#yes his lore is incredibly non-canon

[grease-weasel]

[oakskull]

I wanna see your pony moshang 🥺🤲

ask and you shall receive!!

my drawings do come with worldbuilding rambling, terribly sorry (not sorry at all)

Side note: "windigos" are creatures in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (FiM) and I am using them here, but I am changing the name to frost spirits and changing some of their behavior, they look the same.

Design Notes:

SQH has ink stains on his mouth because non magic users write like that. He was a unicorn pre-transmigration and mourns his loss of unicorn magic and technology regularly. The world he transmigrated from is like the far future of FiM, with modern technology and the internet. (not the latest gen, I honestly remember jackshit about the lore in that movie...)

I've seen Earth pony SQH and I get the appeal. But here me out: Pony maigu ridge needs Qinghua to fly! And he's literally a flight risk!

His cutie mark is a brush and a paper airplane, because its his pen name (get it?). PIDW (mlp ver) has a level of technology more similar to SVSSS, but instead of flying swords there's trains. Im taking away xianxia flying swords and giving you trains. Ponies on swords just look too silly! they'd be unstable! (not that this whole AU isnt very silly >w<)

The Northern Kingdom in this au would be the Crystal Empire equivalent, except there is no crystal heart. The Northern desert is kept in a perpetual blizzard by the frost spirits (there is a barrier against storms around the capital created by the northern kings, redone as part of the ascension ritual but otherwise free standing) Instead of love and light protecting the kingdom, the crystal ponies use the power of incredible violence to keep the umbrums at bay.

Additionally, the crystal ponies of PIDW (mlp ver) are physically stronger, have higher base levels of magic, and are generally more cold resistant, due to living near the frost spirits for so long. They are still flesh creatures; the crystal skin is more of a replacement for their coat rather than the skin itself. Crystal ponies are also hypercarnivores, whilst regular ponies are omnivores (this isn't FiM also the horses are magic. they have basically human diets)

I also couldn't decide on a coat color for MBJ so there's two versions. I'm leaning towards the white fur for contrast reasons. And yes, I Did forget to render the crystal part of crystal pony on MBJ, thank you for noticing (lmao)

MBJ's cutiemark is the flag for the crystal empire, because he's part crystal pony, he still has a cutiemark, but all direct descendants have the same cutie mark after they absorb their ancestors power. Before this, they do not have cutiemarks, and gaining a different cutiemark means the frost spirits didn't acknowledge them as a potential decendant, and they can no longer become king.

Pre-Asension Mobei-Jun:

In PIDW (mlp ver) MBJ is a crystal pony decendant of the frost spirits which keep the Northern Desert perpetually cold. They gave the first northern king their power in the war against the umbrums (the things that made King Sombra in FiM). There's no friendship fire to chase away the frost spirits because this is PIDW (mlp ver) it's a stallion novel (pun intended); Instead, the frost spirits are sated by the constant war. There was an umbrum unicorn created to infiltrate the Crystal Empire like in FiM but they just became a regular pony instead of trying to take over and basically just created a new clan of ponies with shadow powers. MBJ's mother was part of this clan, and the abyssal shadow pony ancestry cobined with his frost spirit ancenstry gives him the ability to shadow step/ teleport through the shadows.

MBJ didn't get his pretty hair until he absorbed his ansestors power, which works similar to SVSSS canon. The previous northern kings die and pass on their power to the next generation because they are technically still frost spirits, and not really alive in the same way that regular ponies are.

SQH in an MLP style coat:

Ponies in FiM don't really... wear pants, even when it's cold. In Airplane's world they definately wore pants, and SQH will never go back (like the opposite of SVSSS LOL). In PIDW (mlp ver) ponies don't wear pants for bad porn reasons, Airplane justifies this by pulling the history card (peerless cucumber is not impressed)

Also! you can see SQH's mane better because its profile view, he's not a crystal pony, but he wheres the crystal pony hair bands as an homage to a bun without me actually having to give him one. Because ponies have ears on their head it always feels to me that a bun takes up too much visual space, thus, fancy hair bands.

Moshang flirting:

SQH can dish out flattery all day but he absolutely does Not know what to do when MBJ returns the favour (lol)

Alicorn Shang Qinghua:

In PIDW (mlp ver) I like to imagine that Airplane cut out alicorns because acending through nice things like friendship and love did not fit the vibe. Alicorns were instead like, the old gods who controled elemental stuff, like Celestia and Luna (renamed in PIDW (mlp ver)). Ponies don't control the weather or sun and moon and have less inate magic (earth pony magic, pegasus magic, and unicorn magic), instead, all the alicorns dispersed into spiritual energy that controls the elements and weather and stuff. Ponies cultivate this spiritual energy to gain a golden core of their inate energy, and eventually immortality, but they don't get the trappings of an alicorn.

So, like there aren't really any gods in SVSSS, there aren't any (living) alicorns in PIDW (mlp ver) they're more like myths than anything, and reside in the heavenly realm. I won't be getting into this AUs binghe/ heavenly demon equivalent because this is a moshang post, but Heavenly Demons are changling royalty, which have their FiM powerset on steroids and are sort of corrupted alicorns.

So alicorn SQH is bascially this AUs equivalent of God!SQH. It's not nessisarily canon to the AU but this mostly exists for me and I really like God!SQH so it basically is. Schrödinger's canon.

("Small Matters" style is a reference to the series by Coffeetailor on Ao3)

[shalomniscient]

You don't have to post this if you don't wanna but thinking of how Sara would've suffered in Inazuma's very unequal society is doing things to my psyche.

Warning: this is LONG. Still hope you enjoy, your Kujou Sara takes keep me alive lol.

She's a Tengu. Immediately, she's going to be deumanised to some extent by swathes of people; yes, while it was mostly mentioned that Oni are historically discriminated against, the Youkai and humans are incredibly divided in modern Inazuma as is. A street orphan like Sara, someone not confirmed (yet?) to originate from a major wealthy Tengu clan/tribe like the Yougou Tengu would also lack any privilege by birth that would quell any outward discrimination, also considering how she was literally a homeless child living in the woods alone, parentless, and was chased off a cliff my monsters. Theoretically, if they discriminate against other species of Youkai like tanuki, then I don't doubt they'd stop at some random "unruly" Tengu kid. Also add in the way Yae Miko treats her canonically and in lore and yeah...

Sexism; people like to avoid this topic a lot but Inazuman society, especially the Tenryou Comission, is especially divided by sex. Yes, Sara was mistaken as a boy by the military as a kid, but growing up would have undoubtedly been isolating, especially as a non-human girl/woman. Plus, unlike Fontaine, Mondstadt, Sumeru, and Natlan, we see 0 female warriors outside of her; all the soldier NPCs are male. Even though Japan historically had female warriors, a vast majority in samurai families were heavily restricted to marriage and women were still seen as lesser than men. Accounting for the nuance of Sara not being human, it's also that she was possibly dehumanised to the point of not being seen as a girl at all, hence why she was raised as a weapon and exploited in this way. There is also a male NPC in tenshukaku who mockingly calls her "useless". Yes, Ei is the Shogun, but even Takayuki himself confirms he doesn't see her as a woman but only as a god - I'm probably reaching here, but even if a nation's leader was female, they often reinforced sexist values through the system; add in the whole concept of eternity and it's slightly ominous. Add in the whole gender-based clan inheritance thing and yeah...

Being raised as a weapon who wasn't allowed friends. This is pretty self-explanatory but comparing her to everyone else in Inazuma this hurts my heart, and the only person who ever acknowledges this is Ayato of all people; Miko had a hand to play in Sara's upbringing, and Sara's "daddy Tengu" (as Miko calls him) is fuck knows where and she's probably never had anybody to protect her out of love.

