#I feel like I've seen this post before...?

[cheriladycl01]

My love, is mine all mine - Max Verstappen x Norris! Reader x Charles Leclerc Part 8

Plot: Norris' Twin sister is also a driver in the 2021 line up and is in her rookie era. Not only do the commentators struggle to now talk about the pair in the race, but they also struggle to talk about talent. What happens when two drivers find her eye-catching.

A/N: I've brought Luisia into things because of the timeline and it being 2021. Don't hate on her, or the fact that i've brought her into my writing please!

Because there was a break you decided it would be best to stay away from social media and take some time for yourself. You promised your trainer you'd keep up with the healthy diet and exercises and but just wanted to get away from normality.

So you got to Heathrow with an large backpack and took the first flight leaving to Colomia. You spent the week climbing mountains in the Andes with a trusted tour guide you'd found while you were out there. Just the two of you as you didn't feel up for the big group excursions.

The man who'd walked the volcano peak with you had known who you were but kept it to himself talking about his life and what Colombia was like, which you enjoyed as you got to learn about his life and what he did.

You spent the week away from the harsh media fully diving into the South American culture and making connections all over Bogota. It was refreshing being away for an extended period of time and you felt more than ready to go back to racing.

You'd flown back home, saying a quick hello and goodbye to your parents before getting in your McLaren and driving to dover, you'd wanted to spend time getting to Hungry and drive yourself which a lot of the drivers would find incredibly bizarre as you'd be doing 6+ hours over the course of three days. Which to the average driver would seem easy but with how hot the car got and how hard it was to drive an F1 car compared to a normal car all mattered.

You’d made your way into France getting a picture on the bonnet of your car outside a random small town cafe.

Instagram Story Caption:

It’s been a while huh? 🤔 Gotta love a long drive to my next location 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿-> 🇭🇺

People were going crazy that you were back (fans more than anyone) and that night in your hotel room that was above the same bar you posted a photo dump from your time in Colombia.

y/user

Liked by charleslecerc, landonorris and others

y/user: Colombia 🇨🇴 you have been beautiful. From the beaches, to the walks up the mountains to the locals that expressed their love and showed me their cultures and invited me into their homes … I will be revisiting! One of my favourite places in the world! 🌍🧡

View all Comments:

fan1: omg I’m from Colombia! How didn’t I know you were there!

landonorris: so you’ve been on holidays? 🫨

-> y/user: whilst training of course! Don’t worry I’ll get you this weekend brother 👀🧐

fan2: I love that she’s taken time for herself she looks so healthy in that photo on her story!

-> fan3: so real she’s gonna slay in Hungary 🇭🇺 roll on Qually.

-> fan4: I have a good feeling about this weekend!

luisinhaoliveira99: Ola Y/N! Pretty Pretty!

-> y/user: Ah my favrioute girl!

charlesleclerc: Driving to Hungary? Wanna divert and give me a lift.

You seen Charles comment almost instantly and everyone else had too. You messaged him as you couldn't tell if he was being genuine or not. You were more than happy to make the detour to the Meditteranean side of France. It was one of your favrioute places to drive along.

He'd messaged you back not too long after and you couldn't help the smile that came across your face when you saw the message.

Your detour took you down through France driving through Nice and straight into Monaco where you drove around the roads that you'd driven in F1 for the first time not to long ago. The thought of going back round it next year was exciting. Once you pulled up outside the casino Charles gracefully waltzed over.

"Is that all?" you also looking at the small bag he had brought with him.

"Well... you're driving a sports car darling. Despite us touring Europe in a McLaren i cannot pack my entire wardrobe!" he smiles and takes a seat next to you.

"So what route are we taking" he asks turning his face to look at you and for a second you are stuck in the moment of looking at his eyes, and how soft they are, noticing the crows feet on the sides as he smiles reminding you what a happy soul he always seems to be.

You drove off, gulping down the ache in your heart knowing it wasn't right to rush anything based on what happened in the past, but also there was something drawing you to Charles and the more he weened his way into your life the harder he became to ignore.

The route you took was interesting. You passed Monaco into Italy and continued up to Milan, across to Venice up into Austria where you headed to Vienna and then down to Budapest ready for the GP, in total with all the stops it became a 4 day drive. You'd stopped in random cities finding hotel rooms at 11 pm when either of you were too tired to drive and small restaurants in the countryside when you both got hungry. It was enjoyable, more than enjoyable really.

Spending time just the two of you away from the media was exactly what you both needed. You guys just talked without the pressure of people around and it was nice. You both had a lot to stay but strangely by the end of it, it felt like not everything had been said.

Maybe the weekend at the GP would let that string unravel a little more.

Taglist:

@littlebitchsposts @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[mona-risms]

AHH SHIT IT DELETED MY ASK AT LEAST I HAD EVERYTHING COPY AND PASTED CAUSE I KNEW SOMETHING WOULD GO HORRIBLY WRONG-

HELLO. In regard to the shaking apartment building post (that was me) I had to add to my bullshit:

2.0 magnitude level earthquake just for shits and giggles. Imagine your immediate neighbors while you're strapping Rumi:

"..That's odd. Whenever Rumi and (Reader) are fucking like animals spending quality time together, the entire apartment also coincidentally starts quaking, accompanied by disturbingly lewd ghost porn SFX (Rumi's demon voice)."

Quick interruption: My humor is officially broken because I find this hilarious. I've never thought so much about sex before and been 0% horny.

I mean, picture being in that position as someone who lives adjacent to Rumi and (Reader).

Pornographic moans with what sounds to be a REVERB (???) filter echoing through your ceiling/ walls every now and again because SOMEONE'S OVULATING. To make matters worse: You're worried that one day the entire building's gonna collapse on you because (Reader) is attempting to: a) Get your ultra-famous popstar singer neighbor pregnant OR b) kill her via ascension to cloud 9. MAYBE BOTH? WHO KNOWS.

Subby Rumi took "I'll rock your (and the entire block's) world" a little too seriously.

DUDE SHUT THE FUCK UP 😭😭😭 THERE'S MORE it's okay man both of our humours are fucked beyond comprehension

This reminds me of like when TV shows do a filler episode where instead of focusing on the main chrs, it's acc giving the spotlight to the background chrs instead as it shows off their day in the universe with said main chrs. Idk if that's obscure or what but I've seen it in like one or two places I swear

It gets funnier when you realise that while they still do get them, earthquakes are VERY rare in South Korea. For them to get it constantly, even if it's a very tiny 2.0, is like "oh my god. THE COMPLEX IS FALLING APART" when no not really you're just fucking her six ways to Sunday. Every time Rumi has a particularly explosive orgasm, seisometers would be moving and the next thing you know there's a fucking news report about it and how people should be careful in case it gets worse bc this is an unnatural phenomena 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 so honestly it won't be just you worried but the entire neighbourhood and the FUCKING COUNTRY TOO congrats!!!!!

BUT THE LEWD GHOST PORN COMMENT IS SO CRAZY HELLO????? It must be so wild to hear all of that and it suddenly waking you up in the middle of the night. All demons banished but then you've got RUMI being the reason why people are making up URBAN FUCKING LEGENDS about your particular block 😭 mission failed fucking successfully 😭

At least!!! She's feeling good!!!!!!! And by god she's genuinely mortified but Cannot Help It when she needs to feel your seed inside her 🤷‍♀️ but also she might lock herself away or avoid you for like a day or two out of a different sort of shame before she comes back bc she's still ovulating 😭😭😭😭😭

[utilitycaster]

ok so for what it's worth I will explain in a separate branch from the original post, and also for what it's worth I did assume it was quite possible you didn't realize how this came off, but like. it is buckwild to assume that just saying "explain how" will make a complete stranger go "oh, of course! the Simpsons meme!" Honestly, if a friend hadn't at roughly the same time gone "ohhhhhhh they're talking about the 'money can be exchanged for goods and services meme'" I would be like "I literally don't know what Simpsons meme." So yeah from my perspective it looks like a complete stranger just came to my post and made a straight up demand of me instead of saying something normal like "do you mind explaining?" or "hey, could you elaborate?" and it reads, without some extremely not obvious context, as just a rude demand.

re the Veilguard tags, I completely respect if people, especially long-time fans of Dragon Age, aren't interested in it. Said people are welcome and encouraged to post about that feeling to their hearts' contents on their blog, and I wouldn't even care if it were in a main dragon age tag. However, you are like, the thousandth person I've seen express this sentiment on a Veilguard post and I was irritated and tired of it like 7 months and 997 people ago.

so yeah from my perspective - and again, I get this was not your intention, and if I had believed it was definitely your intention you'd have just been blocked - a total stranger I've never seen before reblogged a post of mine with a weirdly pushy and rude demand, and then they were yet another person to be like "oh I simply must take this opportunity to unnecessarily inform you on a post about a game you liked that I don't personally like this game, I only care about specific details," for a game where this has been a really common, everpresent, and exhausting sentiment. This probably would have played great if I were a person with whom you had a pre-existing rapport! But it's really not a great way to interact with a stranger.

The rehabilitative, pro-cultural exchange anti-war Mighty Nein vs the neoconservative Bells Hells

[buddyhollyscurls]

wanna make an appreciation post for Yor for a moment bc in anticipation of me getting Vol 5 soon, I saw a preview of it and it's the part when she's trying to learn to cook right, and it got me to thinking about what I've seen of her arc so far, of her feeling insecure about her place in the family, about how she doesn't feel capable, how even Anya jokes she's strong but not good at much else (even tho Anya LOVES how strong she is) and I feel like she needs a little more love

because Yor is obviously the protector of the family, Anya knows her mother would KILL for her, she knows that she is Mama Bear when it comes to her, Loid may not know the whole truth, but Yor cannot hide how strong she is from him but also she is so much more than that

She is the soul of the Forger family. She is their warmth. Who else can bring an overworked, overstressed spy to his knees after a long day just by looking at her because he is immediately comforted by her presence, and the mere sight of her relaxes him and literally physically releases the tension he carries? It's Yor. Who, after being up all night on a mission on a cruise ship, spends her entire free day playing with her daughter? It's Yor. Whose brother is so obsessed with her (we can debate on their relationship and his codependency of Yor and if he's really in love with her - personally I don't think he is but that's for another time) and is an angel in his eyes because she gave up her childhood to raise him? It's Yor.

