#which are sometimes a bit far-fetched I admit

[therantingsage]

Because I promised this, and I really wanted to do it anyway, here's a really really long-winded rambling dissertation on:

Why N and Uzi secretly dating since before episode 5 is genuinely super plausible and also stupidly hilarious /pos

Under the cut cuz it got obscenely long oops-

Idk where to start, so I'll just cover my bases: why people think they've been in a relationship already in the first place.

We all saw this scene:

And legit it can only be implying one of two things. Either A: this is his confession of feelings for her. Or B: this is him admitting that they've been dating for a while at this point. With the hearts it's pretty clear that this statement is meant to be romantically interpreted, and Nori's aghast reaction confirms that that's how it's being interpreted.

Obviously no matter the interpretation, N only writes that because he can't think of anything else to snap Uzi out of it and thereby stop this confrontation from ending poorly. And it works obviously so good on him for the quick thinking.

Two things that make me lean towards the 'we're dating' interpretation over 'confession' interpretation, though: firstly, he's not writing this to tell Uzi something, he specifically calls out to Nori before writing it. "Hey btw I'm dating your daughter" makes more sense than "Hey btw I like your daughter romantically" because if it was the latter, Nori has far less reason to be mad at Uzi about it rather than N. It's not like Uzi can control how N feels. But if they're dating, that means Uzi is partially to blame for that and Nori can get upset at HER.

Secondly, the awkward wording. Like it's really vague and without the hearts you'd have no reason to assume anything but platonic meaning. But these are words we, and him, have heard before:

...from Uzi, in response to a question about who she is and, by proxy, the nature of their relationship. She says it defensively, follows it up by telling N to shut up. N repeating her wording which, again, is a description of the nature of their relationship....but this time implying something romantic with it, it suggests the idea that it had romantic implications the first time.

I don't think it's far-fetched to say Uzi at least has feelings for N at this point in the story. I don't think anyone's arguing that that's not true. But the idea that 'hang out' means the exact same thing both times is what I'm arguing here. They're dating, but this version of N is a stranger to her. A cute stranger, as she says, but a stranger nonetheless who she isn't comfortable admitting to that she's dating him in the future to his face.

Backing up a bit, Uzi's reaction to Nori's reaction:

This is a clear and obvious parallel to the previous episode, when 'Tessa' says "Don't date my robot, please."

In both instances, someone gets on her case about the idea of them dating, and in both cases she doesn't deny it but instead defends both his and her own agency in the matter. No one is allowed to tell them what to do and Uzi refuses to let anyone try.

When Nori says it, though, she does seem to try and deny it for a moment. "I'm not-" She cuts herself off so we can't say for certain what she was going to say (if anything. it's entirely possible she started that sentence with no plan how to finish it, I do that a lot personally). But that's also because, like, she's Uzi. If this was meant to be a secret relationship, it would probably be her who made that decision. And like with butler N, she has no reason to disclose that kind of information to a stranger. She'd probably try and deny it whether its true or not.

As for when it would've started, after camp is the only big timeskip where we don't have much clue went on during. Cabin Fever is a big episode for them, and the three episodes that come after it are all back-to-back-to-back. The only time it makes sense to have started is sometime between eps 4 and 5.

And guys. Guys.

This, more than anything to me, paired with the idea that they've been dating for a while by the time the most recent couple episodes happen.....doesn't this seem so, so romantic? You could easily call this a love confession! So easily! It sounds like one much more than 'we just kinda are hanging out a lot idk' at least.

Like, rephrase that even a little: "Being with you makes scary things fun. Being with you makes me feel brave. It makes me feel safe. So I want to keep being with you."

And Uzi agrees with that sentiment. He promises to stick with her. And she laughs and smiles with him as he makes the scary thing she's been dealing with into something fun, something they can laugh about. The together line gets repeated in the most recent episode, directly calling back to this scene as well.

Like, just...AGH. In Cabin Fever he says it once as they're falling and a second time once they're grounded. The second time its a question, and one she eagerly answers with physical affection, which is super rare for her. In Mass Destruction its a statement, because he already knows her answer. Its a repeated promise. A vow.

Backing up again. Let's assess some interactions under this context. Assuming they're dating in secret. Because it paints so many things in a different light and basically nothing contradicts it which is fricken wild. This:

Isn't a sheepish Uzi trying to hold her crush's hand in a moment of fear. This is an Uzi who wants to keep their relationship a secret but is so in need of comfort right now she's willing to risk exposing them to get it.

This:

Her being so relieved because she almost watched him die but he's alive he's ok and she doesn't care who sees it because she needs to hug her boyfriend rIGHT NOW GUYS I DON'T CARE I'M HUGGING MY BOYFRIEND-

This whole scene. Uzi interacts with him so gently here. She's not gentle with anybody else at all. She sees him stressed and uses his own "you good?" on him and it's just so dang tender when you think about it. Because no one else can hear them talking to each other. It's just these two sending face texts and everyone else's focus is on the Sentinal so they can afford to be as couple-y in this conversation as they want.

And after:

Blushing because they like each other so so dang much.......sweating bullets because the other two can see them do this. Suddenly without either of them really thinking about it they're being romantic around other people and wow! That's nerve-wracking! Peak young love early-in-the-relationship behavior they ain't slick.

His tone of voice in this scene is gentler I think than we've ever heard from him before (Michael Kovach you are so damn good at your job). His loss-filled fury is cooled in an instant when he realizes how close he came to hurting his girlfriend. It's heartbreakingly gentle before 'Tessa' cuts him off.

And when she cuts Uzi off:

He looks like genuinely pissed at her. "Did you really just interrupt my gf while she was talking?? She's scared and you're disrespecting her tf is wrong with u??"

And like- the fact he was genuinely willing to off Tessa for her. Like he realizes there's a possibility she tried to get his gf killed for no reason and upon her not even trying to deny it he just kills her instantly. Because it's no longer a question of the universe or Uzi. It's a question of Tessa or Uzi, and its a choice his heart has already made before this point.

But here's like. The thing about all this that gets me. This is meant to be a secret relationship, right? Like nobody but them is supposed to know about this. And the fact that we the audience didn't have any reason to assume them to be an established relationship without heavy headcanoning means they did a decent job at that, right?

Guys. Guys.

N is terrible at keeping secrets. Like. Horrendously bad at keeping things on the down-low. Every single time in the series he's supposed to not spill info he like. Fails. It's wild. And because the relationship happens after "Inclusive reflexes!" that means that Uzi damn well knows this and still trusts him to try.

But based on V's reaction to the handholding in Dead End:

I'm honestly willing to bet she knew. She doesn't sound surprised, just annoyed that she has to see it. Which means N probably like, heard her badmouthing Uzi or something and got like way too defensive about it and she clocked him instantly. Because he's bad at keeping secrets. And she doesn't bother mentioning it during any of these episodes out loud because she doesn't care what these idiots do in their free time.

Can you imagine how many hundred close calls they must've had? How many times Uzi must've had to aggressively shush him or cover his mouth because he was going to say something slightly too sappy in public? The only reason we don't get to see the time period between eps 4 and 5 is because it would've been painfully obvious that these two dating is the worst kept secret in the entire bunker. I'm going insane.

Uzi fell in love with a proud himbo and they both know it. It's genuinely a miracle they didn't clue the audience in sooner.

[syndrossi]

October Trick or Treat Fill #9: Jon getting his hair braided

At long last, the "Jon gets his hair braided" prompt, which I think I wrote either first or second, gets its day! This takes place fairly close to the current chapter, as far as time-frame.

x~x~x

“When do I get to see?” Jon asked, hands folded in his lap to keep from touching or fidgeting.

Helaena had begun braiding a good twenty minutes before, humming quietly to herself throughout, halting only to answer the occasional question Jon asked to fill the silence. He didn’t have nearly as much hair as she or Rhaegar did, so he would have expected it to take no more than a few minutes.

The humming stopped. “Do you want to go?”

The trepidation in her voice made him regret asking. She had been so excited when he’d offered at supper last night, and even more thrilled when he had come calling upon her today at the end of her lessons with the septa. Jon would guess she had few visitors, even amongst her family.

It is not just our uncle. Aegon and Aemond think of her as both a girl and a baby. Daeron is too young. It is likely just her, her nurse, and occasionally her mother.

“No, I like it here.” He took a slice of raw carrot from the plate she had shyly asked her nurse to fetch from the kitchens. “Thank you for the carrots. Did Rhaegar tell you that I like them?”

“No. But Darra says that if you eat enough carrots, you can see in the dark.”

Jon grabbed another slice from the plate and held it up beside his ear. After a brief hesitation, Helaena took it, and he heard the loud crunch as she bit into it.

“What do you want to see in the dark?” he asked.

“Everything.” Helaena fell silent, hands pausing in his hair. “I don’t want to need a candle.”

Jon forced himself to remain relaxed so as not to alarm her. “No? Why not?”

“I’ll burn,” she whispered, so quietly he could hardly hear.

His instinct was to turn around and pull her into a hug, but he was still mostly a stranger, even though they were kin. Instead, he picked up another piece of carrot and offered it, then took one for himself, the quiet of the room broken by their chewing.

“I won’t let that happen,” Jon said.

“It won’t burn you,” she said, a statement rather than a question, and Jon wondered, alarmed, if Viserys had shared that knowledge with everyone or she had just overheard, as Aegon sometimes did.

