#I should tell more people about my neat cats

[alta1r1an]

Drags your new boy Zavrik out for answers

---

What person impacted them the most?

How willing are they to bend/break the rules for their cause (be it selfless or otherwise)?

Biggest misconception about them?

What is their favorite and least favorite part of being the commander (or whatever role they play in your canon)?

Who are some people important to them and what's their relationship to them?

Zavrik mews as he is grabbed by the scruff and put into the answering chair

-What person impacted them the most?

(these questions are going to be easier to answer the further I get him into the story. I havent yet though so theyre going to be basic answers).

"My primus, she was an excellent teacher. Showed how bonds work, how they can be formed, manipulated, shaped-" He leans forward, and grins. The grin does not reach his eyes. "-and exploited."

-How willing are they to bend/break the rules for their cause (be it selfless or otherwise)?

Depends on the rules. Social rules? He merrily wipes his ass with em as social skills are nothing but a tool to him. I think as ash legion he also tries to play loose with the rules, whatever he can get away with in the legion.

"Ever since I joined the pact I have been more constrained to the rules. Still, I can gain much from playing around where I can. Besides, what Trahearne doesnt see wont hurt right?"

(it does hurt actually, mostly people around him that saw him as a trustworthy leader figuring out he is a manipulative asshole. It takes a while for that to sink in on him).

-Biggest misconception about them?

That he is noble, or sociable. He does very well at maintaining an image but alot of him being the 'hero' is him just failing upwards or just doing well at crafting said image.

-What is their favorite and least favorite part of being the commander (or whatever role they play in your canon)?

He genuinly does like the recognition he gets. In part because it makes manoeuvering easier but also, being recognized is just nice? He'll likely have a crisis at some point about the fact how it snuck up on him that people will generally trust him outright and that he stopped expecting a cloak and dagger game.

His least favourite part is how people seem to have expectations of him, and how he cant really... leave the damage he does behind anymore. It used to be that he could leave behind hurt or hard feelings every time his work was done. He takes it with him now, and he doesnt quite get it.

-Who are some people important to them and what's their relationship to them?

I havent established this one yet beyond Dragon's Watch. Marjory and him are good friends because Marjory sees through his shit and he likes that. He respects Kasmeer because he sees potential for great cunning in her.

Braham and him... I think Braham wont like him, probably lots of broken promises between them (all on Zavrik's side) eventually. Same for Taimi and Rox for that matter.

Rytlock and him... I think he leads Rytlock on for a long time (which, apparently is what Rytlock does to others too it seems). SO the two of them have a weird relationship

[luvvyouforever]

my girlfriend (wife) is a witch - sdv harvey x reader

-> in which our beloved small town doctor falls in love with the new resident who just so happens to own a black cat, offer tarot readings in her farmhouse, and loves nothing more than a full moon.

-> not an accurate depiction of witches, just something fun, short, and sweet, harvey's a cutie patootie!

"so, this card seems to be say that your business is gonna take off, which is strange considering your only available pool of patients is about thirty people who all already have yearly appointments booked."

harvey let out a deep chuckle, one that came from the pit of his stomach and traveled up through his chest. to the left of him was a stack of tarot card decks, with crystals stacked on top of those. to his right was an steadily flowing stick of incense that surrounded the backyard patio in a soft haze of lavender.

"maybe the citizens of zuzu will start making their way out here just to see lil' ole me," he said. his fingers toyed with the edge of one of the cards displayed on the table.

you shrugged your shoulders and began to shuffle your deck again, searching for another card. "you never know! the cards once said that lewis and marnie were secretly together and look what happened there! you can't doubt 'em."

harvey chuckled again then, remembering the moment you had bursted into the farmhouse, screaming about finding lewis's purple shorts in marnie's bedroom, all but confirming your suspicions that had been growing for seasons.

he was never much of a believer in anything but the real, practical world. as a doctor, he never allowed himself to indulge in the supernatural or superstitious. going under a ladder is bad luck? not for dr. harvey. however, the moment he fell in love with you, he let himself get absorbed into the world of daily tarot pulls, of drying flowers, of black cats, of full moons, of everything you loved.

snap! snap! "hellooo, earth to harv, please!" your voice snapped him out of his reverie and he noticed two new cards on the table.

"what do those say, dear?" he asked sweetly.

"well, this one says you should give in to spontaneity sometime today and this one is telling me that we should consider forgiving someone's faults," you said, admiring the foil art of the card.

"hmm...maybe i can spontaneously forgive george for verbally accosting me when i recommended that he lower his sodium intake," harvey suggested with a fake thoughtful fist on his chin.

"i think he'd be more open to drinking the elixirs and syrups i make in the basement before eating a salad, hon," you said with a laugh.

after the last pull, you slowly collected every card into a neat pile and tucked them back into their original packaging. harvey admired your handiwork as you placed your crystals back into a wooden box gifted to you by robin. with a smile, you looked up at your husband, only to find him staring at you with love-filled eyes.

you asked, "what are you looking at, huh?"

harvey shrugged his shoulders but made no move to turn his gaze away. "can i not look at my sweet, hard-working wife?"

with a playful roll to your eyes, you stood from the chair and planted a kiss on harvey's head. "speaking of hardworking, i have some strawberries that need harvesting! would you like to come help, my sweet, caring husband?"

harvey gladly stood and followed you through the backyard, into the house full of plants and charms hanging from the ceiling and walls, and out to the porch. at his heels was your black cat, meowing relentlessly for attention. on the porch, he slid on his gardening gloves and sun hat (sun protection is very important, he'd always say, and he always forced you into a straw hat at least).

perhaps his form of spontaneous forgiveness was forgiving himself for not admitting to his feelings earlier, for stressing so hard about finding someone to love, for not knowing sooner that this was always where he was meant to be, tarot cards and black cats and all.

[mikaela-the-slut-expert]

How about a Hualian x calamity!reader oneshot? Maybe HC and reader know each other already and pursue XL together? Idk, love your writing tho!

Gang up

Hua Cheng x calamity!reader x Xie Lian

So sorry it took a while, I had strep these past few days but I feel good now so ty for being patient with me 😙🖤🖤

I tried to make it vague enough to where you can input your guy's own character in there 🥰🙏

I hope it isn't too short, and if you can't tell I pulled some make believe facts out of my ass. Have to change the story up a little bit

Spoilers Below!!!

____________________________________

Everyone talks about the four calamities, but recently all three realms have been talking about a fifth one. Another terrifying, devastation level calamity. Because that's all the heavenly officials, someone else to worry about.

That's your bad, woops. It's not like it was on purpose. Maybe. It's not like it was your fault. Really! They should have known by now but your crimes and deeds have been hidden behind Crimson rain's for so long, everyone has thought there were only four calamities. Now, with so much activity from Hua Cheng it's impossible to hide behind him. Oh well.

Now you get your own title, lore, rumors and all that nice stuff since everyone knows you now. It's crazy how fast words spread.

You've always been here, in fact you and Hua Cheng appeared one right after the other. So of course with such a close timeline one of you was going to overshadow the other. Not that you have a problem with this.

Surprisingly you and Hua Cheng know each other well. You met a long, long time ago and have been friends ever since. Since you're such close friends. Why not live in paradise manor together, why not rule a ghost city together too? The two of you really are glued to each other's side.

The base of your friendship? Xie Lian. Now of course it's more than that. You're both dead, both calamities, both know Xie Lian, would do anything for Xie Lian, both knew Xie Lian. . .

You guys still hold affections for one another though so it's okay. And the best thing? I lied. You guys aren't friends at all. After hundreds of years of knowing each other you and Hua Cheng have seen the absolute worst in one another. You still stayed. He still stayed. Just because you guys are lovers doesn't mean that you're going to stop pursuing Xie Lian either. There's nothing wrong with three.

Now the second best thing is that none of you harbor jealousy against the other because usually you guys are side by side like Siamese cats causing trouble.

Very often the two of you gang up to pursue Xie Lian together. You guys even bully heavenly officials together. It's all a part of the fun.

