#Combining Sentiment and Technicals

[signode-blog]

Overlooking Sentiment Analysis: Why Combining Sentiment with Technicals Can Provide Better Insights

When it comes to navigating the complex world of financial markets, traders and investors rely on a variety of tools to make informed decisions. Among these tools, Technical Analysis (TA) has long been a cornerstone, offering data-driven insights into price movements and trends. However, as markets become more dynamic and influenced by real-time events, incorporating Sentiment Analysis into your…

[mikodrawnnarratives]

Thought about my theory while reading the trilogy for the first time. I had gotten right that Maggie was Evie very early on but I had also theorized that she'd have a much bigger role in the story. I was consistently getting hype to see Maggie investigate Nova more, like I REALLY wanted to see Maggie be ONTO Nova's identity, and the bracelet was just the beginning.

This went along with my theory that Maggie was found by Captain Chromium and her different name was a result of being put under some kind of witness protection. A niece of Ace Anarchy that survived him just wouldn't be safe if she was in the public eye as Evie Artino. But Hugh and Simon would know, probably not Adrian, and Maggie wouldn't be clueless to her real identity. Theory went that she was trying to find her sister and she'd help Nova escape prison! Maybe..

Nowadays I like some aspects of the theory since it would make much more sense for THAT to have happened, but Maggie's character doesn't align with it very well. It would change her a lot if she secretly had connections to Hugh and Simon, knew her real identity, and all. It would make Hugh and Simon also look a little bit like jackasses cuz REALLY??? THE DUMPING GROUND??? FOR THE ARTINOS DAUGHTER??? WHERE SHE GAINED A SURVIVOR MENTALITY?? If they put her there they'd take her back quickly if they were to be written like they Cared

A more updated au-ified version of this that I thought of was: What if the Tucker Family took her in? Either adopted or fostered, doesn't matter too much for au purposes. Idr how young Adrian was when he met Ruby, but maybe Maggie was at the children's home for a little, they realize it's overcrowded and underfunded, take her out and fund the place, and then they meet the Tuckers.

They'd HAVE to get money for it of course, since they are crammed at their home already in canon, but the family that swears on no secrets sounds pretty fitting for Maggie. Secret girl who wants to know everything about her family.

She gets an older sister and two barely older brothers, she's the baby!! They'd remind her of it constantly and she'd hate it!! She'd be little contrarian. She doesn't get as hyped as her siblings do for the Renegades Council, bc contrarian but her own list of reasons for being upset with them. From failing to protect her family (she knows WHY still hurts), then didn't consider adopting her (doesn't fully understand their reasoning), and Dumping her at an orphanage that SUCKED but they at least took her out of not toooo long afterwards (maybe she'd be there for four or five years? She wouldn't remember a ton but enough to dislike it)

The Tucker's would know at least a little about her backstory, and the gravity of it staying a secret in the family. The twins would know less than the rest, I could see Maggie not wanting them to know as much

Since Margaret Tucker would have a family that'd struggle with money, she'd probably still steal a bunch to help out. She'd have spent some time at the children's home where she'd learn that, but she really puts it to use to help her family. She'd steal, pawn it off, come back and hide the money in various places around their home so it isn't a sudden increase in cash. Just "oh sweet! Must have lost this"

She's not very good at the "no secrets" rule.

One secret they'd def find out about is her becoming a Renegade, but Ruby might defend her. She'll be with clean up teams and could really exercise her asset perception to help the city! She wouldn't be in danger

Maggie Tucker may be a little less of a problem than canon Maggie? Since she'd probably have a little more stable life and having an actual family would do a lot for her methinks. But she'd still steal Nova's bracelet, and No Secrets Maggie who's been waiting for this moment immediately investigates Nova. And Supernova would go different, as well as many interactions between them

(post reveal here would feature sister jealousy lol "oooo your jealous of Rubbyyy!!" Nova: "I'm not jealous!!" "LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE" Maggie loves them equally)

[rock-omelette]

MAFIA AU

In the light (or more precisely, the dearth) of Mafia AUs in this fandom, I have resolved to shut my trap and make my own.

BASELINE (Gerald, Ivo and the Family Business)

The founder and patriach of the Botnik Family Business is Gerald, and immediate family consists of Maria and Ivo, his surviving grandchildren.

The Family Business started off as a fairly powerful gang, due to Gerald's own efforts in commanding a good portion of DC and San Francisco. But it didn't REALLY take off until he took Ivo in as his right hand man after the deaths of Ivo's father, who had been his eldest son.

Gerald did most of the raising, in some sense of the word. He didn't like Ivo much--Ivo was a neurotic, combative, insubordinate and was even more ambitious than he was. But Ivo was a GENIUS.

Gerald paid for Ivo's education, middle school to every doctorate. He had 3 PhDs by 25. He had 5 by 30. He had 7, technically, on account of several new academic developments in medical industry, but Ivo had always regarded the last two were just "honorary."

Ivo respected Gerald, but he knew he could be better, could be greater than Gerald ever could be. He started developing weapons in high school, and it was his idea to establish a military liaison selling his inventions in college. They took off focus from crude revenues like "Protection rackets" and instead focused on global underground arms dealing, mercenary work, biochemical drug testing and organ harvesting. The Family Business exploded. They were calling it a proper "Empire." People were more scared of Ivo than they ever were of Gerald, and all these combined, Ivo and Gerald's relationship only got more tetchy as they grew.

MARIA

Gerald discovered Maria in his 90's, and Ivo's 50's. She's the daughter of an old mistress, left on his doorstep when she died of cancer. Gerald fairly adored Maria from the get go. She's sweet, charming, kind and obedient.

He doesn't say it out loud, but Ivo suspects Gerald plans to name Maria as his heir whenever he finally dies despite...everything. Ivo doesn't HATE her. He has too much affection for family, or he'd have killed off Gerald years ago. No, he wishes he could hate her, but he doesn't really. Maria thinks he does though, and is fairly confused and frustrated by Ivo's cold shoulder. She hasn't got any other family. She's 14.

SHADOW

Maria is closest with Shadow, who was a homeless orphan Gerald randomly takes a liking to when he found him in DC. Gerald liked his moxie. Up until he found Maria he treated the kid as some kind of foster son of sorts (Ivo thinks Gerald's gotten sentimental in his old age. He DOES hate Shadow.), so now he entrusts Maria to Shadow as her primary bodyguard. They have a sibling-like relationship. Shadow is 17.

STONE

Stone is Ivo's right hand man, bodyguard and assistant, and he has been so for a decade.

Stone is an ex-CIA who discovered the Robotnik through work and has, shall we say, developed an obsessive one sided crush on Ivo through the years.

Like he's heard of Ivo since his years in active military duty, and his inventions never fail to be groundbreaking. And they only grow more and more impressive over time.

He's been trying to find a way to get on Ivo's radar for years. He gotta be smart with it. He got his chance when he was deployed for a retrieval mission by a ticked off general. It's an off-the-book mission. His fascination with the Mad Doctor is an open secret among the ranks, and his perfect ops record made him the perfect agent for the job. Ivo had managed to get some dirt on him that he's threatening to use as blackmail, and he needs Stone to steal it back from him.

Stone uses the opportunity to prove his worth. He steals the data, and "slips up", getting caught. He confronts Ivo face to face, and reveals his intentions to be an interview of sorts. Proving the fact that he had succeeded in his mission nonetheless. Ivo was greatly amused (and slightly impressed) by the sheer recklessness, audacity and skill.

He tells Stone to prove himself by assassinating the General who sent him on the mission in the first place, and to do it in 5 hours. Stone succeeds in 3. Ivo hires him. The rest is history.

MISCELLANEOUS

Rouge, Omega, Cubot and Orbot and Sage are all part of the family as well! Human AU. They are all Shadow's inner circle, and are exceptionally fond of Maria.

