m not saying this is your personality, but these parts of yourself shine through energetically when working towards something meaningful to you, and these are the personalities of the figures in the cards (so, this may be an energy you're developing if you currently feel like the opposite). There’s a sense you hold yourself responsible for your fate, or that by your own hands you can create your success. The Magician is not waiting for someone to come and give him something—in Magician energy, you yourself bring the magic. Maybe it’s been necessary to be self-reliant as there was no one coming to hand you a pentacle or comfort, and the cards on top of the deck suggest this has been a difficult life for many of you (6 of wands rx, Chariot rx..). There’s a sense of taking something within yourself and using that to create more of what you want, though I’m not sure if this is using your talents or just being resourceful. You could be very skilled in emotional alchemy, taking your own struggles and turning it into another situation, though due to lack of support it can be difficult for many of you to reap your just rewards of this effort. I feel intuitively called to say that anything worth having begins in yourself; I feel your life demonstrates this. You’re able to enjoy what you have or what results bloom because of your inner nature, because there’s fullness in you that allows you to project that externally. It’s the opposite energy of someone who can't appreciate or multiply a blessing because of feeling fragmented inside, so they keep getting more things to fill the fragmentation. Rather, you’re able to take what you have inside and make something from scratch. You yourself are enough to make rewards, and you can recognize a blessing when it comes. This pile also loves to have a good time or indulge a bit, so you may be drawn to work where you can keep your fun-loving energy going, for example many of you may enjoy an environment where coworkers regularly go out after work, or you may like mixing social life with work.

What kind of work might fulfill this part of you?: you may find a lot of fulfillment in community work. Rather than being the boss or someone who has control over others, you may enjoy being on the same level as those you’re working with, forming connections directly rather than operating within hierarchy. This pile has very social & communicative energy. That may help you find enjoyment in people-based work, or people will find a lot of enjoyment in you. Earlier when I was pulling my homemade oracle, “spiritual protector” came out. I thought maybe it wasn’t relevant to your reading, but I see you guys are spiritual protectors for the collective. Some of you exude energy that makes people want to run to you or be comforted by you? Or the way you are when socializing is pleasant or life-changing for those in your energy. You guys may particularly find fulfillment in work that deals with messier parts of life. There’s elements of pain, sorrow, hurt, but not from you. I think you may find fulfillment in working with vulnerable people, such as the homeless or people with addictions. I noticed this in other piles too, but for you guys it’s the most direct as your work may find or bring people who are in the midst of that pain. Whereas other piles seemed to offer care after the trauma, your cards suggest not necessarily giving rebuilding material, but meeting them in the storm so they can get to the other side, like a rescue. You may like working with people who just lost everything or were exploited—reaching these people when the hurt is still new may be meaningful to you, or even literally going to them while these situations are taking place such as disaster rescue. What stood out to me is when I read your archetype, the 6 of wands was reversed on the top of the deck. But for this part, the 6 of wands is upright on the bottom of the other deck. You might be motivated to help others directly because of hardships you went through. But also, the support you’ve lacked may be found through those you meet in work, hobbies, or those you help. It reminds me of the typical story we enjoy—the hero is rejected by their origin, but is loved by the community they find and save. I’m not saying you need to save anyone to be loved, but you may find a lot of the social and emotional fulfillment that was withheld from you through your continued efforts or passions. This process may be healing or bring enjoyment—and definitely could be healing to whoever gets to know or support you. You could be a literal protector—you may find fulfillment in work where you help people not make bad decisions, avoid a wrong turn in life, or just offer a helping hand and shoulder to cry on. Even physical protection or aid. You would be that person who shows life is not so bad, and even when it is, it’s not hopeless. You'd be the school counselor that makes a difference in a student’s life. If you did any kind of counseling, your office would be a safe haven. This does not have to be the literal job itself; this is a role you could embody in any environment. Community, social, or volunteer work may just be the most obvious application. I see some of you would enjoy being bartenders or working in a similar environment, one that will listen to patrons and be a kind face. You could have this effect through whatever you create; some of you may enjoy gardening or working with plants? With that example, the effect you had on the environment, or the artistry you create would then create joy and healing in others. Your energy shines through what you produce even if you’re not physically present.

There’s a lot of bold energy, but I pick up on feeling like it’s a facade, or a nagging feeling that you’re of lesser value. The things said throughout your life to oppress and demean you are not a reflection of you, and neither is the nagging voice. Your emotions alone don’t have the means to show you all that you are, so don’t rely on just feelings to measure your self worth.

Extra details: found family, a lot of drinking especially something blue? Or going out with friends a lot, hanging around water like a stream, gin, birds, very chatty personalities! Mercury may be a prominent planet in natal or solar return charts. Bullied in school or by family, or both at the same time. I heard salsa, not sure if the food or dance is significant. Partier. Gardening, farming, working with the natural environment may be significant, including water, some of you could enjoy or benefit from cleaning up locally for example, or spending more time near flowing water and lots of vegetation if you don’t already. You may find some kind of inspiration, or being near flowing water may help you to think through things, have a eureka.

Thank you for reading!—Tip Link | Paid Reading Info in Pinned Post!

✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷✎﹏﹏ˏˋ°•*⁀➷﹏﹏✎﹏﹏﹏

293 notes · View notes

feroluce · 8 months ago

Text

For some weird reason, I've always been fascinated by how wildly different Sampo operates in the Underground vs the Overworld.

Sampo is present in both places and even in official sources, he's not really counted as one side or the other- now that the theory has been confirmed in-game, he's generally just lumped in with the Masked Fools.

But there really is a big difference!

Probably the most obvious and well known instance of Sampo's...business practices *cough burglary and fraud COUGH* in the Overworld is from the Belobog Museum event. In it, you don't find out Sampo is the main culprit until near the end, because Pela has to set up a sting just to catch him in the act. And that sting is necessary all because the initial suspect they arrested, Norbert, had pretty much no idea of his partner's identity. Sampo wouldn't even speak to him face-to-face.

And whereas Sampo is normally very pleasant and friendly with the trailblazer...when he thinks he's talking to Norbert here, he straight up says that they are NOT friends. Like he really shuts that shit DOWN.

There's also an Overworld NPC, Chavez, who heads the "Dark Blue Scam Support Group." And he. Really really really does not like Sampo fjkdasjklfdj

Chavez clearly wants Sampo caught, and has literally no positive feelings about him. So. Why call it the Dark Blue Scam? Why not just out him by name? Chavez obviously doesn't give a single shit about Sampo's dignity or privacy. But he never once refers to him as "Sampo," and even the pamphlets he passes out make no mention of it. No one in the entire support group seems to know how to identify him or how to refer to him except by his hair color. If the trailblazer says his name, Chavez reacts as though he's never heard it before.

