#which has actually led to me really liking it

[iconicname]

Yeah

Always think about that scene where lucifers mother tells him that instead of being sent to hell, God wanted to kill him.

And while she clearly had her own motivations for telling him this (to get lucifer angry enough to get revenge)

So whether or not she was straight up lying for bending the truth, what gets me is how fast lucifer believes her. That belief doesn't come out of nowhere. Which never gets addressed ever again???

Though you could argue that that belief came from sending lucifer to hell indefinitely (which is just if not more cruel because c'mon) Netflix lucifer has a lot of canonical self hatred and implied suicidal ideation (plus his "devil form" which supposed to be a reflection of how he subconsciously see himself)

Coupled with the fact that we've never been given any indication whatsoever of the actual events that led to lucifer being sent to hell other than a vague "rebellion" and a something about Michael manipulating lucifer (which feels like a cop out but whatever)

uppermost with how in the show (bcs comic lucifer is a completely different dude) lucifer is extremely pacified, sure he makes scary faces and will get violent every now and then but nothing about him screams "diety who committed a sin so grave and horrific and showed no sign of stopping that the only option was to banish him to a place so dreadful that the goddess (a being who should effectively be God's equal) feared going back" painting a picture that lucifers punishment was not necessary or just.

And speaking of the goddess or Charlotte ig, she was also sent into hell. And I get the reasoning that it's because she kept causing mass death to humanity, which might seem justified from a human perspective, but to her, God, and her children this is the equivalent to sending her son to Diyarbakır Prison because he said "no" to you or challenged your authority some way. And then later, sending your wife to the same place because she knocked over your ant farm that you were investing more time than into your family.

Because both Lucifer and Charlotte have shown to be good people. Sure they're a little fucked up and have a tendency to use underhanded methods to get what they want but they're motivations while sometimes misguided are rarely malicious.

Charlotte was introduced a big scary figure (let's not forget how wary and downright scared of her he was initially) but she's really a hurt (rightfully so) ex spouse who wanted to get back at God for what he did to her (and lucifer bcs that scene in hell with dead uriel proves that she does love her kids she probably has trouble expressing affection in a straightforward way a trait that was either worsen or caused because of stay in hell) her method of revenge was likely the only thing that could save her herself too because lets be real, everytime both lucifer and her were on earth they both had angels coming down to bring them back to hell through extremely violent means. (I don't care if they were apparently "misguided" every angel that came after them wholeheartedly believed that what they were doing was justified and were pretty damn sadistic about it, too. that belief didn't come from nowhere)

From episode fucking one, it's unsaid, but we establish lucifer as a character who has already had his redemption (and this is through the assumption that he was more "evil" before the show starts) the whole plot with Delilah, someone who made a deal with lucifer to become a star but ended up a addict and involved with shady people. She was at her lowest when she asked she owed lucifer (I think about this a lot bcs I believed she assumed that whatever lucifer would ask of would either be something she couldn't give or something she wouldn't want to) lucifer said to "get her life together" as payment, thus giving Delilah a second chance at life.

Again this is episode fucking one, one of the things I hate about the show and fandom is it portrays Chloe and Lucifers relationship as "the awful misguided evil who is tamed, saved, guided by the second coming incarnate" everytime lucifer has growth as a person the credit is given to Chloe like she did something or just being around her gives you heaven points instead of the reality "lucifer holding Chloe in such high esteem because he's falling in love with her that he bends himself backwards to make himself into someone she would approve of"

because that would acknowledge that God was wrong, that lucifer didn't grow because of his interference, not in fact he did all the work himself (reconciling with a sibling who was hostile for a long time, forgiving his mother for being a bystander, even going to therapy like srsly bro is stronger than me).

And this is why they have God coming in acting like some goofy harmless guy because the narrative established that lucifer doing good thing = Chloe doing "miracles" and since Chloe was directly made by God thus put in lucifers path, it means Lucifer's "redemption" and happiness is on account of god.

That's why everyone is so easy with him. Lucifer is hurt and mad and God is like "but a gave you Chloe ☝️😊 aren't so much happier now?" And "lucifers like damn ur right, all is forgiven!" Chloe's the same way.

And since he's literally God the same goes for every other character for whatever reason or another he's essentially bribed every character to like him and has been playing a long term honeymoon phase (cycle of abuse) with lucifer. lucifer has essentially lost his support system which makes me grind my teeth.

OP you're especially right about Linda because Lucifer specifically made himself vulnerable to her about his traumas, self-esteem, self hatred and so much more to her and for her to say that to him must be gut punching, because she essentially invalidated everything he expressed to her 🫠

Honestly, to me, Lucifer Netflix as a whole has a lot of trouble validating lucifer as someone who was hurt. They love to hammer on his flaws (which makes sense since it started as a series about growth) but when it comes to his trauma, self-hatred and or when he's hurt by another character it gets brushed aside or mentioned once and never again.

Take for example the early seasons with Chloe and Lucifer first developing their partnership it it always delves into a series of misunderstandings, Chloe being a no-nonsense person and lucifer doing everything out of the box. What usually happens is that lucifer steps out of line Chloe will lash out (verbally) and lucifer goes "I don't understand your point I will go to Linda about it" wakiness ensues and by the end of the episode Lucifer has learned some kind of life lesson.

But the thing is that Lucifer is a character who's so genuine with his actions and is worldview is vastly different from hers in so many ways, he always means well so when Chloe says hurtful things (I'm not berating her for this it's completely understandable from her perspective) it's never acknowledged later, no "Hey I was wrong" or "sorry for calling you that" or maybe a "I should have taken you seriously"

It's such a miniscule aspect but it's brushed aside. Same thing with the whole poison situation there's little remorse and Chloe gets to handle the consequences on her terms.

Its like that with every situation really, any character (but mainly chloe) gets to stomp all over him and he's never allowed to fight back or they get "proven right" .

the most annoying part of lucifer on netflix is that he was literally right the whole time. i don't give a shit if the literal actual god was "just trying his best." lucifer was 100% right to be angry at god and in fact, i think everyone should've been downright pissed when they met him. ESPECIALLY linda. fuck her for real for telling him that his conflict with god was partially his fault. lucifer described an abusive father to her countless times and the second she met him she started fawning over him? fuck that. chloe should've punched god in the face

[fictionfixations]

ive been going through the artbook with like a translation app

slowly because i keep hitting low battery

but so

ive learned like. a lot of things. (feel free to correct me, i dont know korean me is using translation from translator app that sometimes translates different things depending on how focused the characters are in the image)

this is really more for my sake so i just have a list of this compiled for me to go back to instead of hunting down the pages all over again with my phone out cause the app drains my battery FAST 😭

there is stuff ive glossed over tho or didnt include

mainly ivan focused because he's my favorite

for some reason i started adding stuff about round 6 while i was in the middle of stuff for round 3 💀??

also ive only just realized that when it says unknown its probably referring to mizi so im just sat here like how many times has it referred to 'unknown' earlier and it was actually mizi i cant remember 😭 i was just rolling with it like unknown? sure

(1) apparently theres like a 'crack' that happened in like the wall. there are ghost stories spread about it so not many go there but theres like a hidden passage. but so ivan was very curious about till and led him to that crack. seeing him get back up over and over to protect mizi made him realize the uniqueness of till, that he couldnt be till or understand him so it led to that curiosity turning into obsession. also the monster there is for security purpose)

(2) when till was being discounted (sold) and ivan had been like sold(??) or something in the slums they saw each other once. then they forgot that was their first meeting im going insane i remember reading this but i cant remember what page and i cant find it??? i want to recall what circumstances ivan was in 💀 cause like for all i know he was taken out for a walk or something IDK MAN 😭😭😭

(3) ivan having had a rough childhood in the slums was able to get the upperhand on fighting till (when they beat each other up and ivan was smiling), to which till unaware of his past and just thought ivan was naturally good at it also to ivan, hitting till was expressing his feelings, and that till was someone who accepted those feelings, which attracted him. ..?

(4) ivan having been underfed in the past, made him smaller than the other kids but as he grew he ended up catching up to till's height (also i dont think he had his fang when he was younger. if you look at ivan at (2) there was like a note about his tooth not there yet or something in the artbook)

(5) He also kept close to Till like he wanted him to know he existed, and as his expression as a child was blank, Till couldn't understand him at all.

(6) The way Ivan looks at Till is a little too creepy to be defined as love, and that his one-sided feelings for Till eventually became an indescribable concept.

(7) Kissing was an unfamiliar act to modern humans. There'd been a time where kissing on the cheek was popular in Anakt Garden, which lingered in Ivan's mind and gave him an idea. It shouldn't be just a kiss, Ivan concluded. It's a section where various emotions were driven to act. ("Thank you for being the victim of my shallow emotions" still has me breaking im) (I would also like to mention there was like a comic or something about Ivan asking Till for a kiss on the lips, and that other people have been doing it) (I'm relying on the translator app but I also saw this translation first so)

(8) It's described as Ivan acting like a child, unilaterally pouring out his feelings to Till 💀 (when kissing him)

(9) his outfit on round 3 has symbols of the brands that he's sponsored by, and show that he's 'being sold as a product'

(10) in the slums, when being held over like the edge due to the anger of a dealer, he faced the fear of death at such a young age that it stuck with him, that death was always near him. the shooting stars that then appeared stayed with him unconsciously (the translation it gives me is "the ecstasy faced with death took place intensely in Ivan's deep unconsciousness.")