So when Xie Lian initially hears about one ghost? He meets two. Like, okay so he has two calamity body guards. Neat. The same goes as follows. Just when he thought he only had to deal with one smart mouth, it's two. Feng Xin and Mu Qing are very annoyed by this but Xie Lian finds it endearing.

It's actually very nice. He used to have two people by his side, but then the trio was separated. Now he has two people by his side again and he doubts that you two will be leaving anytime soon.

Though, since you're actually a known calamity now the stories and details change up a little bit. Xie Lian can click a few more pieces of the puzzle together.

I mean how do you think Hua Cheng got so good in bed, he wasn't practicing on statues alone. How did Hua Cheng get his smooth, suave, attitude? That'd be you too. You had to encourage him to actually make a move on his precious dianxia instead of seeing him act like a blushing maiden anytime Xie Lian looks at him.

Not that you can speak differently on that one. You've always been there through Hua Cheng's worse and. . . worser. You're both awfully silly. Silly enough to give Xie Lian your ashes one random day.

When Xie Lian woke up with a ring of ashes around his neck? Pause. One ring? Isn't one missing? There's two of you. Hua Cheng and you so, where are your ashes.

He's absolutely delighted and curious when he finds out the two of your ashes are mixed. He finds it endearing the two of you trust each other that much and are so close. That's how he learned the two of you were lovers.

Because that's a big risk, a big promise. To mix your ashes and give it to one person. If Hua Cheng goes, you go too. If you go, Hua Cheng goes too. Which on a usual note would never happen.

Hua Cheng breaking Xie Lian's shackles is not a usual note though. He's devastated when not only one of his lovers fades away into a flock of butterflies but when his other lover does too.

The two of you would never leave him alone though, not with that ring around his neck. He knew you two would come back and you both did. Hand in hand, running to Xie Lian excitedly. The two of you would never have to disappear like that again.

Xie Lian doesn't mind that there's two of you. he has two hands, more the merrier. He's happy and loved. Isn't that all that matters?

____________________________________

I thought this new ashes idea of mine was cute so 🥰🙏 I hope you guys find it cute too

Sorry about grammar mistakes

[mageknight14]

I made a whole Twitter thread about this a few months back but I figured that I might as well bring it here as well.

Today I want to take some time to make another NEO TWEWY analysis post on the Identity Crisis sidequest revolving around Eiru and how it actually provides extra insight into Nagi and Fret’s characters.

Basically, the main gist of the sidequest is that Nagi and Fret are debating on how to imprint confidence onto Eiru, who’s suffering with his physical insecurities, and this is where we see the differences with Nagi and Fret's philosophies on life.

Fret's response is to tell Eiru to ignore the haters and even more so, ignore confronting the insecurities; life is better when you don't have to concern yourself with anything or try; don't take anything seriously. Nagi, however, believes that insecurities should be understood and harnessed so that they can ultimately be turned into a strength that can be used as a tool for success; accept your weaknesses and come to terms with them so that you can weaponize your strengths better.

On a surface level, these might read to be the same thing. Fret’s advice can be read positively as "don't let others judge you for something you can't control" and Fret certainly thinks so, hence why he thinks that he and Nagi are on the same page even though she disagrees.

However, when you read between the lines and think about it some more, there are notable implications that Fret's advice is more of a dismissive approach to dealing with emotional struggles as opposed to Nagi's own methodology. It’s no coincidence that Fret used to be a fan of the Eiji "the Prince" Oji in his ennui/apathy phase. The Prince in the original TWEWY was beloved for his “don’t give a damn attitude” and how he expressed that both in person and in his blog “F Everything.” Fret claims to have grown out of it but with certain reveals about his character later on, there are some implications that Fret latched onto the Prince and aspired to his attitude due to his own struggles with feeling genuine and wanting to embracing apathy instead.

However, if you recall in the original game, Neku and Joshua came around and helped the Prince sort out his own issues and in the process, helped him to become more genuine and true to himself in the process. With all of this in mind, you can interpret Fret’s response as him seeing the process of the Prince’s reconciliation with his genuine emotions happening in front of him and didn’t want to confront the possibility of that happening to him as well so he "grows out of it." It also acts as a neat parallel to Neku and his own thing with CAT. Whereas Neku latched onto his misinterpretation of CAT’s words in order to cope with his trauma, Fret turned away from the Prince changing so that he wouldn’t have to deal with his own trauma just yet.

To get back to the quest, if player had decided to choose Fret's philosophy, Eiru ends up doing just that, spinning Fret's stance on the situation into self-motivating positivity. However, there's a element of emotional responsibility lacking in Fret's way of processing struggles in that he doesn't seem to have the awareness to recognize the difference between overcoming adversity and just ignoring it (or maybe he does but refuses to confront that truth). In order for someone to truly not care what other people think, they need to do what Nagi suggested first, which is to find acceptance with their insecurities and build a stronger foundation for their character through that acceptance.

If the player chose Fret's approach to solving Eiru's issue, his dialogue afterwards shows how he feels about not having to face issues head on, with Nagi lamenting that her approach was not used despite being glad that Eiru's mood was visibily improved.

I also really like this moment here for how it subtly foreshadows what caused Fret’s attitude and way of thinking to happen in the first place.

Stuff like this is why I always tend to roll my eyes whenever I hear the claim that "Nagi is mean to Fret for no reason" when moments like these show why she acts the way she does towards him: their philosophies on life are complete polar opposites.

In Nagi’s eyes, Fret acting the way he did screamed to her that he seemingly had no regard for how his attitude and actions towards others made other people feel in service of his own self-interest and she fundamentally cannot get along with other people of that nature, as shown with how she dismisses Motoi entirely off the bat when the crew first meets him because she could tell that there was something off about his attitude. However, once it was revealed that Fret’s attitude was due to him trying to unhealthily cope with his trauma and not because he was seemingly unconcerned for the feelings of others, she’s far more understandable towards him and empathizes with his grief.

That’s when Nagi learns to understand that she does not need to dismiss people right away and that they, like Fret, might be going through struggles of their own and trying to cope with it via other means, even if she doesn’t agree with it at first. Hence the friendship they start up at the end of the convo.

The characters in NEO have a lot of internal flaws they need to work through, some that might not be immediate obvious at first compared to the original, but when you look back at it all, the game goes through a lot of painstaking detail to flesh out their struggles and mindset and aspects like these is what makes the game a joy for me to replay whenever I go back to it.

[the-final-sif]

It’s the holidays, and having learned more about them from his friend c!Sapnap, c!Dream decides that he would like to get his guardian, XD, a gift.

Sapnap got both his dads gifts while he and Dream were out on an adventure. The two of them had ventured down into the caves until they managed to find a strange old city underground. 

Sapnap had been spooked by the black, blue and glowing substance that grew over every surface, slowly consuming the city, but Dream knew exactly what it was! It was sculk, and it was harmless as long as you kept quiet. There was a warden that would show up if you got really loud and annoyed the sculk, but as long as you were very polite it wasn’t a big deal. 

Despite this, Sapnap had been a scaredy cat so Dream had gone in instead, and after asking the moss to make sure it wasn’t using any of the old stuff, he’d found some cool discs and neat shards that looked like the night sky. Both had been very interesting and he’d given most of it to Sapnap, keeping only a few of the night shards for himself. 

Bad apparently loved music and Skeppy ate minerals so he should love the shards. Sapnap was sure he’d never had anything like it.

Dream had been quite happy to help his friend with his gifts this year, but it had got him thinking.

XD did so much for Dream, he’d been taking care of him for years, built his mask to keep Dream safe, and taught him how to fight. Taught him how to explore. 

They’d been ramping up training lately. XD had been spending more time with him. Dream was almost 13 now, he was getting taller and broader. He was feeling more and more like he was getting ready for… whatever it was XD was preparing him for. 

There was a tension growing, and XD seemed… off. Nervous? Tired? Whatever it was, it wasn't happy.