(I've seen people say this means Sampo Koski is an alias and not his real name? But Ray pointed this out, and honestly I agree; even the Fools call him Sampo, after all. I think it's just that Chavez never knew Sampo's name in the first place, and given his immense distrust, immediately assumes it's an alias.)

And then there's his characters stories, where he proceeds to pull off a heist in the Overworld while in disguise as Brughel Poisson the entire time. Literally his own stories don't mention Sampo's name even once.

So anyway, all this shows that when he's up in the Overworld working cons, Sampo is incredibly slippery and secretive about his identity. The only people who seem to know him are Pela, Serval, and Gepard. He doesn't get close to anyone else, and is even surprisingly unfriendly. Nobody knows his name. No one knows his face. He has zero qualms about backstabbing or double-crossing, and even plans for it in some cases.

Meanwhile, down in the Underground, I'm pretty sure literally the worst thing we hear of him doing is scalping tickets in front of the Fight Club. Which isn't even illegal in a lot of places (although it's certainly a dick move).

In Hook's companion quest, a vagrant miner steals Fersman's equipment and tries to sell it to Sampo. Even before the trailblazer and Hook jump in and out the vagrant as a thief, Sampo hesitates to buy it because it sounds like stolen goods, which he doesn't want any part of.

Even knowing that a geomarrow detector is rare and incredibly valuable in the mines, Sampo makes no attempt to double-cross Hook or profit off of her loss, and even tells her who to go to to get it fixed.

And my favorite example of Sampo in the Underground is the Survival Wisdom adventure mission. In it, Sampo starts up a business with Peak, another miner. And like. In wild contrast to all the cons he pulls above ground, Sampo is actually super nice and helpful here.

Just the same as with Hook's quest, Sampo talks to Peak face-to-face, with no disguises or barriers. When the trailblazer finds them, they're just in the Great Mine, no secretive meeting places. Peak knows Sampo, is familiar with him, and calls him by name. It's not even a con! There's nothing illegal going on; it really is just a business partnership. Peak is more than happy with their deal, he's even pretty enthusiastic about it, because thanks to Sampo he can now make enough money to get by while also accommodating his chronic fatigue.

The only person Sampo lies to in this whole ordeal is the trailblazer, who he manipulates into getting Peak's mining equipment back from the vagrants that stole it in the first place. And when it's done, he rewards them with a legit treasure map.

So when he's working in the Underground, Sampo is MUCH more upright and lawful. Part of this is probably to do with his "business" model- Sampo only takes advantage of the wealthy, and poverty runs rampant in the Underground. When he charges Peak an extra 30% (the same percentage he charges Norbert as a consultation fee in the museum heists- Sampo seems to go by percentage instead of a flat rate, which means his prices are more fair for lower incomes) for carelessly losing their supply, Peak literally starts counting out pocket change.

Dude's working for pennies and good will down there dknsmdmd

And you can twist this into a Robin Hood thing if you want- Sampo IS technically working to feed orphans and heal the sick. He says himself he's more than happy to make up the shortfall between the greedy and the marginalized- I mean he says it in the shadiest way possible, but I doubt the people benefiting from his work really care that he's a slimeball if it means they can survive another day. Even the two heists he pulls in his character stories are literally just him stealing absurd amounts of food.

Personally though I think it is solely because of Natasha, and Sampo is hilariously well-behaved specifically for her, because she keeps him on a short leash JSKZJMSMSKS

#honkai star rail #sampotasha #hsr natasha #sampo koski #hsr sampo #hsr #today's post is brought to you by the letter Y. for the Yaps fdklsajfkd #'for some weird reason' I say only to realize through writing this post that the reason I like it so much is because I think-#-Natasha having Sampo by the short hairs is funny dkxjmskskdmdm #so sampotasha if you want or Sampo & Natasha if you want either or #I love Sampo behaving just for her because she holds a LOT of power in the Underground and he knows she could destroy him if she wanted #she could blacklist his business and run him out of Boulder Town if she really thought she needed to #Natasha exiled her own brother who eventually died in the cold because he was running unethical medical experiments on unknowing civilians #and granted what Sampo does is nowhere NEAR as bad as that but she also probably does not have nearly as much mercy for him dkdjdmkskd #I'd like to think they hold a decent amount of camaraderie for each other though. and maybe even some affection.#they work together like all the time after all. sampo is in the clinic with natasha so much that hook thought he was really sick.#and for as much as he relies on her for business she also relies on him for resources.#it's not really an exaggeration to say a LOT more people would be dead without Sampo constantly smuggling goods across the border.#maybe I should just make a post about their relationship sometime because I do very much love it skzjkskdk

216 notes · View notes

stargirlfeyre · 7 months ago

Text

The problem I have with the Valkyries friendship. PT 1

I wasn’t going to write this because I usually can’t be bothered to care about the friendship among these three but if their fans are so obsessed with over analyzing Feyre’s relationships…why can’t we?

One of the main reasons people love to say that the Valkyries are better than than IC is because they would never choose anyone over Nesta but the problems lies in the fact that…they have no one to choose over her.

Let’s break it down.

Gwyn has no one in her life right now. No family and no close friends outside of the Valkyries. I mean you can say that she’s friends with some of the priestesses but close friends? The same can be said for Emerie. She has a family but an abusive one. She is an outcast in her community, runs her shop alone, and like Gwyn has no friends outside of the Valkyries.

Their friendship with one another isn’t even treated as important as their friendship with Nesta. Because of this they look less like a trio and more like Nesta and Gwyn//Nesta and Emerie.If one of them is mad at Nesta who are they going to go to? The other person in their group who also is friends with Nesta and has loyalty towards her? Y’all say that Gwyn and Emerie would never put anyone over Nesta and does that include one another? Is their loyalty and friendship towards Nesta more important than the one they have with each other? In canon it sure is treated as such.

Praising the Valkyries because they would never put anyone above Nesta is not only a void point because they have no one to put above her, but it’s also reinforces the toxic view a lot of Nesta fans have when it comes to her relationships. They don’t want her to have friends, they want her to have followers. They want undying loyalty and turn a blind eye to the obvious shitty writing when it comes to Gwyn’s and Emerie’s relationships outside of Nesta because them lacking those relationships means that Nesta will always have that undying loyalty.

