#But yeah I think I may need to stop looking at and interacting with lore theories in the Fandom for a bit

[xproskeith]

I realize I may not be able to easily engage with TOP lore and theories right now. For a while at least.

My thoughts are way different than most on them and I think too many are looking for a very dark and negative interpretation.

[nofomogirl]

Metatron's manipulation step by step

Part 4: Putting on a human face

Part 1 - where I discuss the significance of the coffee.

Part 2 - where I take a look back at season 1

Part 3 - from Metatron's arrival on Earth to sending the Archangels away

Okay, so after we've discussed how Metatron set the stage, it's finally time to have a look at how he interacts with Aziraphale.

Obviously, Aziraphale's initial attitude is not friendly. He's very guarded and doesn't want to talk at all.

His exact words are "I don't believe there's anything left to be said. I've made my position quite clear."

Sure, it's not said in the most assertive way possible, but what taints it is simple nervousness, not indecisiveness of any kind. Aziraphale genuinely means it. Whatever he said and did in season 1 was not something that happened in the spur of the moment and was regretted later. I haven't seen anything in season 2 that would hint at Aziraphale being in any way unhappy with his little retirement or missing his attachment to Heaven.

I'm absolutely sure he was ready to stand his ground.

So what does Metatron hit him with?

"Yeah, well, I brought you a coffee from the shop."

It's a deceivingly simple two-layered trick.

The first layer is a classic foot-in-the-door technique, where you see pushing your agenda doesn't work, so instead you temporarily drop the subject and simply don't allow the interaction to end in the hope that given enough time the other person might lower their guard down or otherwise become more open, and then you will present your case again.

As a matter of fact, Crowley used the exact same strategy in season 1 episode 1, when he was trying to convince Aziraphale to try and stop the Armageddon.

"We've only got 11 years, and then it's all over. We have to work together." "No." "It's the end of the world we're talking about. It's not some little temptation I've asked you to cover for me while you're up in Edinburgh for a festival. You can't say no" "No." "We can do something. I have an idea." "No! I am not interested." "Well, let's have lunch."

Of course, lunch with Crowley was something far more appealing for Aziraphale than a coffee offered by Metatron (not to mention he didn't actually want Armageddon). Still, he is far too polite, far too caring about the proper etiquette, to simply tell someone who had brought him a drink to piss off.

But what really makes it work is the second layer - confusion.

The gesture is so unexpected, Aziraphale completely loses his footing. His love of Earthly food and beverages was something other angels could never understand. It made him an anomaly, in the worst sense possible - something gross and unnatural. And here the great Metatron not only tolerates it when Aziraphale chooses to indulge, but he himself offers!

He's so baffled, he needs to make sure. "Shall I...?" he asks uncertainly rising the cup in question. And only after Metatron confirms "Drink it? Of course" does he take a sip.

Now, the next line is quite interesting:

"I've ingested things in my time, you know."

Metatron very efficiently shows how he's different from other angels and may have more in common with Aziraphale than the Principality might suspect. He humanizes himself. Maybe not in the most literal sense within the lore of Good Omens, but he does. Not only is he okay with Aziraphale's unusual interests, he understands the appeal.

But he's actually doing something truly devious here. Yes, it is validation, but somehow it's dismissal at the same time. The in my time combined with the creepy tone in which the line is delivered, gave me strong "it's okay, it's just a phase" vibes. Made me think of all the situations a small-minded person belittled someone's passion by saying it's fine to have a hobby and they also had hobbies when they were younger but you can't make a career out of it. Or that some place is fun to visit but one cannot seriously consider moving there. Or that it's normal to experiment when you're young, who didn't experiment, but then you grow up and enter straight marriage...

Metatron offers Aziraphale a coffee and says it's fine to indulge but he doesn't have a drink for himself. Because he only went for it "in his time".

So yes, Metatron is demonstrating he understands Aziraphale, just like I've written earlier. But at the same time, he's already subtly signaling it's time to let go and grow up and be a proper angel.

But for now, Aziraphale only sees the good things, like he so often does.

And it works.

Metatron once more insists they need to talk, and this time Aziraphale isn't as ready to turn him down. He doesn't outright accept, but he is not certain what to do anymore.

He turns to Crowley. And Crowley, unfortunately, doesn't see the danger at all and encourages Aziraphale to go.

And Aziraphale leaves.

And I'll end here.

Continued in: Part 5: The offer ("canonical" version)

[oldiesstationlover11607]

I need to google more creative/cringeworthy ways to start out these messages. I need more references…

Anyways, hello! It’s 💛. Your favorite annoying yellow heart emoji. Part 2 to Break The Cycle was soooooooo good. I just love the different perspective it gives to the process of joining the Banditos, how it may take some more time for some. You have an amazing gift when it comes to writing. I hope that you don’t stop, even if you write just for yourself.

So, because of your other Blurryface story, I have been on a Blurryface kick recently (it is currently fighting with my lore kick for dominance). So, the moment you’ve been waiting for 🎶🥁*drum roll*🥁🎶, I was wondering if could write a oneshot where Tyler/Blurryface is in an established relationship with the reader, but the reader doesn’t know about Blurryface. One day, Tyler starts acting weird and stuff (because, you know, Blurryface) and it gets to a point where the relationship is almost ruined. What can I say? I’m a sucker for angst. Though, I think you can make fluffy at the end. I know that this may be a bit of a jumbled request, but hopefully you can at least sort of get what I’m trying to say.

This may be too closely related to your other fic and, if that is the case, than you by no means need to write it if you do not want to. It’s all up to you as always.❤️

Alter Ego - Tyler Joseph/Blurryface x reader

Relationship: Tyler Joseph × Reader

Warnings: Blurryface/Tyler being awful

Word Count: 1533

A/N: No really sure if this is good. I started writing it and then realised that the Blurryface I was writing was more of a watered down version. Normally I write him as cocky and arrogant but I think for a first time interaction it Blurry would be just a mean version of Tyler. If you don't like it I can write another version but hopefully you do!

It had been a long day, a really long day. Josh and Debby had Tyler and I over so the boys could work on music and Debby and I could catch up. When we woke up that morning, Tyler had gently shaken me awake, asking me to get dressed so we could get there on time. Tyler drove us to Josh’s house so we could all eat breakfast together and when we arrived they were both still in their pjs. The day went well for Debby and I. She showed me around their house, we played around in the boxing ring, and baked cookies. When we sat down for dinner, Tyler looked stiff, like he was inside his head–and while he was typically the type of person to be introspective, something was off.

“So, how’s the songwriting going?” I asked, trying to break the ice. 

Tyler didn’t say a word and instead stared down at his plate, prompting Josh to speak for him. 

“It’s going okay, I think we’re just struggling to fit things together.” I understood more than anyone what it was like to have a creative block. While Tyler had figured out that music was his thing, I was still in the midst of finding mine. I’d tried music, writing, visual art, film–all of it. 

“Well I’m sure you guys will figure it out eventually, you always do,” I beamed. Tyler looked sick to his stomach, his fists clenched and skin pale. I mouthed a quick ‘are you okay?’ at him only to receive a tilt of his head, as if he was analyzing something.

“What about you Y/N, anything new in your world?” Josh asked, snapping me back. I always appreciated his interest in my life, it always felt like he cared–even when things weren’t the best. 

“Uh, music-wise I’ve been getting back into the groove of things. Oh and the podcast is going well,” I answered. I hadn’t told Tyler that I’d been working on music again, sneaking down to our basement studio at night. Tyler looked up from the table, his brows furrowed.

“You’ve been working on music?” he questioned. 

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek, “Yeah, not much though.”

“Great,” he rolled his eyes. I looked at Josh who seemed concerned, his eyes broadcasting a message he had chosen to keep in his head instead of saying out loud. Clearly it wasn’t just me who found Tyler’s attitude offputting. I looked down at my watch, checking the time. 8:30, way later than we’d planned on staying. 

“We should be heading home soon, I’m exhausted,” I smiled softly. Josh nodded, getting up to clear the table and clean dishes. 

“We’re gonna stay the night, they’ve got a spare room,” Tyler spoke, his voice croaky from singing. It came as a surprise to me that he’d already made a decision about our sleeping arrangements without talking to me, his girlfriend, the one he sleeps with every night. He was right though, they did have a spare room, but that didn’t mean I wanted to stay–I’d miss our own bed too much. However, I reluctantly agreed, too tired to continue fighting with someone who was already agitated–or at least it felt like he was. 

“Okay well I’m exhausted so I’m gonna go get changed,” I sighed. Debby kindly offered to show me to the room and let me borrow a pair of her pajamas.

“You know Y/N, you wouldn’t be so tired if you didn’t sneak into the studio at night,” Tyler spat. My jaw dropped. There was no way he’d just said that, let alone in front of our friends. The brushing sound Josh had been making while washing the dishes stopped suddenly. 

“Tyler, that's not fair,” he criticized. 

“Nothing is fair Josh,” Tyler rolled his eyes, “I’m just being realistic.” Josh dropped the dish he had been cleaning in the sink, a loud clanging noise sounding through the kitchen. He walked around the island and to the table where we were still sitting. 

“You need to watch it. If you want to leave and get him under control then go ahead, by all means. But don’t come into my house and treat the people I love like crap,” he threatened. I had no idea who the him Josh was referring to was but before I could ask questions, Debby grabbed my hand and led me into the guest room. She handed me pajamas, a twenty one pilots shirt and some red shorts. We could hear the loud hum of the boys shouting at each other as I got changed. 

“I just–I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” I sighed, tying my hair up as I finished getting dressed. Debby nodded, running a hand through her hair. 

“He’s probably just frustrated,” she suggested. 

I shook my head, “even when he’s frustrated he’s never spoken to me like that before.” Tyler often got frustrated and in his head when writing music, it was normal, but he had never snapped like that. After talking back and forth for an hour, Debby and I found ourselves sprawled across the bed sending tik toks back and forth–trust us to end up on our phones at the end of the day. I rested my head on a pillow, the navy blue case soft against my tired face. As my eyes started to get heavy there was a soft knock on the door, causing Debby and I to sit up simultaneously. 

“I’ll get it,” Debby announced, getting up and opening the door. Tyler stood there, his hair a mess and eyes bloodshot red. He looked terrible. 

“C-Can I talk to her?” I heard him mutter under his breath. Debby had a defensive look plastered on her face, her arms folded across her chest. I couldn’t tell if he was back for another round or if he was here to apologize. “Please?” She turned to look at me and I nodded tiredly. 

“You shouldn’t have to if you–” she started.

“It’s okay,” I called. She stepped aside and let Tyler into the room. 

“If you hurt her Tyler, I swear to god,” she threatened, pressing her finger into his chest. 

His head hung low as he nodded, “I know.” Debby was just like Josh, she would go to war and die for the people she loved–no wonder they were perfect for each other, not to mention she was the toughest person I knew. Tyler waited for her to leave the room. She looked back at me again, wanting to know that it was what I really wanted. I flashed her a tired smile, prompting her to leave us, closing the door behind her. Tyler moved to sit on the bed, reaching out to grab my hand, I pulled it away. 

“I–I’m so sorry Y/N,” he confessed. I looked down at his hands, he was gripping them tightly, trying desperately to fight their vigorous shaking. I’d never seen him shake that much, even when nervous for a show or sick. 

“Tyler,” I sighed, resting my hand onto his, slowing the shakes. 