“Me and Rhaegar will protect you,” Jon said, and her fingers began working again, nearing the bottom of his hair. “What about a lamp?”

She hummed in thought. “Lamps are safe. Their flame can’t reach.”

Although she could easily have meant that the flame was contained, Jon couldn’t shake the sense that she was speaking about the dragonglass candles in a roundabout way.

“Have you ever seen dragonglass?” he asked, keeping his tone even.

“Dragonglass?” The mixed curiosity and delight in her voice proved answer enough to the contrary. “No. Do dragons make glass? Can Shadow make glass?”

“I do not know,” Jon admitted. He had asked Samwell the same once, whether dragonglass came from dragons, and his friend had been unsure. The dragonglass candles themselves seemed worked in a way more like glassblowing than through carving. He wondered if Daemon might know. “It is a dark, shiny stone.”

“Like Shadow.”

“Like Shadow,” Jon agreed. The description hadn’t seemed to prompt any recognition, so he let himself relax, dismissing her words earlier as coincidence.

“Done!” she announced, tying off the last of her work with another ribbon—her eighth so far.

Jon was guided over to the mirror, and as he turned his head to various angles, he could see that each individual braid was more than passable—it was simply that there were eight of them, of varying degrees of thickness, sticking out at various angles from his head. He shook his head, feeling them pull at his scalp in unexpected ways.

“Thank you,” he said, forgetting himself and leaning to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She froze, and he pulled back, abashed, but although her eyes were wide, she did not look frightened or upset—just startled. Jon’s heart ached as he wondered how many times her brothers had ever done the same. “You like it?”

“I feel very secure,” he assured her. “If I must fight, I know my hair will not impede my vision.”

A well-timed knock at the door announced Rhaegar’s arrival, likely on his way back from afternoon training at the yard, and Helaena seemed unsure what to do with her sudden popularity, nodding silently at her nurse to allow him entrance.

“Princess Helaena,” Rhaegar said upon entering, bowing his head in greeting. “Thank you for—” His gaze had finally landed on Jon, and his expression stilled. “Oh. You braided Jon’s hair.”

“Do you like it?” she asked, face so hopeful that Jon prepared himself to glare Rhaegar into a polite answer.

It proved unnecessary. Rhaegar smiled at her, eyes dancing. “I think it suits him perfectly.” He went up to Jon, inspecting each braid. “You have mastered the triple strand. I can show you a four-strand sometime, if you like. We can practice on Jon together.”

Her gasp was audible, and she turned back to Jon, as though worried he might refuse. He raised a brow at Rhaegar and silently resigned himself to his fate. “Tomorrow, then.”

[ep2nd]

What is Redson's secret base?

Or for people who don't know, the place where Redson trains Mei in Season 4, Embrace your destiny, and later in season 5, Claim to Flame

This place-

Now I know I might be reading into it a bit, but like honestly, why does Redson just know about this place that neither of his parents, that's appeared in the show, don't??

Be warned, I ain't a professional on Chinese Mythology and JTTW so this is truly speculation. If anyone has criticism or more info, always share I do like learning and correcting mistakes

Onward- I think it's an old Temple for Guanyin and/or Muzha

For those who don't know, in JTTW, Redboy, not Redson in the book, I think, actually was defeated with the help of several people, including Guanyin (though she helps Wukong like every day this was normal), but this time around Redboy foolishly pretended to be Guanyin and tricked Pigsy (Zhu Bajie). She wasn't having that. So she got a bunch of Celestial swords, turned them into her Lotus platform, pretended to leave, then Redson sat on the Flower because he thought he was the bees knees and ended up going through severe pain (surprise swords hurt). Guanyin then casted the Binding Spell on Redboy, shaved his head, and claimed him as her disciple from then on. Don't worry Redboy became better we see in latter parts.

Summary of the summary- Redboy is a disciple of Guanyin

Now LMK is different so Guanyin prob didn't cast the spell of SNATCHED or used the swords of HAH YOU THOUGHT so here's what I think is their relationship and how it impacts my theory

After the Samadhi Fire incident, at some point PIF asked Guanyin for help in training Redson with his fire powers, and she accepted, mentoring him

Technically, she lives in the Southern Seas and not mountains, so this place is obviously not her home, but it's possibly a training ground. This would also mean that Muzha, Guanyin's other disciple and Nezha's older brother, would train him. Now here's some facts to prove this

The place is found on a mountain, now while Guanyin doesn't have information on living or having temples on mountains, Muzha does

Its guessed, aka im using Google, that Muzha lives in the Western Foothills, which means the mast ranges of Mountains, so him having an extra Temple/House makes sense

Redson goes on to call these "7th century Mo Dao" or something like that was hard to hear. Now JTTW takes place in the 7th century, and Redson admits that it's hard to find these specific spears, so what if they were given him to Muzha back in the day and they've just been sitting the Place. Maybe this is what Muzha also used to teach Redson to fight

Aka the shack we first see Mei in-

Now we see Redson have a more love for meditation than in prior seasons/episodes, which is weird considering his Anger Issues

So what if Guanyin helped him with that? In the Revenge of the Spider Queen, he calms down to ask nicely to steal their ship, which looks like he almost burst a nerve but he tried!!

Is it possible that PIF taught him to control his anger? Yes. But as the goddess of Mercy and Compassion, Guanyin is all about that meditation and calmness, she's a Bodhisattva too.

So in Redson's speech of Meditation later on, it could be the same thing Guanyin told him, except for the smit your enemies prob

Now most Guanyin Statues have her holding a Jar of water in her left with an olive branch in her right.

In fact, the only time we saw Guanyin the show so far is when Tang is describing Redson's story, though it might be different

Also, if you notice on the bottom of the statue, you see a Lotus pattern similar to Nezha's

Now Guanyin is known for sitting upon a Lotus flower, so this isn't far fetched, also Nezha's brother IS Muzha, so maybe they sometimes get mixed up (as siblings do) even with their statues

Now If the statue looks to masculine do remember Guanyin is sometimes seen and as a man and sometimes as a women, and sometimes both or neither, she cool like that

Next, again with the statue, the things being offered, fruit, a candle, and a jar of something, now according to Google, beware yall ITS GOOGLE-

Fruit is one of the five standard offerings made to Guanyin, along with flowers, water, oil or light, and incense

Isn't that cute he's making offerings to his past teacher!!! Now as a demon it's strange to make ANY offerings to gods, so it makes sense if it's Guanyin or Muzha

Now I will say this statue ALSO looks like Nuwa, and there's clay figures in acloves nearby so like I'm not 100% sure

Also the place around the Shack of Meditation is Bamboo, which is common in China but is also a significant plant for Guanyin and Muzha (I think) this is based on interpretations I've seen where bamboo is seen in her place at the Souther Seas (from OSP) or where Muzha's outfits include depictions of bamboo (Art here on Tumblr)

FINNALY, last notes

1. This place is introduced ONLY when the Samadhi fire is included, which is the whole reason Guanyin became Redboy's Master/mentor in JTTW ar all

2. Redson comments that this place is one of the few places LBD has taken, and if it's under protection of Muzha and/or Guanyin, it makes sense they powerful gods/goddesses

3. I just think it's neat and maybe foreshadowing for a future episode where we'll see Guanyin and Redson backstory, maybe a repeat of Redson's lines for thet DRAMATIC EFFECT

That's all have a nice day, my hand hurts:')

Also I'm not sure if anyone knows but like I have a YouTube playlist with all the LMK episodes for free, which is how I learn stuff quickly qnd get the screenshots, if anyone wants it I'll dm the link 👍

[ddlcbrainrot]

Monika, as we all know, has a Twitter that we can actually follow and stuff. But she is definitely also a Pinterest girlie 100% i will not be taking any notes on this thank you very much

Sayori used Instagram the most, its great for socialising with your friends ect. Then Tiktok came out, which is basically the social media for people with no attention span, aka Sayori's one weakness. You cant really blame her for getting just a tad bit too into it

Yuri ive never really though would use any kind of social media, at least not excessively. Maybe she'd watch book reviews on Youtube, but thats the most i thought she would use social media. And then @heartbeatbookclub made a post sometime back abt Yuri being a discord mod and i cannot believe i didnt think of this sooner. She canonically plays DND, i could definitely see her having a discord server for it and everything + she mentions having online friends and in my experience most online friends talk through discord

Natsuki uses Tumblr. Or, she did back in middle school. Then her friends started to make fun of her for it and she switched to Insta. She also mentions having online friends so her having a discord account isn't that far fetched. Maybe she watches Tiktoks from time to time, not that she would admit that however

MC is a Redditor.

[ghostwise]

“seeing an object and thinking of them” for hamal & zev pleeeaaase 🫶🏽

They live out of their packs, carrying only what they need to survive: rations, basic supplies, weapons, and precious few comforts. Of these, there is the boar bristle hairbrush Zevran has allowed himself to keep. The oils Hamal uses for his skin. Sunscreen and elfroot extract. Zevran's boots, which he imagines they rescued from their cold exile in Haven. Keeper Mahariel's necklace. Their wedding rings.

Eventually, however, they need to go shopping.

And as Hamal finds himself ill-suited to the bustle of a typical Antivan marketplace, Zevran is happy for the chance to wander alone and stock up on sweet smelling soap, coffee, beeswax, spices...

There is one other thing he has in mind.

Hamal's shirt is long past mending. It is patched and thinning in several places, though the man would never admit this; after all, he'd spent the last month of the Blight wearing a shirt that was more repair than fabric.