Since his guarden was stressed, Dream really wanted to get him a gift. Sapnap would be spending most of the holidays with his dads on a trip to some kingdom (they had invited Dream along, but Dream had his training and also being surrounded by people constantly seemed like way too much), so Dream had plenty of free time to figure something out. 

Only that left him with a seemingly impossible question. What do you get for someone who seemed to be able to get anything? 

XD’s magic let him summon just about anything, so anything that Dream could get him just seemed… empty. 

The question had been bothering him for nearly two weeks now, through training and-

“Hello, little one.”

Dream quickly hopped out of his bed, grinning brightly at his guardian. He hadn’t been expecting XD to show up again so soon, but here he was! It’d only been a day or so since they last spoke.

“Hi, XD! Are we training again today? I’m a bit sore from yesterday but I can still fight, I really want to fix my sword swing. I mean, axes are better, but I know my sword is still too high…” Dream trailed off, the expression on XD’s mask had changed from its usual smile to something a bit more… concerned? 

“Not today, little one. Today, you need to go somewhere.” 

That got Dream excited, he snagged his adventure bag, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. It’d been awhile since they went on an adventure together. 

“Where are we going? Should I bring anything in particular? How long will we be gone?”

XD didn’t seem quite as excited, but his mask still shifted back to a smile.

“Unfortunately, I can’t go with you this time. This is something you need to do alone. Don’t worry, it won’t be dangerous. Or not really dangerous. Not like things will be in the future. I can’t tell you how long it will take.”

Dream’s excitement fell a bit, traveling alone wasn't as fun, but it would be a good chance to find a gift for XD. Maybe inspiration would hit while he was traveling?

“Okay, so where am I going then? How will I get there?” 

XD’s mask shifted to something more contemplative. 

“I can’t tell you. It’s not… it’s not quite a place that you find. It’s a place that finds you. It’s almost time for it to find you. Go looking and follow your instincts. You should… if I’ve done everything right, you should get there.”

As XD spoke, he did something he rarely did. He reached out and adjusted Dream’s mask. Straightening it just a little. 

In the movement, Dream felt something shift. Not a lot. Not much at all. But just a little. Just enough that he felt a bit odd. A bit taller maybe? 

It was weird, Dream tried to shake the feeling off and focus on his task. The instructions didn’t quite make sense, but he trusted XD. If XD said the place would find him, then that must be what would happen. 

“Okay! I’ll… try to find it I guess. How will I know when I’m there?”

As he asked, he moved to climb down from his tree house, only for XD to scoop him up instead, teleporting both of them down to the base of the tree. 

XD cradled him for just a moment, squeezing him in a hug before carefully putting him down. 

“When you find it, you’ll know. Be safe little one.”

“I will.” Dream promised, and then XD was gone. And Dream was on his own.

Now that he was alone, he could feel a charge to the air. There was something out in the woods. He needed to find it. And maybe he’d find a gift for XD on his way.

[eiko-chatter]

(CW death, suicide) 6 months ago today, I lost a close friend.

Mari was - someone who loved unabashedly and shared it with the world, despite having been horribly wronged by it. She made a point of complimenting strangers because she knew she was unthreatening and wanted people to know the things about them she appreciated. She tried hard to reach out to people she thought seemed neat, even though it took her time to build up the courage - that's how we met in the first place, at skating night. (she told me later she'd been building up the courage to talk to me the first 3 times we'd been at skating together). In my short time with her, she made it abundantly clear how much she loved her people - her entire soul lit up when she talked about them. She told me so many stories about people I didn't know very well and more about people I'd never met - will probably never meet, now - and even though she's gone, a little piece of her love for them remains.

She brought that energy to her hobbies - she wrote and shared really detailed strategy guides for the games she played, made and published free translations of foreign gay comics on request - and her friendships. I met Mari only a few weeks before my roommate's cat died. She came to visit us a day or two later, brought us flowers, and kept us company while we grieved. She checked in on us every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and did what she could to help. She was meticulous about keeping track of people's preferences and triggers, and thanked me whenever i told her about one so that she could use it to be more effectively kind.

I didn't really learn the details of what Mari was going through until a week before she died, but it was - genuinely harrowing. She was really hesitant to talk about it at all, but it eventually got bad enough that she was willing to, and when I heard the details I invited her to come to stay with us to get a break and have some company. She stayed with us for 3 days, during which she was more scared and frightened than I'd ever seen her. By the time I took her back home, things had gotten worse - she said she just wanted to be alone, that she thought that would help, so I hugged her and left. (it was the last time I'd see her. she was smiling at me and making a little heart gesture with her hands as I drove away). But being alone ended up being worse for her - she asked me if she should find someone to babysit her, but I - didn't know anyone in her area (it was a pretty long drive), and she was having a lot of trouble with her local social group, so we planned on having me go down to look after her that Saturday, and I spent the time until then checking in on her as often as I could. Friday afternoon she told me she was really grateful that I was doing that for her. It was the last thing she ever said to me.

When I got there Saturday, she was gone. She'd left out a bunch of things that she wanted to gift or return to people. She wrote a note, apologizing to everyone in her life for not being strong enough to ask for help, telling them how much she loved them and how good they were, and a warning on the door, saying not to come in and to instead call 911. (i didn't listen. i wish i had. even then, she was trying so hard to make sure whoever found her wouldn't be hurt more than they had to).

i loved Mari from the moment i knew her well enough to see her for who she was. i've tried, in the last 6 months, to bring a little bit of her kind and thoughtful spirit into my interactions with people, and to do small things to look after the people i know she loved and cared about.

i wish things could have been different. she deserved so much better than this. so often i see things or meet people and think about - how much she would have loved them, how much i wish i could have shared them with her. i miss her so much, still. losing her was the most painful thing i've ever gone through, by far. my friends and family have been - incredibly kind and patient and loving and generous with me. i know i would be doing so much worse without them and am deeply indebted to them. i'm trying really hard to - continue being the kind of person i want to be, to have the traits that she loved in me. it's - often really hard, though it's been getting easier, bit by bit.

goodbye, Mari. i'll always love you. the world is forever diminished by your absence.

[jelliefishhhh]

hey i think you should. share some ninjago agere hcs. like yk it would be neat!!

Ooooh

I think that most if not all of the Ninja are probably regressors.

I think that Kai, and Zane are probably flip's, regressor leaning

Jay and Nya are flips's caregiver leaning

Cole and Lloyd are mainly caregivers but will regress sometimes

Also I feel like Lloyd would totally hide his regression a lot more post-season 7 because he has to be the team leader now and doesn't feel like he's allowed to regress :( (But he is and the other Ninja help him feel comfortable with himself as much as they can)

Now for more organised ramblings

Kai:

When he regresses, he's very clingy, but at the same time, he doesn't like to be treated as helpless

He's more likely to take charge when little. He'll try to do everything himself. For example, Trying to shove his way past Zane to do the cooking, even if it is something he's completely unskilled at cooking

He uses his powers a lot more mainly because he has very little control over them, meaning with the last example if he is trying to help with cooking, it is very likely for the kitchen to just end up in flames.

He would spend most of his time with Nya because she's most familiar to him, not to say he wouldn't spend time with anyone else.

He can commonly be seen asking Cole for uppies, or piggyback rides

He may look like an endless ball of energy but once he burns out he basically cuddles up and sleeps like a cat

Can be very grumpy

He also gets overwhelmed very easily, even more so than when he's big so loud sounds or bad textures may very quickly lead to a meltdown

Zane can help with that though, his ice somehow always seems to calm him down

Jay:

Jay is constantly off the wall when regressed

Do not give him candy because if you do he will never sit still again

He's still very into his tinkering but to make sure he doesn't hurt himself he's mainly given more of those kids toys to take apart instead

Loves playing with those boxes where you put shapes into the holes

As a caregiver as much as Jay loves to look after other people he very much struggles with it

He finds it easier to caregiver for Zane or Nya (Sometimes) as they are more so at a pace he can manage

But with him zooming around constantly he surprisingly doesn't mesh well with littles who do act like him

He likes alphabet soup, idk why this is just my truth for little Jay

Zane:

Zane will regress more in public than he is comfortable with

You can tell he's regressed because he will become fidgety and more quite than normal

He is perfectly able to do things for himself because he's a robot

But he loves for people to help him doing things it makes him feel so much more loved and little

He loves being picked up and Kai, Nya, and Cole seem to be the only ones capable of doing so (metal is heavy)

He has good control over his powers but that does not mean he does not use it to get up to mischef

Nya:

She is the kind of little who does not have a filter on what she says and it makes for hilarious conversations with her caregivers.