(11) ivan gradually feels anger and affection towards till to where its hard to tell when his feelings started and eventually it turns into obsession

(12) the lyrics of black sorrow dont fully explain him. in the last chorus he recalls the start of his old emotions, showing affection for a brief moment before returning to reality

(13) originally the relationship between ivan and till overlapped too closely with mizi and sua so it was changed to be about like possessiveness control and obsession

anyway the only thing i havent checked so far is like pages 240+

other things: ??? when was i gonna learn freddie(?) apparently was a father to two wtf till did you just orphan children 💀

in the sort of like detention room(??), the only sound you can hear is your breathing

tills clothing in round 6 is meant to signify that hes become kind of more obedient? he doesnt believe mizi died but he is like a lot more subdued. also tills shoes are apparently made of metal wtf (which shows urak's lack of care for him)

SORRY??? WAS THE SONG TILL WAS MADE TO SING BE MY CLEMATIS????

if i look at whats in in <> are and compare it to the korean characters of My Clematis.. yeah. thats my clematis alright. oh damn.

he refused to though and i guess we have more context why but holy fuck man.

originally started because i wanted to share my findings about till being told to sing my clematis, and also apparently that we couldve gotten mizisua but ivantill and i need someone to make an au of that so i can live in denial that its one-sided 💀

then i just ended up compiling a good chunk of the stuff about ivan from the artbook

[theweeklydiscourse]

tw: mention of CSA and abuse

just saw your recent reblog about Nosferatu and idk what is your actual take on it but i've to disagree with the op saying <this is not a story about grooming nor abuse... it can be,> the movie is very obviously and directly concerned about sexual abuse and the uncomfortable eroticism only enhances the horror of the whole situation. i just find posts that constantly need to mention "it's not about abuse it really isn't!" entirely dishonest and intentionally denying the very obvious theme of the movie just so they don't have to face the fact that they liked a ship that is as noncon as it gets. it is essentially a grooming rapist/victim relationship which obviously makes people uncomfortable to admit which is why they don't want to acknowledge that. and that explains the vehement push back against the SA narrative (which isn't a simple interpretation but very much what literally happens in the movie). i just think that people need to just start being honest with themselves like there's nothing wrong if you end up liking an absolutely fucked up dynamic and the whole “death and the maiden” of it all but please stop with the "this isn't a story of abuse" takes because that is actually harmful. not the shipping but denying the fact that this is a movie about abuse because it has led to some very horrible takes of rape apologism with people saying "it's not abuse because she called to him so it can't be" like... no. just no.

There are a few issues at play in the current discourses surrounding Nosferatu. First, one side makes sweeping generalizations about what the film is definitively about, and then the other side counters it with its own sweeping statements. This predictably gives way to certain over-corrections in the discourse that try to find an absolute answer to subject matter that is up for audience interpretation. I actually had a similar thought occur to me when I read that quote in that particular post, and I say that as someone who is really into the "Death and the Maiden" dynamic. We're talking about a film that provides more than enough support for multiple interpretations and it's frustrating that people reject other people's ideas so they can have the *one ultimate correct* take on it.

This issue is exacerbated by the current internet climate of moralizing textual interpretations and the lack of understanding surrounding the genre Nosferatu belongs to. Gothic fiction often features taboo subject matter that is considered by many to be off-putting and disturbing, and usually, that leads to the judgement of those who enjoy it. The reason that people are overcorrecting by saying that it's not about abuse is responding to the denial of the existence of themes of repression, desire and love in the film. It's a phenomenon I also find irritating. Viewers who are totally unfamiliar with the kinds of themes and subject matter gothic fiction deals with seem to be imposing only one possible interpretation of the text while acting like people are immoral for thinking otherwise.

I also consider Robert Eggers's words in my own reading of the film. In an interview, Eggers noted that his approach to the film was informed by the trope of the "demon lover" and even referred to the relationship between Ellen, Orlok, and Thomas as a love triangle. The film is explicitly erotically charged in a manner that can be taken either way, and I believe that both interpretations are valid ones. Outright denial of interpretations of Ellen and Orlok's relationship as abusive seems foolish to me. But I also get why people might be uncomfortable fully acknowledging the more twisted nature of their dynamic. Nobody wants to get labelled as an abuse apologist over fictional matters or shipping, and there are times when merely engaging with darker subject matter gets people labelled as such. However, people need to stop being so absolutist about these things and learn to substantively engage with differing viewpoints.

I think that the online tendency to moralize fictional preferences plays a large role in people's resistance to being honest with themselves about liking taboo subjects or twisted dynamics. There's nothing wrong with liking it, but it's hard to do so openly without incurring some form of criticism and contempt. Denial gets us nowhere.

[rlbbackup]

A year in review - 2024 (SxF)

So, after reading the lovely @unhappy-sometimes's 2024 retrospective (which I highly recommend you read!), I thought I'd do something similar!

This will be pretty long and have lots of links and tags but I hope you enjoy this little romp I took down memory lane about all the fics I wrote this past year!

All for Naught

This was a fic that was inspired by a conversation with @glacialdawn and I wrote it up completely in 12 hours. I’m not exaggerating! We were just goofing off in dms and we got on the topic of Yuri’s decision to become an SSS officer and how it relates to Yor’s raising him…and it evolved from there. 

All in all, I’m VERY proud of how this fic turned out. Having it be solely from Yor’s POV and forcing her to deal with an abrupt change in how she views her brother was a lot of fun. Of all the reveals that may or may not happen in SxF, I personally feel that the Briar Siblings reveal will be the most critical. Yeah there’s betrayal involved in the TwiYor one and Anya’s reveal will likely end in bloodshed, but Yor has hid what she needed to do to raise Yuri for over a decade and a half at least. And while she admits that her brother is intense, seeing him in his work environment would probably shatter something within her. The work of the SSS isn’t glorious. Neither is that of an assassin. 

All this to say that with this as the start of my fics in 2024, I’m not surprised how later fics turned out XD

Hypothetically…

While my Post-reveal, Pre-relationship series has been written almost entirely out of order, I really enjoyed the inspiration that led me to writing this one. When I saw this post by @itsmechini, the words almost poured out of me. Twilight and Yor have had a lot of things taken from them in life, things that ultimately made them who they are but they didn’t have a choice or say in the matter. Having the choice to reveal who they truly are to each other and accepting the other for who they are feels like a healing of that particular wound and I couldn’t help but put pen to paper. 

I was also inspired by the writing style of the lovely Puolain while writing this, leading me to use different scene change styles and I think it flows better because of it! 

I will also admit that I cried several times while writing this, especially at Yor’s answer to a hypothetical question asked. Beyond that, this was a really cathartic fic to write and I’m glad I got to share it with you guys!

Side by Side and Locked in Tight

THIS FIC.

It’s been bouncing around in my head for a long time now, since I love the song that inspired this (Cop Car by Sam Hunt - there is also a version by Keith Urban, but the Sam Hunt version feels softer so I’m going with that one XD). I had an early draft of this fic existing in my Google docs since… 2021 I think? Right after I fell down the Ken/Anya shipping cavern and haven’t wanted to climb back out.

But actually writing this fic was a STRUGGLE until talking prompts out with the people in the SxF Rare Pair server. While it was a NSFW prompt, handcuffs just broke through the fog I’d had regarding this plot idea and BOOM I was finally able to post it. 

While Ken has some of the shortest character involvement in SxF, I love this kid. I get he’s practically an OC at this point, but I’m okay with that and I love playing around with how he’d interact with the Cecil Hall Gang. I want them all to be friends. Anya should have more friends!

Anyway! I go back and read this fic from time to time and I’m still happy with it. Especially the twist at the end XD

Don’t forget to lock the door

Another fic created with the help of the Rare Pair Server! (love you guys!)

One thing that makes me laugh constantly in SxF is the fact that the Forger’s apartment has a deadbolt but it looks like the Forgers never use it XD. Imagine all those times people barged into the apartment stopped by a simple use of a sliding lock 🤣So, why not make it a plot point of a fic!

I blame @creativwit for this ultimately. Though it was a pleasure to write Twilight and Franky needling each other and Yor soothing both of them. On a second/third/however many times I’ve read this thing, I still love how they are soft with each other in their own ways.

Little Black Number

A fic inspired by my own art!

Sometime in 2023, I was talking to some friends on discord when I was reminded of Princess Diana’s “Revenge Dress” that she wore after then Prince Charles’ “Tell All” interview where he sort of hinted at being unfaithful to her during their marriage. This spiraled into “I’m pretty sure Yor would look fantastic in the Revenge dress” and going from there.

Now, based on anecdotal evidence, it’s believed by myself and others that SxF takes place mostly in an alternate version of the 1960s. Endo-Sensei does mix things about the world regarding technology in his story, but the fashion is straight out of 1960s fashion magazines. So, the revenge dress is way out of the possibilities. Still. I think the dress would look good on Yor and drew it!