A problem that people have with the Valkyries is they aren’t their own characters when you really think about it. A lot of their characterization surrounds Nesta. And that’s why Nesta’s fans have zero problem with them. Whereas when it comes to the Inner Circle they are their own people before they are Feyre or Rhys’ friends. They have multiple people who are important to them instead of their lives just revolving around this one person. Their relationships with one another is equally as important as their relationships with Feysand.

Gwyn and Emerie are less characters and more like tools for Nesta’s healing journey. All confirmed when, after hearing about how Nesta abused her sister, Emerie of all people went on to say she’s absolved of any fault. Emerie, who is a victim of familial abuse herself, thought it was her place to forgive Nesta’s abuse towards other people. You genuinely want me to believe that some of the things these girls do weren’t written with the sole intention of healing Nesta?

They are not their own people. That’s why it’s easy for this fandom to self-insert onto Gwyn and blatantly ignore Emerie. They don’t have a big enough presence in these books to force you to pay attention to who they actually are. Without Nesta they kind of just fade into the background. You can hate or love members of the IC but at the end of the day you see them.

There’s also a lot to be said about their relationship from Nesta’s end and why she latched onto them…

135 notes · View notes

felassan · 2 months ago

Text

WBUR article: ''Dragon Age: The Veilguard' creators on their new vision for the fantasy series'

Rest of post under cut due to length and possible spoilers.

“Expectations are so high — whether from the fans of the franchise or the perspective of the company — there’s tremendous pressure.” says game director Corinne Busche. “One thing I’ll say about this team: They really rise to the occasion.” [...] “We sort of lost our way in a couple of previous titles, moving away from that character-focused storytelling that made ‘Mass Effect’ and ‘Dragon Age’ a success,” says John Epler, “Dragon Age” series creative director. “This project really coalesced when we consciously identified that central aspect of the experience: the characters.” “Veilguard” puts players in the shoes of an unlikely leader to a small band of rebels — think “Oceans 11” meets “The Fellowship of the Ring.” “It’s a deeply personal experience,” says Busche. “You’re creating your own character and that might be a representation of you, that might be reflective of the kinds of choices you'd like to make.” For the first time in BioWare history, that customizability allows player avatars to be transgender and access unique dialogue options around that identity. There’s also a prominent storyline about a party member coming out as nonbinary. “I'm an openly queer trans woman — I really believe that representation matters,” says Busche. “Everyone is welcome in ‘Dragon Age,’ and we want people to see themselves and feel like they can have a heroic place here.” [...]"

"4 questions for Corinne Busche and John Epler What makes “Dragon Age” stand apart from other fantasy games? Corinne Busche: ��‘Dragon Age’ is a franchise that’s fundamentally always been about this really authentic team of companions that come together to take on insurmountable challenges. It's about people. It touches on some pretty deep themes as well. Injustices. The burdens of leadership. It really is about establishing this sense of found family to take on these challenges that lay ahead.” What feels different from previous iterations? John Epler: “I'd say this version of the game is much bigger in its storytelling, in its scope. We really wanted to put you in every one of the big story moments. So as an example, it's the difference between watching the Battle of Minis Tirith versus being someone who's fighting in the middle of it. You're much more participatory in it. We wanted you to feel like you were part of these big world-changing events. You were right in the thick of it and really focusing on making the story that is so big and epic feel personal just by how you interact with it.” What sort of hero is the player character, Rook? Epler: “One thing we wanted to steer away from very consciously was the sense of them being a chosen one because that's something we've done previously. They are the right person in the right place at the right time. But there is always a core personality to them. They are always going to be someone who needs to pull together this small but somewhat dysfunctional group and really lead them in a way that makes sense for that team.” Busche: “And it's one of the interesting aspects of each new game having a different protagonist. We do have a true blank slate, some say in ‘Dragon Age: Origins.’ I would put the Inquisitor in that category. Whereas Hawke in ‘Dragon Age 2’ has a very bespoke identity. So we kind of strike a balance between that. One of the defining properties of Rook, who they are as a character, is this idea of someone who's very competent, but as a leader, they're learning how to shoulder this responsibility.” You’ve put a lot of blood and sweat into this game. It’s nearly out. Have people already been telling you stories about how they connect with it? Busche: “Absolutely. One of the reasons that I felt so honored, so privileged to be able to join this team and work on this franchise is so rarely have I seen a game or a piece of media, for that matter, that connects with people so deeply. There's a real sense of ownership and an affinity for the franchise. It's a rare thing.” Epler: “I'll share a very personal anecdote about this game and people connecting. So I wrote the follower Bellara. Early on while we were making this game, I got a diagnosis of ADHD. So I'm writing this character who has a lot of the same mannerisms, a lot of the same views of the world, in a very specific way. And hearing people online, connecting to this character in the way she speaks and the way she interacts, they were able to point to and say, ‘That's me, that's how I deal with the world.’ And it's just such a cool feeling to have someone connect with a character you create and be able to say, ‘I felt seen in a way that I've never felt seen in a game before.’”"

[source]

#dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard spoilers #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #mass effect #lgbtq #Ok!! i pretty much reached the bottom now of my list of 'articles and headlines that built up while i was playing' :)

67 notes · View notes

clonerightsagenda · 2 months ago

Text

I'm really grateful I have a group I'm already involved in right now, because I'm seeing a lot of despair and "I don't know what to do" and "I'm the only one in my community who feels this way", whereas we're like. well. we know what to do. It's going to suck, it might not work, people are going to get hurt in the meantime no matter how hard we try to limit the damage, but we do know what we need to do.

The reality is, this is not a mobilization problem. It's not going to get fixed by convincing more people to go to the polls, or if a few third party voters had held the party line, so you might as well stop blaming them. Actually unfortunately the next steps rely on stopping blaming individual people, but go ahead and take however long you need to get it out of your system. I get it.

As I said, it's not a mobilization problem. A large portion of the population voted the way they did on purpose, and a big reason for that is because for a large portion of the United States population, life kind of sucks and has been getting worse. The Democratic party has failed to run on a coherent narrative of why this is and how they're going to make it better. The Republican party, on the other hand, has run on a very strong narrative of how they will make it better by getting rid of all the things and people who are to blame. It's a narrative that has worked for a lot of groups in the past. It's working now, in the increasingly polarized social media landscape, even in demographics Democrats have typically considered safe. Everyone loves the luxury of having someone to blame.