Yor is the sweet, kind, and nurturing soul of the family, and I hope that's something they help her realize as the story progresses.

I also think her being underappreciated is something that happens a lot with mothers, particularly those like Yor who put their all into their families. I really hope at a certain point we see this established like I know Loid has told her before that she's doing a great job within the family, but I also hope there is more ... vulnerability? I guess is the right word later on. She isn't just told that she's doing well, that the Forger's need her. They need her warmth and kindness and heart. Because that is what she deserves

[reignpage]

“Nanami Kento had another encounter with the nameless mermaid. Many such, in fact. Some of these encounters are details in letters he sent letters to Professor Yaga. They detailed his recent discoveries and confirmation of months of his research building up to his posting in Gibraltar.

Excited, he told him everything, barring the budding romantic feelings he knew he should not have encouraged for fear that the respected professor would question his priorities and admonish him. While waiting for a reply, the student dedicated the remaining day since he recorded his first late-night meeting with the specimen to overcoming the issue to do with his incapability to swim.

In his rush, one can only assume, he made no record of what spell or device he had discovered and used, though there are many theories to be had. This remains a great tragedy.

Later in the day, he took to the sea in a rush and agreed with the mermaid to go somewhere secluded, where they would not be seen by another in broad daylight, and decided upon a nearby cave accessible only by boat or strong swimmers.

Part of the meeting was recorded by the student via Pluma Memoria and the transcripts were recovered some time later alongside contextual notes made by him.

As we all know, the Inter-dimensional Research Committee and St. Eden's Board of Administration's issued formal requests for the exiled student to relinquish all of his possessions related to his research, including information on how to enter the underwater kingdom, their weaponry, their political system, and just as importantly, the specimen.

These requests were denied.

It is unclear why.

In today's class, we still study the excerpt, focusing especially on the historical and cultural significance of Nanami Kento's rebellion and asking ourselves the question:

Did he regret it?”

Nameless Specimen: I've been watching you.

Kento: I thought you might have. Somehow, I felt you, I think. Something was encouraging me, urging me forward. It was odd but...comforting.

Nameless Specimen: I understand…I was not supposed to want you to find me. My pod have tasked me with ensuring people like you never find our home. And indeed, I worked tirelessly to lead others astray, leaving what they thought were clues so they would search in circles and grow frustrated. But just an afternoon spent following you revealed a truth I cannot verify: you are different. You are not like the others who have come before you.

Kento: I'm not?

Nameless Specimen: No…they were fuelled by greed, by a desire to reap all the wealth off our land. They trample over the wildlife, made no effort to connect with the villagers, choosing arrogance over community, and relied solely on their spells and potions. It was the kind of laziness and irreverence that confirmed the decision our ancestors made a long time ago — keep the gates to Atlantis closed.

Kento: And no one has ever been successful?

She held my hands and swam us around the jagged floor of the sea, tickling the bellies of fish as she went. I was growing more and more accustomed to her anatomy, to the point that the agility of her scaled tail did not surprise me anymore, though the captivating colour of them never waned in my eyes.

Nameless Specimen: Only once. Two men. Students just like you. One was closed off but polite, the other friendly but deceitful. My ancestors welcomed them in, nursed them back to health after their ship hit the rocks and capsized, and even shared our air so that they may tour our home. Back then, my people had not known the cruelty and gluttony of others. They were simply excited to learn about the outside world and to exchange wisdom.

I kept quiet. She was sharing knowledge I would have killed to hear just weeks ago. Now, I was grimacing, much too aware of man's potential for destruction. History lessons were not without constant warnings for the new generations to do better. To be better.

Nameless Specimen: The polite one, records say, was truly interested to learn, to be a part of our community. He was energetic and enthusiastic. It did not take very long for him to be seen as one of us…And the other…had his eyes on our gold, our pearls, and our scales. During their stay, people went missing. Even our young. It was a slow, eventual development. At least, that is how it is explained to us. I believe our Elders simply do not wish to confront the fact that our people were just naive. They knew the truth of that visitor from another land and chose to trust in the kindness of one another than aggrieve their guests with accusations...until it was too late.

Kento: ...what happened?

Nameless Specimen: He must have developed some sort of contraption. It is hard to say exactly what happened...the devastation was far and wide. To this day, we mourn our loss and feel the echoes of the tragedy. Whatever he had found or received caused death on a scale unfathomable to our young… The Elders do not like to talk about this part but whispers among my peers claim that one morning, our people awoke and could not see through the thick cloud of blood thickening the water.

I gasped. A deep pit formed in my stomach and it has not left since. I do not think it will ever. There was a sad smile on her lips, like she pitied her ancestors and resented the innocence of her people at the same time, though, ultimately, she could not blame them.

Nameless Specimen: That day…they released more bodies into the field of lights than they ever had prior. Generations lost. Bloodlines ended. Dignity stolen. The dead were stripped of their scales, fins, hearts and eyes. Sold, I can only imagine, to the highest bidder. The hardest part of it all was identifying who was who. There remains to this day a large section of the field housing the bodies of those who were never claimed.

I was speechless. No words could ever be uttered to begin to apologise for the crimes that were committed, for the injustice, for the murder of so many. I know them not, but I hold them in my heart. The sins of the past will be brought to life. I will be sure of it.

Kento: I am so sorry. That should never have happened. W-we have laws, regulations, a-an honour code to abide by. I'll tell my school, my professor. Everyone. We will advocate for reparations, a galaxy-wide apology—

Nameless Specimen: That is not necessary. We grieve in our own way. And in any case, we know not everyone is bad. That's why I'm here. Why the two of us can be together like this…We do not want to stay closed off forever. There is a whole world out there that my people deserve to see. We do not want to live in fear for eternity. There might even come a time where we must rely on the help of others for the future of our pod. It is therefore up to my generation to prepare for that. To change and innovate. We will soon welcome others like you…Never again will we be exploited like that. We have learnt. Adapted. Survived. That is the way of my people.

She swam around me, grazing her tail against my legs. Her lips brushed my cheek.

Nameless Specimen: In the meantime, I hope this is enough for you.

Kento: It is. You are.

She laughed, bubbles escaping.

Nameless Specimen: Thank you for listening. I have never shared this before. We don’t get visitors at all. There are not even others like us…as far as we know.

Kento: No, thank you for sharing. I learnt so much. For this, I will forever be indebted to you.

Nameless Specimen: I learnt much from you too. While I watched you fumble about on the surface, you spoke on and on about interesting facts about your world. Spells you were frustrated by. Potions you wanted to perfect. Professors you disliked and classes you missed. It was all so entertaining. You are an interesting man.

I was awestruck by her beauty and the tender warmth with which she spoke to me. The sound of her voice, the melodic bliss it elicits, the comfort…I feel as though I am still in the cave with her — weightless and free.

Kento: You're the first person to have ever said that to me…Most people find me annoying. Even my best friend. Though I rather think that is because I remind him of a lecturer, which he has naturally learnt to tune out automatically.

Nameless Specimen: That is unfortunate. A smart man like you must be heard, no? That is how we function in my pod; everything worth saying must be heard in an assembly. Every voice is equal to begin with, but the brighter minds deserve a special respect. You are one such.

Her revelation made me blush. It was embarrassing but she only smiled patiently. Of course, I have heard my fair share of compliments — winning as many awards as I have would warrant that. But, when those flatteries leave her lips, I felt inclined to shy away from such niceties.

Kento: You barely know me…

Shaking her head, she pulled herself closer to me until we were flushed together. To that, I did not shy away from. Not when it felt right.

Nameless Specimen: I feel as though I have lived a lifetime with you.

Kento: I do too...I feel as if I...loved you in a past life. And in the next.

She smiled again and placed a hand on my cheek. I was surprised to find the flexibility in her joints, webbed as they are. Her thumb adjusted my glasses which were threatening to float away from me.

Nameless Specimen: It is odd, is it not? For two souls to have just collided and feel this way...it seems as if we have been veering off course, heading straight for each other.

I don't know what expression I held. But something about it made her eyes soften, not in pity but something akin to sadness. For herself and for me. Like she thought it a universe's worth of regret to have met so late. Like she knew, since having met her, I've realised that all my life I have only ever known loneliness. Like she felt the same way.

Then, she reached out and met my lips.

I feel no shame in admitting much of the time we spent together is dedicated to talking about things which held no special importance, and to kissing. There was much more to be learned from her lips and her body than words, I believe. It is because of her that I became privy to the secrets of the universe and beyond all while tethered to the only home I felt bound to.

Her kisses spoke of promises. They breathed life into me. Urged me to desire for more than shallow trophies and meaningless discoveries.

We joined together like we've done it many times before.

These moments filled me with a new sense of purpose.

They were moments to protect, to cultivate, to watch grow.

They were moments I would cherish till my last breath...