The dress I describe in the story is notably different (namely that the skirt is ankle/floor length versus the above knee design of the inspiration). 

To the story itself, I really want Yor to have friends and while I’m still wary of Melinda I think the two of them could be close! So I wrote about them having girl time together, bonding even when they are in two different social groups and where they can compromise on things. It was a quick and fun write! I really loved this one!

A moment of weakness

This fic was inspired by @/usleepover's art on Twitter!

Like most of the other fics mentioned here, this was inspired by chats on Discord. I have USleepover and @astersugar for this. Long before ch. 109, we were wondering what would lead these two to interact, and guessed that it would probably involve Dr. Forger’s office. Now…that conversation spiraled into something wildly different from what I did in this fic, but it did inspire me.

As a little more background, I have had a fic in the background for a year and a half now where Yor experiences a medical emergency and how the Forgers’ lives change as a result. I have no idea when or if I will ever post that fic since it’s…heavy. Emotionally and mentally heavy. But I was able to write this in relation to it. While I’m not specific in what ails Yor, I did leave enough for one to guess. Like it’s larger, heavier sister, this fic took an emotional toll on me. Having someone you love in the hospital and not being able to do a damn thing to help them is…difficult. I can’t put into words exactly how difficult that is. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, that’s how bad it is. So writing Loid and Melinda come to terms that they are out of their depths and still want to do something for Yor was cathartic in a way. I’m really happy with how this one came out and still reread it on occasion.

Rendezvous

I half blame @sister-cna-reader for this 🤣Her Hidden Under Roses’ Au with McMahon and Sylvia has me in a CHOKE HOLD and I was sunk for this ship from the start. So I decided to write about it. The other person I “blame” for this is @/Ari_Gateau on AO3 for encouraging me and ultimately giving me the prompt idea in the first place! You both are wonderful and I love you dearly!

I went back and forth on where in any timeline to put this, but ultimately decided that my PRPR verse was the best place. With Twilight and Thorn Princess revealed to each other, I could see their handlers also involved in that. Handler and Director aren’t exactly friends, but they are allies enough to watch each other’s backs if they find themselves on an assignment where they have aligned goals. 

Leaving this fic with the ending I did was a choice I also debated internally but I like it! And I guess that’s what matters 🤣

Pink Sakura

OH BOY THIS FIC.

The inspiration for this hit me upside the head very suddenly on Kiss Day (May 23) and I decided to choose violence. Like with Side by Side and Locked in Tight, I pulled my “canon but mostly an OC” buddy Ken back for some hanahaki “fun” 🤣This one is in the same universe as Flowers and Thorns, but this is clearly the angster younger sister. And once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. I wrote for almost three days straight before I was ready to post this. But it was worth it.

Adding Anya’s chapter wasn’t something I had originally planned (not that there was much planning involved in this fic 🤣) but once I finished Ken’s chapter, I realized there were some pretty glaring plot holes. So I used Anya to fill them and I think that worked out really well! I know hanahaki isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoy it and I’m glad I wrote this one!

New Moon Blues

I return to my Myth Au! 👏 I’ve mentioned this in my author notes, but this whole au was developed by several people (@httplovecraft1890 , @gonnahypatia, @whatroguewrites, @awphooey2u, @juuyeah and @connoisseursdecomfort) and started by @foxtamer113. I couldn’t have made this without everyone’s inputs!

This one was a plot we had discussed ages ago. I think once we nailed Loid and Yor’s roles down, we almost immediately started brainstorming how Anya fit into their lives. We pretty much made her their biological child from the start (if my memory serves me), which I genuinely love in Aus. We did debate over HOW she was born, even though we agreed that she would be a baby goddess. One of the ideas mentioned was something about mingling blood and tears but we decided that the "Athena" route was much more fun to play with. In the end, I altered it just a bit mostly because of inspiration from a comment on the story before this one (Soothing Rays). (thank you to that commentor! I can’t find it right now, but you are amazing!)

Floodgates / Throwing Away Fate (just to keep you safe)

These fics are a RIDE my guys. 

First off, Floodgates was originally a gift from the lovely @creativwit and I hijacked it because of conversations about this au on discord 🤣(like several others on this list amirite??) The idea of Kasper came from those conversations and we’ve grown insanely attached to him. Originally, he was going to be the contact that Garden silenced in ch 43, but we loved him too much to do that.

Since then, we had this idea of what would happen if Franky really did end up in Garden’s crosshairs, and Wit wrote the first chapter of Floodgates as a start. I’m pretty invested in Yor as a fault, so I kept thinking about how she would handle this situation and ended up writing the “interludes” for this fic. I’ve since renamed those chapters to the lyrics of Loyal, Brave, True by Christina Aguilera since that’s the song I primarily write these chapters to. 

Throwing Away Fate is a prequel (hence why i’m mentioning it here) and was pulled from those same conversations. I love the idea of Kasper already been head over heels for Franky before the real action gets going in Floodgates, so I wanted to explore how he found Franky and went on this adventure running from Garden. Originally, I had wanted to write more (up until they are found in Floodgates ch. 1) but I was running out of steam and didn’t want to force myself any farther. Maybe one day I’ll (or wit, or both of us together) write the scene where Shopkeeper finds Kas. That might be fun 😈

Crosslegged in the Dim Light

Unlike the song this title is drawn from, it’s pure fluff! I saw this art by EvuriKigen and immediately started writing. There wasn’t much thought put into the development of this fic since I just started writing. The only thing I did think was that I wanted this to be in my Post Reveal/Pre relationship series, where even though Twilight and Yor have all their cards on the table, sometimes they don’t need to talk about the specifics of their jobs. They know and trust their partner, and that’s really the point of this story. 🥰

Inferno

Shifting gears pretty abruptly, we once again dive into my chats over discord 🤣While I will grumble about how Yuri’s superior doesn’t have a name 😒, I love the dynamic Endo-Sensei set up for the First Lieutenant (I know in the English version he’s called “Captain” but the Japanese says “First Lieutenant” so that’s what I’m going with!), Yuri and Chloe. So I wanted to expand on that outside of their tracking down WISE agents. 

And while I know there is no evidence of any of them being closer than colleagues, my shipping brain just loves the idea of Chloe at least admiring her superior. Hence This fic. 

Like Crosslegged in the Dim Light, I wrote this one very quickly and with little thought about plot. I’m pretty happy with this one!

7 Minutes in Heaven

This one was a beautiful joint venture with @cambot77, @sister-cna-reader, @strangeduckpaper and @creativwit! As with several of the last fics, this one started it’s life on discord. It was our original hope to have this done by Kiss Day (May 23) but that changed as we all kept writing. It was a blast!

Writing out a list of all the pairs to start off was a treat because I kept randomly forgetting some of them XD. But we got them all and planned out a vague idea of what could happen in each chapter. Then I used an online spinner to divide up the ships that hadn’t been previously claimed. After confirming that everyone was happy with what they had, we made the order. 

Ao3’s Collections and Co-author features really helped us here and reading everyone’s chapters brought me genuine joy. It’s so wonderful watching how all of our different writing styles and takes on the characters fit together as a whole. I honestly cannot pick a favorite chapter since I love them all. Thank you all again, my dears. This project was so much fun!

Complicity

The fact that it took me 9 months to finish this one is still astounding to me 🤣I had planned for All For Naught to be a stand alone, but then I saw a prompt on the @dailytwiyorprompts tumblr and that quickly flew out the window!

Seeing everything from Twilight’s perspective and going through his mental gymnastics was honestly a blast. Not sure if there will be a follow up to this duology or not, but anything’s possible.

Psyche

The last fic I started in 2024. This is a gift for the lovely @cantareincminor and was something she requested specifically. Her prompt was: “Mole hunt arc with a twist: Garden sends Thorn Princess to Shellbury to assassinate Wheeler. Instead of Nightfall, Thorn Princess is the one to stumble upon Wheeler and Twilight. She absolutely mops the floor with Wheeler and saves Twilight. Up to you whether his mask is off or on—could be awesome either way if she believes her husband or her brother is in danger.”

No going to lie, I was completely surprised when this developed into a 10k first chapter. The second chapter is still in the works and looks like it may also end up about that length and there’s no clue about the 3rd. But I want to talk about the inspirations behind this fic beyond the prompt. 

The title for this fic changed multiple times as I was writing it and probably spent more time as “untitled” than anything else. But within the day I posted it, I was struck by Orpheus by Cantare herself! I honestly love mythology (as my Myth series shows I hope 😅) and considered the wider plot of where this story would go. Without giving away too much, the story of Eros and Psyche just fits. Yor is the wife that doesn’t truly know her husband and through some twist of fate ends up finding out. While this story won’t be a one-to-one retelling of the myth, there may be echoes found within it until the end. And I’m really excited to share that with you all!

Honorable Mention: Sleeping with the Telephone

While I started this fic back in Nov 2023, a lot of it has been written in 2024. This fic has been an honest to goodness rollercoaster to write…and it’s not done yet. 