The goons are called Badniks, which consist of both human people and mass produced drones. 90% of any added human goons are done by Gerald. Ivo works primarily with his drones, because he thinks people are too "squishy, annoying, stupid and inefficient." The divide in loyalty is clear but unspoken--the drones and tech are more loyal to Ivo, and the people (save maybe a few like Stone, Metal and Sage) are more loyal to Gerald.

Ivo usually hates like. Touch and bodily fluids. He wears long sleeves and gloves. But he DOES enjoy killing and maiming and the like. He thinks its entertaining as all get out. Nothing like a good torture session to let off some steam.

Ivo walks with a cane sometimes. Not for any specific reason he just looks hot.

[cafejulii]

Kurapika being deemed by the hxh fandom as one of, if not the most, aesthetically pleasing character in all of hxh is ironically hilarious to me.

While I agree with this sentiment to an extent, as someone who is very keen to elements that make up an inherent sense of asethetic, canonically speaking; it should be expected that Kurapika has almost everything that would go against having a cohesive one. If anything, I am in firm belief that the main reason why he holds such a title is due to the manga covers along with the elegantly crafted filler added in hxh 1999 in which depicts the suffering intertwined with the discovery of his nen ability in such an artistic manner, which then created the baseline aesthetic for the lovely artists of this fandom to further expand upon.

But outside of this? Even so, many hxh fans still agree that he holds a sense of aestheticism to him. It truly does not matter that his color palette is all over the place, or that he would absolutely not care for style, and that, when not his cultural attire or a suit; he dresses as though he had walked into each of his friends closet's, picked out one item from each one, and wore them all together and called it fashion. (They absolutely do not match at all and Killua would absolutely have a stroke at the sheer sight of such grievous combinations).

Specifically talking about these 2011 official arts in which he is one step away from becoming Armin Artlert. (Even complete with the seagull)

Either that, or he dresses like a recently divorced wine mom. Or a butch lesbian. Not to feminize him in any way of course. It’s just the observed truth. It’s just the, pure, unavoidable reality when you dress in those particular color combinations, wear flannel or an oversized sweater, and have that oh so particular “fuck ass bob.”

Specifically talking about these 1999 official arts. A friend of mine had pointed out to me that the one on the right reminded them of Major Hughes’s wife from FMA and I couldn’t stop laughing. Poor 1999 official art Kurapika they did him so wrong.

Though there also many instances in the 1999 official arts in which he does a complete 180, and dresses as though he were the most insufferable character in a shitty 90’s mafia movie. While yes, in the manga, he is technically a mob boss as of now, I genuinely could not fathom watching the absolute mess of succession war unfold with a straight face if he dressed like this.

Yet even still, we have a multitude of artists making the most breathtaking artworks that depict him in agony while holding the eyes of his people almost as if he were some sort of sacrilegious patron, a lot of which are usually inspired Catholic/ Orthodox paintings. (I love these types of arts so much)

Now thinking about it, I suppose, maybe he is so aesthetically appealing because he is an androgynous presenting man with heavy backstory that has many symbolic ties to Christianity as he is representative of Lucifer in juxtaposition to Chrollo who is seen as this twisted version of Jesus Christ. And as we know, it was Lucifer who was considered to be the most “ beautiful of all the angels.”

But anyway, I digress. Bro is just ethereal. Congratulations togashi for creating a character so intentionally-unintentionally aesthetic.

(also this is very much a shitpost please I beg don’t take this seriously at all)

[baldursghaik]

some thoughts on the Emperor and its relationship with Belynne Stelmane, specifically when the Emperor tells the player character that what it felt about Stelmane was "not love, but something unique"

I think that was the Emperor's… "totally clever and sneaky" way of being honest with the player about the nature of its relationship with her. I think it knows that it didn't feel "love" for her in the way that humans would, but that it does still very much feel that brand of attachment/obsession that most illithids seem to feel for their thralls.

I think that, to a mind flayer, to love something is akin to "owning" it. it controlled and manipulated stelmane, but in turn it was also devoted and attached to her, and thus "owned" in return. I think that mind flayers are capable of love, especially ones that are capable of independent thought (emperor, omeluum, etc), but I think that it manifests in ways that are pretty alien to what most people would consider to be "love" so when the emperor tells tav that it wasn't love, I think it was being as honest as it could be with someone that most likely could not (or would not) conceptualize what "love" looks like to a mind flayer my personal thoughts regarding the emperor and stelmane are that it desperately wanted her to be what it would eventually view tav as: an equal, someone that could be a true illithid companion to it. I think that her utility to it as one of the four dukes was far too great for it to necessarily risk pushing her beyond anything further, but I think that it sincerely would have liked for her to become a mind flayer as well

the emperor is very machiavellian in its approach to problems (the ends justify the means, and the ultimate goal must be prioritized above nearly anything else), so I think it's most likely that it would have wrung all ducal utility it could have gotten out of her before trying to find a way to turn her into an illithid. But that's just me spitballing, of course. It could very well have just viewed her as a thrall and kept her as a "pet" for the rest of her life, like most illithids do

but the emperor's humanity is exactly what makes me think that it wouldn't have, and that it would have rather loved her in a more "traditional" way

as for stelmane herself, an important question remains: how much, if at all, was she actually present during their time together? it's obvious that she fought back against the emperor (and both it and in-game documentation will tell you as much), but I think it's prudent to consider that the emperor thrives on technicalities and half truths. I think it's highly likely that , for at least some of their time together, stelmane worked WITH the emperor. I don't think it would have grown half so attached if they didn't operate well together, and I don't see any reason not to take it at its word when it assigns itself as her "partner" (though I certainly think stelmane would have disagreed with the sentiment).

their relationship fascinates me because they're both such interesting people. it's well known that baldur's gate is practically a wretched hive of sin and villainy, so I doubt stelmane's record is squeaky clean (on top of the general assholery that accompanies politics, which wyll himself attests to), but I also do not believe at all that what the emperor did to her was justified or merited. But she's interesting because, even though she is literally Doomed By The Narrative and dead on arrival, she does not ever feel like a victim, at least to me. she and the emperor are both this interesting combination of being not as bad as you'd think, but also pretty damn far from being good, and I just live for that degree of depth and complexity.

[dioslesbianwife]

AHHH i know it’s still november and not technically christmas time yet, but I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS (and don’t celebrate thanksgiving lmao) so i wrote some headcannons for jojo villains and gift giving/receiving!!

jojovillains x gender neutral! reader holiday headcannons!

•••••••••••••••••••

Dio

You gifted Dio a luxurious black velvet cape with gold trim and embroidery of his name across the inside in elegant cursive. You added a crown with small crimson gemstones to complete the look lol.

Dio smirked as he draped the cape over his shoulders. “A fitting gift for someone such as myself,” he said, his voice dripping with superiority.

“Now you can cosplay as yourself!” you tease, earning a raised eyebrow and an amused chuckle.

Doppio

For Doppio, you’ve created a collection of adorable trinkets: a pastel pink phone case shaped like a rotary phone, a personalized pocket mirror with his name on it, and a diary filled with encouraging notes like “You’re amazing, Doppio! :)” on random pages.

Doppio’s face lit up as he opened the gifts. “This is so thoughtful! Thank you!”

“I knew you’d like it,” you say, practically glowing.

Diavolo

For Diavolo, you created a sleek, blood-red tie with subtle King Crimson designs woven into the fabric.

“This is acceptable,” he said, inspecting the tie with his usual stoicism.

“Acceptable?” you scoff. “That’s all I get for being nice to you?”

Diavolo didn’t reply, but the fact that he wore the tie later that day was proof he appreciated it.

Kira

Kira received a pair of elegant gloves made of the finest leather, tailored to fit perfectly. They were monogrammed with his initials and subtly accented with golden thread.

“These are… exquisite,” Kira said, slipping them on.

“See? I do know how to be classy,” you quipped, grinning.

He nodded, begrudgingly impressed.