Probable disconnect from heritage. Unlike Itto who at least knew his parents enough to be aware of Oni culture and folktales, and Miko who lived lovingly among them, Sara only has her fan, Tengu Archery (debatable if this is even fully historical Tengu archery as in the art form) and her natural abilities and mask. Tanuki have their own language, and it's not importable that Tengu also have their own. Sara is also shown, in a description in one of her talents, to have "departed from her people, the Tengu, long ago". How does Yoimiya have the "Thundering Pulse", a bow originally forged by the Shogun for the Great Tengu Reizenbou and passed down to her human servant Takamine, while Sara gets... nothing? She wasn't even in the Youkai event. She's mentioned, sure, but what are her opinions on her heritage? Who taught her how to take care of her wings? Does she know any Tengu magic? Etc. etc.

Apologies for how long that was. Feel free to ignore this if you wanna, but I just needed to get my thoughts out.

-🐗 (if I ever come back, this is me. Just lmk if you don't want me to).

sorry for taking a while to reply but since i think you’ve landed in my inbox again (to which i welcome you and any and all kjsr asks) i’ll answer this one first. YES omg this is such a good analysis especially your second point; i had my own suspicions about inazuma’s sexism but i’ve seen net zero information about it in any discussions of inazuma so i thought i was just seeing shit akxbdjjshf but i’m glad to know someone else has also picked up on that little oddity! anyway, circling back to the last line of your first point…

i wanna preface this by saying i love yae miko. i have her c0r1, friendship 10, her talents are almost maxed. i ADORE her—but at the same time i definitely believe she was to some extent complacent in sara’s abuse as a child. realistically there’s no way she wouldn’t know about it; she’s essentially the shogun’s left hand woman. i doubt there’s anything that goes on in inazuma city she doesn’t know about, and i doubt her hands are tied this badly when it comes to doing something about it, since takayuki is the shogun’s no. 1 glazer and miko is practically the shogun’s voice. this does raise an interesting character point about miko’s own morality, which i personally think is very ei-centric. it’s very gay and a little fucked up of her and i love it as a character trait (non-human morality in a non-human character/dilemma of is humanity learned or ingrained?) HOWEVER it does make her (in my hc and interpretation) a bystander to sara’s abuse for which i do have some conflicted feelings about lmao

i agree with your last two points as well, wholeheartedly. although for ‘signature’ weapons i do try not to take them as character canon unless the character themself is mentioned in the weapon’s lore, like how the shogun is mentioned in the lore of engulfing. it would be cool if sara was the owner of thundering pulse though, i will admit. i’ve talked about some of the things you mentioned in some previous asks so i won’t rehash it here for the sake of not soundlike a broken record skchdjdh but rest assured i do the long ask, 🐗 anon! i enjoyed reading it :)

[flos-obsessivus]

Would Ivory turn us into a vampire too?? If he would, how?

Great question! If you were human, yes he would! He turned into a vampire through a 'glamour' spell which was actually a transformation spell, but he didn't care as long as he became the most beautiful in all of the land, and vampires are thought to have that otherworldly beauty. He would use that same spell to turn you into a vampire, or perhaps a thrall, another vampire type that is created through the consumption of a vampire's blood. Though in that case, you became a servant of his, for him to command and adore.

However canonically (or as canon as the role that I, the storyteller gave to the MC) it's impossible to turn an already non-human into another non-human. In canon lore, YOU are the magic mirror turned human/humanoid due to Severin breaking the curse that caused you to get stuck there in the first place, whether you are originally human or some kind of deity will depend on you. That's why canon MC is incredibly attached to Severin and promised to serve him only.

[pixiecaps]

i hope you're already asleep it's so late for you but on the topic of the finale ending honestly i understand why people are so upset by it, i think it royally sucks, but imo it was created entirely because they really needed some way to wrap things up and i think almost everyone would agree that it shouldn't have and wouldn't have ended that way had things been different and had the server not needed to end so abruptly.

like idk you KNOW i'm a canon compliant guy but for this thing specifically i genuinely don't consider it canon and think it should fully be ignored, and i think basically everyone involved would be fine with that. also honestly in my mind everything purgatory and after is non-canonical in that it shouldn't have happened either and the reset is definitely not canon so that makes it easier for me to ignore it completely. i think what players and admins stated about their characters is canonical within reason and otherwise i don't think any of it matters all that much because of how the server ended. like to me i know the reality is that that is how it ended and we don't have any other ending to go off of but because of the circumstances there's just no way i could consider it canon and i already spend all my time dreaming up ways to rewrite all the shit that happened before then, nevermind a garbage hastily written ending that only wrapped up one plot thread (the eggs) and didn't even do that correctly (it completely retconned so much about the eggs and i know a lot of lore got retconned and changed over time but it's particularly agregious).

idk where i'm going with this insane rant in your inbox i really don't i just wanted to give my thoughts on that ending and how i take it as a fandom creator because i often see people treating it like it was a legitimate ending even though they hated it and i'm like this is fandom!!! we can ignore it entirely!!! in fact many characters' endings explicitly defy that ending, that was just the way to wrap up the idea of the egg event in some way that made sense. i totally get people being upset by it, i was too, but i was also upset by the previous. five months? of stuff so i kind of can't be bothered to be annoyed by this particular thing.

again this is nonsensical i'm just saying i think we should all ignore it and i've been saying that since the day of bc it was just so obviously not the kind of ending that would've been written under different circumstances. let's all make up better endings forever and ever amen.

anyway hi pix if you're reading this in the morning i hope you got beautiful sleep and dreamt of snoopy and roier all night

hiii 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 i was in fact asleep by the time you sent this:3

that was another point i discussed with someone els where yeah it sucked because they had to wrap it up and “tie everything together” so i agree on that. everything with the qsmp ending wouldve been different under different circumstances.

you’re incredibly real for not considering canon up to a certain point where everything got messy. i think since we’re both very canon compliant people you can understand where im coming from with that frustration and being irked by how everything played out. it was going so well and then 📉📉📉. and heres the thing you know how much i love purgatory okay cause i do but god its truly one of those events where it shouldve been explicitly uncanon i feeeeel. so much of the lore it introduced and everything clashed with everything we had already established and not informing the creators of anything was such a poor choice. but anyways you already know the whole rant.

i do appreciate the reminder of its fandom who cares. i live by that i just get Even More emotional when sleep deprived and was like wow fuck everything and this stupid fucking ending so thats why i made those posts kkkkkkkk. but ye GOOD REMINDERS ITS FANDOM ENDINGS ARE OPEN TO REWRITES AND OUR OWN INTERPRETATIONS!!!!!!!

i did get beautiful sleep ty bell<3333 i hope you got beautiful sleep as well<3333

[go-go-devil]

top 5 soulsborne NPCs... OTHER than patches. and top 5 games you hope to play next year!

Honestly I can't answer the second one since my autism is too unpredictable with when it allows me to actually sit down and play a new game, but I've got PLENTY of soulsborne npcs I'd love to gush about (besides the legend himself) so let's get to it!

Solaire:

May as well get the obvious out of the way lol. There's honestly SO MUCH going on with Solaire's character and motivations that goes far beyond the reasons he's usually so beloved. Yes, he's a genuine ray of sunshine willing to go out of his way to help us in such a desolate, cruel world, has a extremely pleasing/memorable design + wonderful voice acting, and is canonically bisexual. Obviously there's a lot to love from all of his surface level interactions.

...But he's also far more complex than simply being a nice person! He's a regular human devoting himself to an impossible mission solely for his own sake, and his doubts and desperation over it hits me so hard, especially in his regular ending T_T. I always found this quest to find his sun to be a metaphor for self-discovery as a means of fighting back against depression. I think Solaire knows fully well how terrible this dying world has become and has possibly even lived a bad life considering how happy he was to become undead and travel to Lordran, using his quest as a means of staving off the dread in his soul before it turns toward any suicidal inclinations.

No I'm not being edgy. I truly think all of this is intentional to his character, much like how I think the entirety of DS1's view on hollowing is a metaphor for depression and/or barring oneself from the world vs. actively opening up to it. That's why it's so important to support our grossly incandescent friend and Praise the Sun! ☀️

Griggs & Laurentius:

Decided to put them together since they're both very similar characters in my eyes.