[mitchelimarns]

wait i saw ur trevorjamie? post and i am INTRIGUED what is that?? who are they? what is the backstory? please enlighten me??

hi op!! thank you for asking this question that i am Completely Normal about it. sending this ask is like asking the Cocaine Guy for some cocaine. of course i have some! now come take my hand and engage in ethically gray fandom practises with me. warning: this is going to be overly long (it is actually so long, i'm SO sorry). you might feel like i am actually a Cocaine Guy at some points because of the euphoria you will achieve (or because of how insane you might think i am). another warning: 99% of this based in fact and the other 1% is based in that beautiful gay area between fact and fiction.

trevorjamie is the hockey rpf ship between former (!!) anaheim ducks and now current (!!) philadelphia flyers forward trevor zegras, (drafted 9th overall in 2019) and former anaheim ducks and current philadelphia flyers defenseman jamie drysdale (drafted 7th overall in 2020)

an aside on trevor zegras

before we go into the backstory, i think the key to understanding the appeal of trevorjamie is to understand the appeal of trevor zegras. when i say appeal, three reasons come to mind:

his career can, as of right now, be divided into two parts: Trevor Zegras, Wonder Kid and Trevor Zegras, Wasted Potential. trevor the wonderkid spans his his first two (and a half if you count 20-21) seasons: back-to-back 60+ points (that's Really Good for a rookie/young player). finishes second in the rookie of the year voting. also appears on the 2023 NHL EA video game cover, which is A Big Deal, especially for such a young player. even makes a guest appearance at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game where he scores a goal blindfolded in the ugliest red and yellow get-up i've ever seen while NHL team mascots pelt him with dodgeballs (no, i am not making this up.) here's the video. throughout his first two years, he makes insane plays, including multiple michigans (a lacrosse style move that's really hard to land in hockey, much less NHL-level hockey). here's a webweave about trevor and Hockey that i think about Every Day. here's a video of his frankly mind-boggling highlights from his first two years. here's another. here's a webweave with quotes on how talented he is. from 2021 till 2023, trevor zegras is, for all intents and purposes, the young, sexy and talented face of the nhl. Trevor Zegras, Wasted Potential starts after he injures his ankle in 2024 and his goals/assists production falls off majorly for the next two years (we shall go more into why & how of Trevor Zegras, Wasted Potential later.) but either way, his hockey is always in the spotlight for being creative and unique.

the second reason is his personality. nhl players are notoriously criticized for being boring "robots" with no emotion and so when trevor zegras, the Lover Boy who wears his heart on his sleeve comes along, people are captivated by how open and genuine he is. he’s like that frat boy who was always admired and never loved. here's a post about a coach talking about how much trevor talks. here's a youtube compilation of his interviews (very old but it's all i could find). fun facts: he once tried to pick a fight with sidney crosby, probably the Most Respected hockey player on earth. he dated dixie d'amelio for a bit. he went to the 2022 & 2023 montreal grand prix (and repped mclaren with his nhl friends!) his instagram username is 'Z' and he posts like an influencer. in conclusion: he's just a twink tiktoker and tattooed greek man from the suburbs of new york who is occasionally Haunted By The Demons. and we love him for that!

the third and final reason that i personally love him is because he is a part of the 2019 U.S. National Team Development Program draft class (the 2001s.) the USNTDP was started as a junior program for elite highschool hockey players across the US, meant to foster team-bonding between american players from a young age and also give them a taste of the pro-life before the NHL that isn't college hockey or a foreign minor league. it is famous in the hockey rpf fandom for spawning some of the most codependent homoerotic friendships, from dylan larkin & zach werenski to will smith, ryan leonard & gabe perrault and of course, trevor zegras and his friends: jack hughes, cole caufield, alex turcotte, etc. the reason that this particular group/USNTDP class is so famous is because they are soo co-dependent that jack hughes (and his brothers who are also elite NHL players, luke & quinn hughes (quinn has the funniest beef with trevor)) bought a lakehouse in michigan (where the program is located) so that the boys can summer there every off-season. the lakehouse has now expanded to include a revolving door of The Hughes Friends, including umich (luke & quinn hughes' alma mater) & other college hockey players. this has, of course, spanned many fics across many ships and is an integral part of The Lore. the lore behind cole, jack and trevor's friendship is also insane (please peruse @/whirlpool-blog’s jhtz tag), but that's a problem for another day (if it intrigues you, have a scroll through the usntdp tag generally too). but yes, the dynamic between trevor & his friends is another fan favourite, with countless interviews and instagram #moments, if only because all rpfers yearn for one direction. (jack is zayn, trevor is harry and cole is niall. no i don't take constructive criticism).

tldr: trevor zegras is a loud, controversial, talented and loved player. now, in my opinion jamie drysdale - in contrast - is quiet, sweet and soft-spoken, aggressively canadian, a guitar player who also likes to cook and hates mornings. however, there are other takes out there like this one that beg to differ and make for an even more interesting dynamic. either way, together, they compliment each other. one is Insane and the other is So Nonchalant. we must fundamentally understand that to understand the appeal of trevorjamie.

now onto the actual question: the trevorjamie backstory.

now before we begin, i have taken a lot of help from the wonderful primers of @/somewhatinvested, linked here. i highly recommend a scroll through their blog, (esp their tzjd lore tag) as well as @/whirlpool-blogs, @/teex, @/bliksemflitsenblog, @/f1vegas, @/sergeifyodorov and @/zeegras because i am but an amateur and they are phd experts conducting their second thesis.

but here's my take, which includes Recent Happenings A.K.A. trevor is traded to philly A.K.A. the greatest moment of my life A.K.A. yaoi always wins.

the beginning: 2020-2021 season

even though they were drafted in 2019 and 2020 respectively, trevor and jamie first actually met when they played against each other in the 2021 world junior championships (which is A Big Deal for young hockey prospects) where trevor (who played for the US) was spotlighted for two reasons:

winning MVP of the tournament, after leading the tournament in scoring (and actually tying the all-time US world junior record)

making the most cocky comments, including saying this about the canadian team: "i don't think they've been tested by a real time yet.” right before the highly anticipated US-canada final.

jamie plays for the canadian team. the usa won the final. trevor had 2 goals and 1 assist in the final. jamie was, understandably, Pissed. now this was A Problem because they are going to be teammates and are also flying to anaheim together on the same plane (along with other californian prospects but that's irrelevant.) jamie allegedly did not want to talk to trevor at all on the flight. trevor forced them to make amends over chick-fil-a after. hence began the most epic enemies-to-roommates-to-lovers arc in 2021 as they roomed together in a hotel in irvine. they spend this time mostly playing for the minor league affiliate of the ducks, the gulls (if you do not know what a minor league is, think gulls is the f2 team of the ducks, an f1 team).

throughout the (shortened) 2020-21 season, they bounce back & forth between the ducks and the gulls. the whole time, they stay together in a hotel in irvine (along with two other prospects) even though they only overlap for 13 NHL games over the course of the 2020-21 season (they are called up at different times to the ducks). one of their other roommates, perrault, says that the two of them were the closest between the four roommates. when trevor is first called up to the NHL, he wears the suit that jamie wore to their US-canada final game (insane). despite playing only 13 NHL games together, they score their first NHL goals in the same game (jamie's first NHL game), only minutes apart (breaking the record for the closest NHL debut goals). jamie has a secondary assist on trevor's first goal. jamie is interviewed after the game and says that "it was a good night for our household." the photo of them celebrating trevor’s first goal is re-created by a fan. the painting is later hung in their shared apartment by trevor. they wear matching rose pins on the anniversary of their first goals a year later. #gay

jamie Panics: 2021-2022 season

when the new season starts in 21-22, trevorjamie have established themselves. they are ready to move on from the land of Hotel Nomads and Buy A House. trevor said that he assumed jamie and him were going to live together. however, jamie is asked by an older teammate to live with him and says yes. i wonder Why.

trevor ends up first living with two other teammates for a week and then later moves in with cole york, the older brother of one of USNTDP cult bros, cam york (remember the name because it will come up later). during this time, trevor adopts a lizard. no, i am not joking. i can only imagine the Yearning reached catastrophic levels. HOWEVER! the Hockey Gods intervene and jamie's roommate is traded halfway through the season. it is confirmed that trevor moved in with jamie at the end the season. #lovewins

the 2022 offseason is incredibly famous because of the troy terry (one of their teammate)'s wedding, where we had some prime trevorjamie moments. see @/somewhatinvested's primer. take particular notice of this photo, allegedly taken after the wedding when they are both hungover in a ski-lift in aspen:

boyfriends: 2022-2023 season

2022-2023 is notable because yes, trevor & jamie live together in an apartment (yes, that apartment where trevor hangs the fan painting of their celebration). but also because jamie gets injured after playing only eight games and instead of going home back to canada, like a normal player would, he stays with trevor in anaheim. for the rest of the season (a solid five months). truly insane. this gives us some amazing Domestic content, such as jamie cooking for them both, jamie playing the guitar for trevor, watching sunsets together on the rooftop connected to their apartment (including jamie allegedly taking the most romantic sunset trevor photos), cuddling on valentine's day together and of course, the infamous shared rooftop playlist (preluded by the apple music JamieTrevor playlist), which trevor and jamie both confirmed they listen to while watching the sunset together. some of the music in this playlist is truly insane. (side note: i highly recommend checking out jamie's spotify (it's actually his mom's spotify) playlist "California" because it is. insane. listening to those 11 songs with the implications of trevorjamie is a Crazy experience. also jamie has only added like 13-15 songs to the “Rooftop”playlist and the summer trevor got a girlfriend he removed “Lover” by Taylor Swift and added it to his “California” playlist. god they make me unhinged)

in the 2023 offseason, trevor, jamie and USNTDP buddy cam york (there he is again!) go to stagecoach together. trevor and jamie are, predictably, weird about each other. trevor sets up him and jamie up with two models. stuff gets messy. here's a primer. here's more lore about trevorjamie being weird about their girlfriends. here, i put my rpf goggles to speculate that perhaps trevor Panicked this time.

the horrible, very bad, no good trade: 2023-2024 season

in 2023-24, they are not living together. maybe stagecoach has something to do with it, maybe it doesn't. either way, 2023 continues to give us content, such as trevor posting a photo of jamie with a winky face emoji after Contentious Contract Negotiations and dedicating his michigan goal to jamie.

but then on january 8th, the news breaks that jamie drysdale has been traded to the philadelphia flyers.

now, this is shocking because both trevor and jamie are good players: they're high draft picks who are faces of the franchise, touted as part of the ducks' rebuilding core and they just signed contract extensions. but it is even more shocking to trevor zegras, who is going to be separated from His Guy.

now hockey trades are famous for Being Chaotic but this was next-level: the ducks were on a week-long roadtrip, preparing for a game against nashville. trevor and jamie were allegedly together in a dive bar in nashville when jamie got the call. jamie's mind "was in a daze." he flew out of nashville at 5:45 a.m. trevor allegedly reached out to his USNTDP bro on the flyers, cam york (there he is again again!) to connect with jamie. jamie moves in with cam york (!) and another teammate. he picks #9 to play with the flyers, the same number trevor wore on the US world juniors team. which could mean nothing.