Unfortunately, the fix to this is long, and slow, and hard. It's not begging politicians for scraps. It's getting offline and going outside. Talking to your neighbors about their lives, their fears, their needs, and what kind of world would meet those needs. Even the one with the Trump sign in their front yard. Some of these people are in it for the racism and the cruelty and siphoning everything to their rich cronies, but a lot of them are struggling and desperate and grabbed for the life preserver someone threw them, even if it's secretly stuffed with arsenic. If thrown a different life preserver, they can be convinced to grab it.

And no, it's not ok that they decided to shove vulnerable minorities' heads under water just so they could theoretically get theirs. You're allowed to be angry! But unfortunately further isolating these people only pushes them deeper into the fascist movement ready to embrace them. They need to interact with real representatives of the groups they've been trained to blame and fear. They need to be given a different narrative with real solutions, but screaming it at them on Twitter won't do it. Long conversations where people take their hardships seriously but direct them more constructively might.

That's not going to be easy. You may not like or forgive them. And not everyone can do this work! It's going to be safer for white, not visibly queer/gnc folks to make some of these initial contacts. (At one of our meetings, a femme woman of color was talking about canvassing transit riders and dealing with misogynistic comments and having to decide, ok, where do I personally draw the line saying I cannot work with this person versus being aware that a lot of people are not steeped in politically correct language and can change. It's a tough line to walk!) People also aren't interested in answering their doors for canvassers these days, so organic social connections work best. Maybe you're talking to people in your workplace. Your apartment complex. Your neighborhood. Your own family. Maybe you join a book club full of seniors at your public library. Many people want positive change! My state notoriously always votes for progressive ballot measures and then turns around and votes in conservatives who try to dismantle them. There's a logic gap there, but in that gap is a potential for conversation, because we have places where we already agree and want to work together.

The theory here is, if we can talk to enough people, if we can build genuine real world offline connections where we agree on our shared problems and our shared desires for a better world and come up with solid solutions beyond pointing fingers, we can build a large enough coalition to start making demands, most likely through targeted disruptions (strikes, walkouts, etc.). The handy thing is, if you can get that many people demanding something, it doesn't actually matter which party is in power.

Is that possible? I don't know! Organizing that many people is really really hard. It's hard reaching out to people who've just punched you in the gut. Some people will not change. Some people will have hard lines that don't mesh with your hard lines. And I'm certainly really scared myself about the likely takeover of all three branches of government and probable draconian measures against dissent. We're going to have to carefully consider risk/reward when planning actions and disruptions. We're going to have to fight through fear and exhaustion and apathy and pain and betrayal, and I don't know if we can. I don't know if I'll see something like this happen in my lifetime (although the UAW sure is gonna try in 2028). Hell I don't know if we'll have elections 4 years from now. But that's the path. If you're not up for walking it right now, that's fine. If you're not up for walking it ever, ok. But I don't think there are any shortcuts or miracles. This is what we can try, and if it fails, at least we did what we could.

(If you see this post and your instinct is to reply with some variation of 'nice speech but we're all fucked and might as well give up', I understand why you feel this way. It's a feeling a lot of us are struggling with right now. Take the time you need to take care of yourself, and when you're ready, you can come back and we'll be happy to have you.)

#you usually SEE the big actions (rallies protests strikes etc.)#what you don't see is the long months or years of conversations that lead up to it #also the logistics... the planning the coordination the email management the google drive tidying #and the internal support. who's arranging rideshares. if students are walking out is someone cooking them meals #bc they relied on free and reduced lunches during the day #if people are striking is there a strike fund #it's an iceberg most of it's under the surface #so if you don't think you can do one part... maybe there's something else you can do #politics

77 notes · View notes

theoutcastrogue · 2 months ago

Text

A point about Silco's politics.

Silco somehow did the "nationalist noble" thing by reversing cause and effect. Traditionally, the local nobility (or the bigshots in any case, elders, landowners, rich fucks, warrior aristocracy, whatever's handy) of a subjugated region will happily champion nationalism in order to get rid of the overlords and rule in their place, while convincing the lower classes (and themselves, if they're not very smart and/or cynical) that they're on the same side.

Silco became the bigshot (heartwarming rags-to-riches story!) in order to champion nationalism. Obsessed with achieving power by any means, he used shimmer (and Vander's elimination) to establish the Chembarons [*] as the closest thing Zaun has to a local ruling class, separate from their Piltie overlords. Of course, it was more a mafia than a government – not that these two function that differently.

However, by viewing power as the necessary stepping stone to Zaun's independence, Silco completely lost the ball. Shimmer could have been a weapon, to be tactically employed in the veins of people who actually wanted to fight Piltover. Still extremely shady tbh, but clear in purpose. But that would require getting people to want to fight Piltover, and Silco seems to have… neglected that. Instead, he flooded the streets of Zaun with shimmer, the very place he was supposed to liberate, causing a hideous addiction epidemic (fastest way to kill a social movement btw), and only cared to weaponise it to wrestle more power for himself from other Zaunites. NOT from Piltover.

So something went extremely wrong there, and Silco ended up "an industrialist". The local strongman, the little big man, The Man, the Boss, the one the lower classes dread. For Ekko (whose assessments matter VERY much), he's the No 1 enemy and biggest threat to the well-being of his people, not because he's more powerful than the Council, but because he's closer, getting his hands dirty every hour at every corner. Whereas Piltover's systemic exploitation works from afar and in the background, and is often experienced as neglect rather than assault.

And THEN, Silco got to negotiate on behalf of Zaun because the Council went to him, after Jinx caused mayhem on her own. Jayce came waving a white flag, because he was also acting unilaterally. In short, through NONE of Silco's doing, Zaun's independence fell on his lap. And ironically he couldn't take it, because the price was his daughter.

Fantastic character btw (the depth, the pathos, the total lack of qualms) but damn. Some nationalist. Some liberator.

[*] It's unclear to me why there are several Chembarons when shimmer was basically commissioned by Silco, and therefore could be controlled solely by him. Did the others reverse-engineer it? Did he share? Did he need their facilities after his lab blew up? No idea.

#getting these out before Act III #arcane #arcane spoilers #analysis #Silco #trs

54 notes · View notes

e1e4n0r5 · 1 year ago

Text

Twisted Love: Chapter 3

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Summary: You always expected to marry your twin brother, Daeron. However, when this does not come to be, you find comfort with your siblings. As only Targaryens could.