I've found (on this site at least) that these two are often overlooked compared to most other DS1 characters, and honestly that's a damn shame since they've got so much to offer outside of their very useful magic teachings. For starters they're both sad, pathetic men who immediately love you for saving them from their own embarrassing predicaments which I think more games need for their male npcs lol. In all seriousness though, I always felt the game did a great job giving them so much character in each of their interactions; both in how close they grow to you and in how much they care about their respective crafts of magic. The pair also have similarly sad stories regarding what they lack, with Griggs's incredibly low sense of self-worth when he compares himself to Logan and Laurentius having always been an outcast even in his own community.

What I'm saying is that they're both much deeper (and also more tragic) characters than I feel they're given credit for, and I wish the rest of fandom would talk more about them.

Mephistopheles:

Sometimes a character doesn't have to be super deep for me to love them. Sometimes they can simply be an incredibly evil woman with a deep voice and great design who manipulates you until finally betraying you when you least expect it. 🐍⚜️🖤

With Mephistopheles I can actually understand why not too many soulsborne fans talk about her since she's probably the most obscure character in the entirety of Demon's Souls: one who requires you to have a pure black character tendency (which requires you killing non-hostile npcs to get) in order to even see her. As of now I haven't had the guts to try her questline yet, but I do plan on it trying it for my next DeS playthrough because holy hell is she hot- uh, I mean really a interesting character! Even though I said earlier I don't think she's as deep as several other npcs in the game, she's still a character with a lot of juicy lore surrounding the organization she runs and her choice of manipulating people into killing her targets instead of getting her hands dirty herself.

Also I fucking hate her Remake design oh my god it's so fucking bad I just wanna throw up everywhere what the fuck were they thinking T_T

Lucatiel:

My favorite character from DS2 (with Straid and Ornifex following very close behind), and of course she's basically just that game's Solaire equivalent with a gender bending design. My tastes are so predictable lol.

Besides her INCREDIBLE design and amazing voice acting, I feel out of all the npcs she does the best job at conveying this game's theme of connecting hollowing to identity. She comes into this land with so little regard for herself and already suffering early memory loss from the slow hollowing she's going through, and but unlike the other npcs (who are actually affected by the curse in any way) we have the chance to save her through our cooperation and going out of our way to engage with and get to know her. In this sense I see her as the reverse of Solaire's quest and honestly wish future soulsborne characters played around with the series' character tropes as well as she did.

Also she's trans. It's canon and I accept no criticism for saying this ;-)

Greirat:

I haven't finished DS3 yet but oh my soul do I love this little thieving rat man so much <3<3<3

I'm almost too afraid to say more yet since I haven't finished his questline and thus technically haven't fully absorbed him as a character yet. So far though he's done so much to endear me to him! His questline with the blue tearstone ring and overall connection to the Undead Settlement gets me soooooo emotional, as does his withered voice and charming demeanor despite all the horrors he's had inflicted on him and his few loved ones.

And of course that's not even getting into how a certain other npc interacts with him during his questline, but I cannot say any more since you specified not to mention him this time despite how much it PAINS me not to. All I'll say is that I am beyond disappointed in most of this fandom for sleeping on these two characters' relationship with each other -_-

[celestialplaytime]

Welcome to Celestial Playtime — !!! Created by @hickapostsart and @hostfulchaos — !!!

This is the official update / ask blog for Celestial Playtime — !!! A Doctor Who and Poppy Playtime crossover au — !!!

Basics

The creator of the factory the Celestial Toymaker watches as a very twisted version of the Doctor, Doctor John Smith … a incredibly intelligent and quite obviously non-human scientist conduct heinous experiments — !!! ( This is before his numbered regeneration cycle so yes timeless children is canon in this au cry about it ) …

After 8 incarnations perfectly normal he finds his way back to the broken down factory. Curious and not remembering his part in things he decides to investigate bringing us to the beginning of our story … the story of the Amnesia Doctor —

Other info

The toys and most of the canon characters are “mostly” the same. This is mostly a retelling of the games story through a more science fiction take — !!!

Yes there is time travel and aliens in this … if that isn’t your cup of tea feel free to leave this blog — !!!

Where will the story commence?

The story will be told through a fan fiction, illustrations, and this ask blog — !!!

Character references will be posted as we get them done don’t rush us — !!!

Characters available to ask?

Cyrus Gearlocke || UnVale Page

Doctor John Smith || UnVale Page

( Also feel free to ask questions to the creators for out of character lore and story answers )

Link Directory

UnVale World - For world info

Tapas - Fanfiction

WattPad - Fanfiction

AO3 - Fanfiction

[quitedisastrous]

opening up the microwave :Cat_Boom_Explode: mystery guy lore time backstory: -- was one of those cats with an obsession of being loyal to your clan and clan leader and how power is directly equated to your worth -- was a horrible mentor. now, he was great at making apprentices into formidable warriors, but he also forced his ideas of power and loyalty onto them along with the mentality that they were worthless if they weren't powerful enough -- was incredibly cruel to anyone (though it was more of a paced out psychological way than anything loud or outright violent--though he knew he could get away with more when it came to cats he was teaching) who challenged his ideals, no matter age or position, unless they were someone that he felt he NEEDED to be on decent terms with--such as cats in high ranking positions like leader and deputy -- completely despises non-clan cats. the only thing he hates more is seeing one get accepted into a clan -- (probably killed or tried to kill his leader or deputy to move himself higher in the ranks. it would fit, but i'm not sure. that thought's still in the microwave) -- was eventually killed by several queens. good riddance currently: -- dead, with a habit of wandering. he refuses to say where exactly he should be residing--though if asked if he's a starclan cat, he says yes. -- absolutely hates milkwail. just completely despises her. pretty much only shows up to her because she looks like an easy target, and stands for everything he hates, at that. (former kittypet that joined the clan, completely unskilled when it comes to fighting and hunting, "fat and lazy", thinks dying for your clan is stupid, etc) -- he'll show up for other cats on occasion too, though, albeit as a distant shadow taunting them . . . or as a 'starclan' cat offering advice and promises of some sort of great destiny if they look like they'd be the type of cat to believe it. (in both cases, it's often with the end goal to destroy things that he finds ideologically repulsive to replace it with something he finds to be more correct -- hm. i don't recall canon warriors lore but i will simply ignore that. he can possess cats that are too weak to fight him off, however he is still limited by said cat's weaknesses -- a little too obsessed with having a presentable, fear-inducing entrance. he will usually only show up to a cat in very dark areas (such as during the night) or when they are casting a tall shadow (such as within a den during dawn or dusk) -- (not sure if this is gonna be in the case of possession or in the case of his presentable entrance, but i think it would be interesting to him to take the form of other cats, albeit with red pupils and a complete inability to fully copy their mannerisms) in conclusion, uh. do not listen to him and his lies. and point highkit directly at your shadow if he's getting particularly annoying

[soltiana]

tristamp ep 11 ramble

I almost forgot that if I had longform (IF INCOHERENT) thoughts about something I could just...blog about them?? i'm still getting used to having this power again. cut for spoilers of course, this ep was so fucked (positive). I have thoughts/hopes for the finale too but I'll keep those to myself so I don't get hooked on them lol whatever will be will be.

meryl and wolfwood exchange pretty standard pleasantries. it's obvious ww is going to come back to try to help vash despite his contract. i still think his chances of making it out alive are pretty good, but i guess we'll find out.

then we're directly thrown into the pussy juice tank. like. last week the episode ended on knives throwing vash into what looked like an oversized version of a plant bulb container, so I was like haha he threw him into the pussy juice funny :) but tristamp pointed directly at me and was like this person knows exactly what we're doing here. what a smart person. yes. the entire tank is pussy juice and it's FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH KNIVES' EGGS. there are plant "buds" everywhere, following up on conrad's discussion last week about how knives has been "helping" him create the perfect living creatures, like himself, but the conclusion they had both come to is that knives' offspring were missing an ingredient, what humans call a soul. the new plant lore dropping is that while humans originally created plants they don't quite understand where their powers come from, other than a "higher source" (god).