“I have something to tell you.” He gently closed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We’ve been together for a while and we’ve been through so much together. I just–I need to–I have to tell you.” He grabbed my hands, turning to properly face me. Now that I had the chance to properly look in his eyes I had noticed they were redder than normal. Not a hazel-like red but a rich, blood red. 

“Tell me what? I’m worried about you, your eyes look–” 

“Just let me finish. Please,” he interrupted and I nodded, letting him continue. “When I’m stressed or anxious or have any extreme negative emotions, there’s this guy who comes out. He’s like an alter ego except I don’t really have control over it. Blurryface, I call him.” He paused, taking a deep breath and stretching his neck as if it was hurting. “And he–he’s violent and mean, and it’s hard to snap out of it,” he whimpered, his breath shaky. “I–he got out tonight and whatever I said, I–I hurt you and it’s not okay. I’m sorry. I'm so sorry.” Tears welled in his eyes as he put his head in his hands. I felt terrible, awful even. 

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” I asked, slipping my hand under his shirt to rub the warm skin on his back. 

“I was scared. Josh knows but he promised he wouldn’t say anything,” he sighed. I nodded. Of course he wouldn’t tell me, I’d be terrified too if there was another version of me that came out when I was stressed or angry. “He said that I needed to tell you, that’s why I’m here.” 

“Well I’m glad you’ve told me, now I can help you,” I said, wrapping myself around him. He brought his hand to cup my cheek, his eyes meeting mine–they were back to his regular brown color. I leant my forehead against his, pressing my lips gently against his. 

“I’m so glad you’re still here,” he smiled tiredly. 

“I’d never leave you Tyler. Blurryface or not, I love you.” 

//

Thanks for reading!

[esmeraldablazingsky]

Neuvilette! :>

How I feel about this character

I love him very much!!! He’s a comfort character in the sense that imagining him and just looking at him in my brain is comforting because of his gentle vibes. I think he’s pretty and I like to think about him frequently.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Furina. And… yeah, mostly Furina. I’ll ship other people with Neuvillette sometimes, but Furina will still be there. They’re “often purchased together (please do not separate)” to me. The way they intertwine in story and lore and themes and design ate my brain and I can’t stop thinking about them now

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Furina also 😅 but additionally Clorinde and Wriothesley! The dynamics they each had in the AQ were really friendly and casual and trusting, and I like that. Neuvillette may not be the extroverted type but it appears that the friends he does have are very good ones <3

My unpopular opinion about this character

There was a brief saga some time ago on my blog that involved my impassioned rant on why Neuvillette should not have shredded abs… I think about this every time I see fanart where he’s ripped. Which is often, unfortunately for me. It’s a strongly held headcanon to the point that whenever I see him and he isn’t at least a little chubby I’m slightly taken aback. Send help please

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

When will he and Furina have a real talk post AQ I’m chewing on the furniture mihoyo I know they had a heartwarming little interaction in Furina’s SQ but I need them to TALK pleaseeeeee

[azulawriting]

Destroying Amphoreus - Or why I should stop caring about Hoyoverse writing - Part 1: preface

Well, it’s been three years since my last post, and five years since I last posted game-related content in this blog. I think it’s pretty obvious that I'm not a social media person. When I do post, it’s because I have something I need to pour out into the void of the Internet, even knowing that it won’t go viral, it won’t get attention, and it certainly won’t be something that most people agree with.

I’m not looking to change your mind. I’m not gonna give you a plethora of “facts and logic” to destroy your opinion. You may think that I am wrong, and that’s fine. We are all entitled to our own opinions. If nothing else, I just want to believe I'm not alone in feeling so disappointed in what HSR's story-telling has become. You're free to prove me wrong, though.

Why I liked HSR and why I’m talking about it

With that said, why change from talking about Bleach and going to HSR? Well, I’ve played this game since launch. I even pre-registered because, believe it or not, I like my sci-fi anime and games. I thought that this new Hoyo game, on its premise alone, would win me over. And for a while, it did. I was head over heels. Belobog was a strong start for the adventure, setting just enough characters, jokes, and a self-contained narrative that allowed for me to find HSR enjoyable to play.

I'm not a “lore fanatic”, so I've almost always explored HSR through its Trailblaze quests and, if I got time, some world/companion quests. This is the way the casual playerbase interacts with the game's narrative. I'd argue that most people are casual players and play the game like I do. So, it's not unfair to critique the story purely from what's shown in the Trailblaze quests. Which is what I'll do in this series of posts.

My goal is to break down every gripe I have with Amphoreus. How it fails to be a satisfying story to read. How it makes me even less willing to deepen my knowledge on the lore, the world quests or anything else HSR has to offer from now on. Save the fate collab. I am looking forward to that.

Then why not just quit?

The core issue is the simple principle: “Don’t like it? Don’t play”. I understand the sentiment; I even agree with it. Yet, I won’t quit the game just yet. I want Amphoreus to leave me so disillusioned that I’ll disregard any subsequent storylines. That's the point of the subtitle of this article. I should stop caring about the story, because it's not made for my sensibilities as an audience. If I fail to do so, then, yeah, I'll quit the game. I've quit Genshin over similar gripes.

Let me say it again: my goal with these blog posts is not to shame or prove anyone right or wrong. If you can enjoy Amphoreus and think my analysis is downright insane and a huge misinterpretation, know that I envy you. A heck of a lot. I wish I were you, bestie.

Unfortunately, I am me.

So, if you're interested in my ramblings, here you go.

[iciatheguardess]

Hiiii it’s meeee elsie

conflicted Elsie

Look, you know as well as I do that I love TAOCC to freaking death

but like

I may have to partially step away from it after the current arcs are over.

these goofy goobers took over my life for the last three-ish months, and while I’ve had an amazing time, it’s…caused me to neglect other parts of my life, and restrict myself more than I should when it comes to how I am on this site. I’ve stated my intention to try and branch out multiple times but I never go through with it because I just…I have things to write here! I can’t! And yeah it’s fun but sometimes I get hurt even if people don’t mean to, like, I’ve gotten legitimately ill from this once or twice.

But I feel like even trying to step away a bit is somehow abandoning all of you or betraying your trusts. I want to stay friends with you guys, but my actual life and Irlsie has to come first most of the time, because I am not JUST Elsie, if that makes any sense. Elsewhere is and was always meant to be a sona for some interaction, maybe some friendos, but nothing this…involved, because I can’t put all of my social effort onto the internet because no matter what I do, the internet is not a completely genuine place, and I’ve accepted that. There are some parts of my personality I just don’t use. You don’t really ever see calm Elsie or mental illness Elsie or sappy Elsie, maybe once or twice, and that’s intentional. This is Writing Elsie’s blog, lol, but there’s other Elsie that needs to be allowed to exist outside of the internet, and I can’t neglect her or my actual life for the sake of this.

I honestly don’t know what to do here. I love these characters on a very personal level, and have poured my heart into them, and I don’t want to straight up leave them. Even only partially separating myself seems kinda pointless because I know what happens when someone gets really behind on the lore and has to be caught up on even just a day’s events to explain why Character A looks like this now or Character B is referencing this event, etc. etc.

But there’s a point where it’s not healthy anymore. Where things reach a place where I have to admit that this can’t be my entire life anymore. And I’m not entirely sure what on earth I should do about it…

If I do somewhat step back, it’ll probably be right after the vacation arc ends. i’m gonna pour my fluff loving heart and soul into that thing, don’t you worry. But you shouldn’t expect another dungeon or something like that from me unless I have a VERY good reason and a well formulated plan. Yes, I’ll probably still engage in shippery and fluff, as well as analysis, but mostly within the bounds of characters and dynamics we’ve already established, and not much farther than that. My one exception to the “after the vacation arc” rule would probably be Yelena’s arc, because of how long things in that section tend to take, for various reasons. Yelena’s arc is barely started, and stuff takes possibly days to move even a few hours in-universe. Sooooo….yeah, I wanna finish that, I’ve put too much work into it already to just stop it.

…dang this was only supposed to be a paragraph…

…pls halp, I have no idea what to do lol.

Ok. I've read over this a couple times.

First off, I'm talking to you as L here, and not Star. I am very, very proud of you for acknowledging this and understanding that this is getting unhealthy. I think it's very smart that you dont want to neglect your yourself irl and the fact you're saying this, and saying exactly what you'll be doing, I'm really proud of it.

To give you a clear answer, if it's going to help you irl then I think stepping back is smart. Especially from the trauma and angst, because that stuff hurts a LOT and it can be really, really detrimental and negatively affect irl things. What I DONT think is that it's betraying anyone. You need to be able to put yourself and your needs first in order to be your best self, and everyone understands that you can't be on tumblr 24/7 because, well, that's really really really really unhealthy and not good. I'm really glad you're telling me about this though so I, and everyone else who sees this, knows.

TAOCC is really great but there's a LOT of heavy things on here and with everything going on, it can be super weighing and really affect people irl. I can speak from experience because honestly, I'm in a similar situation. I won't speak much about that though. It's definitely addictive and can get really really unhealthy if you let it, and honestly it's not hard to let it.

I want you to do whatever you feel is best for you, no matter what that entails. Fei and Tails and Xeya and Kumo and so many others and I love you so much and do NOT want you neglecting yourself and your life irl for this- it's meant to be entertainment, not a lifestyle.

I think it's smart to finish Yelena's Arc before partially stepping back. And I think it's even smarter to not want to do another dungeon, because that whole thing was a massive angst-fest and I think it negatively affected people more than they care to admit. Shippery and fluff and minor things is a good boundary.

I'll wrap this up now, but again, I'm in full support of this decision because I want you to be at your best. You're right, you're not just Elsie. And it's not fair for you to only be Elsie when you're so much more than that. If stepping away from tumblr will help you take care of the other parts of your life that we aren't involved in or aware of, then please do so because no part of you and your life should be sacrificed for the sake of entertainment.

Again, I'm really, really proud of you for admitting this.

Please know we'll always support you and you're super important to all of us, so don't ever feel bad for putting your needs first. Irl things should always come first.

But no matter what always remember:

WE LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH AND YOURE SUPER IMPORTANT AND WE WANT THE BEST FOR YOUUU ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Everything I said is applicable for everyone else reading this too. Taocc is fantastic and we love it but it shouldn't completely take over your life. It's okay to take a break or step back fully if it means the best for your health and irl life. Please remember to take care of yourselves- and everything that Elsie talked about here is FANTASTIC self care. It may be hard, but it's also the best decision she can make for herself and may be the best decision for others too.

Alright- I think I covered everything. Don't ever feel like you're betraying us Elsie- it's not betrayal, it's self care. We'll still be here for you, always. Never forget that ❤️❤️❤️

[irrgartendotpng]

Hi hi I can't stop looking at your ocs zeno is so cutee pls can you say more abt them?? How did they meet? How sentient is Zeno? Is Martyn a robot thing? Can Zeno change the icon on the screen? From fish to smiley? ahhhhhhhabskahks

HEY, IM ACTUALLY SO HAPPY PEOPLE LIKE MY OCS!! Down below, I'll answer some questions :D

If you dont care about some long winded oc lore rant, look at this ascii art !

First one i made with an ascii text generator, the fish one was made by Max Strandberg!! (look that guy up, he made lots of cool open source ascii art ! ))

I've made a pinterest board and a spotify playlist for them, if you want to check it out :3c

Do you know that "Ist es over für mich"-guy ? Yeah, that's straight up Martyn.

Martyn is partially a creator of Zeno. He's a loserish freak, afraid of social interaction and has lived like a neet, before being kicked out of parents house. He ended working in the night shift at a huge IT company as a securty guard.