A/N: Okay, this chapter is a little angsty! Aemond is having some big feelings and he doesn’t know how to express those feelings with words because of his emotionally stunted upbringing. But you can bet his wife is gonna knock that out of him pretty quickly.

Warnings: canon-typical incest, figging (insertion of ginger root into the anus), coercion/dub-con if you squint, mention of past fire-play, jealous husband, relationship insecurity, ANGST

You bounced on the balls of your feet, wringing your hands in front of you as you watched the skies for any sign of Daeron and his dragon. It was time; your twin was finally returning home. After ten long years apart, you would finally be together. The two of you; all five siblings.

Aemond watched you out of the corner of his eye as he stood up straight next to you; his place as your husband and as Daeron’s brother, loathe as he was to admit the latter. He couldn’t deny that he wasn’t exactly happy with this development, of the youngest Targaryen-Hightower sibling returning to Kings Landing, most likely for good. He detested change, and he had grown accustomed to the routines and structure the four of you had established for yourselves. Not to mention the dynamic; Aegon might have been the eldest, but he was hardly the one in charge. Aemond enjoyed being the head of the group, the feelings of security, power, and dominance it gave him on a daily basis. He wasn’t looking forward to bringing in an unknown fifth element into the arrangement you all had together. Even if that fifth person was his own sibling.

He enjoyed being your husband, and having you as his wife. He felt he had won that day, the day you asked him to marry you. The day you promised yourself to him, and he to you. The day you consummated your love for each other, officially. He was dreading the fact that the man you had spent your entire childhood fantasising about marrying would now be present in your lives every single day. Daeron hadn’t set foot in Kings Landing in ten years, and you had never been allowed to travel to Oldtown. Aemond had had you all to himself (not including your other siblings and children) for a decade, and now he just knew Daeron was about to steal you away. He’d lost an eye to Lucerys, and he would soon lose his wife to his own brother.

He leant forward and whispered in your ear. “Settle down, my love,” he enjoyed watching you shiver at his soft Valyrian. “People might think you have a ginger root up your ass.”

You blushed bright red, your back passage tingling with the memories of that day.

Aemond had been awake before you, as he always rose with the sun, whereas you liked to sleep until mid-morning. It wasn’t your fault; your husband was insatiable. There was a freezing Winter snow falling across the city, forcing Aemond to cancel his training with Cole that morning. So instead, he’d had a devilish idea.

You had spied him sitting in his chair by the fire, his hands working something with a small knife.

“Good morning, husband,” you greeted him as you slid your feet into your fur-lined slippers and pulled on your thick dressing gown, crossing the room.

“Good morning, wife,” he replied back, not taking his eye off the thing in his hands. Was he whittling?

When you got closer, you saw that it wasn’t wood. It was softer than that. A fruit?

“What are you doing?”

He smirked up at you. “I think I might just have found an ingenious way to keep you warm today, my love.”

You raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Have you commissioned me some clothing I don’t know about?”

He laughed, a rare but beautiful sound. “No. No, wife, not clothes.” He held up the thing in his hands. A ginger root.

“Ginger?” you asked with a small smile. “Are you going to put it in my tea? You know I can’t stand the taste.”

“No, my love; your ass.”

He said it so casually that you didn’t pick up on it at first. It took you a few seconds, then you gawked at him.

“What?” you demanded.

He carved the root a little more, examining it from different angles. He seemed satisfied. “Aegon told me of a little trick he’d heard about. Assured me it’s well worth a try.”

Before you could respond, the passage between your room and your siblings’ opened up, your brother and sister stepping through.

“Morning to you both,” Aegon greeted cheerfully. Helaena had clearly already satisfied him. “What have you both got planned for the day? Helaena was thinking of taking the children down to the Dragonpit.”

“Aemond wants to put ginger up my ass!” you declared hysterically.

The two of them didn’t even blink.

“Oh, figging,” Helaena explained, walking over to Aemond and examining the root he had carved. “Yes, it’s a very interesting experience. Aegon and I have both done it a few times now.”

“Always a fun time,” he winked at you, helping himself to a few grapes from your breakfast platter.

“Very well carved, Aemond. Good thinking with the flared base.”

“And a good size too,” Aegon added. “Our little sister will definitely be titillated today.”

You stared at your siblings, abashed. Out of all the things the four of you had done together, for some reason this was the thing that baffled you the most. Why, in the name of the Seven, would anyone want to insert ginger into ones back passage?

The three of them chuckled at how you were staring back at them all. Aemond stood up.

“Y/N, dear wife, be a good girl and bend over the bed. Now.”

You instinctually covered your rear with your hands, shaking your head nervously. “It’ll hurt, won’t it?”

“Not hurt,” Aegon shrugged.

“But it’s definitely a memorable experience,” Helaena smiled dreamily. “Aemond, do you have another piece you could carve for me? I think I’d like to partake.”

Aemond nodded. “I do, dear sister.”

“As big and thick as you can, please,” she hummed happily, picking up her skirts as she walked over to your bed. She bent herself over, exposing her ass completely.

“I only have a smaller piece. Helaena, why don’t you take this one I’ve already done, and I’ll carve a smaller one for Y/N? She seems hesitant about this whole experience.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you, brother.”

Aemond looked to you. “Abrazȳrys (wife),” he commanded, “come here. Now. Watch how Helaena takes this, and you’ll see it’s not as bad as you are imagining.”

You headed over to the bed, Aegon holding you against his body as both of you watched Aemond dip the root in some oil and then slowly press it into Helaena’s ass. Her hole accepted the small intrusion with no effort, but she began mewling regardless. Aemond pressed his thumb to the flared base of the root, keeping it in place in her ass as her hips lifted up and down, grinding against the bed sheets.

“Does it hurt, sister?” Aemond asked. “Be honest; our little Y/N doesn’t want any lies.”

She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t hurt. But it burns a little. It’s wonderful.”

“Burns?” you gasped.

“Nothing too bad,” Aegon reassured you, kissing the side of your head. “It’s just a bit uncomfortable.”

You frowned at Aemond as he began peeling and carving the other root. The one he intended to put inside you. “Husband, I’m not sure about this…?”

“You don’t need to be sure, wife,” he said simply. He looked at you, his eye softening a little. “Do you trust me? Do you trust that I would never harm you, or wish ill upon you?”

Your frown softened in return. “Yes. Of course, I do.”

“Then trust me now. This will be an interesting experience for you. It won’t harm you at all. I want you to try it. For me. And if you truly do hate it, you don’t have to do it again.”

“Except as punishments,” Aegon added cheekily, playfully squeezing you a little.