tesla vash and knives are what conrad and other plant scientists call "independents" because they have:

souls (from the higher power, presumably)

wills of their own

biological non-independent plant mothers (who died giving birth to them)

and, according to conrad's analytics, while knives "gate" is receptive to the higher power from god, vash's "gate" can not only receive but transmit this higher power (souls) as well. in other words vash is. just. chock full of sperm. he's a humanoid vector for getting other creatures god pregnant, so since they couldn't air vash literally fucking knives pregnant, they settled for him inseminating knives' dozens of pre-laid eggs like a horrifyingly beautiful deep sea nature documentary.

so to get back to the meat of the episode, knives connects his body to vash by stabbing into him with his chains of knife tentacles, and immediately after losing his senses from this black roots begin to grow out of the points the two brothers are connected. the roots seek out each of the eggs, and glowing energy begins to transfer, through knives' manipulation, from vash into each of the eggs.

then we take a trip inside of the twins shared headspace and watch knives brainwash vash one memory at a time, erasing his past for him so that he can be wiped completely blank. when this process reaches a critical point, vash's external body starts reacting defensively - this part is speculation but i think he senses that knives is seeking his memories of rem, and starts instinctively re-creating her before it even happens. so new roots start to grow, this time straight down, following vash's will instead of his brother's, and through the rest of the episode this set of roots expands and becomes a monstrously enormous tree literally in the shape of rem, covered in bio-luminescent blue geraniums.

this is also the moment where instead of knives seeking vash's memories, vash begins visiting knives' instead. vash begins appearing both in memory form as well as his current dream self, which implies a subtle growing grip that vash has on the situation, despite being at 90% synchronization physically. so it's vash who starts entering doors in the ship that leads to knives' memories, beautifully complimented by the fact that the next one he accesses is him solving a problem knives can't figure out on his own. we get our tesla reveal moment and it's fucking incredible.

birthday confirmed canon july 21 happy birthday boys. it also says they were born in the year 2455 so let's just hang in there a couple hundred more years and say hi to them.

vash looks into another door that rings with mechanical sounds, but when he tries to enter it knives takes him instead to the rec room, where they both seem to be recovering from their discovery of tesla. the mechanical door memory is skipped, either for vash, the viewer, or both. in a reversal of their manga conversations where knives is more manipulative and vash is more depressive, knives despairs of human wrongdoing while vash urges knives to have faith in humanity's ability to change. knives interprets this to mean that vash, who has no powers of his own, feels the need to bow to human might and expectation out of self preservation, and makes up his mind to eradicate them so he doesn't have to. adult knives appears in the memory he's curated to explain this, and to tell vash once again that the fall was his fault, since knives did it all for him, to protect his vulnerable twin from human cruelty.

this is the point of mind break for vash, and knives, taking advantage of that vulnerability, becomes empowered and moves in to finally remove rem from vash's memories. symbolically, as soon as he does, vash's red coat carbonates, and knives synchronization (the tristamp version of melding from the manga) reaches 100%. with no memories left to access, we return to knives in the physical world, quietly elated, wishing his brother a happy birthday since believes he has literally re-made him in his own (rem-free) image. while knives and his plant eggs all give off light in the pussy juice tank, no part of vash is glowing anymore, he only reflects light.

then (through vash's power) knives opens the final pussy, the opening to the higher plane where plant power is drawn from. this is the moment that vash's mega-rem geraniums begin to bloom as well. and the plant eggs, still attached to vash's insemination roots, open, revealing non-independent female plants that are connected to vash via their enormously swollen pregnant bellies.

conrad is revealed to be dying, a hostage knives took as an adolescent to fulfill his wishes. this is not news but it is sexy. the knives conrad relationship in tristamp is weird and really good. knives finally disconnects from vash, leaving his motionless shell behind in the pussy juice tank as he crosses through the gate vash opened for him. all the while, vash's giant rem tree is growing, literally suffocating the entire city of july and killing or driving its people to flee. at the moment that knives seems about to make contact with the core he believes to be the source of their power, vash's tree rem fully takes form, and blooms.

[affablyevilshowdown]

Ok so lore is happening now (highly inspired by @white-boy-bracket bc I love them and everything that's happening over there). This won't be on their level cause I don't have a plot or a mystery but I've already planned out too much to not share.

If you don't want to see lore just blacklist Affably Evil Lore

-----

So, Alex from S and D tier is the ultimate supervillian and their power is yes. They were contacted by a dragon and the over excitable elf he's possessing (Virid and Kitri, my OCs). Kitri had this fantastic idea to have a villain convention where evil people from thousands of alternate universes could meet, swap stories, network and-

"Fight to the death!"

"No, Alex." Virid interrupts. He had been against this plan, knowing Kitri is mostly immortal but not immortal enough to survive the reality-warper if things went poorly. "We could all easily figure out who could beat whom in a physical fight, and you would win."

"It would be far more interesting to win a different competition," Kitri speaks again. "A popularity contest where the voters all have traditional morality yet love us anyway." There's an odd wistful tone to his voice that Virid immediately stomps out.

"And the best part, it wouldn't be canon." Virid says, baiting the trap.

"It isn't canon? It's not canon?" Alex chokes out, sounding like he was just run over by a truck.

"But my elf had an idea so here it is anyway" Virid finishes. These lovesick fools, so easy. (Kitri silently ponders how unfair it is that you can't glare at someone who lives in your head)

----------

So Alex creates a neutral non-canon convention space and summons thousands of villains at random (each with a plus one)

There are Laws set in place. Not laws like don't murder, no one here would respect arbitrary rules. Like gravity rules 98.6% of realities, here the Laws are:

First Law of VillainCon is don't talk about VillainCon

Every one must return to the dimension they came from at the exact moment they left

Complaints will be settled with additional time in the ball pit.

It's Not Canon (except for the wizard, the wizard IS canon)

Death is not permanent.

--------

Other details:

Taako the wizard is here. (I've never listened to Adventure Zone but someone once paid one of the McElroy brother's to say "Vriska did nothing wrong" in his character's voice and that lives in my head rent free). So Taako has a booth and gives some contestants (like HAL9000 and Jevil) gold star pins that say they did nothing wrong. These pins are the only things that can materially change people's lives once they return to their universe and it grants them a wish (but Taako decides the wish)

Ex. One contestant had been pulled out of his world right after he died and his pin allows him to stay resurrected once he's sent back.

-------

Basically I was thinking about the Bibi/Claire round bc when I was setting up the match I thought "mwa ha ha no matter who wins I'll be happy >:3" and that was true but the flip side is no matter who loses I'm going to be devastated. And then a part of me whispered "if you were an artist you could draw Amy and Chane being emotional support" and another part of me was halfway through writing a fic where those 2 bonded and now its a whole thing.

The joke about VillainCon not being canon is that Alex is helplessly in love with their roommate Morgan and in non-canon content, Alex and Morgan have explicitly romantic interactions.

Please ask me questions about Kitri, most of the content I write will be about the contestants and their plus ones but Kitri is my boy and both he and the dragon soul that lives in his brain are Affably Evil.

Yes this is incredibly self indulgent, I'm not sorry.

I only have 3-4 things planned so far but if anyone has ideas come talk to me!!

[esperanta-dragon]

Hi, I hope you are doing well! I recently read a piece of lore that described how to destroy a lich Ras Frostwhisper, and this meant returning mortality to him. Perhaps you know this chain of quests, but if not, it was necessary to find a memorable object associated with the life of the undead, a kind of anchor, fill it with power, at the place where a person died and a lich was born, and use it on it. This process somehow gave the soul the right connection with the body, and the lich became a man. It struck me that this is possible. My questions to you are, do you think this is possible for dk? Is the vampiric blade of the death knight a kind of phylactery for the defiled soul? If Darion had known that such a thing was possible, would he have tried? Do you, as a writer, find this idea interesting, or does it break the character development of the dk and his concept? Sorry for the bunch of text, but I was very interested in this topic

This is an interesting ask and I had to think about how to reply to it.

