#why does that mf have so many last names?

[idkaguyorsomething]

Why you should read Cowboys and Indians

Despite what the title might indicate, this isn’t an AU or western. This is a story about identity, friendship, and one of the best reinterpretations of the Twilight Saga ever written.

Who It’s About: the story centers on, of all characters, Leah and Jasper. Seth and Edward play some minor roles, but most of the story is about the surprisingly heartwarming friendship between those two.

Why You Should Check It Out: this is one of the only Twilight fics I’ve read that actively confronts the shitty racial implications in its source material (Leah’s experiences as an indigenous woman and Jasper’s confederate background) and it makes a really compelling story out of it. Jasper in canon is probably one of my most hated characters because of how little development he gets and how his backstory of having fought for the confederates in the American Civil War is completely glossed over. Here, the author manages to make him into a likable, complicated man, one that you can look at and think “yeah, if vampirism enhances your human traits, he’d get emotion powers” and has him confront his past in a really interesting journey. And Leah gets her due!! If you, like me, hated how canon treated her, then it might be worth it just to check this out because watching her form bonds and open up feels truly cathartic. A lot of how growing up on the reservation shaped her is explored, and she gets some awesome moments. Even if you don’t like these characters or think that a friendship between them sounds unlikely, the writing is so good that by the end you’ll be totally invested in both of them and their friendship. There’s also a sequel oneshot, The Star Quilt, with Alice in a more prominent position where Leah gets a happily ever after.

Reasons You Might Want To Avoid: this fic heavily discusses racism and the history of the USA south, so if you’re not in the mood for either of those or are unfamiliar with the latter, this probably isn’t for you (though I’d heavily encourage you to engage with some form of discussion of the racial undertones of Twilight anyways, there is a lot to be said there). It’s also partially non-chronological, so if you hate that kind of storytelling then this might get under your skin. All-around, it’s really a great story, and the closest thing to any serious flaws this fic has is that it doesn’t have much in the way of a plot. The author goes into detail about why this is in their notes, and the story is more about the development between Leah and Jasper than defeating any kind of an antagonist or finding a Macguffin. Technically, the plot of Twilight is going on in the background the whole time, but it doesn’t really affect the story in any meaningful way, so that’s that.

TL;DR Cowboys and Indians is a fantastic exploration of a lot of the subject matter that Stephanie Meyer never did anything with, giving us a surprisingly powerful emotional bond between two unlikely characters in the process. Extra recommended for any fans of Leah Clearwater!!

[luvjunie]

hiiiii!!!!

idk if ur taking requests or not, but can you scenarios about miles 1610 and 42 (or just one of them) if they were your older brother reacting to you having a boyfriend/girlfriend taking you out or something (they radiate overprotective brother energy idk why😫🙏)

LOVEEE your work!!😊

AW THANK YOUUU SM 🫶🏽 miles42 a/n: this is exaggerated a little for comedic reasons lolll. and ik i’ve done something similar to this alr but i’ll honestly never get tired of writing siblings bickering so idc skskdkd

“Bye Miles I’ll be back by 9 don’t bother waiting up for dinner!” You rambled out in one quick breath as you whisked passed your brother’s open door.

“Aht aht, come back,”

Your lips smacked against your teeth when you stopped in your tracks. He had his damn Beats on and was literally bobbing his head to whatever he was listening to, how did he even hear you?

With the inside of your cheek between your teeth and a huff pushing from your nostrils, you spun on your heels and begrudgingly stomped a few paces back to see him already facing the doorway. You stared at him with an oblivious look that had an attitude written all over it, arms smacking against your sides and head moving like a chicken’s when you asked,

“What?”

He pushed one of the ears to his headphones back and gave you a curious look. “Where are you going?”

“Out, clearly.” you blinked.

“Yeah, no shit, but where?”

You looked to the side, then back at him. “Does it matter?”

“Uh, yeah,” Miles huffed a humorless chuckle. “Mom ain’t here, so that means I’m responsible for you. And even when she is here I’m still responsible for you. Shit, soon as you were born I was responsi—“

“A boy,” you quickly clarified with a hand out, hoping to avoid one of his soap-box rants. “I’m going out with a boy. Cool?”

“Cool, cool.” His lips puckered when he nodded to himself, screwdriver tapping against the little mechanical trinket he’d previously been working on.

Here we fucking go.

“What’s his name? He got siblings and if so, how many? Where he work at? Does he even have a job? Cause if he don’t he a bum. What car he drive or are y’all takin’ the train?”

You stared at him, bewilderment painted on your expression in the form of a scowl.

“Who are you, the CIA?”

“Doesn’t answer my questions.” He disregarded your own with a derisive shrug.

“Jalen. His name is Jalen. What you gon’ ask for next? His mother’s maiden name?” you joked. “Or what, his social security number?”

Miles glanced to the side, pretending as if he were actually considering it.

“Honestly, that would make things a whole lot easier.”

“Dude,” You rubbed your forehead, hand thrown to the air in exasperation. “How would I know half of those things?”

“Wha—You’on see where we live at?” Voice upped an octave in astonishment, Miles gestured towards the window behind him with his thumb. “There’s some crazy mfs out there, trust me I know—“

Your head dropped back when you groaned. “Oh brother—“

“What you should be asking is why don’t you know those things.”

“Look I’m not about to do this with you. You act like I don’t know that you weren’t at Uncle Aaron’s last night. But that’s what you told Mom, ain’t it?” You folded your arms and tilted your head. You looked far too complacent for him to call your bluff.

“Yeah,” You nodded at his silence with a smug smirk. “You think I don’t know about you and Aliyah by now? Especially when last week you were all ‘Mami, she’s my partner for a project, can she come over?’” you mimicked him in an insultingly goofy voice that wasn’t anywhere near close to his.

“Since when do you do ‘partnered projects’?” Your eyes narrowed.

His mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water told you everything you needed to know but you played on; all in a day’s work of sibling banter.

“Huh? What was that?” you cupped a hand to your ear, lashes fluttering when you looked to the side.

You: 1

Miles: 0

He cleared his throat, looking away once his face started to get hot.

“Aight, whatever bro. But share your location with me. Seriously, I’m not playing.”

“Yeah yeah,” You rolled your eyes, opening up your phone and clicking his contact.

“And if ole’ boy try anything, tell him I keep a pole.”

It was a joke. Kinda, but not really at the same time. That wasn’t the exact weapon he used, but it was close enough.

You scoffed. “Stop cappin’, you’ve never even shot a gun before.”

Miles didn’t say anything, but the look on his face suddenly turned dead serious. And as the both of you stared at each other in an eerie silence, you made a wise decision to not take the subject any further.

“Whatever,” You shook your head, motioning to your outfit. “Do I at least look nice, though? Be honest.”

Miles looked you up and down, his top lip arching when he did a so-so motion with his head. He knew you were genuinely asking, but what kind of brother would he be if he didn’t mess with you a little bit?

“Ehh, yeah.“ he shrugged, looking unimpressed on purpose. “Fit coulda been harder though. Shoulda asked me for help, I woulda got you right.”

“Oh good-fucking-bye.”

“Dude, I’m kidding!” he called out with a laugh as you stormed off.

[raqi-marr]

HDG How-To: Class-E xenodrugs in real life

A while ago, I wrote one of my first posts on this blog about the experience of trying to recreate class-H's in real life by doing LSD. This was generally very successful, and having done it several more times since then, I can confidently say that if you want to feel like you are getting the floret brainwashing experience, LSD is a very good drug to do it with.

However, I recently had an unexpected and unplanned-for experience which has given me quite a lot of insight into what being on class-E's would probably be like in real life. My first exposure to anything that could be described as similar was when I started duloxetine (an anti-anxiety SNRI medication) last year. I can't actually remember super well what life was like before that any more, but my recollection is that after going on it, I noticed myself having substantially less intrusive thoughts/being less inclined to doom spiral about stuff any time I was unoccupied for more than 10 seconds. The entire experience was more complicated than that and deserves its own post some time, but it is also kind of boring and not all that class-E pilled so let me get to the good shit now

Yesterday, I was privileged enough to get to actually try cuddling another human being for the first time in my life (I say privileged because lord knows how many of us long distance relationship mfs go years without physical touch.) As it turns out, this shit makes SNRIs look like fucking sugar pills in comparison, because by the everbloom I have never been so fucking chilled out in my life as after an hour of getting held and squeezed by my partner

I have a bunch of anxiety conditions and am generally known by all my friends as That One Bitch With No Chill, so you can imagine my shock when, in the aftermath of this, I sat down at my chair and prepared to start worrying about how many jobs I have that I need to go and finish and how I probably did a shit job cuddling with my partner, and found that my brain just didn't feel inclined to do any of that stuff at all. Not just 'uninclined', but straight up refused to do it after repeated prompting from a very confused me

The best way I could sum up the experience was like someone had reached into Raqi_Settings.txt and set "anxiety_enabled = true" to "= false". It just did not work any more. This immediately reminded me of a couple scenes I'd read in HDG where pov chars get put on class-E's and just can't do that any more, and I started wondering "okay so wtf is happening to me, why did an hour of physical contact put me on fucking plommy-tier drugs"

The answer, which I figured I would share with everyone else who might be similarly inexperienced with the Terran capacity to self-synthesize xenodrugs, is oxytocin! If you're anything like me, you probably read 'oxytocin' and go "oh yeah that's the hormone that makes you feel all lovey and dopey around people, right?" and think that's more of a class-C thing. Well: yes, but also, apparently no; as it turns out, it does more stuff than that! A friend linked me this article describing the anxiolytic effects of oxytocin:

I am not a chemist so I'll be real: I don't understand this shit beyond the abstract, but the abstract seems to be all one really needs to get the main point here; namely, that oxytocin - in addition to being a bonding hormone - also makes you less stressed. A lot less stressed, it seems like.

So in essence, it seems as if Terrans synthesize their own class-E's from prolonged intimate physical contact. This strikes me as having a lot of potential HDG-coded play uses, and so I'll briefly go over a few of them below:

You can, at least theoretically, probably force someone to get less anxious just by (it'd have to be non-stressful, presumably, or this wouldn't work) physically restraining them and then snuggling with them lots

Have someone who chronically worries about stuff, and can't be convinced to chill out? Just turn their own body against them and make it drug them into forcibly relaxing! There's a lot of potential for very hot play in having someone who is very anxious and usually refuses comfort from their friends just getting forced to snuggle for a while, and the fact that if they don't break out of it, their brain is going to make them calm down adds a very fun con-noncon aspect to it.