Which is precisely why Zevran has taken the decision into his own hands.

Hamal deserves something fresh and comfortable, not the worn tunic he's carried for years. Zevran rather suspects it's a bit small in the shoulders for him as well. He's filled out a bit, now that he's on a proper sleep schedule and enjoying the far superior food Antiva has to offer. Health and happiness look lovely on him.

So, it is time for a change. This is not a whim, it's a necessity. Zevran ventures to several clothing shops, seeking the right shirt for his husband.

It should be linen, or percale… something apt for the heat. It should be slim in the arms--billowing sleeves, while quite fetching on Hamal, would get in the way of his bow. Definitely no buttons… they'd gape. Actually, that might be a plus. Perhaps something with laces?

When Zevran finally makes his way back to camp, his pack is cheerfully filled with all his day's purchases. He walks right up to Hamal, trades his welcome back vhenan with a kiss, and immediately tugs at his shirt.

"Take it off," he says.

He need not say it twice. Hamal laughs and tugs the garment over his head.

"Alright, now, put this on!"

Zevran takes the old shirt, shoving the new into his arms.

Hamal blinks at him. His eyes trail down to the shirt, a snow-white percale cotton with dainty sprigs of lavender embroidered on the fabric.

"You tricked me," he says lightly.

"Do you like it?"

Hamal hums thoughtfully as he puts the shirt on. Zevran notes with some relief that it fits him well, and the low neckline is suitable, too.

"These little leaves are pretty," Hamal says, tracing the embroidery along the collar and sleeves.

"It reminded me of you," Zevran said softly, hoping to convince him. "And the color matches your eyes. I bought ribbons for your hair, too. A few different colors to match."

Hamal laughs at that. "Ribbons! I love you, truly!" he says. "Ma serannas. I do like it."

"Thank the Maker," Zevran sighs.

Not that he was worried, but Hamal is slow to such changes sometimes. No doubt he'll want to keep the old one.

It's like clockwork.

"The old one isn't that bad!"

"It's bad," Zevran says with a smile, and he smooths a hand over his shoulder, picking lint off the fabric. "Amor, it's practically falling apart."

"Not at all. It has a few years left!"

"As my pillowcase," Zevran agrees with a laugh.

Hamal considers it. "Alright," he says, charmed by the idea. "Deal."

[microwave-core]

Carmine Fluff Alphabet Thing

For all intents and purposes, this is pre-Kieran Joker Arc.

Activities- What does she like to do? How does she spend her free time?

Carmine’s favorite thing to do with you is just laze around. She likes to splay out on the couch, tangling her limbs in yours, as you chat mindlessly. Makes Kieran bring in food and drinks from the kitchen or the drug store down the road. He grumbles about it, but he gets to hang out with you for a bit after doing so (he looks up to you a lot). Other than that, she likes showing you the many sights and scenes of Kitakami, especially the Festival of Masks. She’s very proud of her home (except for the whole casting out Ogrepon when she did nothing wrong thing, but I digress).

Beauty- What does she admire physically and mentally?

Physically, she likes your eyes. It’s not in a “eyes are the window to the soul” poetic type of way, though. She just appreciates their color and shape. Also really likes thighs. In terms of personality, Carmine really values courage. Even if you’re on the shy side, you’ve got at least some in you to stand toe to toe with her. She also really admires the ability to admit when you’re wrong, as it’s something she struggles with herself.

Comfort- How would she help when you’re feeling down, having a panic attack, etc.?

To be honest, Carmine’s style of comfort is a bit unconventional. She helps you settle down normally enough-instructing you to take deep breaths, to talk things out, and to let her hold you closely-but then she starts threatening whoever did this to you. She will make sure these bastards never see the light of day for hurting you, regardless if they hurt you on purpose or not. It’s up to you to reel her in if you think she’s going too far, because her threats are far from empty.

Dreams- How does she picture her future?

Hmm… Honestly, I don’t know. I could see her wanting to stay in Kitakami, continuing to live in her hometown out of habit, but I could also see her branching out and going on a journey to bigger regions and cities. She’s very prideful, though. She won’t easily admit that she likes a certain town or city or region, instead playing up how things are back at home. She wants you to come with her, obviously. What’s the point of going on a journey alone when she has you to do things for her to rely on?

Equal- Is she more dominant or passive in the relationship?

Definitely on the dominant side. She’s used to dealing with Kieran, who’s too shy to stand up for himself. Taking the reins comes naturally to her. She wouldn’t try to order you around all the time or speak on your behalf, but it’s obvious that she seems in control. She’s very vocal about what she does and does not like, and has a hard time dealing with push back. That being said, she does try to think about your needs and wants and changes to accommodate them, but that does not come easily to her.

Fight- What’s it like to fight her? How easily does she forgive? 

Carmine is easily agitated, but she tries to keep her temper under wraps for your sake. She tends to get snippy with other people over small things, but she doesn’t want to be mad at her lovely girlfriend for something petty. That being said, when it’s a big fight, she’s a nightmare to deal with. She needs at least a week of space before she’s even willing to be on speaking terms again, and she complains about what happened during most of that time. Also has a hard time admitting her faults, which doesn’t make things any easier. She’ll come around eventually. 

Gratitude- How grateful is she in general? Is she aware of what you do for her?

She’s very grateful for all you do, but doesn’t always vocalize that fact. Carmine doesn’t outright order you around, but she does ask you to do things sometimes. Can you bring me this, could you run to the store and grab that, would you be able to fetch Kiki for me, stuff like that. She’ll thank you after the fact, but it doesn’t show the depths of her gratitude. 

Honesty- Does she keep secrets or hide things, or does she share everything?

Doesn’t usually hide things. You’re her closest confidant, so she has to reason to lie… Okay, there are certain things she doesn’t vocalize, like just how grateful she is for all you do, but she’s not normally going to lie. Unless she thought hiding something for the moment would be the best for you (just like how she hides meeting Ogrepon from Kieran), she’s going to be pretty honest.

Inspiration- Did you inspire her to change in some way?

You make Carmine want to be a nicer person, in a sense. She’s a bit prickly and snippy with people she doesn’t know or doesn’t like, but she doesn’t want to be like that with you. She really cares about you, and really wants to keep you around, so she tries her best to be kinder and softer with you, but not with anyone else… except maybe with Kieran. She also tries to boss him around less.

Jealousy- Does she get jealous easily? How does she deal with it?

Yes. Absolutely yes. She doesn’t like most other people, so she obviously doesn’t like when they’re around you. How dare they have the audacity to think they know you better then she does? Carmine knows you better than anyone, no questions asked! She also doesn’t really deal with it, she just holds you close and glares at her opposition. Doesn’t really acknowledge her jealous streak, but she doesn’t try to deny it, either.

Kiss- What’s she like as a kisser?

She’s above average, I guess. A bit rough with them, but puts just enough passion in to leave you wanting more. She tends to soften up a bit when you kiss her, pouting until you give her another, then another, the another, so on and so forth. She’s a bit greedy with your affection, honestly. She wants to be showered in your love.

Love Confession- How does she confess?

Carmine doesn’t confess. Or rather, she doesn’t want to. She’d much rather be confessed to. She’ll drop hints constantly, hoping that you’ll pick up on her feelings and just spill yours already. The more hints she drops, the more obvious they get. Should you take too long, she’ll confess in a rather aggressive manner, basically just telling you to kiss her already.

Marriage- Does she want to get married? Does she want kids?

I think Carmine wants to be married, but I don’t see her as a person who’d want kids. She’s more of an aunt figure in my mind, in a “when your double-income, no-kids, lesbian aunts show up to unleash the gift reckoning on christmas” way. Of course, she waits for you to propose, but will begrudgingly take up that mantle if you take too long. Her ideal wedding is a small one, just being surrounded by family. Listen, she’s a sap but she doesn’t want anyone to know.

Nicknames- What kinds of pet names does she use?

Typically just sticks with babe or baby. If she’s in a teasing mood, she’ll use an overly sweet nickname that makes other people cringe. Could also use a short form of your name if that’s applicable.

On Cloud Nine- What’s she like when in love? Is it obvious to others? How does she express her love?

She’s noticeably happier and softer when she sees, or even just thinks, about you, but she only smiles smugly when asked why she’s in such high spirits. Her main love language is acts of service. She usually just orders people around to do her bidding, so going out of her way to do things on your behalf means a lot coming from her.

PDA- Is she upfront about your relationship and affection? 

Very upfront. Carmine wants everyone around to know that you’re her girl, just so they know not to mess with you unless they want to deal with her wrath. Has no issue with being affectionate with other people around, but tries to hold back with Kieran. She’ll tease him if he thinks her affection towards you is embarrassing, telling him off for still believing in cooties, but she does tone things down. She cares about him, really, she’s just an older sister. It’s how it be.

Quirk- What’s an ability she has that’s beneficial in a relationship?

She won’t hesitate to fuck someone up. Now, I’m not saying you should indulge in her violent tendencies and sick her on those you don’t like as if she’s a vapid dog, but you could if you really wanted to. Just know that you’ll likely have to take some of the responsibility if she clocks someone unprovoked.

Romance- How romantic is she? What does she do to make you happy?

As previously stated, she tries to do things for you. Again, it’s not much, but it means a lot coming from her. She’s not super romantic, but she is pretty passionate. As much as she likes sitting back and basking in your love, she will at times turn the tables and instead shower you in affection, peppering you with light pecks, telling you how much she loves you after each and every one.