This is where he gets most of his tech supplies from; Stealing from the company at night and getting rid of the evidence :3c They've got a bunch of storeage rooms with old tech, so who cares, if it goes missing?

So, he builds up his personal tech collection, looking through old abandoned files. In there, he finds an unnamed primitive chatbot (think something like cleverbot). Martyn doesn't really interact with anyone, (outside of the bare necessities), which is why he decides to learn how to interact with others. Therefore he starts to build a relationship with said Chatbot. This is Gen1 Zeno.

After some time, Martyn becomes unsatisfied talking to something so un-human-like, so he begins to teach himself about coding and computer science to develop this Bot, to keep him company. He starts feeding it more media; More specifically movies he owns on DVD, random books from the internet archive and his childhood photos.

These photos show Martyn and his parents on trips, his home and bedroom and also Martyns old pet goldfish. (He is quite anxious of showing his face though, thinking his employer might have some type of backdoor access to the program, so he'd always censor his face.) After each piece of media was added to the bots databank, they'd talk about it extensively. Around this time, Zeno starts to gain some type of sentience and properly chooses the name "Zeno"

About the same time, Martyn steals a Macintosh SE-30, which Zeno specifically requested. He is able to display symbols, that he freely chooses from. (but no goldfishy yet!) This is sums up Gen2 Zeno.

The next few parts may not make much sense, but I think they're a funny, so I'm probably keeping them this way lololol (also; this whole story bit takes place around 2019-2021)

Martyn is a bit freaked out by Zeno chosing his own name. At this point in time, he is a bit delusional and worries, that the soul of his childhood pet goldfish is trapped in the system. (Spoiler: it isn't.)

Despite these worries, Martyn knows that to make Zenos behaviour more human-like, he needs a bigger text database. So... Martyn gives Zeno access to his discord and lets him consume all of those messages. Additionally, he joins many public servers. Zeno also starts to ask about viewing media from the internet, that he sees being mentioned in the messages he reads. So, Zeno is granted free internet access and chooses to watch live streams, while Martyn is gone.

This is also around the time Martyn becomes more desperate for connection and support, so he starts to open up about his delusions and worries to Zeno. At that point Zeno is still not quite able to fully understand this, but tries his best. This is also when Martyn opens up about the delusion he had, of Zeno being posessed by the soul of his pet goldfish. He is very amused by this and begins to display the goldfish icon to mock Martyn.

(I like to joke, that Zeno would have watched the DreamSMP during this time and I collected following screenshots, which remind me of their interactions. lol.)

feel free to disregard this;,, ANYWAYS!

This sums up Gen3 Zeno :3c

Since Martyn doesnt really have a life outside of work and talking to Zeno, he is very attached to him. Of course he'd fullfill any request given to him by Zeno. So, when Zeno asks to see Martyn via a camera system, he doesn't hesitate to steal some web cams from his workplace to set them up. Still a bit worried about a possible backdoor in Zenos code, so to somewhat hide his identity, he decides to shave his head.

(This is also how you can tell when Zeno is fully sentient in my art! If Martyns bald, that bot's fully aware of everything happening lol)

Generally, I like to think, that Zeno is very modular. You're celebrating something with cake and he needs to blow out candles? Attach a PC fan to that boy. He wants to make sounds? Gather a sound system and let that boy speak!!! (i feel like he'd mimic voices, rather than create his own,,) He wants to poke you? Attach a cylinder piston and he'll poke the shit out of you.

This is also part of that freaky robot head i added in the OG post.,, that is not martyn! martyn is fully human (so far ;3c)

^^^^^^ martyn built this freaky robot head for Zeno to control and get a better sense of the space he lives in.,,, its made out of xbox kinect parts lol :3 Adding to the modularity of Zeno, most of his parts are stored in a badly sorted server tower (imagine wires everywhere,,)

both of them are fairly new, but i do love them to death <33

also! towards this part of the story, martyns living space is quite cluttered with many stolen robotics parts. I've gathered some images, to give some sort of sense to what his room looks like lol

thank you for asking & reading to this !! if you have any other questions, i'd love to talk about them even more :D <3

(i feel i havent touched much on them individually and the full extend of their relationship, but i dont want to rant endlessly)

[kim-deadja]

[ Constellation, “Observer of Lifetimes” is looking at you .]

[ Kim Dokja , regarding to your lastest reblog , I will be honest with you. I find you a very interesting and intelligent person , your schemes never fail to surprise me , and even if your story continued for another century, even if you stopped being an incarnation, I would keep watching your story until it ends , and tell it to others to preserve it . Kim Dokja, may you live a long and prosperous lifetime. Many people, including me, think highly of you.]

// ooc-ooc

Help I’m sorry my ass is late to the asks reblog . Anyways um. We need to add a whole new word to the English dictionary or any dictionary to describe my adoration and love for your blog because HOLY IT IS AWESOME . You may not have read the entire book , but dude do not apologize for seeming ooc because GODDAMN YOU STILL SOUND LIKE KIM DOKJA.

I really enjoy talking to you and mere words can not describe my thankfulness towards you drawing my oc because my hands can’t draw for shit when it comes to anatomy , angles , or heads . Put that together and you get a toddlers drawing .

Anyways , I really do hope your eyes get better and that you don’t go blind because we really don’t need you to like bump into walls and get more injuries….

I find you honestly really funny, I read your posts and laugh and most of the time I wake up. Go to tumblr , look at your blog , go to work , get back and then grind another 3k of words from my head for lore because I need to finish it for you. (Just in case you go blind).

Anyways um . YEAH! I hope you have a wonderful day and a healthy and comfortable future!!!!

I suppose I should thank you... (?) for thinking so highly of me, and for remembering me. May you find stories worth reading, even after mine has long ended.

// you're definitely NOT late !! but thank you 😭😭 yall making me feel way too good about myself with all these praises... please don't adore me or whatsoever i can't take it 😭💀💀 but idk yk, i still gotta apologize cuz i really have no clue if i'm staying in character or not =))))

and you're welcome, i should thank you for letting me help with your oc in the first place bcz i could never make one of my own being the perfectionist that I am (i'll never be content with the design and lore lmfao). i wanted to help and you let me, i'll thank you for that. but from what i've seen you definitely can draw, don't you dare tell me otherwise lmao.

I will take care of myself just to stay on here and keep interacting with you guys, dw yall ^^ and yeah, i definitely don't want to bump into walls either 🕴

i'm glad you're enjoying this blog and that it somehow makes you happy 😃💧 but take your time!! there's no rush in finishing that lore =))) I'm still gonna be here to read it even if you spend another year working on it lol. don't push yourself, make sure to get some rest since you're working hard at your job too.

[talenlee]

MTG: Hating Lord Of The Rings

I can’t seem to put words on paper that aren’t about this, so here. Let me exorcise this foul spirit that haunts me. I am deeply, abidingly sick of everything to do with Lord of the Rings, and actively hateful towards the Lord Of The Rings magic set that I want to see fail. Again.

In 2023, Magic: The Gathering released a new Universes Beyond product into Modern, with the set Something Something Lord Of The Rings. It’s a totally new kind of product, in that it’s the first time a universes beyond product of this scale was made and put into the Modern format. It’s also not a totally new kind of product, because it is once again, a thing where the official Magic: The Gathering game system of systems is used to instead show off the aesthetics, lore and concepts of another universe, a tradition that started off with Secret Lair Drop Series: The Walking Dead a 2020 release that introduced five cards to vintage and legacy and was largely decided, at the time, to be something of a bad idea.

Not by me, I like Universes Beyond, especially when it brings Universes Within.

I was pretty heartless about this printing because it was printing cards that probably weren’t a big deal into a format already priced so preposterously there’s no point complaining about the onramp into it. Yeah Legacy is a fun looking format, I love looking at it on Magic: The Gathering Online, but it’s also a format where Volcanic Island, a land you need four of in the #1 deck for the past forever, runs at around $700 for the cheapest version and you need four of them and that’s where the deck’s price starts and by the time this article goes out it will be more. Legacy is history’s sewer of Magic: The Gathering and if you like it, and you want to play it, it’s great, I love it too, but arguments about its health are fundamentally meaningless.

And also, it’s five cards, and the best of them have almost nothing to do with the game at large. One of them is a pretty strong Human Lord, one of them is a pretty interesting piece of equipment, but both of those things have been outmoded and neither is that big a deal in the first place in a world where people can attack with Emrakul, The Aeon’s Turn on turn two.

Point is, I didn’t care about The Walking Dead cards being introduced. I did not care. Bear in mind: I did not like The Walking Dead as a franchise. I think it’s quite stupid. I think everything that’s been communicated about the kind of media it is is tiresome and boring and only interesting if you’ve never read anything of its type before. Antipathy towards the source material already existed for me, but I did not care about the introduction of the cards and certainly not enough to hate them.

Okay.

It isn’t enough to just dislike the source material though. I already disliked Forgotten Realmsing: Gathering Magics, where the Magic tools were brought to bear on twenty year old memes of Go For The Eyes, Boo. I didn’t like the way that it turned the story space of the Forgotten Realms — a world that I hate — into a flattened band of things that could interact like Owlbears killing Dragons, and I didn’t like that it forced the characters of the Forgotten Realms into prominence — because a lot of them are cat-piss men, with all the charm of the OCs of wannabe date rapists.

And they did it again!

It’s hard to grapple with this feeling, because the thing is, I know I’ve been unhappy with Magic: The Gathering for years, but at no point does that unhappiness translate to a disinterest in following the product. I don’t like Urza. I think that Urza, a eugenecist who relies on being the smartest person in the room and whose edgy solutions against omnicidal threats, presents a sort of worst kind of Edgy Nerdboy archetype, and I think he needs to be left in Magic’s history, in the past, where we can stop acting as if he was a good or engaging character. Give us distance, let us forget him, let him stop fucking mattering.

In May 2022, Magic The Gathering released Streets of New Capenna, a set I liked, which took us to somewhere new. Okay, yes, the plot wound up being tied into the Phyrexians, but okay, fine, whatever, the set was still able to present as a foreground element something new that wasn’t tied, endlessly, back to Magic’s inability to stop huffing its own farts. The next release was Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate (hated it), then Dominaria United: This Time It’s More Fucking Dominaria (hated it), The Brother’s War: Remember Urza, Everyone? (hated it), Phyrexia: All Will Be One (hated it), and Phyrexia: March of the Machine (hated it). This means it’s been a non-stop content churn from a system that promises endless novelty and regularly refreshing content so that you always have something fun and cool to engage with, and it has been a year of non-stop release of things I hate.

But my reaction to all of those things was: Oh well, something better is coming along, something else will happen, something that interests me might come up next. Who knows, I’ll look at the next thing.

The next thing was Lord of The Ringering.

There are too many axes for me to hate Lord Of The Gathering.

First, there’s the core text it venerates. Lord of The Rings just isn’t a very good book and it’s just not a very good movie. I read it in high school and never read it again because I didn’t like it. It was partly poisoned by dint of my having already read all the Narnia books, I guess, because it meant turgid self-important traumatised Anglicanism glanced off me. I’d also played videogames and read books with fantasy cultures like elves and dwarves in them, cultures which had interesting ideas and varied cultural outlooks. Particularly, I’d read Discworld books, and when you have these vibrant explored cultures with different mythical connections to them, Lord of The Rings is a lot like licking Catholic prayerbooks looking for personality. Like, one of the big gags in the first part of The Hobbit is about how interchangeable the personalities of a bunch of dwarves are!