I am sure some fanfics touched on that and allowed death knights to be mortal again but this is a topic I solved years back when I was trying to figure out if it would be possible at all. Because I am not used to twist lore after I realize I want something and it's not possible with canon.

First of all, Raz was a lich and did not have a phylactery which was fubar on its own. Liches store their souls in their phylacteries, when they are killed, they return into it and they can regenerate. Since it was in Vanilla, I am sure the Scourge was more strict and tried to avoid such incidents later on.

Second of all, the Scourge was more built on in WotLK about how they work and some of things were rewritten as impossible. I remember there were some things from RPG books which were used in-game but later on were confirmed as non-canon but could be still used for RP purposes, such as living death knights. That was a thing before Blizzard said and shown how exactly death knights are made and how they work in WotLK. I am still sure there could be some living death knights before, but more like corrupted paladins who joined the Scourge willingly, and were in the middle of a trial if they can become true death knights. Because being alive has limitations for their magic and they would be weaker this way which is not something they wanted.

Death knights work differently than liches. Their runeblades are not phylactery, they are their extended hand and vessel for a runic magic. They are not powerless without it but they feel weaker and uncomfortable when not carrying it.

They were killed and their souls are tied to their physical bodies. Liches were transformed into something else and their soul is stored in a phylactery. And thinking of Raz... I can't help but thinking it doesn't make sense and it was done during time when only lich with proper lore was Kel'Thuzad and Blizzard was still not sure how to approach this topic. Sure it's a fantasy world, but even fantasy world has a rules and I am afraid this one is obsolete after WotLK.

From what was shown in WotLK, there is no way how to reverse the undead. When somebody was infected by the plague, the only way was to ask Naaru to take their soul before they die and turn into the undead. Death knights barely gained free will back thanks to the Light intervention. They are dead already and they were raised by a powerful runic magic which soaked into their bodies (and my headcanon is that they have runes engraved into their flesh too). I am pretty sure the Scourge made sure that even if there would be a way like with Raz, they would get past some "security measures".

Another topic is: we do ressurection in-game all the time. Lorewise? Incredibly hard and very rare (yes even though Blizzard is bringing characters back all the time). The Blood of Our Fathers and Before the Storm. That was it. Maybe there were some other examples I do not remember now. Bringing somebody to life is extremely rare even for somebody like Velen, Faol, Anduin, etc.

And then... the psychology of it. Majority of DKs lost everything. Their home, their families (sometimes they were the ones who killed them), their friends, everything. They have nothing. Only each other. According to lore, death knights can feel emotions, but the bad ones are much stronger and the good ones are very rare and subtle. They are still managing somehow though. But imagine people who went through such mental manipulation and abuse, trauma, death, despair and such, to get physical bodies. With brain producing hormones again such as cortisol the stress hormone. With need to sleep, eat, dring, etc. I dare to say they would be so highly depressed and would hit them as a train that they would not even enjoy the life, they would be incredible miserable after all that happened. Plus their power would probably go away which makes them strong and such people don't have a workflow for peace.

Right now they at least have each other and are powerful enough to protect something they care about and can prove the world they are still needed and useful.

So if there would be a way, Darion would already find it. But I am not sure if he wanted to use it. He is the most powerful death knight on Azeroth and he uses his power to protect the Ebon Blade. Being mortal again, he would lose such power. And only reason he is still coping with his fate is that he can take care of others with the same fate.

I still have to write the story about sir Zeliek but many years ago when I wrote the first version (I am not happy with) I touched that topic and he stated that after all that happened, he wouldn't want to be alive, because there is nothing good in the world that awaits him, he lost everything and everybody.

But we've touched the topic if death knights can at least get their senses back, even if not fully and permanently. It's still a long way to it in Of Lucid Dreams and Nightmares but it was touched and explored. Because there is a way based on official and confirmed lore.

Sorry for tl;dr! Years of working with death knights.

Still if somebody wants to write a fanfic where it's possible, go for it. But I used to not making anything easy for characters I work with. If something is way too easy, it's no longer fun for me. Because life is not easy.

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Could you elaborate on the whole JW thing? I think I missed a step.

Ha! It's okay, JW is pretty obscure lore.

Basic rundown:

Greg made a non canon audio play that was a crossover between his Spider-Man show, Young Justice and Gargoyles. Not canon, so shouldn't really be important in theorizing, right? Wrong. For one key reason, Greg said that he accidentally left a spoiler in the script.

That spoiler was later confirmed to be the existence of one JW. JW was mentioned by Artemis in the audio play and she says that Will is watching JW and Lian. This implies that a) JW is a child and that b) JW is either her child or Will's.

(I'm going to start putting pictures in of who I think JW is because he's adorable)

Greg later confirmed that JW is still in the plans for Young Justice just that 'the timeline has changed'. The audio play was set and written after season two, so it isn't hard to imagine whose child JW is supposed to be. The W last name, born a few months after season two, has the same initials as Wally's son the comics (Jai West), ect.

It's easy to see that the plans have since changed but like Greg said, JW is still happening. I don't mind the change. It would've been interesting to see Artemis find out she's pregnant after Wally's death and be a single mom but it'd be way more interesting to have Wally come back and then have them be parents.

Another thing that supports this is that Barry was originally supposed to cease at the end of season two, not Wally, so the original plan probably did have Jai West being born after season two. It's possible that when they changed the speedster to Wally they wanted to keep the original plan as much as possible. Then when the cancellation happened and they revisited the season three plan after a few years they changed their minds and moved JW down the timeline.

(yes that is Wally and Bart playing football while Jay teaches Irey how to fly a kite. Yes I am crying because of how cute it is, thanks for noticing)

I just hope Jai West doesn't happen without his twin sister Irey West. They're a package deal. Do not separate. Irey becomes Impulse in the comics and then later Kid Flash. She's poised to be a Flash when she grows up and she's 100% her father's child in personality and looks. She's a child prodigy when it comes to speed, she was vibrating her molecules through objects before she could even walk in the comics (which makes life incredibly difficult for Wally because he can't follow her) Jai on the other hand has had a weird relationship with his powers. Half the time in the comics he just doesn't have any. I could see him being an archer in Young Justice. It'd be really funny if he was the next Speedy in my opinion.

[lookbluesoup]

One Twin is Transgender Musings

I have been thinking about this a lot lately and felt compelled to ramble. I’ve seen plenty of people headcanon Alphinaud as trans before, but wanted to collect my thoughts about in one place! No shade on people who don’t share this headcanon, I think you’re valid either way! 

Why? 

Science!!! In real life, identical twins are always born the same sex. They’re the result of a single egg that splits in two so all of their genetic information, including chromosomes which determine sex, are the same. (Non-identical twins, by contrast, are created when two separate eggs are fertilized by two separate sperms, so their genetics can be very different) This is a fantasy world where the moon is a prison for an angry magic dragon and a goddess made out of a giant rock sends you cryptic visions about how to save the world, so yes, genetics could work differently here too. But one of the twins changing their gender would be equally feasible.

Despite having different genders, Alphinaud and Alisaie are constantly mistaken for each other, to Alphinaud’s vague displeasure and Alisaie’s outrage. Which could imply at least one of them transitioned.

In particular, Master Matoya refers to Alphinaud as “Louisoix’s granddaughter” when they meet, which results in a quiet but firm correction from him. If Alphie is trans, you could interpret that anywhere from him not passing and her not knowing he’d transitioned, to Matoya misgendering him out of forgetfulness. When he asks about her relationship to Louisoix, she goes on to correctly refer to Alphinaud as “boy” and insists that she’s known him since he was a newborn. Alternatively, if Alisaie is trans and Matoya hadn’t seen her since she’d transitioned, Matoya could have mistaken Alphinaud for his sister and been trying to correctly gender her.