the day after the trade, trevor is supposed to be interviewed before the nashville game but allegedly refuses. a rinkside reporter stated that "trevor is the person who will miss jamie the most..was visibly glum... was his very best friend... I don't think he has fully processed it this morning...he said it doesn't feel real yet...they're going through it, they're going to remain close friends for the rest of their lives." trevor is uncharacteristically silent throughout the whole ordeal: no goodbye post, not even a story. later on, he states that him and jamie "peed together, got injured together, slept together," which goes viral. trevor likes a post of the quote.

in his first shift in his first game after jamie leaves (which is also trevor's 200th NHL game), trevor immediately breaks his ankle and is helped off the ice. he misses the rest of the season. he later says that the injury hurts less than the trade.

jamie's first game is flyers' pride night. afterwards, trevor likes the flyers post of the game and reposts it, with the same winky face emoji that he used when jamie got resigned to the ducks. here's screenshots of the two stories (the second one is the flyers story. yes that’s jamie wearing a dog mask. no, don’t ask.)

danny briere, fujoshi extraordinaire: 2024-2025 season

now before we move on to recent events, we must go back to trevor. specifically, Trevor Zegras, Wasted Potential. so i mentioned that after the ankle injury in 2024 (the one he got immediately after jamie was traded), trevor’s goals and offensive production drops massively. his name comes up in trade rumours throughout 2024 and 2025, including a trade to the flyers. critics point to his defensive game as a back-end liability. people say he takes shifts off and takes games off, which basically mean he plays with no heart. they say he’s rude and disrespectful in his chirps. he hardly celebrates after goals anymore. people say he's lazy and overconfident, all flash and no substance, too scrawny to play in the league and annoyingly talkative to top it off.

all of this stems from many reasons, including his head coach, greg cronin, having an old-school style of hockey that encourages "grit" and none of the showboating and puck handling trevor is good at and loves. during this time, the ducks general manager pat verbeek (trevorjamie fandom’s Resident Evil Man) moves trevor from his natural, life long position of centre to right wing, which is another factor in his dropping production. gone are the days of trevor zegras, all-star rookie. people call him washed up and a draft bust. rpfers say he is broken-hearted.

this is worsened when he, just starting to find his groove and show flashes of defensive capability in 24-25, suffers a torn meniscus and has to undergo surgery for six weeks, missing majority of this season. when he comes back, he violates player safety rules despite and is suspended for six games. in first game after the suspension, he immediately tries to fight someone (which he never does) and loses very badly.

in contrast, jamie is thriving. he is maturing and growing defensively, he buys his own house in downtown philly, he hard launches his long distance gf (the one who trevor introduced him to at stagecoach) and spends his time with his philly best friend, cam york (the one who trevor introduced him to). during this time, jamie hardly mentions trevor, except for a flyers social media video where he says the most famous person on his phone is trevor zegras (full government name).

him and trevor also allegedly have dinner together after a ducks-flyers game in philly in 2025. trevor did not play in the game due to his injuries but still waited outside the flyers locker room “quietly and patiently” and later said the dinner was like “jamie never left.” fun fact (said with the air of a Crazy Person): due to trevor’s injuries and the distance between the two teams (they are in separate conferences), trevor has actually never played an NHL game against jamie.

that brings us to today, when trevorjamie fans across the world collectively lost their minds when it was announced that the flyers had acquired trevor zegras.

trevor's only public acknowledgement about the trade (besides liking a bunch of posts) is this photo of him & jamie posted to his instagram, no caption and no acknowledgment to his other buddies on the team such as cam york (there he is again again again again!). nope, trevor needs everyone to know that this trade is about His Guy and His Guy Only.

you may notice some similarities to a certain pic on a ski lift in aspen. but whilst they were Just Bros in that one, they are definitely Not Bros in this one. just the semantics of taking a pic from two years ago, when we know trevor has pics of him, jamie and cam york at stagecoach... oh trevor zegras, you are the biggest idgaf war loser.

besides this photo, trevor also did a virtual press conference (video here) and went on a local philly podcast. jamie has only liked the post saying goodbye to the teammate that they traded for trevor and no posts related to trevor at all. he has also not posted anything on instagram.

but that doesn't matter because trevor zegras is So Back, baby. he will be playing under #46, the number he used to play on the gulls (he used #11 on the ducks). he is free of his Demons (the #11, pat verbeek and playing right wing). he is going to the land of brotherly love, matvei michkov (known for doing michigans, trevor's MoveTM) and travis konecny (known for being a yapper like trevor).

so where does this leave us now? well, both jamie and trevor will be playing the next season together (!!!!!!!). hopefully, we shall see trevor have a breakout year, a la dylan storme. both of them will be on the last year of the 3-year contracts they originally signed with the ducks. we don't know if either will resign with philly. but one thing can be sure: they will definitely, definitely Be Weird About It.

TLDR: trevor and jamie are insane about each other. i am insane about them. come join us!

if you've made it to the end, congratulations! i hope this enlightened you! if you have more questions (either about trevorjamie or anything else mentioned here), my ask box is always open! have a great day!!

[whetstonefires]

Second thing is Wei Wuxian's self worth issues, the extent to which he does view himself as disposable.

I've seen a lot, and a few times already in the notes on this post, that the main reason he's like this is the Jiang family. They raised him, they had some serious toxicity in there, one of them hated him, etc. Obvious! We can all relate!

And I mean. That didn't help. The issues in that family certainly can be considered a major reason he didn't get past that idea as much as might be hoped!

But I really, really don't think they're the source of it--of his compulsion to be useful; of his deep seated belief that relationships and homes are things that can always be taken away if you fail to deserve them, and so forth.

I think that's because he had a formative experience of being disposable.

Of being a trash person. Someone already thrown away b society. Of knowing for a fact that he was the only person in the world who cared if he lived or died; that no one had any use for him and therefore he, a small child, had no value. Of living on anyway.

He internalized at a profoundly formative age that he was owed nothing, that being alive was something to work for and earn moment by moment.

And that most people placed in that position would die before long, and that he was unusually capable of surviving.

He was six tops when he was orphaned. Lan Wangji, whose life was otherwise stable if somewhat oppressive, was fucked up a bit for life just by losing his mom at that age and not being given the support he needed to process it.

Being homeless is not like. A self-contained Trauma Event. It's not separate from, or to the side of his life. It's foundational. It was formative. It was his life, at the exact age when people are learning to have abstract thoughts about the world in a systematic way.

He developed his identity to a considerable degree in the context of being given nothing without earning it, and having to seek out the opportunities even to do the earning, because no one was interested in offering them.

The Dogs Thing is not a traumatic event. It's part of the outcome of an entire lifestyle that was fundamentally traumatic. Years as a small child of contriving to get by in a world that was hostile to his existence, by default. Of having to earn every mouthful.

The thing about Wei Wuxian when we see him as a teenager is that he doesn't take this shit seriously because he knows it's not that serious. Not worth stressing about. Everything in his life as a prominent disciple of a major sect is fantastic.

Especially because his master spoils him! He doesn't have to earn his food. They just give it to him. They just...give it to him.

There aren't no strings, and on some level he takes those strings deadly seriously even more than is actually necessary, but his understanding of his position in the Jiang, after a certain point we don't see him arrive at because the time between the first night and the Cloud Recesses is not given to us in detail, is that he is safe.

And that this is an unbelievable luxury worth indulging in.

Having a problem like 'someone who isn't allowed to maim him trying to make him feel bad' might piss him off if he thinks they're being unjust about it, but for the most part it's a fun problem to have.

(This is a huge part of his and lwj's initial failure to connect; he seems as though he's frivolous because he's shallow, but he's actually like this because he thinks most of this surface-level stuff the cultivation world takes so seriously is what's frivolous.)

He's like this because, even after half a lifetime with the Jiang, his baseline for 'a problem' is set so high. The Abyss sequence in Caiyi isn't a serious situation because they could always just leave.

Sure they could die here, sure something has to be done about this by somebody, but they are all on flying swords and the problem is localized to a lake. If they wanted they could just leave, which means it's...not that bad.

A dangerous night hunt is like. It's a play-pretend at a traumatic situation, to him. It's like...it's almost exactly like how kink is rendered safe by the existence of safewords, of being able to stop, of the fact that you are in this situation on an ongoing basis of your own free will.

This is a huge part of why he's such a larger-than-life figure who's able to act so forcefully, and so on. But it is also the result of trauma, and if triggered correctly results in counterproductive behaviors, which is in some ways what gets him killed.

Madam Yu is being given way too much credit when centered in interpretations of Wei Wuxian's issues. She had a definite influence on him, but as a stressor she had nothing on just, like. Being alive in a world that was aggressively and unanimously indifferent to your desire for basic necessities, at the age of seven.

Jiang Cheng is the one she traumatized.

Post I just saw made me think of this again: Wei Wuxian does not have self-esteem issues.

He thinks he's amazing, because he is.

His sense of his own value is a little fucked up, and tied up in demonstrating how amazing he is by fixing all serious problems and mocking all stupid ones, and when his methods stop working and he can no longer prove this to his own satisfaction he has a profound crisis about it, which he's still shaking off when we meet him.

But self-esteem is super very much not a thing he struggles with. He is a genius who received regular validation about his excellence in a form that satisfied him both as very a small child and from the ages of ~8 to ~17. He has a clear system of ethics which he is most of the time able and willing to act on; he feels really good about himself as a person whenever severe trauma is not actively making that very hard to do.

His default state is obnoxiously high self-esteem.

In-story accusations of arrogance are strictly speaking correct, it's just that most of the inferences about the rest of his character people draw from this trait are deeply wrong.

His willingness to self-destruct is at least as heavily wrapped up in his conviction that because he's so awesome and tough and clever he can handle things other people can't, as it is in the idea that he's disposable.

So yeah the thing is. He really genuinely actually did sacrifice himself for Jiang Cheng in part because he thinks he's better than Jiang Cheng. Stronger, braver, smarter. More adaptable.