She's very picky with her food like her brother and will be vocal about

If she and Kai are regressed at the same time they will destroy the area

Nya is very good at roping other people into her shenanigans

Child who bites but it's out of affection

But at the same time if someone upsets someone she cares about she will become absolutely silent to that person and you can just feel her glaring across the room even if you did it by accident

And with the upset person she will do her very best to cheer them up

She likes to chew on things and it helps her calm

Cole:

You will barely ever see him regress but when he does he is sooooo eepy

The eepiest guy ever

He will just lie on you and then you will never be able to get up again

Crushed

But he is warm like a hot water bottle

Lloyd:

He likes to hide away when he regresses, and seeing his door locked is an immediate tell.

He loves candy but unlike Jay it won't make him jump of the wall

He likes blankets, not for there intended purpose but he tends to throw them around a lot

[heloflor]

Was thinking a bit about how “The Devil’s Playhouse” has a lot more comedy than people make it out to be, and while especially thinking about “The Penal Zone” I realized this episode is actually very very very very gay. Like, I’m pretty sure it’s the Telltale episode with the highest amount of gay moments (205 is second on this list, what with Sam getting catcalled by a moleman, Max flirting with Mr. Reaperphone, the whole bachelor party, Peppers etc).

I think what I really like about those moments is that it’s a great example of normalization. The characters are incredibly casual about it, talking about gay relationships the exact same way one would talk about straight relationships, it’s really neat to see! Especially considering that this game was made in 2010, a whooping 5 years before gay marriage was legal in the whole US. It's crazy and great how much they were able to get away with!

(Screenshots of all these moments with timestamps (and quotes) under the cut. To have as little pics as possible, only a small section of each dialogue is taken. And to have a limit of two screenshots per pic max, some dialogues that are cut in two parts in-game have the second part pasted under the first. The timestamps puts you at the beginning of each conversation. All footage from NapalmX717 with the screenshots in chronological order of this video)

Max: “What can I say, Sam? Alien ships love to abduct me. It’s not my fault I look so probe-able.” (9:44)

Sam: “Nice work, little buddy! Make sure you wait three days to call, or he’ll thing you’re desperate.” (11:47)

Max: “Well, he IS pretty charismatic, Sam. And he’s from space, which is a plus. But you’re the only hairy, overweight, domineering control freak I need, Sam.” (20:38)

Sam: “I don’t need to go to another planet for a methane rich environment, as long as I’ve got you, pal.”

Max: “That’s really sweet and obvious, Sam.” (22:46)

Skun-ka’pe: “Perfect! Just the one I wanted to see ha ha ha ha!”

Sam: “Keep the hands where we can see ‘em, pal.” (23:36)

Max: “We could just give ourselves tongue-baths, like cats and flight attendants do!” (30:57)

Sam: “Why do we have jumper cables? Neither of us knows how to use them.”

Max: “It’s simple, Sam: the RED cable goes on the RIGHT nipple, the BLACK cable clamps to the…” (34:42)

Max: “Oh boy! Now I can finally set up my 24-hours adults-only naked bunny chat line.” (34:58)

Sam: “Toys...Toys… we must prepare… the toys….”

Max: “Well, that’s just a typical Friday night for YOU, Sam.” (36:45)

Flint Paper: “Oh. Well yeah, that could be it. I was thinking it was you, Sam!”

Max: “You think you know a guy. I’m not angry, Sam, just very disappointed.” (1:03:49)

(For context they’re talking about who might be Girl Stinky’s secret admirer)

Max: “I can’t lie to Flint Paper, Sam!” (1:05:20)

Max: “What kind of pretend mother would I be if I didn’t worry about our imaginary baby?” (1:10:31)

Momma Bosco: “Oh, it’s not all bad. I’m getting better at apparating. And now I don’t leave a trail of ectoplasmic slime behind every time I leave the room.”

Max: “That’s better than Sam can say.” (1:23:13)

Sam: “I’m not gonna rest until I find the guy who killed my partner!” (1:43:13)

Max: “Wow. I feel really very close to you now, Agent Superball.” (1:45:33)

Sam: “I don’t like the thought of you teleporting off without me, Max.” (1:46:33)

Max: “Sam, this is all so sudden! I… I don’t know what to say!” (2:07:10)

Sam: “I think one of us should try to smash through that window with his rock-hard, melon-sized head.”

Max: “And I think one of us should try the door, unless he wants to spend the rest of the day picking plate glass out of his partner’s fluffy white nether regions.” (2:17:00)

Girl Stinky: “Sam and Max? Don’t tell me Skun-ka’pe wants YOU guys to be his love slaves, too?” (2:24:48)

Girl Stinky: “Eww. He wishes. He’s SO not my type. You only have to date an evil gorilla once to learn never to make THAT mistake again.”

Max: “We’ve all been there, girlfriend.” (2:25:07)

Girl Stinky: “Gee, it sounds like YOU two should go out with him. Would you like me to give you guys some privacy?” (2:27:33)

Max: “You’re my best friend, Sam! I know you’d take a bullet for me!” (2:31:02)

Sam: “You keep coming up with creepy disaster scenarios that always end with you eating me, Max. It’s getting annoying.”

Max: “If you don’t like it, then stop looking so damn tasty.” (2:38:11)

Max: “Think of something quick, Sam. I don’t like the way he’s undressing me with his eyes.” (2:53:22)

[beabnormal24]

Hi! For the shipping asks: 👅 💖 💔 (if you want to!)

Oooh, good one. i love answering asks.

1. 👅 (ship that you find most sexy)

I mean, Charlos, of course. I guess I don’t even need to explain myself on this one, but I guess I’ll do it anyway. I will say that in my personal opinion Carlos is the sexiest, in the sense that he has that sinuosity in his movements and that elegance and finesse in his gestures that just makes him incredibily sexy.

If you want to look at it in a figurative way, I see Carlos like Matthew Macfadyen in Pride and Prejudice, so hot in his austerity.

And Charles? Prettiest boy ever, so delicate but also clumsy and silly and sexy in that completely self conscious and self confident and effortless way that attractive people who are constantly giggling their asses off are. He’s the epitome of babygirlism and sassiness, but you should not doubt him - which is exactly what Carlos never does.

Figurative example? Jonathan Bailey as Tim Laughlin in Fellow Travelers during the ‘50-‘60s episodes.

Together? Sexiest ship alive.

2. 💖 (Ship that needs more love)

Since I am deeply undecided, I’ll offer two options.

First one, George Russell and Max Verstappen, also known as Gax. Why, do you say?

Their dynamics would be incredible, apart from the entire obvious enemies to lovers mechanism, let’s spend some time talking about their characterisation - because you all know how much I like that.

George, your next door British boy, curses in lower case and says Blimey and Crikey like it’s normal. He cares about his looks and his appearance. He’s thirsty for competition, neat, honest, proper, terribly impatient although he tries his very best to not let it show.

Now, Max? Curses in bold, replaces Hello and Hi with Shit and Fuck. Doesn’t care about his appearance as much as he cares about his own cats. He’s thirsty for competition, neat, honest, proper, terribly impatient and he lets it show.

Conclusion: they’re basically the same person, just in different fonts, similar in their dissimilarities.

One is Calibra Light, the other is Calibra Bold, and they’ll clash their horns against each other like angry deers, but then they’ll notice how good they actually look together, how good they work together, how good they match and boom…

No chances for anyone else, two puzzle pieces completing each other.