I noticed while experimenting that the sound of someone's breathing/heartbeat is in fact very hypnotic, and I found myself naturally synchronising my own breathing with my partner's. This is probably about as close to core cuddles as it's possible to get irl.

Since oxytocin is also a class-C, you can bully whoever you're doing this to about how you are also forcing them to love and trust you in the process!

i am a dumb bitch who doesn't know how to stop working, and the thought of being forced to chill the fuck out by both physical and chemical means is very hot

The last thing I can think to note is that the general sensory overwhelm of being in such close proximity to another person also had a very strong quieting effect on my ADHD; which in turn made falling into a trance state not only easier, but automatic without any encouragement (oh yeah also I'm autistic and ime the sensory from getting squished tight is Very Good). the takeaway here being that it would probably be very easy to hypnotise someone who was being little spoon i think

So yes! I have not yet had the chance to experiment further with this, but I may make a follow-up post when I've had more time to come up with additional ideas. In general I just really like the idea that, if you're anxious, you can just go "hi hello please hold and squish me for an hour" and your brain responds with "understandable; disengaging anxiety module for the next 16 hours". all the memes about terrans being designed for touching were true it seems

[chronicmisfit]

Showing my friend IkeVil

So a few warnings before I get into this: Alfons slander, Roger slander, Victor slander, Rude language in general, many random twisted wonderland references, and some risque images of a couple characters.

Sorry some of the coloration is fucked, I tried to fix it and can't.

Me = Orange Him = green

Alr here’s the first guy

He looks like he'd call me slurs while also being the gayest mf ever

sksksks Anything else?

Bro must struggle playing piano with them long ass purr nails I respect the dedication HE GOT THE COLOR PALETTE OF THAT ONE ROBOT THAT EVERYONE ON TWITTER IS MAKING CORN OF BOOTHILL??

Okay I will tell you about him now, and I want you to react again once i do His name is William Rex, he is one of my favorite two, he has the power to command someone to do what he wishes against their will, and he likes to help people become their own master.

Alright azul 2.0 I see what you’re doing Does he have a cringe gamer bf to top it off

He’s not the one I would compare to Azul

OOO I wanna guess which one it is

His curse is called the Curse of the Self-Righteous Monarch, so he's evil Riddle William’s* Is

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Alright so stick in the ass guy, I get it replying to 'William’s*', William Afton Ar ar ar ar

Next guy

That’s a whole ass final boss of twinks

Pfffff okay before I tell you more, do you or do you not think this is the guy who I would compare to azul

err no

you’re right

doesn’t give azul vibes from that stare He gives tiktok fuck boy

This is Liam Evans, he has the power to turn invisible from the curse of the Curious Cat (che'nya core), he is depressed and is so curious that he keeps trying to do things that would kill him

nvm i take back he’s cooler than any tiktok fuckboys

adfjhsflasjfhkdhkjlasfd HOW IS HE COOLER

Depressed Rizz or smth

Fair Next guy

sighs Sighs Sighs

what

Smash, sadly

ajdsalfjhkjasfd

IT’S THE LEANING ALRIGHT

that’s fine he’s the most normal boyfriend-wise of them all

BAHAHAHAH

if you ignore the pathological lying

All fictional husbands have to be a little insane its fine

His name is Harrison Gray, he has the power to tell when people are lying from the curse of the lying fox. He likes to read mystery novels.

I like him I want him

Lemme send you a NSFW pic if i can find one

WOOOOO

MC is a girl btw (L moment)

L MOMENT BUT HE’S FINE SO ITS ALR

next guy

Damn you thought you could slide in a french guy and have me not notice/j

HE’S ACTUALLY NOT FRENCH

AHAHAHAHAH

HE’S A BRITISH NOBLE

God bless

This is Lord Elbert Greetia, he is an Earl. He has the power to make someone see their saddest moment when he steps on their shadow (he has trauma from this). His curse is the curse of the Greedy Queen (Vil core). And he has an obsession with hoarding beautiful things (he is the yandere of the cast)

Dragon Core with the last one

dragon core omg you’re right I almost forgot this asshole’s name ;~;

HE LOOKS LIKE AN ASSHOLE

HE'S SUS (i still love him, but he aint a fave)

AHAHAHA

His name is Alfons Sylvatica, he can change people's perception by touching the nap of their neck and whispering in their ear. His curse is the magic mirror. He has probably fucked half the cast of this game.

Me personally? I think he’s cringe

OKAY BUT-

LOOKIT HIM

… Tempting

yes Exactly Next guy

NVM THAT ONES UGLY IM SORRY HE’S SCARY

adljhkfajkdfasdfafas

HE SCARES ME

I HATE HIM TOO DW

(Note: He grew on me since this convo)

HE’S WORSE THAN THE PREVIOUS I HATE HIM GET HIM AWAY FROM ME WHYS HE SO UGLY HE LOOKS LIKE HE’D HOLD AN ALPHA PODCAST

His name is Roger Barel, he can hear anything within 100m of him (selectively, so he wouldnt hear you fucking harrison). His curse is the traitorous huntsman (rook core but looks like trey). He drinks beer and wont stop flirting with Alfons' MC You see the resemblance right?

I hate that I see it Trey I’M so sorry you have to be compared to an ugly ass bitch

pffff Next guy

btw lemme know when you think someone might be the guy that reminds me of azul

emo He’s either really nice or manipulative ass

You’re right he’s def one of those

my bet has to be on the latest

wym

I mean he looks manipulative AGAHAHAH Sorry emo boy if you are not…

His name is Ellis Twilight, he has the power to bind people's hands together by tapping their head via the curse of the briar thorns. He is obsessed with happiness and will do anything to make someone else happy (once they have their happiest moment he will kill them) ([friend] likes him- [friend] is banned from playing the game for 2 more years tho)

Awe he's so sweet!!!! (What the fuck) AHAHAH

THIS GAME IS NSFW AND [friend] IS BB

AHSHS Yeah I could’ve guessed it was

like in alfons' route (unreleased rn) it goes so into detail-

I want him dead Negative rizz

AND ALFONS USES HIS POWER TO MAKE MC THINK THEY'RE LOVERS LIKE- IN CHAPTER 1 OR 2

BROTHER THIS GUY STINKS

Next guy

Is this the azul

There's only one more guy after this so i wanna wait until i send his pick before answering just so you know all the options What do you think of this guy

I like this one I would Bottom text Would He may look a tad bit evil but i’ll allow it

replying to ‘i like this one’, I don't (similar to crowley ah-)

OH A LOSER SO I LIKE THIS ONE EVEN MORE

This is Victor. We don't know his surname. We don't know his curse. We don't know his power. BUT HE IS THE DAD OF THE GROUP, dad jokes, cockblocking harrison and MC, magic tricks

(NOTE: I figured out what his power is since then-)

I want him

kskssksksks There’s like- no content for victor On tumblr

(NOTE: I found which tag the victor content is on)

I hate it here

Final guy

OH HELLO SAILLOOR

REAL

Is THIS the azul one

YES

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OFC

remember william-? he was one of my favorites? (one moment i need to get some images)

YEA

I’M MARRIED TO WILLIAM AND THIS GUY

HAHAHAHA WIN

HIS NAME IS JUDE JAZZA, he can put someone to sleep by tapping their forehead via the curse of the thirteenth wizard (idk why wizard, it's just malleus core-). HE IS A MOBSTER, A SADIST, AND HE GETS OFF BY BULLYING MC, I LOVE HIM He’s ellis’ boss btw

more like dude zaza BAHAHAHA

Jude and William are my husbands <3

Got two hands for the two of them

Jude legit would give you a check and tell you to write whatever number you want on it... but then make you work to pay him back for it. So he is sugar daddy, but also kinky William canonically would use his power on MC for sex while he's drunk So you like- Harrison, Victor and Jude?

responding to the william info, DAMN Nods

I’m gonna be doing harrison’s main story route after I finish william’s I’ll send you any nsfw or near nsfw ss i see

IM WINNING

[unabashednightmarepizza]

𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠, 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡 8

Tagging: @augustwithquills, @idohknow @bloody-mf-bsc

Liked by freddycarter1, benbarnes, jessie_mei_li and 998,052,762 others

shadowandbone: A big thank you for our lovely Y/N Y/L/N- Barnes and her success! We are proud to have you and witness your art and talent from up close!

And a big thank you to the fans, who helped and supported us in this journey of winning not one but 4 awards in one night! We couldn't have done it without any of you!

And no, this definetly not her proud husband writing this.

View 696,357 comments

Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes: I will never get used to being called that name 🫠

jessie_mei_li: you both are such simps I'm gonna puke🤢😜😝

kittheyounger: ı'm gonna have cavities because of their sweetness... Who knew she loved being called "Barnes"?

freddycarter1: probably her husband?? And no, benbarnes, we don't wanna know the details... the last time terrorized me 😧😨😳

User5: First Y/N and now Ben... I knew they had the password!

User8: BIG CONGRATS TO OUR GIRL AND EVERYONE WHO WORKED HARD!🫡😎

User4: so proud to watch you all!

amita_suman: Don't let the picture decieve you, the bouquet is way bigger 😁

freddycarter1: I guess Ben's simping's proof is very obvious 😎

User11: our girl deserved every single one of them, alongside other ones she got! Must be hard to try to find a place to put them in their house where her babies can't reach lol

User2: Mother is mothering again. Slayed with that dress as usual.😎🫦

User9: fr, I bet my ass everyone was jealous of her because she is pretty, succesfull, happy, has a gorgeous husband and even more gorgeous and cute children... The list could go on.

User6: Ben must be damn proud of his wife. I think I saw him shed a tear while he clapped loudly for her 🥹

User13: the fact that Ben forgets his own password but uses this account freely baffles me... Girl, is he using your phone again?

Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes: No, surprisingly enough he isn't.

User3: WE CAUGHT HER, SHE HAS BEEN THE USER OF THIS ACCOUNT

User7: 🚨🚨🚨 OPEN THE DOOR Y/N WE HAVE THINGS TO TALK ABOUT

Liked by benbarnes, pascalispunk, jennaortega and 5,908,632 others

Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes: Only one minute... One minute I left him with our baby girl and he did this. I mean... She looks hilarious and Ben is very proud of his work but did you have to make her like that? She will look at these pictures one day!