Funny Valentine

For Valentine, you crafted a custom pocket watch with the American flag engraved on the cover and the inscription “E Pluribus Unum” (translation- out of many, one)

Valentine chuckled softly as he examined it. “You have an odd way of combining sentimentality and irreverence, but thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Gramps!”

Kars

Kars received an elaborate golden diadem, inlaid with glowing gemstones that shimmered in the light. “It’s for the ultimate life form,” you tell him.

Kars looked it over, intrigued by the craftsmanship. “This is… suitable,” he said, though his tone suggested he was impressed.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” you reply with a grin.

Pucci

For Pucci, you’ve created a pristine white leather-bound Bible with golden edges and a personal inscription inside that read: “Merry Christmas.”

Pucci smiled warmly, touched by the gift. “This is truly beautiful. Thank you.”

You beam, thrilled by his reaction.

Reactions and Gifts from Others

••••••••

Dio

Dio, surprisingly, gave everyone a small token: ornate gold rings engraved with his name. “To remind you all who is superior,” he said with a smirk.

how humble of him.

Doppio

Doppio nervously hands you a poorly wrapped gift: a handmade friendship bracelet in your favorite colors.

“It’s not much, but I wanted to give you something,” he said, blushing.

You smile and immediately put it on. “It’s perfect, Doppio!”

Diavolo

Diavolo didn’t bother with gifts.

for this, he deserves a lump of coal >:(

Kira

Kira gave no gifts and avoided eye contact when you brought it up. “Christmas is not an occasion I celebrate,” he muttered.

Funny Valentine

Valentine gave everyone personalized handkerchiefs embroidered with their initials.if you question him, Valentine shrugs. “Practicality never goes out of style.”

Kars

Kars didn’t exchange gifts, stating, “Material possessions are beneath me.”

“Sure, but you liked the diadem,” you tease, earning a glare.

Pucci

Pucci gave you a small, silver cross necklace. “Something to remind you that your joy brings light to this house,” he said.

You’re so touched you hugged him, making Pucci smile softly.

••••••••••••••

By the end of the day, the house was a mess of torn wrapping paper and ribbon, but for once, everyone seemed at peace. Even the most stoic among them couldn’t deny that your excitement had made the holiday unforgettable.

[wilted3sunflowers]

Pink Pearl: SOLD

Always thought of as a simple minded pearl who honestly to many outsiders never thought she was that great at being a quiet and follow you from behind type. Yet never seemed to be reprimanded much from Zebra Agate whom she was entrusted to. Currently she's thriving in this new Era 3 and on earth in Empire City. She was the one among this group to actually start the whole animal pattern print...kind of. Though technically it could be argued the pattern started with Zebra Agate but Pink Pearl conciously chose leopard print from seeing them on models in store window advertismenet and could not be more interested. On Homeworld theres very little patterns, only really lattice work or stripes of any kind or diamond checkerboard. No one really thought out- no one thought to look to organic beasts for fashion. Humans are so fascinating. Maybe thats what that Rose Quartz truly saw in them. How creative and vibrant they are. Comes with a past form too on toyhouse

Design Notes on Grey and Pink Pearl: Inspired first by Pink pearl's interest in 'animal pattern' which Grey is a pearl who excelled at being 'a pearl' sure she was never the most emotive, sing song-y type of pearl for entertainment yet what Zebra Agate needed was a pearl more of a secretary of keeping things on schedule and taking calls and what not. I also decided for this story a conscious effort that Pearls don't wear patterns. They're not of importance they are here to be simple, more softer colors typically and just to show they're a pearl. not some combination of gem type wearing another gems pattern. Also decided the same of course for Pink pearl for them being simple, run of the mill pearls even if Grey has a bit more to her past design it was only for the more authoritative feel that a pearl might have being under an *Agate* that terrifies Design notes on Pink lace: Due to corruption she is a lot more faded- not just from corruption but because her gem was more like that of the sand gem. Embedded in an object and only ever facing the sun. bleaching her gem of colors with too much exposure. She's a lot more polished in her currently look- i had a design ready for her just out of corruption look but then that would leave Zebra agate without a past form and decided to let the two non pearls without past forms. She of course used to be much more vibrant.

Design Notes on Zebra Agate: purposefully the inverse of typical zebra pattern on her clothes. with white stripes on black you can see that her hair itself is a regular part of black stripes on white like a typical zebra. also her design on her bodysuit is specifically to mimic a ribcage with zebra stripes

Zebra Agate: [Sold] "An Agate Terrifies" That's what Agates do. That's who Agates are. Subjugate those out of line and whip them into shape. They're here to make everyone stay in their proper places and follow rules. However I took her to completely go into the other direction of dealing with rules. The Punk movement appealing to her- if this is Era 3 and there is no need for her job role. Why should she keep trying to force a terrifying agate lifestyle? She may not be the kindest or most sweet Zebra Agate is however sentimental and more thoughtful than many- even pink lace considered her much more cold and rigid to expectations of what used to be common of gem society. While shes not an anarchist she has been delving into punk fashion but also the subculture to help her adjust to her new world and its views. She had always needed to follow rules blind and enforce them but due to the new order change. How else was she to find something that even acknlowedges no structure is perfect and many are flawed- even so her diamonds were flawed. Nothings perfect and nothing is without work to adjust.

Grey Pearl: SOLD A muted personality. What do you do when you used to know everything you were supposed to do? Living not in just a new era but an entire new world where you're allowed a lot more freedom that you never actually craved before. She's known Pink Pearl for thousands upon thousands of years and while there are some feelings of envy she would consider Pink Pearl to be her only friend. It's a complex mix of emotions like anyone would have especially towards Zebra Agate and the peculiar softness she seems to have for Pink Pearl that she has with no one else. Whilst never treated harshless it always was more of a cold wall from Zebra Agate that Grey Pearl felt. That this was strictly business relationship. Agate never even asked her to sing or dance- two components that make a pearl a pearl in many's eyes. Yet she's asked Pink Pearl to sing for her, and never stopped her from dancing without being asked. Grey Pearl may not have much of a relationship with Faded Pink Lace however she almost projects a sense of kinship of feelings left behind with her. In fact it was after Pink Lace Agate came back with those curated corruption spots that she decided to have some own markings herself. Humans have tattoos and while she can't get a traditional tattoo from humans she herself worked to get those marks on herself. She was the last one in the group to reform to this new Human lifestyle. Comes with a past form too on toyhouse

(Faded) Pink Lace: SOLD During the gem war she of course fought for homeworld and even was was part of the last charge. Of course, while she is more of the carefree type even she could see the dangers. Zebra was part of the task to pull out more of the aristocrats and Pink Lace part of the ground troops. Anything could happen so just as a precaution she sent her pearl away to Zebra Agate. Honestly, she expected that terrifying Agate to reset Pink Pearl for herself. It was a peculiar feeling for Pink Lace recognizing her pearl- even if it took only a moment before her Pearl recognized her. All so unevenly spotted and with sharp spiked growths coming out of her. She was a mess...Just how Zebra Agate used to scold her about. Her pearl still so lively and a bit oblivious to others feelings but even now so creative- such unique spots on her dress...theyre not even diamond shaped. Pink Lace at least knows to go with the flow of things but a good deal perceptive.

[partyof4game]

"Take what you want — take it with both hands and never look back. Life, love, fame, fortune... none of it is guaranteed. Take it."

Maymie Fox - [she/her, dom] A sprightly and sarcastic woman who introduces MC to their first real combat experience outside of the parish, Maymie thrives off challenges and grasping life by the metaphorical dragon horns. As an ex-street rat, she's one to always sniff out opportunities to make money, even if they're morally gray or sometimes downright crimes. In the end, if it benefits her and hers and doesn't hurt any children, then it's fair game.

Maymie is very outspoken about her feelings and beliefs and has no problem giving anyone sass when she thinks they deserve it. She has a soft spot for people that are scrupulous with their money or are overall suspicious of others, since it makes her feel like she isn't alone in a world that tells people to be virtuous — or else.