Uh, I might write something about that.

Anyway, second one? Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant. And tell me if I even need to explain myself on this one.

They are the ship, they have everything!

Logan blushing furiously and falling for Alex’s teasing and looking at him longingly and smiling like a lovesick fool whenever Alex gives him attention or jokes about his obsession with America. He’s so enamoured with Alex that he even started copying some of his attitudes, because he’s that in love.

But let’s be clear, Alex is falling just as hard, because Logan is so cute and he likes the way there’s someone who actually looks up at him - not only figuratively, lol, because Nicholas is tall - and he blushes in such a cute shade of red when he calls him Logie Bear.

Alex might be a little bit obsessed with him.

I need to write about them.

3. 💔 (ship that makes you sad)

I honestly don’t know how to answer this one, I guess it is based on personal interpretation.

I would probably say that the one that makes me a little bit sad is Dando.

Ironic, you may say, but let’s think about it for a second.

They started to bloom a little late, because Lando was still attached to Carlos and Daniel isn’t as careful around boundaries as he should be in certain situations, and although Lando has clearly grown into an overconfident young man that we love to see thriving, he does initially still need some limits - like Carlos and Oscar had religiously respected.

But then they had bloomed, they started getting along like a house on fire. People do not realise how hard it actually is to become so close in such contexts without having any strings from before - like Alex and George or Charles and Pierre or Oscar and Logan and so on.

Lando went to his house in Perth, voluntarily, just to spend time with him and do crazy stuff on his farm and have the time of his life with someone that is ten years older than him.

But they get along so well that who does even care about age differences?

But just as they started to really develop through their relationship, shit happened and they got separated.

I’m really glad they still bloomed - sharing clothes like in Monaco and sharing jet rides and visiting each other and going to dinners together and stuff - but it does make me a little sad the thought that, in some twisted way, things still tried to put themselves through their building affection.

It also makes me sad the fact that, because of all of that, they didn’t get to shine as bright as they deserved.

That’s it, hope you liked my answers and please Ant let me know about yours, too! 🩷🩷

[vitanithepure]

Hi! I noticed you seem to be a fellow BG3 Gale connoisseur? Can you tell me what made you like him? I am starved for some more insights from people!

I'm so sorry if it's a bother, feel free to ignore me if so! >.<

Omg, asks like this are never a bother! You can write me any time with gaming related things, especially BG3 ones as I am - like so many others - so impatiently waiting for its release. It's safe to say it occupies 99% of my consciousness. 8 more days!

And you are not wrong with your assumption. I do like Gale! He's neat. He's great. He quickly became my favorite blorbo. I'll post it under the cut.

This is a point I should probably apologize, because you probably wanted a brief summary and I'll be giving an essay, but... yeah, I have a lot of thoughts about that man.

Like, look - if I were any kind of sexual I would be sapiosexual. At first glance Larian got me "oh boy, a know-it-all wizard, how original...", BUT I feel like they did manage to make Gale intelligent in a believable way. Why?

Gale knows all the trivia. He read an entire library or two worth of knowledge and probably memorized most of it. He knows his way around with words; it makes him charming and endearing. And yet intelligence is not wisdom and experience, so we learn of his past mistake(s) and how quickly he is willing to jump into next ones.

I mean, come on, willing to make a deal with Raphael? And betting on outwitting him? And his new bio description on the official website? (not sure how that will play out yet, I'm reserving judgment until we get to play it). Peak INT 16 and WIS 11 wizard behavior.

I often find people thinking about Gale as a manipulator, playing nice to get things from us and/or get in our pants (yikes to that last one). He would certainly be capable of that, sure - like i said, he's intelligent and charming enough for that. Do I think he would though? Nah.

I think Gale doesn't need to play nice - he just is. Because at the point of his story (which is straight up told in his bio) we meet him he already learned his lesson. Now Gale needs to deal with his past and is not, understandably, so forward with revealing it.

And I get it. I wouldn't want to spill my life's biggest mistakes after a few days' worth of knowing someone, but Gale doesn't have the luxury of time. So he asks us to put a little trust in him and he later reveals what was the point of it all - when you prove you do trust him.

Another thing people put to question is if he actually tells us the truth. I have nothing here, I do believe he is, but in light of (again...) the new bio I believe Gale might have undergone a minor rewrite and I'm no longer sure if the early access dialogues are up to date with it.

If they will not change then, yes, he is straight up omitting the fact he wanted to slurp up Mystra's godhood, and lying about the reason he got stuck with that orb of his in the first place. And I have no idea what to do with this, yet.

Overall I just think it all makes him a very interesting character and I can't wait to have my heart broken by another wizard with a cat. Because as much as I believe all romances will have a happy ending Larian already said it's a dynamic thing and companions do move on the morality scale during the story.

And l'm just so happy to be along for this ride!

Also, on a more superficial note: I have a weakness for pixel men about my age, and Gale looking at us with unabashed mischief like this:

Just works for me.

[nikoisme]

Heyo!!! :D Some questions for you!

What are some of your fave parts of the Iliad and Odyssey? And then do you have a favorite by Euripides?

How long have you been drawing?

Since your "lovable little bastard" is a lil calico, does she have any neat patches/spots that are cute? Example, Teddy has a big stripe that curves across her neck, so I like imagining her having "necklace" haha. Does your lil lady have any spots that are cutely shaped? 🥺

(Good luck in school! :D Know I'm rooting for you!)

hello hello :DD this is a much needed break from studying oh god thank you.

For The Iliad,, BOOK 6, THE HECTOR, ANDROMACHE AND ASTYANAX SCENE. Book 10 also slaps obviously, night raid my beloved. The laments over Hector in book 24 too :')) It never fails to make me cry. But there's a tiny little specific part of The Iliad that is my absolute favorite - when Menelaus tells Antilochus that Patroclus was killed:

Idk man it feels so real and raw and hngngng. And Antilochus my man.

Now for The Odyssey i'm basic af but it's the reunion wih Telemachus, Penelope and Laertes :') hits right in the feels. The marriage bed story. The orchard. God fuck. Also the several little moments when Telemachus and Odysseus just,, exchange knowing smiles or glances with each other (when Odysseus is disguised as a beggar). It's just so neat i don't know why. Telemachus doesn't even know Odysseus and Odysseus doesn't know who his son is (yet!!), but they just kind of clicked together (when it came to scheming and plotting ofc. It's in their genes).

Tbh I haven't read too much of Euripides, I have quite a few plays sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. So i should probably, yknow, do that hahaa. But my favorite so far is Iphigenia at Aulis! It's just so heartbreaking and tragic and painful and ahdbagshjj. mannn.

I started drawing since I could hold a colored pencil lmaoo. i just did it sometimes as a kid, i liked it and was seen as the "art kid" in school (now that I think of it, I was actually more the "a pleasure to have in class" kid,, but hey i was the one people ran to during art projects lmaoo). It was 2020 when I really wanted to get into it - especially digital art, since I've been drawing on my phone and the family computer with a mouse in godforsaken Gimp up to that point - and I got my first drawing tablet the same year! Funnily enough I started drawing humans about... 1,5 years ago?? I was actually, lo and behold, a warrior cats artist for a few years :'DD

NOW. SHE HAS SO MANY SPOTS THAT I ABSOLUTELY ADORE. For example, all her paws are white - but only one is black with a single white toe:

And she has some incredible markings on her face if i can say so myself:

Especially since the orange marking goes in a straight line across her face, it's so neat. And her fluffy white neck/throat marking :D

And thank you for school AGJSJSDHHH. I have my last test on Monday so I should be finally free next week! The worst tests are over now, thankfully. This is hell :')

[howlingday]

Can you the studio c scetch operation breakup with black sun and yang.

Operation Blake-Hole Sun

Blake: Thank you for helping with this, Yang. I'm not the best with ending relationships cleanly.

Yang: Hey, what are friends for if not to... end the friendships of other people?