Support- How does she help you achieve your goals?

Carmine can, and will, weed out anyone standing in your way. Is someone harassing you, or scaring you off, or in general just bringing your spirit down and making your job harder? Sit down babe, Carmine’s just gonna have a little chat with them real quick. She doesn’t always resort to violence, sometimes threats are enough to scare them off, but she will use force if she has to. Again, you might need to step in before she takes things too far.

Thrill- Does she feel the need to try new things out to spice up your relationship, or does she prefer stability?

Honestly, I’m a bit conflicted here. I think she does spice things up in, um, plenty of ways if you catch my drift, but she doesn’t do anything too extreme to your relationship as a whole.

Understanding- How well does she know you?

Carmine knows a lot about you. It’s like she’s got a little memory bank in her brain just for you. She’s pretty perspective, too, and tries to keep them in mind. She’ll do normal things like pick up your favorite snacks and plan dates at your favorite locals, but then she’ll do things like claim no one can sit in a specific spot because that’s your favorite seat and you deserve to have it. 

Value- How important is your relationship to her?

Incredibly important. Honestly, Carmine doesn’t have too many close relationships outside of her family, so you mean so much to her. When she knows that things between you are getting serious, she genuinely sees you as a part of her family, and they think the same. Her grandparents love you and think you’re a great influence, and Kieran thinks you’re ridiculously cool. So don’t break her heart.

Wild Card- A random headcanon.

She absentmindedly plays with your hair when she’s not doing anything else. She’ll twirl it and untangle it and wrap it around her fingers. If it’s too short to play with, or if you’ve styled it in a way where she can’t, or shouldn’t, mess with it easily, she’ll settle for scratching gently at your scalp.

XOXO- Is she affectionate? 

Pretty affectionate. She likes to hold you closer, or lay her legs across your lap, or vice versa, or… or anything, really. Carmine just likes to be close, both in public and behind closed doors.

Yearning- How does she cope when missing you?

Perfectly fine, then not at all. If you’re gone for a while, she can deal with it. You can’t be around all the time, she gets that. She still has Kieran to hang around with, so she’s not lonely or anything. But when days turn to weeks, she suddenly breaks. She becomes incredibly dramatic, lamenting about how much she misses you, about how you’ve been gone for so long. Practically jumps you the next time you meet.

Zeal- Is she willing to go to great lengths for your relationship? If so, in what ways?

I already stated that she would deck a man for you in a heartbeat so I’d say she’s willing to do a lot. If someone is clearly bothering you, she won’t ask any questions, nor will she hesitate. If you're not uncomfortable or in distress when asking her to do something, though, she might complain about it. She’ll still do it, even if she doesn’t really want to, but she does ask to be compensated in affection.

[utilitycaster]

OK time to make dinner and take a pause but I've finished all faction/location quests as well including the gotdamn heart of corruption for which the quest marker is NOT clear, thank you Reddit thread I found, and anyway I'll elaborate when I am not ravenously hungry but the briefest of reviews for companion quests/faction quests.

Harding (no faction quest): A in companion quest; deeply tied into her abilities and the main plot, compelling, good mixture of emotions, Stalgard is the funniest motherfucker alive, great job

Neve/Dock Town/Shadow Dragons: *purple diverging arrows voice* because I saved Treviso, my options for her and Dock Town were limited, but I do feel like the location quests and her quests were intertwined (and connected to the main story) and they did a good job of conveying the chaotic nature of the city after the attacks; Dock Town's stuff ended up being kind of atmospheric more than a single narrative but it was pretty strong especially because it was mostly detective stories. Neve's throughline was great even with the limited choices.

Bellara/Arlathan/Veil Jumpers: Bellara's questline was excellent if by far the saddest one, and the Veil Jumpers story hits well in both the initial location of Arlathan and the main questline stuff (Blood of Arlathan and its lead in) but I must admit a lot of the location quests pale in quality next to Davrin and Harding and Bellara's storyline quests there. I wish the fucked up wild magic played a larger part, or you were working more towards helping Bellara with the archive or uncovering ancient elven information or something instead of just "hey find some veil jumpers who went missing" all the time.

Lucanis/Treviso/Crows: One of the strongest stories across the board - Lucanis's own quests about figuring out who united him with Spite tie into the larger Venatori plots and reveal a ton about his family; the city quests portray the Antaam and growing Venatori presence; and the main plot quest for the Crows puts it all together. Just very good narrative synergy and no goofy fetch quests.

Davrin/Hossberg Wetlands/Wardens: Davrin's questline itself is actually weirdly chill because the bulk of it is in The Cauldron which is main quest, so a lot of it is just hanging out with him and Assan. HOWEVER, I have to admit. Yes the Hossberg Wetlands are creepy and wet (I think there should be an Anderfels song that starts with that line, and have been attempting to compose one) but the combination of "oh, everything here is terrible" coupled with the "Something _____" quests from Antoine and Evka paint an incredible picture of the Wardens at their best, slowly and painfully reclaiming a place from the Blight after a horrible blow to morale at Weisshaupt; literally the only faction (as opposed to companion) quest to make me this emotional. "Something's Coming" you are that bitch I'm sorry I put you off because I hated the wetlands, and also I'm sorry I did you before the mercenary quest because it did make that one wicked anticlimactic.

Taash/Rivain and sometimes Hall of Valor/Lords of Fortune: I talked a bit about Taash's questline and how the choice isn't the weightiest but I do think their story is incredible and especially all the complexity of their relationship with their mother. The quests I admit are a little...scattered. Like, everyone else kind of has a cause or a placethey care deeply about and maybe I just don't know because I don't know past lore but the Lords of Fortune really is just like TREASURE GOOD. The most interesting quests were technically just as much Warden quests, the final Warden Treasure in Sharksmouth can FUCK OFF (I did it but UGH), and also I only hit my Excellent faction status by doing the Heart of Corruption quest in which I killed a dragon which feels kind of weird to me.

Emmrich/Necropolis/Mourn Watch: it pains me to say it as a person who loves the Mourn Watch conceptually but they used up literally all their juice on Emmrich's questline, which is a fucking banger start to finish, and the physical location of the Necropolis is fun although I did give up very early on some wisp puzzle that would unlock like 5 treasure chests and don't know if I care enough to go back; but like. The hauntings? what the fuck was that about Myrna and Vorgoth. "oh find a weird ghost SOMEWHERE ELSE" and the only other quest is "slay the worst undead dragon ever (this will be easier when you are level 50 and bring Lucanis and Emmrich and have fully gone Reaper, on level 30-ish this sumbitch will kill you twice on STORY MODE before you give up)" Like they put their WHOLE pussy into Hezenkoss's machinations and Emmrich's decision, A+ quest no notes, and then the faction quests are literally just like *cocks sword* thedas's haunted. you couldn't do ANYTHING that was like, actually in the Necropolis??? the fuck.

[reikunrei]

I didn't talk about this at all in my last doctor who post because there was so much else going on that I wanted to touch on, but after @mikesbasementbeets mentioned one of the closing lines of the episode in the tags, I kinda wanted to just talk about it a bit.

So, this is one of the rare episodes of dw where everyone lives at the end, including all of the victims who outright or technically died. Throughout basically the whole show, but especially the early seasons, and especially s1 with the 9th Doctor, there's an incredible emphasis on "we cannot interfere or else everything will fall apart." The episode right before these ("Father's Day") actually tackles this very idea, which I hope to explore sometime in another post. In short, the Doctor doesn't save people. Doing so often results in more harm than good (unless it wasn't meant to happen, but we don't have time to get into that here lol).

However, at the end of this episode, he does something completely different.

He says everybody lives. He sends out a mass of nanogenes, now reprogrammed, toward the gas mask soldiers surrounding the bomb site and they rewrite and "fix" their DNA, making them all normal humans again without the injuries of dead little Jamie. As I showed in the initial post, even Jamie winds up coming back to life, despite the fact that he was already dead when the nanogenes found his body and used him as a blueprint. Realistically, Jamie should still be dead because he wasn't technically "changed" by the nanogenes, simply brought back to life, which the Doctor earlier says is easy.

It's an extremely profound ending to a dw episode, and it's one that sticks with a lot of people.

Now bear with me because I'm sick with a cold as I write this so it might not be very coherent, but in conjunction with all of the other connections/similarities/parallels between these episodes and Stranger Things, this feels startlingly fitting for (at least part of) the conclusion to st.

Throughout all of st, we've seen time and again that knocking things down with violence doesn't really work. It's especially evident in st4 when Nancy, Steve, and Robin flambée Vecna, blast away a few chunks of flesh, and knock him out of the third story of a house. You'd think that would turn him into a pile of smoldering mulch, but it doesn't! Frankly, he gets up and walks away very quickly. We're shown and told time and again that killing outright does not work.

In these dw episodes, they could have tried killing any of the victims to keep them at bay (at one point the Doctor even pick-pockets Jack's sonic blaster so he won't use it on the victims). However, with the nanogenes present, they simply would have been "fixed" again and brought back to life. Much like Vecna, they would've just kept coming back.

And what winds up saving the day in dw? Love and understanding. When Nancy finally admits to Jamie that she's his mother, not his sister, and apologizes for everything that's happened and comes into contact with the nanogenes, it makes them fix their misunderstanding.