In my author’s note, I mention that I originally wrote part of the first chapter as a one shot on my RP blog, but it has developed moreso than I could have anticipated. There are a lot of themes in this, from draftees suddenly leaving their children and spouses behind, to family dynamics and the struggles therein, how war impacts relationships as a whole, and the like. Of course most, if not all, of these are addressed in Spy x Family, but bringing the war back to Ostania and having them fight another country entirely was interesting. 

Unlike the phenomenal @niregonnagiveyouup’s Not a Vein of Stars (which i HIGHLY recommend), I wanted to base this story around some of the hot conflicts during the Cold War. The US and USSR were infamous for recruiting other countries to help fight “their own” wars (like the Philippines sending troops to South Korea and The Warsaw pact sending troops to fight with the USSR in Albania). This still happens in the present day (such as the UK sending troops to Afghanistan and Belarus to Ukraine), even if it’s not to the same insanity that WW2 was. I don’t like it. I never have liked war, and writing this story from the perspective of a family being caught in the proverbial crossfire helped me hate it all the more.

But this story is a passion project of mine. I’m at the home stretch and re-reading this story to center myself for that happy ending I’ve promised myself really helps me love it all the more. Someday soon that fic will have a complete next to it’s name and I can’t wait. 

I know this was long as heck, but thanks for sticking with me! I didn’t realize I had written so much this past year since I took a break for a good chunk of it. But in hindsight, I’m really proud of how all of these works turned out and want to thank everyone who read, left kudos and/or comments. You all are wonderful!

Happy 2025 everyone! Here’s to more stories! 🍾

[dotthings]

I want to talk further about this accusation that "Cas thinks Dean should be over it already."

Uh. No? Not if you actually, y'know, watched the canon and paid attention to what is actually going on with the characters.

So a reminder: Cas simply endured it. He let Dean be mad. He gave Dean room for it.

Dean has every right to be pissed off and there are Cas stans who treated Dean like a villain for being hurt Cas kept things from him, which led to a dangerous situation and Mary paid the price, and then ran from him yet again. He has rights to his anger. Cas screwed up.

But I wish people from the Dean side would stop mixing up Cas with takes from some Cas stans.

Cas confessed why he did kept the secret about Jack and the snake, and it wasn't some sinister reason or even hubris. He was scared, pure and simple.

Scared of his family being torn apart. He was afraid of losing Team Free Will, and most specifically, he was afraid of losing Dean. Not that Cas doesn't also love Jack but it's not only about Jack. By Cas's own confession.

The tragic irony is that his efforts to keep his human family together is what tore it apart and almost shattered his relationship with Dean. Cas still had a lot to learn.

Another thing Dean and Cas have in common: family breaking apart is the worst thing of all.

And show me where Sam and Dean never kept secrets and it ended badly. I'll wait. Show me where Sam and Dean's secrets never got anyone else hurt or killed. I'll wait. Cas absolutely was grieving Mary and absolutely carrying guilt on his shoulders for what soulless Jack did.

So Cas, feeling really bad about all of this, and carrying his own sense of guilt, understands why Dean is pissed at him and stays while Dean takes angry swipes.

Which doesn't mean Cas has zero sense of self worth or can stay in a place where he really believed he was no longer wanted. He was wrong in that belief, but it's understandable why he felt he had to go.

Nothing in how he left or went about it shows he thinks less of Dean for it. Or blamed Dean.

He was heartbroken.

"You were too angry" isn't a recrimination on Dean being angry. It's an incomplete phrase, and often gets misread. What that's about is that in Cas's perception, Dean was so angry at him, he was done with Cas.

Cas really thought--

And Cas wasn't about to force Dean to have him around when (in Cas's pov) he had screwed things up so badly that Dean didn't want him around any more.

We can go back and forth on how much Cas felt he deserved that degree of rejection. Cas has some faith in himself, but he has greater faith in Dean, and the knowledge that he hurt Dean and alienated Dean to this degree, and Cas most definitely acknowledged and understood his own culpability, that he thought he'd lost Dean's love--that was unbearable. Not Dean's anger.

Also relevant, Dean calling Cas always the screw up is blatantly against what Dean demonstrably in canon knows and believes.

Dean, who has repeatedly made allowances for others' screw ups and is hardest on himself, who has also been furious at his own little brother, does not believe that Cas is the only screw up in Team Free Will. Dean was lashing out due to his own anger and deep sense of hurt. He was so deeply hurt by Cas keeping things from him, by Cas running from him yet again, after Cas has run from him so many times. On top of his grief for Mary, Dean was deeply hurt by Cas, and maybe it was one time too many at that well. It's the fact that Cas didn't trust him. Didn't go to him. That hurts Dean the most, each time it happens.

Dean was scared too.

Dean puts as much faith in Cas as Cas puts in Dean. And remember in the background of all of this is the reveal about Chuck manipulating their lives.

People making Dean the villain isn't better than people making Cas the villain.

It's tragic, is what it is.

What happened in Purgatory is that faced with the possibility of Cas lost forever to Purgatory, Dean finally relented and said what was actually in his heart.

That he regrets not stopping Cas from leaving.

That's it.

Dean is also scared of his own anger, he is scared that he drove Cas away that hard when he didn't actually mean to, he is scared that all he is, is a killer, that all he is, is anger. Remember that Dean thinks he's poison. This is not authorial voice punishing Dean for being angry. This is an arc about Dean and his deepest fears about himself.

Dean was not badgered into forgiving Cas and welcoming Cas back. He was not shamed into it. He was not bullied or abused or manipulated or whatever horrible thing some people claim Cas did to him.

Cas did not turn on his heel and stalk out just because Dean was angry at him or blame Dean for being angry.

[starsandmoonsbelow]

Meet, Greet, Doubt?: Tarot Cards Pt. 2

Hope this helps someone feel more comfortable with their readings and getting confused sometimes because I think I just fumbled the first actual conversation with my deity and it’s PRETTY hard to top that.

I put the whole reading for anyone curious about the entire embarrassing scene but I just thought this was a great example of me being a dunce and being so nervous to talk to Ares that I convinced myself it wasn’t him. Sigh.

What deity?

Death; “Ending of a cycle” | Also one of the cards of Ares, so when I pulled it I couldn’t believe so much that I pulled TWO MORE CARDS and confused myself throughout this entire reading.

Queen of Wands; “Courage / Nurturing of action” | If the last one wasn’t enough to convince me I was talking to Ares THIS ONE SHOULD’VE BEEN but instead I went “queen of death? Courage? Athena?” When I knew damn well a queen card DOES NOT automatically mean girl deity.

10 of Swords; “Defeat / The peak of loss or crisis” | This is what I meant by I should’ve stopped because this confused me OUT MY MIND. I pulled this and went “loss and defeat? I dont think Ares would describe himself as a loser, but would Athena? No right?” But what god would?? I should’ve realized that the card meant (I think) that this god BRINGS defeat…as in theyre strong…AS IN THIS IS ARES AND I NEED TO STOP CONVINCING MYSELF OTHERWISE

If he wasn’t sick of me before, he is now.

What should I know about them?

(Reversed) 8 of Cups {Emotion}; “Trying one more time” | This one usually means walking away but I accidentally began reading the flipped definition after picking it up wrong and decided to keep it so yeah…I hope I haven’t ruined me chance if that is directed towards me /hj

Page of Wands {Action}; “New action” | Either in relation to the last one and he’s doing something new, or this has something to do with me trying something new. I’m more inclined to think the second because I really hope the internet is hard lying to me and he has more people working with him than I’ve been led to believe.

What can I do to strengthen our bond?

The Hierophant; “Tradition, institutions, but also self and general development?” | I’m realizing that I need to revisit my sources on this card because I don’t understand, but with the card definition itself makes me think that I should be looking for more ways to actually practice the religion and tributes to Ares. Also I’m realizing this might also have to do with me skipping my journaling these past two days so…uhm,,,

9 of Cups {Emotion}; “Emotional fulfillment” | I pulled another card because the last one I didn’t know how to interpret but this one was also confusing because some sort of emotional fulfillment is what I’m trying to achieve.

10 of Cups; ”Divine love / Happy ending” | I think this was just an emphasis on the last card which is… ;-; I’ll figure it out.

What do they wish for me to know?

Ace of Swords; “Mental clarity / New action or conflict” | Thanks, Ares.

Future relationship?

Temperance; “Balance / Harmony” | I hope so too.

What’s holding me back?

The Tower; “Chaos / Sudden change” | You know what? Yeah…this is all new for me and I’m having a hard time accepting it

The Devil; “Temptation / Attachment” | After pulling this card I realized that out of ANY of my questions I only pulled “bad” cards when I asked a negative question. Which also sent me for a loop because what are the chances of that??

2 of Swords {Thoughts}; “Making difficult decisions” | Even my instinctive doubt can’t make sense of how accurate and on the nose this part of the reading was. Like how…? But also this is so cool?

Am I making progress?

Knight of Wands; “Movement / Inspired action” | WHAT. ARE. THE. CHANCES. The KNIGHT of WANDS? The MOVEMENT of ACTION??? Basically meaning that yes, I am making good progress and I think it has something to do with me doing this reading and beginning to ask my own questions without a template at this point.