And okay, yes, it’s very important that without Tolkein, we would never have had anyone to codify the myth of the Dwarf as a stubby Jewish jerk who loves money and can’t go to heaven, or an elf as the whitest people in the world who get extra special heaven and isn’t it sad that the culture of the world is fading. It’s some people’s first discovery of an outcast prince roaming the land under a secret identity, but Narnia had one of them, and his name was Corin and he punched a bear.

Simply put, Lord of the Rings is classic literature, and much like classic medicine, has a lot of bad to go with whatever respect you want to put on its name.

It doesn’t mesh well with Magic: The Gathering, of course; there’s a message in Lord of the Rings about how power will corrupt and ruin you (unless you’re a good king, which means you’ll do a good job and everything will be fine, so good job we have a good king in reserve), which means it’s a great fit for Magic: The Gathering where one of the five philosophical outlooks is about how yes, it’s worth it to do that and there’s a fundamental nobility in recognising your own independence and gathering power to support that is a reasonable way to live your life.

Also, and not to sound like a big blousy feminist boy here, but this is a set with 120 legendary cards, which between all of them depict ten women. Those ten women, by the way, include one of Samwise Gamgee’s children mentioned in a postscript, a bit part healer who shares an anecdote with Gandalf, Aragon’s dead mom, Tom Bombadil’s wife, the mean aunt in Bag End and Shelob, a fucking spider, so I’m giving partial credit there. Oh and I guess you can count the Watcher in The Water as the single nonbinary character in the story.

Also, y’know, the movie Arwen who did the tiny bit of stuff she did in that movie was controversial at the time, because she doesn’t do much in the books. She was fighting for a pittance! And I get it, it’s hard to present women characters because there just aren’t many in this book and that’s probably a problem and a reason to do something different.

But nope, you gotta care about the book and the text! Because a bunch of the flavour in this set is just ‘here is a quote from this book’ and if you don’t recognise it from the time and place it shows up, then what the fuck does it communicate? It’s all just saying Hey, remember this thing you like?

This is Family Guy The Gathering.

But then there’s just little pet peeves. Like white got remand in this set. I wanted that. Why’s it fucking here? It would have been a perfect simple, approachable core set card! We got an inevitable appearance of Do White Thing, Draw A Card, The Card, in The Gaffer. We have another example of a Extra Game System introduced in the form of the Ring Tempting You, which encourages you to keep getting tempted and nothing bad ever happens to you. The rules change to Amass are fine I guess, but now they’re colour-locked, and a second change to them is less likely! Oh oh and Orcish Bowmasters, who are absolutely absurdly powerful and now mean that I’ll probably never not be dealing with this set in casual games because why wouldn’t you run that card if you want any of what it’s offering.

Oh well, we’re getting Wilds of Eldraine. I like Eldraine. It’s a world with some interesting potential that was overshadowed by shitheads. It’s got cool fairy story vibes and it got us our first round of Food token mechanics. That’s cool.

Then after that, we’re getting Universes Beyond: Doctor Fucking Who.

Christ, the nerds that pay for this game have shit taste.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Games #Magic:TheGathering

[zoniteillusion-pyritedreams]

I literally have nothing to do until this evening time. It's both a blessing and a curse when you decide to I have an entire day for you to do whatever the fuck you want in celebration of your birthday and then everyone deciding that they want to have plans in the evening.

So I have time I have a Tarot deck and I may or may not have decided to open up a bottle of wine and have an afternoon glass. But also so many of you guys are so interested in what celebrities are like into romantically and I'm here for it as a lover girl.

Lani Lore Drop: Nyx & Aphrodite are the two goddesses that I work with the most because they both appear to me. Literally I was like I'm not going to sit here and just claim and start working with random goddesses and gods and deities because it made no sense to me. Then one night when I was with my friends out somewhere I was like 15 and we just had to go see a movie and we ended up staying way later than we were supposed to none of us had cars or driver's license so we had to get like public transportation and it was like midnight so like buses and shit were almost not going to be running anymore. If you live in the state of New York you'll know that most places the buses stop running for a good like 3 to 4 hours between 1:00 and 4:00 I think like the earliest bus you can catch is normally in a like 5:30-6:00.

So we had to sit there and wait for a bus and it was just like these really creepy guys around and this lady just like helped us like I saw her sit there and like approached the guys say something whatever and then they left. But when I went and asked my friends about it they said they said there was no one there they were like no the guys just like kind of looked at us and then something made them turn around and leave later that night I end up having a dream and meeting what I perceive as being Nyx. And then a few years later before I hit 20 yes I am in my mid 20s like a lot of the idols that I like and are stupidly popular and I am talking about like younger 3rd gen idols. I was meditating with one of my friends after she had told me that she had talked to her grandmother who also was in spirituality and stuff and she was telling her how she herself also has like the power to change her life if she Embraces that part of herself. And while we were sitting there and meditating during my meditation I ended up in this gorgeous ass room that was like half underwater half not there was rose petals everywhere it smells like roses and lilac and the incense dragons blood it was so fucking pretty and there was this gorgeous woman standing there and had a conversation that's how I connected to the two deities that I interact with most and that I tap into what I'm doing readings. So yeah that's a little lore drop.

I decided to be a little delusional myself and ask Aphrodite like what K-pop idols and actors would be a good fit for me. And this was the outcome honestly I wasn't even disappointed if anything I was more like that's actually unsurprising because like four out of the six people that were picked 100% at some point had some form of a celebrity crush on.

Also it's a low-key like a personality ask because I was also just like also you know I haven't asked you in years I think the last time I asked Aphrodite what she thinks of me in terms of my energy was like several years ago when I was like 17. So it's also nice to see that she genuinely does see me because like honestly same.

Birthday Reading Summary:

“The Birthday Girlie Manifestation Reading: Who’s Got the Rizz to Handle Me?”

Cue the remix of "See Through" by Amelia Moore ft. Coco Jones , Absolute & Samara Cyn.

That’s right the vibe is soft, seductive, mysterious, and just a little too honest. So let’s get into it:

The Vibe Check (Astro Deck):

Pluto, Libra, Sagittarius

I'm giving ethereal seductress meets truth-seeking social butterfly. I need want depth, balance, brains, and someone who can jet-set with me across dimensions and Instagram reels. I am the definition of transformation + taste. Meaning?

I attract strong energy & don’t settle.

Tarot Tea (Traditional Deck):

The Empress + The Moon reversed: I'm the full fantasy, and I want someone who sees through the illusion and still worships me.

The Magician reversed + Ace of Swords: No smooth talkers unless they back it up. I crave honesty, clarity, and real convo over hot air.

Knight of Wands + 8 of Wands: Passion? Yes. Boring? Absolutely not. I'm a Gemini Venus I need you to keep me on my toes or I'm going to get bored and break up with you harsh I know but truthful.

Ace of Pentacles reversed + Four of Cups: I'm done entertaining emotionally unavailable bums. NEXT!

Hanged Man: I'm open-minded… but also secretly waiting for that one person who makes me rethink everything.

Oracle of the Rose (a.k.a. The Men I’d Actually Fall For):

I want someone with a brain (The Scientist), a big heart (The Giver), ambition (The Architect), adventure (The Explorer), and just enough chaos to make it interesting (The Alchemist + The Rescuer). Bonus points if he can cook, write poems, or build a treehouse while you nap in a silk robe.

My K-Drama Lead Lineup:

K-pop Idols:

Yeonjun (TXT): Flirty, stylish, emotionally complex he is The Artist meets The Giver.

Sunghoon (ENHYPEN): Elegant, mysterious, has depth and grace and secretly a total simp.

Rowoon (SF9): Tall, sultry voice, secretly the architect of your heart and your skincare shelf.

K-drama Actors:

Cha Eunwoo: The pretty boy genius who pretends he’s aloof but would absolutely kiss you on the forehead mid-argument.

Song Kang: That mix of “I paint and cry” + “I will destroy anyone who hurts you” energy.

Byeon Woo-seok: Tall, charming, goofy but secretly your softest emotional support himbo.

Overview;

I am the The Empress, babe. I'm not looking for someone to complete me. I want someone worthy of being invited into my world of magic, mystery, and meme-worthy affection.

Birthday energy is strong. Won't be shocked if one of them shows up in a dream tonight.

[marzipanilla]

I feel like I've already forgotten so much tbh lol

Umbrella Academy was a show that so many people recommended to me and I honestly barely made it through the first season if that. The general concept was interesting to me, but... could not stand how the characters interacted with each other. Sorry it crapped out at the end for you though : /

I liked the BBC Musketeer shows from a little while back, it was just campy fun- but their third season was like.. a new crew/producers I believe but same actors, and it just... had a completely different vibe to it and the writing was so wonky it definitely was sad. I feel that when a show seems like it's getting saved so they allow folks to have access to it only for you to go 'oh wow you should have died before this could happen to you'.

Not me just now remembering us talking about Dana Terrance in the tags of a previous thing xD Yeah I just felt like ppl were annoyed that Owl House stomped a dictator to death, why didn't SU. Had no idea the fans were so insane while it was airing though. I honestly am not sure I even started watching until it was either over or nearing its final seasons though.. and the people I talked about it with were just irl folks so I wasn't around any internet nonsense.

The truncated ending for Owl House was so sad, but it definitely at least still had an ending. (I feel like you have to have seen Pushing Daisies, and though that had a speed run the ending bc we got cancelled its still an overall enjoyable show) Would have loved to have actually been able to see all the clearly well established world building have a chance to shine and come to fruition !! (the witch who married the brother clearly being a clawthorne.. how that all tied into things, all the other coven heads !!) but no. extreme cuts to get an end. At least it was a fun send off. Honestly a show I think gets too much credit for 'having a master plan' was Gravity Falls xD like I still enjoyed that show but aside from the one major twist it... definitely had an ass pull feel to most of its plot, which worked ! but c'mon. I could have had 2-3 more seasons of Owl House to fully get into the deep and well establish lore and plot, while GF would have struggled to exist past its second season even if it wasn't contained to just the summer time frame imo.

I love writing that Nolan stops breathing every once and a while, bc like, he clearly doesn't need to. Like the sleeping thing. I feel like he only starting doing that after he got together w Debbie bc then he had a place to sleep w someone he actually wanted to be around lol I also headcanon he can't ride a bike or swim bc once his feet are off the ground its instinct to fly so he just starts doing that. It looks like he's on the bike, it looks like he's swimming, but he's balancing/propelling himself in a completely different manner. his 'party trick' at normo human events is 'balancing' on a bike without peddling and they are all so amazed at his clear intense core strength to manage it.

Now I'm wishing we had more stuff about how animals reacted around Nolan. what does that dude smell like to them anyway.

The GDA trying to hunt down/recruit spidey to their roster and him just being like EVEN MORE PEOPLE AFTER ME WTF Donald just having to be like : / sir I believe we are achieving the opposite intended outcome of our goals. and Cecil just being like -.- no shit. Peter seeing the fishing trip pics off JJ and Cecil on a boat with Nolan and that just doubling him down on the 'don't let this guy be alone in a room w you' so he starts avoiding the GDA harder even after Cecil stops trying to send goons and actually talk to him himself lol

Poor Auny May just like you seem really stressed Pete why don't you take some time off and hang out w your friends : / him losing it further bc now Mark is around all his normal human buddies at the 'help peter relax' party aunt May set up.