View 562,512 comments

User3: Ben's cheeky grin, knowing that he wouldn't take sofa punishment is more hilarious djdjddj But babygirl Barnes looks so happy 🥹❤️

User6: His shirt was a paid actor lol

User18: That's why babies shouldn't be left with fathers, without guidance... It's never guaranteed if the baby would be glued to the ceiling or lost in the blankets lol

User3: Why does she look like she could take part as the baby in Adams Family? That joyous, blonde baby in fhe movies I mean??

User8: LoL I can see the resemblance now djsjdj she is cute tho I just want to squish her cheeks!

User3: so true! I don't like babies, but babygirl Barnes is an exception.

User6: she is the only baby, including their son, that I would gladly commit homicide for

Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes: As much as I am glad I have an army of protective SIBLINGS for my children, let's not do that 😅

User16: Is that a little bit of belly I see?? Dadbod!Ben??? Anyone?

User6: Okay but... Is it just me or did Ben become more happy and attractive ever since having a family?

user17: Only the best wishes to your family!

Liked by Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes, freddycarter1, pascalispunk and 6,784,231 others

benbarnes: The other half of my soul, my beutiful wife, the mother of our children and the joy of our chaotic yet happy family... There are many titles you have but the best one for me is Mrs.Barnes, happy anniversaries, darling. All the memories we made together (including yes, the mess in the kitchen many times we cooked together) is nothing but perfection to me. My only wish for the future is to be able to make more with our children.

I love you so much ❤️

Comments are restricted

Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes: I'm the happiest I ever was, my love. Thank you for the joy you brought me, thank you for being my husband and the father of our children. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you 💐🥹❤️💓

[leynaeithnea]

Just finished your beautiful beautiful very yummy and very angsty analysis of love in paradise ( maybe I shed a little tear here and there, maybe I didn't, you can't know that ) so I thought this would be right moment to leave you an ask for a gods game analysis maybe?? *stares at you with big brown eyes*

Last one of this saga!!!! Yayyy

Praying ill remember all the musical parts ive heard about but im sure theres so much hidden i forgot/didnt hear about yet

30. God Games

We open with a choir of course, because...gods! Athena decides to do something (finially)

“Father, God King” (athena asks daddy for help SIJGSEIG)

“Rarely do I ask for favors” being the good favorite daughter

“Now, I’m knocking on your door, with hopes to save a friendship with one who’s a prisoner far from home....Odysseus” I LOVE the melody of this part somehow??? especially how the drop before “odysseus”, ALSO SHE CALLS IT A FRIENDSHIP INFRONT OF ZEUS TOO

“Divine intervention, is that what you seek?” ........yes, bruh. Zeus dont fuck this up, u are decent enough in Homers Odyssey

“To untie apprehensions that were placed on that Greek?” okay i had to google “apprehentions, and apperently it both means “arrest” and “concern/fear”...........to untie the arrest on Ody, and at the same time the concerns of Odysseus THATS GENIUS, Ive heard Homer does a lot of these double meanings of words in his Epics and IM SO HERE FOR IT, also “that Greek”, come on, dont use it as a slur >:)

“You are playing with thunder for a man full of shame”..................NOW WHO PUT THIS SHAME ON HIM YOU MF, YOU WHAT KIND OF SICK GAME IS THIS-

“But if he’s worth the risk of going under, why not make it a game?” Lukes vocal performance in this part is something else, like dude??? hello? youre a tenor SIEJGSEIGJ, its good, also WDYM GOING UNDER??? HUH??? ....yeah of course you make it a game, because everything is a game to you, because really, theres nothing and noone who poses a thread to you

“Convince each of them that he ought to be released, and I’ll release him” the slight echo effect in that voice.......fascinatinggg, wish i knew if the melody in this part had any meaning, gotta look it up

“Who’s them?” Athena god of wisdom asking about details before agreeing to deals *cough* Odysseus, learn from your friend

“Apollo” APPOLO MY GUY ehehehehee

“Hephaestus” okay, fair

“Aphrodite” the wWAY HE PROUNCES HER NAME?? OMG

“Ares”, yea yea imposing yada yada

“Hera” cant exclude his wife

“Or me” OR me, so its ALL of them, or him? bruh

“What do you say?” WHAT IS SHE SUPPOSED TO SAY

“Great” ehehehehe apollo <3

“Very well” just doing it because

“Eh” shes so excited

“Alright” he IS excited

“Groovy”....ok? um...imma move on

“Bring it” of course she would choose all of them over Zeus, its Zeus, he just WANTS you to loose, bc hes the god king

“Apollo!” parrot

“You all know I’m a fan of catchy songs” god of music yada yada HIS VOICE

“so with so many sirens gone, I think Ody’s in the wrong”.........there are so many reasons to dislike Odysseus and you pick the SIRENS? .......did you just join for the fun and had no real reasons or did u get dragged there or-....but its ok, your voice is amazing, also IIRC it should be the melody of suffering??? of different beast??? i forgorrrr norrrr also Lyreeee in the background! ehehehe

“They were trying to do him worse, All he did was reimburse them Now they’ll tread with caution first To live another day and sing another verse” maybe the melody was in this part. also, yeah tell him athena, what kind of argument is that, they tried to kill him he just did what he had to--------admittely he was VERY cruel about it, but athena doesnt have to mention that, and well Ody probably protected even more sailors in the future through his actions

ALSO DONT COME AT ME WITH “but all the sirens are dead” THERE ARE MORE, theyre obviously not talking about the sirens Ody killed, its about all other Sirens out at see that woudlve seen the others dying after being brutally cut down by a human, they WILL be more cautious in the future

“If that’s true, release him”, yeah u really had nothing to argue against, he just shrugs it off LMAO

“Hephaestus!” Hefefuf ehehehe ALSO JORGES DAD YAY adorable, tho when first listened i rly thought it was Jorge with voice changer again THEY SOUND SO SIMILIAR

“Trust is not given, it’s forged”...true, valid argument, Also Scylla melody??? I THink?

“Why should I give him my support? He sacrificed his own cohort”......well....um.....he didnt rly have much of a CHOICE ....but its a more valid concern, the sounds that sound like a hammers in a forge sound cool btw

“Did you forget they failed to listen?”.........yeah literally

“He was betrayed and then imprisoned” IMPRISONED AH ODY, but yeah EXACTLY, the WIND BAG, THE MUTINY AH

“But if you make the right decision He can still build a future with those who miss him” AND BUILD TRUST WITH THEM AGAIN AHHHHHHH yes. Hefefuf choose right.

“Fine, release him” good.

the music making it sound like steps in a game as you level up....fine, it sounds nice

“Aphrodite” seductive, i like it

“Your little high and mighty Odysseus” SHeS pissed, and does not like Ody you can hear the “high and mighty” in her voice :”) ouch

“Claims to love his mother But let her die of a broken heart” LIKE HE HAD A CHOICE IN THE MATTER HE TRIED TO GET HOME SHE DIDNT HAVE TO JUMP

“He was busy fighting”, yeaaah

“More like busy spiting the cyclops”.........yeah okay we can get behin that this was stupid decision but it wasnt a rational decision either he just lost his best friend, THATS LOVE TOO; GIVE HIM SOME SLACK

“Let him feel the pain that his mother felt and rot” WHY U BE SO COLD HEARTED , i love the melody/music in this tho

“Wait, please reconsider this”, athena using quick thought on a goddess, intriguing! also shes begging her :tear: aw man

“Really Athena? These old tricks?” annoyed older brother breaking into quick thought to the rescuse of his lover, makes him likeable somehow, i love the delivery of this line

“Ares!” yeah shes pissed

“What kind of sick coward Holds back his power While his friends get devoured? He didn’t even fight Scylla Didn’t even try to kill her Hides inside a wooden horse to get the job done Never handles things upfront” sorry that he didnt want to DIE dude??? i get your concern with straight forward, open combat but???? is dying on the battle field rly that much worse than wanting to come home COME ON, he wins, he is EFFECTIVE, are you jealous of his stragedies? HE GOT MENTORED BY ATHENA; OFC HE WILL CHOOSE THE SMART WAY OUT NOT THE QUICKEST-WAY-TO-DIE WAY OUT smh

“Pathetic and weak like his son” thats a low blow what is your issue with telemachus bro, the drums for ares makes sense

“Hold your tongue now His son’s my friend” awwww shes calling him a frienddddddd

“And tell your lover that a broken heart can mend” AHAHAH “tell your lover”, true true

“You want more bloodshed? Then set him free To get back to his homestead, he’ll make everybody bleed” SEUHGSOUEGESH “if you let him back he’ll kill everyone” Ares: :D thats what i like to hear, Athenas piano playing again, as she fights Ares is fun too

“Ugh, release him”, what made them change their mind? Esp Aphrodite? was it Athenas concern for Telemachus? and for Ares athenas promise of bloodshed? maybe who knows

“Hey baby”.....okay, flirty? from Hera? alright, lets interpret it as motherly flirting

“Hera” how to hit those high notes

“So many heroes So many tales Give me one good reason why yours should prevail” NOW THAT is intersting, everyone else so far gave a reason NOT to release him, but now Hera asks her to give her one reason WHY he deserves to be released “dont tell me of all the sins he didnt commit, tell me of the virtue he holds” typa thing

“He’s got the mind of a genius”, fair, but there would be others

“Try harder”, encouraging, she doesnt rly want her to loose does she? she support it, she just wants to see if Athena is worth it, i do like this characterization (as long as i ignore the disco animatic, i know its Jorges creative freedom but my brain tries to refuse ANYTHING that would be a reference to modernity, let me live in the bliss of ignorance to pretend its a movie set in ancient greece x)

“He’s pretty skilled with words”, hes a lair, i love him for it

“You can do better than that”, ...yeah

“He’s kind of funny?” running out of reasons athena, also YOU THINK HES FUNNY? LMAO ur right, the odyssey is quite the commedy for anyone but odysseus (and a few others but yk)

“Eh” doesnt sound convinced heh

“Never once has he cheated on his wife” HA HA HAHAHAHAHA HA right thing to say to Hera

[also the whole debate about “did odysseus cheat or not” no. idc what anyone says. if anyone argues he INITALLY consented to Calypso: fine, its blurry in the narrative, anyone can choose how to interpret that as they wish, but Circe was bestowed upon him by Hermes (in the myth at least, in Epic there ofc very clearly refuses her, and she accepts him (hear that calypso? HEAR THAT CALYPSO)) and Calypso, at the very least later on turned VERY unconsensual. FOR SEVEN YEARS., but the “he liked her no more” could also mean she didnt like her as a person anymore after she saved him. its not 100% clear how the relationship started out, we just know how it ends rly, but given the historic context too, it might very well be that it wouldntve been considered as cheating, even if it was consensual, would hera consider it cheating bc she does so with Zeus? maybe, idk, i think the idea of Ody being (one of) the only greek hero(es) that doesnt cheat is one i like, he gets praised enough by homer for all his skills he might as well have the skill of being true to his wife, in EPIC we know that Ody refuses her from the beginning so whatever did or did not remain unnamed in Epic, would NOT be cheating,.........and anyone who mentions Odys proof for cheating being the telegony or any other later versions where suddenly children show up, and he offs penelope for cheating and telemachus marries circe, can kindly, do some more reading into the history of the text and how later authors added their own twists, we dont know if the odyssey from homer was the most well known version, i think, but its the one we consider canon now, and i rly refuse to believe that Ody coming home only to get a new wife]

“Release him” the side glace Zeus mustve gotten LMAO

...ok angry zeus choir again, rly?