Should I focus on that instead today?

9 of Pentacles {Possession}; “Fulfillment / Self sufficiency” | “What does this mean? That I’ll benefit from finding out for myself? No, wait does it mean I should and will benefit greatly from it?…oh It says literally says yes on the card.”

Anyway really fun experience, here’s hoping that one day I get my Autism diagnosis and stop asking the same question 14 times when the answer is right there.

[kamyru]

Cats and postcards (Jason Mendal x Ysaline Dolga/Reader) (Scenario)

Summary: Ysaline wasn't even drunk when she sent an offensive postcard to the wrong address. Who could have guessed that her ex-boyfriend and her actual crush lived on the same address, different cities? Suddenly, without being aware of it, Ysaline and Jason are exchanging postcard with photos made by them with cats, recommendations of places to visit, and snarky remarks. While in the meantime they work together to open the first cat cafe in the Amoris. A little bit of personal information, a little bit of guessing, a little bit of flirting, and a little bit more hope. It has references to episodes till the 11th one inclusively. P.S: Taki is a cat here.

Word counting: 5325

It was always like this. You couldn’t remember one single time in which you called your university friends and didn’t do some strange shit in the meantime. Even your cat Taki was adopted while you were on a call with them. Your best friend would have never forgiven you if you left that small fur ball, with bald spots and so dirty you couldn’t even understand what color it was, alone in the street, during the rain. She could have, of course, continued living her best life if you didn’t do what you have done that led to where you were now, but it was for the plot, right? 

And a few days ago, when you sent her that photo and told her “I know the address by heart,�� her first thought was to actually do it. To actually make a postcard out of the photo of your cat pooping in your ex’s mug. You asked your mom to throw away the mug countless times, but Tasha insisted on saving it in case any of you would ever need to take a pregnancy test. It was the only thing the mug was worth it. And apparently, only Taki was solidare with you. Poor thing she couldn’t also share a part of her brain to use when you decided to send that postcard. 

And you really were sure you knew the address by heart. It even used to be saved in your car’s navigator. So how come you ended up in this situation? You read only the first sentence of the response and were too mortified to continue. Like, what good can follow after “I am sorry to jeopardize your revenge, but I have been living at the same address since this apartment was built and this is the first time anyone has called me I.M.”

So, you messaged your best friend, telling her it was an emergency. It started with her, she should be a part of the continuation too, your moral support in reading the replay. You didn’t even have the courage to look at the photo on the postcard you got back. Your mom put it on your desk face down and you read only the first sentence to understand what it was. After a few minutes, your friend video-called you. 

“Read it! Read it! Read it!” she chanted the moment she understood what happened. You wanted to sass back, but was too stressed to be witty. 

For a second, you thought about hanging up on her. But as much as you didn’t want to admit it, you needed her support. Otherwise, you would have locked yourself in your room, hoping the bed would swallow you whole without leaving a trail you have ever lived there. 

“I am sorry to jeopardize your revenge,” you finally started, your voice slightly changed due to all your emotions chaotically flying and bumping around your mind as if you had a Break the wall game inside your head. “... but I have been living at the same address since this apartment was built and this is the first time anyone has called me I.M.” You finished the first sentence, the only one you were familiar with, not having enough courage previously to read the rest of the text. Your friend stayed silent, waiting for you to get yourself together. “I may have misunderstood your cursive and it was a J instead of an I. I may not be the most likable man around, but I assure you that I have never dated two people at the same time. I have done worse. I dated three.”

“WHAT A JERK!” your friend was fast to comment. 

You weren’t sure if the sender was serious or not, but it made you laugh, the first genuine laugh since you entered your room. 

“I am joking,” the letter continued and made your friend murmur an Oh. “I want to believe I am not such a jerk in my personal life. And I have no idea what you went through, but it had to be intense for you to send a card with your cat pooping in a mug that I suppose is your ex’s. So, in my attempt to make you feel better, I’m sending you a card with my mom’s cat drinking water from the only mug I left at her place. This cat is the only reason I didn’t go no-contact with my family, even if he decided to make my mug his. Worst of all, he is not even a scorpio!”

You turned the card around and it was a photo of a tuxedo cat drinking from a mug with the zodiac sign of the scorpio on it. And you laughed again. 

“P.S. I advise you to throw away the mug. I don’t get why you kept it, but now that it has poop in it, it’s not even good to use as a container for pregnancy tests.”

Your friend didn’t say anything but you didn’t care because you were laughing your ass off. Whoever this J.M was, he would get along with Tasha better than she was getting along with you. 

“No good. He’s a scorpio. Ditch him,” your friend finally said. It made you come back to reality, but question your friend’s sanity. 

“I don’t even know who he is or why he got the postcard meant for Ioan. I was sure I knew that address by heart!” you said proceeded to check the address again. You read it once, twice, thrice, the street, number and apartment seemed right. So, what could it be? “OMG! I hope a briefcase with one million euros will fall from the sky right into my head and kill me instantly!”

Your friend started to ask you what happened while you covered your mouth with both your hands in disbelief. It couldn’t be! You weren’t even drunk when you wrote the address. How? How?!

“I wrote the wrong town. Instead of sending it to Ioan, I sent it to someone from Amoris…” you finally explained in a whisper. In total contrast with your reaction, your friend fell into a loud laugh, gasping for air half a minute later. It didn’t stop her from continuing till she was hiccuping. 

“So it can be anyone, even your boss from Devenementiel. Can you imagine? You go to work and Devon, or Amanda are like: Guess what I received yesterday! And show you all Taki pooping into Ioan’s mug.”

“Their initials are not J.M,” you clarified, annoyed by her reaction, even if you knew you would have done the same. 

“Do you know someone with the initials J.M.?” she asked you.

Before you could even think you said that no. You couldn’t remember anyone, or not now, at least. There had to be someone, but you didn’t care enough, too shocked to think straight.

“Let’s search for his address,” your friend continued. But no, this time you wouldn’t listen to her. You had had enough. No more Do it for the plot moments in your life. 

You talked a little bit more, but hung up soon, returning to your day to day lives in different cities, with different people. 

You couldn’t believe you sent it to someone from your town. With your face deep in the pillow, you prayed continuously for it not to be someone you knew, also hoping that they wouldn’t come check the address the postcard was sent from. You didn’t want to check theirs but you also couldn’t be sure they would do the same. Unlike them, you didn’t leave your initials. But it wasn’t very hard to find out who you were if they just drove by your house. Your mom was too busy to do things like this, your sister too young and the only person left was you. Shit. Shit. SHIT! With this in mind, you fell asleep. 

The next day at work, you were still deep in your thoughts. On one hand, good thing Ioan didn’t find out you were still mad at him and thinking about him – even if in a bad way. On the other hand, Amoris was a small town that you could even walk in one day if you wanted hard enough. So how? How did you make the mistake and wrote your actual location instead of the previous one?

Your colleague and newly acquired friend Amanda was fast to notice that something was bothering you. And after a few attempts, changes of your cheeks in a pink three times more visible than usual, and a promise from her to keep the secret, you told her about the dumb adventure you did for the plot. 

“Why don’t you send them another postcard, but a cute one this time, apologizing for the bother?”

At first, you didn’t like her idea but it grew on you. It was a very Amanda idea to offer, cute and distinguished, with politeness as spice. Every moment you didn’t think about work, you thought about it. And at home, Taki felt more than once your eyes on her, trying to catch her in a cute position. She didn’t seem to cooperate and you were too busy with work to spy on her every free minute, so the deadline of your apology moved further and further. Until one day you came home to see Taki sleeping on the window sill with only her front paws on the hot radiator. 

“I am deeply sorry for the mess with the last postcard. So, as an apology, please accept this one with my cat enjoying the cold weather from the inside of the house. She used to be a street cat when she was a kitten and I adopted her a few years ago. Now, she never goes out and lives like a queen, eating only the most expensive full of vitamins and low fat food. Next thing I know she buys herself land in Ireland and tells me to call her Lady. Hope this message finds you well and brings you a small smile on your face.

P.S. Don’t be a douche and stop dating three people at the same time. Date four.”

You decided to have the same easy-going approach as J.M in his card. Even if you felt awkward, at least it made you believe it wasn’t as serious as it seemed in your mind. You left the card in the mail collecting box on your way to work and forgot about it. It was a month after J.M’s response and all you hoped was that it wasn’t too late to apologize. But better late than never, right? Plus, it wasn’t as if you owed him anything. You were just polite. Polite. You were just polite. 

On your way to work, you hoped that you would continue to be just as polite, considering that you had to work with Goldreamz again. It was the first time Devenementiel and Goldreamz were cooperating, not competing. And that was how you, Jason, Danica, and Elenda ended up working together. Devon intentionally chose you and Elenda, not to cause any unpleasant scene in front of the client. It didn’t matter how much you wanted to convince everyone, your colleagues were sure you got along with Jason. Their argument: they had eyes to see. You had no idea what they were seeing, but it was wrong. 