Fantasias! How canon are these? I don’t know. Despite being something that would be incredibly useful to a number of trades, they’re not to my knowledge ever referenced in game dialogue, and exist only to give ffxiv players a way to overhaul their character’s entire appearance, including race and gender. The description text refers to “legend” about how to use them. So at the very least they must be rare, either a relic from a lost age made with lost alchemy, or otherwise extremely prohibitive to craft in cost or materials or education. But who would reasonably have the resources to obtain something like this? Well, the obscenely wealthy and politically powerful Leveilleurs of Sharlayan, a city-state devoted entirely to the accumulation of knowledge and the furtherment of sciences, with a giant-ass library chock full of tomes on obscure, restricted, advanced, or otherwise forbidding arts, and Gleaners wandering the world far and wide to bring back obscure finds. If one of the twins came out as dysphoric to their parents, it’s hard to imagine them not upending heaven itself to help their child transition into a more comfortable shape.

If not Fantasias, glamours! Enchantments to fool the eye are widely and casually used by magic users within game lore, from things as simple as changing one’s clothing or the age they appear, to something as grand as concealing an entire canyon system from enemy view. One could easily use glamours to alter their gender expression.

Which Twin?

Though I’m personally a fan of the ‘Alphinaud is trans’ idea, it would almost make more sense to me if Alisaie was the one. Whichever twin did so didn’t feel the need to change anything else about their appearance except for their chest and potentially their bits. If AFAB, one might expect Alphinaud to make his features more masculine. If AMAB, Alisaie would already have the benefit of looking generally feminine from the start, and doesn’t seem to care nearly as much about her presentation to begin with. If one of them was going to change only the minimal amount and be done with it, she seems the more likely of the pair. 

Alisaie’s insecurity over being in her ‘brother’s shadow’ growing up could be compounded either by his transition leading to more attention and affirmation for him by family and friends, or by her own transition causing her to struggle with additional feelings of Otherness and isolation from her peers.

Alphinaud is implied to be quite a charmer with the ladies at the Studium (or at least shameless in his pursuit to impress them), whereas Alisaie struggled to even maintain strong friendships there. Similarly, this could be Alphinaud’s newfound euphoria lending him confidence, or Alisaie’s fear of being treated like an imposter holding her back (I’m also tempted to adopt a a demi or graysexual headcanon for Alisaie, given how she’s also seemed to struggle in this area compared to her brother)

You could also say they’re both trans, they both transitioned and really just traded genders, which would also be amusing.

[oviids]

pls share some of your spn fic recs 🥺🥺

ok, a few things first:

followers and mutuals who do not have supernatural brainworms, kindly avert your eyes

i don’t normally rec or even read much fanfic any more but this is a CRISIS ok (cont.)

there is so. much. content for deancas out there and i have incredibly high standards, several ancient ao3 bookmarks, can speedread, and want to spare you guys the experience of wading through it all.

i also have a section for spn femslash since I was pretty into that back in the day (sadly a lot less fan content for this :/)

I don’t really like au’s or pure smut (I honestly usually just skim or skip those scenes) so if you’re mainly looking for that kind of thing this probably won’t be very helpful to you. jsyk.

i’m not great at describing stuff but i’ll do my best, i’ll also try and add tw’s when neccesary.

i wil try and keep updating this with any other decent fics i find, feel free to rec stuff too since i’m like 7 years behind.(edit 1/25/21) this is getting looooong so i’m going to start making another list on my spn blog rather than update this one

(edit 1/3/21) since this has gotten pretty long i’ve added rating/approximate word counts and marked my particular favorites with an asterisk.

Dean/Cas fic:

So Says The Sword*** - explicit/85k. FUCK its good...au/time travel where dean is not pulled out of hell by cas and says yes to becoming the michael sword. honestly could serve as an alternative to actually watching the show, if you want to get into dean/cas without actually doing that to yourself.

Fata morgana.*  - teen/6k, pst s9 finale. very bela centric and i love it, she finds cas looking for dean in hell.

Redemption Road -misc/600+k. an incredibly long fic from a collaborative writing group back in the day. canon divergent from the end of s6 on, has a cool take on godstiel and the leviathans, as well as the lovecratian mythos connection. ngl when i reread it i only made it about 28% in but imo the casual reader can actually stop around there, the rest concerns a lovecraftian apocalypse that is still good (i think i don’t remember it very well) but not required to enjoy the first half. if you prefer i have an ebook version i can send you on gdrive.

Someone Who's Feeling For Me* - mature/45k, s12. they run into lisa braeden and dean thinks cas is into her while cas thinks dean still likes her. treats lisa way better than the show ever did and the miscommunication is pretty funny rather than annoying.

a turn of the earth - mature/95k. time travel fic where cas from s10 keeps showing up in deans life from a few years before s1 to right before the hellhounds take his soul.  slow burn, good character study, and at one point cas punches the dad in the face and it rules.

On the Wings of War - teen/85k, canon divergent s5. dean accidentally becomes the Horseman of War. plays fun, fast and loose with biblical lore, michael has some rights.

Named - mature/95k, alternate s5. EXTREMELY blasphemous in a fun sexy way. manages to predict metatron almost to a T. there’s one major character death and its literally jesus christ, everyone is very sad about it and it sets the rest of the story rolling. an alternate interpretation of cas’ mission to raise dean from hell which had me on the floor. ngl its kind of misogynistic at points, but its from 2010 and tracks with late oughts-2010 spn (sorry anna the author did you dirty here:/).

The Girlfriend Experience - explicit/15k. uhhh i don’t normally rec or even read smutty stuff unless someone i know is specifically asking for it but this has stuff like sam trying to be a good ally and dean thinking holding hands with cas is ‘kinda gay :/’ minutes after having gay sex with him.

i crippled your heart a hundred times - explicit/19k, s8. cas confesses his feelings and dean spends a long time getting his head out of his ass about it. truly hits different after the actual confession, despite being written six years early it feels like its actually what could have gone down more or less if the writers weren’t talentless demons who hate us.

My Roots Take Flight** - mature/125k. reverse au where cas is a hunter and dean’s an angel...OR IS IT???? an alternate retelling of s4. tw for briefly being set in a psychiatric hospital/the hospital being mentioned somewhat frequently throughout the fic, plus more references to torture in hell and heaven than usual.

The One Thing You Can't Lose* - teen/4k.you know those posts about how cas is a super-strong super-tough ancient warrior but he just lets dean tug him around because he likes it? thats it thats the fic.

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built - teen/14k, post s8′s ‘goodbye stranger.’ cas is on the run with the angel tablet but keeps in touch with sam and dean by text, he and dean still manage to be terrible at Actual communication.

Autrement, Danger - or, The Account of an Exceedingly Long Day - mature/30k, post s11. a monster that takes the appearance of your soulmate leads to some wild miscommunications and dealing with years of repression, also dean gets to see cas’ true form which is always cool. tw for non-graphic mentions of underage sexual assault/sex work.

Down to Agincourt - mature/explicit/900++++k, endverse continuation. endverse!cas survives his encounter with lucifer and discovers another time-displaced dean from s7. i’ve only read the two of four parts but its really good, veeeeery slow burn, has a lot of fun oc’s and takes a rather surprising but (imo) entertaining and intriguing turn into Hellenic history and mythology. usual tw’s for endverse/endverse!cas but nothing graphic, it’s actually pretty light-hearted (relatively speaking of course).

Nothing Equals the Splendor** - explicit/8k, THEE finale fix it fic you’ve been waiting for! posits that the entire final episode was just a (very bad and lame) djinn’s vision.

like moses and batman and james dean - explicit/31k, post s8. explores dean’s trauma and internalized homophoba from his technically canon experience with sex work and its impact on his relationship with cas. the sex work itself isn’t really shown in any detail but it’s still a relatively heavy fic.

Crazy Diamonds - explicit/25k, s4/alternate s14. fresh-out-of-hell dean and dean from 10 years in the future are displaced from time and sent to each other’s present.

where the weeds take root - explicit/30k. au where the men of letters kick them out of the bunker and they accidentally move out into the country, get over their codependence and semi retire. featuring chicken coop building, sam volunteering at a dog shelter, gardening, and blissfully mundane domesticity.