A lot of people talk about how Will said "we have to kill him" irt Vecna/One at the end of 4.09. However, again, we've seen that it literally does not work. And along with everything else surrounding the weirdness with identities in st, specifically with the distinctions between Henry/Edward, Vecna, and One (and Brenner) (check out the original post I linked at the top for links to other folk's posts about this), it's not far-fetched at all to assume that untangling the uncertainty left here will be what brings them closer to "saving the day," much closer than anymore fighting ever would.

We spend a lot of these dw episodes being scared of Jamie. Even Nancy is constantly visibly fearful of him and won't go near him, but in the end, she takes him into her arms despite the risk of her becoming infected. They don't brute force the nanogenes into understanding, they don't try to reprogram them, and they don't physically fight them off. They constantly run away, use words, or even sing them to sleep. There is very little violence in these dw episodes, and most of it comes from the victims themselves and is very tame.

Stranger Things, at its core, is about love, and that extends to the (supposed) villains. The way things have been presented thus far are very unreliable, but we have enough information from the show itself (aided by things like TFS and even bits of the VR game) to prove that there's something else going on, and maybe, just like with little Jamie, someone just needs a little bit of helpful truth.

As Joyce Maldonado once said, "Can love defeat fear?"

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Regarding how Jimin tells stories like the rainy day fight, I don't think Jimin is comfortable going deep into stories in a public settings. He revealed a lot of rawness in his EP and yet when he had to discuss it on that live that was scheduled, he just skipped a lot of it or left it vague. I wouldn't mind it if it was just him being naturally bad at public speaking but I have a suspicion its probably a result of prior experiences. That he spoke about being better about how he handles his diet, and armys gave him an ed. That he talked about how he's changed and learned how to become a strong man and armys used that characterize his younger self as an insecure mess. He probably learnt to limit his emotional musings to his art.

Yes, I perceive it the same way. Of course his reasons are for him to know, but we also can't help but draw some sensible conclusions. As long as we keep in mind that this is just how we interpret it.

I do understand being wary and taking a step back. And the changes happened mostly during the height of the pandemic and currently. I remember watching some of his vlives from 2019 when he used to mention his friends. He wasn't giving personal details which is understandable, but he was telling stories. Now there's none of that. And it happened at the same time or perhaps when he was becoming very very private. More than he used to be. I'm not trying to say there's something bad in particular with this, it's just an observation. To me it looks like a conscious decision and in that case, I can't complain that I want more from Jimin just so I can be entertained.

Did I get a bit frustrated of how evasive he is even whilst talking about his album? Yes, I admit that. It's because I like to hear about the process, of the artist trying to explain in depth the concept, the themes, if/how personal experiences shape that. A lot of them do and they are opening themselves up and they show vulnerability in a way. Sometimes it's not that deep and other times it's painful. But what I have to remind myself is that ultimately, it's a choice. Just as I as a private, regular individual have trouble sometimes talking about my life with certain people, then the same can be available for artists.

On the other hand, being able to talk about one's art without revealing personal "secrets" it's also possible. You just have to know how to do it. Jimin has been active in the industry for more than 10 years and he's an experienced idol, but talking about group concepts and then having to do that about your own album that encapsulates personal experience is a different game. Which is why I can understand that as well and I think that I should cut him some slack because this was the first time he had to do it on his own. He'll get better and better as the years go by.

I'll add a little observation here. Kidergarden teacher is mostly a joke and he put on that role even while watching his Like Crazy mv. Jimin from 5-7 years ago would've probably had a completely different attitude. I believe that what current Jimin is doing is an active calculated choice in how he wants to be perceived. This is the side that he wants to show for now in some specific contexts (an important observation), whether I personally like or agree with it. My two cents, not some definitive verdict.

Lastly, allowing the art to speak for itself is an understandable choice and a good one as well. In his case, the work Jimin does can actually speak for itself because there's something of value there. It leads to multiple interpretations which I think it's amazing. Once the music is out there, it belongs to the listener as well. We add meaning to it. We also add layers over layers of meaning to music videos and photofolio shoots and teaser images. Some may be far fetched, others outrageous and others sensible. We can agree or disagree with them. What's important is that they exist, without the artist having to give a 5k words explanation of each piece. Jimin's interpretation is one thing, but it's not the only correct one. That's not how art works. And that's why expecting him to talk in detail might seem redundant. As I said, it's a choice. If an artist wants to add more, then that's great. If they let mostly their art to do that, then that's fine too.

[littlemissagere]

Hii ! Can I request CG! Bennett and Regressor! Razor from Genshin Impact short or headcanons ? Thank you, have a wonderful day ! 🌷

Thanks for your request ! <3 I hope you enjoy !

———🐾🔥 Cg!Bennett and Regressor!Razor

)———🔥 cg!Bennett Head canons !

🩹He is a bit overprotective, in a sense he’s worried his bad luck will affect his little one. Despite this, he still stays optimistic for his little!

☘️ I think Bennett is a caregiver for regressor!Fischl and regressor!Razor , and he gave a nickname to both! Razor's nickname is little guy or pup, and Fischl's is Princess, or whatever correction Fischl gives him .

🩹 Bennett will spend LOTS of time outside, unless it’s late of course. He plays hide and seek with them! Razor acts like a puppy when he’s little, so they usually play games that let them run around and get dirty, just like a dog!

☘️ Due to his own unfortunate bad luck, he always has first aid equipment on hand, just to make sure everyone is accounted for in the case of an accident?

🩹Bennett sometimes takes Razor to see Lisa to get advice or help when taking care of a fussy little Razor -!

)———🐾 Regressor!Razor head canons !

🐺 Razor is a pet and age regressor ! He regresses to a puppy/dog and his little age is around 2-5 .

💜 This puppy isn’t very good with his words, usually little “yip”s and “arf”s , or other gibberish !

🐺 He enjoys playing outside with Bennett, and even if he does get rather dirty afterwards—(which leads to an unfortunate bath), he seems to be very happy

💜 He likes to nap curled up in a ball, or sprawled out like a kiddo after a sugar crash!

🐺 He can get fussy during bath time, or bed time… he likes play time very much

💜 “papa” or “Benny” is his nicknames for Bennett, when little

🐺 He regresses involuntarily !

💜 Lisa sometimes offers him picture books that Bennett can read to him later !

🐺 Him and Fischl sometimes bicker, but she has knighted him in her little kingdom .

)———🪶 Bonus : Regressor!Fischl ;D

⚡️Fischl regresses to around 4-7, making her Razors big-ish sister

📖 She LOVES playing pretend , especially princesses or royalty !

⚡️ She’s made Razor fetch more times than she'll admit

📖 Not too naughty… but has gotten time out before

⚡️ She likes telling gibberish stories to Razor and Bennett, about her journeys as the Prinzessin !

📖 “Benny” or “Papa” as well for Bennett !

⚡️ Oz helps translate her babbles and gibberish

🐺 ————+ Short ! +———— 🔥

Bennett, Fischl, and Razor are in Lisa's Library together—seated around one of the tables on the bottom floor. Fischl was drawing a princess like character, that seemed to look like her, and Bennett was leaning forward on the table, smiling to himself. They had, had a pretty good day so far, though, Razor looked a little frazzled. Razor was swaying a little, unable to stay still. Maybe hyper? Bennett noticed the hyperness of Razor, he knew it all too well by now.

“Razor? Are you okay?” Bennett gently asked Razor, Razor can get easily overwhelmed by conversation—and people in general. Razor looked to Bennett, and seemed to process the question. Razor gave a little nod, and then pointed at the window. “…You… wanna play outside?” Bennett asked, trying to understand the gestures. Razor nodded, but then pointed at the story book he had picked out.

“Book, read, there” Razor said, in a whisper-yelly voice, pointed to the outdoors. Fischl looked up from her drawing by now, listening.

“Can I play too?” Fischl had been regressed for a while now, but it wasn’t obvious until she started to speak up. Bennett leaned back in his chair a bit, stretching, and then sitting normally again.

“Sure, why not?” He suggested, with his usual optimistic grin. Bennett picked up Razor's book, and Fischl's coloring supplies, stuffing it in his bag, and then offered his hand to Razor. Razor held Bennett's hand, staying at his side, looking at everything around him. Whenever he regresses, his attention is grabbed by the things around him much more.

The three had walked outside, and sat by the tree at windrise—Razor's favorite spot. They spent the next few hours hanging out there, playing, and reading their story books. By the end of it, the little ones had already wore them selves out. Razor asleep curled up by Bennett, Fischl, asleep on her stomach, around her coloring supplies. And Oz, making sure everyone was alright… even Bennett had fallen asleep…

—🔥🐺🪶

[kquil]

Hello!! Can I have a 🧁? Thnx!

Soo I haven't done this in a while, lol..

I'm shortish at 163cm, curvy and have long auburn curls and amber eyes. You could say I'm a bit cute, but I'm very insecure about my weight, so yeah. Gods this sounds a bit like My Immortal. Moving on.

I'm an extroverted introvert? Like I prefer being alone, but can enjoy good company every once in a while, and sometimes you'd think I like the sound of my own voice a bit too much? I'm all about knowledge and loveeee socio-economic politics etc. I'm a bit stuck up like that I suppose, kinda snobbish tbh. What can I say, I like good quality stuff, like not cheap and think and awfully stitched synthetic fabrics, it doesn't have to be bloody 100% hand spun and made alpaca wool, but cmon, yk? I grew up with a very strict the-curtains-are-never-just-blue kind of mother (french and flute and ballet, and learning the savoir-vivre front-to-back, the whole she-bang, you know the drill). I'm like her more than I'd like to admit, in more ways than one.