Of course, you went together to choose an apartment for you and pose as a couple, even if it didn’t work out. He probably saw you naked, even if he wanted to make you believe he didn’t look. He let you see a part of his childhood. You even were supposed to have dinner together, even if it again – didn’t work out. But it wasn’t that deep. Of course, it wasn’t that deep. It couldn’t be. You weren’t close with Jason. You didn’t hate him as Amanda, or Roy did, or whoever else, but he was just a guy. A kinda hot, sometimes funny, sometimes caring, sometimes leaving you double-meaning hints guy who was flirting with you and you were flirting back, but nothing too serious. Right? RIGHT?!

“As you know already, I want to open a cafe,” the owner said during your meeting. As he said, all of you were aware of it, even if none of you had any idea why two of the biggest event companies in the town had to work together for a local cafe. “However, it’s not a simple cafe and I didn’t see any projects similar to this in any of your portfolio. So, I decided to ask both of you to work together for my project and share ideas.”

Usually, if a client didn’t see a work in the company’s portfolio, they were searching for something similar and hoped for the better if no other company could raise to their standards. Now, it seemed like something more serious, if they weren’t ready to hope for the best for a simple cafe. 

“I saw that Devenementiel once worked with a cat cafe, while Goldreamz worked with a cat shelter. What I want to do is to make a cat cafe from which the clients could adopt the kitties. Goldreamz’ relationship with the shelter can help us get the cats, while Devenementiel knows how to integrate them into a cafe.”

You couldn’t help but smile. Everything else went on a secondary plan and your head already started to burst with ideas about what you could do. Also, you were sure Danica would know lots of stuff too, considering her love for her own two cats. Elenda liked everything cute. And about Jason… You just hoped he wouldn’t be only business, but also put a little bit of his soul into the project. 

“I saw a similar idea in Greece a few years ago and finally got all the permissions to implement something like this. This project is as dear to me as a kid and I would like to think you would do your best to make the opening as memorable for the town as possible. I know you can look at it like it’s just a cat cafe that can’t bring too much for your companies, but…”

“No! You have no idea how happy this project makes us!” Danica interrupted the owner and a smile appeared on his face. 

The rest of the meeting went smoothly. Danica and Elenda stopped at a cafe to chat and catch up before returning back to work. Which left you alone with Jason. Ugh. Here we go again. 

“Do you like cats?” you asked Jason while buckling up the seatbelt in his sports car. The first time you ended up in that place, you forgot to put it. After that, you promised yourself to never make the same mistake in any car. Who could have thought that again and again, you would end up in Jason’s car? Good thing you were keeping your promise and not making a fool out of yourself again.

“Why are you here?” the CEO asked. And he was right. He didn’t invite you in his car, you did it on pure habit. At first, you felt a little embarrassed for making a fool out of yourself again. Then, you saw a grin on Jason’s face and rolled your eyes. 

“I was sure you didn’t get enough of me during the meeting and decided to show a little bit of kindness towards you. No, dear horsy, speed up!”

Truth be told, not you, nor Jason knew where you were going. But he started the engine nonetheless. 

“I do,” he said after he stopped the car at a red light. You turned to him with a raised brow. “I like cats. My stepdad gave my mom an expensive spoiled cat once. However, that hell creature hates him, but jumps on my lap every time I’m visiting. At some point, I was going home weekly just to piss him off.”

You looked at the Devil CEO, trying to understand if he was joking or not. It was a very Jason thing to do, but still kind of unexpected. You liked it – to discover new things about Goldreamz’ CEO that no one could have guessed, probably not even his own mother. You liked to know new things about anyone, but Jason was a special case. He was like a Matryoshka that was slightly changing with all the layers and awakening more and more interest in you. 

In the end, you ate lunch together. At first, you took out your tablet to search for the Greek cat cafe that allows customers to adopt them, but you got so deep into talking about Jason’s mom’s cat that you forgot completely you were working on a project. Apparently, his name was Shere Khan because Jason’s stepdad was sure the black panther from Mowgli was named Shere Khan and not Bagheera. And that was how a black tuxedo cat ended up being named after a tiger instead of a panther. He also shared how the cat learned to open and close drawers, especially the ones that keep the food in; how he was vomiting only in one place – his step-father shoes; and how the man who got it tried to get rid of it but Mrs. Mendal didn’t let him do it. Jason was okay with not being the favorite if it meant that his step-dad wasn’t the one too. 

You laughed, you ate, you didn’t pay anything and in the end, Jason even drove you to work. He offered to enter the company and greet everyone, but you stopped him just in time. In return you only got a laughing Jason right at the entrance of Devenementiel. It was still better than having him inside. There was a chance the whole building would have exploded if Jason entered Roy’s theritory. 

For the next few days, you saw your competitor – now colleague – only during the meetings with the client. The rest of the time you were gathering information about how to make a cafe a pleasant place for both humans and animals. You looked up other projects that had cat cafes to search inspirations for placing the cat labyrinths and other places to hide, how to find a perfect balance between cats having a safe space and people still being able to see them, and what was the optimal number of creatures in the space offered by the client. 

And one day, when you opened the postal box to see if your mom got anything while being away, something caught your eyes. It was a photo of a night sky without any light pollution, where you could see stars and a part of the Milky Way. 

“Dear Miss,

I sent you this photo of the sky seen from Amantani Island in Peru as a thank you. I don’t have too many good quality photos of my mom’s cat (blame her, please. I save all of them, I have a heart). But I have a few from places I have visited. I don’t think there are a lot of places in Europe where you can see such a pretty sky. So, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. 

Your wrongly accused,

J.M.

P.S. Don’t worry. Right now, my douchebaggery found a single victim. My polygamous times are gone.”

You laughed and thanked J.M. for stating that his heart was occupied. It made you feel safer. He didn’t have interest in finding you if he had someone he loved enough to stop his self-proclaimed playboy times. You didn’t know if you wanted to send something back. As a destruction, you decided to work. Searching the internet, messaging your mom, answering your team’s messages… And suddenly it hit you! You remembered that you once traveled to a fun place: the cat museum of Krakow, that place that had more than 1000 statues of cats and you had to find specific 20, or was it 10? of them to get a prize. Somewhere on your laptop you had the photo of that museum. You could use it as an inspiration for your work. When you found it, another random thought hit you. What if you printed it as a postcard and sent it to J.M.? It seemed fun. It wasn’t anything serious, just a pen-pal who sent you cute photos from his life and random messages. You didn't even know each others’ names. 

***

Jason felt the need to lean his head on the entrance door while he was searching for his keys. He would have never imagined that listening to Danica’s stories about cats could be that exhausting. He was a CEO, he knew what exhausting conversations felt like: meetings with the board, firing employees, talking with difficult clients. But Danica, Danica was on a whole different level! That woman had more energy in herself than an orange kitten. She was the best person in the whole company for the cat cafe. However, it came with a price – the price of his nerves. And the worst part was when he drove her home she told him: “You are so taciturn with us, but talkative with Devenementiel’s Ysaline. It’s amazing how different you can be. That’s such a black cat energy.”

Jason threw all the contents he got from his mail-box on the bar of his living room and went to shower. Only on his way out did he see something strange on the floor. When he took a closer look, he saw it was a photo with what seemed like glass shelves full of statues of cats. He turned it on the other side and was met by an already familiar cursive. 

“Dear J.M.,

I don’t have a beautiful photo of a sky that you probably didn’t see, considering that we are from the same town, but I have this. I rediscovered it while working on a project for a cat cafe. It’s a place in Krakow named the Cat Museum that has 1000 statues of cats. We are back to the cat topic, but right now it’s the only thing I can think about. So, if you like to travel, please visit it with your special one. It’s fun and not expensive at all. You’ll have half an hour of pure happiness!

Your kitten obsessed, 

Y.D.”

The postcard fell back on the floor. He knew who it was. It made lots of sense now. And even more things made sense. Jason knew about his love interest’s past relationship with Ioan Mullioz and how it ended. But only now did he understand the whole tragedy better. Of course Ysaline cried in front of him when he was teasing her about being a mistress. However, the thought that she was still deeply affected by him in his day to day life didn’t cross his mind that much. Jason was older, higher in the work hierarchy, and with a playboy history. Of course, Ysaline was constantly pushing him away when he was getting too close to her in a romantic way. If she was still hurt enough to even have the thought of sending her imbecile ex a postcard to mess with him, then how could he push her the way he did? The Cat Museum was supposed to make Jason smile, instead, it made him the closest to despair he had been in years. 

***

Dear Cat-Lady Y.D.

Considering that you showed interest in going back to the topic of cats, I’ll send you a photo that my dad once took. In it you can see a few seals that are colloquially called sea cats. They may not be of such great inspiration for your cat cafe project, but their cuteness can not be denied. I will probably add the beach with the seals to the places to visit when the woman that caught my interest will accept my advances, alongside with the Cat Museum of Krakow. Make such a list for yourself too and add Amantani. But please, make sure your next choice will be better than Mr. I.M. As much as I liked the first postcard, I do love more the ones in which cats don’t poop. Thank you for your understanding.

Your not-at-all-romantic-even-if-in-this-letter-looked-like-it, 

J.M.