“I’ve played your game and won”, she did, fair and square

“Release him” you better

“You dare to defy me?”, what happend to your voice zeus? also....are you pissed that she called you out on cheating? bro, ur just pissed that she choose everyone else over you, grow up zeus

“To make me feel shame?” shame about loosing the game or shame for the humiliation about cheating, mhh

“No one beats me, no one wins my game!”, sounds like my 3rd brother, but hes at least cute when hes throwing a fit about a game having rules

“Thunder, bring her through the wringer Show her I’m the judgement call The one who makes her kingdom fall! ”.your voice is getting worse btw, but...are we talking about pride still? Athenas pride? or is “her” just Athena now? mhhhh, Odysseus DID call her “selfish, prideful and vain”, so maybe it does refer to her pride, she DID Have a character arc tho >:) unlike zeus, hes just an ass, also he gets a choir background for this? intersting,

NOW HE THROWS LIGHTING AT HER??? thats intense, i was gasping when i saw, night sound design

“Is she dead?”, he does sound concerned, is it bc big brother energy or bc athena was zeus favorite child? or do they know how Zeus fucked up just now? hah..ha

the flashes you can hear in the music....aaaah

NOW THIS INSTRUMETAL PART

IS SO BEAUTIFUL ITS SO GOOD THE WAY “WARRIOR OF THE MIND” AND TELEMACHUS LULLABY AND LEGENDARY BLEND TOGETHER AND BECOME “ATHENAS FINIAL STAND” (as its supposedly called) ITS SO GOOD i ah i like this part the most of the song, together with apollos voice aseghsegij Aphrodite is fine too :) and "rly athena; these old tricks"

AlSO her having a flashback to Ody giving her Telemachus to hold after his birth, PLS??? Thats so vulnerableeeeee aaaaaaaaah yeah, yea that was good

“Let him go, please, Let him go”, she reaches out to Zeus, as her light dims and she begs him to let Ody go, nothing left of the selfish and prideful goddess, she was selfless- sacrifcing herself and ler go of her pride to beg to Zeus to let him go, who stops as he grabs to throw another lighting, in shocked realization of what he has done.

The song fades out. And we are left to wonder if Athena is ded or not

now initially i rly thought Jorge killed a goddess

by now im more hopeful that she isnt dead (im hoping for that, mostly for the fun of sticking to the source material of Athenas help in the last chapter(s) of the story)

but

im still doubting a bit. the chance is there that she is, infact, dead, but i dont know how that would impact the narrative-,...i suppose we’ll see, either in the vengence saga, or at the lastest in the ithica saga x)

[deduction-substitute]

Hello mx Lucky guy poster can you show me the sacred texts (please explain misty mountains lore I want to know more about it /nf!)

Im so sorry im about to fuck this up because these shitheads have so many points of view of what they BELIEVE to be the truth and im too stupid

SO. Ill try to get into the important bits. Im so so sorry in advance

August was in a field trip with his other club members, Fernan and Moebius, but unfortunately got stuck in the fog

Bai Ze and Master Yin Yang have already expected his arrival due to them being in a loop, though theyre the only ones who remember anything.

Bai Ze is protecting a scroll thats passed down in her family, and she also has this altar lamp, but Master Yin Yang is conspiring with the mirror demon to get it; in return he will help the mirror demon escape the mountain. This is through the mirror demon assuming August's identity

There were three rules Bai Ze set in place to keep August safe but he was stupid/lh So he broke all of them. During this he also meets Paddle, a rosewood paddle who is now a spirit, and Crane, the embodiment of a copper crane who used to be Censer's subordinate

There was this fucking Battle of Changchuan but i dont?? Understand it?? I only know that the people included were Bai Ze, Censer, Crane and this "Three-headed one" but i have no fucking idea who thats supposed to be. There was an arrow that couldve gotten Bai Ze but Paddle took the hit, so he's very fragile now.

August meets Censer, embodiment of a Boshan Censer, who is also conspiring with Master Yin Yang but he's being manipulated. He tells August the "truth" that Bai Ze has trapped them all in the mountain and he tells him to rip off these talismans or whatever before this Ghost Festival to strengthen him (???????)

August has also been sleepwalking, taking off talismans because of Master Yin Yang's bell, I believe? It can control people with the sound

He meets Cierge, who is not of sound mind!! She has these dreams that seem to "foresee the future," but in the end its speculated that its memories from past loops which made her turn insane...she tells August to get the altar lamp so both of them can leave but Crane is like?? HEY why do you want to leave with him but not ME!! I also want to leave to see the outside!!

Anyways its almost Ghost Festival time so Censer tells August to rip off the talismans already so he does! But then stops and goes "you a fake ass mf 😭😭" and throws the boshan censer into the water. Censer cant move his vessel in his current state, so he decides "if im going down youre going down with me!!!" and grabs August's hand to tear off a talisman

What a romantic 😍 Holding hands...

August is like!?!?!? BAI ZE STOP HIDING THE TALISMANS R GOING TO GET DESTROYED!! She comes out of hiding and overpowers Censer, who PUSHES AUGUST INTO THE FUCKING WATER. While Bai Ze rushes to save him, Censer rips off the last talisman. What happens to him? "Any non-human creature which tears off a talisman by force will turn into dust."

Theres two endings to this!!

August wakes up and finds out Paddle rescued him, but the spirit unfortunately perished. He's given the altar lamp to get out but the light slowly starts to dim and he sees Master Yin Yang again

He figures out that Bai Ze and Master Yin Yang knew more than they let on and that theyre in a loop, showing that he's smarter than people give him credit for. He finds out Fernan and Moebius arent his club members and that his full name is August Fernan Moebius.

Master Yin Yang picks up the altar lamp, deems this loop another failure, and we're back to the beginning! August is fortunately alive but still stuck in the loop

Now, the mirror demon ending is what you get if you dont raise affinity with Paddle. This time Crane is the one who rescues him and Paddle is still alive, and "August" figures out that he should leave before tomorrow night's Ghost Festival

"August" meets with Master Yin Yang and gives him the altar lamp, which can disperse the fog and guide him to this mountain cave that has?? Scrolls?? OR WHATEVER?? Then the mirror demon finally leaves as "August"

There was something about a mountain god that was being sealed, which could possibly be the reason behind the fog, but im not too sure about that....

Sorry, I went haywire and Im not able to explain properly further than this...you can see the quality go downhill...im so sorry..

If anyone can better explain or correct me if i said something wrong...please do..

[lorelune]

hey fellas and folks i have been meaning to write something up about this but haven't known where to start or where i'll end up. but i DO feel like it deserves addressing.

(having my joker moment joker moment)

i really love this niche. i found a home in it during a very difficult time in my life, and have found many friends and lasting irl connections from the writings shared and conversations had. this place is so incredibly, INCREDIBLY dear to me. despite going through many horrors (tm) while in this community, i continue to stay because there is a lot about it that i love.

however, in the last... i don't know, year or so? there has been such an abundance of discourse, gossip and drama both publicly and privately that has exhausted me to no end. these things have always existed, they always will, but in the past year they have felt so draining and despairing that it has made finding the same comfort and joy in this community is hard. a lot of times, impossible!

one of the things that genuinely makes me SO sad is the tags. i made most of my lasting friendships in this niche but seeing a writing in the tags that i enjoyed and dming the author and shouting together. i have found so many great writers in the tags, and i still crawl around them today looking for fic!! HOWEVER. i find it difficult, not just because of the abundance of vague smut-related comphet posts with a slew of character names underneath from unrelated fandoms (to each there own but it isn't a posting style i enjoy!) but moreso because of the INSANE number of posts by antis that get thrown into the tags. main tags, character tags, x reader tags. it is so deeply disheartening to be looking for fic to enjoy and get jump scared by a posts saying horrible things about those who enjoy dark content. respectfully if you're above the age of eighteen and looking for writing on tumblr dot gov, i HIIIIGHLYY recommend using your literacy to first read ANY article or study summary about human psychology and sexuality and why fantasy does not equal what someone actual desires! signed a sex-repulsed ace spec mf who writes and enjoys smut. hate to use myself as example, but i hate even more to see folks in the tags be puritanical and pro-censorship under the guise of progressive ideology.

i want to say that there are parties within this niche that are CONSISTENTLY at the center of drama and conflict. no matter what fandom, no matter the url changes and lurking, they are there and its the same mfs. this is a complete vague, as i'm sure the parties in involved in the targeted harassment and ensuing drama do not know who i am, nor know that i know. but i DO <3, and so do plenty of other writers in our niche who have politely blocked and left you alone. do us all a fucking favor and do the same, instead of instigating harassment and being hateful cunts.

in this vein, in my closer circle, i know that these events (especially in the last six months) have caused folks to become conspiratorial and assume bad faith. i understand this is a protective measure because folks have gone through the wringer. however it makes me so sad to see what is often folks who likely do not know any context or horrors of the community, be painted so poorly in casual conversations when most of the time, communication is made to create a connection, not to start a fight.

i find myself reflecting on WHY i have come to not feel comfortable in this community. why i don't enjoy writing the same way, why i don't feel the same security i once felt, why i get so damn nervous to post a silly thought or thirst on main, and i find myself coming back to these experiences and the subsequent fear that follows. perhaps i am a weak-hearted coward, but i find it hard to find joy when i feel surrounded by constant negativity and genuine cruelty. it is hard to want to share any of myself when i am so deeply aware that whether it is strangers or people i have become close to, what i enjoy and what i choose to express and share can be so easily twisted into something it is not.