I'm a very autonomous person, and hatehatehate depending on others even for the simplest things. I have a lot of patience usually, but improper behaviour and lack of manners will get a rise out of em pretty quickly. I'm a cat person too.

When it comes to PDA, not a fan. I'm shy when it comes to intimacy, but also think it kinda improper.

Love books, hate how most ppl teach stuff- you could call me an independent researcher at soul, but have quite a bit of biases. (Eg, with barely knowing anything about evolutionary psychology, I essentially called it a useless waste to my mentor the other day. I think my exact words were "it seems a bit far fetched to be truthful")

Yea, did I mention I use a lot of brittishisms? I'm not even a brit, English is my second language, idk what the deal is with that.

Also I'm a slytherin, if that wasn't obvious so far. When i first took a test and it said so, I retook it feeding it the proper answers to make me a raven, because, and I quote, "being ambitious is just being smart about how you wanna live your life". Yeah. Still stand by that statement, just have rejected the hp canon and jkr as a whole in the meantime (her horrid ideas too).

I drink my tea an dmy coffee strong and with no sugar nor milk. I love books, and bodies of water (esp the sea!!!), and thunderstorms and greenery. Also ostentatious rose gardens and glass and wrought iron greenhouses and glass domes on indoor gardens etc. Yes, I have my dream mansion sketched out for when I'm rich ever since I was 9ish. I'll just say I need to be filthy rich because it includes a private groove AND lake. I think the word you're searching for by now is "delusional"

I'm a stereotypical Slytherin I think. Even my all-time fave music genre is a tie between classical and jazz (though I do love rock and punk too)

This is getting too long, so I hope it's enough! Thanks in advance!!!

PS I have two names, the first of which is horrid, but means Sapphire One, and I go by my second, Alexandra. Much too ostentatious to have both of these, I know, but I quite like "Alexandra".

wow! truly a slytherin through and through haha! thank you so much for requesting darling, im sorry it took so long for me to deliver on and i don't know if this is up to your standards but i did my best!

I ship you with sirius black 

i. in actuality, you two started off as enemies and eventually became lovers, growing up together since young from very prominent slytherin families only to be sorted in rival houses instead. it didn’t take until 6th year for the two of you to blossom a romance with each other, it was after reaching an understanding of each other’s personal difficulties growing up that the two of you grew close, slowly growing closer until you made it official. sirius became the person to balance you out and him, you. you both learned to be better people through each other. 

ii. sirius loved how independent you were but also loved getting a rise out of you by being annoying, he loved getting your attention through that, knowing that you loved him too much to really sink your teeth into him, unlike the unlucky people he’s seen get a tongue lashing from you — he is not envious of them. he likes knowing that he can get away with things around you whereas other couldn’t, it made him feel special and, although you knew what he was up to, you always indulged him anyway. one thing you loved about him was that he made you feel so confident and loved, to the point where the insecurities you had of your body and appearance just disappeared because he loved everything about you, every good point, every star quality, every flaw…he loved those about you the best. 

iii. he’s the one who slowly eases you into soft PDA, he knows you aren’t going to be the type to make out in front of people or sit in his lap blatantly when in a group setting but he wants to always be holding your hand or have his hand on your waist or play with your beautiful auburn hair. he loves whispering his admiration for you into your ear when you least expect it as well, some times he’d speak it in french just to add that additional touch of romance to it. 

iv. he understands your love for ostentatious things, the two of you are common in that regard. and, being someone who took pride in everything he did, he was sure to shower you in all the opulence you were willing to receive. at some point in your relationship, he had acquired the perfect balance of gift giving to keep things special between you two without it being too in-the-face of others. he would take you on these really grand dates, get-aways, if you will, where the two of you indulge in all your favourite things as well as his, sharing and making memories together. He wants you to always be surrounded by beauty, because that’s what you deserve and you appreciate him so much for it. 

v. he knows how to make you your tea and coffee and you know how to make his, he knows what books you like to read and the music you enjoy and you know the same for him — the two of you are equal in that you share your interests and act on them for each other. in the beginning, you felt as though your ideal life one day were just delusions but he promises and made those delusions a reality for you. he loved that you knew exactly what you wanted and he delivered on every wish as best he could because he would do anything for his princess

1K MILESTONE EVENT : CLOSED | NAVI.

[idiopath-fic-smile]

having a quiet afternoon in; feeling like doing that "choose a WIP and i'll write a bit of it" meme that's been going around but I only have 2 WIPs so it's really just a binary choice:

"e/R 1970's" (sequel to this)

"the patron saint of all-night diners" (sideways spin-off of this feat. Julie the waitress and the Reagan-hating fry cook falling in love)

(i don't think you're supposed to give that much context to the WIPs but *sunglasses emoji* sometimes you gotta break the rules.)

snippets under the cut. both of them are set in restaurants in the American midwest, which i mention only because it might be distracting otherwise. throw me an ask about one or the other and i'll write three more sentences. i will do this until i get tired.

e/R 1970's

Grantaire frowns down at her menu. “Suppose I’ll have to get used to lentils eventually,” she says, “if it’s bound to become part of the lifestyle. Only, remember when all you had to do to be a lesbian was want to make love to women?”

“And live entirely submerged in fear and shame?” Enjolras replies, without heat. New York’s Stonewall Riot seven years earlier—and the bolder, more confrontational movement that followed it—have changed her. With a suitable outlet for her particular magnificent energy, she is more focused than ever in work, and a little calmer in repose.

“True,” Grantaire replies. “But I worry that any day now, we’ll be issued a box of cats.” She shakes her head theatrically. “You know I can barely keep houseplants alive.”

“Houseplants don’t meow until you remember to water them,” says Enjolras. “And I admit, I have a morbid curiosity for what you’d name a pet.” She raises her eyebrows.

“Skinny Bones, if we fed him the food of our people,” says Grantaire. “Did you see they sell vegetable ice cream?”

Enjolras shrugs serenely. “We’d give him meat,” she says. “Cats are carnivores. And as far as human food goes, the spinach and black olive enchiladas aren’t half bad.”

They’re sharing a table at Viv’s Vegetarian Spot, the best lesbian-owned cafe in all of Boystown and likely all of Chicago. “Best” being perhaps a little generous, in Grantaire’s meatloaf-and-potatoes-loving book.

“You know I admire your devotion to supporting our sisters-in-arms—our sisters-in-amour, let’s say,” Grantaire counters, “but in this one particular case, I’ll never grasp why you—”

Enjolras reaches over and squeezes her hand; their waitress has swooped in, the numerous political pins rattling on her denim jacket like chainmail. “WE HAVE BEEN TOO NICE TOO LONG” reads one. “OUT OF THE CLOSET, INTO THE STREETS” reads another.

“Hi there, I’m Sandy. Can I get you two anything?” she asks.

“I’ll have the enchiladas,” says Enjolras. She hasn’t moved her hand on top of Grantaire’s. And then she beams up at Sandy and adds, deliberately, “And my date will have…”

“The enchiladas also,” Grantaire fills in, swallowing hard as Sandy nods and retreats to fetch them waters like this is the most normal and natural thing in the world. “Alright,” Grantaire says. “I think I can grasp it now.”

the patron saint of all-night diners

The first thing to know about Al’s 24-Hour Eats is that it didn’t start as a haven for the queers and deviants of the greater Indianapolis area.

The second is that the transformation was no accident.

“Julie Williams,” says Lloyd, the night manager.

Julie nods, smiles blandly. She does not adjust her unfashionable brown turtleneck or her equally out-of-date khaki maxi skirt, both chosen with care at Goodwill in an effort to look as staid and buttoned-up and employable as possible.

Lloyd’s eyes scan down her resume. She presses her lips together. Given that he’d kept her waiting in the narrow, dingy outside his office twenty minutes into their scheduled 10 o’clock appointment, it feels like he could’ve at least already read a single sheet of paper. A bead of sweat slides down her spine.

There are six lies on her resume, and seven truths. The lies: previous places of employment, mostly, retroactively fitting her with a past where she has always been known as she. The provided contact numbers belong to sympathetic friends who have been told to answer the phone cautiously over the next couple of days. The truths: her name, first of all, truer now for years than whatever might be printed on her birth certificate. Her list of relevant skills; even in her previous life, she knew her way around a tray of plates, a table full of rowdy drunks.

Also this: Julie Williams is a people person.

This will be important later.

“You ever done this before?” Lloyd says suddenly.

Julie blinks. He’s still holding the paper in his hand. The paper which says that she has a combined fifteen years of experience working as a waitress in dining establishments across the Midwest. This is not strictly true, but that’s not the point.

“Yes, I have,” she says, in her most pleasant voice. “Most recently, six years at Sunrise.”

“Sunrise in…?” Lloyd trails off.

“Lafayette. Up way past Lebanon.”

“Were you any good at it?”

“Very,” says Julie without hesitation.

Lloyd lets out a long sigh. “That’s good, that’s good. Between you and me, we’ve been having a tough time filling the night shift lately. Nobody wants to work anymore. And this part of town going the way it’s been going, we’ve been getting a lot of weirdos applying.” He raises his eyebrows.

“I’m real sorry to hear that,” she says. A second bead of sweat is slipping down to join the first one, right at the start of her asscrack. Charming.