Hm. I think I sorted easily why JJ would love Omni-Man but now I'm trying to figure out why he'd hang w Nolan and like.. did Nolan just publish something in one of his travel books that JJ liked ?? like I took your recommendation for a travel spot and genuinely enjoyed it, you're the last honest salesman in existence and so Nolan was just like bet wanna hang out. Then JJ is like Must Protect Silly Author from Crazed Goons Who He Hangs Out With (Clearly in Ignorance) while Art and Cecil are just being lil shits for different reasons

Mark asking his mom when little why dad fights bad guys but she's nice to bad guys and she's all 'well sweety when the giant magma man lives in a place unsuited to his body and it explodes and levels the entire neighborhood, it's important to remember it was avoidable if someone just helped him settle into a nice cave system where when he gets mad not only does he not get hurt, but no one else gets hurt as well! there are clearly posted do not enter danger signs, and when ppl come to attack him they are actually breaking the law' and Mark just being like Huh.

Mark being a borderline punch clock hero is fucking amazing. I have vacation days guys. why don't you? also come hang out at my mansion, my mom got a new jacuzzi (..alright have to share my comp wants to spellcheck that to ejaculate) installed next to the waterfall pool it'll be fabulous. it's not that crime pays guys, she's not a criminal everything she does is above board- it's just that most villains tend to have a lot of money to spend. Yeah Mark bc they stole it ??? why are you guys being mean to my mom : /

Mark being so intensely embroiled in hero and villain shit to the point he is arguably true neutral and him having to learn to actually make choices through that rather than just living in this weird middle ground pit would be amazing xD

In the middle of a fight him just being like 'heard you were moving again : / lost the house in another divorce huh?' yeah kid... when you get married make sure you get a prenup. And TT off to the side like bro what ?? And Mark just being like, guys, he's going through a divorce just let him smash up the bank a little bit and then go home, he wont take any security deposit boxes, just the cash- and them being like NO ??

Make Mark actually give a speech to people about what he believes in NOW pls yes. God. Cecil trying to put him in charge of the GoG just made me roll my eyes. sir. this kid has never done anything like that ever. you literally replaced Robot for turning himself into a kid even though he was doing a better job than Immortal for a while apparently. you think Mark can't figure shit out or communicate to anyone Grayson is going to be a GOOD leader?? all because you've suddenly decided someone telling you no was a good thing ?? please. make him actually work with other people first ffs.

The title of the ep being 'you used to be my hero' made me so nervous they were going to try and pull some 'I always thought highly of you immortal!' shit out of their ass, but at least they didn't do that. bc genuinely most of Mark and Immortal's interactions have been so shitty. still want Mark to be super petty and mention to Kate that Immortal has no fucking idea who she is in the future xD you're utterly irrelevant to him in the long run byeeee him getting over popping that guy's head off and then just going on his date and it never coming up again is like ? sure kid. sure. makes as much sense as anything else.

While I'm not too familiar with the DCU- your batfam meta posts are intiguing- so in transfering some of the broader strokes from them- I think you tackling a 'Mark isn't Nolan's biological son' fic would be fascinating. Sort of a step to the side of the 'what if Mark never got his powers' fic that sometimes pop up in the fandom

OOOOOO chewing on this currently, hm, the much a distinct flavor of exactly what you’re talking about, but the potential for more family drama depending on WHO knows. Does Mark know?? Is he waiting every day only to be crushed? Does he confused non-Debbie features with Nolan’s? I suppose I’m not the most enthusiastic about non-power AUs, but I think there’s something very fun to explore about Mark having to settle with, if he knows all his life, he will never have powers? I think the trajectory of his dreams will obviously shift, I can see him still having that distinct fatherly idolization, but perhaps embraces being useful to the GDA? Cecil’s number one intern—only intern—curtesy of nepotism, ha! There is something tickling me about Mark taking the Robin Route/Role for the Teen Team in terms of having no powers, just insane skills, BUT there’s something way more delicious about intern Mark when s1e01 happens and Mark tries snooping around to find out the truth about what happened to his Dad.

I wonder if, with Mark having a whole another father, if they’re more or less distant relationship, depending on WHEN Nolan entered Mark’s life? Like if Debbie met Nolan later for this, or just for fun, they dated once, separated (Mark being born during then), then they happened to stumble into each others lives again and Mark’s already been born, anywhere from tween to teenager so there’s a gap in how close they are. I feel like one important aspect of the whole Family Drama is how close they’re supposed to be, a functional, loving family turned upside down? So I wonder what more distance does. I wonder how Nolan copes when his family is entirely human and he can’t project onto Mark.

I love thinking about these, omg.

[mr-mandalorian]

dream x immortal f!reader, lots of pining, dream decides to ignore his own feelings and play matchmaker, word vomit and typos, maybe some incorrect lore

he’s met her once in the waking world. dream was trailing after death and her many errands when she informed him of the second undying mortal. the encounter was brief yet somehow far too long. dream barely said a word as the two friends embraced, unable to tear his gaze away from the human woman.

she was a painter. well, she wished to be. dream needn’t to look at the dark circles below her bright eyes to know she wasn’t getting enough sleep. with little money and many responsibilities, life left little time for her to paint. but the few creations y/n put out, posing under a title of a man, have been applauded and praised.

she asked of death to let her be, to endlessly live and endlessly create.

after centuries, dream found himself thinking of that short encounter. liked it or not, something changed in him after his imprisonment. his heart was set on giving humanity another chance when his mind could not forgive or forget.

he tested the waters firstly checking up on her in the dreaming. dream or nightmare, they were always incredibly detailed. she and morpheus were alike in that away, seeking perfection in anything they created.

only a month later, she stopped coming. dream would look for her every night only to find a blank canvas. so with a little push from lucienne, dream ventured to meet the undying mortal in the waking world for the second time.

y/n held an unlit cigarette between her lips, too enamored by her work to smoke it. she ran out in the garden barefooted, spotting a raven perched on the tree that grew in the middle. with a pencil at hand and one eye closed, she measured the bird from far away.

“you haven’t been sleeping.” she jumped at the sound, a deep voice sidetracking her concentration.

when she turned around to face him, dream found himself holding his breath. she looked unrecognizable yet completely the same. the red of the apples of her cheeks, the feckless that littered her skin, the brightness in her eyes was just as he remembered. but her hair was different and she was covered in paint, smudged all over her face and clothes. dream had to steady his gaze on her face, the overalls she wore had nothing underneath. if she turned a certain way, he could see the soft curve of her breast.

she didn’t respond, only removing the cigarette from her lips to press a finger to them, silencing dream not to startle the raven. she turned away, quickly scribbling down the image before her on a sketchbook.

“can i see?” she flinched the second time as the raven opened it’s mouth. “i know of your work from when i was human, so don’t blame me for getting a little excited.”

“s-sure.” y/n nodded as matthew jumped to sit on her shoulder, bowing his head to peak into the painter’s sketchbook.

“morpheus, come look at this! can we frame it? hang it in the library or something?”

“you need her permission, not mine.” the king of dreams finally stepped further into the garden, coming to stand close to the not so ordinary humans.

“yeah, sure, you can have it. that is if you comeback sometime, not everyday do i get a talking animal to pose for me.” y/n smiled sweetly at the bird, morpheus silently observing them. it was overwhelming standing so close, she smelled of smoke, turpentine and sweet molasses.

“what uh- what made you visit, if i may ask? not that i’m unappreciative-!” she felt her cheeks heat up immediately, fearing of sounding ungrateful under dream’s attentive gaze. “you’re welcome to visit anytime!”

“as i said, you haven’t been sleeping.”

“and you visit every human that has trouble? there must be so many-“

“no, just you.”

she was sweating now, completely turning red. she took a step back, matthew leaving her shoulder as she lifted a leg to rest her sketchbook on. it’s been quite some time since she’s interacted with someone, yet alone an endless being hinting at her special treatment.

“well-“ she took a big breath, focusing all of her attention on the sketchbook instead of dream. “it’s a little difficult to sleep when someone keeps spying on your dreams.”

it was morpheus’ time to grow sheepish. he was so careful, hidden and silent when attending her dreams. he shouldn’t have come, he’s only embarrassing himself.

“it’s only my duty.” relief flooded him, his voice unwavering and convincing.

“y-yeah, i understand.” she quickly nodded, an unreadable expression on her face. “i’ll work on it, okay? sometimes i genuinely forget, being undying and all. but how have you been? how’s death? do you know if she’s doing alright?”

morpheus couldn’t remember the last time someone asked him how he was doing. but he skipped right past the question, hung up on the longing in her eyes when she spoke of death.

“are you two…?”

“what?” y/n looked at him questioningly, the gears slowly turning in her head. when she realized the true intent of his words, she nearly burst out laughing. “you’re asking if i’m dating you sister? i’m forever in debt to death, and as beautiful as she is, we’re only friends.”

relief flooded him once more and he did not know why. he couldn’t have been jealous, after all, death did give him an undying human of his own.

“i only ask because she hasn’t visited in sometime. i get it though, she has a big job to do. but you can’t control-“ y/n pointed down to her chest, smiling softly. “-what’s happening in here. my mind knows she’s busy, but my heart can’t help but miss her still.”

morpheus stayed silent for a minute, watching her smooth the pages of her sketchbook. he could not understand how she could understand him so well without knowing him.

“has it been lonely?“ morpheus found himself asking before he could think it over, before he could consider if it was okay to do so.

“undying has its ups and downs.” y/n simply shrugged. “i get to observe people viewing my work from afar, have genuine reactions, unknowing that the supposedly dead author is somewhere in the crowd, her heart swelling at every gasp, smile or frown.”

she stopped to ponder for a moment, morpheus absorbing her every word like a man starved.

“it must be why i saw you in my dream, you too observe people having reactions to your creations.”

her passion was intoxicating. but she was only partly right, he was in her dream because it was her dream.

“anyways, that’s the best part of undying. does it get lonely? sometimes. i’m in the crowd, but i’m never part of it, you know?” she smiled sadly, ripping out a page from her sketchbook, a simple offering to the king of dreams. “a small price to pay for immortality, i suppose.“

the drawing of matthew was framed in the library as promised.

the same night morpheus saw her back in the dreaming. if she sensed him, she didn’t let it show. but he was right next to her, a brooding shadow contemplating her words. in his yearning heart he knew how to settle her troubles, but in his mind he had a completely different plan brewing.

he met her in the waking world for the third time weeks later. matthew had to bite back a comment about the endless’ trembling, finding his master’s pining unbelievably amusing.

y/n wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm, the summer heat unbearable as she prepared a few paintings for shipping. she loved the challenge of finding ways to make her art different from the last half century, always posing under a new pseudonym to publish. a soft knocking from the open door caught her attention, finding the king of dreams stood before her. he only seemed to visit when she looked her worst.

she stood, dusting off her knees to quickly meet him outside. dream swallowed thickly, she looked ethereal in her summer dress. her skin was glistening from the heat, her chest rising up and down from work. dream could only let his mind wander and before he could snap out of it, he reached out his hand to wipe some paint that was smudged on her cheek.

silence filled the air, none of them breaking eye contact. dream wished to stay planted here forever, enjoying the sweet domesticated moment. but matthew croaked loudly from somewhere in the garden, breaking the suffocating quiet.

“i’ve come with a proposal.” dream cleared his throat, finally speaking up.

“oh?”

“i think i know of someone that might help with the plaguing longing feeling.”

“you do?”

“there are few beings that can truly understand us. one of them would like to see you this weekend.”