No Resting Place - teen/6k. djinn dream fic, switches back and forth between cas’ dream of being married to dean and retired from hunting to the aftermath when he wakes up. tw for brief mention of suicide since, y’know, djinn dream.

any port in a storm - mature/52k. post s8 finale. cas and dean have to pose as a couple going through a rough patch for a case and actually deal with their emotional baggage, cas struggles with being human and metatron is up to stuff.

all this and heaven too* - explicit/7k. in the author’s own words ‘...a love letter to every trans person who ever projected onto Dean Winchester.’ absolutely unzipped me emotionally and theologically, its just. so good. tw for very brief mentions of internalized transphobia/dysphoria.

Because it is* - mature/6k, finale fix it. killing chuck does not bring back anyone back and the winchesters spend a very long time dealing with what they’ve lost, cas and dean SOMEHOW still manage to have signifigant communication issues even after the confession. tw for suicidal thoughts/brief attempt.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit* - teen/4k, s6. when cas fell for dean it automatically soulbonded/angel married them, shenanigans ensue when dean finds out during the angel’s civil war. funny and actually written back when s6 was airing so cas is still (or at least pretending to be) kind of an OP asshole which is fun.

Rinse, Repeat - teen/3k, s8. angsty character study of cas as he’s reprogrammed and trained to kill dean. not really dean/cas since its just cas’ pov of canon events but its beautifully written and ends with him snapping out of it through the power of love (also now a canon event!).

Emergence - explicit/59k, canon divergent after s11. dean meets a hunter he only recognizes as their friend claire novak’s missing father, but soon realizes he might be the answer behind the mysterious void in his memories and feelings (aka everyone’s memories of cas are completely wiped away for three years).

Cuckoo And Nest - explicit/10k, early established relationship/character study, cas tries to figure out how he fits into dean’s life and space in the bunker.

Build a Home* - teen/20k, canon divergent s12. sam and eileen are cute and turn the bunker into men of letters/hunters hq and everyone but cas moves in, mutual miscommunication issues and pining ensues.

Down in the River - teen/5k, early s8, cas prays to dean in purgatory while sam and dean try to figure out a way to get him out.

Teaching Poetry to Fish* - mature/52k, ?? BC through the entire series/canon divergent s14 and 15. retelling of crucial scenes throughout the shows timeline from cas’ pov, feat. actual fish and poetry.

the minor fall, the major lift - gen/4k, post confession/finale fixit. dean goes into the empty to save cas and runs into several old friends (and enemies).

With the Kisses of His Mouth* - teen/3k, gen later seasons. dean and cas keep kissing by accident.

Remaining Grace - explicit/109k, alternate s6. au where cas asks dean for help with raphael and dean, of course, does. tw for temporary major character death/semi-graphic depictions of alcohol withdrawal.

The face of heaven.* - teen/10k, au, dean is a regular guy and cas is a fallen star (think ‘stardust’, kinda).

Stories Are Made of Mistakes*  - teen/5k. newly human cas has trouble getting used to a human body and humanity in general, but still figures out that he and dean are A Thing before dean does.

Hurry Up And Wait - mature/21k, canon divergent s12. a fairyland and quite possibly LOTR related case comes up and dean goes full fanboy, mary is introduced to the wonders of the peter jackson adaptions, many references and comparisons (including between cas and dean’s ‘friendship’ and arwen/aragon). also charle is still alive and has just been doing fairy stuff this whole time.

There Are Many Things - explicit/28k, s9. cas is extremely lonely/touch-starved and trying to figure out this whole human thing, as well as where he and dean stand after being kicked out of the bunker.

It's A Long Life to Always Be Longing - teen/40k, post s11 finale. amara helps dean by putting him in a magical coma so he can finally get some much needed rest and show him possible futures for him, sam and cas. meanwhile sam and cas go on a roadtrip (or several) to find componets for a spell to wake dean up. really good sam and cas friendship, they actually talk about their shared lucifer trauma and stuff.

Non-Photo Blue - gen/2k, s4/5/alternate s5. fifty moments from cas’ memories of dean.

Tall Grass - explicit/57k, canon divergent post series. cas becomes the ultimate plant dad. feat the wayward sisters gang, cathartic character growth, fun oc’s, domesticity, and lots of actual botanical info-dumping.

on vessels - no rating/gen/2k. established dean/cas, cas tells dean about how he used to imagine what it would be like to have him as his vessel.

search for tomorrow on every shore* - teen/11k, post-finale (extremely derogatory). some angels in jack’s new heaven act out and dean gets temporarily resurrected in 2003 and runs into his younger self.

Architecture of the Minotaur’s Heart - explicit/45k, very canon divergent post s1. dean’s new house seems to have a life and mind of its own, while in his dreams he sees glimpses of a world and apocalypse that never came to be and an angel that looks strangely like his mysterious neighbor, cas. loosely inspired by the book house of leaves (which i highly recommend for fans of weird horror).

The Distance Of The Setting Sun - explicit/17k, post s5. established dean/cas relationship, team free will finally takes advantage of cas’ abilities to go on vacation around the world.

diamond star halo - teen/5k, s11. dean lets cas use him as a temporary vessel while he recovers from rowena’s spell, sam is a long-suffering third-wheel.

Make Known** - teen/16k, s6/7. dean struggles to understand how cas could have become his enemy and whether he ever truly knew him in the first place.

blunt little instrument* - mature/1.4k, post finale. dean finally confronts his father in heaven, very cathartic.

my heart a compass*** - teen/10k, post confession. the empty forces cas to re-experience his most regretted moments while dean tries to snap him out of it and bring him home.

A Crash Course in Someone Else's History - teen/11k, s6. cas from the very start of s4 is brought forward in time by s6!cas to distract the brothers from his and crowley’s plans.

The Cuckoo Father - mature/8k, s7 au. the woman who found cas in the river post-leviathans does not marry him bc he was sent to her by god or whatever, but actually identifies him as jimmy novak and sends him back to claire and amelia.

The Dead Dean Clause* - teen/5k, post alt s5 ending. team free will celebrates surviving taking down lucifer by getting blitzed, cas lies to a cop and gets an impromptu driving lesson. title/description sound dark i know but it’s actually very funny and light.

Suck It, Judy Garland - mature/20k, s12 (after the ‘i love you...i love all of you’ episode). cas and sam have to pretend to be a couple for a case and dean is NOT happy about it.

By Daylight and In Dream - teen/16k, s5. pre-dean/cas, dean invites cas to use his dreams to hide from the other angels. tw for very brief mention of a memory/dream of alastair sexually assaulting dean.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - mature/22k, post-canon. an actually happy (if sometimes bittersweet) heaven endgame written several years ago, though some details are rather eerily similar to the show’s ending.

heaven is a place on earth* - teen/2k. dean’s pov of some of the times cas left him behind throughout the show, and one alternate ending where he finally gets to stay.

I Cleanse The Mirror - teen/20k, alternate s6. dean’s body is stolen by an ancient elemental and his soul has to hitch a ride in cas’ vessel.

an exploration of gender; angelic*** - mature/4k. *oscar isaac voice* lets get into angel gender politics!! aka cas is trans.

Zenith - explicit/33k, s9. after 9x06 an angry witch curses cas with the ability to see supernatural beings and human souls.

La cucina. - gen/3k, alt s9. dean goes wild helping a newly-human cas find out what kinds of food he likes, or the early s9 domesticity we deserved!

Dean Winchester, Cocksucker at Rest***** - teen/7k, post-finale. john and mary finally come over for dinner and john reacts to dean/cas in a rather predictable fashion. SOOOOOOOOO good omg, its so funny and a little sad and very very cathartic. part of a series that has a few other really good short fics.

The Way You Didn't Go - teen/5k, s15. coda to 15.09, dean has nightmares about the moc!cas timeline.

On Drowning - teen/28k. dean saves cas after he nearly drowns, they both try and deal with the physical/mental fallout (aka the fic where thee iconic “you only touch me when you think I’m dead or dying” originates). tw for realistic depictions of drowning/triage/misc medical information.