Appearance - Standing at 5'1"/156cm, Maymie draws attention to herself with bright red hair that's cut short in the back and long in the front, which makes her unusual purple eyes all the more obvious. Unlike many casting-type heroes who prefer wearing loose robes, Maymie wears well-fitted leathers and bright tunics with a chainmail undervest.

Combat - Maymie is a mage attuned and trained in lightning and water magic, although she is a close to mid-range fighter. She likes to get scrappy with her daggers, which are inlaid with purple sapphires to channel her mana, but she's not afraid to use them as throwing missiles or call down a lightning storm or drown enemies in a tsunami if the situation calls for it. If MC is also a mage, she likes to try and synergize fun magical combinations to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

Romance - Maymie loves to be in charge. If there's obvious attraction and MC doesn't ask her out first, she'll be the one to break the ice, no nonsense. Maymie can be protective and jealous, although she tries not to be overbearing, always worried that she will chase away those closest to her by being too much. In the middle of the nights she tends to get sentimental, hoping for MC to hold her to chase away the past that plagues her.

Romance Tropes - possible: size difference; sunshine girlfriend; quietly jealous; possible: teaches goody partner to be bad; possible: poly relationship

**SPOILERY TECHNICAL SIDE OF MAYMIE'S CHARACTER**

To keep the tumblr mildly spoiler free, you can read this part of Maymie's intro on my patreon for free. ☺️

Jem | Vana | Aslo | Linzel | Raena | Sweets | Maymie

[evangelifloss]

Hey, I just red your amazing fight analysis and I want to know what you think about the scene where the bartender at the continental bar in the first movie says to John that he looks „vulnerable“. Do you think it’s the look in his eyes or the way he acts or moves ? (Which in my opinion look pretty normal) and how do you think John was before he left the business? Was he more cruel with his kills ?

I'm guessing you mean this scene, right? I hope so because I made this gif JUST for this ask since I LOVE what you've sent in. Thank you @persephone411 💖💖

To answer why the bartender picks up on John's vulnerability without him seemingly displaying any signals, I'll first and foremost use what I know of the later instalments regarding John's behaviour. And that is how much he speaks. Between movies 1 and 2, there's only a 15 word difference in regards to how many lines of dialogue he has (1st movie has 484, 2nd has 499) and for a movie that has a run time of 1 hour and 40-ish minutes, that's not alot of dialogue to begin with.

Take for example, Jack Sparrow from the 1st Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Reading through the script, I counted roughly 490 lines of dialogue from him and that movie has a runtime of 20 minutes LESS than John Wick 1!

So we know that John isn't a talker. Yet, when he finds himself back at the Continental bar, and reunites with the bartender who knows him very well, and given how familiar they are (her excitement at seeing him, a brief hug/cheek kiss) it becomes apparent that John is more... open. He doesn't just order a drink and say nothing else. He engages with her, and expresses, "She (helen) was more than I deserved." Which by all accounts expresses a softer side to John, an admission that he is not impervious to grief. Assassins don't do that. Retired he may still technically be, he is still in a room full of people who are NOT retired, who could overhear and see the man behind Baba Yaga. That sentimentality can get you killed in the Assassin world.

Secondly, his face is sporting a few rough marks, and I very much doubt John the Baba Yaga would show himself at the Continental bar sporting proof he can be injured.

As my final thought, for me personally, it's his tone and his eyes that give away his grief. His inner turmoil that will eventually overflow into a bloody tsunami. The micro-movements of his face as he pauses, when he looks away, and even when he greets her, the man is Tired. The man is not at this point in time, the Baba Yaga.

The second part of your ask is very interesting because we have almost next to nothing to go off of! No prequels (thank god) and barely any direct Lore other than what others speak about John which ironically, is missing direct context which leaves us viewers to speculate.

The John we know is the old John. The grieving John. The Man. We get glimpses of what he used to be, and how characters react upon hearing his name but we never get the Baba Yaga. Not entirely.

Continuing off this, my personal speculation is that John wasn't a vicious killer. He was an incredibly efficient one. You can buy time with a sadist if you are able to withstand them long enough for help to arrive but you cannot do the same towards someone whose only goal is to kill you on sight. As quickly as possible. And that someone also happens to be the best of the best. Combine those two skills and I think that is what makes Baba Yaga so terrifying to those in the underworld. It was enough for Viggo, head of a massive Russian syndicate, to go silent upon hearing the name despite knowing John had been retired for 5 years!!

On another note, and this barely gets touched upon but throughout the movie you come to know that for such a silent and deadly killer, John has a weird amount of people willing to die for him.

The High Table actively discourages and creates a continually hostile environment amongst assassins so that bonds and genuine alliances/friendships can't begin nor be maintained and yet... look how many people are willing to so far for John.

This speaks to the level of respect and integrity John must have to simultaneously be a deadly killer AND to not be hated by everyone.

He does his job well but he is not cruel. He will not endanger unrelated persons if he can help it, he is sincere and loyal.

It's why the High Table fuckin hates him.

[dr-gaytorius]

It's so odd to me how many people I've heard say something to the extent of "we're a wet computer commandeering a meat suit" or "technically you're just a skeleton (inside the meat)" and many other sentiments that indicate that a confusing number of people are under the impression that the meat is somehow... not you? and I'm not sure where people get these ideas, but I promise you that all of is is you.

I can at least somewhat understand where the "you are your brain" sentiment is coming from; the idea that the you is stored in the sapience, which is thought to occur in the brain. But in reality it's not that simple. You, your lived experience, is also the stimuli received from the rest of your body that is processed by your brain and then produces an emotional or thought response. Your senses are a very important part of you, as they so greatly impact what you think and feel. What you think and feel becomes how you act, and how you act defines your character, so on and so forth.

But it's still not that simple. Like your vision - light stimulus enters the eyes and travels through the optical nerve and is then processed by the brain. It's not just your brain, and it's not the product of your brain, it's the entire system. If you want to take things even further, the sense of touch is actually fairly complicated and involves multiple systems of the body to experience - regardless of the type of sensation. The sense of touch is a process that partly begins on a microscopic level; the blood. If you've ever had a limb fall asleep, you have experienced what it can be like when your nerve endings don't receive enough blood. If you have enjoyed an intimate touch, then you have experienced what it can be like when your nerves do get enough blood. This is also why erogenous zones are where they are; within your thighs is your femoral artery, in your core is the abdominal aorta, in your chest is your thoracic aorta (and of course, your heart), and your carotid artery and jugular veins in your neck. Similarly, your radial artery and ulnar veins are very near the surface of your skin, thus you may have noticed these areas are sensitive as well, in combination with the higher concentration of nerves in your hands. Your nerves are settled into canals in your skeletal system, and branch throughout your flesh towards your skin. When an area receives physical stimuli, blood is drawn towards the stimuli, and the nerves receive more blood, and as circulation increases, as does the intensity of the sensation cause by the stimuli. As you are probably well aware, depending on the stimuli, this can be very good or very bad.

You are the amalgamation of systems that make up your entire body - you are your entire body. The blood, the electricity, the mucus, the guts, the bile, the bacteria, the bones, the flesh and meat, the white and grey and dura matter. I personally think the body is utterly fantastical and whenever I hear someone express the opinion that we are anything less, I just... well it's sad and honestly a bit confounding. And I do think that if you are thinking of the body as a "meat suit" that is tragically reductive, and it does paint a comparably more burdensome and mundane picture.

Anyway that's your biology lesson for the day♥

[thedwarrowscholar]

Hello! My friends and I are looking for new and exciting ways to create insults in NeoKhuzdul for use in fanfiction, and I recently stumbled over a "disrespectful (contemptuous)" version of the verb "to spoon" meaning "to show affection in an openly sentimental manner" (which, btw, what a marvelous verb! When I saw that there were 133 words that came up related to the word "spoon" in the sentence maker, I was just tickled.)