You smiled at him and Aemond, your will bent to theirs. “Alright.”

“Good, now bend over the bed, next to Helaena.” He paused. “Who seems to have climaxed all over our sheets.”

Helaena had indeed orgasmed, seemingly just from grinding herself against the edge of the bed, with the root in her ass. “It just feels so good,” she explained lightly, no shame at all in her voice.

Aemond smirked back at you, his argument won. “See? How awful can it be when Helaena climaxes in just one minute?”

You choose not to say that some of Helaena’s desires can be a little sadomasochistic, often deriving pleasure from giving and receiving various forms of pain. She had once orgasmed when Aemond and Aegon held lit candles to her inner thighs. Not close enough to burn her skin, yet close enough to hurt. It was peculiar, even for Targaryens.

Aegon nudged you forward, bending you over and pulling up your nightgown and robe. Helaena gripped your hand, still grinding and moaning on the bed. Aemond stepped up behind you, squeezing your buttocks and giving you a few spanks.

“Are you ready, wife?” he asked you, spreading your cheeks with the fingers of one hand.

You nodded. “Yes, husband.”

You snapped back to the present even as your mind ran through the sensations of having that ginger inserted into your back passage. How it had stretched you and begun to burn. As Helaena had described, it hadn’t been horrific, but it had kept you on your toes all day, until Aemond had removed the root after fucking you senseless in the evening.

Daeron’s dragon Tessarion’s cry filled the air. Not too far away, you could see her outline in the clouds above. He was here. Your brother was finally here.

Tessarion landed a hundred yards or so away, just enough for you to turn your head slightly to avoid the dust her wings kicked up. You almost didn’t recognise the man in the saddle. It was a man, not your twelve-year-old twin brother. You couldn’t make out his features, but you could see the Targaryen white hair. The man dismounted, rubbing Tessarion’s neck affectionately before sending her to fly to the Dragon Pit.

He started walking towards you all.

Your heart raced.

You moved to step forward, but Aemond and Aegon discreetly held you back. The Queen had to greet him, as was protocol. They could feel your need, but you only had to wait a little longer.

“Prince Daeron. My darling boy,” your mother greeted.

It was him. It was Daeron. He was older, a man grown. But he was your brother. His cheeks have slimmed, his nose a little longer, his jawline stronger. But he was here.

“Your Grace. Mother.”

They embraced, only for a second, before pulling apart. It was warm, by your mother’s standards.

She turned. “Your father, the King, is abed at the moment. The years have taken their toll, but I shall take you to see him later. You remember your siblings. Prince Aegon, Princess Helaena, Prince Aemond, and Princess Y/N. You know Aegon and Helaena married, we’ll have tea with their children soon. And Aemond and Y/N-”

Daeron rushed forward and pulled you into his arms, uncaring at your mother’s indignation and scolding. You clung to each other, and the world stopped. He smelled the same, whereas he lamented that you had changed your perfume, or perhaps you now add oil to your hair?

“Sister,” Daeron breathed in your ear, holding you tightly, his eyes closing in bliss as your perfume filled his senses. Oh, how he had missed you. It had been agony for him, every day he thought of you, longed for you. He’d never wanted to leave in the first place, it was his mother’s and grandsire’s idea. His heart had been crushed when he had read mother’s letter four years earlier informing him of your marriage. He had been filled with anger; how dare Aemond steal his wife from him, just because he was away studying. It was an outrage; he had been tempted to fly back to Kings Landing on Tessarion and dispute the whole matter, to take you away and live as husband and wife together. But he had known that he would never have stood a chance against Aemond, nor Tessarion against Vhagar.

His eyes opened and he caught Aemond’s. The taller brother stared down the younger, his one-eye unblinking. Daeron swallowed thickly, keeping hold of you for support. “Brother Aemond,” he greeted in a somewhat shaky voice.

“Valonqar (little brother),” Aemond greeted with a smirk, enjoying his brother’s obvious discomfort at his presence. He didn’t like the way Daeron was holding you so tightly, it irked him, but he could disquiet his brother in other ways. “I hope you’ve kept up with your Valyrian; the four of us speak it often, and the children are learning too.”

Daeron flinched. “Forgive me, brother, there was no-one to help me maintain our ancestral language in Oldtown. I only speak Common Tongue now.”

Aemond nodded his head and smirked; another piece of leverage to use against this intruder.

You didn’t notice your brothers’ tension, pulling out of Daeron’s arms. You cupped his face in both your hands, staring closely at his face. He had grown so much. He wasn’t as tall as Aemond, nor as strong, but he was here. He was home. You longed to kiss his lips, but settled for both his cheeks, your lips lingering on his skin. “Finally,” you whispered, like a prayer, “Finally, you’re home.”

He smiled down at you. “I’m home. And I’m not leaving.” He looked up at Aemond at the end.

Aemond just smirked. ‘We’ll see about that, brother’, he thought.

The eldest sibling stepped forward to break the tension, even as he had to hold in his laughter. “Daeron, it’s been so long,” Aegon greeted, pulling Daeron in for a hug.

The two brothers embraced for a few seconds before separating. “Hello, Aegon. I missed you. Helaena,” he smiled at his other sister, kissing her cheek before embracing her.

“Y/N missed you greatly,” Helaena said in her soft voice. “She’s happy now you’re home.” Daeron tried not to interpret that as you being the only sibling who had missed him and glad to have him back.

Aemond spoke up. “Why don’t we take him to meet our children?” he asked, smiling down at you with his hand on the small of your back.

You completely missed how Aemond stressed ‘our’. Daeron did not, frowning at the taller, older brother.

Your face lit up. “Oh yes! They’d love to meet you!” you grasped his hand, pulling him towards the castle. “Come on, Daeron, come meet them.”

Aemond added, his smile widening wickedly as he clasped his hand on Daeron’s shoulder, “Yes, your niece and nephew would love to meet their uncle. Our son Maenor and our daughter Aena, though little Aena is not yet one so she won't have much to say.”

Daeron had to keep his mind on you and your happiness, as not to punch Aemond on the jaw. Aemond was playing with him, it was clear and painful. They both knew Daeron had been hoping and expecting to sire children with you himself, so to hear the words ‘uncle’, ‘niece’ and ‘nephew’… It was all just a game to Aemond.

One he had won.