***

Dear Mr. Anti-Romantic J.M.

I just understood that I have never explained how I sent that postcard to you and I’m sorry. It was my university friend’s idea while we were joking around on our monthly call. I don’t want to blame everything on her, but I do really normally don’t do things like this. I have mostly moved on. But back to the topic, I do have a list of places I want to visit with my future partner. And on top of the list is probably the project I am working on right now because I love the concept behind it and it’s very close to us. Perfect for a first date. In the meantime, please admire this photo of the stray new-born kitties my friend from work has found.

You actually romantic, 

Y.D.

***

Dear Ms. Modesty Embodied Y.D.,

I am sure the project you work on will be of great popularity, considering how much passion you put in it. I also deeply admire the quality of your photos of the cats you have sent till now. I wish my mom took photos of Sher her cat at least half as good as yours. But if we are talking about cafes, I would like to recommend you another one from abroad: Little Kook. This one is not as far as Peru. It’s way closer: Greece, more specific, the center of Athens. The postcard that seems like a total chaos of colors, decorations and sweets is taken inside of it. (If you worry, don’t. I didn’t visit it with one of my one-night-stands. I visited it with my mom with the money I saved from my first serious jobs. A little bit before she married my idiot step-father.)

Your “I promised my dentist I don’t have a sweet tooth”,

J.M

***

Dear Mr. “I have veneers in all my teeth after I ate the entire menu of Little Kook in one day” J.M.

Thank you for your recommendation. I didn’t visit it in the meantime, but my mom who was in Greece did and she loved it. She told me to come to Athens with her and visit again, but I have too much work. So, she sent me photos of Greek street cats and one of them is the one I’m sending you. I have a funny thought that maybe, when I finally get to visit it with my partner, you’ll be there too with yours, after your chosen one will accept your advances. Good luck with it and send her photos from Little Kook too, while promising to pay and organise the entire trip. 

Your very busy right now,

Y.D.

***

You tried your best to fall asleep for two hours, but it wasn’t working. You were seeing Jason daily for the past two months, eating lunch together at his expense, sometimes even dinner. Once, you convinced him to let you pay, which was an achievement, considering he didn’t let you do it even when you lost that bet. And you also convinced him to act as if he was proposing to you with one of his rings to get a discount. It worked. The problem was that you played the role so well, you nearly let him kiss you. You wanted him to kiss you, you really did, but not like that. There was something you needed to do first – finish the cat cafe. The opening date was one week away. And from your observations, the arrival time of the postcard was also around four to five business days. If you wrote the next message now, it would arrive by the time it should. All your hope was in the French Postal Office. And you, that you would have the courage to do everything. 

On your way to work, you let the postcard slip your fingers inside the mail collecting box. Your cheeks were as red as when you did it for the first time. But your legs were heavier with each step you took. Before entering the building, you stopped. Jason’s car was already at the entrance. You needed a little help, a little push, a little support. And you knew for sure who could give it to you.

“Thank you for convincing me to send that postcard to Ioan. Now I am way better at expressing myself than I was a few months ago. You truly are my best friend.”

When you entered and walked towards the meeting point of your team, you felt a buzz in your pocket. 

“You can do it. You go girl!” 

Yes, you could. You could do it. It was the last meeting before the opening and the entire team had other projects to take care of, unable to go daily to the cat cafe. So, it had to be done now. 

Your hand slipped into your bag and you put behind the thing that you took out. Jason didn’t see you yet and it was the perfect opportunity. He seemed to wait to talk with the owner but Elenda was keeping him busy. You knew him for long enough to understand from his body language that he was getting impatient: hands crossed, changing positions every half a minute, looking at his watch every now and then. And boom! You put the cat ears you were hiding on his head. He turned to you immediately, not understanding what just happened. 

“Keep the evening of the opening day free. You have to see what a great job I have done on this project.”

You wanted to wait for his answer, but your heart was beating too hard to let you hear anything. So, you found your rescue in Danica who liked to talk your ears off about her two cats and apparently, you were the only one ready to hear her. Elenda could probably do it too, but Elenda was also getting overly excited and it was turning into a war of who would talk for longer. 

For the next few days you barely saw anyone from Goldreamz. If you needed something, you would message Danica or the owner of the cafe. You didn’t even know if Jason accepted your invitation or not. 

Jason also didn’t have the easiest time either. He didn’t know if you were joking or not. You seemed serious, even if you did it in a playful way. But something couldn’t let him sleep: was going to the cat cafe what he thought it was or did you change your mind at some point? He even started to question his deduction skills, a thing he had never done till now. He was taking his phone in his hands to message you, then throwing it back, then taking it and writing the message and then delete it. He couldn’t work like this, so after the opening in which he didn’t see you, he went back home. The owner told him you visited in the morning hours and you two split only by a few minutes. He wanted to believe that the date – if it was really the date he waited for – was still on. 

Once again, Jason opened his mailbox. But he stopped before looking inside. 

“I’ll come to your place in one hour,” he finally wrote. Jason hit the Send button and immediately put his phone away. 

In his mailbox was a postcard with the photo of the cat cafe that just opened. Jason rolled his index finger ring with his thumb. Maybe, just maybe, you were asking for what he thought you were.

“I know who you are =)) 

Message me.” 

[chronichlesofnillory]

"Is the flame there to be a source of energy for the practitioner? If so, an LED light will not suffice"

This is so interesting to me and I sat for probably almost 10 minutes rolling around with this in my mind because I think OP is right that you have to make considerations about things, about how our minds view the world and energy.

Someone made a comment about the battery being the energy to which OP responded "haven’t had much success using batteries as sources during spells. I’d be curious to test things out with different types of electric energy, though, and see how they compare."

You know this is so just so fun to think about tbh and as I can feel myself drawing closer to magic again I'm thinking about how in the 9 months I've been a little more apart from it I've changed enough that how I come back to it will change too. Maybe the chaos magic tempo finally caught up to me after rolling around in my brain for those 9 months and I'm thinking to myself that maybe in a more traditional practice than yeah fire would seem to be more powerful than an LED battery because our brains have a better grasp of the combustion that goes on with a flame than with a LED battery. How the warmth given off from a flame feels more powerful and more "available" to manipulate than the almost nonexistent hum from a LED battery. How throughout different traditions the concept of "energy manipulation" or energy work in general is so different. It's easier for me to talk to a flame than a battery, the flame feels more alive and more like it's willing to participate with me in the working than a battery even though I know that a battery actually has more potential energy.

This post was really great and it's really got me thinking about how differently people can all approach the same concepts. How our brains all work so differently and in turn shape the way we connect to magic as a whole and then wield and shape it.

Thinking about the role of the flame in magic. When it's not available, sometimes people recommend to replace a real candle with an LED candle or some other form of light, but that is very ineffective. We need to consider the role of the flame in the context of the spell and working.

Is the flame there to be a source of energy for the practitioner? If so, an LED light will not suffice. The flame could possibly be replaced by something like a jar of water which has been shaken in a circular fashion to create a spinning motion, thereby generating its own kinetic energy. An LED light, despite drawing power, does not draw sufficient power. I also believe the sense of movement of the flame, which draws the mind to it, is a factor (which, if there is movement in water, would also service this purpose).

Is the flame there to cleanse? If so, it can be easily replaced with smoke, salt, water (in certain situations, but for newer practitioners I would opt for the other two).

Is the flame there to destroy? In this case, other methods of destruction can be substituted, such as ripping, smashing, cutting, dissolving, etc.

In some cases the flame serves multiple functions, in which case using multiple substitutions at once is necessary.

The hardest to substitute, in theory, could be when the flame serves to be itself: the element of fire. Thankfully, most of the time, we have access to the biggest flame of all: the Sun.

[highfantasy-soul]

I usually don't post about The Bad Batch, but here's at least one post about it: I will be SO IMPRESSED if they actually keep Tech dead!

One of the main sticking points I had with the entire concept of the show and the 'reject clones' (ugh I hate that they're called that and I WILL NOT call them anything to do with 99, they don't deserve it) was that they undercut everything I found interesting about the clones. The idea that everyone has been created to be the same, yet they still clawed for their own identities within the sterile and controlled ranks, they were just normal guys - no special powers up against those with the force and machines of war, they followed orders - even when they knew it would lead to tragedy or wasn't what they thought was right they still had to do what they were told, the fact that they failed - a lot, and one of the biggest things: they DIED.

They were literally created to be cannon fodder to DIE and be replaced by the exact same model time and time and time again. We would get to know a new group of clones for ONE episode, but when they died, we still felt it - though they were created to be red shirts to die and non one to think about them again, the writers of the Clone Wars showed that they mattered - each and every one of them. That they still clung to individuality and companionship with one another even though they knew they were destined to die in this war and be replaced without a second thought.

The Bad Batch flew in the face of this: they were a group of superheroes we were supposed to feel bad for? They didn't follow anyone's orders, no one had ever died from their group, and they looked down on 'regs' as less than them. And of course, they were resistant to the chips in their brains because they're just so special.

So, if they actually keep Tech dead, it would be such a ballsy move that would turn the tone of the show on it's head. Suddenly, the Bad Batch would no longer have plot armor, they'd be just like any other clones (I mean, not really, but closer than they ever had been before).