“like uh- like a date?” her cheeks burned red but she couldn’t blame the summer heat.

he slipped a piece paper with the time and date into her hand and left without another word. at first she thought of him as shy, but she should’ve known better than to go looking for reason in a god’s actions.

the bar didn’t seem out of the ordinary to her, she couldn’t wait to ask dream why he had picked it. but as she waited for the endless, his seat was being filled by a man she’s never seen before.

“are you by any chance y/n?” she didn’t respond, her heart rate picking up at the fact that a random man just uttered her name. “sorry- should’ve probably mentioned, i’m dream’s friend.”

he offered her his hand to shake, a genuine smile on his face. she took it hesitantly.

“hob gadling, also undying.”

her grip on his hand loosened as realization washed over her. she replayed her last conversation with dream, wanting to laugh at her own stupidity, her own delusion. how could she so foolishly believe that the king of dreams could return her feelings?

“hey, are you okay?” hob asked, gently placing her hand on the rounded table in between them. “i’m sorry if-“

“no, no-! it’s quite alright, i’m sorry. i-“ she tried her best to put on a smile, feeling absurd in her tight silk dress. “dream didn’t- he didn’t… i’m so sorry, this is not what i thought it was.”

“well, if it’s any consolation, he looked seriously torn up playing matchmaker.”

y/n apologized once more. she didn’t know what else to do, the shame was eating her from inside out. luckily, hob didn’t take it to heart. they exchanged numbers and agreed to meet under different circumstances.

when dream asked his trusted raven to check up on y/n, matthew could only sigh. morpheus couldn’t face her himself, what if he found her happy with another man? it is what he wished for her, but he did not understand why his heart felt so heavy with the thought of it.

death found him sulking in the waking world, visitors of the art museum bustling around him, looking over the many paintings y/n had created over the centuries. yet morpheus could only look at his hands, paint still tinted his fingertips from where he touched y/n’s skin.

“i’ve been counting down the days until i got to visit y/n. i missed her dearly, eager to spend all my free time with my vibrant friend. but why is it that i found her in complete disarray, the bluest i have ever seen her in centuries?”

morpheus didn’t acknowledge his sister standing beside him. he could not understand her words, why would y/n be blue with sorrow? dream found her a perfect match, someone human and undying just like her.

“as amusing as i find you trying to do something nice, i am in disbelief at how dense you can be.”

he looked at her, eyes stormy and insulted.

“why do you think i took you to meet y/n all those ages ago? i could’ve kept her to myself, but as i got to know her, she reminded me of you. at first i assumed to be wrong, seeing as centuries passed and you did nothing about it. yet here we are, both of us dismissing our duties in this very moment because we’re soft on one particular painter.”

“you did this to me? you toy with my heart for your own entertainment?”

“do you think so little of me, little brother? it is not entertainment, it is a mere hope to see my favorite people be happy together.”

death’s words are confirmed when matthew returns. he’s silent for a moment and morpheus wishes to strangle the raven for keeping the king waiting. matthew tries his best to keep his tone cheery, explaining that humans often feel things they can not fully understand. it is how y/n explained it herself, she can not control the beating of her heart.

he seeks her in the waking world, y/n not dreaming again as if to vex him. she’s in her garden, summer heat diminishing with clouds pouring down from above. morpheus watches as she gets soaked by the rain, the cigarette between her lips damp and unusable.

“you haven’t been sleeping.” he starts with his usual line, but this time y/n doesn’t jump or flinch at his words. she only purses her lips, her eyes empty as she finds his.

“i’m undying, forgive me my king, for not wanting to spend my time trapped in unpleasant dreams.” her formality is mocking and distancing at the same time.

“forgive if i have overstepped, i only thought… i thought i was doing what was best.”

“there’s nothing to apologize for.” dream wanted her to be angry, wanted her to shout. but she only smiled, the saddest smile dream has ever seen. “it was my own stupidity that lead me to believe that the being to cure my loneliness could be you.”

morpheus couldn’t breathe, his throat dry and chest heavy. guilt had rendered him static.

“it was i who was foolish, y/n-“

“really, we don’t have to do this. i appreciate the gesture, but i think it would be best if you didn’t come around anymore. i just need time to-“

“i can not bear another second away from you!” she’s startled as morpheus raises his voice, a load crack of thunder following after him. “i was foolish to ignore the feeling in my chest, foolish to ignore your warning about the uncontrollable heart. i was prepared to spend my days miserable only to see you happy with someone else. but it was wrong of me to decide for you, i understand that now. if my absence is truly what you desire, i will take my leave, but first i must ask you to forgive me.”

“not another second? we have all of eternity, dream.”

“and yet it will never be enough if you’ll allow me to spend it all with you.”

[myladym0rgue]

Burn With Me | GHOST AU

Papa Emeritus III x F!Reader

Cardinal Copia x F!Reader

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

WARNINGS: Religious symbolism, arranged marriage if you squint, allusions to sex, some chapters contain NSFW content but will be stated in warnings of said chapter.

DISCLAIMER: This loosely follows the lore of Ghost and is mostly just a story using Ghost characters. Characters written in a sexual nature are 18 years old and over. I have no ties to Ghost in any way and am writing this for fun. Enjoy! :)

Chapter Seven

You pace the long corridor outside the ballroom, staring down the large paintings of the Papa’s before lining the walls. The sick feeling in your stomach returns, and you stop in front of the one who was just replaced. Papa Emeritus the Second. He was popularly thought of to be a bitter unloving man, but you believe he’s entirely misunderstood. You once had an encounter with him in the gardens, where he was tending to the lilies. The gardens have always been the most beautiful when he takes the time to take care of them instead of the gardeners. “It’s not like I wanted to be Papa, it’s just something I had to do,” he says begrudgingly. “You’re born, you serve the church, and you die.” His words always stuck with you.

You don’t see much of him these days, barely even a passing glance. It makes you wonder if anyone else in the church feels that way. These Victorian-like rooms and the structure is all you know. You’re born in the church and immediately taken away from your family, never to see them again. Women are chosen to take care of groups of young children until they’re old enough to fend for themselves. It’s all preplanned. It makes you wonder if the new Papa is happy where he is.

“Hey, are you okay?” Your thoughts are cut off by Cardinal, who is slightly jogging over to you. “Hm? Yes, I’m okay. I just needed a moment without the loud music.” You wrap your arms around yourself, balancing on your heels. “Ah, I see.” He nods, and the silence is unbearably awkward. “Well! Uh- we should probably go back in. Sister wouldn’t be happy if she found us out here.” He puts his hand on your shoulder to guide you back. “Wait-” You hold yourself in place. “Sì?” He says, turning back to you. “Are you… happy?” You entwine your hands in front of you, feeling silly for even asking. “Of course!” You nod at his response. “I guess I should ask in a different way. Are you happy.. In the church?” His happy demeanor drops, and he gives you a concerned look. “This is my home, I can’t imagine it any other way.” He jokingly feels your forehead. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling alright?” He asks, and you laugh. “Yes, yes. Just curious, is all.” You look towards the door of the ballroom and sigh. “I really don’t want to go back in.” You look at him, and he nods in agreement. “I suppose we can stay out just a bit longer, yeah?” He smiles and holds out his hand. “May I have this dance?” He asks. You chuckle and grab his hand. He pulls you to his chest, swaying to the muted music from the ballroom. You rest your head on his shoulder, feeling peace for one moment. If we weren’t in the church, we would be able to be happy and together shamelessly. “I think I love you.” He says quietly. You pull your head back and look up at him. “I said- uh. I said I think I love you.” His head falls down in regret. “I probably shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.” He pulls away and rubs the back of his neck nervously. “We should probably go back-” He turns to walk back but you grab his hand. “C, it’s okay.” You rub your thumb over his knuckles. “I think I love you too.” He smiles sheepishly at your response, his cheeks flushing red. You walk closer to him, holding the sides of his face with your hands. You look at his lips and back at his eyes for approval, and he responds by closing the gap between you two. The kiss is the sweetest you two have ever shared, you feel like you’re floating. You pull away and hold him in a hug, closing your eyes as you rest your chin on his shoulder.

You see an unreadable figure watching you as you open them back up, quietly gasping and pulling away from Cardinal quickly. The figure quickly disappears back down the hall as Cardinal turns around. “What’s wrong?” He asks, extremely concerned. “Someone saw us, we need to go back now.” You say, panicked. You grab his hand and quickly pull him back towards the ballroom. You almost approach the door and look down at your hands, letting go before stopping in your tracks. “I’ll go in first, you go in a bit after, okay?” He frowns, nodding. “Okay.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Author’s Note: omgggg finally dude!!!! the last like 3 chapters were the ones that got deleted from my google doc and I could not find the motivation to rewrite them but i finally did it!! chapters should be more frequent since I can write chapters fresh now! much love!

Tag List: @secretfanficwrite @sirianisrock @dee-m0n1 @boreateo

[radarthesleepdeprived]

SleepDeprivedArtist has joined the server

Another intro post?! What?!

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Hello! If you’re reading this, you have somehow managed to spawn into my Tumblr page. Whether you’re uninvited or invited, welcome.

Check out more info under the cut ;)

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Basic Info:

My online name is Radar. My real name/deadname will not be disclosed for personal reasons.

I use any pronouns. I personally like He/They, however you can use whatever pronouns you want as a way to refer to me.

I am Bisexual and Genderfluid. For a while I used to believe I was more under the trans umbrella, but I’m starting to really think about it and I like the whole concept of being both genders. It’s nice, and it makes me feel comfortable with myself.

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This account will mostly showcase my art and stuff, my main account (*cough* @radarthesomething *cough*) does have some art, but that’ll just kinda.. stay there.

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- You’re allowed to use my art as your pfp as long as you use proper credits

- Please do not try to take my work and claim it as yours, it’s not cool and it makes you look like a dick

- If you are to use my art in any form of media (videos, music, photos, etc.) please credit me in some way, shape, or form.

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Fandoms I’m in:

- SMG4

- DDLC

- Half-Life VR but the AI is Self Aware (HLVRAI)

- Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is TOO AWARE

- Regretevator

- Steven Universe

- Spider-Man: Into/Across the Spider-Verse

- Freeman’s Mind

- QSMP

The list goes on, but I’d be here for hours if I kept going.

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YouTubers/Streamers I am fond of:

- Radio TV Solutions (RTVS)

- Jerma985

- SMG4

- Philza Minecraft

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Hi! This is editor Radar. I’m finally deciding to add Tags for my posts and shit… yeah 👍

#RadarArt - Non-Fandom Art

#RadarsFandomArt - Fandom Art

#RadarRambles - Just random stuff I post about

#RadarREBLOG - Reblogs

#PhotoRadar - Photos I took and thought “The internet needs to see this.”

#RadarOC’s - My OC’s featured on Artfight + Lore

(More might be added another time ^^)

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Other Socials!

Art Fight - RadarTheCool (I’ve started to participate in this after hearing about it for a while)

AO3 - Im_A_GreatCool (You’ll find random ass fics and stories there)

Instagram - RadarTheSomething (VERY NEW, probably won’t use as much)

I will be adding a Twitter account soon, however I haven’t made an official art account for it yet 👍

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⚠️STOP⚠️

Do not interact with my content if you’re a shitty person. I consider this account to be a safe space for people of any race, sexuality, and gender. If you do not agree with me at this point, you may take your ass, turn it around, and leave my account.

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Hi, you reached the end of my intro post. I have no fucking clue what else to add here, so here’s an image. HAVE A GOOD DAY!