The five of you, your mother, your grandsire Otto, and the five children filled Aegon and Helaena’s sitting room with a tea service. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, sat politely with the grown-ups and had a piece of cake before playing on the floor. Maelor and Maenor ate some cake on the floor, closely monitored by Aemond and a nanny. And you sat little Aena on Daeron’s lap, chuckling softly when you had to show your twin how to support her properly as she liked to bounce on her feet now she was close to walking.

Alicent and Otto were called out to a Small Council meeting after an hour or so, leaving you all together.

“You know Maelor and Maenor were born within the same week,” you smiled, watching with a proud smile as your son showed your twin his newest bracelet made for him by Helaena. Daeron still held little Aena somewhat awkwardly on his lap, but your little girl didn’t seem fussed, only cooing happily as she gummed on a wooden spoon. It made your heart swell, and almost brought tears to your eyes. In another life, they could have been his children. But then they wouldn’t be Aemond’s, which would mean they would be different. And you wouldn’t change your life or children for anything. You’d give Daeron a child someday, you knew it.

“It’s why we named them so similar,” Helaena agreed. “I actually delayed naming Maelor when he was born until Y/N had Maenor and had named him. They were conceived on the same night, after all.”

You choked on your tea and Daeron almost dropped Aena. Aemond quickly scooped your daughter out of her uncle’s arms, having been hovering at the side. He was very protective of both your children, but especially Aena. She had him wrapped around her tiny fingers, even though Aemond would never admit that. He bounced her up and down and cooed at her to distract her from crying. She was smitten with her father so it was always an effective tactic.

“Helaena…” you whispered. Daeron didn’t know any of that yet!

She seemed to realise her error. “Oh. I’m sorry, Daeron. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I only meant that Y/N and I had fertile days around the same time.”

That didn’t help.

“Do you think either of you will have more children?” he asked quietly, looking awkwardly down at the floor. He prayed you’d say no.

Alas, Helaena continued. “I’m actually trying to conceive at the moment, so it’s fortunate you-”

You interrupted. “I’m sure I’ll have more children in the future. Aena isn’t quite one yet, so in a few months, mayhaps. Does that sound alright, Aemond?”

Your husband looked at you from kissing your daughter’s chubby cheeks. “I’m always happy to have children with you, my love. We practice often enough,” he winked at you, basking in how much Daeron physically cringed.

You blushed and dipped your head. What was happening with everyone today?

That night was the first complete family dinner in over ten years, the King included. It was a lovely meal, it had filled your heart to finally be seated next to Daeron after so long apart, but there had been an undeniable tension in the room, coming off both Aemond and Daeron. Aemond had kept his hand firmly on your thigh the whole evening, not even moving it when food was served. He used his left hand to make your plate up, then his own, eating slowly with just his one hand. He barely said a word beside you as you caught up with your beloved twin.

After everyone was finished and conversation had lasted well into the evening, you all dispersed back to your rooms. Aegon and Helaena came in to yours and Aemond’s rooms via their usual passage, and you poured the three of them some wine. You had drunk enough for the day, feeling tired and a little emotional after the long day. Aegon and Helaena sat on a sofa by the main fireplace, reclining back comfortably. Aemond stood by the fire, contemplative as he stared into the flames and took the occasional sip of his drink. You felt restless from the energy he was exuding, sitting delicately on the arm of an armchair.

“It’s nice to have Daeron home,” you offered to the room.

Helaena nodded. “It will be, when we all know each other again.”

You frowned. “What do you mean?”

Aegon pitched in. “You have to admit, sister; Daeron’s been gone so long, he’s basically a stranger to us now.”

“No, he’s not!” you protested. “Don't say that, he’s our brother! He’s always been our brother. It wasn’t his fault he was sent away.”

He jokingly held his hands up in surrender. “I’m not saying it is. But we haven’t seen each other in a decade, and there’s only so much letter-writing can do. If I hadn’t known who he was when he arrived, I wouldn’t have recognised him.”

“Aegon is right,” Helaena concurred. “He’s a stranger now, but he won’t be soon. The dragon lost will be found again.”

Before you could get upset about your brother's and sister’s attitude towards your twin, Aegon spoke up again.

“Well, how funny is it that you want your little brother’s babies?” Aegon laughed good-naturedly to his wife. “I thought he was going to have a heart attack.”

Helaena just shrugged. “Well, you have three children already. Surely you wouldn’t begrudge Daeron a child with his sister?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t,” he smirked, looking at Aemond.

The three of you looked at Aemond, observing him as he just stood by the fire, wine cup in hand. “Fuck off, Aegon,” he grumbled.

Helaena paid no attention to his mood. “I think it would be nice if Y/N and I were both pregnant at the same time again, and especially if both babes were Daeron’s.” You looked at her beseechingly, silently begging her to stop talking. You could feel Aemond’s ire rising. He has never and would never hurt any of you, but his temper was infamous within the Keep. “Aegon has three children and, Aemond, you have two. Daeron doesn’t have any-”

“Because he’s been pissing away his years in Oldtown,” he snapped. He moved from the fire and practically threw himself into the armchair where you sat on the arm. He fisted the loose material at the back of your robe. He needed to be close to you and to squeeze something, but would never hurt you for it. “It’s not my fault he never came back to be with us. He has a dragon more than capable of flying from Oldtown to Kings Landing; he could have told Grandsire to get fucked and returned at any time. He chose not to; he chose to stay in Oldtown with those prissy Maesters and dusty books. It certainly doesn’t mean my wife owes him a child. You give him one if you want, sister, if you think it would be nice.”

“Let’s all change the subject,” you said softly, rubbing Aemond’s knee.

Aegon, rather drunk, had other ideas. “So how will we get him to join us? He’s been cooped up for years, after all. Doubt he’s ever seen a tit, let alone a cunt.”

You groaned, standing up. You took Aemond’s cup from his hand and drained it in one gulp. He didn’t even look bothered. You refilled it from the jug and handed it back to your husband. He lifted it slightly in thanks, drinking deeply. You had known Daeron’s return would disturb him, but you hadn’t thought it would be this bad.

“I think that can wait,” you said diplomatically. You couldn’t and wouldn’t hide your desire to have your twin join the four of you, but it wasn’t an urgent matter, and your husband was perturbed enough as it was. “Let’s all just get to know him again.”

Helaena frowned at you quizzically. “Have you not been desiring this for a long time, sister? You planned to be his wife growing up, not Aemond’s.”

That was Aemond’s final straw. He stood up abruptly, stormed over to his side of the bed and began angrily disrobing for bed.

Aegon and Helaena misinterpreted the action as an invitation, standing up and heading towards the bed.