And he was right! And Jiang Cheng knows he was right!

Which I love because like. That's not a relationship conflict you can fix, exactly. You really do have to just...get over it, or don't. And one of the things Wei Wuxian was demonstrating his (well-founded) lack of faith in Jiang Cheng's ability to do was. Getting Over Things.

[holoska]

after debating for weeks whether to stay very far away from the deltarune soriel discourse or let myself ramble about my faves like I want to, the latter has finally won out

I've had time to properly absorb the weight of all that happens at the end of chapter 4, and obviously I do feel for both kris and susie. that is The Point of the scenes being from their perspectives; after everything they just went through and all the worry they had for toriel's safety (for the second time in 24 hours!), the scene they come home to is maybe the most uncomfortable slap in the face possible. it sticks out to me that the last thing susie talks about before the dark fountain is sealed is her wanting tomorrow to be the same as yesterday and for everything to always be able to go back to how it was, and that's what greets them - a blatant, obnoxious sign that things are changing. even though the scene has a lighthearted side, its overall tone adds to the downcast feeling the chapter ends on.

having said that, as someone who has spent the past 9 and a half years being normal about sans and toriel, I'm still very very happy that this is a canon scene we got 💜

the fandom may be largely not considering their perspectives in the slightest (or worse, only viewing their perspectives from the most bad faith angles possible), but I for one love this for them!! as other very good posts have pointed out, toriel has been sorely in need of someone who's there for her - an awful lot of people in town saw the divorce play out and have something to say about it, the holiday family are closer to asgore than toriel, kris is her child and stuck in the middle of their parents' issues, and while she's friends with alphys, them being coworkers and alphys being kris' teacher likely puts a distance of sorts between them. but sans is new in town, someone she immediately connects with, who has no pre-existing opinions about her family and has seen firsthand what toriel has to put up with from asgore. in every universe, sans is exactly the kind of person toriel needs in her life.

there's less to work with from sans' perspective given how little we know about him, and I'm not all-in on sans being from deltarune just yet (more specifically I do love the theory, I'm just giving myself room to not be too disappointed if it doesn't happen), but the new version of it's raining somewhere else being named 'the place where it rained' emotionally destroys me forever. either way it drives home just how happy toriel makes sans in both worlds and I love that so so much :']

to be clear I'm not saying they did nothing wrong, their choices negatively impacted kris and susie and they were objectively disruptive and inconsiderate after kris went to bed. but I like that they're being messy and flawed, because it means this isn't just "my faves are getting closer in the background yippee" but that their relationship is potentially an actual part of the story, and that's how you get The Good Stuff!! we wouldn't have had meaningful character moments like noelle finally standing up to queen if queen hadn't tried to control noelle and just listened to her from the start, or susie comforting ralsei with her bloodied hand if he'd told her and kris every detail of the full prophecy the moment he met them and never kept any secrets. if all the hints towards a flower shop dark world turn out to be true then it's pretty clear the story is building things up to make those future character moments hit, and considering we still don't know what happened with the dreemurr divorce at this point, chapter 5 seems like a perfect opportunity to dive into all of that.

plus, as sweet as susie's bond with toriel is, I honestly think susie seeing this side of toriel needed to happen. a lot of the fandom's complaints about toriel right now boil down to her not being the "perfect mother" they thought she was, and what bothers me about that is toriel was never meant to be that kind of character. toby has said that she's not the classic video game protagonist's mother who sees you off on your journey and you can come home and visit any time, and nothing changes and she never has any substantial character of her own. in undertale she literally handholds frisk through the tutorial, she becomes the first boss in her attempt to protect them when every other human left her care, and once they leave she won't let them come back or even call her phone because she can't face seeing them knowing they'll leave again and likely be killed. she's more than just the mother figure of the game, she's her own person with likes and dislikes, hobbies and flaws, and a past and trauma she can't overcome until the best ending.

we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of her history in deltarune, but that same principle holds true: she isn't the perfect parent you return to after each day's adventure, who gives you butterscotch pancakes every morning and never has any real part in the story because that isn't the intent behind her character. she mentioned her loneliness back in chapter 1, kris has secrets and problems they aren't letting her in on, asgore is being relentlessly inconsiderate of her boundaries, and for all susie's praise of toriel being a good mother, I think that house of cards was going to fall eventually. my hope is that, like her blowing up at ralsei ultimately bringing them closer, susie being able to see toriel as the imperfect adult she is but one who does genuinely care might help them build a stronger bond in the end too.

I think I always knew that if soriel ever inched closer to being canon there'd be discourse about it, and toriel slander is unfortunately nothing new. people are just being annoying about it currently and it sucks when I genuinely love what's being built up here!!

anyway crossing my fingers for a scene where toriel invites sans to the festival before she gets thrown in the bunker/he gets sent to undertale/the roaring happens/all of the above 🤞

[birdadjacent]

while "[x] reacts to [y]" style videos usually do nothing for me, i am really interested in music theory, so i've had a lot of fun watching music industry pros' initial reactions to the Clair Obscur soundtrack (most notably certified banger Une vie à t'aimer)

but what i really want is someone who HAS played the game to analyze that song (and others) from a story AND music theory perspective - like:

Specifically WRT Une vie à t'aimer:

the tension between the classical vocals/instruments and the rock/metal ones to represent the conflict between Aline and Renoir. To be more precise: the vocals and instrumentals representing Aline are very classical, while the blown out electric guitar and metal vocals are for Renoir - what does the clash of styles say about their respective positions?

The song largely switches between (based on my own counting; i haven't seen any notation) 2/4 (2/2?), 4/4, and 6/8, but there are odd bars with an extra beat specifically when verso's name comes up in the lyrics, and what that means in terms of how his absence is such a disruption

The 6/8 motif is repeated in Renoir's theme, but NOT in Aline's - what does this say about their respective feelings about the conflict between them?

And other things like

the environmental music that plays in the last area of stone wave cliffs before the lampmaster fight uses a simplified version of verso's theme, foreshadowing his appearance

Inversely: one of the last areas before the final confrontation with Renoir at the end of the game has Gustave's theme for its environmental music (which, of course, incorporates motifs from Lumiere)

Speaking of - I see people comment a lot that Verso's theme is the only character theme with no vocals. This isn't true - Gustave's theme, while much more instrumentally rich, doesn't have a vocal line either. Another way the game is putting them in the same role?

There's a low-pitched, husky sounding woodwind instrument (i'm pretty sure it's a clarinet? but i'm Bad at identifying reed instruments by sound alone) that's most prominent, if not exclusive, to songs that are associated in some way with Lune - her theme, for example. HOWEVER, there's a really similar register/effect, but on a flute, for some of the music in Sirene's arena - another thematic link between them?

The first vocal line in Lune's theme and Sciel's theme are very melodically similar (though they diverge after). Maybe a coincidence, but maybe a commentary on their shared origin? (though Gustave's theme doesn't share this, so maybe not)

Music that plays as early as spring meadows incorporates motifs from Renoir's theme and Aline's theme, which just adds to my "if you think the game 'suddenly' switched to being all about the Dessendres in act 3, you haven't been paying attention" reaction to that common line of criticism. (Let alone the beginning of Renoir's theme playing during the gommage in the first 30 minutes of the entire game)

And that's barely scratching the surface. Like, just breaking down where character themes and motifs sneak into world music and why could be an entire video. Don't even get me started on how pretty much all of the music for The Reacher doesn't sound like anything else on the soundtrack, and what that could mean. I realize I'm like halfway to writing the script myself with this post but the last time I took a music theory class was my senior year of high school (15 years ago) so there's gotta be someone out there better qualified than me to break this down. anyway give lorien testard every award. what an incredible ost.

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Oooh I'm so glad folks are engaging with this post because it's stuff I've been thinking about for a while!

I think it's clear that magic will continue to play a role in any further stories in the Arcane universe, now that it's been "woken up" in the course of the events of the show. Whether Hextech itself continues to exist...I'm not sure. I tend to think that the arcane was never going to successfully industrialized in the way the Hexgates work--forcing magic to do one ordered, repetitive task over and over and over again. Something like the anomaly was always going to occur, because the order of the Hexgates has to be balanced out with chaos generated somewhere else within the system. But there are lots of other ways of using magic in Runeterra so I could see the Hextech crystals and gemstones being used in other ways.

I would argue that it's not the case that Jayce and Viktor are the only people capable of understanding Hextech. They're certainly the experts, but Jinx is able to construct working Hextech devices with one gemstone and a notebook. When given some time to mess around, Ekko and AU Powder invent time travel. Yes, they have Heimerdinger's mentorship, but he seems not to know this is even possible in advance. So I think the Council keeping a lock on Hextech is not just about controlling Jayce and Viktor's labor power as scientists (although it is that) but also about preventing the proliferation of Hextech in ways they can't control. Because if anyone can build or use or reverse-engineer a Hextech device then that's a formidable source of power that the Council no longer has a monopoly on.

@kettleninth I am also gonna pull out some ideas from your first set of tags cause there's some really interesting stuff in there.

(1) The Kirammans having a monopoly on the hexcrystals/gemstones is a really interesting idea because I've had the idea for a while that at least part of their wealth comes from mining. (Vi being the daughter of miners and Caitlyn being the daughter of mine owners just seems very juicy and like it fits well thematically.) If this were true then it would make sense that they would have the means to both extract and refine the crystals, and that they either found them through their own companies' prospecting, or that Jayce convinced Cassandra it was academically useful for him to go along on a Kiramman prospecting expedition where he thought the crystals might be found.

I initially had a whole tangent about the Kiramman-funded ventilation system but I decided it really needs its own post. Tl;dr I see it as kind of in the same vein as, like, wealthy social reformers of the Industrial Revolution era who invested in public health measures because they'd had the revelation that maybe their entire workforce dying before thirty was not gonna be sustainable. There's a mix of noblesse oblige and self-interest at work. They have an interest in conditions in the fissures because that's where their workers live, and possibly because their own enterprises are contributing to the pollution.