The Thirty-Six Questions That Lead to Love* - mature/13k. claire has dean and cas pretend to be her gay dads for a case and they play the titular 36 question game, get mistaken for swingers, and birdwatch, among other things.

Assorted F/F stuff:

Deep Breaths* - mary/ellen, au where mary said no to azazel’s deal and let john stay dead, still becomes a milf.

Like Rebel Diamonds - krissy/claire, they become hunter gf’s on the hunt for cas to kick his ass for taking jimmy. not-so-stealth dean/cas as well.

To Ash and Bone - anna/ruby, same author as the previous fic (p much all of her stuff is good from what i recall). au where ruby is a witch and helps anna when she’s cursed.

Holy Clockwork Angels - jo/ruby, STEAMPUNK au with very cool worldbuiilding.

At Day's End - jo/anna (my fucking KINGDOM for more jo/anna content, the dean/cas parallels are allllll there), au where they are both at the camp in the endverse and gfs.

these posts - ok so not actually a fic but i’m now obsessed with this hannah/meg dynamic.

Tagelied - mary/ellen, the true story of how ellen got into hunting before angels interfered.

Hell's Bells** - meg/abaddon, alternate s8/9 where meg survives crowley’s attack with sam’s help and teams up with abaddon (who she has a sk year old crush on) to take back hell.

The Ecstasy of the Rose - anna/ruby, anna travels back in time to escape heaven and becomes a signifigant part of ruby’s old human life.

Angel Underground - anna/jo, kind of an urban fantasy au with a very intriguing premise (sadly its very short, i’d love to see more if this ‘verse).

Clover, Flame - billie/mary, billie was always the reaper that showed up to take mary after her death(s) over the years.

Drag Me To Heaven - anna/ruby, a variant on the ‘last night on earth’ thing with dean.

Come Home* - jo/anna, canon-divergent au where anna is the new waitress at the roadhouse and helps jo set up a (probably not really) haunted house for halloween.

[tinypurplewizardfan]

I am surprised that Teemo and Veigar know each other, I had never thought of the two of them meeting by chance and perhaps talking (although jokes are probably more abundant than words on Teemo's part)

I based my answers from that other ask on the fact that they have two interactions in Legends of Runeterra when their respective cards are played against each other. This doesn't mean that they're canon rivals, canon friends, or canon anything- Legends of Runeterra is a spinoff game, and isn't technically part of the main League of Legends universe. To put it simply- Legends of Runeterra is more like a suggestion. Just because there is or isn't a voiceline between two characters doesn't mean they do/don't interact in the larger world of Runeterra outside the card game.

With all that being said, though, I really do like the idea of these two interacting. Teemo has approximately zero lore other than "there's something darker beneath that chipper exterior" so it's fun to explore that through the lens of other characters.

I already proposed in some previous posts that Veigar isn't totally divorced from Bandle, no matter how much he'd like to be. Bandle essentially acts like fast travel, which is incredibly useful for Veigs. This, of course, leaves him open for interacting with the more reclusive, Bandle-bound yordle champs, and especially those in the yordle military(?) who might be sent to hunt him down whenever he hops through a portal, of which I imagine Teemo to be a part.

But does that mean all yordles take Veigar seriously? Yes, but actually no. I imagine the elder yordles, the ones who were around to see Veigar's horrific magic performed under Mordekaiser, are rightly terrified of him. But for the yordles born after, he's more of a folk tale, a campfire story told when they were kids to keep them in line. "Don't go to Runeterra willy-nilly, or you'll end up like Veigar!" is a threat that only works for so long if you haven't actually met or seen the guy.

Teemo is one of these younger yordles and it shows. He doesn't really respect Veigar that much, as evident by his jokes. If anything, I imagine him to be more curious. . . they're both "weirdos" by yordle standards, even if Teemo's trying hard not to be.

To give a strange example of what I mean: when I was a young queer I remember being fascinated by the first gender non-conforming woman I ever met. I imagine it's the same way Teemo feels about Veigar, if that makes any sense? Even if he hates his guts, Teemo still recognizes that on some level, Veigar is like him, and that's why Teemo's the first one to volunteer on the mission when he hears Veigar's in Bandle. This similarity keeps drawing them together.

This, of course, is purely my brainrot talking, so do with it what you will. I should probably stop reading queer metaphors into League of Legends or I will get called a slur at some point. . .

[thesecondbatgirl]

Final Fantasy XIV: A Fandom Primer

I was going to do a really long post complete with pictures in the style of the old livejournal crack_van fandom primers, but you know what, fuck it, I am bad at that, so have a giant wall of text instead.

Except for this meme:

So have you tried the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, which once again has a free trial that includes the first expansion and unlimited playtime? No? Well, I’m about to tell you why you should try it. (Minor spoilers through the most recent expansion)

One: The characters

Look, if I tried to list every single character this would be way too long, so instead I will just say that there is a character type for everyone. Do you like found family? Have so much found family it is ridiculous. Do you like gay dads adopting a teenage girl? Check. One of the best redemption arcs since Prince Zuko where the dude is basically “I am well aware that the things I did are unforgivable, nobody should forgive me, but I will dedicate the rest of my life to being a better person?” Also a thing. Smug teenage asshole learning that maybe he doesn’t actually know everything in the world and becoming a better person. Woobie cat boys who need a hug? That one villain who just wants to fight you because his life is boring and the only thrill he gets is in searching for the ultimate fight? Handsome knights who bring you hot chocolate when you’re sad and then (spoiler) die tragically in your arms? 

Two: The worldbuilding

Endwalker (the most recent expansion) brought the main story over a decade in the making to its inclusion, and the worldbuilding was just… amazing. I am (once again) replaying the game, because little details from the base game pay off in a big way later on. And you know, all three starting cities are run by women, so you have your choice of hot pirate woman who can totally step on me (... we totally get a female villain who does step on people later), immortal(ish) child (kinda) leader of the forest nation, and a very young sultana who leads the desert city and also eventually gets an arc where she’s basically like “fuck capitalism” and I love her. Not to mention all the places you go to in later expansions, which include the fucking moon (which is haunted). And there is so much lore that they’re literally going to have to put out a third encyclopedia to keep it all straight. Oh and all the pixies are canonically non-binary, they are great.

Three: The tropes

Look, name it and it has shown up in ffxiv. Bodyswap. Time travel. Alternate realities. You can literally bartend at one point so your coffee shop AUs can exist if you want.The tv tropes page is ridiculously long for a reason because I swear everything that could possibly exist does.

Four: the themes

FFXIV is really, when it comes down to it, based on one thing. The arc words of the story are “for those we have lost and those we can yet save.” The last expansion especially has been a rebuke of nihilism and an embrace of hopepunk. There is a textual acknowledgement that yes, life is incredibly hard and filled with pain, but life itself is worth living and that we together can fight for a better future, instead of giving into despair. Oh, and also fuck imperialism, let’s go destroy the colonizers, but let’s also get into why these sorts of things happen, and how do people move on after. 

Five: The gameplay

You can be every single class without having to be a new character. That is 19 combat classes (20 if you count the limited job), 3 gathering classes, and 8 crafters. Plus, they are about to make it so that you can basically do this single player if the idea of playing with others scares you. But the community is overall fairly friendly! There is still the tank/healer/dps (damage dealer) breakdown and I am not the person to talk to about healing, but even if you want to only choose one class and play that you can! Or you can keep trying things until you find something you like, there’s a class that will probably appeal to you.

Six: The music

Is a bop. The end. There’s a reason I have played literally 7500 hours of this game since 2015. Highly recommended, you should join.

Also if you like the Jedi, I swear it's one of the best portrayals of Jedi philosophy I’ve ever seen and why I’ve spent a lot of time yelling that the woman who wrote the last two expansions should write Star Wars.

(Oh, and if you RP, there is a VERY active RP scene.)

Download the free trial here: https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/ and you can find me on Crystal Data Center. (Although data center travel is coming soon!) And seriously, if you have questions about the game message me, I’ll answer, and make up a FAQ post if necessary. I love this game so much, and it has gotten so many of my friends through the pandemic.