Blake: I'm just worried I'm going to lose my nerve and do something I'll regret. Especially since I feel like Sun is a lot more invested in this relationship than I am.

Yang: No worries. I've broken plenty of hearts in my dating sim games. (Puts on cap) Got your ear-piece?

Blake: Yeah, I do. Do you wanna test it?

Yang: Sure. This is Golden Dragon. Do you read me Black Cat?

Blake: Could we maybe try a different name for me?

Yang: Uh, sure. How about Heartstomper? Soulstealer?

Blake: You know what? Black Cat is fine.

Yang: Fine, fine. Commencing Operation: Blake-Hole Sun. (Hides round the corner)

Blake: (Knocks)

Sun: (Steps out) Hey, Blake! (Hugs her)

Blake: Hey... I, uh, need to talk to you about something.

Yang: You are doing great. I repeat, you are doing great!

Sun: To be honest, I was worried, because I thought you forgot it was my birthday today.

Yang: You are Salem. I repeat, you are Salem.

Blake: N-No, I, uh... I didn't forget.

Yang: I did not sign up for this, Black Cat! You didn't tell me it was his birthday!

Blake: How was I supposed to know?!

Yang: There's this neat little thing called a scroll! You should try it!

Sun: You feelin' hungry? I'm feelin' hungry. What say we get some noodles?

Blake: Uh...

Sun: Tell ya what; I'll grab my wallet and you think about it. (Reenters house)

Yang: Are you sure you want to continue? If he's anything like me, then he is going to cry. A lot. Like, a lot a lot.

Blake: I have to! I can't keep living a lie!

Yang: You lie all the time!

Blake: Yeah, but I also really wanna break up with him.

Sun: (Comes back out) Of course, I could also take you to this awesome taco place.

Yang: Alright. Let's ruin his special day.

Sun: 'Course, it's your special day, too. Y'know, 'cause it's our six-month anniversary.

Yang: ...HAVE YOU A HEART OF STONE, WOMAN?

Blake: What do I do?

Yang: You need to stop the conversation and change topics!

Blake: STOP! I... want to talk about cheese.

Yang: ...Okay, now transition from talking about cheese to... breaking up with him.

Blake: This isn't easy for me, like how cheese isn't easy for me because of my... lactose intolerance.

Yang: But...

Blake: But-

Sun: Say no more. I saw this coming. So I'll save us the awkardness.

Yang: Great. Great so far.

Sun: I love you, Blake.

Yang: OOOOOH! Red alert! The L word has been brought into play! We need to regroup!

Sun: Hold tight! I gotta grab something! (Runs inside)

Yang: Stop him! Don't let him bring out any presents! Stop him!

Sun: (Comes out, Holding black kitten) What do you want to name her? I'm thinking BB. For Bitty Blake.

Yang: RRGH! That is such a cute name! We're losing control of the conversation! We need to regroup!

Starr: Well, howdy there! I'm Starr Sangzang, Sun's cousin. It's great to finally meet the Blake he's been gushing over.

Yang: Engaging multiple hostiles!

Blake: Yang, help me!

Yang: On my way!

Yang: Hey... there!

Sun: What's up, Yang?

Yang: I'm... robbing you?

Starr: ...I'd wished a bitch would friggin' try! (Jumps Yang, Pounding the daylights outta her)

Yang: (Crawls back to her corner)

Sun: That was... weird of her.

Starr: See, this is why you need to carry a bag of sand like I do. (Leans near Blake) Both a distraction AND a melee weapon.

Yang: ...Man down, Black Cat. Man down... D-Don't worry, we can still pull through this...

Blake: Mhm.

Starr: Y'know, it's really great to see Sun all happy again. Considering this is the one-year anniversary of when his last girlfriend broke up with him. Can you believe that? And on his birthday, too? Only way it got worse was when Uncle Buck-Bill died.

Sun: (Cuddling kitten) You won't die like Uncle BB, will you, new BB?

Yang: ...Abort mission.

Starr: I mean, what kinda sick, twisted kinda person would do that?

Yang: Abort mission, Black Cat. You gotta date him for at least three more weeks before breaking up with him. I... My conscience and my ribs are screaming at me!

Blake: No, no, I... I would never do something like that. Uh, just let me slip into this alleyway to grab your present.

Yang: (Dragged away by Blake) Requesting MedEvac.

Blake: Oh, shut up!

Neptune: (Rappels down from the roof) Mission accomplished. Nicely done, everyone. Operation "Stop Blake From Breaking Sun's Heart And Come Up With A Better Plan Name Later" was a complete success!

[dyrewrites]

WiP Questionnaire

Tagged by @winglesswriter (hello new fren!) here

I am taggin @rowanmgrey-author and YOU

--Big Post Coming Through--

Answering for "Before Deluca"

What was the first part of your WIP that you created?

->This<- which became the introduction/beginning of the first chapter. Most of it was wildly altered...but it's why I have a 130k words of novel now.

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

It's not much for a theme song, but for some reason my brain says this one;

What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

Lucient is the favorite of this WiP, it should be Ludovico/Deluca (who is telling the story) but it's not. I love him too but Lucient's just so much fun to write and more complex than he initially seems. Also he's bratty but loving and earnest and just...he just wants this man, ok. Forever, only him. And I love it.

What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

Honestly, no idea. My brain cannot wrap around the idea of a fan base for anything I've done. Just does not compute.

What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Getting the two main characters to stop making me write sex scenes. I kid (it's a problem I don't really mind) but the biggest struggle has been the real world setting and how much of it I want to replace with the magic I've injected into it. Historical fantasy is one thing, but it's more Alternate Earth at this point and my brain gets angry when it has to conform to rules it didn't create.

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Unfortunately not. They wouldn't be safe around the main cast. There are vampire who behave like animals, and by that I mean they wholeheartedly believe they are dogs due to abuse and mind-control and it isn't pretty. So...no animals, I am sorry. At least not yet, there may be a cat at some point (I tend to put them in everything).

How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

A great big ol' sailing ship that begins with the name La Lune Royale but gets another one later. She is very beeg and covered in magic. When landbound, they use carriages, coaches, a train here soon, and eventually a car (maybe, I dunno if either of them should be trusted with such a thing).

What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

The time-skip that takes them through the rest of their first century together and into their second (and final). So...halfway point? You will recall the 130k I mentioned at the top, yes? Help me.

What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

The vampires probably, and the romance, and maybe the magic? I dunno. It gets weird and doesn't seem to follow some of the tropes expected of this genre...I write weird vampires.

What are your hopes for your WIP?

To have it done by the end of the year would be neat, like done done, published and all.

->blank questions under cut<-

What was the first part of your WIP that you created?

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

What are your hopes for your WIP?

[shadowqueenjude]

Feytamsand, Part 5 for @polyacotarweek free day! (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

While Rhysand has clearly done some good, he has also done a lot of bad! I think it would've been neat to see Rhys take responsibility for his actions and have a true redemption arc! That is the main focus of my piece today!

Rhysand abhorred the Summer Court.

Most people loved it here. The glorious sun beaming down on this land, the ocean breeze, the mermaids and hippocampi and all the natural stones. But Rhys sunburned easily, and the heat was NOT being kind to him. He winced as the skin on his face began to peel. “The former High Lord of Night, defeated by a little sunlight,” Feyre teased. Tamlin reigned in his laugh, and Rhysand sighed. “And you would’ve been defeated by the easiest riddle of all time were it not for me,” he countered. Feyre griped, “You know that I couldn’t read because we lost our fortune early, and my sisters never bothered to teach me. Why are you making fun of my poverty?” “Weren’t you 11 when you lost your fortune? I believe that’s old enough even for a human babe to have learned. Or were you too busy chasing butterflies?” Tamlin quickly turned his laugh into a cough. Feyre rounded on him instead. “I hate to say it,” Tamlin muttered, hands up in surrender, “but he has a point.” Rhysand turned to look at Feyre smugly. “See? Even Tamlin agrees with me. That should tell you enough.” “Whatever,” Feyre snapped, storming up ahead. Rhysand cringed at himself but carried forward. “Do you two always argue like that?” Tamlin asked Rhysand, head tilted like a cat’s. Rhysand bit his lip, debating how much to tell Tamlin. Ultimately, he decided to tell him all of it. “Yes, but we usually have makeup sex after and forget about it.” Tamlin shook his head somberly. “Feyre feyre feyre. She always had a tendency to use sex as a coping mechanism; she did that with me too.”