I searched further and found 499 entries with a similar note. Would you mind giving some context for the "disrespectful (contemptuous)" version of these verbs? I'm curious as to why some of them have both masculine and feminine versions, but many have only feminine listed in the sentence maker.

Do you have any tips for extending this same concept to nouns?

Akhminruki astû!

Well met, shantismurf!

Ah yes — the infamous “spooning” entry! A true gem among Dwarven verbs. I’m delighted it gave you a good chuckle — Neo-Khuzdul can be quite expressive even when Dwarves themselves may not always be.

🗂️ On the 499 Search Results

The reason you're seeing 499 entries when searching terms like "disrespectful" is simply due to a technical cap — the search tool only displays the first 499 results, alphabetically. Since the feminine forms tend to be listed earlier, this can give the (false) impression that they outnumber the masculine ones. They don’t — both forms exist in equal measure, but the limit filters what you’re shown.

📢 On the “Contemptuous” Forms

The contemptuous or disrespectful tone comes from Tolkien’s own use of specific pronouns — most famously in:

Khazâd ai-mênu! “The Dwarves are upon you!”

Here, mênu is not a neutral “you” — it’s the accusative plural, disrespectful form. Such pronouns are used when shouting insults, threats, or war cries — and it flavours the sentence with open contempt, fitting for a battle cry. If it were meant respectfully, the line would’ve been Khazâd ai-zun. Note though, that Tolkien did not specify that "mênu" was a disrespectful form, but as the respectful for "you", had long been established by David Salo as "zu" (male form), an answer had to be found to this oversight of excluding the only known Tolkien original pronoun, while not excluding previously established pronouns of Neo-Khuzdul. As such, the explanation was the "mênu" was a form of disrespectful pronouns. As a result some verb forms also had to be duplicated to include disrespectful counterparts (the reason you see conjugations for singular, plural, male and female in both respectful and disrespectful forms).

Khazâd ai-mênu!

Extending this form to verbs (and by extension, to constructions involving pronouns), allows for an expression form unknown in English (as that would require a slew of additional words to get the same insulting tone across). Not only is it a rather unique concept, but it has always struck me as a very Dwarvish way of letting the language speak your intent — at times, bluntly.

🪓 On Nouns: Why Neo-Khuzdul Doesn’t Need “Contemptuous Noun Forms”

Neo-Khuzdul does not have contemptuous noun forms — and for good reason: it really doesn’t need them.

Why? Because, frankly, a noun is a noun. A table is a table. A rock is a rock. A knife is a knife. What matters is how you refer to it — and - more importantly - what pronouns or potential adjectives you attach to it.

For example:

Barkzu = “your axe” (male neutral/respectful)

Barkmêzu = “your axe” (male disrespectful)

That’s how you insult someone’s belongings — not by altering the noun itself, but by changing how you address it (by attaching the disrespectful pronoun instead of the neutral one). In battle, for instance, you might sneer at an orc and say Barkmêzu arkhasul! (“Your axe is disgusting!”), just before splitting their skull with your own axe. Not that they would understand you though, but it's the thought that counts.

🧱 Building Insults the Dwarven Way

You can still get creative with insults — many exist, as shown in a previous post. Combine those with disrespectful pronouns, and the insults take on an undeniable sharpened edge.

For instance:

'Atmê lebertargûn, azafr nadadmêzu! "You are a scrappy-beard, like your brother!" Here both 'atmê (you are) and nadadmêzu (your brother) are disrespectful forms. Note that for "you are" we are using 'atmê (the Perfect form) and not "satmî" (the Imperfect form) as we wish to stress that this is a dependable fact. An additional linguistic kick in the family jewels, if you will.

You may have noticed that disrespectful verb and their pronoun forms only exist for the second person (you, your). This is entirely intentional. Talking in a disrespectful manner is done face to face, not behind one's back. You either say it directly, face to face, chin held high, or don't say it at all. Hence you won't find the disrespectful form for other pronouns like "his", or "hers", nor their verb forms.

🛠️ Final Thought

In Neo-Khuzdul, tone is not just flavour — it’s baked into the grammar. Dwarves don’t waste words when it comes to insult or praise — they forge meaning like steel, folded with care, and used with unmistakable intent.

So yes — insult away in your fanfiction. Just remember: if you're going to dish it out like a Dwarf, make sure it hits its target right on the head (with proper disrespectful forms).

Ever at your service (unless you’re dishing out insults my way), The Dwarrow Scholar

[fernsnailz]

Wait, Shadow and the rest of Team Dark worked for G.U.N? That feels really weird given his backstory, as well as Rouge's distaste for the law...

yeah lol, it's a bit unclear because they only work for GUN in some canon. rouge has always been an agent of sorts, starting in SA2 where she worked as an undercover agent for the president. however, the president and GUN are treated as two separate entities in that game, and rouge doesn't seem to have any connection to GUN.

the first time it's mentioned that team dark works alongside GUN is Sonic 06, where rouge and shadow are explicitly stated to be working as GUN agents. rouge is in communication with them pretty consistently throughout the game, and shadow's story begins with him on an official GUN mission to find rouge and the scepter of darkness. omega's role with GUN in 06 is a bit unclear - as far as i can tell, it's never explicitly stated within the game whether omega works for GUN or not? idk. if anyone has any sources stating otherwise lmk

of course, given that 06's timeline is basically completely erased from existence once the game's story ends, it's entirely possible that team dark's involvement with GUN starts and ends within the 06 timeline. future games never bring it up as far as i can remember... which brings us to the archie comics (as it always does).

the archie comics take 06's concept of team dark GUN agents and REALLY runs with it. all three members seem to work for GUN full time, where they operate under commander tower (aka the commander from SHtH 2005) and work alongside hope kintobor (genius teen related to the robotniks. it's complicated. she's also only there pre-reboot).

pre-reboot archie doesn't dive deep into why each member decided to join GUN. shadow starts working for them soon after he regains all of his memories and seems to work alongside them to ensure the general safety of the world, rouge is likely there for a paycheck (and any missions that involve chaos emeralds and various gems), and omega is. complicated. technically archie omega (pre-reboot) is a combination of e-123 omega and e-102 gamma (quite literally. like both of their personalities in one robot) and he was just kinda brought to work at GUN after shadow found him in the middle of a forest. don't worry about it

GUN mostly serves as a vessel for team dark to be sent on missions and adventures throughout the various archie sonic stories, and team dark is able to work alongside them without much conflict. that is, until the reboot.

after the super genesis wave (aka the reboot), team dark's first mission with gun is to destroy the black comet 2 and the black arms forces on it. they're not alone this time - they have a number of other GUN soldiers with them, and here we start to see the cracks between GUN and team dark form. given that they're fighting the black arms and shadow is half black arms, some of the GUN soldiers very clearly Do Not Like Shadow and Do Not Trust Him.

but what really matters here is what commander tower does during this arc - before the mission, he asks rouge and omega to neutralize shadow if he falls under the influence of the black arms.

while the reboot never had enough time to dig much deeper into the gray morality of GUN, it's very clearly a consistent trait of the organization. it's most apparent in the arc i just talked about, but future arcs hint at some shady stuff happening when they can. for example, GUN seems to have snively robotnik (aka eggman's evil nephew) on staff as a scientist, and they very clearly show us (in this panel i think is honestly kinda hilarious) that snively is Up To Some Evil Shenanigans.

with all that in mind, i can finally give my opinions on team dark as GUN agents. i completely agree with the sentiment you expressed in your ask - shadow working for GUN completely conflicts with his past, his traumas, and his characterization within most of the games. despite shadow being a "for the greater good" sort of person, i don't think he would ever trust GUN enough to work alongside them. and i think the same goes for rouge and omega, though to a lesser degree. while i think both of them would find it beneficial to work alongside GUN in some cases, ultimately they're both entirely self-driven and wouldn't see much of a reason to work for GUN full time. and because of this, i generally think it was probably for the best that the modern version of team dark just kinda dropped the GUN agent narrative. it puts less limitations on their characters, and the stories don't have to make every team dark related event about GUN.