i know it would be easier if i had a thicker skin, or felt secure enough that this didn't bother me, but part of the core problem is that this community has made me insecure. it's a loop. it is one that makes me genuinely sad, as this place once felt so much like home. i know it still can be, but it certainly won't be sitting here, starting at blank documents and text posts wondering to myself 'why can't i just put words on paper' while i have the cortisol levels of a prey animal.

i'm not sure if other folks have felt similarly, or find themselves in the same point. however if you do, or you find yourself resonating, here's to feeling seen 🥂

- papa salami (lore) 🌙

[annimator]

SO. THAT NEW EPISODE HUH

(blah blah blah, reaction’s under the cut. Y’know this already)

• THE FUCK IS THAT THUMBNAIL. THIS IS LIKE THE 5TH DC THUMBNAIL TO HAVE TWO GUYS KISSING EACH OTHER IF YA INCLUDE THE TOMJAKE SPINOFF

• OFC THE SCENE WHERE DEREK’S APPLAUDS TREVOR DURING THE CHALLENGE DEMO PLAYS OVER HIM TALKING ABOUT LAST EPISODE’S CHALLENGE

• STOP REMINDING ME THAT ALESSIO’S FUCKING GONE

• WAIT DON’T PLAY THE INTRO, HE’S LITERALLY THE FIRST CONTESTANT WE SEE IN IT

• “Look poker’s very skilled based, but I’m realizing i need to play with more poignancy” Bro idk what the actual fuck you do to play poker, so I can see where he’s probably coming from

• Idk if Lynda sounds like she’s lying or not, but I immediately got blindsided over Ted mentioning his wife AND son. Fucking plot twist right there lmao

• There’s smth pretty sweet about Ted & Lynda bonding about their kids going through puberty lmao

• Uh oh new alliance droppped

• GET HER ASS ANASTASIA. PICK ON HER BITCHASS FOR DECIDING TO ELIMINATE ALESSIO

• “Ted told me Alessio was bringing the boys together. He was a quiet mastermind.” BULLSHIT

• MF HE WAS ONLY HERE TO GET ARTISTIC ENLIGHTENMENT. KEEP MY KIN’S NAME OUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH

• Isabel’s being sillyyyy- WAIT LOGAN’S STARING AT ONE OF ALESSIO’S PAINTINGS WITH A SAD FACE. YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS SHIT UP

• “Got a thing for fine-wine italians?” LMAO NATALIA

• AWWW LOGAN’S DEFENDING ALESSIO

• “Logan’s a sweet kid” Damn right

• WAIT THEY ACTUALLY SAID THE WORD. NATALIA MENTIONED HER BEING TRANS STRAIGHT UP HELL YEA

• Caught in 4K lol

• Oooooo Amelie’s getting suspicions

• Ofc Jade tells Spencer about her idol hint. Hmmmm, she doesn’t mention how she ACTUALLY got it tho…

• What kind of distraction does Jade want Spence to make?

• Benji’s eepy

• “It’s for the game” I KNOW WHERE THIS IS FUCKING GOINGGGGGGG

• NO WAY HE’S TRYING TO FLIRT WITH HIM

• Bro’s rizz is worse than a certain bald cubito I know

• Pretty nice Diencer crumbs tho. I saw someone call them “studyguide” & I think that’s an AMAZING ship name. I’m using that for them from here on out >:D

• YEA SHE GOT THE IDOL!

• Aw her backstory ;-;

• She got picked on for her skin condition, but her moms were still supportive of her :’D

• YEA JADE YOU GO GIRL. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

• Group yoga :D

• YEA VIBE TRIBE TRIO BONDING. I LOVE THEM

• Love me some Zaivy crumbs. There’s gotta be a cool ship name out there that mixes culinary & performing arts together

• “I have Spencer on my radar. Him and Diego are getting tight” YEA I CAN SEE WHERE YOU’RE COMING FROM IVY >:3

• HANNAH ILY. But yea Diego’s kinda right, y’all better not get cocky

• “Haha, cock” I felt this with my soul. Especially everyone getting weirded by Benji saying this. IT’S THE GIVING HEAD THING FROM EP 1 ALL OVER AGAIN

• “Running into traffic would be safer than having you as a lawyer.” HOLY SHIT SHE FUCKING KILLED YOU DUDE

• BENJI’S A FUCKING DORK. I LOVE HIM

• “I want to win to win this show. So I can quit law, and start a new life. Maybe figure out actual goals for myself.” BRO I’M ROOTING FOR SO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS SHOW WTF. LIKE AT FIRST, I WAS JUST ROOTING FOR TRISTAN & HANNAH BECAUSE I COULD SEE A PART OF MYSELF IN THEM AS A NON-BINARY FILIPINO-CANADIAN, BUT BASICALLY EVERYONE IS SO INTRIGUING IN A WAY. AND THIS INCLUDES ALESSIO

• Why was everyone expecting Alessio getting the boot- WAIT DON’T SAY THAT IN FRONT OF LOGAN HE’S GETTING SAD

• “M’lady.” DEREK HELPING UP TREVOR ONTO THE TRAIN CART???? AND THEN THEY HAVE FUCKING SPARKLES IN THEIR EYES??? I NEED TO BE SEDATED

• Ooo truth or dare challenge involving the contestants’ fears? Does that mean Logan has some internalized homophobia considering the thumbnail?

• Oh damn, Emily looks like she’ll have fun giving out the truths & dares

• Why would Amelie be up in arms about reading- oh wait there’s bad reviews on that paper, that makes sense

• “Marissa! Answer this; rank your team from most valuable to least” Lemme guess, Anastasia’s the most valuable on her list

• ANASTASIA ENCOURAGING HER TO DO SO IS PROVING MY POINT

• Ooooo they peeking :> Tristan’s face look rlly cute :D

• Yeah I can see why her team’s laughing at the insults from her bad reviews

• Marissa opting out of ranking her teammates honestly makes sense when she wants her team to be unified in some kind of way

• Lynda shut the fuck up.

• SEE NATALIA AGREES WITH ME- and ofc Ted’s siding with Lynda after the convo we saw between them

• YEA MORE ANARISSA CRUMBS >:D

• “I believe in english you refer to that as a… meatrider!” LMAOOOOO YEA

• Oh nice they’re besties now!

• wait this reminds me of something…

• TWO STARS? HANNAH DESERVES 5 WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

• “Describe the worst dish you ever made” Zaid it can’t be that bad bro, what’s with the shocked face

• “Bro, you’re like… you’re like Gordon Ramsay! Who cares if ya made an undercooked steak once, y’know? C’mon just tell her!” YEA TRISTAN! >:D

• Oh yeah, it can be that bad. Who the fuck cooks KOALA

• DIEGO’S HOLDING ONTO SPENCER

• Also, plz don’t puke again bro

• Oh so it was for money, and he didn’t know he was gonna cook that. AIght makes sense

• “Tell that to PETA” LMAOOOOO

• DIEGO’S STILL HOLDING ONTO SPECNER WHILE THEY’RE LEAVING THE TRAIN CART

• Richard, you only have two strands of hair on your head, it’ll be fineeee

• See? He accepted it- wait nvm

• BRO WE CANNOT TELL IF YA SHAVED YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HAT ON. RELAX

• Oh noooo, Ivy had to eat a worm. At least Zaid’s there to comfort her

• It’s just a cold bath, why’s Ted scared of that- anddd he’s uhh… is he dead

• LOGAN’S FIREMAN CARRYING HIS BODY LMAO

• Ngl I used to be scared of dogs when I was a toddler I can see where Lynda’s coming from

• WAIT BENJI’S JOTARO COSPLAY LOOKS AWESOME. WHY IS EVERYONE LAUGHING AT HIM OVER THAT

• Aw, Tristan’s there to comfort Benji :D

• I feel like I could solve the math question Jade got. Proud that she got it right! :D

• NAT HAS TO DO PUSHUPS OVER A BUNCH OF FUCKING MOUSE TRAPS?!

• Aw, Isabel’s praying for her :D

• “It’s just one question. How hard can it be.” I can see Apollo’s gift of prophecy hitting her like a dodgeball

• told ya. Then again, I am kinda intrigued about how Isabel converted to catholicism after she mentioned her parents weren’t catholic

• YOU GOT THIS TRISTAN!

• “I’m feeling left out. Ted got an ice bath, and Benji got to show off some dope cosplays! Where’s my moment in the spotlight, ya know?” I LOVE HOW TRISTAN’S ANIMATION LOOKS SO BOUNCY DURING THIS. THEY LOOK SO CONFIDENT & HAPPY

• “Sorry to interrupt!” I JUST WANNA SEE TRISTAN MAN WTF

• Also fun fact, apparently the guy encouraging you to support ONC is actually Connor’s VA! Small world, huh?

• Either way, please go support Disventure Camp, and ONC at large. This whole Toon Boom thing really hit them hard, but any kind of support will help them out!

• Tristan has to punch someone in the face? What’s wrong with that?

• Oh yeah that’s right, Tristan’s here for a good time and thinks being friends with others’ll help them get further in the game. I still like going back to their audition tape from time to time :>

• “Uh… how hard?” “Strong enough to hurt! Weak enough to not cause a lawsuit.” LMAOOOOOO

• Zaid volunteers as tribute

• Makes sense since they were upset about the koala taco thing

• Ivy cheering Tristan to deck Zaid in the face reminds me on this one “YES SONIC! SPLIT IT WIDE OPEN!” comment I saw in a Sonic Frontiers vid. The vid was basically just the song that played when you fought the Knight boss (dope song btw, It’s called “Find Your Flame”)

• OH DAMN, BRO’S IN A FIGHTING STANCE & EVERYTHING- they missed Zaid’s face and punched his chest instead

• Part of me isn’t surprised considering how their fight with Richard went last episode

• “Pretend I’m your worst enemy.” “I ain’t got one of those!” Mood

• I didn’t know why Tristan got upset over Zaid calling them Marilyn Manson, but one google search later, and yeah I can see why Tristan decked him in the face

• Tristan’s so sweet i love them :D They immediately apologized to Zaid after punching him

• TRISTAN BACKSTORY HELL YEA

• “The world keeps spinning regardless if you’re frowning or smiling, so I guess I choose to keep smiling.” PRECH IT TRISTAN ILY. WE HAVE THE EXACT SAME MINDSET

• Wait we don’t hear Isabel’s entire backstory? Just the end of it? damnit >:|

• NAH DIEGO HAS TO FIGHT A CHICKEN- wait was that the fucking minecraft chicken sound effect

• “Go! Diego, go!” that has to be an intentional reference

• AW SPENCER’S NONVERBALLY CHEERING FOR HIM :D

• DAMN HE’S GETTING CLOCKED BY THAT CHICKEN

• Richard stop saying that “it’s just hair” when you’re bitchass was sobbing over losing two fucking strands from your head

• Ngl Anastasia’s design is really growing on me. No wonder Marissa called her pretty :>

• Also her whole “Men only see me for my looks” thing is not helping her beat the lesbian allegations

• Oh shit, why’s Spencer afraid to talk about his previous relationship. WHY’S HE LYING????????