I'm pretty sure they'll reveal he was saved by the empire and experimented on a la the special assassin units they just introduced (or like Echo), but if they actually stick with it, I'll have so much respect for the show.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

this has been a roller coaster of a design journey but finally I can present you: class swap artificer!adaine and rogue!fabian

[evelynpr]

Why the fuck are there roller skates, dubstep, stage lighting, an LED screen, and all kinds of modern technology in Xilonen's trailer??? I thought Fontaine had the most advanced technology next to Schneznaya and arguably Sumeru, and every instance of high-end technology we have seen leaned more towards machinations with gears, magic, alchemy, essentially fantasy styled sci-fi???

The disrespect towards Native American and African cultures is enough to piss me off already, but it even goes against Genshin's own consistency with its fantastical world design..and for what? Just so you can have this...pop and gamer aesthetic???

Just look at these two bubbly and optimistic characters for me okay

Yoimiya's design isn't the most respectful and accurate representation of a Japanese firework craftsman, but at least you can damn tell she is Japanese. The large ribbons, hair accessories, tassels, leg covering, tattoo design, shoe style, and fabric patterns all allude to this (I apologize for not knowing the exact terminologies for these, this needs further research).

Then there's Mualani who has...what? Please do correct me if I am wrong here, but her character must be inspired by the real Mualani, a Hawaiian Chiefess. Additionally, her tribe's specialty is in tourism and vacationing, which further leads into the idea that she and her tribe are based off of Hawaii despite the known issues regarding Hawaii and tourism (if there are any good sources that summarize the issue, please do lmk).

I am not too familiar with Hawaiian culture, but there really is nothing about her design that reads as Hawaiian, or even just traditional, to me. What about a 2 piece swimsuit with bows and tails, a bow + braids + ponytail hair style, combat gloves (?), and an entire neon shark, is Hawaiian???

The characters, their designs, and their trailers, are just so culturally disconnected from their real life counterpart that it's even disconnected to Genshin's own world building and design. How the fuck is the fashion trend in Natlan denim pants. I feel like the only parts of Natlan that feel like Genshin Impact and culturally inspired are the in-game music and landscapes (God bless Hoyo-mix and the world designers).

[letters-from-himring-hill]

@scleroticstatue I'm responding to this comment in a reblog because I have a LOT of thoughts on it now that I realise:

It's interesting because Atticus and Bri get along so well (though she knows less than you), and you're struggling so much with him. I wonder if that's the getting off on the wrong foot thing or if it's a personality difference.

I think it's...both of those, and also some other things.

First of all, Morwen's degree of emotional connection to Gavrel and the speed at which it developed is...very atypical for her and for me. There was a whole collection of factors that led to that, primarily the fact that he is her sole connection to her home world and the only person she can speak honestly about that world to and expect him to understand. Important secondary factors include the fact that he's attractive - in character and in body - and that she inadvertently wound up being very vulnerable with him, but he didn't take advantage of her, and he ended up being very vulnerable with her, so there's a considerable amount of mutual trust. All of which is to say, Morwen's reactions to Atticus' emotions are much more typical than her reactions to Gavrel's. (This is that freeze response I think I talked about earlier.)

Second of all, she doesn't know what will actually be helpful to him. Gavrel was pretty easy to read when they first met - he was almost painfully grateful for any kind of friendly contact, physical or verbal, so even the fact that Morwen is pretty tentative with offering them as a rule didn't keep her from going 'okay this guy likes talking to me and he likes hugs'. Atticus tends to go non-responsive under stress, or at least he doesn't provide feedback that she's confident enough to read. She can't tell if she's helping him or not, and she's afraid that she'll step wrong and make things worse, thus her tendency to offer some kind of reassurance or connection and then withdraw (except in cases where she's so exasperated that she's all but shaking him by the collar).

And finally, in the cases where Morwen has attempted to connect with him and build trust, he tends to react in unexpected ways at best. She's aware, mentally, that his insistence on her memories of another world being false isn't an indication of lack of trust in her, but emotionally, what she feels is that she trusted him with an important and secret part of her past, and he not only didn't reciprocate that trust, he tried to talk her into believing her memories were fake. And her previous show of trust -- telling him about her relationship with Gavrel -- he reacted to in perhaps the only way she'd consider worse than disbelieving and distrusting her: he attacked Gavrel, right after she'd judged that the two of them had finally worked things out. That's...she's pushing it away right now because the mission needs them working together and she's genuinely worried about him, but it actually hurt her pretty deeply AND it made her question her judgement of his emotional state. On some level, she considers him dangerously volatile. She knows he's trying to do the right thing by her, but she does not trust him not to go off in an unexpected direction in a way that will cause more pain for both of them.

So...yeah. Atticus is a whole can of worms for Morwen right now, and she really doesn't know how to deal with him. She appreciates his kindness to her, she does feel a decent amount of sisterly affection towards him, and she would like to actually befriend him, but circumstances are making that hard.

My Idiot Boys

It takes a few minutes but eventually, there's a large crash and Gavrel and Atticus come trailing back, covered in purple blood and dust. “Are you two good?” I ask, though there’s not much we'll be able to do for them if they’re not. "Uhhhhhh," Gavrel says. "Atticus broke my sword." "I br— you— the cyclops broke it!" "Who was holding it?" "The cyclops!" "Who was holding it before that?" "Yeah, well...Gavrel broke his ribs." "Hey! Fine, Atticus dislocated his hip and a knee and he's got a concussion." "Gavrel has ruptured organs!" "I'm gonna—" "We are ALL going to go to [Redacted City] NOW and you two can wrangle over who has the more catastrophic injuries on the way!" After barking at them, I take Gavrel's hand firmly and start marching. "Lord have mercy," I mutter as I go. "My hair is going to be grey by the end of the week." "Yes ma'am," Gavrel says sullenly, taking up lead position while Atticus snits over it being just a concussion in the back. On either side of you, [Furniture Man] and [Doc] let out a deep, put-upon sigh.

I'm rereading the Terrafell document to date and had to share this gem. They are so ridiculous.

@scleroticstatue @exploding-the-wine-cellar @kanerallels @sunflowergardens-world @awwyeah-rambles

@sweetcardamom

[volfoss]

it is beyond infuriating how anne rice seems to insist on marius being a positive force in anyone's life ever. like she can't fully commit to exploring the fact he groomed armand and has repeatedly taken away his consent for what marius thinks is best (take the end of TVA as an example) and just kind of flatly puts it in the narrative. there's not really much interest in how these horrific events make marius come across as the worst because EVERYONE loves him. for gods sake, lestat learns from armand exactly what marius did to him in TVL and then proceeds to go find marius and be super friendly to him in the same fucking book. even armand and pandora, two of the people who have MORE than enough right to hate him, do not. it doesnt feel like shes trying to explore the toxicity of the abusive dynamic he traps them in, it just is there. and like yeah ofc the toxic vampire romance series but i think that this should be handled with more care. and it is not ever really framed in a way that she is interested in exploring how marius should easily be one of the most horrific characters in this series because it kind of feels like sa/rape/grooming/other things of that sort are just put there to further plot and not to really get the respect that they deserve in a medium.

[alangdorf]

(sorry for leaving y’all in suspense I was grocery shopping) Surprise!! I accidentally got into Len’en like two weeks ago. Whoops! I got ideas for cool drawings to do with each of the BPoHC shrine team members (and you-know-who, ofc, but that one might be… weird lol), but Tsubakura gets to go first cause theirs is the simplest; just greyscale + red color scheme with a split background and the pose is mostly random (maybe they’re squishing Tsurubami’s little eye thing? Idk). Very pleased with how everything worked out; the line for the eye is exactly where the dividing line for the background was and the way I managed to make the vest corseted while not changing the ribbon placement is just perfect. Although I did make their hat smaller out of the aforementioned cowardice also that thing is hard to draw

[blujayonthewing]

THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER

[moe-broey]

Some. Sort of spectrum. From most likely to least likely.

And by kitten-pile I mean This

I'll put a transcript under cut for easier reading! 🫡

How Likely Are They to Kitten Pile?

__

Mirabilis: "are you tired..? do you need a break...? ohh we could take one together..."

If she likes/trusts you even a little, she wants to cuddle about it!!!

-

Sharena and Peony: "Okay! 💖 Yay! 💖"

Shari: The only thing stopping her is social conventions -- making her MORE likely to jump at the opportunity!

Peony: Learning social awareness as she goes, and is surprisingly good at it?

-

Triandra: "Aren't we a bit old for that...? But... even so..."

Embarrassed, conflicted, but feels strangely nostalgic at the notion...

-

Plumeria: "I'm not so petal-soft that I'd resort to such INDECENCY, I mean even if your intentions are Pure USE YOUR HEADS YOU FOOLS!! Girl, the IMPLICATIONS!!!"

Desperately wants to join the kitten-pile, but her Issues and Pride gets in the way.

-

Moe: "aw, so cutes!"

Generally touch adverse, extremely picky even with the people it likes/loves -- everything is entirely on its terms.