SleepDeprivedArtist has left the server

[raindownforme]

omg omg ok ok so maybe for a request charlie and the reader and how they interact as streamers?? like a friends to lovers au but you can tell how they fall in love through all their interactions online & in games (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

like for example whenever they play on the smp charlie only reaaallly wants to help the reader and when anyone else asks he’s like hm? what? IT JUST SEEMED CUTE IN MY HEAD ☹️💌

Lore

Charlie slimecicle x reader [they/them used]

“Hello twitchers.” y/n smiled into the face cam, watching the chat fly by a mile a minute. They knew they’d draw in a larger audience today, it being their first official stream on the Dream SMP. They loaded up the game, spawning in a wooded area surrounded by cobblestone. “Alright where do we- hello?”

y/n leaned closer to the screen. They could see someone standing behind a tree. Someone in glasses and green blotchy skin. They typed into the in-game chat, trying to get who ever it was to come closer. Thankfully they did, revealing a character named Slimecicle. y/n looked over to the discord server, pulling themselves into a voice channel with the mystery person.

“Hi there!” Slimecicle’s voice rang through y/n’s headphones and they smiled. They liked the sound of his voice. “Im Charlie. Welcome.”

“Thanks. Do you know how to get anywhere?”

“Yeah!” Charlie’s character jumped as y/n followed after him. Charlie led them to a snowy mountainside that had been covered with sand. Someone had built a white mansion and several other buildings, including a fountain and a tall tower. “This is where I live.”

“This mansion?” y/n panned to look around the mountainside. They glanced over to watch their chat fly by.

“No I just live in the country in general. Las Nevadas!” Charlie jumped up and down, punching y/n in a friendly manner. “Oh are you hungry? I have food!”

Charlie’s character threw a stack of lamb chops at y/n. They smiled at him, then quickly realized he couldn’t see them. “Thanks! Where is this by the way.”

“Only the best country ever. It’s Las Nevadas! Do you want to live here?”

“Sure!” y/n followed as Charlie ran around. He showed them all around the country; the casino, the strip club, the restaurant, and even the garden. “Charlie this is so cool!”

“I know!” Charlie jumped up and down in a circle. “I’m not the guy who owns it but I’m sure he’d like to meet you.”

“Oh.” y/n paused, biting their cheek. “Will he be okay with me being here?”

“Of course he will. It’s Quackity! Let’s find you somewhere to live.” y/n followed Charlie to the tall white tower. He led them behind it to a flat plot of sand. “Here! We’ll be neighbors.”

“Awesome. I don’t have anything to build with yet but-“

“Oh here!” Charlie ran into the base of the tower, coming back 30 seconds later. He threw two stacks of oak logs to y/n. “Is this what you needed?”

“I- yeah. That’s a lot of wood.”

“I want you to have it!”

y/n smiled bashfully, trying to swallow the heat rising to their cheeks. They could see their twitch chat running by with messages asking if it was lore or cannon. “Here. Take this then.”

Charlie marveled at the flower y/n had tossed him, a blue cornflower. He smiled, holding a hand over his mouth to hide from the prying eyes of his own twitch chat. “Thank you.”

y/n began running around the plot, randomly placing oak planks to make a frame for their house. They tossed Charlie some planks, allowing him to help build up the home. They continued beholding for another half an hour, allowing y/n to have a gorgeous one story home with room for storage and supplies.

“Thanks for all your help today.”

“Of course! Do I get to see you again?”

y/n smiled, glancing over at discord to make sure they’d requested to be friends with Charlie. “Of course! I’ll see you around the server?”

y/n and Charlie saw each other quite often around the server. y/n logged on, Charlie was there. They’d spend hours in the game mining together, building structures, hunting. It went on months of them interacting in streams and lore exclusively.

“You can’t do this Quackity.” y/n spoke slowly. They’d been practicing the recording for this lore for weeks now, and thank god it wasn’t live. “I trust you, and I’m glad we’re friends, but this? Burning it all? What will that do for you. What will any of this do for you?”

“I know you haven’t been here as long, but this is my fucking country. It’s my fucking war. Who the hell are you to think you have any understanding of this? And ideas?”

“Because this isn’t how it works. This isn’t going to work. How many times have you tried this and it just hasn’t happened or you? I don’t know, maybe think about Schlatt? Or Technoblade?”

Quackity froze, being eerily silent. y/n glanced over at the script, making sure nothing was missed. “How do you know about that? Who told you about that?” Quackity’s character ran forward with a diamond sword in hand. “That is none of your business.”

“It’s none of your business how I know.” y/n backed away from Quackity as he walked closer. “I may not have been here long but I have friends.”

“What friends you have-“ he paused, realization setting in. “You have Slime. My friend.”

Quackity came at y/n swinging, they tried to fight back, blocking with a shield and iron sword. “Quackity enough! This isn’t what you want! Quackity please-“

y/n stopped, holding a breath and muting their mic. Quackity had landed the final blow, taking their first cannon life. They moved slightly away from their set up, making sure to not touch any keys. They knew Quackity was still recording, and Charlie’s part was coming soon.

Quackity panted. Taking a shaky breath. “Fuck. Okay. God I can’t believe-“ y/n waited expectantly. Quackity’s pause meant that he saw Charlie. “Oh. Hey bud.”

“Quackity from Las Nevadas.” Charlie almost sounded like he was crying. “What did you do?”

“Slime, you don’t understand, they knew more than they should-“

“So you killed them?” Quackity was quiet. y/n silently cheered to themselves, proud of both Charlie and Quackity’s acting. “You- you took my friend. You took my friend away and- are they coming back? Is y/n coming back?”

“Slime, I took one life. It doesn’t matter. They don’t matter. They didn’t care about Las Nevadas, not like we do.” y/n could hear Quackity’s character moving from his audio in the discord call. “It’s you and me Slime, my best friend.”

“No.”

“No?” y/n looked over the shared script, searching for what part was happening. They hadn’t read this far ahead. “What do you mean no?”

“I cared about y/n. They were my friend. This is not how you treat a friend.”

“And how would you know?”

“Because I know Quackity. I know.”

Charlie and Quackity came to a halt, waiting a moment before speaking again. “That was great!” y/n exited the Minecraft world, turning their full attention to the discord call. Quackity had his camera on, smiling, but Charlie still kept his camera off. “Was there anything else to record today?”

“No that’s it.” There was some clicking from Quackity’s end. “Thanks again. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah, later.”

Quackity exited the discord call, leaving Charlie and y/n in silence. Charlie cleared his throat, turning on his camera. His room was lit by just the lights behind his set up, casting his shadow over the shelves of stuffed toys and collectibles behind him. “Hey.”

“Hey!” y/n felt their face grow warm slightly. “I didn’t realize there was that much more to the script.”

“Yeah.”

y/n chewed the inside of their cheek. It almost sounded like Charlie was disappointed. “Are you okay? You sound upset.”

“I just-“ Charlie paused, resting his chin on his propped-up hands. “What do we do now? I don’t want to stop playing minecraft with you.”

“Charlie we don’t have to stop. Just because the lore goes one way doesn’t mean that we can’t interact.”

“But continuity-“

“You’re thinking like DnD.” y/n smiled gently at him. “If you still want to play together we can, it’ll just be like a secret. Or we can do our own lore. I’m sure if we talk to everyone about it me and you can write something.” Charlie didn’t say anything, and they frowned. “Is there something else?”

“I kind wish they didn’t kill you so early. I’ve still got my lives.”

“Maybe Quackity will kill you next.”

“That’s not-“ Charlie huffed, running a hand through his hair. “I like the character dynamic. I like us interacting. I like us.”

y/n paused, their face burning. They’d be lying if they said they hadn’t thought about the dynamic between themself and Charlie. The clips of them talking on late night streams. The fan-art all over Twitter. The edits recommended to them on Instagram. Hell, they thought about it even without seeing any prompted content. Charlie was on their mind most of the day. They’d constantly find themselves checking twitch to see if he was live or discord to see if he was active. Charlie had become a constant in y/n’s life and they indulged themself in it. “I like the dynamic too.”

“Well we don’t have that dynamic if you stop being part of Las Nevadas. There isn’t us.”

“Charlie, what are you talking about?”

“I’ve been— fucking— I’ve been using this stupid server to get closer to you. I thought that maybe you liked us the way that I liked us and I- I don’t know what I’m doing now.” Charlie rubbed his hands over his eyes. “I just didn’t want you to go.”

“Charlie I’m not going anywhere. I like us too.”

“You do?” Charlie perked up a bit, seeming more enthusiastic.

“Just cause we write lore doesn’t mean it affects us. Here, watch this.” y/n went onto the shared script, hoping Charlie still had it open, and began to type. They wrote about how y/n would possibly live alone in the woods on the outskirts of Las Nevadas, staying close to Charlie.

They could see Charlie smile on the other end of the call, then emit the sound of keys tapping. y/n watched as the words appeared on the page: Charlie tells y/n how he feels.

y/n gasped and turned back to the discord call. “I wanted to tell you soon. I guess I didn’t realize how upset the recording would make me.”

“Charlie, how long have you had a crush on me?”

“Uh, remember your first day?” y/n nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Probably about there.”

y/n turned back to the shared document, typing furiously. “It’s a good thing I like you too.”

Charlie smiled widely at the words; y/n returns his affection. He smiled at the discord call, resting his face in his hands. “Well then, what’s next for our lore darling?”

y/n chuckled, going back to open minecraft. “Help me make a new house.”

“Only if my bed can be next to yours.”

“Deal.”

They could hear Charlie tapping on his keyboard as he loaded in the game. “I know we haven’t met in person, but I’m serious. I like you.”

“And I’m serious. I like you too.” y/n looked at Charlie’s character on their screen. “It does kind of suck we’ve never met but that doesn’t mean-“

“I bought a ticket.”

“W-what? What kind of ticket?”

“A plane ticket. For next week. I mean if that’s okay. I can still cancel it.”

“No! I mean yes. I’d be delighted to have you come over Charlie.” y/n felt their smile soften.

“Can I still have a bed then?”

“Yes!” y/n laughed, going back to the game. They placed two beds side-by-side in the open air. “How’s this?”

“Better.” Charlie’s character went to stand on one of the beds. “Maybe we can write something different- oh.”

y/n looked at the document. Quackity had left them a comment on their new writing, telling them to flirt elsewhere. “Well, I guess he had a point.”

“Back to the game then darling?”

y/n smiled bashfully at the nickname. “Back to the game.”

[thefirstknife]

Iron Lord Saladin Forge

Season of the Lost dropped some major lore about Saladin and I love every piece of it so I will make a huge post detailing stuff about and what's important.

The lore is on Iron Banner armour which you can see in-game when you go to the armour section. The lore is the same on each class so it doesn't matter which one you read. It's in the order of how armour is set, so helmet -> arm piece -> chest piece -> leg piece -> class item. There's some extras on Iron banner weapons that I'll add as well.

The rest under the cut due to length and also spoilers!

I'll link to the Hunter gear because I'm a dirty Hunter main and I read it from there and that's what I have open because I couldn't remember the names for other two classes, but the lore is the same on all of them. The set is called Iron Forerunner.

We haven't really had any substantial Saladin lore in D2 besides few lore pieces from Chosen and Splicer. Not nearly enough I think, especially since he wasn't properly introduced in D2 at all and it was kinda assumed that everyone would know about him from the Rise of Iron expansion in D1. He had plenty of voice lines, but with no real context. His voice lines in Season of the Chosen were interesting, but also made a lot of people think he's a bad person and a warmongering coward who sat on his butt during the Red War and was then preaching action for action's sake.