• BRO DIEGO COMFORTING AND TELLING HIM TO HOLD ONTO HIM HAS GOTTA BE A PARALLEL TO DIEGO HOLDING ONTO SPENCER DURING EPISODE 1’S ROLLER COASTER CHALLENGE

• “Your dare is… to kiss a model we brought backstage.” Oh…. OH

• “Helloooo gorgeous- A DUDE! THAT’S A DUDE!” Is this internalized homophobia? (plz picture the “is that a pigeon” meme while ur reading this. I might look kinda rude-)

• “Just picture he’s Alessio!” LMAOOOOOO

• Oh damn he’s enjoying that- BITCH THE FOOTPOP??

• Blue team walking into a Trevek shoulder grasp lmao

• “This kiss was fine I guess…” I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE

• Oh I am DREADING this elimination. EVERYONE IN IT IS LIKEABLE AND/OR INTRIGUING. ESPECIALLY TRISTAN & HANNAH

• “Hannah’s been really helpful with mending bridges. It’s… not an awful idea listening to her.” DAMN RIGHT! >:D

• Yeah Jade’s suspicious about Amelie.

• Oh damn, trios & groups are being set in stone in red team; there’s Diego, Jade, & Spencer, the vibe tribe, and Hannah, Amelie, & Benji by the looks of it

• DIEGO CALLED HIM “SPENCE”. THEY’RE ON A NICKNAME BASIS

• SHOULDER GRASP. WE GOT ANOTHER STUDYGUIDE SHOULDER GRASP

• Oh shit we got some TENSION

• Hannah listening in on Tristan wanting to vote out Amelie. Call that tristannah crumbs (I’m getting delusional atp)

• SPENCER OR AMELIE MIGHT GET OUT?! WTF I LIKE BOTH OF THEM

• At least it’s not Benji ig. HE SURVIVES TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY! WHO CHEERED

• “Why was I not consulted by Spencer? Am I that lame?” Bro did you forget what happened during the challenge. he was LAUGHING at your cosplays

• Aw, Hannah’s upset ;-; but her putting her head in her hands reminds me of that shinji chair meme lmao

• HANNAH TALKED TO TRISTAN OFF-SCREEN LET’S GOOOOO

• Oh shit, the votes are in vibe tribe’s hands

• Trevek’s rubbing off of each other. I LOVE IT

• Tristan pondering their vote by tapping the pen on their head honestly feels in character

• Oh god, I think I know where this is going…

• BENJI GOT DISTRACTED BY A FLY AGAIN LMAO

• …

• I mean… they probably want to continue the studyguide plotline, and Amelie did paint a target on her back by being a dick. So… yeah, I’m not that surprised over her elimination

• this is an actually heartfelt goodbye- WAIT TREVEK’S JUST LOOKING AT HER WITH BLANK ASS EXPRESSIONS LMAO

• “Thank you all… for being good teammates. I know I was harsh with some of you, but… that was only because I wanted us to win. Hope it’s not personal.” ONC’S FUCKING ME UP TWO ELIMINATIONS IN A ROW. I DIDN’T ASK FOR SEVERE EMOTIONAL PAIN

• AW HANNAH WENT IN TO HUG HER

• Oh shit, she left with a sad look on her face. That honestly hits different when ya remember that Alessio left with a smile

• So yeah, all in all, pretty great episode! Shipping crumbs were great as always (especially for studyguide :>), it’s nice to see Logan… well… y’know, and NOW I’M SAD OVER TWO ELIMINATIONS-

[crimsonspectre]

Ginger and honey

Summary: Max's catching up with his best friend

MF X fem!OC

You can find this on AO3 too.

“I don’t understand why you have to freeze to death,” I said, looking at her rather revealing outfit in the cold Austrian weather. 

“Said the guy driving a coffin on wheels at 300 km/H every weekend.”

I chuckle, she’d always been insufferable. 

“You know what? I’ll keep my advice to myself next time,” I answered theatrically. 

“Aw, Maxie,” she pouted “If I needed advice on styling, I’d ask anyone but you.”

I looked at her, trying to maintain the bothered facade. 

“Cut it with the ‘Maxie’ thing, I’m not five years old.”

“Sorry, though you were the pet-name lover kinda guy.” 

I rolled my eyes, laughing, “Let’s just walk in silence, okay?” 

She answered by holding my arm with her left hand in silence. A couple of minutes later, we were standing at my front door. 

“Make yourself at home.”

She’d been home to me for years, so it only made sense. I traced her movements while she took her high heels off and sat on the couch, folding her legs closer to her body. 

“I’ll bring you some tea, Ms. ‘My outfit’s too nice to ruin with a coat’” 

She flashed a smile, the first honest one today. Hopefully not the only one. 

“I’d be waiting, Mr. ‘Don’t call me Maxie’” 

I couldn’t help but look at her while waiting for the kettle to boil. She was far away, her gaze trying to open a hole in the living room floor. She was not the one I knew, the cheerful friend of my childhood, the supportive system, the love of my life. Not that she knew that last part, a burden I’ve endured alone for years. 

When I left the cup in front of her, making a little extra purposeful noise, she turned to look at me. 

“Oh, thanks, Max. Sorry, I was spacing off.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Are you okay?” I asked, sitting next to her. Even if my body asked me to come closer, to obey the magnetic force that commanded me to her, I managed to take some distance. 

She sighed, looking at me in the eye. 

“Chase and I split up,” she whispered. 

“You… what?” I couldn’t hold my surprise. They spent years together, looking happy. But I guess she’s been hiding things from me. 

Her eyes finally met mine, something there twitching for coming out  “Let’s say we failed to understand each other lately.”

I scanned her face for something, but all I saw was avoidance. 

“Why are you talking to me like I’m a judge on the Supreme Court? I’m your best friend.”

Her eyes seemed to melt for a second, and she pouted a specific way she does when trying not to cry. Seen it a thousand times. 

“Sorry, I’m just… The reason makes me embarrassed.”

I felt like I was floating in the sea, miles away from her, the waves keeping me at a safe distance. Suddenly, the beating of her aching heart made them change direction, pushing me closer so smoothly I almost didn’t notice. And equally unnoticed, I was putting my arm around her, inviting her head to rest on my shoulder, and she accepted. 

“I’m not gonna force it out of you,” I said softly. “But you can trust me.”

“I know I can trust you, Max. You’re the person I trust the most.”

I caressed her shoulder, the night silence only interrupted by the soft whimpers of her crying. I knew better than to point out the obvious. 

After a couple of minutes, she whispered, “I love you.”

I heard her, even if my mind filled with white noise immediately after. I needed to see my doctor for an audiometry, maybe the years in the paddock were finally catching up on me. 

“Max…”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I looked at her, confused. 

Her face was red, part embarrassment, part crying. She pouted before speaking again, “I said I love you. That’s why Chase broke up with me. Cause I’m in love with you.”

I felt the heat on my face growing from my stomach, scorching my heart. The only thing that forced my mouth was the uncertainty growing in her expression. And heaven knows my mouth didn’t have time to lose on words, not when I've dreamed of what kissing her would be like for... too many years now. So I did. Just a small one, to test if her heart waves will choose to push me away or pull me over. And she pulled me over for another kiss. A deep one, rooted in something feral hidden behind restless nights and nostalgic days. 

Without warning, she was sitting on top of me, our hands all over each other, and thank god she chose the freezing-to-death outfit, allowing me to touch the skin I’ve longed for forever. 

After some time, I pulled apart trying to catch my breath, and I held her face in my hands. It was the most beautiful sight. Flushed, aroused, almost begging. 

I brushed my lips against hers, holding her in place, denying her the chance to kiss me back.

She pouted, “You’re mean, Maxie.” 

“You've got no idea how mean I can be,” I whispered, my voice raspier, making her body tremble. I let her face go, but she didn���t move an inch. I traced her jawline, then her neck, and reached for her necklace, a gift I made her years ago - a golden ‘M’ for her initial - pulling the chain slightly.

“Now it stands for Max.” 

- - - - - - 

The next morning was particularly cold, and she was snuggling against me. I caressed her hair. 

“Even more naked than last night! I see you insist on freezing to death.”

She laughed, and kissed my neck before answering, “I’ll have you as my heater now.”

“I’ll make you ginger and honey tea every day. It’s like you, spicy, sweet. Sometimes hard to swallow.” 

She poked my ribs laughing, and I laughed too. 

I turned to take a good look at her, “I love you too. I didn’t say it last night.”

“I know, Maxie.”

[nicki0kaye]

The PBS Masterpiece Les Mis;

I'm watching it bc David Oyelowo is Javert and PBS deserves my money. I have never read the Brick but I've been in two productions of the musical and can more or less sing it back to front on my own almost 15 years later. We're going an episode a night bc some ppl have Real Jobs, so pls no spoilers~!

Ep 1;

god this is a good fucking adaptation. Just absolutely beautiful in it's Everything. Everyone is phenomenal. Ep 1 follows Marius' disgraced daddy, Mr Did Not Appear In The Musical; Fantine's summer year-long romance with an absolutely despicable fuckboi; and Valjean's last year of imprisonment and first few days of freedom.

I never knew about Marius' backstory! It's heartbreaking! His dad is a cutie and his inability to be with his son and why has so many interesting connotations for how the story plays out the way it does. I'm almost sad it's cut from the musical bc it really elevates Marius from 'Cosette's love interest that suddenly overtakes Act 2'. My heart breaks watching Fantine; her actress is so young and her shitty babydaddy is so annoying in the best possible way. Absolute tragedy from beginning to end, and we haven't even gotten to the Worst parts yet. And Valjean--jesus christ, his actor is killing it. Amazing presence, can be genuinely scary and heartbreaking. Very excited to see his transformation next episode since what clips I've seen are such a stark contrast in demeanor.