You stood in front of them with a shake of your head. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

Aegon shrugged. “Alright. Come on, dear wife. Away to bed for us.”

“Do you want to fuck my ass?” Helaena offered neutrally.

You heard Aegon reply as they headed back down the passageway to their own rooms. “You know I’ll never say no to that offer.”

You turned back to the bed, seeing Aemond already under the sheets, facing away from the room. You walked over to the bed, climbing on it from your side.

“Aemond?” you asked, kneeling behind him. He gave no response. You looked at his nightstand. His eyepatch lay on the dresser, but the dish where he stored his sapphire was empty. He hadn’t taken it out. “Aemond, sweetheart, you need to take out your eye,” you leant down and kissed his bicep. “You know it will hurt in the morning if you leave it in.”

Still silent, he removed his sapphire, placing it in the bowl.

Glad he had at least listened to you, you lay down behind him. You tucked yourself in as close as you could to him, wrapping your arm tightly around his waist from behind. “Aemond, I love you. You know that, don't you?”

Seconds ticked by and your heart pounded in your ears.

After what felt like an eternity, he took your hand and pulled it up, kissing the back. “I love you too.”

You considered it a success. “I'm so happy to be your wife.”

Aemond had to hold back tears. “I'm happy to be your husband.” Until you leave me.

Chapter 4

@watercolorskyy @shesjustanothergeek @aemondsdelight @thelittleswanao3 @misspascalpunk @heavenly1927 @probablybraindamage @theoneepileptic

#twisted love #aemond x reader #aemond targaryen #hotd #house of the dragon #aegon ii targaryen #helaena targaryen #daeron targaryen #aegon targaryen x reader #helaena targaryen x reader #daeron targaryen x reader

259 notes · View notes

aerithisms · 7 months ago

Text

i think my problem with this dw season arc accusing the audience of fanbrain for theorising about ruby is that it both feels deceitful and isn't actually that compelling from a character perspective. the season goes out of its way to build up supernatural mystery around ruby and even invokes susan more heavily than ever before in a way that is deliberately trying to get the audience to make those connections. and then it turns around and says you stupid idiot why would you ever try to connect these dots i have deliberately tried to get you to connect.

building up a mystery only for the character to be ordinary is an impossible girl arc redux only this time accusing the viewer of failing to see the humanity of the companion, whereas the impossible girl arc was turning that accusation on the doctor. 7b didn't really blame the audience for viewing clara as a puzzle and in fact several times spells out the fact that clara is perfectly ordinary before the big reveal to give the audience a chance to catch on. as 7b goes on, instead of laying the mystery on thicker, the audience just gets more and more affirmations that clara is a normal human being (rings of akhaten, journey to the centre of the tardis, hide). i found this approach compelling because it was rooted in character, focusing on the doctor's disconnection from humanity/the gendered dynamic of a man treating a woman as his manic pixie mystery to pull him out of grief. s14's meta approach of accusing the viewer feels both unfair, given it has deliberately led the viewer towards theorising, and personally less compelling to me because it wasn't tied into character in any way.

the thing about rey's parentage in tlj is that the reason rian johnson chose to go for that reveal was that it was the only answer that was interesting. none of the theories - rey is a skywalker, rey is a kenobi, and even the eventually canonical rey is a palpatine - were interesting or satisfying because they brought nothing compelling to the table for the story being told. the only satisfaction to be gained from those answers was a fanbrained "omg rey is important because she's related to that guy from the other movie." on top of that, rey desperately wants her parents to have been important, to give her life and her abandonment some kind of significance. so them being ordinary provided the most compelling trajectory for her character because it was the thing she least wanted to hear. it forced her to do the most introspection and growth, as well as tying into the film's themes about the capacity of ordinary people to be special. it wasn't just a choice made to "gotcha" the viewer, it was rooted in character.

i don't think ruby's mother being ordinary accomplishes the same thing. by invoking susan, s14 is engaging with the most egregious example of the doctor's streak of abandonment, which has potential to be very compelling in relation to ruby (and now also the doctor's) own abandonment issues. theories that ruby might be susan, or be somehow related to susan, or somehow related to the doctor, weren't just fanbrained "omg she's related to that guy i know from the classic series." they were theories genuinely rooted in character and the potential to explore both the doctor and ruby's issues with abandonment. and this is something the show willingly led fans towards by invoking susan so much in the first place. so for the show to turn around and act like they were shallow out of nowhere ideas when they were not shallow and were based on potential character conflicts the show itself deliberately invoked, feels misguided.

as well as that, ruby's mother being ordinary does not require that same growth from ruby as it did for rey because it is exactly what ruby wanted to hear. she never wanted her mother to be important, she just wanted to know who her mother was and have a connection with her. so finding out she was a normal woman who still loves her and wants to be a part of her life is everything she's ever wanted. it doesn't introduce interesting conflict for her the way rey's parents being ordinary did for her, because they were written as different characters with different hangups over their abandonment.

tl;dr i don't necessarily dislike ruby's mother being ordinary as an idea but compared to the things it was inspired by - 7b and star wars - it is not nearly as compelling in terms of how it relates to the characters or themes. and the meta angle, while conceptually interesting, doesn't quite work for me because it feels a little manipulative of the audience.

#blahs #dw #dw spoilers #like to be clear i'm not necessarily saying ruby's mother SHOULD have turned out to be susan #i'm saying that if it was always going to be an ordinary woman then rtd should've constructed a better arc around that #bc for the one he did write it's not that compelling of an answer. it doesn't really move anyone forward except maybe the doctor himself #bc the doctor is now sad that ruby has what he can never find #like yeah okay that's interesting... next season. and for the doctor. but not really for ruby!! and not for s14 as a whole!!#and like pulling the rug out of a mystery like this is something moffat also did a lot #like invoking the name of the doctor only to not reveal it or teasing the hybrid as a big alien villain only for it to be twelveclara #but the thing about those is that moffat never makes the answer that he rejects genuinely compelling #like he rejects learning the doctor's name bc there is nothing compelling about knowing it and he never tries to make you think there is #he rejects the hybrid as a warrior alien bc there's nothing compelling about that and he doesn't try to make you think there is #i feel subversive moffat mysteries are always leading you towards why the answer he gives you is the most compelling one #which i don't think s14 accomplishes. instead it's like haha! tricked you! your genuinely interesting theories are silly and dumb!#idk. i see the vision but i don't think it was handled with a deft hand so it ended up kind of a mess that didn't land imo

134 notes · View notes