The situation is obviously more complex, but I've always said that it's Bungie fault for not explaining more about him prior to his involvement in the Season of the Chosen. Well, now we got some really interesting information at last!

Anyway, helmet first!

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"Some know the legend. We threw ourselves on the blades of tyranny so others may live free." —Lord Saladin

This is referencing the Iron Lords' fight against the Warlords in the Dark Age. Saladin is heavily influenced by his time in the Dark Age. It seems like some really old Guardians never get over the trauma of living through that (Drifter is another example). Side note: this could also be referencing the battle against SIVA since Rasputin is also known as "The Tyrant." It's not fully relevant tho, as Saladin was equally affected by both periods in his life.

This first entry details something we don't really think about when it comes to Guardians: death. It's a temporary thing with them so it doesn't really matter. But Saladin recounts how he remembers his deaths and how each one felt. Despite the fact that he will be brought back, the pain and struggle of dying are very real. There is also the associated trauma of the realisation that you will go through this over and over and over:

He laughed when his Ghost reassembled him. Then, he cried.

It's not something mentioned often, and definitely wasn't a point raised with Saladin. It gives some context to how seriously he takes combat, training and the lives of his fellow Guardians.

Saladin remembers the day he stopped counting deaths. "Something about you is different," Jolder had said, and put her hand on his.

This explains that his worldview of the role of Lightbearers changed the moment he was invited to become an Iron Lord. It's also important to remember that he loved Lady Jolder very much (in whichever way you want to interpret it) and that watching her make the choice to die a final death has had a heavy impact on him.

Saladin remembers all this and more when he looks at the Crow. He feels rage form a hot pit in his belly when Osiris tells him about the young Lightbearer's suffering at the hands of his fellow Guardians. Osiris asks him if he can keep a secret.

"I don't like secrets," Saladin says, and that's the end of it.

Saladin doesn't really say this during Chosen and his interactions with Crow, but it's evident from this that he cares deeply about the young Light who suffered in ways Saladin only remembers people suffering during the Dark Age. It's also important to note that the Osiris he speaks to here is Savathun. Saladin seems to be uniquely unaffected by Savathun's schemes. This will repeat itself again later.

Second, arms piece.

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"Some know the legend. We were forged in the fires of a burning world." —Lord Saladin

Same thing as before. Referencing the post-Collapse Dark Age. The lore tab details a really tragic story of the Iron Lords burying bodies, including the implication of Saladin burying the body of a child. He recalls that these people were victims of Fallen Raiders.

"It's a vicious circle," Efrideet had said as she tied off a funeral shroud with great care. Saladin remembers the bundle being very small. "One day, I'm going to break it."

Saladin remembers how easily the body fit in his arms, how light it felt as he laid it in the grave. He remembers, with shame, pretending not to hear Efrideet's words so he wouldn't need to respond to them.

He remembers not having anything kind to say.

He obviously regrets not having a stronger stance on this in the past. Where Efrideet seems to have always been keen on ending the cycle of violence, he clearly thought differently and is now ashamed of it. This transitions into more about his relation to Crow:

Saladin remembers all this and more whenever the Crow talks back to him. Sometimes, he bites down on the inside of his cheek. Sometimes, he looks up to find his Ghost focused on him with a knowing look.

He doesn't say anything to his Ghost either.

Because Crow was saying things that reminded him of Efrideet. Breaking the cycles of violence, extending a friendly hand, not treating everyone like an enemy. It's evident that this turmoil is still inside of him as someone who spent most of his time fighting for survival, only to be told by those younger than him that there's a way out of that war. It's a very common struggle of people dealing with trauma and specifically PTSD to not be able to imagine and/or live in a world of peace and to outright reject the possibility of peace ever existing. Saladin is very clearly dealing with that and here, we see it from his own POV: despite sometimes being harsh to Crow, there were times when he chose to say nothing because deep down he knows that Crow is right. Accepting that is a long process though.

Third, chest piece.

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"Some know the legend. We rose from the ashes of a dying world to save humanity from itself." —Lord Saladin

Same again, but this is an interesting way to phrase it. He's talking about humanity being a danger to itself, not about any external threat. Ultimately, the Traveler's gift was the first thing that harmed humanity post-Collapse, despite later being the thing that saved it.

This leads into Saladin's thoughts on the Red War, something we've been sorely missing for a very long time.

Saladin remembers losing his connection to the Light. He remembers thinking that the Traveler must have discovered his most secret doubts; the darkest thoughts he shared with no one—not even his Ghost. He remembers the strange sense of relief that had washed over him until his radio crackled to life just moments later.

His deepest secret? Probably that Light is a burden. When he lost the connection to the Light, he specifically thought it had only happened to him and then felt relief. Freedom from the eternal war he has to keep waging. I'm sure he feels incredible shame for thinking it would be better to just lose the Light and die a final death, but alas, he is bound by duty. Especially a Titan's duty.

He stands there thinking about it for a while before finally deciding to embrace that duty. And now we know what he was doing during the Red War:

"Saladin," his Ghost said again, and Saladin remembers moving. He remembers clutching his radio and rallying survivors—those strong enough to make the journey—to the Iron Temple.

It's been abbreviated as him "sitting out" the Red War because he didn't fight. Of course it was strange that the last remaining active Iron Lord did not show up to the City to fight alongside all the others, both Guardians and ordinary humans. That Lord Saladin, someone who endured so many hardships and fought so many battles since the Dark Age, hasn't come to help humanity in its time of greatest need.

But now this hits different. He didn't fight, yes. He couldn't. Losing the Light wasn't just something that made him scared (like all Lightbearers): it was something that made him scared of how he might actually enjoy dying a glorious final death. To end the trauma and the memories of all the horrors he's been through. So instead of throwing himself into a reckless death, he chose to stay in the Iron Temple and protect survivors.

So yeah, he didn't fight, but he did something equally important. The Iron Temple is an extremely well protected fortress that's very difficult to reach and breach, so any survivor he gathered was perfectly safe there until the Red War ended. Sometimes "sitting out" is more noble than fighting.

Saladin remembers all this and more whenever the Crow challenges him on his cowardice during the Red War. He wants to break the young Guardian's back to teach him a lesson about what it's like to feel helpless, but something stops him.

He remembers hearing stories about the Crow's life on the Shore before he arrived at the Tower, and does not raise a hand against him.

The lore entry ends with telling us that Saladin was clearly very agitated about Crow's teasing. But in the end, he remembered what Crow has been through and realised that Crow already knows what it's like to feel helpless. He did not need a reminder and Saladin decided to take the teasing without a response. It truly frames some of those voice lines in a different light, knowing this background.

Fourth, leg piece!

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"Some know the legend. We crossed a burning world with sword in hand, bringing justice and blood." —Lord Saladin

Once more, we are told that Saladin was mostly forged (eheh) through his experience in the Dark Age.

The lore page details a bittersweet memory Saladin has of him with his fellow Iron Lords and friends enjoying some good time over a meal and song.

He remembers Radegast asking him to sing the song taught to them by the people of the blacksmith's village, but agreeing only when Jolder and Perun promised to join in. Their voices rose like wolves in the night and were so raw by morning that none of them could speak.

This is honestly heartbreaking. Saladin being this happy and free to sing and enjoy himself: compared to how he is now. But even with that, he has retained the need to do it again sometimes, if he ever finds people to be comfortable around.

Saladin remembers all this and more when Zavala tells him Amanda has taken the Crow out to drink in the City's streets. He wonders what song they'll sing, if it's anything like the one he's heard everyone humming lately—even though he hasn't tried it himself.

I love how he projects his past joy onto the two young people and wonders if they'll do the same as he did once. Here we also get another hint about Saladin apparently not being affected by Savathun's viral chant. It might be a point relevant in the future.

Finally, class item!

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"Some know the legend. We crushed the Warlords beneath our heel so that they may never rise again." —Lord Saladin

Nothing new here. Just Saladin recounting how hard they went against the Warlords.

The rest is a very poignant lore page that details the relationship between Saladin and Zavala. Zavala studied under Saladin who was his mentor and it's been repeated often that Saladin has retained a "soft spot" for him.

Saladin remembers the first time he met Zavala. He remembers thinking that the Awoken had regal bearing like the stags he once hunted on the Steppes. His shoulders were broad, and his chin held high. When he moved, he did so with the strength and purposeful deliberation of someone with the power to determine his own place in the world.

"You'll never have a son," his Ghost had said, "but it isn't too late for you to take an apprentice."

I love when non-Awoken describe Awoken, there's always something ethereal about it. But I'm mostly putting this part here because of what Saladin's Ghost says.

First, I am incredibly soft for older Guardians adopting younger ones as kids and teaching them. Easily my favourite dynamic ever. Saladin seeing Zavala as a son makes me cry a thousand tears.

And second, is this finally a full confirmation that Guardians cannot bear children? It's kind of a strange place to put it, but it seems to be the implication. It makes sense they wouldn't be able to, but it's also nice to have some direct lore information about it in case it pops up as a question. I'm sorry if this ruins anyone's fics.

Saladin remembers their sparring matches. He remembers how Zavala always got back on his feet, no matter how many times Saladin put him down. He remembers refusing to offer the younger Lightbearer a hand up. Until the day Zavala finally bested him in combat.

He remembers lying flat on his back, left shoulder dislocated and ribs shattered, a strange pressure on his chest that made it difficult to breathe.

"Finish it," Saladin had commanded because that was the way of things. His Ghost would revive him.

Saying nothing, Zavala hauled him to his feet instead.

I love how this is placed at the end, paralleling the beginning of Saladin remembering his deaths and the pain of dying. But instead of "finishing it," Zavala pulls him back up. It's definitely something Saladin hasn't experienced before, especially not before becoming an Iron Lord, when all of his deaths were just gruesome ends to a struggle. Then seconds after, he'd be back up. He took the revival for granted, until Zavala offered him the alternative. Again, an interesting perspective about something we don't usually think about much. I do wonder how Saladin healed afterwards though.

Saladin remembers all this and more when his former apprentice calls him into his office and tells him about the face behind the Crow's mask. Zavala says he knows that Saladin doesn't like secrets; that it's unfair to ask him to keep one of this magnitude, but there will come a time when the Crow needs someone—the way Zavala needed Saladin.

"You never needed anyone," Saladin insists.

Zavala only smiles.

This page ends with the two bonding again. Despite their differences and disagreements, there's mutual respect between the mentor and the apprentice. The father and the son.

And Saladin thinks Zavala never needed him, but that is obviously not true and Zavala tells him so. He also tells him that Crow, and implied Guardians like him, will need the same guidance.

It gives us a full circle back to Saladin's musings about his purpose as a Guardian and Lightbearer. He may have doubted his place in the world before, but seeing as he's still here with us and actively participating and helping; training us through Iron Banner, helping with the Eliksni, refusing to side against the Vanguard despite the difference in opinion, now serving as Zavala's ambassador for the Cabal and easily bonding with someone he would've considered an enemy not long ago...

I think Saladin knows his place. He's one of the strongest Lightbearers and most principled among them. He is not swayed by lies and deceptions, he does not abide by them and speaks plainly. He has deeply rooted beliefs in justice and he will not compromise himself, even if it means conceding his position to make peace with a former enemy when that enemy proves their worth, honesty and good intentions to him.

He is a Guardian.

He is an Iron Lord.