As for Javert; GOD what a fuckface. What an absolute shit stirring lil bitchman. In the musical he's always struck me as stuffy, by the book and deeply repressed, having an almost religious devotion to reform through punishment. Absolute 'joy is a sin' mf. In This, and maybe it's more book accurate, he's a LITTLE SHIT.

"Well, you have your name back, 24601. I wonder; do you remember what it is?" "It's Jean Valjean." "...are you sure?" 83

OOOHHH I WANNA GIVE HIM A WEDGIE.

David's still doing amazing shit with him--his accent is a touch different, it's more middle class, AND he's playing at hiding a cockney accent that comes out when he talks to Valjean alone but he covers when around the other guards. There's very much a sense of him playing to his environment, playing into his 'role', which if you know anything about my interpretation of Kallus is very much my shit. I'm excited to see him around Mr Mayor in ep 2, to see how he conducts himself around his 'betters'.

[wc-confessions]

TPB is my favorite series like the basic ass mf I am but. BUT. It also contains one of my biggest personal pet peeves in all of Warrior Cats. Which is saying A Lot with how botched this series’s writing is is in places.

Nightpelt not getting his nine lives while Tigerstar does??? Make it make sense. Genuinely what the fuck Starclan. We know they knew exactly how Tiger would turn out but somehow decided that poor Nightpelt, who was just trying to guide his fractured and weak clan through Brokenstar’s wake, and through even more tragedy and misfortune afterwards, wasn’t worthy enough Apparently. What did Night even do for them to hold him in such contempt? Besides *checks notes* being middle-aged and having a chronic illness?

There’s the fact that Brokenstar was still alive and on his last life yeah, but so was Pinestar when he left Thunderclan and that didn’t seem to be an issue other than Sunstar only getting eight lives (which is still way better than no extra lives). Brokenstar also broke the Warrior Code seven ways to Sunday before being exiled so it feels weird for them to still have recognized his authority.

For a long time my headcanon was that Starclan didn’t *actually* give Tiger his nine lives, he lied about it when he became Shadowclan’s leader, and when Scourge killed him, it was his one single life ending in such a jarring and gory way that it just *looked like* he died nine times in a row. Even if it was kind of flimsy, it was still more acceptable than what canon said.

With what has been written since though, this headcanon falls apart pretty badly. First, Tiger’s destiny to be evil - even if there’s a strong argument to be made that it was a self-fulfilling prophecy by how adults like Pinestar, Goosefeather, Thistleclaw, etc acted around him or directly treated him as he came of age - has been known about from his birth to the point where they tried to get his own father to commit infanticide! Starclan has had plenty of time to communicate amongst themselves about it, let alone watch over what has been happening to all the living and recently-deceased cats.

Second, we see Tiger’s nine lives ceremony. While we only know the backstories and full motivations of a couple of these characters, there are at least nine named cats who support him being leader enough to grant him a life. Even though these lives are meant to symbolically help in areas he’s lacking, and could be read as just acting in the best interest of the living cats within the leadership decision already being made as opposed to meddling in it… why didn’t they offer Nightpelt the same chance? Why weren’t they like “here’s the areas you need to work on and the life lessons you need to learn, and we’ll respect the circumstances created by the living” to him, too?

The only answer that feels somewhat satisfactory to me is that Starclan isn’t a hivemind and that while many of the cats were cheering during Tiger’s ceremony, cats like Redtail and Goosefeather were in a corner somewhere bashing their heads against a metaphorical wall.

Content warning for US politics ahead.

This also relies on Starclan Tiger supporters to be the Warrior Cats equivalent of Trump voters. Maybe not all of them are bad people but they are at least very easily manipulated into the ideal image of making their nation “strong again,” and are emotionally pulled in by the idea of someone who isn’t going to take shit standing up for “normal people” who they perceive to be like themselves, and are willing to put a vocal bully with a history of opportunistic, shady, and malicious behavior in a seat of power to make that happen. I could see Badgerfang falling into this camp. We know he’s just a kid who was forced into combat too young and that he isn’t a dick but is a victim of circumstance and had his worldview colored by the adults around him. He could have a more optimistic view of Tiger as someone who isn’t going to take shit from another Brokenstar, while simultaneously having a blind patriotic streak because again he was just a child and doesn’t know better than to question the system even if it failed him (based on how he describes his own death as giving his life up for his clan). Someone like this could easily be sucked into wanting the “strong” leader over the one they perceive as “weak” even if the “weak” candidate is more qualified and responsible, or has a more appropriate personality for leadership. (Side tangent I wonder how much Starclan foresaw about how Tiger would die. “Beware small cats” is so… specific.)

Starclan isn’t just a handful of jingoistic Shadowclan cats (+ Pinestar), though. There still should have been enough vocal outcry to make it not seem so cut and dry with Nightstar/Tigerstar, with the information in canon that the reader does get.

I know I’m reading way too far into this silly series with its million plotholes and inconsistencies and retcons, but I just want some answers. Thank you if you endured my pet peeve Night/Tiger rant.

.

[general-kalani]

Trope Talk - Seeds

Trope Talk - whatever you feelin

{ Prompt from here }

Seeds - John Ax-Crazy - An "ax-crazy" character is someone who is psychologically unstablenote  and presents a clear and present danger to others. They are capable of extreme violence, whether carried out with a Slasher Smile, insane laughter, speaking in a Creepy Monotone and/or Word-Salad Horror, or out and out murderous rage; and with no way of knowing just what will set them off, this makes them extremely frightening to deal with.

Come onnnn you can't look at John and NOT see him with a knife, tattoo gun, etc and not think of him being a crazy mf with a blade. I mean he tries to DROWN YOU casually. He beats Jerome if you don't say yes, he throws a TABLE ON ITS SIDE if you don't say yes. I think it fits!!

Seeds - Joseph Gold And White Are Divine - In many Western and European societies, the colors gold and white are associated with goodness and divinity. White and gold invoke images of Heaven and angels and embody purity and incorruptibility. White shines brighter than any other light, and in modern times we know it to be a pure combination of all other shades, while gold never tarnishes, rusts, or corrodes; is associated with the sun; and of course, is one of the most valuable minerals on Earth, especially in ancient times. The color white is also associated with the other big precious metal, silver.

... Ok with my interpretation of Joseph this one doesn't really need to be said about why or why not LMFAOOO I mean the books in game are gold and white, Far Cry 5 in general has a bunch of white for references towards divinity imho.

Seeds - Jacob Names to Run Away from Really Fast - People make a big deal out of names, and writers are no exception. Even if they eschew Theme Naming and other Naming Conventions they'll still use names they think are cool and dignified, powerful and appropriate, or sinister and fearsome.

I JUST REALLY, REALLY THINK this trope works a lot with Jacob. It also does with the other seeds but it works ESPECIALLY best with Jacob since he's the 'most villainous' compared to his brothers. I know TECHNICALLY it doesn't fit but it gives that primal fear of 'oh shit I got a big, terrifying guy on my ass, I gotta run" sorta thing you know??

Random last one Red Baron - Sometimes a character is so badass that that character doesn't have just a name but a rather special nickname, one that is so badass that those who hear it will crap their pants in fear. If these characters occasionally show up, be prepared to hear this nickname spoken repeatedly whenever they rescue someone.

I like to think "Red Baron" goes quite well with Artemis! Spoon? Not so much. But Artemis is definitely not her REAL name but she's badass, she can hold her own, had killed many soldiers before without a worry, etcetc.

[rattlung]

writing for the first time since 2022. apologies in advance, i feel like i've forgotten like half of my vocabulary. what durgetash does to an mf.

anyway yeah. default durge gets gortash to eat a heart. i've never written in 2nd pov before and i don't really know why i did here glhf

-

the thing pulses wet and black in your hands. it's a hot weight between your palms and for a moment your eyes are caught on its slick-sleek sheen and how it glitters like the surface of the chionthar in the meek candlelight.

then your eyes are caught by someone else's. they glitter, too, blaze red from behind his lizard pupils. slices pulled apart by dilation, yawning wide with expectation.

the dark urge stood before you, little more than a body's length away. he's wearing gloves of gore that smear up passed his wrists and glean black and red like the heart he'd laid into your palms. he'd pulled it free from said body sprawled out between you. you recognize the face, even with its expression twisted as it is now; mouth pulled open, eyes wide and cold gazing up at the white dragonborn above it. one of the last remaining will-o'-the-wisps burning for the knights of the shield, a dying animal still trying to writhe in the sewers of the city. this one does not look horrified in death. you have seen this exact expression on faces of people who believe they're witnessing a miracle. in the glassy, coldness of his dead eyes, you can see the reflection of the dark urge still watching you.

you remember the first offering your bhaalspawn left at your feet. a patriar with too many enemies to implicate just one in her assassination. she was alive you found them; he had let you do the killing. by then he'd already believed you worthy, didn't have to test your mettle to murder. you'd realized then that he took joy in something like this, an exchange of power. it was not often he herded cattle for someone else to slaughter. he only did it for you, and you for him, so long as you were both there to watch.

and slaughter you did. you bled her, in bane's name.

and this was an alliance, after all. you'd made your promise to him, given your word as he gave you blood. you wanted to give him as much as you could. there was a slow panic that needed swelling. there were useless flies of the lower city that needed murdering. he was your favorite knife to bleed them with.

you fell into bed with your bhaalspawn because you had never met an equal until him. you became obsessed with him slowly over many nights and early mornings spent discussing, comparing, rectifying the past attempts at a plot like yours orchestrated by your predecessors. the disciple of murder is more learned than one might expect; it is not all blind brutality and succumbing to bloodletting urges. his rasping voice described to you rapture, and you just couldn't help yourself.

together you tested each other's boundaries. he made you offerings of your enemies, and in return you offered their deaths in ways you thought he'd like, as he so lovingly did for you.

on a night like this he once greeted you with a body freshly dead and its heart held out to you from the open palm of his hand.

you do as you did then, bring the heart up to your lips while the blood is still slick and before the meat of it goes stiff. even so, your teeth are not like his, too blunt to tear easily. you work at it like you do everything: until it gives.

blood seeps into your mouth before your teeth puncture the muscle but when it does, it gushes. the taste explodes there, coating your tongue and then the back of your throat when you swallow instinctually, your body naturally repulsed, wanting it gone immediately. the sensation sickens you, like ripping into citrus that's rot began at its center. the skin is tight over it, paper thin, but spills hot and spoiled liquid when pierced. wholly unpleasant, but still you puncture and then you tear. your hands grip hard at the heart. it compresses in your grip, sends more fluids spilling between your fingers and the meat threatens to slip from them if you're not careful.