(2) Houses being corporations makes a lot of sense too. This is basically how the ultra-rich operate now, creating trusts, investment vehicles, holding companies etc. to manage inherited family wealth (and avoid taxes). I have also thought that in a society that has inherited family wealth but also seems relatively chill about same-sex relationships, there must be some structure to formally and indisputably designate heirs who are not your biological children, and if bringing someone into your House is seen as more of a business relationship, that could fill that role.

(3) The idea that the Council has possibly carved out a legal exception just for the Hexgates because they benefit Piltover's ruling class, and that other forms of Hextech are not automatically legal...yeah that feels very on brand and interesting to explore.

who decides the future of hextech?

Hot take: I don't think Hextech functions like a scrappy tech startup at all. I know the Arcane writers have made this comparison themselves, but it doesn't really track with what we see in the show.

It's made pretty clear that Jayce and Viktor have at best limited control over what direction Hextech goes in. In a city that's hostile to and suspicious of magic, they need the continued goodwill of the Council, and the wealthy families who sit on the Council, for their work to continue to exist at all. And that shapes how Hextech develops.

For the first 6-10 years of its existence (however long you think the S1 timeskip is), Hextech consists of one (1) project: the Hexgates. A major piece of international transit infrastructure, utilizing a brand-new technology that no one knew was even possible a few years earlier, and requiring a massive financial outlay for construction years before seeing any profits. Frankly, taking that from the very first shaky proof of concept to a fully functioning piece of infrastructure in less than 10 years is astonishing. This isn't like inventing Facebook; this is equivalent to creating the internet itself.

An infrastructure project on the scale of the Hexgates could be entirely state-funded (and therefore state-controlled, answering to the Council). But from the dialogue and visual storytelling, I think it's reasonable to infer that Hextech functions more like a public-private partnership.

In the modern era, PPPs have come to be associated with privatization and neoliberal capitalism. But funding infrastructure development this way was common in the 19th century too, closer to the time period from which Arcane draws its steampunk-ish inspiration.

So who's picking up the tab? I think it's some combination of government funding from the Council and private funding from Mel Medarda and the Kirammans.

We see one other Kiramman-funded infrastructure project in the show: the Undercity ventilation system.

And, as we see in that case, what may seem like a purely benevolent investment for the good of the city as a whole comes with a very high potential for control. (And where do the Hexgate plans end up at the end of the show? In the Kiramman family vault, accessible only with the Kiramman key.)

The Kiramman family crest is all over Hextech at Progress Day. It's prominent on the stage when Jayce speaks, positioned as equal to his own House.

Cassandra Kiramman introduces Jayce's speech, and Jayce gets trotted around the Kiramman family tent like a show pony beforehand.

The Kiramman crest is also on the box containing the hexgems, which makes me suspect that the facility needed to process the gemstones is either owned or financed by the Kirammans.

Mel's influence is more subtle. There's no Medarda crest on anything associated with Hextech; once you learn a bit about Mel's relationship with her family, that is not surprising. But clearly Mel feels comfortable speaking to other investors on behalf of Hextech, without feeling the need to run it by Jayce or Viktor first.

I think this exchange implies that (1) getting additional, outside investors is something new that they haven't done to finance earlier rounds of Hextech development, and (2) Mel is planning ahead in case the Council doesn't like the direction Hextech is going next and they need to secure additional funding.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mel was the one who steered them toward shipping and long-distance trade as a marketable use for Hextech in the first place, something many of the councillors seem to have an economic stake in.

Throughout this whole scene with Jayce and Mel, the Hexgate model sitting on her desk is very prominent. It's the first thing we see in the scene; the color and lighting make it stand out; and it appears in the frame in multiple shots. It's the thing that's always there between them.

Mel and Cassandra Kiramman are also councilors, and along with Heimerdinger they are Hextech's main allies on the Council--3 out of 7. Jayce and Viktor really can't afford to piss off any of them...which gets complicated when they want opposite things.

At the time of Progress Day, Hextech is at a turning point.

This conversation implies that they have not had a lot of freedom to develop and build whatever they wanted in the years during the timeskip. It's an interesting reversal of the dynamic we saw from them in 1.02 and 1.03. This time Jayce is the one forging ahead, confident they can get what they want, while Viktor is the one pointing out obstacles. (This is also the first time we see Viktor's face post-timeskip and register how much sicker he's become, which...oof.)

Regardless of how much they talk about "bringing magic to the people," I think it's notable that both their little spiels focus on how these inventions would increase worker productivity. This is a presentation designed for people who are thinking about their bottom line. And they seem to expect that any new developments with Hextech will have to be given Council approval before they can proceed.

(I think all of this puts the Hexcore in a slightly different light, too. It's quite possibly the first Hextech device since Jayce's original prototype that they've built without thinking about the pitch meeting. It's not a single-purpose object with an immediate, obvious use. In the beginning, it seems to recapture some of that original sense of wonder and discovery. And Viktor built it. I can see how he would be protective of his creation even before things Got Weird with it.)

And then, of course, everything goes off the rails. The gemstone gets stolen; Jayce gets pulled onto the Council. And after that point, every new Hextech object that Jayce makes is a weapon.

Jayce and Viktor's arc can be read as a story about the hubris of scientists thinking they can control forces they don't understand and anticipate every possible consequence, or a story about their naivete in thinking they could keep their research somehow above politics in a world full of conflict. And it's not not about those things. But it can also be read as a story about how discovery, creativity, and people's natural altruistic impulses get constrained by capitalism, and how often innovation is only valued if it can be made to serve war or profit.

(As for who controls the future of Hextech after the end of the show? With Viktor, Jayce, Mel and Heimerdinger all gone from Piltover...Caitlyn, probably. A detail I would love to see someone use in a fic.)

[milk-is-stable]

A Beautiful Thing

Summary: Based on this post by @unbelenting; Three times that someone calls Annabelle a beautiful thing.

Word Count: 1,577

Read on AO3: HERE

AN: As soon as I saw those three quotes next to each other, I was possessed by the idea for this story until I managed to excise it from my brain, I hope you all enjoy <3

— — —

"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life." 

Annabelle froze, staring down at the man on the floor in disbelief. Usually when she threatened men, they looked at her with fear, or avoided looking at her at all, which suited her just fine. There was something about the rush of holding up an entire room full of people that made her feel invincible, and the way it made men cower away from her was such a refreshing change from the moon-eyed, overly polite treatment she was used to from the boys in town. 

Sweet Miss Annabelle Parker, isn't it such a shame about her mama, but golly if she isn't the prettiest thing you ever saw! 

Annabelle was perfectly happy to leave that behind for a few hours every time she and Butch rode out together. It was the one time that men didn't care that she was small and "delicate," didn't care that she was beautiful, didn't care that she was a She at all. When she wore a mask over her face and held a pistol in her hands, men who looked at her didn't see a woman to fawn over, they saw a nefarious robber to be feared and respected.

But this man, he was different. He saw the mask and saw the gun, and yet he stared at her as though he was dying of thirst and she was an oasis in the desert. Something about his gaze made her skin crawl, and she felt what was surely an irrational urge to shoot him in the face, if it would just stop him looking at her like that. 

"Hey partner, we need to get outta here!" Butch called, her voice shaking Annabelle free from her stupor. 

"You're the girl with the gun," the man on the floor said. 

He shifted, as though to get to his feet, and Annabelle moved on instinct. She sent a kick flying towards him, and he let out a howl of pain as the heel of her boot connected with his groin. She turned and ran, stumbling a bit as somehow the man grabbed hold of her shoe, but she shook it off and kept moving, grabbing Butch's hand as the two of them fled the scene and mounted their horses. 

"What were you doing, flirting with– I mean, talking with the hostages?" Butch asked, and Annabelle shook her head. 

"I don't know! That man, he said he'd seen me before, and called me the girl with the gun."

"There they are! Stop them!" a voice shouted, and Butch dug her spurs into her horse's sides. 

"GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!" she shouted as they took off in a gallop.

"It was so weird, what he was sayin'!" Annabelle called over the wind. "It just made me freeze, alright? I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, that don't matter now!" Butch said. "Just keep goin', and don't slow down for no one!" 

They rode as hard as they could, but when Annabelle glanced behind them she saw a pair of horses off in the distance, slowly gaining on them. 

"Shit, they're still following!" she exclaimed, doing her best to spur her horse forward with only one boot on. "They'll catch us at this rate!" 

"Split up!" Butch suggested. "You head east and take the long road home to your daddy's, I'll keep heading south and try to lose them in the hills!" 

"Alright..." Annabelle agreed. "Butch, I-"

"No time to talk now, GO!" Butch shouted, and Annabelle reluctantly steered her horse away.

As she rode, she tried to focus on the feeling of the wind in her face, the rhythm of her horse's gallop beneath her, the warmth of the late afternoon sun on her neck, anything to forget the look on the man from the bank's face.

It doesn't matter, she told herself. I won't ever go back to that city, and I won't ever see him again. It's fine.

But no matter what she told herself and no matter how fast she rode, the feeling of his gaze clung to her like sweat in the August heat, and she couldn't help but shudder.

— — — 

"You are the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen in this world." 

Annabelle rolled her eyes and looked down, picking at her fingernails. 

"Oh, every daddy has to say that to his daughter, it's like the fucking law or somethin'," she said.

"That may be true," her daddy said, and he reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder. "That may be true. But it doesn't mean I don't mean it, sweetheart."

Annabelle looked up to see him smiling at her, his eyes soft and fond. She was struck suddenly with a memory, from nearly ten years ago now. She had tried to play with a group of boys in the schoolyard, but they'd refused to let her join unless she agreed to be a princess in a tower for them to rescue. She'd run home crying, and her daddy had swept her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead, and told her that she could be anything she wanted to be and that any boy who didn't let her wasn't worth the mud on the bottom of her boots. 

Her daddy reached out and cupped her face, pulling her back to the present. 

"If Butch doesn't look at you and see how wonderful you are, if she hears your words and doesn't feel the same way? The rejection is hard...but at the end of the day, that does not have to define you. You are still my daughter, and I will always love you no matter what, but even that doesn't make you who you are. You decide that, always." 