Rhysand blinked. “As a coping mechanism?” Tamlin nodded. “Talk to her about it,” he pressed. “It’ll help her.” Rhysand scanned Tamlin’s face, searching for a trace of insincerity, but finding none. “Thank you,” Rhysand said quietly. Tamlin nodded. As they walked, they reached the entrance to the Summer Court house used for diplomatic meetings. Rhysand opened the door, bowing to Tamlin. “After you.” Tamlin grinned. “We both know you’re no gentleman, Rhys. Best stick to being an insufferable bastard.” “This is how I’m treated when I try to do something nice,” Rhysand complained, but it was lighthearted. He knew Tamlin was joking. Rhysand jolted when Tamlin wrapped an arm across his shoulders. “Thanks, Rhys. Better?” “Yes,” Rhys said. They walked together just as they had centuries ago, like nothing had changed. Tarquin sat there waiting for them. “Hello, Tamlin. I must admit, I am shocked to find out the present company you are keeping.” “They are here to take responsibility for what they did in Spring so that I may convince my people to return home,” Tamlin said. “Or more precisely, I am,” Rhysand cut in. Tamlin and Feyre both whipped around to look at Rhysand. “What do you mean?” Feyre demanded. “This is my mess too.” Rhysand shook his head. “You would’ve never done this if it weren’t for me. I was the one who made you this brutal, this vicious. And while I don’t regret it, because it helped you survive, I regret that it led you to cause harm to countless innocents needlessly. Let me protect your reputation and do this. Please.” “No,” Feyre snapped, pushing out of her chair and grabbing Rhysand by the shoulders. “This is both of our burdens. We will deal with it together.” “No,” Rhys said adamantly, placing a hand on Feyre’s cheek. “Please. I have been so stupid and selfish. I used you, Feyre. For once, let me do something for you. Don’t rob me of this chance.” Feyre blinked at his earnestness, pulling away. Tarquin and Tamlin both had strange looks on their faces. Rhysand ignored them. “Well, do you know what you’re going to say?” Tarquin asked. Rhysand nodded. “Would you mind running it by us first?” Tarquin asked. Rhysand shook his head. “I won’t do that. If I do, I’ll lose the nerve.” Tarquin sighed. “I hope you’re being truthful. Most would call me an idiot for trusting you again. Perhaps I am. What say you, Tamlin? You know him better than I.”

“I say, for the first time in centuries, Rhysand is acting honestly,” Tamlin said. Ironic, since Rhysand was lying to cover up for Feyre. Tarquin nodded. “Go ahead then, Rhys. Wow us with your apology.” Rhysand took a deep breath, ignoring the rising heartbeat of his heart, the blood rushing by his ears, the stiffening of his fingers, the slight trembling of his lips. He mustered a smirk with a confidence he didn’t feel. “You know I will.” Then he found himself facing a riotous crowd. Suddenly, he felt like an outsider watching his body facing the crowd. His mouth wouldn’t move. His body was frozen. Where were the words of acknowledgement he’d planned? He couldn’t remember a lick of the speech he’d planned now. For the first time in centuries, Rhysand is acting honestly. Rhysand ripped off the mask. Stared at the people of Summer. Some people in this crowd wished to return to their home court of Spring but didn’t trust the High Lord because of his wrongdoings. He must change that. He must right this wrong. “People of Summer, there are some of you in this crowd who have taken up residence here because Spring was massacred by Hybern. Your High Lord, Tamlin, has been taking painstaking efforts to rebuild Spring. His court is ready to start accepting your return any day now. I know many of you believe him to be a self-serving git who got his court burned by Hybern, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. You see, Tamlin was playing double agent the whole time, gathering information to help destroy Prythian’s enemy. The destabilization of Spring was unfortunately my doing, as I believed him to be an ally of Hybern, and for my own petty selfish reasons. Do not hate Tamlin. Hate me instead.” Rhysand closed his eyes and waited to be drowned by the riot that was sure to come after his declaration.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME!!! thursday we watched tng's "emergence" and ds9's "crossover" (honorific)

emergence (tng):

I HATE HOLODECK EPISODES. i wanted season 7 to go out on a high note. nostalgia and time would have made me forget so many of tng's sins if it had gone out on a high note

girl, the enterprise CAME TO LIFE, had a baby, and then died, and nobody had anything to say about that except "ok let the baby fly into space hope it has a good life!"

the enterprise and moya from farscape could have raised their children together communally. like feral cats.

if kirk had been captain when the enterprise came to life he would NOT have let that baby fly into space. he would have gotten one of those little toddler leashes. he would have paid child support. he's not the step dad he's the dad who stepped up

i honestly don't remember what else happened here because the following episode blew my tits clean off

oh yeah wait i think it was racist to make worf shovel the coal. shame on them. data's way stronger than worf he should have been doing it he would have been like yay i love a novel experience :) i can add this to my file on coal shoveling :)

crossover (ds9):

WORLD'S LONGEST YEAH BOY

no, i'm just going to abandon my bullet points. where do i even begin...you know, actually, let's begin at the beginning, which is the tos mirrorverse episode. i have a wider meta on this in me somewhre i bet but it wasn't always this way! i like, initially watched this, went, "huh! that was neat," and thought no more about it until i read a fanfic (don't ask for it i'm not telling, it was more like 2-3 fanfics honestly) and then i was like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND. see, my fascination with mirrorverse comes primarily from the following hypothesis:

everyone always says that bones in mirrorverse and bones in the prime universe are the same guy and that makes him god's specialest princess, which i don't disagree with! but i think, deep down, EVERYONE is the same. i think mirrorverse (quite accidentally) provides a pretty compelling commentary on both nature vs nurture and the cycle of violence. kirk, who undoubtedly went to a much worse version of tarsus iv in the mirrorverse, becomes a guy slaughtering colonists by the thousands, because in his mind that's what power looks like and being powerful means being safe. spock, who is brought up to believe violence is logical instead of pacifism, follows that doctrine just as strictly as he sticks to his morals in the prime universe, and indulges in his emotions just as rarely, because in either case he is punished just as much, if not more, for going against vulcan and human social norms.

put the same guys in the opposite situation (ie a mirror) and they will turn out as their own twisted reflections every time. mirror kirk is just as driven to succeed, just at a different game. he has just as much of a temper, but without the apologies that come afterward. he's just and dangerous and as handy in a fight as prime kirk, but without the moral compass that has him pulling punches instead of a knife. he has that same desire for power, though it's to protect himself rather than to protect other people. mirror spock is just as sharp and calculating, he's just running different numbers, after different results. he's just as good at sussing out emotional motives because of his forced distance from them, but he has spent a lifetime being rewarded for exploiting the emotions of others instead of trying to understand them. he even shares the same preference for being the first officer instead of in command, though the two spocks have differing reasons for this. you could even argue that he has the same capacity for loyalty, inasmuch as it's safe or possible to be loyal in the mirrorverse; he avoids trying to kill kirk as much as he possibly can, and when he finds out "his" kirk is gone, immediately does everything in his power to see to getting him back where he belongs. the mirror characters aren't opposites; they're reflections, inversions. they started out as the same base thing. they were made ugly and evil by their circumstances.

we didn't get to see much of mirror kirk and none of mirror bones (to my eternal woe), but knowing mirror spock DID ultimately take action towards pacifism and reform is extremely damning evidence for this hypothesis, at least in my mind palace. our own spock is defined by his compassion and selflessness; he gave his life in the warp core because the needs of the many outweighed his own needs. mirror spock is running the calculation in the other direction; he is thinking of his own needs. yet he comes to the SAME CONCLUSION - it is important for people to be safe, because logically nothing else can hold.