and yet... i really like the stuff that post-reboot archie had going on. i love the inside look at GUN, and i love seeing how much pressure and strain they put on team dark. because ultimately, GUN is an antagonistic force that a group of heroes are working for. the military is a consistent obstacle in sonic stories, and to see how they impact the characters they've hurt the most from the inside of their organization is so interesting to me. GUN is doing the same thing that all of team dark's previous foes have tried to do to them - they're using team dark as weapons and turning them against each other. maybe the members of team dark wouldn't want to work for GUN, but GUN would do ANYTHING to keep the three of them around because all three of them are liabilities if they're let loose into the world with no supervision. GUN is keeping their enemies close and using them as weapons. and i fuckin love that

so while i'm ultimately glad that team dark is no longer associated with GUN, i would have loved to see a version of the narrative exploring why they left. they would all know GUN was just using them, but what would have been the final straw? did they resign peacefully? are they all on the run as rogue agents? i dunno! but i wish it could be explored a little, even if it wasn't canon or whatever. wghelp that's all i got for this one good night tristate area

[cursed-candlehop]

(snagged from @jenn2d2)

GENERAL

Name: Fede Mercar

Alias(es): Rook, Federico (Fede is technically not short for Federico in his case, it's derived from the ancient Tevene word for "trust", but has that ever kept his mom from full-naming him anyway? no)

Gender: Technically male but not overly attached to it.

Age: 27-ish

Place of birth: Tevinter, presumably.

Spoken languages: Trade, some solid chunks of ancient Tevene, hints of Elvish.

Sexual orientation: Grey-aroace, demi, gay.

Occupation: Record-keeper (and all-purpose Hired Help for any other menial tasks that need doing) for one of the Circle District libraries. Not the kinda job you get rich doing, but it pays well enough, really.

FAVOURITE

Colour: Yes. Particularly partial to white (which is definitely a color as far as he's concerned, Emmrich's incorrect opinions notwithstanding), red and teal, especially in combination. Also quite enjoys muted greens.

Entertainment: Shares Bel's love of corny serials, especially if they have some horribly mangled history with implausible cursed artifacts in them. He'd adore Indiana Jones.

Pastime: Actually really enjoys shelving library books and digging through the archives. It's calming, and sometimes you find neat obscure shit.

Food: Honey fritters.

Drink: Apple tea, but he's really not picky. Bonus points if it's non-alcoholic and hot.

Books: Yes!! Fiction, non-fiction, anything. He particularly enjoys reading about the history and cultures of Thedas, as well as international magical traditions.

HAVE THEY

Passed university: Well, made it through the circle school alrightish, anyway, so... I suppose so!

Had sex: Nope! Mostly, he just didn't really see the appeal, but also, getting involved with someone in Minrathous as an elf, especially moving in Mage circles, generally means rolling the dice on whether they see him as an actual person or just want to fuck an elf for novelty's sake. Not even remotely worth the risk.

Gotten tattoos: Not yet! He's definitely been idly doodling designs though, so maybe eventually...

Gotten scarred: Oh boy, yeah. A nice collection on his face (accidentally exploded his enchanting homework and got hit by raw magic going wild as well as good old mundane metal shrapnel), and so many random scrapes all over the rest of him (sparring, actual combat, bad falls, assorted Shadow Dragon misadventures, a couple cooking accidents)

Had sex in public: Lol no.

Gotten piercings: No, but now that he's met Bellara, he kinda wants to.

Had a broken heart: Temporarily, after he convinced himself that Emmrich dumped him for good while stuck in the fade.

Been in love: Not until Emmrich; though he's had a small handful of crushes, usually on people who were wildly unattainable by definition.

ARE THEY

A cuddler: Not initially, but he comes around to it eventually.

Scared easily: Oh, absolutely - but he's also a huge proponent of Doing It Scared.

Jealous easily: Nope!

Trustworthy: Quite! He's deeply honest (to the best of his ability), a godawful liar, and generally an elf of his word. He can be a little forgetful though, and has definitely broken a few promises because they just slipped his mind - but he'd never fool someone on purpose.

FAMILY

Blood Family: Unknown!

Parents: Military family; his mom's a force of nature, his dad was mostly on the road. He's still not sure about their reasons for adopting him, and their relationship is somewhat flawed even beyond that, but he loves them dearly anyway, and they return the sentiment, even if they don't always quite understand him.

Children: He'd rather not, really, but he'll gladly make an exception for Manfred.

Pets: His family had cats growing up and he's quite fond of them, but he personally never got around to owning a pet beyond casually taking care of the strays.

Tags: Everyone who feels like doing this one (yes, including you, Person Looking At This!), and also @crystalinn specifically, for funsies.

[rayclubs]

Hunter x Hunter is one of the best anime series out there because the shit they do with the soundtrack is positively insane.

Hisoka's theme is drums and guitar. Castro's theme is violins. Hisoka's fight with Castro is playing Hisoka's theme IN VIOLINS, it's a combination of the two leitmotifs but we're technically still listening to Hisoka's theme so you know he's gonna win before you've even seen the fight, purely because the music favors him.

Hisoka's second fight with Gon similarly plays Hisoka's theme with Gon's instrumentation, except Gon's theme is technically also the opening theme and the heroic triumphant theme, so you get this wild clash where you're still listening to the antagonist's track but you're hearing all those victorious instruments, and it fits the outcome because Gon does lose but it's treated as a win for his overall character arc.

Kurapika's theme is also the Phantom Troupe theme, forever binding him to his quest for revenge - something he is defined by, for better or for worse.

The Zoldyck theme has a choir and as far as I can tell no other themes use a choir, so it's immediately obvious as soon as you hear a voice in the background. It's also just so iconic and instantly recognizable I can listen to it for days on end.

The opening theme pops up constantly and gets transformed in so many different ways. Violins for sentimental flashbacks, flutes for joyous mischief (and for Gon's home island, his aunt's theme is in flutes I think?), some weird electric sound for the Arena, and those are just a few I caught in the last, like, four episodes I watched.

The overall sound design is so goddamn good too. Like, in the Hunter Exam arc, before the whole magic system of this world is even explained to the audience, there's a scene where Hisoka is hunting for a kill and you can't hear his footsteps. They very deliberately show his victim's footsteps, with sound, then his own - without sound. It's! Foreshadowing! Via sound design?!

I don't have the vocabulary to talk about this with any more detail and competence but I'm honestly fascinated. Never heard an anime sound so goddamn good before

[tortoisebore]

now that hey sharpshooter is complete...do you have any snippets or bits of the fic that didn't make it in that you would be willing to share?!

i have sooo many little deleted scenes in various phases of completion/coherence!! i’ll share them as i find them in the old drafts under this “deleted scenes” tag 💕

this one was set like a week after the end of chapter 7, when they’re all hanging out as a group for the first time since remus & sirius got together. she’s not polished or perfect by any means & i don’t really feel like editing/fixing these little deleted bits, but i hope u enjoy 🫶

Of all the places they could have gathered for weekly drinks, Sirius thought that his and James’ apartment was potentially the worst option on earth.

Remnants of the Halloween party two weekends ago were still strewn about the place—wayward confetti and candy wrappers and abandoned plastic cups sat scattered around the house, and their liquor supply hadn’t been even close to replenished yet, but alas, here they were. He and James had tried their best to create some semblance of order in the two hours they’d been given to prepare for guests, but they truly would have been dead in the water if not for Remus and Peter offering to arrive early to help move furniture back into place.

Luckily, Sirius had been so thrown for a loop with all the last-minute supercleaning that he hadn’t had time to freak out about the fact that it was both Remus’ first time over and their first group outing (or inning, he supposed) since becoming an item, which he definitely would have been doing if he’d been granted even a few minutes of silence to sit and think about it. It didn’t hit him until he opened the door after a soft, rhythmic knock and found Remus on his doorstep, donned in a particularly cozy-looking dark green sweater and that orangey brown corduroy jacket he was beginning to love, smiling brightly and tacking on a precious little “hi” that nearly made Sirius honest to god giggle.