Annabelle swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. 

"But I...I love her so much, Daddy. If she doesn't accept my feelings, then what am I supposed to do?" 

Her daddy sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. 

"I know, sweetheart, I know. When your mother left, I did not take it well at first. But eventually I realized that things change, you know? And change is okay. It's just another opportunity to find out more of who you are. But you'll never know that if you never open up to her." 

"You're right, Daddy," Annabelle said. She took a deep breath, and gave him a shaky smile. "I need to tell Butch how I feel." 

"Yes you do," her daddy said, and he raised an eyebrow. "And then you need to stop robbing banks, young lady!"

"Alright, alright!" Annabelle said, holding up her hands. "I'll go and tell her right now." 

"Good," her daddy said, and he smiled. "And remember, no matter what she says, I'll always be here for you."

"Thanks, Daddy," said Annabelle, and she couldn't help but smile back. 

— — — 

"You are the most beautiful thing in the entire world." 

Annabelle's breath caught in her throat, and a blush rose to her cheeks. 

"Butch, I-"

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to say that," Butch continued, her voice quivering slightly. "I don't know how I kept it inside for so long." 

"Me either," Annabelle whispered. "I tried to tell you how I felt so many times, but every time I just ended up saying let's rob a bank instead." 

Butch laughed, and reached down to tuck a curl behind Annabelle's ear. 

"I mean it, you know," she said, her voice softer. She stared into Annabelle's eyes, something akin to awe on her face. "You're so beautiful."

It was not the first time Annabelle had been told that she was lovely to look at. People had been saying some variation of "you're so pretty!" since she was thirteen years old, and she had learned to accept the words with a demure smile and a nod, carefully sidestepping any and all men who attempted to use the compliments as the start of something more. If she was honest with herself, she'd slowly come to dread any time someone drew attention to her appearance, even before today's horrible encounter with the deputy who'd tried to make her his...prize.  

But hearing those words come out of Butch's mouth was different. For the first time, Annabelle found herself wanting to hear them again. 

"Really?" she asked, smiling coyly. "What's so beautiful about me?"

"Everything," Butch said immediately. "Your eyes are bluer than the sky, your hair looks like it was spun from gold, your voice is like a choir of angels, when you smile it lights up the whole damn world, and every time I look at you I think I must have died and gone to heaven because I can't believe that I'm lucky enough to be alive in a world where I get to look at you whenever I want." 

Annabelle stared at Butch, her mouth open in shock, and Butch smirked at her. 

“Do ya want me to go on, darlin’?” she asked. “Like I said, I’ve wanted to say it for a long time. You are the most beautiful, most perfect woman in the world.” 

“Now hang on, that can’t be true,” Annabelle said, and Butch frowned. 

“Why not?” 

Annabelle smiled, and reached up, fiddling with the tie around Butch’s neck. 

“Because you’re the most perfect woman in the world,” she said. 

Butch’s face went bright red, and Annabelle couldn’t help but pull her down into a long, lingering kiss. 

[venomandblossom]

Special Offer for Tumblr Users!

Hey all! So I don't normally do this but I'm feeling kind of desperate and tumblr seems to be the best outlet for that, and everyone on this platform has been so dang supportive. So here goes.

Husband and I are in desperate financial need. We're both looking for full-time jobs, but he is going to be going back to school and that puts the responsibility on me to get not only a full-time remote job that I am qualified for, but it needs to make a certain amount (read: six figures) if we want to keep the house we just bought. This is not impossible as I am qualified for jobs like this, but with the economy the way it is now and the fact we just fuckin went to war, it's an uphill battle.

My Etsy orders have slowed down from me being able to profit between $200-$500 a month (not enough to live on, but it helps pay the bills) to profiting less than $100 a month (not even worth the amount of time and effort I put in daily). We're in crazy debt and my husband's unemployment is set to run out in August. It's been keeping us just barely afloat, but it's getting scary.

I'm not asking for a handout. But if any of you have seen my work and gone "Wow, I would love [insert character here] done by them", or "I would love the pattern for [insert character here]" now is the time to reach out! I will be giving generous discounts (as far as I can afford) to anyone who reaches out here.

This is not just for characters I've done before. I'd honestly actually prefer to do new characters or even OCs. If you are the first person to request a character I haven't done, that's an extra discount! If you don't need the doll before November, that's also another discount! Last discount I will give: if you want a character from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, there will be an additional discount. All of these discounts will stack.

You can reach out through tumblr messages, or, if you feel safer doing financial transactions through something that protects you more than venmo, message me on etsy saying you saw my tumblr post and I will apply the discount there.

TLDR:

Am currently in dire financial straits, so: discounts for tumblr users, discounts for characters I haven't made or OCs, discounts for orders you don't need before November, and discounts for orders of characters from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33-- and all of these discounts stack! Message me here or on etsy!

https://venomandblossom.etsy.com

[fountainpenguin]

(In regards to this post where I was confused whether Bdubs' daughter reused WellsGlazes' skin for her own character, but received clarification that no, she is indeed using WellsGlazes).

Ahhhhh, I'm watching the Bdubs episode and THERE'S his daughter... But if I had to guess, she's probably borrowing his existing cam account so they didn't have to buy her a new one for tennis testing purposes. Unclear, and I could be totally mistaken, but it sounds like she's never seen WellsGlazes' face before (since she asked about the smile).

Or IS WellsGlazes her account now? My instinct is no (since WellsGlazes' name is a play on Bdubs' old phrase "Hells' Blazes" and I feel like she would have wanted to create her own username when getting into Minecraft), but who knows.

In any case, I am in such shock that WellsGlazes is still alive. I've seen people say they thought that account went down with several other accounts a few years ago (like MumboJumbo, hence the switch to Mumbo), so... I'm fascinated.

Do you have any idea how many times I have watched chat for WellsGlazes' name to pop up during a login or logout... Maybe she doesn't get used anymore because of modern cam tools, but I saw MumboDrone once in Season 10 and got very excited over him. Knowing WellsGlazes still exists makes me feel like a birdwatcher. I will spot her... and it will be a highlight of my day.

[kaorucup]

wander....but he's a magical boy!!! (AU)

these are all drawings for my new au where wander becomes a magical boy :] keep reading below to know what it's all about, and I'll explain a bit of what you see above!

Story

(I actually don't have a lot of lore planned for this so bear with me if something doesn't make sense 😔)

Early on into his journeys through galaxies (like say maybe a few years after his big traumatic incident), Wander follows a shooting star to where it falls. Upon coming close to it, he's temporarily blinded by its strong flash of light. When he wakes up again, he realizes everything about him is.... different.

Soon enough, Wander realizes he has powers now, so he does what does best— help others out! Now with a cute fit on :]

What Would Wander Do.....In Battle?

Here's a quick segment to explain how Wander acts in battle! Because as you might know, some magical girls actively throw hands with their monster of the week. What would Wander do if he's a pacifist? The answer is that he's great at defending himself against attacks and strictly does purification attacks that don't hurt the enemy, they just cleanse the enemy of evil. Though, most of the time these purifications are more for like monsters of the week because the villains in control tend to just flee when Wander starts pulling out his banjo. (If you're familiar with Precure, you'd know this is literally just how the Wonderful team "fights".) On the topic of the banjo, you might have seen that alt text i put on the picture of it. The banjo can be turned into the staff you see there, used for the aforementioned purification attacks. Think of how he used the banjo against Screwball in "The Boy Wander". Those are basically his powers.

On the topic of Screwball, this all gets thrown out the window when it comes to him, though. Expect Wander to try and actively attack this guy.

Development

a while back, one of my favorite artists in the WOY community made a wander au, and I was like, "holy moly.....i wanna make a wander au too!!" so since may, I've been designing a magical boy outfit for wander! as I researched and referenced for the design, I was genuinely this close to just putting the guy in a cute skirt (we've seen him rock feminine outfits before, i wouldn't turn down the idea). the challenge of designing a magical boy outfit was entertaining, though, so I stuck to it. after a LOOOOT of trial and error, i finally landed on the one you see now, and i'm pretty satisfied with it (trying to design things around this guy's proportions is NUTS).

like always, i yapped what i needed to yap (I think)!! if you have any questions about the au feel free to ask me. i would have LOVED to shove every little detail in here but I think the post is already long enough as is, so yeah I hope you liked this concept for my AU :]

[murderbot-moodboard]

Episode 7 of Murderbot, plus recently discovering some new songs to love, has inspired me to assemble the two Murderbot TV playlists I'd started—one for Murderbot, and one for Gurathin—so they're now ready for listening.

First, four notes:

1) These playlists are "living documents" and subject to further tweaks. Season 1 obviously isn't finished yet, and regardless, I still edit my "finished" playlists as I discover new songs, find ones that fit better, decide one doesn't actually work well, etc. I also do my best to make them generally enjoyable for most people, but I am but one person with one person's music taste, so take that as you will.

2) Since the plot for 'Murderbot' Season 1 overlaps with the plot for 'All Systems Red,' my TV playlist for Murderbot has most of the same songs as the beginning of my Murderbot Diaries playlist, "Murderbot Mood." (That one is linked in my pinned post if you want to check it out.) However, I've also added and changed a couple songs in both playlists, so there's something new even if you've listened before. Some of the songs are based on things that will probably happen by the end of Season 1 based on All Systems Red, so spoilerish alert?

3) Much of the Gurathin playlist is Twenty One Pilots songs. This is on purpose, and partly because "Jumpsuit" was the song that inspired the playlist. (It has a line in the middle that— well, I'll let you listen and find out *grins evilly*.) It's also partly because when I was getting my latest autoimmune flare under control, there were a few days when I was in too much pain to do anything besides lie in bed and listen to comfortable music, and I ended up listening to Twenty One Pilots' "Blurryface" album on repeat. During that time, I realized their music is punk as hell, I relate to it on a deep level, and a lot of it also sounded like Gurathin and/or Murderbot.

(We could also discuss the fact that I "discovered" most of their music fairly recently, because "Blurryface" came out while I was attending a hyperconservative religious college that severely restricted the music we could listen to (and restricted when women students and teachers were allowed to wear pants). But that's a whole other post about "things I laugh about now because looking back they were kinda fucked up.")