“Yeah.” He pulls himself to his feet and shakes his head. “This place is headed downhill fast. Has been since that seedy little rathole across the street opened.” He must be talking about Hey Sailor, the windowless establishment Julie passed on her way here. Mentally, Julie updates the little dot on her mental map from probably a gar bar to almost certainly a gay bar.

“I should warn you,” he adds, “the crowd gets a little wild at night. Our last waitress quit because she couldn’t hack it. Think you can stand up to the freaks and perverts?”

She can feel her smile go sharp-edged. “I don’t let anyone push me around, sir.”

Provided the patron saint of all-night diners comes through for her and she gets the job, Julie makes a solemn vow to herself just then, regarding said freaks and perverts.

This, too, will be important later.

[ask-the-clergy-bc]

I heard your requests were open, and I thought: Video Games!

How would the Era 4 ghouls react to playing the Resident Evil saga for the first time?

Have a good one, and thank you 💕

WHAT A GREAT CHOICE! <3 Horror survival/Action is my favorite genre! And I know you said Era 4, but I couldn't leave Sunshine out. Hope you like!

Era 5 Ghouls Playing Through Resident Evil

The ghouls collectively splurged for a PlayStation once Impera hit! Tour buses got bigger and so did allowances! Especially with more rituals being added. So they all decided to get a few game systems to play between shows. When they found out about HORROR games however, it completely changes!

Rain Was the first to discover the popular human franchise of Resident Evil! Rain loves video games so actually started doing his research into them to find more to play! Sometimes the other ghouls didn't want to play multiplayer with him so he decided to branch out to single player. Resident Evil Village looked good so he picked it up! Fortunately (or unfortunately) the salesperson asked him if he knew about the originals... and that's how he came home with the Origins Collection and 3!

Rain: He was really surprised with how atmospheric the games could be! Rain wasn't expecting all of the puzzles though! They weren't hard, but he's luckily used to video game logic. To him it's just so funny a game about Zombies would have so many minor tasks and fetch quests! Absolutely hates hunters and whines about how they eat up all of his ammo! Rain prefers the older games because they feel more challenging and take more time. But the newer games are way more fun to play with the rest of the band and watch everyone's reaction! His favorite character is Jill and he feels like it's not a game without her.

Ember(Sodo): It started with the guitar ghoul claiming he DIDN'T like video games. And then he kept circling back asking Rain why he kept playing this game, it's just a stupid human toy, and... he is that a zombie? Ember ended upon the couch next to Rain after that. Running over every time he heard the title screen. Ember is the one who always shouts unsolicited advice for how to play the game, despite not playing it himself. He's tried a few times but he always dies or uses up all of the ammo!! Despite Rain trying to teach him that this is a series you need to CONSERVE! Which Ember finds so stupid! Why have a game about killing zombies if YOU CAN'T KILL THINGS? Also refuses to admit the jumpscares get him.

Cirrus: When Ember keeps fucking up and dying she gets sick of listening to him and swipes the controller. Which pisses him off because SHE'S SO GOOD AT RESIDENT EVIL! She gets very far without dying. Usually a Boss will either go down the first time or she only has one or two deaths before slaying it. The only problem is Cirrus doesn't care enough to finish games, and gets bored after an hour or two. She rather go do something else. But video games are a way to bond with the pack when there really isn't anything else to do on the tour bus. Her favorite is three because it's more open world and she thinks Nemesis is the better enemy of the franchise. It's a better challenge. She finds games like village a bit too boring.

Cumulus: She's more interested in hanging out with everyone than getting a turn. She finds human horror more funny than scary, so the zombies just make her laugh. Likes to say how none of the characters would survive living in Hell! But this changes when they are watching Rain play and reach Castle Dimistrescu in Resident Evil Village. Cumulus goes from admiring the story and graphics to squealing and pointing. 'OH WHO'S SHE? I like her!! Rainy, can you play as her??' She'll only ever play the Castle level, but she's more of the player that just looks around to find every secret and graphic. After that she passes the controller back to whoever wants it.

Sunshine: Despite being more used to the human world by now, technology still amazes them! Sunshine likes to watch in awe that funny little weird people move around in this screen! She more likes to ask about HOW video games work than she does about the game itself. Sunshine will sit next to Rain and ask how the enemy AI works. Does the tyrant only appear in this game? Why is it harder to beat? What's a hit box? Rain is very patient and happy to answer! Sunshine actually finds the hunters funny and thinks they are too silly to actually be scary. They can't believe that humans would find the game scary! The original first game, when the ghouls get a copy, is her absolute favorite. She finds old Ps1 graphics utterly delightful.

Swiss: Low key creeped out by the enemies, no matter which version of the game it is. Insists that it doesn't matter if he's seen weirder in Hell, it doesn't make it less creepy! Won't play unless coerced, but he will stop to watch. Jump scares accidently get him every time. Specifically whenever Nemesis jumps out in 3! Swiss tries to cut down the tension by making voices for all of the enemies and characters, or singing theme songs he made up for them. He gets REALLY good at imitating the Nemesis 'STARS' growl. Hates every gross final boss giant monster. Refuses to watch the fight when they happen.

Aether: HIGH KEY creeped out by all of the enemies. The first time he saw a Licker he just shouted 'NOOO!!!'. No amount of jokes from Swiss could make the rhythm guitarist be ok with them! He's the type of ghoul who points at the screen and goes 'GET IT! KILL IT!' when he sees an enemy! Absolutely refuses to watch anyone play during the giant baby sequence in Village. The only game that doesn't get him is Resident Evil 7, which he will happily play. Mainly because the mold monsters look like 'silly putty' and make him laugh more than creep him out. He also finds the dialogue really funny for some reason. Like a horror movie!

Mountain: Is such a badass when he plays the games, and he barely blinks during any of the jump scares. He once binged Village in a single night before doing a second play through to get a full completion play. Likes finding all of the secrets and easter eggs. Everyone so shocked with how GOOD he was despite not playing games as much as Rain. Rain is just happy to FINALLY have a gaming buddy in the band! Mountain makes the same comment every time a boss appears. Very quietly he goes, "haha wow look at this one" before destroying the boss in record time. When he finishes the game he smiles and asks for the next one. His favorite is RE2 because the split story makes him happy.

SURPRISE COPIA: He didn't intend to watch or play. Like Ember he just walked by checking in all of the ghouls and started watching. Likes to ask Dad like questions about it. What is this game? What kind of game is it? Oh, is that girl a cop? Will sit down and get super absorbed into the gameplay and story... however gets too into it. Ends up hugging a pillow and jumping with noise ques. The quick time events stress him out and he'll shout button commands to whoever is playing. Unfortunately, he's terrible at video games so he never plays!

[subtlehysteria]

My prediction (re: deep dark wish) of how GOmens S2 Episode 1 is gonna go down

Okay so

From the season 2 sneak peak audio clip with Muriel, Aziraphale and Crowley, we hear Crowley barge through the book store’s doors carrying what sounds like shopping bags, complaining about having to drive all the way to get whatever it is he got when Aziraphale could have taken the train because “You like trains.”

And people are saying Crowley and Aziraphale are already living together by the start of season 2 which I love

BUT, what if instead these two idiots are caught in some miscommunication nonsense in which Crowley is practically living with Aziraphale already but is unwilling to admit it to himself (cough cough commit). He’s got more than half his plants there, the spare room is basically his by now with almost all his closet and personal belongings there. They eat dinner and drink wine and chat late into the night in Aziraphale’s study and Crowley always uses the excuse of not wanting to sober up to drive back to his apartment to stay the night and Aziraphale always goes along with it. But when Crowley fears he’s taking up too much of Aziraphale’s space or time or he’s just overwhelmed with the love he has for his angel and has nowhere to direct it without giving his full feelings away, he escapes to his now very barren flat and complains to his remaining plants that he’s yet to move.

On the other hand, Aziraphale thinks Crowley’s already moved in and is not-so-secretly very happy with this new arrangement with his friend. They’ve never been closer, are truly creating their own side, and it is rather wonderful having company most nights. Aziraphale figures the reason Crowley still has his old flat is because sometimes he needs space away from Aziraphale. Aziraphale knows he can be a bit much sometimes, all the other angels have said so more times than he can count. So if Crowley needs a break from him from time to time that’s perfectly alright. And he figures by now the little “don’t want to drink and drive” routine is simply a fun little inside joke between them, nothing more.

And these two idiots have been living together under these presumptions about the other’s feelings about it for MONTHS until a certain bright eyed not-a-real-copper Muriel comes knocking on their door. And of course they’re confused by this arrangement Crowley and Aziraphale have going on and so ask rather bluntly, “Sorry, but, are you two living here… together?”

Aziraphale replies a very confident “Yes,” the same time Crowley gives a more wishy-washy, “Kind of.” To which they both stare at the other in shock because You think what???

And I can imagine you know other plot things happening in the episode that stops them from talking it out right away but at the end when things are more settled and it’s late in the evening and they’re both indulging in some wine, Aziraphale asks rather quietly, “What did you mean by ‘kind of’?”

And Crowley, who is far too sober for this but can’t stand the kicked puppy look his angel is giving him tries to explain how he doesn’t want to intrude on Aziraphale’s little safe haven, that he appreciates being let in but understands that obviously this is first and foremost Aziraphale’s home.

And Aziraphale’s sitting there shocked and also totally enamored because how stupid can his dear demon be?