He wasn’t allowed much time to swoon (or freak out, or maybe a rabid combination of both) before James whisked them both off to the living room and set them to work in separate corners—Remus helping unstack their armchairs from a leaning tower by the hall and Sirius fishing wayward candy wrappers from behind the TV with Pete.

Before long, it turned more into Peter worming around on the floor for trash and Sirius leaning against the wall idly, holding a bag out haphazardly and gawking across the room. Really, he shouldn’t have been expected to be productive when Remus looked like that—all soft and cozy and particularly cute with a bit of a flush on his cheeks as he and James dragged the living room furniture back into place.

“Wow, thanks so much for your help, Sirius,” Peter droned after a while, emerging from the ground with a handful of what looked like tinsel and confetti. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Sirius hummed absently and held out the trash bag. “Oh, yeah—you’re welcome, Petey, of course.”

Peter rolled his eyes and seemed on the verge of a biting comeback when James clapped across the room and interrupted.

“Well gentlemen, I think we’ve done it,” he exclaimed, grabbing at Remus’ shoulder and jostling it good-naturedly. “First round’s on me for your efforts.”

“Every round is on you, Jamie,” Sirius pointed out. “And me, if we’re being technical.”

James waved him off. “The sentiment stands. Pete—before I forget, you left all your chef shit here on Halloween.”

“Oh! I need that for class next week!” Peter gasped, and then they were scurrying off down the hall.

Once they were alone, Sirius met Remus’ eyes across the room. It was quiet for a warm, charged moment. This part still felt a bit terrifying—knowing that Remus could read him like a book, that every ounce of the bright, giddy fondness in his chest was all over his face and that he didn’t need to hide it anymore. Learning to be comfortable beneath Remus’ gaze was one thing, but learning to be comfortable being so seen, so deeply, thoroughly found out, was taking longer than he’d hoped.

The tension broke when Remus bit back a sweet little smile, nodded vaguely in the direction of the couch, and, as usual, Sirius was putty in his hands.

His stomach flipped as he pushed off the wall, gave an expectant little raise of his brows and twirled a finger in the air. “So? What do you think?” he asked, gravitating slowly in Remus’ direction as he perched on the arm of the sofa.

Remus crossed his arms and took a wide look around the room. “It’s alright,” he shrugged, but the smile pulling at his lips was soft, and something soft beneath Sirius’ ribs tugged.

He closed the distance between them, stood in the space between Remus’ legs and traced a finger up the collar of his sweater, giving into that ever-present desire to be closer, closer, closer. Remus’ fingers found his hips and pulled him in, a wayward hand wandering up to tug at his chin and pull him down for a kiss, then two, then three.

Sirius hummed appreciatively, pulling back just enough to speak. “I have a sneaking suspicion that this sort of behavior is going to get us clowned by our friends all night,” he whispered conspiratorially.

“Why’s that?”

Sirius tilted his head to the side in thought. “Because they’re horrible, evil monsters?”

“Sure,” Remus gave him, then narrowed his eyes. “Or maybe because we deserve to be bullied for making them put up with us for the last few months?”

Sirius bit back a smile. “Maybe.”

A sweet sort of silence settled in between them, broken only by the sound of James and Peter going back and forth in the other room. Sirius let himself settle in, threw an arm around Remus’ shoulders and let the other wind around one of the curls behind his ear, delighting in the barely-there flush of his cheeks and the subtle darkening of his eyes in the dingy light of the living room. This was all still so very new, so exhilarating to be able to touch him like this, to be close enough to catch every minute expression that flickered across his face, to feel his heartbeat kick and skip beneath his hands.

“Hi,” he offered after a moment.

“Hi,” Remus returned easily. “You look nice, by the way.”

Sirius snorted a laugh. “I’m wearing a giant t-shirt.”

Remus’ shoulder jumped up as he gave him a good, solid once-over. “Yeah. And you look nice.”

Sirius tugged lightly at his earlobe in retaliation. “Speaking of—where on earth have you been hiding this absolute gem of a sweater?”

He glanced down confusedly. “My closet?”

“Oh, I’m afraid I’m going to need full and unrestricted access to that room,” Sirius sighed gravely. He let his thumb trail down the soft, thick collar of the sweater, brushed it lightly against the delightfully warm skin of Remus’ neck as he swallowed.

“And by full, unrestricted access, do you mean permission to take whatever you want?” he asked after a moment, fingers twitching against Sirius’ hip absently.

Sirius tutted. “No, of course not. I’m thinking of you, see—it’s in your best interest to pull things like this out more frequently.”

“How so?”

“Because,” Sirius whispered conspiratorially, “I’m going to have a very, very difficult time keeping my hands off of you in this color. Really, Remus—it’s a crime that I haven’t seen this before now.”

“You’re ridiculous,” he smiled, shook his head exasperatedly and pulled Sirius in by the chin again, kissed him once, twice, and lingered close.

Sirius took a moment to commit him to memory—the green sweater, the flicker of his pulse against his palm, the pink flush highlighting the faded freckles dusted across his cheekbones and the way the light hit his eyes, danced across the rings of amber in the middle and made them glow.

“When do you leave tomorrow?” he asked eventually. It took Remus a hot second to absorb the question, eyes flicking back up from where they’d been parked somewhere near Sirius’ mouth.

“The bus leaves for Connecticut at ten,” he answered distractedly. Sirius felt sneaky, wayward fingers tripping up his back beneath his oversized, worn t-shirt, tracing figure eights to the dip of his spine and leaving goosebumps in their wake.

Sirius hummed. “Do you want to stay here tonight?”

Remus’ lips pulled up in a smile, and he’d just begun nodding eagerly when a gasp from the hall broke them out of the moment.

“Aww,” James cooed exaggeratedly as he crossed the room to the kitchen, stopping in the doorway to wipe away a plethora of fake tears. “Look how sweet you two are!”

Sirius threw him the finger and rolled his eyes, fixing Remus with a pointed “told you,” and extracting himself reluctantly from his arms. There’d be plenty of time for that later, he thought—precious, uninterrupted time to do as much staring and giggling and whispering as they wanted.

It became very immediately apparent that whatever level of teasing Sirius had been expecting was a gross underestimate.

“One time, at the library—” Dorcas gushed over her empty cup soon after arriving, reaching out to grasp Lily’s shoulder from an armchair next to the couch and just barely avoiding tipping over the bottle of cheap wine Pete had left on the end table. “We all met up to work on that essay, remember? And I mentioned Sirius’ name once—” she held up a finger exaggeratedly, “one singular time, and Remus nearly bolted from the building. Like, fully, truly went mute and tried to sprint out of the room because I said his name once.”

“No,” Remus huffed from his spot next to Sirius on the couch, crossing his arms indignantly and attempting to hide what Sirius considered a frankly adorable blush. “That is absolutely not what happened. You lured me there under the guise of needing help on your papers and then you both ganged up on me. It was an ambush.”

“Oh, he was so nervous,” Lily laughed like he hadn’t spoken at all. “Poor little guy. I almost felt bad.”

“Wait, I’ve got one! What about that night at the bar in Brighton a few weeks ago?” Marlene chimed. She pointed an accusing finger at Sirius across the coffee table. “You stared at him like a maniac and then threw a hissy fit when I tried to talk to you about it!”

“It was not a hissy fit—”

“‘Oh Marls, I think I really like him,’” she mocked in a high voice, bringing her hands to her cheeks in an exaggerated pout. “‘He’s so cute, he’s so nice, he’s everything!’”

“I did not say any of that—”

“You really did do a lot of staring,” James added. He’d been tipsy for quite some time, and somewhere beneath the slight fog in his own head, Sirius had the good sense to be a bit scared of what he might say.

“Jamie,” he warned.