you rip off what you can stomach, the rest squelching in your grasp. you can't swallow yet. your insides churn over and over on themselves, squeezing tight around the bile already there as if to refuse passage for the chunk of flesh between your teeth. this nausea has your mouth watering, diluting the syrup of blood and making it sticky-full, swimming. it's hot, your tongue convulses, your throat clenches, your nostrils flare. the taste fills them there, too.

you stop breathing. you force yourself to relax; you've hunched your shoulders, tensed your back. you let them slump, you straighten. this is not the first discomfort you've ever suffered. it's not even the worst you've had to weather. every hardship is a lesson. the first thing you ever took control of was yourself.

when you swallow, the experience is slick and smooth. you feel every minute shift. it sits heavy in your stomach and you breathe deeply around the feeling.

footsteps approach. you open your eyes - when had you closed them? the weak candlelight burns at you - in time to see the dark urge dipping his head down. he noses close to your panting mouth; you can feel his exhales against your face. there's wetness there, a mess of ichor that spreads from your lips and drools down to your neck.

a flash of ice blue, the dragonborn's tongue swipes at the corner of your mouth, presumably collecting that mess on the very tip. it streaks a slow and deliberate path from there to your cheekbone, a wet stripe. you don't come away any cleaner for it. you hold very still and treasure the closeness.

there's a rumbling, a deep lizard-like trill that vibrates the red stained scales along his throat. you place your hand over it to feel, and as the hum warms your skin you wish the handprint you're leaving behind wasn't that of blood. you wish it a deeper color, fingerprints of ink pressed around his windpipe. a black claim outside of him to match the bloody hot red one coating the inside of you.

as you did last time, you hold what remains of the mangled heart in one hand between the two of you. when the dark urge leans down again, it's to cup both his hands around yours. his hands are as cold as his breath, as his tongue, as the death that's coiling about your ankles like a fog over the body. he bows his head toward them and takes the entire heart into a mouth much more accustomed to rending flesh between its teeth.

you feel the gore on your face more now that a smile stretches your lips. you watch your bhaalspawn devour his share of your enemy's heart and wonder about the implications of this. why he shares this with you. what it means to bhaalists, to split a murder. if it means the same as a banite dividing power like you have for him. you flex the fingers around the dark urge's throat, thinking that it's only a matter of time before your lords take issue with your joining.

but you're quick to push that thought away, because unpunished it has gone and you will not take a gift from a god for granted. until the ire of bane shifts, you and the dark urge will continue to make temples of dark alleys and tavern basements. he will give you your share of sacrilege, and you will swallow it whole.

-

gort: what kind of bhaalist ritual am i taking part of, i wonder durge, who thinks eating a heart is hot and is making his buddy do it too: haha fuck yeah!! yes!!!

sorry this is paced weird, i was very excited to post something again. i didn't read through it very well so i wouldn't start hating it so if u caught on to any errors or read a sentence that made absolutely zero sense, shut up about it or i'll really do it this time (jk)

and i would be remiss not to mention this fic that is so mf good that it broke me out of a near 2 year writing slump and inspired me to do this stupid shit(sorry to the author for implicating u in this). it's THE default durge/gort pre lobotomy fic and i have not stopped thinking abt it since i read it. if u got thru my shitty little thing and thot it was bearable, go and read this fic bcuz it's going to rock ur cock clean off

(gort is ooc here bcuz it's almost like 1k or over and he doesn't say a fucking thing.)

[neonstatic]

my given name and i have an interesting relationship. well, first off, i don't like. i dislike it, even. there's no doubt abt that. i've disliked it long before i understood i was nonbinary. it's just not a good name to me. i don't like the way it feels and tastes in my mouth. i don't like how it sounds out of people's mouths. no one has ever managed to say it in a way that makes it sound appealing. it's not a name you can sigh dreamily nor moan erotically. i mean, you can try, but however good you might sound, I'll be too distracted by the name itself. (i think i've learned to speak so delicately bc i've subconsciously wanted to sell my name as best as possible. yes, that is my name, it does kinda suck, but don't i say it so nicely?)

compare this to my sisters' names. they have sweet, feminine names that end in the letter a, and if you put all their names next to each other, you notice a certain motif. they just fit like a bouquet.

i feel like you can tell from my name alone that i'm the last child; they were running out of fkg ideas to follow the motif, so much so that they entirely dropped it! they couldn't even make my name end in an a!

i've never liked my name, always felt a little ashamed when meeting ppl bc i knew i'd have to introduce myself and see the split-second look in their eyes when they process and register (with difficulty) my painfully geriatric yet forgettable name. and it sounds so, so much worse in english.

egg or chicken? i think my name might've made me trans -- no, pls, let me elaborate: my name sounds like a typical old name, but spelled differently and thus pronounced differently, with none of the elegance and not even an a at the end. "oh, ray, why are you so obsessed w the a at the end?" bc i grew up surrounded by girls with pretty names that ends in a! and i was a little "girl" w an unpretty name that did not end in a! i legit had a complex abt that jabfjab everyone is aisha and christina and sarah and mona and then you got this mf whose name reminds you of a four-eyed mole in a tutu.

(in middle school, we had to write a story, and i named my protagonist, a 12yo girl, wayne. "that's not a girl's name," my teacher told me. "yes, it is." i said. and that was that.)

(i named that little girl after my favourite rapper at the time... y'all figure it out ✌🏾)

i've wanted to change my name long before i understood my gender. i had the spare thought that one day, maybe, i'd grow into it. i didn't like having and showing tits until literally two years ago. i think the chest tat helped. (frankly, most days i still don't. moving boobily is humiliating esp when you're a fast walker.) i've yet to grow into my given name. don't think i ever will. i rly dislike it. i'm no longer used to it either. i've changed my name at work and made so many new friends who know me as ray, and even my closest friends call me ray most of the time (or juno if they feel a lil frisky). and now i feel good introducing myself.

not only that, but i also experience ppl having fun w my name! nothing big, rly, but i do not have enough fingers to count the amount of ppl who make analogies abt the sun, the stars, or light in general. it's mostly silliness, i know, but i can't help feeling like others see that my name makes sense for me too. ray is a name that fits me. and i love it! yes, everyone does the "ray of sunshine" thing but it never gets old! never, do you hear me?! it's the best thing in the world to me!!!

(still, there are two things i like abt my given name... first, it's a callback to my parents' names. my dad also has a very interesting name but i'd rather have his than mine. another name better exprienced in french. second, my mom and i share a nickname. i found out when i was a teen and a relative called out my family nickname (or, well, one of two), only for my mom to respond. i love love love nicknames, bc that is what made me discover my chosen name. and i love that my mom and i share a nickname. it feels sentimental to me. idk how to explain it. i esp love when we use it for each other in casual. it's fun and lovely.)

[perceremade]

can you infodump about valk for me :3

GWAAH HI AGAIN FREDDY!!! I love when you enable me. If there's any specific aspect of valkyrie you want me to go into, we can totally dm and have fun with that...! ( ；ω；) I already do it all the time since there's so much to go off about I have so many thoughts on varied subjects... I was just about to post about valkyrie and switch and how cut from the same cloth I see them as for the 100th time but that is not a general overview of valkyrie as a unit... ahh....

I often think about things like... ex-valkyrie's current era relationship and the entirety of valkyrie history from the moment mika laid his eyes on shu as a child, their school years till graduation till now. The nature of shmk's relationship and the beauty that lies in the grotesque of even their darkest era, the beautiful future they're now residing in... the art and literature references and metaphors used in the unit's lore and stories and lyrics (and mvs when it comes to acanthe...) they put so much thought into it and it's so fuck. valkyrie's ties to mythology specifically norse and greek in more ways than just their unit's name given by nito & that in itself is already crazy like shu being compared to certain figures such as the virgin goddess, astraea, tied to innocense which is so personal due to shu's relationship with the concept of purity. and then there's the topic of shu's relationship to sexuality which is also something I could ramble about for hours on end even if it is perhaps an odd subject to some I don't mean it in a weird way but how it ties to, like, his relationship with humanity as well as just generally being an odd freak about it. Which Mika is too, in a totally opposite way. Also note how it's always female figures with Shu, since all valkyries are female as is Astraea, I wonder why! (I know why.) Speaking of Shu's gender I also think a lot about Mika's too even if his isn't a massive part of him comparatively but some things just, are like... oh, so you're transgender aren't you, like his disorders or his views on his name, etc... It's actually obscene. I mostly think of Shu even here I mostly mentioned him I'm sorry what astraea's atelier does to a mf but I am equally as insane over mika and Ive poked and prodded at his brain it makes me a little crazy. I'm obsessed with his everything like his mentality and how unwilling to change their dynamic he was when things began to shift, relapsing despite his best efforts at first, his upbringing in the orphanage and how it ties into things like his relationship with nito or how he always pushed himself to the brim especially during basic, his eating habits, what art means to him... also how precious it is that through their art he wants to connect to & inspire children...! The differences between how he and shu perceive love. Shu and mika's perspectives on life and death. His journey of having his own self and managing to stay by his side even if no longer being puppeted. Have been thinking a lot about mika & nito, too, mostly things along the lines of what I'd said here already... also look at valkyrie's relationship charts

Um. There is way more valkyrie is an endless source of insanity for me. But I can't mention everything here, plus, I am in school... anyways. The current event is making me evil for so many beautiful reasons though I could cry like oh my goodness they love and need each other the choreography shows how they've finally reached each other embraced each other reached that higher understanding shu so badly craved touched on stage and sealed the gap akin to how in the last valkyrie event at the end of the music video mika is seen going from kneeling to standing right beside him the things their outfits reflect when it comes to shu and his femininity but even mika if interpreted as a mix of both of their styles, the darkness of mika's designs and the love for frills Shu has... the crescendo in the song oh my goodness... 😵‍💫😭 OH MY GOODNESS!!! VALKYRIE!!! To me they are still crazy and codependent but like in a beautiful way that doesnt involve truly harming ones self or the otherand Ithink tjats beautofil.

Don't even get perce started with valkyrie and how they all interpret the act of simply being alive itself. While I sometimes miss their old evil ways in ! era, and the way things were explored in stories like victoria, mostly just due to how things were presented then, in comparison to now etc... the current world they live in is so so full of love and light. It's so special I could die.