i notice that they carefully avoided saying whether or not spock ACTUALLY killed kirk, and i love that, because i loved the open-ended nature of the original mirrorverse episode - i loved that we could imagine anything happening. kirk dying or becoming a better person or becoming a worse person. i'm a little sad to have finally lost that, but i love that we can still just as gleefully imagine spock shoving a pole through kirk's ribs (in the horny way) or them being little rebels with bones and fighting the system together. ooooh and you better BELIEVE i had to pause the episode and cover my face and take a moment to have my hysterics when they implied mirror spock may have killed mirror kirk bc our kirk asking mirror spock to kill his other self was one of the horniest things tos ever did, up there with amok time and that stupid bondage harness.

speaking of horny, let's get into the actual episode. this episode was so abjectly fucking horny it's ASTOUNDING. it's mind-blowing. i think lesbian kira-on-kira was ABSOLUTELY the way to go as far as introductions. and kira-on-kira PROVES MY HYPOTHESIS!!! mirror kira has the same sympathy for her human laborers (the downtrodden), just not extended further than she extends sympathy for herself. she is also, like our kira, into girls. AND she is seduced by the idea of giving power to a weak bajor. kira's love affair with herself was probably the best part of this episode, number one because women and number two because they understood each other SO well except mirror kira was just unstable enough to be scary. and kira being like a little scared of her and them still being gay was really problematic and horny of them. fun. god. like, BATH SCENE?? HELLO??? i hope nana visitor had the time of her fucking life

mirror garak is also basically the same guy. this is just pre-exile garak. he's so conniving and gay. he didn't even do any of that seductive shit to our kira. why? he's not into girls!

i'm so sorry odo and quark didn't get a better lot in this verse. they don't come back either i checked :( odo was kind of boring, unfortunately, except for3 points: firstly, him slapping julian like 3 times was also problematic but horny. secondly, the goop he exploded into. rip king. (and kira moruning him!! otp.) thirdly, this is odo's disdain and lack of understanding for humanity (humanoidanity?) multiplied by 1000x. this is not an odo who was forced to get to know us and saw that some of us needed the protection he had to live without and now had the power to give, this is an odo who was experimented on and probably killed dr mora on his way out of the facility, and is looking to dish some out instead of take it. FUN. our odo makes hands to touch people with. this odo makes hands to slap people with. rip to that guy and i was absolutely shocked that a do-no-harm DOCTOR killed him but honestly there's probably a net good in that for our julian.

quark running the metaphorical underground railroad out here also seems to echo him selling food to bajorans...also, his, outfit? it made him look like a good person. it's a wonder it took them so long to catch him. our quark is selfish because he sees it as a path to a good life. their quark is selfLESS for the same reason, see? also SCREAM that our kira was like yes we're BESTIES on the other side when she often tells him how much she despises him lmao

o'brien!!! god i wish we had seen more of him but i LOVED him and julian being besties here too. he was like youre NOT my friend and then 20 minutes later helping him escape. it's like he was a sleeper agent, he got one whiff or someone who could afford to have a moral compass and instantly he was like actually yeah humans deserve better than this! i love that julian was just gonna take him back and have two obrien besties and fuck starfleet if they didn't like it lol. obrien secretly also the same, and i'm really glad he got to at least escape w sisko to become a pirate or whatever.

HEY. BY THE WAY. PIRATE SISKO. SO FUN AND EDGY. he was really unhinged and kind of like a lunatic. cw for discussion of rape the rest of this paragraph. so i think there was a light implication via his body language and also "you charmed your way out of the mines" that he was NOT enjoying/consenting to the sex he was having with mirror kira, but very much enjoyed the opportunity to menace her counterpart, and other people, like obrien. again, like odo, he is tired of taking it and itching to dish soem out. UNLIKE odo, we see that he has people he loves! he says "i made the best of a bad life for my crew" and even shakes his head at one of his crew members who is about to do something that will get them hurt - he's also happy enough to take obrien, former target, under his wing on the way out, when he sees something worthy there. JUST LIKE OUR SISKO, he IS protective and he DOES value his people! i loved seeing that core of him, even though his outside was deranged in a fun evil way.

ok, to finally wrap this up, bashir giving away his plate of mush at mealtime because he's gonna get to go back to a nice cozy universe soon (or die) and these people won't is soooo. god. he's SO COMPASSIONATE......like i knew that objectively but we haven't really seen it in action much up until now. it fucking kills me. his compassion, inherent Good Universe vibes, has such a profound impact on mirror obrien in such a short time, but ultimately you CAN'T change this universe. you can affect single people in it, the way kirk got mirror spock, but the point of the mirrorverse is to be evil and edgy (and horny), so no matter WHAT the characters in it do, it is a LAW OF THAT UNIVERSE that powers beyond their comprehension will always reset the status quo to STAY evil and edgy (and horny). like at first i was like oh shit kirk really stepped in it nice job breaking it hero but like it simply CAN'T be fixed. if you try, you will fail. determinism in star trek. wild.

also, wait, sorry, julian coming back filthy head to toe and kira coming back in a ballgown when our sisko has been having kittens trying to locate his people.....iconic. mister privileged having to process ore like kira used to do and kira former ore processor wearing a fancy luxurious evening gown. talk about swapping places.

TONIGHT: tng's "preemptive strike" and ds9's "the collaborator." last non-finale episode of tng!!!

[river-mort]

Hey this might sound kind of stupid when talking about dick knubblers stupid robot eyes but there is an unfortunate history of disabled people's medical aids getting erased and photoshopped out of photos and fan works to see either what a disabled person would look like "normally" or because they don't like the look of them. So seeing his robot eyes photoshopped out was kind of upsetting as someone who uses medical aids. I'm not angry or accusing you of being purposefully ignorant or malicious about it just so we're clear and you don't have to respond this this. I just wanted to let you know that it can be harmful.

I want to thank you for your polite language. I can see your genuine desire to make things more comfortable for others, it's a great wish, so i will try to give you proper answer as much as my english skills allows me.

First of all - I love Dick Knubbler. I'm one step from obsession, which is good because when I'm obsessed I start to act pretty weird as if I had maniacal phase. I love everything about this ridiculous man and I love his robotics eyes, it's such a genius concept and it looks so neat. I did edits only because of my love to him, I didn't have any intentions to "fix" him or give him more proper look. He used to have eyes for such a small period of time and I wanted to fantasize about how would he look. In fact he looks better WITH robotic eyes. That's all, I didn't think about surgery he came through or if it's more or less comfortable. To me, he is just a picture on screen.

Second - I can't take care of everyone who come across my art, it's not my responsibility to filter content they might or might not see. Everything can be harmful, it's internet, its filled with so much different shit, if you just float in this dirty river you will drown in this swamp, unless you get yourself a boat and a paddle and make your own course. No one will do it for you, no one have to do it for you. Internet is magnificent,you literally can build your own world. Make yourself a safe, beloved space. And you're the only one who can do it, it's only in your power.

You can't come across everyone saying their content is harmful and expecting them to follow YOUR rules. If you come to my place saying you has a traumatic experience with cats, I will suggest to meet in different places, not close my cat in room and don't let him be anywhere while you visit me.

EVERYTHING can be harmful. Anyone can have traumatic experience about anything. O came through tough bullying in school for 11 years and every time I hear anyone has good relationship with their classmates I feel both angry and jealous. But I can't tell them not to talk about it. It's not their problems.

Now, I clearly understand your point. I don't know your story, but I maybe you come through bullying or stressful operations, maybe you had rejection from people or painful memories. And I feel sorry about that. I hope you have a good treatment and friends and family that support you and love. But I personally can't help you anyhow and I can't filter my content because of you. I know what I did has nothing to do with any kind hate so I don't see any reason why I should be aware of "harmful content".