“Crowley, I told you when we first started this arrangement that my home is your home. You are always welcome here, in whatever capacity you’re most comfortable with.”

And Crowley can’t not be at least a little vulnerable right now. “I like living here. With you.”

“I like it too,” Aziraphale agrees. “Immensely so.”

“My, uh, my flat’s lease ends in a week,” Crowley coughs nervously.

“What perfect timing,” Aziraphale remarks. “I’m sure that’s plenty of time to fetch the last of the plants.”

And the music rises as they share knowing looks and they’re leaning in and then—KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Crowley grumbles as Aziraphale, ever polite, rises to answer the door. He saunters closely behind him to give some dirty dagger eyes to whoever decided to interrupt whatever the hell it was that was happening

Aaaand it’s amnesia-Gabriel looking totally confused asking if this is where he can find an Aziraphale

END ON CLIFFHANGER

[renedumas]

“Oh yeah..no yeah, I’ve never seen those. I don’t watch a lot of tv, actually.” This wasn’t true, he actually spent a lot of time doing exactly that. It was an arduous task, remaining human even though he was somewhat still one himself. But it was different life, so much more reclusive. It made him weird, a tell tale sign of a generational difference where his age would do little to bridge the divide. “We stopped using cable years ago.” In truth, he stopped using it altogether, frustrated with the stagnant use of a device which had once held so much interest. Now anytime he wanted to indulge he went to a library. He would’ve been on his way there now.

“Twink-y?” He asked, laughing at her words. “Is this because I tried to tell you which tools to use, now it’s your turn to pick on me?” He felt at ease when smiling now, like he might be able to work around their individual social anxieties. He felt more relaxed, less like he might be scaring her. It didn’t last long, a laugh shortly halted by a nervous choke, a disbelief in his words.

There was a time when glorious declarations of love and longing were seen as admirable, pillars of romance that women could only know to the extent of the leather edges of their novels. Rene very well could have spent a good bit of his time doing just that, but for her, it would not be right. “Yeah I don’t know. Might be time to admit you were wrong about both things. The tools and now this..” He shrugged at her, pulling the cart full of his and her things towards the register now that she seemed less guarded.

He wouldn’t tell her all of things that made her beautiful, to him and to many others around her. He supposed she spent much of her time so consumed with the imaginary scrutiny of others, eyes down, deep in her own thoughts. It wouldn’t be so far fetched she’d been sharpened by the world to carry such expectation. In that she wouldn’t respond to all that he had to say in such velocity, like opening a dam to someone who never learned to swim.

He could only convey it in the whole of his eyes, in his gaze and how it warmed at the sight of her worry. He imagined she didn’t spend time on her hair for gain in vanity, but even if she had her curls fell perfectly just as they were, small tendrils tucked behind her ears and others advancing on the edges of her face. She had a way about her, sweet and cute and clumsy, then breathtaking in carefree oblivion the way he’d seen her for the first time.

There were endless amounts of very beautiful women, but Rene was too much a romantic observer not to know the difference. Some faces could be improved upon with makeup, but there were some in which without maintained the same effect. Someone, sometime must have dulled or stifled this knowledge to her, most likely in envy. Rene was sure nothing good would come from telling her all this, but he remained optimistic that holding back his urges might grant him the time to do so.

“I’ll save you my opinions on you wearing makeup, I’ve already done enough damage mansplaining to you about your tools..” he looked down and smiled, a million thoughts running through his own head. “That’s very resourceful of you, I actually love girls that recycle.” He laughed, now kind of feeling embarrassed of his own self. He was probably coming off dim-witted in an effort to be funny. “I was saying it cause I meant it.” He looked at her again, stern in that he wasn’t all too scared to remind her of that fact, smiling at her again but less foolishly. “I don’t have any friends to drugs with, I’m not cool enough, River. It’s probably cause my twink-ness.” He teased, moving the cart forward in line. “I’m not manly enough to engage in their delinquent behavior.”

Even had it not been for his abilities, Rene was sure he would still feel the embarrassment like a hanging air of tension. It happened so little and infrequently with their kind. Most humans would mirror certain behaviors, even a forward confidence seemed to infect them, creating an ease of conversation. They were generally cyclical beings, the result of a ripple effect, assumed in their singularity but more attached to the hive than they would ever let themselves believe. Often times the comparison he heard from his housemates would bare an unfortunate resemblance, humans being as much of sheep as he heard them say.

This infectious nature about their kind did not seem to work on the young woman, and if it had done anything at all it had worked to wedge even more distance between them. Rene could feel in her shoulders and in her stance the movement away, the reluctance to have anything to do with him at all. Rene followed her eyes as the words flowed from her, careful to catch each twitch of their movement, eyes darting to the register and the door in different moments. Still, even though he knew he was making her nervous, her body and eyes practically screaming for help, he found himself smiling, trying to withhold little flits of laughter.

“A prank?” He grinned, shaking his head. “But we’ve just met.” He searched her eyes for more, but it was her body that kept giving her away. Something about her was off, not alike the many humans he had spoken to. Her defense had very quickly reared its head into their discussion, and for moments he asked himself why that may be. “I wouldn’t even know what would scare you. I mean, besides me.” He chuckled, turning his body to give room in the aisle should she feel the need to escape.

Rene’s smile grew to a grin, another chuckle when she started to throw threats into the mix. “Well good thing I gave you the right tools. I’d hate to die a slow and painful death cause you bought all the dull ones.” He thought of telling her she was far too thin to be taken for such things, that even his own family would work at feeding her just to build at the meat on her bones. He knew enough about women not to mention their weight, and tried to have an ease about her rejection even if it pained him. “I don’t know about a dare or the black market. I just…think you’re beautiful, and if I never saw you again I’d always think about having never asked. So I asked and… if it’s too much you’re welcome to run far away.”

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

Werewolf Robin content 4 u. Mostly werewolf lore for the au

Specifically sapphic senate monster hunter au werewolf Robin because she’s a little different then “somehow i’d be doing alright” werewolf Robin

In this au, lycanthropy is considered a disease. It isn’t curable with modern medicine, however. Once lycanthropy is contracted, it is permanent. It is spread through the bite of other werewolves on the full moon, but there isn’t a 100% chance of turning. It’s closer to about 10%. Robin got unlucky.

Robin was bit when she was 14. She was sitting on her back porch and heard something in the woods, which she investigated and soon found out was a werewolf. She nearly died, but was near enough to home that she got help in time.

Robin’s parents know she’s a werewolf, and they honestly don’t really care. Her mom finds it to be another annoying quirk of her daughter’s.

Shifting really sucks. It usually begins sometime around 10 pm and then she is a wolf until 6 am. It’s not an exact science, but she has learned when to get out somewhere safe. It’s painful and loud, but Chrissy’s magic helps soothe the ache so it’s much easier for Robin.

The level of control that a werewolf has varies. Most simply revert to natural wolf instincts. A decent chunk are docile unless threatened, while others may be driven to hunt. Strong emotions make control a lot harder. Again, Chrissy’s magic comes in clutch and helps Robin keep control in most instances. She still has to fight her instincts, but she’s been lucky so far.

Robin can actually make her fangs and claws appear or make her eyes turn gold at will. Both things will also happen when strong emotions are felt, against her will. She can also still make convincing wolf noises because I think it’s fun that she can growl and grumble and whine. She cannot otherwise shift at will.

In the days leading up to the full moon, a werewolf’s senses become heightened, as do their strength and stamina. Anxiety and general restless feelings are very common, and it’s harder to keep control of emotions and the appearance of claws, fangs, and eyes.

Werewolves in this au can switch between being bipedal or quadrupedal. Their longer limbs and massive size are dead giveaways that this is not a normal wolf.

Werewolves are fuzzy. Lycanthropy causes a little extra hair growth, so werewolves like Robin will have a little extra peach fuzz and have to get haircuts more often.

It’s a lot darker in this fic than “somehow i’d be doing alright.” It’s seen as a grotesque thing and werewolves are actual creepy monsters. However, Robin with her limited control does still tend to lean golden retriever some nights, or even while human. She is embarrassed to admit she has chased things that friends have thrown like playing fetch.

Robin has a routine down for the full moon after so many years. (Everyone is 21-23ish, so a good 7-8 years of being a werewolf). She leaves her house by 8 and meets Chrissy, sometimes at the tattoo shop, sometimes her apartment. Chrissy works her magic and Robin spends most of the night lounging on a couch or in the tattoo parlor’s back room. If there hasn’t been trouble for a while, she may opt to roam the woods and let the wolf run free a bit, but this is a rare occurrence. If she’s particularly stressed, she’ll take a lethal (for humans) amount of melatonin and knock herself out for the night as a preventative. Chrissy is a doll and makes sure Robin has clean clothes, tea, and tylenol when she wakes back up.

Also, werewolves are pack animals. They tend to form “packs” with close friends. Usually other werewolves. Robin is a strange one because she never had a “werewolf mentor.” She never joined a pack—but she has the same pack bonding with all of her friends.

It clicks when Max shifts for the first time. The two become near inseparable after that. Robin never had a werewolf mentor, but she can sure as hell he Mayfield’s. Chrissy helps Max just as much as Robin. It’s a lot more chaotic with two werewolves instead of one, and sometimes Chrissy has to make them stop play wrestling so they don’t break stuff—or escalate into a full fight.

Oh, and most people don’t know about werewolves or other monsters either. There’s local legends, but as far as the average citizen is concerned, they’re just legends.