4) I've seen a few fun-looking Murderbot song recs and playlists come across my dashboard which I didn't have the energy to check out at the time (see above autoimmune flare and moving). I'm absolutely open to suggestions and recommendations for my playlists, as long as your feelings won't be hurt if I decide not to include them. I was given really good suggestions which I added to my Murderbot Mood playlist last time, and at least one song on there I discovered through another fan playlist. So feel free to comment on this post if you have any songs you'd like to suggest. You're also more than welcome to add any songs from my playlists to your playlists (this might be a given but I'll say it just to be sure).

Okay, I think that's it! Now for the playlists!

Murderbot Season 1 Mood:

Gurathin Mood:

[violentlilies]

On Anon since I cannot ask this from my sideblog, but do you think that the hyperfocus the fandom has on Slaneesh being as this sex deity in Warhammer fan spaces comes from the perceived connection between Slaneesh and queerness?

I ask because I've seen you talk about similar things in the comments about how Fulgrim was presented; I feel like those issues with understanding Slaneesh also come from how Fulgrim was written being corrupted by them.

Cause, yes Slaneesh has as sexual aspect to them, but it feels like that is all people talk about when discussing it.

Ok. LOOOONG answer so strap in

Well I technically don’t blame them for focusing Slaanesh on sex given that the authors themselves did write Slaanesh as “the sex god” and focused her on “degeneracy” - the word itself being a fascist dogwhistle used against sexual liberation, queerness and many more.

I’m going to post the first part of my essay on this soon but while as a fandom we can analyze Slaanesh from a non-problematic perspective, the way the authors wrote her is focused on “degeneracy” - the (false) concept of which being the only umbrella that fits all slaaneshi things: addiction, sex, sexual perversion, “artistic perversion”, sex crimes, immoral sexual acts, bodily mutilation (the fact that piercings and tattoos are included here in canon is also big time problematic and adds on to the “fascist dogwhistle” pile by alluding to the popular fascist talking point that body modification is “self mutilation”, “destroying your perfect god given body”, “a violation of nature” and “degeneracy”. During Fulgrim’s apotheosis there’s a line where his tattooed skin peels off to reveal his original “perfect, unmarred” skin before he turns into a snake.).

This is the thing with Warhammer man, while I can see that the story was meant to be anti fascist and overall left leaning there are so many elements such as this which are confusing me because they end up supporting right wing viewpoints.

The story of Magnus is another such example: person born with a marginalized identity which is feared by society for being dangerous and demonic, fights for his right to be himself openly, is humiliated publicly, rejected by his family, forced into suppression, his father tells him to suppress himself for his own good yet he keeps fighting for freedom and independence on his own to prove that his identity isn’t dangerous but then the story ends up proving that he indeed is dangerous and demonic, his oppressive father’s cautionary tale became exactly true and he is kidnapped and enslaved by a demon. So what are we supposed to take from this? That when your authoritarian father tells you something you should listen without questioning him? When he tells you to suppress your authentic self just listen to him and assume he knows things you don’t? Be scared to explore your identity because you might ruin your life, everyone’s life and live in eternal regret ? Just accept conformity? Accept that you are inherently dangerous and bad? What are we even meant to take from this?

If I’m being very generous then we could say: support your queer kids and queer ppl otherwise they might fall into the hands of evil ppl who are waiting to take advantage of them at a vulnerable time, I guess? But being a psycher in 40k is still dangerous and demonic, supportive parent or not, so again, idk. Idk where we’re supposed to go here.

Maybe that’s the same take for Fulgrim’s story? Allow people to be themselves and explore themselves or they will be repressed and approach liberation in an unhealthy way and slip down bad paths like addiction, mix in with bad crowds or be taken advantage of? That’s the most generous way you can interpret this

What are we meant to take from Fulgrim’s story? Actually listen to your fascist dad because self exploration and sexual & artistic liberation will lead you to demonic possession and corruption and you will eventually turn into a rapist freak who’s crazy? Exploring art is dangerous? Experimenting with things and trying new things is dangerous? Pleasure is dangerous? Again, what is the message meant to be here

I feel like Warhammer has these core criticisms of the way the Emperor handled the primarchs like in the case of every traitor primarch, but instead of the moral of the story being “the emperor is wrong and fascist and the primarch was right to demand xyz” the moral of the story ends up being “the emperor is always right and the primarch was stupid and naive for wanting xyz, actually their fascist dad wanted what was best for them all along and they should’ve listened to him when he dished out rules with no explanation, no questions asked, life’s tough and unfair, you actually have to live repressed and neglected under fascism and can’t actually be free and happy or demons will kidnap you and society will collapse”.

We see a running theme of “a functioning society demands the sacrifice of your freedom and empathy and wanting all three at once is native and impossible”. - again GW, what are we meant to take from this?

Freedom, liberation, self exploration, self expression, love, happiness, gentle parenting, parental love, fairness, etc are seen as naive, impossible concepts which one should just accept not having because wanting such will lead you to the arms of demons, ruin, degeneracy, getting lost and social collapse - again, maybe I’m just not getting it but that’s the way the message of the Horus Heresy ends up coming across if I’m not doing mental gymnastics

It’s all under the umbrella of degeneracy and fear mongering about letting ppl do what they want to look for happiness and fulfillment in a fascist world under an oppressive neglectful narcissistic father.

Again, the most charitable interpretation I can find is “love your kids or else-“

But then again, the primarch’s falls, except for Lorgar, aren’t even them choosing chaos as an attempt to self liberate but instead being brainwashed and forced / tricked into chaos by magical objects or traps. Neither chose out of true free will. So you built up this whole thing of “cautionary tale for rowdy kids, listen to your dad”, but the kids did listen to their dad and their corruption wasn’t even their choice at all so again, where are we going with this? What are we trying to say?

Again, someone tell me if I’m stupid or I’m not getting it.

The reason Slaanesh is associated with queerness is because ppl are responding to an obvious dogwhistle. Wether the authors meant it or not, they did the thing.

Queerness is one of the first things under attack in a conservative crusade against “degeneracy” and many elements of said “degeneracy” echoed by conservatives are core elements of queerness and queer culture or intersect with it (given that queerness questions, deconstructs and opposes normative white supremacist society and its values which is conservative at its core) like being alternative, bodily autonomy, body modification, bdsm, art (mainly abstract, experimental and modern art), music (same adjectives as above), unique and unconventional fashion and style exploration, sexual diversity such as polyamory or orgies, defying gender norms, camp, taking up space - these are all parts and signifiers of “Slaanesh” the way it’s described in Warhammer.

The authors of Warhammer wanted to make a demon based on “degeneracy” but because “degeneracy” itself is a fake fascist concept made up to hate queer ppl it ended up just echoing queerness (+ a bunch of harmful stereotypes added on which conservatives think queer ppl do or want to do). If that makes sense.

The right-wing fandom is responding by being homophobic and seeing Slaanesh as a caricature and cautionary tale against queerness (which it is) and the queer fandom is responding by reclaiming Slaanesh and Fulgrim as symbols of camp, liberation and free expression, reflecting on their own journeys of living their truth, either with mental gymnastics or simply ignoring the negative aspects.

For me, as a queer person, I can’t do the latter. It’s too obviously a hitpiece against everything I am and makes a mockery out of everything I went thru as a queer artistic person from a conservative christian upbringing.

So many aspects of my journey of self liberation included dying my hair, experimenting with my style, bold makeup, experimenting with my sexuality and myself as a sexual person, wearing sexy clothes, getting deep into art, experimenting with abstracts, looking beyond what’s seen as socially acceptable by my conservative surroundings, unlearning purity culture, close mindedness and anti-intellectualism, letting go of the fear of exploring what is ultimately harmless parts of human existence and have only been demonized and stimgmatized by christianity and conservatives. Reading the Slaanesh story makes me feel like I did something wrong, like what I did was wrong and dangerous, like it’s leading me down a slippery slope where I will eventually end up a crazy evil criminal who hurts people, just like conservatives believe. It’s the whole “if we allow gay ppl to exist they will try to legalize sex with animals next,” argument brought to life.

And unfortunately as much as I love Warhammer I won’t gaslight myself, let other well meaning fans gaslight me or do mental gymnastics to avoid recognizing that clear aspect of the story.

It IS making me heavily uncomfortable because I feel “called out” about something I should not be called out about because I did nothing wrong. Exploring myself as a queer alternative person sexually and artistically isn’t wrong or dangerous. But the story is making me feel guilt and worry and triggering basically all of my traumas, especially religious and moral fears around being demonic, aligned with evil, immoral and mentally corrupted by being who I am. That I’m doing something wrong and if I wanted to “be on the right path” I needed to deny parts of myself and forego my own happiness for the sake of “common sense” and “doing what’s right”. The feeling that I had to choose between my own happiness and freedom vs the right thing. Which is simply wrong. And the story of Fulgrim and Slaanesh is retelling that very “cautionary tale”

It’s the reason you sadly don’t see me engage with that part of the Heresy story or Fulgrim as a character, despite me loving him so so much. It’s all too triggering because I just disagree with the whole notion of his story and I can’t go along and pretend that it’s just fiction, it means nothing, there is no message, I can’t see implications and I’m fine with all of this. At least not me personally.

Very important that I note that this take or stating the obvious fact that this is isn’t an attack to Fulgrim / EC fans, as I said, Fulgrim as a character is my favorite right up there with Konrad, but the story around him makes me so deeply uncomfortable because of all the things I listed and more that I can’t look past it or work within it. If you can, you do you. Every Fulgrim fan I’ve seen is queer, trans or both so if you can reclaim his story and vibe with it then I’m more then happy for you. So please don’t take this as an attack or an offense, all my grudges are with GW / Warhammer and their writing not the Fulgrim fandom. If you can find happiness, love and self expression in the story and it’s characters I’m happy for you.

I hope that gave you the answer you wished for anon. Stay tuned for my essay because it does deeper into this very thing, full Contrapoints style