“No, no—you really did!” James continued obliviously. Sirius clenched his fingers around his empty glass, ready to pounce should he try anything too humiliating. “You were so weird at the beginning, I thought you wanted to fucking kill the guy and then bam—it hit me…” He held up his hands, looking up at the ceiling in awe. “You weren’t being an asshole because you hated him, you were being an asshole because you liked him!”

“I think we should leave, actually,” Sirius said, tugging at Remus’ arm. “Now’s a great time to leave—”

“Wait, wait,” Remus pulled him back. “I want to hear this one.”

“No, no—Jamie, please—”

“We had a whole fight about it, Remus,” James implored, leaning forward in his chair and attempting to straighten his glasses. “When you first came to Lil’s for drinks that one time, I had to drag that idiot into the kitchen and threaten to tell you he liked you myself if he didn’t straighten himself out.”

“I can’t fucking do this,” Sirius grumbled, sinking down into the couch and flinging his arms over his face. “I’m done, I’m dead, I can’t.”

“Shh,” Remus shushed him—the traitor—nudging his side pointedly.

“And then,” James continued, the big bumbling idiot, “he gives me all this grief—pouts and whines about it, and then he goes out and talks to you for twenty minutes and comes back inside giggling and kicking his feet. Twenty minutes—that’s all it took. Really, I take credit for this,” he gestured between them. “If I hadn’t told you to play nice, you’d still be doing the old cold shoulder thing.”

“They probably would have managed it a lot sooner if you hadn’t intervened that time at that little ice rink, James,” Lily scolded good naturedly, and they were off on a tangent again.

Sirius hoped James’ little anecdote wouldn’t worm itself too deeply into Remus’ lovely, tipsy brain, and when the group eventually stopped teasing the two of them and the night continued on without a hitch, he thought he was in the clear. But later, after everyone had left and they’d retreated to Sirius’ room, while Remus was having a little snoop around and Sirius was watching from the bed, he brought it up again.

“Hey,” he said out of the blue, leaning back against the desk where he’d been observing the photos on the wall, “Were you actually being weird with me when we first met because you liked me?”

Sirius groaned, threw himself back onto the bed and covered his eyes. “No, please. Don’t do this—”

“You told me on Halloween that you were nervous.”

“I was!”

“But were you nervous because you liked me?”

Sirius peeked out between his fingers and found Remus smiling, a smug, teasing little thing that made something deep in his gut kick in interest. He huffed indignantly and sat up, staring at the ceiling in protest.

“I was…” he started, searching his brain for the right word, “intriguing by you. I thought you were adorable—fucking sue me.”

Remus ducked his head and laughed, and despite all his pouting, Sirius smiled reluctantly.

“Well,” he sighed, pushed off of the desk and moseyed across the room leisurely. He stopped at the foot of the bed, held his hands out and hauled Sirius up when he took them, lacing their fingers together and swinging them idly. “To be honest, that makes me feel a lot better.”

“Why?”

“I really did think you hated me,” he said, shaking his head fondly. “Like really, really hated me. I thought our mutual interest in ABBA was what changed your mind.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “ABBA did not change anything.” He bit at the inside of his lip, watched a sweet little smile tug at the corner of Remus’ mouth and felt his heart skip in his chest. “I liked you before that, and I liked you even more after that.”

“So ABBA did save me,” Remus grinned, and god, Sirius adored him so much he sort of felt like he was choking on it, so he reached up, threw his arms around his shoulders and held on tight.

“No, ABBA saved me,” he urged, pressed a kiss to Remus’ jaw and suppressed a shiver at the feel of fingers trailing up his spine. “I had no fucking idea how to talk to you—you really threw me off there for a second.”

“How?” Remus laughed. “How the hell did I throw you off your game that bad?”

“You were so cute,” Sirius gushed, pulling back just enough to pout at him. “I didn’t know what to do!”

“How do you think I felt?” Remus urged amusedly. “It’s a miracle I’ve been able to get more than three words out of my mouth the entire time I’ve known you.”

Sirius sighed, melted into Remus’ arms and pressed the side of his face to his chest. “We were idiots, weren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Remus sighed. He tightened his hold on his waist, looped his arms around his back and nuzzled into his hair. “I think we really were.”

“At least we sort of have our shit together now, right?”

“Sort of,” Remus agreed. “Maybe not completely, but better than we did then.”

[queer-reader-07]

op could you elaborate on the she/her muriel thing. because i totally get what you mean but i find it so hard to articulate why... its just like. mmmmm. canon they/them character. but you wont respect their prns. but then again i enjoy when people get genderwierd w the ineffable spouses. would you respect my prns if you cant even respect a fictional character. is that the same thing. idk.

hi anon! i'll try best to elaborate, but apologies in advance if it comes off a bit... intense?

to give some context to my words:

i am nonbinary

i am afab

my pronouns are they/them

most everyone with the exception of close friends and people on the internet misgender me with she/her pronouns because they perceive me as a woman.

i think the root of it for me is that muriel has no experience interacting with earth, let alone humans, before they're sent down to be Inspector Constable. and because they have no experience with humans, they most definitely have very little context for the human construct that is gender. muriel's pronouns are they/them because those are the default gender neutral pronouns in english. muriel (like the other angels and demons) is referred to with they/them pronouns because, for all intents and purposes, they don't have gender.

whereas aziraphale and crowley (and even gabriel to a certain extent) have interfaced with humanity enough to have developed some level of understanding regarding gender, and possibly even an understanding of what they want their gender to be/be perceived as.

additionally, crowley and aziraphale play with gender in a way that feels very intentional to me.

crowley has canonically, in the show, presented femme. meta writers far more skilled than me have examined how, during the crucifixion scene, crowley is very obviously dressed more like the women in the background than the men. and it's not just in the historical flashbacks that we see crowley's genderfuckery. his modern look is comprised of a combination of femme and masc pieces. he wears a woman's cut waistcoat and his "11 years ago" look features women's sunglasses. all while inhabiting a decidedly man-shaped body.

i'm also just going to remind the audience that crowley outright denies being "a lad" in season 2. he straight up told us he's not A Dude.

aziraphale's genderfuckery is definitely less obvious and some might say debatable. that being said, i would make the argument that aziraphale's tendency to dress and present in a way that results in him being almost universally perceived as not only A Gay Man, but an effeminate gay man at that, is a quintessential example of gender as performance. and i do believe that aziraphale is making a very conscious and deliberate choice to present as a gay man. for fuck's sake he calls himself THE Southern Pansy, he knows what he's doing.

also, i know it didn't actually happen, but we almost got both of them presenting femme in the 60s so like. there's that too.

so, to me, it's ok to fuck around with crowley and aziraphale's genders in fanfic and art and the like because they do so canonically. the book makes it very clear that they are "man-shaped" but not necessarily men, ie they have chosen bodies that are perceived as being A Gender but that doesn't mean they technically are.

whereas muriel does not. muriel doesn't have a concept of gender because they haven't been on earth or around humans long enough to develop one. they are only ever referred to with gender neutral language. so it just feels really gross to me when people choose to she/her them. because to me it feels like saying "well this body that appears woman-shaped to me must mean they are a woman" which is a sentiment i, unfortunately, know all too well.

muriel is a character that is canonically referred to with they/them pronouns, on a major TV show on a major streaming platform no less. so it really fucking sucks to see people disregard that because they "can't remember to they/them muriel" or because they "seem like they use she/her."

to put it bluntly, every single argument i've ever read in favor of she/her-ing muriel has boiled down to "i just can't be bothered to remember they use they/them" and if you can't use a fictional characters pronouns correctly then i have zero faith you can use a real person's pronouns correctly. all i hear when i read those arguments is "i can't be fucked to do the bare minimum of gendering trans people correctly."

and lastly, i know it's genderfuckery when people she/her aziraphale and crowley because they're "man shaped" in the book and played by male actors in the show. but i don't have much faith that it's genderfuckery when people she/her muriel because i can almost guarentee it happens for no other reason than the fact that Quelin Sepulveda is a woman.